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The Resurrection – 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

In America, we don’t deal with death particularly well. We’ll check the funeral box and then move on, bottling up our emotions and distracting ourselves with gadgets and material goods. All this, despite the fact that the one thing that most clearly and distinctly binds us together is our common fate. Death is coming for all of us, and with very few exceptions, there will be no sign that we ever existed.

But there is something beyond death, which Paul addresses here. Paul wrote this part of his epistle to correct misconceptions about the resurrection of Christ held by the Corinthians, influenced by various strains of both Jewish and Greek thought. Specifically, there were likely many in the church who doubted the bodily resurrection of Christ. Paul attacks this misconception ferociously.

Paul may in fact be quoting from an early creed in verses 3 & 4, one that may date from shortly after the ascension. He then goes on to tally up the hundreds of people who saw the resurrected Christ, ending with his own encounter with the risen savior on the road to Damascus. Everyone who saw Him was left changed. Once you see, you can’t unsee. As Philip Yancey writes:

“If I take Easter as the starting point, the one incontrovertible fact about how God treats those he loves, then human history becomes the contradiction and Easter a preview of ultimate reality. Hope then flows like lava beneath the crust of daily life.

“This, perhaps, describes the change in the disciples’ perspective as they sat in locked rooms discussing the incomprehensible events of Easter Sunday. In one sense nothing had changed: Rome still occupied Palestine, religious authorities still had a bounty on their heads, death and evil still reigned outside. Gradually, however, the shock of recognition gave way to a long slow undertow of joy. If God could do that…”

The resurrection is the focal point of the redemption of both creation and of our own broken souls. It reverses the sin curse of Genesis 3.

But it did not wipe out sin and death immediately. It is a light shining in the darkness and a promise of the ultimate victory of that light. If we try to shine our own light, we are only perpetuating that darkness. The resurrection is the light that can pierce the shadows of this life.

The resurrection is the foundation of the Christian faith. We cannot let it sit on the shelf as a dusty doctrine. The resurrection is our active, living connection to the love of God. It is the defeat of death, the key to God’s kingdom and the pathway to an abundant life in the here and now. It is there for the taking if we believe in our hearts and confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord.

– Sermon Notes, Dave Lester, Seed Church, Lynnwood, WA, October 15, 2017

1 Corinthians 15:1-11

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Spiritual Gifts, pt 2: Using Your Gifts – 1 Corinthians 12:12-31

This passage is not about people trying to find their gifts, but rather about a church riven by jealousy and competition in the realm of gifts. Corinthian paganism was marked by ecstatic experiences, and there were some gifts that seemed to mirror this, but not all.

These differences were seized upon by the various factions in the church to add to the dissension. This obviously misses the point of spiritual gifts, but there is a place for trying to understand our own gifts. We all are connected to God’s spiritual network and all contribute in different ways. What is natural to you? What energizes you or stresses you out? Where have you been effective in the past? It isn’t necessarily the same as what you enjoy or even where your method is impeccable, but about the results the Holy Spirit brings about through your service.

Note that spiritual gifts are different than spiritual disciplines. The latter, we are all expected to do, though there are gifts that overlap with disciplines, such as prayer and encouragement.

So back to what Paul really is talking about. He addresses two temptations he wants the Corinthians to stop falling for: rugged individualism and gift envy. Some people look at the church and, being insecure, decide that it does not need their gifts.

Others do not work in the church at all so that they do not see it or otherwise neglect their gifts. Sometimes, churches do not give people sufficient opportunity to exercise their gifts, whether it doesn’t fit into pre-existing boxes or only fits into certain roles that are already filled. Others look at the church and, being prideful, decide that they don’t need the church’s gifts. This means that their gifts aren’t represented in the church, which means other people have to step into gifts that are not theirs, leading to burn out and collapse.

Paul’s point is that the gifts that are seen as less important are actually vital, and no individual, no matter how impressive their gifts seem to be, is complete without the rest of the body. This means that “gift envy” can be just as damaging as individualism.

Paul lists a number of gifts, not in order of importance, but rather chronologically, starting with the opening of the church by the apostles and moving through the other gifts that became necessary as the church progressed. The church would not function if all of these gifts were not in play.

