I am a Pastor. I am a Father. I am a husband. We all have I am statements about who we are in this world. One of the easiest ones is to say I am what I do. I am my job, I am the activities that I participate in, and in Luke 10 Jesus helps to remind us that while work, serving, and caring for others are all important, none of those should define who we are.
What keeps you grounded? What is your answer to who are you? In Luke 15 Jesus shares a few parables that speak to how God sees us, and how we are expected to God and serve others in light of who God says we are.
In Ezekiel God makes a covenant with Israel. The Israelites had once again abandoned God and disgraced his name. In response, God promises to transform their (and our) hearts as we follow after him passionately. We see the phrase “I will” over and over again in this passage, reminding us that God is the one who does the work of transformation. Join us as we talk through what it looks like to surrender to that transformation.
In Acts 9 we meet a woman named Dorcas who seems to be living a relatively normal life. Then she passes, and the town begins to turn out in large numbers to remember the simple, everyday ways that this woman served and blessed her community. From a place of gratitude to God, we each are invited to serve and love others out of the overflow of our relationship with God.
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus outlines a variety of ways that we are to live out our faith. Part of that is an assumption that to believe in Jesus changes our lives, and how we live. The word for belief in the bible assumes that you both comprehend and agree with something in your mind, and that your knowledge of that transforms your heart, mind, and actions.
The easiest person to blame when things are not how we want them is someone else, truly anyone else besides me. Being an alongsider means that we have a responsibility for our own faith, our own growth, our own relationship with God. That we will chose to pursue God, to ask questions, to dig into our faith.
We have all had mountain top days and experiences. Weddings, births of babies, promotions at work, big performances. On those days it can be easy to believe that the world is good, and that God is with you. But what about on days when life is not going as expected or challenges arise. God has a conversation with King Solomon that helps remind us that God’s faithfulness, God showing up for us, is unchanging, even if the circumstances of our lives are ever changing.
In our new series this fall, we are going to be talking specifically about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus, and alongside what we are calling it. We see in the calling of the first disciples and in the ministry of John the Baptist, that part of that is inviting people to be part of a movement that points our lives and focus towards someone else (Jesus and serving those around us).
This week Sunday we’ll be looking at who Jesus calls as his disciples. Upon first reading this passage it’s easy for us to focus on the type of people Jesus calls to see if we measure up. However, it seems the invitation for us is to look at the person and character of the one who calls. Jesus is the one who calls and knowing him invites us to see ourselves from his perspective.
Now it’s our turn. Having heard several examples of faith embodied, having set a foundation of Christ’s example, now Paul closes with a blessing for us as we live our faith out in this world. He blesses us on the good days and bad, when things are going well, and when they are challenging. Since God is the one who empowers us, we can have hope of how the Spirit can walk with us through whatever life sends our way.
Phil 3 continues with more examples, now moving to the author of the book himself, Paul. Paul shares about his own life, including his own struggles, as a reminder that even for him, the author, this is not just a list of things. This is what his life’s passion and work is all about. Faith is not something that we consider or think about, it is something that we embody.
Philippians is a personalized letter, to a specific church, and in these verses we get some of that feel. Paul names two known partners in ministry, Timothy and Epaphroditus. It could be easy to read past these verses, since, well, we don’t know either of these men like they did. But, this is more than a nod to partners in ministry. In light of the Christ hymn in verses 6-11, these are two examples of ways that the Christ centered life is lived out, and role models that the church is to look to.
The poem in the middle of these verses is the epicenter of the book of Philippians. In a book focused on an embodied faith, verse 6-11 names in clear terms what that kind of life is to look like as modeled by Jesus. Humility, grace, patience, serving.
In 1 Samuel we read about the Israelites rejecting God’s sovereignty. Thousands of years later we can wrestle with the same thing. Join us as we talk through keeping God as king in our lives.
Paul pivots to a sticky issue next: unity. Paul desires to see the church in Philippi rally together to love and serve the community around them in the name of Jesus. Paul reminds them that the source of that unity is found not in causes or topics, but in the love and grace that Jesus has extended to them, and they are not called to extend to others.
In the second half of Philippians 1, Paul gives a brief update about his own life. He is in prison for sharing Jesus with non-Jewish people, and it is possible his punishment might be death. Yet he quickly pivots to another update: he is sharing Jesus with his guards, and those around him. Paul leans into this idea, that we get to follow Jesus. And that whatever life throws at us, we have the opportunity to live for Jesus.
In much of our lives, we rush to finish projects, get a promotion, or reach the next something. That same mentality can leak into our faith if we are not careful. In Philippians 1 we are reminded that God is up to something in each of us, and that faith is a process of being formed by God, not a destination or project to reach.
One of the unique things about how Jesus teaches his disciples to pray in what is commonly known as the Lord’s prayer is calling God our Father. This title implies closeness, relationship, connection, and approachability. Like any relationship, part of growing closer together is time with one another. In 2 Corinthians, we are reminded that because of Jesus’ death on the cross, we are invited to enjoy and take time to be with God, with no agenda, simply to enjoy each other’s presence, but again what does that mean or look like?