CCC Gainesville | Blog
Does God Care Whether Tim Tebow Wins on Saturday?
Owen Strachan seeks to answer that question with winsome wisdom.
Does God care who wins? Here here
We’ve got a big day planned this Sunday. Adult education kicks off what promise to be several great classes, and there’s a lunch for college students. The worship team worked on preparing some special music this week that I hope you’ll enjoy. We will be singing “Gather Round, Ye Children, Come”, a great song about the Christ child from Behold the Lamb of God, Andrew Peterson’s acclaimed Christmas tour-turned-album.
Peterson is a household name for some in our church, but his work will be new to lots of people. I really enjoy his style of song writing, and I think he crafts music that tells a story well. Behold the Lamb of God was written to tell the Christmas story. As Rob continues to dwell on Christ as a child, the lyrics from this song (written in 2004) began to play in my head. Hopefully it won’t be stuck in yours all next week.
Gather ’round, ye children, come
Listen to the old, old story
Of the pow’r of Death undone
By an infant born of glory
Son of God, Son of ManGather ’round, remember now
How creation held its breath
How it let out a sigh
And it filled up the sky with the angels
Son of God, Son of ManSo sing out with joy for the brave little boy
Who was God, but He made Himself nothing
He gave up His pride and He came here to die
Like a manTherefore God exalted Him
To the place of highest praises
And He gave Him a name above every name
That at the very name of Jesus, Son of GodSo in heav’n and earth and below
Every knee would bow in worship
And ev’ry tongue would proclaim
That Jesus, He reigns with the angels
See you Sunday.
This week I had a great planning time with the team of guys who are pulling together GraceCon 2012. The weekend together really has the promise to be a powerful and fun time together. The speakers we have, Brandon Lauranzon and Mike Osborne are great. You are going to enjoy them.
They will base their talks on the book of James. Here is a helpful image that gives you a sense of some major themes in James.
The leaders have a goal of 100 men at GraceCon 2012. If you’ve registered already, thanks. That’s a serious help to the leaders who need to plan. Not registered? Check you calendar and register now, please. It is easy, just click here and fill in some quick info—then make a donation using the payPal button. Students, you guys are free. You’re welcome!
2010 stands out, to me, as the year that Christ Community successfully transitioned from living and thinking like a “small church” to that of a “medium size church”. Below is a small piece of an article Tim Keller wrote called Church Size Dynamics. At the end of my excerpt is a link to a longer excerpt. If you want to go straight to the 15 page doc, cheers.
We tend to think of the chief differences between churches mainly in denominational or theological terms, but that underestimates the impact of size on how a church operates. The difference between how churches of 100 and 1,000 function may be much greater than the difference between a Presbyterian and a Baptist church of the same size.
A large church is not simply a bigger version of a small church. The difference in communication, community formation, and decision-making processes are so great that the leadership skills required in each are of almost completely different orders.
Size Cultures
Every church has a culture that goes with its size and which must be accepted. Most people tend to prefer a certain size culture, and unfortunately, many give their favorite size culture a moral status and treat other size categories as spiritually and morally inferior. They may insist that the only biblical way to do church is to practice a certain size culture despite the fact that the congregation they attend is much too big or too small to fit that culture.
Luke 2:39-52 has the wonderful theme that Jesus grew up. And that He grew as a person.
verse 40 “and the child grew”
verse 52 “Jesus grew in wisdom”
verse 46 “Jesus listening to the teachers, and asking them questions”
Somehow this theme presses the edges for me of the wonder of Christ’s humility for me.
Calvin: From the time that he was conceived in his mother’s womb, did he not abound in all fullness of spiritual gifts? for it appears absurd to say, that the Son of God wanted any thing that was necessary to perfection. The reply is easy. If it takes nothing from his glory, that he was altogether, “emptied,” (ἑαυτὸν ἐκένωσε, Philippians 2:6,) neither does it degrade him, that he chose not only to grow in body, but to make progress in mind. And certainly when the Apostle declares, that, “in all things he was made like unto his brethren,”(Hebrews 2:17,) and “was in all points tempted like as we are, sin excepted,” (Hebrews 4:15,) he no doubt includes, that his soul was subject to ignorance. There is only this difference between us and him, that the weaknesses which press upon us, by a necessity which we cannot avoid, were undertaken by him voluntarily, and of his own accord.
