Who Gets to Belong?

Some members of the New Testament church at Corinth felt like they didn’t belong because of their differences. Paul argues in 1 Corinthians 12:12-20 that the church is “One body with many parts.” Just because we’re different, Paul asserts, doesn’t mean we don’t belong.

I talk to a lot of people who feel like they don’t “belong” these days. Because of their differences on politics, race, or culture they feel like they no longer fit in at their workplace, school, or even in their own family. Sadly, the church is not immune to this trend. We have a lot of differences pulling us apart.

And this is precisely what the Devil wants!

The Evil One’s scheme is to cripple the Body of Christ with division. His ploy is to separate, isolate, and divide. He knows that when the Body of Christ isn’t working together in all its parts, it is benign and ineffective. In contrast, the Holy Spirit of the resurrected Christ calls us out of our “partial and piecemeal lives… into a large and integrated life in which he has the final say in everything.” (The Message, 1 Cor 12:13). The Devil divides, but the Holy Spirit mends. The Devil tears us apart, but the Holy Spirit puts us together.

If you missed yesterday’s message, you can listen to it here.

Deferred Obedience

 Deferred obedience is a relationship killer. When we put off doing something we promised to do for a friend or loved one, it undermines trust and damages the relationship. The same is true in our friendship with God. For forty years(!) Moses put off having his family marked with the covenant of circumcision. This deferred obedience created a barrier that made Moses’ relationship with God timid and half-hearted. But God intervened in Moses’ life through his wife Zipporah to bring Moses to obedience (Exodus 4:24-26). Once that happened, God’s story through Moses really gets moving! If you missed yesterday’s message, you can listen to it here.

 

Have you been putting off something in your relationship with God? A sin that needs to be confessed? A relationship that needs mending? Help you need to ask for? Don’t put it off another day. Step out in faith and watch God move! 

Who's in Charge

 

In a culture that prizes personal freedom and rebels against anything that thwarts individual autonomy, Jesus’ invitation sounds strange – “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.” (Mark 8:34) We’re taught to chase our dreams and pursue our potential, not to deny ourselves and conform to another. And yet Jesus’ curiously uncompromising demand is followed by the great paradoxical promise of God’s Kingdom – “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.” (Mark 8:35). The upside-down truth of Jesus’ realm is that when we surrender all, we gain all. When we do what looks like losing all for Jesus’ sake, we end up winning all. When we take Jesus’ path of self-denial, we discover the freedom of self-fulfillment. 

If you missed yesterday’s message, you can listen to it here.

Partnering with Jesus

 

While some people wear trouble on their sleeves, most of us tend to suffer in silence. When facing an obstacle in life, we’re more inclined to soldier on or try a new strategy. However, Jesus invites us to try something radically different: Give up. When faced with the obstacle of feeding four thousand hungry mouths with only a few scraps of food, the disciples query, “How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?” The simple answer is, one cannot. The disciples had to literally ‘give up’ their inadequate resources (see Mark 8:6. Jesus literally takes the bread out of their hands) and admit they had an unmanageable problem. Real breakthrough and lasting change begins with surrender. It begins when we admit to God, and confide in another, that we need help. 

 

If you missed yesterday’s message you can listen to it here.

Interruptions

 

When Jesus’ mini-retreat with the disciples is interrupted by crowds clamoring for his attention, Jesus responds with compassion (Mark 6:34). In fact, throughout Mark’s Gospel, Jesus is continually interrupted by people’s needs. But Jesus never once grumbles, whines, or complains about it. He always responds with compassion. Some people think, ‘Jesus is too busy running the universe to be interrupted with my “little” problem.’ But we can be sure that no matter how big or how small, no matter if the problem is of our own making or of someone else, Jesus will respond with compassion.

 

Yesterday’s message was all about how Jesus responds to us when we’re in “desolate” places. If you missed the sermon, you can catch it here.

Promises

 

Whose opinion of you matters most? For Herod, in Mark 6:14-29, it was the opinion of his party guests that mattered most. When Herod’s birthday bash gets out of hand, he makes a rash promise to give his wife’s daughter whatever she wants. When the girl asks for the head of John the Baptist, Herod is regretful, “but because of his oaths and his guests he did not want to break his word to her.” (Mark 6:26) In other words, Herod was more concerned about his image and reputation than he was about being faithful. However, when we live as though God’s opinion of us matters most, we are free to make mistakes, listen to others, or change our minds. This is an important truth as we increasingly live in an age where being “right” seems more important than being faithful. 

 

If you missed yesterday’s message you can listen to it here.

Processing Pain

 

Life can be difficult. It’s hard living in a world that is less than ideal, with people who are less than ideal, in careers that are less than ideal, being ourselves who are less than ideal. The gap between the ideal and the real can be painful. Dr. Henry Cloud says we often respond by attacking and judging ourselves and others. But the Gospel of Jesus Christ offers another way. The power of the cross absorbs all judgement and recrimination (Romans 8:1, 18-25), making space for relationships of love and acceptance. The church is God’s safe space where we honestly process our pain and receive necessary correction. It’s where we learn to love ourselves and others when life is less than perfect. 

 

If you missed yesterday’s message, you can watch it here.