1. Christianity
is a category of religion established by this world’s scholars. Christians are people living in ongoing
relationship with Jesus. They are noted to
be so by their culture because of what others can see happening in their lives.
Jesus didn’t come to establish a new
religion, but to deliver people from the burdens of religion.
Matthew 11:28 MSG “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on
religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show
you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it.
Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting
on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
2. People are
not collateral or a church’s workforce to be used to bring about the growth of
the church or the implementation of a leader’s vision. The church is supposed to be about what is
best for the growth of the people, helping them establish vision for their own
lives and families. Christ didn’t
establish the church to develop programs for reaching people he is reaching
people who become the church, who then shine the light of Christ in everyday
lives.
Romans 12 :1 “Here’s what I want you to do, God helping
you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work,
and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering.”
3. Jesus
didn’t come to correct your bad behavior so the church is not a tool for
behavior modification. Jesus came to
wipe away the consequences for our sins to allow us access to God so that He
could transform us as we focus on him.
Romans 12:2 “Embracing what God does for you is the best
thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that
you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God.
You’ll be changed from the inside out.”
4. God is
not looking to micromanage our lives. He
delights is seeing his children learn to make decisions for themselves using
the experience and wisdom that He gives to pursue their passions and advance
his Kingdom here on the earth. As a
result Christians are not foot soldiers in the army of God who just get up
everyday and ask for their marching orders. Christians are ambassadors, agents, and independent
operators who look to God for direction when the path becomes less obvious.
John 15:15-16 “I no longer call you servants, because a
servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you
friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to
you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and
appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and
so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.”
5. While
all of scripture is true, the way in which God relates to us under the new
covenant is to be governed by the Good News or Gospel not by the law and the
prophets. Certainly the law has not passed
away, but it has been fulfilled setting us free to live in Christ under grace
instead of under a bondage to a certain set of rules which we find harder and
harder to follow when we focus on following them instead of on getting to know
Jesus better and better.
Luke 16:16 “Until John the Baptist, the law of Moses and
the messages of the prophets were your guides. But now the Good News of the Kingdom of God
Matthew 5:17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the
Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”
