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This page was last updated 09/22/08
Week of: August 3, 2008
Title: Servant Leadership
Series: Study of Spiritual Formation - Part 4
Scripture: 1 Timothy 3: 1-13; Hebrews 13: 7
1. As I grow older, I understand more the value of good leadership. For anyone to be successful in this world, they must have good leadership skills. New York Times bestselling author John C. Maxwell says there are four things that go into making anyone successful in our world:
one-relationships
two-equipping others
three-attitude
four-leadership
2. When people start talking about leadership, most folks tune out such talk because they don’t see themselves as being a leader. I hope you won’t tune out. In Maxwell’s book, Leadership 101, he makes two important points:
one- “no matter who you are, you can lead—and lead well,”
two- “ your leadership ability is the lid that determines your effectiveness in life, no matter what it is, what you do or don’t do.
3. Well, what is leadership? Several years ago, J. Oswald Sanders, in a book called Spiritual Leadership, gave the simplest and clearest definition of leadership that I know: “Leadership is influence.” Let me put it this way, “if you are a Christian, whether you are a stay at home mom or the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, you are called to influence others.”
4. Why? Because Jesus told his followers one day “You are the salt of the earth…You are the light of the world…Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:13-16
5. I don’t know if you realize this or not, but sociologists estimate that even the most introverted person will influence over 10,000 people in their lifetime, for better or for worse. Think about this for a moment… if someone who is not even trying, in fact they may be doing the opposite of trying to influence people, is able to influence that many folks, then what can a person do is intentional about their leading or influencing of people as Jesus directed them to do?
6. But how about the leadership in the church? Let me say this first. If you are doing ministry, attending church, worshiping God, serving your fellow human beings, you are influencing other people. In fact, we’ve been saying, and I’ve been preaching for the last twenty years, that there is not supposed to be the big difference between clergy and laity as far as ministry is concerned. Everyone is supposed to be a minister, therefore, everyone who ministers influences people for Christ.
7. Is everyone supposed to be a leader, or the leader, in the church? A leader-yes, but not the leader. Who is the leader in our church? The Leader in a Baptist church, or any Christian church for that matter, is Christ. He is the head, we are the body. However, at the same time, God has appointed certain people for places of shepherding and leadership in ministries and churches that, at times, do stand out above the rest.
8. There are people with spiritual gifts and Christian character who demonstrate a level of maturity making them models for others to follow. Look at 1 Timothy 3:1-13. Look at a few of these qualifications for leadership with me. Verse 2: “Blameless or beyond reproach.” No one is perfect, but the consideration here is, “Am I trying to improve those areas that can damage my integrity as a Christian?” Do I even care?
9. “Temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior.” Am I a master of myself, so that I can be a servant to many?
10. “Be able to teach.” Not just a formal teacher, but a willingness to help other people learn to become better disciples of Christ. You teach others in many different ways other than in a formal class room.
11. “Not given to wine” or as other translations say, “not given to drunkenness.” In other words, “Am I sober, watchful, and diligent so that I do not damage those who watch me or who are being influenced by me?” Drunkenness is the issue here. In addition, you cannot go around with a beer in your hand drinking around other people and expect them to take you seriously about your faith and your commitment to Christ and His church. I am sorry, but for those of you who are social drinkers, it is your beer or your witness.
12. “Not violent, not quarrelsome.” Everyone fusses at one time or another? Fred, have you ever heard a cross or quarrelsome word come from Jimmy Gaye’s mouth? Everyone fusses from time to time, but this means “do you have an approachable disposition that brings peace and healing?” Or are you always going around looking for trouble? You, then, should never become a leader in any church if you are a trouble maker. In addition, the people of the church should never think about electing anyone to leadership in church who is a known trouble maker. The true godly leadership of any congregation are the peacemakers. If you have a problem with that, don’t argue with me… argue with Paul.
