Titus 2:1-15 Teach and Encourage

 

When I look at Titus and the place and church he’s been sent to in order to “straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town,” my heart goes out to him. Paul has not given him an easy task. Titus is on Crete, a place most people looked down on; a people with terrible reputations whom no-one respects, not even their own prophets. Listen to how Paul describes the situation in chapter 1:10–14, “For there are many rebellious people, full of meaningless talk and deception, especially those of the circumcision group. They must be silenced, because they are disrupting whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain. One of Crete’s own prophets has said it: “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.” This saying is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the merely human commands of those who reject the truth.”

It seems the church on Crete is filled with quite a group of characters who may have accepted the good news of Jesus, but haven’t yet begun to allow the gospel to shape their lives in any way. Their lives are making a mockery of the gospel, and yet, while this is a tough crowd, they also have great potential to reveal the power of Jesus to transform lives and communities. This is why Paul tells Titus to focus on teaching the gospel; to give the people healthy instruction for living life as Jesus followers. The goal is to help them, and us today, “to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.” Faith is not just about believing the right things, it’s about the transformation of our heart and lives in response to Jesus.

Paul identifies different groups of people in the church and how the gospel should shape them. Paul tells Titus to teach the older men what a gospel good news centered life looks like for them, “be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, love and in endurance.” Older men are to show self-discipline and dignity, be in control of themselves, quick to listen and slow to speak, showing wisdom. Paul wants the older men to be sound, or healthy in their faith, a faith shaped by the command of Jesus to love God with everything they have and are and to love others as themselves. Older men also need to show how they stay grounded in the faith and with an attitude of love through good and hard times. People look up to the older men as examples on how to live; they are models and mentors, whether they accept that or not, and people look to how they live more than at what they say. Our values and beliefs are revealed more through how we walk through life than in the words we say. ‘Do as I say, not as I do’ is not an acceptable way for older men to act, their role in the community is too big for that kind of a life, according to Paul.

Paul then moves to the role that older women need to hold in the church; “be reverent in the way they live, not to slander others or be a slave to wine, but to teach what is good.” Reverent has to do with being holy, with living in a right way according to God’s wishes. Paul emphasizes a few things especially: don’t slander others, be gracious in how you talk about others, speak well of people and build them up instead of tearing others down and gossiping. They’re not to be slaves to wine. It seems that some of the older women especially were becoming addicted to wine, this may be why they also had issues with slander as drinking too much loosens your tongue and you often end up saying things you later regret, you say things that you may feel, but in cruel mean ways. Instead the older women were to use their words for good, to teach what is good and help them become better people.

The older women are then called to urge, or encourage the younger women, acting as mentors and models to these younger women. These older women can show these younger women how to love their husbands and children; love in the 1 Corinthians 13 way of patience, kindness, humility, with trust, hope and perseverance. Being a wife and mother isn’t always easy and it’s not even always appreciated, even though it’s hard and extremely important work. Mothers are the ones who do the main raising of the children. Most of us learned our main values and morals from mom, most of us learned the stories of the Bible from mom first, we learned love and commitment from mom first. Dads are just as important in a child’s life, but the majority of the day to day raising of children rests with the mom. That’s true even today where the roles of mom and dad have shifted a bit, but moms still carry the major share of child raising.

This means that the foundation of our society begins with mothers. I know some women cringe when they hear the call to be subject to their husbands. The Greek word is submit, we need to hear this through Paul’s call in Ephesians 5 for mutual submission and then for wives to respect their husbands. Husbands need their wives’ respect in order to be strong healthy husbands and fathers who take their responsibilities seriously. Paul knew what psychologists today are rediscovering; that women and men need different things from each other: women desire love and men desire respect. This is why older women investing their time, energy, and love into the younger women in church is so important, they have learned that husbands experience love through respect, and this makes them stronger husbands and fathers.

When people outside the church see how younger men and women have mentors and models who really care and invest in them; building strong adults and families, they find it difficult to blaspheme the word of God because of how the gospel creates strong healthy communities of flourishing families. Our families are an important witness to the power of the gospel in our lives. When we let the gospel shape our relationships within the family, we build solid foundations for our children, a place where they can grow safely, surrounded by an extended family that values investing in each other and helping them to find their hope and security and strength in Jesus.

