Cambridge Vineyard
You Can't Do This Alone
Sermon notes, Sunday August 19, 2018
Locations & Times
The Vineyard Church Cambridge
147 Elgin St N, Cambridge, ON N1R 5H6, Canada
Sunday 10:00 AM
The Body of Christ. The Bride of Christ. The Fellowship. The People of God. This is a sampling of the language sometimes used to describe the Church.
The Church isn't simply a concept or a metaphor. It isn't some faceless group of disconnected people mysteriously joined over space and time by shared belief. For every believer, everywhere, anytime, it is a rag-tag group of specific names and faces. People we share air with. People we know.
And here's the thing, according to every example in the scriptures, it is an absolutely necessary part of following Jesus. In 1st John chapter 4, the apostle writes: "whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen." The Church is not some optional club-of-Jesus-followers we can take or leave. This stuff matters. We literally can't love God alone.
The Church isn't simply a concept or a metaphor. It isn't some faceless group of disconnected people mysteriously joined over space and time by shared belief. For every believer, everywhere, anytime, it is a rag-tag group of specific names and faces. People we share air with. People we know.
And here's the thing, according to every example in the scriptures, it is an absolutely necessary part of following Jesus. In 1st John chapter 4, the apostle writes: "whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen." The Church is not some optional club-of-Jesus-followers we can take or leave. This stuff matters. We literally can't love God alone.
Three modern "heresies" concerning "The Church"
1. Our relationship with the Church is not central to our relationship with God. It is optional.
2. All our relationships, inside the Church and outside it, are equal.
3. Christian Community happens when a group of people who have Jesus in common do stuff together.
1. Our relationship with the Church is not central to our relationship with God. It is optional.
2. All our relationships, inside the Church and outside it, are equal.
3. Christian Community happens when a group of people who have Jesus in common do stuff together.
The Kingdom, as a solo enterprise, is impossible. Consider God is Trinity.