13. Now, let me add one to these items that Paul has given to us. You can’t be a leader, let alone a good leader, if you are not around. Like you cannot be a father unless you are around your children, you cannot be leader in a church unless you attend regularly. Folks, don’t allow yourself to be considered a leader in our church unless you care enough to be there for its programs and worship services. Again, I know that we all have to miss from time to time and no Pastor in his or her right mind would consider that not an option. Yet, it is wrong to consider yourself in a leadership position of our church if you don’t attend regularly all of the programs of our church.
14. Look at Hebrews 13:7 “Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct. Imitate their faith…” Good leadership is about letting others imitate your faith. It is influencing people for the better to be like you.
In conclusion:
1. Everyone is a leader who influences others for better or for worse.
2. There are others whom God calls to be leaders above and beyond what it means to be the average church member.
3. Such people have the blessing and the responsibility to witness in the community and a higher standard in the church that people can look up to.
4. I suppose that there are natural born leaders. But most of us are not!!! In fact, most of us are reluctant leaders. People who will do what they must do, but would rather some others of us do it.
5. But really, for many of you, you’ll never find your fulfillment in life until you sharpen and enhance your leadership skills. Because God wants you to help lead in His church.
6. Please read Hebrews and then Corinthians…. End with a charge to be a committed leader no matter how much a leader you say you are or are not.
7. And when you do, you are being a leader.
Spiritual Formation Study Sheet
Biblical Faith is very simple, but yet knowing and following the way toward spiritual growth and Spiritual Formation can be very difficult and sometimes confusing. If the Lord continues to lead in this direction my Sunday morning sermons will be dealing with Spiritual Growth and Spiritual Formation.
You might say that Spiritual Growth can take many forms at different times in the life of an individual and in the life of a congregation. Different churches and different Pastors take Spiritual Growth in different directions in their ministry with hopefully a similar goal in mind—being made in the image of Christ. Over the next several months I want to give you a sampling of twelve Biblical Spiritual approaches to Spiritual Formation to give you the opportunity to look at your Spiritual Growth, and God’s will for your life from many different directions. It is like the diamond below, there are different sides or different facets to every diamond that show its natural beauty. Biblical Spirituality is the same way: Christ is the beautiful diamond, and we will be looking at Him from different biblical angles.
12 Facets of Spiritual Formation
(for further information see, “Conformed to His Image: Biblical and Practical Approaches to Spiritual Formation” by Kenneth Boa)
1. Relational Spirituality: Loving God Completely, Ourselves Correctly, and Others Compassionately God is a relational being, by doing all these things in relationship to God and each other, we discover who and whose we are as we come to see ourselves as God sees us.
2. Paradigm Spirituality: Cultivating an Eternal versus a Temporal Perspective Our Spiritual growth is going to be very lacking if we cannot see the eternal significance of what we do while we are upon this earth. Life is a journey but can we trust God as far as where we are going. This facet of Christian Spirituality invites us to see things from an eternal and Biblical perspective instead of our normal cultural way of looking at things.
3. Disciplined Spirituality: Practicing the Historical Spiritual Disciplines This facet of Christian Spirituality emphasizes the classical spiritual disciplines of prayer, scripture reading, meditation, service, and etc., as ways of drawing ourselves closer to God.
4. Exchanged Life Spirituality: Grasping Our True Identity in Christ We have a new identity in Christ that is based on our identification with Christ in His crucifixion and resurrection that results in an exchange of our old life for the life of Christ. In short, we have a new life in Christ Jesus that has been exchanged for our old self (see Romans 6).
5. Motivation Spirituality: Biblical Incentives to Live for Christ Everyone has reasons for what they do and say. People are motivated to satisfy their needs and wants, but we often turn to the wrong places to have our needs met. This type of spirituality encourages us to look to Christ rather than the world to meet our needs. It encourages each of us to be honest enough to see real motivation for the way we act and feel, and bring it all under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
6. Devotional Spirituality: Falling in Love with God Someone once said that “the worth and excellence of a soul is to be best measured by the object of its love.” If so, loving God is the greatest endeavor that anyone could ever give their life to. What then are the keys to loving God, and how do we cultivate a growing intimacy with Him?
