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Now What?
Jerry Morgan
August 26, 2018
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Now What?
Last Sunday, we talked about why we exist as the body of Christ in the world. Looking at the teachings of Jesus, we came to the conclusion that the Southwest church exists to advance Christ's kingdom in the world by sharing the good news, working to free people from what imprisons them, to bring healing and restoration, to release the oppressed and to proclaim the favor of God.
We were also challenged by our 2018-2019 theme to advance the kingdom of Christ "Beyond Us, Beyond Here".
The reason we exist will never change. In other words, our "why" will never change. But how we carry out that mission and what we do to further the kingdom of Christ in the world will constantly need to be considered, scrutinized and changed. In other words, while our "why" will never change, our "what" and our "how" will always be changing.
Unfortunately, many over the years thought that our "what" and our "how" was the mission and would not and could not be changed. In fact, that very thinking caused "mission drift". When we made the "what" and the "how" the reason why we existed, then we drifted off course.
Some have tended to read much of Paul's teachings to the churches as the "why" of the church instead of the "what" and "how" of the church. Jesus gave little instruction as to how his disciples were to carry out the purpose of the kingdom other than do it in love. Love God and love people (in the words of Bob Goff's new book, "Everybody, Always"). Other than that, his disciples had a lot of freedom to do what they needed to do and how they needed to do it, to advance Christ's kingdom in their place and time.
Paul's writings to the church reigned the various churches back in when they were either adrift from the kingdom "why" or were not doing what they were doing in a spirit of love for God and for people.
So, today, we will be talking about "what" and "how" we carry out, faithfully and fully, the kingdom "why".
Could it be that what we do and how we do it will always need to be reviewed and possibly changed to insure that we are a relevant expression of the kingdom of Christ in our time and place?
If so, this will be hard work.
I heard a teacher speaking on a podcast last week. She shared that in her classroom there is a sign that says - "We Can Do Hard Things".
This won't be easy, but thankfully, we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to do this hard work. Let's do it together - for the glory of our King.