the way of the shepherds and magi

Read Matthew 2:1-12 and Luke 2:8-20

1. What is the story of the shepherds? Tell it in your own words. What does it mean to us? What can we learn from it (how was their way along with or in opposition to the Way)?

2. What is the story of the magi? Tell it in your own words. What does it mean to us? What can we learn from it (how was their way along with or in opposition to the Way)?

3. The shepherds left their fields. The magi left their country. What might you have to leave to really meet Christ? Will you go back? What will change in your life if you do go back? Are you willing to do this?

4. I don't think the shepherds and magi understood exactly what was meant by Christ's coming. What do you think they thought? What was really meant by Christ's coming? Does it make you more or less inclined to bow before Him, to bring Him your precious gifts?

5. Just for fun: do you consider yourself a shepherd or a magi? Why?

6. The shepherds and magi adjusted their way to briefly observe another (at the very least). Do you think that their lives changed after that night? These questions (maybe short of number five) culminate here. Will you allow Christ to change your life? Can you do more than observe His Way and ask Him to change your way (your habits and comforts, your efforts and best laid plans, your sins and victories) to join His?

the way of Cain

Read Genesis 4:1-16

1. Why did Cain murder his brother? Think about it. Is this not drastic? What would you have done? What if you didn't know better? Do you really think that Cain didn't know better? Why or why not?

2. How about this: we do know better, about a lot of things. Why do we do the things we do that we ought not (you can use Romans if you want but I would like to hear this in your own words)?

3. Look at Genesis 4:6,7 again. What can this advice, given to Cain, the second man, say to us today? How can this story help us in our relationship with God and with others?

4. What resides in your life that you don't want to deal with? What is the sin crouching at your door that keeps you from the work God has for you (don't worry, you don't have to tell everyone in class your personal bag of crap, or even write it down – I just want you to think about it and deal with it – in many cases you can't deal with it – get help, talk to God about it, you can talk to me about it, whatever, just don't drown in death when you can walk in life and the fulfillment God has for you – neither path is ponies and roses, but one way brings joy and love, the other just death)?

5. This week, take a little time to ask God what He has for you. It may not be some great thing like becoming president, but God was a job for you to do, probably more than one, and He is just waiting on you to ask. Or maybe you already know what He has for you. What steps will it take to do this? What can you do right now to start the ball rolling? Can I help you in some way? Just ask God to talk to you and listen. He will. It's His joy to work through us, for us to walk with Him(John 17:6-19 (esp 13) and Micah 6:7,8).

6. The way of Cain is one of anger. But, you ask, didn't Jesus also get angry (see Matthew 21:12-17 et al)? What is the difference? How does this apply to your life and the tasks set before you?

WAY by Chewie with study questions

In our studies on Sunday mornings we have come to a point that we are calling our various followings of God, “The way of the Way.” And we have defined it approximately

Way: The path. Or to put it more poetically it is the light, piercing darkness asunder to form a streaming path showing the way to heaven.

way: The manner in which you walk the path. For example; the parable of the good Samaritan. All passers-by were on the way to do great deeds (church and job) but the menial and time consuming deed was left out… And thus, the Way of the way was not followed.

Now I believe that by this time it is no secret that the path and the manner in which you walk it are directly related to Jesus. This may have been reached because you are a genius and josh is a brilliant teacher, making the concept and application quickly and easily within your grasp. However, I am a dolt and this concept has become a vague shadow of a concept in my mind only after weeks and weeks of lessons pounded into my brain. And upon that rock hard forge of gray matter there has dawned a spark of light. My own grasping of what is being called the way of the Way. I shall call it the WAY.

WAY: By definition; the Plan. By implication; Jesus. Not just about Jesus and not just for Jesus; but by Him and through Him and in Him… Jesus. That simple, He is the plan(whoever believes in Him shall not perish…), and He was the plan (while we were still sinners Christ died for us). He is the path (no one comes to the father except through Me) and he is the manner to walk upon the path (…must walk as Jesus did).

