Promised Land: Living in the Blessing of God Throughout the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation the theme of Land is central to the drama of God s dealings with his people. Deeply embedded at the root of this drama, and at the root of our modern discontent, is a homeland (paradise) gained and lost. Our first parents, Adam and Eve, were set within the Garden of Eden as the site of God s blessing, where they were graced with the presence of God and were engaged in grateful service. Land, from the beginning, is caught up in an exchange of blessing: God graciously blesses his people with Land by which they gratefully return the blessing in a never-ending circle of bliss. Tragically, the disobedience of our first parents ruptured the exchange of blessing leading to the first exile paradise lost, expulsion from the garden, and wilderness wandering. Nevertheless, the drama does not end here, because God called Abraham, and through him the whole people of Israel, to dwell in a new land. The Promised Land is where God s people would learn again how to live in the exchange of blessing and where they would be set up as a light to the nations of the world, that they too might be blessed. All of this points to the last act of the drama when the nations of the earth will be restored to the perfect homeland: Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth And I saw the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God (Revelation 21:1-2). In the New Testament Church the theme of Promised Land hasn t disappeared. Rather, the Promised Land is wherever followers of Jesus live out their lives amongst the nations in anticipation of the new heavens and the new earth. How might we, poised to enter our Promised Land at the corner of Buena Vista and Campus Park, learn from this great theme in the drama of Scripture? Quite simply, we must learn like Israel how to live in the exchange of blessing. In God s economy blessing cannot be kept as a private possession; it can only be enjoyed by sharing it. Like Abraham and Israel, we are blessed to be a blessing. The land our land is a gift but not a gift for our private enjoyment. We are blessed so that we might in turn bless God, bless each other and bless the lost and broken world. This is the purpose of our new home and the only context in which we can truly enjoy it. 1
In this study we will be examining what it means to live in the blessing of God. The sermon for each week will look at an important text from the Old Testament that highlights the theme of the Promised Land. The study for each week in this booklet will go deeper with a look at a New Testament text that furthers the theme. Week 1: Blessed to be a Blessing Genesis 12:1-3 & Matthew 5:13-16 Week 2: The Ground of Blessing Deuteronomy 9:1-12 & Romans 5:6-11 Week 3: The Goal of Blessing Exodus 19:1-6 & Revelation 21:1-8 Week 4: Remembering the Blesser Deuteronomy 26:1-11 & Ephesians 2:1-13 Week 5: Trusting the Blesser Joshua 5:10-12 & Luke 12:22-34 Week 6: Blessing the Blesser Psalm 96 & Romans 12:1-3 Week 7: Blessing Others Leviticus 19:1-18 & Colossians 3:12-17 Week 8: Blessing the World Isaiah 49:1-7 & Matthew 28:16-20 2
6. Where do we need to go to make disciples? 7. According to these verses, how will the church fulfill the command? 8. What resources do we have in fulfilling this mission? Going Deeper 9. How can we use our new facilities to go? Week 1: Blessed to Be a Blessing Sunday s sermon looked at Genesis 12:1-3, one of the key foundational texts of the whole Old Testament. In this passage we find the call of Abraham, which, because Abraham is the father of Israel, is a sort of charter of the nation of Israel. As such, this passage tells us about God s intentions for Israel. God promises to bless Abraham with descendants, with land and with a special relationship with God. In other words, God promises to make of Abraham and his descendents a great nation, with a land of their own and with a privileged covenantal relationship with the God of the universe. The people of Israel, God tells Abraham, will enjoy God s unique and unsurpassable blessing. But the blessing is not for the purpose of their own private enjoyment. With the blessing comes a mission. Israel is blessed so that they will be a blessing. Israel is being reintroduced to the exchange of blessing, and this means they must learn also how to share the blessing. Getting Started 1. It is probably a cliché by now to say that when you serve or give sacrificially, you are the one truly blessed. But it is a good cliché, because it is true! Describe how you have found this to be true in your life. 10. Where is God calling you to go with the good news of Jesus? 2. The sermon suggested that Israel s whole way of life was intended to be a light to the nations. How might their national life have been attractive to those around them? 30 3
