Lent STUDY GUIDE. Fleeting. Shadows. How Christ transforms the darkness. Malcolm Duncan

Transcription

1 Lent STUDY GUIDE Fleeting Shadows How Christ transforms the darkness Malcolm Duncan

2 For Mum and Dad Hunter. The shadows aren t forever. In memory of John Kendall. Copyright CWR 2015 Published 2015 by CWR, Waverley Abbey House, Waverley Lane, Farnham, Surrey GU9 8EP, UK. CWR is a Registered Charity Number and a Limited Company registered in England Registration Number The right of Malcolm Duncan to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, sections 77 and 78. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission in writing of CWR. For a list of National Distributors, visit Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture references are from the Holy Bible, New International Version Anglicised, NIV Copyright 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Other versions are marked: The Message: Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group; ESV: Scripture quotations are from The ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version ) copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved. THE WEIGHT OF GLORY by CS Lewis copyright CS Lewis Pte. Ltd. Concept development, editing, design and production by CWR. Cover image: istockphoto.com Printed in the UK by Bishops. ISBN:

3 Contents 5 Introduction 8 STUDY ONE Our Shepherd in the Shadow of Today Psalm 23:1; John 10: STUDY TWO Our Restorer in the Shadow of Exhaustion Psalm 23:2 3; John 10: STUDY THREE Our Guide in the Shadow of Confusion Psalm 23:3; John 14: STUDY FOUR Our Companion in the Shadow of Despair Psalm 23:4; John 11: STUDY FIVE Our Host in the Shadow of Attack Psalm 23:5; John 6:26 35,41,48,51 54 STUDY SIX Our Peace in the Shadow of Tomorrow Psalm 23:6; John 8:12; 9:5; 15:1,5 63 Leader s Notes

4 Fleeting Shadows Acknowledgements My deep appreciation goes to Lynette and the team at CWR. Thank you so much for your patience and your enthusiasm for this little book. In what has been an incredibly unpredictable and difficult time, your understanding and support has been wonderful. Thank you also to the family at Gold Hill. I love you so very much and thank God for you. What a privilege to be part of this church community. My thanks, as always, to my Personal Assistant, Maria Bond. Your tireless support means so much to me. At the time of writing you are facing your dark shadow of loss. May God continue to comfort you. Of course my thanks go to my wife Deborah, and my four children, Matthew, Benjamin, Anna and Riodhna. Thank you for your love and support. You are inspirational. Lastly, my deepest and most profound thanks go to the Lord Jesus Christ, whose light and life have given me meaning and purpose. May You be glorified through these words and may many be drawn to You. Soli Deo Gloria 4

5 Introduction Introduction Sometimes the darkness in our lives is very threatening. This Lent study guide is aimed at helping you to reflect on some of the ways in which life can be engulfed in uncertainty or darkness. My prayer is that God will use it across this Lenten period to draw you close to Him and to remind you that no matter how dark things might seem, God is closer than you think. The idea for the book was born out of what has been an incredibly difficult year for me. I speak more about that in Study Four, so I will leave you to read the details there. Suffice to say there have been times over the last eighteen months when I have felt the darkness of death and sadness of despair very personally and very deeply. My faith has been through a profound period of testing and growth. I love God more than I have ever loved Him, but I understand Him less than I have ever understood Him. I have to say, though, I trust Him more now than I have ever done and my faith has become even more simple and straightforward. At its heart, my conviction is simple God is good, and His mercy endures forever. He is near the brokenhearted and close to those who mourn. I hold onto that with all my heart. Shadows come to us in many forms. There is the worry of today, the sheer exhaustion of trying to keep too many plates spinning, the need to make choices that are right and honouring to God, the pain of death and despair, facing our demons and confronting our insecurities and anxiousness about the future. These subjects form the six studies that are before you. I am aware that there are many other shadows that we face. Shadows of depression, or calamity or disaster or doubt, but the reality is that this is a simple guide aimed at helping you draw near to God as He draws near to you. It is not a depressing book. Instead it is a book full of hope, confidence and faith; but I hope authentic hope, authentic confidence and authentic faith. I ve shared some of my own stories in the book, mostly stories of failure, mistakes and struggles. That doesn t mean that these are the only aspects of my life that exist far from it. 5

