I would like to underscore 2 things; Grace and Community. In the last 2 years, I have seen the grace of Christ come alive in the works of his saints, specifically at CBC, And I have been challenged to consider what church really is. So first, God’s grace, which exploded on the scene when Christ came to earth, is now being manifested in his chosen people the church. “The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1.14).” Because of Christ-dominated or I could say grace-dominated believers at Colonial, God’s grace has become more real to me these last 2 years. From the faithful prayers of a dear saint(she introduced herself to me when I first moved down here and on numerous occasions has approached me at church and told me that she was praying for me), she has probably spent more time on her knees in the last month than I have in the last 10 years, to a sacrificial homeowner allowing me to live with him for a fraction of what he should charge me, to the generosity of a single woman giving me her second car for a dollar when it was worth who knows how much more than that, to the loving confrontation of a professor at the seminary when I really needed it, to a family having a burden for our community of believers and starting what we now call grace supplies, to the philosophy of grace giving, to the text saturated preaching, to the many families that have opened up their homes to me while I have been here. And, the grace list goes on. These are testimonies of God’s grace at work in the local body of believers in VB. Praise God for a grace church.
The second thing is community. If the church is to be marked by unity AND love for Christ and for each other, then what does that look like on a week to week basis? Is church a building we go to or a community of brothers and sisters that we laugh with, cry with, pray with, sing with, confront, exhort, weep, and rejoice with. Through conversations with friends and professors at the seminary as well as conversations with believers and just watching the body of Christ grow I have been challenged to read and reread the New Testament asking the question: what did the church really look like in the first century and how should it look today? Yes, culture changes but essential components transcend time and culture. Christ prays in John 17 that we would be one just as He and the Father are one. Does that become a reality through casual relationships and once a week interaction? Heb. 3.12-13 “See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ!” The lone ranger mentality is out when it comes to true Christianity. We pursue Christ together. We seek his kingdom together. We persevere in the faith together. So, through conversations and watching different believers live out true Christian community I have realized more and more that we must be the church for each other. And what is the main thing that the church does for each other? We speak to each other in ways that help us not be deceived by the allurements of sin. We speak to each other in ways that cause us to have hearts of faith in the superior value of Christ over all things. We fight to maintain each other's faith, by speaking words that point people to the truth and value of Jesus. Unbelief means failing to rest in Jesus as our greatest treasure. Helping each other believe means showing people reasons why Jesus is more to be desired and trusted and loved than anything else. Jesus is not a vaccination that we take at one point in our lives and then forget about. God does not want his Son to be forgotten like a vaccination, but celebrated daily as the greatest treasure in the universe. And as believers, we are here to help each other pursue that end.
Hallelujah, All we have is Christ. Hallelujah, Jesus is our life.
(Some of my thoughts under my second point come from a Piper sermon.)
