Spring 2003
Small Group Material
Altrincham Baptist Church
Touching the power - without becoming toast
The power of God is dangerous. In the Old Testament we only have to think of poor Uzzah in 2 Samuel 6:6-7—well I feel sorry for him! Reaching out to steady the ark but getting a blast from God that struck him dead. But it did serve the purpose of underlining that you don’t mess with God. A similar event happen with Ananias & Sapphira in Acts 5—again you don’t mess with God.
Okay so ’touching the power’ is dangerous and we’d better treat God with respect otherwise people might get hurt. There’s truth here that we need to take on board. The Christian faith speaks of the power of God and we have seen such power at work for good. But the Christian faith twisted and distorted—even a little— can become a burden and far from bringing blessing, it can bring people into bondage. For instance, trying to live the Christian life without experience of the grace of God for instance, produces crushed or neurotic believers, driven by a sense of ‘must’ and ‘ought’ - a ‘hardening of the oughteries’ as someone has said. We may have been there ourselves or certainly know of Christians with this high-cholesterol condition. So we need to be in touch with the power of God without it burning us.
That’s the idea behind the strap-line ‘without becoming toast’. But this strap-line came to me when I heard what was one of the funniest stories in a long time. In fact it’s quite horrifying! Here’s Brian’s story in his own words.
How Loaf became toast
I was thirteen when I met Ivor Kennedy, eldest son of Frank Kennedy, a baker who had just moved up to our village from Belfast. Ivor was an older lad at 17 and he soon established himself as the natural leader in the gang of lads of which I was a part. We christened him “Loaf” in keeping with the tradition of only using nicknames.
Ivor regularly had us doing extraordinary things. I remember once walking through a field on the edge of the village on a rather damp evening. We paused under an electricity pylon , intrigued by its ‘fizzing’ sound as the wetness settled on its wires. “Bet you’ve never been up one of these ?” he said. He was right!
Before I knew what was happening I found myself scrambling up the base of the pylon in hot pursuit. The difficult part was at the start; trying to get passed the endless barbed wire. However , using those big yellow warnings signs as a foothold, we were soon onto the structure proper.
I began to slow at about 20 feet , not having the greatest head for heights. Not so with Ivor – he was nearing the top, in amongst the wires. Little did he know what danger he was in. As he turned his body to look down and to call to me, his head must have got too close to the wire. The next events happened in a few seconds but felt like minutes and are stamped on my memory forever.
A blue arc discharge lit up the dusk. Ivor was thown off the pylon. I saw him fall toward me. He passed me in what felt like slow motion, I could almost reach out and touch him. The rush of air as he went past broke the eerie silence as he plummeted; a trail of blue smoke trailing from the burn on his head, limbs lifeless. I watched in horror as he crashed into the ground. Silence.
I scrambled down the structure in panic, getting caught up again in that blasted barbed wire. When I reached Ivor he appeared dead – I didn’t have the first clue about what I should do. I stood for a moment almost paralysed with fear. I recall vividly the strong feelings that swept over me; a deep sense of sickness, mixed with shock ,about what had just happened. It was at this point I said my first earnest prayer asking God to help us. I also remember the stillness, only disturbed by the sound of the grass moving in the breeze and a chilling crackling sound coming from Ivor’s burn.
Within a few moments I heard some faint shouting from behind me, I turned to see the most bizarre sight. An old woman from the house at the end of the field was running toward us with waving something shiny! It turned out to be some kitchen foil. “This will keep him warm till the ambulance comes!” she explained. Obviously she had witnessed the whole thing – she seemed to know exactly what to do! We sat stroking Ivors head until the ambulance arrived and then we were off to hospital.
Amazingly, Ivor survived. He suffered horrendous injuries from his fall, spending 3 months in hospital. The burn had removed the hair from one side of his head. The first time the gang appeared to see him he decided a new name was needed – “Loaf” had become “Toast” as a lasting tribute to his ordeal. Ivor is now 40 – I saw him last 15 years ago looking great – telling his daughter not to climb too high as she scrambled up a tree while we chatted. It obviously is in the blood!
