Friendship
It always sounds really cheesy to talk about Jesus being our friend. Why? Is it because we think it sounds too much like Jesus being our “homeboy”? Or do we just not have an understanding of real friendship? As a culture we have a terribly low view of what friendship is. Scripture clearly identifies Jesus as our friend and then He displays it by laying down His life. So what is Gospel-centered friendship? What do we do with our 1,300 Facebook “friends”? How do we develop relationships with each other that actually reflect our friendship with Christ?
Racism
No one these days really wants to hear this, but the reality is that we all harbor some form of hostility to those we perceive as unlike ourselves. However, Christ came to tear down that division and hostility, reconciling us to each other and to Himself. In this passage we discover that racism isn’t nearly as much about a broken society or government as it is about the broken, sinful people who make up that society and the Gospel that makes one new humanity.
Money
No one really wants to hear a church talking about money. We shrink back from that guy on TV who just wants to upgrade his private jet at our expense or the church that only talks about money, keeping the books in the black at the expense of preaching the Gospel, but the stewardship of our money is a discipleship issue and we need the Gospel to speak into it. It’s a matter of the stewardship of our hearts, not just the stewardship of finances.
Time
God owns everything and commands us to steward everything—including our stuff and our time. This seems obvious enough and we wouldn’t deny it out loud, but we rarely live it out. That truth speaks both to the lazy bum and the workaholic at once. How can we make the most of our time and resources while still keeping rest as a priority? More importantly, how do we glorify God in our stewardship of all that?
Hope
The Sermon on the Mount is not your typical Christmas Day sermon, but it can bring so much more of the significance of the Incarnation to light. Jesus sets the bar unreachably high for us to meet on our own. We could never stand a chance of making it, but that makes the grace of Christ—the gift of the Incarnation—so much sweeter, showing not only how far lost we are, but how far the cross has brought us up to God.
Humility
Humility is one of the most important things that we can find in the Incarnation and one of the most significant of the Christian character values, but it is also the hardest to live out. We try to make ourselves humble through our own efforts by serving more and more people and by just telling ourselves every morning to think of ourselves less, but in the end that all fails and still displays the pride of our hearts. We can only be truly humble by staring at and wrapping ourselves in the humility of Christ’s birth, life and death.
Generosity
For many of us, money wars with God for our affections more than any other idol. We are possessed by money, but there is a greater possession in the Gospel, better and abiding. It is in this Gospel that we see the generosity of God toward us and because of this Gospel that we are free to be generous with each other.
Missionaries
As Christians we follow a missionary God who came to us in Christ. We are all, therefore, missionaries as well in reflection of that Gospel. Despite a myriad of obstacles, we are sent out to foreign countries, to internationals in our own city, to our workplaces, to our families and to our coffee shops to boldly proclaim the good news that Christ was sent to make possible for us.
Learners
What does it mean to be a learner? Does it mean getting a certain degree? Is it something for pastors, professors and theologians? We are called to be disciples of Christ and make disciples of Christ in identity, confession and hope. We follow Jesus, hold fast to Him and point others toward Him.
Service
Hebrews tell us to provoke each other to good works. Why? We serve others because Christ served us. We must serve others because the Law says to, but we, in our sinfulness cannot. Thus, Christ served us perfectly on the cross and now we should serve because we have been served and we serve to point people back to Jesus. But what does it say about us if we have no desire to serve at all?