It all started by reading a fairly poorly written article(much like this very one) in which there was a tiny phrase that contained the word “way”. Way, way, whey, that is all I hear these days, the sparks exploded in my brain and even those tiny things began a near melt down. And what arose from that shimmering puddle? Something like this…

I didn’t get my way.

God didn’t get His way either.

Whatever!

God ALWAYS gets His way.

No He does not!

Yes He Does! This continues for a time… (it is called Ohio arguing)

Then, I remember I am in Indiana…

What do you mean by God didn’t get His way? (now we are getting somewhere, thanks Indiana)

Well His way was for everything to be perfect.

And our way screwed everything up. ---See the “way of Adam” for details---

Yes but God made another way; Jesus.

That is true, but Jesus is God. So God got His own way.

This sent me off on another line of thought…

Jesus is God and God made the way and Jesus is the way and the Way. He is the shining light that makes the path and the light that is the path, the pattern to and the rhythm of the path. It is all Him, Jesus I mean. The way of God is perfection and the way of man is destruction, but the way of Jesus is redemption. And now we have opportunity to be restored to the way (Gods) of perfection.

So through these and other meanderings I have concluded in my mind another WAY, the third distinct and encompassing use of the term…

Lets read Philemon:

Now this is all about Jesus and how often is He mentioned? Remember that tinny sounding rhythm that blared from josh’s computer? Something about more than useless… Onesimus means useful. Look again at verse 11 and see the distinction. Before he met Jesus he was useless, after he was useful. That simple. Look at verse 6 that uses the same word (and from my understanding the same context) as 2 Peter 1:8 and it is bad theology I know to pick one word and compare ideas because they contain the same word. I am not doing that here, here I am comparing the same concept and the word that tells why is the same. To know Jesus is to be useful. The more you increase in His knowledge the more useful you become.

Onesimus was separated for a while but now he is back forever. Look it is Romans chapters 5 and 6 lived out. It is slavery to the law and separation. It is a slave to Jesus and eternal freedom and redemption.

My point is this… It is all about Jesus. He is God's plan. And we can follow God's plan to perfection or our plans to destruction. You are always following one plan or the other. Which are you following right now? Not which do you plan to follow… Which are you already following?

WAY questions

Find three stories that Jesus told that were not about Himself.

1

2

3

If they are not about Jesus then what are they about?

1

2

3

What was His purpose (why). What did He hope to achieve by telling these.

1

2

3

Find three stories that Jesus told about Himself.

1

2

3

How is He letting you get to know Him and His Fathers plans through these stories?

the Way Mary followed

I understand why Mary is such a big deal to the Roman Catholic faith. As I read the story of Gabriel visiting Mary:

Luke 1:26-38 (NLT)
²⁶ In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, ²⁷ to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. ²⁸ Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!” ²⁹ Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. ³⁰ “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! ³¹ You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. ³² He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. ³³ And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!” ³⁴ Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.” ³⁵ The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God. ³⁶ What’s more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she’s now in her sixth month. ³⁷ For nothing is impossible with God.” ³⁸ Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” And then the angel left her.¹

I couldn't help but think of all the other stories of Mary (some made up or speculative, some real) that I have heard or made up. There is the scene in a movie where Jesus is at work building a table and Mary insists that he stop and wash up for lunch. There is the story of Mary answering the prayer of a save journey to Africa and the great escape from a local rebellion there. There is Mary searching frantically for Jesus after the feast of the Passover in Jerusalem (think of that, looking for the true Lamb of God at eh celebration of the shadow of the event that was to come, taking Jesus life so that we may live) and how Mary treasured all of these things in her heart, as only a mother can. There is Mary watching her firstborn unfairly murdered. And I think of Mary fixing a dinner for the disciples, watching them eat and thinking to herself, “So. These are his followers. I wonder if he knows what he is doing. Maybe if I pray and ask God, He will get the greatness thing going.”