Brian Addis
Guidance for Group Leaders
The following material uses storytelling to draw out the meaning of the text. Sharing personal stories and understanding the underlying story of the biblical text, is a powerful way to help personal understanding and application.
It is important that you do not feel you are doing a course. Do not feel you have to complete a theme each week. Most themes may take two weeks—certainly if your evening contains other things! Rather, it is better to explore different themes and take as much time as you need. Provided people are genuinely learning and gaining insight and making relevant connections, you are achieving what is of true value. Stay with something if you find the group responding.
A key thing for effective group interaction is to allow people to share their stories without interruption and in an environment of acceptance. The only exception to this is when there’s someone in your group who has a reputation to hog the conversation. In this situation it might be appropriate to say to the group at the start of any such story-telling, ‘We heard from Stephen last week, so it might be good if others could share with us to begin with.’
The Themes
The material explores various themes, each of which is self-contained Remember you may not cover a theme a week. However there is a character, Starky, who is introduced in Theme 1 and this needs to be done before 2 & 3
Theme 1 - Gospel of power - Romans
Storytime - Experience
Get group members to share about times or situations where they felt excluded or uncomfortable in a group. For instance—
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New person at work etc
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Feeling of not fitting in with a group
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Made to feel as if your views were weird, strange or unimportant
Don’t be afraid of silence as people dredge their memory. It may take a little time for people to start. Listen to a number of contributions. Try not to interrupt the speaker. It’s more important to listen to the feelings than to get all the detail. If the person didn’t share what it felt like to be in such a situation, ask them gently how it felt.
Sum up by getting the group to reflect upon what they think is going on in such situations. Amongst other things comment about the power of groups and cultures to include or exclude.
Background
When Paul wrote to Roman Christians he described the gospel as ‘the power of God’ (Rom 1:16). This in itself is quite significant. He was clearly writing about a kind of power very different from anything on offer within the society around either him or the Roman Christians. Christians were not part of a powerful and significant group—in fact the exact opposite . So Romans gives us a big clue about how early Christians understood the power that came from their faith in Jesus.
The other thing to note in this verse is that Paul connects the power of God with the relationship between Jew and Gentile. Because this issue is not relevant or centre stage as in Paul’s day, we often ignore this and skate over it. But in doing so we miss the way in which the power of God was experienced in the early Christian communities.
Here is a story—imaginary but based on historical facts that illuminates the background to Paul’s letter. Unless you understand this background, it’s very difficult to understand Paul’s reason for writing.
Story time - Imagine
Sunday again and Starky (Aristarchus) woke slowly to another fine day. Following breakfast his thoughts went to the day and all he had to do to complete his current work—an order for a customer who wanted the special fabric he weaved. As a Jewish believer in Jesus he and his wife Mary (see Romans 16:6) had managed to keep the Sabbath the previous day and felt the benefit of the rest. His first thought when he woke was ‘Great! It’s Sunday… and I’ll meet with the believers this evening’, - his fellow believers of The Way as they called the followers of Jesus. But almost immediately his heart sank.
The problem was that the group he met with wasn’t anything like what it was a few years ago. Time and a lot of water had gone under the bridge since those wonderful days. Then Sunday was pure joy. He had been a leader of the new community and everyone was excited about all they had discovered through their faith that Jesus was the Messiah. There had even been a growing number of Gentile believers and he was excited about that amazing development—he could see the fulfilment of all those dreams in the OT that the nations would come flooding in faith to Zion. They had respected his grasp of the Scriptures and hung on his every word. But the water had flowed since then.
It all went wrong when there were riots in Rome. It was over their new found faith. The traditional Jews that thought a crucified Messiah was not just a No! No! but a blasphemy. They turned on the believers of The Way. The whole place was in uproar. The Emperor Claudias had turned out all the Jews, and he and Mary had found themselves exiled for the last 8 years in Corinth. When the new Emperor came to power, the edict turning them out of Rome was rescinded, they made the journey back to Rome—full of hope and ready to make a new start—pick up the old life.
