Our third sermon in the CUES Sermon Series was brought by Heather Zempel.
Heather is the Discipleship Pastor at National Community Church in Washington, DC. She brought a very powerful message and invitation to be in community.
Click on her name at the top to hear the sermon, or download it from iTunes .. and then post your thoughts, questions, or something else that might have struck a chord with you.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
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"What I think gets me most excited about this idea of community is that the kingdom of God is advanced through community. Created by community, created for community, our sin ruptured community. Jesus Christ brought community to us through the work He did on the cross and that the kingdom of God is established in our day as we live in community with one another... That as we live in community, we show a picture to the world of Jesus Christ... As we live in community we are showing a picture to our world of Jesus Christ. Just imagine the community God intended us to live in and living in that community, not just so that we get the benefits of loving one another and encouraging one another and building one another up and honoring one another - those are the things Jesus designed for us to experience and live in, but also because to the world that picture of the body of Christ becomes the final apologetic." - Heather Zempel
ReplyDeleteHeather's final comments are poignant ones. How often do we think about community for the benefit of the community? We long for community to be supported and to support others within the community. But do we ever think about Christian community being for the sake of showing the world what the face of Jesus looks like. So often today, I hear people talk about how they don't need the Church because they have a spiritual life and a relationship with God - there is no need for them to be a part of community. Zempel has challenged me to think about this type of person not only losing out themselves on the benefit of community, but the world around them losing out as well.
Our churches can sometimes become vacuums. We exist only for ourselves, our members, and our programs. But what if we started looking at our church as the picture of Christ? What if we spent Sunday mornings outside of our walls instead of inside our walls? What if our budgets were about strengthening people within our walls to makes a difference in the Kingdom of God outside our walls?
It convicts me to consider the health of our communities. Are our churches healthy examples of Christ? Are our congregants healthy examples of the hands and feet of Christ? How do others view our churches? How might we consider becoming more healthy within, so we project a healthier and authentic image of Christ to the world?