Yesterday, I introduced the idea of grace with a diagram.  We will build on that now, so if you missed it, go back and watch Tuesday’s content.

Grace is the most powerful force in the world, it is what makes Christian faith stand out like a jewel—the world craves it—people are so hungry for grace, often desperate for grace—and grace is there for all people.

Imagine grace in Syria, imagine grace in Iraq, imagine grace in a time of marriage breakdown, in your workplace.  Just imagine grace everywhere…grace says there is nothing I can do to make God love me more, there is nothing I can do to make God love me less…how would that change the way people act in our world?

Imagine grace in your life…a fresh start, forgiveness, a relationship with God, and hope for the future.  A certain way of life, of obedience to God’s way of living is an important part of this, but as outcome, the thanksgiving for God’s love, rather than a way of earning it in the first place.

We’re invited to practice living in God’s kingdom now.  This affects many areas of our lives.  It reorders our priorities, views of success, sex and marriage, money and possessions, and the poor.  That is a big, loaded list.

From the outside, although it looks strange and different, those who practice living God’s kingdom here and now in these ways find that it’s exactly what they were created for – that they’re living according to the script written for their lives and their world, and it’s a natural fit like none other, even though it’s new and different.

We all want to be free, and so sometimes when we hear about laws, living a certain way, we think someone is trying to control or take away our freedom.  But imagine a train, that gets bored running up and down its tracks, and looks at countryside, longing to be “free” of the rails.  If it does hop the rails, it will meet with disaster and destruction, not happiness and freedom.  A train is not designed for fields, but designed for tracks.  A train is never more free than doing what it was designed to do…run on tracks.

It’s the same with humans, we’re designed by creator with a specific way of life.  For best results, follow maker’s instructions.”

Question:  Have you ever gone off the rails in life, thinking you were enjoying your freedom?  What helped you get back on track?

Reminder:  Last week we talked about worship, and asked you to complete our online survey about worship here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/8TS7K93

Reminder: Earlier in this series, we saw the importance of reading the Bible together in sync, so our new daily bible readings start today in our mobile app and web site.

Read the Bible in Sync Today

Ryan Sim - October 22, 2013

Tuesday - Study It - Becoming Like Family

We asked yesterday if you could list of what comes to mind when you hear the word “church”. Our lists probably included buildings, events and services. It may have included organ and choir music, stained glass windows, dusty books, bake sales and more. It may evoke good experiences, or bad ones. But not how the Bible usually sees “church”. Church is described in several cases as a family. This is why our vision is to become a church made up of many groups who are “like family” with one another. But you might immediately think this means something strange and cultish, usually because our ideas of family today is pretty narrow. We think of family as the nuclear, immediate family in isolation. But in Jesus’ culture, in some cultures today, and not so long ago in Western culture, the family was the word used more naturally to describe an extended network of relations, often living in the same area. That was the context for family in Jesus’ day, and Jesus had plans to develop a new kind of extended family. Here’s a striking moment when he described his plans to create an alternate family: Matthew 12:46-50 While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. But he replied to the man who told him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” On the one hand, it seems Jesus just put down his mother. I just saw “Guilt Trip” where Barbra Streisand plays Seth Rogen’s overbearing mother. She calls several times a day, tries to get him to drink water constantly, and so on. In the middle of their road trip, he finally snaps, and tells her off. It seems like that might be what Jesus is doing to his mother here. Is he putting her down, in his plans to join another family? Look at it another way. Jesus is actually elevating his disciples to family status. His followers, fellow practitioners of his kingdom, are his family. She’s not excluded. Later in the story of Jesus’ life and death, we see Mary his mother appearing as a devoted member of this extended family, and Jesus even assigns one of the disciples to look after her after his death, saying he’s her new son, and vice versa. Jesus isn’t narrowing his definition of family to exclude blood relatives. He’s broadening it, to include his extended family of followers as if they are blood relatives. Question: Imagine your immediate family suddenly adopting a dozen new members. How would it change your way of life? What would be the pros and cons?

From Series: "Becoming Like Family"

This series looks at becoming “like family” with others learning to follow Jesus. We're exploring how the church is not a building, institution or event, but a community of people. It's important that explore what church means as we prepare to launch a new church in Ajax in 2014.

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