Vineyard Church | Weekly Update February 14, 2024

At some point, it has to be about behavior, right? This is an important question to consider alongside an emerging posture we have spoken about over the past few years, the posture of belonging over behavior. 

Belonging over behavior is something that flows from the example of Jesus as he engaged the lost in his ministry. Whether it is the disreputable sinners and tax collectors that Jesus spends time with in Mark 2 and Matthew 9, the woman at the well in John 4, or Zaccheus and his friends in Luke 19, the engagement of those lost to the sins of the world is important for us to note and emulate. 

In each of these stories, Jesus exemplifies compassionate rescue by engaging people before they were saved by his grace; before they were able to confess; before they even understood how their behavior, lifestyle, and relationships were causing their death and separation from God. The offer of relationship, the extension of compassionate rescue was not predicated on the need or ability to earn it; it was extended because of God’s overwhelming love. 

The pattern that flows from the Gospel narratives gives the foundation for belonging over behavior. The belonging piece is the offering of relationship that allows for the presentation of the reality of death that results from a life of sin. It is the fact that the sinner can belong before they behave that allows these words to penetrate and open the path to radical transformation. Belonging presents a road to salvation paved by grace rather than by shame and ridicule. Belonging represents the starting place that we all share.

It is this method of engagement that ensures the lost will not remain lost, that someone will reach into the darkness of the sinful life and offer compassionate rescue by presenting the Good News of what Jesus did for us rather than force the sinner to behave before they know this love.… But back to the question that prompts us today, at some point, it has to be about behavior, right?

Yes with an if or no with a but.… Yes, if that behavior flows from radical transformation rather than religious ritual, or no, but the change that flows from realizing the love of God will be complete and cover our behavior. Put another way, when we come to realize what Jesus has done for us, when we accept his death as the sacrificial act that covers our sin and realize the gravity of this, when we accept his resurrection as the defeat of death and see all of this as an act of love, we have the germination of transformation. 

If that weren’t enough, we have this: God doesn’t just forgive; he doesn’t just serve as the substitutionary sacrifice that covers our sin; he takes the worst failures of our lives and uses them for both our good and his glory. For those that accept this radical love, radical transformation follows. This past Sunday, in our adult Sunday school class we call Coffee and Christ, Brad used this quote from G.M. Burge’s commentary of 1st John:

"To say that we ought to love one another (while true) says nothing new. But to construct the motive and power that enables love is truly significant. John envisions Christian believers who are so completely healed inwardly that reconciliation within the community is a natural by-product of spiritual maturity."

I love the way he puts this; a by-product of the work of Christ in us is acting like Christ within our community. Yes, at some point, it is about behavior. Through the realization of the love of God and the refining work of a discipling community that begins with belonging, behavior follows.

Adam Greenwell
Pastor  |  Billings Vineyard Church
www.BillingsVineyard.org