Since moving to Jacksonville (Meghan permanently, I am still coming down on the weekends and have two and a half weeks left of training before I get to be home since February), We have attended Pillar Church Jacksonville. Finding a church is difficult and Meghan and I have both felt that when attending a new church you look and listen to all things with a judgmental filter that you can't help but feel guilty for. On one hand choosing a church to call home is a very important decision that should be taken very seriously, and on another it is wrong to approach the church with self-righteousness that seems to seep into situations in which scrutinizing is taking place.
Overall we have decided to attend the membership class next week and join Pillar. Now that we have a little bit of background I wanted to make a quick note about the sermon this past Sunday. The elder preached out of Philippians chapter I. He made 8 observances about church community from the text (of which I forgot to bring my notepad and didn't take notes) but they were things we have generally heard before and are familiar with.
I couldn't help find glaring at me from the text a key point that was missed in the sermon. Now, I do not know if this is something I am passionate about and therefore wish these principles into the scripture, or if this has always been there and I am now able to understand it.
Philippians 1:27-28 says
"27 Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel, 28 and not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition, but [a]to you of salvation, and that from God."
This stands out to me that the church and its members should be of one accord not just on what is written in scripture but what it means in the world. How the scripture should bleed out of our fingers and not just our tongues. This means we should be on one accord of how to raise children, how to spend money, how to vote, how to act in the workplace, what to say no to, and what to say yes to. And within all of these topics, Standing firm against our adversary, not backing down to the culture or the activists or the local principalities pressure to be "peaceful, and loving to all" ergo - woke. Standing firm against the adversary, and being of one accord when doing so, should look like a fully formed shield wall, inching forward one step at a time in unison, driving the enemy back and under our sandals - may I add, bloody and beaten with spearheads sunken deep into their chests.
that is a great observation and application. Pharaoh feared a family because they were a unified block: one God, one tradition, one history, one vision, one voting block, etc... it meant something to be Israel. it said something about your diet, your finances, your service, your marriage, your child-rearing... we could certainly benefit from more continuity in what it means to be Christian while enjoying the diversity of the parts which can flourish in that unity. my kidneys are no more or less Todd than my biceps, but they are very different in form and function, but not so different that one is Todd's and one is someone else's. it means something to be my organs, but it also means something that each organ is not identical. good stuff, brother!
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