Many more scenarios go through my mind, too many to list here. But it is obvious why she is revered and almost understandable that she is prayed to. She is the mother of God. She was visited by an angel, many shepherds, a few magi, fishermen, and more on account of her son. She watched as the crowds grew, both hungry and angry. She watched as her son died for nothing and for everything all at once. She saw him alive again. “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” That's a saint if I ever saw one.

But she did not know what would happen to her, if she would be stoned for adultery. She was sure to shame her family, her husband to be, and herself. There was the uncertainty of it all: Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.” I think the same fear, the same uncertainty – am I doing the right thing, does God really know what He's doing – flows through us with each step we take with God. I think it will lessen as we continue on and get used to God doing His will through us, but I think not knowing will always be a bit scary. I think that is why angels often start out by telling people not to be afraid (yes, I am an angel, yes you have work to do, but God will take care of His own). The saintliness of Mary is in that she still allowed God to work this way in her life: Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” It doesn't matter, any of the rest of it, God knows what He's doing, though I do not. And I think this carried throughout. Seeing the great miracle at Cana, meeting the raggamuffins Jesus lived with, seeing Him welcomed to Jerusalem and seeing Him killed days later. “God, I don't get it, but I am the Lord's servant.”

I think that all of us, at least all us the guys, long for adventure. We want something great to happen through us, to go and achieve great things. We read books or watch movies of great deeds, be it King Arthur or the latest save the earth from giant aliens flick. And we long for that, somehow. We want to save something, to fix something, to rescue someone. (And women, I think, want to be rescued, to be secure. Now, please don't take my over general statements and hate me forever. I just think that, as I look at the model given to husbands and wives in Ephesians, that it's supposed to be that way. That we are built that way, even if we think it is Neanderthal or sexist). The thing we forget or don't notice is that at the time of the adventure, things look bleak. If we look at the saints we see that they were not thinking of their greatness, they were just hanging on. Mother Theresa called herself the chief of sinners, as did Paul. Patrick was a slave trying to escape with his skin. The disciples ran away and left Jesus to die. Later they were flogged and killed for this radical new life they lived. We forget that the saints were normal people, scared people, sinful people. Look at the people God used throughout history – drunks, liars, adulterers, cowards, weaklings, orphans, widows, fishermen, carpenters, slaves, and on and on. God does not expect us to be great. We are all loved thoroughly by Him. He just wants us to be willing, to say, “Okay God. I don't get it, but I will do it.”

And Joseph did just that. God spoke:

Matthew 1:18-25 (NLT)
¹⁸ This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ Joseph, her fiancé, was a good man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly. ²⁰ As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. ²¹ And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” ²² All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet: ²³ “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’ ”

And Joseph did it:

²⁴ When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. ²⁵ But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus.²

He also listened when God told him to go to Egypt to save the boy's live. He raised a boy not his, taught him how to work, how to live with very little. He taught him, I believe, the ways of God, the stories and the promises. He taught him to be a man, an ordinary man, so that he could become the Son of Man. God spoke and Joseph listened. Simple as that. I have a couple things to say about this. First let's read:

James 1:21-25 (NLT):

²¹ So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls. ²² But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. ²³ For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. ²⁴ You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. ²⁵ But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.³

This was a part of your homework at some point, but I want to look at it again. Mary and Joseph heard from God, got the map and followed the Way. I, too often, think that if I had a huge task set before me, that if I knew what to do, if I knew the exact way to to go I would go on it. But look at what James says. You don't know what to do? Do what the Word is telling you to do. Pray. Listen. Love. These are huge things. Don't merely listen about them, talk about it. Do them. And God will speak to you. He will tell you what to do next and, as long as you keep doing it (and even when you mess up and don't) He will keep telling you. It may not be popular or logical or fun, but you can walk in the Way the very way that God desires you to. God can use you, will use you. Just allow it. Seek it, and do it.

