2019.07.01 Hopewell @Home ▫ Genesis 13

Read Genesis 13

Questions for Littles: Who left from where in Genesis 13:1? To what part of the promised land did they go? What was Abram’s financial condition (Genesis 13:2)? To where did he end up returning (Genesis 13:3)? What was in that place (Genesis 13:4)? What did Abram do there? Who went with Abram (Genesis 13:5)? What did he have? What problem did this create (Genesis 13:6-7)? Who initiates to stop the strife in Genesis 13:8? Who suggests that Lot get the first choice (Genesis 13:9)? What did Lot lift his eyes to see (Genesis 13:10)? What did he choose (Genesis 13:11)? Where did Abram dwell (Genesis 13:12a)? Where did Lot dwell (verse 12b)? Of what problem does Genesis 13:13 inform us? What (whom) does Abram have instead of fertile land (Genesis 13:14a)? What does Yahweh promise him (Genesis 13:14-17)? In Genesis 13:18, where does Abram go, and what does he do there?    

The second half of chapter 12 had gone poorly, as Abram stumbled spectacularly. But, God was patient with His servant. He has promised to bring the Savior into the world, and He has promised specifically that it would be through Abram that all of families of the earth will be blessed.

By Genesis 13:4, the Lord has brought Abram back not just to where he began physically (between Bethel and Ai) but spiritually (Abram called upon the name of Yahweh). And this was vital, because for the coming crisis, it was necessary for Abram to be convinced in his heart that the Lord is his great hope, and delight with his heart that the Lord is his great joy.

In the contrast between Abram and Lot here, we see several important factors. First, the foolishness of walking by appearances instead of promises. Lot “lifts up his eyes and sees” the riches but not the risks. Yes, it looks like Eden (Genesis 13:10), but it behaves like the serpent (Genesis 13:13). Fleshly eyes do not rightly assess the prospects of a situation.

Second, the freedom of walking by promises instead of appearances. Abram doesn’t need the well-irrigated land. He belongs to the God who provides and protects even in physical and spiritual drought. So, he does not press his interests. He is free by his faith to give Lot the pick of the land. How can we love our neighbor as ourselves? How can we even love our enemies, take no revenge of our own? How can we even be slow to speak or slow to become angry? Love to God is the Scriptural fuel for all of these, but faith in God is its foundation. We need not seek our own interests, because the Lord Himself is already doing so!

Third, the future of faith. Compare the promise in Genesis 13:15 to the one in  Genesis 12:7. The difference is that, here, Abram himself is included in this promise (even if he will have to rise again from the dead to receive it!—Hebrews 11:13-16). It’s not just his seed who will receive the land but Abram himself will receive it. Suddenly the tour in Genesis 13:17 is taking on two meanings. One, it’s a continual reminder of the greatness of the multitude of the seed promised in Genesis 13:16. Two, it’s a survey of what belongs to him.

Fourth, the feasting of worship. But what does faith receive now? Is Christianity really just pie in the sky, by and by? Absolutely not. Faith may have to wait to receive the fullness of what has been promised, but it already possesses something infinitely greater: we have Him who has promised it. Abram does NOT have to wait to come into the possession of his greatest inheritance. There he is, enjoying God Himself in worship in Genesis 13:18!

Which situations in your life appear worrisome to your flesh? What promises correct your vision of it? Which situations appear to your flesh to bring safety and happiness? Upon what promises do your peace and joy genuinely rest instead?

Suggested Songs: ARP23B “The Lord’s My Shepherd” or TPH23A “The Lord’s My Shepherd”

2019.06.29 Hopewell @Home ▫ Genesis 13

Read Genesis 13

Questions for Littles: Who left from where in Genesis 13:1? To what part of the promised land did they go? What was Abram’s financial condition (Genesis 13:2)? To where did he end up returning (Genesis 13:3)? What was in that place (Genesis 13:4)? What did Abram do there? Who went with Abram (Genesis 13:5)? What did he have? What problem did this create (Genesis 13:6-7)? Who initiates to stop the strife in Genesis 13:8? Who suggests that Lot get the first choice (Genesis 13:9)? What did Lot lift his eyes to see (Genesis 13:10)? What did he choose (Genesis 13:11)? Where did Abram dwell (Genesis 13:12a)? Where did Lot dwell (verse 12b)? Of what problem does Genesis 13:13 inform us? What (whom) does Abram have instead of fertile land (Genesis 13:14a)? What does Yahweh promise him (Genesis 13:14b-Genesis 13:17)? In Genesis 13:18, where does Abram go, and what does he do there? 

