Leawood, Kansas, United States - The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection Daily Guide grow. pray. study. for Wednesday, 3 December 2014 "Paul’s message: Jesus is 'the Christ'"
Today's Scripture: Acts 17: Thessalonica
1-3 They took the road south through Amphipolis and Apollonia to Thessalonica, where there was a community of Jews. Paul went to their meeting place, as he usually did when he came to a town, and for three Sabbaths running he preached to them from the Scriptures. He opened up the texts so they understood what they’d been reading all their lives: that the Messiah absolutely had to be put to death and raised from the dead—there were no other options—and that “this Jesus I’m introducing you to is that Messiah.”
4-5 Some of them were won over and joined ranks with Paul and Silas, among them a great many God-fearing Greeks and a considerable number of women from the aristocracy. But the hard-line Jews became furious over the conversions. Mad with jealousy, they rounded up a bunch of brawlers off the streets and soon had an ugly mob terrorizing the city as they hunted down Paul and Silas.
Acts 26:19-20 “What could I do, King Agrippa? I couldn’t just walk away from a vision like that! I became an obedient believer on the spot. I started preaching this life-change—this radical turn to God and everything it meant in everyday life—right there in Damascus, went on to Jerusalem and the surrounding countryside, and from there to the whole world.
21-23 “It’s because of this ‘whole world’ dimension that the Jews grabbed me in the Temple that day and tried to kill me. They want to keep God for themselves. But God has stood by me, just as he promised, and I’m standing here saying what I’ve been saying to anyone, whether king or child, who will listen. And everything I’m saying is completely in line with what the prophets and Moses said would happen: One, the Messiah must die; two, raised from the dead, he would be the first rays of God’s daylight shining on people far and near, people both godless and God-fearing.”
Reflection Questions:
Earlier this year, we studied the apostle Paul’s life, preaching and writing in detail. Paul always had one great central message. He used all his learning, his extensive knowledge of the Hebrew scriptures and his speaking skill to convince his hearers that Jesus was “the Christ,” God’s anointed king. His message has long outlived those seemingly more powerful, important people (like Agrippa) who scoffed at his faith in Jesus.
• Scholar N. T. Wright noted that Paul’s preaching from the Scriptures wasn’t just a few proof texts. “It was a matter of the entire plan of God, the whole sweep of the narrative, the story of Israel going into the dark tunnel of slavery in Egypt only to be rescued at the Passover, of David fleeing from Absalom only to be reinstalled after a great victory, of Jerusalem being destroyed and the nation carried away captive to Babylon, only to be brought back and rebuilt after a tribulation everyone thought would be final ... of a story whose main themes were all about suffering and vindication, disaster and reversal, death and resurrection.” In other words, Jesus as “the Christ,” crucified and risen, embodied the essence of all of God’s saving action. In what ways has Christ brought the power of “reversal,” of hope, into your life?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, the world around me sees suffering as something to avoid at all costs. Thank you for living out a different story, one that gives me hope that service and suffering are the ultimate paths to life and true greatness. Amen.
Insight from Angela LaVallie
Angela LaVallie is the Worship Logistics Program Director at Resurrection. She oversees preparing the Sanctuary for worship, supports Vibe worship and volunteers in the Student Center, provides oversight for Holy Communion at the Leawood campus, and assists with worship logistics at conferences.
Because I have grown up going to church and have seemingly always been a Christian, I often feel like I don’t have a conversion story. I can tell you the date I decided to be baptized, the times in my life when I have had those “mountain top experiences” where I have most felt God’s presence, and the seasons of my greatest spiritual growth. I can’t tell you when I didn’t believe and then when I did.
In the same way, I haven’t had any great suffering. Obviously, my life is not perfect, but I have not had any major tragedies or even been directly affected by any catastrophes. Sometimes it’s hard for me to understand truly relying on Christ since there’s not been a time where I haven’t known him or when I have really suffered.
About eight years ago in January, I decided to read through the entire Bible. I had tried this several times in the past but didn’t make it past Genesis. This time, I had read through Isaiah by the end of the summer. I didn’t really have a reading plan; I just read as much as I felt like most nights before bed, and before long, I really looked forward to my reading time. That fall, I enrolled in Disciple Bible Study and started the whole thing over again. Anyway, it wasn’t until I had read through much of the history of the Israelites that it really hit me how big of a deal Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection was/is.
The rules and laws the Israelites were living under were impossible to entirely keep, and they could never save themselves. If Jesus hadn’t come to save us, those of us lucky enough to have been descended from the Jews would still be trying to keep the commandments and save ourselves, and who knows what would be in store for those of us not a part of God’s chosen people.
I’ll never fully understand the enormity of Christ’s sacrifice – until that day I am standing in his presence – but during those times when I am disheartened, I find great hope in the entire biblical narrative. I am also encouraged hearing the stories of those around me, of those who lived many years without knowing Christ and of how their lives changed once they knew him or of those who have had suffering and disappointment and how they were given hope.
