Church of the Nazarene – East Rock
Mission in Action Part 2: God
Transformed by God to bring hope to others through Christ.
Our mission statement says “Transformed by God to bring hope to others through Christ”
We believe this concise, yet powerful statement gives light and guidance to our purpose as the church and as individual believers.
So, this teaching series- called Mission in Action is not just to make sure you know the mission statement, but so that you understand it more deeply, find excitement in its possibilities and desire to engage with us to see this mission lived out.
As we continue in our series, we want to understand, and affirm, that God is central in our mission
Exodus 20:1-6
And God spoke all these words: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
Everything we engage in our world comes with choice- it’s the air we breathe and perhaps more than that- it’s the comfort and control we expect to engage everything with.
But that’s not how we interact with God- With Him- there is, nor can be any other.
The Lord speaks directly to his people, saying that in Covenant relationship with Him- he is the exclusive one to whom we give ourselves to. He is to be the center and the focus of our lives- and there is to be no other.
That’s why this command is relational at its core- it wasn’t a command given to just anyone- but to those who had said YES to God and expressed their desire to be in covenant with him.
If we are in relationship with God- we cannot be worshiping or giving ourselves to another- that’s not covenant.
As you follow the story of the children of Israel from this point forward- you will see that at times they did trust God, they did worship him exclusively, but you will also find they did struggle with worshipping false gods. They would grumble, try to do things their own way, and they would trade exclusive covenant relationship with God for worship of Baal or some other form of pagan worship.
It may be hard to see at first but, we still struggle with this today.
Just because we don’t call them Baal or bow before a golden statue, doesn’t mean we aren’t subject to worshipping other gods. An idol or false god can be anything we prioritize over our exclusive relationship with God.
Our world is full of these false gods: Money, success, fame, our phones, relationships- the list is endless.
One of the difficult things with idolatry is that many of these false gods start out as good, healthy realities, blessings even, that we can experience in our lives- the danger comes when WE give them priority over our allegiance to God who explicitly says “Have nothing before me…nothing”
One function of a mission statement is to hold us accountable- to make us ask the hard questions.
Questions like: “Is God really the center of my life?”
We can’t experience transformation apart from himWe won’t engage our world with hope without him as the source of hope in our own lives-Friends, God is God alone- There can be no other.
Will you make him the center of your life today?
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