God Has a Place For You

God Loves You  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented
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Wecontinue on this week with our sermon series “God Loves You.” Our focus has been on ways that God shows his love to us individually and as a church.
We began focusing on the unearned, undeserved grace that God gives each of us and how we are or can be saved by that grace. Last week we looked at how God gives us spiritual gifts to serve him and those around us.
This week we discover that God has given us a place for each one of us to show our love to him and to be loved by those around us. Our scripture comes from 1 Corinthians 12:12-27.
12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, soit is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were allgiven the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15 Nowif the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,”it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 16 Andif the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,”it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the wholebody were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But infact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wantedthem to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to thefeet, “I don’t need you!” 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. 27 Nowyou are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
Please pray with me…
The church is a place that was created for each person to love and to be loved. It is the place that God gathers his people together to worship him and prepare to go out and serve him. It should be the place that we are all united together under the banner of love.
Our scripture tells us that there is no one above another. All are welcome to be a part of a Christian community All are welcome to be at a place that will help you be grow into the person God wants you to be.
A place where you can develop your faith through spending time studying the scriptures with those around you. A place where we can go out into our communities together and serve those that need us and that need God.
(Transition)
I will be the first to admit that this is not always the case. For some churches are a place where they have been mistreated, and in some cases even abused. It is a place that they would prefer to stay away from instead of desiring to be a part of.
The one who often gets the blame for this is God. This is God’s house and therefore it must be God that allowed the mistreatment to happen. God has failed me, and I cannot be a part of a group that believes in that God.
If this is something that you have been through, what I want to say to you today first and foremost is “I’m sorry.” I am sorry that this happened to you. But I also want you to know that God did not do this to you. God loves you. God desires to be in a relationship with you. God wants you to find a church that can be a place for you.
We, of course, would love for you to feel safe here at Church of the Good Shepherd. But if not here, we are glad that you are worshipping with us today and hope that you will find that place for you.
(Transition)
Last week we spoke of how we each have unique gifts that we offer to God, the church, and our communities. We went on to point out that no one gift was better than another. Paul continues with this theme today.
He uses the body as an example of how we should look at the church. Unique people with unique gifts working together to serve God and our communities. He offers us comparisons between the foot and the hand, the ear and the eye.
Paul speaks of how each of these parts of the body areinstrumental to the body just as each individual person is instrumental to the body of Christ, to the church. If the church is diverse no other way, a church should be diverse in the gifts it offers to God and our communities.
(Transition)
The word that we call church is the word ecclesia in Greek which is the original language of the New Testament. This word seems to have an understanding of two meanings. Both of these meanings are able to help us understand what it means for the church to be a place for all people.
The first meaning deals with us being “called out ones.” This would mean that a church is a group of people called out by God for a specific purpose. The second meaning that is used for this word is assembly. This would lead us to see the church as a group of people gathered together for the purpose of worshipping and serving God.
These two meanings give us a specific understanding of why the church is a place for all people. It is a place that can be used as a staging area for those that believe in Jesus to go out and show the love of Jesus to those around them.
We have already received the message from Jesus that we are to not make the building the final destination. That is why I use the word “staging area.” It is the time spent in the building that should unite us together in mission on how we are called to go out and fulfill the great commission given to the disciples by Jesus.
The mission for the disciples were for them to go out and spread the message of Jesus as their Lord and Savior to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Jesus is telling them and also us to not leave anyone out. We are called to Love All People.
One way we love all people is by letting all people know about the saving grace of God. We are to make sure everyone that God places before us is aware that Jesus came to forgive the sins of humanity.
We are to let the world know that God has a place for each one of us in which a person can receive hope, love, joy, and peace.
(Transition)
But we also receive the understanding of the church being a place where all people can assemble together to be a part of the worship and ministry of God. This definition should inform us that we don’t just leave those we talk to about Jesus where they were.
We should lead them towards a Christian community where they will be able to receive a greater understanding of who God desires for them to be to him, a child of God saved by grace. A greater understanding of what it means to follow Jesus.
The church should be a place where people get to hear about God but also where they can be heard about their struggles without any condemnation. A place where all people should be accepted. Where they are on their journey with Jesus and where they are in their personal struggles.All People are people who are loved by God.
It would than become our hope and I would expect God’s hope, that they would desire to become the “called out ones.” We can help those that are new to the faith or the church figure out how they are to go out into their communities to help spread the word to others about their Lord and Savior.
