Thursday
Evening Bible Study
May
22, 2014
Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel
preached? Does it address the person who is: Empty, lonely, guilty, or afraid
to die? Does it speak to the broken
hearted? Does it build up the church? Milk – Meat – Manna Preach for a decision
Is the church loved? Target 4400 words
The Melody
As I was praying over what to teach over the next couple of weeks, I had
the strangest melody going through my head.
It was an old melody. It was a
VERY old melody.
The words in the song are based on an encounter that Mary Magdalene had
with Jesus.
(John 20:1-2
NKJV) —1 Now the first day of the week
Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that
the stone had been taken away from the tomb. 2 Then she ran and came to Simon
Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They
have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have
laid Him.”
3 Peter therefore went out, and the other
disciple, and were going to the tomb. 4 So they
both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb
first. 5 And he, stooping
down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there; yet he did not go
in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and
went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying there, 7
and the handkerchief that had been around
His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by
itself. 8 Then the other
disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw and believed. 9
For as yet they
did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. 10
Then the disciples went away again to
their own homes.
John then records how he and Peter ran to the tomb and found it empty…
(John 20:11-17
NKJV) —11 But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept she
stooped down and looked into the tomb. 12 And she saw two angels in white
sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had
lain. 13 Then they
said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do
not know where they have laid Him.” 14 Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus
standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said
to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” She,
supposing Him to be the gardener, said to Him, “Sir, if You
have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him
away.” 16 Jesus said
to her, “Mary!”
She turned and said to Him, “Rabboni!” (which is to say, Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, “Do not cling
to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say
to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and
your God.’ ”
All of this took place near where Jesus was buried, in a garden.
The song I kept humming was written in 1912 by a fellow who (C. Austin Miles 1868-1946) was a
pharmacist turned hymn writer and church music director. He was also an amateur
photographer. One day in March, 1912, while in the dark room of his dreary
leaky basement, waiting for film to develop, had a profound spiritual
experience in which he saw an incredible vision of Mary Magdalene visiting the
empty tomb.
C. Austin Miles explained … Out of the mists of the garden comes a form,
halting, hesitating, tearful, seeking, turning from side to side in bewildering
amazement. Falteringly, bearing grief in every accent, with tear-dimmed eyes,
she whispers, If thou hast borne him hence… He speaks, and the sound of His
voice is so sweet the birds hush their singing. Jesus said to her, Mary! Just
one word from his lips, and forgotten the heartaches, the long dreary
hours….all the past blotted out in the presence of the Living Present and the
Eternal Future.
Here’s the words to the song I’ve been humming:
In the Garden, Charles A. Miles,
1912
I come to the garden alone,
While the dew is still on the roses,
And the voice I hear falling on my ear
The Son of God discloses.
And He walks with me, and He talks
with me,
And He tells me I am His own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.
He speaks, and the sound of His voice
Is so sweet the birds hush their singing,
And the melody that He gave to me
Within my heart is ringing.
And He walks with me, and He talks
with me,
And He tells me I am His own;
And the joy we share as we tarry
there,
None other has ever known.
I don’t know if I can explain it, but it seems to me that the heart of this
song is about a person who is deeply in love with their Lord.
He walks with me. He talks with
me. He tells me I am His own.
My desire over the next couple of weeks is to encourage us to cultivate and
stir up a fresh, deeper love for God.
Relationships change
Sometimes it seems like we fall in love, things get in the way, and then
one day the love is gone.
The movie “The Notebook” is about a young couple who fall in love, and then
through a series of events get separated.
She’s upper class and he’s not.
He writes her letters, and her parents intercept the letters. She meets another guy. He waits for her.
Then they meet again several years later.
I want to take a few weeks and talk about love, but I want to focus on our
love for God.
I don’t know where you are in your relationship with God, but it’s not
uncommon for believers to go through periods of time where we simply don’t
“love” God like we used to.
Jesus wrote a letter to the church at Ephesus:
(Revelation 2:2–5
NKJV) —2 “I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot
bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who
say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; 3 and you
have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have
not become weary. 4 Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left
your first love. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the
first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from
its place—unless you repent.
