I’m preaching a series in the first 12 chapters of Genesis, entitled “In The Beginnings”
This week we were in Chapter 11. This series has been a broad sweep with only one sermon in each chapter, trying to see the big picture. The big picture is that God is at work in creation, in family development, in correction, in the second chance, we will finish with ch12 and the beginning of Abraham’s line, from whence will come the Messiah, an answer to the promise of God in Genesis 3:15 to “bruise the head of the serpent”.
So, in chapter 11 the most famous story is the Tower of Babel. Yes, it is an amazing story, and yes I believe it. But God inspires the telling of the story, we get the details, and then the Story goes on. The Purpose of Man is to Glorify God and to enjoy him forever. That’s what The Westminster Confession says. That’s what got these people in trouble. It’s NOT that they didn’t know God, they knew him, but they forgot or abandoned their purpose. Paul seems to be writing their story in Romans 1, but he is writing all of our story. Though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude… exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images… They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served what has been created instead of the Creator(Romans1:21-25)
So, let me give you the last part of my message yesterday and write about,
– Returning to our Purpose
Puritan preacher, Thomas Watson, preaching Body of Divinity – a series on the Westminster Confession, was addressing the Chief end of man – to glorify God and enjoy him forever. If we ask the question then, How Do I Glorify God? I want to use the 4 words that Watson uses, and then I’ll give my thoughts and comments on those words.
How do I Glorify God?
Appreciation
Gratitude, or a lack thereof, is where it starts and finishes. A lack of appreciation, or gratitude, leads to discontent, distance, and disobedience. STOP and think about those 3 results of the lack of gratitude for God, or anyone you are in relationship with, discontent, distance, and disobedience.
Robert Emmons of http://www.greatergood.com says that gratitude is an affirmation of goodness… recognizing that the source is outside ourselves. Georg Simmel calls gratitude the moral memory of mankind. Wow that’s good.
Forgetfulness by these descendants of Noah, quickly became discontented, distant, and disobedient to God, as they failed to appreciate the Sovereignty and Salvation of God.
Gratitude makes us faithful followers that live to glorify God. Cicero calls gratitude the mother of all virtues, and I think he has something there. When we fail to get gratitude right, the rest doesn’t fall into place.
Second, to Glorify God
Adoration
That is loving worship. My PERSONAL DEFINITION of Worship is “an expression of adoration to the object of our affection” (JLG2003).
How do we do that in the daily? Jesus told us to pray, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. How is it in Heaven? You go to Revelation 4. There are 4 “Creatures” at the throne and all they do, day and night they never stop saying “holy, holy, holy, Lord God, the Almighty, who was, who is, and who is to come.And WHENEVER they do, the 24 Elders say, Lord and God you are worthy to receive glory and honor and power, because you have created all things, and by your will they exist and were created. – I personally believe the “24 Elders” is the church, so this is what the church does in Heaven, and it’s what we should be doing “on earth as it is in heaven”
Adoration recognizes God’s greatness, his goodness, and gives him glory in all things here on earth, just as they do in heaven.
Thirdly, to glorify God
Affection
When we talk about affection or love, we need to be more specific. Watson says that there are 2 kinds of affection or love. The first is a “love because”. He likens it to when we say “I love you for the harvest” – or we are loving the blessing. We love the raise, or our health, or our food, whatever, but we are loving the Blessing. But Watson says the affection that truly Glorifies God is to take delight in.
Oh my, when we get our “delight” in something besides God, everything else gets out of tune. If you remember Genesis 3:6, it was misplaced delight that got Adam and Eve in trouble, a lack of gratitude. God had only said, “no” about ONE THING, the tree. But 3:6 says the woman saw that the tree was good for food and DELIGHTFUL to look at… desirable…
Love, Worship, Adoration, Affection comes when we delight in God, because he delighted in ME. Oh there is nothing in my sinful self that is delightful, but he did. Psalm 18:16-19 says he reached down from on high and took hold of me; he pulled me out of the deep water…he brought me to a spacious place; he rescued me because he DELIGHTED in me.
Somebody hold my mule, I need to shout!
He delighted in me, and I delight in him because of WHO HE IS.
When I think about that word, delight, I think about the sweetest part of my relationship with my bride. When I see her smile, at fireworks, or at a favorite song, I just watch her smile, it is a delight to me, to see her smile.
Delight for God is to know what pleases him, makes him smile, and just look to his face to see him smile. That is to GLORIFY GOD.
Appreciation, Adoration, Affection, don’t lose that JOY, grateful joy and then lastly to Glorify God is
Subjection
That might not be a word we use. But think Allegiance in Service.
Subjection is what those 4 creatures at the throne of God do. They stand before the throne, waiting for the instruction of God, at his Disposal, at his Discretion, reporting for Duty, for His GLORY.
And this then is the problem in Genesis 11. God gave a commission, and they wanted to do what they wanted to do. They were busy, grand, amazing, but they were NOT GLORIFYING GOD. Oh, selah, stop and think about that. God is great and greatly to be praised. He is to be adored, honored, in grateful obedient service.
Romans 11:33, 36 – oh the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments and untraceable his ways!… For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.
Psalm 100 – Let the whole earth shout triumphantly to the Lord! Serve the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Acknowledge that the Lord is God. He made us, and we are his – his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and bless his name For the Lord is good, and his faithful love endures forever; his faithfulness through all generations.
Nimrod tried to steal God’s glory, he tried to Tower over God.
A couple of weeks ago I shared my thoughts on my first look at Genesis 8 for my series “In The Beginnings”
So, I thought some of you might like to see how that came together into a sermon.
Here you go, from yesterday – In The Beginnings #8 – Genesis 4:1-14
We are in a series called, In the Beginnings. We are looking at the first 12 chapters in single messages for each chapter. Creation, Man, The Fall, Calling on the Name of the Lord, The Created Order, the Invitation to Life, and Surviving the Storm (The Flood), have preceded. But God put Noah in the Ark, so he could bring him through and Begin Again.
How we begin again is connected to what we know and believe about God.
I don’t know what you are facing today. God called Noah into his plan, and we don’t know much about the next 120 years, except that Noah obeyed God doing everything he commanded him. He built an ark, he raised a family, and he was a preacher of righteousness and judgment. Then they got into the ark and the rain came.
7:11 says all the sources of the watery depths opened, and the floodgates of the sky were opened, and the fain fell for 40 days and 40 nights.
7:24 then says the water surged on the earth for 150 days.
So, 120 years, then 40 days of rain, and 150 days of surging waters. Now, stuck in the Ark with who knows how many animals, imagine that aroma. You ever feel stuck in the plan of God in the middle of the ocean with no way out?
Now, before we read chapter 8, let me set the stage.
I’m not a scientist, nor an expert on these things; but, I believe this account because:
1) God said it and inspired men to write it
2) Jesus believed it, and
3) the Apostles believed it.
There ARE great Christian scientific writers that you can read for more scientific explanations. I recommend “The Genesis Record” by Henry M. Morris. He explains what we believe the Bible teaches about the World before and after the Flood. He puts science to the commentary, and it’s a deep and profound read. Scientists like Morris teach that the world changed dramatically after the flood. They observe it to be a complete change of environment, atmosphere, the earth was different.
Read the Psalmist talking about it.
Psalm 104:1–9 (CSB)
1My soul, bless the Lord! Lord my God, you are very great; you are clothed with majesty and splendor. 2He wraps himself in light as if it were a robe, spreading out the sky like a canopy, 3laying the beams of his palace on the waters above, making the clouds his chariot, walking on the wings of the wind, 4and making the winds his messengers, flames of fire his servants. 5He established the earth on its foundations; it will never be shaken. 6You covered it with the deep as if it were a garment; the water stood above the mountains. 7At your rebuke the water fled; at the sound of your thunder they hurried away— 8mountains rose and valleys sank— to the place you established for them. 9You set a boundary they cannot cross; they will never cover the earth again.
Think about those last 4 verses. And imagine the violent things that happened in this storm; subterranean and subaqueous volcanic eruptions, mountains created, valleys cut, canyons carved, fossils created, sediment crushed.
I remember when Lisa and I took the boys to the “painted desert” in Arizona. They said “the only way this could have been created was with a “large regional flood” – WELL that’s close.
So, READ 8:1-14
God Remembered Noah… God caused a wind to pass over the earth… the ark came to rest in the 7th month on the 17th day, on the mountains of Ararat.
Go with me on a journey now. We are going to tread over and over the same theme and hopefully drive it home. Three sections for my thoughts today.
1. Truth To Communicate
Three important truths in these first four verses:
A. God Knows
God remembered Noah
Oh my, I barely got past this verse. God remembered Noah.
Ever felt like God has forgotten you? 120 years of building and preaching, then months in the ark, a floating casket, completely in the hands of God. They couldn’t sail, they couldn’t steer, the could only trust the hand of God.
God knows.
