October 6, 2013 - Are Christians Christ-like?
Posted on October 1, 2013 by faithlens
Contributed by Jen Krausz, Bethlehem, PA
Warm-up Question
Contributed by Jen Krausz, Bethlehem, PA
Warm-up Question
- What do you consider great faith or devotion to look like?
Are Christians Christ-like?
Throughout his ministry, Jesus repeatedly criticized the religious leaders of his time, the Pharisees, for being self-righteous and judgmental of others, while not seeing their own sins. The Pharisees loudly condemned people for breaking God’s laws and made it clear that they were different, were more righteous. Jesus, on the other hand, did not hesitate to spend time with sinners and eat with them if it gave him an opportunity to show God’s love to them and gently encourage them to follow God’s ways. With sinners who knew their broken state, Jesus was merciful. On the arrogant Pharisees, he heaped contempt and judgment.
A recent study by Barna Group shows that while some Christians model Christ-like attitudes and behaviors, many are more like the Pharisees in their viewpoints and actions. 51% of the self-identified Christians surveyed had behaviors and attitudes consistent with those of the Pharisees, such as avoiding those people they consider to be sinful and thinking that “people who follow God’s rules are better than people who do not.”
Only 14% of self-identified Christians had behaviors and attitudes consistent with those Jesus modeled during his life (as written about in the scriptures), such as caring about persons for who they are rather than what they’ve done and having compassion for people doing immoral things. A slightly higher percentage, about 21%, had a mixture of attitudes and behaviors, some Christ-like and some Pharisaic.
In a time when many people outside the Christian church consider Christians to be hypocrites, it is significant to consider whether our attitudes and actions mirror Jesus or a group for whom he had many harsh words.
Discussion Questions
- When you look around at the Christians you know, do they seem more like the Pharisees (focused on rules and appearances) or like Jesus (focused on God’s love and on showing compassion to others)?
- What steps do you think your church could take to be more Christ-like?
- Many non-Christians see Christians as being hypocrites. How do you think Jesus would answer such an accusation?
- What is the difference between accepting a person as they are and accepting an immoral behavior? Can we as Christians “love the sinner but hate the sin”? How?
Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4 2 Timothy 1:1-14 Luke 17:5-10
Discussion Questions
- If faith only counts when it is backed up by actions, do you consider yourself a person with great faith or little faith? Why?
- Why is it so difficult for the church as a whole to follow Jesus’ example?
- Why is it difficult for you to follow Jesus’ example?
- What steps could you take to be more Christ-like in your daily life? Do these steps seem difficult or easy? Why?
- In most parts of the country, the weather is changing from summer into fall. What a great time to take a prayer walk, enjoy God’s creation, and draw near to God. Thank God for making everything, and ask God to reveal what you can do to impact the world around you for Christ.
- With your class or youth group, explore the attitudes Jesus would have toward different groups of people you come into contact with regularly. What would Jesus think of the cheerleaders? Of the football players? Of the kids on the fringe of middle or high school life? How do you think Jesus would want you to approach them with the love of God? Try to come up with some concrete ideas for actions to take.
What is Faith?
posted by David Lose on Oct 3, 2013 in Theology In the gospel reading that many of us will hear this coming Sunday – Luke 17:5-10 – the disciples plead with Jesus to give them more faith. That may sound like an odd request to us, but Jesus has just been telling them there will be times when they will need to forgive someone over and over again. And if you’ve ever had to do that, you probably understand the urgent nature of their request! Interestingly, Jesus kind of throws their request back in their face. If you had only a speck of faith, he says, you’d be able to do unimaginable things. And then he invites the disciples to consider whether servants expect to be thanked for doing what they are supposed to do. Given that the anticipated answer is probably “of course not,” we might conclude that Jesus is saying that the disciples should stop worrying about whether they have enough faith and just get to the business at hand. Which got me thinking: might “faithfulness” simply being doing what we see needs to be done? Maybe faith doesn’t have to be heroic – going to another country to serve as a doctor or missionary. Maybe faith doesn’t even have to be particularly religious? Maybe faith is just being attentive to the needs around us and committing ourselves to doing what we can with what we’ve got, trusting that God will make use of it. My friend Jenee Woodard, who runs The Text This Week – an awesome website that almost every preacher I know turns to — sent me a link to the following video in relation to this passage. It’s about some folks in Detroit who noticed the city wasn’t able to mow the parks in their area any more. And instead of complaining, or shaking their heads, or writing an editorial, or just getting depressed…instead of all those perfectly understandable things, they just did something about it. Maybe this is faithfulness. And maybe, when you think about it this way, we each have all the faith we need. So what do you think faith is? And what do you see around you that needs to be done? Or, maybe more importantly, where do you see folks just doing the stuff that needs to be done and how might you name that as – and maybe even thank them for their – faithfulness. If you want to tell your stories in the comments below, I know a few Working Preachers who will be grateful for what you share. ☺ Thanks. |
Here is a playground when the Mower Gang arrived.
Here it is done. New swings and a fresh mow. Pow!
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Closing Prayer
Lord God, bring us into an ever deeper relationship with you. We pray that we would allow that relationship to transform us to be more like your son, Jesus. Help us to take Jesus’ attitudes and actions into the world around us and love people with your love. Amen. |