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Sermon Details
- Pastor Name: Jonathan Cornell
- Date & Time: January 24, 2016 | 10:00am
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SERMON SERIES:
Where are We Going?
There was an interesting social experiment that went viral recently. Two young women each took turns sitting quietly on a mall bench: one, a young mother discretely nursing her newborn child; the other, a young lady of similar age sitting quietly but wearing a low cut shirt. The responses these two received were tragic and discouraging to say the least. One received leering sideways glances; the other, a young mother offering her child the most natural and intimate gift she can provide her child, was met with scorn, chastised for what she was doing.
We are surrounded by a culture that has been shown an image of what is true and beautiful and real that is false, distorted. In short, we have exchanged the natural for the unnatural, real for imitation. And this is only one example, we could very easily come up with many more examples.
This morning, we are continuing a series of messages in which we have asked the questions: Where are we? and Where are we going? I’ve deliberately chosen two texts from 2 Kings and 2 Corinthians because of the powerful truth they tell us about who we are, and the practical and down to earth wisdom they lay out for us as a church community.
What was troubling about this experiment was not only the double standard on display, but how offended people became when they saw something that embodied the very essence of real and loving—a mother nursing her child. When the truth about us is not known, when people are starving – whether they know it or not – for genuine and authentic life, it’s not surprising that witnessing something so real and gentle would cause confusion and disgust.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ offers us a very different metric for valuing life. The Gospel sends us on a countercultural mission to be agents of compassion, mercy, and hope in a world more concerned with success, power, and beauty. For these last two weeks, we have looked at two key questions we must answer if we are going to move forward as a church. The first is where are we now? And the answer to that question I mentioned is that we are people for whom Jesus Christ died and rescued us.
Download the entire transcript here: 2 Corinthians 5 16-21 We Are Ambassadors for Christ
How wonderful to be able to hear Jonathan’s Sunday message today while I am on vacation in the Cayman Islands! The message came through loud and clear and I hope to become a better Ambassador for Christ when I return home in a week or so.