Embracing Community: Grace, Hardship, and Redemption in Christ
Summary
### Summary
Today, we gather as a community of sinners, not because we have it all figured out, but because we recognize our brokenness and our need for God's grace and mercy through Jesus Christ. Our series on Colossians has emphasized the importance of community and the power of love to bring forgiveness and reconciliation into our lives. God, through Jesus, invites us to turn away from the empty promises of the world and find true satisfaction in a relationship with Him. This relationship is not just individual but collective, as Paul explains in his letter to the Colossians. The mystery revealed is that Christ is in us collectively, and this truth is most fully witnessed in the restored and restoring relationships within an authentic Christian community.
Paul contrasts the peace of God with the peace offered by worldly empires, emphasizing that true peace comes from divine love, not human strength or intellect. The gospel's truth is best demonstrated in the lives of believers who live out their faith in community. This challenges us to rethink what church is meant to be—a place where God's love and grace are visibly at work in our relationships.
Paul's final greetings in Colossians offer a practical picture of the gospel lived out in community. He mentions various individuals, highlighting that the early Christian mission was a team effort involving a diverse group of people. This diversity and teamwork were crucial for the spread of the gospel. Paul also reminds us to "remember his chains," urging us to follow his example of enduring hardship for the sake of the gospel.
Paul's imprisonment, though seemingly a setback, actually advanced the gospel through his letters, which form a significant part of the New Testament. This teaches us to see our own challenges as opportunities for God to work in unexpected ways. We are called to be a community that supports and encourages one another, recognizing that our failures do not define us but are opportunities for God's grace to shine through.
### Key Takeaways
1. The Power of Community: Authentic Christian community is essential for living out the gospel. It is within this community that we experience the power of love, forgiveness, and reconciliation. Our relationships with one another are a testament to the truth of the gospel. [05:16]
2. Christ in Us Collectively: The mystery revealed in Colossians is that Christ is in us collectively, not just individually. This collective indwelling of Christ transforms our relationships and empowers us to live out the gospel in ways that individual efforts cannot achieve. [01:44]
3. Diverse and Inclusive Effort: The early Christian mission was a team effort involving a diverse group of people from different backgrounds. This diversity was crucial for the spread of the gospel and serves as a model for the modern church to embrace and celebrate diversity in its mission. [21:52]
4. Enduring Hardship for the Gospel: Paul's imprisonment, though a hardship, advanced the gospel through his letters. This teaches us to see our own challenges as opportunities for God to work in unexpected ways. We are called to endure and even embrace hardship for the sake of the gospel. [25:05]
5. God Redeems Failure: God is a God who redeems failure. The stories of Mark, Onesimus, and Demas show that even those who have failed can be restored and used by God for His purposes. Our failures do not define us; God's grace does. [33:14]
