BETTER TOGETHER - WHAT WE’VE LEARNED

God’s people are reminded to … “Remember today what you have learned, about the Lord through your experiences with Him” (Deuteronomy 11:2).  

Some things we only learn through experience.  And some things we experience, and learn best from, with one another.
 
The Bible talks about it with the word koinonia.  Among other things it means communion, participation and contribution.  
 
We learn and experience God best it seems when we worship, fellowship, grow, serve and reach out together.

SERVING TOGETHER

At the outset of the Bible’s story, God says - “It is not good for man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18). And just as we’re not meant to walk through life on our own, we’re not meant to fulfil God’s purposes for us on our own.  
 
We’re better together!  We’re better when we fellowship, grow, reach out and worship together.  And we’re better when we serve together.
 
God intends for us to contribute with our lives.  It’s a contribution we make by serving others and we do it best together.  Paul said it this way – “… agree with each other, loving one another, and working together with one heart and purpose” (Philippians 2:2).  

IT’S ALL IN THE TIMING

Every great achievement involves the right timing.

Great musicians know how to play in time, whether it be to a slow or fast tempo. Professional surfers know the precise moment when to catch a wave, or else risk losing the wave all together. In the Olympics a few milliseconds can be the difference between winning a gold medal or going home empty handed.

Timing is critical. 

God calls us to walk in the Spirit, and part of this is knowing when to speed up and when to slow down. It’s about being in time with God.

Ecclesiastes 8:6 “For there is a right time and a right way for everything, but we know so little.”

WILL WE MAKE ROOM FOR JESUS?

Have you ever been on the road and looking for a place to stay and the only motel in town has a “NO Vacancy” sign lit up out the front?  Maybe, it’s not so hard for us to imagine Mary and Joseph fronting up to the innkeeper, only to be told there’s no rooms left in the inn.
 
We can be a little harsh on the innkeeper in the Christmas story.  We’d like to think if it were us we’d have something better where the “Saviour of the world” would be born.
But, truth is, even today we do it, our culture does it.  We don’t make room for Jesus.
 
Of course, we have our reasons: we don’t pay attention, or we crowd our lives with other things, or we don’t think we need to make room.  But we do!  We need to know our creator and saviour and we need the life of purpose and peace he gifts to us.
 
My prayer for you is that you will open up to God this Christmas and keep nothing back; that you will make room for Jesus.

GOD IS WITH US ON THE JOURNEY

A young woman's life journey with God from an Ethiopian orphanage via Alaska to Bondi Junction.

THE WAY FORWARD

God wants us to establish His kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven. What does that look like?

RADICAL LOVE

It’s the most famous verse in the Bible – John 3:16.  “This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son.  And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him anyone can have a whole and lasting life“ (The Message).
 
John 3:16 explains the reason for Christmas; it explains the Bible in a sentence – the greatest love, the greatest sacrifice, the greatest offer and the greatest gift.
 
The reason we celebrate Christmas and give gifts at Christmas is because “God so loved the world that he gave.”

EARNING & DESERVING

Much of our lives are built on earning & deserving - e.g. earning a wage or deserving respect and admiration. Jesus destroys all of that in the story of the Prodigal Son by giving the Prodigal Son what he hasn't earnt and doesn't deserve. Join Brodie this Sunday as he unpacks Luke 15. 

JESUS CAME TO LIGHT UP OUR LIVES

Around the world, wherever Christmas is celebrated, lights are often part of decorations in our homes and on streets and in shops.  Sometimes the “light shows” are spectacular.

“Light” is, of course, a common theme in the Bible.  The first particular act of God’s creation is “let there be light”.  Jesus describes himself as the “light of the world”.  And light plays a part in the Christmas story – the “glory of the Lord” shining around shepherds and “wise men” following stars. 
 
The gospel writer John says of Jesus, whose birth we celebrate at Christmas, “… his life is the light, that shines through the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it”. 
 John 1:4-5   
 
I pray over the next few weeks, that knowing Jesus (God’s Christmas gift to you), will light up your life.

WHAT DESTROYS RELATIONSHIPS & WHAT BUILDS THEM

Scripture gives us a lot (around 100) “one another” instructions; things we should all do on behalf of our family in Christ.  About a third of these instructions deal with Christians getting along while another third are specifically about the church getting along.  Our “connectedness” in Christ is clearly something of significance.  Paul writing to the church in Rome puts it this way - “Christ makes us one body, and individuals who are connected, to each other” (Romans 12:5).
 
Of course, our experience is that it’s often easy for us to get “disconnected” in our relationships; our relationships within the church and in the wider community.  The Bible points to selfishness, pride, insecurity and resentment as four attitudes that cause significant damage to our relationships.  Selflessness, humility, love and forgiveness are described as relationship builders.
 
May God bless us as we seek to grow our “one another” relationships.