Class Lesson November 4, 2012

Hey Gang,

This lesson is the beginning of a study on “The Church: Transforming Lives In A Changing Culture.” Now, no one can doubt that our culture is changing. Older people are aware of this because they have seen so many new things in their lifetimes. Younger people have seen remarkable changes even within their shorter lifetimes. These changes are most obvious in the fields of science and technology. But there also have been enormous changes in the social and moral realms. Different philosophies and worldviews have introduced many of these kinds of changes.

In the midst of all this change, churches are called to stand for some unchanging beliefs and moral convictions. It is important for believers to maintain these unchangeable areas of thinking and living. The model for such eternal things is the written Word of God. As a rule, churches go from one extreme to another. Some automatically oppose and attack every aspect of a changing culture. Other churches compromise with whatever comes through the culture. The best choice is to find up-to-date methods to support eternal values. How to do this is one goal of this month’s study.

What cultural changes threaten the church and its beliefs and values?

You said:

• Same Sex Marriage
• Extramarital Sex
• Live Togethers
• Roe vs Wade - Abortions
• Political Correctism
• Different Worldviews - Beliefs
• Tolerance - Acceptance

What Culture change most threatens the church?

• The feeling was Tolerance or Acceptance of things

What if I told you that I think that the culture within the church is the greatest threat to the church.

• Christians are spending an inordinate amount of attention on the failings and dangers of the surrounding “culture” when what we should be truly worried about is the culture in the church. This many times begins with an insufficient understanding of the Gospel. What I mean is, we have reduced the Gospel to an abstract message of salvation that can be believed without having any necessary consequences for how we live. Redemption is not just a restoration of our status before God through the life and work of Jesus Christ, but a restoration of our relationship with God as well. And our relationship with God is expressed in how we live.

• One specific cultural problem in the church, is our unthinking adoption of “youth culture” and “intergenerational discontinuity.” In our modern world where media and marketing reign, appealing to particular demographics has become commonplace. The church has gained a great sense of surface energy by emphasizing ministries that attract and entertain young people. But enthusiasm is no substitute for the understanding, accepted from ancient times, that wisdom, character, and moral guidance are passed down from older generations to the young. “The dynamics of youth culture segregate generations and extol the experience of the present at the expense of honoring the past and preparing for the future.”

• This emphasis on relevance and church growth has led to large groups of people who may be “Christianish” but not deeply or distinctively Christian. I would add that the culture wars mentality that has coincided with these methodologies has led us to separate from the very cultures God wants to redeem and to think about them “strategically” rather than relationally. We don’t know our neighbors, but we are committed to “redeeming the culture”? “I just couldn’t imagine early Church leaders sitting around trying to come up with clever ideas about how they might influence Roman culture.” Indeed.

• The early Church leaders sustained cultural influence by discipling its members, by conveying to them that the call of the Gospel was a call to embrace a new way of life. The Church was less interested in transforming the disorders of the Roman Empire than in building ‘its own sense of community, and it let these communities be the leaven that would gradually transform culture.’”

• In other words, our priority is to be the church. But much of current evangelicalism’s “gospel” doesn’t create a church, nourish people deeply through Christ-centered Word and Sacrament, stress pastoral care and spiritual formation, free and equip people to pursue their vocations in the world, and embrace suffering and the way of the Cross as the “method” by which God’s Will, will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

That is the “culture” that must change.


Our series of lesson this month is on The Church and how it should transform a changing culture: 

1. Prayer - Pray with Dependancy
2. Love - Do Life Together
3. Discipleship - Engage in Kingdom Building
4. Sharing the Gospel - Hit the Streets

What is something you’ve done that required you to muster a great deal of courage? What finally helped you get up the nerve to do it?

• Being transformed into Christlikeness may be the gutsiest thing any of us have tried to do. But, consider the reward! As we let God make us into His image, we not only find contentment, we also find people being drawn to Jesus.
• Part of the transformational process is to pray with dependency on God. We pray for our own transformation as well as the transformation of those around us. Talking with God represents one way we can show reliance on God. But we must understand what it means to pray with dependancy.

This week's lesson is about praying with dependency on God to transform people’s lives.

The early church was established and patterns of working together had begun in Acts chapter 2. In chapter 3, Christians began embracing their faith and sharing it with others. Since they were Jews, these initial believers met and ministered in the temple complex. One day, Peter and John went to the temple to pray. Before they entered, they encountered a lame man begging for charity. Rather than give the man money, Peter and John healed him in the name of Jesus. The man’s celebration caused a stir in the temple, which Peter used to tell worshipers that Jesus was the Messiah and how He had suffered so they could find forgiveness for their sins. But the religious leaders, whom Peter had indicated in his sermon, were not thrilled with the man’s healing or the apostles’ message. Over the course of two days, Peter and John faced the Sanhedrin, Israel’s governing religious body – Acts 4:1-18. Despite being threatened against doing any further preaching, the two apostles refused to deny their calling and vowed to continue sharing their faith – Acts 4:19-20. Peter and Jon determined that they must obey God, no matter what human leaders told them to do. The religious leaders essentially were forced to release them.