### YouTube Chapters
[0:00] - Welcome
[01:44] - The Mystery of Christ in Us
[05:16] - The Power of Divine Love
[06:55] - Christ Jesus as Lord
[08:29] - Relationally Discerned Truth
[10:15] - Authentic Christian Community
[11:29] - The Challenge of Modern Evangelism
[12:20] - Paul's Final Greetings
[13:12] - Practical Picture of the Gospel
[16:06] - Team Effort in Ministry
[17:56] - Diverse and Inclusive Effort
[19:41] - Community of Support
[20:47] - Enlisting and Empowering Partners
[23:33] - Remember My Chains
[25:05] - Advancing the Gospel Through Hardship
[33:14] - God Redeems Failure
[35:07] - Beauty for Ashes
[38:03] - Reconciliation and Peace Through the Cross
Study Guide
### Bible Study Discussion Guide
#### Bible Reading
1. Colossians 1:27 - "To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."
2. Colossians 4:7-18 - Paul's Final Greetings
#### Observation Questions
1. What does Paul mean when he says "Christ in you" in Colossians 1:27? How does this collective indwelling of Christ impact the community? [01:44]
2. In Colossians 4:7-18, Paul lists several individuals who contributed to his ministry. What roles did these individuals play, and how did their diverse backgrounds contribute to the mission? [16:06]
3. How does Paul describe the peace of God in contrast to the peace offered by worldly empires? [05:16]
4. What does Paul mean when he asks the Colossians to "remember his chains"? How does this request relate to his overall message in the letter? [23:33]
#### Interpretation Questions
1. How does the concept of "Christ in us collectively" challenge the modern individualistic approach to faith? What are the implications for how we live out our faith in community? [01:44]
2. Paul emphasizes the importance of a diverse and inclusive effort in spreading the gospel. How can the modern church embrace and celebrate diversity in its mission? [21:52]
3. What lessons can we learn from Paul's imprisonment about enduring hardship for the sake of the gospel? How can we see our own challenges as opportunities for God to work in unexpected ways? [25:05]
4. How does the story of Mark, Onesimus, and Demas illustrate the idea that God redeems failure? What does this teach us about God's grace and our own failures? [33:14]
#### Application Questions
1. Reflect on your own experience in Christian community. How have you seen the power of love, forgiveness, and reconciliation at work? What steps can you take to foster these qualities in your relationships? [05:16]
2. The sermon emphasized the collective indwelling of Christ. How can you contribute to the spiritual growth of your community? What specific actions can you take to support and encourage others in their faith journey? [01:44]
3. Diversity was crucial for the early Christian mission. How can you and your church actively embrace and celebrate diversity in your ministry efforts? What practical steps can you take to include people from different backgrounds? [21:52]
4. Think about a recent challenge or hardship you faced. How can you reframe this experience as an opportunity for God to work in unexpected ways? What can you do to endure and embrace hardship for the sake of the gospel? [25:05]
5. Reflect on a time when you felt like a failure. How did you experience God's grace in that situation? How can you extend that same grace to others who may be struggling or have failed? [33:14]
6. Paul’s final greetings highlight the importance of teamwork in ministry. How can you better support and collaborate with others in your church or community? What specific roles or tasks can you take on to contribute to the mission? [16:06]
7. How can you follow Paul's example of enduring hardship and using it as a platform to advance the gospel? What specific steps can you take to turn your current challenges into opportunities for ministry? [23:33]
Devotional
### Day 1: The Power of Authentic Christian Community
Description:
Authentic Christian community is essential for living out the gospel. It is within this community that we experience the power of love, forgiveness, and reconciliation. Our relationships with one another are a testament to the truth of the gospel. When we gather as a community of believers, we are not just a collection of individuals but a collective body where Christ's love is made manifest. This communal aspect of our faith is crucial because it is through our interactions and relationships that the world sees the transformative power of the gospel. [05:16]
Bible Passage:
"By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:35, ESV)
Reflection:
Think of a relationship within your church community that needs healing or strengthening. How can you take a step today to show Christ's love and work towards reconciliation in that relationship?
### Day 2: Christ in Us Collectively
Description:
The mystery revealed in Colossians is that Christ is in us collectively, not just individually. This collective indwelling of Christ transforms our relationships and empowers us to live out the gospel in ways that individual efforts cannot achieve. When we understand that Christ dwells in our community, we begin to see the importance of unity and mutual support. This collective presence of Christ is a powerful witness to the world and a source of strength for each member of the community. [01:44]
Bible Passage:
"For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them." (Matthew 18:20, ESV)
Reflection:
Reflect on how you can contribute to the sense of Christ's presence in your community. What specific action can you take today to foster unity and mutual support among your fellow believers?
### Day 3: Embracing Diversity in Mission
Description:
The early Christian mission was a team effort involving a diverse group of people from different backgrounds. This diversity was crucial for the spread of the gospel and serves as a model for the modern church to embrace and celebrate diversity in its mission. By working together, despite our differences, we can more effectively reach out to a broader audience and demonstrate the inclusive nature of God's love. Embracing diversity within the church not only enriches our community but also reflects the kingdom of God. [21:52]
Bible Passage:
"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:28, ESV)
Reflection:
Consider the diversity within your church community. How can you actively celebrate and include different backgrounds and perspectives in your church's mission and activities?
### Day 4: Enduring Hardship for the Gospel
Description:
Paul's imprisonment, though a hardship, advanced the gospel through his letters. This teaches us to see our own challenges as opportunities for God to work in unexpected ways. We are called to endure and even embrace hardship for the sake of the gospel. When we face difficulties, we can trust that God is using them to further His purposes and to strengthen our faith. Our perseverance in the face of trials can be a powerful testimony to others of God's faithfulness and power. [25:05]
Bible Passage:
"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness." (James 1:2-3, ESV)
Reflection:
Identify a current hardship or challenge you are facing. How can you view this situation as an opportunity for God to work through you and advance the gospel? What steps can you take to endure this hardship with faith and hope?
### Day 5: God Redeems Failure
Description:
God is a God who redeems failure. The stories of Mark, Onesimus, and Demas show that even those who have failed can be restored and used by God for His purposes. Our failures do not define us; God's grace does. This truth is a source of immense hope and encouragement, reminding us that no matter how far we have fallen, God's grace is sufficient to lift us up and use us for His glory. We are called to extend this grace to others, recognizing that everyone has the potential for redemption and restoration. [33:14]
Bible Passage:
"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28, ESV)
Reflection:
Reflect on a past failure that still affects you. How can you invite God's grace into that situation and allow Him to redeem it? What steps can you take to move forward in faith, trusting in God's redemptive power?
