Week 5 (8th Oct)

Homework:

we’re working on memorising the beatitudes over this half term (Matt.5:1-9). There is only a couple of weeks left, so you should be beginning to firm up your ability to recite this passage without looking!

To Be A Christian: Q&A 290-299.

You can access the Audible edition here.

And the pdf version can be found here.

What one degree change could you make to your Sunday that would make the Lord’s Day more focused on the Lord’s agenda? What obstacles are there to making that change?

The idea of the one-degree change is a recurring theme in DTP. Except for a very few people, massive overhauls of life rarely if ever work. Our temptation when we get hold of an amazing idea about being a Christian is to try and change everything and to implement it as fully and as radically as possible. That tends to lead to an intense few days, followed by failure, and a permanent relapse. It’s not a good way to build a life of disicpleship.

A much healthier and sustainable - if less dramatic - way to approach spiritual growth is to make a series of one-degree changes over a period of months. A change in direction of one degree can get you to a very different destination over time. And if you make 4 or 5 such changes over a period of a year, you are travelling in quite a different direction.

So, what one-degree change can you make in how spend the Lord’s Day? Bear in mind that it might have ramifications for other days of the week too! It might take time to build it in, but be ready to discuss this in a couple of weeks.

and a cheeky little question ahead of our reflection on the 5th Commandment next week. Do you think the 5th Commandment belongs to the first table of the Law (1-5, teaching us how to love God), or to the second table (5-10, teaching us how to love our neighbour)?

Week 4

To Be a Christian.

You can access the Audible edition here.

And the pdf version can be found here.

the third commandment

283. What is the third commandment? The third commandment is “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.” (Exodus 20:7; Deuteronomy 5:11; see also Leviticus 22:32; see questions 172–77)

284. Why is God’s Name sacred? God’s Name reveals who he is—his nature, his character, his power, and his purposes. All forms of God’s Name are holy. (Exo dus 3:1–15; 34:5–7; Psalms 8; 54:1; 79:9; Isaiah 57:15; Luke 1:46–49)

285. What does it mean to take God’s Name “in vain”? “Vain” means empty, meaningless, and of no account. To take God’s Name in vain is to treat it as such. (Leviticus 24:10–16; Ro mans 2:23–24)

286. How can you avoid taking God’s Name in vain? Because I love him, I should use God’s Name with reverence, not carelessly or profanely. (Deuteronomy 28:58–59; Psalms 86:11–12; 99:1–5; Revelation 15:2–4)

287. How might you use God’s Name profanely? By the unholy use of God’s holy Name, especially through perjury, blasphemy, and attributing to God any falsehood, heresy, or evil deed, as if he had authorized or approved them. (Deuteronomy 18:20–22; Proverbs 30:7–9; Jeremiah 34:15–16; Ezekiel 36:16–23; Amos 2:6–7; Jude 5–13)

288. How might you use God’s Name carelessly? Cursing, magic, broken vows, false piety, manipulation of others, and hypocrisy all cheapen God’s Name. These treat God’s Name the ten commandments as empty of the reality for which it stands. (Leviticus 5:4–6; 19:26b, 31; Psalm 10:2–7; Malachi 1:6–14; Matthew 5:33–37; James 3:5–12; Articles of Religion, 39)

289. How can you honor and love God’s Name? I honor and love God’s Name, in which I was baptized, by keeping my vows and promises, by worshiping him in truth and holiness, and by invoking his Name reverently and responsibly. (Numbers 30:2; Deuteronomy 10:20–22; Psalm 105:1–5; Matthew 15:10–20; James 5:12)

Read Leviticus 25

How would you explain the idea of Sabbath to someone based on this chapter?

Is there anything in here that surprises you, or shocks you?

How much of this should be, or even could be, observed by the Church today?

How does any of this point to Jesus?

You shall not make for yourself an image...

You can listen to ‘To be a Christian’ on Audible. Find it here.

You can download the PDF here.

Read Rom.1:18-23

What is the difference between using an image from creation to describe Jesus (e.g. Lamb, King etc.) and making them into an image of Jesus?

What has to happen before we get to the place of creating an image?  Can you trace out the process from this passage?

Do you agree with Rom.1:19...  that God has made the truth of who He is plain to everyone?  And Rom.1:21, that everyone ‘knew God’?

How do we reconcile the idea that Creation reveals God’s eternal power and divine nature, with Jesus’ claim that only He can make God known (Matt.11:27)?

...and vv.24-25

What is the connection between spirituality and sexuality?

term 9 / 1 week 1

On DTP - especially during the first 3 terms - we’ll be using an ancient method of helping ourselves to think through all we are being taught.  For almost 2,000 years, the Church used set Questions and Answers (called a Catechism, from the Greek word Katekeo, meaning ‘to teach by word of mouth’) to help us get a handle on our faith, and to grow in our understanding of how being a Christian works.  For centuries, the greatest theologians and pastors of the Church produced such Catechisms, and were often explicit in their expectations that families would use them on a daily basis as part of their worship together.

In our own generation, there has been a welcome re-discovery of the practise, and I’ll be introducing us to a modern Catechism produced by the Anglican Church of North America (written substantively by Jim Packer)

It is available ‘hard copy’ from Crossway Publishers. Or you can download the PDF here.

During the terms looking at the creed, the Lord’s prayer and the Ten Commandments I’ll be setting a number of questions each work as part of our homework.

Here is an excerpt from the Catechism’s introduction to the Ten Commandments section:

God wants us to have fullness of life in a relationship of loving obedience to Him.  He teaches us His will for our lives through the Law, and most fully through the teaching and example of Jesus (John 12:49-50; Heb.1:1-2).  God’s Law is outlined and distilled for us in the Ten Commandments, and displayed for us in Jesus’ sinless life and atoning death … God’s purpose for our new life in Christ is to make us like Jesus (Rom.8:28-29).  Scripture teaches that our actions are pleasing to God only if the attitudes of our minds and hearts are also godly.  God sees our behaviour as the fruit of our hearts and character, not something external or separate from our inner being.  Thus the goal of our life in Christ is that we become like Christ – not only in our actions but also in our thoughts and attitudes.

enjoy!