The alternate city: a counter-cultural community

1 and 2 Corinthians

Rev. Dwight Yoo

How we are different

Attitude toward Community - 1 Corinthians 3:1-3

The world  has two  extreme ways of dealing with community. One is radical individualism. My way is the right way. No responsibility towards others. There is also the worship of community. People seek out a tribe, a place to belong. Like high school: jocks, nerds, rockers, etc. This  continues into older years: hipsters,   classy, emo, etc. This develops into pride and segregation between socio-economic divisions. We end up only hanging with people who are like us. We will do anything to  stay acceptable in our group. The fear of rejection drives us in these communities.

God is a triune god. There is community in our God. We are not meant to live self-absorbed and self-centered lives. We are meant to step into the community of God. But we are also not meant to worship the group, posse, or tribe. We are all sinners under God. Regardless of race,  social, economic  differences we are one family in Christ.

For christians, we start knowing of our sins. We are acceptable  because of Christ. It is not performance based. We practice radical love, radical acceptance. This  is the type of community we are called  into.

Attitudes toward sex -

Corinth was a place that worshiped sex. It was a place filled with temple prostitutes. It dehumanizes  our interactions with the opposite sex. We treat people as just a place for pleasure instead of loving them. On the other hand, we can't be prudes. Sex is a beautiful gift of God. It is bot a dirty thing. It a wonderful thing to only be  shared in marriage.

Attitudes toward money - 2 Corinthians 8:1-4

Money is not our security. The church in poverty gives more. This is very counter cultural. When hard times come, we tend to hang onto money. Or money gives us a sense of worth. We want to drive bmw's, live the good life, so people will know that we are somebodies. Christ  came and gave so that we might be rich.  We can be radically generous.

Christians are supposed to be like a model home. In front of developments, we have these houses that show what it would be like to move into that development.  When people come into the community of Christ, they should have a foretaste of the city of God. Our communities should give visitors a sense of longing...to go  to the city of God with us.

How to proceed

To pray for growth into Christ-likeness
To pray for and commit ourselves to community

Total church -

The Spirit of Work: The Critical Role of Imagination

Ezekiel 37:1-14

Rev David Kim

The Holy Spirit is not tethered to just our personal salvation. He is a spirit of creation. He brought what was in the mind of God into the world. If you have not used your imagination lately,i dare say that you have not been producing for the kingdom.

When your imagination is active, you look at your world and work, you don't just see annoying coworkers...you see people made in the image of God. Imagination can be misused, but it can also be a great tool for God. We need the ability to see the invisible and things that have yet to come. They will motivate and inspire during tough times in ministry.

Consider that the first place the spirit leads us is to the place of death and destruction. It shows us our brokenness. Then the hand of God comes upon them. The hand of God is a symbol of power and strength. It is God empowering Ezekiel.  Ezekiel is too frail for the calling God had given. So God gives him a vision of resurrection.

TED talk - Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love)

Do we recognize the divine in our lives? When something amazing happens,do we realize that God is the one who empowers us? Or do we attribute it our own talents?

God is there in our work. We are not doing it ourselves. We are working with God. That same closeness we experience in worship can be found in our work.

Finally, consider that God didn't just raise a jumbled mass of people. He raised an organized army. A community of people for God's purposes.

Jesus gives the Spirit to the disciples. The church is that army. The believers are the fulfillment of Ezekiel's vision.

The Glory of Work: Where is all this going?

Isaiah 60:1-14

We don't usually think of work as bringing glory to God. We usually think of praise and ministry as things that bring God glory. When people heard "New Jerusalem", it would be like someone saying to you, New Philadelphia. That is what God is working towards. It is not a glorified church service. We aren't just singing praise. It is an actual city, with life, culture, civilization...renewed.

This New Jerusalem is an international city. You see all these nations and regions represented in the vision of the new city. The ships of Tarshish represented the height of human pride. They were the Goldman Sachs of their times. This is very controversial. These camels are the maserati's of their day. A sportscar in heaven? It is a very metropolitan vision.

Bringing faith to work is more than just evangelism.

Three points
Your motivations toward work
The transformation starts with community
The work itself

Loving our work: Looking deeper into our motives

Rev. David Kim

Revelation 21:1-5

When you think about your typical day, you will find that we spend a significant part of our time at work. Work and religion have become separate spheres. The church has lost it's influence on work.

