Introduction
The idea that there was some sort of physical love between Mary Magdalene and Jesus has been around for a while.
The gospel of Philip, a Gnostic gospel dated around the third century and assigned Philip’s name to give it reader credibility.
It was not a first century witness to the life of Jesus at all, yet it stated that Jesus kissed Mary.
This was no eyewitness account as there are no eyewitness accounts even remotely pointing to Mary Magdalene being the wife of Jesus.
If one were to read the gospel of Philip, we would find it to be a series of nonsensical unrelated random utterances
Describing the Biblical Text
This text this morning describes Mary as being a woman from whom Jesus cast 7 demons.
Does she come up any where else in the NT?
Yes, she does.
We find Mary at the foot of the cross when Jesus was crucified.
Then we find her at the empty tomb on that first Easter morning.
She was without a doubt a significant part of Jesus ministry and she was certainly worthy of being mentioned in the gospel.
How we see her following Jesus is also very interesting because she is there to support His ministry at some pretty key times.
And, in some pretty key ways.
Narrate the Contextual application
Looking at this passage, we se service.
We see someone whose life was changed by Jesus and who was willing to follow Him with her whole heart and life.
She really did love Jesus but it as not with the love of a wife for a husband, it was the love of a devoted follower.
There was no eros, there was agape.
She is showing us how we are to love Jesus.
Life Application (thesis)
She was a life that was changed and she was able to demonstrate gratitude.
Has your life been changed through Jesus Christ?
Has God made a difference in your life?
How are you giving thanks for that difference?
What is your life saying about Jesus as you seek to live for Him if you seek to live for Him?
As we serve Christ, we are to demonstrate gratitude when God changes our lives.
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
From this text and in the life of Mary Magdalene, we will see three demonstrations this morning.
God’s grace always requires a response.
I am sure that you have all heard the saying, “When I say Jump, I expect you to say how high.”
As God’s grace comes to us, it does not come waiting for a reply from us, it comes moving to reply through faith repentance and then works that honor Christ.
As we see the description of Mary in this passage she is following Jesus.
Mary was hanging out with the disciples sort of in the in crowd around Jesus because she had received the grace of God.
Seven demons had gone out from her and we have to assume that they were cast out by Jesus because of the text saying healed of evil spirits.
So, Mary was healed of her evil Spirits and thusly followed Jesus.
She was healed of that as result of God’s grace.
She was simply a woman that Jesus chose to heal without merit or without desserts.
Think of it this way, how could a demon possessed woman do anything to earn or merit a second look from God.
We have to attribute the response of God to Mary as an act of mercy because of His grace.
I am about to say something here that will cause some of us to take a double think.
Grace is not an offer that God makes to us.
Once His grace is realized in someone’s life, they are exercising faith in Christ.
Remember what it says in Ephesian 2:8, “For by grace are you saved.”
Grace is operand of salvation, not the offer.
The offer is the preaching of the gospel itself but Grace is the effective moving of the Spirit of God in salvation that arises from the preaching of the gospel.
Grace is that which moves some to respond to the message of the cross while others reject Christ.
Where the gospel has been refused, ignored, or unheard, grace has not been present.
Grace is always effective in its call.
Grace is always heeded as it is the unmerited favor of God on those who are being saved.
I heard a pastor make this statement once that God looked down and saw some potential in a six year old boy and offered his grace to me.
First of all, if God saw potential and then offered grace, it would not be grace.
The potential would become merit and at that point, the concept of grace is lost.
God looked down and bestowed grace on that six year old little boy who did the only thing that he could; he became a follower of Jesus Christ.
All the other stuff like becoming a preacher or realizing his potential are just manifestations of the discipleship process whether he realizes the process or not.
Mary is doing al that she can do.
She is following Christ.
Her discipleship process carries her to the cross and to the empty tomb.
Where does our process carry us?
Does it carry us to church on Sunday nights?
Does it carry us to a neighbor’s door or to the side of a hurting or ailing person?
God’s Grace requires a response.
God’s grace always requires a testimony.
We just discussed why Mary was following Jesus.
She experienced His grace.
Now, what was her experience in coming to Christ?
\Seven Demons had to move out because they had been evicted and they didn’t even have any junk to leave on the curb.
It is funny how Luke is able to record that since he is the gospel writer who was not with Jesus as a disciple.
But what does that tell us?
It tells us that Mary had a testimony.
She was able to recount the grace of God and the conversion of her life to following Christ.
I wonder can we do that.
Hopefully we know where God’s grace entered our lives and exactly when God’s forgiveness was realized.
Most of us should have similar testimonies.
Some will be testimonies of wild stuff and some will be testimonies of being raised in church.
But, all the testimonies in here will have one thing in common.
I was a sinner separated from God by my Sins
The punishment for my sins was received by Jesus when he died on the cross for me.
I received Jesus into my life and asked Him to forgive me and he did.
I now know for certain that I have eternal life.
If you would like to have that testimony right now, you can pray the following prayer.
Heads bowed and eyes closed.
Dear Lord, I know that my life has been displeasing to you and that I deserve your wrath and your judgment. I know that your grace is working at this moment and I acknowledge that right now. I receive you Jesus and repent of my sins. I will make you the lord of my life and give you control.
Thank you for dying on the cross for me and for saving me today. Amen
What else do we see here this morning?
God’s grace always requires gracious giving.
Here they go asking for money again.
You folks know that I don’t ever bring up money unless we are promoting a special offering or the text simply deals with the subject.
Today, the text deals with the subject.
Look at verse three
The text could also be read, they were ministering with the best they had.
Have you ever considered giving as ministry?
I think that giving is ministry.
I also think it is worship and that we rob ourselves of worshiping in our giving if we give through the Sunday School.
But our text clearly shows us that giving is ministry or service.
What does that mean?
If a follower of Christ is not giving to the work of Christ, they are not serving Christ.
Followers of Jesus do not tithe because it is some kind of obligation or legal requirement for it is not.
Tithing is an expression of love for the Lord and His ministry.
I love my wife so when she tells me that she wants another African daisy for the front flower bed, I give it to her.
We love Jesus and he asks us to give to His work on this earth through the church.
These people who followed Jesus that we see in this text gave to Jesus on top of the fact that they gave a tithe to the temple which was over 20% per year.
Now, here they are supporting Jesus out of their first and their best.
It is amazing what Grace can and will do in your and for you.
Grace requires gracious giving.
So if our giving is not joyful and gracious, then there may well be a lack of Grace in our lives and if grace is not present, then Christ is not present either.
So just how grateful are we that God has done a work of grace in our lives?
Have we responded in faith to God’s grace?
Have we testified to others?
Are we giving as an expression of ministry and worship?
Let’s resolve this morning to let grace be demonstrated in our lives just like was in Mary Magdalene's.
That way there will be no confusion and the world will see the church as the bride of Christ.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
The DivinityCode -- Jesus, The Divine -- John 1:1
Introduction
Book and Movie phenomenon
Bestseller
Even though it is fiction, it is a deceptive book in terms of the so-called facts that it presents.
Because of this phenomenon, there has been another wave of controversy surrounding a group of bone boxes known as ossuaries where they have found the bones of people with the following names: Jesus, Mary, Judas, and Joseph. These are names that are very common in Jerusalem during the time of Jesus. Oh, did I mention this mass grave was found in Jerusalem? Did you know that Jesus was a Galilean and would have been entombed in Galilee if he was to be buried with His family? The strongest point that there is to prove that this is the Jesus of the Bible is that the DNA evidence shows that the bones in the Jesus box are unrelated to the bones in the Mary box.
Isn’t it funny how it is okay to try and disprove and to ridicule the Christian faith.
The Da Vinci Code is just such an attempt as well.
It is cleverly disguised as a novel with a very engaging plot and story.
Describing the Biblical Text
Some of the premises that are raised in the book are some of the very same things that John wrote his gospel to dispute.
It centered on a heresy called Gnosticism.
It was a first century cult that focused on knowledge.
Gnostics are really hard to pin down or to define specifically because they had beliefs that were all over the place.
The word Gnostic comes from the Greek word gnosis which means knowledge.
One thing that can be said is that the Gnostics did not believe that Jesus could be of the same nature and the same essence as God because all things that were matter were not spirit and were thus evil or bad.
So, John opens with a direct affront to that thinking.
In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.
Narrate the Contextual application
John’s point?
Jesus is eternal; Jesus is divine.
How we live our lives as followers of Jesus depends on our understanding of Him.
Life Application (thesis)
What is the truth that we see here?
Jesus is God.
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
Let’s take a look at this passage this morning and see what attributes are covered here.
The first attributes we will see here is that Jesus is eternal.
This week, we have seen two news events take place. The first was the dropping of the charges against the Duke Lacrosse players. The second was the firing of Don Imus. All week, these stories have dominated the news. But that is how the news works. Something is found that will appeal to current popular culture and the journalists run with it; the talk shows talk about it; and the panel discussions wear it out. I want to just mention a couple of things to you and see if you remember them when they ere the big thing. William Jewell; Catoe Cailin; Claus von Bulow; El Niño. All of these were fly by night huge stories of their day.
William Jewell was wrongly accused of being the Atlanta Olympic bomber. Catoe Calin was living in OJ’s house when murders took place. Claus von Bulow was accused of killing his wife and El Niño was the Pacific Ocean phenomenon that let to freakish weather in 1998. Some of these things, so huge in the news at the time, are so far removed from us now that we don’t remember them.
That is because they are temporal things.
But, Jesus is eternal.
When we look at our text this morning we see something that is really intriguing.
First of all, John uses a really unusual term to refer to Jesus.
In the beginning was the word.
This was a term that was borrowed from the philosophers of the day and it was used in a variety of ways.
But, as we see it used here, it referred to that which is absolute, something the Gnostics who were the object of the teaching of John would readily understand.
The Word was in the beginning.
John was saying that Jesus existed even before the creation.
He was not speaking of the incarnate Jesus that was born in the manger.
He was speaking of the eternal Son of God who has eternally existed in the heavens as the second person of the trinity.
Genesis 1 refers to Him when God says let Us make man in Our image.
We see Him in Colossians, Hebrews and in the third verse of this very chapter as the force and the impetus behind the creation.
And, we see Him described as the eternal plan of God for our redemption.
In Revelation He is called the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
The lamb slain refers to the death of Jesus for the penalty of our sins.
The Bible says that we are separated from God because of the things that we have done to displease Him.
But, God loves us and sent His son Jesus to pay the price of our sin.
The wages of sin is death but eh gift of God is eternal life.
Jesus received our wages that we might receive His life.
To have that life, the bible tells us that we need to receive Jesus into our hearts and make Him the master of our lives.
If that is your desire this morning, you can pray to receive Jesus.
All heads bowed and all eyes closed.
If it your desire to know Christ and to follow Him today you can pray this prayer.
Dear Lord, I know I have done things to displease you. I have done things worthy of eternal condemnation and death. I am sorry for those things and desire to follow you. I receive you Jesus into my life to be my savior and my Lord. Thank you for dying for me on the cross and saving me today. Amen
If that was your prayer this morning, then Jesus, the divine, the eternal Son of God now resides in your life.
This then would take us to our second point whis is the same as our thesis statement.
Jesus is God.
As we begin to look at this point, we will need to examine some church history.
In AD 325, the emperor Constantine called for a council of church leaders to commence in a city called Nicea. In the early 4th century there was a theologian named Arius who was teaching that Jesus was not of the same essence and substance as God and this teaching was creating problems in the church. There was doctrinal disagreement that needed to be settled because it was disrupting the Roman Empire. 318 theologians and elders attended the council and discussed the deity of Jesus Christ.
According to the novel, the scholar professor Teabing it was at this meeting that Jesus’ status was upgraded from a mere mortal man and great teacher to being the son of God.
Unfortunately, the history in the novel is as much a work of fiction as the novel itself.
At the time Nicea was called, Arius was viewed as the heretic
His was the disrupting teaching.
Let’s look at the real evidence.
The Gospel of John which we have opened before us this morning is dated around AD 95.
He verse that we see this morning opening this book says that in the beginning was the word and the word was with God.
If it stopped there, we would be in trouble.
But it continues to say, “And the word was God.
John is not mincing words.
He is absolutely positively declaring the divinity of Jesus in this verse.
If that is not enough to be convinced of John’s point, in John 10:30, John records Jesus saying this, “I and the Father are one.”
The book of Philippians, written about AD60 has this to say in chapter two. “HHHHHk
Have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus who did not consider his equality with God something to be grasped.”
The books of Colossians and Hebrews describe Jesus as creator and specifically give him the divine attributes of God.
Paul quotes Joel 2:32 in Romans 10:13, “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” The word Lord in Joel is the sacred tetragramaton, the four letter sacred name of God. The context of Romans clearly makes the object of that statement Jesus.
In Romans, Paul is clearly equating Jesus with the Lord Jehovah.
All of this is in the first century and Nicea does not take place until the fourth century but the novel says that until Nicea Jesus was viewed as a mortal man.
What was the conclusion at Nicea?
Their conclusion was that Jesus was of the same essence and nature as God.
Here is a quote from the Nicene Creed, “We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father.
The conclusion of the delegates matched the three previous centuries of Christian thought from the Apostles to church Fathers like Ignatius, Polycarp, and Clement of Rome.
One more tidbit.
Professor Teabing also stated in the novel that the vote on the deity of Christ passed by a relatively close vote.
I am sure that there is someone somewhere who believes that 313 to 5 is close.
By the way, that is a higher percentage vote than the vote calling me here by 1.4 percent.
Anyone who blindly accepts the history portrayed in The Da Vinci Code is unfortunately being duped.
This morning as we see Jesus as the Eternal God as viewed by the early church and her apostles, I pray that we will have the confidence to face each day knowing that the one who died for us and who lives in us is God Almighty.
Book and Movie phenomenon
Bestseller
Even though it is fiction, it is a deceptive book in terms of the so-called facts that it presents.
Because of this phenomenon, there has been another wave of controversy surrounding a group of bone boxes known as ossuaries where they have found the bones of people with the following names: Jesus, Mary, Judas, and Joseph. These are names that are very common in Jerusalem during the time of Jesus. Oh, did I mention this mass grave was found in Jerusalem? Did you know that Jesus was a Galilean and would have been entombed in Galilee if he was to be buried with His family? The strongest point that there is to prove that this is the Jesus of the Bible is that the DNA evidence shows that the bones in the Jesus box are unrelated to the bones in the Mary box.
Isn’t it funny how it is okay to try and disprove and to ridicule the Christian faith.
The Da Vinci Code is just such an attempt as well.
It is cleverly disguised as a novel with a very engaging plot and story.
Describing the Biblical Text
Some of the premises that are raised in the book are some of the very same things that John wrote his gospel to dispute.
It centered on a heresy called Gnosticism.
It was a first century cult that focused on knowledge.
Gnostics are really hard to pin down or to define specifically because they had beliefs that were all over the place.
The word Gnostic comes from the Greek word gnosis which means knowledge.
One thing that can be said is that the Gnostics did not believe that Jesus could be of the same nature and the same essence as God because all things that were matter were not spirit and were thus evil or bad.
So, John opens with a direct affront to that thinking.
In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.
Narrate the Contextual application
John’s point?
Jesus is eternal; Jesus is divine.
How we live our lives as followers of Jesus depends on our understanding of Him.
Life Application (thesis)
What is the truth that we see here?
Jesus is God.
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
Let’s take a look at this passage this morning and see what attributes are covered here.
The first attributes we will see here is that Jesus is eternal.
This week, we have seen two news events take place. The first was the dropping of the charges against the Duke Lacrosse players. The second was the firing of Don Imus. All week, these stories have dominated the news. But that is how the news works. Something is found that will appeal to current popular culture and the journalists run with it; the talk shows talk about it; and the panel discussions wear it out. I want to just mention a couple of things to you and see if you remember them when they ere the big thing. William Jewell; Catoe Cailin; Claus von Bulow; El Niño. All of these were fly by night huge stories of their day.
William Jewell was wrongly accused of being the Atlanta Olympic bomber. Catoe Calin was living in OJ’s house when murders took place. Claus von Bulow was accused of killing his wife and El Niño was the Pacific Ocean phenomenon that let to freakish weather in 1998. Some of these things, so huge in the news at the time, are so far removed from us now that we don’t remember them.
That is because they are temporal things.
But, Jesus is eternal.
When we look at our text this morning we see something that is really intriguing.
First of all, John uses a really unusual term to refer to Jesus.
In the beginning was the word.
This was a term that was borrowed from the philosophers of the day and it was used in a variety of ways.
But, as we see it used here, it referred to that which is absolute, something the Gnostics who were the object of the teaching of John would readily understand.
The Word was in the beginning.
John was saying that Jesus existed even before the creation.
He was not speaking of the incarnate Jesus that was born in the manger.
He was speaking of the eternal Son of God who has eternally existed in the heavens as the second person of the trinity.
Genesis 1 refers to Him when God says let Us make man in Our image.
We see Him in Colossians, Hebrews and in the third verse of this very chapter as the force and the impetus behind the creation.
And, we see Him described as the eternal plan of God for our redemption.
In Revelation He is called the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
The lamb slain refers to the death of Jesus for the penalty of our sins.
The Bible says that we are separated from God because of the things that we have done to displease Him.
But, God loves us and sent His son Jesus to pay the price of our sin.
The wages of sin is death but eh gift of God is eternal life.
Jesus received our wages that we might receive His life.
To have that life, the bible tells us that we need to receive Jesus into our hearts and make Him the master of our lives.
If that is your desire this morning, you can pray to receive Jesus.
All heads bowed and all eyes closed.
If it your desire to know Christ and to follow Him today you can pray this prayer.
Dear Lord, I know I have done things to displease you. I have done things worthy of eternal condemnation and death. I am sorry for those things and desire to follow you. I receive you Jesus into my life to be my savior and my Lord. Thank you for dying for me on the cross and saving me today. Amen
If that was your prayer this morning, then Jesus, the divine, the eternal Son of God now resides in your life.
This then would take us to our second point whis is the same as our thesis statement.
Jesus is God.
As we begin to look at this point, we will need to examine some church history.
