For more information please contact Tam Newell at 520.909.4559 or dtkcnewell@aol.com
Please join us for CLV Wednesdays.
We'd love to see you there!
November 28
December 5
December 12
December 19
Break for the holidays - Have a Blessed Christmas!
Start again January 9th
What do you believe? We are not perfect people with a perfect understanding of the world. Everyone has faith in something. The question really is: In whom do you trust? Today we’ll look a story of faith and apply that to our own journey.
What do you believe? We are not perfect people with a perfect understanding of the world. Everyone has faith in something. The question really is: In whom do you trust? Today we’ll look a story of faith and apply that to our own journey.
What an exciting time to be part of God's work at Christ Lutheran Vail! God is doing amazing things in our midst as we are faithful to plant seeds, help people grow their faith in Christ and bear fruit for the sake of the gospel.
Over the last several years, the leadership has refined our mission and vision and developed a plan to make that vision a reality. The multi-purpose sanctuary is needed to increase our ability to do this great work.
God is calling us to love our community as Jesus did. He is calling us to plant seeds, grow, and bear fruit. May His calling help us to love in such a way that Christ Lutheran Vail becomes a life-changing connection to Christ in our world.
Blessings,
Pastor David Hook
Sunday, October 14th was the dedication of our commitments for the construction of our Multi-Purpose Sanctuary. The congregation surrounded the building site, held hands and prayed:
Dear God,
We thank You for loving Christ Lutheran Vail.
Truly the Kingdom of God is near.
God, as we start to build the Sanctuary;
We ask You to Build Your Kingdom Here in Vail;
Build Your Kingdom Here at Christ Lutheran Vail;
Build Your Kingdom Here in our hearts.
We ask this in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Amen
“He entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3 And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. 4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. 5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. 7 And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” 8 And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
ZACCHAEUS
Zacchaeus was the chief tax collector in Jericho. Tax collectors were despised as traitors for their work in service of the Roman Empire. Even though they were part of the Jewish community, their allegiance first and foremost was to a foreign power. They were corrupt.
Jericho had a lucrative production and export of balsam and it is likely that Zacchaeus would have been extremely wealthy and carried a lot of weight in the community.
Q: Who, if any, are the modern-day Tax collectors? (i.e., who are the people that pretty much all of society hates but they are well-connected to power and have great wealth)
RAN TO SEE JESUS
Because Zacchaeus was short, he would not have been able to see Jesus through the crowd. He could have made a scene and forced his way through the crowd so that He could see Jesus – after all he carried a lot of gravitas in the community – but instead he chose an alternative way.
I have always felt sorry for Zacchaeus. He is not liked by anyone and is very short. It would take quite an effort to see Jesus. Some may have simply shrugged and moved on, but Zacchaeus pressed on to see the Savior.
Q: Consider the modern-day tax collectors from the previous question. Do they have any redeeming qualities?
JESUS SEES ZACCHAEUS
For whatever reason, Jesus notices Zacchaeus out of the crowd. He looks up into the tree and sees this poor pathetic man. Scripture doesn’t indicate why Jesus does this. Yet, Jesus saw something in Zacchaeus.
Q: Why do you think Jesus stopped to notice Zacchaeus?
RECEIVED JESUS WITH JOY
Zacchaeus was overjoyed that Jesus was coming to his hour. To be noticed by someone like Jesus must have been simply wonderful.
Q: Has there ever been a time in your life when you were noticed by someone famous? Share your feelings from that moment.
THE PEOPLE GRUMBLED!
When Jesus had fellowship with Zacchaeus, this was a big deal.
It’s hard for modern-day listeners to understand, but when you ate with someone it was more than simply consuming calories. It meant that you were in fellowship with them. It meant that they were acceptable to society. Zacchaeus was not! Yet Jesus ate with Zacchaeus causing the people to grumble.
Jesus spent considerable “Political Capital” to spend time with Zacchaeus. There were several others that He could have spent time with – without as much stress. But Jesus chose Zacchaeus.
When you are associated with someone famous, your stock rises.
The moment was so profound for Zacchaeus that he decides to change his ways. He will repay everyone from whom he has swindled four fold. That is quite a change!
Jesus could have handled this differently. He could have forced Zacchaeus to return the money in return for a visit. Jesus could have strongly suggested that Zacchaeus return the money. But that would not have given Zacchaeus the opportunity to change his own heart.
The truth is that when we apply the Law to someone it may produce an outward response. But to truly change someone’s heart, this can only be done by the Gospel. In other words, true change came to Zacchaeus because Jesus showed love to him.
Q: Can you think of a time when you had a change of heart because someone showed love to you?
TODAY, SALVATION HAS COME
In the Greek New Testament, Salvation is a broader term than we often think of in English. Other concepts that are inherent in soteria include restoration to a state of safety, soundness, health and well being as well as preservation from danger of destruction. It can include future restoration at the end of an age, but the world is also closely linked to the word that means “Healing”.
Q: What could Jesus have healed Zacchaeus from?
THE STRUGGLE
Often times we don’t want to associate with “Those Sinners!”. We are afraid that if we spend time with them, people will think we condone their behavior.
