Being a Blessing: Engaging the World with Grace
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"But the truth is that original covenant that God made with Abraham was based on a covenant formulary. I will bless you in order that you will be a blessing for all the nations. That is the essence of God's covenant with Abraham." [00:39:46] (23 seconds)
"God has not called us to look like the world or to act like the world, nor has he called us to isolate ourselves from the world. In fact, if you recall Jesus' last prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, he said, Father, I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the world." [00:41:17] (24 seconds)
"We exist in this covenant relationship with God, not to make us happy, but to become a blessing for those who don't know God yet. To be a sign of God's love and his grace for the entire world, not just for us, exclusively. In Christianity, if the goal is simply for us to attain salvation and then wait for heaven, cloistered in churches behind our stained glass windows, singing our favorite hymns, enjoying our potluck dinners, insulating ourselves from those on the outside by our insistent that church ought to be done to please us, then we might as well go on to heaven when we get saved. There's no use in us staying on this planet." [00:41:47] (53 seconds)
"But God has chosen to leave us here, not so we can hide away in our Christian fortresses, but so that we can become a blessing to our friends, our family, our neighbors, our city, those we run into." [00:42:58] (19 seconds)
"It's important to note that Jesus was careful about what barriers he tore down. He attacked the money changers and he attacked the people selling animals in the court of the Gentiles, but he didn't turn over the bronze laver or the golden altar. He didn't push his way into the holy of holies. He doesn't." [00:43:20] (22 seconds)
"There's a lesson here some churches become so user-friendly that they fail to preach the truth the largest church in America has no crosses or other Christian symbols in the building because they're afraid it will offend those who come seeking." [00:44:00] (19 seconds)
"Theologically liberal churches and denominations tend to look like the world talk like the world and act like the world and the world looks at them sees nothing you yawns and walks away and they declare that Christianity is irrelevant irrelevant and that kind of Christianity really is irrelevant but here's the thing we must never compromise those essential things that God ordained and as Christians we we are supposed to hold tenaciously to the essential doctrines of our faith we believe unequivocally in the inerrancy of scripture we believe in the doctrines of the trinity the virgin birth the divinity of Christ we believe in Jesus death burial and resurrection we believe in salvation through faith in Christ alone and we believe that Jesus will ultimately return to establish his kingdom on earth there's not anything wrong really even with us honoring and holding on to and preserving our unique Anglican heritage as long as it doesn't become a barrier to others we can hold tenaciously to our sacramental theology our sense of awe and mystery and our link to history those who came before us or as my wife used to boil it down the history the mystery and the electricity I like that but whenever our traditions prevent others from coming to faith those traditions must go I remember when we first purchased this building before we even worshiped here the first time Archbishop Kalini from Rwanda who was our archbishop at the time yes I was a Rwandan priest he came here for a clergy meeting and to bless our building since we just bought it and we were down in the basement we had walked around he had blessed the building and all of that and we got downstairs he did a Q&A and one of the deacons that was there asked a question it looks like that worldwide Anglican communion is going to split and if we break with the global south with the evangelical the conservative the traditional crowd then we're not going to be associated with England and so that's not really Anglican what do we call ourselves and I'll never forget Archbishop Kalini said I suggest that you call yourselves Christians." [00:44:00] (158 seconds)
"He said we we spend way too much time explaining to people what Anglicanism is and way too little time explaining to people who Jesus is." [00:46:58] (12 seconds)
"So when any of our man-made traditions get in the way of the gospel guess what goes those traditions they've got to go because God is not exclusive except that he excludes any who do not believe on the name of the son." [00:47:11] (22 seconds)
"A parishioner once said to me Ron if we are going to do church for those who are not yet members like you say it wasn't this church it was a former church then why would I want to be a member what about my needs how am I going to be taken care of and I laughed and said don't worry brother our fallen nature will ensure that we're taken care of we're just that selfish we'll make sure of that but if we care about those outside the faith we'll have to make a conscious decision to put them first you'll have all of eternity to be comfortable to sing your favorite hymns to recite your favorite doctrines and theology but right now we are at war for the souls of men and women." [00:47:31] (52 seconds)