It’s one thing to rejoice over God’s gracious gifts to us. But how does the extent to which we cling to those things compare to the extent to which we cling to God? That’s the question that we get answered about Abram in this text. In Egypt, God had increased Abram’s wealth in livestock, silver, and gold. But, He had increased Abram’s wealth in something even more important: repentance from sin and faith toward God.

That’s the point of Genesis 13:4. Abram is back to the faith he had at the first. And Abram is back to the worship that he offered at first. And that’s going to serve him well, because he’s about to have strife with the only family that he has in the world. God’s good blessings cause a spiritual challenge in Genesis 13:6-7, but the stumbling of  Genesis 12:10-20 has receded back into the background. Abram doesn’t need his possessions, so long as he has his God. The Canaanites and Perizzites are still in the land. It’s not land-possession time yet. That’s for Abram’s seed, and he doesn’t yet have any.

So, by his faith in God’s taking care of him and God’s promises to him, Abram is freed to give Lot the choice of the “best” land. Lot makes a terrible choice on many counts. To keep multiplying his possessions, Lot is willing to pitch his tent as far as “exceedingly wicked and sinful” Sodom.

But that’s the lesser half of his folly. Lot’s own sin was enough already to sink him deeper than the grave, even if he never became associated with the people of that city. What he needed was the one in whom all the families of the earth would be blessed. What he needed was Christ. But he was willing to give up staying with Abram in order to feed his flocks better.

What are we willing to give up of our connection with Christ in order to (so we think) maintain or increase our prosperity in this life? How many of us skip personal worship or take a portion of the Lord’s Day for earthly priorities in order to enjoy a little more entertainment or work a little bit more to prosper ourselves? With whom are we willing to associate? What lies and exaggerations are we willing to tell, or truths are we willing to conceal? How much inconvenience is too much to participate more in the life of the church?

It was not technically wrong for Lot to pitch his tent in the Jordan valley. What was wrong was all the decision-making behind it. How often do we ignore the values behind our decision-making while carefully justifying our actions?

On the other side was Abram. It was ok for him to have the browner landscape, because he had God Himself. And he who has God has, literally, everything. Because everything in existence belongs to Him. And everything yet to exist. He makes promises about the future, because that belongs to Him too. Even seemingly impossible promises like innumerable descendants to a man with a barren wife.

But most of all, having God means having God Himself in Christ. Abram’s view of what he has is much greater at the altar in Genesis 13:18 than it was during the tour throughout the land. God has given Himself to sinners at the cost of the blood of a substitute!

What might change in your daily and weekly habits if the Lord Himself is your chief Blessing? 

Suggested Songs: ARP181 “God Our Only Good” or TPH73C “In Sweet Communion”

2019.06.28 Hopewell @Home ▫ John 14:8-14

Read John 14:8-14

Questions for Littles: Who speaks in John 14:8? What does he ask Jesus to show them? What is the first question that Jesus asks in response (John 14:9)? What is the second? What is the third (John 14:10a)? What is Jesus saying about Himself in all these questions? What does Jesus say about His words? What does He say about His works? What does Jesus command them to believe in John 14:11? What have demonstrated this truth? What does Jesus say will be done by those who believe in Him (John 14:12)? Why will they be able to do this? Whom will they ask in Whose Name (John 14:13-14)? Who will answer this request (verses 13 and 14)? Why will He answer (verse 13)?

Jesus is the full revelation of God. There’s nothing more of God to see than can be seen in Jesus. That’s the point that He makes to Philip.