Into the Bible Read Matthew 5:13-16 This brief passage of Matthew is part of the larger Sermon on the Mount that spans from Matthew 5-7. In this famous sermon Jesus is depicted as the New Moses. The first Moses gave the people of Israel the Law at Mount Sinai this Law served as the comprehensive way of life for the people, showing them how to be the people of God. In Matthew s gospel Jesus also went up on the mountain (Matt. 5:1) in order to give his new people a new way of life, showing them afresh how to be the people of God. 3. In the ancient world salt served a dual purpose: as a flavor and a preservative. How can followers of Jesus be the salt of the earth? After His resurrection, Jesus handed His mission over to His followers, the Church. His mission was to offer Himself for the salvation of the whole world. His work had been completed for all time, but the good news (gospel) still needed to spread to all nations. God s rescue mission started with one man, Abram, and the promise to make him into a nation which drew the nations into God s blessing. That pointed forward to the completion of that work through another man, Jesus, through whom God formed a new people, the Church, who would carry the blessing of salvation to all nations. At Mount Sinai, the Lord spoke through Moses and formed a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Now, on a mountain in Galilee, Jesus declared Himself King over the people of God, His followers, the Church. Through the work of Jesus, the promised land was now wherever the followers of Jesus were amongst the nations. 3. Jesus begins the commission to the Church by declaring His authority. What is the extent of His kingdom? 4. Jesus transfers light of the world imagery used to describe Israel to his own followers. What are some of the different ways we can be light to those around us? 4. According to verse 19a, what is the church commanded to do? 5. In verses 14-15 Jesus doesn t say that a city set on a hill ought not to be hidden but that it cannot be hidden; and he doesn t say that people ought not to hide their lamp under a basket but that they simply do not (because if you think about it they really cannot). What does this suggest about the blessings God pours out upon us? 5. What is a disciple? 4 29
Week 8: Blessing the World This week s sermon looked at Isaiah 49:1-7, where the Lord reveals that He will use His people to shine forth His light and bring salvation to the ends of the earth. As we bring our series to a close, we have come back to where we started in Genesis 12:1-3. God has chosen and called a people to Himself in order to use them as a blessing to the nations. He blessed His people with the Promised Land in order to draw all lands into the promised blessing. As Isaiah prophesied, this would ultimately be accomplished in a mysterious figure called the Servant. Jesus identifies himself as the Servant throughout the Gospels, and in John s Gospel he says of himself, I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself. (John 12:32). The theme of land and nations that has woven its way through our study, and through the whole of Scripture, is powerfully present as Jesus gave the Church its mission. Getting Started 1. When you think about things that are not right in the world, what grieves your heart most or makes you angriest? a. How have you observed that God s blessings can only be kept if we share them? b. In what ways are we tempted to hide our light? 6. Verse 16 suggests that good works are important to our Christian witness. Why is this? Why can t we just tell people the good news? 2. The sermon talked about God s desire to draw all nations into His Kingdom. In what ways is this a restoration of Creation? 7. According to verse 16, what is the ultimate purpose of our being light in the world? a. Father in verse 16 suggests something about the nature of the church. What is it? Into the Bible Read Matthew 28:16-20 28 5
Going Deeper 8. Some Christians are tempted to live their Christian witness but not to speak it; others to speak it but not to live it. Here is a good rule of thumb: If you are tempted just to live your faith but not tell others about it, you ought to pray for the courage to speak and then, speak. If you are tempted to speak your faith but not actually make the sacrifice required to live it out, you ought to pray for the grace to do the good works Jesus tells us about, and then, do them. How are you challenged in this area? Do you really believe that if you boldly and sacrificially speak and live your faith publically, you will be blessed as a result? Going Deeper 8. Do you have trouble putting on any of the virtues covered in Colossians 3:12-17? Why do you struggle in this particular area? How can you change? 9. Our common life is attractive when marked by the virtues found in verses 12-14 and by the peace and gratitude found in verse 15. How is our common life important to the mission of the church? How are Small Groups important to this mission? 9. How can we use our new church property, our Land, to bless those around us? In other words, how can Trinity Anglican be a city set on a hill? (Creative thinking is encouraged.) 6 27
3. In verse 12 Paul tells us to put on various virtues as we would put on a piece of clothing. This tells us that though God gives us a new identity in Christ, we must also actively live into that identity. How do we do this? 4. In verse 12 Paul tells us to put on five things. What are they and why is each significant for life together in the church? 5. Looking at verse 13, how does God s grace help us show grace to one another? 6. verse 14 Paul tells us that the pinnacle of the Christian life is putting on love. Practically speaking, how do we become more loving people? Week 2: The Ground of Blessing Sunday s sermon looked at Deuteronomy 9:1-12, the classic Old Testament text regarding the reason and ground of the election of Israel. In other words, why did God choose Israel to be his special people, his prized possession, and the object of his unique blessing? Did God see something in Israel that caught his eye their strength, their size, their venerable history, their intelligence, their righteousness? The answer in Deuteronomy 9 is emphatically No! Rather, Moses tells the people that not only did God not choose them on the basis of their righteousness but he chose them despite the fact that they are actually an unrighteous, stubborn and rebellious people. Therefore, there is nothing within them that explains why God blessed them. It was and is a matter of God s grace: his blessing is not conditioned by their merit but is simply an undeserved grace. This means that the Promised Land is not earnings or wages, but a sheer unmerited gift. In the book of Romans, Paul picks up on the same idea of God s unconditional grace, and he applies it to us through the Cross of Jesus Christ. Getting Started 1. What is the best and most extravagant present you received as a child? Who gave it to you and why? How did it make you feel? 7. How is admonishing one another in all wisdom (vs. 16) consistent with living peacefully together? 2. Have you ever heard the phrase, God helps those who help themselves? What do you think of this phrase? 26 7
