The vision and mission statement of CommUNITY church is to Love Jesus; love who Jesus loves; and serve who Jesus serves, and I’m confident we’re learning more everyday what that looks like.  In light of the recent decision by the Supreme Court, and thanks to some help from our friends at other churches all around this nation, I’ve been doing some research, and have had some information sent to me by dear friends in ministry.  I believe we need to make a few things clear.  The below statements are a conglomeration of research that will help us to be watchful and stand firm in the faith, as 1 Corinthians 16 states.

CommUNITY church desires to show each week that we are a people-loving church because we seek to be a Jesus-loving church and Jesus loves all people (John 3:16; Matt. 22:37-39).  So we do our best to do the same. 

CommUNITY church desires to show each week that we are a Bible-believing church because we are a Jesus-following church and we see in the Bible in John 1, verses 1, 2, and 14 that “In the beginning was the Word; and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… and the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us… full of grace and truth.”  Jesus is the Word of God incarnate, and therefore we believe all 66 books of the Bible to be “God-breathed” and without error in their original writings (to see more of what we believe, go to our Statement of Beliefs). 

CommUNITY church desires to show each week that we are a Gospel-preaching church because we are a Jesus-centered church and He died for our sins and came back from the grave to give us an eternal life with Him and a Gospel (good news) to preach and He expects His church to do so (Matt. 28:19-20, Acts 1:8). 

At the end of the day, it gets back to this - it’s ALL ABOUT JESUS!
And so, based on the above statements, confirmed through Scripture and practice: 

1. We will continue to love and welcome anyone into our church regardless of his or her race, gender, age, ethnicity, or sexual orientation.  Every person who enters our doors will be treated with the love of Jesus and the respect anyone is due as a creation in God's image (Genesis 1:27). 
   
   
2. We unapologetically affirm the Scriptural Truth (Romans 1:16) that God's divine design for marriage from the beginning is to be a life-long, covenantal commitment between a man and a woman.  We will not recognize LGBTQIA marriages, nor will we perform them.  At the same time, we will not allow anyone to question our tolerance or our integrity by doing so any more than we question the tolerance or integrity of those who do not believe in Jesus or the Bible as God's word.  Tolerance works both ways and we will both be tolerant of those whose lifestyles we believe are out of the will of God even as we expect tolerance from those same people for our beliefs and convictions. 
   
   
3. We believe the greatest need of all people, no matter your race, ethnicity, gender identity, or political views, is the salvation that only comes through faith in Jesus Christ by the grace of God (John 3:17-18; Romans 10:9-10; Ephesians 2:8-9). 

Martin Luther said, "Here I stand; I can do no other. God help me.”  As the bride of Christ, we rely on Him for guidance, strength, mercy, and grace.  God help us, too.

William Penn said: "Right is right even if everyone is against it and wrong is wrong even if everyone is for it.”  That still stands true today, and so now is the time for us as His church to show the love of Jesus, the patience of Job, the faith of Abraham, the courage of Moses and the conviction of Paul.  I would rather be hated for telling the truth than loved for telling a lie.  May God help us to always stand for what He says is right and against what He says is wrong.  But may we stand with truth in one hand and grace in the other.


The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.  My love be with you all in Christ Jesus, Amen. (1 Cor. 16:23-24)

Inconvenience.  Sacrifice.  Those are things that we all love to be a part of, right?  OF COURSE NOT!!

Let’s just be truthful here - NO ONE likes to be inconvenienced because it goes against our plans, our comfort, our rituals, our day, our. our. our.  

Doesn’t it?  Yes - deep down, you and I are a very “stiff-necked” and stubborn people.  We like things to be done when WE want them done.  We like things to be done the WAY we want them done.  We like things to be done on OUR TIME and according to OUR SCHEDULE.

Bottom line? you’re selfish.  I’m selfish.  It’s part of the sin-nature that’s in our heart and rears its ugly head when things don’t go our way.  We are inconvenienced and then we get frustrated.  And that leads to anger.  And that leads to gossip (we like to call it “venting”).  And that begins dividing the church while it grows a bitterness in your heart.

In the New Testament, Paul is VERY aware of this.  He warns us to “take every thought captive” in 2 Corinthians 10:5   He’s been there and done that.  He bought the shirt.  And because of his experiences with church people, he knew just what they NEEDED to hear (and it didn’t always agree with what they WANTED to hear).

What does “taking our thoughts captive” look like?  It looks like an internal recognition of frustration and an analysis of the source of that frustration.  

