Live resurrection 7
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Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ
God forgave you.
Saints alive
Saint Teresa of Avilla, was travelling on an ox
cart across Europe and the cart hit a bump.
Teresa was flung into the mud. Raising her hand
to heaven she says
'if this is how you treat your friends it's no
wonder you don't have many'
Who are these saints
Paul calls us saints in Ephesians
Saint defines not what we can do for God
but what God does in us and for us.
How was she ever a saint?
Saint Gary of Bramcote Park.
Paul defines saints in his letter to the Ephesians
But how do we become this kind of person
Do we want to become this kind of person
The extent to which we allow God to work in us and for us
now defines who we are.
'if this is how you
treat your friends
it's no wonder you
don't have many'
The Ephesians 4 saints
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Completely humble and gentle; be patient,
bearing with one another in love.
3
Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit
through the bond of peace.
and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
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no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and
there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in
their deceitful scheming.
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put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbour,
(remember, your neighbour is the next person you encounter)
‘In your anger do not sin’[d]
: do not let the sun go down while you are still angry,
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and do not give the devil a foothold.
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Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths,
but only what is helpful for building others up
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Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every
form of malice.
All these things Paul refers to are the work of God in us
Humble, gentle, patient, bearing with one another, keeping the peace, becoming
mature, not tossed around by every wind of teaching, not taken in by craftiness,
putting off falsehood, speaking truthfully not sinning in anger, no unwholesome
talk, rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander and every kind of
malice, being compassionate with one another and forgiving as God forgave us, in
Christ.
All God's work in us as we invite him work.
Paul also shows us how we become these kind of people
And why
HOW
Basically it is taking everything to Christ.
Weaving together the foundations we have studied to live resurrection.
HOW - do we become the saints
Go to Christ to see what he is doing for us and how he is
showing us mercy
rather than reviewing our own successes and failure
Go to Christ in order to respond to him in the issues of our
daily lives,
rather than reacting to the pushy demands of our daily
experiences
Go to Christ with our fractures and wounds picked up in
daily life
through the things done to us and the things we have done
Go to Christ with our hostilities and hurts
when we are treated badly or treat another badly
WHY DO WE BECOME THE SAINTS
Paul says ‘for the praise of his Glory’
As we live this life, that lives, in Christ
so we make visible the invisible Glory of God
The world sees and experiences us living differently
and is challenged by the presence of God in us
The peace of God is only found in Christ
which is where we take our hostilities
and where we become a person of peace
The peace or the presence of God in us makes God’s Glory visible.
We pass the presence of God to the world around us
both passively and actively.
And Christ puts everything back together
SO …. to the extent that we want God in our lives
Romans 8:28
And we know that to those who love God,(who go to Christ)
all things work together for good,
to those who according to his purpose,
are called to be saints.
We inherit this life in abundance that Paul talks about
by becoming the saints
living in Christ, with the presence of God in us and upon us.
AND SO … to the extent that we want it ….
We also make God's invisible Glory, visible, on the earth by
passively and actively passing the presence of God to those we encounter.