We all have core values. I have several core values.
My Core Values:
Never eat anything that is moving.
When someone tells you what you should do, smile and nod your head and then go do what God wants you to do.
Never share your opinion with your adult children unless they ask for it.
Try to always listen to your wife even if you are watching the Yankees play.
Never argue with a Pharisee, especially if they are members your church.
My core values are not meant for anyone else because they are peculiar to me and you are not bound by them.
I believe that Jesus has given some core values for His church. These core values come from looking at the Head of the church, Jesus, and seeing who He was and knowing that, as His body, we are to be like Him.
The Core Value of Love
1 John 4:8 & 16 says that Jesus is love.
John 13:34 Jesus tells us to love one another.
John 13:35 Jesus says love for each other is the mark of us being His disciples.
1 John 4:10 says that because Jesus loves us, we are to love each other.
It is very clear that as followers of Jesus we are to love others as He loves us.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is loving as Jesus loved.
The Core Value of Grace
Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us that we are saved by grace through faith.
Romans 6:14 tells us that sin has no power over us because we are under grace, not the law.
2 Peter 3:18 tells us to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus.
1 Timothy 1:14 tells us that grace should overflow from us.
It is clear that as followers of Jesus we are to allow His grace to permeate us.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is manifesting the grace of God to the world.
The Core Value of Mercy
Romans 9:16 tells us God has mercy.
Ephesians 2:4 tells us that God is rich in mercy.
Hebrews 4:16 tells us that we can have confidence to draw near to God’s throne and receive mercy.
1 Peter 1:3 describes God’s mercy as great.
It is clear that we as followers of Jesus have received mercy and thus to show mercy to others.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is receiving God’s mercy and showing that kind of mercy to others.
The Core Value of Acceptance
In Luke 19 Jesus invites Himself to Zacchaeus’ house for lunch showing His acceptance of Zacchaeus.
In Matthew 8 a leper asks Jesus to make him clean and Jesus reaches out and touches him and makes him clean.
In Luke 7 Jesus allows a woman with a bad reputation to anoint His feet with perfume and declares her forgiven of her sins.
In Matthew 9 Jesus has dinner with a group of tax collectors and tells the Pharisees that He came to call sinners.
It is clear that as followers of Jesus we are to not judge others on outward appearance but as Jesus does, on what is in their hearts.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is accepting all people who desire to follow Jesus no matter who they are or what their backgrounds are.
The Core Value of Hope
Romans 5:2 tells us to rejoice in the hope we have in the glory or presence of God.
Romans 5:5 tells us that we have hope because the Holy Spirit has poured it into our hearts.
Ephesians 1:18 tells us that we have been called to hope in Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:8 tells us that our hope is the salvation we have through Jesus.
It is clear that as followers of Jesus we are to live with hope in Jesus, who He is, and what He has done.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living in our Hope, Jesus.
The Core Value of Truth
In John 14:6 Jesus tells us that He is the way, the truth, and the life.
In John 8:31-32 Jesus tells us that abiding in His word will give us the truth and truth will make us free.
In Ephesians 4:15 we are told to speak the truth in love.
In Colossians 1:5 we are told that the word of God, the gospel, is truth.
It is clear that as followers of Jesus we can know the truth and live out that truth.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing, speaking, and living the truth.
The church is a community of faith in Jesus that demonstrates love, grace, and mercy, which results in the acceptance of all who come seeking Jesus, and living in hope and truth.
In Grace Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,
Joe
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