Life Between Two Trees

• The Good News

  • The Bible ends where it begins…Kind of.

  • The Tree of Life (Revelation 22:i-2a; Revelation 2i :3 4)

• The Problem

  • Lived between these two trees.

  • And between these two trees, life is hard.

• The Reality

  • We all long to be someone different. Every one of us.

    • Even if it’s just a better version of ourselves.

    • As children we know this intuitively.

  • This longing is not a curse, but a gift from God.

• A Case of Amnesia

  • Somewhere along the way, we forgot the gift of transformation.

  • Yet the feeling never goes away; it just changes shape.

• Conclusion

  • We are not asking just “how do we read the Bible?” but “how does the Bible read

us?”

• Why does the Bible end the way it begins?

  • To finish an unfinished creation.

Discussion Questions for Video I:

• Thelonging to be someone else is normal. So how do we affirm this deep longing, while pointing to the “true tree of life”?

• Why do you think as a society we have shut down the idea that we have a need for transformation? How has the damaged us?

• When and why did the idea that transformation is a “bad thing” start?

• What is it that scares us about transformation?

• How should we begin to break the lie that transformation is a bad thing with our none Christian friends and family?

• How do we explain to non-believers that the longing that they are experiencing is the product of a much deeper longing within?

• How do we show people the path to transformation in a way that doesn’t offend them?

• What does clinging to the tree in the middle (i.e., the cross) look like in each of our lives?

• What part of your identity is society telling you to embrace even though you know God is telling you otherwise?

• How can we distinguish the longing to be someone different as a gift from God and not hating one’s own body?

• How do you know you are being transformed into the image of Christ and not some other imitation?

• In what ways do you see yourself longing for “New Creation”?

• Do you think the church takes this longing for transformation seriously enough? Or have we forgotten how much impact this longing has on us?

• How does the Biblical narrative of transformation contrast to the world narrative that “you need to stay true to yourself”?