Abounding Grace: Belonging, Sonship of Jesus

This past Sunday I argued that God is meant to be experienced within community. Adam didn’t just need a companion for himself, he needed a companion to experience God with, so Eve was created. Eve doesn’t mediate God’s presence, but she adds to Adam’s experience of God through her perspective, interpretation, and partnership.

When Adam and Eve sinned, the Son was offered to atone for their sin and ours and to bring us back into the family of God. All the goodness of God comes to us now, not directly, but through the mediation of the Son of God. Like light passing through a diamond, all the facets of Gods’ goodness are presented to us through Jesus. We experience all the facets of God’s goodness, not individually, but through the people of God gathered. Paul says that when Jesus ascended, he gave gifts to men, grace individually meted out to members of God’s family, or Jesus’ church (Ephesians 4:7,8). When we gather, we experience through each other, the various facets of Jesus’ mediation of God’s goodness and glory. If we want to experience the greater fullness of God, we need to gather together
 
This week, we’ll consider the goodness and glory of God presented to us through the graces distributed within Jesus’ body. The goodness of God in the church is intended to communicate that we belong, that we are part of God’s family. Join us for worship as we consider the beauty Jesus in the church.