Scripture: Matthew 16:24-25
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “All who want to come after me must say no to themselves, take up their cross, and follow me. All who want to save their lives will lose them. But all who lose their lives because of me will find them…”
Thought for the Day: From Cane Ridge, Kentucky, Barton W. Stone and others participated in the writing of The Last Will and Testament of the Springfield Presbytery. In its opening statement, we read:
We will, that this body die, be dissolved, and sink into union with the body of Christ at large, for there is but one body, and one spirit, even as we are called in one hope of our calling.
What Stone and Campbell and others in this early 19th century reform movement seemed to suggest is that the Church, the living Body, had become so institutionalized that it had taken on the worst characteristic of an institution: self preservation at the expense of its true mission.
Fred Craddock, the great preacher of the last half century, asked the following: “The question is not whether the church is dying, but whether it is giving its life for the world…”
In every meeting, study and discussion group, the church needs to be asking itself whether we are just about the work of survival or are we willing to give our very lives (individually and corporately) for the sake of the mission set forth by Jesus.
Prayer: Be with us, O Spirit of the Living God, as we continue to critique the work we do on your behalf. Let us continue to struggle with what it means to take up the cross and to give our lives away. Amen.
Bruce’s Sermon Today: Shellacking the Scriptures