"Paul said this in his letter to the church in Corinth I make myself everyone's servant to win as many as possible I have become all things to all men so that by all means I might save a few I do all this for the sake of the gospel that I may share in its blessings God's chosen people are meant to be a blessing to those outside the church people that are not Christian are not your enemy no flesh is your enemy we don't wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers and rulers of darkness and spiritual wickedness in high places that's our enemy not people the culture isn't even our enemy the culture is neutral it can be used for good or bad God's chosen people are meant to be a blessing to those on the outside we exist for the sake of others God's chosen people are meant to be a blessing by removing obstacles man-made religious rules that were put there for our convenience and if we're honest to make us feel exclusive." [00:48:23] (84 seconds)
"God doesn't want us to be people who use our morality or our rules or our laws or our traditions or our faith as a fence or an obstacle could those on the outside God wants us to internalize all of that that's what Jesus did and then he moved purposely in the direction of people that were the furthest away from him the furthest away from God he embraced them our Christianity is not meant to be a barrier to the world outside so that we can hunker down and hide no we internalize that we believe our values don't change but we reach out to those on the outside and my friends that really is what the story of Palm Sunday is all about let's stand together most holy father I thank you so much for this powerful image of Jesus triumphal entry and the events of holy week which we'll be walking through this week through our services father as we look at what Jesus did we realize that all of this happened because Israel failed to be a blessing to others and now God has raised up a new chosen people he's not excluded Israel but he's raised up a new people and our job by the God is to be a blessing for those outside to never ever ever try to be exclusive father have mercy upon us forgive us and help us father to love like you love to show grace like you showed to us help us father to embrace those who are far away we ask all of this in Jesus name amen the praise team is going to lead us in a song and this is what we call our ministry time if you need prayer about anything in your life whatever it might be prayer ministers are going to be back in the corner the altar is open if you'd like to come and pray at the altar or you can just stay where you are and worship God but for this moment let's respond to him after this we'll move into a time of holy communion." [00:50:00] (143 seconds)
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"God has not called us to look like the world or to act like the world, nor has he called us to isolate ourselves from the world. In fact, if you recall Jesus' last prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, he said, Father, I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the world." [00:41:17] (24 seconds)
"We exist in this covenant relationship with God, not to make us happy, but to become a blessing for those who don't know God yet. To be a sign of God's love and his grace for the entire world, not just for us, exclusively. In Christianity, if the goal is simply for us to attain salvation and then wait for heaven, cloistered in churches behind our stained glass windows, singing our favorite hymns, enjoying our potluck dinners, insulating ourselves from those on the outside by our insistent that church ought to be done to please us, then we might as well go on to heaven when we get saved. There's no use in us staying on this planet." [00:41:47] (53 seconds)
"But God has chosen to leave us here, not so we can hide away in our Christian fortresses, but so that we can become a blessing to our friends, our family, our neighbors, our city, those we run into." [00:42:58] (19 seconds)
"It's important to note that Jesus was careful about what barriers he tore down. He attacked the money changers and he attacked the people selling animals in the court of the Gentiles, but he didn't turn over the bronze laver or the golden altar. He didn't push his way into the holy of holies. He doesn't." [00:43:20] (22 seconds)
"There's a lesson here some churches become so user-friendly that they fail to preach the truth the largest church in America has no crosses or other Christian symbols in the building because they're afraid it will offend those who come seeking." [00:44:00] (19 seconds)
