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Daily Devotional

Christ is All you Need!

As some of you know I was made redundant and have been unemployed since July, I am writing this post to encourage you and especially myself while we are in this journey of transition together.

I am thankful to God for His presence each day. His grace and fellowship every hour. There are times I would feel lost but the Holy Spirit through His word would remind me that He is my Provider and Sustainer and it’s not a man or a company- these are means and not an end.

Truly thankful for such a wonderful God who understands the depths of my thoughts, fears and worries and addresses them gently as a Father and secures my weak heart.

He truly withheld no good thing from me. The reality is there are expenses each month. I am thankful for friends who have been there for me in this phase of my life and extended help and support in every way God enabled them to.

Some ordered groceries, some helped financially without me reaching out to them, some sent job references, some checked on my emotional health, some prayed and some even cried with me. It’s overwhelming how God moves people with compassion to understand the needs.

So if you’re reading this I want to encourage you. As my friend Kimaya encouraged me. She was watching a movie- Noah and God told one of Noah’s son in the movie- You have EVERYTHING you need in this time.

Yes and this is true. I am thankful first and foremost because the presence and love of a Holy God is my portion. 36 years of my life He has sustained me and never failed once. Even in hardships and pain He never left.

Secondly in this time, I experience His love and goodness through the friends and family.

I want to remind you and encourage you with the truth that you have everything you need- God and His people around you.

He is using the stillness, the hardship, the brokenness, every single detail of your life to behold His goodness and to mould our hearts to the likeness of Christ to respond with compassion to suffering.

So I pray with Thanksgiving for all of us –
Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for your steady love and faithfulness through every trial and temptation.

Thank you that You never leave us nor forsake us. Thank you for sustaining us and carrying us through every hardship. Thank you for your presence Holy Spirit. You’re sufficient at all times.

Thank you for your people who comfort when in distress. I know God You’re a provider and withhold no good thing You gave Jesus Christ the best gift ever, so I know You will take care of every need beyond what we can ask or think for Your Glory!

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1 Thessalonians Sermon

Mark of a Healthy Church – 1 Thessalonians 2:13-16

We are currently doing a sermon series called ‘Abiding Faith’ as we are going through Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians. The passage we will be looking at today is 1 Thessalonians 2:13-16, and if you have your bible or an app you can open and read with me.

And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.

For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews, who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and oppose all mankind by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved-so as always to fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them at last!

Being part of a Sunday worship is not enough
Being part of a community group is not enough
Having being born in a Christian family is not enough
Having being called Christian, a follower of Jesus by others is not enough

It takes a lot more than these to be called a true & faithful follower of Jesus. 

The mark of a strong and healthy church is not in the strength of its numbers, not in its well-organised services and bible studies and community groups, it is not in its electrifying singing time, and it is not even in its online presence.

The mark of a strong and healthy church is in the quality of its people.

In our passage today Paul is calling out and thanking God for the church, the people of God. He is highlighting some of the great qualities these men possessed that made them different. So, let’s listen carefully to what he has to say about the Church in Thessalonica.

And as we hear and learn from these verses let us come with an open heart, examine ourselves before God and allow the Holy Spirit to bring conviction and lead us into repentance and faith making us a strong and healthy Christian and a healthy church.

There are three qualities of the church that Paul is thanking God for, the first one is that …

•  They received the word not as the word of man but as word from God

In verse 13 he writes “And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.”

When Paul and his associates went preaching the gospel in Thessalonica and teaching from the scriptures, the people didn’t just hear the word as its coming from the mouth of Paul or other men, they heard and accepted it as if it were the words of God himself. And Paul says that which you believed to be the words from God is at work in you. What an encouraging thing to say.

Their attentive ears and their attitude towards the word of God brought the Gospel alive in their hearts and is now at work in them.

In hard times like these, when we are going through a threat like Coronavirus – where people, news channels, neighbours, office colleagues are constantly talking to us – where everyone’s giving their views and opinions about the current situation and how to react to it, what is our source of truth? Where do we draw our strength from? What is at work in our heart?

Brothers & sisters, it is only the word of God that can be our source of truth, the only hope for our heart in such difficult times.

The scriptures, preaching of the word and others devotionals are how God communicates to us, giving words of instruction, rebuking us of our sin patterns, encouraging our hearts in difficult times, provoking us to live a Holy life, worthy of His calling. As Pastors and leaders when we prepare our sermons we pay very careful attention not to speak or present to you anything that is not in the purview of the scripture and we even hold each other accountable to it.

The transforming word of God was at work in the life of the believers in Thessalonians, but for the word to produce transformational results in their hearts, they needed to trust God’s word with the right attitude and a desire to walk in unconditional obedience.

Imagine you’ve been given a new responsibility at work, a new project to handle. And while your manager was training you for the job, explaining the process and instructions as per the guidelines given by the company CEO – instead of paying attention you were distracted on your phone or some other things, you said: “chod na, yeh manager bak bak karat rehta hai”. What do you think the result will be? We will make a wreck of the job and even ruin the company and the CEO’s reputation. 

Now, when we ignore reading the Bible, not giving heed to the preaching of God’s word. If that’s the attitude we carry, then aren’t we risking our lives? God who made the world, God who knows the end from the beginning expects us to give Him a listening year and trust His word and not what the world has to say.

When we read or hear Gods word, do we see them as man-made fables written to entertain our itching ears or do we see them as from God, the Holy one. If we believe these words are from God we will pay full attention, protect it, guard it, set reminders for our heart.

While we are in Sunday gatherings, in bible study groups, in GC’s we will make every effort to align our heart and mind to make sure we get it right, that we are not missing the point. And even if for any reason we sometimes fail to make it for these gatherings, we will still make an effort to get hold of God’s word by other means.

Brother & sisters, if you are in a place where you feel fearful with the spread of this deadly disease, you don’t have hope in your heart, or you feel depressed and lonely while you are isolated in your home…. my encouragement to you is pick up your bible and hear God, I promise you will see your faith increasing, your hope growing and sense the arm of protection of our loving Father.

The second quality Paul mentions in that …

• They became imitators of the Churches of God in Christ

In verse 14 Paul writes “For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea”

They didn’t just heed to Gods word but to grow healthy they started imitating other churches and other believers. It doesn’t mean that they started imitating each other’s dressing style, worship style, talking style etc. But I believe they imitated each other’s Faith, [Pause] imitated each other’s responses to the call of God over their lives, [Pause] their response to sufferings and most importantly imitate them in preaching and spreading the good news of Jesus wherever they went.

Imitating each other is a good thing, that’s the primary way in which we learn and grow. Children imitate their parents and family members, younger ones imitate their older ones. Jairus sometimes finds it annoying when Amaze imitates whatever he does, but isn’t that how are programmed to grow. Paul writes to the Corinthian church saying “Be imitators of me as I am of Christ”

As Christians it is healthy to imitate each other, apart from all how we imitate each other as mentioned earlier, we can imitate healthy marriages, imitate servanthood, imitate prayer life, we also imitate faith-filled responses of other strong believers when we go through troubled times.

But beware, the greatest hindrance that keeps us from imitating each other’s Godly life is Pride, don’t let your pride tell you that you know it better and that you don’t need to learn from others.

As a church and as your leaders, we actively fellowship with other churches in our network to learn from them, to find encouragement from them and to imitate their godly pursuits. I can’t express the number of ways in which I have benefited from such Godly imitations, helping me grow stronger in the Lord.

Beloved, don’t sulk in your pain, sorrow and fear, but identify the areas in which you are struggling and find a godly role-model whom you can imitate so you can grow as a follower of Christ.

If you are not able to meet a brother and sister physically, pick up your phone and call them. As your pastors and leaders, we and our wives are always available to speak to you. Pls, do not hesitate to do so especially in times like this.

Don’t let these circumstances to draw us apart from each other, rather let it bring us, even more, closer to each other.

And the final quality Paul mentions is that …

• They suffered for the sake of the Gospel

For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews, who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and oppose al mankind by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved-so as always to fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them at last!