But the truth of scripture is that we are all sinners. Our sin is just as bad as everyone else’s. Knowing this gives us the strength and permission to love everyone – even at the risk of our own reputation.
THE CHALLENGE
Try to think of people who are hated by society that you would never spend time with because of their terrible sin. Start to pray for them. Start to pray for your own sin. Ask God to give you the opportunity to share His love.
Immediately, then, the new believers gather together in fellowship:
Acts 2:42-47, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”
THE JOURNEY TO DISCIPLESHIP
It is interesting to note how Luke writes about followers of Jesus. In Acts 2:41, he writes, “Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.” Then a few verses later, in Acts 2:44, Luke calls these people “…believers”.
Luke continues to reference these followers of Jesus. Look up the following verses and determine what they are called:
Acts 4:32
Acts 5:12
Acts 6:1
Q: Why do you think Luke makes this change? What do you suppose is the difference between a “believer” and a “disciple”?
These believers also began to gather together as Church. In Acts 2:42, Luke writes “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”
APOSTLE’S TEACHING
“They devoted themselves to the Apostle’s teaching…”
Jesus was constantly teaching. Whenever there was a crowd, Jesus took the opportunity to teach about the kingdom of God. The disciples had learned at Jesus’ feet for three years, so they knew His teachings and were eager to share it with a new generation of believers.
We must remember, however, that none of the books of the New Testament were written at this point. When the Apostles taught these new believers, it was all done with simply oral teaching.
Q: Our Bible consists of 66 books. 39 Old Testament books and 27 New Testament books. Which of these writings were available to the Apostles?
Q: What do you suppose the Apostles taught?
FELLOWSHIP
Fellowship was important to the early church. Being devoted to the Apostle’s teaching doesn’t stop with simply hearing the words of Jesus. It continues with applying these words to our lives.
Q: How does fellowship with other Christians help us grow in our own discipleship?
BREAKING OF BREAD
There is quite a bit of debate about what “Breaking of Bread” in Acts 2:42 means.
Some accounts of “breaking bread” in scripture clearly refer to the Lord’s Supper instituted by Christ on the night He was betrayed (Mt. 26:26; Mk. 14:22; Lk. 22:19; 1 Cor. 11:23-24). In 1 Corinthians 10:16-17 Paul refers to the cup as well as the bread which also clearly indicates this is the Lord’s Supper.
Yet other instances of “breaking bread” seem to indicate an ordinary meal. Before a meal, it was the duty of the host to divide the bread into pieces and give thanks. This breaking of bread was not necessarily associated with the Lord’s Supper.
Here in Acts 2:42 both types of meals could be inferred. Since Luke writes that they “devoted themselves” to this meal, it could be the Lord’s Supper. Yet one could also argue that eating together was so important to the early church that they devoted themselves to this type of fellowship on a daily basis.
PRAYER
The believers also devoted themselves to prayer. It is not surprising that as they gathered together, ate together, and fellowshipped together, they also prayed together. The perfect example of prayer is the one that Jesus taught the disciples in Matthew 6:9-13.
However it is also clear that the early Christians also prayed in other circumstances. Read each of the following verses and see what other prayers they did:
James 5:16
1 Timothy 2:1
1 Thessalonians 5:25
Galatians 6:2
Matthew 9:38
TEMPLATE FOR CHRISTIAN GATHERINGS
In Acts 2 we see two different gatherings.
In Acts 2:1-41 it is a very large gathering. Since we know that 3,000 people were baptized, that is the minimum number that came to see Peter however there could be many more.
In Acts 2:42-47, the believers gathered together in people’s homes. These were much more intimate.
In thinking about these two gatherings of believers
Q: In Acts 2:1-41 what attracted so many people? What is it about a crowd that attracts a crowd?
Q: In Acts 2:42-47 what kept them coming back on a daily basis?
Q: Is the Sunday morning worship at CLV more like Acts 1:1-41 or is it more like Acts 2:42-47? In what ways are we like both? In what ways are we different?
THE STRUGGLE
If one considers human nature, each of these gatherings its purpose.
Large gatherings of people will naturally attract more people. Isaac Newton noticed this. The attraction of two bodies increases as the mass of the bodies increase. This is why very large congregations continue to attract more and more people. It’s what they do. Bigger just naturally attracts. The downside to large congregations is that it extremely easy to attend and never meet another person or grow in discipleship.
Small gatherings of Christians are where true fellowship and discipleship can really bloom. The problem with small gatherings is that it is very, very hard for newcomers to feel welcomed. This may explain why very small congregations have trouble attracting new people. They have a small natural attraction and those inside the congregation have such strong fellowship that any visitor will feel like an outsider.
Every congregation struggles with this. Large congregations struggle with helping people in their fellowship and discipleship. Small congregations struggle with attracting people and making them feel welcome.
Q: How would you solve this problem?
THE CHALLENGE
If you are not connected to a small fellowship of believers, consider how you might seek this out. When Christ Lutheran Vail adds the multi-purpose sanctuary, our worship service will become larger with more people. This will provide huge attraction to people in the Vail area and that is good. But it will require that our congregation is intentional to provide more and more opportunities for intimate fellowship. What things could you do in your life to begin to provide those opportunities?