Gateway Church

Recently, Joe has been reminding us of Matthew 9:35-38 “And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.  When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.’” During Lent let’s commit to becoming more like Jesus with a greater compassion for the crowds and pray that he sends workers to the harvest.

This week we were joined by Paul McPheeters from Forestdale Community Church in Malden. He shared from 1 Corinthians 1:18-31. He reminded us that God’s wisdom appears foolish to us.  For example the “word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God”. It is only through the power of the Spirit that we see God’s wisdom – “but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.  For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” 

Paul reminded us that the difference between God’s wisdom and ours was not limited to the cross. God chose Abraham and his barren wife Sarah to be the starting point of His nation of people. He chose David the youngest of son of a shepherd to be a king. And he chose a peasant girl and a carpenter to be the parents of His Son – our Savior. Similary God is still using methods that appear foolish to us to build His Kingdom. So when we feel weak, when we feel small, we should be encouraged – we are in exactly the state that God wants us to be to use us.

Welcome to Gateway Church. We are a group of people from diverse background who meet together in many settings to help each other grow as followers of Jesus.  Our mission is to multiply disciple making communities that develop followers of Christ who love God, love others and seek to save the lost.

Because our lives have been changed by Christ, we seek to create an atmosphere of transformational discipleship. By holding to the promise that “in Christ we are new creations,”  we plan to develop followers of Christ who will make a difference in their families, neighborhoods, cities, at work and to the ends of the earth.

On Sundays we meet at the International School of Boston at 10:30.  Continue reading to see what God is putting on our hearts.

Transformational discipleship means that we seek to become like Jesus. As Jesus was, we are to be. So we pursue growing Christ-likeness. Conformity to Jesus means we seek conformity to his person; his purity; his posture; and his purpose and power.

In the great commission Jesus’ charge to make disciples included going, baptizing and “teaching the disciples to obey everything I commanded.”[1] And Paul describes his expectation that Jesus’ followers will become like Jesus. This process includes God’s initiative, leadership focus and instruction, personal contemplation and the work of the Holy Spirit.

This results in conformity to:

· His Person: Like Jesus, a disciple rests securely in his or her identity as a child of God. As Jesus knew that he was God’s beloved son, a disciple knows that he or she is God’s adopted son or daughter, welcomed into a relationship with the Triune God. Before Jesus was a Savior, he was a Son. So we embrace and seek to own, our identity as adopted sons and daughter of God. This is the necessary foundation for life and mission.

It is also clear from the gospels that Jesus lived in close relationship with both the Father and the Holy Spirit. Beginning at his birth, continuing at his baptism, leading him in the wilderness, empowering him throughout his ministry, present at his death and raising him from the dead, both the Father and the Spirit were always present. While building a community of disciples, Jesus kept seeking solitude and kingdom—withdrawal and engagement. Joined to Christ and imitating this practice of devotion to Father and Spirit is necessary to becoming a high impact Christian. Thus identity, lived out in relationship to Father, Son and Spirit is the bedrock of our discipleship objective.

· His Purity: Like Jesus, a disciple honors God in thought, word and deed. Christ-likeness penetrates every area of our lives. As Jesus was, we are to be, in his character. While it’s too late to replicate his sinless state, those who are joined to Christ will increase in godly thoughts, words and deeds.

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus declares his standards for righteous living expecting that our righteousness will exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees.[2] The “exceeding righteousness” concerns inner thought and attitude and not just outward behavior.

We desire to grow in yielding to the Holy Spirit and walking in His power as we struggle against sin.[3] As we yield to the Holy Spirit, we expect to manifest the fruit of the Spirit by growing in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.[4]

· His Posture: Like Jesus, a disciple serves by voluntarily bowing down to wash the feet of those around him.

When Jesus wanted to show his disciples “the full extent of his love,” he took off his clothes, wrapped himself in a towel and washed their feet.[5] Knowing himself, who he was, where he came from and where he was going led to humble service not self-promotion. He chose a towel, not the not the robes of a king, the armor of a warrior or the garments of a priest.

Jesus said that we would be blessed if we do the same. Our security as sons and daughters of God leads to imitate his posture of bowing down to promote others.

In fact, self-promotion is the antithesis of Christ-likeness. “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”[6]

Our mission must be grounded in this posture.

· His Purpose and Power: Like Jesus, a disciple is empowered by the Holy Spirit for mission to seek and save the lost.

The raising from the dead of the only son of a widow in Nain illustrates how compassion leads to action with power.[7] We do not want to just feel something, we want to do something. We want lives to change.

Jesus’ compassion on the multitudes led him to seek prayer for laborers in the harvest field.[8] We want to be part of the answer to that prayer by becoming laborers in the harvest field. Doing this means work (labor) and confidence—it is a harvest field waiting for laborers moved with compassion to come.

As Jesus was, we are to be! Peter preached “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went about doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.”[9]

As we have been welcomed into a dynamic relationship with Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we seek to participate in this Trinitarian mission to seek and save the lost.

The Spirit rested on Jesus, anointing him “to preach good news to the poor; to proclaim freedom for prisoners; to recover the sight of the blind; to release the oppressed; and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”[10] Likewise, Jesus taught his disciples that they would never be alone because the Holy Spirit was coming to them and that they would receive power to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth.[11]

As the Father sent Jesus into the world He loves, Jesus sends his disciples, into the world.[12] This means that we have the same mission that Jesus had. To be joined by adoption to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit means that the mission is ours. And for this, we need His power.

