from 1 Corinthians 12:12-27
It is difficult to feel a sense of belonging when you don’t feel like you have anything to contribute to thing to which you have given yourself to belong. Even for those who would just as soon fly under the radar and are content with doing next to nothing, eventually the chasm of disconnect created is too much to navigate, and you are left feeling like there is no place for you.
In God’s Kingdom, in the Body of Christ…in the church, no gift offered is too small. In fact, Paul suggests that those who feel the least significant are perhaps the greatest gift to the church, and to what the church is called to be in this world.
What if your belonging included your willingness to use the gifts God has given you…no matter how small they may seem…to use the gifts God has given you in and through the church to transform the world?
w/ Vern Collins
from Acts 2:42-47
Somehow we have allowed ourselves to become convinced that busyness equals fruitfulness. The reality, however, is not that we are left admiring all that we’ve accomplished…rather, we are often left just trying to hang on. Though the invitation to a healthy rhythm and the command to rest, the truth is, many of us are simply committed to things we can’t readily drop or opt out of.
So rather than put off taking our next step in belonging…rather than waiting until we get through “this busy season” (which never seems to come)…what if we reimagined what it could look like to be connected….to BELONG to the Body of Christ? What if we allowed God to redefine how our time is spent?
w/ Vern Collins
from Romans 12:3-8
When you say yes to the gift of life made possible by Jesus on the cross, when you walk in salvation, when you are adopted into the family of God…you are NOT meant to be an only child! And yet far too many of us attempt to walk this journey of faith and life in isolation from those we are meant to walk alongside.
In this first week of our “Belonging” series, we consider why belonging in the midst of life’s transitions is not only good…it is vital to our remaining rooted in who we are in Christ and remaining connected in relationship to God and what God is doing in this world.
w/ Vern Collins
from 1 Corinthians 12:12-27
Saying yes to Jesus is saying yes to His Body…the church.
Saying yes to the church is an invitation away from a life of independence and toward a life of interdependence in which we are intertwined with one another, modeling in our relationship as the church, the love and care of Christ.
From independence to interdependence from isolation to connection, from loneliness to relationship…a call to step into the mess that is human life and watch as God redeems it and makes it something beautiful for the world.
w/ Vern Collins
from Ephesians 4:1-16
It does not take long in this life before we begin working to be seen as being worthy…worthy of affection, worthy of attention, worthy of responsibility, worthy of advancement, worthy of acceptance. Too often, we will go to great lengths to prove our worth, and too often come away feeling more unworthy for what we sacrificed in the process.
What if you began to live out of the worth you are already given in Christ? What if you rather than living to prove your worth, you strived to live a life that reflects the fact that you have already been called, “worthy.”
And what would it look like to do that in the context of the Body that is the Church?
w/ Vern Collins
from Philippians 2:1-16
The advent of social media makes our ability to share our opinion as easy as the click of a button…and at a time in our history such as this, there is plenty to have an opinion about. Unless you live this live in complete isolation it is likely that sometime in the past week…perhaps even at some point today, you have come across an opinion that you disagree with.
Sure, in the arena of internet we can unfriend, ignore, or keep scrolling beyond those comments and opinions with which we disagree…but what happens when the person you disagree with is sitting next to you in worship, or across from you in your community group…what do we do with the argument against the church that says, “I don’t want to be a part of a group who can’t even get along with each other?”
What if this life were less about winning an argument or proving a point…what if it were less about having the last word, and more about living as if Jesus has already had the final say?
w/ Vern Collins
from 1 Corinthians 12:12-31
In a time in history (in our Western Culture in particular) when we are much choosier with the things we give our time and energy to we are finding that the church is not near the top of everyone’s list the way it once was…and if we are honest, who could blame anyone for choosing not to be a part of the church.
The argument could be made that the church spends too much time trying to police the world around it than it does carrying out Christ’s mission of loving the world around it, serving the world around it, and inviting the world around it into a life changing encounter with Him.
But what if the church were the Body of Christ that Paul talks about in his letter to the Corinthians? What if the church embraced its identity as the hands and feet of Christ in this world, and what if each member saw the incredible value of both their investment in the church and the investment the church might make in their lives?
As we open our “Questions” series, we consider that being a part of the church might just tell you something about who you are, how you should be cared for, and what you could do in this world…
w/ David Hockett and Vern Collins
from 1 Corinthians 12:12-26
We are conditioned from an early age that if we have any hope of success, we need to be set apart. This is great for those who feel like they are, and a road block for those who feel less than unique in a world that values distinction.
The problem is, our distinction often creates division, so we find ourselves not only suffering the effects of this, but trying to compensate for it by calling for unity in the midst of our diversity.
Paul argues, that as the Body of Christ, we find unity because of our diversity, not in response to it.
How would the church begin to look different; how would your life begin to look different if you saw yourself as one part of the whole, and began to value the parts around that also contribute to the church being the body of Christ?
w/ Vern Collins
from 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
The call for the Christ follower to be Christ to the world can be at best confusing and at worst something that on you can make a quick mess of. In an age when the church and the follower of Christ are seen as being judgmental, hypocritical, or more concerned with self than with a hurting world, is there hope of bringing the gap?
The invitation to Christ’s table is an invitation to a deeper understanding not only of the journey that led Christ to be broken for us, but a deeper understanding of who we are called to be in Him.
w/ Vern Collins
from John 20:24-31
The lifeless form on the cross, the broken bread at The Table, the church, and the individual following Christ…all, the Body of Christ, yet for much of the world there the disconnect between who the Christian, or what the church is and who they understand Jesus to be.
Perhaps if we had a better understanding of what it means to be the Body of Christ, then we would begin to look more like the One Who is at the head.
In week 1 of our new series, we look at Jesus’ patient encounter with Thomas after the Resurrection, and are challenged in the way we might approach those around us who doubt.
w/ Vern Collins
