Omc: Family Chapel

Do we actually need to meet in-person for church? With a prolonged season of isolation and the availability of livestreamed services, many might be wondering if gathering together is really that necessary. But at the core, the church is a gathered assembly (the "ekklesia"). While there are many challenges to gathering together in our day and age, we gather together as the church because we are an earthly embassy of Christ's heavenly kingdom. As such, when the church gathers together, we enjoy the blessings of transcendent experience, transformative power, relational intimacy, and missional momentum.

Covid and quarantine has undoubtedly affected our idea and practice of church community. For the first part of our series, we will explore this need of renewal as we confront our own spiritual apathy, consumerism, and passivity when it comes to church life. We will then look to restore the biblical idea of a church community: "A group of Christians who assemble as an earthly embassy of Christ's heavenly kingdom to proclaim the good news and commands of Christ the King, to affirm one another as his citizens through the ordinances, and to display God's own holiness and love through a unified and diverse people in all the world, following the teaching and example of elders."

In our series, we've seen that lament is a gift that enables us to navigate the tension of life in a fallen world. But what does lament actually look like? Lamentations 5 gives us a model of lament to follow. And we see four major steps: turn, complain, trust, and ask. As we engage in these steps of lament, we seek to walk on the path towards renewal.

When life falls apart, we see what we have been putting our hope in all along. Unfortunately, we often place our hope in idols. An idol is something that takes the place of God. It's usually a good thing that we have elevated to be an ultimate thing. Sadly, idols demand everything but fail to deliver anything. Through lament, we can see the hopelessness of our idols. But more importantly, through lament, we receive freedom to place our hope in God.

Chapter 3 is the middle chapter of the book of Lamentations and it continues the lament in a much more personal tone. And in the middle of chapter 3, the author begins to realize the ultimate truth that begins to give him hope in the midst of all the despair, doubt, and chaos. The structure of the book seems to culminate and climax to this point in the middle of chapter 3 as if to remind the reader that all lament is meant to bring you to this point. In the middle of chapter 3, the author understands and realizes the steadfast love of the Lord, his unending mercies, and his great faithfulness. He will not cast off forever. In all our laments, we must eventually come to know these truths. And we have even greater hope knowing because we are in Christ and that he took upon the judgment and wrath that we rightly deserved.

In a surprising twist, it is revealed that God is behind the destruction of Jerusalem. It is the Lord who opposes His own people in their sin. With that, we are confronted with a very difficult conundrum: What do we do when God feels like an enemy? Well, in that situation, there are really only two options: you can either fight or you can surrender. Lamentations calls us to surrender - to turn to the Lord, to honestly confess, and to humbly submit. And in light of the Gospel, we can confidently surrender knowing that God treated His own Son like an enemy so that we who were his actual enemies would now be brought in as his own sons and daughters. We can joyfully surrender our lives to God.

We often think that to be a faithful Christian means that we don't complain or doubt and we put on a smile and just push forward when life falls apart. So, the idea of lamenting can make us feel uncomfortable, and it might even feel unbiblical. But in our pain, God offers us the gift of lament. Lament is a gift because through lament, we gain emotional vocabulary to express our grief, we gain greater clarity to recognize the reality of sin, we are better able to embrace the tension of living in a fallen world, and we receive God's invitation to draw near. Lament will not magically make everything better, but it's the first step towards renewal.

True renewal is tested by community and takes place in community. In Romans 15, Paul gives us a crucial but often forgotten “one another” command when he calls Christians to accept one another. As the world became more polarized and tribal during this pandemic, the Church sorely needs to reconsider this command. This message will address the topics of Christian liberty, a critical heart, and how the Gospel moves us towards one another in love and acceptance.

The metaverse is coming! But while a full-blown metaverse is most likely decades away, much of the foundational impulses driving the metaverse are very much present today and serve as obstacles to renewal. Those obstacles are: the distortion of identity, the disintegration of community, and the dethronement of God. If we want to be able to wisely navigate life in the metaverse, we need to cultivate habits that deny the self, foster community, and prioritize worship. These habits keep us rooted in Christ, and by being rooted, we can experience renewal, even in the metaverse.

