Teaching. Maturity. Spiritual Circumcision

The apostle Paul writes in Colossians 1:28, “So we tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ.” Paul establishes that his goal for preaching and teaching is to “present everyone perfect in Christ.” The Greek idea of perfection as something without a flaw has influenced our understanding of the term in today. Consequently, for most, perfection is some impossible ideal that no one will ever attain. But the biblical vision is something was “perfect” if it’s contributing to its purpose. That what we’re after here, contributing to the purpose God created us for.

Colossians 1:28 (NLT) – “So we tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ.”

Ethos is a life-giving community committed to keeping Jesus at its Center. We are on a mission to love all people in Jesus' name so that we may all Know God, Find Freedom, Discover Purpose, & Make a Difference.

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The Awe and Supremacy of Jesus Christ

In Colossians 1, we read how Christ is the image of God. And we are called to recognize Jesus as not only the Lord of Creation but also the head of the Church who is guiding us in our journey of faith. We are reminded of Jesus’ sacrifice of dying on the cross for us and how this is a beautiful act of reconciliation and an act of bringing peace between us and God. As we read Colossians 1, we are drawn to centering our lives on Christ and acknowledging His power and authority over our lives.

"For through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see — such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.Everything was created through him and for him."

Colossians 1:16 (NLT) 

Ethos is a life-giving community committed to keeping Jesus at its Center. We are on a mission to love all people in Jesus' name so that we may all Know God, Find Freedom, Discover Purpose, & Make a Difference.

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Church: A Countercultural Community

The church has often pursued relevance at the expense of reverence. However, the church was meant to be a counterculture, where “life to the full” is visible and welcomed to all.

The church’s countercultural identity can be further categorized in several ways:

A commitment to pursuing holiness – only made possible through the blood of Jesus and by the power of the Holy Spirit – is a critical mark of the countercultural church.

John 17:18,23 (NLT) - Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world... I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. 

Ethos is a life-giving community committed to keeping Jesus at its Center. We are on a mission to love all people in Jesus' name so that we may all Know God, Find Freedom, Discover Purpose, & Make a Difference.

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Small Groups: EthosOH.com/Community

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God’s goal for every church is that the Holy Spirit would be the animating force behind all that we do; that every Christian community would be characterized by dependance upon the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit. Taking our cues from 1 Thessalonians 1:4-10, we see that a Spirit-filled community should be characterized by:

1)   Supernatural Power

2)   Abiding Love

3)   Evangelistic Urgency

4)   Biblical Truth

5)   Passionate Worship

Ethos is a life-giving community committed to keeping Jesus at its Center. Our vision is to be with Jesus, become like Jesus, and do what Jesus did so that we may love all people in Jesus' name. 

Ethos is a life-giving community committed to keeping Jesus at its Center. We are on a mission to love all people in Jesus' name so that we may all Know God, Find Freedom, Discover Purpose, & Make a Difference.

EthosOH.com

Small Groups: EthosOH.com/Community

ServeColumbus.org

Barriers and Bridges to True Community

Expectations, Self-Protection, and Masks are barriers that become silent killers to true community.

“A spiritual community, a church, is full of broken people who turn their chairs toward each other because they know they cannot make it alone. These broken people journey together with their wounds and worries and washouts visible, but are able to see beyond the brokenness to something alive and good, something whole.” Larry Crabb

We all fall short of the glory of God. But, may we spur one another toward love and compassion. May we encourage one another by engaging in the Stepping Stones to True Community:  Forgiveness, Gratitude, and the willingness to choose others in love, maturity, and sacrifice.

Philippians 2:3-4 - Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourself, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interest of others

Ethos is a life-giving community committed to keeping Jesus at its Center. We are on a mission to love all people in Jesus' name so that we may all Know God, Find Freedom, Discover Purpose, & Make a Difference.

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Small Groups: EthosOH.com/Community

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Why Go to Church?