Vain hope that was. When things settled down he found the Gentile believers in Rome had grown numerically and in spirit. He felt like an outsider now in his old church. There were Gentile leaders and he was no longer in the centre of things. At times he even felt looked down upon for his ‘strange’, un-liberated ways. To him they felt strong and he felt they saw him as weak.. So it was with heavy heart that he approached that Sunday evening.
Imagination - Swap Shop
Encourage the group to get inside this situation for a few moments. Perhaps read it again slowly or photo-copy for people to read & reflect on it themselves. Encourage use of imagination & then share what you think Starky was feeling and why.
Paul wrote his letter to the Romans to address this situation. It seems from putting together the historical situation with the contents of Romans, Gentile Christians were now the dominant influence in the church in Rome & Jewish Christians were being made to feel second class members. Romans was Paul’s attempt to get the whole church to understand the place of both Jew and Gentile. It teaches us a lot about living with differences in community. The division between Jew & Gentile was the biggest divide in the Roman Empire—the Jews, the one ethnic group the Romans were unable to integrate. But the Christians did it by having communities of Jew and Gentile all over Mediterranean society. The Gospel has a power to build community that the world mightiest power did not possess been. Look at the following:
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Romans 11:13-25. What underlying attitude in the Gentiles is exposed here. How does the story throw light on the passage? How does this attitude affect community life? Do we find this attitude in church life today? Where & when?
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Romans 12: 9-12 shows how Gospel power touches everyday life. How would living this way overcome or help with divisions?
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Romans 14:1-15:13. Difficult passage but you’ll be rewarded is you try to tackle it. Starky is the one with weak conscience. The Most Gentile believers wouldn’t have problems eating anything—even if used in a pagan temple ritual (14:2). Again they wouldn’t make any distinction between one day and another (14:5). What advice or directions are being given to help the situation? How might this teaching have made a difference?
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Why does he end by returning to the theme of power in 15:13?
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How should the power of God be shown in our lives, relationships and our community if we take Paul seriously?
Theme 2 - Powerlessness - Romans
Share about times when group members have felt powerless. It might be in connection with:
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Physical illness
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Emotional vulnerabilit
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Circumstances over which you had no control
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Judgements made of you over which you had no control
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Inability to achieve or do something that you would normally be able to do etc.
Try to draw out the feelings involved in such circumstances.. Again, try not to interrupt the speaker, unless it is essential for clarity.
Again do not worry if someone is clearly sharing at some length. Provided the group are engaged & not in switch off, this may well be the way the group is meant to go. Just go with it. Give a sense of plenty of time and that you can follow through the material for study and reflection next time. Always underline that we are not doing a course—you haven’t got to get through the material—but that the group is about engaging with one another as companions on the way of life.
Story Time - Imagine
Starkey sat in the gathering that evening—waves of irritation welled up as Urbanus led the meeting. He knew a lot more about the OT Scriptures than him. He had lived and breathed them all his life. Urbanus was just a convert of five years. But he had this magnetic power and this freedom of conscience that seemed to influence so many of the new Gentile believers. They had no feeling for the old traditions.
Then he caught himself—’I shouldn’t be feeling like this! After all Urbanus is a good chap and doing his best. I should love and accept him.’ A desperate struggle raged within him.
While battling with these conflicting thoughts, Urbanus mentioned they had a letter from Paul that had arrived a few days ago. ‘Good’, he thought., ‘I like Paul even if he is a bit of a maverick.’ Stephanas was asked to read it. After a few moments he was gripped. ‘I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.’ That’s it—for the Jew first, as well as the Gentile. It’s not that he didn’t want the Gentile believers—in fact he was delighted they could now belong to the people of God, but it was this feeling that he had been relegated to guard’s van rather than being the vanguard. ‘The Jews first!’
So as Stephanas read, Starky was relieved and even elated. For the first time he heard expressed what he had only dimly felt. He had been groping to understand the feeling of joy and fear as Gentiles continued to pour in to the church. Now Paul seemed to sum up what he had been reaching after for months—years even!