Chewie and I had an intro to Bible reading this week and it was fun to read out loud, to ad lib a bit, to hear the same stories a new or different way. We just picked somewhere, ended up at Joshua and read the first few chapters. It was fun and funny and good. I want to invite all of you to join us this Wednesday at 6:30pm at someone's house, maybe ours, to read the Bible out loud. It is fun, honestly. Anyway, we read and came to the conclusion (not definitive in any way) that Joshua was timid and small. Now he was not the coward I am, he did God's work most of the time, but they kept having to tell him not to be scared, both God and the Israelites. I just envisioned this little guy with a high voice leading the army of God. But God used him, anyway. In my mind He used Joshua because of this, to prove His power was all that was needed. God uses scared, weak, scarred people. In other words, God uses ordinary people to do amazing things. I have a heart for the ordinary man lately. I want to reach the working person, the paycheck to paycheck parent, the normal American and watch God give their life hope, something bigger to work for, to work joyfully for. I am ready to see God move in the ordinary people and watch Him do great things. I don't know how that looks yet, but I think God has some big things in store for normal people that are willing to do His work.

Normal people like Mary and Joseph were normal. They followed God's Way the way He desired, even though it was illogical. And they watched Jesus' life unfold and did not, I'm sure understand what God was doing. But thanks be to God, they did it anyway. Now we can enjoy the grace of Christ, the love of God, the freedom to be God's slaves. The raised the very Son of God so that we can have the chance to know God and be with Him. Two ordinary people, a carpenter and his wife to be, changed the course of redemptive history. It is easy to see why they are saints in those books of Christian heroes, but they were simply people willing to say yes to God. I don't want to immortalize them, to make them out of reach to us. They are no better than us, just as Adam and Eve were no worse. They were people as we are. We just have to choose what way to go, who to follow, what is worth standing for.

1 Tyndale House Publishers. (2004). Holy Bible : New Living Translation. (2nd ed.). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.

2 Tyndale House Publishers. (2004). Holy Bible : New Living Translation. (2nd ed.). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.

3 Tyndale House Publishers. (2004). Holy Bible : New Living Translation. (2nd ed.). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.

Mary's way worksheet

1 The Passover – what is it? How does it relate to Jesus? (Exodus 12-13, John 1:29, 1 Corinthians 5:7)

2 Think of a hero – Esther or Corrie ten Boom or Peter or David or Frodo – any hero story you may know. Try to remember or just read about what happened to them. Was it easy? Do you think they were confident in their work as it was going on? How did they do it, do you think?

3 There is a song by Switchfoot that goes: “This is your life, are you who you want to be?” Good question, guys. What's your life? Is it what you thought? Is God asking it to be something else, even though it doesn't add up in your mind or your checkbook or your social setting?

4 God used Mary and Joseph, two ordinary people to bring salvation to mankind. Re-read the nativity story (Matthew 1-2, Luke 1-2). As you read, think of how they felt, what might have been going through their minds. Take them off the shelf and bring them back to reality and normality. This could be you, in a way. How can we take this and any Bible story, and apply it to our lives?

5 I wonder if Mary got word of Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus. Read John 3. We must be reborn to join God's Kingdom, to willingly do His work. What does it mean to be born again? Are you born again? Are you willingly doing the will of God as a servant in His Kingdom? If not, why?

the way of Adam

We looked at the way of the Way last week. Did you check up on me? What did I get wrong? Did you add to the list of the “is” and “is not”s of the way of the Way? What did you come up with? You all know what I came up with. I gave you the verses on the worksheet. Did anyone think of any more? I did. The way of the Way is not a game, a path of talking and not doing. It is real, the only real important thing and it demands that we reply to the call of God. Any others?