In AD 325, the emperor Constantine called for a council of church leaders to commence in a city called Nicea. In the early 4th century there was a theologian named Arius who was teaching that Jesus was not of the same essence and substance as God and this teaching was creating problems in the church. There was doctrinal disagreement that needed to be settled because it was disrupting the Roman Empire. 318 theologians and elders attended the council and discussed the deity of Jesus Christ.
According to the novel, the scholar professor Teabing it was at this meeting that Jesus’ status was upgraded from a mere mortal man and great teacher to being the son of God.
Unfortunately, the history in the novel is as much a work of fiction as the novel itself.
At the time Nicea was called, Arius was viewed as the heretic
His was the disrupting teaching.
Let’s look at the real evidence.
The Gospel of John which we have opened before us this morning is dated around AD 95.
He verse that we see this morning opening this book says that in the beginning was the word and the word was with God.
If it stopped there, we would be in trouble.
But it continues to say, “And the word was God.
John is not mincing words.
He is absolutely positively declaring the divinity of Jesus in this verse.
If that is not enough to be convinced of John’s point, in John 10:30, John records Jesus saying this, “I and the Father are one.”
The book of Philippians, written about AD60 has this to say in chapter two. “HHHHHk
Have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus who did not consider his equality with God something to be grasped.”
The books of Colossians and Hebrews describe Jesus as creator and specifically give him the divine attributes of God.
Paul quotes Joel 2:32 in Romans 10:13, “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” The word Lord in Joel is the sacred tetragramaton, the four letter sacred name of God. The context of Romans clearly makes the object of that statement Jesus.
In Romans, Paul is clearly equating Jesus with the Lord Jehovah.
All of this is in the first century and Nicea does not take place until the fourth century but the novel says that until Nicea Jesus was viewed as a mortal man.
What was the conclusion at Nicea?
Their conclusion was that Jesus was of the same essence and nature as God.
Here is a quote from the Nicene Creed, “We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father.
The conclusion of the delegates matched the three previous centuries of Christian thought from the Apostles to church Fathers like Ignatius, Polycarp, and Clement of Rome.
One more tidbit.
Professor Teabing also stated in the novel that the vote on the deity of Christ passed by a relatively close vote.
I am sure that there is someone somewhere who believes that 313 to 5 is close.
By the way, that is a higher percentage vote than the vote calling me here by 1.4 percent.
Anyone who blindly accepts the history portrayed in The Da Vinci Code is unfortunately being duped.
This morning as we see Jesus as the Eternal God as viewed by the early church and her apostles, I pray that we will have the confidence to face each day knowing that the one who died for us and who lives in us is God Almighty.
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Easter, April 4 -- A Living Hope -- 1 Peter 1:3-9
Because of our Easter Programs, I do not get to preach on Easter Sunday Morning so I preached on Wednesday Night instead. Here is the text of that message.
Most of us have probably seen those “Back to the Future” movies with Michael J. Fox. One of the consistent themes in all three of the movies is that the main character, Marty McFly, has to go back in time to correct a wrong and in so doing, changes the future in which he lives. In the first movie, he goes back in time and accidentally prevents his mom and dad from meeting which of course would end his very existence. So, he spends the entire movie trying to make sure that his mother and father meet to insure his survival.
We see from that, that the future depends very much on the past.
Peter was writing to a group of scattered Christians who had been displaced because of their faith.
He refers to them as aliens and those scattered in the first verse indicating that they were persecuted for their faith and subsequently forced to move.
Often times, faith in Christ was not an easy life for those who became followers of Christ.
There was tribulation and persecution that even led to death.
Yet, the early church endured and continued and even thrived.
As a matter of fact, we are the result of their perseverance.
Because of their past faithfulness, we are their future as the faith has been handed down for these two thousand years.
Yet, as we look at this text, we can see that Peter is dealing with a past that would actually enable these believers to face the reality of their present in spite of the persecution.
But it was more than a past; it was the past that would relate to their future.
It is in this relating the past to the future that we find our hope as well.
What is it that gives us our strength as we deal with the struggles and difficulties of life?
It is the living hope that we have in Jesus Christ.
A relationship with Jesus Christ is essential to have a living hope that brings joy to every area of Life.
As we seek to study this text this morning, I hope that we will see three assurances that will give us strength to face the challenges of life.
The first assurance that we see is the power of the past.
We see in verse three that Peter is offering praise to God.
His praise is for God’s past action in the lives of these persecuted believers.
He had shown them mercy that poured from His abundance and gave them a new birth.
But, this being born again did more than just open their eyes to see the kingdom of God.
The new birth gave to them a living hope.
It does the same for us.
This is the key to this text.
When we receive Christ as our savior, we receive the hope that God pinned on the cross and secured through the resurrection.
Note the end of verse 3. [Read]
Jesus conquered death and it is in that power that our hope, our living hope is secured.
Because Jesus is alive, so is the hope that we have in him.
When we read about hope in the New Testament, we see that it means that we have an assured expectation.
Because of What God has done for us in the past, we have an assurance for the future.
Hope is not vague uncertainty; hope is assurance.
So the power of the past leads us to see the second assurance in the text which is the promise of the future
The past action that you have received Jesus Christ and trusted Him comes with a promise for your future.
That promise is an inheritance.
Look at v 4
As we look at the words that Peter uses to describe the inheritance that we have, one thing we see for sure.
It is permanent.
The first of these is imperishable.
This means that it is not subject to decay.
It cannot deteriorate over time.
My wife is convinced that turkey starts going bad the second it comes out of the oven. We can eat some of the leftovers the day after thanksgiving and then a sandwich from the turkey on Saturday. But, come Sunday, that bird has perished and we won’t get anymore of it.
The inheritance is imperishable and undefiled.
It is perfect.
There are no estate taxes, no clouded titles, and there is nothing to mar its beauty.
It is unfading.
Think about those spring flowers that will be coming up and blooming in a month or so.
Think about what they look like in the middle of the summer when the color has either washed out or the petals have come off to be replaced by seedpods.
The beauty of God’s inheritance for us never fades.
That is explained in the next part that tells us that it is reserved in heaven for us.
In John 14, Jesus says, “In my father’s house are many mansions if it were not so I would have told you. I go and prepare a place for you.”
Our inheritance is prepared by Jesus.
He secured it for us in the resurrection from the dead.
He went to heaven to prepare it for us and now, He is keeping it reserved for us.
Our inheritance is Christ purchased, Christ produced, and Christ protected.
And, He does it all for us.
We have seen the power of the past and the promise of the future but we are missing one key section here.
That of course is the present.
That living hope which promised that inheritance has to bear itself out in our daily live.
It has to be relevant.
So, the power of the past and the promise of the future give us the protection of the present.
Look how we who receive God’s inheritance are described in verse 5. [Read]
We have to consider what it is to be protected or guarded.
We know that it does not mean that we are immune from struggles.
We see in this very text that these believers were distressed by various trials or manifold temptations.
They struggled.
They were not immune from it and neither are we.
But, we have the power of God to protect us.
Not to get us around it, but to get us through it.
We look to the past and we see a savior that conquered death by rising from the dead and that gives us hope.
We look to the future and we see a place prepared for us in Glory and that gives us hope.
We look to the present and we see that God is taking us through the struggles of life and that gives us hope.
Listen to Romans 5:
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. 3And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 4and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; 5and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
That living hope that was given in the past and promises the future, sustains us in the present.
Not only does it sustain us, it works to prove our faith.
In verse 7 we see that. [Read]
Gold tried by fire is perishable but the living hope tried by life is not and Jesus will receive His praise and honor when we see Him.
And, by proving our faith it magnifies our faith.
Verse 8 tells us that even though we do not see Him and have not seen Him, we love Him and believe in Him.
He is there never leaving nor forsaking us as we go through the trials of life.
As these believers were struggling with persecution, Peter was not encouraging them to feel sorry for themselves; he was telling them to rejoice.
V6, v8
Rejoice in the living hope that Jesus provided as you received Him.
Rejoice in the living hope that promises you an inheritance with God.
Rejoice in the living hope that gives you strength and peace to face life and all of its struggles head on.
This is the present for which we live and it is the present that prepares us for the future in eternity with Christ.
The tourist watched as the logger separated logs in river. Some he let go downstream and some he kept in the culling pond. The vacationer asked the logger what was wrong with the logs he was holding. He said nothing. The ones I send downstream are the valley trees which have been protected from storms and severe weather. Their grain is coarse so I send them down to be sawed into standard boards. The ones I keep up here are from the mountaintop. They have been blown by strong storm winds from the time they were saplings and because of that they are harder and have finer beautiful grain. We keep them out for the finer detailed work rather than to be made into plain boards.
The storms we face now are simply preparing us for the Lord’s fine work.That fine work will be made manifest as we receive the inheritance promised by His living Hope.
Most of us have probably seen those “Back to the Future” movies with Michael J. Fox. One of the consistent themes in all three of the movies is that the main character, Marty McFly, has to go back in time to correct a wrong and in so doing, changes the future in which he lives. In the first movie, he goes back in time and accidentally prevents his mom and dad from meeting which of course would end his very existence. So, he spends the entire movie trying to make sure that his mother and father meet to insure his survival.
We see from that, that the future depends very much on the past.
Peter was writing to a group of scattered Christians who had been displaced because of their faith.
He refers to them as aliens and those scattered in the first verse indicating that they were persecuted for their faith and subsequently forced to move.
Often times, faith in Christ was not an easy life for those who became followers of Christ.
There was tribulation and persecution that even led to death.
Yet, the early church endured and continued and even thrived.
As a matter of fact, we are the result of their perseverance.
Because of their past faithfulness, we are their future as the faith has been handed down for these two thousand years.
Yet, as we look at this text, we can see that Peter is dealing with a past that would actually enable these believers to face the reality of their present in spite of the persecution.
But it was more than a past; it was the past that would relate to their future.
It is in this relating the past to the future that we find our hope as well.
What is it that gives us our strength as we deal with the struggles and difficulties of life?
It is the living hope that we have in Jesus Christ.
A relationship with Jesus Christ is essential to have a living hope that brings joy to every area of Life.
As we seek to study this text this morning, I hope that we will see three assurances that will give us strength to face the challenges of life.
The first assurance that we see is the power of the past.
We see in verse three that Peter is offering praise to God.
His praise is for God’s past action in the lives of these persecuted believers.
He had shown them mercy that poured from His abundance and gave them a new birth.
But, this being born again did more than just open their eyes to see the kingdom of God.
The new birth gave to them a living hope.
It does the same for us.
This is the key to this text.
When we receive Christ as our savior, we receive the hope that God pinned on the cross and secured through the resurrection.
Note the end of verse 3. [Read]
Jesus conquered death and it is in that power that our hope, our living hope is secured.
Because Jesus is alive, so is the hope that we have in him.
When we read about hope in the New Testament, we see that it means that we have an assured expectation.
Because of What God has done for us in the past, we have an assurance for the future.
Hope is not vague uncertainty; hope is assurance.
So the power of the past leads us to see the second assurance in the text which is the promise of the future
The past action that you have received Jesus Christ and trusted Him comes with a promise for your future.
That promise is an inheritance.
Look at v 4
As we look at the words that Peter uses to describe the inheritance that we have, one thing we see for sure.
It is permanent.
The first of these is imperishable.
This means that it is not subject to decay.
It cannot deteriorate over time.
My wife is convinced that turkey starts going bad the second it comes out of the oven. We can eat some of the leftovers the day after thanksgiving and then a sandwich from the turkey on Saturday. But, come Sunday, that bird has perished and we won’t get anymore of it.
The inheritance is imperishable and undefiled.
It is perfect.
There are no estate taxes, no clouded titles, and there is nothing to mar its beauty.
It is unfading.
Think about those spring flowers that will be coming up and blooming in a month or so.
Think about what they look like in the middle of the summer when the color has either washed out or the petals have come off to be replaced by seedpods.
The beauty of God’s inheritance for us never fades.
That is explained in the next part that tells us that it is reserved in heaven for us.
In John 14, Jesus says, “In my father’s house are many mansions if it were not so I would have told you. I go and prepare a place for you.”
Our inheritance is prepared by Jesus.
He secured it for us in the resurrection from the dead.
He went to heaven to prepare it for us and now, He is keeping it reserved for us.
Our inheritance is Christ purchased, Christ produced, and Christ protected.
And, He does it all for us.
We have seen the power of the past and the promise of the future but we are missing one key section here.
That of course is the present.
That living hope which promised that inheritance has to bear itself out in our daily live.
It has to be relevant.
So, the power of the past and the promise of the future give us the protection of the present.
Look how we who receive God’s inheritance are described in verse 5. [Read]
We have to consider what it is to be protected or guarded.
We know that it does not mean that we are immune from struggles.
We see in this very text that these believers were distressed by various trials or manifold temptations.
They struggled.
They were not immune from it and neither are we.
But, we have the power of God to protect us.
Not to get us around it, but to get us through it.
We look to the past and we see a savior that conquered death by rising from the dead and that gives us hope.
We look to the future and we see a place prepared for us in Glory and that gives us hope.
We look to the present and we see that God is taking us through the struggles of life and that gives us hope.
Listen to Romans 5:
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. 3And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 4and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; 5and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
That living hope that was given in the past and promises the future, sustains us in the present.
Not only does it sustain us, it works to prove our faith.
In verse 7 we see that. [Read]
Gold tried by fire is perishable but the living hope tried by life is not and Jesus will receive His praise and honor when we see Him.
And, by proving our faith it magnifies our faith.
Verse 8 tells us that even though we do not see Him and have not seen Him, we love Him and believe in Him.
He is there never leaving nor forsaking us as we go through the trials of life.
As these believers were struggling with persecution, Peter was not encouraging them to feel sorry for themselves; he was telling them to rejoice.
V6, v8
Rejoice in the living hope that Jesus provided as you received Him.
Rejoice in the living hope that promises you an inheritance with God.
Rejoice in the living hope that gives you strength and peace to face life and all of its struggles head on.
This is the present for which we live and it is the present that prepares us for the future in eternity with Christ.
The tourist watched as the logger separated logs in river. Some he let go downstream and some he kept in the culling pond. The vacationer asked the logger what was wrong with the logs he was holding. He said nothing. The ones I send downstream are the valley trees which have been protected from storms and severe weather. Their grain is coarse so I send them down to be sawed into standard boards. The ones I keep up here are from the mountaintop. They have been blown by strong storm winds from the time they were saplings and because of that they are harder and have finer beautiful grain. We keep them out for the finer detailed work rather than to be made into plain boards.
The storms we face now are simply preparing us for the Lord’s fine work.That fine work will be made manifest as we receive the inheritance promised by His living Hope.
Monday, April 02, 2007
Palm Sunday -- The Crushing of Christ -- Isaiah 53:4-12
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Introduction
Process of the purpose of God in Jesus Ministry through Luke: 1:31-33; 2:52; 3:21; 9:51; 19:28; 23:39-45; 24:46
We see even in the life of Jesus, that God was working through a redemptive process.
Describing the Biblical Text
The text that we are seeing this morning is a very important component of that process as we look specifically at the sufferings of Jesus Christ.
As a matter of fact, this is a very difficult text and some of us will leave here this morning thinking to ourselves, that just cannot be right.
Isaiah is prophetically speaking of the death of Jesus.
It would be the implication of that death that we see as benefit but as we see the sovereign purpose of God unfold, we might be stunned to see the truth that is in this passage.
Narrate the Contextual application
As we look at this text, Isaiah the prophet is describing someone who is suffering.
This is called the suffering servant passage in Isaiah.
The reason for that is apparent.
As we read this text we see suffering don’t we?
What strikes me about this text is that it was read by an instructor in a Hassidic Jewish school and one of the students went home and complained to his parents that the teachers were reading the Christian Bible in class.
But, the context of this passage is that very thing.
It is the suffering of Jesus Christ.
It is the value of that suffering in the life of everyone who is a servant of God and follower of Jesus Christ.
Life Application (thesis)
In verse 5 of this passage, we see the following phrase: the chastening of our well being or our peace was upon Him.
We could not and would not have peace with God if Jesus were not chastised on our behalf.
Hence, our peace with God comes from Jesus’ death on the cross.
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
As we look at this text on this Palm Sunday, we will grasp three certainties that will give us insight in the death of Jesus and the peace that comes to us from His crucifixion.
The first certainty is this.
The cross was a cruel means of punishment and death.
As we explore that idea I wan to read you an article that was written by John Macarthur, pastor of Grace community Church in California.
Cause of death: Death normally came from slow suffocation. The victim's body would hang in such a way that the diaphragm was severely constricted. In order to exhale, he would have to push up with the feet so that the diaphragm would have room to move. Ultimately fatigue, intense pain, or muscle atrophy would render the victim unable to do this, and he would finally die from the lack of oxygen. Dr. Truman Davis, a medical doctor who studied the physical effects of crucifixion, described how this would have occurred in Jesus' crucifixion: As the arms fatigue, great waves of cramps sweep over the muscles, knotting them in deep, relentless, throbbing pain. With these cramps comes the inability to push Himself upward. Hanging by His arms, the pectoral muscles are paralyzed and the intercostal muscles are unable to act. Air can be drawn into the lungs, but cannot be exhaled. Jesus fights to raise Himself in order to get even one short breath. Finally, carbon dioxide builds up in the lungs and in the blood stream and the cramps partially subside. Spasmodically He is able to push Himself upward to exhale and bring in the life-giving oxygen . . . Hours of this limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-rending cramps, intermittent partial asphyxiation, searing pain as tissue is torn from His lacerated back as He moves up and down against the rough timber; then another agony begins. A deep crushing pain in the chest as the pericardium slowly fills with serum and begins to compress the heart . . . now almost over—the loss of tissue fluid has reached a critical level—the compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick sluggish blood into the tissues—the tortured lungs are making a frantic effort to gasp in small gulps of air. The markedly dehydrated tissues send their flood of stimuli to the brain. ["The Crucifixion of Jesus: The Passion of Christ from a Medical Point of View," Arizona Medicine, vol. 22, no. 3 (March 1965), pp. 183-87.]
A surface reading of this text shows us that very idea doesn’t it?