Their faith in Jesus was not just a decorative badge they carried around but it invited trouble and persecution from their fellow men. Jesus said in John 16:33 “In this world, you will have tribulation”, and especially when you are a follower of Jesus.

Often we desire that our suffering would end, but please believe me when I say to you that suffering is good and you ought to be rejoicing when you suffer for the sake of Christ. You know why? Because in our sufferings on earth for Christ we get to share in the sufferings of Christ. Isn’t that a wonderful experience.

Peter writes in 1 Peter 4:13 “to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.”

Paul writes in Corinthians 1: 5 “For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ.”

I don’t know what kind of sufferings you are experiencing at this moment, maybe suffering because of your faith in Jesus, or maybe suffering because of the responses of this broken world in your office, in your society. When we go through such sufferings its a reminder that Christ endured the same suffering and much more for our sake, dying for sinners like us and mending our broken relationship with our Heavenly Father. Let our sufferings draw us closer to Jesus in repentance and faith in Him and his saving grace

The believers in the early church when faced with trials and testings, instead of breaking down and giving up, endured it with joy knowing that the experiences were drawing them closer to Christ. Let us also, therefore, embrace such sufferings with joy.

Brothers and sisters, my hope and prayer for us all this morning is that our hearts would be inclined to grow as quality Christians, not cold or lukewarm but hot, super hot for Christ. And that will happen as we take God’s word seriously, use our free time to dive deep into scriptures and engage with it in a meaningful way. Remember Psalm 1:2-3 “those who delight in the word of the Lord, who meditates on his law day and night, are like a tree planted by the streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.

We will also grow super strong when we are together, connected in love, encouraging each other, imitating each other in the Lord and when we endure suffering with joy.

Let’s pray!

Categories
Matthew Sermon The Church

Ministry of the Church : Matthew 28:18-20

We are on the last & final topic of the series called ‘The Church’.

The title of today’s sermon is ‘The Ministry of the Church’ and the passage we are looking at is Matthew 28:18-20

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Jesus, after spending 33 years on earth as a human being, walking through this broken world with us, through all the vulnerabilities we humans go through so He can identify with our struggles, tempted in every possible way just as we are tempted but still lived a perfect and holy life pleasing to God the Father.

And after spending the last 3 years in ministry, preaching the Kingdom of God, making disciples out of uneducated, sinful men, teaching and enlightening them about the Kingdom of God, offering Himself to die on the cross as a perfect sacrifice for the atonement of our sin and rebellion, he exchanged His righteousness with us & finally rose up from the dead and sealed this new covenant with us of restoring us back to Father. And now Jesus is at the end of His ministry and He is giving out his last commandment to his disciples.

These disciples after hearing these commands from Jesus, on His instruction they wait for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, just like Jesus waited when he started His ministry, and then scattered all around the world preaching the good news of the Gospel, making disciples and teaching them to obey.

Today we are the recipients of God grace because of these men who took Jesus’s command seriously against all the odds, challenges, threats, pain, suffering, even death and made Jesus and truth of the Gospel famous all around the world. A special thanks to Thomas who when led by the Holy Spirit travelled to our nation India in the year AD 52 and faithfully preached the Gospel, later was killed in AD 72 in Chennai for spreading the Gospel.

Brothers & sisters, we all are called & commanded to do the same. This is the ultimate purpose of our lives and the ultimate purpose of the Church as we saw a couple of Sundays back. It is to lift up Jesus to this dying world and communicate this message of hope.

And the funny thing is that this almighty, all-powerful God doesn’t need us to accomplish this task, he can do it on His own, but he invites us to have this amazing privilege to participate in His work as partners – For which He rewards us, on earth and in heaven.

Therefore, lets pay careful attention and understand this Great commission in depth and how it applies in our current context of life.

I want to share four things from this passage that are important for us to know and learn.

1. It’s a command and not an instruction, from the highest authority.

We all work in corporate companies, imagine the Founder & Managing Director of your company invites you to his cabin and personally assigns you a task to do and also promises to reward you for doing it. How would you respond?

Will you say ‘I’ll do it whenever I get free time?”, or “I’ll see whether I want to do it”.

No, we will never say that, instead we will be so excited that we will keep aside every other work to complete the task, in fact some of us will even work extra hours to get the job done, just to please your boss and get his compliments.

Brothers & sisters, the one who is speaking to us is Jesus, to whom all authority in heaven and earth has been given. If an assignment from an earthly boss can move us and shake us from our comfort zone. Consider, the one who is speaking to us is almighty God.

And when the most powerful person on heaven and earth speaks to us, it’s not just an instruction that we can chose whether we want to do it or not.

There is no other option then to take Him seriously and get on with the task.

2. Go & tell, not come and see

The instruction is quite clear. It is to ‘go & tell’ and not ‘come and see’. – “Go therefore …”

In the Old Testament, or in the old covenant the presence of God resided in the “Tabernacle of God”, in the temple, where people would come with their sacrifices to receive pardon from their sins. But if we study the structure and ordinances of the temple we will learn that they were mere symbols pointing us to Jesus and the ultimate display of His work on the cross.

Instead of we bringing the sacrifice for the atonement of our sins, he came and gave himself as a sacrifice once for all. The Bible tells us that now we are the temple where God resides.

Today the church is not a building or a structure, church is the people of God – temple of God where God resides (1 Cor 6:19).

When Jesus is asking us to ‘go therefore’, he is telling us to take His presence with us into this dying world. Which means, when we invite and have a coffee conversation with a friend or a college we are allowing them to have close proximity with the presence of God residing in us. When we are talking to them and expressing our hearts, inviting them into our lives we are expressing God’s heart to them and inviting them to God’s Kingdom.

Here’s some practical ways in which we invite them to give us a listening ear. Remember, these are only effective when we are thoroughly soaked in the Gospel and are experiencing the transforming work of Christ in us.

  • Through Our vocabulary – Speaking the Kingdom language:
    • When we speak Words of Hope that help people see life beyond their present pain and suffering
    • When we speak Words of Life that put King Jesus on the pedestal for others to see and admire
    • When we speak Words of acknowledgment & gratefulness to God for others to learn and follow.
  • Through Our responses – Our faithful responses to the brokeness of this world:
    • Our response when we go through financial crises in trusting His provision.
    • Our responses when we fall sick in relying on His Sovereignty.
    • Our response when we are tempted to sin in saying ‘No’ at all costs.
    • Our response when we see delay in Gods answering our prayers in knowing that He makes everything beautiful in His time.
    • Our response when our bosses sit on out head in trusting in the ultimate authority.

Our responses to such situations testify the fact that nothing in this world bothers us because we rest in Jesus and his finished work on the cross.

  • Through Our values – Walking the talk:
    • Doing the right thing at all times regardless of what the consequences are.
    • Walking according to principles and commandment prescribed in the scripture. – Not out of compulsion but with joy.
  • Through Our service – Having a Servantheart:
    • Going the extra mile to bring the hope of Christ to a person in need, physical or emotional.
    • Serving the poor, caring for the orphans, providing for the widows.
    • Sacrificing our time, energy and resources to comfort others in need.

Remember, these are means through which we can invite others to hear us out, but the ultimate goal is Gospel proclamation. Sharing the True Gospel in a clear, meaningful, & effective manner is most important, not the Gospel that promises health, wealth & prosperity but the Gospel that promises eternal life in heaven whether in riches or poverty; pain, suffering or good health, not a work-based Gospel that says to get this you have do this, but a Gospel of grace, that says its a free gift we receive without doing anything in return – All we do is believe in the Son of God & trust Him.

3. We are called to make disciples, not mere friends and colleagues

Don’t settle and be satisfied that you have made some unbelieving friends and that you hang out with them often. Our job is not complete unless we make a disciple out of them.

And it just doesn’t happen like that, there is an investment of time, money and resources we need to consider if we have to walk and disciple people. If time, money, comfort matters to us more than saving our loved ones from pain, sorrow & misery then we have to consider offering them as a sacrifice for the sake of the Kingdom.

