Sunday 11th March 2018
It is a great compliment to be called a self-made man (or woman). We admire people who have engineered their own success, who have pulled themselves up by their bootstraps rather than having it handed to them on a plate.
But self-reliance appears in our spiritual lives too. We can live what looks like a Godly Christian life, but without dependence on God in prayer. Or we can think that having been a Christian for a long time, we do not need to read our Bibles. Or it shows up by thinking that because we have been hurt by the church, we can live the Christian life on our own.
But John 18 shows us the outcome of relying on ourselves in spiritual things. John sets this in the context of the world in which we live (full of hard hearts) and contrasts spiritual self-reliance with the example of the Lord Jesus Christ.
- See the Hardness of Unconverted Hearts (v12-14)
- Marvell at the Submission of the Lord Jesus Christ (v19-24)
- Recognise the Weakness of a Real Christian (v15-18, 25-27)
- What is the problem?
- Is faith something I do or a gift God gives?
- Why wasn’t Jesus arrested in public?
- Was the trial fair? Why/why not?
- Why didn’t Jesus escape?
- Who scares Peter?
- What does Peter fear most?
- What should he have done?
- What should we fear?
- A question I have:
- A truth to share:
- Application:
- Prayer:
benallapresbyterian.org.au 