August 30 -

Announcements:

PRE-SERVICE

welcome!

The bathrooms are open - that’s the only part of the building that’s open. Please use the hand sanitizer going in and out of the building.

Please stay with your vehicles unless you have to use the bathroom.

Call to prayer for students - September 2nd & 3rd

Many students will be returning to school in the building on these days. Many others may be choosing to stay home for various reasons. We need to take time and pray for these students going into this time. We’re asking everybody to take some time on either of these days to pray for the students.

Pray for their health, but also pray for their fears and anxieties. Pray for the teachers and their families, and the extra stress this is going to cause. Pray for God to give our leadership wisdom and guidance to continue making the best choices to keep people safe.

Sunday September 6th is BYOC - Bring Your Own Communion

The health unit is encouraging us to eliminate as many possible reasons to hand stuff to people as possible. That makes communion a little difficult to do normally!

So we are going to do communion September 6th, but it is going to be a Bring Your Own Communion service. So, whatever you want to bring to take communion with us - you can bring a juicebox and some crackers, or a water bottle and a snack. But bring something to eat, and something to drink. And we’re going to take communion.

Because the important part isn’t in us handing you the elements, or even in the elements all being exactly the same. Communion to Christ was a shared meal, a shared experience. And we can still easily do that.

Kids Ministry in September

THe health unit is asking us to not hold a separate kids ministry program. But we’re committed to still ministering to children really well.

Two changes - one, messages will be adapted a bit and two, we will be doing a kids ministry video chat.

If you want to sign your kids up, visit parklandchurch.ca/kidsmin

August 30 - the Mirror of Jesus

KIDS BEGINNING:

1 Samuel 16:6-13

1 Samuel 16:6–13 NIV

When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.” But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.” Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but Samuel said, “Nor has the Lord chosen this one.” Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, “The Lord has not chosen these.” So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?” “There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered. “He is tending the sheep.” Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.” So he sent for him and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features. Then the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.” So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David. Samuel then went to Ramah.

So here’s the BIG IDEA I want you to take home this week. It’s, ‘GOD KNOWS WHO I AM’. Say it with me.

David was young - he was the youngest, and his family thought so little of him, they didn’t even invite him. How do you think it feels to be little like that?

But God knew who David was. And God knows who you are. He knows what you can do better than you do.

So I have an activity for you to do - I want you to draw something. If you don’t have anything to draw with, think about the list in your head. But here’s your activity. Think of the phrase, ‘I AM (and then put your name) AND I AM’ and I want you to think of as many words as you can to end that sentence. Write them down or draw them out.

You could say, ‘I AM JON AND I AM FUNNY’ or ‘I AM JON AND I AM GOOD AT COMPUTERS’. Maybe you are little, but you’re fast. Or you’re good at reading. Whatever it is- come up with as many of those as you can.

And have fun decorating the page while you’re at it!

I’m going to continue with the rest of the message, but at some point kids, I’m going to have some questions for you too!

1 John 2:3-6

1 John 2:3–6 NIV

We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.

Some translations say ‘Walk as Jesus walked’

This IS saying that we need to obey God - but it’s qualifying that. It’s saying, we are in God if we take seriously the command from God that we are to live like Jesus did.

And John here says later, ‘this is something we know. It’s obvious that you can’t say you’re with God if you won’t obey him. This is an old command, we’ve had this one since the beginning.” BUT - he follows it up with by saying, ‘I have a new command for you here’. He says basically that if you say you’re living like Jesus, if you say you’re living in the light, but you hate a brother or sister - you’re still in the darkness. There was no space in this verse for John for someone to say they were living like Jesus, and mean something other than a life lived by love for others. John even goes so far as to say,

1 John 2:10

1 John 2:10 NIV

Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble.

Could you imagine that. That our commitment to be like Jesus and to love others like He did could be so powerful that we could literally claim, ‘there’s nothing in me that will make me stumble in my faith’.

But the key here is, that we must live like Jesus lived. There’s many ways that we don’t know the answers. There’s many areas that we don’t know the right path. There’s many ways for us to not do things perfectly. And God knows that.

Sidebar. the bible teaches that god REALLY gave the law, the list of do’s and do-not’s, to show people everywhere that we weren’t good enough to make it to God on a list of do’s and do-not’s.

And knowing that, it makes SO MUCH sense that God’s design for us in Christ is not a list of do’s and do-not’s - it’s an example life, an example person. It’s not, ‘make sure you do this and not this and definitely this’. It’s, ‘Look at Christ, try and be like him, and try and do what he does’. Follow the example Christ sets.

The bible has this theme everywhere.

