115: Easter 7B (May 17, 2015)

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For Sunday May 17, Easter 7B.


Featured Musician -  Amanda Opelt, “Go (Holy Orders)” from her album Seven Songs (get it here). You can follower her at amandaopelt.com, @AmandaHeldOpelt and on Facebook.

Call to Worship with Psalm 1 - by Richard
    One: Blessed are those who resist wicked advice
    Many: and follow the disrespectful crowd.
    One: Instead, our delight is in following God’s Way
    Many: Following God’s Way, and studying it continually.
    One: We are like trees--
    Many: trees transplanted near flowing water,
    One: thriving in every season,
    All: bearing fruit at the harvest.

Episode 115 Easter 7B
Welcome to the Pulpit Fiction Podcast, the lectionary podcast for preachers, seekers and Bible geeks. This is episode 115 for Sunday May 17, Easter 7B.

Introduction and Check-in  

  • Sickness- boo
  • Festival of Homiletics

Quickfire Scripture: Acts 1:15-17, 21-26 - Gambling for Disciples

  • Judas died and a new disciple is needed
  • Joseph/Barsabbas/Justus - seriously buddy choose a name and Matthias
  • Identified, prayed, then solves the problem - how often do we skip the second step
  • Interesting that they ultimately leave the choosing of the disciple up to chance- they literally cast lots to discover the correct disciple.
    • Justification for gambling?
    • Justification for an omnipotent all controlling God?

Featured Musician -  Amanda Opelt, “Go (Holy Orders)” from her album Seven Songs (get it here). You can follower her at amandaopelt.com, @AmandaHeldOpelt and on Facebook.

Primary Scripture - John 17:6-19 - In but not of the World
Initial Thoughts

  • Getting tired of John? Yeah me too, but this is pretty good stuff
  • Join David Lose is arguing that you read 2 more verses

Bible Study

  • High Priestly Prayer
    • Farewell discourse - after dinner, foot washing and new commandments- Jesus is praying to God
    • Jesus is the mediator between humanity and God
    • Focus on interconnectedness of Jesus, his followers and God
    • What David Lose calls “The Others Lord’s Prayer”
      • In one prayer Jesus teaches us how to pray
      • In this prayer Jesus is actually praying for us
  • Disciples have been called, set apart and then sent into the world
    • Called- Jesus made God known to the disciples through specific revelation
    • set apart- in knowing God the disciples see what it is to true live and live eternally (as in fuly not as in forever)
      • placing others before self
      • love before power
      • Forgiveness over control
      • sacrifice over sustainability
    • Sent into the world - see this true nature of the in breaking kingdom of God, the disciples are sent out to transform the world by proclaiming the good news in word and deed.
      • We are not called out of the world but into the world
      • In Jesus God meets us where we are- so we are called to meet others where they are to bring the Good news to them- not to demand that they come to us
  • Not to be taken out of the world but to be protected (v. 15-16) How does God protect us? How do we protect each other?
  • Sovereignty of God
    • God is not one who controls everything, but gives us everything: disciples, words, God’s name, word
    • Prayer is not that God use God’s almighty and controlling power, but that God help us care for the gifts we have been given.

Sermon Thoughts and Questions:

  • The church is undoubtedly in the world, but are we of the world? in what ways is your community proclaiming the in-breaking Kingdom of God? In what ways can it?
  • What in our lives calls us out into the world and what called us away from it? How do we insulate ourselves from the world?
  • Love by its very nature is an invitation extended freely - how do we reconcile this with a sovereign God? Do we need to?
    • how might abandoning the traditional concept of an omnipotent sovereign God transform our culture and bring us closer to the Kingdom?

Psalm Nugget - Psalm 1 
with our Psalms correspondent, Richard Bruxvoort Colligan (psalmimmersion.com, @pomopsalmist)
Call to Worship with Psalm 1 - by Richard
    One: Blessed are those who resist wicked advice
    Many: and follow the disrespectful crowd.
    One: Instead, our delight is in following God’s Way
    Many: Following God’s Way, and studying it continually.
    One: We are like trees--
    Many: trees transplanted near flowing water,
    One: thriving in every season,
    All: bearing fruit at the harvest.

Second Reading: 1 John 5:9-13 - Life in Christ
Initial Thoughts

  • No one is listening to this part of the show. There are a total of four articles about this passage on texteek. soon to be 5!