Listen to some of the words that Isaiah used to convey the suffering of the Lord’s servant Christ: Smitten, pierced, crushed, chastened, scourging, oppressed, afflicted, slaughter, shearers, and cut off.
There is absolutely nothing is there that sounds as though it could in any way be a pleasing pr a pleasant experience.
When we think about the price that Jesus paid for us, we need to remember how cruel and harsh his death for us was on that cross.
We cannot let 2000 years of history, a soft and sedentary culture, and the iconic cross as a piece of jewelry stand between us and the death of Jesus in all its harshness and its cruelty.
Our second certainly should be that which strikes home for us in light of the cruel reality of the death of Jesus.
The cross was where Jesus took our place.
When we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, I always like to read from 1 Corinthians 11 because of the poignancy of the description of Jesus’ words there.
This is my body which is broken for you.
The breaking of the bread reminds us of the breaking of the flesh of Jesus.
How often have we viewed the crucifixion of Jesus as an event that was removed from us by thousands of years of history?
We need to see it as an event in which we were directly participating.
The breaking of the body of Christ was the punishment of God being meted out against our sin.
As we look at this text we see so many things that point to Jesus being our substitute on the cross.
He bore our griefs; He carried our sorrows; He was pierced for our transgressions; He was chastised for our peace; The Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all; rendering Himself as a guilt offering; He will justify the many bearing their iniquities.
How many different ways can it be said that Jesus received the punishment that we deserved on the cross.
This is why the Bible says that he wages of sin is death.
For the follower of Jesus Christ it is not his death but rather the death of Jesus that paid that ultimate price.
This is why we must know that the death of Jesus on the cross was a payment that we could never make and still live.
It would not only kill us physically, but we would also die eternally since the punishment for our sin is also spiritual death.
I hope that the cross is real to you this morning.
I hope that you see it as the only moment in history that gives any of us any hope.
The cruel cross where Jesus took our place should pull us to it in our desire to serve God.
If that is your desire this morning, to know the forgiveness and the love that comes from a relationship with Christ, you can pray to receive Christ right now.
All heads bowed and all eyes closed.
Dear Lord, I know that my sins are hurtful to you and that you sent Jesus to take my place and receive my punishment. Now I want to receive Jesus and make him the Lord of my life. Thank you Lord for the cross and the salvation it brings, Amen
Now, there is a third certainty that we must see in this text and it is very important.
The cross, where Jesus was crushed was pleasing to God.
Could you imagine sending your child to die and not even for anything that he had done and then being pleased by it?
This really puts us in a difficult place because we know that God hates sin.
God hates sin so much that he condemns the sinner to eternal torment and separation from Him.
Sin is a very affront to the holy nature of God.
What do we see about Jesus?
He who knew no sin became sin.
In this text, Jesus bore our iniquities.
He became the very thing that God hated and God turned his back on Jesus.
Jesus cried out from the cross, “My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me.
And God crushed his Son on the cross.
In verse 10 we see that God was pleased to crush him.
How could that be?
How could God be pleased to crush His Son?
He could be pleased to crush his son because it accomplished His purpose in redemption for us.
Crushing His son accomplished salvation according to the eternal plan of God.
We cannot grasp how something so heinous could be so pleasing to God except to say that in the working of all things for good to those who love God, this worked to our good.
Peter’s description in Acts 2 is great: this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.
Here we have both the sovereign plan of God and the sinfulness of man serving to accomplish God’s plan for His eternal glory.
The human mind has such a tough time comprehending that.
That is often why we hear preachers say things like God does not cause anything bad to happen to you, He only allows it and then uses it for his glory.
Well Peter said that Jesus was delivered by God’s plan by sinful men.
Are we going to say that God did not cause the cross?
No, God was pleased to crush His son that you might have a place in the eternal plan of God also.
The cross was a terrible place of punishment and death for Jesus but it was purposed by God.
Jesus took our punishment on the cross to accomplish God’s salvation.
This pleased God and accomplished His will for you.
As we ponder the cross this week, let’s remember the cruel death Jesus suffered in order to bring us to God.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him.
It is that peace with God that I pray we all know this Easter season.
To download this message, right click here and select save target as
Introduction
Process of the purpose of God in Jesus Ministry through Luke: 1:31-33; 2:52; 3:21; 9:51; 19:28; 23:39-45; 24:46
We see even in the life of Jesus, that God was working through a redemptive process.
Describing the Biblical Text
The text that we are seeing this morning is a very important component of that process as we look specifically at the sufferings of Jesus Christ.
As a matter of fact, this is a very difficult text and some of us will leave here this morning thinking to ourselves, that just cannot be right.
Isaiah is prophetically speaking of the death of Jesus.
It would be the implication of that death that we see as benefit but as we see the sovereign purpose of God unfold, we might be stunned to see the truth that is in this passage.
Narrate the Contextual application
As we look at this text, Isaiah the prophet is describing someone who is suffering.
This is called the suffering servant passage in Isaiah.
The reason for that is apparent.
As we read this text we see suffering don’t we?
What strikes me about this text is that it was read by an instructor in a Hassidic Jewish school and one of the students went home and complained to his parents that the teachers were reading the Christian Bible in class.
But, the context of this passage is that very thing.
It is the suffering of Jesus Christ.
It is the value of that suffering in the life of everyone who is a servant of God and follower of Jesus Christ.
Life Application (thesis)
In verse 5 of this passage, we see the following phrase: the chastening of our well being or our peace was upon Him.
We could not and would not have peace with God if Jesus were not chastised on our behalf.
Hence, our peace with God comes from Jesus’ death on the cross.
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
As we look at this text on this Palm Sunday, we will grasp three certainties that will give us insight in the death of Jesus and the peace that comes to us from His crucifixion.
The first certainty is this.
The cross was a cruel means of punishment and death.
As we explore that idea I wan to read you an article that was written by John Macarthur, pastor of Grace community Church in California.
Cause of death: Death normally came from slow suffocation. The victim's body would hang in such a way that the diaphragm was severely constricted. In order to exhale, he would have to push up with the feet so that the diaphragm would have room to move. Ultimately fatigue, intense pain, or muscle atrophy would render the victim unable to do this, and he would finally die from the lack of oxygen. Dr. Truman Davis, a medical doctor who studied the physical effects of crucifixion, described how this would have occurred in Jesus' crucifixion: As the arms fatigue, great waves of cramps sweep over the muscles, knotting them in deep, relentless, throbbing pain. With these cramps comes the inability to push Himself upward. Hanging by His arms, the pectoral muscles are paralyzed and the intercostal muscles are unable to act. Air can be drawn into the lungs, but cannot be exhaled. Jesus fights to raise Himself in order to get even one short breath. Finally, carbon dioxide builds up in the lungs and in the blood stream and the cramps partially subside. Spasmodically He is able to push Himself upward to exhale and bring in the life-giving oxygen . . . Hours of this limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-rending cramps, intermittent partial asphyxiation, searing pain as tissue is torn from His lacerated back as He moves up and down against the rough timber; then another agony begins. A deep crushing pain in the chest as the pericardium slowly fills with serum and begins to compress the heart . . . now almost over—the loss of tissue fluid has reached a critical level—the compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick sluggish blood into the tissues—the tortured lungs are making a frantic effort to gasp in small gulps of air. The markedly dehydrated tissues send their flood of stimuli to the brain. ["The Crucifixion of Jesus: The Passion of Christ from a Medical Point of View," Arizona Medicine, vol. 22, no. 3 (March 1965), pp. 183-87.]
A surface reading of this text shows us that very idea doesn’t it?
Listen to some of the words that Isaiah used to convey the suffering of the Lord’s servant Christ: Smitten, pierced, crushed, chastened, scourging, oppressed, afflicted, slaughter, shearers, and cut off.
There is absolutely nothing is there that sounds as though it could in any way be a pleasing pr a pleasant experience.
When we think about the price that Jesus paid for us, we need to remember how cruel and harsh his death for us was on that cross.
We cannot let 2000 years of history, a soft and sedentary culture, and the iconic cross as a piece of jewelry stand between us and the death of Jesus in all its harshness and its cruelty.
Our second certainly should be that which strikes home for us in light of the cruel reality of the death of Jesus.
The cross was where Jesus took our place.
When we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, I always like to read from 1 Corinthians 11 because of the poignancy of the description of Jesus’ words there.
This is my body which is broken for you.
The breaking of the bread reminds us of the breaking of the flesh of Jesus.
How often have we viewed the crucifixion of Jesus as an event that was removed from us by thousands of years of history?
We need to see it as an event in which we were directly participating.
The breaking of the body of Christ was the punishment of God being meted out against our sin.
As we look at this text we see so many things that point to Jesus being our substitute on the cross.
He bore our griefs; He carried our sorrows; He was pierced for our transgressions; He was chastised for our peace; The Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all; rendering Himself as a guilt offering; He will justify the many bearing their iniquities.
How many different ways can it be said that Jesus received the punishment that we deserved on the cross.
This is why the Bible says that he wages of sin is death.
For the follower of Jesus Christ it is not his death but rather the death of Jesus that paid that ultimate price.
This is why we must know that the death of Jesus on the cross was a payment that we could never make and still live.
It would not only kill us physically, but we would also die eternally since the punishment for our sin is also spiritual death.
I hope that the cross is real to you this morning.
I hope that you see it as the only moment in history that gives any of us any hope.
The cruel cross where Jesus took our place should pull us to it in our desire to serve God.
If that is your desire this morning, to know the forgiveness and the love that comes from a relationship with Christ, you can pray to receive Christ right now.
All heads bowed and all eyes closed.
Dear Lord, I know that my sins are hurtful to you and that you sent Jesus to take my place and receive my punishment. Now I want to receive Jesus and make him the Lord of my life. Thank you Lord for the cross and the salvation it brings, Amen
Now, there is a third certainty that we must see in this text and it is very important.
The cross, where Jesus was crushed was pleasing to God.
Could you imagine sending your child to die and not even for anything that he had done and then being pleased by it?
This really puts us in a difficult place because we know that God hates sin.
God hates sin so much that he condemns the sinner to eternal torment and separation from Him.
Sin is a very affront to the holy nature of God.
What do we see about Jesus?
He who knew no sin became sin.
In this text, Jesus bore our iniquities.
He became the very thing that God hated and God turned his back on Jesus.
Jesus cried out from the cross, “My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me.
And God crushed his Son on the cross.
In verse 10 we see that God was pleased to crush him.
How could that be?
How could God be pleased to crush His Son?
He could be pleased to crush his son because it accomplished His purpose in redemption for us.
Crushing His son accomplished salvation according to the eternal plan of God.
We cannot grasp how something so heinous could be so pleasing to God except to say that in the working of all things for good to those who love God, this worked to our good.
Peter’s description in Acts 2 is great: this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.
Here we have both the sovereign plan of God and the sinfulness of man serving to accomplish God’s plan for His eternal glory.
The human mind has such a tough time comprehending that.
That is often why we hear preachers say things like God does not cause anything bad to happen to you, He only allows it and then uses it for his glory.
Well Peter said that Jesus was delivered by God’s plan by sinful men.
Are we going to say that God did not cause the cross?
No, God was pleased to crush His son that you might have a place in the eternal plan of God also.
The cross was a terrible place of punishment and death for Jesus but it was purposed by God.
Jesus took our punishment on the cross to accomplish God’s salvation.
This pleased God and accomplished His will for you.
As we ponder the cross this week, let’s remember the cruel death Jesus suffered in order to bring us to God.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him.
It is that peace with God that I pray we all know this Easter season.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
In Heart Pursuit -- Pursuing the Process -- Revelation 2:1-7
Introduction
Don’t you hate it when people twist your words? When I was a child we used to have what we called a joke. It went like this. If your friend was eating lunch, and he said, “I love the soup.” Somebody would immediately reply, “Why don’t you marry it.”
We use the word love in some really strange ways. We call an adulterous relationship a “love affair.” We love to do certain things, go certain places, and eat certain foods. In the Greek NT there are four different words that can be translated love. There is a chapter in the New Testament that is called the love chapter.
This passage as much as anything forces us to think about love.
It especially forces us to think about our first love.
And, maybe it is not really even our first love. It is the first love of a generation that has now gone.
Describing the Biblical Text
Jesus is speaking to seven churches to illustrate how they are either succeeding or failing in their calling and in their ministries.
The first of these 7 churches is the church at Ephesus.
Ephesus is an interesting congregation because in the NT it is probably the most covered of all the churches.
It is mentioned in Acts, it has its own letter, the letter to Timothy was to help him in leading the Ephesian church, and here we see it mentions as one of the 7 churches that were chosen to receive the Apocalypse.
Narrate the Contextual application
Jesus has a message to the church that is both comforting and yet it is a warning.
It is dire warning that if the church does not find what it lost, the church will disappear.
It is the kind of warning that we as a church must take very seriously if it comes our way.
It is the kind of warning that can serve to educate us in how we need to think.
Can we afford to lose or not to reclaim our first love?
Can we afford not to know what that first love is?
Life Application (thesis)
It is that first love that drove our church in the beginning.
It was that first love that caused us to unify behind purpose and to trust each other to each be the part of the body that Christ has called us to be.
We must reclaim the first love which drove our ministry in the beginning.
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
As we look at this text, there are three keys that we will need to use to unlock the door back to our first love.
We have to recognize those things which are confused for the first love.
We can see by this passage what the Ephesians did was to confuse the good for the best.
Let’s look at it again.
Jesus tells them, “I know your deeds and your toil and your perseverance and your intolerance for evil men.”
All these things are good aren’t they?
Chocolate cake is good; peach cobbler is good, apple crisp is good, Crème broulet is good but you certainly cannot live all your life nourished by that.
It is best to have a balanced diet.
Dessert is good, but nutrition is best.
It is possible for everything to look really good on the outside and for things to simply be not right.
I bet we can all think of times when we had a rotten Sunday Morning at home and came to church and nobody knew it because we were the happy smiling family that everybody expected us to be.
God sees through that.
God sees and knows our motivators and he knows our attitudes.
God knows when we get into a rut.
Think about the Ephesians.
They were a hard working church.
They did a lot of stuff.
When Jesus said that he knew their deeds and their toil, he was saying your works and your labor towards those works.
Jesus also tells them that they have a good handle on their teaching and doctrine as they are able to root out the heretics who would come in try to spoil the church through false teaching.
There aren’t 8 of 10 churches in America that could do that today.
These were all things that the Ephesians could be proud of.
Yet there was something wrong.
Jesus said, “This I have against you”
That is really an interesting statement.
The word against is a preposition and there is the implication of location there.
There other night, Valerie and I rearranged our home office and I cannot imagine how difficult that would have been if someone was leaning on the furniture the whole time.
Jesus is saying this leaving of the first love is against you.
It is like a weight that is pressing on you and keeping you from being able to move.
It is like the encumbrance of sin that slows us down as Paul described in Hebrews 12.
Something else we need to note here is the fact that they have left their first love.
Literally they threw it away.
How in the world could that happen to a church that was founded by Paul, pastored by Timothy, and probably John.
How could this happen?
When a church starts majoring on the minors and minoring on the majors, it is not that unthinkable.
But you know what; they were warned about this very thing.
Look with me for just a minute to Ephesians 4.
Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 2with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, 3being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.
Do you hear what that is?
It is a call to love each other and in that love, we become united in Christ.
We become like Christ who is one Lord and His Father who is One God and Father.
Now, this is what John 17:21 says that Jesus prays for us.
That they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us.
Throwing away the first love is throwing away the unity of the body of Christ in our church.
But that unity is sacred.
That unity is what paints us like Jesus.
It shows the world that we take seriously the command of God to love Him and to love our neighbors as ourselves.
We can never let our deeds take the place of our love
We can never let our perseverance take the place of our love.
Just to remind us that perseverance can come in many forms from enduring persecution and standing fast in it to doggedly holding on to empty traditions that do not in and of themselves communicate the gospel of Christ.
So let’s be clear.
We cannot let anything take the place of that first love.
We cannot throw it away.
This morning, I am going to do something a little different.
I am combining the second and third points of this message.
Here is key # 2
We have to remember from where we have fallen
In doing that we are able then to use the third key.
We have to repent and do the deeds we did at first.
Why combine these two keys?
Well, frankly, they both refer to the past.
From where have we fallen?
I don’t know.
I wasn’t even born in 1929 when the church was started.
I was only 3 years old when the church hit its peak in 1964.
But there was meteoric growth from 1929 to 1964.
We were standing tall.
We need to think about something when we think about recovering the past.
It is not about form and it is not about style.
It is easy to confuse the ideas but they are not synonymous.
The Ephesians had works
Verse 2 tells us that they had deeds toil and steadfastness
Then why is the church told to do works in verse 5.
The NASB says that it is the work you did at first.
But, it is more than that.
It is the first works.
That to me is very compelling.
The word first does not mean the beginning or the original but it means the primary.
Now the fact that they are a church here leads me to believe that they have not lost their love for Christ but they have left their love for the first deeds and replaced it with a love for the new deeds.
What were those first deeds that they loved so much that made them a vital church?
I think that if we were to look at the NT carefully, we would find three things that we could view at the first works or primary deeds.
The start of the church at Ephesus was a little unusual to say the least.
This was the church where the demon stripped and scared the seven sons of Sceva.
This was t he church that saw the miraculous healing at the drop of a hanky or a shadow of an apostle.
It was the church where Demetrius the silversmith stirred the people against the church claiming that they were slamming the idol god Artemus because the gospel was cutting into their financial livelihood.
Yet this was a special church as we pointed out before.
Paul came back to Ephesus and taught the elders to protect the church from false teachers so that he church would thrive.
But, the first deeds that we see in verse 5 are probably none of these things but it is alluded to by Demetrius.
The church was winning people to Christ.
It was sharing that clear message because there was excitement and enthusiasm to do it.
It is very difficult for a church that loses it motivation to find it again.
The question that Jesus asked about salt gaining its savor is important for us.
How do we get our savor back?
There was an architect who designed the new fellowship hall of our first church. When we were estimating the cost, he explained something to us. He said it would take us about 8-12 years to pay for the facility. The only exception is new churches. Somehow, they could almost always come up with the money at the start. He said that there was just something about new churches.
