Chapter 10: The community of celebration (pp.295–316)
Jesus’ self-sacrifice on the cross ‘was not just to save isolated individuals, and so perpetuate their loneliness, but to create a new community whose members would belong to him, love one another and eagerly serve the world’ (p.295). We move on then to consider the relationship of the cross to the Christian community.
What characteristics mark the Christian’s intimate relationship to God (pp.296f.)?
‘... whenever Christian people come together it is impossible to stop them singing’ (p.298). Why is this?
Why is the Lord’s Supper ‘central to the church’s life of celebration’ (p 300)?
Different ways of understanding the sense in which the Lord’s Supper may be called a ‘sacrifice’ have ‘divided Christendom since the sixteenth century, and [are] a topic of anxious ecumenical debate today’ (p.302).
Why did the sixteenth-century Reformers reject the ‘sacrifice of the mass’ (pp.302f.)?
What ‘spiritual sacrifices’ do Christians offer (pp.305)?
How did the Catholic Counter-Reformation react to the emphases made by the Reformers (pp.306ff.)? Why was this?
In recent times, more moderate positions have been proposed. One is that ‘the Eucharist is not a repetition but a perpetuation of the cross’ (p.308). What does this mean? How far does this accord with New Testament teaching (pp.308ff.)?
Another suggestion is that the Eucharist is a sacrifice because, in offering ourselves to God as living sacrifices, we participate in what Christ did on the cross (pp.310ff.). How far does this accord with New Testament teaching (pp.311ff.)?
Archbishop Rowan Williams has written that ‘the effect of Christ’s offering is to make us capable of offering, to count us worthy to stand and serve as priests’ (p.314). Why is it nevertheless important to maintain a clear distinction between Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and what takes place in a service of Holy Communion?
Session Eleven
Chapter 11: Self-understanding and self-giving (pp.317–340)
A true understanding of the cross of Christ revolutionizes our attitude to God. But it also radically alters the way we see ourselves, a subject which this chapter explores in greater detail.
What sort of things lead people to have a low self-image? How has the modern world reacted to this (pp.317f.)?
Jesus told us to love our neighbours as ourselves. Why is it wrong to interpret this as meaning ‘love yourself’ (pp.318f.)?
The cross gives a new attitude to ourselves because it tells us that as those who are in Christ, we have become new people. This is because Christ died and rose again as our representative. What does this mean (p.319)?
Read Romans 6:1–14. Paul draws out the practical consequences of Jesus’ death being representative as well as substitutionary. What are they and how do they apply to you (pp.320f.)?
We move on to ask what our attitude should be to the new self we have through the death and resurrection of Jesus. What does the author suggest (p.322)? Why is this?
‘Self-denial is not denying to ourselves luxuries such as chocolates, cakes, cigarettes and cocktails...’ (p.323). What is it then?
Three different sorts of death and resurrection can be found in Paul’s writing. What are they and why is it important to distinguish between them (pp.324ff.)?
What is the difference between self-affirmation and self-love (p.325)? On what basis can we have a positive attitude to ourselves (pp.325ff.)?
How can we resolve the biblical tension between valuing ourselves and denying ourselves at the same time (pp.326f.)?
Our redemption by Christ gives us ‘both more to affirm and more to deny’ about ourselves (p.327). What does the author mean (pp.327ff.)? What practical application does this have for you?
‘Self-understanding should lead to self-giving...It is to this that the cross consistently and insistently calls us’ (p.330). Read Mark 10:35–45. What was there about James and John which was opposed to the way of the cross (pp.330ff.)? What aspects do you have in common with them?
In practical terms, how should the way of the cross be seen in a) a Christian home and b) the church (pp.334f.)? How does this work out in your home and your church?
‘If the cross is to mark our Christian life in the home and the church, this should be even more so in the world’ (p.336). In what ways (pp.336ff.)?
‘There was an almost reckless extravagance about Christ’s love on the cross; it challenges the calculating coldness of our love’ (p.338). Does it? In what ways?
Session Twelve
Chapter 12: Loving our enemies (pp.341–358)
‘“To live under the cross” means that every aspect of the Christian community’s life is shaped and coloured by it’ (p.341). That includes our conduct to our enemies, the subject of this chapter.
What is the difference between peace-making and appeasement (pp.341f.)? What is unsatisfactory about the latter?
‘Justice without mercy is too strict, and mercy without justice is too lenient’ (p.343). How should this apply in a) a Christian home and b) the church? How does it work out in your home and your church?
We turn now to the administration of justice by the state and the question of whether or not the use of force by the state is compatible with the cross. Look at Romans 12:9 and then 12:14 – 13:7 and note the four references Paul makes to good and evil.
Paul makes it clear that although God will punish evil at the last judgment, his wrath against evil is also being revealed now. In what ways is this true (pp.349ff.)?
‘Retaliation is not wrong...’ (p.351). Why not?
The author sums up Paul’s teaching under four headings (pp.351ff.). What are these? What limitations are imposed on the state’s authority?
Under what circumstances might it be right to disobey the law (p.355f.)? Is armed revolt against the state ever justified?
God ‘did not overcome evil by refusing to punish it, but by accepting the punishment himself’ (p.357). How should this affect the way we treat our enemies?
Session Thirteen
Chapter 13: Suffering and glory (pp.359–389)
‘The fact of suffering undoubtedly constitutes the single greatest challenge to the Christian faith’ (p.359). Although the Bible hints at answers to the intellectual problem of suffering (see pp.361f.), its chief concern is practical, enabling us to overcome suffering. The purpose of this chapter is to consider how the cross helps us in this.
Read 1 Peter 2:18–23. What does this passage teach about the relationship between our suffering and that of Christ (p.363)?
Read Hebrews 2:10 and 5:8–9. In what sense did Jesus need to be made ‘perfect’ (p.365)? Read James 1:2–4. What positive benefit can suffering have? How have you found this to be the case in your own experience?
Three images are used in the Bible to illustrate how God uses suffering in our lives. What are they and what do they teach us (pp.365ff.)?
‘It is not just that suffering belongs to service, but that suffering is indispensable to fruitful or effective service’ (p.369). Why is this? In what ways have you found this principle working out in practice?
Read Hebrews 12:2. What does this verse indicate about how Jesus was sustained in his suffering (pp.372f.)?
‘The essential perspective to develop is that of the eternal purpose of God, which is to make us holy or Christlike’ (p.373). Is this the way you see suffering?
Does all human suffering lead to glory? What is the New Testament’s perspective on this question (pp.374ff.)?
We turn to the story of Job, a man who was overwhelmed by calamity for no apparent reason. What attitude did he take to his suffering (p.377). How did his friends try to help him?
When they have finished, God speaks. Read Job 40:1–9. On what basis should Job have trusted God (p.379)? Read Romans 8:32. What additional reason do we have to continue to trust God in the midst of suffering?
‘The real sting of suffering is...the apparent God-forsakenness of it’ (p.380). How does the cross help us here?
Why did some early Christians find it difficult to believe that God himself can suffer (pp.380f.)? What does the Bible say?
How then does the cross speak to evils such as global hunger and the Nazi holocaust (pp.384ff.)?