But it’s not just His words to Philip. Jesus says that His being in the Father and the Father’s being in Him has been the point of all of His words (John 14:10a). He has never spoken anything by Himself. And Jesus’s identity with the Father has also been the point of all of His works (John 14:10b through John 14:11).

Jesus is in the Father, and the Father is in Jesus. One of the great points of the gospel has been the revelation of the Trinity.

This is also the point of prayer. We ask God for things in prayer. And Jesus makes it clear in John 14:13 and John 14:14 that we are to ask in His Name. What does this mean?

Well, in the first place, it means that we prioritize Jesus’s priorities. John 14:12 tells us that this means to do greater works than He did in His earthly ministry. But this comes in the context of John 14:10-11, doesn’t it? What was the point of the works? To show that Jesus is in the Father, and the Father is in Jesus! The truth of the matter is that by the end of Jesus’s ministry, very few understood or believed that about Him. But through the ministry of the weak apostles, an innumerable multitude would in fact come to understand Jesus that way and believe in Him as God!

The second thing that it means to ask in Jesus’s Name is to believe that Jesus Himself is the One who answers. “I will do it,” Jesus says in John 14:13. Again in John 14:14, Jesus says, “I will do it.” When we ask God in Jesus’s Name, we are expecting that Jesus is the God who answers! This is the ultimate exercise of faith in Jesus as the One who is one with the Father.

Whom do you hope will come to know Jesus as God? How does that shape your praying “in His Name”? Whom are you expecting to answer those prayers?

Suggested songs: ARP110B “The Lord Has Spoken to My Lord” or TPH270 “At the Name of Jesus”

2019.06.27 Hopewell @Home ▫ 2 Corinthians 13:1-6

Read 2 Corinthians 13:1-6

Questions for Littles: How many times has Paul been to Corinth (2 Corinthians 13:1)? What does he tell them about resolving the discipline cases that he plans to address? What will he not do, this time around, when he comes (2 Corinthians 13:2)? Of what were they seeking proof (2 Corinthians 13:3)? What did they think about Paul? What should they have thought about Christ instead? What happened to Christ in His weakness (2 Corinthians 13:4)? But what is His condition now? And what is the believer’s condition in this life? But what will their condition be in the future? How? What does the apostle tell them to do in 2 Corinthians 13:5? Of what are they looking for evidence? What would it mean if they don’t find any? What is he sure that they will know (2 Corinthians 13:6)? 

What difference does believing in the power of Christ make?

For one, it means taking sin seriously—both in the church (2 Corinthians 13:1) and in ourselves (2 Corinthians 13:2). The apostle insists that they proceed formally and judicially. Unrepented sin in the church demands formal discipline.

Just as before (cf. 2 Corinthians 10:1-6), the apostle reminds them that Christ has revealed the greatness of His power by what He has done in them (2 Corinthians 13:3-4). And, if He is so powerful, then we must not trifle with Him.

Sadly, there are many who never even consider whether there is evidence of their new life in Christ. If we confess that Christ is powerful, can we really be satisfied with completely unchanged lives?

But we have an apostolic command to assess and test ourselves. Some will speak against this. They think it is some kind of performance assessment. But it’s not performance that we are assessing, but reality. Not “how well are you doing for Christ,” but rather, “is Christ actually in you?”

If we don’t value Christ enough to care about the real answer to that question, then the temptation is to consider the one who calls us to task (or charges us with something before the church) as if they are claiming illegitimate authority. And, to be sure, there are people who really do abuse their authority in the church. But the apostle makes it clear here that there is also legitimate authority in the church—not just his own, but others’: “you will know that we are not illegitimate.”

This, then, is one of the purposes for which the Lord Jesus has established legitimate authority, discipline, and judicial process in His church. Christ is a legitimate Savior, who makes a legitimate difference in those whom He saves, and He wants us to know whether or not we are legitimate Christians!

When and how do you examine yourself to see whether you are in the faith?