Like the Ephesians, new churches know how to get excited about the things of God.
They know how to prioritize because they have to.
Unnecessary deeds consume resources and talents that are needed to win the world to Jesus.
But, they were not a new church. They were the church that Paul had started some 40 or 50 years before.
Now they had to start thinking like a new church.
Is it time for us to do the same thing?
Have we ever thought about simply replanting ourselves?
What do we have to lose?
We once had that first love, a love for serving Christ and winning souls.
Starting over is the way to find that again.
We all started over once before when we trusted Christ.
Just like disciples have a process that eventually takes them back to the beginning, it is possible that churches do also.
I am willing to find out if we can do it.
It will be hard work, but looking to the future glory of this church will be much more rewarding than resting on our past.
Let’s remember our past, from where we have fallen and keep our lampstand in the hand of Jesus.
Don’t you hate it when people twist your words? When I was a child we used to have what we called a joke. It went like this. If your friend was eating lunch, and he said, “I love the soup.” Somebody would immediately reply, “Why don’t you marry it.”
We use the word love in some really strange ways. We call an adulterous relationship a “love affair.” We love to do certain things, go certain places, and eat certain foods. In the Greek NT there are four different words that can be translated love. There is a chapter in the New Testament that is called the love chapter.
This passage as much as anything forces us to think about love.
It especially forces us to think about our first love.
And, maybe it is not really even our first love. It is the first love of a generation that has now gone.
Describing the Biblical Text
Jesus is speaking to seven churches to illustrate how they are either succeeding or failing in their calling and in their ministries.
The first of these 7 churches is the church at Ephesus.
Ephesus is an interesting congregation because in the NT it is probably the most covered of all the churches.
It is mentioned in Acts, it has its own letter, the letter to Timothy was to help him in leading the Ephesian church, and here we see it mentions as one of the 7 churches that were chosen to receive the Apocalypse.
Narrate the Contextual application
Jesus has a message to the church that is both comforting and yet it is a warning.
It is dire warning that if the church does not find what it lost, the church will disappear.
It is the kind of warning that we as a church must take very seriously if it comes our way.
It is the kind of warning that can serve to educate us in how we need to think.
Can we afford to lose or not to reclaim our first love?
Can we afford not to know what that first love is?
Life Application (thesis)
It is that first love that drove our church in the beginning.
It was that first love that caused us to unify behind purpose and to trust each other to each be the part of the body that Christ has called us to be.
We must reclaim the first love which drove our ministry in the beginning.
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
As we look at this text, there are three keys that we will need to use to unlock the door back to our first love.
We have to recognize those things which are confused for the first love.
We can see by this passage what the Ephesians did was to confuse the good for the best.
Let’s look at it again.
Jesus tells them, “I know your deeds and your toil and your perseverance and your intolerance for evil men.”
All these things are good aren’t they?
Chocolate cake is good; peach cobbler is good, apple crisp is good, Crème broulet is good but you certainly cannot live all your life nourished by that.
It is best to have a balanced diet.
Dessert is good, but nutrition is best.
It is possible for everything to look really good on the outside and for things to simply be not right.
I bet we can all think of times when we had a rotten Sunday Morning at home and came to church and nobody knew it because we were the happy smiling family that everybody expected us to be.
God sees through that.
God sees and knows our motivators and he knows our attitudes.
God knows when we get into a rut.
Think about the Ephesians.
They were a hard working church.
They did a lot of stuff.
When Jesus said that he knew their deeds and their toil, he was saying your works and your labor towards those works.
Jesus also tells them that they have a good handle on their teaching and doctrine as they are able to root out the heretics who would come in try to spoil the church through false teaching.
There aren’t 8 of 10 churches in America that could do that today.
These were all things that the Ephesians could be proud of.
Yet there was something wrong.
Jesus said, “This I have against you”
That is really an interesting statement.
The word against is a preposition and there is the implication of location there.
There other night, Valerie and I rearranged our home office and I cannot imagine how difficult that would have been if someone was leaning on the furniture the whole time.
Jesus is saying this leaving of the first love is against you.
It is like a weight that is pressing on you and keeping you from being able to move.
It is like the encumbrance of sin that slows us down as Paul described in Hebrews 12.
Something else we need to note here is the fact that they have left their first love.
Literally they threw it away.
How in the world could that happen to a church that was founded by Paul, pastored by Timothy, and probably John.
How could this happen?
When a church starts majoring on the minors and minoring on the majors, it is not that unthinkable.
But you know what; they were warned about this very thing.
Look with me for just a minute to Ephesians 4.
Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 2with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, 3being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.
Do you hear what that is?
It is a call to love each other and in that love, we become united in Christ.
We become like Christ who is one Lord and His Father who is One God and Father.
Now, this is what John 17:21 says that Jesus prays for us.
That they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us.
Throwing away the first love is throwing away the unity of the body of Christ in our church.
But that unity is sacred.
That unity is what paints us like Jesus.
It shows the world that we take seriously the command of God to love Him and to love our neighbors as ourselves.
We can never let our deeds take the place of our love
We can never let our perseverance take the place of our love.
Just to remind us that perseverance can come in many forms from enduring persecution and standing fast in it to doggedly holding on to empty traditions that do not in and of themselves communicate the gospel of Christ.
So let’s be clear.
We cannot let anything take the place of that first love.
We cannot throw it away.
This morning, I am going to do something a little different.
I am combining the second and third points of this message.
Here is key # 2
We have to remember from where we have fallen
In doing that we are able then to use the third key.
We have to repent and do the deeds we did at first.
Why combine these two keys?
Well, frankly, they both refer to the past.
From where have we fallen?
I don’t know.
I wasn’t even born in 1929 when the church was started.
I was only 3 years old when the church hit its peak in 1964.
But there was meteoric growth from 1929 to 1964.
We were standing tall.
We need to think about something when we think about recovering the past.
It is not about form and it is not about style.
It is easy to confuse the ideas but they are not synonymous.
The Ephesians had works
Verse 2 tells us that they had deeds toil and steadfastness
Then why is the church told to do works in verse 5.
The NASB says that it is the work you did at first.
But, it is more than that.
It is the first works.
That to me is very compelling.
The word first does not mean the beginning or the original but it means the primary.
Now the fact that they are a church here leads me to believe that they have not lost their love for Christ but they have left their love for the first deeds and replaced it with a love for the new deeds.
What were those first deeds that they loved so much that made them a vital church?
I think that if we were to look at the NT carefully, we would find three things that we could view at the first works or primary deeds.
The start of the church at Ephesus was a little unusual to say the least.
This was the church where the demon stripped and scared the seven sons of Sceva.
This was t he church that saw the miraculous healing at the drop of a hanky or a shadow of an apostle.
It was the church where Demetrius the silversmith stirred the people against the church claiming that they were slamming the idol god Artemus because the gospel was cutting into their financial livelihood.
Yet this was a special church as we pointed out before.
Paul came back to Ephesus and taught the elders to protect the church from false teachers so that he church would thrive.
But, the first deeds that we see in verse 5 are probably none of these things but it is alluded to by Demetrius.
The church was winning people to Christ.
It was sharing that clear message because there was excitement and enthusiasm to do it.
It is very difficult for a church that loses it motivation to find it again.
The question that Jesus asked about salt gaining its savor is important for us.
How do we get our savor back?
There was an architect who designed the new fellowship hall of our first church. When we were estimating the cost, he explained something to us. He said it would take us about 8-12 years to pay for the facility. The only exception is new churches. Somehow, they could almost always come up with the money at the start. He said that there was just something about new churches.
Like the Ephesians, new churches know how to get excited about the things of God.
They know how to prioritize because they have to.
Unnecessary deeds consume resources and talents that are needed to win the world to Jesus.
But, they were not a new church. They were the church that Paul had started some 40 or 50 years before.
Now they had to start thinking like a new church.
Is it time for us to do the same thing?
Have we ever thought about simply replanting ourselves?
What do we have to lose?
We once had that first love, a love for serving Christ and winning souls.
Starting over is the way to find that again.
We all started over once before when we trusted Christ.
Just like disciples have a process that eventually takes them back to the beginning, it is possible that churches do also.
I am willing to find out if we can do it.
It will be hard work, but looking to the future glory of this church will be much more rewarding than resting on our past.
Let’s remember our past, from where we have fallen and keep our lampstand in the hand of Jesus.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
In Heart Pursuit -- Pursuing the Process -- Colossians 1:28-29
Introduction
I want us to begin this morning by finding the 36th chapter of the book of Job in the Old Testament. We have an idea what that book is about don’t we? Job is a godly man but is stricken with great loss and disease. Although he does not curse God and die, his pity party is one for the books. But this morning I want us to see something else in this book that some people might actually overlook.
Job 36:27-28: “For He draws up the drops of water, they distill rain from the mist, which the clouds pour down, they drip upon man abundantly.”
What a short but loaded passage. It describes the rain cycle.
What does it really show?
It shows that rain is a process.
Describing the Biblical Text
When we look at the Bible carefully, we find all sorts of processes don’t we?
We have the process of creation. God was getting the ready for man by moving from void and without form to abundant with plant and animal life to benefit man and glorify God.
Remember when Jesus ascended that he gave the disciples some pretty specific instructions.
He outlined a process for where the gospel would be taken when He said you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the remotest parts of the earth.
He also gave a process for making disciples that involves 3 parts: going, baptizing (winning the lost), and teaching.
Narrate the Contextual application
Our text this morning is a process.
Paul’s process ends in presenting everyman complete in Christ.
The idea behind complete is finished or perfected.
We need to remember that Paul was a church starter.
He planted churches with this idea.
He did not see churches as simply fellowships of followers; he saw churches as places where believers were equipped for their service to Christ and where they exercised spiritual gifts.
Life Application (thesis)
The church is where people are prepared to meet Jesus.
They are prepared through learning and serving.
As the church, God wants us to be moving people who know Jesus toward completeness in Him.
If we are moving people toward completion in Christ, that means that we are doing what?
We are following a process.
But, have we ever taken the time to sit down and to define our process?
What should be the important parts of the process?
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
This morning we will seek to examine this text and then to define the parts of the process that we as a church need to pursue.
We proclaim the message of Jesus.
Nothing is any more basic to what we do than that.
People should hear that message in everything we do.
The message of Jesus should permeate the church.
Most of you drove or rode in a car this morning to get here.
Think about your ride if your car had no engine in it.
There would be nothing to power the car and you would probably not even open the door of the car to get in.
As necessary as an engine is to a car, the message is all the more necessary to the church.
For what would a church be if it did not have the message of Jesus?
Basically, that message is this.
Man is sinful and because of that he has displeased God in his disobedience and is separated from God.
The only way that any person can find favor with God is through His Son, Jesus Christ.
You might be in need to day of knowing Christ because you have sensed your separation from Him.
Jesus gave his life and paid the penalty for our offenses that God would have required of us.
The payment that Jesus made for us was accomplished for our lives on the cross.
It can be applied today.
Heads bowed and eyes closed
If you want the new life that comes from a relationship with Jesus, pray this prayer surrendering your life to Christ today.
Heavenly Father, I know that I have offended you with my selfish desires and behavior. I am sorry for that and would like to live for you now. I am asking Jesus to come into my live and to rescue me from eternal separation from you. I am asking Jesus to be the Lord of my life. Thank you for saving me on the cross, Amen.
That is the starting point in the process.
We must begin by connecting people to Jesus.
But, how do we do that?
Where does that happen?
Do we know what we are supposed to be doing to see that happen?
We have got to have a well defined, congregationally understood point of entry for people who are coming here.
If we are going to connect them to Jesus, we must be aware of how that will happen.
Look at our text again.
We proclaim Christ but then we admonish and teach.
We place the mind of Jesus
Every time we have moved, we have done a good deal of the packing ourselves. It is interesting though to watch movers pack. They take a plate and the wrap it and they put it no more wrapping in a sturdy box called then they stuff more paper in the box so that everything in the box stays secure.
When we see the word admonish that word should jump up and bite us because that word literally means to place in the mind.
Let’s apply our dish metaphor to that. The movers securely place those dishes in the box so that they cannot be broken or damaged.
We should be placing Jesus in the minds of people so that they will never leave or be deterred from following him.
We admonish and we teach in order to move people through the process beyond their initial point of contact and their receiving Christ as their savior.
If we want to see people become Christlike, then we must be placing the mind of Christ within people.
I don’t believe that the scriptures are speaking arbitrarily when they say that were predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ.
There is the purpose for our lives clearly stated in Romans 8:28-30.
So as a church, what are we doing to conform people to the image of Christ?
How are we placing the mind of Christ in people?
These are questions that it is time to face.
It is time to look at the facts.
Who do we have in our church right now that came to Christ as a result of the ministries of this church who were not attending because they were already here as the children of church members?
Of those of you who are thinking that you fit that description did you come before or after 1980?
I hate to put you on the spot but if you became a follower of Jesus Christ here at Lexington Avenue after 1980, would you please stand?
So we have just ___ people who have come to Christ at LABC and who are still here in the last 27 years.
Remember back in January of 05 I shared with you that LABC had declined by 40% since 1990.
A lot of people think that our problems began in this church back in September of 05.
I have heard people say that IMPACT was the start of our problems and our fellowship fell apart then.
This church has been sick for a long time.
I’ll bet there are some of us who are sitting in this very auditorium thinking that it is time to get out of here before the whole thing collapses.
Believe me the thought enters my mind from time to time.
But I have to say something else.
The people of God are here.
The gospel of God is here.
The word of God is here.
And, The Spirit of God is here.
We have an enormous amount of potential here.
What de we have to do?
We need to use our energies better.
We need to clearly define our mission and the process by which we will accomplish our mission.
We have to put everything on the table and eliminate the fruitless.
We need search after those ministries that will provide a point of contact for people and will engage them into the process of discipleship wherein we place the mind of Christ into their minds.
But, we have to be together in doing that.
We cannot accomplish the work of Christ unless we are one vine.
We cannot accomplish the work of Christ unless we are carrying one pallet.
We cannot accomplish the work of Christ unless we are connecting to women at wells like Jesus did.
Our third Part of that process this morning is exactly what Paul’s goal was, Presenting to Jesus people for His glory.
That means we are teaching people to proclaim
We are teaching people to admonish
We are teaching people to teach
We are teaching more people to present more people to Jesus.
See this scarf? A friend of Alyson’s made it for her for Christmas. It started as a simple piece of yarn. It went through the process of being crocheted and then it was presented to Alyson as a gift. People are out there who need to hear the gospel. People who when taken through the process of discipleship will make a great gift for Jesus.
I want us to begin this morning by finding the 36th chapter of the book of Job in the Old Testament. We have an idea what that book is about don’t we? Job is a godly man but is stricken with great loss and disease. Although he does not curse God and die, his pity party is one for the books. But this morning I want us to see something else in this book that some people might actually overlook.
Job 36:27-28: “For He draws up the drops of water, they distill rain from the mist, which the clouds pour down, they drip upon man abundantly.”
What a short but loaded passage. It describes the rain cycle.
What does it really show?
It shows that rain is a process.
Describing the Biblical Text
When we look at the Bible carefully, we find all sorts of processes don’t we?
We have the process of creation. God was getting the ready for man by moving from void and without form to abundant with plant and animal life to benefit man and glorify God.
Remember when Jesus ascended that he gave the disciples some pretty specific instructions.
He outlined a process for where the gospel would be taken when He said you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the remotest parts of the earth.
He also gave a process for making disciples that involves 3 parts: going, baptizing (winning the lost), and teaching.
Narrate the Contextual application
Our text this morning is a process.
Paul’s process ends in presenting everyman complete in Christ.
The idea behind complete is finished or perfected.
We need to remember that Paul was a church starter.
He planted churches with this idea.
He did not see churches as simply fellowships of followers; he saw churches as places where believers were equipped for their service to Christ and where they exercised spiritual gifts.
Life Application (thesis)
The church is where people are prepared to meet Jesus.
They are prepared through learning and serving.
As the church, God wants us to be moving people who know Jesus toward completeness in Him.
If we are moving people toward completion in Christ, that means that we are doing what?
We are following a process.
But, have we ever taken the time to sit down and to define our process?
What should be the important parts of the process?
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
This morning we will seek to examine this text and then to define the parts of the process that we as a church need to pursue.
We proclaim the message of Jesus.
Nothing is any more basic to what we do than that.
People should hear that message in everything we do.
The message of Jesus should permeate the church.
Most of you drove or rode in a car this morning to get here.
Think about your ride if your car had no engine in it.
There would be nothing to power the car and you would probably not even open the door of the car to get in.
As necessary as an engine is to a car, the message is all the more necessary to the church.
For what would a church be if it did not have the message of Jesus?
Basically, that message is this.
Man is sinful and because of that he has displeased God in his disobedience and is separated from God.
The only way that any person can find favor with God is through His Son, Jesus Christ.
You might be in need to day of knowing Christ because you have sensed your separation from Him.
Jesus gave his life and paid the penalty for our offenses that God would have required of us.
The payment that Jesus made for us was accomplished for our lives on the cross.
It can be applied today.
Heads bowed and eyes closed
If you want the new life that comes from a relationship with Jesus, pray this prayer surrendering your life to Christ today.
Heavenly Father, I know that I have offended you with my selfish desires and behavior. I am sorry for that and would like to live for you now. I am asking Jesus to come into my live and to rescue me from eternal separation from you. I am asking Jesus to be the Lord of my life. Thank you for saving me on the cross, Amen.
That is the starting point in the process.
We must begin by connecting people to Jesus.
But, how do we do that?
Where does that happen?
Do we know what we are supposed to be doing to see that happen?
We have got to have a well defined, congregationally understood point of entry for people who are coming here.
If we are going to connect them to Jesus, we must be aware of how that will happen.
Look at our text again.
We proclaim Christ but then we admonish and teach.
We place the mind of Jesus
Every time we have moved, we have done a good deal of the packing ourselves. It is interesting though to watch movers pack. They take a plate and the wrap it and they put it no more wrapping in a sturdy box called then they stuff more paper in the box so that everything in the box stays secure.
When we see the word admonish that word should jump up and bite us because that word literally means to place in the mind.
