The problem of “theodicy” (evil, and cruelty in the world) is a problem that theologians have wrestled with for decades. I read this one line a little while ago and it really resonated with me.
What do you think of it?
We don’t have an argument that solves the problem of the cruel world, but we have a story – Francis Spufford
On Sunday we kicked off a brand new series looking at the three marks of a Christian. We began by discussing what the “marks” of a follower of Jesus are. And we began with a really simple, but difficult question: what is a disciple of Jesus?
At first glance that question seems simple doesn’t it? A disciple of Jesus is someone who follows Jesus. But what does that mean? What does that look like?
I think these questions really matter because if you only have a vague idea of what God is asking of you, chances are you won’t be getting where God wants you to be.
So we began to define what a disciple and the three marks of a Christ-follower by looking at two passages: Matthew 22:36-40 and Matthew 28:18-19.
And in the first passage we got the first clear glimpse into what a follower of Jesus looks like. It looks like someone who loves God. But loving God isn’t enough, because you can love God and still miss out on living like God. People who loved God caused the crusades, inquisitions, and still today spew hate. The idea of “loving God” needs definition or all sorts and manners of hate can be spewed in defense of God.
This is why Jesus then utters a second command he says is just as important as the first. We need to love others. Loving God, necessitates loving our neighbors. Jesus gives definition for what loving God looks like, and it looks like someone who loves their neighbour.
So the first two marks of a follower of Jesus are loving God, and loving their neighbour. But those two aren’t enough, there is a third mark. Because you can end up loving God and loving others but not having a forward momentum, you can end up isolated, rather than transforming the world. We need to also hear not only the great commandment but also the great commission.
Jesus says in Matthew 28:18-19 that we need to go out and make disciples. We need to spread his love and light among the world. We need to go out and bless the nations and bless our neighbours. Part of the Christian calling isn’t just to love God, and love our neighbours, but to also actively love the world around us.
And we need to do all three: loving God, loving others, and loving the world. Because if we aren’t doing any of the these three marks of a Jesus-follower our lives will not be fully formed.
So that’s where we went on Sunday explaining the three circles of love and how every Christian needs to do all three. Now as we move forward we’ll unpack each of those circles and for how, if you focus on journeying, connecting, and serving, you’re life with Jesus and those around you can be changed. Which is what following Jesus is all about – being changed by him, and changing lives with him.
Sermon Notes:
Big Idea: Jesus followers should love God, love others, and love the world.
Teaching Points:
Adult Discussion Questions:
What stuck out to you from the sermon? What was challenging to you? How did God speak to you through it? What was new? What circle do you most resonate with (Loving God, Others, or the World)? Which circle do you most struggle with? How do you think you might grow deeper with your struggling circle?
Discussion Questions for Young Families
Take a look at your family and think through which circles you are good at, and which ones you need to grow in. Ask your kids then for ideas for how to grow in the difficult circles and put them into practice.
Challenge for the Week: Make a decision to grow in all three circles
On Sunday we are starting a brand new series. We are looking at what the three marks of a Christ-follower are. For sure we should look like Jesus if we are followers of Jesus. But what does this practically mean? If we could distill it down and make it concrete, practical, and real life – what would a Christ-follower look like?
That’s what we want to explore for the next few weeks. We want to take all the “vagueness” out of following Jesus and make it concerte and real. We want to give each person three goals, or three marks to pursue in their life that will draw them deeper into life and into Jesus’ life.
So join with us as we discover what the three marks of a Christian are.
On Sunday my wife protested my song choice for this series. It had something to do with picking “songs so obscure only I could love them.” So I promised her one Sunday of a song by a band most of us would know. And that Sunday, was last Sunday. And that band was U2. We listened to and jumped, taught through the song “Grace”.
The song “Grace” has some beautiful lyrics. And what is wonderful is they give a starting point to hear some familiar words with fresh ears. 1 Corinthians 13 is commonly known as the love chapter. It is read at weddings, and is now so overly familiar that it’s lost some of its “oompf”. So to regain some of that we read 1 Corinthians 13, along with Bono’s lyrics to make some new connections.
