Tag: The Church

Real Community Matters

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Above and before almost everything else, the church is a community. It is a community of Jesus followers called out for the purpose of advancing His message and mission in the world. As we wrap up our series, Authentic Church, we are going to be taking a look at this idea of the church’s being a community and why it matters so very much. If you want to know that a church is really a church, this is something you won’t want to miss.

Real Community Matters

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few weeks, you are probably aware that there have been some protests on college campuses as the school year has wound down. Relative to the total number of college students in the country, these protests have been attended by a tiny minority of students (as well as a handful of non-students of varying sorts). They have ostensibly been pro-Palestine, but they’ve seemed to cross the line into being anti-Israel or even pro-Hamas on some occasions. In spite of their measly size, though, these protests have been covered endlessly in the media, making their messages and actions entirely more widely known than their actual numbers should have allowed. Yet while they are being cheered in some corridors, the reaction from most of the rest of the country has seemed to range between a massive eye roll at the sheer ignorance and ingratitude of these students and a hearty call for them all to be arrested and expelled. Schools that have tolerated or even placated the mobs have seen their reputations in the broader culture take a significant hit. 

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Morning Musing: 1 Corinthians 12:12

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“For just as the body is one and has many parts, and all the parts of that body, though many, are one body – so also is Christ.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I love cartoons. Near as I can remember, I always have. Animation brings a world of storytelling possibilities to life that live action films and series simply can’t touch. CGI and Ai are a modern marvel in terms of what they allow us to put on the screen that looks so real you almost can’t tell the difference between what’s real and what’s not, but what are those two except tools of animation? The kind of cartoons I’ve always been most drawn to are the ones with good stories. I’m a sucker for well-developed characters and a gripping plot. And, of course, cartoons about superheroes have always been my favorite. Growing up, one of the absolute best on television was X-Men. When news came out a few months ago that Marvel was going to pick back up the classic series that ended its run almost 30 years ago (I can’t tell you how much it pains me to write that), I was thrilled. They did not disappoint. X-Men 97′ wrapped up its first season this week and it was even better than I had hoped it would be. And, as is so often the case, the Gospel made an appearance in the story. Let’s talk about another Marvel classic and why we just can’t escape the Gospel.

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Working Properly

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This week we are in the fifth part of our teaching series, Authentic Church. So far we have talked about both the foundation and the context in which all of the different elements that make a church a church happen. These are Jesus and worship, respectively. We have also talked about two of the pillars that hold up this structure. These were sharing the Gospel and growing one another in Christ. This week we are tackling another one of the pillars of what makes the church the church. This one has everything to do with our actively being the body of Christ. Let’s talk about serving.

Working Properly

Let’s do a bit of imagining together this morning. First, I want you to imagine a company. Let’s say it’s a large company. It’s a large and successful company that has recently rolled out a new product that is promising to be a huge success in terms of sales and advancing the corporate brand in the minds of present and potential consumers. Managing to create a product like this is the goal of pretty much every company that has ever existed. This kind of product-launch that puts a company on the map can set a company up for success for many years into the future. But with this particular company, not all is well behind the scenes. The CEO is a tyrant who rules by threatening fiat and a demagogic personality. He’s brilliant, but mean. He rewards employees not for their character and competence, but for personal loyalty to him and their demonstration of a willingness to step over or even on top of their fellow employees in their attempts to advance their own careers in the company. This promising product was the CEO’s idea and he doesn’t let anyone forget that fact. Beyond this, though, innovation is stifled and new ideas are generally not welcome. Now, think on this for just a second: How successful do you think this company is going to be in the long-term? 

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Group Work

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Some things are just better experienced together. As we continue in our series, Authentic Church, this week, we are talking about the importance of community (something that will be a part of the next two entries in the series as well). Up first in this journey-within-a-journey is the importance of worshiping the Lord together. Worshiping together acts as the glue that holds the rest of the things that make the church the church together. Using a psalm of David as our guide, let’s explore why worshiping together is so important.

Group Work

In 2014, the Kansas City Royals made the postseason for the first time in nearly 30 years. They earned their official postseason birth in an incredible wild card play-in game against the Oakland Athletics. The game took place on Noah’s birthday. My dad was actually at the game, sitting on the front row behind the inside corner of the A’s dugout courtesy of a good friend of his. He even held up a sign wishing Noah a happy birthday that got put on camera. Watching from home, I stayed up pretty late to see the finish, but when we gave up the lead late in the game, I gave up and went to bed. I couldn’t bear to watch yet another disappointing season come to an end. In the middle of the night, though, I checked my phone and saw that the game was not yet over. I quickly turned the TV on and hit the record button to be able to watch how it actually ended in the morning. It was an awfully exciting time. 

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Digging in Deeper: Exodus 23:6-9

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“You must not deny justice to a poor person among you in his lawsuit. Stay far away from a false accusations. Do not kill the innocent and the just, because I will not justify the guilty. You must not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and corrupts the words of the righteous. You must not oppress a resident alien; you yourselves know how it feels to be a resident alien because you were resident aliens in the land of Egypt.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Sometimes you come across a passage of Scripture that seems pretty straightforward on an initial reading. A bit closer of an inspection confirms this, but it can also help us see what made sense in the beginning with a little more depth and clarity. These verses once again remind us of the inherently just nature of God’s character. Let’s talk about what’s going on here, and then put them in the bigger context of the larger passage here at the beginning of Exodus 23.

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