1 Peter, A Provocative Community: The Church On Mission
This week we begin a new series on the first letter of Peter. It is an incredible letter written by God the Holy Spirit through one of Jesus’ apostles, Peter. Peter was one of the first apostles that Jesus chose. He had been a fisherman with his brother, probably in the family business. It was Peter to whom Jesus said, “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matt 16:18). It was Peter who had the privilege of seeing Jesus transfigured (transformed) in glory. It was this same Peter who denied Jesus three times after Jesus was arrested and crucified. And it was Peter who boldly proclaimed the Good News of Jesus Christ after Jesus had risen from the dead and the Holy Spirit filled him and the disciples with the power of God.
But 1 Peter is not about Peter. It is about Jesus. This letter begins with Jesus and ends with Jesus. It is about the power of God through the Holy Spirit by the work of Jesus paying the penalty we owe for our sin which enables us to come together as the church to celebrate our adoption. It is because of this that we can see suffering and trials in a new light. It is because of Jesus that we can carry out the mission he gave us, to make disciples who make other disciples. When we are submitted to the grace of Jesus, we can live as “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you our of darkness into his marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2:9). We can live in such a way that “in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.” (1 Peter 3:15).
We have the privilege of worshiping Jesus through our witness by his power. We are assured that, “the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.” (1 Peter 5:10)
To prepare for this series we encourage you to read all of 1 Peter prior to our gathering. As you read this short letter, ask these 4 questions:
Who is God?
What has he done?
In light of that truth, who am I?
How then should I live?
We also welcome and invite you wherever you find yourself-whether you are skeptical or convinced- to discover how the Gospel can be credible. As one author has said, “the only hermeneutic of the gospel, is a congregation of men and women who believe it and live by it.”
God and Money Series
A Difficult Topic for Many:
One of the most challenging topics to talk about in any context whether it is a religious context or not is money. Why is that? Many say that finances are a personal and private thing. Others say that “all the church wants is my money. They don’t care about anything else”. Still others are faced with the reality that times are tough, jobs are scarce, it seems staying out of debt is harder to achieve than ever before.
A question of Fear:
“Fear and worry reveal us,” writes Dr. Ed Welch. “They reveal the things that we love and value.” In turn, the things that we love and value are the things that we worship. For example, children, money, and friendships become idols when we fear death, insecurity, and rejection. Our happiness gets tied up in the well-being of our kids, the size of our bank balance, or the health of our relationships—all of which will eventually falter and fail.
Everybody is afraid—afraid of suffering, rejection, failure, embarrassment—because everybody cares about something, even if it’s just themselves. And so we pour out our resources, our energy, and our days in an attempt to protect what we love from whatever threatens it. The effort is in vain, however, because children die. People lose their jobs. Families disintegrate. Houses burn down. Friends move away. Stock markets crash.
We waste life by worrying about things we can’t control and fearing things we can’t avoid. The Bible calls this “striving after wind.” In the end, it is folly—the opposite of wisdom.
Munson, Jamie (2010-11-01). Money: God or Gift?
Good Fear:
If fear is unavoidable, then what we fear is of great importance. The fear of the Lord is not a caution against a capricious god with cosmic mood swings and unpredictable behavior. Fear of the Lord leads us to worship him: acknowledging with reverence and awe that God is the all-knowing, all-powerful, ever-present, always good Creator and Sustainer of the universe. The fear of the Lord is the only thing that can prevent us from succumbing to all of the other fears that steal our lives away. We are not all-powerful, but God controls everything, and we can trust him because he is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. The fear of the Lord is wisdom because only God deserves our worship. Only God can provide the guidance, protection, and salvation that we need for this life and the next.
Munson, Jamie (2010-11-01). Money: God or Gift?
