Christian Growth

Gallery June 27, 2004 David

Christian Growth
June 27, 2004	Sermon by DRW	Passage Philippians 1.1-11

Father,

I pray that you would allow us to see our growth in You. Be blessed as we come to understand better our identity, our growth, and our goal as Christians. Enable us this day to be changed by Your Spirit to reflect in a greater way Your Son that our lives may glorify, praise, and honor You. Teach us this day the wonderful truths contained in Your Word. Amen.

Would you please turn to Philippians 1.1-11.

Before we begin, let’s recall a little background to the passage we are about to study. By the way, when I first began at EFCC, this is the book the high school went through in our Wednesday Bible studies. Paul is writing to a church that owed its very existence to his ministry. It was his preaching that had opened the heart of Lydia to respond to the gospel. He had gone through flogging and imprisonment. His testimony had converted the jailer and his family. It was Paul who had strengthened and encouraged the young, new church. You can read about it in Acts 16.

And now Paul is is basically on death row. He is “in chains for Christ” as he says in v 13. He doesn’t know whether he will be released or executed.

As for the Philippians, they face the pressure of persecution. There are those among them who are distorting the gospel by their teaching, and leading the others away from a sound faith. There is some tension and hostility within the fellowship.

Paul’s eyes are wide open to the problems actual and potential. But for all that, this is an overwhelmingly positive letter. Why? Because it is full of God. In these first eleven verses that are thirteen direct references to God and Christ. It is saturated with Jesus, and full of excitement about what God is doing in the lives of those Christians in Philippi.

Paul is torn between the prospect of being executed and the prospect of being released from prison. For his own sake he would prefer to die and go to Christ. But for the sake of the church he knows that he still has work to do. He says in 25:

Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith.

How would you react if someone took you aside and asked you about how you are progressing and finding joy in the faith? If you are anything like me there would be a twinge of guilt. I would prefer that people didn’t ask how my progress in the faith was progressing. The reason is that my progress seems to be too little and taking way too much time. The effort I put in, at times, is so half-hearted. Steps forward seem to be accompanied by just as many steps back. As one writer quipped: “Three steps forward and two steps back.” Better to draw a discreet veil over the whole thing, I thought as I pondered my title for this morning: Christian Growth. It is too shaming. Too depressing.

But then I began to study this passage. And I made a tremendously encouraging rediscovery. You see, that twinge of guilt at the thought of what I consider my lack of progress is quite telling. It reveals who I think is primarily responsible for my progress in the faith. Me. It is basically down to me, so I should be feeling guilty. I was saved by grace. But the quality of my Christian life is up to me. Wrong. That is precisely what Paul preached against in the book of Galatians. Now of course there is a right balance to be struck here. I must not abdicate all responsibility for my growth as a Christian.

The chief characteristic of someone living their life the way God created them to live it, who have confidence in God’s work in their life will be the characteristic of joy.

Joy comes from being centered in God. It comes from the liberation of knowing that every aspect of our Christian lives is lived by grace. Not only have I been saved by grace, but I am being saved by grace and I will be saved by grace, through faith – that is, through depending on the person and work of Christ to accomplish what needs to be accomplished, rather than by depending on what I can do. The truth is, Christ is taking us to heaven. We are not making our own way there. What a relief. What freedom. If it is up to me, I’m in trouble. Thank God it is not.

Let’s see how that works out in these verses. We can see three aspects of what it is to be a Christian here. Verses 1-2 focus on THE CHRISTIAN’S IDENTITY; verses 3-8 on THE CHRISTIAN’S PROGRESS; verses 9-11 on THE CHRISTIAN’S GOAL.

First, THE CHRISTIAN’S IDENTITY (v 1-2)

Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,

To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul calls himself and his co-worker Timothy “servants”. Why? Far from exalting himself, he is drawing attention to the fact that he is not a free agent. He is not in control of his own life. It is not up to Paul what he does. It is up to Christ. Christ calls the shots. And what was true for Paul and Timothy was true also for the Philippians and it is true for every Christian. As Christians, like Paul, we are servants of the Lord of Lords. He deploys us. He commands. We are not our own.