Bono sings that “Grace has the time to talk”. And I love that line because not only is it true, it’s also incredibly pertinent and practical. Paul says that love is patient, but for many of us we are so busy we don’t even have time to talk. Time to listen. Time to show love through our giving of ourselves.
Paul continues saying that love is anything but rude, proud, or self-centered. Love, in essence, isn’t aggressive, showy, and loud. Or as Bono talks about love and grace “when she goes to work / you can hear her strings”. Love sounds like strings of invitation, movement, and gentle melody. Pride though as Paul says, sounds like a clanging cymbal.
Paul writes that love doesn’t keep records of wrongs. This is something I wish we would not only know, but practice. But sometimes we’ve heard it so often we forget it too quickly. Bono gets at the same things singing, “Grace moves outside of karma”. Grace and love aren’t record keepers, but forgiveness givers. And lastly, we looked at how love lasts and never gives up. Or as Bono puts it, “it’s a thought that changed the world.”
We tried to use the song to get a fresh glimpse into Paul and our main point: grace and love change the world and change lives. They have changed lives and will keep changing lives if we put it into practice.
So to discern how to put love into practice we ended by reading 1 Corinthians 13 with our name in place of the word love. Because Paul is really giving us a challenge for how to live, not just teaching on the abstracts of love. Paul is teaching us how we are to live. So as we read the passage we asked God to make it true in our lives, and direct us in anywhere we need to start acting differently.
[ ] is patient and kind. [ ]is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. [ ]does not demand its own way. [ ] is not irritable, and keeps no record of being wronged. [ ] does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. [ ] never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
(Read the passage slowly multiple times, and put your name in the blank, and let God speak to you through it)
Sermon Notes:
Big Idea: Grace and love change the world and change lives
Teaching Points:
Adult Discussion Questions:
What stuck out to you from the sermon? What was challenging to you? How did God speak to you through it? What was new? What is your favorite U2 song? When you read the passage from God’s perspective what jumped out? When you read it with your name in blanks, how did God speak to you? What jumped out?
Discussion Questions for Young Families
Today talk to your kids about their favorite song. Ask them why they love it, and what they learn from it.
Challenge for the Week: To put love into practice
On Sunday we are moving past my love of indie-rock bands that as my wife would say, “no one knows or loves but you”. To a mainstream giant band. We are going to be looking and listening to a song called “Grace” by this band you may have heard of…U2.
But before we get there, and you all send me the U2 song you wish I was using, I want to share with you one line from that song.
Bono sings this, “Grace makes beauty out of ugly things”
And I just think that’s both so true and also beautiful. That is what grace does. And come Sunday we are going to be talking about grace, how to show grace, and how to live grace. But before we get there I think it’s important to reflect on the power of grace.
So if you can – take a moment and think about this – what ugly thing in your life has grace made beautiful? Because before I can convince you to share grace, we need to become convinced of the power of grace.
I want to quote something from Robert Farrar Capon, a brilliant writer. He writes this:
Jesus didn’t shy away from sinners, so why should the church? And don’t tell me the church welcomes sinners. I know better. It welcomes only sinners who repent and then never seriously need forgiveness again.
And unfortunately I think that may be true. And you might even be able to confirm that, to share stories of how the church let you down, or let someone you know down.
But today I don’t want to use this quote to jump all over the church, and its failings. Because I think that misses the point. It’s so easy to read that quote and say, “yeah the church is screwed up.” To get all high and mighty and condemn those people in the church who don’t get grace, and forgiveness.
But here is the truth: the church is people. And if you follow Jesus you are part of that people, for better or worse.
And this quote loses its convicting and compelling power if it becomes about “other people”. If we are part of the church, we should use this quote to examine our own lives. We should stop, and reflect and ask the Holy Spirit, “Is there anything I need to change in my life”.
Because what I think the Holy Spirit is asking me through this quote is to really examine my life.
Because this quote isn’t about “other people rejecting sinners”. This quote is about each of us asking ourselves, “am I living like Jesus with welcome and hospitality?” And that’s a lot harder question, a lot more personal question, and a much more worthwhile one.