God has not forgotten you. Stay here for a minute. As I read the story of God, and God building a people to love. God sees all things completed. 1000 years is like a day. It only seems long to us. He measures the universe with the span of his hands, and yet this world seems big to us, but for God it is but a dot on a finger.
As I read this story, again and again, this truth rings out, God Knows, God Remembers.
Abraham thought he missed his chance, but God took him outside the tent and said, “look at the stars, so shall your descendants be”.
Rachel was loved by Jacob, but she couldn’t have children, and wondered where was God
Hannah too couldn’t have a child, and sought the Lord, year after year.
Zechariah and Elizabeth, served the Lord, but their prayers for children seemed unanswered.
But God remembered Rachel in Genesis 30:22
He remembered Hannah in 1 Samuel 1:19.
In Luke 1:13, Gabriel appeared to Zechariah and said, your prayer has been heard
Joseph was sold into slavery, falsely into prison, but God remembered Joseph
Israel was 400 years in Egypt, but in Exodus 2:24, God heard and God Remembered his covenant. Then he told Moses in Exodus 3:7-8, I have seen… heard… I know… and have come down to rescue
Psalm 136:23 says, he remembered us in our humiliation, his faithful love endures forever
Taken to Babylon in captivity, Israel had hung their harps in the trees,
Daniel was praying and fasting in captivity in Babylon, then after 70 years
Daniel 10:10–12 (CSB)
10Suddenly, a hand touched me and set me shaking on my hands and knees. 11He said to me, “Daniel, you are a man treasured by God. Understand the words that I’m saying to you. Stand on your feet, for I have now been sent to you.” After he said this to me, I stood trembling. 12“Don’t be afraid, Daniel,” he said to me, “for from the first day that you purposed to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your prayers were heard. I have come because of your prayers.
God remembered his promises and brought them home.
Oh what might have happened, But For God
But for the memory of God
But for the Knowledge of God
But for the Power of God
Remember in Genesis 6:18 he told Noah, I will establish my covenant with you. God had made a promise to SAVE Noah and his family. God never speaks hastily or frivolously, always clearly and truthfully.
The idea in Scripture of God “remembering” doesn’t mean he forgot, but that he paused in his working toward, but now he is working again directly on the promise, because…
B. God Works
Notice the working of God
God caused a wind to pass over the earth.
Oh God was at work all along.
In John 5:17 Jesus says, my Father is still working, and I am working also
God was working in the rain, working saving Noah in the Ark. God was always working, but now the storm has stopped, but that was nearly four months ago.
Then the WIND. Oh my, like the rushing of a mighty wind
Wind, or Breath. The presence of wind always brings the image of the Spirit of God. Genesis 1:2, the Spirit of God was hovering over the earth as creation began. Now, I’m certain this is REAL Wind here, not a symbol. It’s like the wind that God caused to blow all night like parting the Red Sea for Moses and the Children of Israel to cross on Dry Land. And the same wind STOPPED, allowing the waters to cover their pursuing enemies.
The Holy Spirit came blowing into the Upper Room at Pentecost.
Yet even in every natural action, the Hand of God was at work. Colossians 1:15-17 says, he created all things… and he holds all things together. He is in the Gentle Zephyr and the Turbulent Tornado, or the Harrowing Hurricane.
The wind blew in the working of God and The Waters began to Recede
Then v2 says the sources of the water depths and the sky closed.
The same sources that God opened to allow the Flood, God closed to allow it to recede.
God is Working
Creation Scientists tell us they believe that before the floods there was a dense vapor in the atmosphere creating a perfect global climate. But when God opened the floodgates, everything changed.
The depths were opened, God was working. There would have been violent waters and waves. Magma would have rumbled in subaqueous eruptions, mountains created under the floodwaters. Imagine the violence in the working of God, and the ark at God’s mercy riding through it.
God knows, God Works, and
C. God Finishes
The Ark came to rest…
The storm, the surge, then God rested the ark. We already know that when God finished creation, he rested.
Remember the Ark is a type, a picture, of Christ. So, in the 7th month, on the 17th day, day, the Ark Rested. Why would God want us to know the exact day?
Well, the Civil Calendar 7th month, is the same as the Religious Calendar 2nd month for Israel. So, Henry Morris points out that this 17th Day is the same day that Jesus Rose from the Grave. The Ark Rested. Jesus Rose, salvation’s work complete. Let that sink in.
Then I read something else. The Ark came to rest on the Ararat range of Mountains. Now, there were mbountains on earth before the flood. But Ararat, if you visited there, you would find it is made of “pillow lava”. That means that this was lava formed in deep waters. Ararat also has sediment with Ocean Fossils. Do you see that? While the storm raged and the floodwaters surged, God was creating the place on which the ark would come to rest.
As the waters receded, the mountains rose and the Ark came to rest.
Whatever you face today, whatever the storm, God Knows, God Works, and God Finishes.
So, in the Truth, there are…
2. Conclusions to Make
God knows, God works, God finishes, what’s the Common Denominator?
A. God
It’s God, First, Last, Always
Oh, some of the greatest words in scripture are the first words in John 3:16,
“For God”.
He is BEFORE all things, he will be AFTER all things, and he is IN all things. He is Eternal, Self-Existent, Constant, the same yesterday, today, and forever. All things were made BY Him and FOR Him
God is the who, the what, the why, and the when. He is the Answer, the Reality to explain everything.
It’s God, and
B. God Knows
I know we’ve already said it, but I’m saying it again. God knew before, what was coming. He is never caught off guard. God never makes a surprised face. He never says, “I didn’t see that coming”.
God knows in the middle what is happening and how it will end, and then…
C. God Remembers
His silence doesn’t mean he has forgotten or changed his mind. The promises he made are as good as the day he gave them.
Jesus was on the cross dying for the sins of the world, yet he had time for the prayer of one single sinner by his side. There was a thief at his side, worthy of his own sentence. He had mocked Jesus earlier, but then, he looked at Jesus with eyes of faith in Luke 23:42 and said, Jesus, Remember Me when you come into your Kingdom. And Jesus replied, Today, you will be WITH ME in Paradise.
Why? Because he remembers and
D. God Responds
Jesus had said in John 3 that he didn’t came to condemn but to save.
He said he came to seek and save those who are lost. (Luke 19:10).
If we confess our sin he is faithful and just to forgive. (1John1:9)
God Remembered Noah, God Works, God Finishes
Yes, God Remembered NOAH… because
E. God Knows My Name
God Remembered Noah. God Remembered Abraham, Rachel, Joseph, Israel, Hannah, Daniel, Zechariah, The Thief on the Cross, and so I know the Lord Remembers Jim Goforth, The Lord Remembers YOU.
Say It,
“the Lord Remembers ME”
He Knows My Name
He knows My Every thought
He sees each tear that falls
And hears me when I call (author: Tommy Walker)
Psalm 91:1, 4-6, 14-15 (CSB)
1The one who lives under the protection of the Most High dwells in the shadow of the Almighty.
4He will cover you with his feathers; you will take refuge under his wings. His faithfulness will be a protective shield. 5You will not fear the terror of the night, the arrow that flies by day, 6the plague that stalks in darkness, or the pestilence that ravages at noon.
(And God says)
14Because he has his heart set on me, I will deliver him; I will protect him because he knows my name. 15When he calls out to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble. I will rescue him and give him honor.
Yes, he knows my name, and I know his name, so one other conclusion
F. God Has A Timetable
All those timetables, dates. Did you notice those details?
Why?
1) These are REAL Historical Events.
2) These were appointments on God’s Calendar. We have an ordered God. He may be eternal and outside of time, but God made time. He made the sun and caused the earth to spin, to orbit the sun. He made the evening and the morning. He created time and seasons. And so, God is always right on schedule, right on time.
Because of these truths and these conclusions, we have…
3. Confidence To Trust
A. God Is On The Throne
The flood itself said to those who were opposed to God that though, Every inclination of their heart was evil all the time, still God will not be mocked
Psalm 93:2–4 (CSB)
2Your throne has been established from the beginning; you are from eternity. 3The floods have lifted up, Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their pounding waves. 4Greater than the roar of a huge torrent— the mighty breakers of the sea— the Lord on high is majestic.
He is on the throne, and we’ve said he has a timetable, but it isn’t just a plan, but
B. God has Perfect Timing
It may not be MY time, or YOUR time, but it’s the RIGHT Time.
Romans 5:6 (CSB)
6For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.
Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes 8:6 (CSB)
6For every activity there is a right time and procedure, even though a person’s troubles are heavy on him.
Then it asks in v7-8 no one knows what will happen… no one has authority over the wind… no authority over the day of death
Well, No One But GOD, He has Authority of the Throne and the Knowledge of Perfect Timing.
If God is silent, he will speak at the right time. If God is doing something else, he has perfect timing.
The confidence is that
C. God has Not Forgotten
Psalm 25:7 (CSB)
7… in keeping with your faithful love, remember me because of your goodness, Lord.