Let’s apply our dish metaphor to that. The movers securely place those dishes in the box so that they cannot be broken or damaged.
We should be placing Jesus in the minds of people so that they will never leave or be deterred from following him.
We admonish and we teach in order to move people through the process beyond their initial point of contact and their receiving Christ as their savior.
If we want to see people become Christlike, then we must be placing the mind of Christ within people.
I don’t believe that the scriptures are speaking arbitrarily when they say that were predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ.
There is the purpose for our lives clearly stated in Romans 8:28-30.
So as a church, what are we doing to conform people to the image of Christ?
How are we placing the mind of Christ in people?
These are questions that it is time to face.
It is time to look at the facts.
Who do we have in our church right now that came to Christ as a result of the ministries of this church who were not attending because they were already here as the children of church members?
Of those of you who are thinking that you fit that description did you come before or after 1980?
I hate to put you on the spot but if you became a follower of Jesus Christ here at Lexington Avenue after 1980, would you please stand?
So we have just ___ people who have come to Christ at LABC and who are still here in the last 27 years.
Remember back in January of 05 I shared with you that LABC had declined by 40% since 1990.
A lot of people think that our problems began in this church back in September of 05.
I have heard people say that IMPACT was the start of our problems and our fellowship fell apart then.
This church has been sick for a long time.
I’ll bet there are some of us who are sitting in this very auditorium thinking that it is time to get out of here before the whole thing collapses.
Believe me the thought enters my mind from time to time.
But I have to say something else.
The people of God are here.
The gospel of God is here.
The word of God is here.
And, The Spirit of God is here.
We have an enormous amount of potential here.
What de we have to do?
We need to use our energies better.
We need to clearly define our mission and the process by which we will accomplish our mission.
We have to put everything on the table and eliminate the fruitless.
We need search after those ministries that will provide a point of contact for people and will engage them into the process of discipleship wherein we place the mind of Christ into their minds.
But, we have to be together in doing that.
We cannot accomplish the work of Christ unless we are one vine.
We cannot accomplish the work of Christ unless we are carrying one pallet.
We cannot accomplish the work of Christ unless we are connecting to women at wells like Jesus did.
Our third Part of that process this morning is exactly what Paul’s goal was, Presenting to Jesus people for His glory.
That means we are teaching people to proclaim
We are teaching people to admonish
We are teaching people to teach
We are teaching more people to present more people to Jesus.
See this scarf? A friend of Alyson’s made it for her for Christmas. It started as a simple piece of yarn. It went through the process of being crocheted and then it was presented to Alyson as a gift. People are out there who need to hear the gospel. People who when taken through the process of discipleship will make a great gift for Jesus.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
In Heart Pursuit -- Pursuing Souls -- Mark 2:1-13
To listen to this message click here
To download this message, right click here and select save target as
Introduction
News Story about man saving family from fire
Describing the Biblical Text
We see Jesus’ ministry growing in impact and popularity.
He is ministering in what was probably his ministry headquarters at Capernaum.
He was teaching and there were people who were trying to get in to see.
Isn’t it funny how the press always seems to be in the way?
That’s a little humor for those with the KJV.
Narrate the Contextual application
Now when we see the gist of the account before us we see something very important.
We see four friends who desired very much to get their friend to Jesus.
They were willing to go to extraordinary means to accomplish their goal.
These men knew that Jesus could change the life of the man who was brought to him and they were willing to take risks, sacrifice, and destroy someone’s roof to get their friend to Jesus.
Life Application (thesis)
When we look at this account from the ministry of Jesus, we can see that the actions of these four men are extremely important.
Are they important to me?
No, not really.
But, they are important to the paralytic on the pallet.
What are we willing to do to see others come to Jesus?
How are we willing to bring people to Jesus?
We must be willing to make whatever sacrifices are necessary to bring people to Jesus.
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
As we consider the kinds of sacrifices that we will make, there are some questions that will guide us along the way.
In most cases, questions represent the unknown but in this case, our questions represent the absolutes that must be considered as we seek to bring people to Jesus.
The first of these absolute questions is does the sacrifice lead to unity of purpose and process.
Let’s take a look at the sacrifices that these men were making.
First of all they were taking their time.
We all know how important time is don’t we?
It is something that we can never get back or never reclaim.
Once a moment is gone, it is gone forever.
Our time is valuable to us though.
We don’t like to see the phone number from work popping up on the caller ID when we are taking a day off.
We don’t like the coach changing practice from Tuesdays to Wednesdays when we have church.
These men sacrificed their strength.
How heavy is a paralytic?
He is as heavy as a man who can’t walk.
It took four of them to get him there.
When the crowd was too much, they did what?
They went up to the roof to continue what they started.
There purpose was clear.
Let’s get our friend to Jesus
We see here four men who were unified behind one purpose.
Their purpose kept them working together and it kept them from wasting time and strength.
Could you imagine this text if they were not unified in their desire to see their friend meet Jesus?
They would have seen the crowd in the house and someone would have been ready to bail.
“Looks like a big crowd, Oh well sorry Levi. Can’t say we didn’t try.”
What else might have happened?
They may have fussed over the way to get Levi to Jesus.
I say we roll on the straw wagon. No Matathias, we carry the Pallet. You’re both wrong, we drag him on a blanket.
I want us to see something else here also.
There was a sense of trust that these men had with each other.
They knew how much they could do with the others involved because they trusted each other.
But you now who had to be the most trusting?
Good old Levi
His life is in the hands of his four friends.
He knew that they would never allow anything harmful to happen to him.
We need to look at our selves in this area.
Can I be trusted to never allow anything harmful to take place in my family or in my church?
Maybe there has been a breech of trust between some of us and it needs to be healed.
I want to tell you honestly that if we do not trust each other as a church, we will never be able to unify behind a purpose or a goal.
I want to tell you about hounds, particularly fox hounds. During the down times when the dogs are not hunting, they are doing one of three things. They are eating or drinking, which is consuming resources. They are sleeping which is accomplishing nothing. They are fighting among themselves. But, once a fox enters the picture the dog go on the chase. There is nothing else the want to do or that will do until the fox is caught.
They become unified in their purpose.
That is the picture of the church that I hope that we can see painted here.
I would like to see us so focused on bringing people to Jesus that we will not allow for any distractions whatsoever and when distraction do come, we will hastily remove them and be about the business of the Lord in this place.
A couple of things then will have to happen.
The first is that we need to clearly understand our purpose here.
We cannot be divided or confused on that point.
It must be more than a statement that we print on our bulletin; it must be an ideal that we are willing to live and see fulfilled.
It must be the one thing that everyone, and that means everyone, strives to see accomplished.
We must be on the same page.
If the Sunday School is in this corner doing its own thing and the WOM’s are in that corner doing their thing and the youth group is in their corner doing their thing and there is no purpose to unite the things that are being done, then we have a lot of activity and very little accomplishment.
When we look at the four men with the paralytic we see action and not activity.
We see accomplishment not collapse.
Let’s look at a second absolute question.
Does the sacrifice lead to extraordinary measures for others?
Sacrifice that does not do anything is not sacrifice.
These men made a sacrifice that pointed to something.
It pointed to their willingness to give of themselves to their friend.
What if Levi was talking to the buds one day and asked them, “You know, I heard that Jesus will be teaching in town later. Could you take me to see him?”
Could you imagine if Jacob said, “Well, Levi, I would love to go see Jesus with you but it will better if I waited until you walk on your own.”
Levi doesn’t need Jacob’s help when he can walk, he needs Jacobs help while he is lame.
It is easy to serve Christ and to serve the church when everything is going well and everything just seems easy.
Sometimes things require a little extra effort though.
When things are not going well, it is easy to say that I’ll be there when we see some improvement in the situation.
But if we really think about that, it makes little sense.
We are needed much more when things are not so smooth.
That’s when our presence can make a real difference.
What if Jesus said, “I’ll be your savior as soon as you can get along without sinning?”
If we could get along without sinning, we wouldn’t need a savior.
But we do need a savior and your church needs your service especially when things are less than ideal.
When we sacrifice and serve, we make our church better.
It’s just like Jesus made is better by His sacrifice on the cross.
That sacrifice provided for us forgiveness for our sins and opened to us a relationship with God.
Would you like to have that relationship today?
Let’s bow our heads and close our eyes.
Repeat this prayer if yo8u desire forgiveness and to have a relationship with God.
Dear Lord, I know that my sins have kept me from knowing you. I need you in my life and I need a relationship with you. Please come into my life as I receive you to be my Lord and Savior. I ask your forgiveness and thank you for dying on the cross for me. You paid for my sins. Thank you for saving me this morning. In your name, Amen
Now, let’s look at our third absolute question.
Does the sacrifice lead to changed lives?
The four men and their extraordinary action of lowering their friend to Jesus changed his life forever.
His sins were forgiven and he was healed and walked away.
How are our ministries changing people’s lives?
Jesus changes lives and heals people’s hurts.
We really do not have that power apart from him.
But, when we are taking people to Him we will see life change regularly.
I remember when faith training was the momentary in program for evangelism.
You were not supposed to tell people that you prayed to receive Christ during your personal testimony.
You were to say, “I had a life changing experience.”
That was to accomplish two things.
The first was that it did not help someone who didn’t know Jesus from pretending by giving a correct answer that he had just heard.
It was also to let people know that Jesus would change their lives.
Nothing changes a life like Jesus.
If we believe that truth, then we need to be bringing people to Jesus and seeing them healed spiritually like our man on the pallet.
Remember Jesus did not make him walk first, he forgave his sins.
As far as anyone is concerned, forgiveness is the greater gift.
It is the gift that we pursue when we are pursuing souls to Jesus.
The paralytic picked up his pallet and walked away.
Jesus picked up our sins and put them away . . . forever.
To download this message, right click here and select save target as
Introduction
News Story about man saving family from fire
Describing the Biblical Text
We see Jesus’ ministry growing in impact and popularity.
He is ministering in what was probably his ministry headquarters at Capernaum.
He was teaching and there were people who were trying to get in to see.
Isn’t it funny how the press always seems to be in the way?
That’s a little humor for those with the KJV.
Narrate the Contextual application
Now when we see the gist of the account before us we see something very important.
We see four friends who desired very much to get their friend to Jesus.
They were willing to go to extraordinary means to accomplish their goal.
These men knew that Jesus could change the life of the man who was brought to him and they were willing to take risks, sacrifice, and destroy someone’s roof to get their friend to Jesus.
Life Application (thesis)
When we look at this account from the ministry of Jesus, we can see that the actions of these four men are extremely important.
Are they important to me?
No, not really.
But, they are important to the paralytic on the pallet.
What are we willing to do to see others come to Jesus?
How are we willing to bring people to Jesus?
We must be willing to make whatever sacrifices are necessary to bring people to Jesus.
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
As we consider the kinds of sacrifices that we will make, there are some questions that will guide us along the way.
In most cases, questions represent the unknown but in this case, our questions represent the absolutes that must be considered as we seek to bring people to Jesus.
The first of these absolute questions is does the sacrifice lead to unity of purpose and process.
Let’s take a look at the sacrifices that these men were making.
First of all they were taking their time.
We all know how important time is don’t we?
It is something that we can never get back or never reclaim.
Once a moment is gone, it is gone forever.
Our time is valuable to us though.
We don’t like to see the phone number from work popping up on the caller ID when we are taking a day off.
We don’t like the coach changing practice from Tuesdays to Wednesdays when we have church.
These men sacrificed their strength.
How heavy is a paralytic?
He is as heavy as a man who can’t walk.
It took four of them to get him there.
When the crowd was too much, they did what?
They went up to the roof to continue what they started.
There purpose was clear.
Let’s get our friend to Jesus
We see here four men who were unified behind one purpose.
Their purpose kept them working together and it kept them from wasting time and strength.
Could you imagine this text if they were not unified in their desire to see their friend meet Jesus?
They would have seen the crowd in the house and someone would have been ready to bail.
“Looks like a big crowd, Oh well sorry Levi. Can’t say we didn’t try.”
What else might have happened?
They may have fussed over the way to get Levi to Jesus.
I say we roll on the straw wagon. No Matathias, we carry the Pallet. You’re both wrong, we drag him on a blanket.
I want us to see something else here also.
There was a sense of trust that these men had with each other.
They knew how much they could do with the others involved because they trusted each other.
But you now who had to be the most trusting?
Good old Levi
His life is in the hands of his four friends.
He knew that they would never allow anything harmful to happen to him.
We need to look at our selves in this area.
Can I be trusted to never allow anything harmful to take place in my family or in my church?
Maybe there has been a breech of trust between some of us and it needs to be healed.
I want to tell you honestly that if we do not trust each other as a church, we will never be able to unify behind a purpose or a goal.
I want to tell you about hounds, particularly fox hounds. During the down times when the dogs are not hunting, they are doing one of three things. They are eating or drinking, which is consuming resources. They are sleeping which is accomplishing nothing. They are fighting among themselves. But, once a fox enters the picture the dog go on the chase. There is nothing else the want to do or that will do until the fox is caught.
They become unified in their purpose.
That is the picture of the church that I hope that we can see painted here.
I would like to see us so focused on bringing people to Jesus that we will not allow for any distractions whatsoever and when distraction do come, we will hastily remove them and be about the business of the Lord in this place.
A couple of things then will have to happen.
The first is that we need to clearly understand our purpose here.
We cannot be divided or confused on that point.
It must be more than a statement that we print on our bulletin; it must be an ideal that we are willing to live and see fulfilled.
It must be the one thing that everyone, and that means everyone, strives to see accomplished.
We must be on the same page.
If the Sunday School is in this corner doing its own thing and the WOM’s are in that corner doing their thing and the youth group is in their corner doing their thing and there is no purpose to unite the things that are being done, then we have a lot of activity and very little accomplishment.
When we look at the four men with the paralytic we see action and not activity.
We see accomplishment not collapse.
Let’s look at a second absolute question.
Does the sacrifice lead to extraordinary measures for others?
Sacrifice that does not do anything is not sacrifice.
These men made a sacrifice that pointed to something.
It pointed to their willingness to give of themselves to their friend.
What if Levi was talking to the buds one day and asked them, “You know, I heard that Jesus will be teaching in town later. Could you take me to see him?”
Could you imagine if Jacob said, “Well, Levi, I would love to go see Jesus with you but it will better if I waited until you walk on your own.”
Levi doesn’t need Jacob’s help when he can walk, he needs Jacobs help while he is lame.
It is easy to serve Christ and to serve the church when everything is going well and everything just seems easy.
Sometimes things require a little extra effort though.
When things are not going well, it is easy to say that I’ll be there when we see some improvement in the situation.
But if we really think about that, it makes little sense.
We are needed much more when things are not so smooth.
That’s when our presence can make a real difference.
What if Jesus said, “I’ll be your savior as soon as you can get along without sinning?”
If we could get along without sinning, we wouldn’t need a savior.
But we do need a savior and your church needs your service especially when things are less than ideal.
When we sacrifice and serve, we make our church better.
It’s just like Jesus made is better by His sacrifice on the cross.
That sacrifice provided for us forgiveness for our sins and opened to us a relationship with God.
Would you like to have that relationship today?
Let’s bow our heads and close our eyes.
Repeat this prayer if yo8u desire forgiveness and to have a relationship with God.
Dear Lord, I know that my sins have kept me from knowing you. I need you in my life and I need a relationship with you. Please come into my life as I receive you to be my Lord and Savior. I ask your forgiveness and thank you for dying on the cross for me. You paid for my sins. Thank you for saving me this morning. In your name, Amen
Now, let’s look at our third absolute question.
Does the sacrifice lead to changed lives?
The four men and their extraordinary action of lowering their friend to Jesus changed his life forever.
His sins were forgiven and he was healed and walked away.
How are our ministries changing people’s lives?
Jesus changes lives and heals people’s hurts.
We really do not have that power apart from him.
But, when we are taking people to Him we will see life change regularly.
I remember when faith training was the momentary in program for evangelism.
You were not supposed to tell people that you prayed to receive Christ during your personal testimony.
You were to say, “I had a life changing experience.”
That was to accomplish two things.
The first was that it did not help someone who didn’t know Jesus from pretending by giving a correct answer that he had just heard.
It was also to let people know that Jesus would change their lives.
Nothing changes a life like Jesus.
If we believe that truth, then we need to be bringing people to Jesus and seeing them healed spiritually like our man on the pallet.
Remember Jesus did not make him walk first, he forgave his sins.
As far as anyone is concerned, forgiveness is the greater gift.
It is the gift that we pursue when we are pursuing souls to Jesus.
The paralytic picked up his pallet and walked away.
Jesus picked up our sins and put them away . . . forever.
Friday, March 02, 2007
In Heart Pursuit -- Pursuing Relationships -- John 4:1-26
To listen to this message click here
To download this message, right click here and select save target as
Show Lunchroom clip from Sky High.
That little piece of video tells us a lot doesn’t it?
It is so very easy to put up walls and to avoid connecting to people.
Describing the Biblical Text
This is a familiar text to us as we have read it and even heard it preached from this pulpit
That is the amazing thing about the scriptures.
They are always new and fresh.
They are always timeless and as ready to inform us as they were ready to inform the great church men of the past like the apostle Peter, Timothy, Clement of Rome, Augustine, Aquinas, Calvin, Luther, Jonathan Edwards, Mordecai Ham, and Billy Graham.
What is Jesus up to in this passage?
He is following a path that is not seen as the appropriate path to follow.
He is pursuing a woman and contrary to pop culture, The Da Vinci Code, and now James Cameron, it was not Mary Magdalene.
Sometimes, Jesus only has to touch one life to make a huge difference in the lives of many others.
Narrate the Contextual application
Do we drive through the bad part of town at night?
Are we anxious to meet people who might challenge our sensibilities or do we avoid encounters that might make us uncomfortable.
Most of us have two or three close relationships that we can name in our minds right now.
Most of us are satisfied with that.
Why break our bubble and leave our comfort zone if we don’t have to?
But looking at Jesus, He had no bubble, no comfort zone, only the desire to connect with people or as He put it: to seek and to save the lost.
Life Application (thesis)
Where does that take us?
