Building Gospel Communities

Discovering my identity and purpose in life is an essential part of being human. For many people ‘who I am’ is determined by the choices I make – the clothes I wear, the music I listen to, the technology I carry, the career path I take, the friends I hang out with. It’s my choices and achievements in life that determine who I am.

Christian identity is radically different. Who I am in Christ is defined not by my choice but by God’s choice. God ‘chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as sons’ (Eph 1:3). Out of his grace, God chose us to be holy and to be his sons and daughters. You are a child of God, a part of God’s holy people, indwelt with the Holy Spirit, destined for heaven.

But not only has God chosen us to be his own, he has also saved us into a new community. ‘Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household’ (Eph 2:18). No matter what race or age, or career or social status, if you are a Christian, you are fellow citizens with God’s people, members of God’s new community. This is not a voluntary association; if I belong to Christ, then I belong to my brothers and sisters in Christ (Rom 12:5). I must now see myself not as an isolated individual, but an integral member of this new spiritual family.

Once I understand my new identity as a Christian, I then have a clearer picture of my God-given purpose. For it is to be committed to growing as a member of this new community. My choices in life are to be made not for myself only, but in light of the community that God has brought me into. God has given each of us different gifts to serve the body of Christ (Rom 12:4-8). It is God’s purpose that this body ‘grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does it’s work (Eph 4:16)’. Living out God’s purpose as Christians is therefore a community project not a solo adventure.

In practice this is what it means: you need to be committed to meeting regularly, encouraging your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, growing together in God’s word, and living together for Jesus’ greater mission to the world (Heb 10:24-25, Matt 28:18-20).

The best context for living out God’s vision of the local church is to be committed to our weekly Community Groups. Our goal within these groups is not only to study the Bible, but to help each other apply God’s word together. As Gospel Communities, our goal is not to care for ourselves only, but to see ourselves as mission teams, on mission together for Jesus.

(For information about how to join a community group, please contact me via owen.seto@gracepoint.org.au.)

Pastor Owen Seto

Saved For More – Ephesians 2:10

Sermon notes from last Sunday’s sermon, “Saved For More” on Ephesians 2:10 and the accompanying sermon outline in powerpoint/pdf can be downloaded here.

“… When God saves you – he saves you for more, much more that you can possibly imagine – because the good works he has prepared for you is a life after his likeness, after his image, where you are moving towards him and becoming more like him who is of infinite greatness and worth in his beauty, majesty, power, perfection, love, kindness, mercy, peace, security, hope above any thing in your life and my life.  There is no limits to the infinite greatness and worth of God which he has saved you to and now shares with you.“

GracePoint Thrive For Marriage & Family – Feb 2010

GracePoint Thrive February 2010 Newsletter for families is now available for download here!  Click Thrive Feb 2010 to dowload your pdf copy!

Successful Parenting

Over the last few weeks I’ve been slowly reading through Augustine’s ‘Confessions’.  Augustine was born in 354 AD the son of an unbelieving father and a Christian mother.  For the first 33 years of his life he lived as an unbeliever pursuing a hedonistic lifestyle, associating with company that was only interested in exploiting women for sex and power.  Given every opportunity and as a gifted intellectual, at 30 years of age he rose to the highest possible chair academically and politically for the imperial court in Milan.  During this time he also took a concubine on the side for 13 years and had a son by her.  This was his life before God found him.  The ‘confessions’ are really Augustine’s confession to God reflecting on the life he lived before becoming a believer.  It’s been a compelling read, and though written almost 1600 years ago everything he says resonates so much with the struggles, challenges, temptations and issues in our culture and society.

