Topics – Fear, Love, Non-Violence, Prayer, Peace
When we experience the peace of God, it frees us from fear and the temptation to take matters into our own hands.
Focus Scripture – Luke 22:47-53HIDESHOW
47 While he was still speaking a crowd came up, and the man who was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him, 48 but Jesus asked him, "Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?"
49 When Jesus' followers saw what was going to happen, they said, "Lord, should we strike with our swords?" 50 And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear.
51 But Jesus answered, "No more of this!" And he touched the man's ear and healed him.
52 Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple guard, and the elders, who had come for him, "Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come with swords and clubs? 53 Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour—when darkness reigns."
49 When Jesus' followers saw what was going to happen, they said, "Lord, should we strike with our swords?" 50 And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear.
51 But Jesus answered, "No more of this!" And he touched the man's ear and healed him.
52 Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple guard, and the elders, who had come for him, "Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come with swords and clubs? 53 Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour—when darkness reigns."
Extended SummaryHIDESHOW
Read the passages listed in the key scriptures for this week. These are the texts Greg referred to as he laid out three aspects of our fallen condition. As you read these texts, consider this question: “Why is the command to love enemies and refuse to participate in violence so rarely preached and practiced?”
We don’t trust God:
By asking for a human king, the Israelites demonstrated that they didn’t trust God to be their king. When we put human beings in charge of our nations we are doing the same thing that Israel did.
We take matters into our own hands:
Inevitably, once we stop trusting God to have a plan for the good of all creation we need an alternate plan. And we are quick to create our own. But since we don’t have all of the information God has (and we couldn’t possibly process it if we did!) we are bound to fail to act for the good of all creation. Our actions consistently have consequences that we didn’t anticipate or intend. One example Greg gave of this was the how the Crusades of the Middle Ages helped create entire cultures of people that identify Christianity with anti-Muslim violence. Another example that Greg cited are the “Christians” who commemorated 9/11 by burning copies of the Quran. This too will have unintended consequences like helping turn moderate Muslims into terrorists who will in turn kill more US citizens. Things do not go well when we take matters into our own hands.
We fear:
On some level, we know that the above two things are true. We know we are not competent to run the world ourselves. Because we don’t trust God and we take things into our own hands we are bound to live in fear.
We don’t trust God:
By asking for a human king, the Israelites demonstrated that they didn’t trust God to be their king. When we put human beings in charge of our nations we are doing the same thing that Israel did.
We take matters into our own hands:
Inevitably, once we stop trusting God to have a plan for the good of all creation we need an alternate plan. And we are quick to create our own. But since we don’t have all of the information God has (and we couldn’t possibly process it if we did!) we are bound to fail to act for the good of all creation. Our actions consistently have consequences that we didn’t anticipate or intend. One example Greg gave of this was the how the Crusades of the Middle Ages helped create entire cultures of people that identify Christianity with anti-Muslim violence. Another example that Greg cited are the “Christians” who commemorated 9/11 by burning copies of the Quran. This too will have unintended consequences like helping turn moderate Muslims into terrorists who will in turn kill more US citizens. Things do not go well when we take matters into our own hands.
We fear:
On some level, we know that the above two things are true. We know we are not competent to run the world ourselves. Because we don’t trust God and we take things into our own hands we are bound to live in fear.
Practical Applications (homework)HIDESHOW
Why is it so hard for us to embrace Jesus’ teaching about non-violence? What is it that moves us away from peace and actually motivates us to take charge through violence? Often we tend to act violently toward ourselves and toward others because we want to control things. We live in a world that does not trust God and so sometimes it may feel necessary to “take matters into our own hands” even though God calls us to be filled with peace.:
- During the sermon there may have been times that your initial reaction was something like, “This is taking the whole peace thing too far,” or “Isn’t it the responsible thing to impose good in evil situations?” Try to keep an open mind, but don’t discount what is going on in your heart. Reflect on that initial reaction. Ask yourself a few questions like: Where is that reaction coming from? What exactly am I feeling when you have that reaction? Is that reaction rooted in a trust of God? To what degree is fear involved with my reaction?
- Write down your responses and reflections. Write freely, allowing your feelings and thoughts to come out. Take your time as you listen to what is going on inside of you. If you need to come back and reflect on this, feel free to do so.
- Offer what you have written to God. Ask him to take your honest thoughts and show you what he is doing in the midst of them. Ask him to show you where you are trusting him and where you are walking in fear. Allow the Spirit to bring healing as you sit with God and listen.
- To take this an a step further, meet with a couple of friends and discuss what you are seeing and hearing the Lord say.
Reflection QuestionsHIDESHOW
- What stood out to you most from this message and the supporting texts?
- Return to the question that Greg started out with: “Why is the command to love enemies and refuse to participate in violence so rarely preached and practiced?” How do the three aspects discussed above related to this question?
- Read Is. 40:13-15; Is. 26:3 and Phil. 4:5-7 again. What are these texts calling us to do?
- Take some time to reflect on things in your life that are stressing you. Is the stress a result of your “taking things into your own hands”? If so, what would trusting God with this look like for you? How could the group support you in this? Give each person a chance to share.
- What areas of the group’s life could use more peace? What would “trusting God” look like in that area?