As we begin our tour of 2 Timothy, we take a hard look at shame. As Paul tells Timothy not to be ashamed of Christ or of Paul’s chains, we find that these are important words in an honor-shame culture, and important words in our culture, still filled with honor and shame.
We shift, with Hebrews, from faith to holiness. Coming to recognize that Christ is the perfecter of our life and faith, we discuss our call to respond to the sanctifying work of Christ by allowing ourselves to be made holy.
We talk about faith. What is faith? What does God ask of us in terms of faith? What does faith do in us?
We come to the conclusion of Revelation (and the conclusion of the canon!), and we find that ultimately, this is a book of hope. We are invited to “come” and hear the good news of the gospel. Come and leave this world behind, trusting that the next one is coming. Indeed, it is here.
On this resurrection Sunday, we look at the grip death has on this world, and how Christ has set us free from that grip, giving us hope in resurrection. We have good news to share, Christ is risen!
We find that Jesus has humbled himself, given it all up to die and show us the way to resurrection. What does it mean for us to fall into the rhythm of God in this world? We talk about how we often try to make temporal things eternal, and our calling is to allow them…
Paul tells us that despite being the epitome of an honorable person, a good Jew, he “counts it all as loss” because of Christ. What does it mean to count it all as loss? We find that only in giving up our accomplishments do they have any value at all.
Paul brings our focus to “pleasing God.” Sin is still an issue for Christians, but God always gives us a path out of it.
Paul calls upon the Philippian church to imitate him, to live like he lives. We look at what it means to live as disciples who mimic, not students who fill our head with information.