"Theologically liberal churches and denominations tend to look like the world talk like the world and act like the world and the world looks at them sees nothing you yawns and walks away and they declare that Christianity is irrelevant irrelevant and that kind of Christianity really is irrelevant but here's the thing we must never compromise those essential things that God ordained and as Christians we we are supposed to hold tenaciously to the essential doctrines of our faith we believe unequivocally in the inerrancy of scripture we believe in the doctrines of the trinity the virgin birth the divinity of Christ we believe in Jesus death burial and resurrection we believe in salvation through faith in Christ alone and we believe that Jesus will ultimately return to establish his kingdom on earth there's not anything wrong really even with us honoring and holding on to and preserving our unique Anglican heritage as long as it doesn't become a barrier to others we can hold tenaciously to our sacramental theology our sense of awe and mystery and our link to history those who came before us or as my wife used to boil it down the history the mystery and the electricity I like that but whenever our traditions prevent others from coming to faith those traditions must go I remember when we first purchased this building before we even worshiped here the first time Archbishop Kalini from Rwanda who was our archbishop at the time yes I was a Rwandan priest he came here for a clergy meeting and to bless our building since we just bought it and we were down in the basement we had walked around he had blessed the building and all of that and we got downstairs he did a Q&A and one of the deacons that was there asked a question it looks like that worldwide Anglican communion is going to split and if we break with the global south with the evangelical the conservative the traditional crowd then we're not going to be associated with England and so that's not really Anglican what do we call ourselves and I'll never forget Archbishop Kalini said I suggest that you call yourselves Christians." [00:44:00] (158 seconds)
"He said we we spend way too much time explaining to people what Anglicanism is and way too little time explaining to people who Jesus is." [00:46:58] (12 seconds)
"So when any of our man-made traditions get in the way of the gospel guess what goes those traditions they've got to go because God is not exclusive except that he excludes any who do not believe on the name of the son." [00:47:11] (22 seconds)
"A parishioner once said to me Ron if we are going to do church for those who are not yet members like you say it wasn't this church it was a former church then why would I want to be a member what about my needs how am I going to be taken care of and I laughed and said don't worry brother our fallen nature will ensure that we're taken care of we're just that selfish we'll make sure of that but if we care about those outside the faith we'll have to make a conscious decision to put them first you'll have all of eternity to be comfortable to sing your favorite hymns to recite your favorite doctrines and theology but right now we are at war for the souls of men and women." [00:47:31] (52 seconds)
"Paul said this in his letter to the church in Corinth I make myself everyone's servant to win as many as possible I have become all things to all men so that by all means I might save a few I do all this for the sake of the gospel that I may share in its blessings God's chosen people are meant to be a blessing to those outside the church people that are not Christian are not your enemy no flesh is your enemy we don't wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers and rulers of darkness and spiritual wickedness in high places that's our enemy not people the culture isn't even our enemy the culture is neutral it can be used for good or bad God's chosen people are meant to be a blessing to those on the outside we exist for the sake of others God's chosen people are meant to be a blessing by removing obstacles man-made religious rules that were put there for our convenience and if we're honest to make us feel exclusive." [00:48:23] (84 seconds)
"God doesn't want us to be people who use our morality or our rules or our laws or our traditions or our faith as a fence or an obstacle could those on the outside God wants us to internalize all of that that's what Jesus did and then he moved purposely in the direction of people that were the furthest away from him the furthest away from God he embraced them our Christianity is not meant to be a barrier to the world outside so that we can hunker down and hide no we internalize that we believe our values don't change but we reach out to those on the outside and my friends that really is what the story of Palm Sunday is all about let's stand together most holy father I thank you so much for this powerful image of Jesus triumphal entry and the events of holy week which we'll be walking through this week through our services father as we look at what Jesus did we realize that all of this happened because Israel failed to be a blessing to others and now God has raised up a new chosen people he's not excluded Israel but he's raised up a new people and our job by the God is to be a blessing for those outside to never ever ever try to be exclusive father have mercy upon us forgive us and help us father to love like you love to show grace like you showed to us help us father to embrace those who are far away we ask all of this in Jesus name amen the praise team is going to lead us in a song and this is what we call our ministry time if you need prayer about anything in your life whatever it might be prayer ministers are going to be back in the corner the altar is open if you'd like to come and pray at the altar or you can just stay where you are and worship God but for this moment let's respond to him after this we'll move into a time of holy communion." [00:50:00] (143 seconds)
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