Suggested songs: ARP32A-B “What Blessedness” or TPH32B “How Blessed Is He Whose”

2019.06.26 Hopewell @Home ▫ Judges 6

Read Judges 6

Questions for Littles: What did the children of Israel do in Judges 6:1? How did the Lord respond? What was the oppression of the Midianites and Amalekites like (Judges 6:2-6)? What does the Lord first send in response to Israel’s crying out (Judges 6:7-10)? What was Gideon doing in the winepress and why (Judges 6:11)? Who appeared to him (Judges 6:11-12)? What did He tell Gideon? How does Gideon respond (Judges 6:13)? Whom do Judges 6:14 and Judges 6:16 identify as the Angel of the Lord? How does the Lord answer Gideon’s complaint (Judges 6:14)? And what is Gideon’s response (Judges 6:15)? What is the Lord’s answer to this second complaint (Judges 6:16)? What does Gideon ask for in Judges 6:17? What does he propose to do in Judges 6:18? What does Gideon do in Judges 6:19-20? How does the “Angel” receive the sacrifice (Judges 6:21)? Then what does He do? What does Gideon do when he realizes what has just happened (Judges 6:22)? Of what does the Lord then assure him (Judges 6:23)? What does Gideon finally build in Judges 6:24? What two things does the Lord tell Gideon to tear down in Judges 6:25? What does He tell him to build in Judges 6:26? How many men does Gideon take just to do this (Judges 6:27)? What does he still do out of fear? How do the men of the city respond in the morning (Judges 6:28-30)? Who has to stick up for Gideon against them (Judges 6:31-32)? What does Gideon’s dad say? Who gathered in Judges 6:33? Who came upon Gideon in Judges 6:34? Who gathered to him (Judges 6:34-35)? Even after this, what does Gideon ask in Judges 6:36-37? What does God do (Judges 6:38)? What does Gideon still ask, even after this (Judges 6:39)? What does God do (Judges 6:40)?

“You have not obeyed my voice.” The Lord flat out tells them why all this is coming upon them in Judges 6:10. We would not be out of line to expect total destruction to fall upon them for that.

Instead, the Angel of Yahweh (who also turns out to be Yahweh Himself) shows up to appoint a rather reluctant savior. Gideon’s hospitable, at first, but not believing or worshipful. It isn’t until the Lord consumes the meal with unnatural fire that Gideon realizes that it really is the Lord. By then, it is too late, and Gideon freaks out, because he knows that he deserves to die.

Still, it takes a direct command from Yahweh to get Gideon to tear down false worship and build a true altar to the true God. And even with that, he amasses a little army of men to do it with him, and does it only under cover of night. We find ourselves thinking that God could hardly have chosen a more ill-equipped deliverer for Israel.

Amazingly, the man who was so afraid of men seems rather bold with God. Complaining not once but twice. Demanding a sign not once but twice. It’s quite shocking, really, how bold he is to display that he is not taking God at His Word.

That Word really ought to have been enough. “Surely, I will be with you” (Judges 6:16), and “[My] peace will be with you” (Judges 6:23). What more could one ask for? Well, Gideon asked for more. But, he becomes a Scripture-mirror in which we can see what our own hearts are like when we question God or make demands of Him.

But we are not the only ones (or the main ones) that we see in this Scripture. Behold the patience of God with His unbelieving, unfaithful servant! Since He owes us absolutely nothing, let us be amazed at every extra comfort and assurance that He gives us!

In what situation are you tempted to doubt that God is accomplishing good for you?

Suggested songs: ARP11 “My Trust Is in the Lord” or TPH256 “God Moves in a Mysterious Way”

2019.06.25 Hopewell @Home ▫ Galatians 4:1-11

Read Galatians 4:1-11

Questions for Littles: Who is just like a slave (Galatians 4:1)? For how long? What is he, really? What does his father appoint until the right time (Galatians 4:2)? What were believers under in Galatians 4:3? What time came that put an end to that (Galatians 4:4)? Whom did God send forth? Of whom was the Son born? Under what was the Son born? Whom was the Son sent to redeem (Galatians 4:5)? That believers might receive what? What did God do to believers because they are sons (Galatians 4:6)? Whose Spirit is sent? Into what is He sent? What does He do there? What are believers, no longer, after the sending of Christ (Galatians 4:7)? What are they now? What did unbelievers do before they were converted (Galatians 4:8)? What changed that (Galatians 4:9a)? To what are they now turning (verse 9b)? What does Galatians 4:10 identify as the “beggarly elements” of verse 9b? What is the apostle afraid might be true, since they have returned to this (Galatians 4:11)?

