Seeing the God of Israel

In the last week of Jesus' life, he gave voice to three laments. The first was over the city of Jerusalem, and his people Israel. He lamented their rejection of him as their rightful Messiah. Jesus provides us a model for lamenting over loved ones.

Church is more than an individual affair, but rather a corporate reality. We are called to lean into these relationships in the context of our obedience to Jesus.

In his final greetings, Paul allows us a brief window into what this early church looked like and how it functioned. We can take both challenge and encouragement from this look under the hood. The church is supposed to be a beautiful mess of overlapping stories.

A clique is by definition "a group of people with shared interests who are resistant to outsiders joining their ranks." The church is not supposed to be resistant to outsiders, but oftentimes outsiders aren't even on our minds when we think of church. Paul wants us to reframe our thoughts about unbelievers, and to posture ourselves toward them.

Paul addresses slaves and masters, and doesn't dismantle the institution. What!? What is going on? Is the Bible outdated and regressive? After we deal with the elephant in the room, it turns out Paul has a lot to say about vocation and meaningful work as we live out our lives for Christ.

What does the gospel have to say about marriage and family life? Is Paul a chauvinist? Are wives supposed to submit? We are hitting all the buzzwords this week as we seek a Christian understanding of marriage and family.

The apostle Paul gets very practical as he continues to unpack what it means to be clothed in the riches of this mystery, " Christ in you, the hope of glory ", as we continue to live our lives not only as individuals but also in the community.

Paul begins a deep, practical dive into the Christian life of the Churchgoer and the Church. Since our "old self" is already shed, but not yet dead, he gives us some pointers on living our lives practically for Christ. And yes, it includes our sexuality...

Once we've grasped what we have in Jesus Christ, how practical does that get externally? And how deep does it go internally? Paul gives us a robust description of the Christian life post-conversation.

It isn't in our own creativity or strength that we conjure up vision for ourselves or our community for the upcoming year. It is in looking up, beholding our God, and receiving his invitation for us this year.