We’re in the process of looking at what it means to be called, and the different aspects of being called. The first week, we covered the what and the why of our calling: the what of our calling is to glorify God, and the why is because He is worthy. We all have the same calling but it is manifested in different ways. Our calling as individuals and a church is to glorify God in all that we do. Why do we glorify Him? Because He is worthy. (more…)

Notes:

Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. The angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. So Moses said, “I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up.” When the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Exodus 3:1-4

Last week we started an introduction to being called and living out our purpose. The overarching theme is that our purpose as individuals and churches is the same, but we have different expressions. The calling for all of us is the same: to glorify God. He created us us for His glory. (more…)

Notes:

God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, 2 Timothy 1:9

We all have a calling, individually and corporately. The calling is the same and the expression is different, from person to person and from church to church. We believe, based on the word of God and through the leading of the Holy Spirit, that God has led us to this place. He has led us here for His purposes, for the sake of His kingdom, for His glory, for our specific calling as a church. (more…)

Notes:

Paul, called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:

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Notes:

What is one of the top contributors to divorce? What causes us stress and anxiety? What makes us believe that if we had just a little more of it, life would be better? Money! (more…)

Notes:

My truck spent a good portion of last week in the repair shop. It had come to believe that is was being stolen, so it refused to start. The dash lit up “THEFT” and the horn honked when I tried to start it. Sometimes it would start right up but other times it would only start after I turned it on and off, locked and unlocked the doors, and disconnected the battery. It was very inconsistent in its belief system, which made it an unreliable, unfaithful form of transformation. What the truck believed was based on false information, so it shut down. (more…)

One of the most amazing passages of scripture is found in John 13, when Jesus washes the feet of His disciples. The scene is set; John 13-17 is the Upper Room discourse where Jesus is less than 24 hours away from being put to death. The passage begins with a declaration: that Jesus, knowing His time was coming to an end, and that He was leaving this world having loved His own to the fullest, that He acts on that love. It is the greatest act of love that has ever been displayed in human history.

The passage says that Jesus got up from the meal, took off His outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around His waist. After He poured water into the basin, He began to wash His disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around Him. Following a brief dialogue, He returns to the table and asks them a single question, a super important question that we all need to wrestle with today and in our lives. This question has major implications for all of us: “Do you know what I have done for you?”

After Jesus does this amazing task of washing the disciples’ feet, He asks them, “Do you know what I have done for you?” This question is loaded with tension; it begs for a response. This question points to something much deeper taking place in that moment, something that Jesus is illustrating beyond the humble act of washing the disciples’ feet. In that moment, Jesus is more than just a humble servant doing a humble loving task. He is demonstrating His identity as the suffering servant of Isaiah 53; the one who would be pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities.

Through this single act, Jesus transformed the Upper Room into the Holiest of Holies, the most sacred place that no ordinary person could enter, the place where sins were atoned for before a holy and righteous God. Jesus is demonstrating the cross; He pulls the disciples into the unfolding beautiful narrative of our redemption and the cleansing that would come through His death once and for all with Jesus Himself being the temple and the sacrifice that would be hung on the cross.

The foot washing is a precursor to what would be accomplished on the cross. It’s a sign of the mystery of God being revealed in the redemption of all things through Christ. He is demonstrating the cross, foreshadowing the place where human brokenness, sin, suffering, and death find defeat; where fear is extinguished and hope is ignited. The outward act of foot washing points to the inward cleansing of His blood through the cross. Jesus is demonstrating what He’s done for us on the cross by this one act of washing His disciples’ feet.

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Philippians 2:5-8

He took upon Himself flesh, becoming fully human in order to be the full representative for humanity. With His flesh He bore our sins and with His blood He cleansed us from them. After declaring it to be finished, He ascends back to heaven where He is now seated at the right hand of God.

Today Jesus is asking this same question

Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed. 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Today is Palm Sunday, the day that Jesus entered Jerusalem and was welcomed as king. It is hard for us to understand kings and kingdoms today because we do not have a good point of reference in our society. When we think of a king, we can think of pomp and circumstance, a figurehead, royalty, ceremonial formality. But a king who rules his kingdom may be something quite different from our perceptions.

Scripture gives us a picture of kings and their kingdoms. In the book of Nehemiah we read that when Nehemiah was approached by King Artaxerxes and was asked why he looked sad, Nehemiah responded, “Long live the king!” (Nehemiah 2:1-3). Nehemiah quickly reassured the king that his sadness was not a reflection of the king. Esther was married to King Ahasuerus, but when the need arose for her to speak to him, she put her own life at risk as she went into his presence uninvited (Esther 5).

Kings had cupbearers who tasted the food not for quality but for poison. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, threw a cupbearer who displeased him into prison. Nehemiah was a cupbearer to the king. Kings were sovereign and absolute. In the days of Daniel, King Nebuchadnezzar asked the wise men to interpret his dream. No one could interpret it, so he ordered the execution of all wise men in the kingdom. Daniel interpreted the king’s dream and the wise men were spared.

In Judges, a king cut the thumbs and toes off of 70 kings; he made them beg for scraps at his table (Judges 1:7). Kings were feared, served, and opposed at the risk of death. Kings were often brutal and demonstrated their authority and power through opulence and draconian measure to maintain position. Kings were not always right, they were not always just, and they did not necessarily care for their subjects.

But Jesus is a different type of King, isn’t He? Jesus’ declaration as King as He enters Jerusalem is significantly different from a typical king of that day and so was His mission. His declaration of Kingship, His triumphal entry, was riding a donkey into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. But if you were living there that day, His entry would have been anything but triumphal, even if you combine all of the Gospel descriptions: “The city stirred and asked, ‘Who is this?'” In Luke’s account, he records that

Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature. In the Law it is written, “BY MEN OF STRANGE TONGUES AND BY THE LIPS OF STRANGERS I WILL SPEAK TO THIS PEOPLE, AND EVEN SO THEY WILL NOT LISTEN TO ME,” says the Lord. So then tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers; but prophecy is for a sign, not to unbelievers but to those who believe. Therefore if the whole church assembles together and all speak in tongues, and ungifted men or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are mad? But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an ungifted man enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all; the secrets of his heart are disclosed; and so he will fall on his face and worship God, declaring that God is certainly among you. What is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification. If anyone speaks in a tongue, it should be by two or at the most three, and each in turn, and one must interpret; but if there is no interpreter, he must keep silent in the church; and let him speak to himself and to God. Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others pass judgment. But if a revelation is made to another who is seated, the first one must keep silent. For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all may be exhorted; and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets; for God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints. 1 Corinthians 14:20-33

The big picture here is that 1 Corinthians is a letter by Paul to the church at Corinth, a primarily pagan/Gentile church that he had established. Paul’s letter is a response to things he heard were issues in the church, and also a response to questions the church asked him about practice.

As we read this letter, we have Paul’s answers but we don’t know the exact questions. In chapters 12-14, Paul answers a question about tongues. The question may have been, “What is the role of tongues in the church?” or “Who is more spiritual?” or “Why is our gathering so filled with division?”

Paul answers the question in chapters 12-14. In chapter 12, he begins to instruct them on the gifts or charismata, the Greek word for grace. These grace gifts are given by God in His time in His way for His glory and the common good. Paul names some of the gifts including tongues, but tried to de-emphasize the importance of tongues. The gifts listed in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14, and Ephesians 4 and Romans 12 are not exhaustive lists, but more like categories of gifts.

In chapter 13, Paul puts the gifts in the perspective of love. The gifts are an expression of love, and our gifts are nothing without love. The