Gateway Podcast: Episode 111

You can listen to or watch Gateway Podcast Episode 111 here.

Q & A:

• I know some churches take communion every week or every first Sunday of the month, is there a reason why Gateway doesn't? Is there a sort of schedule that Gateway has for communion (like once every 3 months, once a quarter, etc) or is it more of a sporadic thing? (3:30)
• Is it theologically ok for a Christian to take communion by themselves? By themselves meaning without a pastor/elder/deacon to give it to them? (11:50)
• At different youth groups/Bible studies I've attended over the years (non-Gateway ones), we've taken communion with crackers or chips and water- is that theologically ok? Does it always have to be bread and grape juice? ( 15:20)
• Is there a specific way communion is prepared at Gateway? Like, does it have to be consecrated before it's passed to the congregation? (16:15)
• What would you say is a good age for someone to start taking communion? Or should it be for all ages? My parents didn't let me take communion until I was a teenager and there didn't seem to be a rhyme or reason to it — I think they wanted us to wait until we understood the importance of communion but honestly, I don't think I truly understood the importance of it until a few years ago. (19:50)
• In Life Group we were talking about why the disciples might have thought it was hard to do what Jesus asked as it pertained to the donkey. Scripture doesn’t say they stopped and held a meeting to vote on if they should do what he asked. I would like to think since they’ve already seen all the miracles Jesus had done, they would have just done it. It is strange he would ask for a colt, but he was fulfilling scripture. I'm not sure if they doubted or debated. Maybe they were faithful, which I pray I can be. (26:50)

What’s Josh Been Reading?

• To See Someone, Love Someone by Trevin Wax (35:15)
• “It’s far too easy for us to settle for something less than true Christian love. At times we think our obligation is to love someone despite whatever we find wrong or corrupt in them. The way to love someone, we think, is to look past their flaws. Look for what’s good in your spouse, your child, or your neighbor. If we can look past their problems and see their heart, then we can begin to love them the way Christ commands. This approach may help us tolerate another person, or even develop an affinity for someone else. But it falls short of Christian love.” (35:55)
• But here’s the author’s correction. “It’s impossible to see past the flaws to the heart of another individual without love. In other words, love is the prerequisite for sight. It takes the heart to see a heart. We don’t look past one’s flaws in order to find what’s good so we can love; we love first, so we can see what’s good.” (37:30)
• He quotes Kierkegaard using an illustration of artists in search of something truly beautiful to paint. And writes, “The task is not to find the lovable object, but to find the object before you lovable — whether given or chosen — and to be able to continue finding this one lovable, no matter how that person changes. To love is to love the person one sees.” Then some challenging questions are asked. (40:15)
• Near the end, the author writes, “To grow in Christian love, to develop a vision of loving even our enemies, we must bask in the love of Christ for us, who loved us just as he found us, with all our imperfections and weaknesses. He loved us “even while we were still sinners.” Like the father of the prodigal son, he continued to love us even as we ran from him.” (42:45)

Final/Pastoral Thoughts (44:35)