At Our CORE

Rick Thompson

CORE MATTERS • Sermon • Submitted 5 years ago

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Our Aim in all we do is INTIMACY with God, COMMUNITY with Each Other, INFLUENCE with Others

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Vision of Grace: We are a Church of Christ-followers learning to Love God, Love Others and Change the World

We are a Church of Christ-followers learning to Love God, Love Others and Change the World

We Believe Life is about Relationships

Love God – Vertical Relationship (Height/Depth)

Love Others – Horizontal Relationships (Breadth/Scope)

Change World – Outward Relationships (Movement/Purpose)

The REASON we exist as a Church = To Glorify God in our Lives (with our lives); and invite others to do same

To Make a CONNECTION with the Personal God who made the Universe. To Turn from Worldly/Self-serving pursuits;

Turn TO living our lives to bring honor to Another—to God himself.

To learn to Live Life with the Constant Goal of shining light upon the Glory of God. To make that the Purpose of our Lives. The Reason for which we live. The WHY of our existence.

Glory of God. To make that the Purpose of our Lives. The Reason for which we live. The WHY of our existence.

We Believe that’s the KEY of Living the way God designed us to Live.

And so we Call everyone we know into this New Way of orienting our lives.

Our AIM in All we Do: INTIMACY with God COMMUNITY with Each Other INFLUENCE with Others

INTIMACY with God

COMMUNITY with Each Other

INFLUENCE with Others

That’s the CORE of who we are as a Church. These are our CORE MATTERS. Because you know what? The CORE MATTERS!

EVERYTHING we do as a Church—as a People who identify ourselves with Jesus Christ—EVERYTHING seeks to take us Deeper/Higher, Wider/Farther in These 3 Pursuits

INTIMACY with God

Horizontal Relationships – COMMUNITY with Each Other

Outward Relationships – INFLUENCE with Others

INTIMACY with God

“Intimacy” You may not like that term. Sounds too personal/passionate. Because we associate it mainly with our Romantic Relations.

Intimacy simply means Closeness. Oneness.

A Coming-Together of 2 persons in Trust, Familiarity, Care. Love.

We enjoy this level of Closeness in several different kinds of relationships:

Moms/Dads with their children. Studying every part of the newborn who has just come into the world, eyes & smiles gazing for minutes at a time into the face, over the body, playing with the hands/feet… It’s an INTIMATE connection.

We have Acquaintances & we have Friends. And we have BFFs. Trust one another to share secrets, difficult things, feelings.

And of course choosing to enter into a lifelong covenant relationship of marriage brings us into most INTIMATE relations with another.

“For this reason a man shall Leave… be United… and the 2 shall become one.”

And the man & woman were both naked & not ashamed

That beautiful portrait of the Closest of Human Relationships—Husband/ Wife—the INTIMATE connection demonstrated in that Union ALSO SERVES as a SIGNPOST pointing to Another Relationship we are intended to Live Into: The Relationship between God and Us

We who are made in the Imago Dei reflect in our most Sacred Relationships the Sacred Desire God has to draw us into Union with Himself. An INTIMATE knowledge of the Holy One.

Not SEXUAL INTIMACY. No, that’s a Human Device. Not even FAMILIAL or FRIENDSHIP INTIMACY—though those relationships point to a deeper Oneness with God which includes those Familial/Friendship bonds.

It’s ONENESS with our Creator. Father. The Lord of all things.

Made for this. It’s what God created us for.

To Enjoy a relationship of Love with God that wakes us up each morning.

That gives us Purpose/Motivation/Drive. Passion. Passion for living.

NIV “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Jesus said greatest command is to love God with all heart, soul, mind. Whole self.

When we start here, life makes sense. (Problems in life come from worshiping wrong god—many choose Self.)

It’s like a Huge BILLBOARD Jesus plants right out our front door to see. Like if you miss everything else, this is the One Thing you mustn’t miss out on—Loving God & Enjoying God’s Love!

Westminster Shorter Catechism: What is the Chief End (Purpose) of Man? To Love God & enjoy Him forever!