Paul now turns his attention to the young men, urging Titus to teach them to be self-controlled by being an example himself in doing good, mentoring them. Part of mentoring is that in his teaching, Titus is encouraged to show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech. Titus’ own life and teaching is also part of his witness to the working out of the gospel news in our lives. It’s one thing to read about how God wants us to live as a witness for him, it’s another to watch someone live out Jesus’ way in actual real messy life.

There’s something inspiring about watching the life of someone who is living out their faith in beautiful generous ways; watching how they practice self-control, Christian character, joy, love and more in all their relationships in their families, workplaces, school, and community. It inspires others and gives us the courage and strength to live the same way, which then increases our witness to the gospel and Jesus. Our children, our youth and our community are watching us, seeing if what we say we believe is being practiced. This is why Paul even mentions how a slave can be a witness in how he or she does their master’s bidding, all so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Saviour attractive. Have you ever thought that you are a witness to your boss about Jesus? This is why Paul in another letter reminds us to do everything as if we’re doing it for the Lord. It gets noticed!

Following Jesus, teaching and encouraging each other in who Jesus is calling us to be as individuals and as a church, shapes how we live together within our families, church and community so that our teaching about Jesus is attractive, drawing people to Jesus. Through God’s grace, we say “no” to ungodliness as we wait for Jesus’ return and do the good God has prepared for us to do to create healthy communities that reflect Jesus’ teaching and life, a place where everyone is able to flourish in the gifts God has given us.

2 Timothy 3:10-17 All Scripture is God-Breathed

In our story here this morning, we see how close Paul and Timothy are. Paul’s sharing his life with Timothy; telling him all about his joys and struggles, his purpose in life and the persecution he’s getting from living out his purpose of bringing the gospel to everyone. He’s sharing his faith, way of life, and how he’s learned the importance of patience, love and endurance. Paul’s life centers on Jesus and he’s enjoying the blessings and enduring the struggles that come with a Jesus-centered life. Paul’s sharing all of this with Timothy in order to strengthen and encourage Timothy in his own life and ministry. 

Paul reminds Timothy that “everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” Paul’s living this out, but Jesus also warns his followers that if they choose him, they’ll face persecution. We always talk about being unique, about living life our way, our culture even encourages this, at least until your values become different from the culture’s, then you’re told that your values don’t belong and you need to change to fit what the majority accept as true and right. Be unique, but not too unique, is what it comes down to. In most cultures, Jesus’ message and values are different from the majority. Jesus embraces humility, self-sacrifice, responsibility, extreme generosity, acceptance of those on the fringe and who don’t fit in, calling us to accept God’s truth and way as our own, and Jesus calls us to be so much more than we are right now.

Paul’s encouraging Timothy to keep on living out what he believes and what he’s been taught. I love how Paul tells Timothy that you embrace what you’ve been taught because of the relationship you have with the people who have taught you; his grandmother, his mother, Paul and others. These are people Timothy trusts and loves and who love him back, they want the best for him. It’s true even today, as your pastor I can tell you something, but if you hear it from your grandparents or a favourite aunt or uncle, you’re much more willing to trust them because of the relationship you have with them. These are the people who’ve taught you about God and the wonder and specialness of the Bible as God’s own words given to us as a gift.

Part of the reason Paul’s writing Timothy is because Nero is the emperor and has begun persecuting Christians. This distracted everyone from taking a closer look at how evil, cruel and immoral he was. Romans were leaving their traditional beliefs, including believing that Caesar was a god, and were turning to other faiths, including following Jesus. Rulers back then, just as today, will often identify a small group of people who are slightly different than everyone else and then accuse them of all kinds of immoral things, of not believing the right things, just to take the attention off of their own behaviour. This often turns into mob rule, something we’re seeing way too often today all over the world and we’re not immune to it.

In these unsettled times, times filled with anxiety, uncertainty and fear, Paul points Timothy to Scripture, reminding him that it’s God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. I hear echoes here back to Genesis 1 & 2 and how God created us. He created order and beauty out of chaos, he took the earth itself and formed a man, giving it life by breathing his breath, his Spirit into it to give it life. This is what Scripture does, it brings life and hope, points us to the one who gives new life: Jesus. Scriptures are the good news that show us who God is, revealing Jesus as God’s Word made flesh.

