Embracing Growth Through Honest Reflection and Grace

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We need to be open, even expectant, that maybe someone is going to say something contrary to maybe what I'm thinking or maybe new to what I'm thinking, and that I've got to hold that and think about that. That God might just, in fact, be speaking to me about something that I need to adjust in my life, something we may need to adjust in our church. [00:06:46]

The reason what you were a why you were doing it was so that you would adjust something in line with what you saw. It'd be totally pointless if you walked up to the mirror and there was a great smudge of Vegemite still across your face and you looked at it went oh I'll leave that there he would wipe it away. [00:08:06]

The general gist is about identifying and naming those things that are of a concern in the life of a church where we're so busy being nice we often unconsciously choose to ignore hard or controversial things. It's the shadow side of when we say West Preston we love to be the community that values relationship more than being right because we will always side to try and preserve the relationship. [00:09:13]

Churches are naturally conflict avoidant places because we're all trying to be nice trying to love one another and that is one of the things that we need to obviously still want to be nice and loving and caring for everyone but we need to also next week maybe thinking about what are those things that we need to change change or adjust. [00:10:13]

There is a question about identity. What does a believer look like? What does a Christian look like? And this is an early church question. It's actually, it's still a question today. And there is a question about behaviour and practice. What things do you do? Now that you're a believer, what is in and what's out? Well, how do I, what do Christians do? [00:15:03]

God knows people's hearts and he confirmed that he accepts Gentiles by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, for he cleansed their hearts through faith. So why are you now challenging God by burdening the Gentiles believers with the yoke that neither we nor our ancestors were able to bear? We believe that all are saved the same way. I love this line. By the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus. [00:18:02]

When you're thinking about identity, what was the identifying characteristic? That the believers need to have. It was being filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit being evident in their lives. In Ephesians, Paul writing to the church says, when we become believers, the Holy Spirit enters us. [00:18:58]

This is the transformation this is the this is still is it's the big the big thing that our jewish believers need to come to terms with about under about the christian message of that salvation um being in right relationship with god comes from not what we do but what jesus has done for us. [00:20:24]

My judgment is, James talking, we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead, we should write and tell them to abstain from eating food offered to idols, from sexual immorality, from eating the meat of strangled animals, from consuming blood. For these laws of Moses have been preached in Jewish synagogues in every city, on every Sabbath, for many generations. [00:22:24]

The idea of life being in the blood is such an important thing. The fact that the blood, it was, the atonement of sins was gained by people bringing their sacrifices to the altar. Interesting, we used that song earlier, brought it to the altar. It was the sacrifice on the altar and the spilling of the blood that became the moment when their sins, if you like, were forgiven. [00:26:16]

That's why we have such a strong connection with Jesus dying on the cross and the spilling of his blood as an act of atonement it's this this same idea running through the scriptures and at this moment now so he's picked that and he's also sat there and said now you can't eat food that's offered to idols and basically saying listen you guys you've got all these practices you've come from all these different religions and some of them were you know Roman and Greek and some of the pagan rituals that linked eating food as part of their practices some of these sexual immorality that that was happening were part of their previous work part of the religious practices of the Roman Greek world and he's basically saying you can't do that anymore. [00:26:51]

The big point here I'm trying to make is it's not like we tend to sometimes read so black and white this is in that's out when we're trying to think through and and and this is what they had they were faced with a decision they how do we how should new believers from these other religious faith backgrounds look and behave and you can see in this example some of what they had they said not few and some but some of what they had said it's really important that you do follow because you are now believers in a God you are now believers in Jesus as God therefore you need to leave that idle stuff behind and the practices that work linked with those things behind there's a new thing happening. [00:27:51]

The whole Jerusalem this what they call the Jerusalem Council was about listening hearing discerning challenging finding what the Holy Spirit was saying and directing it's a great example of of a group of believers dealing with a difficult and controversial topic. [00:28:56]

How good is God? That's what's happening in the life of our church. There'll be moments next week when we will ask people to reflect what is good about our church. But there's also that question, what is it that we may need to think about, change or attend? [00:30:49]

They said, we need to do this. We need to ask this tough question, what needs to maybe be changed or attended to? And they had this picture. They said, it's like having a church, sitting in a beautiful building, sitting on a beautiful grounds, right? Imagine that. Everything's happening. It's going great in life. But there's a part of the church that sits near a fence. And the grass, there's a little strip of grass that runs down the side of the church. And because it's out of sight and out of mind, it grows and it grows and it grows and it dies and it gets dry. And then one day, someone comes along and they throw in a match. And the grass burns. And what burns next? And what burns next? The church. [00:31:24]

That's why we're doing what we need to do in thinking about holding up the mirror what do we see what Vegemite do we need to wipe away that's what we're doing going to be doing in that question next week. [00:32:35]

I want you to do this simple prayer first I want you to say Holy Spirit how should I answer this question Holy Spirit how should I answer this question so it's not just what you think it's what you think the Holy Spirit says and for some of you that might be like really weird like okay Holy Spirit how I'm meant to think like Tib told us last week don't dismiss the first thought that comes into your head sometimes the Holy Spirit goes yep boom and you go oh that's weird now I need a more sensible answer God don't do that whatever you get I suggest unless you've got a great memory write it down and then Have an expectation maybe that next week you'll hear somebody else talk about something exactly the same. That's how the Holy Spirit, one of the ways the Holy Spirit works. Many ways the Holy Spirit works, but it's one way. [00:33:17]

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