KEY is not working up love for God; but receiving love of God! Not trying to love God more; rather, learning to accept God loves me. And made me for himself.

One of 20th century’s greatest theologian, Karl Barth, once said the most profound theological conviction of all = Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so

When we recognize how head-over-heels in love with us our Father is, that’s when we’re freed up to love as he first loved us!

NIV This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

He loved us so much that when we were in trouble of missing out eternally on this Lifelong Covenant Relationship with God, he sent his son, his only begotten son…that we would not perish (die) but live eternally with him! That’s LOVE!

An All-out Rescue Mission to bring us back to God!

This is At our CORE. At Grace Church. Our AIM in all we do. Cultivating INTIMACY with God. It’s what we will always be about. You can expect to grow deeper in your Love of God as part of this community of Christ-followers.

COMMUNITY with Each Other

Life is about relationships, and relationships are the hardest things in life.

Complex. Complicated.

Jesus said 2nd greatest commandment is to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Life is meant to be lived in community, relationally with others, not individually for ourselves.

KEY to joy in life—placing others before ourselves.

NIV Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

At Grace Church, we strive to Do Life Together. To cultivate relationships with others through Life Groups, Classes, Ministry Teams, home fellowships—however we can be in relationship with one another learning to CARE FOR one another.

When one of us is ‘going through’—facing a challenging set of circumstances or life struggle, to the degree we have formed trusting, loving bonds with each other, we are able to Walk With one another…

One Partner suffered the death of a son this week… Life Group members surrounded her, opening homes, providing food, praying…

When we hear somebody in the community is experiencing tragedy, one of 1st questions we ask: Do they have a faith community they belong to? Do they have brothers/sisters in Christ to carry them?

The Support that comes from relationships forged in difficulties is something God offers in his people, the Church

When I’m counseling couples planning to marry, one of the Secrets to a mutually satisfying Life-long relationship I will share is Learning to Yield.

CSB Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

As we practice Yielding in our marriages—yielding to our partner—we learn to Yield in our Relationship with God. “Not my will, but Yours, be done.”

“Where do you want to eat tonight?” “What movie would you want to see?”

I have failed here more than anywhere else in my marriage. Date nights.

Excited to take Lara to see Jason Bourne!

Fortunately, I married a woman who is a saint. She has practiced Patience with me. I’ve been in Husband School 26 years now… Have learned a lot about thinking of others 1st. 😊

· Fortunately, I married a woman who is a saint. She has practiced Patience with me. I’ve been in Husband School 26 years now… Have learned a lot about thinking of others 1st. 😊

Martin Luther: Marriage provides the best possible arena for the sanctified life!

Just as God puts 2 people who couldn’t be more different in the closest possible relationship possible, then says, “Now, let’s see what happens. Work it out!”

So also he provides his people the Church in which to situate people who are so very different from each other and tells us: “Now, let’s see what happens. Work it out!”

It’s inviting & exciting to become part of a new Church—a Church new to you. Until it’s not.

· Until you realize that guy’s obnoxious. How can his wife put up with him like she does?

· Until you get offended by an insensitive remark…

· Until you discover Racism & Sexism still exist, & in the Church!

§ Then you wonder if it wouldn’t be better to pick up your ball & go play elsewhere.

(Now, I’m not saying there aren’t times when you legitimately come up against injustice or errors that leadership is unwilling to correct. You go through all the biblical channels of working it out & find the Church leaving behind the CORE MATTERS of Jesus’ Church.)

I’m talking about normal human interactions we all would rather not have to deal with. But God calls us to practice our personal skills & social skills in the company of his people. Where rough edges are smoothed over as people learn to love those hard-to-love.

The Church provides community & makes a place for belonging.

And Community is hard!

Working out Conflict Resolution, who wants to do that?! Practicing forgiveness—do we have to?! Listening to wise guidance from others who have committed themselves to each other even when we don’t want to hear what wisdom has to say.

All this is uncomfortable. And most people won’t sit long for being uncomfortable. But it’s God’s chosen means for making us Christ-like. Holy. Less of me, more of Him.

