Living as ONE
Notes
Transcript
(S1) — SERIES
Together as ONE—United as ONE— When the church unites around its oneness in Christ, there is nothing that it can't do for God's kingdom. Followers of Jesus are not only called to unite together as ONE, but to LIVE as ONE.
Those who the apostle Paul is writing to in his letter to the Ephesians, were converted believers in Jesus as risen. No longer designated as Gentiles, outside the body of Christ, but ONE with God.
Galatians 3:28 “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all ONE in Christ Jesus.”
Just as they were ONE, followers of Jesus are called to be united as ONE as the church today.
The SANCTIFIED church — continually being made holy or ONE with God, as the body of Christ.
“The word “sanctification” has been placed on an almost forgotten shelf of the vocabulary of the church. There has been a good and necessary deemphasis of the “do’s” and “don’t’s” of Christianity. Destructive, devastating “social sins” have screamed so loudly in their ravaging evil impact on humanity that the church had to confess her sin of uninvolvement, insensitivity, and apathy, and to invest her energy in the arena of social concern and change. “
(S2)
“But prophetic ministry and commitment to social justice with Christian integrity can never leave out personal morality” — 1
How followers of Jesus LIVE matters!
Christian religion is personal, but not private — How Christians LIVE individually, either positively or negatively effects the body of Christ—The church and it oneness.
Since the beginning oneness with God was a shared concept
— Man/woman together as ONE. Shared a perfect life-giving relationship with God and creation...
— One people/nation—Example of faithful living...
— Jesus called 12 to be ONE—following, learning and living as he taught
— Two groups united as ONE—under One God
In a portrait of the "unchurched" in America, a study found that most are willing to hear what people have to say about Christianity, but a majority (72%), see the church as a place full of hypocrites. " However, 71 percent of the respondents said they believe Jesus 'makes a positive difference in a person's life' and 78 percent said they would 'be willing to listen' to someone who wanted to share what they believed about Christianity." LifeWay Research director Ed Stetzer.
Our living as the body outside the church—among non believers—contributes or detracts from our oneness as the body of Christ.
(S3)
The apostle Paul, in writing to believers in Ephesus, gives them the picture how the sanctified body is to live in connection with those who do not yet know Christ.
25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of ONE body.
(S4)
No kid likes to be told to clean up there room...No adult likes to be told to clean up their life—stop doing this or that, change the way they live!
But, if you ask someone who has gone from a mess in their life to a new and better way to live—Just as a kid finds a clean room more enjoyable to play in, a person who is delivered from messy living into a new life with Christ finds a new joy and peace with God!
Ask anyone delivered from addiction to freedom—From sorrow to joy—From feeling empty to being filled with the love of God—from feeling lost to finding purpose—From loneliness to belonging
(S5)
22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
...Christ had taken them FROM something...and was bringing them TO something...
If Jesus did that for them, then can it be for us as well? The church being sanctified as ONE becomes a living vessel of the good news of Jesus.
But, as we know as humanity goes, there is a tendency to go back to messy rooms and old ways. So Paul gives them a little pep talk—A reminder of what Jesus had taken them from…so they would see more clearly what Jesus was taking them to.
A sanctified people being made ONE—The church
Bibles—Worksheet—Pray
I. Paul’s authority to say these things?
I. Paul’s authority to say these things?
(S6)
17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord...
These words, were not his alone!
Lord (Kyrios) Jesus — Lord (Yawheh)
Paul was himself being sanctified—More than a one-time encounter with Jesus, but his continually encountering Jesus through the spirit of God. He wants them to know It was Christ who delivered them from their former life, and Christ alone who would bring them ONE with God and ONE with each other.
What it means to be a sanctified church—made as ONE
(S7)
A sanctified church looks to the WORD of God...
A sanctified church looks to the WORD of God...
...by how it lives as the body of Christ —Christ redeemed the church, not the other way around
Galatians 3:13 “But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing.
Jesus from the cross said, it is finished——taking the weight of our poor choices, the law of sin and death removed, the church sanctified, by Jesus and his WORD
A sanctified church looks to the word of God, as Paul did.