Into the Bible Read Romans 5:6-11 In the ancient world in which Paul lived, it was commonly accepted wisdom that a good and proper gift should only be given to someone who is worthy of it. In fact, a gift to an unworthy person was viewed as irresponsible. It was assumed, moreover, that God too would give the gift of his grace only to those who have demonstrated their worthiness: the godly. For many in the early Church this meant that God s grace is only for Jews who have demonstrated their worth through keeping the Law or for Gentiles who have become Lawkeeping Jews through circumcision. Paul disagrees. 3. According to verses 6, 8 and 10, for whom did Christ die? What four terms are used to describe them? Week 7: Blessing Others Sunday s sermon focused on Leviticus 19:1-18 in which we find the command, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. As we see in this passage, being holy requires love, especially loving your neighbor as yourself. Being in a right relationship with God must necessarily lead to being righteous in our relationships with God s people. Or to put it terms of blessing : God has blessed us; so we in turn bless God and bless others. This is summed up for us every week at the beginning of our Sunday liturgy: Jesus said, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets. Getting Started 1. How has someone shown the love of God to you? a. What kinds of words would we use to describe them today? 2. According to the sermon, why does love of neighbor follow from the love of God? 4. Why is it significant that Paul says that Christ died for us while we were still weak and while we were still sinners (5:6-8)? 8 Into the Bible Read Colossians 3:12-17 In Colossians 3 Paul tells us that as Christians we have received a radically new identity in Christ. The imagery he uses is putting on a new self. This means that there is no aspect of our lives including our thoughts, our choices, our habits, our relationships that is unaffected by our relationship with Jesus Christ. In Colossians 3:12-17, Paul goes on to point out that this has major implications for how we relate to others in the Body of Christ. 25
7. How does the renewal of our minds help us to live lives that are good and acceptable and perfect in God s eyes? 5. In your own words sum up the sense of verse 7. What does this verse suggest about the nature of human love? 8. Verse 3 tells us to have a proper estimate of ourselves. How does worship help with this? 6. If Christ didn t choose to die for us because we are worthy, why did he choose to die for us? What does this suggest about the kind of God he is? Going Deeper 9. Worship is inseparable from sacrifice. What kinds of sacrifice is God calling you to make as part of your spiritual worship of him? Do you believe that God stores up greater joy and happiness for us on the far side of sacrifice? 7. How do these verses affect how we assess our own worth? a. How do they affect how we assess the worth of others? 10. Where do you see elements of Psalm 96 and Romans 12:1-3 fulfilled in our liturgy? 8. Verse 11 says that as a result of God s unconditional grace, we rejoice. How does God s grace lead to more joy in our lives? 24 9
Going Deeper 9. If God blesses us, not on the basis of our worth, but simply on the basis of his love, what might this imply about our new church home and about how we should use it? b. Why does worship require sacrifice? 5. When Paul talks about our bodies, he is referring to the totality of our lives. Offering this totality is our spiritual worship. How does this cut against our tendency to compartmentalize our lives or offer less than our whole selves? 10. Do you really believe, through and through, that God s blessings are not tied to your worthiness? If not, how are you tempted to demonstrate your worth before God? If you really believe, through and through, that God s blessing is not tied to your worthiness, how would this affect the way you live your life? or how you approach your relationship with God? or how you treat others? or how you share your faith? a. What do our bodies have to do with spirituality? 6. In verse 2 Paul tells us not to be conformed to the pattern of this world. How does worship help us to be conformed to the pattern of God s Kingdom? 10 When Paul is conveying the shape of the Christian life in these verses it is important to pay attention to the order. He begins with God s grace ( the mercies of God ). He then tells us to worship with our bodily lives ( present your bodies ), which he tells us is a very spiritual thing ( spiritual worship ). Finally, he tells us to be transformed by the renewal of our minds. Here is why this is significant: changed lives don t begin with changing our minds. Changed lives begin with God s grace, which is then hammered into us through our worship, which then leads to a profound change of perspective. 23
