#WeAreEmmanuel Values / 08. #WeAreEmmanuel 5 Everything Changes Except The Gospel Pt2

08. #WeAreEmmanuel 5 Everything Changes Except The Gospel Pt2

Originally recorded on Sunday 4th February 2018. Visit http://weareemmanuel.com for more content. Speaker: Joel Virgo.

The Bible says there is only one foundation that is to be laid in the church and in our lives as Christians. When we talk about the gospel, we really talking about Jesus and what he has done. The Gospel means Good News. This preach will look at what difference it makes in having the right foundation of the church, drawing from in Colossians 3:12-17. The gospel is the final declaration that we have won the victory because of what Jesus has done. It changes your perspective on everything.

In the letters that Paul writes, they tend to be full of examples of what Jesus has done and then later he provides instructions. You cannot understand Paul’s instructions unless you understand what he says Jesus has done (The Gospel). You shouldn’t view your Christianity as something that is keeping a set of rules for you to be ‘a good Christian’ or approved by God. Firstly, that will be very discouraging because when you think you’re doing well, you still won’t be able to be approved by God by your works alone. Its only by God’s grace that we are approved. Christianity isn’t meant to be about us, it is all about what Jesus has done.

The story of our lives as Christians is that we belong to Christ, we are joined to him.

How do we stay on a gospel foundation?

1. Life Change- What difference does the gospel make to the pursuit of life change? The desire to improve is instinctive but we seem to be split on what improvement looks like as there seems to be so many options. Our story as humans is that without knowing the God whose image we are made in and to bear, we are really pursuing strange goals. Through finding God, we will find what genuine life is meant to be about. The grace of God changes the way you perform and how you see yourself.

It is true that we should change our behaviour with the instructions given in Colossians 3, but Paul is not writing these from the perspective of us doing it to earn holiness, but rather as a natural product of our behaviour because we have earned grace. You won’t be changed by law but when you realise How much God loves you, you will change inwardly. In John 14:15 Jesus says ‘If you love me than you’ll obey me’. The obedience is after you’ve received His love and learn to love him.

2. Relationships – Loving one another must be from the love of God. This is important and different because if it’s from your own limited human love, you’ll be loving people in the hope that they love you back. The only way to love one another with forbearance is by receiving the love that God has shown you and how much you don’t deserve it. Due to this, you realise you can be forgiving to others because ultimately God has forgiven you.

3. Diversity – God loves diversity. We can sometimes however get too stuck in a certain group we are familiar with and feel threatened by anything out of that. But God gives us something to humble ourselves. The gospel of grace is to create in us a humility that says, ‘I am here by shear grace and mercy and nothing else’. Therefore, when faced with someone outside of our group that we are not used to or comfortable with, if we dare to think they shouldn’t be allowed in, it proves that we haven’t really understood God’s grace. With God’s help we are to follow through with grace so that we are always ready for the diversity and breath of people he wants to bring into our lives and church.

4. Different things we do as a community: Sermons, Sacraments, Songs and Stories- We do these things because the foundation of the Gospel needs to be built on deliberately. All our regular practices bring us back to the one true foundation. Make sure that it is always The Gospel that comes through in all of these practices, so we are staying on the foundation.

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