As we look this morning at Jesus and His encounter with this woman we see that He is pursuing relationships.
He knows that people are reached through relationships.
Consequently he brought this lesson to life for us.
We cannot be unavailable to the unlovable, the unreachable, the unattractive, or the unsaved.
If we believe that Jesus died for people no matter what their life situation is, then we will go whatever lengths we need to in order to bring them in to God’s Family.
We will explore 3 simple principles that will give us insight into connecting to people from the perspective of Jesus.
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
People are more important than my prejudices (or my preferences).
We know the story behind this text.
Jesus was traveling from Judea to Galilee and instead of following the tradition of men, and taking the long way around the land of Samaria, He took the shortcut and passed through it. He got thirsty and when He did, he stopped for a drink of water. As he waited, a woman of Samaria came to get water.
We know the story don’t we? She was there in the heat of the day because of her shame.
She could not go to the well when the other women were there because she was what we would call skank.
Now if we consider culture here, we see that in her day, her behavior was stigmatized as immoral.
Today, her behavior would be seen as normal.
Jesus engaged her in conversation in spite of her stigma.
He immediately began tearing down walls of separation.
Her question to Him shows us her surprise doesn’t it. “How is it that you being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?”
You can hear the astonishment in her question.
Jesus has just committed cultural taboo. He spoke to a woman and to a Samaritan.
It’s a good thing for Jesus that none of the Pharisees were there. Oh yeah, they were busy avoiding Samaria.
But they would have wanted to kill Jesus. Oh yeah, they did that anyway.
Jesus put Dynamite at the base of the cultural walls and blew them to smithereens.
He did this because he saw one lone immoral Samaritan woman as important.
Does this mean that we need to ask who is important to us?
I think the answer to that is obvious. Certainly we do.
Now remember, we are talking about connecting to people, pursuing relationships.
We need to be looking for people who need Jesus. I want to read a phrase to you and ask if you recognize it: To reach others with the good news of Jesus Christ and to become His completed disciples.
That for those of us who may have forgotten is our purpose statement.
There is a starting point and an ending point.
The gospel begins a process that is ended when we are completed disciples.
But the beginning point of that rests on a connection that begins with the idea that people are important.
Reality has exploded on television. Everything is about that right now. The whole thing began with MTV and their garbage show called Real World where they put TV cameras in a house where young men and women lived together. What came next were shows like Survivor, Who wants to Marry a Millionaire, Joe Shmoe, Endurance for Kids and numerous other attempts at reality.
Why would we have such an interest in the real reactions of people in stressful and uncomfortable situations?
I think it is because we have an innate curiosity to find out if others are like us behind closed doors.
When we see the outrageous behavior of others, we feel better about ourselves.
But you know what else. We don’t like Teflon or silverstone or whatever term you use for the phony front.
When people say that there are hypocrites in church, they are saying that it just ain’t real.
Our second principle is: A connection means that we will be honest with people.
Jesus was just himself at the well with the woman.
Anyone who was there to get water that day could have seen the pain in the life of the Samaritan woman.
Jesus saw her pain and opened up to her.
He entered into a relationship and then began to deal with her needs in an honest and forthright way.
Sometimes when we talk to people, we are so afraid to bring up issues that we stifle our ability to minister because we only connect with people superficially.
Jesus was honest with her.
First of all, he said that he had something for her.
It was living water.
I can see my dad dropping two alka seltzer tablets in a glass when I hear that term.
What did Jesus mean? It was the idea that we would have something in our lives that would flow out. Jesus gives us some help in 7:38-39. He who believes in me as the scripture said from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. But this He spoke of the Spirit whom those who believed in Him were to receive for the Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified.”
What is flowing out of our lives?
Is it living water or is it stagnant.
To believe in Jesus is to have a life that affects others because of the Spirit of God who flows out.
When that happens we become blessed by Jesus and filled that we never thirst again.
Jesus pointed out to the woman that she was a sinner which puts her in the same boat as all of us.
It separates us from God.
How would you like to see rivers of living water flow from your soul and to know that you won’t have to worry about your sin separating you from God any more?
You can have that peace and assurance this morning by simply receiving Jesus as your Lord and savior today.
Would you please bow your heads? If you want Jesus, would you pray, “Dear Lord, my sins are bad. They have kept me from you. I want to be close to you and to have my sins forgiven and wiped away. I know that Jesus died on the cross to do that and I am asking Him into my life now. Lord, I give you control of all that I am, all that I do, and all that I have. Thank you for saving me Lord, in Jesus’ Name, Amen
The neat thing about the way that Jesus connected to this woman was he met where she was. He was ready to connect her to God
Connecting people to the Father is our primary job. This is our third principle today.
A few minutes ago, I told you that connection was a process. Jesus was engaging in a simple conversation about water and where to worship.
Jesus said the water was living and the place of worship is simply where God is seeking those who worship him in spirit and in truth.
It could be the living room, the worship center, the Family Life Center, a cave, or a prison cell.
Jesus said that God really doesn’t care.
What God cares about is true worship.
I love it when people tell me that something makes it hard for them to worship.
It makes me want to ask, “What are you worshiping anyway?”
The hymn that we sing tells us to turn our eyes upon Jesus and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.
Too many people who claim to be followers of Christ let the tings of earth obscure their vision of Jesus.
We keep our eyes on bulletins, buildings, and budgets so much that we can’t see the savior anymore.
Jesus came to connect people to God so that they would go through the process of becoming devoted completed followers of Him.
As a church we have to define our entry point in the process.
Where do we connect with people?
We have to define what will move people through the process of growth.
Where will people connect with God; with each other; and with the ministries that will bring more people to our point of connection?
We are pursuing people to move through a process.
Jesus pursues hearts and so must we or else we will become that church that Paul described to Timothy, holding to a form of godliness but denying its power.
If we are more concerned with buildings, budgets and bulletins, and not connecting to people, we already may be there.
To download this message, right click here and select save target as
Show Lunchroom clip from Sky High.
That little piece of video tells us a lot doesn’t it?
It is so very easy to put up walls and to avoid connecting to people.
Describing the Biblical Text
This is a familiar text to us as we have read it and even heard it preached from this pulpit
That is the amazing thing about the scriptures.
They are always new and fresh.
They are always timeless and as ready to inform us as they were ready to inform the great church men of the past like the apostle Peter, Timothy, Clement of Rome, Augustine, Aquinas, Calvin, Luther, Jonathan Edwards, Mordecai Ham, and Billy Graham.
What is Jesus up to in this passage?
He is following a path that is not seen as the appropriate path to follow.
He is pursuing a woman and contrary to pop culture, The Da Vinci Code, and now James Cameron, it was not Mary Magdalene.
Sometimes, Jesus only has to touch one life to make a huge difference in the lives of many others.
Narrate the Contextual application
Do we drive through the bad part of town at night?
Are we anxious to meet people who might challenge our sensibilities or do we avoid encounters that might make us uncomfortable.
Most of us have two or three close relationships that we can name in our minds right now.
Most of us are satisfied with that.
Why break our bubble and leave our comfort zone if we don’t have to?
But looking at Jesus, He had no bubble, no comfort zone, only the desire to connect with people or as He put it: to seek and to save the lost.
Life Application (thesis)
Where does that take us?
As we look this morning at Jesus and His encounter with this woman we see that He is pursuing relationships.
He knows that people are reached through relationships.
Consequently he brought this lesson to life for us.
We cannot be unavailable to the unlovable, the unreachable, the unattractive, or the unsaved.
If we believe that Jesus died for people no matter what their life situation is, then we will go whatever lengths we need to in order to bring them in to God’s Family.
We will explore 3 simple principles that will give us insight into connecting to people from the perspective of Jesus.
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
People are more important than my prejudices (or my preferences).
We know the story behind this text.
Jesus was traveling from Judea to Galilee and instead of following the tradition of men, and taking the long way around the land of Samaria, He took the shortcut and passed through it. He got thirsty and when He did, he stopped for a drink of water. As he waited, a woman of Samaria came to get water.
We know the story don’t we? She was there in the heat of the day because of her shame.
She could not go to the well when the other women were there because she was what we would call skank.
Now if we consider culture here, we see that in her day, her behavior was stigmatized as immoral.
Today, her behavior would be seen as normal.
Jesus engaged her in conversation in spite of her stigma.
He immediately began tearing down walls of separation.
Her question to Him shows us her surprise doesn’t it. “How is it that you being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?”
You can hear the astonishment in her question.
Jesus has just committed cultural taboo. He spoke to a woman and to a Samaritan.
It’s a good thing for Jesus that none of the Pharisees were there. Oh yeah, they were busy avoiding Samaria.
But they would have wanted to kill Jesus. Oh yeah, they did that anyway.
Jesus put Dynamite at the base of the cultural walls and blew them to smithereens.
He did this because he saw one lone immoral Samaritan woman as important.
Does this mean that we need to ask who is important to us?
I think the answer to that is obvious. Certainly we do.
Now remember, we are talking about connecting to people, pursuing relationships.
We need to be looking for people who need Jesus. I want to read a phrase to you and ask if you recognize it: To reach others with the good news of Jesus Christ and to become His completed disciples.
That for those of us who may have forgotten is our purpose statement.
There is a starting point and an ending point.
The gospel begins a process that is ended when we are completed disciples.
But the beginning point of that rests on a connection that begins with the idea that people are important.
Reality has exploded on television. Everything is about that right now. The whole thing began with MTV and their garbage show called Real World where they put TV cameras in a house where young men and women lived together. What came next were shows like Survivor, Who wants to Marry a Millionaire, Joe Shmoe, Endurance for Kids and numerous other attempts at reality.
Why would we have such an interest in the real reactions of people in stressful and uncomfortable situations?
I think it is because we have an innate curiosity to find out if others are like us behind closed doors.
When we see the outrageous behavior of others, we feel better about ourselves.
But you know what else. We don’t like Teflon or silverstone or whatever term you use for the phony front.
When people say that there are hypocrites in church, they are saying that it just ain’t real.
Our second principle is: A connection means that we will be honest with people.
Jesus was just himself at the well with the woman.
Anyone who was there to get water that day could have seen the pain in the life of the Samaritan woman.
Jesus saw her pain and opened up to her.
He entered into a relationship and then began to deal with her needs in an honest and forthright way.
Sometimes when we talk to people, we are so afraid to bring up issues that we stifle our ability to minister because we only connect with people superficially.
Jesus was honest with her.
First of all, he said that he had something for her.
It was living water.
I can see my dad dropping two alka seltzer tablets in a glass when I hear that term.
What did Jesus mean? It was the idea that we would have something in our lives that would flow out. Jesus gives us some help in 7:38-39. He who believes in me as the scripture said from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. But this He spoke of the Spirit whom those who believed in Him were to receive for the Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified.”
What is flowing out of our lives?
Is it living water or is it stagnant.
To believe in Jesus is to have a life that affects others because of the Spirit of God who flows out.
When that happens we become blessed by Jesus and filled that we never thirst again.
Jesus pointed out to the woman that she was a sinner which puts her in the same boat as all of us.
It separates us from God.
How would you like to see rivers of living water flow from your soul and to know that you won’t have to worry about your sin separating you from God any more?
You can have that peace and assurance this morning by simply receiving Jesus as your Lord and savior today.
Would you please bow your heads? If you want Jesus, would you pray, “Dear Lord, my sins are bad. They have kept me from you. I want to be close to you and to have my sins forgiven and wiped away. I know that Jesus died on the cross to do that and I am asking Him into my life now. Lord, I give you control of all that I am, all that I do, and all that I have. Thank you for saving me Lord, in Jesus’ Name, Amen
The neat thing about the way that Jesus connected to this woman was he met where she was. He was ready to connect her to God
Connecting people to the Father is our primary job. This is our third principle today.
A few minutes ago, I told you that connection was a process. Jesus was engaging in a simple conversation about water and where to worship.
Jesus said the water was living and the place of worship is simply where God is seeking those who worship him in spirit and in truth.
It could be the living room, the worship center, the Family Life Center, a cave, or a prison cell.
Jesus said that God really doesn’t care.
What God cares about is true worship.
I love it when people tell me that something makes it hard for them to worship.
It makes me want to ask, “What are you worshiping anyway?”
The hymn that we sing tells us to turn our eyes upon Jesus and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.
Too many people who claim to be followers of Christ let the tings of earth obscure their vision of Jesus.
We keep our eyes on bulletins, buildings, and budgets so much that we can’t see the savior anymore.
Jesus came to connect people to God so that they would go through the process of becoming devoted completed followers of Him.
As a church we have to define our entry point in the process.
Where do we connect with people?
We have to define what will move people through the process of growth.
Where will people connect with God; with each other; and with the ministries that will bring more people to our point of connection?
We are pursuing people to move through a process.
Jesus pursues hearts and so must we or else we will become that church that Paul described to Timothy, holding to a form of godliness but denying its power.
If we are more concerned with buildings, budgets and bulletins, and not connecting to people, we already may be there.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Living the Difference -- The Produce Dealer -- John 15:1-8
Introduction
About 15 or so years ago, a movement began. At least I call it a movement. We started to see these weird and exotic fruits in the grocery stores. I think it started with the kiwi fruit. Then you had passion fruit and pomegranates. With the guacamole craze came the avocado and then the mango and here comes the hybrids like clementines and tangelos. We certainly cannot forget the ever-popular plantain and what in the world is a star fruit? It looks like a yellow ball of wax.
But, the market place knows something.
It knows that consumers like variety.
Fortunately for us, our fruit that we bear in Jesus is defined much more simply.
It would simply be defined as that which we produce as a result of being connected to Jesus.
Describing the Biblical Text
This text describes a scene that takes place in the upper room as Jesus is teaching His disciples what they will need to know when He is gone.
He is teaching them about the ministry of the Holy Spirit and about his relationship to God.
He is teaching them about comfort and tribulation.
He is teaching them how to be connected to God.
Narrate the Contextual application
That is what being a follower of Jesus Christ is all about.
It is the process of our God connection.
Jesus was telling His disciples that they are connected to Him.
He is telling us that we are connected to Him.
What is the impact of that connection on our lives?
That is demonstrated by our ability and our willingness to bear fruit for the kingdom of God.
Life Application (thesis)
Too many times, we have seen life defined by too many unbiblical things.
Men define life by a career or by earnings.
Women define life by their social interactions and their children.
Teens define life by stuff.
If you want to know the Biblical truth, bearing fruit in Christ is the demonstration of the successful life.
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
This idea can be explained through 3 concessions that we will see in the text this morning.
The first concession is this.
I must concede to allow God to cleanse me.
It is essential that we do this because if we do not we would run the risk of becoming fruitless.
Look at verse 2.
Probably most of us have grown a tomato plant at one time or another. You know those little stalks that try to grow at the connecting point between the main stem and the branches? They are called suckers and if allowed to stay on the plant, can rob the plant of needed nutrition which affects the production of the tomatoes. They just suck all the nutrients right away from the fruit.
That is the idea that Jesus is communicating in verse 2.
If we are bearing fruit, then we are cleansed that we might be able to bear more fruit.
The question really must be asked, “Are we really willing for God to prune our lives?”
That means that we might have to lose something that we enjoy or like in order to serve Christ more effectively.
That could be tough.
Especially, if we like to call our friends on the phone and talk about what we don’t like about church.
Or, if we like the greatest, newest gadgets and have buried ourselves under mountains of debt to have stuff that we don’t need.
Of if we use the Internet as a playground to feed our lustful desires or as a way to escape the realities of life.
It might be something simpler than that.
It might just involve the choice of your radio station or your TV channel.
Why listen to songs about adultery, drinking, partying every day, and rock and rolling all night long, when we can listen to music that might edify us and help us to grow in the Lord.
The pruning process shows us that we are connected to God.
It shows us that He cares for us and desires that we show the world that we care for Him.
The problem is that many followers of Jesus cannot endure the pruning process.
We don’t like to scale things back we like our limbs and we like our suckers that suck all our time and attention from the things that we need to be doing for our Lord.
But, there is a pruning process that we must engage if we are going to serve Christ faithfully.
We need to begin by assuring ourselves that we indeed have a relationship with Jesus.
That comes when we are overwhelmed by our sin and the realization sets in that apart from Christ we have no hope of ever living a full and meaningful life.
Apart from Christ, we have no hope at all.
Jesus said that apart from Him we could do nothing.
What is the value of a life without Christ?
Since God created all men in His image, we can’t say worthless can we?
But what will a life without Christ leave behind?
It will leave nothing of eternal consequence.
That is not the way it has to be.
Let’s bow our heads right now.
There are some of us who want life to really matter.
Now is the time to take that step.
Why don’t you pray to receive Jesus as your Lord right now?
In doing that you will be receiving something of eternal value and thus will be able to leave something of eternal value.
Dear Lord, I know my life has displeased you. I know that my sin bears your anger and wrath. I am so very sorry. I want Jesus to come into my life right now and to be my Lord and savior. I give Him control of my life and everything in it. Thank you for hearing my prayer and saving me today. In Jesus’ Name AMEN
What is next in the process?
We must pray and ask God if there is anything in our lives that could be removed in order for us to be fruitful for Him.
Anyone who thinks that their lives are so perfect pure and holy that God cannot prune anything away is simply arrogant and fooling themselves.
Even the apostle Paul who sought to live blameless viewed himself as chief among sinners.
The next part of the process is seeking what the Bible has to say about abiding in Christ.
This would then be our second concession.
I must concede that I will abide in Christ.
When you look at verse 5 we see a connection don’t we.
Jesus is the vine and we are the branches.
The branches are dependent on the vine fore life and for nourishment.
We depend on Jesus for the same things.
Wednesday was a tough day for me.
I am on the CTBA’s Administrative Leadership Team and we met on Wednesday. I was up and out of the house pretty early and had to attend a two-hour meeting. I got back to the office around 10:30. You want to know the first thing I heard when I got back? It wasn’t the phone or Brenda. It was gurrrougrogggo. I was getting hungry. I needed that nourishment that could only come from a Burger king double Cheeseburger.
Jesus said blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled.
That is a cool thing because we desire that which strengthens our connection to the vine and the vine gives it to us that we might grow and be closer to Christ.
