A Citizen, a Child, and a Sanctuary

Hope Presbyterian Church in Winston-Salem Sermons

Series: God’s New HumanityScripture: Ephesians 2:19-22 “Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of – throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.” —C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity “Spread for thee the festal board See with richest dainties stored To thy Father’s bosom pressed Yet again a child confessed Never from His house to roam Come and welcome, sinner, come!” —Thomas Haweis “Seismic shifts in thinking have occurred between Augustine’s day and ours, not least of which is the emphasis on the individual rather than the collective. Today, we’re tempted to privatize our choices. Church membership is presented as one of many appealing choices in the spiritual growth cafeteria line, participation in a local church as optional as pie. Spiritually, there’s no real sense of need for church, only preference. But according to the language of Scripture, we cannot divorce ourselves from the church any more easily than we could cut off one hand or renounce our blood lines. The church is the believer’s new family. It is home.” —Jen Pollock Michel, Keeping PlaceThe post A Citizen, a Child, and a Sanctuary first appeared on Hope Church PCA.