Bible Study

  • God’s Son
    • The relationship between Jesus and God cannot be questioned.
    • It is a full connection. Full integration.
    • Calling Jesus God’s Son is John’s favorite way of describing messiahship, Christness, or any other claim on Jesus’ identity.
    • Jesus’ life and ministry is the testimony of this relationship.
    • The testimony is the way that Jesus fully revealed God’s love, ultimately through “laying down one’s life for a friend.”
    • The way Jesus loved is the evidence of his Son-ness.
  • Testimony/Witness
    • Previously, it mentions the water and the blood. This is the baptism and death of Jesus, and presumably, everything in between.
    • Jesus’ life, ministry, death, and resurrection is the testimony we are to trust.
    • The true testimony for the believer is to live as Jesus lived.
      • “The testimony within,” is revealed in living as Jesus lived, and loving as Jesus loved.
  • Eternal Life
    • Present tense in verse 13 - “So you know you have eternal life.”
    • Not a future tense, but a present state.
    • Eternal life is not about duration of heartbeats, length of life, or even about life after our earthly death. Eternal life could be understood as “real life.”
    • If you believe, and witness to the fact that Jesus is God’s Son, then you will start to live “real life.”
    • Real life includes loving one another, not just surface relationships. Not just acquaintances, but friends.
    • To not have eternal life is to continue to go through the motions, waiting for some kind of meaning.

Sermon Thoughts and Questions:

  • How do we live eternal life? Is eternal life about what happens after death? How much is heaven a motivation for how we live? Is heaven a reward for living well, believing correctly, testifying truthfully, that we get after we die?
    • How do we explain this circular understanding:
      • God is love.
      • Jesus is God’s Son.
      • The testimony to this truth is the life that Jesus lived, including the water and the blood.
      • Jesus lived in Eternal Life, even in death.
      • We are called to believe that Jesus is God’s Son.
      • To believe is to have Eternal Life, even in death.
      • The testimony to this is love. It is a life that includes the water and the blood - the way Jesus lived and was willing to die for his friends.
  • Exclusive language of the passage makes it easy to say that those who believe in Jesus have life and those that don’t, don’t. This sort of claim can, at worst, lead to dehumanization of others that can justify oppression and atrocity. At best, it leads to a spiritual arrogance that eliminates possibility of learning from others. Verse 13 is important, this is written for those that already believe. It is a word of encouragement to those who are facing persecution, not a condemnation of non-believers. It is a reminder that they who believe are living “real life,” and should hold fast to that.
    • “While we can certainly understand thoughts like these when a community that feels threatened, we have to remember that taking Scriptures that were intended to address a specific situation and lifting them out of context to apply them to our day and time can be a risky venture. In a very real sense, it can enable the “oppressed” to become the “oppressors.”  And in fact, you don’t have to work very hard to find all kinds of examples throughout the history of the church where that was exactly what happened—Christians took Scriptures like these and used them to justify all kinds of hateful and even violent acts against those deemed “other” and “outside.”  (Allen Brehm, The Waking Dreamer)

Tasty Wafer of the Week:

CLOSING
TY listeners

Shout Out:
@EPC_PastorJoe: “@PulpitFpodcast I know I'm addicted b/c Youth Sun. = didn't have to preach, & going off-lectionary this week and I STILL listen. #cantquitu”

Featured Musician -  Amanda Opelt, “Go (Holy Orders)” from her album Seven Songs (get it here). You can follower her at amandaopelt.com, @AmandaHeldOpelt and on Facebook

Thanks to our Psalms correspondent, Richard Bruxvoort Colligan (psalmimmersion.com, @pomopsalmist). Thank you to Scott Fletcher for our voice bumpers, Dick Dale and the Del Tones for our Theme music (“Misirlou”), Nicolai Heidlas (“Summertime”) and The Steel Wheels for our transition music(“Nola’s First Dance” from their album Lay Down, Lay Low) and Paul and Storm for our closing music (“Oh No”).

The Lion and Lamb Festival is seeking musicians and speakers. Already featuring friends of the show Heatherlyn and Sarah Renfro. Other participants can apply now. The Festival’s vision is to bring people together to inspire and be inspired by stories of peace, mercy, justice, and love. It is August 8, 2015 in the Quad Cities, Illinois.

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1 John, Acts, All, Easter 7B, JohnEric FistlerComment