II. What Christ had delivered them from...
II. What Christ had delivered them from...
(S8)
17 ...you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.
Futility (mataiotēs) — Emptiness — Those who base their life on pointless thinking
(NLT) “for they are hopelessly confused.”
They had a stinking thinking problem and it alienated them from being ONE with God. I know none of of us ever had this problem, but the bible is full of examples of people with a stinking-thinking problem
Luke 12:16-21
Ever encountered someone who didn’t want to hear a thing about your faith?
“Being past feeling.” ; RSV, “having become callous.” The Greek word is a medical term (apalgeo) which suggests a paralysis of conscience.” — 1
Good news is that no one is beyond the reach of the sanctified life.
(S9) —
Paul goes on to describe the life this led them to live—What Christ delivered them from
18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed
Two phrases to point out. First, a hardening of the heart to lack the knowledge or awareness of God and unwillingness to receive it.
Every surrender to temptation encrusts the heart (i.e., the will), hardens its sensitivity and narrows the range of future choice. To reject God alienates us from the life of God, thus destroying the source of mental, moral, and spiritual health —1
Second, given themselves over to sensuality— ἀσέλγεια (aselgeia) self-abandonment. It refers commonly to a lifestyle. One that has kept or led them away from God.
This refers to a lack of control over oneself, seeking only self-pleasure from...undisciplined and wasteful living; it occurs 10 times in the NT, mostly in vice lists where it is linked with sexual sins. It is closely related to ἀσωτία (asōtia), which means “reckless abandon” or “prodigal living.”DAVID J. SIGRIST
Jesus spoke of this when asked about divorce
Matthew 19:8 “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning.”
Any sin—greed, sexual or otherwise, leads the believer away from God’s BEST, detracts from the oneness of the body.
(S10)
A sanctified church LIVES by the TRUTH of the word of God...
A sanctified church LIVES by the TRUTH of the word of God...
...in how it lives as the body of Christ
The Christian religion is personal, but not private. Our sins may be personal, but I find it impossible to imagine any personal sin that does not boil over and poison other relationships.11 Maxie D. Dunnam
This is the same for the church when it sacrifices the truth of God’s word in the name of love—diminishing it oneness.
Baseball field—Wide—Foul Lines
A sanctified church LIVES by the TRUTH of the word of God...
III. What Christ was taking them too
III. What Christ was taking them too
(S11)
20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the TRUTH that is in Jesus.
Notice the two ways that Christ brings change in their living—Heard—Taught
Romans 10:15 “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!””
Lets be honest—No one likes to admit their needs to be change in their life.
I don’t like to hear I need to eat better, but every time I look in the mirror I’m reminded of it.
Just like a lost person doesn't know their lost..until they have been found. Until we see the need of letting go of the former things, will we see where Christ wants to take us to.
(S12)
A sanctified church offers HOPE in Jesus, by how it lives as the body of Christ
A sanctified church offers HOPE in Jesus, by how it lives as the body of Christ
(NLT) 22 throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. 23 Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. 24 Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.
Put-off—metaphorically is to take off— literally it means to STOP the former things
put-on — literally putting on clothes— New nature in righteousness and holiness
Mark 15:20 “ And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.”
When Christ put off the robe of royalty and put on the crown of thorns, he was making away to deliver us from something so he can take us too something
A new nature—A renewed life free from sin and death—A sanctified life—living as ONE
(S13)
ONE with God—ONE as the church—ONE in the world—Sanctified In Jesus...who is our ONE
ONE with God—ONE as the church—ONE in the world—Sanctified In Jesus...who is our ONE
John 17:20-21 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”
While Christianity is certainly a personal encounter with God, how we LIVE individually matters.
VIDEO
What do you need to let go of to become ONE with God?
I pray that you will let the WORD of God, the TRUTH of God’s word and the HOPE found in Jesus sanctify you in the Spirit of God’s love.
When the church unites around its oneness in Christ, there is nothing that it can't do for God's kingdom. Followers of Jesus are not only called to unite together as ONE, but to LIVE as ONE.
Resources
1. The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Volume 31: Galatians / Ephesians / Philippians / Colossians / Philemon (Sanctification)