Three Pathways of Identity

I spoke at The Bridge yesterday on "Gospel Community" and talked about three pathways of identity in life.

The first pathway was the path of "Moral Conformity."
The second pathway was one of "Self-Discovery."
We learned that both of these pathways end in alienation from God as seen in the parable of the lost sons in Luke 15.

(Please reference "The Prodigal God" by Tim Keller)

And then I presented a third pathway called "Gospel Community" that we as a body want to be true of our identity. At the center of community must be the Gospel where we realize we are nothing without Christ. None of us have any "rights" (elder brother / moral conformity) and we can't make it on our own (younger brother / self discovery). We are nothing without Christ, praise God.

I spoke from Romans 12:9-13 and Galatians 6:1-2 from the ESV about what Gospel Community should like. You can pick up the dvd of the teaching if you need it. Then we discussed how this plays out at The Bridge where as we grow this gets harder.

At The Bridge we offer and speak of multiple environments for gospel community. As each of these environments shrink, the more opportunity for deeper relationship and gospel community happens. We provide these environments but rely on the Holy Spirit to make this happen.

Large Group:
Sunday Celebration @ 9:00 & 10:45 AM
Monthly Youth Bash
Bridge Kids

Midsize Group:
Conquering Addiction
Alpha Course
Leadership Bible Study
Crown Financial Training
Men’s / Women’s Trips
Youth Trips
Socials: bowling, burger with a pastor, and etc..

Small Group:
Weekly Cell Family
Covenant Membership Courses
Mission Teams
First-Serve Teams
Youth Cell
BK Cell
Yon’s round table

One on One:
Mentoring
Parenting
Marriage

Please take a moment as you read through this to search your heart. Where are you finding your identity? Are you living to please others and gain status and control (moral conformity)? Are you on a path of self-actualization to find the meaning for your life (self-discovery)? Or are you living in gospel community where the end goal is not to get status, power, or self-pleasure - but just to delight in God.

I challenged all of our people to get in community surrounding themselves with people whose identity is found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and do life together. Breathe. Laugh. Cry. And yes, call one another to repentance and faith. You can't go to these groups with rights, leaning on the cross and pointing the finger at others for Gospel Community to take place. You must go to these groups broken in submission to God at the foot of the cross.