Do you see what I see? Wk 3
December 15, 2019

The Unsettling Solution for Just about Everything, week 3: Do you see what I see?

Matthew 7:3-5

A riddle (warning: it’s offensive)
What do you call a group of…
Lying, cheating, greedy, covetous, lustful, porn-watching, tax-dodging, racist, jealous, judgmental, lonely, angry people who eat too much, spend too much, drink too much, medicate too much, worry too much, smoke too much, who gather together because they believe Jesus is the light of the world and they need more light?

Answer: The


The Church isn’t an institution - it’s a

of .
That means, I’m not the Church and you are not the Church. WE are the Church.

We do not agree on

.
We agree on two things:
1. God sent Jesus to save us from sin and from ourselves
2. We’re now responsible to extend to each other and to others what God extended freely to us.


Grace is how people who are different from each other work together without destroying each other.
Grace allows people who aren’t like each other to like each other.

Grace: God and sinner

Grace becomes

when we extend it to others.

3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. —Matthew 7:3-5 (NIV)

Planks get in the way of grace.

God sees us for exactly who and what we are. And yet, He gives us grace.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. —Romans 5:8


The aware I am of what God has yet to do in me, the aware I am of what God has yet to do in you.

On Christmas, God came near.

Jesus didn’t take sides.
Jesus came alongside.

Jesus was full of grace and truth.
What are you full of?
What are we full of, Church?

The Church is most appealing when grace is most apparent.

The Church is most effective when we bring Jesus and sinners together.

is the unsettling solution to just about everything.

This Christmas, we can be part of the unsettling solution. We can do something unexpected. We can be amazing…together.