John Weir

Both relate to the finding of a great treasure related to the discovery of the Gospel. ' The Word is a lamp unto thy feet ' the scripture says. The point is that we should give up our possessions that were previously the focus of our attention and be sure that we get the treasure which is the Gospel and make it ours. Our values would be affected as we would then have a change of direction in our lives. Our emphasis would then be on living righteous lives and renouncing materialism and possessions, and living according to God's Word.

They

Q1. (Matthew 13:20-21) Why, according to Jesus' teaching here, do some people fall away so quickly? What is their problem? http://www.joyfulheart.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=997 Mat 13:20 The seeds that fell on rocky ground stand for those who receive the message gladly as soon as they hear it. Mat 13:21 But it does not sink deep into them, and they don't last long. So when trouble or persecution comes because of the message, they give up at once. When first heard the Gospel message sounds like a wonderful way to live. But to break old habits and have a change of heart is extremely difficult. It is much easier to revert back to one

Q4. Why is repentance so central to the Kingdom of God? Why is baptism important to converts to the King? Can Christ reign in an unrepentant heart? http://www.joyfulheart.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=996 John and Jesus called all who would enter the Kingdom to repent. Sin is unacceptable to God, yet many are totally unaware that they are sinning. Little sins or big sins make no difference. We are all sinners and need to repent. Baptism is important as through it we accept Christ into our lives and repent of our sin that previously prevented us from accepting Him. We are changed through Baptism and the Holy Spirit in us convicts us of what is sin. Unrepentance means wilfull disobedience to Christ

John

In our world we have fornication and sex before marriage being strongly promoted in the media, and many think this is quite acceptable. The morals of our culture are probably no different to those of the days of Christ. Drunkenness, idolatory, profanity and dishonesty abound. All this is contrary to Christian faith and witness. People love materialism and fleshly desires more than their love for Christ. My own culture tends to compromise my Christian faith and I often remain passive and quiet when I should being taking a stand for Christ.

There should be a discerning passion in the Church for Jesus. He should be the focus of what is taught and preached in the Church. Worship is centred around the life of Jesus in Spirit and in Truth and when this is not the case the Congregation has lost it's 'first love' for Jesus. Signs are doing what Jesus would have done in spirit, Word and deed. His compassion and love must be evident in the Congregation. Not just 'philial' love but essentially 'Agape' love. A 'brotherly' love for one another. A lack of this love shows up in self-centredness and a pre-occupation with what 'I' can get out of the Church with a lack of concern in the affairs of others. This love can be regained by making an effort to get to know others and have genuine concern about their lives.

Q4. (3:7) Why should a husband relate to his wife with knowledge and wisdom? In what way does this demonstrate love? In what way does this demonstrate self-interest? Why do men sometimes try to dominate their wives? Why do wives sometimes try to dominate their husbands? What harm does this do? How is domination of another person contrary to God's nature? Although she is not weaker spiritually, she is weaker physically and more vulnerable. She also has a shorter life span. She is to be treated with wisdom and respect. Treating someone with respect, just as Jesus did with sinners, is part of showing love. It indicates that you accept that all people are God's children and are created in His image. Because God loves them we are called to love them too. I don't understand this question as it does not demonstrate 'self-interest' but an objective interest in others. It is good to have 'self-love' but more important to have an outgoing love for others. Insecure wives try to dominate their husbands. Often through fear of losing them. It causes mis-trust and a dysfunctional relationship. God doesn't want us to be 'dominating' in any way, but calls us to be humble. Being 'dominating' is akin to 'oppression' and this is not what Jesus taught.

Q1. (3:1) Why is submission so difficult for us humans? Does submission require you to be silent when you don't agree or feel something can be improved? When is submission wrong for Christian? We are brought up in a 'New Age' philosophy and 'post-modernism' where we are conditioned to believe we are masters of our own destiny, and must be 'in control'. It is not in our nature to 'submit' to anyone or anything. Most of the time we are called to be silent when we don't agree with something. However there are occasions when we must speak up in disagreement as when we are called to do something that is contrary to Christ's commands. Submission is wrong when it goes against God's concept of 'righteousness'. We are called to obey Civil Authority, but only insofar as it doesn't mean going against what Christ has taught us.

