Grace United Methodist Church - Franklin, IN
  • About Us
    • Staff
    • What to Expect
    • What We Believe
    • Calendar
    • Upcoming Events
    • Institutional Partners
  • Classes & Small Groups
    • Adult >
      • Classes and Spiritual Formation Opportunities
      • Small Group Locations & Times
    • Youth
    • Children
  • Missions
    • Service Opportunities
    • Ministry Partners
  • Give
    • Giving
    • What is tithing?
    • Narrative Budget
  • Preschool
    • Home
    • Classes
    • Calendar
    • Kroger Community Rewards
  • Resources
    • Sermons
    • Blog
    • The Kids These Days podcast
  • About Us
    • Staff
    • What to Expect
    • What We Believe
    • Calendar
    • Upcoming Events
    • Institutional Partners
  • Classes & Small Groups
    • Adult >
      • Classes and Spiritual Formation Opportunities
      • Small Group Locations & Times
    • Youth
    • Children
  • Missions
    • Service Opportunities
    • Ministry Partners
  • Give
    • Giving
    • What is tithing?
    • Narrative Budget
  • Preschool
    • Home
    • Classes
    • Calendar
    • Kroger Community Rewards
  • Resources
    • Sermons
    • Blog
    • The Kids These Days podcast

Spiritual Fitness: Learning Christ - Ephesians 4:14-24

9/16/2019

0 Comments

 
In Ephesians 4:14-24, the apostle Paul is clear that the Ephesians can no longer keep on carrying the old baggage from the lives they were leading in the past, which keeps them in places of darkness, ignorance, and hardness of heart (4:18). Instead, they need to learn that the Christian life is about the process of putting away one and putting on the new (4:22). 

That is to say, whatever is corrupt or harmful, or whatever prevents us from seeing reality clearly, or whatever keeps us in a state of alienation from God and ourselves, whatever leads to insensitivity or to a lack of compassion, or whatever keeps the vices of arrogance and deceit, or greed and recklessness – put it away! This is not what it means to learn Christ. Rather, learning Christ involves learning who Jesus was and what he did; it means learning what Jesus himself was all about, allowing Jesus’ whole life, his teachings and character, his death and resurrection, to have their full effect on us, Learning Christ involves the whole person! 

It will not necessarily mean sitting around a table in a seminar room, or about feeling a certain way, though these things can be important. No! Learning Christ will mean actually doing and saying the specific things Jesus did and said!

The late Dallas Willard of Southern California University asked a question that may sound a bit shocking at this point, but also so apparently evident: he asked a conference of church leaders once when was the last time they had heard of a group or a church of any kind have a meeting to discuss how they were going to teach people to do what Jesus said and did? In what church did they see that happening? Roman Catholic? Pentecostal? Lutheran? Evangelical? How were the people in these churches (and others) learning to do what Jesus said and did, or how were they learning what Willard calls the “curriculum for Christ-likeness”?

That’s a good phrase! And it prompts us to ask: how we enrolled what Jesus taught? How are we learning Christ? What courses do we need to take?

Whatever they are, may we find ways to sign up!
​
Pastor Andy Kinsey
 

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018

    RSS Feed

Grace United Methodist Church
1300 E Adams Dr,
Franklin, IN 46131

Phone: 317-736-7962
Email

Weekend  Worship Services
Saturday: 5:30pm 
Sunday: 9:00am & 11:00am

Picture