God is on a mission, and we are His co-workers

By On August 22, 2011 · Leave a Comment · In From the Pastor

Perhaps what we most need to learn, since we so easily forget it, is that mission is and always has been God’s before it becomes ours. The whole Bible presents a God of missional activity, from his purposeful, goal-oriented act of Creation to the completion of his cosmic mission in the redemption of the whole of Creation—a new heaven and a new earth. The Bible also presents to us humanity with a mission (to rule and care for the earth); Israel with a mission (to be the agent of God’s blessing to all nations); Jesus with a mission (to embody and fulfill the mission of Israel, bringing blessing to the nations through bearing our sin on the Cross and anticipating the new Creation in his Resurrection); and the church with a mission (to participate with God in the ingathering of the nations in fulfillment of Old Testament Scriptures).

But behind all this stands God with a mission (the redemption of his whole Creation from the wreckage of human and Satanic evil). The mission of God is what fills the Bible from the brokenness of the nations in Genesis 11 to the healing of the nations in Revelation 21-22. So any mission activity to which we are called must be seen as humble participation in this vast sweep of the historical mission of God. All mission or missions that we initiate, or into which we invest our vocation, gifts, and energies, flows from the prior mission of God. God is on mission, and we, in that wonderful phrase of Paul, are “co-workers with God.”

 

-Chris Wright

 

Jesus is a greater Saviour than you think Him to be when your thoughts are at the greatest.

By On August 22, 2011 · Leave a Comment · In From the Pastor

“The unsearchable riches of Christ.” Ephesians 3:8

My Master has riches beyond the count of arithmetic, the measurement of reason, the dream of imagination, or the eloquence of words. They are unsearchable! You may look, and study, and weigh, but Jesus is a greater Saviour than you think Him to be when your thoughts are at the greatest. My Lord is more ready to pardon than you to sin, more able to forgive than you to transgress.

My Master is more willing to supply your wants than you are to confess them. Never tolerate low thoughts of my Lord Jesus. When you put the crown on His head, you will only crown Him with silver when He deserves gold. My Master has riches of happiness to bestow upon you now. He can make you to lie down in green pastures, and lead you beside still waters.

There is no music like the music of His pipe, when He is the Shepherd and you are the sheep, and you lie down at His feet. There is no love like His, neither earth nor heaven can match it. To know Christ and to be found in Him-oh! this is life, this is joy, this is marrow and fatness, wine on the lees well refined.

My Master does not treat His servants churlishly; He gives to them as a king giveth to a king; He gives them two heavens-a heaven below in serving Him here, and a heaven above in delighting in Him for ever. His unsearchable riches will be best known in eternity. He will give you on the way to heaven all you need; your place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks, your bread shall be given you, and your waters shall be sure; but it is there, THERE, where you shall hear the song of them that triumph, the shout of them that feast, and shall have a face-to-face view of the glorious and beloved One.

The unsearchable riches of Christ! This is the tune for the minstrels of earth, and the song for the harpers of heaven. Lord, teach us more and more of Jesus, and we will tell out the good news to others.

CHS

 

We don’t just need old books, but old truths

By On August 20, 2011 · Leave a Comment · In From the Pastor

“Every age has its own outlook. It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes. We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period. And that means the old books.”

CS Lewis

This gives a vista into one reason we are looking into the Apostles’ Creed. It grounds and enriches us. And can deliver us from being “chronological snobs”.

 

What is OPUS, anyway?

By On August 19, 2011 · 1 Comment · In Uncategorized

We’ve been gearing up for a weekend of events casting our church’s vision for the next academic year. In case you’ve missed those announcements (particularly mine last Sunday), it’s next weekend, August 27th and 28th. The weeked kicks off with an event called OPUS. You might be thinking that’s an acronym. It’s not. You also might be wondering what it means. I will tell you. You’re no doubt familiar with the term, but how does it relate to the church? We’re not planning a symphony, at least not one with instruments.

The term opus is generally used to identify a large, musical composition. If you’re channeling “Mr. Holland’s Opus” right now, then we’re on the same page. The word’s meaning actually goes beyond music, and I think it helps paint a picture of what the church is to be in the world. Any creative work can be called an opus, particularly if it is of a large scale. If you consider the church, with all of its moving parts working in concert for the sake of the gospel, it’s not hard to imagine the body of Christ as his massive, creative work in the world.

When you come to OPUS, you will engage in conversations with other people like you in our church. You will discuss vocation and work together, along with people who are very different from you. These interactions will help us begin to think more creatively and deliberately about the work of Christ Community Church in Gainesville, and throughout the world. After a time of though-provoking discussion over some incredible desserts and coffee, our church’s leadership will present CCC’s plan for the upcoming academic year.

The next day (Sunday), you will have an opportunity to see how specific ministry areas are going to be working toward those goals.

I hope you’ll join us for both. OPUS starts at 7pm in the sanctuary. If you haven’t RSVP’ed for OPUS, please email Emily at the church office – info @ christcommunitychurch . com. You can also let us know you’re coming on the sign-in sheet this Sunday.

 

The Miracles of Jesus

By On August 18, 2011 · Leave a Comment · In Youth

As the youth studied the Gospel of John on Sunday nights at Youth Group, one thing that kept coming up was the miracles Jesus performed. When we studied Jesus’ miraculous feeding of the 5,000 and his claim that He is the Bread of Life, we noted that miracles did display Jesus sovereignty and Lordship, but they weren’t primarily naked displays of power. More specifically, they show what He came to use His power for. They tell us His mission and how we can be a part of it. They tell us that He came to deal with sin and the effects of sin, namely suffering. Every single one of Jesus’ miracles comes against some type of suffering, which means that God isn’t content with the way the world is anymore than you or I are. Jesus feeds the hungry, heals the sick, opens the eyes of the blind, fixes the legs of the crippled, resurrects the dead, and even calms storms. Every miracle is an assault on injustice, disease, decay, and death.

When John the Baptist is unsure if Jesus is really the Messiah, Jesus sends this message back to him, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them.” (Luke 7:22) He comes to deal with suffering; the blind see. He comes to deal with uncleanness; the lepers are cleansed. He comes to deal with injustice; the poor have the Gospel preached to them.

If we just think of miracles as proofs of Jesus’ power, then we’re only going to think of them as an interruption to the way things usually work. However, if we see miracles as signs of the Kingdom, we see that Jesus isn’t temporarily interrupting the natural order of things, but temporarily restoring the natural order of things.

Jesus comes and shows us that this isn’t how things are supposed to be. When He feeds the hungry, He’s reminding us that God designed a world without children with swollen bellies. When He raises the Centurion’s son and Lazarus, He’s reminding us that God created a world where brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, husbands, and wives don’t die and leave unbearable heartache. He’s not just pointing back to the Garden of Eden, but forward to the new creation.

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
(Revelation 21:4 ESV)
“Jesus’ healings are not supernatural miracles in a natural world. They are the only natural things in a world that is unnatural, demonized, and wounded.”

-Jurgen Moltmann