Jesus left His glory and came for us, sacrificing everything, the disciples of Jesus left the comfort of their homes and sacrificed their lives so that we could find hope.

What is it that the Holy Spirit asking us to do? Are we making disciples or just friends with whom we like to hangout and chill, mostly so that we can feel good and relieved from the daily stress.

We ought to be making disciples, not just hang out with them as friends.

4. Teach them to obey, not just attend church and sing Christian songs

Let us not be like those parents who are happy that their children go to church, by-heart bible verses and sing Christian songs. Unless we’ve understood and experienced Gospel transformation and are walking in obedience to God word, no Christian activity will save our lives.

We are not inviting our friends to do Christian activities with us but we are inviting them to walk in obedience and to fulfil the God given purposes in their lives.

It is not the good feeling of being part of a church, or a good feeling of being part of an exuberant worship that brings life transformation. What brings life transformation is the truth of God revealed in our heart that leads us to walking in total surrender to Him.

Therefore, we need to consistently and faithfully encourage one other to walk in obedience to God’s word. Jesus said “If you love me you will obey me”. There is no loving without obedience. If you come to me and say you love Jesus, I will only be able to validate your love for Jesus if I also see unconditional obedience. – That’s how even Jesus will measure our love when we meet Him.

Teach them to obey, not just attend church and sing Christian songs.

In all of this, brothers & sisters, be encouraged – Jesus is with us and walking alongside us. He promised never to leave, never to forsake, his hand of protection, his comfort, his strength, his wisdom, his power is always with us.

This is the ministry of the church, the ministry of every single person sitting in this room. I hope I’ve given you compelling reasons to find your joy in serving in the Kingdom of God and tools to start acting on it. I believe you will be like the faithful servants who used their talents for God’s glory and when you meet your saviour and master in heaven you will hear him say “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your master”.

Let’s pray

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Romans Sermon The Church

People of the Church : Romans 12

Allow me to start this morning by sharing with you the story of this young violinist from London.

He was a young musician who had a very tough life but caught a break and went on to become wealthy and successful. One day he realized that it was his time to give something back to society and decided to use his talents to do something charitable.

As he entertained this thought he chanced to see a newspaper report of a homeless man who died in the street. He followed the story and found out that the burial of this man was to be done in an unmarked grave outside the city.

This was his opportunity to do something good for someone less fortunate, so the young musician decided to give go to the funeral and honour the life of this homeless man by playing at his funeral for free.

So on the day of the funeral he left the city and drove towards the church by outskirts where the funeral was to take place but along the drive, he lost his way.

He drove around for several hours trying to locate this funeral site. He finally arrived an hour late and saw that funeral guys had evidently gone and the ambulance was nowhere in sight. There were only a few the diggers left and they were eating lunch.

He felt badly and apologized to the men for being late. He went to the side of the grave and looked down and the vault lid was already in place. He didn’t know what else to do, so he started to play.

As he played a few old beautiful Christian hymns the workers put down their lunches and began to gather around. He played out his heart and soul for this man with no family and friends. He played like he’s never played before for this poor deceased homeless man.

And as he played ‘Amazing Grace,’ it was so I powerful and moving that the workers began to weep. They wept, he wept, they all wept together. When he finished he packed up his violin and started for his car. 

As he opened the door to his car, he overheard one of the workers say, “Man 27 years I have been laying septic tanks outside of the city, not once did anyone play music for us like this before”

I understand from your leaders that a few weeks ago you guys started a sermon series on ‘The Church’ . The goal of this sermon series is for you as a community to better grasp the Biblical design of the church so that you may live meaningful lives as the church in the city of Mumbai. Today I want to pick it up where Jinson left and continue on this topic as we look at what it means to be the people of the Church.

This morning I started with the story of the violinist because when it comes to the topic of church many are like the diggers in the story who enjoyed this melodious music but was totally oblivious and confused as to what its purpose was. 

You see even in the christian community today there are those who regularly attend church and maybe even weekly groups but are still left confused and disillusioned on what it really means to be the people of the church.

Most people have some view of what the church is, based on either their experience or someone else’s experience of Church. 

1. Some view church as just a part of their family tradition: This view is popular particularly in professing Christian communities. It’s simply done as what has always been done without thinking or feeling very deeply about the church. 

church becomes a place we go to or something we do on Sundays

2. Then there are those who look from the outside and view church as a gathering of good people

This view is popular especially if you did not grow up in a Christian home, somehow we have brought into the idea that church folks are people that are morally superior and follow strict rules and regulations to reach or be closer to God.

Well firstly, if you have been around church folks for more that 5 minutes you will soon get over this idea, you realize that they are also folks that need God’s grace just like you. Secondly the Bible is very clear that Christianity is not primarily about rule-following but being captured and changed by the love of Christ.

3. There are also those who have completely rejected the idea of church

This could be based on painful personal experience to them or to someone they know.

-at times simply not understanding that the communion of saints (church) is also a communion of sinners leads to unrealistic expectations and disappointments. Think of it, if there was a perfect church somewhere when you and I join it and bring our imperfections to it, it will stop being perfect right?

4. Finally, there are those that have taken on the individualism and consumerism in our culture and transported it directly into their expectations and understanding of church approaching it as consumers. Church to them is a supply of religious goods and service that they are to be consumed

-this often leads to treating the church like a buffet line, we like worship in this one place, the preaching in this other place and we love community in this other place that we keep hopping from one place to the next without being known deeply or rooted in one community.

To some degree every single one of us in this room including me have a mixed view of what it means to be the people of the church. 

The good news this morning is that Jesus has not left church to our imagination but has given us much clarity on what it means to be the people of His Church, a people rooted and grounded in Him. So if you have your Bibles would you turn with me to the book of Romans chapter 12 as we read it together.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

The book of Romans is an amazing book that the Apostle Paul writes to the growing Church in Rome. There are some beautiful gospel truth that Paul gives us through this book, From chapters 1-11 Paul covers a variety of deep truth ranging from the the judgement of God against sinners, the righteousness of God offered in Christ, to what it means to be justified by faith in Christ. Now, by the time we come to chapter 12.

He takes this deep and high theological realities and brings it to street level. In the chapter that we just read together Paul shows us how this truth informs the way we live our lives, how we see ourselves and each other as the people of the church. He shows us at least three things to consider this morning from this chapter.

We see that the people the church are

  1. A Worshipping People
  2. A Diverse yet United People
  3. An interdependent People

What do I mean by this? Let’s take our brief time together to unpack what this means.

1.A Worshipping People

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 

In the very start of this chapter Paul’s appeal to us is to remember that we are a people created to worship God. He does not call us to this by giving us a list of do’s and dont’s. He simply calls us to remember the mercies of God offered to us in Christ In fact this is what creates true worship in our hearts.

Now this kind of worship in response to the mercy of God is not limited to singing songs for twenty minutes on Sundays but includes everything in our lives, it affects the way we live our lives on Monday, the way we respond to the person who cuts you off in traffic, the way you react when your colleague or your boss treats you unfairly?

The way we respond to the brokenness and need of our city. This kind of worship informs the way we live out our singleness and extends to the way we treat our spouse or children or spend our finances.

Paul reminds us that at our core, we are people who have been changed by the mercies of God given to us in Christ. Growing in an awareness of this truth starts to transform us from the inside out! 

Now, although we all know this basic truth, here is a reality. There are a million things in our own hearts and in the broken world around us that is distracting us from walking in this truth daily. Let’s face it, you and I struggle to remember this truth daily. 

If you are honest and take an inventory of your week, most of our lives are lived in response to two competing voice in our head and hearts. When we are doing well, when we are hitting our goals. When our day is going well we hear the voice of pride telling us “ Look at you, you are killing it, ‘way to go’, you are doing better than your neighbor.

On days and moments that you are not doing so well we hear the voice of condemnation and shame reminding us how miserable we are, that everyone else is doing well and that our life is spiraling down. Now living our days reacting to these voices will not create joyful worship in our lives. 