This week’s Call to Worship, Invocation, Confession of Sin, Song of Adoration, and Announcement of the Gospel came from Galatians 4:1-11.

This passage tells us about two ages. The age before Jesus came was the age of observance of a church calendar—one invented by God as a guardian and steward until the time that He would send Jesus. These are the “elementary” things mentioned in Galatians 4:3, the weak and beggarly things of Galatians 4:9, that get called out explicitly in Galatians 4:10.

This earthly/elementary church calendar was replaced, when Jesus came. He had to observe them, just as He had to be born under them (Galatians 4:4). But one big reason for His coming was to get believing Jews out from under this calendar from the law (Galatians 4:5a) and into the superior age of the pouring out of the Spirit (Galatians 4:5b to Galatians 4:6) who makes our hearts to cry out to God as Father.

For a Jew to go back to God’s ceremonial calendar would have been the equivalent of renouncing their inheritance in Christ (Galatians 4:7). It’s even worse for those who have been adopted into God’s family from outside the church altogether (Galatians 4:8-10). Why would those who go from strangers to sons desire to follow relapsing Jews into slavery?

How serious is it that they would go for identifying with a church calendar? The apostle actually declares that he fears that his gospel work among them may have been wasted. Such externals, not belonging to the age of the Son and the Spirit of the Son, are in competition with the reality of the Holy Spirit convincing our hearts of our adoption.

What religious rites has Jesus instituted for the age of the Spirit? What rites are people tempted to observe in addition? With what reality are these in competition?

Suggested songs: ARP103B “Bless the LORD, My Soul” or TPH394 “Eternal Spirit, God of Truth”

2019.06.24 Hopewell @Home ▫ Genesis 12:10-20

Read Genesis 12:10-20

Questions for Littles: What happened in the land (Genesis 12:10)? What did Abram do? Why? Where was he in Genesis 12:11? To whom did Abram speak? What did he tell her that he knows? Whom did he think would see her (Genesis 12:12)? What did he think they would do to him? What did Abram ask Sarai to do (Genesis 12:13)? What did he hope would happen? Where did Abram arrive in Genesis 12:14? What did the Egyptians see? Which Egyptians saw her in Genesis 12:15? What did they think? Whom did they tell? What happened to her? How did Pharaoh treat Abram (Genesis 12:16)? Why? What did Abram end up possessing? What did Yahweh do to Pharaoh in Genesis 12:17? Because of whom? Of what does verse 17 remind us about Sarai? Whom did Pharaoh call in Genesis 12:18? What does Pharaoh ask him (Genesis 12:18-19)? What does Pharaoh tell Abram to do? What does Pharaoh command his men to do to Abram (Genesis 12:20)?    

Believers fail spectacularly. Based upon God’s promises and Abram’s response, he’s been the most promising offspring of the woman so far. Based upon what Galatians 3 tells us about Abraham as a model of faith, we’ve been set up to expect him to be a hero. But here he is doubting God’s ability to take care of him, leaving the promised land, trusting himself to save his own life when he hadn’t trusted God, leading his wife into lying, and getting lectured by the Egyptian dictator poster boy for wicked men.

In light of all of that, there is something stunningly missing from the text. Any outright criticism of Abram. Amazingly, there are commentators who think that this means that maybe Abram wasn’t wrong to go to Egypt—or even to mastermind the sister-lie. But to miss the greatness of his stumbling is to miss the point of the passage: the “greaterness” of God’s grace!

Look at what God is doing, while the human hero is falling flat on his face. “He treated Abram well for her sake. He had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female servants, female donkeys, and camels… Yahweh plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues… So Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they sent him away, with his wife and all that he had.”

God plagues Pharaoh with great plagues and gets Pharaoh to load His people up with the prosperity of Egypt and send them away. Sound familiar? Yes, Abram’s faith is a template for ours, but it is God Himself who is the star of this text, of the whole Bible, and indeed of all history and redemption.

