Out of the Box: Part 2 - 'Remembrance Sunday'

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.

Hebrews chapter 13 verses 12 - 16

So also Jesus suffered and died outside the city gates to make his people holy by means of his own blood. So let us go out to him, outside the camp, and bear the disgrace he bore. For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come.
Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to his name. And don’t forget to do good and to share with those in need. These are the sacrifices that please God.

Hebrews chapter 10 verses 10

For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.


Prayer and Reflection:

Loving God, we are sorry for when we have taken You for granted, and for when we have thought we could ever earn a place in Your family. We thank You for Your sacrifice, and the love that You have for us despite our wrongdoing. Help us, O God, to honour You and to please You with our humble offerings of love and service. Lord, we want to be beacons of hope, individually and as a church family gathered in Your name, so that others might see in us a light in the darkness, and be drawn closer to You, the source of that light for us all.
God, we pray for our families, our friends, our town, our neighbourhoods, our country and our world. We cry out to that by Your Holy Spirit You would inspire and strengthen us to show our allegiance to You in the spiritual battle within and around us.

Lord of mercy, I pray for all of us here who are fighting battles that may be unseen by others but which are known full well to You. Send help from heaven for us O God, and all those involved in those battles, that we would have hope, and that we know peace as we trust You completely to bring healing, restoration and redemption in Your good timing.

We pray all this in the mighty name of Jesus. 
Amen.


Questions to Consider

1. Can you think of a time when someone has sacrificed something for you?
2. Can you think of a time when you sacrificed something for someone else, and/or for God? How did it feel at the time, and what do you feel as you look back on it?
3. What do you make of the idea that sometimes we might have to sacrifice an ideal (e.g. not lying) in pursuit of some greater good (e.g. saving people from persecution)?
4. Can you think of an example of a “just war” in which going to war was the “lesser of two evils” compared with, say, letting genocide continue?
5. Have you ever heard a story of war from an eyewitness?
6. Would you agree that the “acid test” of love and loyalty might be sacrifice?
7. What might you personally sacrifice as an act of love for a persons or persons, and loyalty to God?
8. Is there a difficult situation in which you might do something good to help resolve it? What actions could you take that would be pleasing to God?