Paul reminds Timothy that the Scriptures are useful for teaching. They reveal what’s true about life, pointing us to Jesus and his life and teaching. Jesus calls himself the way, truth and life as he calls us to follow him and place our hope in him for salvation. We are constantly being told that there is no absolute truth, that we create our own truth. If we all could create our own truth, what happens when our created truths contradict each other, compete against each other. If they are opposite, then one person’s truth will be wrong, will be a lie. Jesus calls us to believe in him, to look to him for the truth. We don’t create truth; we discover truth in Jesus. In finding the truth in Jesus, we discover in the Scriptures how to live life well with God and each other, with ourselves and with creation.

Scriptures also rebuke us, tells us to be honest about where our hearts and desires really are. The Scriptures don’t allow us to fool ourselves into thinking we’re better than we really are. That’s hard for a lot of us to hear because, while we say that we cannot earn our salvation simply by being good, that’s often how we live, believing that if we’re good enough, God could never say ‘no’ to us. We want to be with Jesus when we die, but we want to have fun and do what we want right now too. We seem to think that a holy life is a dull life, but Scripture shows us that the most exciting life is one where we give our all to Jesus.

The Scriptures are a very helpful source of correction for us. It guides us back to healthier ways of thinking and seeing life and the world around us.; from false beliefs to true beliefs about who we are. There are a lot of people of all ages, from young children to older seniors who struggle with mental health right now. The last while has been difficult for many of us. We have been restricted from socializing the ways we are used to, physical connections are limited, some have lost their jobs, and so anxiety, fear, mental tiredness and depression have affected most of us at some point in the past 6 months, some are wrestling with their mental health in some serious ways now. Some of this has biological roots and so if you are struggling right now, you do need to see a doctor or therapist.

Yet some of it comes from how we see things. We falsely believe that we’re alone and no one understands, we falsely believe that we have no value and nothing to offer, we falsely believe we have no future and no way forward, we falsely believe that others look down on us for being weak, and we falsely believe that no one cares. When we believe these things, anxiety, fear, and depression can knock us down real hard. This is why we need to turn to Scripture, or if your loved one is walking through a hard time mentally and emotionally, remind them again of the truths found in Scripture, that they are not alone, that the Holy Spirit is with us always to comfort us, remind us of who Jesus is and what he taught, to give us strength and hope. They will experience them through your love and compassion and presence.

The Scriptures remind us that we’re beloved children of God, precious in his sight, princesses and princes in the kingdom of heaven. Scriptures don’t promise us an easy future, but that there is a future and a way forward and Jesus is with us through it all. While others may look down on us, Jesus doesn’t, he is filled with compassion and love for us. He became human so he could experience life as we do, with all it’s struggles and joys so that no matter what is happening, we know we can always go to him and he will understand. God cares, Jesus cares, and as a church, we care too.

Finally, Paul reminds us that Scripture trains us in righteousness to grow our faith by giving us spiritual and life practices that teach us how to live well with God, with others, ourselves and with creation. The goal is that we are equipped for every good work. I like how Paul says it in Ephesians 2, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” We’re reminded as we look for the good works prepared for us to do, that we do so as God’s handiwork, as his masterpieces in this world. We do these good works out of gratitude to Jesus for how he took our sin and brokenness to the cross where he defeated sin and death and in his resurrection 3 days later, shows us that we are now dead to sin and resurrected into a new life of hope.

As we move forward as Bethel Church, looking ahead to the opportunities our renovated building will bring, Scripture and the Holy Spirit will guide us as we seek to do the good works prepared for us to do to make our city a more blessed place to live, as we bring others to Jesus to experience the salvation and full life that Jesus offers.

 

 

2 Timothy 2:1-13 Entrust the Gospel

 

Before Jesus returned to heaven, he left us with one last mission, to “go make disciples.” This is at the heart of what the church is all about, it’s our main mission, our “raison d’etre,” as we would say in Quebec. I’m always amazed at how quickly though that we can get distracted away from our main mission, or discouraged because the task is so large and, seemingly, unending. So the question, at least in my mind, is what is the best way to be a disciple-making church, to be a disciple-maker myself? There have been so many programs in the past; there was friendship evangelism, the Jesus project, and others, all designed to help the church make disciples. We embrace them for a while and then go chasing after the next shiny program. But is there another way shown in the scriptures on how to go about making disciples who go and make more disciples?