Q4. (2:24b) If Jesus died to set us free from sin's power, why does sin have such power over us still? According to 2:24b, how must we deal with sin? In practical terms, how can we "die to sin"? In everyday language, what does "live for righteousness" mean? Jesus 'bore' our sin on the Cross, so we have to identify with that for the atonement of our sin. It is impossible to fully identify with what Jesus did for us by enduring such great suffering, so sin still has some power over us. In Biblical times, the 'scapegoat' was literally led out into the desert to take the peoples' sin away from them. Our 'scapegoat' is now the Lamb of God, Jesus, and we need to understand that He has taken our sin on himself. We are cleansed of our sin by His blood. In practical terms, we 'die to sin' by being Baptized. Our sin is buried in the water, and we emerge as new creatures in Christ. This is one of a number of ways in which we become 'righteous' which means 'sinless'. ' Living for righteousness' is our obedience and reliance on Jesus. It is a daily struggle. We strive for righteousness all the time, and are commanded to live righteous lives which means spending time daily with Jesus, Bible study and reading, prayer and in the company of the saints.

Q3. (2:24a) This may seem like a simplistic question, but give it thought before you answer, and then answer thoughtfully. What is the significance to you personally that Jesus bore your sins in his own body on the cross? I acknowledge that I was born sinless into a sin-filled world. As I grew and matured into this world I became a sinner, and had no other way of atoning for my sin than by having Jesus go to the cross for my sins. Through this I achieve Salvation in God's eyes and will one day be with Him. There is no other substitution for my sin than the substitution of Jesus on the cross. He, ie Jesus, had to die this brutal death, so that everyone would know that he was the Son of God through his Resurrection. And then realise He died for our sake in fulfillling the plan of God, to save Mankind from their sins. I was 'chosen' to be a child of God, but I am still a sinner. Thank you Lord God that I can remember whenever I take Communion, that as I break the bread, which is symbolic of Christ's body broken on the cross, and drink of the cup, I remember what He did personally for me.

Sean, I do see you living out your faith, obedience and forgiveness of others in your daily life. I commend you for your commitment to your Christian life and will in my life try to follow you as a role-player. Your love for your Lord shines through in everything you do, and I admire the example you set. I often think of my leaving the Church of Christ for personal reasons that are unacceptable to my Lord Jesus. My family commitment is one of them, but I am not strong enough to relinquish the example I try to set to my family, after trying very hard to engage Gerda in the obedience that the C of C was projecting and that she wouldn't accept. I can only trust that in the fulness of time she will come to an understanding of what true Christian obedience really is. Meanwhile we keep our faith and do what good works we can.

Q2. Why is Jesus' sinlessness important to understanding your salvation? In what way do you think Jesus suffered when your sins were poured into his soul? How could a sinless Man stand this kind of corruption? If Jesus had sinned, our world would never have been the way it is now. We would not have the opportunity to be forgiven for our sins by the one who is sinless. Would we have had the faith in Him that we do have? Would we have trusted Him? This is why my own unbelieving family members don't trust me and believe I am a hypocrite. They will one day understand that I have strived to be sinless, a difficult task, but worthy of following. Salvation comes from believing in Jesus, and through Him, being obedient to God. It is ongoing and the road to Salvation is narrow with few finding it. Jesus was separated from His Father for a short time on the cross as He was dying. This must have been terrible for Him after He had put all His trust in His Father while he taught, prayed and lived. This was the time when our sins were poured into His soul and He took our sins upon Himself. As He took all of the world's sin on Himself, He wasn't connected to the Father until a few minutes later when He died, ' and the veil was rent in two'. At this point we all then had access through Him directly with God the Father. Because Jesus was the Son of God, and was Himself 'THE WORD', He was able to stand and experience the corruption of the world around Him. He new His destiny and why His Father had sent Him into our world. To be an example to us. To show us what obedience really is. To teach us and give us the strength to endure the sinfulness of this world and eventually for Him to sit at the right hand of His Father.

