Tag: The Church

Digging in Deeper: John 17:22

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“I have given them the glory you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I’ve argued before that all of our best stories are always ultimately rooted in the Gospel. The connections aren’t always obvious, but if you look and think a bit, you’ll find them. They’re all over the place. I recently watched the latest offering from the Predator Universe, Predator: Badlands, and was pretty impressed with just how many Gospel touch points there were. Let’s talk about what made this a much better film than I expected it to be. And just to be fair, I’ll go ahead and issue a spoiler alert.

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Morning Musing: Philippians 2:5-8

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“Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death—even to death on a cross.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Jesus was God. Like, the God who created everything. Paul spells out some of that in the opening verses of his letter to the Colossian believers. He was and is worthy of all the honor and glory simply by virtue of being God. When He came, He could have come in glory and luxury. He could have demanded comfort and ease. He didn’t have to experience any inconvenience or discomfort. Yet that’s not what He did. That’s not how He came. Today and tomorrow, let’s examine the most important presentation of the humility of Jesus ever written.

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Morning Musing: Philippians 2:1-4

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“If, then, there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, make my joy complete by thinking the same way, having the same love, united in spirit, intent on one  purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Everybody needs community. We hunger for it. Even if we only find it online, we’ll search for it until we have it. Online, of course, is a pale imitation of the real thing, but if our choice is between that and nothing, we’ll take it. All communities, though, are not created equal. If you want to be a part of a healthy community, that’s going to take some work. It’s going to take a particular type of culture. What kind of culture, you ask? Paul gives us an important clue here in the prelude to one of the more important passages on the subject in all of the Scriptures. Let’s check it out.

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Morning Musing: Philippians 1:22-26

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“Now if I live on in the flesh, this means fruitful work for me; and I don’t know which one I should choose. I am torn between the two. I long to depart and be with Christ—which is far better—but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for your sake. Since I am persuaded of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that, because of my coming to you again, your boasting in Christ Jesus may abound.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

What is the thing that most motivates the decisions you make? While there are perhaps many answers to that question, it really boils down to one of two things: what you want, or what someone else wants. We live in the midst of a culture that insists we should be motivated most by the former. The guys who contributed to the New Testament, helping us understand with the Spirit’s help how to live out the teachings of Jesus, pointed in a different direction. We see that here in Paul’s reasoning out his future. Let’s explore all of this in more detail as we work through his thinking with him.

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Morning Musing: Ephesians 4:15-16

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“But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into him who is the head—Christ. From him the whole body, fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building itself up in love by the proper working of each individual part.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

My church publishes a newsletter each month. Our faithful office manager puts it together, prints it out, puts mailing labels on them, carts them to the post office, and out they go. It’s old school, I’ll admit, but it’s mostly working. I think we send out somewhere north of 200 of them. It’s a lot of work and some expense, but if we reduced the number of hard copies that we put in the mail by the number of folks who would almost assuredly be just fine with an electronic-only version it would actually cost us more to keep sending the smaller number to the folks who really do want the paper version because of the way bulk postage rates work. So, we keep sending them out. This month I was able to just brag on the church to the church because there have been so many things to celebrate lately. I’m awfully proud of this group of believers. They are a special bunch indeed. Here’s what I had to say to them.

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