Paul shows us just such a way here in his letter of encouragement to Timothy, in this passage here this morning. I am part of a discipleship, disciple-making ministry called 222disciple that is based off of Paul’s encouragement found here. At the core of what we’re doing is we focus on making disciples that make disciples. Did you know that if you make a new disciple of Jesus every day for 20 years, you will have led 7,300 people to Jesus? That’s a lot of new disciples! The problem is that doing this is really hard work and the disciples you make still need someone else to help them mature as followers of Jesus, growing stronger and deeper in their faith.

Here in this letter from Paul to Timothy we see a different way, a way to make disciples that will make a huge difference through investing in a few others who will then invest in still others; all growing strong in the faith. Paul encourages Timothy to be strong in the grace that’s in Jesus. This is an echo back to chapter 1:7 where Paul tells us that we’ve been given a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. This spirit is lived out in the grace that is in Christ Jesus who set us free from the power of sin and the fear of death by going to the cross where he paid the penalty for our sin. Jesus was buried, and as Paul reminds us in verse 8, “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel.” This all echoes back to so many promises in the Old Testament that pointed to a saviour who would crush the head of the serpent Satan, and come from the family line of King David. God keeps his promises and this is all part of the strength and power we find in Jesus.

This is all stuff that Timothy learned from his grandmother, mother and Paul himself. Timothy is a disciple of Jesus because his family and Paul invested in him to lead him to Jesus and accept Jesus as his saviour. A side note here, investing in our kids and their faith is never wasted time or energy, it’s the best thing we can do for them. Now back to Paul and Timothy, Paul now commands Timothy, “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.” This is the mentoring model of discipleship where you look for someone to invest in and then start investing in them. You do this by sharing and showing them what you’ve learned and how it has shaped your life and influences how you live and make decisions. Then, at a certain point, usually way sooner than we think, this person is now capable of mentoring someone else just as you’re mentoring them.

Who has mentored you in life, in faith? Consider reaching out to them and let them know how much you appreciate them.

Paul repeats his command to join him in suffering. This makes sense, because when you really care about someone else, you find yourself willing to do almost anything for them, including suffering. When you deeply care about a friend, co-worker, neighbour, school friend, you are willing take the chance on speaking up about Jesus and who Jesus is to you so that they can hear about Jesus too. It’s not always easy, we often find it hard to start these conversations about Jesus.

Paul uses a number if examples of other people to encourage Timothy in disciple-making. Paul starts by using a soldier as an example staying focused on the commands they are given by their commanding officer. Paul’s not referring to battle and fighting here, but to pleasing the commanding officer, putting the orders of the officer ahead of his own wants. The soldier’s whole focus is on accomplishing the officer’s command. Our commanding officer is Jesus and his commands are straight forward: love God, love your neighbour, and go and make disciples. As we saw last week, these three orders are all inter-related and all pointing to us going and making disciples.

Paul then uses the image of an athlete. An athlete’s day is shaped around training and practice, learning the game as well as they can so that they’re ready for anything that might come us, for any surprises the other athletes might bring to the game. But Paul focuses in on competing according to the rules. This is about obedience and dedication. You hear an echo here to Jesus telling his followers, “If you love me, you will keep my commands,” obedience is an important part of our relationship with Jesus, an important part of being a disciple. There is also the call from Paul in the chapter before this to live holy lives, the point being that our lives give weight to our words and teaching as we invest in others as we lead them to become disciples of Jesus.

Now Paul moves to an example that many of you can relate to, the image of a hardworking farmer. The farmer puts in the hard work, he adapts to whatever the weather and circumstances are given him, and he places his trust and faith in God, getting on his knees in trust and faith to talk to God, and then gets off his knees and to his feet to put in another day’s hard work, looking ahead to the harvest. Investing in people is hard work, just like the farmer working towards harvest time, a lot of hard work goes into walking together with someone to guide them in becoming a disciple who is trained to make more disciples.

