Businesses establish them, constitutions contain them, negotiators use them, organisations grant them, boards enforce them and States have reasserted them! Limits of authority. It's all about clarity. Its purpose is transparency. Limits of authority policies detail the parameters or the extent to which a person or group can make decisions, transact business, authorise payments, sign off on contracts or commit an organisation in a given direction. It pre-supposes that every authority has limits.
It’s important to know your limits. To be fully aware of the extent of your capabilities and capacities…the scope of your abilities and aptitudes…and where they end.
IN this, the final week of our Beyond Limits Vision series, we'll explore what it looks like to live with a Kingdom authority where the power of Jesus’ Word is unlimited, the scope of his Word all-embracing and the results of his Word, life-transforming. It’s a Kingdom authority that empowers a living faith.
#4 in Vision Series: Beyond Limits
Albert Einstein once said, "In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not."
Theory teaches us how things should work in a perfect world, but it is only when we come face to face with the imperfections of the real world and intentionally put into practice what we know and have been taught, that we see theory and practice intertwine and come together. Jesus reveals the same thing today in the second part of his teaching. Knowing kingdom values and having a kingdom perspective that takes hold of this world through Christ's death and resurrection is one thing. But putting it into practice in an imperfect world through our imperfect lives is totally another. But it is only then that we fully discover and experience the life-transforming power of his life that is truly possible in community. The church is a community of grace in action where relationships go deep, mercy flows, healing occurs and joy abounds. We'll explore that reality today as Jesus expands our horizons and invites us to live as a Kingdom community.
#3 in Vision series: Beyond Limits
For anyone who has ever done a personality test for fun or work, you will know that you are presented with a series of statements or descriptors that you are invited to agree or disagree with like "I find it hard to motivate myself" or "I remain calm in stressful situations' or "It is important to feel like you are part of something 'big' and 'exciting'". Maybe in answering these questions, you struggle to find a place to land. Depending on the perspective or situation, you may respond differently or lean one way or the other and so you find yourself in conflicting categories with an internal tension. Jesus speaks today on our level to people who are faced with the same conundrum in a place of tension, stretched between two realities. He tells us the truth of our lives as he sees it and confronts us with an accountability before God as God's kingdom as it comes in him. Today Jesus shows us a kingdom perspective that enables us to navigate the tension of simultaneous realities with balance, grace and a presence that reveals our true identity. Today Jesus calls us to live in the present where every moment is held in his hands, blessed by his grace, guided by his presence, and toward a future which is guaranteed forever.
#2 in Vision Series: Beyond Limits
Most of the breakthrough discoveries and remarkable inventions throughout history are the result of curiosity. They come from a willingness to have a go, to risk failure, to do something differently & explore novel possibilities. Curiosity seems natural to a child, but with age and our experience of mistakes and embarrassment, too many people get stuck between curiosity and a desire for security and predictability. “Risk” is not a word that appears in our vocabulary or is nurtured in our character. Jesus places no limit on what his Church can do, but instead points to the greater challenge, the higher risk, the deeper water of the unknown to discover his grace, power & abundance that transforms the world and our lives in the process.
#1 in Vision month series: 'Beyond Limits'
Carpe DIem - it's a phrase first used by Roman Poet Horace and made famous by Robin Williams in "Dead Poet's Society'. Carpe Diem - seize the day. It's a phrase that has been used to motivate people to grab hold of life today and live like there is no tomorrow. But the real meaning of that phrase means 'Do everything today to make tomorrow better.' Today Jesus gives us his own version of Carpe Diem. As the anointed Son of God, Jesus ushers in a new movement of grace as he declares who he is and what he's on about. Today, Jesus brings good news which makes life beautiful today, no matter who you are or the situation in life you find yourselves, and life tomorrow even better. It's a movement that you are invited to receive and participate in...so which way will you move? That's the question we will explore today.
#5 and final in series: Zero Gravity.
It's used as a measure in every sphere of life. Legally, medically, mentally, individually, organisationally, financially, educationally, and for communities. Capacity: the ability to produce or deliver with the resources that are available. The ability, power or competence to do or understand something. Businesses and churches have lived over the last two years with maximum capacity, reduced capacity, limited capacity. We have heard reports about people suffering from surge capacity - feeling overwhelmed and unable to cope mentally with what has happened, or having a diminished capacity to make decisions, or depleted capacity to contribute. Maybe you have even uttered statements like, "I just can't deal with that right now", or "I'm stretched, I just can't take on/do any more at this time." They are capacity statements. It's an acknowledgment that the energy is low, the resources have run dry, the vessel is empty.
Today as Jesus begins his public ministry in John's Gospel, he deals with the capacity question we constantly face and reveals the truth that when our capacity runs out, his presence brings forth something new which tastes better than we can ever imagine.
#4 in series: Zero Gravity
They are known as PFD's - personal flotation devices, also known as a life jacket, life preserver, life vest.
PFD's are designed to be worn by a person to prevent them from drowning in a body of water. It keeps the wearer of the device afloat with their head and mouth above the surface. It gives protection, it gives confidence, it gives assurance and security when trying something new. But a PFD is only beneficial if you are wearing it. Whether just sitting in the boat, or being pulled this way and that on a biscuit, wakeboard or ski, you are safe. When you are tired from swimming and just want to float, it enables you to rest and relax. It gives the wearer bouyancy in every circumstance.
As we step into 2022, God has given us a PFD - a personal faith device that gives buoyancy in every circumstance and enables you to try new things with confidence. We'll explore and experience that this weekend.
#3 in series: Zero Gravity
“What should we do then?” It's a question that John the Baptist is asked, not once but three times. The crowds ask it. The tax collectors ask it. The soldiers ask it. It’s the question we also ask at every transition point in life's journey. We ask it when thinking about our future, or making decisions. We ask it when we've messed up or when we are overwhelmed or paralysed by the enormity of circumstances confronting us. We ask it when we are excited about new possibilities or new directions and are uncertain about which choice to make. John's response to that question is both simple and practical and gives us a concrete way to live with focus as we step into 2022.
#2 in series: Zero Gravity
New Year's Resolutions...Lose weight. Save money...Be a better _____! (you fill in the blank). From year to year, the resolutions don't change much for people. Yet year after year, it takes about six weeks to go back to the same old patterns, where we tell ourselves the same old stories, and berate ourselves for listening to the same old voices. And not much changes. The gravity of life brings us down, the burden of our past holds us back, the weight of expectations ground us. Each year we get look back over the past year and it reveals who and what has laid claim to our life. What if that could change for 2022? What if we stopped rehashing the past and talking about what we could’ve, would've or should’ve done, or how we can improve ourselves and let ourselves be more fully claimed by the Message of Christmas - God’s faith in us, God’s hope for us, God’s love of us. How would that transform 2022 and enable you to live a weightless, zero gravity life? We'll explore that today?
#1 in new series: Zero Gravity