Sermon Tone Analysis

TEXT:  1:21-27

TITLE:  CHRIST LIVES WITHIN MY HEART

 

/24//I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church, //25//of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, //26//the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints.

//27//To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: * which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.*/

INTRODUCTION:

 

I imagine many of you have heard the old joke about the man who’s walking along the street one night and comes across one of the neighborhood children inching along on his hands and knees down on the sidewalk beneath a streetlight.

The man asks the boy, “What’s wrong, Jimmy?

Did you lose something?”

\\ \\

“Mmf, mmf, yes,” whimpers Jimmy.

“I dropped the dollar Mama gave me for ice cream.”

\\ Feeling sorry for the boy, the man gets down on his hands and knees, too, and starts looking.

After a few minutes, he says, “I’m sorry, Jimmy, but I don’t see your dollar anywhere.

Are you sure this is where you lost it?”

\\ \\

“No,” the boy says.

“I dropped it over there by the vacant lot.” \\ \\

“What?!” the man exclaims.

“If you dropped it way over there, why are you looking for it here?”

\\ Jimmy looks at him, then points.

“It’s dark over there!

I can see a lot better here.”

\\ \\

APPLICATION:  Little Jimmy was never going to find his dollar if he kept looking in the wrong place, no matter how long or hard he looked or how sincerely he expected to find it there.

Today I want us to consider What it means to have the risen Lord living within us.

The risen Lord through the indwelling power of the Spirit is OUR HOPE OF GLORY!

 

 

CONTEXTUAL SETTING:  To understand what was going on here, it helps to realize that back in the days of this letter - behind the scenes - there was a spiritual battle taking place You see, the congregation at Colossae was composed of Gentile believers.

A Gentile was anyone who was not of Jewish descent.

(I asked the audience how many of them had “Jewish blood” in their veins?

No one raised their hands.

“Well, then – you are all Gentiles”) \\ \\ Gentiles had always been despised by God’s people.

The Jews referred to them as dogs, and perhaps had even worse names for them.

Jews refused to spend any time with them if they could avoid it.

Jews wouldn’t eat with them, work for them, play with them.

Along with Peter, there came 6 Jewish Christians.

And these Jewish believers had every intention of circumcising these Gentile dogs before they ever let them be baptized.

However, God had something else in mind.

Back in those days, the normal process of salvation was as it is now: belief, repentance, confession and baptism in to Christ.

These Jews would visit a Gentile church and demand Gentiles become Jews before they could become Christians.

And a group of these “circumcisers” had just hit town in Colossae.

Their message was basically this:

  \\ UNLESS you are physically circumcised… and \\ UNLESS you have obeyed the laws of the Old Testament on top of everything else taught in the church \\ you weren’t saved \\ you couldn’t be a Christian \\ you couldn’t be acceptable to God \\ you had no hope of ever reaching heaven \\ \\  But what Paul was telling the Colossians that there was something these false teachers didn’t understand…

\\ There was something about Christianity that was a Mystery to these false teachers, and that mystery was this: “The mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, … is now disclosed to the saints.

To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery,” \\ \\ And, what was that mystery?

It’s…*”Christ in you, the hope of glory*.”

Colossians 1:26-27 \\ \\ \\

IN OTHER WORDS: \\ The Gentile believers in Colossae were already saved \\ The Gentile believers were already acceptable before God.

\\ And the Gentile believers there already had the hope of living in Glory.

\\ they were going to heaven.

\\ \\ WHY?

Because Christ was living inside of them.

And BECAUSE Christ was living inside of them they didn’t have to jump thru any hoops and do any dramatic deeds.

Because, they were acceptable just as they were.

\\ \\ *APPLICATION:  Now… that was then… this is now* \\ \\

·         There are no Jewish believers visiting modern day congregations telling us we need to get circumcised.

So, you might ask: “*What difference could their situation ever have on us today?” \\ *(I paused and repeated the question until somebody actually asked me the question) \\ …I’m glad you asked – because I was going to keep on asked it until somebody did.

\\ \\ You see, the mystery wasn’t just that God would accept the Gentiles.

\\ The mystery wasn’t just that God had changed the rules so that circumcision was no longer a vital part of His covenant with His people.

\\ \\ \\

·         *The mystery was this: That God would let anybody be acceptable to Him. \\ \\ *

·         *The mystery was that God would allow those who had been His enemies to now be called His friends.

\\ \\ *

·         *The mystery was that God would ever accept anyone like you - or like me and allow us to become His children.*

* *

\\ !

I.  THE LIVING CHRIST, THROUGH  THE HOLY SPIRIT, SEEKS TO SAVE PEOPLE FROM THEIR SINS.

* *

Look again with me to Colossians 1:21-22 \\ /21And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight—/

APPLICATION: Note.. nothing you have done has merited your salvation.

\\ Neither your faith, \\ nor your repentance, \\ nor your confessing Him as your Lord, \\ nor your baptism \\ – none of that has EARNED you a place in heaven.

\\ \\ That’s how we respond to God’s gift… but those responses didn’t do one single thing to “purchase” your salvation.

It is Christ’s death on the cross that gives you your salvation \\ \\ AND He is the only one who will ever get you into God’s presence, BECAUSE, He is the only one who has died to take your place.

He is the only one who has shed His blood so that your sins could be removed…

\\ ACCEPT NO SUBSTITUTES

 

! II.

THE LIVING CHRIST LIVES IN OUR HEARTS TODAY.

/22-23“…he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation — if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel./

/ /

A.    HE LIVES WITHIN AS THE FORGIVER OF OUR SINS.

AND THE GIVER OF LIFE

                                                              i.

He has reconciled you—

NLIVING TRANSLATION/:  22//yet now he has brought you back as his friends.

He has done this through his death on the cross in his own human body.

As a result, he has brought you into the very presence of God, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.

/

 

 

ILLUSTRATION: THERE WAS A YOUNG COLLEGE MINISTRY STUDENT THAT SHARED THIS EXPERIENCE OF A YOUTH MINISTRY CLASS FINAL….

\\ When I got to class, everybody was doing their last minute studying.

The teacher came in and said he would review with us for just a little bit before the test.

We went through the review, most of it right on the study guide, but there were some things he was reviewing that I had never heard of.

\\ When questioned about it, he said that they were in the book and we were responsible for everything in the book.

We couldn’t really argue with that.

Finally it was time to take the test.

\\ The professor passed out the exam with these instructions: "Leave them face down on the desk until everyone has one and I’ll tell you to start."

\\ When he gave the order, we turned them over, every answer on the test was filled in! \\ At the bottom of the last page we read the following words: \\ \\ *"This is the end of the Final Exam.

\\ All the answers on your test are correct.

\\ You will receive an ’A’ on the final exam.

\\ The reason you passed the test is because the creator of the test took it for you.

All the work you did in preparation for this test did not help you get the A. You have \\ just experienced...grace."*

* *

* *

HE IS THE FORGIVER OF OUR SINS.

AND THE GIVER OF LIFE!

 

*B.

**HE LIVES WITHIN AS OUR TRUSTWORTHY LEADER.*

* *

                                                              i.

ILLUSTRATION:  A truck driver was hauling a load of 500 penguins to the zoo.

Unfortunately, his truck broke down.

He eventually waved down another truck and offered the driver $500 to take the penguins to the zoo.

\\ \\ The next day the first truck driver got his truck fixed and drove into town and couldn’t believe his eyes!

Just ahead of him he saw the second truck driver crossing the road with the 500 penguins waddling single file behind him.

He jumped out of his truck, ran up to the guy and said, “What’s going on?