Radical surgery goes after the problem with every tool possible. It is radical because the problem or threat is so great that it is time to get over being timid. There are no half measures that will do. This is not an incremental approach. It’s all or nothing.

Christ’s radical love is an “all in” kind of love. There is nothing halfway or timid about it. Here’s what Paul writes in Romans:

“…at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:6-8 NIV)

Christ’s death reveals his radical love. It is a love that isn’t focused on the easy to love, but it reaches the “powerless…ungodly…sinners.” It isn’t a love that finds a particular group to love it is love that reaches out to all. Paul wrote “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) “All” are the target for this love. This isn’t love that shows up in a hug or kind words but in a broken body and shed blood. That is radical!

What does radical love do? It meets each of us in our sin, guilt and shame…beckoning us to come to the cross with Christ who has taken everyone’s sin, guilt and shame there ahead of us. At the cross we are united with him and in his resurrection we are freed from sin and death…no longer to be slaves to it. It is a radical surgery.

Again we read Paul:

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:4-11 NIV)

This is radical love given for you. It is love that removes the problem and the threat so radically that we come out of it anew…a new life and a new identity. “…count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

We are passionate about Christ’s radical love because it has changed us.

Pastor Scott Hackler

An over the top fan takes it another step.  They dress the part, show up at every game and dress in their fan-ware (jerseys, head gear, pennants, pompoms and face paint).  They tailgate but they don’t let the tailgating keep them from the game.  Over the top fans raise the team flag in front of their house so that everyone in the neighborhood knows. They live and die with the team and when the season is over they long for the next to begin.  

Are you a fan…an over the top fan? 

Did you ever think of yourself as a fan of Jesus? 

I suspect that some of you are thinking that the word “Fan” sort of trivializes the relationship you have with Jesus.  It isn’t exactly a traditional picture of a disciple of Jesus.  I can’t say that I ever heard someone in my very formal religious upbringing use the term Fan when talking about him.  None of my seminary professors ever declared themselves fans or asked me if I was a fan…but then surprisingly being passionate about faith wasn’t exactly something that we talked about in those academic hallways. 

Truth is, I am a fan of Jesus and enough of an over the top fan to end up a pastor.  I’m a fan because I have encountered the living Lord in my life in powerful ways…transforming ways.  And my hope for you, for all of the Joy! community and the people who live around us is that we would all be over the top fans.

– Pastor Scott

You first encounter God’s grace (reaching UP). Then it wells up each time you engage with the Joy! community (reaching IN), until you overflow and express your joy through serving others and sharing your faith (reaching OUT).

What are fans passionate about at Joy! Church? Here are a few quotes:

Why are we PASSIONATE?

For the love of Christ urges (“compels” NIV) us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all… And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them.  (2 Cor. 5:14-15 NRSV)

Paul, who believed that the Jesus followers were heretics lead by a false Messiah, was changed by his encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus.  He was transformed by God’s mercy and grace, living no longer for himself but for Christ.   

He describes that transformation…“So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” (2 Cor. 5:17 NRSV).  Paul’s life was filled with struggle, trials and hardship.  His motivation throughout was the radical love of Christ that compelled and urged (5:14) him on.  That love is shown most clearly in Jesus’ death on the cross “for all.” 

Our passion, motivation and identity are founded in faith that Jesus died and was raised for all…for us!  The love he has given us is why we are passionate!  As we fervently pursue a life that reflects Jesus’ love for us, his glory is shown and “new creation” happens in our lives and in others we touch.

Do you have a story to share about receiving Christ’s love?

How has it made your life different…passionate?

– Pastor Scott Hackler

“To be a joy-filled, Christ centered community that is PASSIONATE about reaching our neighbors with Christ’s radical love so that all our lives are changed.”

 It describes us: 

We are a “joy-filled, Christ centered community that is PASSIONATE”!  We reflect God’s passion for us and for the world.

 It states our purpose: 

“Reaching…with Christ’s radical love.”  This is the greatest gift we have to share and we can do it through our actions and words.

 It says who we are called to reach: 

“neighbors”…the people God has put in our lives and within our sphere of influence both inside and outside the church.  These are people in our extended family, our neighbors, the people we work with and others whose lives we can touch in some way.

 It states the result of carrying out our calling: 

“…all our lives are changed.”  Not only will those we reach be changed but we will be changed by the encounter and the process.  We will grow and be encouraged to reach farther as we impact the lives of others.  As our neighbors come to know Christ’s radical love more fully, their lives will be richer and their passions more in line with the things God cares about. 

That’s the mission of the Joy! community.  How do you see yourself in that mission?  What passions are alive in you because of your faith?  What has been the impact of Christ’s radical love on you that you can share?  Who is the neighbor you will reach?  What life changes do you hope to see?

Pastor Scott Hackler

“God is building a home. He’s using us all—irrespective of how we got here—in what he is building. He used the apostles and prophets for the foundation. Now he’s using you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone that holds all the parts together. We see it taking shape day after day—a holy temple built by God, all of us built into it, a temple in which God is quite at home.”

Ephesians 2:20-22 (The Message)

How is God using you as a brick in his church? What can you do to build a temple in which God is at home?

A few months ago, we hired an architectural firm to help us create a master plan for Joy! Our facilities team is excited to invite you to attend a visioning session on Sunday, November 15, following 10:30 worship services. This session will give all of you an opportunity to share your input and help us define the plan for our church facilities.

You can also share your prayers and hopes for our ministry space by leaving a comment to this post!

“May your eyes be open toward this temple day and night, this place of which you said you would put your Name there. May you hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place.” (2 Chronicles 6:20)

Read comments about this goal written by Discipleship Goal Team members, and add your own comments.

“But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.” (Hebrews 5:16)