So, when people in the church are seeking after specific, more highly honored gifts rather than living in their own gifts, again, we get gifts lacking in the church and dysfunction, not to mention the problem that envy itself brings along with it.

Then we get to verse 31, and it seems a bit unclear. Paul has just been saying that all the gifts are a result of grace, not our desire, and that all the gifts are vital. Then, suddenly, he tells us to desire greater gifts? Most likely, this is sarcasm from Paul, again, rebuking the Corinthians, again. “You eagerly desire the ‘greater gifts’ – but I’m going to show you something better.”

There is nothing wrong with trying to get better at something or even desiring particular roles. But we are not to see some gifts as better than others, or to feel pride for our own gifts or envy for others.

–Sermon Notes, Brent Rood, Seed Church, Lynnwood, WA

1 Corinthians 12:12-31

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Spiritual Gifts, pt 1: “Jesus is Lord” – 1 Corinthians 12:1-11

Humans, generally speaking, have an innate need purpose, whether consciously or unconsciously, whether in grand scale or small things. Knowing God gives us a leg up in this struggle for purpose, because we know the purpose of both our beginning and our ultimate end.

However, we also have our own individual purposes and spiritual gifts – this is made clear throughout the New Testament. This is not just saying that everyone has different abilities, tastes and talents. There is something else going on here – but there are some frustrations.

First, we don’t have a consistent list of gifts. Second, we don’t have descriptions of what most of these gifts mean – yet, somehow, we have books, inventories and tests that tell us in great detail about each of them. Third, it’s unclear what the difference​ is between spiritual gifts and natural talents. We may say that a teacher has the spiritual gift of teaching, but what about a mailman or a cook?

Another issue is that some of the gifts seem much more supernatural than others. The gift of prophecy, for example, seems a lot cooler than the gift of hospitality.

Then there is the question of gifts throughout history. Some people believe that all gifts ceased after the destruction of the temple in AD 70. Others believe that the church abandoned miraculous gifts until the mid-19th century and the development of the Pentecostal movement. Others believe that the miraculous gifts ended, but the others carry on.

So let’s go back to what Paul is saying, and to whom. He was speaking to people in a hierarchical society with limited options, where the notion of being unique and special was entirely new. He opens the conversation about “spirituals” – the word “gifts” has been added by translators clarity, but it could mean spiritual gifts or it could mean spiritual people – and it probably means both.

Paul then gives a framework for the conversation, first by comparing Christian versus pagan spirituality. False religion and spirituality mimic real religion and spirituality, but the key difference is the “mute idols” versus the Holy Spirit. Paganism is a narcissistic cycle where we create our own values and have them reflected back to us by our rituals and spiritual experiences. He goes on to center the contrast to that on the confession that “Jesus is Lord.”

This also gives us a center point to the discussion of spiritual gifts. The goal of these gifts, versus natural talents or abilities, is that they are designed to enable people to discover, know or remember that Jesus is Lord. There are different kinds of gifts (grace), service and workings (energizing).

The first gift given to Christians is the person of the Holy Spirit, as promised by Christ. That then leads to these other gifts, distributed by the Holy Spirit, for the purpose of community and unity among the people of God, again by returning our focus to the eternal truth, “Jesus is Lord.”

So are they separate from our own natural abilities? Probably not entirely. Remember that God directs our very creation and has a cosmic plan, so there is no reason not to believe that our genetics have some relationship to our ultimate spiritual gifts. At the same time, in many situations, that might not be the case. Many people have secular talents that do not translate to the spiritual realm, whereas many others have gifts that work in a spiritual way that could not possibly work in a purely secular realm.

Your spiritual gifts are those positive effects you have on others’ spiritual wholeness. Obedience is more important than gifting – if someone’s house is on fire, you don’t take a gifts assessment to see if you have the gift of rescuing. However, you should have some idea of your gifts. Just because you should rescue people when it becomes urgent, it doesn’t mean you should get in the way of trained firefighters.

Understanding your gifts will help you better recognize your purpose, organize your priorities, and serve God and others more effectively.

