Looking Out
Vital Congregations: Mark 3 Outward Incarnational Focus • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 20:51
0 ratings
· 34 viewsFiles
Notes
Transcript
For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died;
and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;
that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Looking Out
Looking Out
Let’s pray:
Father of light,
in you is found no shadow of change
but only the fullness of life and limitless truth.
Open our hearts to the voice of your Word
and free us from the original darkness that shadows our vision.
Restore our sight that we may look upon your son
who calls us to repentance and a change of heart.
Enlighten us with your word
that we may find the way to your Glory.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. AMEN.
“Follow Me,” - Jesus.
“Follow Me,” - Jesus.
“Follow Me” - have there ever been two more profound words spoken to humankind in all of eternity? “Follow Me!”
Now if that were spoken by me or you, there might be some doubt as to it’s profundity, and though we might have said it a few times in our lives, that’s not the utterance I’m speaking of and you know it.
“Follow me,” these words were uttered by Jesus, the living word, God in the flesh!
“Follow me.” These words encompassed the entirety of Peter’s relationship to Jesus on earth, from the moment his brother Andrew came and got him, until that post-resurrection scene where Jesus commands him to feed his sheep and … “Follow me.”
Jesus says, “Follow me,” and the fishermen left their nets to become fishers of men.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
And the Word said, “Follow me.”
He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
Paul wrote of him,
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.
And he says to all, “Follow me.” John continues
No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
And he says, “Follow me.”
Follow me, and where does he lead us? Jesus, the Word, God in the flesh leads us to a wedding, to a foreigner hated by our people, to the sick, to the hungry, the fearful, the blind, lame, and deaf. He leads us to the hurting, and he continues to say, “Follow me.”
And then in a seemingly impossible proclamation, Jesus tells his followers:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.
It’s an unlikely game of follow the leader where the followers are called to imitate and do exactly what the leader does. And we learn that this is exactly what Jesus is doing:
So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.
And the son beckons us, “Follow me.”
Incarnational Ministry
Incarnational Ministry
Today’s Mark is an Outward Incarnational Focus.
But before we get there, we need to talk about what it means to be incarnational. Even my Bible software underlined it as a difficult word.
First, let’s break down the word, Incarnation. From Webster we learn:
in•car•na•tion \ˌin-(ˌ)kär-ˈnā-shən\ noun
14th century
1 a (1): the embodiment of a deity or spirit in some earthly form
(2) capitalized: the union of divinity with humanity in Jesus Christ
In other words:
In - literally “in”
Carné - the flesh
Jesus is God in the flesh.
The Message puts John 1:14 this way:
The Word became flesh and blood,
and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
the one-of-a-kind glory,
like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
true from start to finish.
This is the One who calls to us, “Follow me!”
The incarnation is foundational to what we as a church refer to as ministry.
A philosophy of ministry that is not founded on the Incarnation is built on shaky ground.” - Dough Stevens, Called to Care.
If we are going to be incarnational in our ministry, each of us as individuals must … MUST… live Christ in our lives. There’s only one way to do that, and that’s to do what he commands...
“Follow Me!”
Follow the one who said, “I am the light of the world.” and note what he says,
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
As followers of Christ, we have the light of life. What do we do with that light?
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.
Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.
In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
The church responding to “Follow Me!” does not hide behind it’s walls, it cannot be contained. It goes out shining the light of Christ to the world living in darkness. Shining the light of Christ to the blind, the deaf, the hurting. Feeding the hungry. Healing the sick. Loving the hated. Shining light into a world that is darkness.
In so doing we can’t help but have that light shine in our own lives and reveal to us those areas where we are blind, deaf, and hurting. Where we are hungry, sick and hated.
Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
In so doing we will be living the ministry of reconciliation not only finding ourselves reconciled to God, but reconciling ourselves to one another.
Living this out, we are becoming the righteousness of God.
“Follow Me!”
“Follow Me!”
“Follow Me,” Jesus said, and he went.
[Allow for silence]
Invite to pray.