Q1. (2:21) According to 2:21, in what sense did Jesus suffer for you personally? Jesus' purpose in coming to our earth as the Son of God was for our Salvation. To save us from our sins, as we are all sinners, born into this world's sin. So He took all our sin to the cross, to die for our sake and thereby to redeem us from our sinful state. He could have saved himself all that suffering and quite easily have called down an army of angels to prevent what was being done to Him. But in obedience he chose not to, and to rather endure the cross for us.

Q4. (2:21-23) How does Christ's example speak to your situation? How is your behavior going to be different because of what you see in Jesus' character in this passage? Christ's example shows me not to retaliate, or even worse 'want to send someone to hell'. God will wreak revenge and it is not up to us to do so. I do retaliate because of the hurt I suffer when I should 'bite my tongue' and remain silent, which is what Jesus would have done in most of my situations. However, when I should rightfully speak up because of the extreme immorality of a situation, which I have done, I believe it is justified in Christ. In future I am going to try to be more controlled, more patient and do what I believe Jesus would have done. When I am hurt and saddened by situations I need to immediately reflect on what Jesus' reaction would have been. Most often it is not to retaliate, but in love right the situation.

Q3. (2:18-20) How does being an employee "conscious of God" affect the way we act and react to injustice in the workplace? Can a conscientious Christian be a complainer? Why or why not? How do you usually react to prolonged, unfair treatment at your work? God calls us to 'endure' even under 'harsh' conditions. But this is only as far as unfair treatment is concerned. Where there is Biblical unrighteousness we are not to accept it. We can be a complainer and point out the unrighteousness of a situation. If it persists, we are free to leave. A slave is to obey his master the Bible says, but only within certain bounds. Morally corrupt behaviour must be rebelled against. In the past at my workplaces I have generally murmured against wrong treatment and where it has persisted I resigned and left. This was wrong of me as I should have endured it and stayed. I would then have set a Christian example for others.

Q2. (2:18) If we are to submit to our employers and respect them, what is that saying about God's expectation that we do a good job? In what sense do we dishonor God when we don't give our full effort to our jobs? There are no conditions attached to submitting to our employers so God does us to do our best at all times. Doing a good job is showing respect to those in authority over us. In not giving our full effort we disobey God's expectation from us and thereby dishonour Him.

Q1. (2:15-16) In what way is God's glory dependent upon us living submissive, obedient lives? How is God hurt when we get rebellious? In our world today, God has called us to submit to Civil Government, to obey Civil Authority. We are to be humble even though we are oppressed, and this He commands us to be. In this way God's glory is dependent on us. However where the Government is breaking God's laws, we have every right to rebel against this. God has placed the civil authorities over us to care and serve us and we are to accept this. God is hurt when we don't accept this and in our own way do what we please.

Q5. (2:12) How can the good deeds we commit by living openly as Christians increase God's praise. How does our "blending in" detract from God's praise? We are called by God to ' do good works '. We are not to be self-centred but outwardly look for ways in which we can bless, help and assist others. This is what it means to be a ' servant ' just as Christ came to earth to be a servant. We are told to be like Him. And as God's own Son, we will increase His, ie God's praise, when we are like Jesus, who was faultless, without sin. For ' blending in ' read 'compromise'. We compromise our love for Christ when we conform to the world's ways. It is so easy to do this. It's the easy way out for us and often we prefer to remain silent in the company of our peers, when we should be speaking out for Jesus.

Q3. (2:9) What actions and attitudes should this idea of being part of God's own people inspire in us? As God's children, chosen by Him we should revere Him with a love of a child to a Father. A good, kind, merciful loving Father who cares for us, answers our prayers and protects us from all harm and danger. We are inspired to behave towards Him in such a way that will please Him and make us worthy of His love for us.