As a worshipping people, Paul is calling the church to take the focus of off ourselves and our achievements and failures and look to Jesus, remembering his mercy and grace freely given to us. Friends on our best day and our worst days the best thing about us is that we are the recipients of God’s abundant mercy through Christ.

Now the way that we walk in this truth is by remembering this truth often and we help each other to walk this gospel truth out everyday. This is why we gather on Sunday’s and through the week to sing together of the mercies of God, this is why we sit under the preaching of god’s word that reminds us of the mercies of god. We remind our forgetful hearts about the mercies of God in Christ as we come to the Lord’s table on Sundays. 

The people of the church are a worshipping people called to grow in our experience of God’s mercies.

In addition to this Paul shows us in this chapter that the people of the church are also a diverse yet united people

2.A Diverse yet united People

3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

In the next few verses Paul shows us that this worshipping community is also a diverse community. Paul reminds us that the church comprises of people from diverse backgrounds, with diverse stories and a diversity of gifting and talents brought together by Jesus. He uses the analogy of our body and just as the different members of our body has to come together and work together for the body to function in health. 

Now if we were honest about our lives today, the bent of most of our hearts would be to gravitate toward people who look like us and have a similar experience, people who enjoy and like the same things as us and who are maybe even gifted in the same way as we are.

 Paul here exhorts the church against this very bent of our heart. Paul reminds us that God’s grace given to us in Christ should make us people of sober judgement. Here is what I mean by that, an experience of God’s grace frees us from our sinful tendency to define ourselves by our gifting, our experiences, our families of origins or our talents and resources.

The gospel of Jesus gives you and I the primary identity of being sons and daughters to God, a people loved and received by the Father through the finished work of Jesus on the cross. This means frees us to learn, to appreciate and encourage others in the body of Christ that may have a different experience or background than us. This will help us to approach each other with sober mindedness 

Here is what this practically means, as the diverse people of God in the church between each one of us stands Jesus. We now get to relate to each other only through Christ, I get to relate to Saju and Jinson and others in this body through Jesus. I don’t get to go around Jesus, I don’t get to go over Jesus, or under Jesus.

This is not just when everything is going well, even when I feel offended or misunderstood, even when I feel insecure about someone else’s gifting. I don’t get to lash out in anger or be passive-aggressive or refuse to participate and engage.

The Holy Spirit is reminding us that as recipients of God’s grace we are called to see the same grace at work in our brother and sister, we learn to submit to each other, encourage each other and approach each other and work with each in this diverse body.

We are called to move towards each other and fight for unity even when offended or in disagreements. In fact, a gospel formed diversity is necessary for us to grow in a deeper experiential understanding of God’s grace as we learn to give grace and receive grace in community.

Not only is the church a worshipping and diverse yet united people. Paul also reminds us that we are called to live our lives as 

3.An interdependent People

Look at the second half of this chapter, Paul here lists out the things that make you and I a  counter cultural witness of Christ to a watching world.

9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

Friends, God’s church is a sign and symbol of the rule and reign of Christ. Here is what I mean by that, all through Scripture we see that God’s plan is to put himself to display through the counter-cultural life and witness of His people.

His mercy and care for the world is  to be reflected in the way that His people live here on this earth. Paul gives us a list of things that sets us apart from a Christ followers,| The interesting thing though is that this is not a list that is lived out in isolation. We need each other to live out this list.

Over 59 times the NT mentions the one another’s. Serve one another, love one another, pray for one another, outdo one another in showing honor. Friends, we need each other to live out this list that Paul mentions here. It points us to consider the kind of interdependence that Jesus is calling his church to. Plainly put, we need each other, we need each other way more than we realize, and God has designed it that way. 

As the years pass I realize more and more how dependent I am on God’s grace flowing through the community of His people to faithfully finish the race well. The church does not merely comprise of a few Lone Ranger super Christians. We are a grace formed community of imperfect people whose life together puts to display the patience and mercy of a perfect God. 

Living individualistic lives of isolation is not an option for God’s people.

You and I need an arsenal of varied stories of grace from each other’s lives. We need them to inspire and encourage us to keep running our own race with diligence. We need the encouraging presence and prayers of a brother or sister as we fight sin and face temptations.  We need each other!

Friends, there is going to be seasons in our lives when we find ourselves taking turns to lay on that bed of trials and suffering, simply because that’s what it means to live in a broken world. God has given us the gift of each other to fight for us and to carry us and take us to the presence of Jesus in those seasons. Do we really treasure this gift? We need each other!

There will be a day when God will make his dwelling among his people and we will be rescued from the very presence of sin but even as we wait for that day, Jesus calls us today to rehearse this future reality by living together as worshipping people, diverse but united people with  interdependent lives that serves as a prophetic witness to a watching world of the coming Kingdom of Christ.

So this morning, as we bring this to a close, maybe you have been attending the gathering church for a while now and maybe you would even call this your home church but you have still not completely given yourself to this community. Maybe you have had reservations about the idea of fully committing to be known by others in this body.

What if the real you would be rejected by others? Is it wise to risk that kind of vulnerability in the church?  If that’s you I want to say Jesus loves you, He does not love the future better version of you but knows the worst moments of your lives and has set His love on you. He invites you to walk in the freedom of being loved by Him and to be known in the community of his people. 

If you are here this morning and you’d say that you’re not a Christian, In the preaching of this word God is actually moving towards you. For you I’d invite you to come to Jesus. The church did not die for you but Christ did. He saves and he’ll add you to this imperfect community of people fitted and held together by Him. 

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Ephesians Sermon The Church

The Church: Ephesians 2:19-22

Today we shall look study Ephesian 2:19-22,

I titled my sermon as ” The church”. Bible uses the word “Body” as a metaphor of church,

Each part of the body has a different role. Similarly, each one of us has different roles in the body of Christ.

If we don’t know our roles and if we don’t work together, we will face confusion in the body of Christ, so in order to know the purpose of the church these few weeks, we are taking up the doctrine of Church, so that we all will understand what church is, the purpose and role of the church, and build up strong, biblical and healthy church.

Background of Ephesian.

We know apostle Paul wrote this letter, This letter to the Ephesian was written in Rome and was the first of the prison letters, written in 60 AD.

The theme of this epistle is

 “The church, Christ Body.”

Ephesian focus on the Basic Doctrine of the Church. What it is and how believers function within it.

The first 3 chapters of Ephesian emphasize doctrine and the last 3 chapters emphasize behaviour.

Meaning of Church

The word Church (Ekklesia) comes from 2 Greek words, “Ek” which means ‘out’, “Kaleo” which means ‘to call’.

So Ekklesia(Church) means – called out ones.

Thus it means that the church is a group of people who are called out from the darkness of this world to marvellous light to be a special people to serve the living God.


Remember the church is not a building which we go to, or denominations or social activities you take up.

Text Ephesian 2:19-22.NASB.

19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household,

20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone,

21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy [b]temple in the Lord,

22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

In order to understand these passages we shall go back to the previous verses.

Chapters 2 talk about the condition of the church before they received Christ.

  1. You were dead in your trespasses and sin. (2:1)
  2. You used to live in the ways of the world. (2:2)
  3. Walk according to the desire of Satan. (2:2)
  4. Living in the lust of the flesh. (2:3)
  5. Children of wrath. (2:3)
  6. Separated from God.  (2:12)
  7. Living without hope and without God. (2:12)

But the great news is in Ephesian 2:4-5.

4. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,

 5 even when we were dead [f]in our transgressions, made us alive together [g]with Christ (by grace you have been saved).

He chose us before the foundation of the world.(1:4).

Redemption through His blood(1:7)

Forgave our sin according to the richest of His grace. (1:7)

He has adopted us (1:5).

Sealed us by the Holy Spirit. (1:13)

Brought peace in our life.  (2:14)

He reconciled us to the Father.(2:16)

And Paul continues in verse 19-22,

We shall see 5 points under these texts.

  1. The church is the citizens of God’s kingdom. (19a).

19. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the [p]saints, and are of God’s household.

– Our permanent home is in heaven we are just passing this world. John 14:1-2 Jesus is preparing a place for us and He is coming back.

