Higher Ground
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Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
PRAYER
It seems evident to me, Heavenly Father, a we listen to this text that our vision, of what it means to be called yours, your church, for your glory, is so much smaller than whet we have made it.
So I pray that as we gather this morning and ask your Spirit to be at work in our hearts, we would gain a higher view of You, and a greater desire to know you and make you known!
We started a series last week titled “Larger Than Life” and what we wanted to at least begin last week, was to open our eyes to what church is called to be and can be.
And we want to invite you to dream and love and desire a church that is all about Glorifying Jesus and getting on his mission
There is a real potency to these words that Jess read this morning.
It is not by accident that Paul writes these words to a small church trying to see life beyond their circumstance.
Something bigger than their small gathering.
There is a call in all that Paul is saying to be fruitful and faithful to the calling of God.
in vs 10 he says .....
what we have been invited into is all part of God’s plan is says in vs 10
as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
The reason God has lavished blessing on us, chose us, to be holy and blameless, adopted us into his family, showed us grace, forgave us..........is so that we can play a part in his plan to....unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
so that we
so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.
So how can we live to the praise and glory of God?
That moves together in God’s grace and new life and works in unity for His Purpose and His glory.
so that the church is not a group of individuals each with their own mission and idea of what a church ought to be, into a church that moved together on mission “to the praise and glory of God”.
I came across a video the other day of birds being released by these trucks, these massive panels would open up and thousands of birds would fly out the side in a big mass. Apparently they were homing pigeons, able to carry messages distances of 1800 km because people in Ohio have never heard of email.
Watching them explode out of these trucks looked sporadic and disjointed.
A few minutes later a I came across another video of birds. I have never seen this phenomenon.
SHOW VIDEO
When this happens...... people stop and stare. Not simply because it seems unnatural, but because it is beautiful.
And I believe that can be an image of the church- moving together in unity, a thing of beauty, causing the world to stop and take notice for all the right reasons!
our love for one another
our common purpose
our love for Jesus
I think this kind of phenomenon in the church can only happen when we are on mission together.
But churches like this do not happen by accident; by a building full of passengers
There are important marks of a fruitful and faithful church.
A church that is faithful but not fruitful is not what the Commissioning calls us to.
However as church that is fruitful but not faithful is not a kingdom church!! Attracting a crowd by weakening the gospel and loosing our grip on who God is and what he has invited us into is dangerous.
It is what NT writers call a false gospel.
A fruitful and faithful church results from a high view of Jesus, a His church, and our lives.
(x2)
A picture painted that is so large and all-encompassing that it is amazing what many of us are happy to settle for in our lives, and our church.
I. A HIGH VIEW OF CHRIST
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.
And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.
Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
When we look at space through a telescope, we look through two lenses. The objective lens at the big end of the telescope captures light from vast and distant objects and brings it into focus. Then the small eyepiece at our end of the telescope converts the image into a form our eyes can comprehend. God’s glory is like this. Christ brings into focus the brightness of the Father’s full glory.
The truths of Colossians chapter 1 and 2 nd are not meant to Simply Be a test of our Orthodoxy!
They are meant to be internalized in our heart and become that which animates our every action! :-)
but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,
And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him,
in another translation is says set apart Christ, sanctify Christ—meaning there is a place in your heart where nothing else has a right to take up residence!!
It’s not surprising that Peter would write this in one of his letters, remember last week we looked at his words to Jesus in the Gospel of John
So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life,
In your hearts set apart
Jesus where will we go
At the Port is Christ our highest pursuit to know him and make him known or is it a new building!!!?? Personal story!!
How high is our view of Christ- is he our highest pursuit- that does mean we never falter (of course we do)
but it means that when we do our effort through prayer, repentance, confession and the acceptance of his never ending flood of forgiveness , will be to reorient ourselves to continue in our pursuit of him.
A. W. Tozer - Knowledge of the Holy
Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God.........and the most serious fact about any person is what he, in his deep heart conceives God to be like. There is scarcely an error in doctrine or failure in applying Christian ethics that cannot be traced finally to imperfect and ignoble thoughts about God.
Low views of God destroy the gospel for all who hold them.......and when our concept of who God is, in any measure declines, the Church with her worship and her moral standards declines along with it.
The first step down for any church is taken when it surrenders its high opinion of God.