Into the Bible Read Romans 12:1-3 Nearly each of Paul s letters can be roughly divided into two sections: theology and ethics. In the first section Paul tells us how it is, and then he tells how we are to live as a result of how it is. In Romans 1-11 Paul tells how it is: in Jesus Christ God revealed his earth -shattering, too-good-to-be-true, grace for sinners. Romans 12:1-3 is the beginning of the ethics section of the letter telling us how we are to live as a result. The first thing Paul tells us to do the only thing that we could possibly start with after hearing such good news is to worship. 3. On what basis does Paul appeal to us to make an offering of ourselves in verse 1? Why is this significant? Week 3: The Goal of Blessing Sunday s sermon looked at Exodus 19:1-6, which expresses God s goal for His people. So far in our series, we have seen that God chose Abraham to be a great nation through whom He would bless the nations. He chose to make Israel His people despite their rebelliousness and stubbornness. Exodus 19 takes us to Mount Sinai some three months after leaving Egypt, and it was there that God spoke to them and declared His purpose for them: they will be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. In other words, God brought them into the Promised Land for a special purpose to reconcile the world to Himself through them. This purpose came to a climax in and through Christ, but will be ultimately fulfilled in the New Jerusalem. Getting Started 1. What is your favorite room in your home and why? 4. Worship in ancient Israel was an earthy, gruesome kind of affair involving animal sacrifice. In verse 1 Paul uses that same earthy, gruesome imagery to describe our worship. How does Paul describe our worship? 2. According to the sermon, what does it mean to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation? a. What does it mean to present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God? Into the Bible Read 1 Peter 2:9-12 Peter is clearly picking up on the language of Exodus 19. You, the Church, he says, are a chosen people and a kingdom of priests, but are at the same time aliens and strangers in the world. 22 11
3. According to these verses, what should our individual lives and our life together speak to the world? 4. What does living as aliens and strangers in the world imply about the holiness of our lives?...about where our true home is? Read Revelation 21:1-8 Revelation 21 and 22 take us to the end of time. Jerusalem was not just the capitol city of Israel, it was the home of the Temple. The Temple stood at the heart of Israel s life and calling. It was the place where God dwelt in the mist of His people and where His people could come and meet with Him. After offering sacrifice for the forgiveness of their sins, worshipers could go into the holy place and rejoice in their relationship with the Ruler of the Universe. Through Jesus sacrifice on the Cross, all who come to Him to wash their robes white in His blood are now able to stand before the throne of the Holy God (Rev. 7:14-17). The New Jerusalem is actually described as having a cubic shape, just like the Most Holy place of the Temple. The entire city is therefore the holiest place where God dwells. 5. If you have spent your life longing to be at home with God, what would verse 3 mean to you? Week 6: Blessing the Blesser The sermon this week looked at Psalm 96, which is a joyous celebration of a simple, yet truly profound reality, that God is King over his people and indeed over all creation. This Psalm includes a thunderstruck recognition that the King of the universe the King of kings, the God who is infinitely higher than all conceivable gods is pleased to dwell in the midst of his people. Their Land isn t more inherently holy than any others, but because the Lord dwells in his temple in the midst of Israel, their land is the Holy Land. The Lord has blessed his people with his presence; in turn, they bless the Lord through their worship. This Psalm is an act of worship and it teaches how to worship. Particularly, this Psalm instructs the worshipers to bring an offering and come into his courts. In other words, they are to enter into the very presence of God neither casually nor presumptuously but with an offering. On the surface level an offering signifies a sacrifice of an animal or of crops, but at a deeper level it means offering oneself to God in and through the physical offering. Here is the heart of worship according to this Psalm: God has given himself over to us; we respond by offering ourselves to him. Getting Started 1. Have you ever made a sacrifice that brought you blessing and joy? Explain. 2. The sermon suggested that worship begins with God s initiative but still requires our active response. That is, God gives his presence and we enter his presence with an offering of ourselves. How will we approach worship differently if we realize that God is already there and awaiting us? 12 21
6. Our hearts (wills) are set upon what we truly treasure. How does treasuring the world lead to anxiety?...impact how we use what we have? 6. Think back to the first few chapters of Genesis that describe the perfect relationship God created humanity to enjoy and how sin infected that perfect creation. With that in mind, how are verses 3 and 4 a great restoration? 7. Jesus indicates that trusting God s provision allows us to use what we have to bless others and experience freedom and peace. How does treasuring God lead to trust?...to peace? 7. In what ways does this passage describe God s fulfillment of the goal of making us a kingdom of priests and a holy nation? Going Deeper 8. What is your anxiety telling you about your trust?...your treasure? Going Deeper 8. What do you really want God to do with your life? How does that compare with God s goal for your life as described in this passage? 9. What can you do with your time, talent, and treasure to learn to love and trust God more? 9. The gift of the Promised Land was meant to point God s people to their true home in heaven. How can the gift of your home and our new church home do the same? 20 13