Psalm 56 says that God knows, he takes note, he gathers our tears in a bottle, and written a book about me, about you. Oh, in God’s office, he has a little shelf for “nik-naks” and he has a bottle with your tears in it. He has a library and there is a book with your life concerns written down. He has not forgotten
So know this, in his silence, inactivity…
D. God is Not Lazy, He is BUSY Working On The Finish
He is Patient, he is right on time, making preparation for the finish.
Did you notice, the mountains of Ararat, where the Ark came to Rest, was created in the Flood. The surging storm, storm, formed the place of Rest for the ark.
Could it be that the storm that is surging around you right now, may be forming the place where the finish of God will come to rest? God knows what he is doing. God is Busy working on your behalf.
What you thought was Evil, God means for good.
So… While you Wait
E. Trust and Obey; Pray and Praise
Call out For Salvation
That thief on the cross, in the midst of the final and worst day of his life, He Called Out – “Remember Me” – You are my only hope for the “day after Tomorrow doesn’t Come”
Cry Out to Our Only Savior
Jeremiah 15:15 (CSB)
15You know, Lord; remember me and take note of me. Avenge me against my persecutors. In your patience, don’t take me away. Know that I suffer disgrace for your honor.
Pray For Strength To Serve One More Time
Samson had great highs, and an embarrassing Low. But then as he turned back to the Lord,
Judges 16:28 (CSB)
28He called out to the Lord, “Lord God, please remember me. Strengthen me, God, just once more…”
And his last act was greater in the War Against Evil than all he had done before
Trust God’s Timing
Job 14:13 he says …if only you would appoint a time for me and then remember me
Well, I know this, God does have an appointed time, and he will remember you, if you will call out to him
So, you can trust God, trust his timing, trust his working, trust his finish
So
Praise Him
Psalm 106:1–2,4 (CSB)
1Hallelujah! Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his faithful love endures forever. 2Who can declare the Lord’s mighty acts or proclaim all the praise due him?
4Remember me, Lord, when you show favor to your people. Come to me with your salvation
I’m preaching through the first 12 chapters of Genesis right now. Today I’m doing some prep work for chapter 8.
So, let me allow you to peek in on my thought process preparing for preaching on chapter 8. This series is different than breaking down every verse, it is a single message of importance from each chapter. Well, as I turn the page I can’t get past verse 1, “God Remembered Noah”. Oh Somebody, I might just shout right here. I don’t know if you ever feel like God has forgotten, or worse yet doesn’t care. Oh it was 120 years from the call to the rain. Then 40 days of rain, and months of waiting for the water to recede. Remember they were floating in a casket shaped water vessel. They couldn’t steer it or control, they were in the hands of God, literally and figuratively.
So, this isn’t the sermon yet, just some observations I would share with you.
God Knows – God Remembered Noah
God Works – God Caused a Wind to pass – the same God that opened all the necessary sources of water in chapter 7 to bring the flood, now closes all those sources in chapter 8. God is working
God Finishes – The Ark Came To Rest – while we rest IN Christ, dead to self, alive to Christ, we can know that the Ark will come to rest where God intends.
So then there are some important Conclusions
God – it is God, First and God Last. Alpha / Omega, Beginning and End. He starts and he finishes
God Knows – Always – Before, During, and After – God knows
God Remembers – even when he is silent, he doesn’t forget
God Responds
God Knows My Name – God Remembered NOAH. And I am reminded right now that God remembers Jim Goforth
God Has a Timetable – As you read this story beginning in chapters 5 and 6, notice all the timetables. Why? a) these are TRUE accounts of Historic Events b) These are appointments on God’s Book
So, finally let me give you some Confidence Today
God is on the throne
God has perfect timing
God has not forgotten
God is not lazy, he is busy, he is patient for the right time
What do we do while we wait? There are plenty of passages you can read today.
Luke 23:42 – the thief on the cross said, “remember me Lord” and Jesus said “today you will be with me”
Judges 16:28 – Samson has failed the Lord but he asked “Lord remember me. Strengthen me just once more”
Jeremiah 15:15 – “You know Lord, remember me, take note… that I suffer… for your honor” – Oh Child, God knows, and takes note, and he has your tears in a bottle and a book about you written himself. (Psalm 56:8)
Job 14:13 – “if only you would appoint a time for me and remember me” don’t worry he has and he does
Finally go to the 106th Psalm and read verse 4, then back up and use the Psalm to Praise the Lord. ” remember me… come to me with salvation” so while you wait “Hallelujah! Give Thanks for he is good and his love endures forever”. The writer says “remember me so that…” a) I can enjoy being chosen b) I can rejoice c) I can boast about my heritage.
Well I could go on and on, but just know this today, whether in the height of success, the depths of failure, the dirge of death and suffering, God has NOT Forgotten you. Look up, Trust Him, Take his hand, he is leading to the House of the Lord. Surely, Goodness and mercy are following you. They may not always be with you right there, but they are following you, pursuing you, that is the truth you can trust!
Every year after I attend the SBC Annual Meeting I bring a message reporting what we are doing in the Southern Baptist Convention, based on the inspiration of the messages I heard, and the reports about our primary ministries.
Here is my message, it’s sort of long, but maybe NOT as controversial as you might think.
Convention Inspiration 2021
Matthew 28:18-20; Revelation 7:9
From Commission to Culmination
IN December of 1975, two weeks before my 11th, birthday God called me to preach. I heard it in my heart as clear as can be. But I waited. I didn’t tell anyone, not because I didn’t want to respond, not because I wasn’t sure, but because my dad was called to preach when he was 11 and I had heard that all my life, and when I heard that voice, I waited because I wanted to be 11. So, I waited two weeks and I felt guilty for two weeks because I wanted to be 11.,,
That call has shaped my life. It has taken me to 4 continents, it has taken me to concerts, and preaching engagements, revivals, church staff positions. But it has also had me share my faith one on one with people on planes, and over lunch, and on street corners, in coffee shops. That call was to preach the Gospel. But that is NOT the first call for the Christian. The first call of a Christian is to share their faith, meet Jesus, share Jesus. It will be different for different people, but it is still an expectation.
What then is the Commission of the Church and When is the Culmination of that Mission
Mission should be measurable and attainable, so what is our mission and how do we know how we are doing and when we are finished?
The Southern Baptist Convention is 175 Years old. We didn’t start for ALL the right reasons. We split from Northern Baptists primarily over slavery. We have confessed that sin as a convention. But our focus has always been on people meeting Jesus.
What was Our Commission? – Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8
Read Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8
Why Does Jesus have the Right to Commission Us? 28:18
Because he has the Authority. All the Authority has been given to him.
Why? Because Philippians 2 tells us he emptied himself of glory, took up the nature of a servant, was obedient to death on the cross. So that passage says
Philippians 2:9–10 (CSB)
9For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, 10so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow— in heaven and on earth and under the earth—
Ephesians 1:20–22 (CSB)
20He exercised this power in Christ by raising him from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavens—21far above every ruler and authority, power and dominion, and every title given, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22And he subjected everything under his feet and appointed him as head over everything for the church,
The Father has given EVERYTHING to the Son. The Spirit is pointing everyone TO the Son. It is ALL his … and he says;
“THEREFORE”
– We are commissioned because he is the Boss. Because it is HIS Kingdom, not OUR Kingdom. It is his plan not our plan.
Because HE HAS ALL AUTHORITY. And Dr. Tony Evans preached from this passage and several speakers referred to it. Why because it is where we start. It is why we are here. It is why he left us on earth. He hasn’t left us here because he needs 2000 years to get Heaven Ready. He can SPEAK IT READY. But he left us here because he has a commission for us. Tony Evans reminded us that he has Authorityekousia = power in legitimate hands – authorized authority.
So, the authority IS his, legitimized by Father’s Will, and Spirit’s Power, but by HIS Obedience and Faithfulness to the Cross.
Therefore –
Make Disciples
Evans called that process a transformation of worldviews
Certainly, before we can disciple people from being lovers of self into being lovers of God, we have to lead them to Christ through Evangelism. But discipling is copying the Master. But not just discipling THE ONES WE LIKE or the ones like us…
OF the Nations – ethnos
That’s the Kingdom work that Evans has been focusing on all of his books recently, Kingdom People, transformation of the people, the structures, the systems. Yes, we want to see worlds change, but that happens as we change people, and people engage with structures and systems and we change systems – discipling the nations
And right here we need to be careful. Because the question I asked myself in my notes was, “how can we do this without being trapped by Politics?” and I believe the answer is in WHOM we seek to glorify and WHY. It’s not about the Church being Political. It’s about the People of God sharing Jesus, Engaging in Society, Transforming Systems, with the Good News that though we are sinners, there is transformation and LIFE in Jesus Christ.
Our hope is NOT in ANY Political System – One speaker this week reminded us that Christ is “not riding any donkeys or elephants.”
And our Outgoing President J.D. Greer, Pastor of The Summit Church Durham, happens to be sending Pastor to our Children now on the Mission Field, he said, when the Church gets into bed with Politics it always gets pregnant and the offspring never looks like our Heavenly Father”
But we are to Go and Disciple the Nations
How? By going to where they are!
