How the Church Connects People

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Southeast Christian ChurchSoutheast Christian Church

Feb 17, 2023

Before we can lead others to Jesus, we must first to recognize our own mess. All of us are a mess in our own way, and it's only by God's grace that we are cleaned up and are used by him. You come from a long line of mess makers though, and the truth is that the messiest people are the people who walk around thinking they're not a mess, but the stench of their self-righteous pride fills the room. We must remember that Jesus delights in turning messes into masterpieces; that's what he does. That's what the Gospel is about. That's what grace does for us. Ephesians says that each of us are God's handwork. That word handiwork could be translated as masterpiece. He turns messes into masterpieces, and that's what we want the story of the Church to be.

We see this throughout the book of Acts how the church grows and expands, but it's a little bit messy. This is how our church and communities grow today too. This is how our church expands. But it's a little bit messy. It's how Jesus has loved us. It's how you've been called to love other people, and our ability to do this as a church is really dependent on how each one of us do this personally.

It is only by the grace of Jesus that we are saved, so we want to reflect his mercy, kindness, gentleness, and tenderness towards messy people in our lives and messy people in this world. As Christ followers, we want to be a picture of broken but chosen instruments. Together, we're making music that will draw people into the Kingdom.

Reflection/Discussion Question: What steps might you take today to embrace the messiness of other people?

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