This week’s guest blogger is Anthony Varesio.  Anthony and his family have been a part of NewLife for a little less than a year, and Anthony was recently baptized.  Anthony will be contributing to the NewLife blog once a month with his, as he puts it, “unfiltered and in-progress diary of the personal challenges and revelations that come with my pursuit of becoming a better person and living ‘The Way’.” 

The Imperfekt Chronicles
By Anthony Varesio

Romans 12:9-10 (NLT) - “Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them.  Hate what is wrong.  Hold tightly to what is good.  Love each other with genuine affection and take delight in honoring each other.”

I have a “bad” case of “Christianitis”.   The fire under my tail has been lit and the dissection of my every habit, motive, intention, and action is now subject to the self-installed microscope.   It can be downright annoying.  It was so much easier just being self-centered and letting my often misguided and “four-year-old I-want it now-stomping-on-the-ground-holding-my-breath-til-I’m-red-in-the-face” emotions steer this train wreck!  Do you know how hard it is not to spit out some random and snide remark at someone for not saying “thank you” when you just held open the door for them at the coffee shop?  Or, how about not hitting the car horn when the car in front of you took at least three seconds to go at a newly turned green light?  Annoying, just annoying.
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“Yet to all who received [Jesus], to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” (John 1:12-13)

One of the greatest realities of the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, is that those who trust in Him are adopted into the family of God, becoming children of the Heavenly Father, full heirs of all that belongs to Him.  At NewLife this past Sunday, I made the point that one of the greatest ways we can preach the gospel to the world is through following our Father’s example and becoming people and families who adopt others.  There are certainly formal ways to do this, by adopting or fostering children who have been abused or neglected or have no parents, but there are many other ways to have an adoptive attitude towards the world.    For example:

• Treat your neighbor’s children, or your children’s friends, as family, making sure they know that when they are in your house, they are part of your family, welcome to eat your food, spend the night, or to come to you for advice, prayer, or a listening ear

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For this week’s post, I wanted to turn things around on you and ask your opinion on something:

What do you think of topical sermons?

Over the past three and a half years at NewLife, I have tried different approaches to preaching.  For some series, I preach through a book of the Bible (e.g. Colossians) or the life of an important person (e.g. The Life of David).  For other series, I stay more topical (e.g. Death and the Life after that, Why Believe?).  My current sermon series, which I have called “Practical Christianity,” falls more on the topical side, in that each week deals with a specific topic (love life, parenting, work, money, etc.), but I am coming at it from the perspective of how to work out the implications of the gospel into each realm of your life (as Paul said in Philippians 2:12-13 – continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose).
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Jerry Bridges, in his book The Gospel for Real Life, tells a story about a Southern plantation owner who left a $50,000 inheritance (equivalent to about $500,000 today) to a former slave who had served him faithfully all his life.  The lawyer for the estate duly notified the former slave of his inheritance and told him that the money had been deposited for him at the local bank.  However, weeks went by, and the former slave never called for his inheritance, and so that banker called again to tell him that he had $50,000 to draw on at any time.  The former slave replied, “Do you think I can have fifty cents to buy a sack of cornmeal?” 

You see, the former slave had rarely handled money in his life, and so he had no comprehension of what $50,000 was.  He had no idea how much money was available to him, and so as a result he was asking for fifty cents when in reality he had enough money to comfortably live on for the rest of his life. 

He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
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