Lifeshapes - the Circle

THE CIRCLE - learning
Power of symbols - what does this symbol mean (SLIDE NIKE TICK)
Three circles what does that mean (SLIDE THREE CIRCLES)
More Symbols (SLIDE MCDONALDS M)

In our culture we tend to learn and remember things using symbols
The Nike tick is rich with meaning over the years Nike have told us heaps about their product through a simple tick

We Learn more by what we see rather than what we hear – life shapes –

Life shapes is about using the power of symbol – giving the symbol meaning and learning some pretty simple Discipleship skills.

First symbol is a circle. (SLIDE LEARN)
In looking at it we will find answers to some of these questions...
How do we learn?
How do we know when God is at work in our lives?
How does God guide us?
How can I grow closer to God?
Will I ever change?

We are bombarded day and night by experiences – some good some bad, it’s as if our life is a series of events that pile up on each other - the question is God saying anything to us through these events or are they just a random collection of coincidences?
Is God trying to communicate with us through these ordinary things of life?
When you think about it – He must be.
One of what I believe the basic understanding of being a Disciple of Jesus is that not only do we learn from scripture but scripture forms and shapes us so we learn form life too
So that if we are disciples then Jesus will be or want to disciples us through these events and experiences
We need to be people who are able to hear and see what God wants us to learn then, and to be willing to act and learn form experiences
What that means is that we need to bale to hear Jesus voice in the midst of our life and to be able to engage with what he is saying in these ordinary things.
There is an old saying that we learn form experiences – that is not strictly true we learn because we have decided to learn form them – that requires us to take the experiences look at them and make some decisions based upon what has happened.
Prime example driving in a car in the wet – you skid on a corner and loose control
- that’s an experience
- you learn from it by – adjusting your speed next time
o Putting more grippy tires on your car
o Not driving in the wet
o Doing defensive driving so that when your back end goes you know how to respond
Just carrying on driving is not learning from an experience.

How you learn from it is be in its simplest form observing what happened – the car skidded
And changing something so it doesn’t happen again
Or if it does happen you have more control...

The process of learning from life is always pretty similar – observe, react.

Being a disciple is no different – if life gives you experiences then we should pretty much guarantee that in there God wants you to learn how to react accordingly
That’s discipleship – learning how to live in response to the one we are following.
Events when filtered through our understanding of God then can teach us.

Scripture shapes us – because it from the scriptures that we meet and understand Jesus
But Life also shapes us as we respond in ways in which Jesus would or how Jesus shows us to respond.

The more we reflect, the more we grow, the more confident we can be in life’s experiences

Viv Grigg – I want you humility, it comes through being broken again and again and allowing God to rebuild you again and again – his life experiences made him humble – he could have juts turned around and said Nuts to you God when the first painful experience came around – he didn’t because the God revealed to him in scripture – Jesus doesn’t walk away – that gave him peace – that grew his confidence.

So how does the circle work?
Some people view life as a passage of time (SLIDE LIFE)

Greeks differentiate this view of time (SLIDE CHRONOS AND KAIROS)
But remember we said that life is also a series of events

In the following passage what sort of Time is Jesus talking about? (SLIDE BIBLE BIT)

After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come”, he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:14, 15)

Time – kairos – not just the passage of time but an event in time (SLIDE EVENT)

So it’s an opportunity to learn (SLIDE KAIROS)
Positive or negative
You’ll recognize it by the impact it has on you
E.g., loosing a job, gaining a promotion

Signal opportunities to grow

What Kairos moments have you had in your lives?

The Kairos moment is the space and place in which you enter the ‘circle’ – hopefully they are opportunities for growth
Kairos Time is like - entering God’s gym
THE IMPORTANT thing about them is that you do not stay as you are, YOU NEED TO GROW…

Going back to the scripture we saw earlier (SLIDE BIBLE BIT)
After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come”, he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!”

