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Dear Friends in Christ, It's good to be home! We appreciated our time apart. I heard good things about those who preached while we were gone. Many thanks to Laura Brantley, Lane Davis, Allison Fasig, Brian Hicks and Jeff Wilson! And all of our musicians and worship leaders. While away, I spent a great deal of time in Matthew's Gospel. The last 2 years we've studied the Gospels of Luke and John. This year, we're going to concentrate on Matthew's narrative. In particular, we will begin this weekend with a 7-week series on the Sermon on the Mount. You find it in Matthew 5-7. It contains a compilation of the teaching of Jesus, the heart of his teaching. I invite you to read the sermon as a whole in preparation for this season. The Gospel of Matthew is often referred to as the teaching Gospel. His narrative is divided into 5 sections reminding us of the Torah, the first 5 books in the Old Testament. The Son of God is portrayed first and foremost by Matthew as a teacher. Like Moses, Jesus went up to a mountain (after 40 days in the wilderness) and sat down and taught the people. In Matthew, the mountain is the sign of revelation. Jesus sits down to teach them. This was the posture of a teacher in the synagogue. The people stood up for the reading of Scripture. They sat down for the rabbi's instruction. After his death and resurrection, Jesus commissioned his followers to go into all the world baptizing and teaching obedience to His instruction. Our mission as a church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Our strategy is to Connect people to
Christ and community, Prepare people to walk with Jesus, and to Send folk into the world to be His witnesses. This year we will be emphasizing the Prepare part of our strategy. Have you noticed how much of life involves preparation? Students and teachers know this. Athletes know this. Chefs, coaches, lawyers, doctors, nurses, conductors and musical directors get this. Disciples also know this. Discipleship requires discipline, training, study, practice, accountability, conditioning and obedience. The theme of our fall series will be "Living Inside-Out," which I think appropriately describes the sermon. Jesus is not only concerned about external behavior. He's concerned about internal motivation. Jesus knew that if he could change the heart, he could change life. I had no idea when planning this series that the new Disney Pixar movie was also called "Inside-Out." I thought I ought to see it. It's a story about a family who moves from one state to another. Their 11year-old daughter named Riley, struggles with the move. The story enables us to see inside her heart and mind. Her feelings and emotions are personified as characters: Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger and Disgust are all embodied. The audience is given a front-row seat into the heart and mind of a child. Her struggle is from the inside - out. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gets at the heart of our struggles. He addresses our brokenness from the inside - out. He deals with our motives, not just our behavior. He addresses our issues of anger, hostility, shame, lust, deceitfulness, vengeance and pride, to name a few. Jesus aims to change us from the inside - out. This was his problem with the Scribes and Pharisees. They cleaned the outside of the cup, but the inside was dirty and stained. My prayer during this season of preparation is that each of us will dedicate ourselves anew to the teaching of Jesus; perhaps to a small group or a class, and to worship. May we submit ourselves to be instructed and prepared by God that we may live the life of Christ, from the inside - out! Finally, it was good to welcome new members Justin Godown, Justin, Jenny and Ethan Druckenmiller and Amy and Georgia Rich to our Brentwood campus. Welcome to our church community.
I look forward to seeing you in worship this weekend. The peace of Christ be with you! Davis