The church in Ephesus was known for their good deeds. They were known for their purity of doctrine
– having discernment and being able to identify false teachers.
Yet they had left their “first love”.
I often think of “first love” being that first person that you fell in love
with romantically.
first – protos – first in time or place; first in rank
The word could refer to that “first” person you ever fell
in love with.
I think it probably refers to loving that person who ought
to be at the top of your list to be in love with.
It’s about priorities.
First Things First
There is an Old Testament verse that we all ought to be familiar with.
(Deuteronomy
6:4–5 NKJV) —4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord
our God, the Lord is one! 5 You shall
love the Lord your God with all
your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
love – ‘ahab
– to love; human love for or to God; God’s love toward man
heart – lebab – mind, will, heart, soul, understanding
soul – nephesh – soul, mind, desire, emotion, passion
strength – me’od – muchness, force, abundance
Jesus thought this verse was crucial to a person’s relationship with God.
(Matthew 22:34–40 NKJV) —34 But when
the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.
35 Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him
a question, testing Him, and saying, 36 “Teacher,
which is the great commandment in the law?”
37 Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the
Lord your God with all your
heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
38 This is the first and great
commandment. 39 And the
second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40
On these two commandments hang all the
Law and the Prophets.”
(Luke 10:25–28 NKJV) —25 And
behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall
I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said
to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?”
27 So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul,
with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as
yourself.’ ” 28 And He
said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.”
(Mark 12:28–31
NKJV) —28 Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning
together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, “Which is the
first commandment of all?” 29 Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear,
O Israel, the Lord our God,
the Lord is one. 30 And you
shall love the Lord your
God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your
mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. 31 And the
second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
There is no other commandment greater than these.”
:30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with
all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is
the first commandment.
love – agapao – (the verb is future
indicative, not imperative). This
is a love based on the will more than the emotions. It is a choice to place
value on another person or thing.
with – ek – out of; it speaks of the “source” of where the love is coming
from
This word is found in each of the four following phrases. The source of our love for God ought to be in
our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
all – holos – all, whole, completely
This word is also found in all four phrases. Our goal is not “half” a heart, but a whole
heart.
heart – kardia – the heart; we could see this as the “control” center of the
person, where your “will” springs from.
This is the Greek translation for lebab in Deuteronomy.
soul – psuche – breath; the soul; the seat of the feelings, desires, affections
This is the Greek translation for the word nephesh in Deuteronomy.
mind – dianoia – the mind as a faculty of understanding
This word doesn’t seem to be a direct translation from Deuteronomy, but
would seem to be an extra word added by Jesus, though it is fully in line with
the words lebab
and nephesh.
It’s hard to separate the spirit, soul, heart, and mind.
We tend to have our English definitions in mind when using these words, but
in the Hebrew and Greek the words seem to overlap.
Illustration
We need to avoid the “TV Dinner” mentality.
A TV dinner has each item in a separate compartment. Instead, we ought to work at developing the “Chicken
Potpie” mentality in our relationship with the Lord. Our love for the Lord should have everything
thrown into the mix at once. It’s hard
to separate the mind from the soul and the heart.
strength – ischus – ability, strength, might
This is the word translating me’od, though the LXX uses the word dunameos.
The Greek language has six distinct words that can all be translated
“strength” in English.
first – protos – first in time or place; first in rank
This is the same word used in Revelation 2:4 as “first” love.
When we talk about returning to our “first” love, we are talking about
returning to the love that ought to be first place in our heart.
Put it all together: God’s
primary desire for us is to choose to place a high value on Him with a love
that comes out of a complete commitment of our will, a love that comes out of
all of our emotions, a love that comes from all of our mind, and a love that
comes from all of our physical being.
Lesson
Love from Choices
Question: Do I show my love for
God by the choices I make? (all my heart)
Examples:
The Ephesians learned to make choices:
(Acts
19:18–20 NLT) —18 Many who
became believers confessed their sinful practices. 19 A number
of them who had been practicing sorcery brought their incantation books and
burned them at a public bonfire. The value of the books was several million
dollars. 20 So the
message about the Lord spread widely and had a powerful effect.