Ephesians 5:1-2

Ephesians 5:1–2 NIV

Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

following God’s example here means ‘walking in the way of Love’, just as Christ did for us

Here’s a way of understanding this I think will help.

God sent us an example - not an expectation. He showed us a life, not a list.

KIDS TIME!

I want some feedback here.

QUESTION 1 - WHAT ARE SOME OF THE RULES YOU HAVE AROUND YOUR HOUSE THAT ARE HARD, OR LAME, OR JUST NOT FUN?

The rules may not be fun, or easy -but your parents DO have a good reason for the rules. They want you to become a better kind of person.

QUESTION 2 - NAME SOMEONE THAT YOU WOULD REALLY WANT TO BE LIKE. IT COULD BE A REAL PERSON, OR A CHARACTER IN A MOVIE, OR SHOW. WHATEVER. WHY DO YOU WANT TO BE LIKE THAT PERSON?

Now, those people you want to be like - you would have to change a bit to be like them, right?

How many times have you really wanted to be like someone you hated? None, right? We want to be like people we think are cool, or people we love.

Jesus really wants us to have a great relationship with Him. And he wants us to be like Him because He’s perfect, and if we are like Him then we would become the best kind of person that exists. BUT He knows that trying to make us have a great relationship with rules isn’t a good way. But he still knows that we need to change parts of us to be more like Him.

So he asks us - I want you to try and be like me. Now, Jesus isn’t a super hero where he flies everywhere and punches bad guys - but he DOES love everyone around him, and he saves people all the time from really bad things. Jesus is a great person to be like - he’s the best possible person we could ever be like.

QUESTION 3- WHAT DO YOU THINK WE SHOULD DO TO BE MORE LIKE JESUS? If Jesus says to us, ‘I want you to do the kinds of things I did!’, what do you think you could do to try and do that more?

Now here’s a secret. Nobody said, ‘make sure you don’t break a long list of rules’. Right? BUT - if we try to do stuff that Jesus did, and we try to do it like Jesus did, and we try to learn more of the things Jesus did - do you think we’ll do the right things or the wrong things?

The right things! Exactly. And this is the big secret about having a relationship with God - he WANTS us to do the right thing, but he wants to talk to us every single day and show us each day how to make better choices and do better things.

BACK TO ADULTS

So, God’s new way of dealing with us through the cross is by Him pointing to His son Jesus, and saying ‘Be more like Him’. God isn’t holding a bar of rules against us. He doesn’t hold out a list of sins and say ‘if you tick too many of these, you’re out’.

And this might sound like we’re saying, ‘God doesn’t care what you do! Go be as crazy and bad as you want!’ But the truth is, God still has a standard for us. And he still has a method for us to follow.

the standard is the image of his perfect son Jesus. And the method is daily becoming more and more like His son.

But Rather than sit back and expect us to turn ourselves into the kind of people that deserve to be with Him, he walks with us every single day to help us become more like the only person in all of eternity who actually DOES deserve to be with Him.

This is the absolute end goal of our faith. It’s not to get together once a week and have an experience that feels awesome. It’s not to build a structure somewhere that meets all of our needs. Those are all great things, and they come out of the end goal of our faith. But the end goal, the target that God continually points us towards, is that we become more like Jesus, through the power and the grace of God.

And I think that this is the biggest, biggest way that a church can lose it’s first love. When we commit to any other goal than mirroring Jesus, both to each other and to the rest of the world.

And here’s my last point, and this one is a bit of a doozy.

Mirroring Jesus means mirroring Jesus.

I know, I know, that’s a shocker. But here’s my point. At no point did i say, ‘God only wants your actions and intentions to be like Jesus - your experiences don’t have to be the same’. Because Jesus had a hard life. He was persecuted. Many people loved Him, and many people hated Him. At no point in Jesus’ ministry could you argue that He was in this for His own comfort. The cross was uncomfortable for Him, I bet.

Jesus hung out with colorful people. He talked to whoever would listen about God, and loved on whoever wouldn’t listen anyways. He took care of people’s needs way above and beyond His own.

When we follow Jesus, God’s not moving us towards a couch. He’s moving us towards a cross. And the greatest expression we can offer up to God of our love for Him is by agreeing to go. Agreeing to die to ourselves, to live for God’s plan to reach the rest of the world.

And don’t take my word for it. Listen to Jesus

John 15:12-13

John 15:12–13 NIV

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

Jesus is saying, the greatest love you can have is the love that causes you to lay your life down for the people around you.

So lets, as a church, commit to being the church that loves Jesus. And we know, that the greatest way to show that love is by laying our lives down for God in service to the people around us. And I believe, if we do that every day, we’ll keep on the path of loving Jesus with everything more and more.

Let’s pray.