Peter and John were detained by the same council of religious leaders who had pressed Pilate to crucify Jesus. When they were released, they returned to the Jerusalem believers. After they reported to the church what had happened and was said, the church sought God’s will in Psalm 2, a messianic psalm. The psalm focused on the forces that rejected Jesus. The church prayed. They did not ask to be spared any opposition, but they asked for courage to continue faithful testimony to Jesus. As a result they were filled with the Spirit.
 

I. EMBRACE GOD’S DIRECTION – ACTS 4:23-28

Prayer for Boldness

23 After they were released, they went to their own people and reported everything the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 24 When they heard this, they all raised their voices to God and said, “Master, You are the One who made the heaven, the earth, and the sea, and everything in them. 25 You said through the Holy Spirit, by the mouth of our father David Your servant: Why did the Gentiles rage and the peoples plot futile things? 26 The kings of the earth took their stand and the rulers assembled together against the Lord and against His Messiah. 27 “For, in fact, in this city both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, assembled together against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, 28 to do whatever Your hand and Your plan had predestined to take place.



How would you describe the disciple’s prayer? Why didn’t they ask for a way out?

• Rather than despondency or fear over such dire news, the assembled believers turned to God in prayer, not as a last resort, but as a first resolve.
• Surprisingly, the believers did not pray for changed circumstances or personal comfort. They focused on God.

What do these verses reveal about prayer?

• God hears the united prayer of His people.
• Believers pray to the sovereign Creator of all things.
• The Scriptures explain God’s plan to bring salvation to all people and why so many were opposed to it.
• Devine sovereignty and human freedoms are compatible truths.
• It is the most powerful thing we can do to change the culture we face today.

If we want to embrace God's direction in any situation or circumstance - it must begin in prayer!


II. JOIN GOD AT WORK – ACTS 4:29-30

29 And now, Lord, consider their threats, and grant that Your slaves may speak Your message with complete boldness, 30 while You stretch out Your hand for healing, signs, and wonders to be performed through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.”



What fears or threats do you face every day? How do you deal with those fears and threats?

• Many have a strong fear of public speaking. The apostles may or may not have feared speaking in public, but they needed God’s boldness to do so and to help them deal with threats from the religious leaders.
• The disciples were aware of the threats from the religious leaders. What did they need to do to prepare the entire church for similar attacks from the religious leaders? They realized the need for prayer. For what did they need to pray?
• Christians should pray for boldness in witnessing.

What did the disciples ask God to give them or do for them? What did they not request?

• Consider their threats – not to remove, or punish their oppressors, or to protect them from their enemies – just to consider.
• They requested courage and boldness to speak God’s message.
• They asked God to affirm visibly His approval with God-size miracles.

Why should we pray for boldness but not for victory by earthly definition?

• Prayer is the life and breath of the church. Only a dead or dying church does not recognize this and live like this. A church may put its trust in a number of things: attractive buildings, pastoral staff, or their programs. Someone once said it like this: If a church trusts in its buildings, it will get what buildings can do. If it trusts in the skills and hard work of a pastor and staff, it will get what the church staff can do. If it trusts in fine programs, it will get what programs can do. If it trusts in prayer, it gets what God can do.

The church began it's threat with prayer for transformation and they committed to join God at work by speaking His message with courage and boldness.

III. BE EMPOWERED BY GOD – ACTS 4:31

31 When they had prayed, the place where they were assembled was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak God’s message with boldness.



Have you ever experienced an earthquake? What went through your mind when it happened?

• Biblical earthquakes represent powerful movements of God. Not all earthquakes mean this. What are some other demonstrations of God’s power: holding my temper, choosing patience rather than complaining, when God gives me the words to use?

Why would people who had been filled with the Spirit need to be filled again? What are the signs of being filled with the Spirit?

• Believers need to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
• When believers are filled with the Spirit, they become bold witnesses for Christ.
• Only in total surrender are we filled with the Spirit; therefore, although knowing the Spirit is a lasting experience, we must renew our full surrender to be filled with the Spirit.
• It was a fresh filling, a renewed awareness of the Spirit’s power and presence in their life and witness.
• Someone has said, “It is not how much of the Spirit I can get, but how much of me He can have.”

When a church understands the importance of praying with dependency and commits to speaking God's message with courage and boldness, then God will empower us with the Holy Spirit and His Will, will be done on earth as in heaven.

Prayer of Commitment

Lord, help me faithfully represent the beliefs and values of Your Word. Amen. 

Well, we begin a new series this week on how a church can transform a society. It's a pretty tall order don't you think?

See you on Sunday!

In His Love,

David & Susan