[Onebrother] Halloween and David's new letter

Thu Oct 27 13:19:22 EDT 2011

Good thoughts, both of you.

Our goal is most definitely to bring the gospel to bear on the realities of
day to day life, and to do that in community, the context God has given us
in which our growth in sanctification is to take place.  I'm very encouraged
by things taking place in our group and by things I am hearing from others
in different groups where people are growing in open relationships with one
another (that whole "intentionally intrusive, grace-centered" kind of
relationship).  And I agree that we have lots of room to grow and am
confident that as the gospel is continually applied to our hearts it will
bear that kind of relational fruit.

Our goal is not just to "get THROUGH the lesson", but it is to GET what's IN
the lesson, namely the gospel, and THEN to apply that to practical life
circumstances.

For those who have gone through our Intro to Redeemer Class (membership
class), you may remember the "Rocket diagram" which illustrates what our
primary focus is to be.  The "engine" and body of the rocket are Scripture
and the gospel (things like justification, adoption, sanctification, etc.).
 This is what we need to be ABOUT.  There are ethical and theological issues
on the wings of the rocket (things like our approach to Halloween) which are
important things for us to think about, but NOT what we want to be our
primary focus or define us.

The "tree illustration" also gives us helpful direction in this.  The "soil"
is the Word.  The trunk of the tree is the gospel.  These produce the
various gospel fruits, one of which is cultivating a biblical world and life
view.

We WANT to develop a worldview that guides our thinking about things such as
Halloween.  But this falls into the realm of the APPLICATION of the gospel
to our lives.  We have to have a solid understanding of the gospel to be
able to apply it to various issues.

This is why we are using studies that focus on the gospel.  So, there IS an
agenda.  We DO want to get through the content of the studies, not for the
sake of checking off a box, but because it's what we want to build our lives
on, be shaped by, and have shape our church culture.

Then, I would suggest, we can take opportunities to apply the gospel
together to issues of life - like work, fantasy football, Halloween.  We
usually share a meal together for an hour on Sundays and this would be a
perfect context for these kinds of discussions in the worldview realm.

One caveat/warning:  As we seek to think biblically together about various
aspects and issues of life, we MUST maintain our focus on the gospel.  It is
all too easy for groups and conversations to be "issue-driven" rather than
"gospel-driven".

When you invite your neighbor to visit our community group (or come to a
church party), we don't want their greatest impression to be: "Wow, these
people are really passionate about . . . Halloween (for or against), gun
control (for or against), cloth diapers, etc."  We want them to say: "Wow,
this Jesus person really means everything to them and His teaching impacts
all of their life."

Call me Captain Wordy

David

On Thu, Oct 27, 2011 at 10:45 AM, B. Heath Robinson
<heath at midnighthour.org>wrote:

> Oops.  I meant to reply to all.
>
> On Oct 27, 2011, at 10:45 AM, B. Heath Robinson wrote:
>
> I absolutely agree.  I am always interested in bringing the Gospel to bear
> on whatever is going on in our lives.  As far as the topics go, I see them
> like recipes.  Someone made the recipe up, so there is no reason why someone
> else (us) can't change them as long is the goal is the same.  I don't want
> to become a fantasy football league or romance novel discussion group.
>
> It makes me think of Shayor's sermon.  He said he want small groups because
> he needed friends.  In all likelihood, we all need more help applying the
> things we know rather than help knowing more things.  This is the area where
> friends really help.
>
> That being said, we do have a lesson each week.  The leader has usually
> done some preparation.  If no one derails him, he will probably go with the
> plan or just whatever is interesting to him.  Not everyone is wrestling with
> the same things at the same times.  For me, the hardest part of a group that
> deals more with what is going on in our lives is that we actually have to
> know and share what is going on in our lives.  I'd say that takes time, but
> I really don't believe that.  It takes freedom.  It can be the freedom that
> comes from trusting another person or freedom that comes from trusting God.
>
> One analogy might be dealing with authority.  Sometimes it is easy to have
> peace when you are under authority.  This is usually when the authority is
> good and is not particularly holy.  Sometimes it is hard to have peace.
>  This is when the authority is bad and is really the same as the first case.
>  True peace comes from putting our trust in God and not the current state of
> the authority.
>
> I am praying that our group does grow in this direction.  I would exhort us
> all to be more willing to share and to ask questions.  I'd say that our
> group is a safe place, but in very real ways it is not.  It is principally
> not safe because God is there and he often has a radically different agenda
> than we do.
>
> Thanks, Inez.  I really appreciate you.
>
> On Oct 27, 2011, at 10:24 AM, Inez Cobb wrote:
>
> I really enjoyed David's new letter received today and the other comments.
> I wish that our small group would take these items as they come up to
> discuss them, instead of rushing thought an assigned lesson. Who cares if it
> takes us a little longer to complete the lessons. Small group should be a
> place where we do not have to be so strict. If someone has a need or
> question we should be able to slow down and care for that. Just my thoughts
> wondering what everyone else thinks.
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-- 
Rev. David Rapp

Redeemer Presbyterian Church
Temple, TX

david at redeemerprestemple.org
254-760-4246

www.redeemerprestemple.org
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