One Life
God has entrusted each of us with one life.
Based on John 3:16-17, this series will explore how God feels about us individually and the world as a whole. In these verses, we find a gospel-centered approach to life – both personal and congregational. Instead of being the exception, Jesus is the example for how to live in partnership with God and his desire for the world to be reconciled to him.
One Love – January 5, 2020
“For God so loved the world”
God is love (1 John 4:8, 16, 19). From Genesis through Revelation, the underlying theme of the Bible is that God loves his creation. Of all he created, he loves humankind the most. No other part of creation was made in the image of God. It is because God loves us so much that he grieves when we walk in disobedience. It is because God loves us so much that he wants us to experience real, abundant life. There is a passionate tone in these words that reflect God’s true heart towards all people.
One Gift – January 12, 2020
“that he gave his one and only Son”
On the first day of creation, God created light to dispel the darkness. The first lie told in the Bible was when the serpent convinced Adam and Eve that God really didn’t love them. As a result of the fall, the world returned to darkness only it was a spiritual darkness. That changed with the arrival of Jesus (2 Corinthians 4:6). Because we tend to believe the same lie – that God doesn’t love us – God took a drastic step on our behalf. Instead of asking us to find a way out of our trouble, God gave the solution – his one and only Son (which means unique, one of a kind). At the heart of the gospel is a giving Father. Jesus himself defines the greatest love as laying down one’s life for a friend (John 15:13.
One Hope – January 19, 2020
“that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”
As God’s creation, people still bear the image of God but the fall of Adam and Eve marred and distorted that image (1 Corinthians 15:21-22; Romans 3:22-24). Jesus came re-presenting God to people (Hebrews 1:1-4) and to purify us from our sins through his death on the cross. The only hope we have of recapturing our original relationship with God is by trusting in the work of his son. When Jesus is asked, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” he answered by saying, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent” (John 6:28-29). This invitation and free gift is open to all – even those who are different from us.
One Goal (mission) – January 27, 2020
“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
God created the world for his glory. It is our own sin that brings shame and condemnation, not God. It is not our role to condemn the world but to proclaim God’s offer of salvation through Jesus to the world. As sinners saved by grace, we ought to have empathy for the hurt, shame, and anguish found in those far from God. In this sense, we are continuing the mission of Jesus. Jesus came to “seek and save the lost” (Luke 19:10) and God has committed his message of reconciliation to the church. In fact, the apostle Paul refers to Christians as “ambassadors of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:17-21). This means we operate under the authority of Jesus in order to spread the good news at home and around the world.