– We belong to God’s kingdom.

Illustration: Matthew 7:21-24.

Application: are you sure of your citizenship in heaven.

Let us examine ourself and confess our sins and surrender our life to Christ.

  1. The church is the family or household of God. (19b)

“So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the [p]saints, and are of God’s household”

Not only citizenship but be we are now God’s beloved family.

Illustration: Prodigal son Luke 15.

Application: Are you in the Father house?

  1. The church is built in the foundation of Christ. 20.

20 “having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone.”

Illustration: Two builders, wise and foolish builder’s. Matthew 7:24-27.

Cf Psalm 127:1-2.

Application: Are you building up your life in Christ foundation?

  1. The church are joined together to grow in Christ. 21.

“21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord,”

We need to work together, we need to come together as one body in this church and grow together in Him.

Illustration: A baby that never grow.

We believe we need spiritual food daily. Meditating on the word of God and praying.

Application : Are you growing daily in the Lord?

  1. The church is a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit. (22)

“In whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.”

The day you received Christ, Holy Spirit dwell in you. How are you maintaining your heart?

Illustration: Corinthian church.

1Corinthian 6:19-20.

19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your bodies.

Application: Are you bringing glory to God through your body?

God bless you.

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Ephesians Sermon Unity

United in Heart (Session 1) – Ephesians 2:11-22

The theme of our Retreat for the next two days is the word UNITY: Oneness in Christ. 

The word ‘UNITY’ is a very familiar word to all of us. Probably some of you are already saying “I know all about Unity, I’ve been hearing this word since the time I was born”

But there is a possibility that even though we are familiar with the word ‘Unity’, we haven’t still understood it as we are supposed to, according to the scriptures.

And therefore, let’s keep our hearts and minds open and be willing to empty ourselves. Let’s keep aside all our preconceptions and allow God’s word and His Spirit to change us, in the direction of becoming more like Jesus.

Our country India is known to be a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural country. We celebrate our diversity, and why shouldn’t we?

  • More than 1500+ languages are spoken in our country.
  • People of different religions viz. Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism etc. live together.
  • We have 29 states and seven union territories. Each of these states and union territories has its unique culture, traditions, food, dressing sense, belief systems.

Of course, we should be proud of ourselves. Here’s how our Prime minister Mr Narendra Modi proudly speaks about India, he says “Vividhita Main Ekta Hamare Desh ki Vishehta” (Unity in diversity is our country’s speciality)

But even though we celebrate Unity in diversity, the truth is, we are all divided in our hearts, one against another. And not in two or three pieces but hundreds and thousands of parts, probably as many cultural, languages & caste divisions that exist in our society.  

If we truly believe we are united, we wouldn’t have inequality amongst us, every citizen in our country would have had equal rights, equal opportunities, and most importantly, freedom to pursue their dreams.

But that’s not the case. Statistics says the top 10% of Indians owns 76.3% of the wealth in India. Do you think that is a fair distribution of wealth among the people who call themselves united?

If we were united, preferences in government offices, private companies, schools, colleges and other societies, wouldn’t be given based on caste, colour, education, wealth, gender, state background, language etc.

And therefore, even though we celebrate Unity in Diversity, we can see how our Indian society is divided. 

Unfortunately, we also get to see such discrimination in our so-called churches and Christian organizations.

Now, I don’t want to dwell too much on these differences and divisions but would like you to give some serious thoughts about it later.

Instead, I want to point our hearts to God’s word and show you what true UNITY is, why is it important and how can we genuinely experience UNITY in our hearts.

The passage I want to turn to is Ephesians 2:11-22

Alienated & divided because of Sin

Verse 11-12: Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 

In this passage, Paul is addressing a group of Jews & Gentiles who seem divided on the issue of circumcision. The Jews were saying, believing in Jesus is good, but to become a true believer, you also have to be circumcised. To which Paul confronts them saying that this is not what the true Gospel is. Instead, he is saying that it is only by Grace through Faith we are saved and not by our works. 

And as he is addressing the issue on circumcision and the division caused by it, he first reminds them all saying “you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.”

When God made us, in his image, he did not mean for us to live in disunity. In fact, the very purpose of Him creating us was to share the fellowship and unity that the triune God – God the Father, God the Son & God the HolySpirit had & enjoyed among themselves. 

God made man so that we would enjoy the same relationship with Him and with each other. But in our rebellion and selfishness when we chose to disobey him, his virtues & his good-intended laws, we broke that relationship with Him which also affected our relationship with each other. 

The first murder in the bible, the older brother Cain killing his younger brother Abel was the result of that Sin.

The first major split or a division happed because of Sin. Genesis 11:1-9 tells us the story of the Tower of Babel. 

Genesis 11:1-9: Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.

It was Sin and sinful motives of sinful people that caused the first division.

Therefore, even in our Indian context, where we are talking about disunity and disharmony among people, let us all be aware that the real cause of it is Sin. 

It is because of Sin; we are in hostility – unfriendliness, opposed to one another, hatred towards our fellow brother & sister. And unless we deal with Sin, we are never going to experience true Unity in our heart and in this world. 

When the government talks about Unity, they do so to get votes and gain power. When organizations talk about Unity, they do so to sell their product & services. When various other entities talk about unity, they do so for their own personal benefits.

We see how Sin has taken deep roots in our society and culture that even though when we talk about Unity in diversity, it is to take advantage of each other for selfish gains. In our Sin, we are living like animals where the Law of the Jungle is ‘Survival of the fittest’, where nobody wants to know the truth when it is only the Truth that can set us free from this bondage and misery, and allow us to live in Freedom and Peace.

And what is the Truth? 

United through Christ

Ephesians 2:13-22: But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 2In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

When we hear the account of Jesus and what he has accomplished for us on the cross, we realize that God’s ultimate purpose is to bring us back to himself and to one another, as one man, one bride as per the original design.

In our Sin, we were far away from God, but now we have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility.

We may think as if God is doing all this for us, for our well being. Yes, of course, that is true but the greater truth is that He is doing all this for Himself, to restore back that which was broken because of our disobedience and failure and to bring the order of creation, that which He intended while he was creating us.

Therefore, Unity is not just something that we need as a society to bring back order in our lives but it is primarily God’s agenda for restoring back what was lost. Through the sacrifice of His son Jesus, God is uniting his people for the big day of his return, his rule and his dominion on this earth. Satan will be defeated forever and we will be united to Christ in a grand marriage celebration.

Either we are in it & for it or we are not in it & not for it.

Brothers & sisters, as we talk more about Unity, the agenda is not to manipulate you into something we want to build for ourselves. It is not about the Gathering church and our small little community, but it is about the Kingdom of God. It is about the greater goal that is far beyond ourselves and our identity and comfort on this earth. It is about God.

This is not some new kind of lifestyle we are calling you but this is the ultimate purpose for which we are being created. 

Therefore, when the Gospel is truly understood and applied in our lives, every circumstance, every faulty mindset, every faulty cultural belief, every broken relationship, it should bring peace, joy and restoration that ultimately unites our hearts to Christ and to one another.

Without Christ, Unity has no purpose.

Without Christ, Unity has no meaning,

Without Christ, Unity is not possible.

In some way or the other, we have all fallen prey to the schemes of the enemy and have separated ourselves from receiving and experiencing the grace of God.

We have failed to surrender our lives to God for the sake of unity with Him, we have allowed our sinful hearts to take over our choices, our decisions, our affections, & our emotions.

There is no one who can say that he or she is perfect before God, and therefore as we’ve heard God speak to us and if He has convicted us of our sins, our response should be repentance and faith, surrender and commitment to the Gospel. 

Group Discussion Questions:

Q1. What are some specific areas in your life where you are currently experiencing disunity with God?

Q2. What are some specific areas in your life where you are currently experiencing disunity with one another?

Q3. What are some cultural, traditional, emotional, political or sentimental reasons that hold you back from seeking unity with God and with one another?

Q4. How do you think the Gospel addresses your specific reasons for not seeking or pursuing unity with God & with others?

