12th November

The second in the series by Matthew Mason. This one is exploring Jesus’ expereince of being human.

And the questions to help strucutre the conversations during Invitation Week:

How has your view of the Law changed over this term?

How important is it to keep the Law?  Could you be a Christian if you don’t keep the Law?

How enthusiastic are you about learning to keep the Law of God?

How far do you think it is possible for us to grow into those who are like Christ, who had the Law written on His heart (Ps.40:8)?

How can MIE better support us in our growing ability to keep the Law?

(How as DTP helped you in this... or has it?)

And DTP will be back on Tuesday 26th November for a look at the 9th commandment.

5th November

Here is the Matthew Mason video. It’s the first of three. You might want to take it in a couple of bite size sections. You’ll recognise that he is working very much off the 10 commandments. He does look at some historical documents, and contrasts Protestant (including Anglican) ideas with Roman Catholic teaching at the Reformation. And he shows how the same debate is working out in the contemporary evangelical movement. He is working with the question of whether ‘desire’ can be sinful. And he does engage with it in the context of some of the questions that are causing difficulties in the Church…

Week 5 (8th Oct)

Homework:

we’re working on memorising the beatitudes over this half term (Matt.5:1-9). There is only a couple of weeks left, so you should be beginning to firm up your ability to recite this passage without looking!

To Be A Christian: Q&A 290-299.

You can access the Audible edition here.

And the pdf version can be found here.

What one degree change could you make to your Sunday that would make the Lord’s Day more focused on the Lord’s agenda? What obstacles are there to making that change?

The idea of the one-degree change is a recurring theme in DTP. Except for a very few people, massive overhauls of life rarely if ever work. Our temptation when we get hold of an amazing idea about being a Christian is to try and change everything and to implement it as fully and as radically as possible. That tends to lead to an intense few days, followed by failure, and a permanent relapse. It’s not a good way to build a life of disicpleship.

A much healthier and sustainable - if less dramatic - way to approach spiritual growth is to make a series of one-degree changes over a period of months. A change in direction of one degree can get you to a very different destination over time. And if you make 4 or 5 such changes over a period of a year, you are travelling in quite a different direction.

So, what one-degree change can you make in how spend the Lord’s Day? Bear in mind that it might have ramifications for other days of the week too! It might take time to build it in, but be ready to discuss this in a couple of weeks.

and a cheeky little question ahead of our reflection on the 5th Commandment next week. Do you think the 5th Commandment belongs to the first table of the Law (1-5, teaching us how to love God), or to the second table (5-10, teaching us how to love our neighbour)?

Week 4

To Be a Christian.

You can access the Audible edition here.

And the pdf version can be found here.

the third commandment

283. What is the third commandment? The third commandment is “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.” (Exodus 20:7; Deuteronomy 5:11; see also Leviticus 22:32; see questions 172–77)

284. Why is God’s Name sacred? God’s Name reveals who he is—his nature, his character, his power, and his purposes. All forms of God’s Name are holy. (Exo dus 3:1–15; 34:5–7; Psalms 8; 54:1; 79:9; Isaiah 57:15; Luke 1:46–49)

285. What does it mean to take God’s Name “in vain”? “Vain” means empty, meaningless, and of no account. To take God’s Name in vain is to treat it as such. (Leviticus 24:10–16; Ro mans 2:23–24)

286. How can you avoid taking God’s Name in vain? Because I love him, I should use God’s Name with reverence, not carelessly or profanely. (Deuteronomy 28:58–59; Psalms 86:11–12; 99:1–5; Revelation 15:2–4)

287. How might you use God’s Name profanely? By the unholy use of God’s holy Name, especially through perjury, blasphemy, and attributing to God any falsehood, heresy, or evil deed, as if he had authorized or approved them. (Deuteronomy 18:20–22; Proverbs 30:7–9; Jeremiah 34:15–16; Ezekiel 36:16–23; Amos 2:6–7; Jude 5–13)

288. How might you use God’s Name carelessly? Cursing, magic, broken vows, false piety, manipulation of others, and hypocrisy all cheapen God’s Name. These treat God’s Name the ten commandments as empty of the reality for which it stands. (Leviticus 5:4–6; 19:26b, 31; Psalm 10:2–7; Malachi 1:6–14; Matthew 5:33–37; James 3:5–12; Articles of Religion, 39)

289. How can you honor and love God’s Name? I honor and love God’s Name, in which I was baptized, by keeping my vows and promises, by worshiping him in truth and holiness, and by invoking his Name reverently and responsibly. (Numbers 30:2; Deuteronomy 10:20–22; Psalm 105:1–5; Matthew 15:10–20; James 5:12)

Read Leviticus 25

How would you explain the idea of Sabbath to someone based on this chapter?

Is there anything in here that surprises you, or shocks you?

How much of this should be, or even could be, observed by the Church today?

How does any of this point to Jesus?