Back Creek Church | Charlotte, NC

The younger son runs from his father in rebellion, and the father runs toward him. The older son runs from his father in self-righteousness and his father runs toward him. 

Sinners are drawn to Jesus. Jesus is drawn to sinners.

Belonging to Christ means peace with God, peace with each other, and peace in all circumstances. 

A world where belonging is counterfeit needs a church where belonging is real - where we who belong to Jesus extend that belonging to one another by embracing our new identity and embracing one another. 

Behavior does not merit belonging. But knowing that we already and unconditionally belong through Christ, that changes us - including our behavior.

When we belong to Christ and are united to Him by faith, it changes everything about our lives. Christ becomes our life, and we receive a new focus in life, a new foundation for life, and a new future of life. 

We all have a longing to belong because we were created by God for belonging. We broke our belonging and threw away our relationship with God through sin. Yet, Christ loves us so much that He came to live and die and rise again so that we could be restored and reconciled, and finally know true belonging. 

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... Fear the Lord and find in Him a strong fortress. 

Submission is part of our mission because it is a practical demonstration that our real hope is in God. His wisdom is better than our freedom.  We submit to our shepherds (elders and ministers). We submit to our siblings (fellow believers in Christ).  We submit to our Savior (everything - our selves, our situations, our safety, and our sufferings)

Our mission is not easy, and along the way we forget our identity. Christ, the Chief Shepherd, has given us the good gift of shepherds (ministers and elders) in His church, to help us. Shepherds are to minister to us by: Overseeing Willingly. Serving Eagerly.  Modeling Humbly.   

How do we sustain with hope when we face opposition and suffering?  We trust God because God is good. And we do good because we trust God.

We have been blessed by God to be a blessing to others. How do we bless others? By stewarding well what God has entrusted to us.  We steward our selves. We steward our stuff. We steward our service.  All for the blessing of others, as an expression of our mission of hope.

Suffering in this world is inevitable. How can we suffer with hope? We bless one another in our suffering. We bless our enemies in our suffering. We bless with the Gospel, which gives us hope in our suffering.

Christian households are to be outposts of the kingdom of God in the world, shining hope to the world, with marriage as an essential building block. In marriage, husbands and wives are equal in status, different in role, and have the same goal: imitating Jesus through humility toward one another. 

Our identity of hope is that we are exiles and sojourners in this world, having been born again to a living hope. But we are also invaders, waging war against the kingdom of darkness on the internal front against the passions of our flesh (by grace resisting them) and the external front against those who oppose us (by grace submitting to authority, silencing fools by doing good to them, serving ot...

Our identity of hope: we are chosen by God, children of God, and the church for God. This passage teaches us that God means to dwell with His people and the Church is the spiritual house He is building. We are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession.

We are not only chosen by God as elect exiles. In Christ, we are children of God! As children of God, we are called to holiness in the way we think. As children of God, we are called to holiness in the way we live. As children of God, we are called to holiness in the way we relate.   

Having been born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we have a new identity of hope. We are no longer citizens of this world, but citizens of Christ's Kingdom - elect exiles. 

Jesus meets us in our struggle with exactly what we need. Struggle: Fear (disciples huddled in a room afraid) Response: Peace (the risen Christ comes and proclaims peace) Struggle: Doubt (Thomas: "unless I see... I will never believe") Response: Assurance (Jesus: "Put your finger here... do not disbelieve, but believe") Struggle: Off Mission (disciples returning to their old way of life) Response:...

The journey we see Mary Magdalene experiencing through the crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus is parallel to the journey we take when the truth of the resurrection changes everything for us  - Expectation, Devastation, Revelation, Proclamation.

Even in a world full of vanity, we can live a life of ultimate meaning and eternal significance - through relationship with God.

Life gets harder. But for those who remember God, it also gets sweeter.  Wherever we are in life, it is almost certain that hard days are ahead. The Preacher of Ecclesiastes calls us to remember our Creator now so that we may have hope and meaning and even sweetness then .