In this message we continue looking at the dimensions of love in Romans 12—how agape expresses itself in the midst of allfiction, through prayer, serving and hospitality.

 Our cultural familiarity with the word ‘love’ blinds us to its radically counter-cultural and revolutionary meaning. The church is called to embody a distinct and unique form of love patterned after Jesus himself, a love called agape in which self is set aside for the sake of others.

The image of the church as human body reveals the church to be a radically different kind of community than the society we live within.

We tend to associate worship with church music, but this passage gives us a comprehensive and holistic view of worship that encompasses the totality of our being and intersects every moment of our lives.

The church is a mess, but it’s a mess that Jesus loves, a mess for which he died. Let’s give up our idealised picture of what we think the church should be and embrace the broken but grace-filled community called the Church.