Embodying God's Kingdom: A Vision for Unity
Devotional
Sermon Summary
Sermon Clips
"And Dr. King's beloved community was a vision of reconciliation, overcoming barriers, where every person belongs, where the dignity of every person as an image bearer is valued and cared for. And at its heart, that vision is a reflection, I believe, of God's justice and love. Dr. King once said that the aftermath of love is reconciliation and the creation of a beloved community. The aftermath of love, as the people of God who are meant to demonstrate and proclaim God's love to the world as God loves the world, the aftermath of that love is reconciliation and the creation of a beloved community." [00:01:33] (45 seconds)
"And we see in 1 Peter 2 a vision. It's a vision of God forming a different kind of community, a community that's built on Jesus Christ that's marked by unity in diversity and is sent to proclaim his marvelous light to the world. And so as we just take time this weekend to reflect on Dr. King's dream and his life, his legacy, we also want to recognize that that dream echoes the kingdom reality that God has already begun to build through his people. And so we're going to see what a community can look like. When it's built on Jesus here in 1 Peter 2, starting in verse 4." [00:02:27] (40 seconds)
"Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God. As the scriptures say, I am placing a cornerstone in Jerusalem, chosen for great honor. And anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced. Yes, you who trust him recognize the honor God has given him. But for those who reject him, the stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone. And he is the stone that makes people stumble, the rock that makes them fall. They stumble because they do not obey God's word. And so they meet the fate that was planned for them. But you are not like that. For you are a chosen people." [00:03:24] (35 seconds)
"God is creating something new. And the apostle Peter says in this passage that God is giving us a shared purpose to bring glory to God and then share his goodness with the world, to bring glory to God and to bear his goodness in the world. The church is one of the primary ways that God makes his presence known in the world. And what Peter's describing, here is this distinct community of God with that shared sense of unity and purpose." [00:07:22] (28 seconds)
"This is what we're doing. We're doing this. We're doing this. We're doing this. We're doing this. who we are, that you personally were chosen by God. We collectively were chosen by God. The God who created everything, who put breath in your lungs, the God who says things and they exist, he chose you. He chose you. That's the first thing that you need to know about who you are, is that you are chosen by God. And he chooses us for a purpose." [00:08:49] (26 seconds)
"We have a unique role in this world. We get the privilege of mediating God's presence to the world and to bring the world to God through things like prayer and worship and witness. It's what Pastor Allen and Pastor Trey talked about last week in our services, that we are an example to the world around us, that we are a translation of God's word to those who are reading us every day. And we represent God to people whether we want to or not." [00:11:11] (27 seconds)
"We've been given the ministry of reconciliation. It's my favorite way that the mission of God is described, that we have the ministry of reconciliation just as priests stand in the gap between God and humanity. We're called to bring healing to a divided world. Through faithful presence, we bring reconciliation to a divided world. And here's the good news. We don't have to create unity. We don't have to like muster up unity. we're simply called to live freely in the unity that God has already achieved in Jesus Christ." [00:12:00] (38 seconds)
"In a world that's so defined by what's happening to us, by what separates us, what divides us, we have this distinct role to play as royal priests to embody the redemptive love of God and create community defined by reconciliation and unity, oneness in Christ. And I want to be clear that oneness does not equal sameness. God has made us a mosaic. He hasn't made us monotone." [00:13:24] (28 seconds)
"On earth as in heaven. It's a community of justice and righteousness and love. And when we read the scriptures, the words justice and righteousness often go together because they come from the same word. And righteousness is often applied individually. Injustice is applied corporately or systemically. But they come from the same word. And that word, when we think about righteousness and justice, we think about rightness. We think about there's a right way to be, there's a right way to do things. But there's kind of a deeper sense that we, we get for that word in the scriptures that righteousness is the state of being as one ought to be." [00:14:33] (37 seconds)
"And we see in 1 Peter 2 a vision. It's a vision of God forming a different kind of community, a community that's built on Jesus Christ that's marked by unity in diversity and is sent to proclaim his marvelous light to the world. And so as we just take time this weekend to reflect on Dr. King's dream and his life, his legacy, we also want to recognize that that dream echoes the kingdom reality that God has already begun to build through his people. And so we're going to see what a community can look like. When it's built on Jesus here in 1 Peter 2, starting in verse 4." [00:02:27] (40 seconds)
"Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God. As the scriptures say, I am placing a cornerstone in Jerusalem, chosen for great honor. And anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced. Yes, you who trust him recognize the honor God has given him. But for those who reject him, the stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone. And he is the stone that makes people stumble, the rock that makes them fall. They stumble because they do not obey God's word. And so they meet the fate that was planned for them. But you are not like that. For you are a chosen people." [00:03:24] (35 seconds)
"God is creating something new. And the apostle Peter says in this passage that God is giving us a shared purpose to bring glory to God and then share his goodness with the world, to bring glory to God and to bear his goodness in the world. The church is one of the primary ways that God makes his presence known in the world. And what Peter's describing, here is this distinct community of God with that shared sense of unity and purpose." [00:07:22] (28 seconds)
"This is what we're doing. We're doing this. We're doing this. We're doing this. We're doing this. who we are, that you personally were chosen by God. We collectively were chosen by God. The God who created everything, who put breath in your lungs, the God who says things and they exist, he chose you. He chose you. That's the first thing that you need to know about who you are, is that you are chosen by God. And he chooses us for a purpose." [00:08:49] (26 seconds)
"We have a unique role in this world. We get the privilege of mediating God's presence to the world and to bring the world to God through things like prayer and worship and witness. It's what Pastor Allen and Pastor Trey talked about last week in our services, that we are an example to the world around us, that we are a translation of God's word to those who are reading us every day. And we represent God to people whether we want to or not." [00:11:11] (27 seconds)
"We've been given the ministry of reconciliation. It's my favorite way that the mission of God is described, that we have the ministry of reconciliation just as priests stand in the gap between God and humanity. We're called to bring healing to a divided world. Through faithful presence, we bring reconciliation to a divided world. And here's the good news. We don't have to create unity. We don't have to like muster up unity. we're simply called to live freely in the unity that God has already achieved in Jesus Christ." [00:12:00] (38 seconds)
"In a world that's so defined by what's happening to us, by what separates us, what divides us, we have this distinct role to play as royal priests to embody the redemptive love of God and create community defined by reconciliation and unity, oneness in Christ. And I want to be clear that oneness does not equal sameness. God has made us a mosaic. He hasn't made us monotone." [00:13:24] (28 seconds)
"On earth as in heaven. It's a community of justice and righteousness and love. And when we read the scriptures, the words justice and righteousness often go together because they come from the same word. And righteousness is often applied individually. Injustice is applied corporately or systemically. But they come from the same word. And that word, when we think about righteousness and justice, we think about rightness. We think about there's a right way to be, there's a right way to do things. But there's kind of a deeper sense that we, we get for that word in the scriptures that righteousness is the state of being as one ought to be." [00:14:33] (37 seconds)