Omc: Family Chapel

1 Corinthians 9:19-23 Praise led by Andy Hwang

The cost of God's Mission is great because it came at a great cost, namely the life of the Son Jesus Christ. Therefore, the cost of following Christ as disciple-makers is our lives as living sacrifices. Yet, greater than the cost is the joy and eternal rewards that we will receive when we remain faithful to his mission until the end.

The mission of the Church is to participate in God’s mission by making disciples of Jesus Christ. In the Great Commission, Jesus gives us the guidelines on how to do that by telling us to love people, to share the Gospel, and to help others mature in Christ. We can confidently engage in this mission because this mission will not fail.

Our God is a missional God. We see him carrying out His mission of redeeming people from all nations to enjoy His glory forever through the entire storyline of Scripture: Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Completion. And because our God is a missional God, we are called to be a missional people.

Even though Habakkuk is faced with such dire circumstances, he is able to maintain his hope in the Lord. His hope does not stem from his circumstances changing, but his hope stems from the God who is unchanging. As he refocuses his heart on God's presence and God's power, Habakkuk experiences the fruit of that abiding hope - enduring patience and indestructible joy. And like Habakkuk, our hope as we head into an unknown future isn't ultimately found in a vaccine, or in politics, or in an economic recovery, or a job offer, or our lives returning back to normal. But our hope is ultimately in the Lord. And when we abide in that hope, no matter the circumstances that surround us, we can truly thrive.

As we saw with the problem of evil last week, we will see that God is actually the God of justice and judgment. He declares that he will bring judgment on the Chaldeans (Babylonians) after using them for his sovereign purpose and declares a series of "woes" upon them. But in this, we see that because God is a God of justice, the Israelites and ultimately, even us, are also under judgment. We are not much different. The problem of evil is not a problem with God, it's our problem. And so, the call is for the righteous to live by faith in God. To trust in his sovereign purposes. To be in awe of his mercy and long suffering. And for us to realize that we escape judgment by putting our faith in the work of God's son.

The prophet Habakkuk confronts God with the problem of evil: How can we make sense of a good God in an evil world? Through this dialogue, we see that God remains sovereign even over an evil world, without being complicit in the evil He sovereignly oversees. The paradox of His goodness is that He intentionally allows evil to accomplish His good purposes. The greatest demonstration of that paradox is ultimately seen in the Cross! The call then for Christians is to live with steadfast faith in a good God even in the midst of an evil world.

We tend to live very busy lives in a very busy world. And oftentimes, we even wear busyness as a badge of honor - the busier we are, the more important we feel. But busyness is usually not a time management issue, as much as it is a heart issue - our neglect to rest reveals the issues in our hearts. Thankfully, we can better tackle the heart issues of busyness by rightly engaging in the spiritual discipline of Sabbath. Put simply, Sabbath is a weekly rhythm of rest that helps us to be renewed in Christ and look forward to the eternal rest that is to come. May we rest well in Christ so that we can thrive well for His glory!

One of the inescapable realities of life is making decisions. And everyday, we are confronted with thousands and thousands of decisions to make. These decisions eventually shape the direction of our lives. As such, these decisions are actually invitations to grow in Christ-likeness as we learn to say with Jesus, "Not my will, but Your will be done." The spiritual discipline of discernment is walking in the way of wisdom as we seek to align our will to God’s will.

While not obligatory, fasting is a powerful tool to open up our hearts and character to the work of the Holy Spirit. We will explore various passages to see how fasting raises our spiritual sensitivity, helps fight against our flesh, and directs our focus towards God with humility.

Solving relational conflict is a spiritual discipline that helps us to remember and rehearse the Gospel. As those who have been reconciled to Christ, we can and must practice reconciliation with one another. In this passage, we see that we can pursue reconciliation as we commence with adoration, check our attitudes, combat our anxiety, center our attention, and commit to action.

As Christians, we readily recognize the importance of taking in God's Word, but very often, we find ourselves rushing through it or neglecting it altogether. But we are called to carry out the spiritual discipline of meditation, which is filling our minds with the truth of God's Word to impress upon our hearts the beauty of God's glory. We can dig deep into God's Word knowing that Treasure will be found!

Waiting and enduring well with full integrity of faith until the end is something that we are not to do alone. We need accountability and help in times of need. And the best way to provide both is in prayer. We need to actively pray for those who may not be well, and we need to persistently seek to turn back those who may be straying. In this way, we will help each other live a life consistent with our faith that endures to the end.

We hate waiting and we're terrible at waiting. But far from being a passive activity, waiting requires active intentionality. And here, James points out that we can faithfully wait by looking forward to Christ's return, by looking towards one another with kindness, by looking back at God's faithfulness, and by looking to hold on to our integrity. In this tough season of waiting, may we wait well!

With prophetic fury, James condemns "the rich" (the wicked wealthy) because they have trusted in money and power to save them, they have used money and power to take advantage of others, and they have lived selfishly with their money and power. In the face of such injustice, God promises to bring final judgment. As Christians who live entirely by grace, we are to instead be good stewards of the money and power that have been entrusted to us.

We all seek to make plans for our lives, but there is a right approach and a wrong approach to planning our lives. Rather than having an attitude of arrogant self-sufficiency, Christians should place humble dependence on God’s sovereignty, which brings freedom from tomorrow’s worries and strength for today’s obedience.

In the midst of life that is hard and full of trials, God gives us something better than life - namely, Himself. In our trials, we discover the goodness of God, as we engage in disciplined, dogged pursuit, as well as remembrance and repetition. And we can know that God is better than life because He satisfies us and He strengthens us. May we lean into the God who is better than life!

Building off of last week's teaching, James continues to point out marks of an inconsistent life that are oppositions to a thriving community. In this passage, James is calling for repentance over the quarrels, conflicts, and slander plaguing their communities caused by double-mindedness and a divided heart. He then exhorts his readers to humble themselves and turn away from all worldliness, selfishness, and fleshly desires. Ultimately, we see James teaching that a thriving community is built by thriving people who humbly follow the Lord wholeheartedly.