404: Something Went Wrong 1 - Understanding Our Context

Jim Ladd, May 9, 2021
Finding our place in the world

In the Chat: What about the world drives you the most crazy these days?
The Big Idea: We must rediscover our place in the world.

Ephesians 1:3-10; 19-23 (MSG)
“How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He’s the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter
into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.

Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we’re a free people—free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free! He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which
everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.

...oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him—endless
energy, boundless strength!

All this energy issues from Christ: God raised him from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven, in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments, no name and no power exempt from his rule. And not just for the time being, but forever. He is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything. At the center of all this, Christ rules the church. The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ’s body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence.”
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THE CHURCH IS IN AN IDENTITY CRISIS:
We used to be ACCEPTED, EMBRACED, CELEBRATED, and HEARD.
Now we are IGNORED, UNHEARD, DESPISED and DISTRUSTED.

SOME OF US ARE CHOOSING:
● FORTIFICATION: protecting ourselves and our children from the hateful world.
● DOMINATION: by seeking political power and gaining control to force our ways on the world.
● ASSIMILATION: by embracing the enlightenment of culture themselves as the whole world slips into the darkness of being completely lost.

We live in an age of CONTRADICTION.

The goal that guides us forward: To be the Presence of God’s Love in the
world.