Paul wrote: “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?” (niv)
Oh wow! THAT, folks, was written to the Church at Corinth. The saints! Aren’t his “whether you are,” and his “unless,” harsh and insulting? Is he questioning their faith or is he being pastoral and caring?
I facilitated our Sunday School class sometimes in 2017. We would discuss the supposedly expository sermons, which were increasingly head-based instead of heart-based, and they could breeze through repentance-laced texts and leave us unscathed. Our SS discussions followed that pattern.
That frustrated my passion for the II Cor. 3:18 and Romans 12:2 transformation into the image of Christ that has guided my pastoral and teaching ministry for about 50-years, and which I assumed was a shared vision among us. We were steering clear of the potential repentance applications in the book of Jonah, so I wrote a little self-examination quiz and gave it to the class for personal reflection.
In light of yesterday’s post, “Making Disciples or Converts,” how would you and your church respond to this? I will post it in three parts, but you can see it all, with scripture links, on the pdf. www.10minas.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/self_exam.pdf Here is Part 1.
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Jonah?
We in (class name) are part of (church name) Church. Each of us impacts the vitality of our church and its effectiveness in our community and to the ends of the earth.
We can consider the Book of Jonah from a historical perspective; or from the standpoint of how it might apply to others; or we can invite God to use it to call us to repentance – – if we need that.
Here are some statements/questions to help us examine ourselves. This is not to “judge” anyone else’s heart but to be honest about how well we think we are doing relative to what God expects of authentic followers of Jesus. Maybe we’ll decide we’re doing pretty well, but if we sense that we come up short, we might, as the more senior believers in our church, want to begin to intercede for each other and our body so that God would move among us in a way that brings change. (Cont’d)
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Ken Stoltzfus
Kidron, Ohio USA
June 7, 2022
CLICK HERE for a printable pdf.