01-06-2019 - The Mystery of Both - Leading by Following
January 2019: Following and Leading • Sermon • Submitted
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· 3 viewsChrist brings us all together by teaching us to lead by following
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What Disciple making looks like...
What Disciple making looks like...
Being a disciple of Jesus means following Jesus and other disciples of Jesus, walking with other disciples, and bringing along others behind you to make disciples yourselves.
Being a disciple of Jesus means following Jesus and other disciples of Jesus, walking with other disciples, and bringing along others behind you to make disciples yourselves.
There's not a bible verse that says that exactly that way, but it is what Jesus and His disciples did... which to me is even more important than pulling out three different verses to justify that idea.
We were not made to do life alone.
- Not good for man to be alone.
Earliest human remains - broken femur (leg bone) that had healed.
Humanity is not defined by opposable thumbs, it is defined by being in community with one another and caring for one another.
Message to the Gentiles:
Message to the Gentiles:
19 So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. 20 Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. 21 We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. 22 Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit. -
19 So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. 20 Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. 21 We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. 22 Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.
Gentiles get to join the Jews as God’s holy people.
Paul gets in on the secret
Paul gets in on the secret
1 When I think of all this, I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus for the benefit of you Gentiles … 2 assuming, by the way, that you know God gave me the special responsibility of extending his grace to you Gentiles. 3 As I briefly wrote earlier, God himself revealed his mysterious plan to me. 4 As you read what I have written, you will understand my insight into this plan regarding Christ. 5 God did not reveal it to previous generations, but now by his Spirit he has revealed it to his holy apostles and prophets.
The Jews and Gentiles united together in Christ
The Jews and Gentiles united together in Christ
The Jews and Gentiles united together in Christ
The Jews and Gentiles united together in Christ
The Jews and Gentiles united together in Christ
What does that mean?
Very nature and purpose of being Jewish meant to be "set apart" (Be Holy as I am Holy)
Happening in strange places, like prison
Prisoners and the families that lived there and guarded them becoming Christians together.
Probably still more people become Christians in prison every day than in church services.
People have always come to faith more often outside the church buildings than inside them.
The secret of BOTH
The secret of BOTH
6 And this is God’s plan: Both Gentiles and Jews who believe the Good News share equally in the riches inherited by God’s children. Both are part of the same body, and both enjoy the promise of blessings because they belong to Christ Jesus. 7 By God’s grace and mighty power, I have been given the privilege of serving him by spreading this Good News.
Jews and Gentiles:
Jews and Gentiles:
Share equally
Part of the same body
enjoy the blessings
BECAUSE
they belong to Jesus
It's not about being "good enough" or doing the "right thing" to belong to Jesus.
He already was good enough and did the right thing to claim you.
It's not because of your own worth
It just because He wants you.
Was it really a secret?
Was it really a secret?
Laws in Exodus for adopting in Gentiles
Samson marrying Gentiles
Book of Ruth about Gentiles adopted into the Jewish family
Problems of Israel not being "set apart" in time of Solomon all the way through Ezra and Nehemiah
Why keep it a secret?
Why keep it a secret?
You cannot lead if you will not follow
You cannot help others be set apart if you are not set apart
You cannot lead others to Jesus if you are not following Him yourself
Why Paul?
Why Paul?
8 Though I am the least deserving of all God’s people, he graciously gave me the privilege of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available to them in Christ. 9 I was chosen to explain to everyone this mysterious plan that God, the Creator of all things, had kept secret from the beginning.
Foot in both worlds
Foot in both worlds
May not have changed his name, but had a different name for different cultures.
He was one of the first bricks laid between the Jewish and Gentile sides of the Temple
He made room for us.
Why you?
Why you?
10 God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. 11 This was his eternal plan, which he carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord.
Jesus claimed and bought you.
Jesus claimed and bought you.
Jesus claimed and bought you.
Not as a conqueror or dictator.
As a Creator and Redeemer
Not just in the cross.
In the cradle.
In His baptism (leading by following)
In His death (leading by following)
In His ressurection (leading by following)
He has made a place for you as a part of the Holy Temple that shows the glory of God to all the heavenly host.
The mystery is not that God can pick us up and clean us off or make something useful out of us individually.
The mystery is how God can build a people throughout the entire world, across thousands of years, and keep them together while the world tries desperately to pull them apart.
The mystery is the way God can put a lot of sinners together and somehow together they start to look and act more like Him.
Why us?
Why us?
12 Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence.
God has chosen us.
God has chosen us.
I can't speak for you all, but the only way you get to be part of that holy temple is if God chooses you to be.
We don't get to be part of it on our own steam.
Many places in the Bible either state directly or show that God does not desire anyone to perish, so I don't think we need to worry about not being chosen.
The bigger stumbling block is whether or not we will follow God as He calls us.
In our world where it is hard to trust anyone, will we trust this shepherd?
Called to communion together
Bought for a price