A Church That Looks Like Jesus

A CHURCH THAT LOOKS LIKE JESUS

Have you ever caught a kid mid-laugh — and heard her grandmother come out of her mouth?

The cadence isn't hers. The tone isn't hers. She's never thought about it. But anybody in the room who knew the grandmother knows exactly whose laugh that is. It came from somewhere. It came from somebody. And without trying, that little girl has the family resemblance in her voice.

That's how it works. Not by mimicking. Not by performing. By being in close company with people you love, for long enough, until the resemblance just starts to show.

Now ask the question that finishes our May series: what does that look like in a church?

This is week five of Maturity in the Body. We've spent four Sundays asking what growing up looks like in us — whether we're still on milk, what it means to press on, why trials are the forge, what childish things have to be put down. All of that has been personal. All of that has been you and me. This Sunday we lift our eyes.

Paul answers the corporate question short and sharp. Two verses near the end of Colossians 1.

"We proclaim him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. I labor for this, striving with his strength that works powerfully in me." (Colossians 1:28–29)

Two verses. Six verbs. One enormous mission. And it sorts itself into three pieces — what we do, what we aim at, and what it costs.

Sunday we'll watch Paul name the work of a church that looks like Jesus — and it's not what most churches herald loudest. We'll watch him name the aim — and it's not what most of us would write down if we were planning a church. And we'll watch him refuse two equal and opposite lies about the cost — because the labor is real, and the strength is given.

If you've been here through May, this is where the whole series has been heading. Your maturity has been the question for four Sundays. This Sunday it becomes ours. That's the church we want to be. That's the church Paul wants us to be.

Come hungry. Come honest. Come ready to lift your eyes from me to we.

Sunday, May 31 · 10:30 AM · Cornerstone Church of Christ · Centerville, OH

1. Paul fronts the pronoun: "Him we proclaim." When you talk about Cornerstone, what gets heralded first — him, or our distinctives?
2. A church that only teaches becomes a classroom; only warns, a courtroom. Where are we strong on one and soft on the other?
3. Paul says "everyone" three times in v. 28. Who is easiest for you to invest in at Cornerstone — and who is easiest to let drift?
4. Mature means full-grown, not flawless. How does that change what we ask God for when we pray for one another's growth?
5. Epaphras wrestled in prayer for the same maturity Paul labored for in public. Whose maturity are you wrestling for on your knees right
now?

Those Serving
CALL TO WORSHIP/PRAYER
Jason Schofield
SONG LEADER
Jim Rutter
LEAD LORD'S SUPPER
Randy Mullins
ASSIST LORD’S SUPPER
Jeff Livingston
Mike Rosato
Paul Braden
Reggie Johnson
SCRIPTURE READING
Tommy Ray
PREACHING
Matthew Allen
CLOSING PRAYER
Roger Robins
CLOSING COMMENTS
Boyd Hastings
WELCOME CENTER
Jim and Pam Grushon
USHERS
Dan Spargo // Jeremy Price
COMMUNION PREP
Marilyn Sims
CLOSING THE BUILDING
James Passmore