7. Holistic Spirituality: Every Component of Life is Under the Lordship of Christ We are to live under the Lordship of Christ in everything that we are and do. Every area of our lives should become expressions of the life of Christ no area should be left out.
8. Process Spirituality: Process verses Product, Being versus Doing It is increasingly tempting to be human doings rather than human beings. The world tells us what we do and accomplishment determines who we are. The Bible tells us that what we do in life is determined by Jesus Christ who loved us and died for us.
9. Spirit-filled Spirituality: Walking in the Power of the Spirit This section considers how to appropriate the love, wisdom, and power of the Spirit and stresses the Biblical implications of the Holy Spirit as a personal presence rather than a mere force.
10. Warfare Spirituality: The World, the Flesh, and the Devil This spiritual emphasis deals with a strategy for overcoming the barrier of the world, the flesh, and the devil to be conformed into the image of Christ.
11. Nurturing Spirituality: A Lifestyle of Evangelism and Discipleship This section of Christian Spirituality develops a philosophy of discipleship and evangelism that helps us reproduce the life of Christ in others, and increase our own journey toward Christ in the process.
12. Corporate Spirituality: Encouragement, Accountability and Worship We come to faith as individuals, but we grow in community. We need the community of the church to grow in Christ Jesus, without it there is no earthly accountability and very little heavenly renewal.
“These twelve facets of Spiritual Formation are all part of the same gem, and thus are inextricably bound together… (However) because of our widely differing temperaments, each of us has a unique personal pattern that involves differing degrees of attraction and resistance to the various facets. It is good to understand that we are naturally drawn to some more than others, but it is also beneficial to stretch ourselves through deliberate exposure to the one we tend to resist.” (Conform to His Image… page 465)
Week of: August 10, 2008
Title: The Pearl of Great Price
Series: Study of Spiritual Formation - Part 5
Scripture: Matthew 13
1. 1. Have you ever wanted something so bad that you could not stand it? Have you ever wanted something so bad that you would give anything you could for it?
2. In our scripture this morning, Jesus is giving a series of sayings that talk about the Kingdom of Heaven. He likens the Kingdom of Heaven to several things that most anyone of His day would understand.
1. 3. First, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sows good seed in his field and weeds come. Second, it is like a tiny mustard seed that grows and becomes a tree. Third, the kingdom of heaven is like a small amount of yeast that works its way through a batch of dough. Fourth, the Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in a field; when a man finds that the treasure is there, he quickly buys the field and, in the process, the treasure. The fifth Kingdom saying is about a merchant looking to buy the best possible pearl that he can find, and when he finally finds it, he sells everything has and buys it. The sixth is Jesus saying the same thing as the parable in verse 24, but putting it in a fisherman’s language so that his disciple can understand. Then looking at them and saying “you got that?” The Last (seventh) Kingdom saying is Jesus saying “look folks I’ve got a lot of things to say to you, both old and new about the Kingdom of Heaven. Just listen!
1.
2. 4. First off, does anyone know what the Kingdom of Heaven means?
3. 5. It basically means “the rule or the authority of God.” Just like a king or a government has authority over a people or a country, God has authority over us. To be a part of the Kingdom of Heaven or God, one must be willing to submit to the will or decrees of the King—God’s will.
6. But in this world, God’s rule or will is not always recognized and many folks are in open rebellion. Some folks just don’t care that God is being ignored. In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus prays, “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth and well as in Heaven…”
1. 7. For this to come to pass, Jesus knows that his disciples must understand the new and old things about the Kingdom so they can work for the coming of the Kingdom and obey God’s will.
2. 8. The most famous of these Kingdom sayings has to be the Pearl of Great Price.
3. 9. Who knows what the Pearl of Great Price is? Let’s look at it, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is searching for the most important thing in the entire world and, when he finds it, goes out and buys it. In Jesus’ day and time, pearls had a very special place in folk’s hearts. They desired to possess a pearl, not only because of its monetary value, because of its beauty. They found the same amount of pleasure you and I would have in owning a nice diamond. To them, a pearl was one the most important and loveliest things you could own.