The Next 6 Weeks:
Join us as we take a look at what God’s desire for us is in these areas. Through a study of Luke 12:4-48, we will explore:
Saving and Sacrifice (Luke 12:13-21)
Spending and Retirement (Luke 12:13-21)
Wants vs Needs (Luke 12:22-34)
Treasure and Churches (Luke 12:22-34)
Stewardship and Legacy (Luke 12:35-48)
Heart and Conclusion (Luke 12:35-48)
Advent Series
Advent Series:
In this series we have been moving through the Advent themes of hope, peace, joy, and love. What we mean by Advent is the season leading up to Christmas where the Christian Church:
- Remembers and looks back at the 1st coming of Christ.
- Anticipates the second coming of Christ. Through this Advent grid we hope to answer the question “Why Christmas?”
The Reality:
I think all of us to some degree are confused about the purpose and meaning of Christmas. Some think that this season is a time to work harder to be a better person, to be kind to your neighbor, to sacrifice more for others. And others believe finding the reason for this season is up to individuals. It’s up to you to discover and find your own meaning and significance in this season.
Advent Service:
Our advent series concludes this Saturday night, appropriately on Christmas Eve. We have talked about Hope for Emmanuel (God with us), Peace Through Emmanuel, Joy in Emmanuel. Saturday night we will share the Love of Emmanuel. It is a family friendly gathering at 6p, held at the Sanchez Art Center, 1220 Linda Mar Blvd, Pacifica, CA.
What Is Advent:
The celebration of the season of Advent (which begins on the 4th Sunday before Christmas day) dates back to the fourth century. It is a time that focuses our attention on Christ’s first coming as well as his second coming when he will return to redeem all of creation and rule with all power and authority. Since we know not the day or the hour of Christ’s return we are filled with both a sense of joyful expectation and humble reverence, with our spiritual focus being on lives of prayer and preparation. The church has used the season of Advent (which means “coming” or “arrival”) to focus and reflect on the particular themes of John the Baptist’s preparation for the ministry of Christ, Christ’s entry into Jerusalem, the annunciation to Mary that she would give birth to the Messiah, and the final redemption of the world.
Historically, the primary sanctuary color of Advent is purple, the color of royalty to welcome the Advent of the King. Purple is also the color used during Lent, the season leading up to Easter. This points to the important connection between Jesus’ birth, death, and Resurrection.
One way that we mark the time of this season is with the Advent wreath. The evergreens help to symbolize the new and everlasting life brought through Jesus Christ. The wreath consists of five candles; four candles around the wreath and one white candle in the center. One candle is lit each Sunday of Advent, with the center, “Christ candle”, lit on Christmas Eve. The light progressively reminds us that Jesus is the one who comes into the darkness of our world to bring renewal, life, and hope (Isaiah 42:6).
Christmas Eve at Sanchez Art Center
Our advent series concludes this Saturday night, appropriately on Christmas Eve. We have talked about Hope for Emmanuel (God with us), Peace Through Emmanuel, Joy in Emmanuel. Saturday night we will share the Love of Emmanuel. It is a family-friendly gathering at 6p, held at the Sanchez Art Center, 1220 Linda Mar Blvd, Pacifica, CA.
Christianity’s basic message differs at root with the assumptions of traditional religion. The founders of every other major religion essentially came as teachers, not as saviors. They came to say: “Do this and you will find the divine.” But Jesus came essentially as a savior rather than a teacher (though he was that as well). Jesus says: “I am the divine come to you, to do what you could not do for yourselves.” The Christian message is that we are saved not by our record, but by Christ’s record. So Christianity is not religion or irreligion. It is something else altogether.
-Dr. Tim Keller
We are currently ina new series entitled, “Religion Kills And New Life In The Gospel” and our goal in this series is to accomplish two things:
- The difference: In this series we want to discuss the radical difference between religion and the gospel. And just to clarify, when we use the word religion we mean “salvation through works” (the idea of being right before God by works) and we’re using the term gospel to mean “salvation through grace” (the idea of being right before God by grace alone).
- The effects: The 2nd goal is to discuss the exhausting effects religion has on us psychologically and spiritually vs. the flourishing, peace, completeness, and prosperity in the gospel. In fact, Jesus says religion is toxic and poisonous to our lives. Jesus hates religion!