Three questions to ask when frustration arises:

1. Is anyone in danger of being hurt (physically, emotionally, spiritually)?
2. Is this going to have a negative impact on what I’m trying to do for Jesus (live out my life in a way that others want to follow me to Jesus)?
3. Is this “anti-Scriptural” (i.e., does this go against what the Bible says to do)?

If the answers to the above questions are “no,” then roll with it and instead of allowing the frustration to grow, repent immediately to God and ask what He may be trying to teach you in this instance.

Is this easy to do?  NO!!!  

Welcome to the second word - sacrifice.

Just as we don’t like to be inconvenienced, we don’t like to make sacrifices that hurt.  So we’re all clear, a sacrifice that doesn’t hurt isn’t a sacrifice.  You can tweet that if you’d like.

TRUE sacrifice is giving up something you’d planned on or planned for for the good of another and for the hopes that God’s name will be glorified through your sacrifice.

Sacrifice can look like giving money.  Sometimes it hurts to give.

Sacrifice can look like giving time.  Your schedule WILL BE inconvenienced.

Sacrifice can look like laying down your desires / your traditions / your ideas in a form of submission to what God may be doing in someone else’s life.

Bottom line - sacrifice hurts.

A friend told me Sunday afternoon that “THE CHURCH is built on inconvenience and sacrifice.”

He was more correct than he may have been planning on.  I had thanked he and his wife for doing more than was asked of them for Sunday’s Mission Meal, and he responded with that statement.

Church, you need to hear this too, and realize that yes, the church WILL BE BUILT… the church WILL GROW… based on YOUR sacrifice and inconvenience.

BUT.

Let’s not forget the One who started this.  The One who showed us JUST what inconvenience and sacrifice looks like.  Jesus left HEAVEN.  Stop and think about that.  LEFT. HEAVEN.  for us.  Jesus came to Earth as a baby.  JESUS!!  GOD ALMIGHTY became a helpless infant, grew in stature and wisdom, experienced EVERYTHING we’ve experienced, and then did something most if not any of us will NEVER experience - gave His life in a BRUTAL way for you.

THAT, my friends, is inconvenience and sacrifice.

How dare we complain about the little things God asks us to do??

Have you ever wondered how some people can be told something, shown something, be impacted by something, be immersed in something, be surrounded by something, and still not believe in that thing?

The last part of chapter 6 in our series on Hitting the Mark talks about that very thing.

If you notice the last phrase in verse 52 says that their hearts were hardened… what does that mean, exactly?  Have you wondered this?  One of the “old guys,” Charles Finney, an amazing preacher/pastor in the early to mid 1800’s described it better than I ever could.

Prof. Finney said this about “a hard heart” - hardness of heart is a voluntary state of mind. If it is a voluntary state, it must be the will in a state of choice--a will committed, for the time being, to some form of selfishness. The term hardness is appropriately used, because when the heart is in this state, it is stubborn, and will notyield to the truth, and prevents the intelligence and sensibility from perceiving, and being duly impressed by the truth. 
Did you get that?  It’s a stubbornness and selfishness that prevents all you know, all you’ve seen, all you’ve experienced from leading you to the truth.  It instead says, “I don’t care what I know, what I’ve seen, or what I’ve experienced… I refuse to do this, or accept this.”

It’s irrational, and illogical.  It’s pride.

To put it in visual form, it would look like this - 

Ever been there?  Yeah… me too.  And for both of us, it probably won’t be the last time.

The disciples had witnessed, experienced, and been a part of miracle after miracle, and yet, they didn’t allow that knowledge and those experiences to culminate in their hearts and minds to realize that Jesus was indeed the Christ, the Messiah, the King.

They were still missing the deeper truth.

BUT.

Notice the next few verses - THEY STILL WENT WITH JESUS.  Their hearts weren’t so hardened that they refused to continue searching for Him.  To continue being with Him.  To continue learning from Him.

To continue.

Did you get that?  They didn’t quit… They DUG DEEPER.  THEY WORKED.  THEY TRUSTED.  

And over time, THEY CALLED OUT.  THEY RELENTED.  THEY REPENTED.  THEY SUBMITTED.

In the midst of their doubt, their frustrations, their “hard heartedness,” their pride, their selfishness, their ignorance, their lack of perception… in the midst of all that, they still CHOSE TO FOLLOW JESUS.  They chose to follow and continue to learn…

And what happened?  They came around to this…

And 2,000 years later, the church is still here.  Their proud, selfish, hard hearts were finally broken and they finally began to LIVE.

What are YOU waiting for?