(Transition)
This is how the church has grown from generation to generation. Believers in Jesus, being willing to tell others about Jesus, and then those new followers of Jesus telling their friends and family about Jesus.
We help God create a growing church through our willingness to be the sent-out ones and our desire to let those around us know what God also wants to do through them.
As I like to say, we become the hands,feet, and voice of Jesus to the world around us.
Just as our scripture leads us into a greater understanding of the church as a place for all people, our first reading shows us what it means to be a part of the church.
The role that the church played in the lives of the early followers and the role that it should play in the lives of the followers of Jesus today.
(Transition)
It shows us that the church is a place where all people can worship, learn, pray, fellowship, and serve together. We do not have to be alone in this world. There is a place where a person can be known without fear of being made fun of or mistreated.
We are said to be in a loneliness epidemic. Meaning that we have more ways to connect with each other, but we don’t know how to build relationships with each other.
The church can be a place that can allow those around us to discover what it means to be known and to be seen.
The church should be a messy place. A place where we might not agree on the things of the world but a place where we choose to focus on what we do agree on. We have a Lord and Savior that loves us and desires for us to share that love with those around us.
(Transition)
Our church is a place where all people can worship God. We are blessed to live in a country where there is nothing preventing us from worshipping together both in-person and through our You Tube worship Experience.
We can hear the same message and to be able to praise God together. You don’t have to know for sure how you feel about God to be with us in worship.
We want you to be comfortable. We want to give you the time and space to figure out your own personal relationship with God. We want this to be a safe place for you to decide what you believe and why you believe it.
(Transition)
Our church is a place where we are able to learn together. The saying two heads are better than one comes to mind when I think about people in the church learning about God together.
None of us have all the answers. When we are spending time in Bible studies and just in conversation with each other we are often able to receive greater insights into what God is trying to say to us.
(Transition)
Our church is a place where we can pray together. Prayer is how we connect with God individually, but we also can connect with God together.
It is through praying for God to intervene into the lives we serve and ask God the ways the church can best serve him can unite us together in serving God the way he wants served not only individually but also as a church.
 Only God has all the answers. The best way for a church to receive the answer on what God wants the church to do is to ask him. Ask God to guide us as a church in the direction He desires for us to go.
(Transition)
Our church is a place where we can fellowship together. Before and after church and in groups that meet, we can fellowship with each other. It is in fellowship that we get to know a person and the struggles they may be facing.
What can often happen is that a person faces an issue that you can help them address. You get to help those willing to share be free from what is hurting them.
God through you can lead a person into no longer having the guilt, shame, and pain that they may be facing.
(Transition)
Our church is a place where we can serve together. We are called to help out and support our neighbor. It is nice to do this individually, but it can be a greater blessing to serve with others. Serving together allows each of us to use our gifts to serve God and those around us.
We need to discover ways that we can be together serving those around us. A church that serves together shows the love of God to others. This will often lead those around us to desire to get to know God and may lead them to decide to worship with us.
(Transition)
We need to make sure that we are making a conscience decision as a church that we want to be a place where this scripture is lived out. A place where people can go to and worship, learn, pray, fellowship, and serve together.
It is when we head back to focusing on our main scripture that we are reminded that we are to be there for each other.
Our scripture ends by saying that we should have “no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. 27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.”
(Transition)
Being the church, being a place where all people can feel welcome, is how we live out our mission statement. We are willing to connect with God and with those around us. We want to be in relationships with others so that we can show all people the love that God has for them.
We show love to all people through a willingness to being a welcoming place. There is no one that should believe they aren’t good enough to be here. There is no one that should feel as if they are not worthy. We have a God that loves all people. He desires for all people to be in a relationship with him.
(Transition)
We should grow in faith together. That includes helping each other in times of need. When some are suffering, we should all be feeling their pain. We should all sense that they are in need of each of us to let them know that they are not suffering alone.
When life is going well, we should be there to congratulate them and allow them to know that we are glad that they are a part of who we are as the body of Christ and we are happy for their success.
We should be a place where the good, the bad, and the ugly of life can be shared without fear. A place that all people can be welcomed by each individual and by God.
A place where we grow in faith together as we show the love of God to all people allowing every person to know that God has a place for them.
Let us pray…
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