Hey everybody, here are the questions from Chapter 1 of Life Lessons if you are unable to get the book before next week!

Reflection

The book of James deals with the practical side of faith, which means trusting God even in hard times. Think about the way you have responded to a recent problem or difficulty in your life. How would you describe your general attitude during this time? What does your response to this situation reveal about your view of God?

Observation

Read James 1:1-11

Exploration

How does Scripture encourage people to respond to trials? Why?
How has God brought good into your life through trials?
How can a person gain wisdom to deal with problems?
Why does God want us to ask for his help without doubting?
Who should not expect to receive anything from God? Why?

Reaction

How have life’s ‘thumps’ challenged you to seek God?
How has your relationship with God changed as you have gone through trials and difficulties?
In what ways does this passage relate to your present problems and frustrations?
How do you usually respond to life’s difficulties?
How can you find joy in your troubles?
Describe a time when God’s wisdom helped you through a problem.

Journaling

How can I grow closer to God through trials I am facing now?

The Free Admission small group will be focusing on the Book of James during the spring semester (February 5 - April 22, 2008). We will be using Max Lucado’s Bible study book Life Lessons: Book of James: Practical Wisdom.

If you plan to attend the group, please purchase the 2007 edition in the link.

Due to work commitments, there will be no Free Admission on October 17th and 24th. We’ll resume meeting on the 31st, where we’ll discuss Interlude: Daniel’s Death and Chapter 4. We’ll also have a potluck dinner that night! We’ll provide spaghetti and drinks - if you could bring a side dish and/or dessert to share that would be great. Please email me or Jared by the 29th with what you’ll be bringing so we can plan accordingly.

We’ll be praying for you during this mini-break. Please keep the Northwest Launch (slated for November 4th) in your prayers, and let us know if there is anything specific we can pray for you about.

See you soon!

• Taking, Getting, Giving
  • We relate to each other:
    • Coercive: take something that isn’t ours (illicit)
    • Sales: give something to get something in return (legitimate)
    • Gift: donors and recipients (unforced - generous)
  • Ephesians 4
  • Takers become getters, but getters should become givers
  • “Sweat equity” - work itself can be a gift
• Why Give?
  • Old vs. new self (Ephesians 1): died to the old, live as the new
  • At the heart of the process is imitating God (Ephesians 5)
  • Why is giving a part of this?
    • God is a giver, not a getter
    • God has given to use so we can share with others
  • Intentions of God’s gifts
    • For us: enjoy things and pass them on
    • For the gifts: to please us
    • For our neighbors: we shouldn’t block the flow of God’s gifts
• Imitating God’s Generosity
  • We must give differently than God does
  • God gives without having received; we receive without having give (first giver)
  • God’s resources are never depleted (infinite giver)
  • God bestows love on others (utterly loving giver)
  • We are derivative, finite, and selfish in our giving - but we can still imitate God to the best of our resources (giving wisely and humbly)
• God’s Freedom
  • Everything that is not God owes its existence to him
• Voluntary Gifts
  • The gift consists more in the freely undertaken choice to give than in the things given (”cheerful giver”)
  • Either God or the devil compels us (will/”unwill”)
  • We give not out of compulsion but out of obligation (we are givers)
  • When we act in accordance, it leads to unspoiled authenticity and freedom
• The Good of Another
  • What God seeks when he gives (benefit of others), we should also
  • Rightly giving:
    • Lovers to show love
    • Others are in need
    • Help others give
• Eternal Gifts
  • God gives continually and unfailingly
  • Trinity
    • Father gives
    • Son receives
    • Holy Spirit returns (3 Graces of Greco-Roman antiquity)
  • Each gives, receives, and returns
  • God’s gifts: create human givers, redeem them, and glorify them in perfect communion with God and one another
• Lover’s Gifts
  • Can represent the perfect circular movement of giving
  • Can be seen in Christmas too - delight in giving and receiving
• God’s Gifts, Human Needs
  • God delights in us, so he gives to us
  • To satisfy our needs
  • Needy:
    • Ontologic: our being needs “to be”
    • Soteriologic: our slavation and welfare is our need
    • Eschatologic: eternal being is our need
  • God doesn’t cease giving when we have failed, and he willingly gives to the unthankful
• Gifts to the Needy
  • Gifts should also flow to outsiders (needy)
  • We should give to the needy without distinction: undeserving and deserving
  • Need is the only justification a gift requires
• Giving to All, Giving Everything?
  • Our responsibility to meet needs as we encounter them
  • Can be dependent on the grace God has given us (Romans 12:6-8), but can also mean death (Christ)
  • According to your means and a bit more (2 Cor. 8:3)
• Giving to Givers
  • Give to those we trust to give to the needy
  • Everyone is a giver and receiver; God chooses to work through others’ giving
  • Paul: refused pay probably because he wanted to deliver his message the same way it was given - “free of charge” (1 Cor. 9:18)
• Christ’s Equals
  • Givers “vs.” receivers: active/passive, wealthy/poor, powerful/weak
  • “Radical inequality” - Christ in us (divinity/humanity)
• Love Equalizes
  • Human gifts should express equality - bestow honor
  • What defines having “too much” or “too little” (aim is the equality of satisfied needs)
  • Story of the widow (Luke 21:3-4)
• Gifts of God, Communion With God
  • Idea of gifts as an “event” between people: serve to create, nourish, or re-create social bonds
  • Gifts forge communities
  • Human beings were created for communion with God
• One Body, Many Gifts
  • Body and blood of Christ - unity with him
  • Spiritual gifts = community of love
  • Best gift we can give one another is generosity