Quotes
1. "We need brothers and sisters and spiritual family that know and understand the power of love to be able to bring forgiveness and reconciliation into the brokenness of our relationships in our society. God has invited us through his son Jesus and the model of sacrificial generous love that he gave for us by sending his son to die on the cross so that we wouldn't have to turn our eyes away from the stories and the philosophies and the ideas of this world that promise you everything but always leave you feeling empty to the one thing that can truly satisfy the human heart which is a relationship with the very God who created us and knows us even better than we know ourselves." [01:44] (56 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
2. "The truth of the gospel, Paul is telling us, is most fully witnessed in the restored and the restoring relationships of authentic Christian community. Think about that for just a minute. The truth of the gospel that we say we believe, that God gave his son to bring this good news to us, is most fully witnessed in the restored and the restoring relationships of authentic Christian community. Doesn't that take up a notch what church maybe was intended to be when God invited us to be a part of his family?" [06:55] (42 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
3. "Christ Jesus as Lord is the truth story that puts this world in its place. It's not Caesar. It's not living for the empire around us and going after all the things that the world tells us we need, but it's living for a kingdom that truly liberates the human heart and overcomes all of these philosophies and reveals to us their emptiness. And so rather than being a part of a society and a culture that's running after everything, but the one thing that truly satisfies, Paul tells us that being found in Christ, we also find ourselves within a community of people whose priorities, whose goals, and whose actions and behaviors towards one another are determined by a completely different set of criteria which redefine what a successful human being actually looks like." [08:29] (60 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
4. "The church witnesses to the truth of the gospel by how we live in our lives together. And if our light is not shining in the darkness, if we're not seeing new people come to faith in Christ, if the world is going in a different direction, it might not be because we're not out there preaching on the street corners loud enough. It might be because we've lost our focus on what we're supposed to be doing together so that we have something to invite people to experience the good news of the gospel." [10:15] (32 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
5. "We are seeing baptisms happen. We are celebrating the healing that is happening in the lives of lost and broken people. That's when the joy comes. That's when the excitement happens. That's when we see that God is moving in our midst, and this is, of course, the place where you would... Where else would you want to be than the place where you're seeing healing happen? That's what we see in the New Testament, right? We read those words, and we see people getting healed, and we see them celebrating and praising God, and we're like, I wish that still happened. I wish I could experience something like that in my life. And what Paul is saying is we can, and it does. But we've lost our focus. We've gotten off track." [12:20] (48 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
6. "In fact, what we see in the Bible is that a large part of what defines authentic Christian community is the fact that we are not alone. What we see is that it's a community of friends and fellow workers for the gospel. And the two are supposed to go hand in hand. It took time and effort and sacrifice to maintain these kinds of relationships across an empire. And we have to not forget that it was dangerous for them, right? It wasn't safe to associate yourself with Paul. He was in prison for preaching the gospel. And yet Paul says that it was their physical presence with him and their active association and their assistance on behalf of the network of churches that actually gave him the emotional and the spiritual support that he needed to survive the long imprisonment as he waited for a word to come on his case." [20:13] (53 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
7. "God is a God who redeems failure. Even though, you know, it's like the apostle Peter who outright desert their Lord and deny him three times with curses can be redeemed by God's love and God's grace. Now this fall, after our September launch season, we'll begin a new series that we're going to call Beauty for Ashes. Broken, yet beautiful in God's eyes. We're going to look at what Jesus had to say about failure and how our own failure and brokenness is not actually an obstacle to experiencing God's presence and grace in our lives. In fact, it is the very avenue through which we can encounter him." [34:29] (47 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
8. "When we live in Christ, we recognize that it's not out of our own strength that we find victory, but he has triumphed for us so that our failures are not what define us and we have the freedom to rise each time we fall. Now we might apply the same principle or approach by saying that Paul might say to Faith Covenant Church in the 21st century, don't pray that God delivers you from your present challenges. Rather, pray that in the midst of your present challenges, God might use your circumstances as a catalyst that opens the door for the gospel to go out in new and unexpected and powerful ways." [35:07] (47 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
9. "The gospel message reveals that reconciliation and peace, the things that we most deeply need as a human society have come, but they have not come through power or military force or through economic prosperity or through the size of your church or through the size of your bank account or through how many recreational activities you do, or through the societies you can pursue or through the societal fame or whether your political party wins in November, but through the blood of a cross. And the truth of this reconciliation that is now at work in the world is manifest in a community of people that shares in the suffering of its Lord as it seeks to be light in the darkness and to bring peace to the social, economic, political, racial, ethnic and territorial, I say, church divisions that continue to be marred by the sin in our lives." [38:03] (64 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
10. "Such humility that was demonstrated by Jesus himself, such sacrifice that he endured for the sake of others, such love that he demonstrated on God's behalf toward us reminds us again and again and again throughout scripture and every time we come together in the name of Jesus, how and why all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden and that this truly life-giving story is the story that in Christ can become our story. And brothers and stories, brothers and sisters, we are stories. This is the story that we've been asked to tell, but not just with our mouth, but with our life together. Amen." [40:02] (59 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
Chatbot
-
I'm an AI bot trained only on this specific sermon. Do you have any questions about it?