Did you all think about what God is asking of you? You don't have to say what, but did the verses make sense? Can you see how all things are to be for God's glory, that everything that we do is important, is for God? That there are things we need to do, long to do, that we avoid? Let's do them and all things for God, through God, because God loves us and we love Him in return.

There is a song by Reliant K called More Than Useless:

What's the purpose? It feels worthless
So unwanted like I've lost all my value
I can't find it, not in the least bit
and I'm just scared, so scared that I'll fail you

And sometimes I think that I'm not any good at all
And sometimes I wonder why, why I'm even here at all
But then you assure me

I'm a little more than useless
And when I think that I can't do this
You promise me that I'll get through this
And do something right
Do something right for once

The first time I heard this song I thought, “Yeah, maybe I will do something right, for one, you know. I am more than useless, if just that.” Now I don't want to start some rumor about my bout with depression or whatever, but there are times, often long times, that I begin to think that I am useless or that what I do doesn't matter or that I can't seem to put all the pieces together and get it right for once. I just like this song, not for its musical brilliance, but for its honesty.

I think this feeling of inadequacy comes from an event that happened a long, long time ago. Let's look at Genesis 2:4-3:24. You all know the story. God creates the heavens and earth, the land, air, and sea, the sun, moon, and stars, the plants, birds, fish, and animals. And after all this, God created man “imago dai” (in His own image).

Genesis 2:4-9, 15-20 (NLT)
⁴ This is the account of the creation of the heavens and the earth. When the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, ⁵ neither wild plants nor grains were growing on the earth. For the Lord God had not yet sent rain to water the earth, and there were no people to cultivate the soil. ⁶ Instead, springs came up from the ground and watered all the land. ⁷ Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person. ⁸ Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man he had made. ⁹ The Lord God made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground—trees that were beautiful and that produced delicious fruit. In the middle of the garden he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. ¹⁵ The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. ¹⁶ But the Lord God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden— ¹⁷ except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.” ¹⁸ Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.” ¹⁹ So the Lord God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one. ²⁰ He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals. But still there was no helper just right for him.¹

God breathed and the dust lived, lived the very image of God (Genesis 1:26). And then God made a utopia for man to live in, a place that people have longed for and searched for ever since: Eden. Can you imagine? All you can eat, a job that you were specifically made for, direct communion with God, no fuss with the fashion or fit of you clothes, lowest gas prices ever. There are no judges, no police, no DNR waiting behind the next tree. There is only one rule and everything else goes. “Don't eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil or you will die.” Sounds like an easy choice. Now, maybe Adam had not seen anything die yet, so there was less threat in his mind. And, although I have always heard that curiosity killed the cat, I think that, perhaps, curiosity really killed mankind, starting in Eden. But, we can see, there is an obvious job set before Adam. He was to do the upkeep of the garden. He was over all the animals, having been introduced to and naming them all. He was set.

Genesis 2:21-25 (NLT)
²¹ So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the Lord God took out one of the man’s ribs and closed up the opening. ²² Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man. ²³ “At last!” the man exclaimed. “This one is bone from my bone, and flesh from my flesh! She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken from ‘man.’ ” ²⁴ This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one. ²⁵ Now the man and his wife were both naked, but they felt no shame.²

And he had God looking after him, knowing exactly what he needed for each situation and happily giving it to him. Adam had everything. Donald Miller says that nudity is the point here.³ They were naked and not ashamed. They had nothing to hide. They had everything but the knowledge of good and evil. How could he know it was wrong if he didn't know good and evil? I suppose it is because God had told him not to do it. Some things you just have to take His Word for and do His Way. Some things we don't understand, but we are still expected to obey. Why is the way of the Way the way of a servant? Why are we to love those who would harm us? They may not make sense to us, but we need to do them. We need to trust God.