Then not only are we servants of Christ Jesus, we are also “saints in Christ Jesus”. Paul certainly recognizes the particular leadership role of some of the Philippian Christians. There are the overseers and the deacons. Appropriate leadership structures are needed in any church. But the significance of those leaders does not lie in such roles. It lies in their relationship to God through Christ, as with everybody else. They are all “saints”. They have all been chosen and set apart by God to belong to him. They have been rescued from a life of rebellion and now they are the possession of Christ Jesus. They are holy. They are sanctified.

It is vital for us to grasp this. It is right that as Christians we struggle for holiness of living. But we must understand where we are starting from. It is not that holiness is an unattainable goal on the far horizon that seems to move farther and farther away the more we move towards it.

Holiness is something that we have been given in Christ. We have been taken into his possession. So it is not primarily in order to be holy that we should live lives of holiness. It is because we are holy. We are saints.

1.27 : “Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.” That is, live in the light of what Jesus has already done for you. Not to prove your worth or to earn your keep. But because of who you are, and what Jesus has made you. A saint.

A Christian is a servant of Christ. A Christian is a saint in Christ. A Christian is a sibling with Christ. A Christian is a subject of Christ.

“Grace and peace to you from God our Father… ” The Christian belongs in the family of God not only in the sense that all mankind is the creation of God and dependent on him. This is much more personal, much more intimate. The miracle of grace is this: that God is our Father as he is the Father of Jesus. By grace we are adopted into the nuclear family of God our Father, our “Abba”, our Dad. And in this sense Jesus is our brother.

It is not just that he shares our humanity (which he does, totally). It is that he has brought us into the inner circle of his relationship with the Father. We have open access to the Father through the Son. We share his Sonship. We are siblings with Jesus.

If that does not create a deep, inexhaustible, subterranean reservoir of joy in your life, then either you are not yet a Christian, or you have failed to grasp the immensity of the privilege that is yours. Jesus is your brother. Because you deserve it? No. No more than the fact that you are your parents child because you worked for it. God has done it for you.

Servant of Christ. Saint in Christ. Sibling with Christ. And subject of Christ. “Grace and peace to you from … the Lord Jesus Christ.” Not only are we on his staff, and in his possession, and in his family. We have a place in his kingdom.

Jesus is our King. He reigns at the right hand of God. There are no elections for him, and there is no legitimate or loyal opposition to his government, for he is eternally and rightfully King. He has supreme power. And he is in the process of returning not only for his people but to give the whole universe back to its rightful owner. No other authority has a claim on our lives that can override his claim. “Our citizenship” says Paul in 3.20, “is in heaven”. And the Lord Jesus Christ has power that enables him “to bring everything under his control.”

Such is our identity as Christians. Servants. Saints. Siblings. and Subjects. And we haven’t even got beyond the greeting yet! But that is OK because when we have begun to understand who we are as Christians, then the nature of Christian growth begins to fall into place. The notion of progress is put into a proper perspective.

The Christian has already been given everything in Christ. We have already been transformed by grace through faith. We are a new creation. And now God is growing us, like a master gardener. And that is what you can see in vv 3-8.

So secondly: THE CHRISTIAN’S PROGRESS (vv 3-8)

“I thank my God every time I remember you” Paul says in v 3. Why? Because it is the Lord who is responsible for the progress that they have made in their faith. He it was who brought them to faith. He it is who is nurturing them and caring for them, and ensuring that their faith develops.

He doesn’t say to them “Well done, you guys. I know it’s been hard but you’ve stuck at it. Great job! Pat yourselves on the back, and keep going.” He looks at them, sees their progress, and turns to God with gratitude in his heart for what God is doing among them.

Now of course that is encouraging for the Philippians. After all, he is telling them what he is praying. This is not just between him and God. He is making it public, because he wants them to draw strength from the fact that he can see God at work in their lives. But he leaves no room for pride. The credit goes to God and not them.

Perhaps we should be more alert to similar opportunities around us. What do you do if you see someone growing in faith? Do you do nothing? That is a missed opportunity. Do you tell them they are doing well? If you are not careful, that may encourage a misplaced pride. Do you give thanks to God and say nothing? Surely better, but still a missed opportunity. Or do you do what Paul is doing here, and give thanks to God, but tell them that you are praying for them?

When someone does that for us it can be a powerful spur. It helps us to see what progress we are making, and encourages us, and at the same time turns our minds towards God, and ensures that we give him the glory. Then we can have a growing heart without a growing head, swollen with pride.