4. 10. What is the most important thing, and loveliest thing, you possess? Your health? I’ve heard people say that when you lose your health, you’ve lost everything. What about your family? Who wouldn’t give everything that they have to save their family? What about your self-respect and your honor? Or what about you, are you the most important thing in the world to you?
5. 11. You know the direction I am heading in. But before we get there, you also know that there is probably a big difference in most of us as to what we say is important and what act like is important.
6. 12. For example, if our health is the most important thing to us, why would we abuse it? If our families are so important to us, then why do we neglect them and do things to lose them? If our honor and sense of self-respect is so important, then why do we dishonor and disrespect ourselves by the way we act?
7. 13. So the question becomes, what do we want? Is it what we say or is it what we do that expresses the reality of our hearts? Hopefully it is both…generally, when it is both we can feel at peace. But when we know what we claim about ourselves is not what we see ourselves doing and becoming, we feel like crud.
8. 14. What is really the Pearl of Great Price for you? What is the loveliest thing in the world to you that you would give anything and everything for? Of course, for the Christian, it is Christ!
9. 15. Down through the centuries, the church has always considered Christ as the Great Pearl of surpassing beauty and worth. Nothing is as important as Jesus, right?
10. 16. Yet that is not how we always live, do we? Sometimes there is this growing gap between how important we say Jesus is to how important we act like He is. Can both be the truth? Can we really serve two masters? Not really!!!
11. 17. How do we get such a big difference between what we say and how we act? Are we all just hypocrites as our critics say? I hope not! Have you ever told your spouse that he or she was the most important thing to you in the whole wide world? And then in couple of days or weeks acted like she or he was the least most important thing in the whole wide world? Did we change our minds?
12. 18. Probably not. We just got angry or we just got busy and just got sidetracked. It takes a remarkable person and a remarkable marriage to remain focused day in and day out to our dearly beloved. Most of us need reminded from time to time to what or whom we have made our vows to.
13. 19. As Christians, we have the Holy Spirit to remind us of our faithfulness to Christ. Still, it is easy to take our minds and hearts off the person we consider our Pearl of Great Price.
14. 20. There is something else here that is very important. I’ve also made a commitment to follow Christ. Not just to say I love Him, but to actually become like Him. And that is different than a marriage.
15. 21. My marriage vows didn’t say anything about becoming like Sharon. Even though we might start taking on a lot of the same attitudes and mannerism that being married 32 years might bring, I like a lot of the differences between me and her.
16. 22.. I cannot say the same thing about Christ. In fact, the differences between Christ and I are a source of my shame and a reminder of my failures.
17. 23. So, my commitment to Christ is to become like my “Pearl of Great Price.” To be formed into His Image, so that I might be more like Him. Yes I am to love Him, but in loving Him, I also am to become more like Him. That’s my challenge, the source of my difficulty, that is the broad difference between saying I love Him and living out that love in the world I live.
Week of: August 17, 2008
Title: The Power of Spiritual Formation
Series: Study of Spiritual Formation - Part 6
Scripture: Romans 1:14-17; 1 Corinthians 1:18
1. 1. What is the Gospel or the good news?
2. The actually word, gospel, means “good news.” The pre-Christian Greco-Roman word was normally used in reference to a victory in battle. “Like wow, we won the battle. Our soldiers were victorious today.”
3. Jesus used the term to convey His belief that the Kingdom of God was here, bringing salvation, deliverance, and joy.
4. Paul used the term to focus on the meaning of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
5. The Gospel of Mark uses the term to describe the entire life of Jesus Christ, not just His message nor just His death and resurrection.
6. Most of our theological understanding of what the Gospel really means comes from Paul’s letters. The content of Paul’s understanding of the Gospel is set out in 1 Corinthians 15:3-7.
“For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for o9ur sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles…”
7. There are four elements of Paul’s understanding given in these 4 verses.
One, Jesus died for our sins.
Two, that He was buried,
Three, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with scriptures; and,
Four, that He appeared to Peter and the Twelve.
