The Daily Guide. grow. pray. study. from The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, United States for Sunday, 24 July 2016 – "Prayer Tip: What if Jesus really meant what he said?"
Daily Scripture: Luke 10:25-28
Luke 10:25 An expert in Torah stood up to try and trap him by asking, “Rabbi, what should I do to obtain eternal life?” 26 But Yeshua said to him, “What is written in the Torah? How do you read it?” 27 He answered, “You are to love Adonai your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your understanding; and your neighbor as yourself.”[Luke 10:27 Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18] 28 “That’s the right answer,” Yeshua said. “Do this, and you will have life.”-------
Prayer Tip:
It is so easy to be selfish. Like the lives of the Israelites in the Old Testament, we do well for a while, then we mess up; we recognize our errors and confess our sins, and God forgives. It’s a part of the cycle of being human. Even when we mean to do better, if we aren’t intentional about thinking of others, we easily slip back into the habit of thinking only or mostly of ourselves. I’m guessing most of us don’t do it on purpose, but we get busy in our own lives and in the lives of those closest to us, and little by little, our focus is turned back inward.
Staying connected to God and asking for God’s help through prayer can help keep us humble and remind us of the kind of people we want to be. If you’re like me and forget that you want to pray about something specific, write yourself a reminder and stick it on your bathroom mirror so you see it when you’re getting ready in the morning – it could be a simple phrase to remind you what to pray about, or it could even be a written prayer you say daily.
Lord, God, we want to do your will. We want to love others in your name. Help us to discern when we’re blind to the opportunities to love others for your sake because all we can see is what we want or because we fail to see things in a new way. Guide us to recognize each person we encounter as a neighbor and give us the desire to love and serve our neighbors well.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.[Angela LaVallie Tinsley, Funeral and Prayer Ministry]
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Sunday, July 24, 2016–The Art of Neighboring:
“What if Jesus really meant what he said?”
Scripture: Luke 10:25-28
Luke 10:25 An expert in Torah stood up to try and trap him by asking, “Rabbi, what should I do to obtain eternal life?” 26 But Yeshua said to him, “What is written in the Torah? How do you read it?” 27 He answered, “You are to love Adonai your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your understanding; and your neighbor as yourself.”[Luke 10:27 Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18] 28 “That’s the right answer,” Yeshua said. “Do this, and you will have life.”
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Monday, 25 July 2016
Matthew 22:35 and one of them who was a Torah expert asked a sh’eilah to trap him: 36 “Rabbi, which of the mitzvot in the Torah is the most important?” 37 He told him, “‘You are to love Adonai your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.’[Matthew 22:37 Deuteronomy 6:5] 38 This is the greatest and most important mitzvah. 39 And a second is similar to it, ‘You are to love your neighbor as yourself.’[Matthew 22:39 Leviticus 19:18] 40 All of the Torah and the Prophets are dependent on these two mitzvot.”
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When asked what was the greatest commandment (which was a lively debate among Jewish rabbis of his day), Jesus chose not one but two. The first was from Deuteronomy 6:4: “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, and with all your mind.”
The second came from Leviticus 19:18: “You must love your neighbor as you love yourself.”
Jesus said all other truths or orthodoxies have ultimate value only as they lead us to more fully love God and neighbor.
• Jesus said that every key principle the Bible teaches, all the truths we know about what God wants, “depend” on the two commands he quoted. What do you believe made these two commands as essential as Jesus said they were? Can you recall any time when a belief you held led you to be unloving, maybe even without realizing it?
• Long before many of our modern psychological insights developed,
Leviticus called God’s people to “love your neighbor as yourself.” That command implicitly asked: how well can you love your neighbor if you don’t have healthy ways of loving and caring for yourself?
How well have you learned to nurture and value yourself, outwardly and, even more importantly, inwardly? (If you find this hard, Mindy Caliguire’s book Soul Care, available through The Well Bookstore, may help.)
Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me to love God with all that is in me—knowing that still falls short of how God loves me. Help me to love my neighbor in the profound ways you call me to. Amen.
Right command, wrong execution
Tuesday, 26 July 2016
Luke 10:25 An expert in Torah stood up to try and trap him by asking, “Rabbi, what should I do to obtain eternal life?” 26 But Yeshua said to him, “What is written in the Torah? How do you read it?” 27 He answered, “You are to love Adonai your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your understanding; and your neighbor as yourself.”[Luke 10:27 Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18] 28 “That’s the right answer,” Yeshua said. “Do this, and you will have life.”
29 But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Yeshua, “And who is my ‘neighbor’?” 30 Taking up the question, Yeshua said: “A man was going down from Yerushalayim to Yericho when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him naked and beat him up, then went off, leaving him half dead. 31 By coincidence, a cohen was going down on that road; but when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 Likewise a Levi who reached the place and saw him also passed by on the other side.