• Brothers Karamazov story: consequences of doing things just for yourself
  • God is immensely good, even to the wicked (p. 20)
  • Generosity as a true self-interest vs. as a form of self-centeredness
• Who is God?
  • Fusing God’s image and reality (Marx - fulfilling human need to be consoled and cope with weakness)
  • Also a problem of assumptions of God is really God (reducing God’s ways to our ways and his thoughts to our thoughts)
  • How do we find God?
    • In Scripture, not in this world
    • Recognize God’s knowledge when we see it (ready heart)
    • Open to God’s revelation
• God the Negotiator
  • You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours
  • No way to enforce compliance
  • Tough demands for us! (10 Commandments); heavy burden of the law of Christ
  • God hears our cries, not that he wants something out of us
• God the Santa Claus
  • No conditions, just gives (out of nowhere)
  • Demands nothing?! We conveniently forget that we were created in God’s image to be LIKE him
• God the Creator
  • Nature of creation - given by God (idea of watching a sunset)
  • Good and powerful God - evil is not God’s gift, it’s a twisting of God’s creation (p. 30); he works through evil and suffering
    • God resurrects - nothing is the end. Both the “honey” and the “sting” are God’s gifts
  • “Gift of infertility”- the poison that spoils the gift either becomes medicine or is removed completely
• Breath
  • Everything is from God; “ongoing creative activity”
  • We are living on a given (not borrowed) breath
• Denying Gifts, Wronging the Giver
  • We want to claim God’s gifts are our own achievement
  • “Dependence on God is the source of our being, and therefore, our freedom!” (p. 35)
    • Almost like plaigarism
    • Be grateful to the giver
• God the Redeemer
  • Our existence depends on God’s grace
  • We sin by trying to overcome sin on our own
  • Nothing is our own achievement
• Luther’s God
  • Bestows righteousness upon sinners
    • Human love - depends on the object of love
    • Divine love - because it doesn’t depend on the object, it can love “unloveable” things
• God, Gifts, and Obligations
  • Most gifts are not “pure” (given without expectations)
  • Everything we have is from God and he already has everything
  • Romans 11
• Faith
  • The first thing to which God’s gifts oblige us
  • Living on a “given” breath
  • “Empty hands”
• Gratitude
  • Express appreciation that they have been given to us
  • “You are loved, and therefore you exist”
• Availability
  • Be used as God’s instruments
  • “Observe and imitate”
• Participation
  • Outbound and unidirectional movement of God’s gifts - pass them on!
  • Conduit for giving (Luther)

Just a reminder that we will be meeting at Jenn’s apartment in Shirlington (South Arlington) for the next two weeks. Please email Jessica or Jared if you need directions. See you tomorrow!

Thanks to everyone who has expressed interest in our group - we are looking forward to meeting you all tomorrow night! Please give us a call if you need directions and/or help with parking. See you at 7:30!

The Free Admission small group will be reading Free of Charge by Miroslav Volf.  For more information about this group, please see the “About” page.