Investing in people, mentoring them into a deeper relationship with Jesus so they also become disciple makers takes a lot of hard work, commitment, focus and even sacrifice on both your parts. There is always a cost involved, as Paul reminds us here. Churches and Christians are often like my dog Bellah: loving, mostly gentle, but also easily distracted. Bellah gets distracted by cats, squirrels, rabbits and almost anything that moves, while churches get distracted from making disciples by new programs, church conferences that promise easy growth, and the people issues that always come up when a group of people commit to each.

Paul is focused, works hard and keeps the command from Jesus to go make disciples. This is one of those areas in Paul’s life where should copy him, as he mentions in 1 Corinthians 11:1, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” Paul is so focused on helping others discover the salvation found in Jesus, “Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.” His heart and soul are filled with those who don’t know Jesus yet, for those who haven’t accepted Jesus yet as their lord and saviour. That’s what keeps Paul awake at night praying, that’s what keeps him going each day: the desire for others to accept Jesus.

Jesus invested in 12 disciples, training them to teach others, making disciples who would go on to make more disciples. This is the method that Jesus has passed, a method that Paul encourages, often encouraging older men to mentor younger men, and older women to teach younger women.

Paul recognizes the power of mentoring others to train others to teach the gospel news to make new disciples who are trained to teach even more people about Jesus. This is why Paul commands Timothy to teach others who will teach still more people about Jesus. At the beginning of the sermon, I mentioned how if you led one person to Jesus each day over 20 years, you would lead 7,300 people to Jesus. But you would not have had the time to help them become mature disciples of Jesus. But if you invest in 2 people each year who will then each invest in two people more each year, after 21 years you will have led 3 ½ billion people to a mature faith in Jesus. That’s half the world’s population right now! Who are you mentoring, who can you reach out to and offer to mentor them?

2 Timothy 1:3-14 Suffering Together for the Gospel

 

Is there anyone here this morning that loves to suffer? Maybe you don’t love suffering, but do you at least appreciate it? Can suffering ever be good? Why suffer if you don’t have to, does suffering make sense? It makes me wonder; how do we hear Paul’s command to join with him in suffering for the gospel? It’s important to know that suffering just for the sake of suffering is not healthy.

Doctor Paul Brand is a Christian doctor who has worked with those who suffer from leprosy. He’s written a couple of books with Philip Yancy about pain and the human body from the Christian perspective, talking about how amazing the human body is, that it truly is fearfully and wonderfully made as Psalm 139 says. Doctor Brand tells us that pain’s a gift because it tells us that something’s not right and so we need to pay attention to what’s going on. Now he’s normally talking about physical pain, but the same principle applies to spiritual, emotional and mental suffering. Suffering, even suffering for the gospel, reminds us that things in the world are not the way they’re supposed to be. Something’s off or wrong when we end up suffering for sharing the good news of Jesus and following his way instead of the world’s way. What this suffering reveals is that the world needs the gospel news and the church even more than we realized.

Paul’s writing to Timothy, a young man Paul has left in Ephesus to pastor the church there. Paul values this relationship, it’s important to him since Timothy is more than just a friend. Paul’s invested in Timothy as a mentor, pouring his experience, knowledge and love into this young man. There’s love and appreciation here for Timothy and for the faith and gifts Timothy has. The faith has been passed down into Timothy from his grandmother and mother. A large part of our faith is rooted in community and relationship with God and each other, as we see in the relationships between Paul and Timothy and Timothy and his family.

Paul knows Timothy’s faith and his gifts; he encourages Timothy to fully fan into flames his faith and gifts. Now this isn’t a campfire, roasting marshmallows kind of fire, this is a middle of the field, throw everything on bonfire. The Holy Spirit that gives us the gift of faith also gives us the power, love and self-discipline to live out our faith. The word for power is dynamis, where we get the word dynamite from. This is a powerful strength from God; a spiritual inner courage that helps us to move forward and act despite fear,  strength with roots into the community of believers as we see in Hebrews 12 where the writer reminds us that we are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses. We don’t need to rely on our own strength and courage when we have opportunities to talk about Jesus; the Holy Spirit is at work in that relationship, in us.