Jesus unpacks the kind of life that he offers through the 7 "I Am" statements found in the Gospel of John. Through those statements, we see that the kind of life that is found in Christ provides satisfaction (John 6:35), brings illumination (John 8:12), supplies security (John 10:7-10), comes at a costly price (John 10:11-15), is eternal (John 11:25-26), is exclusive (John 14:6), and is rooted in Christ (John 15:5). Instead of trying to grab life for ourselves, it is far better to receive and rest in the life that Jesus offers.

Evangelism must be a lifestyle rather than a checklist. Three primary and essential aspects to an Evangelistic lifestyle are prayer, hospitality, and discipleship. In the end, our call is to make disciples for His glory, and we cannot make disciples unless we ourselves are being discipled and following Christ.

Work is one of the most significant activities we partake in as humans. Work is not just limited to our jobs or careers, but work is any productive activity we engage in to bring glory to God and good to our neighbors. As such, our workplaces serve as one of the greatest opportunities for our witness. We can be faithful witnesses in our workplaces by doing excellent work, cultivating a healthy work culture, building relationships, and sharing the Gospel.

Christians know that they are called to share the Gospel with others, but the honest truth is that evangelism is very hard. Oftentimes, the obstacles to evangelism are more internal than external. Some of those major obstacles are apathy, fear, forgetfulness, and discouragement. To overcome those obstacles, Christians need to enjoy God's glory, be prepared, remember their identity, and trust that God is at work.

As Joshua nears the end of his life, he offers some closing remarks to the people of Israel. With his final words, he issues the call to renew their covenant with the Lord since each new generation needs to take ownership of their own faith. In calling for renewal, Joshua issues instructions to remember God's faithfulness, obey God's commands, and consider the consequences of breaking covenant with the Lord. In our own age of deconstruction, we too need to hold fast to the faith that has been entrusted to us if we want to make Christ known and share His joy with the next generation.

As the conquest has ended and tribes look to settle into their allotted lands, the Transjordan tribes east of the Jordan River build their own altar out of fear that they would eventually be forgotten and ostracized by the tribes west of the Jordan River. This leads to further misunderstanding and confrontation that must be cleared up. Through this incident, the Israelites reaffirm their loyalty and strengthen their unity by rallying around the worship of Yahweh God. Similarly, our identity in and worship of Christ will sustain a unified body.

After carrying out their conquest of Canaan, Israel is ready to distribute the land amongst the various tribes and clans. One of the recipients is a man named Caleb, who along with Joshua are the only ones from the previous generation who were allowed to enter into the Promise Land. By now, Caleb is an old man, but he is just as excited to carry out God's purposes in his life. And through Caleb's example, we see that we are able to thrive even in our old age by being faithful in our early years, by cultivating a heart of gratitude, by maintaining a vision for God's Kingdom, and by passing the baton to the next generation.

As word spreads about Israel making their way through the land of Canaan, some of the Canaanite kings decide to form a coalition to stop Israel. However, one of these people groups (the Gibeonites) decide to take a different approach. Through this passage we see that there is a hefty cost of commitment in building a covenant community. But we should pay the cost of commitment because our God is a covenant-keeping God and because God blesses commitment.

After the defeat of Jericho, the Israelites look to continue their conquest with the city of Ai. But because of the sin of Achan, the Israelites fall in their attempt. God puts a halt to their mission to root the sin out from the community. Through this narrative, we see the seriousness of sin, the corporate nature/effect of sin, and the urgent need to address sin in a covenanted community that is on mission for God.

As Joshua and Israel have entered into the Promise Land, they are now set to face off against their enemies and start engaging in some battles. First stop: Jericho. While we may not always realize it, we too are engaged in real battles with real enemies (the world, the flesh, and the devil). Through our passage, we see that we can overcome the battles of life as we recognize that it is the Lord who fights with us and for us. As such, our allegiance, our battles, and our victories belong to the Lord.

Before the Israelites head out to battle, God reaffirms his mission, reconfirms Joshua's leadership, and reminds the Israelites of his might and presence through the re-enactment of the Red Sea crossing as well as circumcision and Passover. Constant reaffirmations and remembrance are essential, especially for an upcoming generation with its own mission and purpose. Therefore, we must consistently remember the Mighty God who is with us.