Welcome to Week 4 of the First Comes Love Reading Plan! This reading plan is designed to partner with Compassion Christian Church’s sermon series of the same name, which you can find information about right here. We all start with innocent notions of love that our world can quickly shatter; turns out relationships are more complicated than a nursery rhyme! In the First Comes Love series we’re going to examine the biblical understanding of love by focusing on topics like friendship, singleness, loneliness, marriage, sex and family. In this reading plan, we will spend time in stories and teachings that will deepen our own understanding of the Bible’s instruction in these areas.  Read More

Highlight In this final chapter of Paul’s letter we get a glimpse into the pain of relational desertion he has endured. Paul, like Jesus, in his final days is abandoned by many of those who followed and served with him. His loneliness is evident as he asks for Timothy to come and be with him. And yet, Paul is quick to note that he is not truly alone and has not lost sight of his purpose, even in a prison cell: “But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it” (v. 17). Whatever our relationship status may be, we can all identify with Paul because we’ve all lived through seasons of loneliness. We’ve felt abandoned, betrayed and unloved, sometimes by the people we trusted most. But this is the hope of every follower of Christ. In the pain of this life we are never really alone. And if we remain faithful as Paul did to the race set before us, at the end of this life we will cross the finish line and walk through the gates of heaven where all brokenness is restored and we can enjoy unhindered union with the Lord who rescued us and was faithful to us…always.  Read More

Highlight A clear mark of whether the transformative work of the Spirit is evident in someone’s life is how they show up in their relationships with others. Paul paints a pretty grim picture of what becomes of those who love themselves more than God and others. The truth is we’ve all experienced this. The working out of our relationships is often like holding a mirror up to what is in our hearts, and that’s not always pretty. And even if we choose to follow Jesus we still have to contend with the broken people around us. In fact, Paul doesn’t say that followers of Jesus will be insulated from the pain of broken and damaging relationships, it’s the opposite in fact, we should expect persecution from those for whom the Gospel is an affront to their self-centeredness. But there is hope! Through the truth of God’s word and the power of the Holy Spirit we can not only endure, but we can become people of love and peace whose transformed presence is a balm to the relational brokenness of our world.  Read More

Highlight Pauls sees Timothy as a spiritual son and here he is teaching Timothy how to lead the spiritual family that’s been entrusted to him. This is no easy task. The church in Ephesus has been corrupted by false teachers who are leading the people of God astray. But Paul reminds Timothy that the circumstances and relationships of this world are fleeting and encourages him to keep his eye on the prize of eternity and not to get distracted by unhealthy relational conflict. Timothy is instructed to stay focused and remain full of grace, even for members of the family that are difficult to love.   Read More

Highlight This week we’re exploring what God has to say about singleness. Truthfully, there is not a lot in Scripture that directly addresses singleness, but as we saw yesterday what is shared is overwhelmingly positive because of the freedom it affords to followers of Jesus to focus fully on God’s Kingdom and to embrace the family of God, his Church, in a special way. We’re going to spend the rest of this week in 2 Timothy which is Paul's pastoral letter to his disciple whom he is preparing to continue His mission work. Paul is writing this message from prison, and while this is certainly not the first time he’s been put in prison for sharing the Gospel, he feels this may be his last - Paul knows it’s likely he will not survive. Paul, who was never married and has now been abandoned by many of his followers and friends because of the shame and fear associated with his imprisonment, is celebrating the Spirit’s work in his life which has given him the strength to stand for Christ even when he has had to do so alone, and is encouraging Timothy to do the same.  Read More

Highlight In the American Church today marriage is often the assumed and perhaps even elevated status of relationship for believers. However, it’s clear in this passage from Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church that this was not his view. In his article, Single in a Church of Families, writer Ryan Griffith explains “The church’s countercultural commitment to building healthy marriages and families can sometimes reinforce an inaccurate picture of the nuclear family as the ultimate goal and final state for faithful Christians. Singleness can also be perceived as inferior and unenviable — or worse, disobedient or disqualifying. It is striking, then, that John the Baptist, Jesus, and the apostle Paul — all unmarried themselves — view singleness as a legitimate and positive vocation. Jesus and Paul argue that singleness, while uncommon (1 Corinthians 7:9; 1 Timothy 4:1–3), is a gift bestowed by God (Matthew 19:12; 1 Corinthians 7:7). While marriage remains the norm for most, the New Testament, in contrast with the Old, has an overwhelmingly positive view of singleness”.  Read More