God Says Yes

Welcome to my new blog "Classic City Rev."  In this blog I hope to share each week some thoughts and inspirations that I receive from my own devotional time, preperation for preaching and general life experiences.   

During my devotional time this week I have been reading from the book of Second Corinthians.  I've noticed that over the years I have preached a number of sermons from the book First Corinthians but not nearly as many from the book of Second Corinthians.  I'm not exactly sure why this is the case but it is. 

None-the-less, I've decided to spend some time with Second Corinthians.  In the very opening chapter I was struck by something Paul wrote which says, "For in [Christ]every one of God’s promises is a “Yes.” For this reason it is through him that we say the “Amen,” to the glory of God."  (II Corinthians 1:20) 

All too often the perception of the church is a place of can't, must not, and no--you can't do this, you must not do that, no that is wrong.  There is a tendency in the church to focus on what is wrong with people rather than to tell them they are loved by God.  The truth is there are plenty of folks in the world telling people what is wrong with them; people don't need the church to beat them up as well.

The overwhelming witness of scripture when it comes to the nature of the church is that the church should be a place that says "yes."  To a hurting world the church is called to say, "Yes, we care."  To those who feel unloved the church is called to say "Yes, we love you."  To those who wonder if they will be welcome we are called to say, "Yes you are welcome and have a seat at the table."

Why is the church called to be the place of "yes?"  It is because we have a God who has constantly said "yes" to us.  In the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ God has said "yes" to humanity.  In Christ, God has affirmed his grace.  In Christ, God has shown that God believes in us.   In Christ, God has show that we can ground our hope in him because God has hope for all of us.  God has said "yes" to all of us and we are called to be people of the "yes."




Comments

  1. Amen. The church is a hospital for sinners instead of a museum for saints.

    ReplyDelete

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