____________________________
1-3 They took the road south through Amphipolis and Apollonia to Thessalonica, where there was a community of Jews. Paul went to their meeting place, as he usually did when he came to a town, and for three Sabbaths running he preached to them from the Scriptures. He opened up the texts so they understood what they’d been reading all their lives: that the Messiah absolutely had to be put to death and raised from the dead—there were no other options—and that “this Jesus I’m introducing you to is that Messiah.”
4-5 Some of them were won over and joined ranks with Paul and Silas, among them a great many God-fearing Greeks and a considerable number of women from the aristocracy. But the hard-line Jews became furious over the conversions. Mad with jealousy, they rounded up a bunch of brawlers off the streets and soon had an ugly mob terrorizing the city as they hunted down Paul and Silas.
Acts 26:19-20 “What could I do, King Agrippa? I couldn’t just walk away from a vision like that! I became an obedient believer on the spot. I started preaching this life-change—this radical turn to God and everything it meant in everyday life—right there in Damascus, went on to Jerusalem and the surrounding countryside, and from there to the whole world.
21-23 “It’s because of this ‘whole world’ dimension that the Jews grabbed me in the Temple that day and tried to kill me. They want to keep God for themselves. But God has stood by me, just as he promised, and I’m standing here saying what I’ve been saying to anyone, whether king or child, who will listen. And everything I’m saying is completely in line with what the prophets and Moses said would happen: One, the Messiah must die; two, raised from the dead, he would be the first rays of God’s daylight shining on people far and near, people both godless and God-fearing.”
Reflection Questions:
Earlier this year, we studied the apostle Paul’s life, preaching and writing in detail. Paul always had one great central message. He used all his learning, his extensive knowledge of the Hebrew scriptures and his speaking skill to convince his hearers that Jesus was “the Christ,” God’s anointed king. His message has long outlived those seemingly more powerful, important people (like Agrippa) who scoffed at his faith in Jesus.
• Scholar N. T. Wright noted that Paul’s preaching from the Scriptures wasn’t just a few proof texts. “It was a matter of the entire plan of God, the whole sweep of the narrative, the story of Israel going into the dark tunnel of slavery in Egypt only to be rescued at the Passover, of David fleeing from Absalom only to be reinstalled after a great victory, of Jerusalem being destroyed and the nation carried away captive to Babylon, only to be brought back and rebuilt after a tribulation everyone thought would be final ... of a story whose main themes were all about suffering and vindication, disaster and reversal, death and resurrection.” In other words, Jesus as “the Christ,” crucified and risen, embodied the essence of all of God’s saving action. In what ways has Christ brought the power of “reversal,” of hope, into your life?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, the world around me sees suffering as something to avoid at all costs. Thank you for living out a different story, one that gives me hope that service and suffering are the ultimate paths to life and true greatness. Amen.
Insight from Angela LaVallie
Angela LaVallie is the Worship Logistics Program Director at Resurrection. She oversees preparing the Sanctuary for worship, supports Vibe worship and volunteers in the Student Center, provides oversight for Holy Communion at the Leawood campus, and assists with worship logistics at conferences.Because I have grown up going to church and have seemingly always been a Christian, I often feel like I don’t have a conversion story. I can tell you the date I decided to be baptized, the times in my life when I have had those “mountain top experiences” where I have most felt God’s presence, and the seasons of my greatest spiritual growth. I can’t tell you when I didn’t believe and then when I did.
In the same way, I haven’t had any great suffering. Obviously, my life is not perfect, but I have not had any major tragedies or even been directly affected by any catastrophes. Sometimes it’s hard for me to understand truly relying on Christ since there’s not been a time where I haven’t known him or when I have really suffered.
About eight years ago in January, I decided to read through the entire Bible. I had tried this several times in the past but didn’t make it past Genesis. This time, I had read through Isaiah by the end of the summer. I didn’t really have a reading plan; I just read as much as I felt like most nights before bed, and before long, I really looked forward to my reading time. That fall, I enrolled in Disciple Bible Study and started the whole thing over again. Anyway, it wasn’t until I had read through much of the history of the Israelites that it really hit me how big of a deal Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection was/is.
The rules and laws the Israelites were living under were impossible to entirely keep, and they could never save themselves. If Jesus hadn’t come to save us, those of us lucky enough to have been descended from the Jews would still be trying to keep the commandments and save ourselves, and who knows what would be in store for those of us not a part of God’s chosen people.
I’ll never fully understand the enormity of Christ’s sacrifice – until that day I am standing in his presence – but during those times when I am disheartened, I find great hope in the entire biblical narrative. I am also encouraged hearing the stories of those around me, of those who lived many years without knowing Christ and of how their lives changed once they knew him or of those who have had suffering and disappointment and how they were given hope.
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