Tag: God’s Grace for an Imperfect Church

Eastbrook at Home – June 30, 2024

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Join us for worship with Eastbrook Church through Eastbrook at Home at 8, 9:30, and 11 AM. This weekend we continue our preaching series entitled “God’s Grace for an Imperfect Church: 1 Corinthians.”

Here is a prayer for the sixth Sunday after Pentecost from The Book of Common Prayer:

O God, your never-failing providence sets in order all things both in heaven and on earth: Put away from us all hurtful things, and give us those things that are profitable for us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

If you are able to do so, let me encourage you to join us for in-person services at 8:00, 9:30, and 11:00 AM this weekend at the Eastbrook Campus.

If you are new to Eastbrook, we want to welcome you to worship and would ask you to text EBCnew to 94000 as a first step into community here at Eastbrook.

Each Sunday at 8, 9:30, and 11 AM, you can participate with our weekly worship service at home with your small group, family, or friends. This service will then be available during the week until the next Sunday’s service starts. You can also access the service directly via Vimeo, the Eastbrook app, or Facebook.

If you are not signed up for our church emailing list, please sign up here. Also, if you would like to support the ministry of Eastbrook Church financially, you may give online or send in your tithes and offerings directly to the church office.

“Living Free, Living Bound” – a message from 1 Corinthians 9

Matt EricksonLeave a comment

This past weekend at Eastbrook, we continued our preaching series entitled “God’s Grace for an Imperfect Church: 1 Corinthians.” In this message from 1 Corinthians 9:1-23, I explored Paul’s theme of forgoing our rights in Christian freedom in order to live for the good of others and God’s glory. Paul begins this theme in the previous chapter, chapter 8, which I looked at last week in a message entitled “Living for the Good of Others.”

You can find the message outline and video below. You can access the entire series here. Join us for weekend worship in-person or remotely via Eastbrook at Home.

“I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.” (1 Corinthians 9:22b-23)

Paul and the Rights of the Apostles

What it means to be an “apostle” (9:1-3)

The Corinthian critique of Paul (9:3; 3:1-4; 4:1-13; Acts 18:1-4)

The apostolic right to adequate ministry support (9:4-12a, 13-14) 

Paul’s Example on Navigating Rights, Freedom, and the Gospel

Paul serves the gospel, clearing the way for the message to be heard (9:12b)

Paul incarnates the gospel, forgoing apostolic rights so the free message is proclaimed freely (9:15-18)

Paul ‘missionalizes’ the gospel, standing in solidarity with all so the message can be not only heard but received (9:19-23)

Paul’s example to the Corinthian church in conflict about Christian freedom and exercise of rights (8:9)

Learning from Paul’s Example

Choose a worthy destination

Choose wise guides

Choose the way you will walk

Dig Deeper

This week dig deeper in one or more of the following ways:

  • Memorize 1 Corinthians 9:22b-23: “I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.”
  • This week, prayerfully consider one way God might be calling you to step forward as a witness to Christ in the life of someone else. Pray for that person and for an opportunity to share Christ. Is there anything you may need to “forgo” in order to share the gospel?
  • Explore these additional resources:

Eastbrook at Home – June 23, 2024

Matt EricksonLeave a comment
Eastbrook-At-Home-Series-GFX_16x9-Title

Join us for worship with Eastbrook Church through Eastbrook at Home at 8, 9:30, and 11 AM. This weekend we continue our preaching series entitled “God’s Grace for an Imperfect Church: 1 Corinthians.”

Here is a prayer for the fifth Sunday after Pentecost from The Book of Common Prayer:

Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of your Name, increase in us true religion, nourish us with all goodness, and bring forth in us the fruit of good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

If you are able to do so, let me encourage you to join us for in-person services at 8:00, 9:30, and 11:00 AM this weekend at the Eastbrook Campus.

If you are new to Eastbrook, we want to welcome you to worship and would ask you to text EBCnew to 94000 as a first step into community here at Eastbrook.