– Sermon Notes, Brent Rood, Seed Church, Lynnwood, WA

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

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What Does it Mean to be a Disciple? – John 4:1-10

What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus? This story tackles this question, with Samaritan woman as a model of discipleship.

At this time, Jesus is heading north out of Jerusalem after having knocked over tables and whipped people at the temple. It says that he “had to” go through Samaria. This could mean that he was specially directed to do this specific thing. More likely, though, this was a providential event – he has to go through because it was the quickest way and he was in a hurry. God used this mundane event to change an entire town.

So we find Jesus at a well asking for help. This is strange in a number of ways. He’s a single Jewish man at a Samaritan well, without any way to get water, asking a Samaritan woman to help out. Jesus quickly uses the water situation to create a metaphor.

Well water was stale, unmoving, while “living water” is water that moves, down from the mountains and hills. The idea that there is a secret source of pure, moving, living water was of great interest to her. Jesus uses her physical need in order to highlight her spiritual one.

Traditionally, this woman has been understood as a “loose woman” but given the penalties for adultery and her apparently positive reputation in the town, that may not be the case. More likely, she is stuck in an abusive system, divorced and discarded multiple times by men, and she is currently betrothed yet again.

Notably, when the discussion here moves from the physical to the spiritual, the woman does not lose interest. She recognizes her need in this area, and expresses her limited understanding of what God’s plan is, specifically bringing up a key point of contention between the Jews and the Samaritans. Jesus tells her that something new is coming that will deprecate both understandings. She also has some understanding of this, and knows from Old Testament prophecy that this is the sort of thing the Messiah will do – and then Jesus reveals that he himself is that messiah.

About this time, the disciples return, typically clueless and unclear on what Jesus is doing. The woman then runs off to tell about this remarkable man, even leaving her water jar, possibly her most valuable possession. Her paradigm has fully shifted from the physical to the spiritual. The disciples still don’t know what is happening and try to get him to eat.

Jesus, however, is still focused on the spiritual side. As he sees the people of the town streaming towards him, likely still dressed in their white work tunics, he shows the disciples what they should be focusing on: “look, the fields are white for harvest.” The goal is making disciples, bringing lost people to forgiveness and acceptance of Jesus.

Jesus invited the woman to meet the real God. He offered her freedom, showing her where in her life she was a slave. He helped her discover a greater purpose than carrying water. She then went on to make a difference, not through her own powers of persuasion, but rather as a conduit for what the Holy Spirit was already doing.

These are the same things we try to do as a church. We offer an opportunity to encounter the living God. We try to be a mechanism for bringing freedom from sin into people’s lives through sanctification. We help each other discover our purpose and develop meaning in our lives. Understanding this purpose is key to seeking freedom, providing a direction for our sanctification. Finally, we live out that purpose, and go out and make a direct impact on the lives of others.

– Sermon Notes, Brent Rood, Seed Church, Lynnwood, WA

John 4:1-10

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The Trouble with Kings – 1 Samuel 8:1-2

The Israelites had moved into the Promised Land, but had not fully taken possession of it, rather punching a hole into the heart of it. This meant they were surrounded by enemies, which caused problems throughout the book of Judges.

The last judge was Samuel, a prophet who communicated directly with God. But Samuel was getting old, and could no longer travel as a “circuit judge” as he had in the past. He passed his responsibilities to his sons, but they turned out to be dishonest and oppressive.

It was a time of instability, with the Philistines taking tribute and the looming death of Samuel threatening to upend the current rickety peace.

Instead of turning to God in this time of instability, the Israelites demanded a king. This offended Samuel, but why? The concept of a king had been predicted as far back as Abraham, with the specific indication that a king would be set up when Israel came into the land.

But it wasn’t the “what” they asked for, but the “why.” They looked at Samuel as a secular leader rather than as the conduit for the will of God. Humans have a tendency to elevate people too highly when they succeed, and chop them off at the knees when things aren’t going well. We do this are the expense of following God. Israel could have asked Samuel what God’s plan was for leadership, but instead they came up with their own panicky plan.