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Ephesians Sermon Unity

Unity in Purpose (Session 3)- Ephesians 3:1-13

I was extremely touched and moved as I was preparing for these sessions on the topic of Unity. It makes perfect sense to me now on why our unity, our togetherness, our fellowship and community matters to God.

The Gospel is a mystery, and as we dedicate our lives to learn, discover and live out the Gospel we realise that there are so many facets to it that we still haven’t uncovered a large chunk of it. We will only understand it fully when we will meet our Lord in heaven.

The Gospel transforms us into a new being every single day, it demolishes the lies that have been spoken to us through generations, it destroys all the ungodly patterns of the world that has manipulated our hearts and minds, it breaks all the bondages that have held us down from living in freedom.

And it gives us a new outlook towards life, new meaning to our existence, new purpose to pursue, peace in our relationships, joy in our inner being.

Unity in our heart – unity with God and unity with one another is one such facet that I believe stands at the core of our Christian belief. Without true unity we are aimless, useless, powerless and our life is meaningless. 

And therefore, Unity matters.

In the last two sessions, we learnt what true unity is and how should it look like amongst the redeemed children of God, who are called by his name for his glory.

In this session, we will learn and discover why and how God uses our unity with Him and with one another for His Glory. The passage we will be looking into is Ephesians 3:1-13

READ

In these passages we see Paul as he is referring to the Gospel is using the word mystery, he says in verse 3 ‘the mystery was made known to me by revelation’, verse 4 he refers to the mystery as ‘the mystery of Christ’. 

In verse 6 he reveals that the mystery is ‘that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.’

The believing Jews in those days claimed and believed that only they were the lucky ones to whom the God of the universe chose to revealed himself, and only the sons and daughters that were born from the lineage of Abraham, Issac and Jacob were the true recipients of the grace of God that was revealed through his son Jesus Christ.

And Paul, though he was a Jew, in these passages is claiming to have received the mystery of Christ through revelation that, it is not just Jews who are called to be partakers of Gods grace, but also the gentiles, the entire human race who are not a direct descendant of Abraham.

He is saying that they too are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. And in saying that he also referring to everyone who is sitting here in this room. None of us sitting in this room come from the bloodline of Abraham. It was because of the mystery of the Gospel revealed to Paul that started a movement which spread like a wildfire and even reached India through Apostle Thomas.

What does this tell us?

This tells us that God is on a mission, mission to save and redeem his called ones from across all nation, tribe and tongue, who will all one day stand before him in glory and worship him in spirit and in truth.

But we also see a pattern in his pursuit to accomplish this task. He first revealed himself to a certain nation and a certain people group, and as he proclaims the good news of the Kingdom of God to them, calling them to repentance and belief through the life, death and resurrection of his son Jesus Christ. Uniting their hearts to himself and to one another by the power of the Holy Spirit, he then uses their lives, their communities to then reach out to the nations. 

Jesus says to them in John 13:34-35 “34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

It is God’s perfect plan to unite our hearts to Him and with each other, but we also see the larger picture where God uses our unity and love for Him and for each other to call more like us into his Kingdom.

At this point, I want to introduce you to two words that will help us see our placement in God’s grand plan of calling and saving the nations to himself.

The two words are micro-community & macro-community.

Micro community is the smaller group of like-minded people, people who share the same belief, same values, same goals, same pursuit – In our case, it is our faith communities – people who identify themselves are children of God, redeemed by the blood of Christ.

For eg. My micro-communities are firstly, my immediate family (wife & children), my extended family members who share in the same faith, my church family, our homeschooling community of Christian parents, my other smaller circle of Christian friends with whom I share life.

Macro community is the larger group of people, who are also part of our lives. Who may not be like us, or may not believe the things we believe, may not have the same values as we have – people group who are yet to know the truth of the Gospel.

For eg. My macro-community are my colleagues in my office, family members who are not yet believers, friends from my college with whom I occasionally hang out, larger group of homeschooling community that consists of people from all faith and religion, people in my neighbourhood/society.

In the book ‘Church turned inside out’ by Linda & Allan, they write 

“God has placed us in both these communities for his glory, and disregarding or failing to take advantage of God’s design to place us in meaningful communities of relationships (both micro & macro) can result in living an uninspired and isolated existence, never fully entering into what Christ intended for us, and failing to discover the incarnational lifestyle of Christ” 

Jesus, fully satisfied with his micro-community with Father and the Holy Spirit left his heavenly glorify to preach and pursue the macro-community of foolish, arrogant, sinful people like us to restore us back into our real family.

As Paul is now fully integrated and nourished by his micro-community of Jesus followers continues to write “Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of his power. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in[b] God, who created all things,10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. 11 This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord”

Paul, even though fully content in Jesus and the community of believers, realises that God has a greater plan and purpose for his life, that extents out of his micro-community and reaches out to his macro community.

Brother & sisters, this togetherness we enjoy is good, is nourishment for us, is life-giving. This is a very important aspect of our Christian growth, and therefore we shouldn’t ignore this coming together. It has to be pursued whole-heartedly and with 100% commitment.

Therefore, coming regularly to church service & on time, worshipping as a family of believers, feeding on Gods word and fellowshipping is important. Healthy marriages are important, God honouring parenting is important, Christian friendships are important. But once we are fully nourished, satisfied and healthy we also have to reach out for the greater goal, and that is influencing our macro community, reaching out to the ungodly and unsaved people whom God has placed in our lives.

Sadly, there are many Christians who don’t value communities and lead lonely lives, they seem passionate to do Christian work and Christian ministries but hardly see them doing life with another believer, just as Jinson shared with us.

And some Christians believe that they have to isolate themselves from the world, they regularly come to church, sing songs, read the Bible, but feel safe to stay away from their macro community for various reasons. They might not be comfortable going for a party with their friends, walk into the bar, hang out, invite them home, go to their home. As Allan & Linda says “disregarding or failing to take advantage of God’s design to place us in meaningful communities of relationships (both micro & macro) can result in living an uninspired and isolated existence, never fully entering into what Christ intended for us, and failing to discover the incarnational lifestyle of Christ”

I don’t believe that’s a bible way of living a purpose-driven life.

Jesus was found sitting with drunkards, adulterers, tax collectors, prostitutes, and if we think we are not like them, we are good people, then I would say we are the filthiest, self-righteous, dirty pigs as well, no better then those with whom Jesus fellowshipped. But he came for us, and he saved us. Washed away our filthiness and presents us perfect before His father in heaven.

As Christians, we are on a mission, and we have to live it out faithfully.

Here are some ways in which we should participate in Gods mission as we enjoy Unity with God and with each other:

  1. Allowing our micro-community to influence our macro community – When people see the way we love & cherish our wives, the way we bring up our children, the joy-filled community lives we live among our brethren should stand out and speak for itself.
  2. Inviting them into our micro-community so they can experience God’s love and providence in our lives and ask questions about our faith.
  3. Watchfully using our freedom in Christ to be able to put ourselves in their context, making friendships, loving them, caring for them. Not feeling fearful or show reservation in going out with them on a party, walking into a club or bar if necessary, etc
  4. Finally, and most importantly, as Paul writes in verse 8 “To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,” – Faithfully preaching and sharing the Gospel with them.

Unity is Gods agenda to join our hearts to Him and to one another in communities for the purpose of reaching out to a wider audience. Let’s not miss it.

Let’s pray.

Group discussion Questions:

  1. Is there anything specific that God spoke to you this session? What was that?
  2. What are your micro & macro communities Gods has placed you in? Name them?
  3. Where do you see yourself failing in committing to your micro-communities?
  4. How do you think God wants to use you in your macro communities?
Categories
1 Peter Sermon

Why Church?

Last Sunday Jinson preached from 1 Peter 2:9-10 and shared with us the vision and goals for the Church in the year 2019.

As mentioned, the three goals we want to focus in 2019 are

  • Neighbourhood Ministries – Reaching out to our neighbours with the gospel and planting new Gospel Communities.
  • One-on-one Discipleship – Where everyone is sharing life with at least one person.
  • Establish Covenant membership – Committing to church life and fulfilling the vision as a family.