Genesis 3:1-13 (NLT)
¹ The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?” ² “Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. ³ “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’ ” ⁴ “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. ⁵ “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.” ⁶ The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. ⁷ At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves. ⁸ When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees. ⁹ Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” ¹⁰ He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.” ¹¹ “Who told you that you were naked?” the Lord God asked. “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?” ¹² The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.” ¹³ Then the Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?” “The serpent deceived me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.”⁴

But Eve and then Adam chose not to trust God. They heard the newest idea, they heard that maybe God's Way was not the only way, or even the best one. “Thanks God, but I know better. Well, I'm about to, anyway.”

“Yeah, surely you will not die. God's just keeping knowledge from you.”

“Yeah.” As juice runs down the corner of her mouth and she hands it to Adam, Eve knows good and evil, and she knows that what they have done is of the latter. Adam knows, too. They were to watch over the garden, to eat of it, but not this way. They were naked, they would die. It was clear, now. God wasn't holding out on them, He was just holding them close. Now the would be at a distance. The curses were there: work would be hard, painful, so would childbirth. The utopia was gone. Eden was lost, guarded by the flashing sword of God's angel. And I can imagine the feeling of guilt, of uselessness setting in.

“There was just one rule, why couldn't we keep it? Things were so much better. I was close to my wife, now there's this blaming, mistrust, and fear that was never there. And God, I miss Him. He seems so far, now. We haven't as much as spoken in months. The beans won't come up, and the weeds are overrunning my plot. I can't do anything right. If I see that snake, so help me.”

And the sin, the aloneness, and the feeling of uselessness continue to this day. The “I don't care” or “I don't matter” or “I can't do anything right” all stick around amidst a cloud of sin and failure to live up to any standard that is set before us. We continue on unable to be the “who” we were created to be, unable to see the imago dai (image of God) that is so twisted and marred. And we can't get along, we have laws to keep one another alive and books on how to live with our roommate and find the right mate and find a new mate. We find ourselves constantly going our own way and being unhappy with it in the end. And often when we try to follow the steps of Christ we do it our own way and end up off on our own again, refusing help and desperately wanting someone to help, anyway. It seems we can't figure out what's missing. Luckily God has revealed Himself to us through His Word. Look at 2 Peter 1:3b-9:

[God's] divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.⁵

If these qualities, all of them, are yours and increasing, you are neither useless or fruitless in your knowledge. You know, you believe, you act, and it matters. Faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. This is the important part, so please listen: you are more than useless. God made everything, including man, and it was good. You are made in God's image. Sin does not have to rule your life. Through Jesus, sin is no longer master over you. You are free to live as you were made to, communing with God and your neighbor. Learning to love God and people. The way we can know we are doing this is by exhibiting these qualities, increasing in them through the grace given us by the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of the One True God. Do you get it? Adam failed. We fail. Christ saves us, takes us out of this mundane existence as we're treading through the muck of sin. We're doing something right, not through ourselves, by by the grace of God. Romans five lays it out for us. We can take the way of Adam, his sin imputed to us, or we can follow the Way and have the righteousness of Christ imputed to us in stead, being more than useless, being the good creation of a good God.

1 Tyndale House Publishers. (2004). Holy Bible : New Living Translation. (2nd ed.). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.

2 Tyndale House Publishers. (2004). Holy Bible : New Living Translation. (2nd ed.). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.

3 Searching for God Knows What. Donald Miller. Thomas Nelson Publishers.

4 Tyndale House Publishers. (2004). Holy Bible : New Living Translation. (2nd ed.). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.

5 New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995. LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

woW adam's way worksheet

1. Tell me what it means to be made imago dai (in the image of God. How can this be restored? (Give me some references)

2. What is imputed sin? Imputed righteousness? (Romans 5)

3. What are the Ways of God that are backward to the world?

4. Adam and Eve chose their way (Genesis 3). What ways do you walk in when you are avoiding God? How can you reverse these trends in your life and get back on the Way?

5. How can we know we are more than useless? (2 Peter 1:3-9 et. al.)