September 13, 2020

Breaking Open the Scripture Scripture for September 13th: Exodus 14:19-31, Exodus 15:1-11,20-21; Romans 14:1-12, Matthew 18:21-35; Theme: God loves us no matter where we are in life Song: Guide me O Thou Great Jehovah UMH 127 Romans: As Paul gets to the ending chapters of Romans Jesus is calling all of us to put the love that we learned into action. Love is not just about being nice to strangers, it is about learning to accept church members that really get on our nerves. It is about learning to understand that even when we are united in Christ, we are different people, we live different lives, we see life differently. And God loves us all equally. The Roman church would have been a diverse group of people. Paul was reminding them and us all that Jesus established the church to be a place where people can learn to accept each other no matter what. Paul says that every knee shall bow, every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. I always wonder how that is going to happen with so many different religions. But all things are possible with God aren’t they? If God can solve the differences in the world, he will also solve the differences in our church. Matthew: When we practice the law of love, inevitable someone is going to take advantage of us, and get us to become resentful. When we are tolerating people that we do not understand, or don’t know inevitably we are going to get offended. That is why love and forgiveness go hand in hand. Forgiveness has been a lesson for the last two lessons. Jesus explains that we will never be above forgiveness, it is a continuous practice. When we forgive, we are not doing the other person a favor. It frees us from burden. Jesus also reminds us that just as we need to forgive others, we must not forget that we may have done that and more to someone else. If they are willing to forgive us, we can surely forgive others. We should be working to free everyone from the burden of hurting others. Sin is just missing the mark. Forgiveness helps us to get back on track. Questions: What are some of the diversity present in our church? How do we build bridges to understand strangers? Who do you need to forgive? Who needs to forgive you?