(died for our sins, buried, raised, and appeared to the disciples)
8. The meaning of this understanding of the death and resurrection (died, buried, raised and appeared) is spelled out in 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10, “For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath, but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him.”
9. Paul expands on this core belief of the Gospel in many ways. Here are a few of them:
(1) The Gospel is God’s initiative through His son;
(2) Christ is crucified and raised for our salvation;
(3) We are justified by faith in Jesus Christ as the author and finisher of our faith;
(4) We are reconciled (as one is who has reached a right relationship with God) through Jesus’ death and resurrection; and
(5) the Gospel came in power and in the Spirit.
10. It is a mistake, a gross misunderstanding of the truth, to see the Gospel as just a philosophy of life or to see Paul as some street corner philosopher who is just giving us his opinion on some personal feelings he had about God. In Romans 1:16, Paul writes that the Gospel is “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.”
11. He also states in Thessalonians that his initial proclamation of the gospel was not “in word only, but also in power, in the Holy Spirit, and with full conviction” (1Thessalonians 1:5).
12. The Son, the Message, and the Holy Spirit are three powerful means by which God has used to save His people.
The place, which the Holy Spirit has in all of this, is like when we get in our car and go somewhere. We need an engine to power the car to make it go and we need a steering mechanism to make it go in the direction we want it. Jesus Christ is the car and the driver, the Holy Spirit is the engine, and the Gospel is the steering mechanism that takes us in the direction that the car needs to go. We are the passengers, whom when we are at our best, “don’t do any back seat driving.”
13. Now the question I’d like to ask you this morning: “Is the Gospel the power of God for the beginning, the middle, or the end of our salvation?”
14. Let’s put it another way: “Do you think that Paul only preached the Gospel to those who were lost or unchurched?” Or, “Do you think that he thought the Gospel was something that needed to be preached to Christians over and over again?”
15. Look at Romans 1:15, “That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at Rome.” Paul is writing to the Christian church at Rome, and he is dying to preach the Gospel to them.
16. Why? The Gospel is the power to become a Christian and is also the source of grace to live the Christian life. So the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God, for the beginning, the middle, and the end of our salvation. In fact, along with the Holy Spirit, the Gospel is the power of God for each and every day of our lives.
17. For Paul, the Gospel is continually at work in us as we understand more about the Christian life and become more obedient to God. The Gospel is at work in us, like we did the first day we responded to it, to respond to the truth of God in our lives. The Gospel is at work as we seek to live out its teachings on speaking its truth, turning away from lust, diminishing the influence and power of Satan in our lives, and growing in Christ Jesus. It contains the truth and the power of God to enable us to follow Jesus. The Gospel is the message and teaching of the Holy Spirit in our day-to-day lives. We never outgrow the need for the Gospel in our lives.
18. In fact, many spiritual problems in life occur because we refuse to or cannot apply the Gospel to our lives. Richard Lovelace wrote something that strikes me as being the truth. He writes:
“I was one of those Christians who did not know enough to start each day with a thoroughgoing stand upon Martin Luther’s platform: you are accepted, looking outward in faith and claiming the wholly alien righteousness of Christ as the only ground for acceptance, relaxing in that quality of trust which will produce increasing sanctification of faith that is active in love and gratitude.”
19. There is a story told of a single woman who years ago adopted an orphan boy from World War II Germany. His parents were killed during the war, and his postwar experiences were horrific. The woman who adopted the young boy loved the boy like a son should be loved, with all of her heart. Yet, the boy, because of the death of his biological parents and his terrible experiences in post-World War II Germany, rebelled and brought great pain and embarrassment to his long suffering adopted mother. It was so hard for him to live as a son, rather than an angry and ungrateful orphan because of what happened to him. It was so hard for him to believe that anyone could love him unconditionally.
20. In many ways, at times, we are just like that orphan. We just don’t get it. Jesus has paid it all, and He continues to pay it all, every day of our lives. He has and He continues to make it possible for us to be loved unconditionally by our Heavenly Father.
ds.
