Happy New Year!

We’ve been looking at the story of the Magi or wise men visiting Jesus, now we’ll contast them with the priests and scribes who were present at their meeting with Herod (see yesterday’s Bible reading).

The scribes and priests are also knowledgeable, learned like the Magi.  They are called to advise Herod on this apparent threat to his rule – is a new king of the Jews, or the Messiah, really going to be born?

These experts on the scriptures end up helping him with his plan to have the wise men quietly scout things out for Herod, so he can swoop in and violently remove the threat.

But first, Herod needed to know where in Judea this “king” would be born.  This was a question the priests/scribes could answer immediately – they knew the scriptures, the history and answer that it’s Bethlehem, the city of David.

The priests and scribes had all the information to know the messiah was coming, and coming imminently.  But they did nothing but advise his enemy.

Perhaps in their view, the arrival of the Messiah represents a threat to their power and authority in their culture, and to peace with the Romans.  So they go home…Herod will neutralize threat.  They advise and move on.

Question:  What intellectual risks are involved in following Jesus?  How do you calculate those?

Reminder: We are reading the Bible in sync as one community – so check out today’s reading here.

Reminder: The best way to grow spiritually this year is to join our Christianity 101 in the Cafe Course in Pickering starting January 22nd. Register for you and a friend today!

Read the Bible in Sync Today

Ryan Sim - October 30, 2013

Wednesday - Change It - Growth - in Discipleship

Becoming Like Family

We are working toward becoming one church community united by common learning goals, even as we are scattered commuting people. This week we’re studying a passage from Ephesians that includes this line: “until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.” We want to highlight the process involved. The aim is to become more and more like Jesus, not just in outward appearance, but completely, the “full stature”. This is clearly not instant, but a maturing process, since no one on this earth has ever been completely like Jesus. I have shared a few stories from when I studied engineering, and the importance of learning problem solving and analysis. That principle can be applied to any scenario, even the unprecedented and complex ones. Discipleship is about theological problem solving in similarly complex and unexpected situations. Paul was involved in discipleship to help his church members avoid being thrown around by every idea, doctrine like a small boat in wind and waves. Contrast a road and ocean. Some want faith to be a roadway, with clear boundaries, signs, maps and directions to follow. But the problem is that real life is much more like an ocean, where you can’t give a plan for every scenario , but follow a compass heading with a specific end in mind, but the actual journey will be less strictly defined. This is the pursuit of discipleship, to set a compass heading of what the bible calls “Christlikeness” – becoming like Jesus Christ. We will get there by navigating all sorts of wind and wave action, and keeping focused on the end goal. This is a series on church community, becoming like family. Discipleship is a family effort, done in a group. I remember engineering projects that would have been impossible for me to do it alone – I knew one aspect of the project, while others knew theirs, and together we accomplished something greater than any one of us could do on our own. In the same way, we aren’t meant to grow as a disciple alone. We need challenge, encouragement, and complementary gifts like the five we saw yesterday. Question: Are you more comfortable in a spiritual ocean or roadway? What part of life feels like an ocean today? Coffee Hours this Week: Have questions about the challenges, do you want to meet others exploring the same content, or connect with Ryan? Join us for our coffee shop drop-in tonight, Wednesay, October 30th from 7:30pm-9:00pm at the Starbucks in the Ajax Chapters. Look for Ryan Sim in the drink line, or a Redeem the Commute postcard on a table. If you know in advance that you’re coming, please RSVP here http://bit.ly/1aHVTy2

From Series: "Becoming Like Family"

This series looks at becoming “like family” with others learning to follow Jesus. We're exploring how the church is not a building, institution or event, but a community of people. It's important that explore what church means as we prepare to launch a new church in Ajax in 2014.

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