Why we need to love our work

Isn't our job just a paycheck? Is it only about making money to do things we want to do? The work that God does is an expression of His characteristics. Since we are made in His image, we express ourselves in work. When we don't work, we are missing part of our purpose. While it is true that our identity comes from Christ, part of us is found in work.

When God created the world, He first created the structure then He filled them. He created the separation between air and water... Then He created birds and fish to fill them. This is the vision we should have of work. Work provides both identity and purpose. We are to subdue and cultivate the earth.

Why we can't love our work

Even though we are supposed to love our work, we cannot. We go into our first jobs, full of hope and expectation. But the reality comes crashing in and we come out jaded and bitter. Work has become a source of identity instead of an expression of our identity. We love and hate work because of what it provides or doesn't provide.

How we can grow to love our work

God creates a new city. The city of God. The bride in the story is not the church...it is the city. Part of what we have done is part of the bride. Our deeds are part of what God displays. When God looks at our work, He looks at them through the eyes of love. It is not a matter of  objective judgement, it is that God loves us, therefore God loves our work.  God will not let our work go to waste.

Work: The call to cultivate our city

Various passages

Rev. Dwight Yoo

We are going to look at what it means to be a church for our city. Some of us will automatically think of evangelism. Or being active in serving our communities. But today will be on another area: work. The gospel should change the way we view and do our work.

The goodness of work

Genesis 2:2;2:15
God is a working god. And we are made in His image. So we are meant to work. Work is inherently good. Even though it makes us crazy, it is not evil. Work was meant to be good.

Genesis 1:28
This passage covers the Cultural Mandate. We are to develop the social world, harass the natural world, and build civilizations. That is our original purpose. There is a progression from the garden of Eden ... to the city of God. We are to end up in a civilized place... Not return to the garden.

Your work matters to God.
Your work is Spiritual Work.

Total truth - Nancy Pearcy

The brokeness of work

Genesis 3:17-19
Sin corrupts the goodness of work.
We use our skills for things other than the glory of God. We work for our own glory. We step on others to get ahead. We get into work and have a Monday. That is sin's effect on work.

Our experience is corrupted.
Our motivation is broken.

Redeeming work

Matthew 3:2

The footprints of God are here. The healing effects are here. Jesus is no longer here, but His spirit dwells in us. We are here to do His work of healing. The gospel should transform how we view and act at work. We will become a transforming agent at our workplaces and companies. It is more than a paycheck and getting ahead.

The tale of two cities

[Genesis 11:1-9; Hebrews 11:8-10; Jeremiah 29:4-7]

{Rev Dwight Yoo}

There is a big difference between being in a country and being for a county. We call them patriots. The ready are just americans. This is the same for our attitude towards the city. We can be a church in the city, but that does not make us for the city. I believe that we are called to be for the city as a church. To serve our city.

Perspectives: How to view the city

The city of God by St. Augustine speaks of two cities. One that is earthly and self-centered. The other is heavenly, selfless, and God-centered. Two paths are found though-out the old testament. The city of Cain's descendents is skilled and proud. The cities of Nimrod, Nineveh and Babel, are filled with technological skilled and proud people. They are cities that forsake God and are self-seeking. It is filled with people who love power, their own glory, and making their own way. The city of man is built on love of self to the contempt of God.

So what of the other city? There is a man called Abraham. He is dependent on God. God promises to make a nation of his descendents. And a city called Jerusalem...that would be ruled by God's values: justice, love, holiness, and the worship of God. It is judged and falls short. But there is a heavenly city and we, as believers, are citizens of this city. It is both here and not yet here. Our home is the city of God. So how are we to treat the other city?

Practicalities: How to treat the city

There are several options.

Join them. - this sounds ridiculous, but some of us still want to make a name for ourselves. We want earthly things and want them more than God.

Escape and avoid them. - we see them as different and run away from them. People move out to the suburbs because they want to get away from them. They join little christian circles and avoid non-christians entirely.

Use them. - we go to see shows.enjoy the food. Just take the good things and ignore everything else.

Serve them. - we love and lay down our lives for them. We go out and live like citizens of the city of God. Our love should be like that of Christ in coming into the mess of the city of man and laying down His life for them.

Power: How we become a church FOR the city

As sinners, we will normally hate and devalue those who get in our way. We will live as those trying to get rather than those who already have it all in Christ.

In Christ, we have nothing to prove. We don't need to live to get. God will provide for everything that we need. The world holds nothing for us. Christ provides our value, our importance, and our identity. So act it. We are to serve and give to the city.