The social location of the church is now on the margins

Bottom Line

God does His best ministry from the margins.

#GOAL 1

God wants His people to have undivided hearts towards Him

Psalm 86:11

Teach me your way, LORD, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.

Ezekiel 11:19-20

I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God. 

An undivided heart toward God leads to a heart for others

Jeremiah 29:4-7

This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”

1 Peter 2:11-12

Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

The early church lived like Jesus and it turned the world upside down

The early church did not try to get power over the culture to change the culture. They lived subversively within the culture by following the way of Jesus.

Mark 10:42-45

Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

"Whenever we catch the church trying to win, we have already lost."
‍— Andy Stanley

Action Steps:

• What is the condition of your heart right now toward God?
• What kind of power are you trusting will bring about kingdom fruit?
• What opportunities do we have to be a contrast community within our culture by living like Jesus?