[1] Matthew 28:18-19 [2] Matthew 5-7; 5:20 [3] Romans 8 [4] Galatians 5:16-25 [5] John 13:1-17 [6] Mark 10:45 is the punch line for this idea. See 10:35-45 for the whole context. [7] Luke 7:11-17 [8] Matthew 9:35-10:1 [9] Acts 10:38 [10] Luke 4:18-19 [11] John 14:15-18; 16:5-16; Acts 1:3-8 [12] John 3:16 and 17:18

Ron Sider says the evangelical movement is riddled with hypocrisy, and that it’s time for serious change. Stan Guthrie, Christianity Today’s senior associate news editor, interviewed Sider in April, 2005.[1]

What troubles you the most about evangelicals today?

The heart of the matter is the scandalous failure to live what we preach. The tragedy is that poll after poll by Gallup and Barna show that evangelicals live just like the world. Contrast that with what the New Testament says about what happens when people come to living faith in Christ. There’s supposed to be radical transformation in the power of the Holy Spirit. The disconnect between our biblical beliefs and our practice is just, I think, heart-rending.

How do we turn the ship around?

We need to rethink our theology. We need to ask, “Are we really biblical?” Cheap grace is right at the core of the problem. Cheap grace results when we reduce the gospel to forgiveness of sins only; when we limit salvation to personal fire insurance against hell; when we misunderstand persons as primarily souls; when we at best grasp only half of what the Bible says about sin; when we embrace the individualism and materialism and relativism of our current culture. We also lack a biblical understanding and practice of the church.

I would think that evangelicals would want to get biblical and define the gospel the way Jesus did—which is that it’s the Good News of the kingdom. Then we see that it means that the way to get into this kingdom is through unconditional grace because Jesus died for us. But it also means there’s now a new kingdom community of Jesus’ disciples, and that embracing Jesus means not just getting fire insurance so that one doesn’t go to hell, but it means embracing Jesus as Lord as well as Savior. And it means beginning to live as a part of his new community where everything is being transformed.

[1] Christianity Today, April, 2005

Centered in Christ, we seek to develop both emotional health and contemplative spirituality!

These God saturated lessons cultivate honesty, transformation and love. This course is for those who want to work hard at pursuing God for change so that they can enjoy God deeply and love others freely. Perhaps the best word to describe this pursuit is freedom: freedom to know and enjoy God; freedom to know and be ourselves; and freedom to love and serve others!

Please join me in this quest to develop followers of Christ who possess a deep, abiding, sustaining faith, and who are free! Moreover, Lissa and I think that this course can be used with those who are unsure about Christianity. Our plan is to run this course again in January for those who are seeking rather than certain of the Christian faith.

Required course materials can be found at www.emotionallyhealthy.org.

Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Workbook
by Peter Scazzero
Retail Price: $8.99
Web Price: $3.99

Emotionally Healthy Spirituality
by Peter Scazzero
Retail Price: $19.99
Web Price: $14.99

There is a difference between a life orientated around Christ and being saturated by Christ. A life orientated around Christ attends church, goes to Bible Study, reads the Bible, prays and may even be involved in some ministry. A life saturated by Christ is possessed by him; owned by him; and in love with him.

We want enough of God to transform the life and not just take away the guilt. We want to be filled with the Holy Spirit and not just feel spiritual. We want to live the message and not just read about it. We want to immerse ourselves in the truth and not just observe it. We want to impart life and not just do tasks.

Our chief obligation is to be filled with God. Our second obligation is to spread His life everywhere we go.

Wilbur Reese described the problem facing church people with this poem:

I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please, not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine. I don’t want enough of Him to make me love a black man or pick beets with a migrant. I want ecstasy, not transformation; I want warmth of the womb, not a new birth. I want a pound of the Eternal in a paper sack. I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please. Wilbur Reese

Gateway began with a deep longing to form a church community where Jesus was central, where people became Christians and where disciples were trained and released to do what God made them to do. Moreover, we wanted to reproduce this kind of Christian community throughout Greater Boston to the ends of the earth. Nothing has changed from this original desire!

We are here because we believe that we have a destiny in Greater Boston. We envision a church community with open, authentic friendships where we help each other to follow Jesus. We seek meaningful involvement with the culture by participating in its activities, forming friendships and meeting needs. We want to be a welcoming place for those with questions, doubts and fears. But our greatest desire is to be a place where people find God and receive all that God has done in Jesus Christ. To accomplish this, we commit ourselves to become more like Jesus in character, power and purpose. We see ourselves as messengers and models of God’s Word to humanity.

This means that we embrace God’s ongoing transformation of our lives. Beyond an intellectual understanding of Scripture, we expect to be changed by the power of its truth. This means being honest with God about our true selves and asking Him to make us more like Jesus. We believe this authenticity helps us grow as individuals, builds community and enables us to connect with those who are far from God.

So, Gateway Church is a group of people from diverse backgrounds who meet together in many settings to help each other grow as followers of Jesus. Our common desire is to honor our hero Jesus Christ and to spread his message of reconciliation with God from Greater Boston to the ends of the earth.