They asked for a king “as the other nations have.” They wanted to fit in rather than stand out as God’s chosen people. It was not too different from the constant temptation of the idols of the surrounding peoples. They wanted the easy life of sight rather than the difficult life of faith.

So Samuel takes the request to the Lord, who tells him not to reject the request outright, but instead to outline the trouble with Kings. Humans are self serving by default, and combining that with the power of a king, then you get a nation focused on the whims of a narcissist.

Short term, they will be able to point to a monarch who represents the nation rather than an invisible deity. Long term, though, it will mean only trouble.

The king described by Samuel is very different than the one described in Deuteronomy 17, where it is made clear that the kingship is not about wealth and pleasure, but about serving God and the people.

But after all these predictions, the people still demanded a king. They wanted earthly stability over heavenly faith. And so God does the most terrifying thing we can imagine: He gave the people what they wanted.

The book of Samuel was compiled in its final form around the time of the exile. There was a clear view of the tragedy of kingship from that time. Saul was a failure, David a (very) qualified success, Solomon somewhere in between, and after that it was largely chaos and tragedy the rest of the way.

God gave the people what they wanted in part in order to contrast earthly kingship more starkly with the ultimate plan and ultimate kingship in the person of Christ. And yet, when He came, the people again chose stability over faith.

Jesus was popular when he was giving things to the people (bread, fish, healing), to the extent that at one point they tried to make him king by force. But when he explained that he himself was the bread of life, that he came to rule a spiritual kingdom rather than an earthly one, the people turned on him just as they did in 1 Samuel.

We are surrounded by leaders who fail us constantly. No human can fill that innate need that we have, no more than it could for the Israelites. Do we spend more time fretting about earthly leadership, or seeking the will of our heavenly king? Our desire for stability drives us to seek the answers in the world around us, but in the end, faith in Christ is the only stable rock upon which we can ground our life.

-Sermon Notes, Brent Rood, Seed Church, Lynnwood, WA, September 10, 2017

1 Samuel 8:1-22

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If God Wills It – James 4:13-17

James, the brother of Jesus, was the pastor of the Jerusalem church. He was a strong proponent of the rights of the poor and outspoken opponent of oppression by the rich. He wrote primarily to a Jewish audience, so understanding the rabbinical teachings of the time helps us understand the context.

Here he writes about making plans. At first look, his warning in verse 13 against plans seems to cut against biblical teachings elsewhere about being wise, counting the cost, etc.

However, verse 14 clarifies that this, like so much of Christianity, is about motivation, not necessarily action. God is concerned with the heart, and here we see James warning against​, not planning, but assuming control – of timing, of location, of outcome.

Switchfoot echoes James’ warning of our own mortality:

Gone
Like yesterday is gone
Like history is gone
Just try and prove me wrong
And pretend like you’re immortal

Understanding our mortality is core to shaping our behavior, as is our understanding our dependence on God. “If God wills it” is not simply a disclaimer we are supposed to tack on to our claims and plans, but it a core understanding that wends its way through all our thoughts and plans.

There are two kinds of arrogance we should avoid. One is to see ourselves as entirely separate from God and capable of succeeding in our plans on our own. We see in the rabbinical teaching many stories about those who have tried to live as if God has no impact or ultimate control, and the bad ends they came to.

The second arrogance is assuming that we are in the center of God’s will and that our desires are His desires.

So James warns us against building our plans on our own desires, on our pride, on our selfish ambition, or on materialism.

So what is the good we are supposed to do? Elsewhere, Paul tells us clearly: we are living sacrifices, to seek after whatever is good, perfect & pleasing to God. Our model of this is Christ, which has given us everything we need to act in the will of God.

You’ll note that this does not necessarily help us in certain questions like what house to buy or who to marry or what to be when we grow up. These questions are not, ultimately, what God cares about.

What He does care about is humility and dependence on Christ. He wants us to ask “where do I need to obey right now?” What do I need to do in order to follow the revealed will of God in this moment.

We can still make plans, but there is a massive difference between making plans and living in the present, and making plans and living in the future.

The idea that we should seek the will of God in the specifics of everything is, in fact, a pagan notion. Diviners would throw bones or spread bird guts around and in order to get mystic instructions from friendly deities. We are called to a more mature relationship with God than this. God is not a magic 8-ball.

