Prayer
God,
Help our church body to walk
in a manner worthy of the calling You have given us.
Help us in all our interactions with one another
to have humble and gentle hearts.
Grant us patience for one another,
bearing with one another in love.
Grant the Body of Christ unity.
May we walk humbly with You, God
Amen
Church Stories: How can we learn from the early church as we strive to be the church in our modern world?
“When you read one of Paul’s letters or any other New Testament letter, you are reading someone else’s mail.” —Adam Hamilton, from Making Sense of the Bible: Rediscovering the Power of Scripture Today
“We dishonor the intent and purpose of the Epistles when we assume they were written in a vacuum … .We get in trouble when we mistake instructions intended for a specific group of people at a specific moment in history as universally binding for all.” —Rachel Held Evans from Inspired
POINT: The Bible doesn’t exist in a vacuum.
Jew vs. Gentile -
1. “It is my judgment,” the apostle James concluded, “…that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God” (Acts 15:19)
2. Paul’s greeting: grace and peace, charis (Greek) and shalom (Hebrew) merging the two together
QUESTION: How does the church, be the church? On a mission to preach the gospel determined to break down every religious, ethnic, and cultural barrier that stands in the way?
POINT: We learn from the
Ephesians 4:32 (NIV)
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Romans 14:1-3;20 (NIV)
Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them… Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food.
1 Corinthians 12:27, 21, 26 (NIV)
Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it… The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” … If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
“Church Stories reveal, with startling concreteness, how the announcement of God’s victory over sin and death through Jesus played itself out in real life among a group of highly dissimilar people.” —Rachel Held Evans from Inspired
POINT: Church stories allow us to see that we are part of a
Colossians 3:1-4 (NRSV)
So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on the things that are above, not on the things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.
Colossians 3:12-17 (NRSV)
Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Colossians 4:5-6 (NRSV)
Conduct yourselves wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer everyone.
1 Corinthians 13:1-13 (NRSV)
If I speak in the tongues of humans and of angels but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions and if I hand over my body so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable; it keeps no record of wrongs; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part, but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see only a reflection, as in a mirror, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love remain, these three, and the greatest of these is love.
POINT: Church stories show us the Bigger Story: The Good News of Jesus. God entering into the messiness of humanity and offering us life. That’s the story. That’s the inspired story of the Bible.