The Joy of Glory

Hebrews 10:24-25 
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Reflection
Why do we gather?

I mean seriously… week after week… Sunday after Sunday… why do we gather together as a church?

We can study the Word of God on our own. We all have a copy and through the internet we also have access to endless study resources. Even if we want to listen to a sermon, we can hear the greatest preachers on the planet via podcasts.

We can listen to amazing worship music and sing along (at a volume level of our choosing) through any number of music streaming services. I can “get my worship on” anywhere.

I mean seriously… everything we meet together to do on a Sunday, I can do all by myself… so what is the point?

Oh Shades… there is a massive point!

When we gather, we experience a multiplicity of things that we simply cannot experience alone. We stand (or sit) amongst the people of God, lift our voices together… not just to the Lord, but over one another… encouraging one another and stirring up the faith of one another. Christ in me meets Christ in you.

When we gather, we collectively submit ourselves to the Word and to pastoral leadership… we bear witness to the world that we are a part of a body, not merely on a personal journey of spiritual enlightenment. This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to all the reasons we should not forsake gathering as a community.

It is only in the community of the church that we are able to stir one another up to love and good works… that we encourage one another to press on… that we hold each other accountable… that we forgive and are forgiven… that we are actually a part of the bride of Christ!

You, as an individual, are not the bride of Christ! The church is the bride of Christ… and you are a part of his bride by being a part of the church… not just the global church, but the local church! The global church is made up of local churches.

It is in this local community, as we consistently gather, that we sacrifice ourselves for one another… considering how to stir up one another… considering how to give of myself for the sake of someone else. It is in this local community that we take on the shape of the cross and learn to be a cruciform community.

 
*All previous devotionals may be found at www.thejoyofglory.com
*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

World-Changing Community
Acts 2:42-47 (click here)
On Sundays during Lent, there will not be an email devotional because a sermon will actually be preached on the passage for that day. If you would like to listen to today’s sermon, you can find it on iTunes by searching for “Shades Valley Community Church” or simply click here.

Philemon (click here)
I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints…

I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment.

I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart.

For this perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, no longer as a bondservant but more than a bondservant, as a beloved brother… (Philemon 4-5, 10, 12, and 15-16a)

Reflection
Philemon’s love for the Lord Jesus overflowed in love for all the saints… and now it is about to break bonds with brotherhood.

Onesimus was a bondservant of Philemon’s and for one reason or another he had run away and found Paul. While spending time with the apostle, he became a believer in the Lord and now the time has come for Paul to send him back. Why?

Is Paul sending Onesimus back into the bonds of slavery? Does Paul not love Onesimus? Is Paul just conforming to the culture of his day instead of countering it with the Gospel?

In short… no.

It is because of the Gospel that Paul sends Onesimus back to Philemon… it is for the very purpose of putting the power of the Gospel on display! By sending Onesimus back, the bonds of slavery will not merely be escaped, but broken! It is Paul’s love for Onesimus, Philemon, their church in Colossae, and the Gospel that compels him to take such action! Paul is not conforming to the culture around him, but putting on display how the Gospel transforms the culture!

Philemon, whose love overflows to ALL the saints, will have love overflowing to this new saint… Onesimus! He will receive him back no longer as a bondservant, but as a brother!

Philemon will sacrifice his “economic rights,” he will sacrifice his “social position,” he will sacrifice his “normal” way of life to embrace his new brother in Christ! He and all of Colossae will put on display the very love of Jesus as they count a slave as their brother! The old Christmas song couldn’t be more true when it declares of Christ, “Chains shall he break, for the slave is our brother!”

That truth of the Gospel can only be put on display if Onesimus returns to Philemon and the Colossian church. Paul sends Onesimus back so that Philemon and this church might experience the joy of being a cruciform community.

Who has God sent back into your life? Is there anyone with whom there has previously been a difficult relationship… perhaps even one in which they wronged you… or maybe one in which you wronged them? Yet, they are a brother and sister in the Lord and now your paths are crossing again.

Why would God have them come back into your world? Does God not love you? Oh nothing could be further from the truth! Perhaps this is the very love of God on display for you as you have the opportunity to experience the joy of being a cruciform community.

 
*All previous devotionals may be found at www.thejoyofglory.com
*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.