One of the things that struck me was Augustine’s upbringing, and how his parents sought to give him the very best in life.  His father was modestly well off and saved to give him an education so he could travel abroad and study.  His mother a believer prayed for him regularly and sought to see him saved, but had higher ambitions for him in life.  So much so that when he was falling into a godless lifestyle at 16, what he called ‘the age at which frenzy gripped me and I surrendered myself to lust … My family made no effort to save me from my fall … their only concern was that I should learn how to make a good speech and how to persuade others by my words’ i.e. to excel rather in his course of studies.  His mother though a believer instead of actively intervening and promoting godliness in his life by marriage, Augustine tells us, ‘was afraid that that the bonds of marriage might be a hindrance to my hopes for the future – rather than the life to come, which she confessed in you, but instead in my hopes of success at my studies.’ Augustine continued to live this way until he was 33, a slave to every kind of lust, sexual experiences, power, acceptance, prestige, and academic fame, before God graciously intervened and saved him.

I believe there are some valuable lesson here for Christian parents. The great danger is that we encourage our children to put their hopes in, and treasure everything earthly that we think will give them a successful future, without any thought to their eternity.  The greatest gift a parent can give their child is not the opportunities of a private education or money or material possessions, but a God entranced vision of life where Jesus is treasured above everything else in the family and in life.  The former without the latter is nothing more than encouraging idolatry in your children with a sporadic dose of ‘churchianity’ on Sundays to appease the conscience.  As parents the Biblical mandate is that we raise children who are totally given over to Jesus, where he is lifted up for them to be seen as the one who is to be their hope and treasure in life.

And it’ll be seen in the weekly priorities, disciplines and practices you pursue in your family.

We saw a few weeks ago in the sermon from Deuteronomy 6:4-9, that parents are to make God their first love above all in life, especially in their families.  You may not realize this but as your children grow up it becomes very obvious to them what you love and treasure and place above all.  The decisions you make or don’t make, the things you say or don’t say, the priorities you have or don’t have, the weekly disciplines in your family, the way you use your money, the way you spend your time, the way you pray or don’t pray, the place of the Bible in your family, the way you serve or don’t serve, what you encourage them to do or don’t do, what you teach or don’t teach them – it all reflects and will eventually play out in the lives of your children.

They’ll begin to model their lives off you, and what you love and treasure will soon be theirs as well.  It’s the reason why parents are called to make God their greatest treasure, because it’s only when you have a God entranced vision of life, where you are loving God with all your heart, soul and strength, that your children will be raised in a family where God is treasured above all.

Successful Christian parenting begins when parents adopt a God entranced vision of life, where they are loving God with all their heart, soul and strength, and making Him their hope and treasure above everything else in life.

Successful Christian parenting begins when your children see this in your life and in the way you parent them, always with a view to helping them put their hope in Jesus and treasuring Him above everything else in life … even over their studies, sport, music and future careers.

A great place to start is to download a copy of Thrive, our monthly GracePoint newsletter to help make Jesus your treasure and delight above all things in your marriage and family.

Pastor Eugene Hor
Lead English Pastor/Elder – GracePoint

Upcoming Sermon Series

An outpost of heaven

Some weeks ago I spoke to a guy from mainland China who works in Sydney. He was sincere about wanting to read the Bible and finding out more about Christianity. But his main problem was how being a Christian would practically help him live life in a dog-eat-dog world. When everyone else is looking out for number one, when people are ready to take advantage of you for their own profit, what point is there in doing the right thing? Why not follow the crowd and give in to selfish ambition? Let me share five reasons.

Firstly, we submit to Jesus because he rules the world (Eph 1:22-23). God is not watching from a distance. He is in control over every part of his creation. Our future is not determined by chance, nature or by the actions of other human beings.  Our present and our future depend on God’s perfect and sovereign will. He is able to protect and sustain those who trust in him (Ps 1:6).

Secondly, Jesus is the one who will judge the world (Acts 17:31). At the end of the day none will escape God’s judgment. We must all stand before God’s judgment seat. He will hold each of us to account for every action whether great or small. ‘He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts’ (1Cor 4:5). It will be based on truth and without partiality. So even if we experience injustice today, Christians entrust themselves to God’s perfect justice which will be fully revealed on the last day (Rom 1:5-6; 12:19).

Thirdly, we obey him because he loves us. ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his Son, so whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life’ (John 3:16). We love him because he first loved us, dying for our sins, so that we can be forgiven and become friends with God. There is no greater love than this ‘that a man lay down his life for his friends’. And that is exactly what Jesus did for us on the cross. Such love compels us.

