Are you growing in grace? This weekend Pastor Steve Andres continued our SUNDAY BEST series with a message about the value of living in community with others.
Ephesians 2:19-22
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.
The miracle of God’s grace is experienced personally, but expressed in community. In Christ, God is doing more than rescuing individuals, he is remaking a people for his name!
1) We are saved out of sin, saved into community.
All throughout the New Testament we see that God’s purpose is to place us in his family made of people from all walks of life. The differences that mark this community highlight the creativity and generosity of God’s rescuing love.
2) We are purified through practicing grace.
Everyone comes to this new community wounded and broken in some way. The prescription for our healing is to love one another and bear with the faults and weaknesses of others.
“Just as surely as God desires to lead us to a knowledge of genuine Christian fellowship, so surely must we be overwhelmed by a great disillusionment with others, with Christians in general, and, if we are fortunate, with ourselves.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together
Community is a workshop for forgiveness and grace. How can we become like Jesus if we won’t practice forgiving others who don’t deserve it?
3) We are vessels in a great house.
All kinds of people are welcomed in the great house that God is building (2 Timothy 2:20-21). To serve them, God is preparing vessels that are pure and honorable. You are that vessel!
