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How We Can Grow As ‘Grace Together’

During last week's church camp, we reflected as a church what it means to be ‘Grace Together’ and how we can together live this out. Pastor Oliver shares more.

The book of Lamentations records the heart-cries and expressions of the grief of the prophet Jeremiah as he witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem. In Lamentations 3:40, the weeping prophet Jeremiah writes:  

“Let us test and examine our ways,
and return to the LORD!” 
 

In the preceding verses, he recognised God’s right to judge Jerusalem for their sins and acknowledged that as sinners, they have no right to complain about their punishment. And then in this verse, he called on the people to “test and examine our ways” and to “return to the LORD!” This verse exhorted the people to self-examination and repentance. They are to examine their ways thoroughly: this involved searching, testing and careful review of their thoughts, words and deeds. They were to acknowledge their sins, repent, return and reconnect with God. The people of Jerusalem were to be honest about their personal and national failures and return to the God of steadfast love and mercy. This verse emphasised the need for self-examination, both personally and corporately as a body, and the need for repentance and returning to God.  

At this past church camp, some people I spoke to said that they had looked forward to the church camp as an opportunity to slow down, reflect and take stock of where they are in their life with God. I trust that there was ample time for many of us at camp to do just that. Besides, we had the opportunity to reflect as a church what it means to be ‘Grace Together’ and how we can together live this out.

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Through the prayerful participation of those present at camp on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, God led us to three big ideas: we need to strengthen our unity as a church, we need to grow one another in Christlikeness intentionally, and we need to reach out to the community with the gospel and love of Christ. Pastor Ian then led us in examining our hearts and reflecting on our personal responsibility in growing as ‘Grace Together’ through a series of reflection questions. The questions are given below for our self-examination.  

1. We need to strengthen our unity as a church.

  • How have I contributed to disunity?
  • How can I use my words to speak life to others?
  • How can I move away from my preferred groups and build deeper relationships with the whole body of Christ?
  • What need in the church is God calling me to meet?

 2. We need to intentionally grow one another in Christlikeness.

  • How do I practically show Christlike affection?
  • What needs to change in my CG/ministry?
  • Who is God calling me to come alongside to help grow?
  • How can I plug into the community at GBC?

 3. We need to reach out to the community with the gospel and love of Christ.

  • How can I be more hospitable to ‘outsiders’?
  • How can I display Christ’s love to others?
  • What ‘outward-facing’ ministry do I need to consider prayerfully?

In the verses that follow Lamentations 3:40, Jeremiah trusted that God will take up His people’s cause and redeem them (see 3:58). If the people would test and examine their ways and return to God, God will forgive. In the new testament, Christ work on the cross guarantees that our sins and trespasses will be forgiven if we but repent, return and trust in God’s provision of Jesus Christ for our sins. 1 John 1:9 tells us, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” So GBC, let us test and examine our ways and return to the LORD! And pray that as a church body we will strengthen our unity as a church, grow one another in Christlikeness intentionally, and reach out to the community with the gospel and love of Christ. 

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Our Elder-led Prayer Meeting will be held on Friday, June 28 at 8pm in rooms 516-519 (Level 5, GBC). Pray for God to make our hearts tender towards Him and towards others as we gather to pray as ‘Grace Together’.  

This week’s sermon will be on the Biblical Theology of Marriage. The key scripture text will be Ephesians 4:32. Pray for God’s Spirit to prepare our hearts as we ready ourselves to hear from God’s Word this Sunday.