Jinson also highlighted that the responsibility of fulfilling this vision of the Kingdom of God is not just upon the elders of the church, but it is the calling laid out for every follower of Jesus.

Some of you may be finding all this overwhelming?

And the questions you are asking are ….

Q: Why should I get involved in church so deeply when I have other things to focus in life?

Q: Am I not supposed to focus on my career and my Job the most?

Q: Am I not supposed to find a spouse, get married, have children & settle down in life?

Can’t I just be a regular person who comes to Church on Sunday whenever I’m free and relaxed?

Hidden behind all these smaller questions about Church is a larger question most people are asking today is “Why Church?”, Why is Church important?

In today’s sermon, I will be answering this question.

But before I begin, I want to let you know that we as leaders totally understand these struggles. We too work in corporate companies as full-time employees just as you guys and voluntarily serve in the church.

I’m not saying this to boost, but I’m saying this to let you know that we are not asking you to do anything that we are not doing.

What I’m going to share about the church today are the very reasons that motivate us to sacrifice our time and energy because of the joy and fulfilment we experience in serving God and his people.

This calling is not just for church leaders but is for each one who’ve put their faith in Christ and is his followers.

The Right picture of the Church

But, let me first start by presenting the right picture of the church.

The word ‘church’ in Greek (Yunani) is the called ‘ekklesia’ and ekklesia means ‘an assembly’ or ‘called out ones’. It is not a building or a place, but it is people.

This is important for our conversation because most people when they hear the word church the visual is of a building with a cross on it, which is a totally distorted view.

Church, is an assembly of people gathered together for a common purpose of glorifying God. And this assembly is led by a leader.

Ephesians 1:22-23 tells us that Jesus is the head of this church, this assembly.

“And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”

And for the assembly of Jesus followers to function well, it has to be organised well. And that’s how we get the understanding of Universal church and the Local Church. The universal church is the whole assembly of Jesus followers spread around the world, and the Local church is a unit of the universal church that operates locally.

The idea is similar to a political leader (for example Mahatma Gandhi) who gathered a group of people across the nation for a common purpose and then established offices in different regions and assigned local leaders to lead them.

Similarly, when we talk about the church – the head of the assembly is Jesus, the common purpose is bringing Glory to God’s name, the different establishments are the local churches and the elders are the leaders appointed by the head shepherd, who is Jesus, to lead God’s people towards the common goal.

Now, coming back to our question

Why Church? or

What is the purpose of the Church? or

What role does the church play in our individual lives?

To answer this question, we will look at two scripture verses out of which I will share 4 functions of the church and talk about how each of them functions contribute to our individual lives.

The first verse is Acts 2:42 where we get to see the activities that happen within the church and Matthew 28:19-20 where we look at how that transcends into the world.

Acts 2:42 – “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”

Matthew 28:19-20 – “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

1. Why Church? Because the Church helps us gather a RIGHT PERSPECTIVE ON LIFE.

Acts 2:42 gives us a description of what church life looked like for those new believers who heard Peter share the Gospel and were cut through their heart, repented of their sins and were baptized in water and in the Holy Spirit.

The first thing they did was they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching.

Brothers & sister, the world around us offers various different perspective on life, there are thousands of books available in the market that give different outlook on life.

Some will say money is the answer to all life’s problems, others will say knowledge is what liberates men, and others who say freestyle living is the answer to all emotional setbacks.

Remember that all these observations are human perspectives based on individual experiences and it is only the Bible that opens our eyes to the truth and sets us free.

2 Timothy 3:16 says “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.”

We get the right perspective on life only in the church because it is only in the church where we are introduced and taught from the manual provided by our manufacturer God.

Moreover, the church not only addresses specific issues periodically but also increases our appetite to go back home and read and meditate on scriptures even more.

And therefore, the church is important because when we come here with an open mind to receive what’s been taught from the manual of God, the Bible, we gain enlightenment and a right perspective on life.

And therefore it is important that we pay attention to the preaching of God’s word, even if we’re not able to make to church on Sunday make sure you go back read the notes without fail.

We meditate on what’s been preached, when the scriptures convict us of sin, confess and repent to God and to a fellow brethren.

Finally, walk in obedience and change your belief’s, your lifestyle as the Spirit of God leads you. 

2. Why Church? Because Church encourages us to have and maintain a RIGHT ATTITUDE TOWARDS PEOPLE.

The second thing we see the people do in Acts 2:42 is they regularly fellowshipped with each other.

If you look at history, humanity has always thrived when they’ve come together in unity. Great exploits have been recorded that proves the effects of the union of human spirits. Every being on this planet, be it social or wild, flourish when they live, share, and grow as a community.

A human being is a social being, and we like to share our feelings, happiness and sorrows with other humans. And in doing so especially within the church context helps us develop right relationships with people, not just with church folks but also with the world outside.

Through his church, Jesus joins us together in a community where we learn to love, forgive, bear with one another, encourage, help, exalt, correct, uplift, etc.

God has joined us together as a family for a purpose, and we need to see it that way. Not running away from each other but running towards each other for support and encouragement.

That is why we encourage participation in Gospel Communities and One-on-one discipleship.

When we do so, we develop a right attitude towards other people which also reflects in the way we deal with the world outside.

3. Why Church? Because Church helps build RIGHT RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD.

The thirdd activity we see in Acts 2:42 is participating in the Lord’s supper and praying together as a family helping build a healthy and right relationship with God.

We are professional forgetters, even though we’ve heard the Gospel and its implications on our personal lives a thousand times, the devil is continuously behind our back distracting us to follow a false path leading us to death.

But when we come to church and participate in the holy communion, when we gather in communities, and a have a meal, when we join hands and prayer for each other – we remember our Lord and his sacrifice on the cross for the redemption of our sins. We express our dependence on him in prayer.

All of this leads to building a right connection with God. As a result, we carry the light of Christ to every place we go.

4. Why Church? Because the Church reveals to us the RIGHT PURPOSE TO PURSUE.

We have to remind ourselves that the end goal which God is accomplishing for himself is to gather his called ones from all around the world. And it is our great privilege to be a participant in this great work.

In Matthew 28:19-20 Jesus said – “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Beyond our career, our jobs, our dreams, making money & travelling the world, the truest purpose in life, for which we are all created is to serve God and to participate in his Kingdom work. Everything else is secondary.

Every one of us will find true fulfilment only when we pursue the purpose for which we are created, every other pursuit will just give us a temporary sense of satisfaction and happiness.

It is only in the church where we are made aware of our purpose and given the opportunity and direction to serve God and purse the right purpose for life.

And that is why we encourage each one of you to serve in some way or the other.

Conclusion

As I conclude, I hope I’ve given you enough reasons to get up from your bed every Sunday morning to come to church with joy and excitement in your heart to gain a RIGHT PERSPECTIVE ON LIFE, to develop a RIGHT A RIGHT ATTITUDE TOWARDS PEOPLE, to build a RIGHT CONNECTION WITH GOD & to PURSE THE RIGHT PURPOSE IN LIFE.

Categories
1 Peter Sermon

Vision 2019

Good morning church! Earlier this week I received some really sad news about one of my clients. He passed away due to lung cancer at the age of 36. Professionally he was doing great – had a Senior Management role in a Top MNC, had a great pay package and many years of work experience. He was also a very knowledgeable client – way ahead of his contemporaries in terms of knowing what’s the latest in technology.

He had a nice sweet family – wife and a little daughter. People would’ve envied his life. No one would’ve imagined that he would be diagnosed with an advanced stage of lung cancer in May last year. On December 31st when everyone around the world prepared to party into the new year, he breathed his last and passed away. I was obviously shocked by this news but what saddened me even more was to think that he died without knowing Jesus & failed to live out his life with eternity in mind. All of his accomplishments didn’t matter in the end.

