Teaching from Romans chapter 10, Pastor Daniel Pape reminds us that the Good News of Jesus is for all people, in all places, at all times. He shares about his experiences on the mission field and inspires us to participate in the work of God however he inspires us.
Church matters because it provides us the opportunity to participate in communal practices that form us as the people of God — and because it is communal we have an opportunity to put our formation into practice — allowing us to learn to live and love one another well in the name of God.
Church matters because we need a community in which we can explore the implications of the Gospel announcement that, “Jesus is Lord.”
The Church matters because it is the epicenter of God’s movement to announce the Good News of Jesus Christ to the world. The Church is that gathered people of God, so when God moves, he is moving within the Church.
When Jesus is cornered in the temple and asked a loaded question, he says to give to Ceasar what belongs to Ceasar and to God what belongs to God. The brilliance is in the image. The coin has Caesar's image on it. We are the image-bearers of God! The story is about the tension of how to live in the world as the people of God. As bearer's of God's Image, we are to bear prophetic witness to the age to come as we lean into this tension.
Not only does God have a truly beautiful plan for restoring humanity and all of creation back to his original design. Not only does that plan include you and I and all mankind, but he invites us, he implores us, he empowers us, and he expects us to be a part of that plan! Like Paul, he invites us to see the world with new eyes! To dream about each of our spheres of influent being redeemed and reimagined as God sees them!
God takes pleasure in bringing all things to unity in Christ. This is what God is up to in the world. This is where the story is heading - a rewriting of the story so that all things are brought into perfect unity in Christ. And this brings God pleasure. He delights in redeeming, restoring, renewing, retelling.
The sacraments help us re-enact the story of our redemption. They become physical metaphors for our journey of faith. The sacraments help, that which seems so far away, to be brought close, near to us.
The Bible is the story of God intersecting human history in the person of Jesus. As such, its primary purpose is to bear witness to Christ, the incarnate Word.
On the cross, Jesus defeats the rulers and authorities (and the evil power that animates them). The only way to defeat such powers is to absorb their evil blows and then respond with forgiveness. This is central to Paul's understanding of the cross. We are freed from evil "powers" by Christ's death and resurrection.