For only he has the words of eternal life!!!For us to be faithful and fruitful, we must have a high view of Christ, and we must have a high view of the church.
A church
A. W. Tozer
Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God.........and the most serious fact about any person is what he, in his deep heart conceives God to be like. There is scarcely an error in doctrine or failure in applying Christian ethics that cannot be traced finally to imperfect and ignoble thoughts about God.
Low views of God destroy the gospel for all who hold them.......and when our concept of who God is, in any measure declines, the Church with her worship and her moral standards declines along with it.
The first step down for any church is taken when it surrenders its high opinion of God.
II. HIGH VIEW OF THE CHURCH
A. W. Tozer
Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God.........and the most serious fact about any person is what he, in his deep heart conceives God to be like. There is scarcely an error in doctrine or failure in applying Christian ethics that cannot be traced finally to imperfect and ignoble thoughts about God.
Low views of God destroy the gospel for all who hold them.......and when our concept of who God is, in any measure declines, the Church with her worship and her moral standards declines along with it.
The first step down for any church is taken when it surrenders its high opinion of God.
We have got in the habit of tearing down the church and I believe there is a great error in that.
and I believe there is a great error in that.
Are we broken, has the church made mistakes at times; BIG ONES—but we need to be very careful to not speak of the church Christ has called and created with so much poison.
Paul makes it clear that Jesus loved the church so much that he died for it.
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
Epheaians 5:25
That is the value that Christ placed on the church.
The church being made up of those who Christ loves, values, predestined, AND made up of those whom he has called for his mission.
As the kingdom of God moves forward, it leaves the Church in its wake in order to gather those who have been brought into the kingdom of God, grow disciples and reach and influence the culture that it finds itself in.
We need to ask, in light of the victory of the cross, and the future purchased there for us, are content to shrink away and go silently into the night.
The reason we hit on the Great Commission almost every week here, is because IF we don't know it, we DON't know how to articulate why we exist! Our purpose for being.
Because once the purpose of the local church has been abandoned there is no reason for that local church to exist!
And without fail, when a local church, or a denomination gives up on the gospel, and compromises truth for personal opinion, it will shrink away, it will die.
v. 13 Paul writes that we were “seal with the Holy Spirit”
why , for one he says that he is the guarantee of our inheritance, like a deposit, but we learn more when we read
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
To be faithful and fruitful to what Jesus has invited us into as his church is to invite the Spirit of God (which Paul writes elsewhere “is the very power that rose Christ from the grave in glorious resurrection) to move throughout us for the growth of his mission and his glory
We are invited into a story as a people of faithfulness and fruitfullness as we hold a high view of Christ, a high view of the spirit empowered church, and lastly a higher view of our lives
Unless the Lord builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
the watchman stays awake in vain.
in your life, in this church, and in this community
A church that is faithful but not fruitful is not what the Commissioning calls us to.
However as church that is fruitful but not faithful is not a kingdom church!! Attracting a crowd by weakening the gospel and loosing our grip on who God is and what he has invited us into is dangerous.
It is what NT writers call a false gospel.
A fruitful and faithful church results from a High view of Jesus, His church, and your life.
Higher view of Jesus, His church, and your life.
III. HIGH VIEW OF YOUR LIFE
not of yourself
but of your life
and this is really intertwined with point two (a high view of the church) because we do not do the work of the Gospel if we try to live independent of the church, or the church is expected to work without individuals.
That the lives we have been entrusted with, given, gifted are playing out on a much larger stage, and that because of that and because we know the author, meaning is brought to our lives when we live according to his story.
the body of Christ, the church, is made up of individuals. We cannot see the church as some entity separate from ourselves any more than we can see a heart as useful separate from the human body. And understanding the purpose is what gives anything its meaning.
Any more than we can see a heart as useful separate from the human body.
he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
Ephesians 1:
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
Here is the tension that many Christians live in:
We come to a crisis of faith. We take Jesus up on his offer of forgiveness and new life. We (by faith) understand that we are a child of the living God.
We have memorized the verses.
But forget that our salvation is not simply meant to make us feel better about ourselves!!
It has transformed our purpose!! We are now co-agents with Jesus to transform and redeem (bring back to God) creation.
Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
II Cor. 5:20
When we say.. “I don’t want that part. I just want the blessing and the forgiveness and to feel better about myself” (those aren’t wrong they just are not the final goal and they are not actually the fulfilling part of being a part of the Kingdom of God)—we will not feel better about yourselves, because we will continually be fighting the purpose of our salvation.