Each Sunday at 8, 9:30, and 11 AM, you can participate with our weekly worship service at home with your small group, family, or friends. This service will then be available during the week until the next Sunday’s service starts. You can also access the service directly via Vimeo, the Eastbrook app, or Facebook.

If you are not signed up for our church emailing list, please sign up here. Also, if you would like to support the ministry of Eastbrook Church financially, you may give online or send in your tithes and offerings directly to the church office.

“Living for the Good of Others” – a message from 1 Corinthians 8

Matt Erickson1 Comment

This past weekend at Eastbrook, we continued our preaching series entitled “God’s Grace for an Imperfect Church: 1 Corinthians.” In this message from 1 Corinthians 8, I sought to bring us through Paul’s discussion of food sacrificed to idols to what I see as the center of this part of the letter: forgoing our rights in Christian freedom in order to live for the good of others and God’s glory.

You can find the message outline and video below. You can access the entire series here. Join us for weekend worship in-person or remotely via Eastbrook at Home.

“Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that ‘We all possess knowledge.’ 
But knowledge puffs up while love builds up.” (1 Corinthians 8:1)

The Situation in Corinth

Misunderstanding the gospel of the crucified Jesus

Super-spiritualizing their faith and disembodying discipleship

Misinterpreting Christian freedom as permission to do anything

Confused about their ‘knowledge’ (gnosis) and believe they had “arrived” spiritually

Inequity developed within the community (the ‘weak’ and the ‘strong’)

All this relates to food sacrificed to idols in chapter 8

The Priority of Love

‘Knowledge’ puffs up but love builds up (8:1)

Thinking you know something when you do not know what you ought to know (8:2)

Loving God and being known by God (8:3)

The Importance of Building Others Up in Love

An aside about idols: 

  • Idols are no-things (8:4-5)
  • There is only one God, the source of all, and Jesus, the originator and sustainer (8:6)

Knowing that we’re not all in the same place (8:7-8)

Exercising Christian freedom calls for discernment (8:9)

We can lead others astray through our supposed ‘knowledge’ and ‘freedom’ (8:10-11)

We can damage those Christ died for and sin against Christ at the same time (8:12)

Therefore, my exercise of Christian freedom is curbed by love and building others up (8:13)

Three Guiding Statements

Loving what you know is empty without knowing how to love 

The great center of the Christian life is God’s love in us overflowing in our love for others

Christ makes us free from much so we can be free to make much of Christ

Dig Deeper

This week dig deeper in one or more of the following ways:

  • Memorize the final phrase of 1 Corinthians 8:1, “knowledge puffs up while love builds up.”
  • While eating food sacrificed to idols may seem far-removed from our lives, take some time to consider what other issues that you face might be an opportunity to meaningfully let go of freedom in order love someone else in your life. Pray about it.
  • Explore these additional resources:

Eastbrook at Home – June 16, 2024

Matt EricksonLeave a comment
Eastbrook-At-Home-Series-GFX_16x9-Title

Join us for worship with Eastbrook Church through Eastbrook at Home at 8, 9:30, and 11 AM. This weekend we continue our preaching series entitled “God’s Grace for an Imperfect Church: 1 Corinthians.”

Here is a prayer for the fourth Sunday after Pentecost from The Book of Common Prayer:

O Lord, from whom all good proceeds: Grant us the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may always think those things that are good, and by your merciful guidance may accomplish the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

If you are able to do so, let me encourage you to join us for in-person services at 8:00, 9:30, and 11:00 AM this weekend at the Eastbrook Campus.

If you are new to Eastbrook, we want to welcome you to worship and would ask you to text EBCnew to 94000 as a first step into community here at Eastbrook.

Each Sunday at 8, 9:30, and 11 AM, you can participate with our weekly worship service at home with your small group, family, or friends. This service will then be available during the week until the next Sunday’s service starts. You can also access the service directly via Vimeo, the Eastbrook app, or Facebook.

If you are not signed up for our church emailing list, please sign up here. Also, if you would like to support the ministry of Eastbrook Church financially, you may give online or send in your tithes and offerings directly to the church office.