LABC Update – Wednesday, June 28, 2023

Family,

In last Sunday’s sermon I tried to make the point the being a disciple of  Jesus, while life-giving, is very hard. Yesterday I read a Christianity Today article titled “What Does It Profit a Christian To Protect an Institution But Lose Their Soul” by Russell Moore that made a similar point. An excerpt –

The late pastor Eugene Peterson, in a letter to his son, also a pastor, wrote that the primary problem for the Christian leader is to take responsibility not just for the ends but also for the “ways and means” by which we guide people to pursue those ends. “The devil’s three temptations of Jesus all had to do with ways and means,” he wrote. “Every one of the devil’s goals was excellent. The devil had an unsurpassed vision statement. But the ways and means were incompatible with the ends.”

As Peterson put it, the discipleship that Jesus calls us to is one “both personally and corporately conducted in which the insides and outsides are continuous. A life in which we are as careful and attentive to the how as to the what.”

This is because, Peterson counseled, “if we are going to live the Jesus life, we simply have to do it the Jesus way—he is, after all, the Way as well as the Truth and Life.” There are no emergency escape clauses from the way of the Cross.

To be a disciple of Jesus is life giving, it is also very hard.

Pastor Jim

Today on LABC Zoom – Pastor Jim leads Bible Study 10:30, LCC Advisory Board 5:30

Online: https://zoom.us/j/8599095914
Dial-in: 1 669 900 9128

Meeting ID: 859 909 5914
Password: 192833

Contribute

Your ongoing support of the ministry of our church is greatly appreciated. We are checking the mail so feel free to mail your check or to contribute online.