It can be tempting to ignore the broadly revealed will of God, which is plenty to handle, in order to focus on a problem, disengaging until that problem is resolved. Confucius is said to have said “To put the world in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must first put the family in order; to put the family in order; we must first cultivate our personal life; we must first set our hearts right.”

The flood in Houston is a reminder that we are one storm, one cancer cell, one car accident away from losing everything material we have worked for. We should be looking to put those material blessings to work now in order to live out the gospel in our present.

Christ is again our model. In His case, He did know the future – that He would have a scant three years of ministry that would end in torture, humiliation and death. And yet He focused on God’s will in each moment. Likewise, the early church, especially those James was writing up in Jerusalem, lived in stark knowledge that an end was coming, which was realized in AD 70 with the destruction of the temple and the sack of the city.

For our part, we can see that much of American Christianity has become worldly and apathetic, and while we cannot know what God’s plan is, we can know that God will not let His children go too long in this apathy without discipline.

Whenever and whatever form it comes in, our role will be the same: live as Christ did, and do the good we know we ought to do.

– Sermon Notes, Brent Rood, Seed Church, Lynnwood, WA, September 3, 2017

James 4:13-17

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A Psalm of Disorientation – Psalm 143

The psalms can be divided into three types (first done by Walter Bruggemann). First, songs of orientation that in a basic way orient ourselves towards God, casting the world in a simplified form and ourselves as faithful followers. Then, songs of disorientation, when the simple worldview of the initial psalms are upended by confusion, pain and disconnection. Finally, songs of new orientation, the emergence from those times of struggle into a new, more mature relationship with God. Psalm 143 falls best into the disorientation category.

In the psalms, we see various descriptions of human nature: the soul, the real self and appetites; the spirit or breath, our emotions; and our heart, best understood as our mind, the part that is supposed to know right from wrong. Our hearts are broken, and so are ruled by our emotions and appetites, not by that understanding of right and wrong.

Psalm 143 opens and closes with reflection on the righteousness of God. It then moves directly into a request that God not judge the singer based on their deeds. This is directly reversed from psalms of orientation like psalm 7, when he specifically asks to be judged based on his righteous deeds.

He then moves into the meat of the prayer: his enemy is closing in and it is causing emotional turmoil within. It is on one hand a foxhole prayer, written while David is hiding from Saul or the Philistines. On the other hand, the specific enemies are not named, because this is a song written to be sung by many people, all of whom have enemies, whether physical or spiritual.

He comes to God, then (and us with him) thirsty like a parched land. We can easily have our need God dulled by the pleasures of the world, and it is only when that world has fallen apart on us that we truly feel the desperate that within us.

Attached to all this, he hopes that this feeling of abandonment does not mean God has turned His face from him, that this temporal darkness does not have eternal significance.

He then moves into five specific requests, paired with the reason for these requests – notably, not because of his own righteousness. Answer me quickly, do not hide your face, bring me word quickly, show me your will, rescue me from my enemies. The reasons given are not based on David’s abilities (or ours), but rather on the nature of God Himself and the trust that David places in Him.

So David brings faith rather than righteousness. He brings no currency to the transaction, only faith that God will rescue him based on three things: His name’s sake, His righteousness and his unfailing love.

The term “unfailing love” literally means “cut a covenant” with the implication of blood. God specifically made covenants with David, that he would be king, live a long life, that his son would build the temple, and the Messiah would come from his line. For God to keep these promises, God must rescue David from his troubles. From that perspective, it is fairly cold and impersonal. It gets to the unfailing part, but not the love.

The second component to the righteousness of God are the parts of His character that lead him to make these promises to begin with. God is the one who created the relationship with David (and us!) not the other way around. God has rigged the entire situation so that our faith is substituted for righteousness. His righteousness is unfailing in its commitment, and love in its motivation. When David appeals to God’s righteousness, he is appealing to the love and mercy of God, not to His perfection.

