🔵Model Christ 🔵Serve Others 🔵BE The Church
God commands us to treat everyone fairly, with love, mercy and grace. But when we show favoritism, or treat people differently because of who we perceive them to be, we are destroying the very fabric that God is trying to weave us together to become. Let’s look at what God is teaching us about how to address those in the edges of our society.
Living as a Christian isn’t the same as the rest of the world population. Not that we’re better, but we do have to keep our focus; intentional action and reliance on God. Let’s look closer at what God is instructing us through Paul’s instructions to the believers in Ephesus.
Our time together isn’t just filling seats. It’s about transformation and participation. What does that mean? What does that look like? Let’s dig in to what it truly means to BE the church?
Even Jesus didn’t exist to be served, but to serve others. That’s what we are designed to do. Our lives should be interactive. Love is the act of living together with others, reflecting God and giving grace.
Let’s look at how God is instructing us to serve others today.
Paul brings us an appeal for unity and selflessness. We should — in humility — consider others better than ourselves.
We are called to shape our lives in Christ’s image. Jesus lived by service, not domination. He was God, and could have — rightly — dominated over all men. But he did not. So, how did Jesus live?
As C. S. Lewis said: “Humility is not thinking of less of yourself, but thinking of yourself… less.”
Are we willing to humble ourselves and serve others, even when it is inconvenient? Let’s discuss how we can model the image of Christ; the humility he brought to model and the love he gave simply because it was right.
We’ve read this verse earlier this season, but it bears going back and re-visiting it. We urge you to look beyond this birth, but to the life of Christ.
“The Government (dominion, rule, empire, kingdom) will be on His shoulders (burden, weight, bearing on his back).”
This isn’t about any earthly government, but the kingdom, authority and rule over humanity. Jesus entered our existence fully. He identifies with our humanity. God is not distant or indifferent to our struggles. So let’s look at how he intimately cares for us, and how his being born into our world proves his very deep, personal and absolute love for each of us.
The Magi — people of wisdom — travelled from several countries away. They came quite a distance just to see the baby they believed was born. They probably expected to find him in some royal palace. Some well-to-do place, and this was their act of faith, because no one had broght them word that God had come down. No one had given them a direct address to travel to. This was their faith journey because they saw something different in the sky and wanted to see the reality for themselves.
They were open to hearing the truth — even if that truth didn’t meet their expectations. Mary and Joseph were not people of influence or wealth. They weren’t people in well-to-do homes. They lived a simple life. And yet, the magi — having learned that this was the child they had seen in the stars above — gave Mary and Joseph the gifts they had brought. They took in the evidence presented and came to that conclusion, despite their pre-conceived notions.
How far do we go out of our way to see what God is doing around us? Maybe not in our back doorstep, but a few feet away? How willing are we to step across that few feet and see what God is doing, and celebrate it with those God is working in?
The arrival of Jesus was heralded — brought to the public — not by royal heralds, or people of honor, or by mayors or kings or bishops, rabbis or religious people.
This holy announcement was brought to the people by people who lived on the margins of society.
This is evidence and demonstration that God CARES about those that live on the outer edges of our society. He wanted them to be not just included, but honored in his arrival story.
The significance of this cannot be overstated. God desires to draw all people — ALL PEOPLE — into his redemption. Let’s look at this together!
As we approach the Christmas season, we are looking at Christ, our PROMISED savior.
Isaiah gives us hope — seven hundred years before his birth. He declares the birth of Jesus, reminding us that while we don’t see the full plan, there *is* a plan. Things may feel in despair and hurt, but God sees you. God knows you. God HAS a plan.
Christ tals directly about the law. Not Canadian laws, or US laws or worldly laws. God’s law — The old rabinical law of the Torah.
If Jesus is the Messiah, then he came to uphold the law, right? But so much of what Jesus did upturned the religious establishment of it’s day (and his teachings should continue to do that today!)
Let’s look at how Jesus directs us to adhere to the law, rules and God’s direction for our lives.