6 Fleeting Shadows I am simply trying to be authentic, open and honest. My faith is still growing. I still struggle with God. I don t have all the answers and I have not tried to write a self-help guide. As we approach Holy Week, I invite you to be vulnerable enough to think about areas in your life and your faith where you need to be reminded of God s grace and love; power and faithfulness. I invite you to be honest. I invite you to confront the shadows in your life. I do so, however, with the strong conviction that all the shadows we face are fleeting. The great light of the resurrected King Jesus will one day dispel every cloud, remove every shadow and chase away every fear. Many of the shadows in our lives lurk with intent, but God is stronger than they are. With this guide we will explore the words of Psalm 23 coupled with some of the I am sayings of Christ found in John s Gospel. Read them slowly and allow them to sink in. Take time to let God s Word live in you and produce life in you and through you. Please use the prayers, reflections and other material I have included here as you see fit. A few years ago I was driving along the A40 between Oxford and Burford and was caught in the most beautiful sunrise. That stretch of road is always beautiful, but on that particular morning it was simply spectacular. I stopped the car, stepped outside and enjoyed the morning sun as it spilled across the fields. The light bounced off the crops like shimmering diamonds. All around me the darkness, which just moments before had been shrouding the earth, released its grip. It scurried away as the light tumbled out from its source so many millions of miles away. The sky glowed red with anticipation and the world looked different. The sun had got its hat on and was coming out to play! I love sunrises. They fill me with hope. They are a daily reminder from God that light is stronger than darkness. They are utterly dependable and predictable, and they serve as jawdroppingly beautiful memos from heaven, with hope written all over them. Sunrises force shadows to flee. They push back the chill of the darkness and they call the earth out of slumber. They are a wake-up call to creation. They are also an optical 6

7 illusion. Of course the sun does not revolve around us, we revolve around it. We just think the sun revolves around us and use language that betrays our egocentricity as a race and a planet. In the same way, our Son has risen. He does not pander to our needs, He does not jump to our tune. He stands resplendent in light and alive in power, grace and tenderness. His presence is guaranteed and when the shadows see Him, they flee. We just sometimes don t believe it. We sometimes think it is too good to be true. We sometimes prefer the darkness to the light. May God change our perspective. May the shadows be dispelled by hope. May God draw close to you as you prepare for Holy Week and the message of God s deep unshakeable love for you. 7

8 STUDY ONE Our Shepherd in the Shadow of Today Psalm 23:1; John 10:11 16

9 Our Shepherd in the Shadow of Today Warm Up Take a blank sheet of paper and write down twenty ways in which the Lord has provided for you or protected you in the last month. Please do not repeat anything on the list. What is the impact of making this list on your thinking and attitude? Opening Prayer Father, thank You that You are always present with us. Would You come close to us as we embark on this most holy subject. Remind us of how much You love us and how willing You are to protect us, nurture us and provide for us. Help us lift our gaze to You so that we discover again the joy of Your work in our lives. Amen. Eye Opener Sometimes the pressures of living leave us feeling like we are always living under a cloud. We can get caught in the vice-like grip of traps like developing our careers, paying the bills or keeping up appearances. When this happens, we discover that no matter how much we have, it never seems to be enough. As the dark shadows of discontent fall across the landscape of our lives we end up worrying about what we do not have rather than being thankful for what we do have. Yet when God is our shepherd, we lack nothing. What does that mean? Setting the Scene The two central passages we are reflecting on in this first study are the opening verse of Psalm 23 and Jesus self-identification as the Good Shepherd in John 10: The idea of God as our shepherd is one of the most important images in the Bible. Throughout the Scriptures, we have pictures of God as the shepherd of Israel and Jesus as the shepherd of all who follow Him. In one of the most beautiful passages about God s loving care and commitment to those 9STUDY ONE