Abiding in Christ means that our lives are in Him
That song that says, “my life is in you Lord” is so appropriate because it is so true.
If we are not abiding in Christ, we can never be fruitful.
Anyone who has ever seen a pilot fish has seen another animal with it. That is because the pilot fish is totally dependent on the white tip shark for everything. You see, the pilot fish swims with the shark almost appearing to be attached to it. But what the pilot fish does is wait for the shark to either kill something or to find the garbage of a ship and then the pilot fish eats the bits and pieces left by the shark. Pilot fish have even been observed swimming in and out of the shark’s mouth to clean the bits of food from between its teeth.
Do we abide in Christ that way?
Do we let Him lead us that he is always providing for our needs?
If we want to have a fruitful life, we must make the concession that we will abide in and rely on Christ.
Our third concession is that I must concede to be living proof of my faith in Jesus.
Look at verses 7 and 8.
Verse 7 is not the grandfather clause in the Bible.
Notice those conditions that are applied to asking the Father for anything in Jesus’ name: if you abide in me and my word abide in you.
If we are dependent on Jesus for everything and his word is abiding in us or dependent on us for its being obeyed, what do we have?
We have disciples that are sold out to Jesus who are bearing fruit for him and asking anything is asking for anything that enables us to better abide in him and that enables us to better obey the word of God.
But what Happens WHEN God answers that prayer and we receive the ability to obey and to serve Christ?
Three things happen: God is glorified; He receives the praise and the adoration of His people and attention of those who do not yet follow Christ.
We bear much fruit: many people come to Christ and those who already know Him mature in their faith to the point of being obedient fruit bearers.
And prove to be disciples: We become accomplished in our discipleship and in our service to Christ.
The process of maturity as a follower of Jesus is seen and enjoyed by those in His church.
We see ourselves moving toward completion
Have we made that concession that God can do whatever he needs to do to cleanse us?
Have we mad the concession that we will abide in Christ?
Have we made the concession to be living proof that of our faith?
If we are going to be fruitful for Jesus and live successfully in His kingdom, we must be determined to bear fruit for Him and that means conceding our lives to Him as well.
Are we ready to live the difference that Jesus has made in our lives?
If Jesus has made a difference in our lives then it is time to live that difference and to show that difference to the world.
About 15 or so years ago, a movement began. At least I call it a movement. We started to see these weird and exotic fruits in the grocery stores. I think it started with the kiwi fruit. Then you had passion fruit and pomegranates. With the guacamole craze came the avocado and then the mango and here comes the hybrids like clementines and tangelos. We certainly cannot forget the ever-popular plantain and what in the world is a star fruit? It looks like a yellow ball of wax.
But, the market place knows something.
It knows that consumers like variety.
Fortunately for us, our fruit that we bear in Jesus is defined much more simply.
It would simply be defined as that which we produce as a result of being connected to Jesus.
Describing the Biblical Text
This text describes a scene that takes place in the upper room as Jesus is teaching His disciples what they will need to know when He is gone.
He is teaching them about the ministry of the Holy Spirit and about his relationship to God.
He is teaching them about comfort and tribulation.
He is teaching them how to be connected to God.
Narrate the Contextual application
That is what being a follower of Jesus Christ is all about.
It is the process of our God connection.
Jesus was telling His disciples that they are connected to Him.
He is telling us that we are connected to Him.
What is the impact of that connection on our lives?
That is demonstrated by our ability and our willingness to bear fruit for the kingdom of God.
Life Application (thesis)
Too many times, we have seen life defined by too many unbiblical things.
Men define life by a career or by earnings.
Women define life by their social interactions and their children.
Teens define life by stuff.
If you want to know the Biblical truth, bearing fruit in Christ is the demonstration of the successful life.
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
This idea can be explained through 3 concessions that we will see in the text this morning.
The first concession is this.
I must concede to allow God to cleanse me.
It is essential that we do this because if we do not we would run the risk of becoming fruitless.
Look at verse 2.
Probably most of us have grown a tomato plant at one time or another. You know those little stalks that try to grow at the connecting point between the main stem and the branches? They are called suckers and if allowed to stay on the plant, can rob the plant of needed nutrition which affects the production of the tomatoes. They just suck all the nutrients right away from the fruit.
That is the idea that Jesus is communicating in verse 2.
If we are bearing fruit, then we are cleansed that we might be able to bear more fruit.
The question really must be asked, “Are we really willing for God to prune our lives?”
That means that we might have to lose something that we enjoy or like in order to serve Christ more effectively.
That could be tough.
Especially, if we like to call our friends on the phone and talk about what we don’t like about church.
Or, if we like the greatest, newest gadgets and have buried ourselves under mountains of debt to have stuff that we don’t need.
Of if we use the Internet as a playground to feed our lustful desires or as a way to escape the realities of life.
It might be something simpler than that.
It might just involve the choice of your radio station or your TV channel.
Why listen to songs about adultery, drinking, partying every day, and rock and rolling all night long, when we can listen to music that might edify us and help us to grow in the Lord.
The pruning process shows us that we are connected to God.
It shows us that He cares for us and desires that we show the world that we care for Him.
The problem is that many followers of Jesus cannot endure the pruning process.
We don’t like to scale things back we like our limbs and we like our suckers that suck all our time and attention from the things that we need to be doing for our Lord.
But, there is a pruning process that we must engage if we are going to serve Christ faithfully.
We need to begin by assuring ourselves that we indeed have a relationship with Jesus.
That comes when we are overwhelmed by our sin and the realization sets in that apart from Christ we have no hope of ever living a full and meaningful life.
Apart from Christ, we have no hope at all.
Jesus said that apart from Him we could do nothing.
What is the value of a life without Christ?
Since God created all men in His image, we can’t say worthless can we?
But what will a life without Christ leave behind?
It will leave nothing of eternal consequence.
That is not the way it has to be.
Let’s bow our heads right now.
There are some of us who want life to really matter.
Now is the time to take that step.
Why don’t you pray to receive Jesus as your Lord right now?
In doing that you will be receiving something of eternal value and thus will be able to leave something of eternal value.
Dear Lord, I know my life has displeased you. I know that my sin bears your anger and wrath. I am so very sorry. I want Jesus to come into my life right now and to be my Lord and savior. I give Him control of my life and everything in it. Thank you for hearing my prayer and saving me today. In Jesus’ Name AMEN
What is next in the process?
We must pray and ask God if there is anything in our lives that could be removed in order for us to be fruitful for Him.
Anyone who thinks that their lives are so perfect pure and holy that God cannot prune anything away is simply arrogant and fooling themselves.
Even the apostle Paul who sought to live blameless viewed himself as chief among sinners.
The next part of the process is seeking what the Bible has to say about abiding in Christ.
This would then be our second concession.
I must concede that I will abide in Christ.
When you look at verse 5 we see a connection don’t we.
Jesus is the vine and we are the branches.
The branches are dependent on the vine fore life and for nourishment.
We depend on Jesus for the same things.
Wednesday was a tough day for me.
I am on the CTBA’s Administrative Leadership Team and we met on Wednesday. I was up and out of the house pretty early and had to attend a two-hour meeting. I got back to the office around 10:30. You want to know the first thing I heard when I got back? It wasn’t the phone or Brenda. It was gurrrougrogggo. I was getting hungry. I needed that nourishment that could only come from a Burger king double Cheeseburger.
Jesus said blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled.
That is a cool thing because we desire that which strengthens our connection to the vine and the vine gives it to us that we might grow and be closer to Christ.
Abiding in Christ means that our lives are in Him
That song that says, “my life is in you Lord” is so appropriate because it is so true.
If we are not abiding in Christ, we can never be fruitful.
Anyone who has ever seen a pilot fish has seen another animal with it. That is because the pilot fish is totally dependent on the white tip shark for everything. You see, the pilot fish swims with the shark almost appearing to be attached to it. But what the pilot fish does is wait for the shark to either kill something or to find the garbage of a ship and then the pilot fish eats the bits and pieces left by the shark. Pilot fish have even been observed swimming in and out of the shark’s mouth to clean the bits of food from between its teeth.
Do we abide in Christ that way?
Do we let Him lead us that he is always providing for our needs?
If we want to have a fruitful life, we must make the concession that we will abide in and rely on Christ.
Our third concession is that I must concede to be living proof of my faith in Jesus.
Look at verses 7 and 8.
Verse 7 is not the grandfather clause in the Bible.
Notice those conditions that are applied to asking the Father for anything in Jesus’ name: if you abide in me and my word abide in you.
If we are dependent on Jesus for everything and his word is abiding in us or dependent on us for its being obeyed, what do we have?
We have disciples that are sold out to Jesus who are bearing fruit for him and asking anything is asking for anything that enables us to better abide in him and that enables us to better obey the word of God.
But what Happens WHEN God answers that prayer and we receive the ability to obey and to serve Christ?
Three things happen: God is glorified; He receives the praise and the adoration of His people and attention of those who do not yet follow Christ.
We bear much fruit: many people come to Christ and those who already know Him mature in their faith to the point of being obedient fruit bearers.
And prove to be disciples: We become accomplished in our discipleship and in our service to Christ.
The process of maturity as a follower of Jesus is seen and enjoyed by those in His church.
We see ourselves moving toward completion
Have we made that concession that God can do whatever he needs to do to cleanse us?
Have we mad the concession that we will abide in Christ?
Have we made the concession to be living proof that of our faith?
If we are going to be fruitful for Jesus and live successfully in His kingdom, we must be determined to bear fruit for Him and that means conceding our lives to Him as well.
Are we ready to live the difference that Jesus has made in our lives?
If Jesus has made a difference in our lives then it is time to live that difference and to show that difference to the world.
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Living the Difference -- Dead to Live -- Galatians 2:20
Introduction
Death is something that most people don’t like to think about. We are cognizant of the inevitability of death and as we know, funerals are a regular part of life more and more the older we get. I sit in my office and many days at 11:40 and 2:40 a funeral procession will be moving down Lexington Avenue.
We can think about death in several ways. We can see it as an ultimate end or as a passing to a new life with God. Many people fear death. If it were the year 1907, my life expectancy would only be two more years. Death is not something that we anticipate, look forward to, and even though we plan for it, neither we nor our families are ever ready for it.
Describing the Biblical Text
In this passage Paul is telling the Galatians that they do not have to become adherents of the law of the Jews before thy become followers of Jesus Christ.
As a matter of fact, he would insist that to be forced to become Jewish prior to following Jesus would negate the grace of God.
Paul then pointed his own Judaism saying that if after following Christ he rebuilt his Jewish faith he would then be a transgressor or one who walks past the true faith in Christ.
Narrate the Contextual application
As we look at this text, we see Paul using death as a metaphor.
He is describing a life of serving Christ as not only a death, but as an execution.
Make no mistake about the impact of these words on those who heard them read.
You see, Paul was saying that who we were is not important compared to who we are in Jesus.
Life Application (thesis)
In looking then at the theme “Living the Difference” through the lens of this passage, we will see the main point that we are developing this morning is this: Dying to self means living by faith in Christ.
I do need to make a statement of clarification here.
We are speaking to this topic this morning in the narrow context of faith in Christ.
It is possible to die to self and then not follow Christ.
We can crucify the flesh for many reasons.
Think about it for a minute. A man desires to have a relationship with a woman that he has met. He quits smoking and loses weight. A rabid football fan desires to show support for his team. He takes off his shirt at the stadium on a 20-degree day to reveal that he has painted a team logo on his chest.
It can even be unhealthy as the 100 lb. girl who perceives she is overweight and diets and purges after meals.
All of these things are in some form or another dying to self and forfeiting desires.
But Paul was speaking here to something that would be life changing.
He was speaking to the difference that Jesus would make in a life that was completely surrendered to Him.
Let’s see what we need to acknowledge this morning from this passage.
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
Acknowledgement number one is this.
I have been crucified with Christ.
That is a hard hard statement for anyone to make and completely mean it.
What did we say about that phrase crucified with Christ earlier?
I am executed with Christ.
I was watching a very popular entertainment audition program the other night and there was a contestant on the show that made this remark, “God likes good people.”
That is about the most convoluted, repugnant, and inaccurate statement I have ever heard.
I would almost rather see the little blue oval that covers their mouths when they curse than to hear someone mischaracterize the nature of God.
Some people might be thinking “what was so bad about that.
It feeds into the American myth of Christianity which was very much like the heresy that the Judaizers preached as they said that you had to become Jewish to become a follower of Jesus.
It’s a works based system.
If I am good, then God will like me.
Now, let me ask you the most subjective question of all.
Are you good?
No one wants to say no to that and in most people’s eyes, they are good people.
But, in God’s eyes, no one is good.
That is what Paul is saying when he indicates that he is crucified with Christ.
All of his Jewishness that should be applicable in God looking on him with favor is crucified with Christ.
No man is justified or declared righteous by the law of by any and I mean any deeds that he would do to gain favor with God.
That Bible teaches that we have nothing to bring to God.
We cannot even seek Him until He moves us or draws us.
This is the idea in classical theology of total depravity.
Man is totally depraved in his separation from God and cannot even know the things of God.
But, Paul’s statement gives us hope and a possibility for a future with God.
For if we were crucified with Christ, our self-made efforts to come to God were also crucified.
But what else went to the cross with Jesus?
Our sin went to the cross with Jesus.
“All we like sheep have gone astray,” declares the prophet Isaiah, “But the lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
Our old life went to the cross as well.
Remember our passage from last week?
If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation behold the old things have passed away and new things have come from God.
That means that Jesus died to give you a new life with God that you could never ever earn or deserve.
God likes good people, BAH!
Anyone thinking like that would need a serious attitude adjustment that they might see themselves as God sees them.
Baptism paints a very good picture of what takes place when we receive Christ into our lives.
We are buried with Him in death to our old lives to sin and to selfish desires.
We are raised again to walk with Christ and in Christ in a newness of life.
That newness of life points us to the second acknowledgement that we would see in this passage.
I live by faith in the Son of God.
When we are crucified with Christ and we die to sin and self.
One of the great things that happens when we enter into a relationship with Jesus is that death is replaced with life.
It is life that is not self reliant in terms of our seeking God but it is life that was sought by God and has replaced our empty efforts to seek and know God on our own terms with Faith.
It is believing the One who loved and gave Himself up for us.
Right now you might be thinking that all of your efforts to try to come into a relationship with God have been useless but I want to say this, right now, someone might be sensing the call of God on their lives.
Someone here could be sensing that it is time to crucify the old life and to nail it t the cross of Christ and to live anew by faith in Christ.
If God is calling to you, you can answer him right now.
Let’s bow our heads for just a moment.
If it is your desire to crucify the flesh and all of its empty efforts to know God and to walk in a new life that has come to God solely through the cross of Jesus, won’t you pray with me?
Dear Lord. I am tired of doing things my way. I know I have sinned and can never meet your expectations on my own. I want to be crucified with Christ and put to death my sin and selfish desires. I want to live by faith in Jesus, the son of God. I receive Jesus into my heart and life and my Lord and savior. Thank your for dying for me and raising from the dead and thank you for saving my. In your name, AMEN
If you just surrendered your life to Christ, you are ready to walk in that newness of Life.
That means that in the life you lead, Christ will be living in you.
This means that our motivations change.
Our desires change; our attitudes change; our behavior changes.
We do everything we can to conform to Jesus Christ.
We do everything we can to live in way that pleases Him and you know what?
We have the ability to do that.
We have that ability because Christ lives in us.
We have that ability because Christ gave Himself for us to give us that ability.
On May 6, 1954 something incredible happened that had never happened before. Roger Bannister became the first human being to ever run the mile in under four minutes, 3:59.4. The old record of 4:01.4 had stood since 1945. The four minute mile was seen as an impossible barrier to overcome. But Roger Bannister did it. But, six weeks later Bannister’s record fell as John Land trimmed almost 2 seconds of the old time. By 1957 16 different runners had achieved the milestone. Isn’t it amazing how we can do that which we know is possible?
I want to tell you that you can live a life that brings glory to the Lord because the life you live in the flesh you live by faith in the Son of God.
Are we ready to live that life?
Are we ready to live the difference that Jesus has made in our lives?
If Jesus has made a difference in our lives then it is time to live that difference and to show that difference to the world.
Death is something that most people don’t like to think about. We are cognizant of the inevitability of death and as we know, funerals are a regular part of life more and more the older we get. I sit in my office and many days at 11:40 and 2:40 a funeral procession will be moving down Lexington Avenue.
We can think about death in several ways. We can see it as an ultimate end or as a passing to a new life with God. Many people fear death. If it were the year 1907, my life expectancy would only be two more years. Death is not something that we anticipate, look forward to, and even though we plan for it, neither we nor our families are ever ready for it.
Describing the Biblical Text
In this passage Paul is telling the Galatians that they do not have to become adherents of the law of the Jews before thy become followers of Jesus Christ.
As a matter of fact, he would insist that to be forced to become Jewish prior to following Jesus would negate the grace of God.
Paul then pointed his own Judaism saying that if after following Christ he rebuilt his Jewish faith he would then be a transgressor or one who walks past the true faith in Christ.
Narrate the Contextual application
As we look at this text, we see Paul using death as a metaphor.
He is describing a life of serving Christ as not only a death, but as an execution.
Make no mistake about the impact of these words on those who heard them read.
You see, Paul was saying that who we were is not important compared to who we are in Jesus.
Life Application (thesis)
In looking then at the theme “Living the Difference” through the lens of this passage, we will see the main point that we are developing this morning is this: Dying to self means living by faith in Christ.
I do need to make a statement of clarification here.
We are speaking to this topic this morning in the narrow context of faith in Christ.
It is possible to die to self and then not follow Christ.
We can crucify the flesh for many reasons.
Think about it for a minute. A man desires to have a relationship with a woman that he has met. He quits smoking and loses weight. A rabid football fan desires to show support for his team. He takes off his shirt at the stadium on a 20-degree day to reveal that he has painted a team logo on his chest.
It can even be unhealthy as the 100 lb. girl who perceives she is overweight and diets and purges after meals.
All of these things are in some form or another dying to self and forfeiting desires.