Week 4: Remembering the Blesser Sunday s sermon examined Deuteronomy 26:1-11. This passage of Scripture contains instructions to the ancient people of Israel regarding their tithe. When they come into the Promised Land, and all of the abundance that comes with it, they are commanded to offer their tithe from the firstfruits of their harvest as an expression of their gratitude. In other words, they have received great gifts from the hand of God, and these gifts call for demand even a grateful response. As they offer their firstfruits, the Israelites are commanded to remember aloud all the great and saving deeds of God for his people: how he chose a small nomadic people, made them into a great nation, rescued them from the clutches of the mighty Egyptians, led them through the desert and placed them in the Promised Land. In sum, they must ever remember the grace of God and keep this memory alive through their grateful response. Getting Started 1. Describe a particularly powerful experience that you have had of nostalgia. Why do you think that nostalgia is such a powerful thing for us? Into the Bible Read Luke 12:22-34 Jesus commands His followers to be free from anxious worry and to trust in God. That doesn t mean that we aren t supposed to wisely plan for the future. In fact, God s Word encourages us to do so, but it does mean that we are not to filled anxiety over the uncertainty of tomorrow. There is a big difference, then, between anxious worry and wise and concerned planning. It the difference between wisdom and folly, and it is ultimately rooted in the heart. Ultimately, Jesus teaches, anxiety springs from a lack of trust in our Father s care and results in draining us of the joy of life. 3. Jesus begins by stating that life is about more than physical needs (vs. 23). What do you think Jesus means? What do you think Jesus is implying about what life is for? 4. Jesus draws our attention to God s care of the natural world (birds, lilies, etc.). What does that say about His care and concern for us? 2. According to the sermon, how does forgetfulness prevent us from living in the circle of blessing? How does remembrance keep us connected to the Blesser? 5. Jesus also points out the folly of worry. We often worry because it seems productive, but according to Jesus what does anxious worry actually produce (vs. 25-26)? 14 19
Week 5: Trusting the Blesser Sunday s sermon looked at Joshua 5:10-12, the end of the manna in the wilderness and the beginning of eating the fruit of the Promised Land. Manna was God s miraculous provision for the Israelites in the wilderness. It functioned to both provide for their physical needs and to teach them to trust God for their provision. In the wilderness, God gave them enough for each day in order to teach them to rely upon Him and not their own strength, so that when they came into the land of blessing, they would not forget to turn to Him for all their needs. So the manna stopped and the question remained: would they trust the Blesser or turn to their own ways? For the most part, as the story unfolds, Israel struggled to trust. God created us to rely upon Him. We were not meant to live apart from God and in our own strength, but with Him and in His grace and power. But sin has bent us in upon ourselves so that we ultimately trust ourselves and not Him. Not only that, we often live in the illusion that we are competent to fully care for our own lives. In times of wilderness need, that illusion is often shattered, but in times of blessing, we tend to forget. God desires to bless us, but that blessing only truly flows when we trust the Blesser. Into the Bible Read Ephesians 2:1-13 Paul s letter to the Ephesians was written mainly to Gentiles who had been incorporated into God s people through the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because they were Gentiles who did not keep the Law or know the Hebrew Scriptures, there was nothing to prepare them for being Christians. They were, or should be, quite simply, grateful recipients of God s mercy saved by grace. 3. What are the various ways Paul describes the former condition of his readers? a. If they were dead in their sins, what does this indicate about their former ability to help themselves? Getting Started 1. What kinds of things cause you the most anxiety? 4. According to verses 4-6, how did the radical change come about in their lives? 2. According to the sermon, why do we struggle to trust God? a. What does it mean that they are now made alive together with Christ (vs. 5)? 18 15
5. In verses 8-9, what is excluded by grace? How does grace lead to greater humility in our lives? 6. In verses 11-13, the Ephesians are told to remember. How does remembering what God has done for us lead to more gratitude, love and holiness? 10. How can Trinity keep alive the memory of God s grace to us in the wilderness even after we enter our new land? 7. Why do we tend to forget God and the grace he has shown us? 8. What is the result of forgetfulness of God s grace? Going Deeper 9. How has God shown you his grace? Would you be willing to give testimony of this to the group? 16 17