Transformed Lives

Seeking to be an authentic community of disciples, becoming more like Jesus - walking in step with God, alongside each other and seeing lives transformed

This morning we come to last in our series of Friday posts exploring our Vision here at CBC. Next week we'll begin to think about our seven Core Values. If you've missed any posts along the way use the links above to look at specific posts or the 'Vision' label at the bottom of the page to view the whole series.

When you read through the gospels - the accounts of Jesus' life - you can't help but notice how people's lives were transformed. In the most drastic cases people were brought back from the dead - a transformation for them, but also for their dependant relatives. 

At other times individuals with illnesses that excluded them from the religious and social aspects of Israel's life were healed and restored. 

Lifestyles were turned upside down. People experienced love, forgiveness, hope, joy, peace... in place of loneliness, bitterness, despair, sorrow, anxiety...

Jesus told the disciples that he had come that people may have life - but not just a hanging on in there by the skin of your teeth kind of life - but life to the full. The word that Jesus uses here talks about going beyond, abundant, exceeding, much more, over much ...

Paul talks about the follower of Jesus being a new creation - the old has gone, the new has come.

The symbolism of baptism speaks of this transformed life - no longer being defined by the past, dying to the old way of life, being re-born into a new life, a fresh start.

Jesus and his first followers were in the business of changing lives - or in the case of the disciples, seeing God transform lives through them. Within a few years of Jesus' death and resurrection his disciples had turned the world upside down.

There are many ways in which we can help to bring transformation in people's lives. But true transformation is only possible through the work of the Holy Spirit in a person's life. 

One of the most interesting stories in the New Testament sees a paralysed man lowered through a roof in front of Jesus. He is lowered by his friends who want to see him healed - who want to see him walk and run and jump again. But Jesus' first instinct is to forgive him his sin. He only later heals the man physically as evidence that he has the authority to also forgive sins. You can read this story in Luke 5:17-26. I wonder what was going through the man's mind as this story unfolds around him - what was he thinking as Jesus forgave his sin, but left him paralysed on his mat? What were the friends who had carried him and then made a hole in this roof thinking?

As I place myself in this story what do my thoughts and questions reveal about my priorities and the things that I think are important?

As a church it is right that we expect to make a difference in our community.

Timothy Keller asks the question:

If you and your church were to disappear off the face of the earth tomorrow, would anyone in the community around you notice you were gone? And if the community did even notice would they say 'we are really glad they are gone', or 'we are really going to miss them'?

Archbishop William Temple said about the church:

The church is the only society that exists for the benefit of those who are not its members.

But what kind of difference should we expect to make?

I believe that as we increasingly become an authentic community of disciples, becoming more like Jesus - walking in step with God and alongside each other we will see lives transformed. As we are changed - becoming more like Jesus - God will change others through us - because that's what happened when Jesus was around.

And we need to be confident and unashamed of the fact that when we talk about lives being transformed we're ultimately talking about people deciding to follow Jesus. Not everyone who met Jesus in the New Testament decided to follow, many walked away. But for those who followed their lives were never the same again. 


 Picture Credit: LumoProject.com

You'll never walk alone

Seeking to be an authentic community of disciples, becoming more like Jesus - walking in step with God, alongside each other and seeing lives transformed

As we continue our series of Friday posts exploring our Vision here at CBC, we're again thinking about that theme of journeying, but this week we're looking at what it means to walk alongside each other. If you've missed any of the previous posts use the links at the top of this page, or the 'Vision' label at the bottom to catch up.

Whether you're a sports fan, or more specifically a Liverpool fan, you will probably have heard the massed ranks at the Kop End of Anfield singing the Liverpool anthem, 'You'll never walk alone'. The Liverpool supporters in the early sixties adopted this 'Gerry and the Pacemakers' song as their own. I'm sure those of you at CBC who are Liverpool fans will know all the words and will be able to sing along: 

Walk on, walk on,
With hope in your heart,
And you’ll never walk alone,

You’ll never walk alone.

Last week we were thinking about how God has promised to walk with us on our journey of faith - even when we're walking through the darkest valley, God is with us.

Obviously there are some parts of the world where Christians have to be very careful about making their faith public. Where Christians aren't free to meet with others to sing and pray and read. But Comberton is not one of those places. Here, within CBC, God has surrounded us with other disciples, so that we can encourage and support each other.

