Sermon Discussion- a new wednesday 'regular'

I'm happy to introduce this regular Wednesday addition to the blog: notes that will help you discuss the teaching that's coming up at Bethany. The notes and questioned will be centered on the upcoming sermon, so that you'll be able to prepare if you'd like and discuss prior - or debrief and discuss after.

Enjoy... and if you're just visiting for the first time today... don't miss the entry from earlier in the day about the economic meltdown. It's just below this one.

Study Notes and Questions for 08 – September 21

Title: All for Believing

Text: Hebrews 11:1-2

Over the doorway to our chapel there’s a marvelous wood plaque which reads, “In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity.” It’s a wonderful sentiment and has been instrumental in providing the wide tent that is Bethany, for nearly one hundred years. Still, the frequently asked question is: “…but what are the essentials?” Throughout the history of the church, fractures between God’s people have occurred precisely because one group viewed something as essential and another group disagreed.

As people carrying the name of Jesus become increasingly fractured and antagonistic towards one another, the very unity for which Jesus prayed, the unity which he declared would be the validating testimony of His reality, becomes elusive. We who gather within the walls of Bethany don’t gather in name of John Calvin, or Martin Luther, or even in the name of Peter the Apostle, but in the name of Christ. And though the global church has been fractured, and re-fractured down through the ages, we stand in the life giving and healing waters of Christ’s life to the extent that we believe and live our lives on the basis of the most foundational doctrines which have contributed, not to the church’s division, but its unity. It is those beliefs that are found in the Apostles Creed. Dating back to the earliest days of the church, this simple declaration of the faith clearly articulates what the “essentials” are which becomes the basis of our shared fellowship.

1. What’s your response to the charge that “creeds are divisive”. Do you agree or disagree? Why not, instead, “imagine no religion” as the Beatles did?
2. In the past, when scientific methods held absolute sway in the Western World, people were less willing to hold any convictions requiring faith. With the unraveling of scientific certainty, there’s now a general sense among all people that faith is required in order to hold any conviction, whether concerning the resurrection or the laws of aerodynamics. What is the relationship of faith and evidence in your convictions regarding Jesus? What kind of evidence do you respond to?
3. If you buy a certain car, you suddenly see that car everywhere. The Bible seems to teach that the same dynamic comes into play with God. Those who believe God is active in history see God’s activity; others don’t. Is such ‘seeing’ wishful thinking or are the skeptics blind?
4. The word “belief” must be taken to mean more than mental ascent. Our culture is filled with examples of presuming that intent is adequate. We ‘intend’ to exercise. We ‘intend’ to begin saving. We ‘intend’ to give, serve, reconcile. Yet, it’s often the case that intention never comes to the fruition of real action. Why is this? What can be done to help with intentions?
5. The last point of the sermon is that the object of our faith is more important than the quantity of faith. Agree or disagree? What are some common false objects of faith in our culture, in the church, in your life?