Vision and Values

In the Gospel of Mark, a religious leader comes to Jesus with a question, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” To which Jesus replied, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:28-31 ESV). This teaching of Jesus has come to be known as “The Great Commandment” and it is essentially the church’s call to a life of reverent worship and loving fellowship.

Later, before his ascension to sit at the right hand of the God the Father, he gave his disciples the following commission, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20). In Acts also, we learn that Jesus said, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). This teaching of Jesus has come to be known as “The Great Commission.” This is Jesus’ call to the church to be a community on mission.

Taken together therefore, Jesus calls his disciples to a life of worship, fellowship, and mission, all of which is undergirded by a foundation built on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That is to say, our worship, our fellowship and our mission are all based on the one truth that Jesus is in fact who he claimed to be, the Son of God, and who according to the Apostle Paul, “died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, was buried, and raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). Knowing this, we at SIBC pursue a communal life characterized by worship, fellowship, and mission that is grounded in the gospel. Each of these four aspects is expanded upon below.

Worship: Connecting with Christ (Romans 12-15)

In Romans 12:1-2, Paul calls the members of the church to offer their body/bodies (there is both a corporate and individual aspect here), as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God as their spiritual worship (Rom 12:1). The point here is that we, as a community/person are to offer our whole self to God: our heart, soul, mind and strength; our blood, sweat, and tears; our work, rest, and play. Every aspect of our life is to be offered to Christ as an act of reverent worship, both corporately and individually.

As Paul continues, it becomes clear that for Paul, worship, our connecting with Christ, is more than simply singing songs about Jesus on a Sunday. On the contrary, worship is a 24/7 way of living. Whether we realize it or not, every day, we offer our body as a living sacrifice to someone or to something. True worship therefore means that everything we do – in our work, rest, and play – must be done in reverence and deference to Christ.

Paul then fleshes out what it means to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice to God. In other words, the following practices are ways by which we can worship God: using your spiritual gifts to bless the city and the church (12:3-8); loving with integrity, honoring one another, working hard, blessing our enemies, weeping with those who mourn, rejoicing with those who rejoice (12:9-21); submitting to the government authorities (13:1-7); honoring my neighbor rather than pursuing petty legalisms (14:1-12); relinquishing my freedom for the sake of my neighbor (14:13-23); and finally, pursuing unity in our diversity (15:1-7). All of these and more are practical ways in which we offer our bodies to God in worship.

Community: Connecting in Fellowship (1 Thessalonians 2:1-8 and Galatians 6:1-5)

The Christian life is to be lived in community. Our example is that of Jesus who as he began to minister called to himself twelve men that they might be with him and that they might be sent out (Mark 3). From this community, we gain strength for the mission by being able to hold one another to account, and by bearing one another’s burdens.

In 1 Thessalonians 2, Paul speaks of his experience with the church and his ministry with them:

…but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts. For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness. Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us (1 Thes 2:4-8).

Paul lived a life of integrity and authenticity in the context of community.  Amazingly, he was not simply content to discharge the Good News but also to share life. The only way people will know that we live lives of integrity and authenticity is if they see us in action on a regular basis. If we are not sharing our life with one another, how can we possibly say that we even beginning to love one another? More importantly, it is this practice of life together that gives us the opportunity and privilege to speak into one another’s life as Paul instructs the Galatians:

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each will have to bear his own load (Gal 6:1-5).

At SIBC we desire this kind of intimacy. An intimacy that gives permission to call each other to account to live a life worthy of the Gospel and an intimacy that desires to bear one another’s burdens in love. In doing this, we give witness to the love of Christ (John 13:35) and gain strength for our mission.

Mission: Connecting to Culture (Acts 17)

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus tells the story of a dishonest manager and commends him for being wise in worldly affairs. To be clear, Jesus does not condone his dishonesty, but condones his shrewdness. Jesus draws the conclusion, “The sons of this world are shrewder in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light” (Luke 16:8b). At SIBC we desire to be wise in our preaching of the gospel and with the people whom we serve.

Like Paul in Acts 17, we desire to show how the Gospel sheds light on our culture today, not making it relevant, but rather showing its relevance. But we don’t just desire to preach the Gospel, we desire the good of our city. God, through the prophet Jeremiah, expresses our desire in the best possible fashion:

Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease.

But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare (Jeremiah 29:4-7).

As a church, we neither shun culture completely nor embrace it completely. Rather, our mission is to faithfully proclaim the Gospel of Jesus and in doing so seek the welfare of the city. We see ourselves as a “city within the city” that through the gospel seeks to bring truth, love, and peace to everyone whom we encounter.

The Centrality of the Gospel: Identity, Worship, Fellowship, and Mission (1 Corinthians 15 and 1 Peter 2)

For Paul, the gospel (Christ crucified for sin and resurrected for new life) is everything. It is the very foundation of his identity, his worship, his fellowship, and his mission. It was the gospel that gave him a humble/confident sense of self; it was the gospel that gave him reason to worship; it was the gospel that was the foundation of the church, and it was the gospel that gave him hope and courage in the face of adversity in his God-given mission.

An identity based on the Gospel is one that understands itself through the lens of the person and work of Christ, particularly with regard to his crucifixion and resurrection. For example, Paul, in the opening verses of his first letter to the perverted Corinthian church, calls them sanctified (v. 2) and guiltless (v. 8). Knowing that we are sanctified and guiltless by Christ’s life, death, and resurrection means we are no longer chasing the approval of God to win his favor. Rather, we are living life based upon his favor that has been to given us in Jesus. From this gospel identity we are empowered to live lives of worship, community, and mission. This is something that the Apostle Peter marveled at and never quite got over:

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession (our identity), that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light (our mission). Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people (our community); once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation (our worship) (1 Peter 2:9-12).