Church Hopping/Double Dipping/Missional Living
Let me make a really bold claim: It is impossible to live out the life of a Christian, following Jesus and doing the Great Commission if you are not deeply committed to the body of Christ – the church (the local expression of the universal Church). There are several problems within church life in the U.S. that are making true body of Christ living difficult.
Wrapping up the book of Mark tonight at Vintage Grace
This weekend we wrap up an amazing journey of exploring and dialoguing through the book of Mark (Mark 16: 1-8). We see Jesus’ identity clearly revealed through God’s words, through eyewitnesses, through Jesus’ actions, and through Jesus’ words. Then as Jesus approaches Jerusalem we see His purpose revealed to us.
As hard as it is to grasp sometimes, we can see that Jesus died for our sins as a substitute. This substitution was clearly modeled throughout the Old Testament, all the way back to Adam and Eve. What’s hard to grasp is how a perfect Son could take on the penalty for all our sins, past, present and future. He propitiated our sins on the cross. This big theological word just means He took the righteous wrath of God that was destined for us, and paid the price. In full!
But what is even more difficult to understand in our broken vessels is that Jesus didn’t stop there. Not only did He pay the price, He takes away the sin as far as east is to west. This is called expiation and is also shown for us in the Old Testament. In the most holy celebration of the Jews, the day of Atonement, there were two goats (Leviticus 16:20-22). The first goat was sacrificed for the sins of the Jews. The second was led out by the priest to the wilderness and let free so symbolize removing the sin from the Jews and taking it out of their presence. This is exactly what Jesus did. Through his crucifixion, He propitiated our sins. Through his resurrection, He expiated them.
Jesus powerfully resurrected. He powerfully witnessed to the women, the disciples, and hundreds of people over 40 days following His resurrection. He powerfully ascended to His place at the right hand of God the Father. He powerfully gave us the Holy Spirit to continue the process of making us holy (sanctification). He powerfully intercedes for us and will one day powerfully return to complete the renewal of heaven and earth. Until that day, live like you believe He died and rose again, to pay for and to take away your sins.
We will be celebrating Jesus tonight at 6PM. Join us.
This video from our partners in ministry sums up our view of community!
A Healthy View of Spiritual Warfare
My kids love when I over inflate a balloon. They love it because they enjoy awaiting the surprise pop of the balloon as it expands and ultimately bursts. With regards to the topic of spiritual warfare, I believe religious people and irreligious people have an over inflated view of spiritual warfare or disregard spiritual warfare as anti-intellectual and just plain irrelevant. I love what C.S. Lewis says about this, “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.” As we desire to be a missional community in the city of Pacifica, it is important that we have a healthy understanding of spiritual warfare. In fact, I think all of us agree that we all have experienced our share of spiritual warfare already. Up front, this article is not meant to be an exhaustive treatise on the subject of spiritual warfare (please see the bibliography for further readings on this topic). In this brief article I want to provide you with some balanced and gospel centered principles that will equip you as you experience spiritual warfare.
The Gospel and Our Money
“A necessary sign of life in the process of being redeemed is that of transformation in the area of stewardship. Ultimately, one’s entire life should be dedicated to God, but a particularly telling area for determining one’s religious commitment involves one’s finances.” -Craig Bloomberg
Taboo
A taboo is defined by the Webster’s dictionary as, “a social or religious custom prohibiting or restricting a particular practice. Or, forbidding association with a particular person, place or thing (basically a noun).” Someone told me that some major taboos that you do not discuss in public are sex, politics, or religion. That’s a major no no. In religious circles there are major taboos as well. One for sure is discussing finances. This is a reality in faith communities because many churches and pastors are not modeling, teaching, and providing people with a Gospel understanding of money. This seemingly insignificant issue is creating tragic spiritual and physical consequences for many people inside the church and outside the church. Money is the second greatest cause of marital strife. Think about the enormous debt and pressure that people are under right now. As of November 2010, it is said of the enormous revolving debt of the U.S. that 98% is made up of credit card debt. The average credit card debt per household with credit card debt: $14,750.