10 Fleeting Shadows who have gone astray (Luke 15), Jesus paints a picture of God as a shepherd who goes out of His way to find the sheep that has wandered. Deeply embedded in the metaphor of God as our shepherd is the reality that shepherds are important figures in the Middle East. Throughout the years, they have been central to the wellbeing of their flocks and to the wellbeing of their whole communities. The shepherd is a protector and a provider. The shepherd leads the sheep. When one of the sheep is hurt, the shepherd will go and get them and make sure that they remain with the rest of the flock. As you read through these scriptures do so very slowly, allowing the imagery to really come to life in your imagination. Bible Readings Psalm 23:1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. John 10:11 16 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me just as the Father knows me and I know the Father and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. Luke 15:3 7 Then Jesus told them this parable: Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he 10

11 Our Shepherd in the Shadow of Today joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbours together and says, Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep. I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who do not need to repent. STUDY ONE Psalm 95:6 7 Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Isaiah 40:11 He tends his flock like a shepherd: he gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young. 1 Peter 5:4 And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away. Revelation 7:16 17 Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the centre of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Hebrews 13:20 21 Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord 11

12 Fleeting Shadows Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. Session Focus Life can be harsh and unrelenting. I have been a Christian since 1986 and I am still learning to trust God with the dayto-day challenges of life. If there is such a thing as an expert in faith, it certainly isn t me. There are still days when I struggle to make it through and I wonder where God is. When I lived in Scotland in the early 1990s, there were days when my wife and I had nothing to eat and no money to buy electricity or gas. They were days when our faith was tested very deeply. I felt like a failure as a husband and as a Christian. It is hard to be joyful when you do not know where the next meal is coming from. Yet as time has gone on, I have discovered an everdeepening sense of this simple reality, God will not abandon me. Even when I feel like He is not there, I have an everstrengthening sense of conviction that He is always there. In the words of C.S. Lewis, I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else. Today I believe God is my shepherd more than I have ever believed it. That does not mean I find it easy to trust God, it just means I am learning what it means to take Him at His word. It is because God is my shepherd that I can be assured that He will provide everything I need (Psa. 23:1). He is a shepherd who provides for His sheep, who protects His sheep and who is utterly committed to His sheep. His provision for us is not simply about physical food and drink because there can be no doubt that Christians still go hungry in the world today. Only a Christian who lives in the largely prosperous northern hemisphere could equate God s shepherding of His people with nothing more than physical food and drink. The idea of God being our shepherd is about such provision, but it is about much, much more than that too. 12

13 Our Shepherd in the Shadow of Today As our shepherd, God is the source of our protection, our hope and our strength. Sheep in the Middle East are at the mercy of the wild when they leave the safety of the sheep pen. The only thing between them and the wild animals that want to destroy them is the shepherd who has their best interests at heart. Put simply, without the presence of the shepherd, the sheep have no hope. The same is true of us as followers of Christ. Jesus told His disciples that He is the Good Shepherd (John 10:11 16). He is not simply a good shepherd, He is the Good Shepherd. He protects us. He nurtures us. He guides us. He shields us. He looks for us when we wander away from Him. He rescues us from the darkness of our own mistakes. He snatches us from the impending danger of attacks around us. Jesus as our Good Shepherd sacrifices Himself for our security. He puts His own life on the line so that our lives can be saved. He does not only bring us the offer of security, He Himself is our security. The Early Church held this idea of Jesus as their shepherd as a central part of their faith in Him. Peter describes Jesus as our Chief Shepherd (1 Pet. 5:4) and when John records his visions of Jesus in the book of Revelation, he describes seeing a Lamb who has become a gentle but strong and loving shepherd (Rev. 7:16 17). The earliest images of Jesus, found in the catacombs in Rome, picture Him as a shepherd who carries His lambs gently. What kind of shepherd is Jesus to us? He is One who knows us. He understands our frailty and gently lifts us and carries us in His arm. He holds us close to His heart and shields us from danger (Isa. 40:11). Whatever happens today, it is not out of sight of the Good Shepherd. He loves us too much to abandon us. He is always there and He always will be. Just because you cannot always see Him, does not mean that He cannot always see you. STUDY ONE 13

14 Fleeting Shadows??? Discussion Starters 1. When have you found it hard to trust God and what was it that caused you to wonder whether God was with you? 2. Do you find trusting God easy or hard? Why do you think that is? 3. Look again at the list you made at the beginning of this study. How does remembering God s goodness to you in the past help you with the present? 4. How do you address the reality that there are Christians in the world at this moment who are hungry and without shelter? What could you or your church family do to help? 14