First Community Church 08.04.24 Glen Miles-Sermon Speaking the Truth in Love: Growing in Grace

Part 1 "God Wants Us to Grow Up" I begin a new sermon series titled Speaking the Truth in Love: Growing in Grace. Our cultural climate seems to be dominated these days by vitriolic anger and attack-filled commentary. The culture of the early church was quite different from ours. They lived under the rule of the brutal Roman Empire, after all, but within the earliest congregations, it was easy for them to divide into frustrated factions. Paul's letter to the church in Ephesus addresses these issues and more. Paul writes, "God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love—like Christ." That is a modern paraphrase of Paul's words. It captures the spirit of his message for sure, and it is the title of part 1 of this series, "God Wants Us to Grow Up." A cautionary note: shouting "grow up" at each can lead to more vitriol. That is not Paul's advice here at all. Instead, he invites us to respond to the world's needs from the framework of love. That is what mature adults do. I'm really looking forward to sharing this message with you!