Hi Everyone – here is the audio in case you missed it from our Family Pastor Andrew Epp preaching. He always does an excellent job, and shared with us a bit of his love of rap in this sermon! Be sure to check it out if you didn’t get to hear it!
On Sunday we are going to be looking at a favourite band of mine called, “The National”. It’s a band that I’ve loved for years, and we are going to look about what they say about lament, grief, and sorrow.
Because here is the truth: sometimes only music can express the depth of the soul.
What I mean by that is sometimes we experience and go through things that we can’t quite put words to. But music has a way of expressing maybe some depth of the hurt, joy, questioning, grief, or whatever we are feeling in a way that just words lack.
Music can be the way we express what’s going on inside. And that’s what we are really going to look at on Sunday. How certain songs express what we are feeling.
But what about for you? Are there any songs that have, at a certain point in your life, really expressed what you are feeling? Are there any songs that for you have better expressed where you are at – than you could yourself?
Think about that for a moment, and come Sunday with “the National”, I’ll share a song that does that for me.
On Sunday we opened up our series looking at “Finding God on your iPod”. We began by discussing some of the different ways our culture views love.
There is the “Jerry Maguire” view. This is where we seek and find people who “complete us”. People who make up for our flaws and failures and make us feel whole and wonderful. The trouble with this view is that it’s ultimately self-centred. It’s about what someone else does for us (completes us).
The second view we looked at was what is called the Disney view. That when you meet the right person, you just live easy and breezy happily ever after. Johnathon Haidt says this about this type of love:
The modern myth of true love involves these beliefs: true love is passionate love that never fades; if you are in true love, you should marry that person; if love ends, you should leave that person because it was not true love; and if you can find the right person you will have true love forever.
And this too just isn’t true and not helpful.
The last view of love we looked at is what I called, Passive Love. This is the idea where it’s loving to let people do whatever they want, as long as they don’t hurt anyone. But again this is just selfishness clouded in love language.
That’s when we turned to Kings of Leon to give us a different view of love. We played the song Beautiful War, which has this wonderful little line:
Love don’t mean nothing Unless there’s something worth fighting for. It’s a beautiful war.
And this line is just so true. And this view is actually right in line with the Biblical view of love that we looked at next. We looked at love as sacrifice, as fighting for someone, as dying for someone in John 3.
John says the message we have heard from the beginning in verse 11 is to love one another. John then goes on to define love, to not leave it vague and culturally bound. He says love looks like Jesus dying. Real love is Jesus giving up his life for us. Love is shown by actions, and it’s shown by sacrifice. Or as Kings of Leon put it, it’s not love unless you’re fighting for someone or something. Love is about sacrifice.
This led us to our main point of the day: fight for those you love. But not fighting in aggressive ways. But in ways that look a lot like dying, like Jesus Christ.
Richard Rohr says, Every time you choose to love, you have also just chosen to die. And that’s true.
So we ended with a simple but hard challenge. To fight for those you love. To really show your love to your spouse, to your kids, to those friendships that matter. To decide to really give of yourself to those around you. Because love is meant to be shown, and it needs to be – if it’s real love.
Sermon Notes:
Big Idea: Fight for those you love.
Teaching Points:
Adult Discussion Questions:
What stuck out to you from the sermon? What was challenging to you? How did God speak to you through it? What was new? Have you ever fallen into the trap of thinking about love like Disney, Jerry Maguire, or Tolerance? Who once really sacrificed themselves for you and it really changed you? What did it look like – how did they do it? Who are you maybe being called to love? How might you show them? Who can help you?
Discussion Questions for Young Families
Talk to your kids how love needs to be shown. How it needs to be proven through actions. Talk to them about people in your life, who you love. Ask them how you should show them love, and then do it.
Challenge for the Week: Fight for those you love.
Hi Everyone – I’m just getting back from Germany and from Preaching a Week up at a Camp.
So here is the first sermon from when I was away preached by our Family Pastor Andrew Epp. I’ve only heard great things, and I’m looking forward to listening to it and catching up. Hope you get a chance to listen to it, if you missed it too!
Here it is:
{ Andrew Mills } 