Idea: Jesus has called the church to wage spiritual warfare, so we pray and greet and read and bless as members of the church militant.
Intro: We learn some significant things from Paul's closing remarks. We learn especially about the nature of the church that gets worked out in some very practical ways like prayer, greeting one another, sharing God's word, and the blessing of Christ. In a sense, these are seemingly simple, disconnected ideas, but seen in the light of the nature of the Christian life, you'll find that they grow out of a very distinct theology.
The underlying theology of the church that I'm identifying is what we call the church militant. I want to be very clear. By militant, I don't mean that the church should take up guns to force others to convert. I'm not talking about forming a paramilitary. I'm talking about how Christ has called the church to wage spiritual warfare against the enemy Satan, and to use the spiritual weapons of prayer and the gospel.
1. Pray
2. Greet
3. Read
4. Bless
"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen." |
