Core Values: Maintaining Balance
Values:
We desire to be a church that pursues God's presence.
We desire to be a church that pursues a life of holiness.
We desire to be a church that prioritizes spiritual growth.
Luke 10:38-42 (NKJV) Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” 41 And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. 42 But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”
Spiritual hierarchy: “Martha was unspiritual because she worked, and Mary was spiritual because she sat.”
“I never said Martha chose the WRONG thing.”
Luke 10:39 (NKJV) And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word.
Luke 10:40 (NKJV) But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?”
It’s about sitting AND serving.
Core Value #4: We desire to be a church that maintains spiritual balance.
Opposing, yet equal truths:
grace and truth
faith and works
mercy and justice
unity and diversity
giving and receiving
victory and suffering
protection and persecution
rejoicing and mourning
authority and submission
confidence and humility
waiting and moving
love for God and fear of God
wise as a serpent and innocent as a dove
freedom from bondage and slave to righteousness
God’s sovereignty and free will
Word and Spirit
structure and spontaneity
army of God and family of God
individual calling and corporate calling
now and not yet
belonging and becoming
Biblical tension: there are truths in the Bible that can sometimes appear to pull in opposite directions—yet both are true, equally important, and necessary if we’re going to live a spiritually healthy and balanced life.
1 Peter 5:8 (AMPC) Be well balanced (temperate, sober of mind), be vigilant and cautious at all times; for that enemy of yours, the devil, roams around like a lion roaring [in fierce hunger], seeking someone to seize upon and devour.
GRACE and TRUTH
Ephesians 2:8-9 (NIV) For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
John 8:31-32 (NIV) If you hold to My teaching, you are really My disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
What happens when we embrace one side while minimizing the other?
Romans 6:1-3 (NLT) Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of His wonderful grace? 2 Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? 3 Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined Him in His death?
John 1:14, 17 (NIV) The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. …17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
The devil doesn’t always have to convince us to reject the truth. Sometimes all he has to do is convince us to embrace only half of it.
Spiritual maturity isn’t simply learning how to embrace the truths of Scripture that we like, understand, or naturally lean toward. Spiritual maturity is learning HOW to embrace the whole counsel of God’s Word.
WORD and SPIRIT
“I cannot think of anything that would honor God more or threaten Satan more than the Word and the Spirit coming together, as was demonstrated in the Book of Acts.”
—R.T. Kendall
Matthew 22:29 (NKJV) Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken [in error, being deceived] not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.”
“All Word you dry up. All Spirit you blow up. With both, you grow up.”
—Jim Cymbala