Thanks to God is followed by joy in gospel partnership. Vv 4-5:

In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now…

Let’s not fail to notice the extent of Paul’s praying that is revealed here. Paul’s praying for his fellow Christians is not an occasional thought, an arrow prayer now and then. There are two “all’s” and an “always” just in v 4.

Paul is continually in prayer for those who are on his heart. And he rejoices in the fellowship that he shares with them. What is this fellowship? Not just a chat and a joke and cup of coffee. It is working with them in their common task of gospel ministry. This is what has brought me great joy over the years I have ministered here. There have been many faithful followers of Christ in fellowship with me in the ministry here over the years. I think of Eddie, Brian, Ben, to those you see here today, Christine, Cindy, and Erik. I can almost say that each one of you have played an integral part in the work of this church.

Such ministry is the work not just of some, but of the whole church. Paul singles no one out here. Evangelism is a task for all of us, not for specialists alone. It is a task undertaken not alone but together. It requires the whole range of gifts that are present in the church. And it rejoices Paul’s heart when he sees everybody pulling together consistently to further the cause of the gospel, as had been happening in Philippi right from the time when the first Philippians had become Christians. There is a strong bond of love between him and his brothers and sisters in Christ. V 8:

God can testify how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.

But he goes on, v 6:

being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Lest they miss the point, he spells it out in such a way that they cannot fail to get his meaning. The progress of the gospel among them, and the progress that they have been making in the faith, is not their work. It is God’s.

God began it. God is carrying it on. And for all the obstacles and hardships and detours that they may make, God will ensure that it gets finished. Because what he begins he finishes. He doesn’t forget. He doesn’t get distracted. He cannot be overcome by a higher power because there isn’t one. Paul knows that. No wonder then that he is confident. Not that there aren’t problems to be sorted out. That’s why he is writing to them. But the final outcome is not in doubt.

God’s grace wins through, and, as he says in v 7: “all of you share in God’s grace with me.”. There is no question then that they will reach the goal that God is leading them towards. That is a truth that needs to be engraved on that the heart of every Christian. It frees us from fear. It fills us with just the kind of assurance that God wants for us: an assurance based on confidence in him and his power to keep us safe in him to the end.

Our own goals for our lives are often very fragile and uncertain. It is as well to recognize that, so that we are not too devastated when they crumble before our eyes. But we need to know that God’s goals will be accomplished. Then we can have the freedom and boldness to follow Christ however risky the path looks, because we know that our lives are secure in his loving and powerful hands.

So let’s ask ourselves whether we share Paul’s attitudes in relation to his fellow believers and partners in the work of the gospel. What are his feelings towards them? They are these: thanks to God; joy in gospel partnership; confidence in good work; and affection through grace shared. These are my feelings toward each one of you too.

But what exactly is the good work that God is doing among them? What are God’s goals for our lives? Paul expands on that in the last three verses of this passage: vv 9-11.

So to my third and last heading: THE CHRISTIAN’S GOAL (vv 9-11)

V 9: “And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more…”

Paul doesn’t specify the object of this love. But love for God and love for others cannot in the end be separated. That is we worship God and fellowship with others. No doubt he wants to see both kinds of love grow. And it is to be abundant growth.

And love depends on an understanding of the truth. So Paul continues:

that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best…

We grow in proportion as we know. This can be seen in the area of discipleship. Ignorance stunts growth. And knowledge of God comes through Christ.

Jesus said:

No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

Knowledge of God is a gift of God. It comes through Jesus by revelation. Paul talks in 1Timothy 4.3 about Christians as “those who believe and know the truth.”

Truth is an essential ingredient in Christian experience. But with it must come the discernment to apply it to our lives. In Colossians 1.9 Paul says:

…we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.

Knowing God, knowing the truth, and knowing how to please God all belong together. So in Philemon v 6 Paul says:

I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding [that is, knowledge] of every good thing we have in Christ.

We cannot begin to live lives that please God unless we have a knowledge of the blessings that are to be found in Jesus, and at the same time it is as we live for Christ – in this example by being active in sharing our faith – that our grasp on the blessings that Jesus brings gets tighter, and our understanding grows. This is through evangelism.

So Paul prays, too, for growth in holiness (v 10):

so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ.

Purity is what you might call “inner holiness” – a profound Christ-centeredness of mind and heart. Blamelessness you could call “outer holiness”. It is the outworking in life and example of that inner quality of obedience to God’s will.

