Being the Beloved, Living in a Broad Place
Weekly Reading
Monday: Exodus 6, Matthew 11
Tuesday: Exodus 7, Matthew 12
Wednesday: Exodus 8
Thursday: Exodus 9
Friday: Matthew 13
Saturday: Psalm 9-11, Proverbs 2
Sunday: Joshua 22-24, Judges 1-5
Tuesday: Exodus 7, Matthew 12
Wednesday: Exodus 8
Thursday: Exodus 9
Friday: Matthew 13
Saturday: Psalm 9-11, Proverbs 2
Sunday: Joshua 22-24, Judges 1-5
Sermon Notes
Key Passage: Matthew 3:13-17
Isaiah 42:1 (Psalm 2:7)
Galatians 4:5-7
Ephesians 2:1
Psalm 147:10-11
Psalm 149:4
2 Samuel 22:20 (Psalm 18:19)
Matthew 7:13-14
1 John 4:7-12
"Now the Christian account of God involves just the same principle. The human level is a simple and rather empty level. On the human level one person is one being, and any two persons are two separate beings – just as, in two dimensions (say on a flat sheet of paper) one square is one figure, and any two squares are two separate figures. On the Divine level you still find personalities; but up there you find them combined in new ways which we, who do not live on that level, cannot imagine.
"In God’s dimension, so to speak, you find a being who is three Persons while remaining one Being, just as a cube is six squares while remaining one cube. Of course we cannot fully conceive a Being like that: just as, if we were so made that we perceived only two dimensions in space we could never properly imagine a cube. But we can get a sort of faint notion of it. And when we do, we are then, for the first time in our lives, getting some positive idea, however faint, of something super-personal – something more than a person. It is something we could never have guessed, and yet, once we have been told, one almost feels one ought to have been able to guess it because it fits in so well with all the things we know already." – C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
Isaiah 42:1 (Psalm 2:7)
Galatians 4:5-7
Ephesians 2:1
Psalm 147:10-11
Psalm 149:4
2 Samuel 22:20 (Psalm 18:19)
Matthew 7:13-14
1 John 4:7-12
"Now the Christian account of God involves just the same principle. The human level is a simple and rather empty level. On the human level one person is one being, and any two persons are two separate beings – just as, in two dimensions (say on a flat sheet of paper) one square is one figure, and any two squares are two separate figures. On the Divine level you still find personalities; but up there you find them combined in new ways which we, who do not live on that level, cannot imagine.
"In God’s dimension, so to speak, you find a being who is three Persons while remaining one Being, just as a cube is six squares while remaining one cube. Of course we cannot fully conceive a Being like that: just as, if we were so made that we perceived only two dimensions in space we could never properly imagine a cube. But we can get a sort of faint notion of it. And when we do, we are then, for the first time in our lives, getting some positive idea, however faint, of something super-personal – something more than a person. It is something we could never have guessed, and yet, once we have been told, one almost feels one ought to have been able to guess it because it fits in so well with all the things we know already." – C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
Discussion Questions
3DQ - 3 discipleship questions to ask each other: What is God saying to you? What are you going to do about it? How can I help?
- We talked today about legalism feeling like walking on a tightrope. Do some areas of your life come to mind (either how you have applied it to yourself or how you have applied it to others)? In that area, what does the Lord actually require of us? What has been added to or reduced?
- Meditate on Psalm 18:19. Read it through multiple times -- emphasizing a different word each time. Then reflect: What stands out to you about the character of God?
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