City Life Starter

I . The Word

The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.  John 17:22-23 (a prayer of Jesus to the Father)

Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.  Ephesians 4:30-32

When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said “What if Joseph bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong which we did to him!” So they sent a message to Joseph, saying “Your father charged before he died, saying, ‘Thus you shall say to Joseph, Please forgive I beg you, the transgression of your broths and their sin, for they did you wrong’. And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” And Joseph wept when they spoke to him.  Genesis 50:15-17

II. Study Questions

1. Are you participating in the church community? (i.e. a City Life Group, volunteering for Hurricane Relief, an Unleashed prayer group, volunteering for Sunday morning service, etc.)

2. How has God gifted you to serve in His church?

3. Take a moment to pray and ask the Lord if there is anyone in His body
(church) that you haven’t forgiven.

“The church is so flawed, I have given up on it.” “I’ve been hurt too many times.” “I gave it a try for years and the church just doesn’t follow God’s word the way I do.” “I tried the church and I didn’t experience any growth.” I could go on and on. This is my pet peeve; I’m going to try not to rant. And, of course, I hear this mostly from older people because they have had more time to be disappointed.

In any community, people will eventually offend one another or let one another down. The church is no exception. The good news is that the Bible offers a roadmap for responding to offense, sin, and division in the church. No other organization offers this. At your job, you may be written up for not getting along with your co-workers or get a reputation of “not getting along well with others” even if something is not your fault. In other groups, you will get ostracized or minimized.

Forgiveness is the key to relationships. It is our face to the world (according to John 17). Jesus says that in this way the world will know that we are His disciples, that we love one another. From the scriptures in John 17, I don’t believe Jesus is talking about the unity of non-essential doctrine because He mentions love. It makes us very different from the world; it requires the Holy Spirit in our lives because it is truly difficult. For what sin did Joseph forgive his brothers? No one has ever sinned against me in this way, so surely I can forgive small slights (because that is usually what it is).

Unforgiveness will separate us from the community of believers and without community, we will not be able to: Meet the needs of others because we won’t know who is truly in need.

Who will meet our needs (which adds a degree of humility to our lives)? We won’t have the ability to practice forgiveness which is crucial to the gospel so that the world will know we follow Jesus.

I don’t know what the topic is next week, but I would like to write on what it means to love one another. I don’t think it is an emotion; I think it is an action. Very possible, it starts with forgiveness.