Closer to home, God is the star of your life. He is on record as treating believers according to the worthiness of Christ, not the consistency of their faith. Those who believe in Christ like Abraham believed also stumble spectacularly like Abram stumbled. But this is the nature of grace. In God’s willingness to bless, He has provided Christ, and in His ability to bless He rules and overrules all things for our good. Does this excuse stumbling? Absolutely not! That response is exactly the opposite of repentance and faith. But what it does for the one who stumbles in his repenting and stumbles in his believing is to take his focus off of his stumbling and redirect it back to his gracious God. Dear stumbling believer, let this passage redirect your focus to the God whose grace is for stumbling believers!

How have you stumbled spectacularly? How are you able to keep repenting and believing?

Suggested Songs: ARP182 “Revive Us” or TPH435 “Not What My Hands Have Done”

2019.06.22 Hopewell @Home ▫ Genesis 12:10-20

Read Genesis 12:10-20

Questions for Littles: What happened in the land (Genesis 12:10)? What did Abram do? Why? Where was he in Genesis 12:11? To whom did Abram speak? What did he tell her that he knows? Whom did he think would see her (Genesis 12:12)? What did he think they would do to him? What did Abram ask Sarai to do (Genesis 12:13)? What did he hope would happen? Where did Abram arrive in Genesis 12:14? What did the Egyptians see? Which Egyptians saw her in Genesis 12:15? What did they think? Whom did they tell? What happened to her? How did Pharaoh treat Abram (Genesis 12:16)? Why? What did Abram end up possessing? What did Yahweh do to Pharaoh in Genesis 12:17? Because of whom? Of what does verse 17 remind us about Sarai? Whom did Pharaoh call in Genesis 12:18? What does Pharaoh ask him (Genesis 12:18-19)? What does Pharaoh tell Abram to do? What does Pharaoh command his men to do to Abram (Genesis 12:20)?

If Genesis 12:4-9 showed us Abram’s faith, these verses show that he is still flawed.

A moment ago, Abram was believing that Yahweh would give the land of Canaan to his offspring, even though it was humanly impossible for him even to have offspring at that time. Now, he’s not trusting Yahweh to feed him in a severe famine.

A moment ago, Abram was believing that Yahweh would take care of him in a new land. Now, Abram is in another new land, but rather than trusting in Yahweh, he’s hatching a plan not only for himself to lie, but for his wife to tell a lie that would cause him to be an adulterer.

It had to be humiliating for the generation that first received the book of Genesis from Moses’s pen. They had just been delivered from Egypt through the various hardenings of that Pharaoh’s immoral heart. But, here in Genesis 12, they read about a previous Pharaoh having to rebuke Abram. God grant to us to be humble about ourselves and our earthly heroes!

But God also grant to us to be amazed at Him and adore Him. He protects Sarai from committing adultery. He enriches Abram. He humbles Pharaoh. And He does this all while Abram is in in the midst of sin. How powerful and merciful is our God!

In what situations that you have messed up has the Lord done good to you?

Suggested Songs: ARP90A “Lord, You Have Been” or TPH234 “The God of Abram Praise”

2019.06.21 Hopewell @Home ▫ John 13:36-14:7

Read John 13:36-14:7

Questions for Littles: To whom does Peter speak in John 13:36? What does he ask Him? Does Jesus tell Peter where He is going? What does Jesus say that Peter cannot do now? What does Jesus say that Peter will do afterward? What does Peter ask in John 13:37? What does he announce? What does Jesus ask in John 13:38? What does Jesus announce—what will happen before a rooster crows? What does Jesus say immediately after verse 38 (John 14:1). In Whom does Jesus tell them to believe? In Whom else? Where does Jesus tell them there are many rooms (John 14:2)? Why is Jesus going there? What will Jesus do later (John 14:3)? Why? What two things does Jesus say that they know in John 14:4? Who says that they do not know either of these things (John 14:5)? What does Jesus say is the Way to where He is going (John 14:6)? What does Jesus say is the Truth about where He is going? What does Jesus say is the life by which they may follow to where He is going? When does Jesus say that they know the Father and have seen the Father (John 14:7)?