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The story Jesus told in answer to the lawyer’s question is familiar. When we read it, we tend to think of it first (and maybe even exclusively) as being about responding to other people in crisis. But Jesus told the parable to answer a question about being a neighbor. His main focus was on how neighborly or non-neighborly the people who passed on the road were, not on the specific reasons why the man was beside the road.
• Verse 29 said, “The legal expert wanted to prove that he was right, so he said to Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’” Are there people in your neighborhood, your community or your world whom you’d rather not think of as your “neighbor”? Have you ever found one or more of the limits you wanted to put on your definition of “neighbor” changing after you got to know the person or persons?
• Since Jesus agreed with the lawyer’s answer, it may seem odd for Luke to write, “The legal expert wanted to prove that he was right.” Maybe Jesus’ words “Do this and you will live” (verse 28) hit a nerve. Maybe the lawyer wanted to say, “I’m already fine—I don’t need any more saving.” Have there been any times in your life when you’ve felt like saying, “Talk to someone else about grace and forgiveness—I’m fine”? What helps you accept God’s salvation gratefully every day?
Prayer: Dear Jesus, let your story remind me that it’s not enough to just recite the right words. Grow in me a heart that notices others, and that actively cares about their needs. Amen.
The unexpected, extravagant neighbor
Wednesday, 27 July 2016
Luke 10:33 “But a man from Shomron who was traveling came upon him; and when he saw him, he was moved with compassion. 34 So he went up to him, put oil and wine on his wounds and bandaged them. Then he set him on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day, he took out two days’ wages, gave them to the innkeeper and said, ‘Look after him; and if you spend more than this, I’ll pay you back when I return.’ 36 Of these three, which one seems to you to have become the ‘neighbor’ of the man who fell among robbers?” 37 He answered, “The one who showed mercy toward him.” Yeshua said to him, “You go and do as he did.”
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In the first part of his story, Jesus portrayed two presumably pious men who showed no real interest in acting like a neighbor. Then he made the contrast as strong as possible. He pictured a Samaritan (a group Israelites then regarded in about the same light as many of
them regard Palestinians today) who acted with extravagant compassion and caring.
• In the story, the Samaritan didn’t just offer casual roadside help. He put the injured man on “his own donkey” (which would have meant he had to walk), brought him to an inn, cared for him, paid two days’ wages and offered to pay more on his return if needed. How did Jesus’ description of the Samaritan reflect God’s vast generosity to us? How can knowing we’ve received God’s generosity move us to be generous to our neighbors in ways we’d be unlikely to achieve out of our own goodness?
• We usually apply this parable to the need for us to help others, a big part of Jesus’ teaching. But in this story, an Israelite accepted a Samaritan’s help, though Israelites usually shunned such help. How open are you to accepting help from others when you need it? Have you ever seen a situation in which asking for or accepting help opened the door to a neighborly relationship?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, I don’t mind being a good neighbor if it’s easy and inexpensive, in time and certainly in money. Help me incorporate the idea of sacrifice into my thinking about what it might mean to be a true neighbor. Amen.
Good neighbors in a strange land
Thursday, 28 July 2016
Jeremiah 29:4 “Here is what Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Isra’el, says to all those in exile, whom I have caused to be carried off captive from Yerushalayim to Bavel: 5 ‘Build yourselves houses, and live in them. Plant gardens, and eat what they produce. 6 Choose women to marry, and have sons and daughters. Choose wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage to men, so that they can have sons and daughters — increase your numbers there, don’t decrease. 7 Seek the welfare of the city to which I have caused you to go in exile, and pray to Adonai on its behalf; for your welfare is bound up in its welfare.’
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Babylon took many Hebrews into exile in 597 B.C., and then destroyed Jerusalem in a final conquest in 586 B.C. In that interim, the prophet Jeremiah wrote a letter to the Hebrews who had already been taken to Babylon. It included today’s reading. He offered no false comfort, but told them they should settle down and prepare for a long period of exile. But even as captives in that foreign land, he urged them to live as good neighbors.
• Some “prophets” were telling the Israelites that God would send them back to Israel within two years (see Jeremiah 28:3). If you had been an exile, wouldn’t you have wanted that to be true, rather than Jeremiah’s “wait, and be a good neighbor” message? Have you ever been disappointed with God’s timing? How do you maintain patience and hope when things aren’t working out as you’d wish, when you
wish?
• In that same message, Jeremiah told the Israelites (on God’s behalf): “When you search for me, yes, search for me with all your heart, you will find me” (Jeremiah 29:13). In what ways was the quality of their connection with God essential to them being able to live as good neighbors even when in exile? What do you believe it would mean for you to seek God “with all your heart,” and how might that shape your ways of relating to others?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, teach me patience and endurance when life is hard. Plant in me the hunger and thirst to seek you with all my heart, and to let you shape every aspect of the way I live my life. Amen.