What do we learn ourselves from Psalm 143? Primarily, that we can call on God based not on our righteousness, but His. We do not have the individual covenant that David did, but instead we have Christ as our representative. Like David, we have no currency of righteousness. If we, through faith, are linked to Christ, then all the promises of God to Christ fall to us. Through faith, we become the anointed ones, and Christ’s story becomes our story, His unending currency righteousness becomes ours.

This means that the first step in calling on God is to connect ourselves to Christ. We need Him as our mediator. If we have done this but still pray from a place of self-righteousness, entitlement and pride. Are we angry at God for not responding in the way we desire or expect? Are we putting ourselves up as judges of God? Or are we on the other end of the spectrum, disheartened by our own sin, we pray (or fail to pray) out of our own sense of unrighteousness. We are called to boldness, not based on our abilities but on the imputed righteousness of Christ.

As Martin Luther is said to have written:

For feelings come and feelings go, and feelings are deceiving;
My warrant is the Word of God, Nought else is worth believing.
Though all my heart should feel condemned, For want of some sweet token,
There is One greater than my heart, Whose Word cannot be broken.
I’ll trust in God’s unchanging Word, ‘till soul and body sever;
For though all things shall pass away, His Word shall stand forever.

– Sermon Notes, Brent Rood, Seed Church, Lynnwood, WA, August 27, 2017

Psalm 143

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Anger, Hatred and the Gospel – Matthew 5:17-22

The news the last two weeks have been disheartening. It would be very easy to condemn the bad guys and move on, but that would be looking outward, and in the context of this church, we need to look inward. We need to see how it is impossible to reach the levels of goodness we are called to, and how we – and everyone involved – need Jesus.

So Jesus here is discussing his relationship to the Law. He himself will follow the Law down to the smallest portion, living out the Law to its fullest extent. Jesus was the embodiment of loving God and loving others, the building described by the blueprints of the Law.

The Law thus fulfilled in its smallest part, Jesus gives a new command. Rather than loving via the written law of Moses, we follow what James calls the “royal law.” The Mosaic law was for a specific culture and context, but the Law as embodied in Christ is universal. The standard of love embodied in Christ becomes our new goal. Did this raise or lower the bar? In Jesus’ audience, the majority of people followed the Law as best they could, but did not necessarily make special efforts.

But the the Pharisees, on the other hand, made following the Law a full time job. They went above and beyond, tithing more than necessary, hedging the Law and following rules even above and beyond the Law. And yet Jesus says that God’s standard is even beyond the example of this Pharisees.

Not even beyond, but simply of an entirely different kind – killing is not just about the end result, but about the moral starting point. Anger, hatred, prejudice, slander and pride all flow from the same spring. And that is difficult to deal with when our anger and hatred are pointed at that prejudice and slander.

So what does God say about anger? Anger should be slow to come. James tells us to be slow to anger because human anger does not accomplish God’s end. Anger should be short lived – do not let the sun go down on it.

Anger should not be a characteristic of our tongue. Again, James says that if we respond with speech in unrestrained anger, our “religion is worthless.”

Responding to anger with anger and hatred with hatred, we accomplish nothing. But the takeaway here is not “five ways to be less angry.”

The takeaway is that we are worse than we thought we were before, we are trapped in cycles of anger and resentment. We are no more righteous than anyone else we have seen.

But there is another path to righteousness. As with Abraham, faith is credited to us as righteousness. The gospel is not just what we go to for our initial salvation, but what we must go back to again and again for confession, repentance and a shift of our focus back to Christ as our model and source of the capability to love.

– Sermon Notes, Brent Rood, Seed Church, Lynnwood, WA

Matthew 5:17-22

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Parents and Children – Ephesians 6:1-4

The family and how it operates is very important to God. It was created and ordained by God to spread Him image across the earth. This passage was written in the context of the church, to Christian parents seeking to follow God, and to their children. There are commands to both parents and children, and the two together will create a functional family unit where children can grow and develop until adulthood.

These are very general principles that will play out differently in the specifics across the vast diversity of individual and families.

“Children” here means essentially “young dependent,” whether a small child or an older teen or anything in between. There are two instructions: obey and honor.

