Community Bible Experience Day #7
Reading: Matthew 18-20
Introduction: Today's chapters remind us that this side of eternity, 'church' and our experience of it will never be perfect. There will always be problems in church because we are the problems. As disciples of Jesus, we don't just have to recognise and deal with our own sin, we have to respond gracefully to other people's sin as well. 'Church' is where we learn, by the Spirit's enabling, to rub off each other in the 'right way': it's where we learn to become men and women of richer patience and tap-running, overflowing mercy; saints with a growing, gracious love that is being endlessly stretched to cover multitudes of other people's sins; and disciples with an ever-deepening faith in the Saviour who died to forgive and change us so that we are enabled to forgive others and help them change for God's glory
Another block of teaching from Jesus in chapter 18, the implications of which spill over into the rest of today's passages. If there is a unifying theme bringing it all together, it's possibly how living the Kingdom life should be expressed in community, in the living fellowship of the local church and the welcome it shows to outsiders. As disciples of Jesus, our relationship to Him will shape our relationships with others so as to become a loving community with intentional humility, purity, accountability, mutual submission, forgiveness, reconciliation, restoration.
Again and again in these chapters, the counter-cultural aspects of Kingdom living become evident: the weak, the marginalised, the 'put-upons' in society are not overlooked but given attention and compassionate respect (18:1-16, 19:1-15); as Jesus' disciples we go out of our way to express sincere and lavish forgiveness, in much the same way that He treats us (18:15-35); the seemingly good and worthy are not accorded the spiritual privilege they believe they are entitled to (19:16-30); the undeserving but needy are treated with extravagant grace (20: 1-16); greatness is measured by how low we can stoop in serving others (20:20-28); and so the Lord of life serves His people by dying for them (20:17-19).
Like the blind who, because of Jesus, can now see, will the disciples' eyes (will our eyes?) be opened to see more clearly what it means to follow Him, and will we still follow (20:29-34)?
Reading: Matthew 18-20
Introduction: Today's chapters remind us that this side of eternity, 'church' and our experience of it will never be perfect. There will always be problems in church because we are the problems. As disciples of Jesus, we don't just have to recognise and deal with our own sin, we have to respond gracefully to other people's sin as well. 'Church' is where we learn, by the Spirit's enabling, to rub off each other in the 'right way': it's where we learn to become men and women of richer patience and tap-running, overflowing mercy; saints with a growing, gracious love that is being endlessly stretched to cover multitudes of other people's sins; and disciples with an ever-deepening faith in the Saviour who died to forgive and change us so that we are enabled to forgive others and help them change for God's glory
Another block of teaching from Jesus in chapter 18, the implications of which spill over into the rest of today's passages. If there is a unifying theme bringing it all together, it's possibly how living the Kingdom life should be expressed in community, in the living fellowship of the local church and the welcome it shows to outsiders. As disciples of Jesus, our relationship to Him will shape our relationships with others so as to become a loving community with intentional humility, purity, accountability, mutual submission, forgiveness, reconciliation, restoration.
Like the blind who, because of Jesus, can now see, will the disciples' eyes (will our eyes?) be opened to see more clearly what it means to follow Him, and will we still follow (20:29-34)?
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