We saw it was Kairos Time.
There are some other words to make a note of (SLIDE KINGDOM)
The kingdom (God’s presence, God’s rule) is within reach for all of us!
What do we do about it?
How do we reach it?
How do I find God?
We need to according to Jesus
Repent (metanoia) =Change your mind, a process of transformation
Believe (Pistis) =Step out in faith, something you are sure about

Put that in terms of the circle (SLIDE KAIROS TIME)


REPENT SIDE OF THE CIRCLE (SLIDE REPENT SIDE)
OBSERVE – look at your life, hoe have you reacted to the situation, emotion, what are your thoughts about it - BE HONEST
REFLECT – think about the observations you have made – process them, why did you react like you did. –NOTE easier for introverts to do this
DISCUSS – invite other in, chat about it with others, obviously in many cases this will need to be someone you can trust. When working with young people the best way to build trust is to be open with them – watch your barriers though

In Matthew 6 Jesus does just this – Sermon on the Mount – cost of being a disciple – its decision time for the listeners.
He make an observation - Look at the birds of the air, look at the flowers of the field,
He asks them to reflect on this observation do they worry?
The question would prompt discussion…

We cannot stop here; we must learn to believe (SLIDE BELIEVE)
Repentance is an internal thing,
Belief is external it is action in light of a new way of behaving

PLAN – strategy for recognising the problem and embracing a proper way to act – this is not about thinking – we have done that- it’s about action. Without a plan we will intend to put thing right but fail miserably – the road to hell is paved with the best intentions
ACCOUNT – someone to hold us accountable – internal repentance has an outworking in faith – as the scriptures say confess your sins with one
ACT – Action, do something about it

(SLIDE FULL CIRCLE) Often people go half way round the circle. We are good at reflecting but often don’t change because we are not accountable and don’t act

Parable of the wise and foolish builder (SLIDE MATTHEW)
Matthew 7:20-27
Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.
[21] "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. [22] Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' [23] Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'
[24] "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. [25] The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. [26] But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. [27] The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."

What I think it is saying is that repentance - Lord, Lord, without action or belief is not real repentance
Wise - put what they hear into practice – built on a solid foundation
Foolish – don’t put them into practice – no action – disaster……


Practical example
Me and soccer – event was a kairos moment
Observe – what did I do – lost my rag, blew my stack
Reflect – why did I do it – bad mood, took the game too seriously, forgot about the fun
Discuss – talked about it with those who were there, accepted their criticism
Plan – put something in place to stop it happening – a cool down period, asked people to tell me if I was being too serious, apologised privately and publicly
Account – team held me accountable.
Act – changed behaviour
AN UPDATE….

LIFE IS LIKE A SLINKY – full of Kairos moments (SLIDE SLINKY)

Lifeshapes - the Triangle

Last week we began to look at the balanced life that is needed for authentic discipleship.
We saw how work and rest were as equally as important
God has given us work to do but he also called us to rest –
I guess part of being human is that we are involved in the act of creation through our work but also in recreation of ourselves body soul and spirit as we rest, reflect on God’s work and wait on him.
At the end of Matthews gospel he tells the disciples to go and make disciples of all nations – that is work
But the next action we see the disciples doing is going up to an upper room where they wait for the Holy Spirit SLIDE
Work and rest.
Create and recreate

Were continuing to look at the balanced life today – in particular the balance in relationships

In Genesis 1:26 SLIDE
Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness…
I guess that fact that we are made to create and recreate are a way in that image is fleshed out in us
Just as on the seventh day God rested from the work of creation so God has made us with that same rhythm in how we operate…
But there is more to that image than just how we work rest and play

The God we are created in is trinity – Father Son and Spirit – three persons but of one substance
For those who were here last week you’d probably remember this icon that I used during communion
Remember I said that icons were not paintings of reality but windows to the mystery of God – and how they use everyday figures in a manner that portrays the reality of God.
Nothing is by chance every brush stroke has meaning
The colour blue which is the base rob colour for the three figures reflects the common nature – but the outer colours of the robs help us understand the different out workings of God
Namely as
God the Father
God the Son and
God the Holy Spirit
Within the God head there is relationship
One of the ways in which people are beginning to recognise that the image of God work it’s way out in us is that we are built for relationship – we are built to be in community
From the earliest days of human existence humans have formed themselves into relational groups that mutually support each other – the village, the tribe.
But that relationship is not just about people it’s also how we relate to God too.