The sum of all God’s commandments
Friday, 29 July 2016
Romans 13:8 Don’t owe anyone anything — except to love one another; for whoever loves his fellow human being has fulfilled Torah. 9 For the commandments, “Don’t commit adultery,” “Don’t murder,” “Don’t steal,” “Don’t covet,”[Romans 13:9 Exodus 20:13–14(17), Deuteronomy 5:17–18(21)] and any others are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”[Romans 13:9 Leviticus 19:18] 10 Love does not do harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fullness of Torah.
Romans 14:10 You then, why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For all of us will stand before God’s judgment seat; 11 since it is written in the Tanakh,
“As I live, says Adonai, every knee will bend before me,
and every tongue will publicly acknowledge God.”[Romans 14:11 Isaiah 45:23]
12 So then, every one of us will have to give an account of himself to God.
13 Therefore, let’s stop passing judgment on each other! Instead, make this one judgment — not to put a stumbling block or a snare in a brother’s way.
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Paul sent this letter to Roman house churches. In Romans 14-15, we see that these churches differed. Some were mainly Jewish; others mostly Gentile. Their customs and standards of “righteousness” varied. It was easy for them to tear each other down. Paul said God’s kingdom calls us to a standard of relating that goes beyond particular rules or laws. “Love doesn’t do anything wrong to a neighbor” was a big challenge to people at odds with one another. It was (and is) vital, because “Whoever loves another person has fulfilled the Law.”
• Paul spoke to disagreements over relatively minor issues (that seemed major to those who felt strongly about them). How do you think some of them might have initially reacted to the statement that “Whoever loves another person has fulfilled the Law”? Do you know anyone who is genuinely loving, but in some parts of life acts in ways that you think miss the mark?
Do you believe Paul was right, or was he too soft on “law breakers”?
• What attitudes and actions bring peace and build up other people in your neighborhood (or in your church, for that matter)? Are some of those attitudes and actions practically second nature for you? Identify one or two which do not come so naturally to you, but in which you would truly like to grow. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you grow in those aspects of life and relationships.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, lift my gaze above particular laws or rules. Amaze me with the splendor of your love, and teach me all of the ways in which living out that love truly fulfills your law. Amen.
Love, “the perfect bond”
Saturday, 30 July 2016
Colossians 3:12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with feelings of compassion and with kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with one another; if anyone has a complaint against someone else, forgive him. Indeed, just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must forgive.
14 Above all these, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together perfectly;
Ephesians 2:19 So then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers. On the contrary, you are fellow-citizens with God’s people and members of God’s family. 20 You have been built on the foundation of the emissaries and the prophets, with the cornerstone being Yeshua the Messiah himself. 21 In union with him the whole building is held together, and it is growing into a holy temple in union with the Lord. 22 Yes, in union with him, you yourselves are being built together into a spiritual dwelling-place for God!
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Both Colossians and Ephesians said that God calls us to be people who live in community with others. This doesn’t come about because of contracts or policies, though a certain number of those will be necessary. Rather it grows organically as we commit ourselves to living “as God’s household.” “Love, which is the perfect bond of unity” becomes the force that binds us together, and builds us “into a place where God lives through the Spirit.”
• About year 100 of the Christian Era, Pliny, a Roman official, wrote to Emperor Trajan about the people called “Christians.” His letter called Christianity a crime, and asked how best to stamp it out. Pliny and Trajan, like most Roman officials, saw Christians as a threat to the empire. We have to wonder why any ruler would see people who lived the way these verses describe as a threat. What parts of this passage are most true of your life as a Christ-follower? What aspects of Christian character described here would have the biggest positive impact on the way(s) you relate to your neighbors?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, sometimes I think love is weak, unrealistic, sentimental. Keep showing me its true power, its amazing tensile strength that bonds people together. Amen.
Family Activity: Consider growing the fruit of the Spirit in your livesthis summer!
Read Galatians 5:22-23[Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 humility, self control. Nothing in the Torah stands against such things.]. Focus on praying about and producing each fruit. For example, you might want to focus on love by studying verses on love in Scripture and finding Bible stories about God’s love. Share God’s love with one another and your neighbors near and far with your word and actions. Remember—growing any fruit of the Sprit doesn’t have to be practiced in big, fancy ways. When we are open to God growing us through the Holy Spirit, everyday acts will help produce delicious fruit! Pray daily, asking God to grow His garden of fruit in your
heart and lives!
Prayer Requests – submit requests at cor.org/prayer
Prayers for Peace & Comfort for:
• Dave Peters and family on the death of his wife Julie Peters, 7/19
• Verla Mundhenke and family on the death of her husband Virgil Mundhenke, 7/17
• Allyson Ellis and family on the death of her mother Jeanne Ackerman, 7/9
• Debbie Hedenkamp and family on the death of her father Delbert L. “Del” Dunmire, 7/5
• Tammy Wilson on the death of her sister-in-law Robin Briscoe, 7/5
• JoAnn Hill on the death of her husband Wesley Hill, 6/10
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13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, Kansas 66224, United States
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