Week of: August 24, 2008
Title: Relationship Spirituality
Series: Study of Spiritual Formation - Part 7
Scripture: John 1:10-13
1. 1. Do you realize how realize how much your happiness depends on the quality of your relationships? The Bible does realize, and emphasis four great relationships.
2. 2. Do you know what they are? One, God; Two, other people; Three, ourselves; Four, creation.
3. 3. This morning I’d like to deal with two of those: God and ourselves. I really think that becoming a Christian and living the Christian life is coming to an increasing understanding of who we are and who God is. Mostly, it is learning how wonderful God is and how sinful we are.
4. 4. In understanding this about ourselves, we need also avoid what someone called worm theology. Does anyone know what that is?
5. 5. Worm theology is when we get down on ourselves and never get up. It is an extreme position on how sinful we are that says: “I am worthless and no good. Not even God can help me; I am so bad that I am a hopeless case for salvation and sanctification. Nothing will ever amount of me of any good. I am nothing but a dirty rotten sinner, who is beyond anyone helping.”
6. 6. Yes, we are sinners, but no one is beyond God’s help.
7. 7. Who exactly are you? Joshua and I used to play a little game when he was little. I would look at him and say: “Hey, little boy what is your name? Who are you anyway? Are you Timmy, George, Tommy, Mike and so on? He would look at me and say: “No, I am Josh!” Someone might have kidnapped him, but they would never have changed his name. He knew who he was!
8. 8. We all know who we are as far as our birth and given name is concerned, but do we know who we spiritually are? Do we understand who we are as far as being a Christian is concerned?
9. 9. To me, our most obvious identity is found in our Scripture this morning. John is writing to his community of believers and he is trying to encourage them to remember who Jesus is and who they are. He tells them that Jesus “was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” He goes on to say: “In Him (Jesus) was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.”
10. 11. He goes on to say that Jesus was in the world but the world didn’t recognize Him. That He came to His own people but they didn’t believe in him. But look in verse 12, “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in His name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”
11. 12. In John 3, Jesus says: “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the Kingdom of God unless he is born of water, and the Spirit.” Then goes on to say: “Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit…Yet must be born again.”
13.Being born again means that God’s Spirit gives birth to a new spirit in each of us; it means that we are born from above.
12. 14. The method of being born from above is prayer, confession, and commitment. It is not complicated, but it is for some people very difficult to make a sincere commitment. Let’s bow our heads and pray with me the Sinner’s Prayer.
13. 15. If you’ve ever sincerely done this in your life…. “You are a child of God.”
14. 16. However, once you are a child of God, then other things hold true:
a. As a child of God, I am a fellow heir with Christ. Romans 8:17 says: “And if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him” (both blessing and responsibilities).
. As a child of God, I am a friend of Jesus. John 15:15 says: “No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.”
c. As a child of God we have been justified and redeemed. Romans 3: 24 says: “Being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.”
d. As a child of God, Romans 6:6 is true, “My old self was crucified with Christ, and I am no longer a slave to sin.”
e. As a child of God, Romans 8:1 says: “Therefore there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
f. As a child of God, Romans 8:2 “I have been set free from the law of sin and death.” We are now under the law of the Spirit.
g. As a child of God, my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who dwells in me. 1 Corinthians 3: 16: “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”
h. As a child of God, we are joined to the Lord Jesus Christ, and am one spirit with Him: 1 Corinthians 6: 17: “But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.”
i. As a child of God, I am a new creature in Christ. 2 Corinthians 5: 17: “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”
j. As a child of God, I am chosen, holy, and blameless before God. Ephesians 1:4: “Just a He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him.”
k. As a child of God, I am forgiven by His grace. Ephesians 1:7: “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.”
l. As a child of God, I have been brought near to God by the blood of Jesus Christ. Ephesians 2:13: “But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”
m. As a child of God, I have boldness and confident access to God through faith in Christ. Ephesians 3: 12: “In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.”
n. As a child of God, I am God’s workmanship created to produce good works. Ephesians 2:10: “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
o. As a child of God, the peace of God can guard my heart and mind. Philippians 4:7: “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
p. As a child of God, God supplies all my needs: Philippians 4:19 “And my God will supply all you needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
q. As a child of God, I am a citizen first and foremost of heaven. Philippians 3:20: “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”
r. As a child of God, I have been chosen of God, and I am holy and beloved. Colossians 3:12: “So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”
s. As a child of God, I have been and shall be raised up with Christ. Colossians 3:1: “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things about, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.”