Fourthly, as Christians we are called to live out our identity as his chosen people. ‘For you are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God that you may the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light’ (1Pet 2:9). We are called to live out our identity as ‘salt and light’, citizens of heaven, a transformed community (Matt 5:13-14, Phil 3:20, Rom 12:2). As such we are called to be a positive influence on this world, and not be part of the problem of self-centred living. We’re to be an outpost and a foretaste of the kingdom of God still to come (Rev 21:1-4).

Fifthly, we trust and obey God’s word because his way is always better. Jesus came to give us life, peace, and joy. He came to restore and heal broken relationships. He came to make possible relationships of grace, forgiveness and mutual love. The God who made the world knows what is most important and how best to live in it. His commands are an expression of his love for us, that we might enjoy life to the full and be his transformed community (1Pet 1:11-12).

His forgiveness and his promises give us confidence and hope in a fallen and broken world. This is why we are committed to being an outpost of heaven. We live today in eager expectation of the kingdom yet to be revealed when Jesus comes in all his glory (Tit 2:13).

Pastor Owen Seto

God, the creator

Over the next few weeks I’m looking to put out some summaries from chapters of a book I’m writing for those starting out in their Christian faith. If you’re new to GracePoint this’ll be a great opportunity for you to find out what we believe as a Christian community. If you’re just starting out in your new found Christian faith, this’ll be an opportunity for you to establish a firm Christian foundation. If you consider yourself a mature Christian, this’ll be a great opportunity for you to strengthen your foundation.

We’re starting this week with what God reveals about himself in the Bible. In speaking about God, I’ve often heard people say, ‘I’d like to think of God as … (you fill in the blank)’, as if we could decide what we’d like to believe about God. I find it humorous when I hear people say that, because it assumes that they’re greater than God and able to choose what they’d like to believe about God. As Christians we believe that God reveals himself to us in the Bible (2 Tim.3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21). So at GracePoint we’re first and foremost Bible believing Christians. For Christians the Bible is our ultimate and final authority on all matters of faith, life and doctrine. And when we turn to the Bible we discover that God firstly reveals himself to us as our creator.

We discover that God is the creator of all things. We exist because God made us, and our world exists because God made it. The opening verses of the first book of the Bible in Genesis 1 tells us that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and all life that exists.

Gen. 1:1-2 ¹In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ²Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

And God we’re told is not a created being with a beginning and an end like his creation. God is eternal having existed in eternity before the creation of the world (Ps.90:2; Ps.102:12, 24-27; Rev.1:4, 8). There was never a time when God did not exist. In fact Rev.4:11 tells us that as our creator God alone is therefore worthy of our worship, to be glorified, honored and praised because he alone created all things, and by his will they were created and have their being.

What we need to realize is that everything in creation bears the mark of its creator, made by him and for him. Everything in creation was made by God and to return glory to God. It’s the reason why we also read in other parts of the Bible that the heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands (Ps.19:1). Creation declares God’s glory. Like the brilliance of a diamond radiating light from every angle, creation sets forth and gives expression to God’s perfection in all the radiance of his beauty, power, majesty and greatness.

It’s another way of saying that everything we enjoy in creation is a reflection of the creator who made it: a reflection of his beauty, his power, his majesty and his greatness. When you observe the beauty of a sunset against the backdrop of the red Simpson desert, your experience of its beauty tells you something of the beauty of the creator, and how much greater that must be. When you stand on the edge of a cliff overlooking Kakadu National Park and are struck by a sense of its majesty, your experience of majesty tells you something of the majesty of the creator, and how much greater that must be.

Everything in creation bears the mark of its creator. Everything was made by him and for him, to declare his glory. Everything in creation serves as a pointer back to God our creator reflecting his glory in all the perfection of his beauty, power, majesty and greatness. And so if we experience such beauty, power, majesty and greatness in creation, imagine how much greater is God our creator in beauty, power, majesty and greatness.

Eugene Hor – lead English pastor/elder
www.thereformission.net