Dr. Evans had been using a football game as a metaphor and said there three teams in every conflict, home, away, and the kingdom representative, the referees. But he said, that the offense gets into the Huddle … but no one came to watch the Huddle. You don’t MIND the Huddle, but you came to watch them break the Huddle and play the game. The question is DID THEY SCORE? Or Did they Stop them? So, we have to GO. And honestly if you go to the book of Acts, they had been commissioned, and they had been given clear instructions. And the instructions weren’t to build a Huge Jerusalem Church. It was to GO, empowered, to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the Church.
And so, what happened?
Before Saul became Paul. Before he became the great Preacher of the Gospel, I think you could say he became the greatest SENDER of the Gospel. Because there he is at the stoning of the deacon Stephen. And in the CHAOS of Persecution, the Church is forced to DO what they were called to.
Go – Baptist, Teach to Observe
Baptizing them, who, the Nations
Baptism is how we identify with Christ and with the Church
And Tony Evans said that our Identity as a Christian is MORE than any other identifier we have. He said God went to SAVE the NATIONS and commissioned us to do that. He says God is NOT Colorblind. Still in Heaven they were every race, tribe, color, and tongue – God is NOT Color Blind, but he is also not Blinded by Color.
Baptizing the Nations in the name of Father, Son, and Spirit
Teaching Them (the nations) to OBSERVE
It is NOT in the Knowing but in the Doing that we truly identify AS Christians. Doing doesn’t MAKE us Christians, but it DOES Identify us as Christians.
It’s about Transformation. Our job is to evangelize but to share the accountability to BE Like Christ. And if WE will Observe all that he is Commanded … THEN as Kingdom People, we can see Kingdom Impact in the World.
Tony Evans said, we can’t expect God to “Skip the church house, to fix the White House”
And then as Evans closed, he reminded us that the I am with you always – literally I even I am with you always to the end of the age … he was NOT talking about salvation, he was talking about how he is WITH us, accompanies us. And that God only Accompanies us, is with us as we are with HIM. As we are doing what we’ve been told to do, THEN he is WITH Us.
As we are Kingdom people, living with Kingdom Authority, For Kingdom Glory … THEN he is with us. In John 2:21-25 Jesus preached and many believe in his name … Jesus, however would not entrust himself to them,
There is and can be a time, when we believe, have faith, but we are on our own Agenda and he is not WITH us.
2. Why Is Our Commission? – Acts 1:3-8
If Jesus only has 40 days on earth what is going to focus on? What is mostimportant. He taught them about the Kingdom of God
The kingdom of God NOW is in our hearts surrendered to God. The Kingdom of God to COME is the Eternal Rule of God over all things – Heart, Soul, Mind, Strength, in a Unified Universe of Surrendered Creation and Creature. And he had spent 40 days teaching them about the Kingdom of God.
And the commands them NOT TO LEAVE Jerusalem but to WAIT for the Father’s promise … What was the promise? John 14 don’t let your hearts be troubled… believe in me… I am going to prepare a place for you… I will come again and take you to myself… but then he says in v16, I will ask the Father, and he will give you another counselor… I will not leave you as orphans… the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send me my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you. Peace I leave with you… don’t let your heart be troubled or fearful and in John 15:25 he continues, he will testify about me. You also will testify… chapter 16 I came from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I am leaving the world and going to the Father… I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.
So, he has told them he is leaving. Now the time is here. He is leaving. He has also promised them that he will return. But In the Meantime, we have a Person, we have Power, and we have a Purpose. Oh wow that sounds like a sermon doesn’t it.
The Person we have is the representative of Jesus Christ, the Person, 3rd Person of the Trinity, The Holy Spirit. He is NOT the Father, He is NOT the Son, He is the Spirit, and He is GOD! His purpose is to teach us, to convict us, he will encourage us, and he will empower us.
The Power – Jesus says he is leaving. We are going to be wondering what to do. But peace comes in realizing that when Jesus left, he was sending all the power we need. There is power in knowledge. There is power in a message, there is power in purpose.
I have been running 3-4 times a week since I started focusing on running, back in August. It’s been a different thing for me. It has stretched my endurance, my perseverance. There is a trainer that I have been using via video, Tommy Rivers Puzey. And he will be ramping things up and he often says, “come on, you can do anything for a minute”. And so, we would press on and push forward at this new rate, for a minute. We can make it for a minute. And by breaking it down, my endurance increases. What the training is doing is increasing my power, but also increasing my mental, and even spiritual power to continue.
So, Peter said, to the Lord, a day is “like 1000 years.” So, a day is 24 hours right. So, if 1000 years is a day, then 41 years is an hour. So, I’m going to live to 100 at least. That would simply be living 2 ½ HOURS. And if 41 years is an hour then 8 months is a minute, and 4 days is a second. Tommy Rivs says, “you can do anything for a minute”
And Jesus said, “for a little while you will have trouble, but take heart I have overcome the world.” If your whole life is TROUBLE – it’s just a couple of hours. But in those HOURS – we can make it because we have the Power of the Holy Spirit.
But IN THOSE HOURS … let’s focus on the RIGHT THINGS
The Purpose – I’m giving you the Holy Spirit to work on the KINGDOM. Now there in Acts 1 the disciples are trying to get the verbiage right. And He has just again promised them that they would be BAPTIZED with the Holy Spirit with Power for the Purpose, IN A FEW DAYS … and the disciples ask, Lord, are you restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?
Oh my they got the word right, but not the concept. We ARE Kingdom People in Christ Jesus, but it’s NOT that kind of Kingdom. Some of us step into the voting booth trying to bring the Kingdom and that’s NOT the place. OH YES. THAT Kingdom is Coming. And that Promise will be fulfilled, but Jesus isn’t asking for our help with THAT Kingdom, but he DOES want to USE us in the Advancement of the Kingdom of God here on earth IN the Heart of All who Would Believe.
And Jesus gently answers their question by saying, it’s not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority …
… BUT you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
So, if that’s our Commission, WHEN will we know we are finished?
3. When Is the Culmination? – Revelation 7:9
Until we get to Heaven and see Revelation 5:9 and 7:9 become a reality, we have work to do.
What does that look like?
Revelation 7:9 (CSB)
9After this I looked, and there was a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language, which no one could number, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands.
This is the vision that Great Commission Baptists are Committed to. Yes, we are still the Southern Baptist Convention. We are not all “southern”, but we are all Great Commission Baptists. We adopted this moniker 10 years ago as a way to refer to us. That is our Mission, that is our Focus, to fulfill the great commission. And we put our money where our mission is.
SBC Budget 2021/22 – $190,000,000.
We can do that because we are 48,000 churches cooperating together for the Great Commission. Some might expect that to be a bloating of facilitation and administration, but that’s the beautify of the SBC.
Of the $190Million only 2.99% is spent on Facilitating Ministries, that is the Executive Committee which operates for the SBC between Annual Meetings, and the overall Operations of the SBC.
1.65% is spent on the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission which works with Culture and Engagement of Issues. It assists churches in moral and ethical issues, engagement and education. They work with faith-based adoption issues, human rights issues, and religious liberty engagement.
22% is spent on our 6 Seminaries, training the next generation of Pastors and Staff.
Then 73% of our Budget is Spent on World MissionsMinistries!
That includes $43,000,000 on the North American Mission Board. The North American Mission Board is focused in the USA and Canada in Compassion Ministry, Evangelism, Church Planting, and Chaplains (Hospitals and Military)
The IMB and NAMB work together on www.sendrelief.org When there is a tragedy worldwide, if you want to give to a specific need, go to send relief. You can give directly to them and know that in addition to meeting needs they will share the gospel. You can also know that they will work WITH Salvation Army and many others on the field to make the most of the opportunity, not compete.
The NAMB is focused heavily on Church Planting and Replanting of existing churches struggling and ready to reengage. Church planting is the strategy to spread the gospel, respond to brokenness, and bring spiritual, emotional, economic and social healing.
Look at this.
Notice the church plants in 2010.
Now SINCE 2011, look at this.
In 2020 we have truly LIT up the Continent with the gospel. 7,300 churches planted in 10 years. 80% are still thriving after 4 years. 18% of the baptisms in our 48,000 churches come from church plants. And notice a little but exciting thing. Down there on the bottom right in Puerto Rico. 16 New Church Plants. No new churches had been planted there in 25 years previously. That’s Great Commission Baptists at Work. http://www.namb.net
Then our Biggest Focus on Revelation 7:9 is the International Mission Board. And we allocate $95.6 Million or 50% of our budget to the IMB, and that does NOT include the $159Million given to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, in spite of COVID, that was the 2nd largest Offering every. And with that investment, there are more than 3,500 missionaries and their 2500 children on the field right now. The world becomes more hostile to the Gospel daily and so they have to be creative and create jobs that allow them to work and connect overseas. Companies like www.kingdomgrowers.com in Forney Texas. I’m not a coffee drinker, but you can order online. Check it out. And you can buy plants that go overseas to farmers in need. The IMB is a Partner for the Gospel with Kingdom Growers so you get great Coffee and people learn about Jesus. I could go on and on. But what happens with that money and those missionaries. And with the thousands of short-term missionaries that partner?
