28 Jan The Rescue & Gospel Community
I recently watched a documentary called The Rescue, which chronicles the amazing story of 12 boys trapped in a flooded cave in Thailand for 18 days. I remember when that happened in 2018, but I had no idea what all went into rescuing those kids.
The Thai Navy Seals were involved. The U.S. Army was involved. Australian military forces were involved. Literally, hundreds of people were in and out of that cave over the course of three weeks trying to figure out a way to save those boys.
What ultimately led to the boys’ rescue was a group of men who had no military training at all. It was a quirky and peculiar community of men with different careers, from different backgrounds and different parts of the world who even spoke different languages, but who all knew one another because they had one very important thing in common–the dangerous hobby of cave diving.
In the end, it was this community of cave divers, a group with a shared experience, a common mission, and an agreed-upon commitment, who delivered all 12 of those boys back to their overjoyed mamas amidst the celebration of the entire watching world.
In Acts 2 we see a similar story emerge as a group of people with a shared experience, a common mission, and an agreed-upon commitment come together for a completely different kind of rescue plan.
“And all who believed [in Jesus] were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.” – Acts 2:44-47 ESV
A community of men and women, through surrendering their lives to Jesus as Lord and Savior, experienced the transformational power of the Holy Spirit and committed to loving God and one another with a sacrificial kind of love. That commitment created a shockwave that would not only impact hundreds of thousands of people and generations to come, it completely transformed the most powerful empire in the world at that time.
That is the power of a community committed to love.
God’s design from the beginning was for humanity to be that kind of force in the world. But humans have rebelled against that design and have been committed to their own glory instead. The result? We live in a broken world full of broken people, all looking to find significance and value in an attempt to prove we are worthy of respect.
This is why Jesus came. Jesus’ loving commitment to us was so that we could be reconciled back to our loving commitment to Him and to one another, not just that we can go to heaven when we die, but that Heaven might return to Earth through the way we live. But to accomplish that mission requires commitment. It requires a community of people who are willing to put the needs of others above themselves, who are willing to love one another even when it is most difficult and least deserved. It’s what we at Mosaic like to call Gospel Community.
Gospel Community is what our membership process is all about. Through our Membership Class, Foundations Course, and Membership Interview, our aim is to provide you with as much information as possible regarding who we are as a Gospel Community so you can prayerfully consider whether or not Mosaic is the church where God has called you to commit.
It is one thing to be interested in Jesus and curious about a church. There is a time and a place for those things. But a group of people who are merely interested and curious can never accomplish the Gospel mission God is calling us to. No, the heart of the Gospel is Jesus’ commitment to us, and to impact the world around us with this Gospel, requires our commitment to Him and to one another as well.
If you feel like God might be calling you to be part of what He is doing both in and through Mosaic Church, then I want to invite you to prayerfully consider that commitment. Attending these classes will help you better understand our mission, values, theology, and discipleship process so you can better understand what it is you are stepping into if you decide to become a member. Our next Membership Class is this coming Sunday. I hope to see you there.Sincerely,
Brett MillicanPastor of Discipleship