The Ephesian people made a choice to serve God rather than
Satan and that choice caused them to burn their magic stuff.
Illustration
Someone wrote … Michael is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always
in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask
him how he was doing, he would reply, “If I were any better, I would be twins!”
He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day Michael was
there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.
Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Michael and
asked him, “I don’t get it! You can’t be a positive person all of the time. How
do you do it?” Michael replied, “Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you
have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose
to be in a bad mood. I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad
happens, I can choose to be a victim or...I can choose to learn from it. I
choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can
choose to accept their complaining or...I can point out the positive side of
life. I choose the positive side of life. “Yeah, right, it’s not that easy,” I
protested. “Yes, it is,” Michael said. “Life is all about choices. When you cut
away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to
situations You choose how people affect your mood. You
choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It’s your choice how
you live your life.” I reflected on what Michael said. Soon hereafter, I left
the Tower Industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought
about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.
Several years later, I heard that Michael was involved in a serious accident,
falling some 60 feet from a communications tower. After 18 hours of surgery and
weeks of intensive care, Michael was released from the hospital with rods
placed in his back. I saw Michael about six months after the accident. When I
asked him how he was, he replied. “If I were any better, I’d be twins. Wanna see my scars?” I declined to see his wounds, but I
did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place. “The
first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon to be born
daughter,” Michael replied. “Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that
had two choices: I could choose to live or... I could choose to die. I chose to
live.” “Weren’t you scared? Did you lose consciousness?” I asked. Michael
continued, “...the paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to
be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the
faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read
“he’s a dead man. I knew I needed to take action.” “What did you do?” I asked.
“Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me,” said Michael.
“She asked if I was allergic to anything. “Yes, I replied.” The doctors and
nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and
yelled, “Gravity.” Over their laughter, I told them, “I am choosing to live.
Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.” Michael lived, thanks to the skill
of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him
that every day we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is
everything.
I’m not sure that Michael or the writer is a Christian, but they do set the
example about choices. Do you choose to
value God in the choices you make?
Lesson
Love from my emotions (soul)
Question: Do I love God through
all of my emotions?
Not just with the “happy” emotions, but with the difficult ones as well.
Not too many people have had lives as difficult as Job. He lost his
possessions, his children, and his health. Yet he still worshipped God.
(Job 1:20–21
NKJV) —20 Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to
the ground and worshiped. 21 And he said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked
shall I return there. The Lord gave, and
the Lord has taken away; Blessed be
the name of the Lord.”
Matt Redman wrote the song:
Blessed be Your name
In the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance
flow
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be Your name
When I'm found in
the desert place
Though I walk
through the wilderness
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be Your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's all as it should be
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be Your name
On the road marked
with suffering
Though there's
pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name
Every blessing You pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say “Blessed be the name of the Lord”
I can choose to love God despite the circumstances I’m in and the emotions
that can follow.
Lesson
Love from my mind
Question: Do I show my love for
God with how I use my mind?
Examples:
This man asking the questions of Jesus (Mark 12) is close. Jesus was
impressed with this man’s intelligent answers (vs. 34)
The Bereans were also people who used their
minds:
(Acts
17:11 NKJV) These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that
they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to
find out whether these things were so.
Some folks have this notion that becoming a Christian means you have to
surrender your ability to think and become part of some mindless mass of
unthinking, submissive zombies. Perhaps we get this idea because the Scripture
talks about how God uses the foolish things to confound the wise.
But in reality, there is nothing more intelligent than Christian thinking.
In history, God has used great minds like Blaise Paschal and Isaac Newton to
change the world. In more contemporary times, minds like C.S. Lewis, Charles
Colson, and Dallas Willard will challenge the smartest brains.
Lesson
Love with my body (strength)
Question: Do I show my love for
God with how I use my body?
God is concerned with how we use our bodies.
(1 Corinthians
6:12–20 NLT) —12 You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is good
for you. And even though “I am allowed to do anything,” I must not become a
slave to anything. 13 You say, “Food was made for the stomach, and the stomach for food.”