When we thought about what it means to be authentic we talked about church being messy - because life is so often messy, and how church needs to be a place where we feel free to take off our masks and be real. When we thought about community we talked about church being a place where we 'do life' together, where we are closely connected with a few people - and about how do we make sure that everybody is closely connected to somebody.

When I look at our new vision I think that these are the bits that are hardest to get right. Certainly there are pockets within the church where this feeling of walking alongside others is working really well. But then there are other parts where individuals feel very much alone. And where we are will very much colour how we think about the church. Some of us have a very positive experience of church, others have a much more painful experience.

If you're a regular part of CBC you will know that I have three daughters but only two hands, and there are times when we're out walking and all three girls want to hold my hand - which just isn't possible - at least it's not if we're going to continue walking at a decent pace and not trip over in the mud.

'Walking alongside each other' requires us all to be involved, and I guess there are three questions we should all be asking.

1 - Who am I walking alongside (who am I supporting and encouraging at the moment)
2 - Who is walking alongside me (who is supporting and encouraging me at the moment)
3 - Who's walking by themselves at the moment - and what are we going to do about it?

The unmerciful servant

This morning as we continued our series on the Kingdom of God, we looked at the parable of the unmerciful servant in Matthew 18:21-35. This is a very challenging passage which reminds us of just how much God has done for us - but also at what life in the kingdom looks like.

If you missed this version of the story that we saw this morning you can watch it here.

Walking in step

Seeking to be an authentic community of disciples, becoming more like Jesus - walking in step with God, alongside each other and seeing lives transformed

Last Friday, in our series of weekly posts exploring our Vision here at CBC, we looked at the idea of walking - that our faith is a journey. Obviously we start where we are, but this is not where we expect to end up. This week I want to think specifically about what it means to be walking in step with God. If you've missed any of the previous posts click on the relevant link above or use the 'Vision' label below to read the whole series. 

As we think about this theme of walking in step with God there are two important ideas that I want us to explore. There is the encouragement that comes from knowing that God is with us as we are on this journey. But the 'in step' part also comes with a challenge to obedience - to be in step with God, rather than out of step.

At the end of last year as we went through the process of discerning God's vision for us, one of the themes that came through repeatedly was a desire to do what God wants. To be obedient to his will. We're happy to stop stuff that we're already doing, or start new stuff up that we're not doing, we're not afraid of change - but what's of overriding importance is 'are we doing what God wants?'

The first occurrence of the word 'walk/ed/ing' in the Bible is found in Genesis 3:8 where we see that one of the consequences of human sin is a break in the relationship between God and people, and that we are no longer free to walk with God. The image created, and then broken, in the first chapters of Genesis is one in which our relationship with God is compared to talking with a friend as you walk through a garden or along a beach in the cool of the evening. But human sin broke that relationship.

If you've been following the Read Scripture plan and watching the videos then you will know that one of the themes of Leviticus and Numbers is ensuring that the camp of Israel is ritually pure so that God can once again dwell with his people. This is a theme that is picked up in the New Testament. The people of God are made pure through Jesus' death. But there is the command for God's people to keep themselves pure so that God is able to live with them and walk among them (e.g. 2 Corinthians 6:16-17).

The desire to walk in step with God is a challenge to daily obedience. To die to self and be obedient to what God's Spirit is saying to us. Yes, it is true, that we often don't get it right, and therefore we daily rely on God's forgiveness - but God's forgiveness is not an excuse to live as you want rather than as God wants. If you want to follow this theme further then I recommend a Bible word search - looking at the word 'walk' in the New Testament. Here are a few to get you going:

• Galatians 5:16 - read on to the end of the chapter.
• Ephesians 5:2 - again continue reading.
• 1 John 1:6-7
• 2 John 6

As well as the call to obedience the idea of walking with God provides us with the encouragement that whatever we are going through - God is with us. Perhaps one of the best known passages of the Old Testament echoes this theme: 'Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me' (Psalm 23:4).

This is certainly my personal experience. The times I have felt closest to God have been the toughest and hardest times in my life.

This gives us confidence, as a church, as we face the future. Because whilst we may not know where God is leading, and we don't know what difficulties and challenges lie ahead - we do know that God has promised that he will be with us, and therefore we do not need to be afraid.