Community, and Suffering. These are where we learn perseverance, character, hope. It’s how we Grow.

To live in Christian Community doing Life Together—Calls for vulnerability, humility, honesty.

Where we practice helpful, loving conflict resolution to give and experience forgiveness & restoration.

Belonging requires personal acceptance & being cared for by others.

And I will tell you personally, I’m not very good at that. I am fun to be around (I believe). I can carry on conversations on many levels. Friendly. But when it comes to letting people in, to know/care for the real me—I find that more difficult than I care to admit.

I don’t know about you. But we all need each other. Deeply. To go deeper in relationship with each other.

At Grace, at our CORE we are committed to deepening relationships with each other. As we practice COMMUNITY with Each Other.

INFLUENCE with Others

If you’ve been around Grace for any amount of time, you’ll hear:

Churches don’t do ministry; PEOPLE do!

We model an ministry—Pastors like coaches: Equipping people for their works of ministry

Not only because it’s the way God orders the life of his Church in Scripture; but because

Everybody has a Contribution to make

Everybody is a Part of the Body—like human body with hands, feet, eyes, mouths, shoulders…

We are all called to Fully Engage in the mission God is accomplishing.

Significance comes when we make a contribution to something greater than ourselves instead of living just for our personal fulfillment.

KEY is deciding which Dream to fulfill

American Dream calls us to a life of upward mobility…

Gospel calls us to fulfilling God’s Dream of downward mobility

Into the cracks/crevices of broken systems. Where people are overlooked & discounted. Where despair/discouragement run rampant keeping people from Connecting with the God who loves them.

Downward Mobility leads Jesus & his followers into the spaces where the homeless live, across town to identify with & teach life skills to people without hope, and all the way to unreached people groups who have never heard the message nor experienced Christ’s transforming power.

Following Jesus, who died to bring life, the Church is called to stoop to serve others as a way of life in order to bring hope and a future to those barely surviving. Incarnation, like he demonstrated in Christ.

As the Church, we get to bring the Gospel to bear on the problems of our world, a world God so loved he sent his one and only son to die for

When the Church does this, new life is born.

Hospitals and schools are raised up to care for and educate people.

Wells are dug to bring water to sick communities.

Children are adopted.

Human trafficking comes to a halt.

People find freedom.

Not everyone is called to become a Missionary to people in foreign culture. Not everybody is meant to be a Speaker or Youth Worker.

Every one of us has a contribution to make with our lives that helps People CONNECT with God

At Grace…

Family Promise helping single mothers with kids in transition

Plarn-making groups who provide sleep mats for homeless

Letters/Packages sent to troops

Guys are spending weekends with prisoners through Kairos

Women have provided services at women’s shelter

Group of men/women building ramps for wheelchair access

English-classes to International Students

Folks engaged in mentoring relationships through Take Stock in Children

Life Groups engaging with kids/families from low-income neighborhoods through SWAG

“The BIG SERVE” when we shut down worship services & head out into the community

In 2 weeks will hear from our Grace Workers who reached UPG in Asia as Carlos Bernal comes to speak on our INFLUENCE with Others

NLT And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!”

Our greatest contribution is changing the world … one person at a time by helping connect people with God in Christ. (Evangelism) When we see ourselves as his ambassadors and recognize we each have been given Spheres of Influence, then we can meaningfully help others find restoration, a second chance, redemption, peace, joy & purpose in life through reconciliation with God and belonging in community.

These are the CORE MATTERS of our Church INTIMACY with God COMMUNITY with Each Other INFLUENCE with Others

o INTIMACY with God COMMUNITY with Each Other INFLUENCE with Others

o COMMUNITY with Each Other INFLUENCE with Others

o INFLUENCE with Others

For the next 3 weeks in September going to Go Deeper in each of these areas. We are cultivating Relationships (Vertical – Horizontal – Outward)

It’s who we are. What we’re called to do.

And if you do not have a Church to call Home, join us. Partner with us.

We are a Church of Christ-followers learning to Love God – Love Others – Change the World

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