Then finally Paul prays that they will be …

…filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ.

This is a picture of a full crop ready for harvest; effective service flowing from a loving, willing and mature obedience. And once again this is not something we can produce in ourselves apart from Jesus. It is the result of the work of Jesus. It is through him alone that such fruit can grow. This is ministry.

What is the harvest that Paul is looking towards? It is “the day of Christ” (v 10); the Second Coming; the Day of Judgement. And what is this harvest for? What is the purpose of it all? What is all this abundant growth in aid of? It is all “to the glory and praise of God” (v 11).

Paul’s praying always heads like an arrow for the glory of God. And there is nothing that glorifies God more than the spiritual growth of his people. Why? Because that growth is not in the end up to us. When it happens, we can take no credit for it. It is an answer to prayer. It is a work of grace in the lives of those who are servants of Christ, saints in Christ, siblings with Christ, and subjects of Christ. What a relief. What freedom.

So when we are challenged about our spiritual growth, let’s learn not to wince with guilt, but to rejoice. God is growing his people, as the master gardener.

Let’s with Paul be grateful to God for all he is doing amongst us and in us – rejoicing in our gospel partnership; full of affection for one another through the grace that we share; and confident that he who began a good work in us will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus – to his glory and praise. Let us fulfill his purposes in our lives by trusting him to do this great work in us, as he has been doing, and going out and allowing him to work through us, as you have been doing.

Let’s pray:

Father, I pray for each person in this room. Grant us knowledge of Your Word that will transform us. Grant us knowledge of You that will transform others because of the work You have been doing in our lives. Let us live to glorify You, to bring others to praise and honor You as our lives are lived in praise and honor of You. Amen.

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2 Peter, New Testament, Sermons

Remember

Gallery June 20, 2004 David

Remember
June 20, 2004	Sermon by DRW	Passage 2 Peter 1.1-15

Father,

As each of us enter your throne, let us glorify You by seeking Your Truth and by doing it. Help us to walk out of this room as changed people.

Amen.

I am not too sure how many people in this room remember Karen’s grandmother. She was a wonderful woman who, in the waning years of her life, was plagued with a disease called Parkinson’s Disease. She found it difficult to remember much. She had glimpses of her old self, periodically; but, overall, she couldn’t remember who she was, what she had done in life, nor who the people were that were taking care of her. She had it difficult. She was unable to understand what to do and couldn’t recognize what was happening nor who it was that loved her. I see this in out passage before us today. We have been called to remember certain things, but find it difficult to do so at times. We have been called to know who it is that loves us and to follow him, but forget who it is that loves us. We are plagued by a disease that keeps us from recognizing who we are, what has happened in our lives, and that keeps us from seeing the Lover of our souls. This disease is called sin.

Our passage sets before us great truths for us to overcome this terrible disease. There is only one cure and that is a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. Let’s read verses 1-15, making comment on the way.

1 “Simon Peter” is the Apostle Peter. The one who couldn’t say that his overwhelming passion in life was Jesus when asked in John 21. By this time in his life, he could answer the question Jesus asked with a “yes”. Yes, You are more than a friend, You are my overwhelming passion in life. I realize that at the ages most of us are at, we desire to love Jesus with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength. But, it is difficult. Be of good cheer, keep on seeking Him and you will be consumed by Him as the years go by. Be warned, forsake His Word, forsake prayer, and you will be consumed by this world as the years go by.

“To those . . . as ours.” He is writing this letter to Christians. He makes mention that their faith is as precious as the apostles faith. That is, they have the same faith, the same Lord, the same Holy Spirit, the same Father, they each have all that is necessary for living the life that God created for them to live.

2 “Grace and peace . . . Jesus our Lord” Peter is letting us know the only way for us to have growing favor before God and a relationship with God as He intended us to have it (this is encapsulated in the word “peace” or the Hebrew equivalent “shalom”). That is salvation leading to a life lived according to His plan. The only way for this to happen is we are growing in our understanding of who God is, of what Christ has done. This is the truth that James 1.22-25 presents to us as-well-as 1 John 2.3-5.

