Living in the Kingdom: Becoming the Family of God

REFLECTION QUOTES

“Christianity means community through Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ…. [I]n Jesus Christ we have been chosen from eternity, accepted in time, and united for eternity.”

~Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), German pastor-theologian, executed for his opposition to Adolf Hitler

“Why, among all the many cults and philosophies which competed in the Greco-Roman world and in spite of more severe opposition…did [Christianity] outstrip them all? …[In significant part] Christianity’s success is to be found in its inclusiveness. More than any of its competitors it attracted all races and classes…. Christianity…gloried in its appeal to Jew and Gentile, Greek and barbarian…. Christianity…drew the lowly and unlettered multitude…. Yet, Christianity also developed a philosophy which commanded the respect of many of the learned…. Christianity, too, was for both sexes, whereas at least two of its main rivals were primarily for men. The Church welcomed both rich and poor…. No other cult, therefore, took in so many groups and strata of society. Here…the query must be raised…. Why did it appear in Christianity? …It is the uniqueness of Jesus which seems the one tenable explanation…. Without Jesus Christianity would not have sprung into existence, and from him and beliefs about him came its main dynamic.”

~Kenneth Scott Latourette (1884-1986), historian at Yale University

“If you feel it is imperative to fill all your needs, and if these needs are contradictory or in conflict with those of others, or simply unfillable, then frustration inevitably follows… The individual is not truly fulfilled by becoming ever more autonomous. Indeed, to move too far in this direction is to risk psychosis, the ultimate form of autonomy. The injunction that to find one’s self, one must lose one’s self, contains the truth any seeker of self-fulfillment needs to grasp.”

~Daniel Yankelovich, American social scientist and former professor at NYU

“Love isn’t something you find. Love is something that finds you.”

~Loretta Young (1913-2000), American actress

SERMON PASSAGE

Selected Passaged (ESV)

Mark 3

20 Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. 21 And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”

31 And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. 32 And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you.” 33 And he answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” 34 And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”

1 Peter 1

22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, 23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; 24 for

“All flesh is like grass
and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers,
and the flower falls,
25 but the word of the Lord remains
forever.”
And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

1 John 3

1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

1 John 4

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.