Week 8
God’s Holy Vision for His Missional People
Watch
As we learned in our study of the Exodus last week, God’s deliverance isn’t simply deliverance FROM slavery in Egypt…it’s deliverance FOR a specific purpose. The same is true for us today. The key response to God’s deliverance is faithfulness. This faithfulness manifests itself in love for God and neighbor. This week we’ll spend some time soaking in the ways God lays out for His people how they will love him and neighbor and how they will become to look like God’s missional community in/to/for the world.
Want more? Watch this video on David: the Priestly King.
READ
In the “Invitation” Book, read Chapter 6: God’s Holy Vision for His Missional People
• Day 1: Mission and God’s Commandments
• Day 2: Mission and the Promise of God with us
• Day 3: God’s Grace and the danger of Disobedience
• Day 4: Loving God: the Great Commandment
• Day 5: Loving Neighbor: Practicing Justice for all
In the Bible read:
• Exodus 20:2-7
• Matthew 5:17-20, 43-48
• Exodus 40:34-38
• John 1:14
• Matthew 1:23
• Deuteronomy 30:19-20
• DEUTERONOMY 6
• MATTHEW 22:36-40
• MICAH 6:8
• JAMES 1:26-27
Ponder
Questions for journaling or discussing with a friend or group:
• As we seek to live faithfully, we must learn to listen to Scripture for our modern context as a means of reflecting God’s character today. How do God’s commandments echo into our modern lives?
• The tabernacle is a gift from God. It expresses God’s desire to be WITH US. We carry God with us wherever we go. How does this truth change how you’ll live today?
• Jesus came as the ultimate tabernacle (See John 1 and Matthew 1). Salvation (through Jesus) is freedom from bondage, but more profoundly it is freedom FOR relationship with God. What would it mean for you to live in a moment-by-moment relationship with the God of the Bible?
• Idolatry by God’s people threatens their (our) witness to the world. Humanity, created in the image of God, is the ONLY necessary visible representation of God. How does this shape how you view yourself? others? our mission?
• God will certainly forgive us. But every sin limits our freedom to live as the people whom God created us to be. How has sin robbed you of freedom and limited your life? How would your life change if you KNEW God truly loved you and desires to forgive you?
• God does not allow for divided loyalties. We must remain sensitive to the subtle allure of competing gods. What other gods do you need to lay aside today to fully commit to the God who created you and loves you?
• If our spiritual lives find its roots in an exclusive relationship with our God, then it finds its clearest moment-by-moment expression through how we treat other people, animals & world. The Bible calls this justice. How do you practice justice in your daily life?
• Love God & love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus’ ministry, and ours, includes the poor & marginalize. What does that look like in your city or neighborhood?