The big secret is,....Our salvation has never been about us!!! it is about us being welcomed into HIS story.
The story of salvation is like ameba tag.
Many of us when we were kids played ameba tag.
Ever play that.
Ameba tag starts with 2 people, hold hands.
What was the goal? to tag someone else.
So to start the two, holding hands and survey the field or gym, they find those limping first and grab them.
together to tag another person. Then that person holds hands with the first two and together the three of them find the next person, then that person hold hands and they pursue the next person.
The point of the game is not you being caught. It is for everyone to be caught.
The church in unity working together (as ambassadors) to bring the message of Jesus to the community and the world.
Because our view of Jesus is hight than anything else!
Our understanding of the church is that it has been called together for the restoration of our lives, of our communities and of the world; there is no plan B, the local church is the hope of the world; in as much as it sees the itself a a movement on mission toward restoration and the praise f his glory
The problem is that many who have said yes to Jesus, have said no to him story, the mission he has called us to, and so in many churches we see a very strange game of ameba, where people are tagged, and then sit while the church encourages them to stand up join hands and get back in the game.
We say, how is that a higher view of self! I just get lost in that. I’m just another person in a crowd. I don’t stand out. Every one else is in my selfie!
How can I be the best me, if it is all about others?
Well, we only think that way if we believe our truest healthiest self comes from individualism; and ruling a kingdom that reaches only as far as our skull.
There is absolutely no evidence that that is where we find our truest, fullest self.
The proclamation of Jesus would be that we grow most in a Jesus focused community.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
listen to his language-----since we, let us lay aside, let us run, set before us, our faith,
let look to Jesus—that is the aim of this story..
It has always been about the praise of his glory. About pointing all of creation to him. And that starts with a life that has a Higher view of Jesus, a high view of his church and a high view of our lives.
In 1563 a bunch of Germans smarty-pants got together at the University of Heidelberg and formed what became known was the Heidelberg Catechism (Catechism just means a summary of teachings in the form of Questions and Answers as a way of teaching and internalizing Christian truth)
In the middle of all sorts of cultural shifts it was meant to hone in and focus Christ-followers on the truth of the Gospel and how it ought to take us over; and take over our world-view.
And overtaking us from the inside, inform our lives and actions.
The first question of the Catechism is this:
Q. What is your only comfort in life and death? (man, no beating around the bush in 1563)
A. THAT I AM NOT MY OWN, BUT BELONG WITH BODY AND SOUL, BOTH IN LIFE AND IN DEATH TO MY FAITHFUL SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST
the answer continues saying that
the Holy Spirit assures me of eternal life and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live for him!
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
One of the issues of the modern church is that it is a result of the call to follow Jesus because if you do, when you die, you get to live forever!!
And that is an extremely stunted view of the gospel.
PAUSE
One of the things I hate about travelling is the lines.
Lines for your bags, line for security, line for customs, lone for the plane......
Next Saturday the family is headed to Puerto Vallarta.
It will be the first trip like this for the family ever.
And at some point, we are going to get in a line up, and as a family we will approach someone behind a desk, or glass, and they will ask me the purpose of our trip
where am I from, how long am I going to be down.
The entire hope is that in the end he will stamp my passport so I can get into his country.
Once I pass him, I will not think about him again. He was a doorway to what I really wanted.
Too many people think of Jesus the same way.
I will say the right words. “The sinners prayer” Jesus will stamp my passport, tell me I’m in the club, then I just wait in the terminal until they call my plane number.
Isn’t that how many live our the Christian life.
Conclusion:
What can we do?
PRAY and Step Forward
A. Pray
Pray for God to move in great ways!
Pray for a stirring in our hearts
Pray for repentance
B. Step Forward
B. Step Forward
Step Forward
where ever you are take one step forward
first day in the door (you are done!) :0)
two months in - look into serving
a year in serving, thank you so much- maybe its time to step up and take on more
(some of you shouldn’t) - calm down !!
maybe your step in your discipleship is to step back and make someone else step forward.
Christian for some time- never baptized
not a member-
never shared you faith before
part of your prayer needs to be, God what is the next step for me, and give me the strength to do it and trust you in it.
my high view of you and your church, and the life you gave me