Well, last year in spite of covid 422 new missionaries went to their fields. 18,000 local pastors received training. 127,000 received leadership and theological training. In Healthy Church Formation 35,000 groups are meeting intending to BECOME a church. 15,000 groups were just started with the intention of becoming a church. 18,380 New Churches were formed 57,888 1st, 2nd, 3rd, Generation churches are meeting with only 670 churches that have stopped meeting. Then the Big Winning Numbers. 769,494 people heard a Gospel Witness by our 3552 missionaries and partners. OF those 576,395 had an opportunity to respond to Christ. 144,322 became New Believers. One of those new believers was a young man who met our son and the went through the Gospel of John and He said, “I can’t believe what they did to Jesus”. He is a brother now. Then of those new believers 86,587 baptisms. You realize that is equal to nearly Two Mission Baptism for EACH of our Churches.
That brings us to ONE other Focus. $200,000 has been allocated for a new effort from our Executive Committee President Ronnie Floyd.
We are Great Commission Baptist. The Great Commission Compels us to Go. Why? Because Matthew 25:46 says that without Christ, they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. What’s common, ETERNAL. What’s different is the address. If we want to take the Gospel to the Nations, leading to faith, baptizing for declaration, teaching to live according to the truth of the Kingdom, We have work to do.
So, we have been presented with Vision 2025 with 5 Initiatives. It was amended to include a 6th initiative.
Increase the total number of Missionaries by 500. That will account for 100 lost annually.
Add 5,000 new Church Plants taking us over 50,000 churches.
Calling Out the Call – each church taking their role in calling on students, adults even retirees or career change new Pastors and Staff Ministers.
Turn Around Current Reduction in Baptisms by focusing on children and students between the ages of 5 and 17. The numbers have dropped dramatically in the last 10 years
Increase % giving, and Numbers given to the CP to 500,000,000
Then from the Floor came a recommendation for an addition to this task, of these important things:
Prayerfully Endeavor to eliminate all incidents of sexual abuse, and racial discrimination, in our churches – those two atrocities’ damage people and damage the work of the church. We will seek to END their incidence, and end churches being silent when it happens. We must protect the next church after you put that pastor out. We have a responsibility to protect one another. And there is no place for hatred of any kind in the Church of Jesus Christ.
I read Francis Bacon – he said that what gives rise to Atheism is primarily 3 things, 1) divisions in religions. When we fight, the world doesn’t believe. 2) Scandal among the preachers of the gospel. 3) Profane Scoffing in Holy matters, which he says defaces the reverence for God. He then added a 4) learned times especially in peace and prosperity. When times are GOOD, and we are “smart”, we forget God.
We can combat Atheism, not by ARGUING truth, but by Living the Gospel we Speak of
David Jeremiah says “Preach the Gospel with Word, Picture the Gospel with Life, Practice the Gospel with Love.”
The Prayer is to engage the 331million Americans, and 7.9 Billion worldwide, with the Gospel.
But until we stand around the throne, we have work to do.
What does that mean for us? There is a Message for Everyone. Oh, you might say, “well, there are mostly white people around us.” If that’s TRUE. I would still say the word “mostly”. Reach the rest. But Revelation says, “every tribe and people”. Are there people you don’t reach out to because they are of a different “tribe” or a different “people”? “Oh they aren’t LIKE US”. Praise God … go get them! Different Tribe. Is there a place for Republicans here? How about Democrats? How about Independents? What about other Tribes? You name the divider do they need Jesus? Will we allow Jesus to be the only definer? Will we allow his WORD to be our only Teacher? We still have work to do.
And so, the Call for you and for me is to Go
Go To friends
…To family
…To hard places
…To near places
…To far places
Give to facilitate the work of others
Pray for the advancement of the gospel
Cooperate with others on the same mission
You may not be called to be a preacher, or a missionary
But you have a Commission to Share your faith, from home, across the street, into the hard places to the ends of the Earth.
Are you A Great Commission Baptist? I am, We are, There’s room for you.
A martyr complex is a recognized psychological pattern. It’s marked by self-sacrifice and service to others at your own expense. Identifying martyr traits and tendencies can prevent burnout and stress on your relationships
It goes on to make the connection then to a Victim Complex and Victim mentality that doesn’t have to take responsibility for our actions because we are victims.
As Christians sometimes we are busy trying to be martyrs for the cause of Christ, we say, we think, and somehow that excuses our actions that are less than attractive and less than effective in what we are here to do.
I will confess that I am willing to die for Jesus if I am doing what I am supposed to be doing. However God has not called most of us to DIE for him but to LIVE for him. John 15:13 says “greater love has no one than this than he lay down his life for his friends”.
Live Live Live
You remember Jesus saying “you will do greater things than I have done”? Could it be that he is saying that a life Given as a LiViNG Witness for 60, 70, 80, 100 years is a greater thing? Oh yes, not in the soteriological sense, but there is a greatness in living for Jesus, not for my sake but the sake of others. There is a greatness in a LiFE living as a faithful, attractive, useful, loving Witness
Be a living witness today friend, lay your life down for a friend or a friend to be.
We have been given the ministry of reconciliation so be reconciled to your world that they might be reconciled to Christ
I saw this beautiful image today taken from Hubble Telescope and immediately my mind went to Psalm 19.
Can you imagine the songs David writes today? The Technology he has access to I’m sure is wonderful and supercedes the use of a shepherds flute and lyre. But more than that, ages in the presence of God. But here he writes:
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the expanse proclaims the work of his hands. Day after day they pourout speech, night after night they communicate knowledge. There is no speech; there are no words; their voice is not heard. Their message has gone out to the whole earth, and their words to the ends of the world …
The Glory of God. Oh it is one of my favorite thoughts and concepts in scripture. In John 1:14, the aged apostle writing at the close of the first century, I see him in my mind’s eye, thinking back on his walk with the Lord. And in perhaps some of the most beautiful text ever written, he talks about the coming of Jesus. And he says the word became flesh and dwelt among us … and then can see him pause, and perhaps take a long breath of remembrance and he says and we beheld his glory, the glory of the one and only of the Father, full of grace and truth. OH My My My – the glory. The word in the NT Greek is doxa. That’s the word also used when the Old Testament was translated into Greek from Hebrew and the word here the heavens declare the glory of God. That word at its root means “heaviness” or “weighty” and describes the worth. The concept is the Weight of the Reputation of God. There are times, when I come home at night to our house away from city lights. And the clouds have been swept away, and I look into the beauty of the sky and see all those Lights Proclaiming God’s Glory, the moon and the stars, and I often just stop and stand there staring into the sky.
Paul wrote in the first chapter of Romans that God has been revealed through creation so we are without excuse if we do not embrace the revelation of the glory of God in creation.
David sings here that the Sun going from East to West is like a fully adorned Bridegroom traveling from his home. It’s like a well conditioned athlete running perfectly their course.
And then David makes a shift in his song. He transitions from praise to revelation – the instruction of the Lord is perfect, renewing one’s life; the testimony of the Lord is trustworthy… the precepts are right, making the heart glad… the fear of the Lord is pure… the ordinances of the Lord are reliable… desirable… sweeter than honey… Just as sure as the stars shine, so the words of God, tell the glory of God, the weight of God’s reputation, the truth of his being. Just as true as the sun rises and sets, so God’s teaching follow his path and accomplish his purposes.
And then in the final transition from revelation to application – oh when the sun rises we can see the world as it is. Sometimes the night hides things in the darkness, but the sun rising gives us light to see reality. And so the glory of God reveals to us not only the right path but the reality that we stray from the path. And faced with the grace and truth glory of God, David sings, cleanse me… keep your servant from willful sins; do not let them rule me… then I will be blameless and cleansed…
And from the Glory of God revealed, David, in the light of truth, surrenders to the Glory and closes: may the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.
When all around me and even with in me, seems to be falling apart and unstable, God is my Rock
When the cost of sin is greater than I can bear, HE is My Redeemer, purchasing my soul from sin’s ransom.
The Heavens declare the glory of God
The Scripture reveal the glory of God
God’s Spirit with me reminds of the glory of God
And Jesus Christ, my rock and my Redeemer, brings ME, a sinner, INTO the Glory of God as I Surrender All
I know God loves the beauty of his creation. He loves a sunrise and sunset. He loves the way his stars are arranged. I’m sure he loves hearing the song of a whale singing in the ocean, a dolphin rising and falling on the surface of the waves. Oh, I’m sure he loves seeing the Eagle Soar, hearing a cardinal or mockingbird sing. Everything God made, he spoke into existence, and oh it was good.
But then, He formed Adam, out of the dust of the earth, with his own hand. He took Adam and breathed the breath of life into him and Adam became a living being. It was very good
The Lord planted a garden, a place for man to live and a place where God could walk with him.
