Josh Mounce - June 3, 2018
God Is... Father
What does it mean to be a good father? And what do we do if we have bad fathers? In John's Gospel, Jesus teaches us what fatherhood looks like - and why it matters that God is our father, whether we're fathers or not.
From Series: "Monday Messiah"
We like to claim that Jesus' resurrection changed the world. But how? How does it matter that Jesus was raised from the dead not on Sunday, when we worship, but on Monday, when we dive back into our ordinary lives? In this series, we explore the "I Am" statements Jesus makes in John's Gospel to see how the new life Jesus offers us is as immediate and relevant as ever, right where we live, work and play.
More Messages From Josh Mounce...
Powered by Series Engine
I know that some of us have gotten in a yelling match or two with family over some stupid stuff. For my wife and I? It was a shouting match over dishes that ended in me yelling that she didn’t really love me, and her yelling back, “You’re acting like my 5-year-old sister!” Yeah… not a real proud moment there. So, it’s not too surprising that churches have argued or even split over some pretty ridiculous stuff. How ridiculous? Here’s a few:
- The appropriate length of the worship pastor’s beard
- Whether the worship leader should have his shoes on during the service
- The Lord’s Supper had cran-grape juice instead of plain grape juice
- Two different churches reported fights over the type of coffee. In one of the churches, they moved from Folgers to a stronger Starbucks brand. In the other church, they simply moved to a stronger blend. Members left the church in the latter example.
- Some church members left the church because one church member hid the vacuum cleaner from them. It resulted in a major fight and split.
While these are downright ridiculous (and hopefully we don’t have any fights over beard length here,) they speak to a deeper issue: the fact that we as the church, the body of Christ, are KNOWN for our arguing and in-fighting. But our arguments aren’t always about silly things, sometimes it’s over a core issue that really hits home with us personally. I have seen churches split over homosexuality, finances, and alcohol.
And the thing to remember is that the vacuum fight wasn’t really about the vacuum. There was an issue under that issue that went unaddressed for a long time.
We fight over big and small things, dividing over who’s right. But there’s a better way. What I’m proposing to you is this: that our “religion” and relationship with Christ is not about determining who is right and who is wrong. It’s about connecting people to Jesus. I am not saying that these issues should brushed under the rug, but our deep lack of unity over both the trivial and the important has hurt us, Christ’s image, and our witness.
Let’s refuse to be morality police, always looking at each other and constantly judging and evaluating. Because man, is that exhausting.
