Rescue Anticipated: Discussion Guide

Message by Bethany Cseh, 02.13-14.10

Guide by Loren Collins

CONNECT:

1) What does the
difference between “Kingdom” and “Empire” mean to you, or Welfare over Warfare,
in light of the last few weeks?

2)  What in the last few weeks has challenged you the most, why do you think that is?   

3) Have you ever
thought of yourself as part of an anti-empire movement?  What is your initial gut reaction to
that statement?  If you are
anti-empire what makes you pro-Kingdom?

DISCUSS:

4) Spend some
time recapping Bethany’s message, someone summarize it for the people who were
not there.  In what ways did Christ
choose kingdom over empire when He was in the desert? Refer to scriptures below.

5) Bethany not only drew us into the desert with Christ but also made many connections between
the desert temptations and His choices for Kingdom over empire.  Contrast these with Adam and Eve in the
garden and Israel’s choices in the dessert.  How did their choices reflect a desire for empire and not
Kingdom?  Refer to scriptures
below.

6) Can you be nationalistic and/or Pro-American and still be pro-kingdom/anti-empire?

CHALLENGE:

7) Journey
Together:  The last line/scripture
of Bethany’s message was, “Change your lives…  The Kingdom of God is here.” Well, how will you respond to
this?

8) Live Different:  If you were there this
weekend there was an opportunity to write and discuss on a card any practical
ways you could choose Kingdom over Empire in your day to day actions, or
Welfare over Warfare.  What did you
write? If you weren’t there discuss it now.

9) Provoke Change:  Think about and discuss
your group’s service projects. 
What needs, or human conditions, do these projects address?  Which do you want them to address? How
can you integrate your thoughts for question eight into tangible plans both on
your own and as a group?

SCRIPTURES & NOTES:

Introduce “top 10 of decade” Christian America

I’ve heard it said so many times that America is
a Christian nation, or this is God’s country

I wanted to read to you this past decade in
review so sit back and remember along with me.

If we were truly a Christian Nation than why didn’t
we respond to each of these events the way I would imagine Christ would have
responded? When we look at all of Scripture as an overarching story, we can see
how God originally intended for his people to live.

Jesus was the ultimate example of Shalom and
there are a number of ways that Jesus was anticipated in the Old Testament. For
example:

 there's all the many
dozens of prophecies that are fulfilled- like Jesus dying by crucifixion, being
born in Bethlehem, coming out of Egypt, etc.

then there's the
examples of foreshadowing, such as when Isaac's life is spared because God
accepted the sacrifice of a ram instead.

then there's the
echoes- like when Paul says Jesus was the serpent lifted up in the desert for
the healing of the people, or the rock from which they drank water from God.

But tonight we look not at prophecy, or
foreshadowing, or echoes. Instead we look at the very beginning of Jesus'
ministry, his right of passage. When he parallels the experience of Adam &
Eve, by being faced by the Adversary, and succeeds where they failed. He also
parallels the experience of Israel by experiencing testing that parallels
theirs, again succeeding where they failed. It is a picture that he is picking
up their call, their call to show an alternative way to live to the rest of the
world. He is picking up their call, where they left off. We are clued into this
parallel, because of the parallel in Matt 3 (coming out of water, going into
wilderness for 40 days vs years)...

Matt 3:13-17 this is the start of Jesus’ ministry
and the parallel I see here with the Old Testament is when Moses lead the
Israelites out of Egypt and went through the Red Sea. Immediately, they were
then to wander the desert for 40 years.

Matt 3v16-4v1-2 Just as Israel comes through the
Red Sea into wandering the desert for 40 years, Jesus gets baptized and comes
out of the water and immediately is led to the desert for 40 days.

We’re going to see that where Israel failed,
Jesus overcame.

Matt:
4:1-4 
Jesus quotes Deut. 8:2-3 and
He references Israel in the desert Ex.
16:2-3

Jesus was hungry like the Israelites but where
they failed to rely on God, Jesus overcame

Matt.
4:5-7 Jesus quotes Deut. 6:16 and He references Israel Ex. 17:1-2, 7

Even Satan preaches Scripture as he quotes from
Ps. 19:11-12 and the Scripture is truth, but used for his own agenda. Instead
of Jesus saying that Satan is wrong, He uses God’s Word as a rebuttal saying “It
is also written”. Such a testament of the need to know the Word of God! 

Massah=testing, Meribah=strife 

Where Israel fails to see God among them,
doubting that God was even there, Jesus succeeds because He is confident in His
identity. He knows He is the Son of God and doesn’t need to test God in order
to trust that God is with Him.  

Matt.
4: 8-11 Jesus quotes Deut. 6:13-14 in reference to Israel’s ultimate downfall

Israel starts off as God’s chosen people who are
set apart, different, living by the Deuteronimical law that God put in place.
And instead of being the nation that all other nations looked up to, they
became like everyone else. They chose to abandon God as their King for man as
their king. They went the route of destruction, slavery, of worshipping other
gods, oppressing those with less than, of warfare over welfare, building
Empire. Israel failed to live up to God’s standards and Jesus was also given
the choice of choosing Empire or rejecting Empire. He chooses to reject Empire.

Matt
4:12-17 Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near. Jesus
turns down power in the last temptation in order to empower other people by
calling the 12 (outcasts, not the best of the best,), by healing the sick, by
showing an alternative way of living. Jesus is asking Israel to Repent from
their ways of Empire building and being like very other nation, by going back
to what God put in place in Deuteronomy: caring for the orphans and widows,
practicing Sabbath, forgiving debts, loving and caring for the immigrant,
living beyond themselves.

Jesus shows that Kingdom living is an alternative
way of life that emphasizes human well-being. When we are working to bring
restoration and Shalom to this broken world, we are choosing Kingdom over
Empire.

3x5 card: What does it look like in a world that
is Empire ruled or Kingdom ruled?

Just as Adam and Eve chose and failed, just as
Israel chose and failed, just as Jesus chose and succeeded, we too must make a
choice. Are you going to choose to reject empire for the sake of kingdom. Are
you going to build empire in and around you, or reject empire to build kingdom
living in and around you? What does it look like for you to choose Kingdom?
What must you reject in your life? What do you need to let go of?