He went home that evening more encouraged than he had been for months. He couldn’t wait for next week when more of Paul’s letter would be read. But he was still left with feelings of irritation that the new Gentile believers set up in him.
So when next week he heard, ‘I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do’, it was as though a light had shone into the inner recesses of his mind and heart. ‘That’s me! How can I get free of these feelings? It’s such a struggle..’ Again he was gripped, convicted, encouraged and filled with hope as he heard Paul speak of his own struggle.
Imagination swap - shop
Spend some moments reflecting on of this story & share what comes to mind.
Text Time
Look at the passage read by Stephanas that Sunday evening—Romans 7: 7-25.
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Notice Paul’s respect for the law and the space he gives it—see verses 7 & 12
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Paul illustrates the benefit of the law with covetousness—verse 7. This sin arises out of comparison. Why are we particularly vulnerable to this sin, when we live in community? What was the underlying problem that Starky was battling with?
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There’s a danger in reflecting about yourself within a Church community. The high and strong ideals that under-gird the Christian way, easily play upon your mind and make you feel a failure, as though you’re always performing inadequately. Does anyone find that being in Church actually increases their sense of not doing well enough? How do verses 8-11 hit the mark with this situation? Do people struggle with a sense that they’re not good enough? Does anyone have a sense at times of the Christian life bringing more death and lifelessness because it constantly highlights your failure?
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Christianity very easily gives us a sense of our own powerlessness and failure.
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Paul begins to point a way through this problem in verses 14-24. It’s one of the starkest outlines of the human struggle when we want to live a good life. Notice how he invites us to make a distinction between our true intention and desire on the one hand, and our sinful failures on the other—see verses 16-20. Do any of us tend to focus on our failures only? Do our failures tend to wipe from our conscious minds and feelings, our heart-intention to do what is right?
Read on in Romans 8:1-5. Paul contrasts a different way of living—living by another ‘law’ - the ‘law of the Spirit of life’. What is Paul trying to teach Starky and the others. It’s all to do with living with a conscious sense of the energising and life-giving presence of God, rather than a focus on our failure & powerlessness. How easy is it to get locked into this kind of thinking and forget the presence of God’s Spirit?
Theme 3 - Power through weakness - Corinthians
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Read 2 Corinthians 1:3-11. Let people share their reactions to this passage. Try to draw out people’s feelings. Ask whether people at times have felt in similar ways to Paul.
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How does Paul view the fruit of difficulty and suffering?
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What does this passage teach us about God’s place in our sufferings
Story time - imagine
It’s a few years earlier. Starky and Mary are in the city of Corinth. They’ve made a life for themselves in this strange and wild city, following their exile from Rome. The one good thing was there was a church of believers in Jesus. They had become deeply involved. But like the surrounding city, the church was wild as well. You never knew what was coming next. Loads of people with amazing gifts and insights, and some people seemed to be in your face a bit. So the community always had that feel it could explode at any time. Long and eventful evenings in the home of Crispus—exciting, wild and unpredictable. Exciting, but not like home.
Starky had just about coped with the changes and he was settling down in some ways. But Mary had found it terrible. She was sad, grieving her old home and friends many of whom had gone to other cities. The children had been at that most demanding stage. What with everything being unfamiliar. And since their latest baby, Mary had slid down-hill. Nothing seemed to console her and though always a good Mum in the past, struggled to cope with the new one and the others. Starky was worried, and to be honest, got quite frustrated with Mary at times.
The church seemed to make things worse. They were into songs by Redmanus—especially those that had a kick to them. Mary found it difficult to cope with all the joy and celebration of victory. The one thing that used to bring her comfort was thinking about Jesus and the fact that he had suffered.
One Sunday she was trying to concentrate, but found it hard. She heard the name ’Paul’ mentioned, and was immediately snatched out of her sad dreaming. Crispus mentioned a letter that had come from Paul. She had liked Paul when he came months earlier to Corinth—loved his preaching about the cross and its power. It seemed to be just what was needed in the church. It was before she had got really sad. So when Crispus began to read, she was all ears. It seemed that Paul had been going through the mincer as well—in fact it sounded as if he was almost shreaded. He talked about partnership in suffering, of the way his difficulties had thrown him on God, of hope and of God’s comfort.
