The Church
…The body of Jesus
…The hope of the world
What is this hope for? Why does the world need hope? It seems to me that many Americans get along fine…or do they? What do we settle for?
David in Psalm 16 tells his God that, “you are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.”
What if we as a Church made this our prayer?
What if we took this mindset every morning?
How would life be different?
I want to tell you about a friend of mine. I met this friend at an intersection just a little ways down from my Church. He had been out of work for a while and has been living in a hard place. He stands at this intersection asking for work…asking for love. It is not easy for him. Though it may seem like it is I can tell by the way he holds the sign and stands as cars drive by.
The world has shown itself insufficient for him.
The government has shown itself insufficient for him.
Friends have shown themselves insufficient for him.
Family has shown itself insufficient for him.
In fact all those things in time will fail us. They cannot sustain us. They are not sufficient for us. These things are temporal. Just as it is with them it is with us we are not sufficient for anyone else.
What about the hope of the world?
What about the Church?
What about the body of Jesus Christ?
The Church is the only group that has life on this earth. For Jesus claims that, apart from Him we do not have life, but that in Him we have life and life abundantly!
What kind of life does the world see followers of the Lord Jesus living?
Is it an abundant…abundant sort of life?
Are we living in the more than abundant life that Jesus has for us?
Lets jump head first into this abundance!! Every moment! The world needs us to. My friend needs me to.
What friends need you to jump into this abundance?
Who is hurting around you that need you to be living an abundant life in Jesus?
I see my friend every-so-often. After stopping a few times I can feel my heart wanting to get hard toward him. As I wander deeper into the person of Jesus Christ looking for my life, I find myself wanting to give more. (The Old vs. The New) I have some money but there has to be more that I can give? How can I live a better story with my friend?
In Matthew chapter 6, Jesus commands his followers to give without holding back.
In Deuteronomy Chapter 15, God commanded his people to give to the one who had need until he needed no more.
God has not commanded us to judge the world or whether or not they are “worthy of our help” but instead to love Jesus.
God wants his people to serve him in joyfulness in gladness of heart!