15. 17. As a child of God, the Bible teaches us that the most important thing about us is not what we do…although that is important, but who and whose we are in Christ Jesus. Our doing (our actions) should flow out of our identity as a child of God.
16. 18. The better we understand who we are, the more our actions should reflect that Christ likeness. No one likes to think of themselves one way, and then be forced to see one’s self another.
17. 19. So if we understand and know who we are, that we are children of God, then maybe, just maybe, we might try to act more like Him. Maybe we all would be better off if we committed to memory some of the wonderful things that the Bible says about who we are.
Week of: August 31, 2008
Title: Christ Our Resource
Series: Study of Spiritual Formation - Part 8
Scripture: John 1:1-17
Last Sunday, if you’ll remember, I tried to hammer home the fact that every believer is a “child of God.” In your bulletin, there is a copy of “As a child of God, I am…” giving you 19 blessings to rejoice in the fact that you are a child of God.
1. I’d like to call your attention to at least two of these this morning. “N” which states “as a child of God I am God’s workmanship created to produce good works; Ephesians 2:10, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
2. And then, “R” which states “As a child of God, I have been chosen of God, and I am holy and beloved,” Colossians 3:12 reads “So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”
3. To which someone might say: “Created in Jesus for what good works,” and “put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience toward whom or what?”
4. Does anyone remember, what are the four great relationships which the Bible seeks to instruct us? God, one another, ourselves, and creation.
5. Good works that are done because we have put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.
6. What I would like for us to consider this morning is the implication of our relationship with God and how that should affect our relationship with others. Can we see that, as a child of God, our relationship with God is going to have any positive and lasting effects on our relationship with others?
7. I would imagine all of us would say “Yes it should,” because we all know 1 John 4:11 which states “…since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” And then verse 20 which calls each one of us a liar, if we say we love God, but don’t love one another. “If anyone says, “I love God, yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen…Whoever loves God must also love his brother.”
8. That is terribly hard at times, isn’t it, especially when other folks don’t always treat you kindly and love you unconditionally as God does?
9. But we need to remember that even Jesus wasn’t loved and understood by other people, even his own family. When we think about how Jesus suffered, we normally just think about His crucifixion.
10. But consider the verbal abuse that Jesus took:
a. John 1:46 “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?”
b. Mark 2:16 “Why is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners.”
c. Mark 6:3 “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.”
d. Matthew 11:19 “The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.”
e. John 7:4-5 “If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” For not even His brothers believed in Him.”
f. John 8:48 “The Jews answered and said to Him, “Do we not say rightly that you are a Samaritan and have a demon.”
g. Luke 11:53-54 “When He left there, the scribes and Pharisees began to be very hostile and to question Him closely on many subjects, plotting against Him to catch Him in something He might say.”
11. Not only was Jesus crucified but he was severely criticized by family, friends, and His opposition who ultimately wanted Him dead.
12. The difficult part about criticism, whether it is warranted or not, is that it is easy to take it too seriously, or not to take it all. Some people seem to be able to hear criticism and abuse and just let it run off them like water running off a duck’s back. Or at least it seems that way. Other people seem to take the same kind of criticism and take it all to heart.
13. The danger of criticism and even of praise is that after a while we let it define who we are.
14. If we are called a looser long enough and often enough, especially by the right people, we begin to believe it about ourselves. If a child is told they are worthless and stupid enough by their parents, family, and teachers they begin to believe it. And it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy that the person causes to come true.