It was like water in the desert. She didn’t have to pretend any longer. She could and would trust anew in the God who raised Jesus.
Imagination swap - shop
Read these other texts either in mini buzz-groups or take your time as a whole group. Listen through Mary’s ears. How would they be heard by her?
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2 Corinthians 4:7-12
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2 Corinthians 4:16-18
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2 Corinthians 6:3-10
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2 Corinthians 7:5-7
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2 Corinthians 11:30
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2 Corinthians 12:7-10
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2 Corinthians 13:4
Feed back your observations in the whole group
Story Time - Experience
Have you any stories to share of how power came through weakness for yourselves.
How does this overview of Paul’s experience illuminate your own life experiences of difficulty
End by reading 2 Corinthians 2:14-16
Theme 4 - Power encounters - Acts
I call them apple-cart experiences. It’s all very well seeing God’s power at work in ways that other themes in this series explore—in overcoming the differences between people and groups by helping our feelings about others (Theme 1), in empowerment by the Spirit winning victories in our personal lives (Theme 2), and in strength coming through weakness (Theme 3). But there are times when God over-turns the applecart, and it’s as though we’re scurrying to pick up the spillage.
Story Time - Imagine
The journey back to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives had been amongst the most bewildering they would ever take. The distance could be covered in minutes… but it was like walking back into another universe. Life without Jesus around—that presence that had so dominated their lives for the last three years—was now gone—or so it seemed.
They weren’t devastated, dazed, bitterly grieved at themselves & by their loss, as they had been a few week earlier when Jesus died. Now it was a sense of.… ‘What ever now? What next?’ One moment bereft, the next overwhelmed with joy—’We’ve seen him alive.’ Just trying to get their head round what the appearances and empty tomb were about made their head ache.
But they still had a sense of abandonment—despite Jesus’ reassuring words and their experience. They couldn’t begin to express what they felt. They remembered his final words and at times they gave hope, but they still felt they were going through the motions those next few days. What was life without him to refer to? They had studied his every move, hung on his every word for years—so how was it going to be possible to follow that final vision of taking their experiences to the world’s ends? Without him it seemed a pipe-dream.
And the promise of power didn’t cut much ice. What were they after all? A bunch of failed followers! Sure, they knew he forgave them, but a lot had to happen to get even within throwing distance of the responsibility Jesus thought they could take on. Waiting was the hardest thing—surely they had to do something. Wait! Wait for what? Power? Power to be witnesses to the ends of the earth? What did he mean? At least last week they could sort out the gap left by Judas. They were running out of ideas what to do next. Just the Temple worship and meeting together, praying for God to restore the Kingdom.
So the thought of special celebrations of Pentecost was a relief—at least something was going on around them. They could remember along with the rest of Israel, how God provided for them, not only by celebrating the first harvest of the year, but they could remember how God had given them the Law at Sinai. They could remember God’s powerful presence then in those far off days and… and… just pray again. And the words ‘You shall receive power’ lingered in their imagination.
Imagination swap - shop
Try to feel the emotions involved in these events. Momentous events pressed into a few weeks and then waiting...wondering...what next? Name the feelings they may have gone through. Group members will identify very different emotions.
The story above hasn’t captured anything like the range of feelings—in fact it may be wrong in its portrayal. But two things are certain—first the presence of Jesus so dominant in their lives was gone, and second, Jesus had opened up a seemingly limitless horizon for the future. The question—how to negotiate the path from the first to the second.
Story Time - Remembering
Have any of you known someone caught in their past? They just can’t get away from thinking and talking about ‘the time when…’ Or perhaps some have been in churches where people look back to some distant time in the past when they were part of some great time in the church’s story.
What’s it like being with such people or being in such a community?
Text Time
Read Acts 2: 1-21. The story is about how God made this new little community aware that God was powerfully with them. It was an experience that transformed the way they thought, lived and looked at the world.