At some point along the way, we have trained Christians to be demanding consumers, not disciples. Do we really just go to church for our own benefits? Doesn’t doing so merely perpetuate the consumerist culture that has caused so many to abandon church? There must be far more beautiful and deeply meaningful rationale for going to church beyond what we can get. Right? Within the present anti-church climate, we must attempt to answer, “Why go to church?” What do you tell your friends or perhaps your parents or children who no longer go but wonder why you do? What is being proposed is not a series of reasons why you might want to go to church but why you should go to church. That’s not a bad thing … an old philosophical dictum suggests that love follows knowledge, the heart needs a vision … So what can be a vision, a reason for going to church and committing ourselves to a group of very flawed men and women and agreeing to journey with them for the rest of our lives?

Romans 12:2 (NLT) - Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Ethos is a life-giving community committed to keeping Jesus at its Center. We are on a mission to love all people in Jesus' name so that we may all Know God, Find Freedom, Discover Purpose, & Make a Difference.

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Small Groups: EthosOH.com/Community

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Not As Easy As We Hope. More Important Than We Thought

We desperately need to recapture the communal aspect of historic Christianity. There is an entire generation deconstructing their beliefs not because those beliefs are wrong but because they never saw those beliefs actually done in a loving community of commitment and sacrifice. What we believe is not our witness to the world, it’s how we live among one another that is our witness to the world. The church was not founded to critique the surrounding culture but to form a distinct counterculture where “life to the full” is on display as an invitation to all. However, in many ways the church has mirrored the culture more than forming a counterculture.

Matthew 16:15-18 (NLT) - Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.

Reflection Questions:

Ethos is a life-giving community committed to keeping Jesus at its Center. We are on a mission to love all people in Jesus' name so that we may all Know God, Find Freedom, Discover Purpose, & Make a Difference.

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When the Holy Spirit Invades the Hearts of His People

Have you ever noticed that the greatest demonstration of the Spirit of God which was also the moment that launched the Christian church, happened not while someone was preaching, but while people were praying? What does it say about the church today that the Spirit came, and that God birthed the church in a prayer meeting, and prayer meetings today are almost extinct? What do you think will happen if you begin to pray that God will reveal his power in your life and lead you toward people whom he wants you to love?

Matthew 6:9-10 (NLT) - Pray like this: Our Father in

Reflection Questions:

Ethos is a life-giving community committed to keeping Jesus at its Center. We are on a mission to love all people in Jesus' name so that we may all Know God, Find Freedom, Discover Purpose, & Make a Difference.

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Experiencing the Grace & Gifts of the Holy Spirit

There’s a crucial principle we need to understand from the outset: Spiritual gifts are not God bestowing to his people something external to himself. They are not some tangible “stuff” or “substance” separable from God. Spiritual gifts are nothing less than God himself in us, energizing our souls, imparting revelation to our minds, infusing power in our wills, and working his sovereign and gracious purposes through us.

1 Corinthians 12:7 (NLT) - A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. 

Ethos is a life-giving community committed to keeping Jesus at its Center. We are on a mission to love all people in Jesus' name so that we may all Know God, Find Freedom, Discover Purpose, & Make a Difference.

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Small Groups: EthosOH.com/Community

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What stands in Our Way of More?

How did Jesus do everything that Jesus did? There are two dominant theories that exist to answer that question, neither are entirely inaccurate, but one of them is most clear: by the power of the Holy Spirit. Before the Holy Spirit rested upon Jesus after His water baptism, Jesus did not do much. However, after he was anointed with the Holy Spirit, He was teaching with authority, working miracles, building disciples, and bringing Heaven to Earth. Here is some more good news; the same Holy Spirit that empowered Jesus wants to empower you. Martin Lloyd Jones said, “If we have what the first Christians had, why do we not do what they did? We must conclude that either God gave them more than He has given us, or we have failed to avail ourselves of what He has given us.” Let’s continue to lean in together.

"But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you."

John 16:7 (NLT)

Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. // John 14:12

Ethos is a life-giving community committed to keeping Jesus at its Center. We are on a mission to love all people in Jesus' name so that we may all Know God, Find Freedom, Discover Purpose, & Make a Difference.

EthosOH.com

Small Groups: EthosOH.com/Community

ServeColumbus.org