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“Open our hearts and minds and doors” (Romans 6:1b-11)

“Open our hearts and minds and doors” (Romans 6:1b-11). The new resolutions of inclusion.

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“Open our hearts and minds and doors” (Romans 6:1b-11)

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  1. “Open our hearts and minds and doors”(Romans 6:1b-11)

  2. The new resolutions of inclusion • “An Invitation”: “We oppose all forms of personal bias and discrimination, including institutionalized discrimination written into our Book of Discipline, as criteria in evaluating potential clergy members, even as we confess our complicity in systems of exclusion.” • When we finally passed those, many people were clapping their hands and even danced in joy because they believed it is God’s will for us to take our steps forward. • Where are we going with these new resolutions and what are we going to do with them? • It is actually nothing new but only to refresh and highlight our Methodist slogan, “Open our hearts, minds, and doors.”

  3. The Gospel of inclusion • Jesus’ Gospel is the Gospel of forgiveness of all kinds of sins; it is the Gospel of inclusion of all kinds of people • “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (Jn. 3:16). • “People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God” (Lk. 13:29). • “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven” (Lk. 6:37).

  4. A friend of all sinners • “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” (Mt. 19:14). • In terms of our social structure, children are like the unprivileged people such as the minority, the immigrants, the people of color, the homeless, and the homosexual. • But there was no boundary in Jesus’ fellowship, and all kinds of people were very precious to Jesus. • Jesus welcomed and received people the way they were. That’s why he was called a friend of sinners of his day.

  5. The Spirit of fellowship • The New Testament clearly witnesses that Christ is the Spirit of fellowship and reconciliation with all humanity. • “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28). • “[Jesus] himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility” (Eph. 2:14). • If we really accept this Jesus who loves little children so much, how dare we put human-made barriers and hinder people from their call to worship and ministry? If we really believe that God’s love is free and unlimited and given to all, how dare we judge people and exclude some of them in terms of human doctrines, rules, and laws. • If we truly love with God’s love, which is universal love, we will truly open wide “our hearts, minds, and doors” to welcome and share our fellowship with all kinds of people regardless of their gender, age, race, and orientation, etc.

  6. Baptism in Christ • Baptism is about unity with Christ who died to forgive our sins and rose again to live for the sake of God’s glory. • In our Baptism, we died with Jesus and rose again with him to make a new and different life. • “If anyone is in Christ, he/she is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come” (2 Cor. 5:17). • As we are born again in our Baptism in the name of Jesus Christ, we must live in Christ and live like Christ and live a life that Jesus taught us to live.

  7. From a social club to a mission club • As we remain as a social club, we only love people in our family circle. • If we get more involved in Christ’s ministry, we can love people as Jesus has loved. • What kind of ministry do we have to love people from all over the world? • Going out to the world in terms of ministry is the way we can open wide our hearts and minds and doors to our world of today.

  8. Loving the world • If we really live in God’s love, we will open “our hearts, minds, and doors” to all kinds of people living around us regardless of their gender, age, race, and orientation. • We will be much more concerned about how to live together and how to invite others in our life of love and how to reach out to help people in the name of Jesus who loves all humanity. • As God loves the world, we will never condemn our neighbors, but we will love and serve them in light of Jesus’ Gospel of inclusion. Amen.

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