In Jesus we see this relationship lived out to the Max –
He demonstrates 3 relational dimension of his life–
Luke 6:12-19 SLIDE
One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles: Simon (whom he named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coast of Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by evil spirits were cured, and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.
In Luke 6 Jesus modelled the following relationships SLIDE
• UP to his Father

• IN with his close friends

• OUT to people not in the community

This brings us to our next shape, the triangle
Each point reflects something of the relationship

Firstly he related to god the Father in an upward dimension UP
Again and again we have Jesus drawing away to be with the father in rest, prayer, worship and solitude
But Jesus relationship also had an inward dimension IN
He related intimately with the people around him the disciples was a model of the first cell group – they were family he would talk through concerns with them share with them
And finally Jesus also modelled an outward dimension OUT
He ministered to the crowd – he had compassion on the crowd he wasn’t just concerned with the inner circle – but when ever there was a need he gave of himself to meet that need
Jesus modelled not only the balanced life of work and rest but of healthy 3 dimensional relationships
It was God calls us to do also SLIDE
Micah 6:8
Ask the question, “What does the Lord require of you?”
Answer, “To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God”

Three dimensions in text
Do justly (what is right for others) – OUT – witness and service - MISSION
Love Mercy – IN –loving others - COMMUNITY
Walk Humbly – UP – submission to God – WORSHIP/PRAYER

Here is the thing I have seen time and again people, churches, youth ministries, Children’s ministries, and cell groups tend to do two dimensions well. And often fail with the third – which leaves many thinking is their more – is that it, is this is all my Christian faith is about? Well the simple answer is yes there is more – for you there is another dimension to your existence – but you’re probably going to need to work at it.

As I said the Natural human tendency to do two well – which means we fail to reflect God and we get frustrated.
Look at it like a ring road with three sets of traffic lights SLIDE
Traffic moves smoothly if they are all on green – but as soon as one is red or the lights are out of sink with each other you have traffic jams – you get flustered – you cease to grow in your faith and in fact you probably stagnate.
Community fuels Mission
Mission fuels worship.
Worship fuels Community

Important for individuals – Zoe - UP, Jon - IN
But it’s equally as important for Churches
THE BARREL growth principle SLIDE
Water sinks to the level of the lowest hole
We will only grow as much as our weakest aspect


Jesus had three dimensions to his life.
An upwards relationship with God his Father,
An inward relationship with his disciples
And an outward relationship with the world around him.
We need to have a focus of all three to fulfil our purpose and identity and make life whole.
I hope you can see that in terms of your faith you are probably struggling in one are
So how do you overcome – change?

Maybe you need put the Triangle in light of the circle
Throw it into the learning circle – maybe this is a Kairos moment for you
Observe – Worship Sucked
Reflect – No Fuel to do the other stuff – yet we have great musicians
Discuss – Where is the blockage coming from? Well probably from me – worship wasn’t my thing so as so often happens in leadership it isn’t the group’s thing either – whether they like it or not
Plan – We need to introduce new leaders into the worship, I need to be come a worshipper
Account – met regularly with people to talk worship
Act – We worshipped - TOGEHER
It took off we went form being a two dimensional group to a group whose worship fuelled mission whose mission fuelled community whose community fuelled worship and people grew in their faith.

