Here's a sermon I delivered this past Sunday at both Servant Church and Mosaic.It is about the church, God's people, and why we need each other, and why the world outside needs us to be the church. It is, due to no great foresight on my part, especially apt in light of the groundbreaking political and social movement of the last 72 hours.
Click here to listen. Here is a link to the mp3. (I'm trying to figure out an embedded player)
Here's some choice quotes:
"So often we have boiled this Gospel down to the bait-and-switch good news preceded by bad news. ‘I'm a Christian... you’re going to hell... and the GOOD NEWS IS YOU CAN NOT GO TO HELL!', that doesn't really sound like good news to me."
"When we decide to become a follower of Christ, we’re not simply saved from hell and eternal damnation as some would insist. Instead we are saved INTO this thing called the church."
"In America in the past 70ish years since WWII the Church has largely stopped being about taking care of those who can't take care of themselves. Instead we’ve been consumed by saving people’s souls... forgetting about the rest of the work that God has called us to. We’ve forgotten our identity."