“Welcome one another just as Christ has welcomed you."
Not tolerate. Not agree, but patient, forgiving, and proactive.
And you can only give what you've already received. Christ welcomed you first.
Now go and do likewise.
This is the sermon our former Sr. Pastor, Kevin Germer charges and challenges Jeremy and the Christ Pres family to do.
You will want to take notes for this sermon!
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
The welcome Paul calls us to is not tolerance or agreement. Instead it is active reception, making room, drawing one another in.
Genuine welcome is expressed through patience, forgiveness, and proactive generosity toward others.
The welcome we are called to extend is grounded in and made possible by the welcome we have already received from Christ.
When a community welcomes one another this way, something true about God becomes visible to the watching world.
THE CHARGE:
Welcoming One Another Patiently
Patience is a posture that gives space and time for love to do its good work. Where in your relationships, whether at church, at home, or at work, do you find it hardest to hold that posture? What tends to make you rush?
Welcoming One Another with Forgiveness
We have many ways of making others pay for the hurt they cause us: a sharp word, cold professionalism, gradual withdrawal, gossip, comparison, suspicion.
Which of these patterns do you recognize most easily in yourself?
Which is hardest to see?
What does it actually look like to absorb the cost of an offense instead of dishing it back out into the body?
Is there a relationship in your life right now where you are being called to do that?
We have many ways of making others pay for the hurt they cause us: a sharp word, cold professionalism, gradual withdrawal, gossip, comparison, suspicion.
Which of these patterns do you recognize most easily in yourself?
Which is hardest to see?
What does it actually look like to absorb the cost of an offense instead of dishing it back out into the body?
Is there a relationship in your life right now where you are being called to do that?
Welcoming One Another as a Gift
It is easy to receive someone externally while keeping them at arm’s length.
Have you ever been in that position, present but not truly open?
What would it take to move from a surface-level welcome to genuine openness?
Jesus’ welcome is proactive. No one in the room found Jesus; he found them.
How does that shape the way you think about moving toward others rather than waiting for them to come to you?
The Welcome We Have Received
Every day of your life has been lived inside the patience of God.
Does that feel true to you?
Is it easy or hard to believe that God is not holding your sin against you?
What gets in the way?
Paul says this welcome is for the glory of God: when a community welcomes one another this way, something true about God becomes visible to the world.
What do you think the world sees when it looks at your church?
What do you hope it sees?
“Welcome one another just as Christ has welcomed you." Not tolerate. Not agree, but patient, forgiving, and proactive.
And you can only give what you've already received. Christ welcomed you first. Now go and do likewise.
This is the sermon our former Sr. Pastor of 17 years, Kevin Germer charges and challenges our new pastor Jeremy Skaggs and the Christ Pres family to do.
You will want to take notes for this sermon!