© 2008 Ryan

Easter

  1. Personal Reflection – We are called to be agents of change. What is your influence? Do you change your environment by being there?

    My area of influence seems very small to me. I know and am around a lot of people every day, but I don’t seem to make a great impact where I am. I make a dent, but that’s about all. I want to make a larger impact on those around me. I have two problems:
    1. I am not constant in prayer and so don’t always know how the Lord wants me involved.
    2. A lot of the people I’m around that don’t know Christ don’t think they have any needs or at least won’t recognize that they are in need.
    How does one combat this? Obviously, a Christian must be constant in prayer9. Other than that, I can only follow the Spirit and continue to witness in and out of season as I am able. In order to follow the Spirit, I must seek Him and surrender all that I may be filled by Him. This I find difficult because I’m too much like Martha and need to be more like Mary10.

  2. Kingdom Reflection – How does our study of the characteristics of the Kingdom of Heaven affect this teaching? How does it make you think of this passage (Matthew 5:13) differently? How does it reinforce your previous thoughts on this passage?

    Salt has many uses and properties. While salt may be abrasive and is sometimes desired for this quality, it is more often used to change something for the better, preserve it from rotting, or keep something from clinging to another object. As Christians, we should be willing to call out sin and call people to repentance, but we must do this just as Christ did it–with love and out of compassion for the person. Our motive should not be to save them, for only Christ can do that. Instead, our desire should be to offer others the very same deliverance we ourselves received from Christ. We are only sinners by the grace of God. We did not save ourselves; we were delivered from death by Christ’s payment11.

  3. Theological Issue – When we are called to confront how do we determine what really matters from what only seems to matter?

    Only one thing matters: Jesus Christ12. “Everything we say and do has to pass through the lens of the cross of Christ” 13.

  4. Artifact Issue – In our current context (given our environment and our size) what issue/s should Artifact set as our priority? How should we be attempting to influence it/them?

    We are to be about the business of salvation. That is always our goal. In our specific case, we all had this as a goal, each with a specific group of people in mind. We should seek the lost for whom we have been given compassion, and do this to meet needs, not just to teach about Christ. Bible studies aren’t what’s needed. We need to be about salvation–witnessing, introducing people to Christ, and bringing them along with us as we continue on our journey after Christ. We must also strive to live the kingdom of heaven. Is it not at hand even now? Then let us live it that others may see that they, too, may live in the kingdom. All people share a hope for joy and rejoicing, peace, authority/rule, justice/righteousness, and comfort/shepherding. People even desire deliverance and salvation, though of all this is possibly the most twisted and/or denied.

  5. Cultural Issue – In this election season what political issue/s is most in need of a Christian influence? How should we attempt to influence it/them?

    Helping the poor, health care, abortion… many should be provided by the Church, but we have historically failed. We have failed so badly in fact that most would shun the counsel and help of the Church for fear of judgment, not help. This must change, and we must be willing to be the pebble to start the avalanche.
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02 Mar This entry was written by Ryan, posted on March 2, 2008 at 5:11 pm, filed under Christianity and tagged , , , . Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Both comments and trackbacks are currently closed.

3 Comments

  1. chadNo Gravatar
    Posted March 3, 2008 at 12:24 am | #

    Ryan,

    Love your use of the scripture in your answere. I really enjoyed our discussion tonight and I am going to spend some time going through the scripture you have marked here and then I will offer a more thorough response.

    chad

  2. chadNo Gravatar
    Posted March 3, 2008 at 3:45 pm | #

    OK here are a few more thoughts.

    On your personal reflection I have two thoughts.

    First, (andI gathered this from our discussion last night) it is not so much prayer that we need but meditation. Prayer is often chatter and noise, but I think we could all use times of silence and/or listening. Times of immersion in the Word. Times of allowing God to speak to us, not for us to make requests from God.

    Second, I would warn against being so negative of our own impact. We all should want to make an impact and should never feel satisfied with how much we are doing. So this can lead us to become Martha instead of Mary. Paul in 2 Corinthians 3 talks to the church about them being their letters of recommendations. I think those whom we have influenced may be more qualified to answer the question of our impact than we are. They are living testimonies of our influence “…written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God…”

  3. RyanNo Gravatar
    Posted March 4, 2008 at 9:35 am | #

    I agree with you, Chad. Your explanation of what is needed in the first part of your response is what I meant by prayer (Luke 6:12, 11:1, and others). I don’t usually think of prayer as always talking, though that is often what I end up doing. :)

    On your second point, I also agree. I think there is a difference, though, in a negative view of our impact and a joyful conviction that one’s impact is not what it ought to be. I’ve experienced the latter. I have nothing but joy in realizing I could do more. It’s been freeing for me, and I am excited to spend more time with the Lord so that I may be more like Him and thus impact more for Him.