Here at nativity we are hopefully addressing some of these short comings seeing where the traffic lights are and over the coming months – and I think we have already begun we’ll challenge those blockage – hopefully for us as a Church but hopefully also for us as individuals

If we are going to call ourselves disciples we need to
Love as Jesus loved – Up dimension
Live as Jesus lived – In dimension
Do as Jesus did – Out Dimension

Evangelism? 3 B's and formation

Just had an interesting conversation with a few colleagues about what works in evangelism. While we didn't come up with much that works we did a fair bit of discussion around the issues.
For my part I want to say that:

• I think Evangelism has always got to be scene as part of the same continuum as discipleship
• The churches understanding of Good News is often confused as Bad News, the idea that it is only good news because of God's judgment strikes me as stating the obvious. I think the majority of people are aware that there is something wrong - while they may not know what is they do no that they need a way out - Jesus - Good News.
• Programs like Alpha work because they are about discipleship more than evangelism - in the fact that they help people who are fringe understand the faith.
• Programs also work because they help the average Church person focus on others.
• God is the supreme evangelist, too often we can run programs to evangelise and run them as if God does not exist. God is alive and well and at work in this world (hence my church sign, Jesus has left the building).
• Too easily church people generationaly forget why the Church exists, and why we are there. We are the church of Acts and need to remind ourselves of that, We need to remember our story of why we exist and who for.

Another thing that has struck me late was how much our methods of evangelism do not reflect the current paradigm of the 3 B's (Belief, Behave and Belong). If as is suggested the old paradigm put Behave before Belief and Belong. then it stand to reason that we don't need to keep telling people the story of why we exist, why we do what we do in the church, because in taking part in it we will learn to understand it. But since we are living in an age where Belong and Belief will proceed Behave we need to look at ways in which we can help people to belong more, and to do something about this behave barrier since understanding a group is a key part of feeling as though you belong to the group. Of course in the last 15 years or so the Church has been doing that, seekers services being a prime example of making Church more comfortable - and easier place to belong too. But maybe rather than dumbing down we should be forming and shaping people more - a catechumanate type arrangement.

In terms of what we do in Church I think we need to 'educate' new people about why the Church is like it is, why we do what we do. Maybe Alpha needs a few Church culture sessions, that explain why a particular Church worships in this way.

Maybe Churches could offer programs (if we are to do programs) that unpack the mysteries of Church worship. It would have to be done with no strings attached but I suspect people are nosey about what goes on in the Church, I think that is one of the major reasons as to why the DaVinci Code was so popular, as it attempted to unpack the mystery.

A few years back I took a young adults group through a book I was reading "why bother with Church", by Simon Jones, over about 8 weeks we stripped the whole thing back to try and understand why we did, to recapture the Story - for me it was brilliant - i felt as though this was something I could more belong too and I suspect that the young people involved felt that too.

Like father, like son, well almost

As a father it's great to some times see my son develop habits, characteristics that i have. As a youth worker it's quite disturbing though.
Yesterday I was talking with my son about a cross country run he had been doing at school. about half way he was last and ready to give up - because like his father (ME) if he can't be best than it isn't good enough, and like his father (ME AGAIN) when this happens he often to use my phrase "takes all his toys out of the play pen". I can still remember when i was 12 being involved in a 400m relay at school, coming last (mainly because the person who handed me the baton was last) and getting hacked off and throwing the baton at the person I was to hand it too - talk about spitting the dummy.
Anyway just as my son was about to do the same, he did something different.... He carried on running, he didn't give up and finished the race (NOT LIKE ME). I am however glad to say that not giving up is something that in my adult life i have learnt from heavenly Father, it's cool to see that trait developing in my son too.
As for the race, well after he decided to carry on he realised the reason he was behind was not becuase he was slow, but becuase he had paced himslef, while everyone else was of sprinting and colapsing on the side line exhausted, he ran at a pace that meant he would finish and finish well - I think there is soemthing in the Bible about that....