We’re a church alive in the Gospel, rooted in Scripture and on mission with God. Our mission is simple, helping people live a Christ-centered life. It’s this type of life that embodies the Gospel, brings praise to God and surrenders all things to Jesus. In fact, as we live the Christ-centered life, our existence changes from survival to something more, something greater. The Christ-centered life is bringing all things under the rule of King Jesus. It makes Him center and sets up Jesus as the One we worship. Its arranging all of life around Him.
As our lives become about Jesus, we begin to see this lived out in the following five ways:
Live like Jesus: Logically as we live the Christ-centered life we begin to live like Jesus. This doesn’t mean that we begin to walk on water or provide meals for thousands of people from a Jimmy John’s tuna sandwich. What it does mean is that our lives begin to resemble to life of Jesus, in fact, people begin to see Jesus in us. It creates within us a passion to know God more and make His priorities our priorities, a desire to obey Scripture and a life-long process of making more of Jesus and less of us.
Love like Jesus: Jesus loves people. Throughout the Gospels and accounts of His life, we see Jesus interacting with people in ways that displayed His love. He laughed with children, wept with friends, partied at weddings and corrected those He loved. The mission of Jesus is all about providing a way to holiness. He is a doctor to the sick, a giver to the needy and a father to the orphan. Loving like Jesus moves us to live for those not necessarily like us. It makes us re-examine how we spend our time and take a look as to whether we’re bring Jesus into focus.
Eat like Jesus: Eat like Jesus means being intentional with others. It can look like grabbing coffee with a colleague, throwing burgers on the grill with the neighbors, family dinners or a night out with new friends. We’re not saying it has to be kosher, but it is relational. Eating like Jesus is life lived in gratefulness to God in the company of others. When we eat like Jesus we have an open chair at the table. Our welcome mat may become worn out, but the door is always open. We don’t treat people like projects, but we do believe the best way to truly love someone is in the light of the Gospel.
Give like Jesus: True, there was no bank account to speak of. No 401K to draw from, but Jesus gave all He had. Giving like Jesus is not a blanket statement that means we must live in poverty, although God may call some to do so. Giving like Jesus means knowing everything we have is from God and for God. It means looking at our stuff as His stuff. It means knowing we serve a God of infinite resources, we reject scarcity and deny ourselves from gluttony. Its generosity and living out God’s priorities through our possessions. It’s investing in God’s work, defining our stuff as God’s stuff and no finding our worth solely in our bank accounts.
Celebrate like Jesus: Our King was accused of being a glutton and a drunk. His life was lived among the guilty and oppressed, yet Jesus was full of joy. Celebrating like Jesus means living a life of worship to God. It means not allowing our circumstances to define us or situations to determine our attitudes, rather we know and live lives of thankfulness in everything we do. When we celebrate like Jesus is means our default attitude is joy. It turns our lives in to a song of thankfulness that is made louder when we gather with others. In short it means that our lives, every part, honor God.
As we live the Christ-centered life, we begin to be different. We begin to live, love, eat, give and celebrate like Jesus. Our lives become Jesus on display as our priorities become His.