9.25.21 - A Safe Place to Ask the Hard Questions (Kenny Camacho)
SCRIPTURE: Matthew 23:3-5, John 3:2-10, John 3:16-17
“The author of John’s gospel says that ‘God sent his Son into the world not to condemn it, but to save it through Him.’ This means there’s no shortcutting the relationship, because that relationship is actually the means God is using to save the world. In Jesus, the big picture and the little picture come together, and our questions find an Answer that sends us all the way back to the beginning, calling us to actually live differently. Then, Jesus teaches, that different kind of life will be the very thing that manifests the different kind of world you are hoping for.”
REFLECTION/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
When was the last time you actually changed your mind about something? Was it a quick process? What made it possible? How has your actual life been affected by that change?
Kenny argued that the culture we live in (like the culture of Israel in the 1st century!) puts more pressure on choosing the right political side or having the right opinion than it does on the slow work of living out what we believe. Is that true in your experience?
Read the story of Nicodemus in John 3. What stands out to you? What is Nicodemus seeking? Why is Jesus’s answer so challenging for him?
How do the famous verses of John 3:16-18 relate to the Nicodemus story that precedes them? What is the author’s point, do you think?
When you think about the big problems facing the world, do you ever feel impatient about the Way of Jesus?
What is so challenging--and what might be encouraging--about Jesus’s instruction that we must all be “born again”? Is there hope in this idea?
How do you need to respond to the challenge you find in Jesus’s words?