15. And then there are those who have been told they are the best thing next to sliced bread all their lives and contrary to the truth, fail to believe they have any faults at all. To that end, I love what Jesus says in John 5:41 “I do not accept praise from men, but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts.” And then He says in verse 44, “How can you believe (in God) if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?”
16. I think, as human beings, we are always going to be effected by what other people think, but what about what God thinks about us? As Christians, shouldn’t we be more defined and determined by what God thinks and says about us, rather than what someone who wouldn’t know the truth if it rose up and bit them?
17. Believing the truth about yourself, as God has determined that truth, is the secret to being able to love and serve others (see the handout).
18. In our scripture, Jesus has just washed His disciple’s feet. At first they protested and refused to let Jesus wash their feet, but after some persuasion they gave in.
19. The reason they needed persuasion was that they still were letting the world determine their identity. To them, the world was saying what it always says, “You need to be first. You’ve got to win out among the rest of the disciples. You’re the best; you’re a lot better than the rest of these people. Masters should not wash their servant’s feet.”
20. But then Jesus did His thing, laid aside his garments, tied a towel around himself, and began washing his disciples feet, and wiped them with a towel. His lesson was evident and very powerful: “if their Teacher and Lord became their servant they should also serve one another.”
21. The key to Christ’s willingness to serve others in place of being served by them was found in verse 3, “Jesus knew that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God.”
22. He knew His dignity and power came from the fact “the Father had given all things into His hands.” He knew his significance and identity and that it had “come forth from God,” and his security and destiny because “he was going back to God, came from God.” When God gives you something and you have the good sense to accept it, then you have a powerful tool to guide your life.
23. Jesus was criticized, rejected, slandered, misunderstood, plotted against, betrayed, denied, abused by family and friends, whipped and crucified, but in spite of all of this, he knew who and whose he was, and his relationship with the Father gave him the power and security to love and serve others.
24. It would have been impossible for Jesus to have done this if he allowed himself to be defined and bound by the opinion of other people around Him.
25. Your ability to love other people, to live in right relationship with the folks around, comes from the love you are receiving from God. It comes from your identity as a child of God. It comes because of the security and power the Holy Spirit gives you to be a child of God. It causes you to see people in a different way than what the world sees them.
Handout - Week of August 31, 2008
As a child of God, I am…
a. As a child of God, I am a fellow heir with Christ.
Romans 8:17: “And if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him."
b. As a child of God, I am a friend of Jesus.
John 15:15: “No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.”
c. As a child of God, we have been justified and redeemed.
Romans 3: 24: “Being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.”
d. As a child of God, if Romans 6:6 is true,
“My old self was crucified with Christ, and I am no longer a slave to sin.”
e. As a child of God, Romans 8:1 says:
“Therefore there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
f. As a child of God, Romans 8:2 says:
“I have been set free from the law of sin and death.”
g. As a child of God, my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who dwells in me.
1 Corinthians 3: 16: “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”
h. As a child of God, we are joined to the Lord Jesus Christ, and am one spirit with Him.
1 Corinthians 6:17: “But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.”
i. As a child of God, I am a new creature in Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”’
j. As a child of God, I am chosen, holy, and blameless before God.
Ephesians 1: 4: “Just a He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him.”
k. As a child of God, I am forgiven by His grace.
Ephesians 1: 7: “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.”
l. As a child of God, I have been brought near to God by the blood of Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 2: 13: “But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”
m. As a child of God, I have boldness and confident access to God through faith in Christ.
n. Ephesians 3:12: “In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.”
o. As a child of God, I am God’s workmanship created to produce good works.
Ephesians 2:10: “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
p. As a child of God, the peace of God can guard my heart and mind.
Philippians 4:7: “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
q. As a child of God, God supplies all my needs.
Philippians 4:19: “And my God will supply all you needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
r. As a child of God, I am a citizen first and foremost of heaven.
Philippians 3:20: “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”
s. As a child of God, I have been chosen of God, and I am holy and beloved.
Colossians 3:12: “So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”
t. As a child of God, I have been and shall be raised up with Christ.
Colossians 3:1: “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.”