Paul ties this power to love and self-discipline because these things are all given to us as a package deal in order to be disciple-makers. When love shapes our character and lives, when our character is based on a foundation of self-discipline and holy lives, talking about Jesus becomes more natural and easier. There is that warning here that always makes me pause, “So don’t be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner.” I immediately hear the echo back to Jesus’ words in Luke 9, “Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” This is something I’ve wrestled with at times, especially with people I already know. In the back of my mind is that small niggling thought, “If I talk to them about Jesus, will they think I’m crazy and reject me as a friend?” I don’t want to be ashamed of Jesus, but the opinions of others often matter more to me than they should.

Timothy faces the same situation. Both Jews and Greeks thought the testimony about Jesus was crazy. For the Jews, the thought that Jesus was God was blasphemy, while for the Greeks, the fact that Jesus died and rose again, and in dying and rising from the dead, our sin is forgiven, and we’re made right with God was crazy. Paul reminds Timothy, “God has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything that we have done but because of his own purpose and grace.” God has a purpose for us, and it’s all connected to sharing the gospel news and making disciples. How we live is important: how we treat each other, and others reveals our faith. Our success in making disciples is not going to come from our own strength, but from the Holy Spirit working in us, helping us live holy lives and share the gospel.

Paul commands Timothy to join with him in suffering for the gospel. The question comes, if we have good news, why should we experience suffering when we share this good news and allow it to shape who we are? Why are people so threatened by the gospel news of Jesus? Jesus has destroyed death, a powerful hope in a week where many of you attended funerals, while others are walking in the valley of the shadow of death with loved ones. Jesus has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, offering us amazing hope, especially when life doesn’t go the way we had hoped, when we find ourselves facing our own mortality as people our own age die, and we realize that our own life is fragile as well. So why should we expect to suffer for offering hope?

Jesus himself warned us that we would face suffering when we choose to follow him.  Matthew 5:11–12, “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” We’re called to rejoice and be glad for persecution and suffering! Paul shares what he’s suffered in 1 Corinthian 4. Following Jesus and being his herald brought Paul lots of suffering as he went wherever God led him. He went hungry, was shipwrecked several times, and had that thorn in his flesh. Much of Paul’s suffering came at the hands of people because he shared the gospel news freely and openly. Suffering and persecution was a real thing for Paul.

People are threatened and lash out against Jesus and his followers because Jesus calls us to a way of life that looks different from the culture we live in. We’re called to live out the values of God, which are often different than the culture’s values. Jesus calls us to give him our complete loyalty, to turn our backs on everything that we consider most important, and that confuses people. Our culture values rights while Jesus values responsibility. We see this played out in the fight against abortion where our culture focuses on the rights of the woman over her body, while Scripture calls us to lives of self-sacrifice and responsibility and value the gift of life.

Our culture focuses on rights while the Bible calls us to give up our rights and submit ourselves completely to God as slaves to him. We’re called to love our neighbour and help them prosper and flourish, while our culture calls us to put ourselves first. Jesus calls us to live holy lives, our culture calls us to satisfy our every desire. We forgive and show grace rather than strike out when we get hurt. We’ve seen powerful examples of this, the Amish parents who forgive the man who killed their children and even reached out to his mother in her grief was admired by many even as they found it hard to understand that we return good from evil. The Bible calls us to live out our faith in public while our culture tells us to keep it private. These very different values from Jesus’ way of life can create confusion, even guilt and anger, and people lash out when they feel anger, guilt or fear.

Jesus can take away the anger, guilt or fear; he can help them discover a life of purpose and hope and build a community where everyone can flourish and find acceptance and love rather than the anger and division that is spreading in our culture lately! We are here to help those in our lives and communities to discover how different life can be with Jesus, how he can bring hope and peace, not just into our lives, but into the life of our community as well. Jesus uses us, his church to live as his church, modelling his love, grace, forgiveness, joy and a willingness to sacrifice in order that others can come to know Jesus. Paul reminds us, “This is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard when I have entrusted to him, our souls and lives, until that day.” Until that happens, we’ll experience times of suffering and rejection because we follow Jesus, as we share the gospel, living it out in our daily lives and values as a community of believers who trust the Holy Spirit to give us what we need to bring the gospel.