Sadly, rather than walk in obedience and love, Adam and Eve sinned. And in Genesis 3:8, the Lord came walking in the garden, in the cool evening breeze, but Adam was hiding, and the Lord called out, where are you?
God wants to walk with us.
Enoch walked with God
Noah it seems was the ONLY man on earth who walked with God
Abraham walked before the Lord
The 12 Disciples were able to walk with him daily for 3 years. Along the most of his miracles and his teaching was while he walked with them.
Psalm 81:13 (CSB) – 13 If only my people would listen to me and… follow my ways,
From Genesis to the Revelation God wants us to walk with Him.
Henry Ford said, those who walk with God always reach their destination.
I’ve been preaching through Paul’s letter to the church in Colossae. The Series is “Only Jesus”. We learn that Jesus
He created all things
He sustains all things
He rules all things
He died to pay the debt for our sin
He is shaping us, changing us, and he will present us holy and blameless in glory
And Therefore, we are living a new way. We are seeking to make every part of our lives an act of Worship
I define Worship as An Expression of Adoration to the Object of our Affection
So, ANYTHING For Him, for His Glory Can be Worship.
A.W. Tozar says our goal should be lives of “unbroken worship”.
What does God want? He wants us to Walk with Him.
IN Colossians 3:24 Paul says, ” You Serve The Lord.” and this transition in 4:1 tells leaders and influencers to Act Justly, and Fairly since you too have a Master in Heaven
And We are invited to…
Walk With The Master
There is more to this than just “be a good boss”. There is an underlying principle for Life, walk with Jesus.
Adam and Eve got us ALL “off track”, because when we stopped obeying God we rejected that we had a Master in Heaven who simply wants To WALK WITH US.
Does this instruction sound like an Old Testament Foundationally Familiar Instruction? It did to me and I couldn’t get away from it.
How do we make life “unbroken worship”?
We WALK WITH THE LORD
Why did God bless David, even though he was flawed and often failed? It was that David Walked with the Lord. Yes, he fell down, but he Got Up.
When Solomon became King, God told him in 1 Kings 3:14“If you walk in my ways and keep my statues and commands just as your father David did, I will give you long life”
Even the “boss” has a Boss – the kyrios has a Kyrios, capital K
He is telling us to act justly, faithful, not overly impressed with our position, humble before our master… Look Up… Our MASTER is in Heaven
A leader joins God in his Work… so here’s where that took me…
Micah 6:6–7 (CSB)
6What should I bring before the Lord when I come to bow before God on high? Should I come before him with burnt offerings, with year-old calves? 7Would the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams or with ten thousand streams of oil? Should I give my firstborn for my transgression, the offspring of my body for my own sin?
What is the worship that God requires?
Offerings, Sacrifices? When is Enough, Enough?
God wants us to walk with him, it’s all he has EVER wanted.
Sin separated us from our WALK with the Master in the breeze of the evening, the dew of the morning, the heat of the day.
Jesus left Heaven and came to earth to walk with US.
should I give my firstborn for my transgressions?
NO, God gave HIS Only SON for our sin. As his child, his servant, redeemed by the one and only son of God, what does God want?
Micah 6:8 (CSB)
8 Mankind, he has told each of you what is good and what it is the Lord requires of you: to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God.
“Mankind” – Y’all, Everybody – that word is “adam”
When did he tell us?
Deuteronomy 10:12–13 (CSB)
12“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you except to fear the Lord your God by walking in all his ways, to love him, and to worship the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul? 13Keep the Lord’s commands and statutes I am giving you today, for your own good.
Deuteronomy 30:15–16 (CSB)
15See, today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and adversity. 16For I am commanding you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, statutes, and ordinances, so that you may live and multiply, and the Lord your God may bless you in the land you are entering to possess.
This is the way to a successful society, to a life pleasing to the Lord
To Act Justly
ACT = manufacture, make – He isn’t asking if we FEEL it, but telling us to DO it.
Isaiah 56:1 (CSB)
1This is what the Lord says: Preserve justice and do what is right, for my salvation is coming soon, and my righteousness will be revealed.
Walk with me
Jeremiah 22:3 (CSB)
3This is what the Lord says: Administer justice and righteousness. Rescue the victim of robbery from his oppressor. Don’t exploit or brutalize the resident alien, the fatherless, or the widow. Don’t shed innocent blood in this place.
Oh my goodness, let’s turn off the news feeds, stop following the political pundits and walk with God, hear and do
Jesus told the Pharisees, and ANY “religious folks” in Matthew 23.23 – be careful, there is hypocrisy when we do our religious expression to the Nth degree, but we neglect the more important matters Jesus said. What was more important he said justice, mercy, and faithfulness
Praise God, he gives us Grace, but guess what? He expects us to be people that DO RIGHT, walk with him in the fields of Grace, the ways of mercy.
Wait, did you hear what Jeremiah said back there? Rescue the victim… from the oppressor… don’t exploit the alien… fatherless… widow
The people of God were always intended to be a safe place for “aliens”.
The name of the Lord is a strong tower, a place for people to run and be safe, and we bear the NAME of the LORD. Are we a place of safety for people in need of direction, provision, protection?
Act Justly and…
Love Faithfulness
It says LOVE – that’s action, a verb
Love Faithfulness – hesed = deeds of kindness, a joint obligation, a covenant of love
We have an obligation to PEOPLE, because of our obligation to the Master in Heaven
Romans 13:8 (CSB)
8Do not owe anyone anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
This is an obligation
So…
Walk Humbly with your God
Ephesians 4:1 (CSB)
1Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received,
Paul, from confinement, tells us to ALWAYS Continue to walk with the Lord
Colossians 1:10 (CSB)
10…walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God,
Walk Humbly WITH… YOUR – This is about God, and it isn’t a mystery
Isaiah 66:2 (CSB)
2My hand made all these things, and so they all came into being. This is the Lord’s declaration. I will look favorably on this kind of person: one who is humble, submissive in spirit, and trembles at my word.
Isaiah 57:15 (CSB)
15For the High and Exalted One, who lives forever, whose name is holy, says this: “I live in a high and holy place, and with the oppressed and lowly of spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the oppressed.
Yes, our Lord is exalted, holy, eternal… but he has come down to the oppressed and lowly… to Lift Up, Revive, and Renew our Hearts
There are HOT Issues right now, and whether it is “alien” at the border, or homeless, abandoned women and children, or race issues, we, the church, need to focus on CHURCH, PEOPLE of God issues. We are NOT a political group we are the people of God. Yes, VOTE, YES hold our political leaders accountable, be personally involved in politics if the Lord so calls, BUT these are Gospel Opportunities and we need to seize these moments.
Sadly, we are often caught up defending politics and fearful of losing some “ground” or perceived territory, and we lose sight of the basic, “mankind” expectations of God. If we would focus on what GOD requires then we would…
Act Justly
Love Faithfulness
And Guess what happens when we DO those basic things?
We will look up and realize … “wait, I have God’s Hand, I am walking with God”
Well, let me leave you with something very practical.
You might ask, how do I hear his voice, and take his hand and walk with him?
Pray and Listen – prayer isn’t conversation if we aren’t talking and listening. And what did your momma tell you? Two ears, One mouth, listen twice as much as you talk
Read His Word, Read His Word, and Read His Word – one of the most important principles for discerning God’s leading, is knowing what he has said, what he has done, what he has promised, and knowing his Character. Then when you think you are hearing God, if it doesn’t match up with his Word and his Character, if you can’t find it in his past or his promises, chances are you are not hearing God.
Do What He Does – If we are praying, learning, and then doing the deeds of God, we are WALKING With God.
We have sons, and we taught them to walk. I taught them to play sports. We taught them to love the things we love. We taught them to love people and love ministry. We took them with me on mission trips and ministering to the needy. And you know what, our sons, learned to “walk that way.”
Now they are grown, and away from us, but they are still “walking with me”. Along the way, walking with me, they became my friends.
When we Walk with God, in Justice, Faithfulness, and Love, we find God’s pleasure and the purpose of being what God always intended, that we would be his friends.
God made a promise to Abraham, and Abraham joined God walking by Faith and James 2:23 says
I’m preaching through Colossians. I don’t often post my sermon manuscript but this was from last week, thought it might encourage you today
Only Jesus #9
Colossians 2:16-23
Only One Measure
Therefore – I’ve been thinking about that word a lot this week.
Actually, I’ve had that word on my mind for the last month. That’s where we left off in Colossians. And so as we finished by talking about the Cross. And then we moved into the Mount of Transfiguration …Therefore…
And then Luke 9:23 if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me …Therefore…
And then Jesus coming down the Mount of Olives, entering Jerusalem by the Eastern Gate, on the back of a donkey, they asked “who is this” and the answer “This is Jesus” …Therefore…
And we hear the words, “It is Finished” on the cross, paid in full, mission accomplished, and “he is not here”, leave the dead places … “He has Risen, just as he said” …Therefore…
It means, “for that reason, consequently”.
