eternal love

Christ: Eternal Love with Skin and Bones

Intro: The apostle Paul addressed a variety of controversial issues facing the church at Corinth. There was controversy over baptism, leadership, marriage, and charismatic gifts — to name a few. To that list we could add our own controversies over theology, worship, and church growth.

According to Paul the solution to (almost) all of the controversies (problems) facing churches is love. Love is foundational to the Christian life. It is called the primary mark of the Christian. It is the fruit of the Spirit and the supreme virtue of Christ.

Context: Apart from love there is no communion/fellowship with God and no life in the church. Consider these texts:

1 Cor. 2:9-10 — Only those who love God can see, hear, and understand what God has prepared for them. Those who do not love God will never know.

1 Cor. 8:1-3 – If God establishes a relationship with you then love (not data/information) will be the mark of your fellowship with God. If we do not love each other we prove that we do not know God for God is love.

Unfortunately, love is one of the first casualties of any conflict or controversy. It is virtually impossible to maintain controversies when love stands at the center of your relationships.

Text: 1 Corinthians 13:1-12

Calvin – The main truth of the passage is this—that as love is the only rule of our actions, and the only means of regulating the right use of the gifts of God, nothing, in the absence of it, is approved by God, however magnificent it may be in the estimation of men. Read more

2010
02/08
CATEGORY
CORE VALUES
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worship order 02.07.10

CALL TO WORSHIP

Minister - “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no human heart has imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— but God reveals it to us by his Spirit.

CONFESSION

Responsive Reading

Minister: Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One.

Congregation: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Minister: A new commandment I give to you: Love one another. 

Congregation: Just as Christ has loved you, so you are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples: if you love one another.

Minister: And these words that God commands you today shall be on your heart.

CONSECRATION

Sermon — Eternal Love with Skin and Bones

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.”

COMMUNION OF SAINTS

The Lord’s Supper will be served at Tables around the sanctuary.

Gifts and Offerings

COMMISSION

Benediction: May the God of love and peace will be with you. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

2010
02/06
CATEGORY
worship
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is the gospel enough?

It is no secret that we live in a consumer-driven culture where ”The customer is always right” and “You can have it your way” because “It’s all about You”. That kind of consumer-oriented mentality poses a variety of challenges to restaurants and stores. And it even poses problems for churches. 

It is not uncommon for consumer-driven people to shop around from church to church looking for goods and services that suit their own desires. Such people often look for a church that has dynamic worship, provides child care, offers free counseling, has an active youth group, ”is not judgmental” and so on. 

Tragically (for them) the things they need the most are often the things they fail to seek. And if they happen to stumble upon the things they need they often reject them because they were not looking for them in the first place. The fundamental mistake consumer-christians make is assuming that what they want for themselves is what God wants for them.

Such people remind me of the restless seeker in a song by U2. 

I believe in the Kingdom Come
Then all the colours will bleed into one
Bleed into one.
But yes, I’m still running.

You broke the bonds
And you loosed the chains
Carried the cross of my shame
Oh my shame, you know I believe it.

But I still haven’t found
What I’m looking for.*

In this song the seeker encounters the things he needs, but he rejects them because they are not the things he wants. He encounters true grace in the gospel of Jesus Christ, pays lip service to it in song, and claims to believe it, but he is dissatisfied. He still hasn’t found what he’s looking for. The gospel of grace is just not enough for him. He wants something else. He imagines that there is something better. Bottom line: He values something else more than he values the gospel of grace.

Sound familiar?

Unfortunately, the same thing is true of some of the people who have come and gone at New Hope Church. The gospel of grace is just not enough for them. They “need” something better, want something more, something else, something different. Sadly, some people esteem lesser things — like family, programs, traditions, or preferences — above the gospel. Since they cannot find what they’re looking for in one church they go church-shopping somewhere else.

Nevertheless, we continue to proclaim the gospel of God’s grace; we administer baptism and communion; and we strive to love God, one another, and our neighbors. The reason: God says these are the things we need; these are the things God looks for in a church. Consumerism to the contrary, we believe God is always right. Since it’s all about him, he can have it any way he wants it.

Is the gospel of grace enough for you? If so, then you’ve come to right place.

If not, then you won’t find what you’re looking for here.

————-

* Source: http://u2.com/discography/lyrics/lyric/song/62/

2010
02/03
CATEGORY
church life
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vintage church

Join us for round table discussions of the following topics. Study guides provided.

Wednesday Nights @ 7 PM

 

 

Schedule

February
02/03 What Is the Christian Life?
02/10 What Is a Christian Church?
02/17 Who Is Supposed to Lead a Church?
02/24 Why Is Preaching Important?

March
03/03 What Are Baptism and Communion?
03/10 How Can a Church Be Unified?
03/17 What Is Church Discipline?
03/24 How Is Love Expressed in a Church?
03/31 What Is a Missional Church?

2010
01/31
CATEGORY
bible study
church life
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contextualization

INTRO: Contextualization is inevitable and inescapable. Everyone does it whether they know it or not. The question is not whether we will contextualize at all but whether we will contextualize according to the gospel.

Positively: Adapting ourselves to culture in order to communicate the gospel is a good thing. We do not compromise the message or conform it to the culture. Rather we adapt ourselves and call the culture to change (repent) and conform to the cross.

Negatively: We must not conform to the pattern of the culture or compromise the truth of the gospel. Contextualization is not a free pass to be trendy, edgy, or experimental.

Our gospel-based priorities are revelation over relevance, scripture over culture, and incarnation over innovation.

Text: 1 Corinthians 9:19-27

This text has been abused by countless ministers and missionaries to justify (just about) anything and everything under heaven. It seems that almost any technique, method, approach, or trend can be justified if we just pay lip service to one thing: evangelism. “We’re just trying to becoming all things to all men so we can save the lost.” As long as it is couched in the language of saving souls a new gimmick or technique usually gets a free pass. Even if it does violence to the gospel.

Paul was not a “methodist” – he was a missionary to a multi-cultural world. In this text Paul was not concerned about which “church-growth” methods and techniques to employ. Rather he was concerned about the messenger’s cultural dexterity and adaptability.

As an apostle to the Gentiles he learned how to adapt himself to the melting-pot culture of the Roman Empire. Contextualization is important because it concerns the messenger’s attitudes, approach, and actions towards people in diverse cultural settings. Paul taught that the message of the gospel and the method of preaching must be combined with a culturally adaptable messenger.

FOUR INGREDIENTS OF BIBLICAL CONTEXTUALIZATION:

  1. Evangelical Truth
  2. Missional Purpose
  3. Pastoral Concern
  4. Spiritual Discipline Read more
2010
01/31
CATEGORY
CORE VALUES
church life
sermon notes
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