The Daily Guide. grow. pray. study. from The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, United States "The good life according to Jesus" for Tuesday, 11 October 2016

The Daily Guide. grow. pray. study. from The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, United States "The good life according to Jesus" for Tuesday, 11 October 2016 

Matthew 5:3 “How blessed are the poor in spirit!
    for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
4 “How blessed are those who mourn!
    for they will be comforted.
5 “How blessed are the meek!
    for they will inherit the Land![Matthew 5:5 Psalm 37:11]
6 “How blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness!
    for they will be filled.
7 “How blessed are those who show mercy!
    for they will be shown mercy.
8 “How blessed are the pure in heart!
    for they will see God.
9 “How blessed are those who make peace!
    for they will be called sons of God.
10 “How blessed are those who are persecuted
because they pursue righteousness!
    for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
11 “How blessed you are when people insult you and persecute you and tell all kinds of vicious lies about you because you follow me! 12 Rejoice, be glad, because your reward in heaven is great — they persecuted the prophets before you in the same way.
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Scholar William Barclay noted that the verb translated “taught” in Matthew 5:2 meant, in the original Greek, “repeated and habitual action, and the translation should be: ‘This is what he used to teach them.’”1 Jesus didn’t just teach this once—he taught it regularly (and still does, thanks to Matthew’s gospel). It quickly becomes clear that he had a startlingly different view of
what a good life looks like.
• The Common English Bible renders verses 3-11 as “happy are,” not the more familiar
“blessed are.” Jesus would have used an Aramaic phrase that carried the sense of a
supreme gift from God, a joy that does not rely on good circumstances or fortune. Scholar N. T. Wright said, “In our world, still, most people think wonderful news consists of success, wealth, long life, victory in battle. Jesus is offering wonderful news for the humble, the poor,
the mourners, the peacemakers.”2 Which of Jesus’ statements ring truest for you? Are
there any of them of which you feel, “I sure wish I had that”?
• The Message paraphrases verse 8 as “You’re blessed when you get your inside world—
your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.” What are
some of the major influences that have helped to put your inside world right? In what ways
do you “see” differently now than you used to?
Prayer: Dear Jesus, putting my inside world right isn’t a one-time challenge. Help me keep listening to your voice above all the others that clamor for my allegiance, to keep treasuring the wonderful news you bring me. Amen.
1 William Barclay, Daily Study Bible Series: The Gospel of Matthew—Volume 1. Philadelphia: Westminster John Knox Press, 1976, p. 87.
2 N. T. Wright, Matthew for Everyone, Part 1. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004, p. 37.
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Insights from Brandon Gregory

Brandon Gregory is a volunteer for the worship and missions teams at Church of the Resurrection. He helps lead worship at the Vibe, West, and Downtown services, and is involved with the Malawi missions team at home.
The Stanford Marshmallow Experiment was conducted in the 60s and 70s at Stanford University. The subjects, a group of four-year-olds, were given a marshmallow and a choice: eat the marshmallow now, or wait about 15 minutes and then eat the marshmallow and receive another marshmallow. So the choice was one marshmallow now, or two later. There were no shocking realizations with the experiment itself: some of the kids ate the marshmallow almost immediately, and some were able to wait and receive two marshmallows for their patience.
The shocking data was revealed years later, when the same researchers took another look at the subjects as teenagers and adults. The group that had waited for the second marshmallow did better in school, thought more highly of themselves, and were more socially competent; they were better able to cope with stress, more likely to plan ahead, and more likely to use reason; they were less likely to develop drug problems, get divorced, or be overweight. In short, the trait that gave these four-year-olds the patience to wait for something greater gave them a serious advantage later in life.
The Stanford Marshmallow Experiment was one of the first to measure the effects of something called delayed gratification. It quickly rose to prominence in the psychology world as a big factor in a number of positive outcomes, such as academic success, physical and psychological health, and social competence.
But, though only recently measured, the notion itself is hardly new. In fact, Jesus’s beatitudes in today’s passage instruct us to do exactly that. Jesus said that being humble, showing mercy, and making peace–all of which were, in essence, giving up an immediate reward–were the key to gaining a greater reward later. That could be interpreted as character, or better relationships, or treasures in Heaven–or maybe all of those–but the idea was the same: give up an emotional marshmallow now, get two emotional marshmallows later.
Though we’ve heard this many times, these ideas were not at all common knowledge when Jesus spoke them. They were wildly incongruent with the common knowledge of the time, which was that if you wanted glory, you reached out and took it.
But perhaps it’s this familiarity that makes this concept so hard to truly grasp today. The language of delayed emotional gratification has come into vogue, but the old common knowledge hasn’t really died off either, which can lead us to do things like brag about how humble we are by implying that others are less humble than we are, or show mercy to an undisclosed or nonexistent group by imposing on the rights of others less fortunate than ourselves, or inciting or allowing violence in the name of making the world a better place. So even under the guise of Jesus’s beatitudes, we can easily find ourselves grasping at greatness as if it would get away from us if we didn’t take ahold of it and wrestle it into submission. And, much like the religious leaders of Jesus’s time, we can easily find ourselves at odds with the hopeless, the grieving, and the peacemakers.
