The shared life.

[Amos_with_goats]

A family. I find that the church is never as close as even unregenerate family in the flesh.

Jesus said HIS mother, brothe,r and sisters ...are those who do the will of God.

We are NOT like our Master in this at all.

It can be a problem.

Life is busy, and people can struggle to be connected.

Facespace, interweb, ewitter, and lots of other things fill in for a relationship.

Relationships do take effort... and probably do suffer for the modern 'business'.

I am thankful that most of the fellowship that i have with brothers and sisters in the body takes place outside of the few hours 'scripted' into the schedule each week.

My family is in the body... I believe that it should be this way.

[ProDeo]

Amen Dani! You have just spoken the Gospel.

Second that.

Should be framed in gold.

[david]

I'd like to say one thing about this topic, and that is love one another.

"By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. John 13:35 "

[david]

There's no "losing all" to gain Christ. That's nowhere in the Bible.

Per Scripture, there's giving willingly and counting it all loss because we realize how awesome Jesus is, and so we gladly and in free will as an offering of gratitude give back. Jesus isn't going to twist our arms and pry anything from our clenched fists.

I know this because I already gave all in reality. Whatever He asks, it's His. Because I LOVE HIM, and I WANT to do it. Because He FIRST LOVED ME.

We're not victims, we're conquerors. Jesus is no victim. He didn't lose His life; He willingly laid it down. What's there to do in response, once we realize how awesome a salvation we've been given, but to give it all back?

Actually the Bible says you must renounce all you have to be Jesus' disciple in Luke 14:33. It also means to lose your old self. The old self is the dead self that was crucified with Jesus (Romans 6:6) that contains nothing good in it, because no faith is in it. Whatever that does not proceed from faith is sin (Romans 14:23). We have put off the old self with its practices (Colossians 3:9) that were not in faith but in our old selves. Paul counted all things done in the old self loss because nothing he did in it was in faith.

[Silvermist]

Go girl! May we all realize this every day and grow closer together.

It's not about doing.

It's about redemption and salvation by grace, by getting something we cannot possibly earn, ever, no matter what we do.

Redemption is about buying something back. Redeem literally means "to buy back". That means you pay for something what it's worth. If you redeem a coupon, then whatever monitary value is stamped on that coupon, is what you get.

How much is your life worth, episkopos? How much is my life worth?

To God, it's worth the death of Jesus, His Son, equal with Him, part of the Godhead.

You and I, we're worth God's own life. Not because we earned it. But because God Himself has declared it to be so, because of the fact that He Himself created us, in His own image.

Sin devalues us. Sin creeps in and all of a sudden, we see ourselves and other people as far less than how God sees us. That's why murder is so heinous, because it reduces the value of human life to zero.

The Gospel is good news, episkopos, not bad news or hard news!

It's God telling us what we're worth to Him, what He paid for us, and to call us back to our true state of fellowship and oneness with Him, to our rightful place. It redeems us from sin's curse and all those things that stand in the way of us and God.

We want to somehow earn it, but love is freely given, or it's not love but some cheap copy that is ... nothing, honestly, no matter what we want to call it. Love, real love, God's love toward another person happens when we realize their true worth before God, and so then that's what they must also be worth to us, and so then that is how we treat them, no matter what nationality or age or creed or belief or whatever their background. We're all, every one of us, of equal value to God, worth the life of Jesus Himself.

If you don't know that, then I invite you today, to know and understand and realize it. You are worth everything to God. You are worth His own life!

So then, my most valuable possession that I can possibly offer to the Lord, is me. That's it. Not my money. Not my house or my bank account or anything material I have because that's all temporary. Just me. That's all He wants. That's who He died for. While I was still a sinner and didn't care anything for Him and treated other people badly because I didn't realize their worth, nor my own.

What will a man give in exchange for his soul, episkopos?

Nothing. You can't. There's nothing that exists apart from you that's of any sort of value to God.

Once we realize that, and once we receive our salvation and accept it, then the works happen because we love God back.

What works?

To treat others the way God treats us. To love them like He loves us. To see their value like He sees it. That's the true test. Because fire burns dross and the things of no value, so that when the test is over, what remains, are things of eternal value. That's the point of testing. So that what can be shaken, is shaken, and so that what is dead and lifeless and useless, gets removed. When the dross is burned off, what you're left with, is the refined gold.

Understanding this, is worth losing everything over. To be reduced to nothing, where it's just you and Jesus, that's when you realize He's worth everything, and you're worth everything to Him. That's when you realize what your true life is made of, and that it's in Him, springs from Him, is there because of Him, empowered by Him, and that as long as you have Jesus, you have everything. Then you go share Him with others, which should be a joyful thing, a happy thing, because you're sharing the most valued possession you have. And because you're adopted as a son, now you have brothers and sisters who have the same thing you do, and you come together over that and celebrate it and encourage each other in it and worship God together. That's what communion is all about. Because our life was bought with His own life blood and our healing was purchased with His broken body, and so we commemorate that until He comes back and continuously remind ourselves of these truths because from them, everything else springs. Together, in this eternal covenant with our God and with one another, that's the true shared life.

That's the Gospel, and that's what makes it good news.