Parents are the law, and children are to obey them like they would obey the law. Children should understand that their parents were once children, and they all resented the authority and planned to do things differently. In the end, though, parents discover that rules are necessary, and the response of children must be to obey those rules.

Children are also to honor their parents. Obedience is the behavior, honor is the attitude and emotional response that comes with it. Honoring parents means understanding that they are not peers, but representatives of God.

The instruction to honor parents comes directly from the Ten Commandments. The commandments themselves are a breakdown of the greatest commandments – “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and strength” and “love your neighbor as yourself.” The first five commandments are about loving God, the second five are about loving others. Honoring your father and mother comes in the first set – honoring your parents is honoring God. It also serves as a transition from one set to the other.

The commandment comes with a promise of going well and long life. In the immediate context of the commandments, there is the actual potential of capital punishment for rebellious children, because dishonoring parents is dishonoring God. More broadly, children who obey and honor their parents do live longer, better, happier lives. They are less likely to get into drugs, crime, abusive relationships and much, much more.

This is ultimately a very practical promise, echoed across Proverbs as well. Listening to others, particularly those in authority, is wise. Doing otherwise is foolish and makes a bad end far more likely.

Paul then moves onto the parents, with instructions not to exasperate their children. Kids do not need reasons to rebel, so we are not to give them additional impetus to do so.

This can come in the form of excessive discipline or smothering. Treating all offenses equally, or failing to keep pace in discipline as children age. Constant criticism is also a temptation for all parents.

Another way to exasperate children, though, is by being overly permissive and failing to provide structure. Overindulgence will train children to expect the world to serve them. Other exasperating behavior includes neglect, withholding affection, additional manipulation, threats without discipline and more. “Unhappy families are all different.”

So how do we avoid all these pitfalls? Bringing them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. Our presence itself is a key piece of this, spending quality time together.

The current generation of parents is better at this than previous. Where we tend to have trouble is the instruction side, teaching them the important, practical things that they will need in order to live, the boundaries they need to abide by in order to survive and succeed. The third component is discipline.

Presence, instruction and discipline all work together to create successful parenting. Instruction ensures that they know the rules and so are prepared for discipline when it comes, if it is consistent. Discipline is not always imposing punishment, but can also be letting natural consequences play out, letting children take risks.

When we teach children to ride bikes, we are with them (presence), we instruct them as to the process, send them off, then we let them ride, fall down, and get them back up (discipline). If we don’t have all three of these, the process will not work.

The relationship of patents and children is directly related to the children’s ultimate relationship with God. We should follow the instruction of God ourselves as we pass that instruction along, depending on the grace of Christ when we fail.

– Sermon Notes, Brent Rood, Seed Church, Lynnwood, WA

Ephesians 6:1-4

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Incarnational Living: Inclusive Friendship – Matthew 13:24-30

In this parable, the key concept is not that there are righteous and there are unrighteous and us righteous people should stay away from those nasty weeds. But Jesus is clear about our place in this story: we are the plants, not the harvesters who distinguish between the weeds and the wheat.

We cannot identify purely by current behavior who is the righteous and who is not. Many who today reject Christ will call on him before the end, and many who outwardly follow Christ will reject him.

We are sent into this world to live alongside all people and shine the reflected light of God on everyone we come into contact with, just as God Himself causes the sun to shine on the righteous and the unrighteous.

This means should seek to share the gospel with all people. Christians need the gospel just as much as non-Christians.

We should actively seek to engage those who do not yet know Christ. We should absolutely develop friendships with non-Christians. Ideally, we should do this in concert with other Christians. The community we build with other Christians should be designed to spill out into the world and create an environment where the gospel is demonstrated. This may involve a “third place” between work and home.

As a church, we should be careful not to focus only inward, but outward as well. It is easy to get stuck in “holy huddles” that do not share the love of God beyond our walls.

The concept of inclusive friendship is fundamentally incarnational. Christ coming to earth was the ultimate act of inclusive friendship, leaving the holiest of huddles to serve a people who hated him. He brought other alongside him in this task, creating a community to show his love to each other and the world.

– Sermon Notes, Jeff Krabach, Seed Church, Lynnwood, WA

 Matthew 13:24-30

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