It can be easy to look at this discrepancy and immediately point to others who embody it; but true change is going to start with delaying that gratification and looking inward to change our own hearts and minds to be more in line with Jesus’s radical thoughts on greatness. This week, even when our social media feeds are blowing up with posts about leaders who are reaching for greatness in all the wrong ways, take some time to slow down and consider the ways you’re doing it too. Because if we can’t demonstrate to the world what true greatness looks like, we’re never going to convince anyone else that they’re going about it wrong. -------
"Living the good life as a nomad for God"
Wednesday, 12 October 2016 
Genesis 15:1  Some time later the word of Adonai came to Avram in a vision: “Don’t be afraid, Avram. I am your protector; your reward will be very great.”
5 Then he brought him outside and said, “Look up at the sky, and count the stars — if you can count them! Your descendants will be that many!” 6 He believed in Adonai, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
13 Adonai said to Avram, “Know this for certain: your descendants will be foreigners in a land that is not theirs. They will be slaves and held in oppression there four hundred years. 14 But I will also judge that nation, the one that makes them slaves. Afterwards, they will leave with many possessions. 15 As for you, you will join your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age.
25:8 Then Avraham breathed his last, dying at a ripe old age, an old man full of years; and he was gathered to his people.
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We might be tempted to think, “Of course Abraham was content—everything in his life had worked out well.” Not actually—God promised him a land, but when he died he was still a nomad. God promised that he’d become a great nation, but when he died that hope rested in his one son Isaac (cf. Hebrews 11:9-10, 13). Genesis 15:6 provided the key to Abraham’s good life—he “trusted the Lord.” And that was enough.
• What are some ways your life has been better because of choices your grandparents or other people who lived before you made (e.g. someone who set up a scholarship program that helped you)? Do you believe they could have felt a sense of contentment and
satisfaction about those choices, even if they did not specifically get to see you benefit from them?
• Are there ways in which you need to trust God because you do not see particular promises or life directions “paying off” immediately? What opportunities do you have to invest time, energy or material goods in ways that will help others in the future, even if you are not around to collect the award(s) or hear their gratitude expressed?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, teach me how to view life through the lens of eternity, as you do. Help me to trust that there are vast spheres that lie way beyond my immediate ability to perceive. Amen.
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"The good life: Spirit-guided, not selfishly guided"
Thursday. 13 October 2016
Galatians 5:16 What I am saying is this: run your lives by the Spirit. Then you will not do what your old nature wants. 17 For the old nature wants what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit wants what is contrary to the old nature. These oppose each other, so that you find yourselves unable to carry out your good intentions. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, then you are not in subjection to the system that results from perverting the Torah into legalism.
19 And it is perfectly evident what the old nature does. It expresses itself in sexual immorality, impurity and indecency; 20 involvement with the occult and with drugs; in feuding, fighting, becoming jealous and getting angry; in selfish ambition, factionalism, intrigue 21 and envy; in drunkenness, orgies and things like these. I warn you now as I have warned you before: those who do such things will have no share in the Kingdom of God!
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.
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In Roman times (and today) some people think the outcomes and qualities Paul listed in
Galatians 5:19-21 are part of a good life, either as “fun” or as side-effects of the pursuit of “fun.” But the apostle sketched a different vision, saying “you shouldn’t do whatever you want to do.” He vividly contrasted a Spirit-powered life with the negative outcomes produced when we live solely to satisfy our selfish desires, and left no doubt which life he believed is better.
• With gentle irony (and deep seriousness) Paul followed his list of the fruit of the Spirit with the phrase “There is no law against things like this.” Why would anyone make a law against qualities that make life so much better? When have you let go of your own agenda, and found that God had given you something better, deeper and more freeing than what you thought you wanted?
• In The Message, verse 16 says “My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God’s Spirit.” Have you found freedom from some of the areas that result from doing
whatever you want, from living as though you were your own God? Can you list areas
where the Spirit has animated and motivated you to a better way of life?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, through your Spirit continue to animate and motivate me to live beyond and above just my selfish desires. Guide me to that wonderful life against which there is no law. Amen.
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"A compelling, God-given purpose for life"
Friday, 14 October 2016
Acts 20:17 But he did send from Miletus to Ephesus, summoning the elders of the Messianic community. 18 When they arrived, he said to them, “You yourselves know how, from the first day I set foot in the province of Asia, I was with you the whole time, 19 serving the Lord with much humility and with tears, in spite of the tests I had to undergo because of the plots of the unbelieving Jews. 20 You know that I held back nothing that could be helpful to you, and that I taught you both in public and from house to house, 21 declaring with utmost seriousness the same message to Jews and Greeks alike: turn from sin to God; and put your trust in our Lord, Yeshua the Messiah.