This passage sounds like it is about a place. It’s a “where” question: “Lord, where are You going?” But this question doesn’t have just one “Who” answer, but two “Who” answers.

The first “Who” answer is Jesus’s Father. Peter, and all disciples, are entirely unreliable. They will abandon Jesus tonight. But His Father has never abandoned Him. Even before Jesus became a man, from all eternity, the Father and the Son have lived in mutual love. This is what is going to make the cross so devastating!

But the love of the Father and the Son for One Another doesn’t stop with them. The Father’s house doesn’t have one dwelling place but many. And, Jesus’s ultimate goal isn’t just to be with the Father. It’s to have the disciples with Him with the Father. Jesus is the second “Who” answer to the where question.

Thomas is pretty amazing. Jesus has just finished saying that they know both where He is going (the Father) and the way to get there (Jesus Himself) (John 14:4). Then, Thomas instantly says exactly the opposite of what Jesus says (John 14:5). This is what leads to one of the most memorized verses in Scripture.

But this verse is saying even more than “believing in Jesus is how to get to heaven.” Rather, it is saying that the Father is heaven. And Jesus is heaven. And Jesus is the way to the Father. Because Jesus and the Father are One. So, those who have Jesus do not have to wait until glory to have heaven. They have begun already to have their heaven!

No one has seen God at any time. Jesus, the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father—He has fully revealed Him (John 1:14)!

How can you have heaven now? In what moments do you most experience this?

Suggested songs: ARP157 “Immortality & Resurrection” or TPH270 “At the Name of Jesus”

2019.06.20 Hopewell @Home ▫ 2 Corinthians 12:11-21

Read 2 Corinthians 12:11-21

Questions for Littles: What does the apostle say he has become in 2 Corinthians 12:11? Who has commended him? Who should have commended him? Whom was the apostle not at all inferior to? But what does he call himself? What had he performed among them in 2 Corinthians 12:12? What were the signs of an apostle? What did the apostle fail to do to the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 12:13)? What is he hoping to do now (2 Corinthians 12:14)? What does he not what? What does he want instead? How does he describe his relationship with them? What is he willing to do for them (2 Corinthians 12:15)? How have the Corinthians responded to all the things that the apostle has done for them in love? What did he not do to them (2 Corinthians 12:16)? But what did the apostle do to them? What did neither he nor Titus nor the unnamed brother (Luke?) do to them (2 Corinthians 12:17-18)? But Whose opinion of the apostle is much more important than the Corinthians’ opinion (2 Corinthians 12:19)? What does he call them at the end of verse 19? At what is he aiming in all things? What does he fear (2 Corinthians 12:20)? What kinds of things is he hoping there will not be? Who would be humiliated by this (2 Corinthians 12:21)? Over whom would the apostle mourn?

Love. True love. That’s what this passage is about.

The apostle has been badly treated, but his goal is not to be treated well or thought of well. True love cares about others’ good even more than for others to feel good about them. He doesn’t want anything from them. He wants the wellbeing of them themselves.

True love doesn’t begrudge service. There are many who serve tirelessly, and the apostle does spend and be spent. But he doesn’t just serve tirelessly. He serves gladly. True love is glad to spend and be spent, even if he isn’t recognized by anyone but the Lord.

True love doesn’t just want its dear ones to receive good. It wants them to do good. What the apostle fears most for them is not that they would have hardship, but rather that they would be sinful. Contentious. Jealous. Wrathful. Selfishly ambitious. Gossipers. Conceited.

But we sin. What can true love do for us then? Well, the true love of the apostle really has its start as the true love of God (2 Corinthians 12:21). And God’s true love, and the apostle’s true love, aims at the Corinthians’ repentance. That’s what true love really wants: to see its dear ones turn away from sin!

Who truly loves you? What do they want for you? Whom do you truly love?

Suggested songs: ARP32A-B “What Blessedness” or TPH32B “How Blessed Is He Whose Trespass”