At The Family Church here in Gainesville, senior pastor Philip Griffin continued his series Finding Joy, based on a study of the New Testament book of Philippians. Last Sunday's sermon was titled Joy in Gospel-Living and was based on Philippians 1:27-30...you can read it by clicking on it and going to the Bible Gateway website...
In developing this message, Pastor Philip laid out a four-part contrast between the meanings of religion and the Gospel: (1) Religion is all about what we can do for God, the Gospel is all about what Christ has done for us; (2) Religion is all about obeying so that God will love and save us, the Gospel is all about God loving and saving us so that we obey; (3) Religion leads us to believe God owes us for what we have done, the Gospel compels us to surrender to God for what Christ has done; and (4) Religion leads us to believe our religious actions make us better than others, the Gospel shows us that Jesus's action on the cross makes us equal to others...
The core of Philip's message is that we should live representing the Gospel that has transformed us so that we might experience true unity, Godly teamwork, and confident assurance. Accept the Gospel message of Christ goes diametrically against religious notions of rituals and behavior that cause us to think we're better than others and sow the seeds of division. Philip also observed how fundamentally divided the church in America is on many levels, not the least of which is how racially segregated too many fellowships still are...this is not a good reflection on the Gospel, by which we should stand together firm in the one Spirit. Fighting the spirit of teamwork are two worldly, fleshy attitudes: consumerism and egotism. And finally, our pastor emphasized that the closer we grow to God through the Gospel, the more distant we will grow from the world's value system...
Whew, that was a longer than usual summary...but it was a great sermon, thanks Pastor Philip! The bottom line comes down to what comes first and then what follows: first good behavior and then a supposedly earned relationship with God (religion) or first a relationship with God through Christ and then good behavior (the Gospel). I'm opting with the latter...
The Family Church, located at 2022 SW 122nd Street (most easily accessible via SW 24th Avenue or Newberry Road), holds its weekly services on Sunday morning at 9 and 10:30. There is beautiful praise and worship music, a message full of insight and wisdom, prayer and learning opportunities, a hospitality room before and between services, and loads of friendly people. Next week we'll start looking at Philippians Chapter 2...
By the way, you can view Pastor Philip's message through the church's YouTube video site...just click on the following link: [link]...
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