22 “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Yerushalayim. I don’t know what will happen to me there, 23 other than that in every city the Ruach HaKodesh keeps warning me that imprisonment and persecution await me. 24 But I consider my own life of no importance to me whatsoever, as long as I can finish the course ahead of me, the task I received from the Lord Yeshua — to declare in depth the Good News of God’s love and kindness.
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Does living a “good life” mean avoiding danger? Not always. Paul and his colleagues were traveling to Jerusalem to deliver an offering from the Gentile Christians of Greece to help their suffering companions in the faith there. He told the elders of the church in Ephesus that he was sure arrest and prison awaited him in Jerusalem. Yet he concluded his witness about how he lived with a sense of well-being and “success” by saying, “Nothing, not even my life, is more
important than completing my mission.”
• Think of a time when you gave up something you valued to help someone else (e.g. money,
your time, your caring attention to someone who was hurting, etc.). Then recall a time when you pursued an item that you prized solely for yourself. Reflect on how the two experiences affected you. How lasting was the joy and well-being, the sense of a good life, in each case?
• Do you have a life mission? If you’re like many people, your first thought may be, “No—I
really don’t.” But Paul’s words can help nearly all of us begin to locate that “mission” (even if we haven’t consciously chosen it). Of what would you say “Nothing is more important than ____________”? As the answer to that comes into focus, prayerfully consider whether it better fits God’s definition of a good life, or that of the society around us. Ask God to help you make any needed course corrections.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, I do not want to miss out on the mission you call me to, the most
important reason that you’ve given me life. Give me a clear sense of what that mission is, and the strength to live into it. Amen.
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"An Rx for the good life"
Saturday, 15 October 2016
Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in union with the Lord always! I will say it again: rejoice! 5 Let everyone see how reasonable and gentle you are. The Lord is near! 6 Don’t worry about anything; on the contrary, make your requests known to God by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving. 7 Then God’s shalom, passing all understanding, will keep your hearts and minds safe in union with the Messiah Yeshua. 8 In conclusion, brothers, focus your thoughts on what is true, noble, righteous, pure, lovable or admirable, on some virtue or on something praiseworthy. 9 Keep doing what you have learned and received from me, what you have heard and seen me doing; then the God who gives shalom will be with you.
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Do you want a good life? From a Roman prison cell (cf. Philippians 1:13-14), the apostle Paul bore radiant witness to the quality of life God offers us. As we hand over our anxieties to God in prayer, he said God’s peace, purity and contentment flow in and through us, no matter what our situation. If we have any question about whether the apostle believed he had had a good life, we can read what he wrote to his young friend Timothy, again from a prison cell: “I have
fought the good fight, finished the race, and kept the faith. At last the champion’s wreath that is awarded for righteousness is waiting for me” (2 Timothy 4:7-8).
• Paul connected our ability to live a good life, filled with God’s peace and joy, with the mental “diet” we choose. Like a spiritual nutritionist, he advised, “If anything is excellent and if anything is admirable, focus your thoughts on these things: all that is true, all that is holy, all that is just, all that is pure, all that is lovely, and all that is worthy of praise” (verse 8).
With reality TV, tabloids reporting who was seen with someone they weren’t supposed to be with, negative political ads and celebrity tweets seemingly everywhere, does that strike
you as naïve, idealistic and impossible to follow? Or might it hold a key to helping you live with more peace and a stronger connection with God?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, remind me to bring my anxieties to you, not to my well-worn escape
mechanisms. Focus my thoughts on all that is true, holy, just, pure, lovely and worthy of
praise. Amen.
Family Activity: Gather or create the following: play money, pictures of items a child might want to buy (toys, vacation, junk food) and pictures of ways to give (missionary, charity, church). Assign a pretend purchase price to each of the items. Pass out play money, giving each family member different amounts. Show your family members their choices of items to buy and ways to give. Invite your family to spend their play money however they would like by
purchasing the items on pictures or giving to the places/people in need. After each person has spent their money, discuss the choices people made. Discuss the importance of a God-given life mission for each person, and for you as a family. Ask God to help you each pursue a truly good life.
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Prayer Requests – cor.org/prayer
Prayers for Peace & Comfort for:
• Eileen Markley and family on the death of her brother Gerry Cromwell, 10/1
• Jerry Lesjack and family on the death of his brother-in-law Bill Koresky, 10/1
• Van Torian and family on the death of his mother Joan Torian, 9/27
• Libby Hawkins and family on the death of her father Gene Bowling, 9/26
• Joy Wheeler and family on the death of her mother Beebs Downing Wheeler, 9/25
• Page Campbell and family on the death of her sister D’Arlene Aldrich, 9/24
• Charlene Perry and family on the death of her mother Marcella Karel, 9/17
• Carolyn Barnette and family on the death of her brother-in-law Martain “Keith” Croft, 8/24
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