It’s just a little conjunction in the Greek, oun – but you perhaps have heard the saying, “if you see, ‘therefore’ stop and look to see what is it there fore.”
And Unknown Poet wrote these words:
THEREFORE
The tragedy of life is not death,
But what we let die inside us.
THEREFORE,
Decide to be happy,
Render others happy,
Proclaim your joy.
Love passionately your miraculous life:
Do not listen to promises;
Do not wait for a better world;
Be grateful for every moment of life.
Switch on the positive buttons in yourself;
Those marked optimum, serenity,
Confidence, positive thinking.
Love, pray, and thank God every day.
Meditate, smile, laugh, whistle, sing
And dance.
Look with fascination at everything.
Fill your lungs and heart with liberty.
Be yourself, fully and immensely.
Act like a (king or) queen unto death.
Feel God in your body, and mind,
Heart and soul, and be
Convinced of eternal life.
-unknown-
Therefore…
It is such a common word, though rather small, in the Greek, but it is NOT insignificant.
There are many wonderful “therefore” verses in scripture.
One of my favorite ones is 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 which reminds that Christians don’t grieve like those without hope, because we believe that Jesus died and rose, and so we believe that those who die in the Lord will come with him one day… when the trumpet sounds and the Lord comes, we will be caught up together meeting them in the sky, and that we will ALWAYS be WITH the Lord.
“Therefore, encourage one another with these words.”
“Therefore” means we Look Back to what WAS, and Look Forward to what WILL be…
THEREFORE …
So, going back to Colossians what we have already seen?
Jesus is the image of the invisible God.
Everything was created by him – Everything
By Him all things hold together – ALL Things
He is the Head of the Church.
He is the Firstborn from the dead.
He has made peace for us with God, by the blood shed on the cross.
We were alienated from God, but IN Christ, we are reconciled.
And we will be presented Holy and Blameless to God.
Then in Chapter 2, Paul says that the cross marked us as belonging to him. The cross erased our debt, and Disarmed our Spiritual Enemies, stole their weapons, and disgraced them publicly. He has triumphed over our enemies and leads us in a victory procession …
THEREFORE
READ Colossians 2:16-23
The rest of this letter is all about the “Therefore”
– How THEREFORE shall we live?
For that reason –
There are many things we do “for a reason”. There are plenty of things we do in the church, or in our religious expression, the decisions we make, “for a reason”. The question is, is it for a GODLY Reason – does it MATTER? It is for the Right Reason.
Because of the Cross
Because of the Sacrifice
Because of the Cost
Because of the LOVE – given and returned …
1. Be Judged By Substance
Remember our title is ONLY ONE MEASURE
– in the church we are often using measures with no substance. Oh, they are traditions, or preferences, even personal convictions, but is there TRUE SUBSTANCE?
Only One Measure
Don’t let anyone judge you in regard to food and drink, by festivals, new moons, or sabbath.
These battles were going on in the church. There were Jews, now Christian, but they wanted the Gentiles to follow their Old Covenant traditions. They wanted them to follow food laws, or festivals, or worship on the Sabbath as well as the new practice of worshiping on “The Lord’s Day.”
But those things weren’t normal for the Gentiles. Nor were they commanded by Christ. The Jews were offended if the Gentiles bought meat in their markets that often had been sacrificed to idols. It created tension and troubles.
This wasn’t unique to Colossae, just like it isn’t unique today to one church or region.
Romans 14:3 (CSB)
3One who eats must not look down on one who does not eat, and one who does not eat must not judge one who does, because God has accepted him.
Romans 14:17 (CSB)
17for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
WHY are we NOT judged by these traditions?
V17 – those things were shadows –
Hebrews 10:1 (CSB)
1Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come, and not the reality itself of those things, it can never perfect the worshipers by the same sacrifices they continually offer year after year.
Shadows … form but no substance. Action but no power
Shadows don’t have cheering sections
Shadows shouldn’t be worshiped
Tradition is wonderful, in its place; but we must keep our eyes set on the SUBSTANCE
Traditions don’t make us perfect, they just tell a story.
What did Paul say in Romans 14:3? It’s not about food and drink, “because God has Accepted You.” Do you see the underlying thing? Often times we are busy checking someone else’s boxes, what THEY call substance.
Don’t do that, because In Christ, we are already accepted.
The CROSS makes us acceptable, NOT the songs we sing, or the Bible translation we use, or the service schedule.
No, Jesus makes us acceptable.
Romans 14:17 says the Kingdom… is NOT eating and drinking but righteousness, peace, and joy…
I have news for us … When we All Get To Heaven … there won’t be hymnals, or bulletins. There won’t be video projectors either…
But there WILL be:
Righteousness – given by Christ…
Peace with God – acquired by Christ…
And Joy
– and that joy will flow into authentic worship, new songs as well as old, silence, shouting, celebration, and great gratitude. The only tears will be tears of Joy and Gratitude.
Paul is saying, “Don’t let anyone steal your Joy” by judging you without substance.
You’ve heard me say, “happiness is about what happens to you, but Joy is about what is INSIDE.” And someone recently asked me, “then what’s inside, where’s the Joy?”
RIGHT there in Romans 14:17 – Joy in the Holy Spirit
When you gave your heart to Christ, hearing the gospel, believing, you were then given the Holy Spirit. (Eph.1:13-14)
What did Jesus say The Spirit would do, John 16:13-15?
He declares what is to come…
Glorifies Jesus…
He takes from Jesus and gives to us…
He reminds us that Jesus Christ died to make us righteous, to give us peace with God, and Jesus is going to come again and will fulfill every promise…
Therefore – Be Joyful, Be Faithful to Substantive Worship v18
Let no one condemn you because they delighting in ascetic worship practices and visions etc.
You see while we have the traditionalist that wants to pull you into their tradition; we also have the experiential worshipper that feels they are more spiritual than you because they have special experiences.
Sometimes our “therefore” is that we have an image of the way it used to be, when it was best, or that special “high”, and we long for THAT experience.
Oh, it’s fine to look back, but we don’t need to try and recreate the past, or even the special, not even the great move of God …
ONLY ONE MEASURE…
Therefore, remember the past and consequently move toward the future
What is our future? A vast multitude around the throne of God from every people group, worshiping in Heaven. Revelation 5, 7, 9
Therefore, I want our worship, our service, our church today, our judgment of authentic to be People coming to know Jesus, made right with God, on the way to Glory.
Notice there in vv18-19 … when we hold to tradition or to special experience, we take our eyes off Christ, we hold on to the empty and not to the substance. We get puffed up with empty notions of what is spiritual, and so we have in essence taken the Head, Christ, Off the Body. And we end up with a Headless Church. That’s a monster, a freak, with no power and no life.
Judge by Substance and be
2. Free from Bondage
Paul shifts from talking about those who judge us, to those of us who ALLOW ourselves to stay bound to that empty judgment.
Why do you submit V20 if you died with Christ?
Romans 6 talks about what the Cross did for us.
Romans 6:4 Therefore … wait – backup…
Romans 6 paints this picture.
6:1 – should we continue bound to enlarge grace?
6:2 – absolutely not!
6:3 – we were baptized into Christ, baptized into death
6:4 – Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death … raised to Life … so we may walk in the newness of life
6:17-18 – thank Godthat you used to be a slave to sin, but you have been SET FREE
Romans 6:22–23 (CSB)
22But now, since you have been set free from sin and have become enslaved to God, you have your fruit, which results in sanctification—and the outcome is eternal life! 23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Free from Sin, a gift of grace … free from The Law …
Therefore, don’t live as if you belong to the world.
Don’t think that you can set rules, “don’t handle, don’t taste, don’t touch”
Why?
V22 all of these will perish
Human commands and doctrines will die WITH us
V23 self-made religions, false humility, not of any value.
And in all of this is the implied “therefore”
Judged by Substance
Free from Bondage
Therefore, we have
3. ONE MEASURE – Only Jesus
Live to Christ
Romans 6:8–11 (CSB)
8Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him, 9because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer rules over him. 10For the death he died, he died to sin once for all time; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
In Christ we didn’t die to be covered in dirt … we die to Rise to LIFE and GLORY
1 Peter 2:24 (CSB)
24He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree; so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
Oh my my my … when I typed in that verse the other day, tears welled in my eyes.
ONE MEASURE … ONE GOAL
Jesus, Beaten, Mocked, Beard Plucked, Cross carried through the streets of Jerusalem, Arms stretched wide, Thorn-crowned head, Nailed to THE CROSS – but that wasn’t the hardest. The hardest was He BORE my sin, he became sin …
SO THAT – YES – SO THAT – WE MIGHT LIVE – FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS
Galatians 2:20 (CSB)
20I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
I like the KJV – I am crucified with Christ – NEVERTHELESS
But The YLT – says, with Christ I have been crucified, and live no more do I, and Christ doth live in me; and that which I now live in the flesh – in the faith I live of the Son of God, who did love me and did give himself for me
Oh that’s Beautiful … because he DID die for me … because he did LOVE me …
I Live To Him
I LIVE IN Christ
Christ IN ME
I Live FOR Christ
That is … we live with our eyes set on the KINGDOM of God – the Kingdom that HAS Come, the Kingdom that IS Coming.
