MCC Podcast

In our culture there are several words used to describe who we are:

And we are going to take the next several weeks to flesh out what that means to us today and why at MCC, we are using a word that seems foreign to our culture but has great meaning for how we are to live our lives.

One of the passages of scripture that we may find hard to want to say out loud is what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11:1 (NIV): Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.

We should all be able to say it.

But what does it mean?

In real life, how do we do that?

Last week we looked at what the pace of Jesus teaches us about how His example should shine through ours. This week we’ll look at the priority of Jesus as we encounter someone who was described as “a woman we might never have remembered had she not crossed the path of the One we could never forget.” And that description gives you a glimpse into Jesus’ priority and we’ll talk about what it looks like for His priority to be our priority as well.

For the last few weeks, we have been looking at what I believe we as a culture have a hard time doing appropriately. We've been in a series we’re calling Play AND Purpose and it seems to me that we either lean too much into one or the other.  Either we can't remember the last time we were not fully absorbed in a work week or we can't remember the last time we forgot about work. 

We can’t remember the last time we gave ourselves to something greater than ourselves or we can’t remember the last time we were just silly. We can't remember the last time we were productive or not trying to be productive.  

Play AND Purpose.  

Two weeks ago Adam walked us through “AND.” Last week Eric walked us through Purpose as we celebrated our graduates. If you missed either of those you can catch them here.  

This Sunday I want to walk with you through Play. Come prepared to have fun. Seriously, we’re going to have to have a good time.

Continuing in our Play And Purpose series, Student Pastor Eric Craft talks about how a life of purpose is centered in Jesus.

This morning we are beginning a series called Play and Purpose. 

We wanted to take a few weeks to look at these because we’re closing in on summer and I hope you will take some time to play.  And next week is graduate Sunday and we want to talk about purpose and the importance of that. As our students transition out of high school and onto the next phase of their lives - purpose is what will guide them through a lot of decisions that will impact - not just today but tomorrow.  

So Play and Purpose.   

But today is not about Play - that’s in 2 weeks. but neither is today about Purpose - that’s next week. What does that leave us?  

Today is about AND.

I know you are well aware that our world is divided. It actually has always been divided, but that division now seems to be wider, more obvious, and more filled with hatred.

However, as we prepared, we also determined that just as important as the stand we take is how we do it.

Peter said (1 Peter 3:15-16): 15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.

To be clear, we are called to always be ready to answer everyone who asks us about our hope, and we’ll talk about that. But I want to make sure you catch what Peter says next:

But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

And sometimes it’s not too difficult to pull that off. But how do you deal with the unexpected, especially when the unexpected is unpleasant? How do you deal with situations when the heat is turned up quickly, and you seem to be standing in the middle of the fire?

This weekend we’ll see how we can do that.

“If I ran the world everything would be better.” Have you ever thought that?

For most of us, it's a joke, but there is a kernel of truth there. This small belief that if everyone saw like you did the world would make sense and be better. The problem is it explains away a lot of shortcomings that we all have. The reality is we judge others by their actions and ourselves by our intentions. We know what we meant to do and so we hold ourselves in the highest regard, while for others all we see is a part of what they’ve done and we think we can diagnose how to make their life better in an instant.

That’s why Jesus made it very clear that before we ever start to believe that we can impose our will on the world, our lives better have gone under an intense process of restoration and alignment with God’s will. As we do that, we might just find more and more how much we have to change in our lives and leave it to God to be in control of the rest.

This weekend we are beginning a new series called Take A Stand. Originally the idea for this series was to take a few issues that are current with our culture where, as followers of Jesus, at a minimum, we should know where we stand and why we stand there.

But we’re not just going to tell you what we think or feel, we’re going to show you what God has said through the Bible. I hope you’ll join us for those.

But as we talked about this, it’s important for us to know where we take a stand, but equally important (maybe more) is HOW we take a stand.

This Sunday I’ll be talking about what we stand on when we take a stand.

Celebrating Easter is all about Jesus’ death and burial and resurrection. And we celebrate this weekend with egg hunts and baskets and family gatherings and coming to church together or coming together in your home to be part of this there. But this weekend is HUGE because at the cross we find forgiveness for our sins. That is why we follow Jesus right up to the cross. But we’ll also be reminded that there is something else we are called to as we follow Jesus away from the cross.

I hope you will bring your family and friends this weekend so you can be reminded of why what we celebrate this weekend is so important.

I still remember sitting in my office with someone who wanted to talk about beginning their relationship with Jesus. They wanted to be baptized. We talked about that. And as we were finishing, she looked at me and had this troubled look in her eyes.  She said, “What happens after I’m baptized?  I mean, what if I sin?”

I asked, “What do you mean?”

She said, “The Bible says that when we give our lives to Jesus that all of our sins are forgiven, right?  I said, yea. We had just looked at this verse, (Acts 2:38 NIV), Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins…

Psalm 103:12 says, “He has taken our sins away from us as far as the east is from the west.”

She said. “My slate is wiped clean, right?”

“Right.”

“So what happens if I sin after I’m baptized?”

You know what she’s asking: I wonder if you’ve wondered this.

What happens when I sin?

Am I finished?

Does God not love me anymore?

Does that question bother you?

If that has bothered you, let me tell you what I told her. I said, “Oh, it’s not IF you sin, it’s WHEN you sin. You will.” If you’ve wondered the same thing, or had a friend ask you about this, our one-word prayer this week, Oops, will help you.