Church of the Good Wine | DNA | John 2:1-11
We end our DNA series with a passage concerning joy and where it is found. In Scripture, wine is always associated with joy and God’s abundance. It is no coincidence, then, that the first miracle of Jesus is turning water into wine at a local wedding. John says it was a sign—it was pointing to something much bigger. It was pointing to the blood of Christ that would be poured out for our sins so that we would feast eternally with God at the wedding supper of the Lamb (Rev. 21). All of this means we are to be the “Church of the Good Wine”—what we have to offer to he city is festal joy that comes from our salvation in Him.
Discipleship | DNA | Luke 14:25-33
Come, follow me.” Maybe the most iconic words in the Gospels and repeated many times by Jesus, including here. Discipleship into Christ is the whole purpose of the church and we had better understand exactly what it means and entails if we are to live as Christians. Jesus says it involves a whole renunciation of the self and our attachments as the center of our lives. It isn’t that those things and other people are valuable, just that Jesus must be more supreme than anything else. And far from “demoting” the value of everything else, we can actually love everything else more truly when our loves are rightly ordered.
Generosity | DNA | 2 Corinthians 8:8-15, 9:6-12
Being the church should be synonymous with generosity. Whether an individual or a collective group like a body of believers, we recognize generosity when we see it but in this passage, Paul seeks to re-start a call to generosity that has been waylaid by distrust and perhaps other reasons. In doing so, he lays out a biblical vision for not only the benefits of generosity for ourselves and others but shows us how it is the Gospel alone that generates the desire and drive to be generous. When the church lives into this calling, we and the world experience more kingdom abundance and life!
The Word | DNA | Psalm 119
“This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.” It’s what we say after each Scripture reading and we do it because we believe God’s word is a treasure worth celebrating. One of CCE’s commitments is to preach and teach God’s word faithfully. We believe it has authority in our lives because God is the designer of life and knows what we need. And, as the psalmist says, we can “delight” in it because when we grow in learning something that is good, delight naturally happens and because “delight” is another way to describe a healthy relationship. Ultimately, God’s word is more than instruction but is the very voice of a loving God towards His bride, the church, longing to be with us. And the best news of all is Jesus is the Living Word that transforms us by changing our hearts, the very thing the Psalmist says they long for.
The Gospel | DNA | Luke 9:21-27
This Sunday we start our “DNA" series. DNA are the fundamental building blocks of life. Our DNA ultimately expresses us into the world. The DNA of our faith does the same thing…or at least it should. In the series opener, we’ll unpack “Gospel,” the fundamental of our fundamentals. In this passage, Jesus tells us that the Gospel doesn’t just save us (through His mission to die for us and raise us up with him, v. 31) but cause us to truly live (through walking as disciples, 34-37). Later in the series, as we explore children’s ministry, generosity, worship and so much more—in each instance, the building blocks are the Gospel of Jesus Christ.