(This is true, though someday God will do away with both of them.) But you
can’t say that our bodies were made for sexual immorality. They were made for
the Lord, and the Lord cares about our bodies. 14 And God will raise us from the
dead by his power, just as he raised our Lord from the dead. 15 Don’t you
realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ? Should a man take his
body, which is part of Christ, and join it to a prostitute? Never! 16 And don’t
you realize that if a man joins himself to a prostitute, he becomes one body
with her? For the Scriptures say, “The two are united into one.” 17 But the
person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him. 18 Run from
sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body
as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. 19 Don’t you
realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and
was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God
bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.
Jesus said,
(John 14:15 NKJV)
“If you love Me, keep My commandments.
Jesus said that our love for God can be observed or
measured in how we keep or not keep His commandments.
Love for God translates into obedience to God.
Obedience is connected to what we do with our bodies.
Lesson
Priorities
When Matthew records the encounter Jesus had with this scribe (Mark 12), he
wrote Jesus saying one more thing…
(Matthew 22:34–40
NKJV) —34 But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees,
they gathered together. 35 Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing
Him, and saying, 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” 37 Jesus said
to him, ‘You shall love the Lord
your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all
your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the
second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these
two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
The Law of Moses contained hundreds of “commandments”.
Yet Jesus is saying that if you want to simplify all the commandments, it’s
all about correctly loving God and loving our neighbor.
I think you could simplify it even further. It’s all about loving God.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that we should only
focus on having an emotional experience with God.
Loving God is more than an emotional experience. It’s way deeper.
If you look to the commandments in the Scriptures, they
are part of how we could define loving God.
If you truly love God correctly, you will find yourself
doing all the kinds of things that the Scriptures are commanding us to do.
I think that we will be spending our whole lives learning
how to love God correctly.
Gardening
Lesson
Cultivation
Love is something that must be cultivated.
It’s not a static thing. It can grow
or shrink.
It’s like a garden.
Gardens need to be weeded.
There are things that will pop up that need to be pulled
out by the roots.
If you stop cultivating it, the weeds take over.
Gardens need to be nourished.
You need to water and feed the plants in your garden.
It is important in our relationships with people – we need to cultivate a
healthy love for others.
It is especially important in marriage.
There are going to be weeds that pop up every once in a while that need to
be removed.
You also need to find out what will nourish, feed, and water your marriage.
Your wedding ceremony wasn’t the top of the hill and you are now going to
coast downhill for the rest of your life.
Your wedding was the bottom of the hill and you will need to learn to pedal
pretty hard at times to keep climbing the hill.
It is important with God.
There are going to be things that will start growing in your life that are
going to damage your relationship with God.
Learn how to pull them out by the roots before they take over the garden.
There are practices you need to take hold of in your life, things that will
feed and water your relationship with God.
This is what we’ll be looking at over the next week or so.
Look back at:
(Revelation 2:4–5
NKJV) —4 Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left
your first love. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the
first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from
its place—unless you repent.
Jesus told the church to do three things:
Remember
They need to think about when things used to be
better. Is there a time you loved God
more than you do today?
Repent
There are things that have crept into your life that have
come between you and God.
These are the “weeds” in the garden that are going to need
to be removed.
Re-do
Do the first works.
That’s the “fertilizer”, the nourishment your garden needs.
Do the things that are connected to the “first love”.
Serving and Sitting
Lesson
Listen
Mary and Martha
(Luke 10:38–42
NKJV) —38 Now it happened as they went that He
entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into
her house. 39 And she
had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. 40 But Martha
was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?
Therefore tell her to help me.” 41 And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are
worried and troubled about many things. 42 But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which
will not be taken away from her.”
Serving is a good thing.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that Martha was the
“bad” sister.
But sometimes we need to stop serving and just sit at His feet and listen
to His Word.
Does your love for the Lord need some refreshing?
Give Him some time this week. Sit at
His feet. Listen to His Word.
Take a moment to think about what you might want to do this week to
cultivate your love for the Lord.
Praying for each other. Groups of four. Pray that your partner would grow in their
love for God.