What was Jesus’ first message?
Repent for the Kingdom has come NEAR
– Stop going that way, turn around – Here It IS
Seeing what he has done for us, and what will be given TO us
Therefore We…
Live For His Glory
How did he teach us to pray?
Our Father your name is Honored and Holy
Your Kingdom come, your will be done
On earth AS it is IN Heaven
The “Therefore” in this life is living like a Citizen of Heaven, while we are foreigners, aliens, on earth.
Let go of the temporary stuff, live toward glory
Live for His Passion
– what’s his passion?
God so loved the world … that he gave his son … that WHOSOEVER
Let LOVE Govern our Lives … We are not driven by Tradition. We are not driven by Rules. We are not hunting some spiritual feeling, some great spiritual high we had or even heard about. No, Loved… We Love in Grateful Obedience. Remembering what he HAS done, Realizing what WILL be… We Love toward the glory that is to come.
Ana Draper wrote …
I Was Loved, Therefore I Am
I was loved, therefore I am
And in being loved, I am treasured
When I pealed away my layers,
And all that was left was my essence,
The bareness of me,
I am STILL loved.
I was loved, therefore I am,
And in being loved, I was able to grow.
In my mistakes, held
In my successes, celebrated,
I was always loved
I was loved, therefore I am,
And in being loved, I learned to love.
In the sun-filled day,
In the ecstasy of the night,
I was loved and loved others.
To be loved is all you need.
I was loved, and so will I always be.
– Ana Draper –
God so loved the world – he gave his only son … that whoever believes in him will have everlasting life – John 3:16
This is how we know what love is, Jesus laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers … 1 John 3:16
I was loved … THEREFORE
I was loved … Therefore – LOVE is my Only Measure
You were loved
You ARE loved
You WILL BE loved
Jesus died on the cross to defeat the sin that destroys … because he loved you
He is preparing a place for all who will receive that love and live in it.
Therefore – Receive it, and Love him in Return, Live according to it, TODAY
I look Back, Yesterday, the cross gave us a reason for Hope
I Look Forward, Tomorrow, Jesus will come Just as God has promised and Provided.
Therefore, Right now … we are Living In the “THEREFORE”
This isn’t intended to be a commercial post, but just wanted you to know where youc an get the rest of this idea. I was thinking about it today and reading again and I wanted to just include a little bit of it, sort of an outline of it. I wanted to just give you an encouragement today
John 1:1-4 in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. in him was life and that life was the light of men (CSB)
John wrote his gospel toward the end of the first century, long after all the other 11 who walked with Jesus had died. He wrote it from Ephesus where he had been pastor of what had become a large metropolitan church. John wrote 20:31 that you may believe … and have life.
Heraclitus had been a Greek Philosopher, also from Ephesus about 600 years before John 500BC. and he described the divine reason or plan which coordinates a changing universe. He called that divine reason – the logos = word. Heraclitus believed, 500 years before Jesus walked the earth, that there was something behind everything.
And John writes perhaps the most beautiful words in literature these words we just read. John was saying, “Heraclitus is right, and I know WHO he is, I walked with him, talked with him, saw him die, saw him alive, I KNOW HIM!” and he writes these words.
Go back and read them again – go ahead, I’ll wait.
John says the WORD isn’t a concept, he is a person. And he uses that same word LOGOS to show us Jesus.
He says
1.He is an Ancient Word
When the beginning had a beginning, Jesus was already there. Whatever you are facing, whatever the challenges, Jesus was before it. Your generational problem, your current circumstance, success, failure, Jesus was there BEFORE
And he WAS the Word. He has an infinite past. Matthew, Mark, Luke, all put Jesus rightfully in his place in History. But John starts by placing him outside history
in the beginning was the word
Whatever you face, take it back to the beginning when there was nothing but God, and know that before everything, before you even knew him, Jesus loved you.
And Jesus is
2.An Associated Word
was WITH God
They say you can be defined by whom you associate with. John Associated Jesus with GOD. That word means in the company of
John says anyone who has seen me has seen God – John 14:9
Hebrews 1 says he is the radiance of God’s glory … the exact representation of his being
And so that means he is also associated with the Holy Spirit. In the beginning was God … let US make man in OUR own image
Jesus was fully equal to and associated with the Trinity, the fullness of God.
But then the amazing becomes true John 1:14 the word became flesh and dwelt among us
Jesus became fully associated with US, with People.
When Solomon built his Temple he thought in 1 Kings 8:27 will God really dwell on earth? The heavens … cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built.
And yet that word, ancient and associated with God, became associated with us!
Why? so that our FIRST word doesn’t have to be the LAST Word.
Words seem to define us – winner, loser, big, small, accepted, rejected, sinner, saint, but because Jesus is the First Word and He is the FINAL Word, Alpha and Omega, Beginning and End; it doesn’t matter what your current word is, it doesn’t have to define you if you surrender to Jesus.
He is an
3.An Almighty Word
So Fear Him. Psalm 34:8-9 taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Fear the Lord, you his saints for those who fear him lack nothing.
Almighty Creator – Fear Him
Favor Him. that means to show him love, and to show him preference.
Who do you love and give preference to? Jesus is the one that deserves to be over all of that.
Follow Him – it’s not enough to think Jesus is nice, or a good teacher, he is either LORD, or Lunatic, or he was a Liar. That’s what C.S.Lewis famously said. If he is NOT Lord, then don’t follow him, but if he IS – he deserves ALL our lives fully given and devoted to him. Lewis said you can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him for a demon, or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God.
Oh my how the WORD can change our Word
From Abuse to Adore, Bankrupt to Bless, Cancer to Cured, Divorce to Anniversary Date, Empty to Exuberant, Famine to Feast, Grief to Given Comfort, Hate to Heart of Love, Irreconcilable to intercession. He can change us from Justice to Justification, Kicked out to Kicking up your heals, Lay-off to Labor in a New beginning. Oh can you hear me? From Materialist to Minister of God’s Gifts, Naysayers to Number one Fan, Ostracized to Open door. Oh I like the Word of God, Jesus changes us from Picked last to Picked FIRST by the Lord of Creation. He changes our word from Unqualified to Qualified, Ridicule to Resounding praise, Suffering to Strength, Termination to Threshold of opportunity. Oh when Word is our Word we can go from Uneducated to Understanding, Victim to Victor. When X-rays are fearful, we can have EXpectation of God’s move. If Yielding to God is fearful, the word of Jesus is A Yield of Great harvest, and Zero hope becomes a Zephyr of God’s Blessing blowing …
Oh Somebody … are you with me today
Whatever the words are playing in your heart and life today, Jesus is the Word BEFORE and will be the WORD after, and He IS the Word here with us today, willing to change our world.
Will you turn to him today. Say “Jesus, you are my word, you are my hope, you are my life, my trust is in you all day long.”
I got a text from a friend today. It’s not unusual for us to text each other with a thought or a question as we study the word, or think through the issues we face. The question today was, “Joshua 6 – Jericho, shouts and the walls came down. Scripture just says they shouted. Shouted what? Shouts of praise?”
And I had one of those clarifying moments. Profound? Well you decide. The thought that went through my heart was,
“The Key is never the WHAT but the THAT!”
And I texted that then continued, “It’s about Faith and Obedience. Think about all the things in that incident alone. The marching didn’t do it. The shouting didn’t do it. The walking around the city did not do it. The walls didn’t start to erode or crumble days 1-6. They didn’t shake on revolutions 1-6 on day 7. No, it was THAT they believed and obeyed. And Joshua 6 says, ‘When they heard the rams horns and they troops gave a great shout, the walls collapsed.”
And then my thought continued, “and what was left standing when the dust settled? It was Rahab’s section of the wall, where she was in her ‘apartment’ with her family in obedience to the instruction given. Red cord hanging from her window. Was the red cord magic? No. Oh the red cord is a beautiful picture of salvation, but it was THAT she believed and obeyed.”
And then I texted one other example from that story, from the flip side. “When Achan stole a robe, a little silver, and a little gold; it wasn’t WHAT he took, it was THAT he didn’t trust God and obey. He took God’s part.”
Then the final observation, “It’s always about Faith and Obedience. It’s interesting how many times God did something UNIQUE in the circumstance. Whether Moses, Joshua, Gideon, David, Daniel, many manifestations of God’s power, but every time the action is unique. The uniqueness was that there wasn’t a ‘magic incantation’ or a ‘rain dance’, it was always about Faith and Obedience.
It’s not about the WHAT, its always about the THAT – Faith and Obedience.
And I had one of those clarifying moments. Profound? Well you decide. The thought that went through my heart was, 
Pastor Goforth 