Part seven of a miniseries that answers the questions, “What is the Gospel and how are we to respond?” In this talk, Pastor Clint explains that as God’s chosen tribe, we are a living letter sent into a world of darkness to bring life. We are family, and there are few things the enemy hates more, so we learn why we must fight for our family to stay faithful to the mission of God.
As a part of Jesus’ body, we are all a testimony to the world around us. In 2 Cor 3:3 it says, “You show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.” As “living letters,” we are ambassadors to this world, showing the kind of love that can only come from God – a selfless and sacrificial love (Greek: agape). We are instructed in Colossians to “put on… compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love.” Put on love? Paul describes the character of agape love in 1 Corinthians 13:
Shortly before Jesus was crucified, he prayed for His disciples – us. He prayed, “that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” It is absolutely essential to our purpose and mission on this earth that we are in unity and love as Christ’s body. We are plan A – there is no plan B.
The idol factory known as the human heart is always looking for greener pastures. In a culture of throwaway friendships, throwaway marriages and throwaway faith, the question of when it is right to leave a church fellowship needs a solid, biblical answer. Often people leave because of sinful conflict without following the biblical directions for confronting and resolving conflict. Sometimes it is the consumerism of market-driven retail religion and the promise of specialized programs that draws people away from their faith family. Sometimes it is just the wanderlust of a shallow heart looking for the buzz of the next new thing.
But sometimes, there are very good, sound reasons to move on from a local covenant community. Jason Helopoulus has written an extremely helpful article as a guest contributor to Kevin DeYoung’s blog at the Gospel Coalition. We encourage you to check it out.
CrossWay loves our community. As a practical way to love our neighbors and demonstrate our love for God, we have been helping build some homes with Habitat for Humanity.
We’ll be at it again this Saturday, June 5, in Deland. You can sign up to help and get the details on our social networking site, The City, here.
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.Powered by Hackadelic Sliding Notes 1.6.5