Day 4: The Deeper Issue – A Different Way to Think About Sins
When I have learnt to love God better than my earthly dearest, I shall love my earthly dearest better than I do now. In so far as I learn to love my earthly dearest at the expense of God and instead of God, I shall be moving towards the state in which I shall not love my earthly dearest at all. When first things are put first, second things are not suppressed but increased.
C.S. Lewis
Read Matthew 6:25–34
For many pious people, this is a favorite verse: “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33). However for the not-so-pious (like the rest of us), this sounds like a dangerous verse.
Day 1: What We Are To Each Other – The Church As Christ’s Body
1 Corinthians 12:12-27
12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.13 For we were all baptized byone Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.15 Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body.16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body.17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.19 If they were all one part, where would the body be?20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!”22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty,24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it,25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
A lot of people say they don’t like “organized religion,” but I doubt they like disorganized religion either. What I think they really mean is that they don’t like public religion. They like their faith good and individualistic. They see faith as more like golf than basketball: it’s not a team sport. They think that faith is supposed to be both individual and individualistic.
In the last reading, we looked at how Jesus connects us with God through Christian conversion in John 3. We saw that this event has two contributions: We come to repentance and faith, and God does the supernatural, miraculous work of regeneration. This is what Christians are talking about when they say that they have “been saved,” “accepted Christ,” “been converted,” “been born again,” “become a Christ follower,” “prayed the sinner’s prayer” and so on. It means they’ve turned away from the demands of their depravity, apologized to God for having lived in that depravity, and pledged to trust in Christ’s death and resurrection for them, living under his leadership.
The book is complete! BLUEPRINT is at the printers.
If you don’t already know, we’re going through a series this fall, focusing on the core components of real Christian faith, built on an unshakable gospel foundation. The book provides a blueprint for Christians in the local church to live out what Jesus has for us and a blueprint for those who don’t know anything about Christianity to see what it’s all about.
For those of you who do not know Dennis and Ellen Hierl and their daughter Brooklyn, they are a family that are a part of High Point Church. You may recognize the names from the Sunday morning prayer requests asking you to pray for healing for Dennis from a brain tumor. It’s been quite the journey for them – but as anyone will see when you read their blog, they are trusting the Lord through it all and depending on Him each step of the way. We wanted to share the most recent ways this family saw God provide in their lives and what He’s been teaching them most recently.
Engage & Equip 