But Paul was speaking here to something that would be life changing.
He was speaking to the difference that Jesus would make in a life that was completely surrendered to Him.
Let’s see what we need to acknowledge this morning from this passage.
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
Acknowledgement number one is this.
I have been crucified with Christ.
That is a hard hard statement for anyone to make and completely mean it.
What did we say about that phrase crucified with Christ earlier?
I am executed with Christ.
I was watching a very popular entertainment audition program the other night and there was a contestant on the show that made this remark, “God likes good people.”
That is about the most convoluted, repugnant, and inaccurate statement I have ever heard.
I would almost rather see the little blue oval that covers their mouths when they curse than to hear someone mischaracterize the nature of God.
Some people might be thinking “what was so bad about that.
It feeds into the American myth of Christianity which was very much like the heresy that the Judaizers preached as they said that you had to become Jewish to become a follower of Jesus.
It’s a works based system.
If I am good, then God will like me.
Now, let me ask you the most subjective question of all.
Are you good?
No one wants to say no to that and in most people’s eyes, they are good people.
But, in God’s eyes, no one is good.
That is what Paul is saying when he indicates that he is crucified with Christ.
All of his Jewishness that should be applicable in God looking on him with favor is crucified with Christ.
No man is justified or declared righteous by the law of by any and I mean any deeds that he would do to gain favor with God.
That Bible teaches that we have nothing to bring to God.
We cannot even seek Him until He moves us or draws us.
This is the idea in classical theology of total depravity.
Man is totally depraved in his separation from God and cannot even know the things of God.
But, Paul’s statement gives us hope and a possibility for a future with God.
For if we were crucified with Christ, our self-made efforts to come to God were also crucified.
But what else went to the cross with Jesus?
Our sin went to the cross with Jesus.
“All we like sheep have gone astray,” declares the prophet Isaiah, “But the lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
Our old life went to the cross as well.
Remember our passage from last week?
If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation behold the old things have passed away and new things have come from God.
That means that Jesus died to give you a new life with God that you could never ever earn or deserve.
God likes good people, BAH!
Anyone thinking like that would need a serious attitude adjustment that they might see themselves as God sees them.
Baptism paints a very good picture of what takes place when we receive Christ into our lives.
We are buried with Him in death to our old lives to sin and to selfish desires.
We are raised again to walk with Christ and in Christ in a newness of life.
That newness of life points us to the second acknowledgement that we would see in this passage.
I live by faith in the Son of God.
When we are crucified with Christ and we die to sin and self.
One of the great things that happens when we enter into a relationship with Jesus is that death is replaced with life.
It is life that is not self reliant in terms of our seeking God but it is life that was sought by God and has replaced our empty efforts to seek and know God on our own terms with Faith.
It is believing the One who loved and gave Himself up for us.
Right now you might be thinking that all of your efforts to try to come into a relationship with God have been useless but I want to say this, right now, someone might be sensing the call of God on their lives.
Someone here could be sensing that it is time to crucify the old life and to nail it t the cross of Christ and to live anew by faith in Christ.
If God is calling to you, you can answer him right now.
Let’s bow our heads for just a moment.
If it is your desire to crucify the flesh and all of its empty efforts to know God and to walk in a new life that has come to God solely through the cross of Jesus, won’t you pray with me?
Dear Lord. I am tired of doing things my way. I know I have sinned and can never meet your expectations on my own. I want to be crucified with Christ and put to death my sin and selfish desires. I want to live by faith in Jesus, the son of God. I receive Jesus into my heart and life and my Lord and savior. Thank your for dying for me and raising from the dead and thank you for saving my. In your name, AMEN
If you just surrendered your life to Christ, you are ready to walk in that newness of Life.
That means that in the life you lead, Christ will be living in you.
This means that our motivations change.
Our desires change; our attitudes change; our behavior changes.
We do everything we can to conform to Jesus Christ.
We do everything we can to live in way that pleases Him and you know what?
We have the ability to do that.
We have that ability because Christ lives in us.
We have that ability because Christ gave Himself for us to give us that ability.
On May 6, 1954 something incredible happened that had never happened before. Roger Bannister became the first human being to ever run the mile in under four minutes, 3:59.4. The old record of 4:01.4 had stood since 1945. The four minute mile was seen as an impossible barrier to overcome. But Roger Bannister did it. But, six weeks later Bannister’s record fell as John Land trimmed almost 2 seconds of the old time. By 1957 16 different runners had achieved the milestone. Isn’t it amazing how we can do that which we know is possible?
I want to tell you that you can live a life that brings glory to the Lord because the life you live in the flesh you live by faith in the Son of God.
Are we ready to live that life?
Are we ready to live the difference that Jesus has made in our lives?
If Jesus has made a difference in our lives then it is time to live that difference and to show that difference to the world.
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Living the Difference -- Something from God -- 2 Corinthians 5:16-19
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1. Introduction
In the children’s story Balto, the title character is a dog who is also part wolf. He takes much grief from the other dogs especially Steele who is the leading dog for the mushing dog team. Diphtheria comes to the Alaskan village where the story takes place and the dogs compete for spots on the team that will go to Nome and get the antitoxin. Balto competes and wins but because Steele makes him yelp and he is part wolf, he is rejected. As it turns out, the dog team gets Side tracked and the musher gets hurt and Steele deserts the team. Balto comes to the rescue and tries to lead the team but is having trouble until he meets a white wolf that helps Balto to realize his wolf heritage will help him guide the team. Balto uses his strength and his other honed wolf senses and gets the medicine back to the village where he is given the hero’s welcome.
Balto’s life changed when he realized what he really was and his life made a difference in the lives of others.
2. Describing the Biblical Text
Paul was describing in the chapter before us that there is a difference between spiritual and earthly things.
As he gets to this point, he is demonstrating that we are recreated in a spiritual was.
It is much like what Jesus was saying in John three when He used the analogy of being born again.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
When we become a follower of Jesus Christ, something radically changes.
3. Narrate the Contextual application
If we are something new, something spiritual, something beautiful, then we are something special to God.
He changed us and newly created us and has truly made a difference in our lives
Is the difference that God is making in our lives spilling over and out of our vessel?
Are we seeking to give others the same blessing that we have known by being a follower of Jesus Christ?
4. Life Application (thesis)
God made a difference in my life which should make a difference in the lives of others.
What I like about this passage though is that we see new things here.
We can see the new things that God has given us and realize how important they are for others.
5. SO WHAT!! (Outline)
I have in my hand a couple of bucks.
That looks like some people’s faith.
When do you take money out of your pocket?
You use it when you need it.
You take it out when it is time to spend it.
Too many followers of Jesus look at their faith that way.
We pull it out when we need it.
Okay, time to go to church, I need my faith now. Time to go home I throw it in the back seat until Wednesday when I need again to come and eat.
Think about this. You are standing at home at 10:42 on a Thursday morning and I call you and I say, “hey brother or sister, what impact is your faith having on your life right now?”
You know, some of us would not have an answer.
Let’s take a look at the first new thing that we see in this passage.
We have a new perspective.
Do you see how Paul says that he has known Jesus in the flesh and no longer knows Him that way?
That is very important for us because it tells us that we can actually know about Jesus without really knowing Him.
I know that we have all probably heard that before but how can we put that into some clarity to show that we really do know Jesus.
I met a pastor by the name of Jim Henry back in 1985. He was a member of a committee of the SBC with whom I was scheduled to meet in Wake Forest NC. We spent several hours together. Jim Henry is now the interim pastor at Green Street but you know what. If you ask him if he knows me, he would say no. We were introduced; we shook hands; we talked but you what we did not do?
We did not pursue a relationship with each other.
I have met him and know who he is but I don’t know Jim Henry.
Now you know what would happen if we started going to lunch every Tuesday?
If I invited him and his wife over for lunch after church, we would begin to become friends.
We would begin to have a relationship with each other.
When Paul says that he no longer knows Jesus according to the flesh, he is saying that he has entered into a spiritual relationship with Jesus.
Remember like we discussed a few minutes ago, this passage as we read it is a comparison between the divine and the temporal, the earthly and the eternal.
We can relate to Jesus like that also.
There are many people who have made some kind of decision, who walked an aisle, who prayed a prayer and then never had anything else to do with Jesus.
What is really sad is that these people probably think that they are saved because some told them if they would just make the decision everything would be okay.
We have also told countless unregenerate people that they are saved because of that decision in the past.
But I want to tell you something.
If there is a decision but there is no fruit to follow, there is no relationship with Jesus.
How do I know that?
It is our second new thing.
We have a new Identity.
Look at verse 17
Therefore, based on the fact that we know Christ spiritually, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature.
That would be better rendered as creation.
We are a new creation.
A change takes place in us that emanates from our very core.
That’s because it is a miraculous supernatural change that is brought about by the Spirit of the living God in Christ Jesus.
Think about what it is like when you get something new.
You get a new car and it smells better than the old one; it rides better than the old one, it has nifty new stuff that the old one did not have, it is worth more than the old one.
It is just better because it is new.
When Jesus comes into your heart in life, you are better because you are new.
Just like that old car is gone; notice what it says here that the old things are passed away.
This means that the old way of know Jesus according to the flesh is gone.
Would you like to know Jesus in a new way this morning?
You can, but you won’t be making a decision you will be surrendering your life to Jesus.
Why do you need a new life?
You need a new life because the old one is separated from God by the things that we do that have displeased God.
Those things are called sin.
The Bible says that everyone has sinned and we earn death because of those things.
But, God’s gift to us is eternal life in Christ the Lord.
If you receive Jesus, you can become a child of God and know that God has forgiven your sins by putting them on Jesus account.
He settled the account when He died on the cross so that your sin debt to God, eternal death in separation from God, is paid in full.
Everyone please bow your heads and close your eyes.
If you would like to surrender your life to Jesus today, won’t you repeat this prayer: Dear Lord, I know that my sins have made you angry and have caused me to be removed from you. I am so sorry that I have sinned and would like to turn from that life. Jesus, I would like for you to come into my life. I give my life to you. Thank you for rescuing me from the punishment for my sin. In your name I pray, AMEN.
If you just prayed to receive Jesus what just happened to you was that you were reconciled, brought near to God.
Look at verse 18
Now, all these things are from God.
What things are those?
They are the new things in verse 17.
Back to 18
[Read 18-19]
We were reconciled to God but we received something else,
Our third new thing
We have a new ministry.
It is the ministry and the word of reconciliation.
In other words, we should be doing the things and saying the things that will help others come to Jesus Christ.
Reconciliation to God is a beautiful thing.
We were wretches and now we are righteous as we are clothed in the blood of Jesus Christ.
God no longer counts our trespasses against us because they were placed on the shoulders of Jesus when He died on the cross.
Something here that I find pretty fascinating is that God was in Christ doing the reconciling.
God did the work.
All we have to do is minister the work of God.
All we have to do is to share the word of God.
We are like the person who wears the cow suit at Chick-fil-a.
The cow doesn’t cook the food but he stands on the corner and lets others know the food is there.
He goes from table to table waving at the patrons and playing with the children.
We didn’t do the work; we just need to tell people about the work that God did.
We need to serve others that they can see how great God’s work for them really is.
It reminds me of D. T. Niles definition of evangelism, “One beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.”
We have a new spiritual perspective that has arisen out of a new identity.
That new identity demands to be recognized through a new ministry, the ministry of reconciliation, sharing with others how God reconciled them to Himself through Christ.
If Jesus has made a difference in our lives then it is time to live that difference and to show that difference to the world.
To Download this message, Right Click here and then select "Save Target As"
1. Introduction
In the children’s story Balto, the title character is a dog who is also part wolf. He takes much grief from the other dogs especially Steele who is the leading dog for the mushing dog team. Diphtheria comes to the Alaskan village where the story takes place and the dogs compete for spots on the team that will go to Nome and get the antitoxin. Balto competes and wins but because Steele makes him yelp and he is part wolf, he is rejected. As it turns out, the dog team gets Side tracked and the musher gets hurt and Steele deserts the team. Balto comes to the rescue and tries to lead the team but is having trouble until he meets a white wolf that helps Balto to realize his wolf heritage will help him guide the team. Balto uses his strength and his other honed wolf senses and gets the medicine back to the village where he is given the hero’s welcome.
Balto’s life changed when he realized what he really was and his life made a difference in the lives of others.
2. Describing the Biblical Text
Paul was describing in the chapter before us that there is a difference between spiritual and earthly things.
As he gets to this point, he is demonstrating that we are recreated in a spiritual was.
It is much like what Jesus was saying in John three when He used the analogy of being born again.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
When we become a follower of Jesus Christ, something radically changes.
3. Narrate the Contextual application
If we are something new, something spiritual, something beautiful, then we are something special to God.
He changed us and newly created us and has truly made a difference in our lives
Is the difference that God is making in our lives spilling over and out of our vessel?
Are we seeking to give others the same blessing that we have known by being a follower of Jesus Christ?
4. Life Application (thesis)
God made a difference in my life which should make a difference in the lives of others.
What I like about this passage though is that we see new things here.
We can see the new things that God has given us and realize how important they are for others.
5. SO WHAT!! (Outline)
I have in my hand a couple of bucks.
That looks like some people’s faith.
When do you take money out of your pocket?
You use it when you need it.
You take it out when it is time to spend it.
Too many followers of Jesus look at their faith that way.
We pull it out when we need it.
Okay, time to go to church, I need my faith now. Time to go home I throw it in the back seat until Wednesday when I need again to come and eat.
Think about this. You are standing at home at 10:42 on a Thursday morning and I call you and I say, “hey brother or sister, what impact is your faith having on your life right now?”
You know, some of us would not have an answer.
Let’s take a look at the first new thing that we see in this passage.
We have a new perspective.
Do you see how Paul says that he has known Jesus in the flesh and no longer knows Him that way?
That is very important for us because it tells us that we can actually know about Jesus without really knowing Him.
I know that we have all probably heard that before but how can we put that into some clarity to show that we really do know Jesus.
I met a pastor by the name of Jim Henry back in 1985. He was a member of a committee of the SBC with whom I was scheduled to meet in Wake Forest NC. We spent several hours together. Jim Henry is now the interim pastor at Green Street but you know what. If you ask him if he knows me, he would say no. We were introduced; we shook hands; we talked but you what we did not do?
We did not pursue a relationship with each other.
I have met him and know who he is but I don’t know Jim Henry.
Now you know what would happen if we started going to lunch every Tuesday?
If I invited him and his wife over for lunch after church, we would begin to become friends.
We would begin to have a relationship with each other.
When Paul says that he no longer knows Jesus according to the flesh, he is saying that he has entered into a spiritual relationship with Jesus.
Remember like we discussed a few minutes ago, this passage as we read it is a comparison between the divine and the temporal, the earthly and the eternal.
We can relate to Jesus like that also.
There are many people who have made some kind of decision, who walked an aisle, who prayed a prayer and then never had anything else to do with Jesus.
What is really sad is that these people probably think that they are saved because some told them if they would just make the decision everything would be okay.
We have also told countless unregenerate people that they are saved because of that decision in the past.
But I want to tell you something.
If there is a decision but there is no fruit to follow, there is no relationship with Jesus.
How do I know that?
It is our second new thing.
We have a new Identity.
Look at verse 17
Therefore, based on the fact that we know Christ spiritually, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature.
That would be better rendered as creation.
We are a new creation.
A change takes place in us that emanates from our very core.
That’s because it is a miraculous supernatural change that is brought about by the Spirit of the living God in Christ Jesus.
Think about what it is like when you get something new.
You get a new car and it smells better than the old one; it rides better than the old one, it has nifty new stuff that the old one did not have, it is worth more than the old one.
It is just better because it is new.
When Jesus comes into your heart in life, you are better because you are new.
Just like that old car is gone; notice what it says here that the old things are passed away.
This means that the old way of know Jesus according to the flesh is gone.
Would you like to know Jesus in a new way this morning?
You can, but you won’t be making a decision you will be surrendering your life to Jesus.
Why do you need a new life?
You need a new life because the old one is separated from God by the things that we do that have displeased God.
Those things are called sin.
The Bible says that everyone has sinned and we earn death because of those things.
But, God’s gift to us is eternal life in Christ the Lord.
If you receive Jesus, you can become a child of God and know that God has forgiven your sins by putting them on Jesus account.
He settled the account when He died on the cross so that your sin debt to God, eternal death in separation from God, is paid in full.
Everyone please bow your heads and close your eyes.
If you would like to surrender your life to Jesus today, won’t you repeat this prayer: Dear Lord, I know that my sins have made you angry and have caused me to be removed from you. I am so sorry that I have sinned and would like to turn from that life. Jesus, I would like for you to come into my life. I give my life to you. Thank you for rescuing me from the punishment for my sin. In your name I pray, AMEN.
If you just prayed to receive Jesus what just happened to you was that you were reconciled, brought near to God.
Look at verse 18
Now, all these things are from God.
What things are those?
They are the new things in verse 17.
Back to 18
[Read 18-19]
We were reconciled to God but we received something else,
Our third new thing
We have a new ministry.
It is the ministry and the word of reconciliation.
In other words, we should be doing the things and saying the things that will help others come to Jesus Christ.
Reconciliation to God is a beautiful thing.
We were wretches and now we are righteous as we are clothed in the blood of Jesus Christ.
God no longer counts our trespasses against us because they were placed on the shoulders of Jesus when He died on the cross.
Something here that I find pretty fascinating is that God was in Christ doing the reconciling.
God did the work.
All we have to do is minister the work of God.
All we have to do is to share the word of God.
We are like the person who wears the cow suit at Chick-fil-a.
The cow doesn’t cook the food but he stands on the corner and lets others know the food is there.
He goes from table to table waving at the patrons and playing with the children.
We didn’t do the work; we just need to tell people about the work that God did.
We need to serve others that they can see how great God’s work for them really is.
It reminds me of D. T. Niles definition of evangelism, “One beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.”
We have a new spiritual perspective that has arisen out of a new identity.
That new identity demands to be recognized through a new ministry, the ministry of reconciliation, sharing with others how God reconciled them to Himself through Christ.
If Jesus has made a difference in our lives then it is time to live that difference and to show that difference to the world.
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