If you were God how would you try to communicate that he would always be with them? Hearing it (Matthew 28:20) and believing, knowing and living in the light of it, are two totally different things. They had lived through the most exciting and the most devastating of experiences. Years in close contact with Jesus. Then one day that shook them rigid—when Jesus died. Then the realisation that Jesus was alive and now nothing.
What was the temptation facing the disciples about how they remembered those experiences? This passage is about powerfully impacting them with an awareness that God was with them. How did he do it? Through sound and sight symbols.
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Wind—in Hebrew the word for wind, breath and spirit were all the same ruach. What memories would it stir. See Genesis 2:7; Ezekiel 37:9,14; John 3:8. What was the sign saying to them?
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Fire—What memories would be stirred by this visible sign? See Exodus 3:1-2; 13:21; 19:18; 27:20-21; 40:34-38. Fire and exodus (literally ‘way out’) were inseparable. Remember how Luke (the writer of Acts) described the event we call The Transfiguration—see Luke 9:29-31. He uses the word ‘departure’ (literally exodus) & other symbols of those OT events are here—cloud & lightning.
Two signs of presence & power.
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How does it feel to us when we’re alone as a Christian in our daily work?… when those around are talking or acting in ways contrary to God’s way?
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Any feelings of personal powerlessness? What do we need to realise? Is it similar to the experience from which they had to learn?
There’s one other sign of course. Not a sign of presence and power, but a sign of aim and destiny.
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Language that communicates the wonders of God. Look at Genesis 11:1-9. Here we have another wonder—a wonder of human culture and it leads to confusion and non-communication. There is a scattering. Now at Pentecost there is a gathering (2:1) and a coming together of peoples in bewilderment (2:6 & 12). But this time there is communication (2:14). There will be a scattering to the ends of the earth, but it will be a scattering where God communicates good news through his witnesses.
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Do you think receiving the Spirit helps us to communicate? Should it help us to communicate?
Story Time - Experience
Take time to listen to one another’s stories of powerful times when God came close to you. How did those times or periods in your life change you? Were there underlying issues for which you found help. Reflect on how such times change you but also leave you unchanged—still wrestling with the same issues.
Don’t hurry this process. Let everyone who wants to share have that opportunity—even if it takes a whole evening or even more. You’ll get the most out of this, if you give this time. Avoid the ’We’re doing a course mentality’ - what have we got to do next week.
See where this sharing leads. It may be right to pray for the person whose shared and to wait on God to see if there are things he wants to do. Keep it chilled and relaxed! No hype etc.
Theme 5 - Power Needs - Ephesians
Text Time
Read Ephesians 3:14-21
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Notice the number of times the word power comes up
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Identify what each mention of the word power refers to
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Share your reactions to each idea & ensure that you are all clear as to what Paul means
Now go back to Ephesians 1:15-22
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Notice the number of times the word power comes up
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Identify what each mention of the word power refers to
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Share your reactions to each idea & ensure that you are all clear as to what Paul means
Now go to Ephesians 6:10-18
So Paul begins this letter with the theme of power, he revisits it half way through, and he concludes with it.
I suggest you spend some time now reading personally different parts of this letter, keeping in mind this theme of power. Be asking yourself, whether and how this part of the Ephesians illustrates the theme of power that seems to interest Paul so much. Encourage people not to worry about reading and understanding everything, but to bring back perhaps just one idea that illustrates the theme of power.
Collect the ideas you’ve discovered in a feed-back session—and perhaps put the ideas on a large piece of paper that all can see.
How is the power of God to be experienced in our lives personally and as a community?
Story time - experience
Now share your own stories of times when you needed power in your inner-being.
Is anyone needing such power now? Listen to them.
Spend time as a group surrounding that person and praying for them.
Story Time - Experience
Finally share how you have found these weeks exploring the theme of the power of God. Have any had particular learning points or experiences they would be willing to share.
Copyright © 2003-5 Stephen Ibbotsen All Rights Reserved
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