Sermon Reflection::1Pet 4:12-19

Tweet

Last Sunday elder Ron Peron walked us through suffering as a Christian (1 Peter 4:12-19). Ron put together a set of questions to challenge ourselves with. Are we being open about our faith? Are we afraid of the reaction? Do we make our beliefs clear through our actions and lives? Peter makes it quite clear that we are utterly dependant on God and that we are called to share his love. All throughout life, suffering has only brought forth the “why oh me” reaction and I wouldn’t see the bigger picture that it is He who provides and that we should be happy to suffer as He did. I look to Romans 8:17 for strength and reassurance during the hardest of times. What I took from the sermon on Sunday is this, to expect suffering, rejoice in suffering, examine ourselves, and to commit to God and rest in him.


-- C3's Kennedy King

Sermon Reflection::2 Thessalonians

Tweet

Austin Lambert got to preach this past Sunday. He talked about being worthy of the calling of Christ from a passage in 2 Thessalonians. This is an idea that I have struggled with on and off throughout the years. I am totally depraved. I do not deserve Christ or his gift of salvation, and yet by the grace of God, here I am. And that is really the clincher, isn’t it? By the grace of God! I am made worthy because God makes it so, through his grace! That is such an uplifting thing. We are taught that everyone is a sinner, there is no one perfect but Jesus, we are broken, dirty, and deserve death. What a joy comes to my heart to know that though all of that is true, my God loves me and makes me worthy to bear his name because He says so. And how that pushes me into action is remarkable. It’s as if this is the motivational speech that God strategically placed for those of us who need positive reinforcement. I know that is a crude analogy but still, it makes sense doesn’t it?

Something I learned when taking graduate classes last fall was that when you delve deep into the Word and you spend a good portion of your day thinking about God, it leaves you feeling just like Paul when he said “I am the worst of sinners.” It really makes you feel that way! And I believe it is meant to. The problem I had was that once I got that feeling of depravity…I mean REALLY got it so deep down that it made me want to be in a constant state of metaphorical ashes and sack cloth, I decided I needed to take a step back from God. If he’s going to make me feel this way, I thought, I’m gonna have to take a break because it’s making me really unhappy. And I think that may be a place where a lot of people end up. It took me a couple of months to realize what I had done was that I had decided that God didn’t make me happy, so I wanted something else. I took a route of idolatry. But, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. God pointed me back to Him and showed me that that place where I ended up…that deep depravity that I felt…was exactly the state where God (shown in examples throughout the Bible) comes in, shows you his incredibly marvelous grace, and shows you that He makes you clean. You are truly made free in Christ from the bondage your depravity holds you in. So yes we are unclean because of sin, but God in his wonderful love, makes us worthy to be called Children of the Living God. It is this discovery that has put me in a state of joy so profound that it makes me want to act upon it. That is the goal. That we have such joy in God and his mercy and grace that we act in such a way that it pleases God and glorifies Him. He makes me worthy of His calling…what a joy it is to show the world by building my brothers and sisters in Christ up to love and good deeds. It is a joy that causes me to desire to love my neighbor even when I don’t want to and to seek after my Savior with all of my life. It is a life changing joy that is spurred on by God’s grace…His worthiness.

-- C3 Member - Heather Bowshier

Sermon Reflection::1 Peter 4:1-11

Tweet

This past Sunday, Ron, one of our elders, walked us through 1 Peter 4:1-11. In this passage Peter gives believers a call to action - to live your new life by the standards set by our Savior, Jesus Christ. These standards teach you to suffer in the flesh, always seeking to please the father. This is in stark contrast to the world's standards - live by passion. While the Lord gives us passions for things in which we are to seek to glorify the father with, the world's passion is different. This kind of passion is unruly, reckless and dangerous. The kind of passion that brought sin and ultimately death into the world. Believers are to continue to live like Christ, constantly looking toward the Day of His return.

Within these packed verses, I found that verses  4-6 touched on something that I rarely talk about, or let myself think about. When I began to live for Christ I lost a lot of friends. Not immediately, but it became pretty obvious that we didn't share the same interests anymore, and our priorities definitely changed. There comes a time in a believer's walk that they realize certain things about the past - the Lord may convict you to apologize to someone for a former wrongdoing, you may be called to witness to them directly, you may even be given the task of 'calling someone out'. Then there is a time that you are supposed to just walk away. All of these are to be done through the leading of the Holy Spirit. Ron told us that we are to pray for the people from our former life, and in my case, the people I don't ever see anymore. I realized I was harboring bitterness about somethings and against people I haven't spoken to in years. As a believer I seek unity with my fellow believers, by why would I not apply this to non-believers as well?

Fellow brothers and sisters, I ask you to pray for the people from your past life. You may come from a rough background, you may not. Either way, ask God to save the people in your former life. Ask him if there is something he would have you do - are you to share the Gospel with a certain person, apologize, forgive, or just  walk away and continue to pray for them. Through all of this seek to please the Father, be lead by the Holy Spirit in your actions, and live like Christ. Because in the end, "this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does. (1 Peter 4:6 ESV)"
--C3 Member - Rachel Evans