All the money didn’t matter in the end. The picture – perfect life didn’t matter in the end. This made me once again think about what should our purpose in life be. If today is our last day on this earth, can we look back and say that we lived life with an eternal purpose? Or was it lived only to make money or a name for ourselves? As a church what should our purpose be – is it just meeting on Sundays or are we called as a church for something more? As I thought about this question about purpose, my mind moved toward a passage from 1 Peter 2:9-10

I believe this passage reminds us about two things: Identity and Activity!

1. Identity
What we mean by identity is trying to answer the question “Who am I?”. “At the core of my being, who am I really?” In the world people try to answer this question by doing more stuff assuming that more stuff and more accomplishments will create a better identity. However, if you are a believer in Christ you are given an identity – not earned but gifted to you – and it’s the best identity ever! So let’s see what are the different aspects of our identity in Christ:


a. Chosen race (v9)

We have been chosen by God – it literally means handpicked and selected. Wow! The thought of God personally selecting us to be his people. And this takes it to another level when we realize that God chose us in Christ even before the foundations of the world. (Eph 1:3) Now just before we pat our backs and think that we had to do something with it, let’s remember that God’s choice was not based on our talents or works.

And that’s radically different from the way the world works. I remember giving my name for the cricket tournament that was being organized in my building. If it were left up to my skill level, I would for sure not get selected. Fortunately, they had some kind of auction and I was added to one of the teams. We know how it works in the world. We only get selected for something if we have the ability or skill for it. But in God’s kingdom, it’s the opposite.

He comes not for the righteous but for the sinners. (Mk 2:17) God doesn’t choose the qualified, rather He qualifies those whom He chooses. You’ll actually find God’s chosen race look very different than what the world would expect. It will contain the worst, the least, the unlikely and the unexpected. Why? So that the world will see and know how good and great is our God!

b. Royal Priesthood (v9)

The word priest actually means a minister appointed to serve God. The priests also represented the people when they came before God. They would offer sacrifices on behalf of the people before God. Their role was a very important part of God relating with His people. This was all foreshadowing the true High Priest – Jesus Christ. As a result of believing in Christ, we have now been given a role of royal priests.

If someone came up to you and asked you to show them to a priest, what comes to your mind? You’ll automatically think about the pastors of your church or the church leaders or the priest from the Catholic church. But it’s an astonishing statement that all of us who believe in Jesus are “royal priests” called to serve the Most High God. But what’s our job description? It’s obviously not sacrificing bulls and goats but rather giving thanks to God and producing works of love and generosity. (Heb 13:15-16)

c. Holy Nation (v9)

This is something that I find it difficult to grapple with. How is it possible that unholy people are called to form a Holy Nation? I understand that because He is Holy, His nation would also need to be Holy. I know that God is an impartial Father who will judge every deed that has been done on the earth. (1 Pet 1:15-17) but I don’t understand why would He chose unholy people like us to be a part of it.

I mean even our good works and our best works are like filthy rags!!! (Isa 64:6) I know my thoughts and my words and my action – I can’t possibly be asked to be a part of a Holy Nation. If I enter a Holy Nation, I would make it unholy!!! And that’s where the amazing truth of Jesus Christ comes in. He who knew no sin became sin so that in Him we could be the righteousness of God! (2 Cor 5:21) We are unholy but because of Christ, His pure and Holy life has been placed upon us. It’s like Jesus exchanged His pure robe with us for our dirty laundry. That’s how we become a Holy Nation. – because of Him.

d. People for His own Possession (v9)

We are God’s treasured possession! We belong to Him only! We are His. I think this idea of belonging to each other has made more sense through marriage. In my marriage with Angie, by God’s grace there is this amazing joy and security in the fact that we belong to each other. We treasure each others lives. And that also causes us to be protective of each other. If someone tries to attack either spouse, we are going to stand up and protect each other because we belong to each other. Attacking my wife means attacking me personally.

And in our relationship with God, because we are God’s treasured possession He also stands up for us when we are attacked by accusations and condemning words. Romans 8 says “Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died – more than that who was raised – who is at the right hand of God who indeed is interceding for us”. Every thing that needed to be done to protect Jesus’ bride – the church from condemnation and accusation was done on the cross. And now we can rest knowing that we are His and His only.

Isn’t this amazing?? What a wonderful identity! But this identity of being a chosen race, royal priesthood, holy nation is not an end in itself. It leads us to activity!

2. Activity
We’ve been given this wonderful identity so that we can declare and celebrate the character and works of a gracious God! For people who have been saved – our hearts, our focus & our conversations change. Christ changes our desires, He changes our goals and He changes our language. Now you might say…Jinson you’ve said the big broad statement, but what does this actually mean? How can I proclaim the excellencies of God? How can I declare and celebrate the character and works of a gracious God in my daily life? Peter uses 3 ways to express this:-

a. Darkness to light

Just imagine being in a dark room. No window and so there’s no reflection of light. You are literally blinded. And that’s what being in sin looks like. We live a life ignorant of God, showing Him no respect and also not paying attention to how it affects us and others. All of this is accompanied with ungodliness and immorality results in us taking the highway to hell.

Now think about someone switching on a really bright light in that room. So bright that now you are blinded by this radiant light.  And that’s what being saved by Christ and brought into God’s presence is like – pure, extraordinary, brilliance way beyond our mind and comprehension.

What a privilege to now be in the presence of God! All of this begins to change the way we live every day. So we get plenty of opportunities to testify to our neighbors, colleagues at work, friends and family – telling them about the great change that God has brought about in our lives. As a church this year we want to focus on having Gospel Communities based out of neighbourhoods.

We encourage each of you to think about your society, your building, your home and pray for opportunities to tell them about this wonderful God who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. It’ll be so exciting to see a few GC’s start in new areas where there was no gospel before.

b. Not a people but now God’s people

At one time we were separated from God and each other but now in Christ we have been accepted by God and joined to each other. At one time we were lost and abandoned but now we are found and added to God’s family.  The language throughout this passage is clear. When God saves you, He joins you to His family – the church. We live in culture that is highly non-committal – it’s always telling you to run away from commitment.

Culture says don’t marry – just live in together. Culture says you don’t need to marry one person your whole life – just have a string of relationships. And we know how this can be really destructive to lives and families but I want to tell you how this mentality can also hurt the church.

When believers don’t commit to each other but only meet and hang around as long as it’s convenient and comfortable, they end up hurting the other each other than caring for them. The moment things get difficult and complicated, they hop to another church and this hurts their own spiritual lives the most. Knowing this, we as a church we will be moving towards covenant membership and we’ll invite you to formally covenant with this church. We see this as God’s design to care and grow the church keeping your best interests in mind.

c. Had not received mercy to receiving mercy

Have you ever thought what it means for God to show mercy? Remember God is not stingy when He shows mercy…He pays the highest cost to show mercy! We see the depth of His mercy when He sends His precious Son to die on the cross so that we could be protected from the wrath that comes upon sinners & receive all the spiritual blessings graciously. God delights in showing us mercy!!! God does that so that we would know Him and love Him even more as we witness His mercy.

Some of us till now have  only experienced an intellectual understanding of mercy. We know what the gospel is intellectually but it’s not causing us to love Jesus more. It’s not causing us to know Him more. You still view God’s mercy as though someone was showing compassion on a stranger. No, God shows you mercy so that you would grow in an intimate relationship with Him. He is your Father and He desires for you to know Him that way. And experiencing God’s mercy causes us to bend that mercy outwards.

You cannot say that you are experiencing the grace of God and yet be greedy! If you are truly experiencing God’s grace in your life, how can you be satisfied without investing into someone else? If you are truly experiencing God’s grace in your life, how can you not help someone else know and obey Christ? We know how God has called us to be disciple-makers & we want to focus on 1 on 1 discipleship this year. I’d encourage you to find someone in church or in your life whom you can chose to walk with closely with, study Scripture with and model how to obey Christ.

As elders we really desire that you love and obey Christ as you’ve never done before in this coming year. We want you to live out the amazing identity that leads to spiritual activity! And whenever it is our last day on this earth, we want all of us to be confident that our lives were lived with eternity in mind.