3 “His divine power” God has the ability to provide everything for us to live the life that He created for us to live. It comes only through our knowledge of Him. We need to understand that our lives need to be lived for His glory. We also need to see that whatsoever happens to us, as we seek His face, as we seek after His righteousness, according to Romans 8.28, will become good. We need to understand that all of our life’s circumstances pass through the loving hands of our God. All that we need is found in Him. We need to remember this. We need to understand this. We need to know this.

Karen and I, as-well-as Mike and Jamie, have experienced the need for this knowledge. I believe that God is a sovereign God. Which means God is in control of all things. If He is in control of all things, and, I know from Romans 8.28 and other verses, He is seeking to receive glory from my life and that only good would come, no matter the circumstance, because He is good and because evil doesn’t glorify Him, then I know that I can trust Him no matter what befalls me. I become troubled and in disrepair only when I do not focus my life on Him. When I see the circumstances: my house isn’t selling, I have no job, I won’t be able to pay the mortgage next month, and the like, I can be overwhelmed by them. When I focus on God, I see that He has a purpose for each of these things, although I may not see nor understand what it is—I still trust Him. As Job of old said: “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” I say all this to illustrate what the knowledge of God can produce.

4 read As we are growing in Christ, we begin to see the advantages that salvation bring to us. Each time we turn from sin to God we have escaped the corruption of this world. Positively, we have grown in fellowship with God that is what participate means. We will receive great promises from God. For a sampling of these promises read Ephesians 1-3, realize that these only come to us as we grow in Christ.

Before we go much further, I would like to comment on what a promise is and peruse some of the promises found in 2 Peter. A promise, according to American Heritage Dictionary, is a declaration assuring that one will or will not do something. A promise can be characterized by these three things:

1 What is promised is in the power of the one who promised

2 The one who promised can make a promise as it pleases him

3 The promise is received only from him, through no effort on our part

As we read through this book, we find a variety of promises:

1 What we need to live a godly life, the one God created us for (1.3)

2 Christians seeking after God will be fruitful in our life (1.8)

3 We have forgiveness of all sins (1.9)

4 We will receive rewards in eternity for what was done here, mostly a “well done” my good and faithful servant because you lived the life I had created for you to live (1.11)

5 Deliverance from trials or protection through trials (2.9)

6 The return of Christ to make all things right (3.4)

This is, by no means, an exhaustive list. We know there are thousands of others through Scripture.

5-7 This is a list of characteristics that each of us need to study in a way that we recognize what we are growing in and where we are lacking. We each need to read this list before God, asking Him to show us where we need Him. He asks us to work, to make an effort in our lives so this fruit will grow. Each of these characteristics must be found in our lives, must be growing. We need goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. We know from Galatians 5, these come only through the Holy Spirit. It is as we relinquish our desires and seek Him, that these things will be produced in our lives. We need to speak as John the Baptist spoke: “He must increase, I must decrease.” And as Jesus Himself spoke: “Nevertheless, not what I want but what You want.”

9 What happens to those who do not seek God, who do not live the life God created for them to live? What happens to those who fail to work to develop these qualities in their life by turning to God and His Word, and live by it? Read They become nearsighted. They become spiritually blind. They cannot see the things of God because they can only see what is in front of them, which is the world. They see only the circumstances and not the Savior. They live a life that doesn’t see God. Jesus tells us in Matthew 5.8 that only the pure in heart see God. We know from John 17 that the Word of God purifies us and from 1 Peter 1.22, that obeying that truth purifies us. Our only remedy from shortsightedness is to seek after God. This is the advice Jesus gave the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2 when He reminded them to remember and do what they know to be truth.

This person also forgets that all his sins have been forgiven the moment they became a Christian. They go forth living life as if they have not escaped the corruption of this world and are then overcome by it.

8, 10-11 What happens for those who seek after God? What happens to those who desire to live the life He created them for and then diligently seek to do His Word? Verse 8 tells us “you will not be ineffective nor unproductive”. Jesus promises us that we will bear much fruit as we abide in Him (John 15). Verse 10 lets us know that we can be sure of our salvation, that is we will not doubt if God has saved us. Verse 10 tells us that we will not fall if we are walking in His will as seen in His Word. This is the truth Jesus presents in the parable of the man building his house on the rock in Matthew 7.24-25. We have already mentioned verse 11.

In the passage before us, Peter is aware of his circumstances. He wants to remind those he has been ministering to about their privileges and duties in Christ. He so much wants to remind them, that in the four verses before us, he uses the word “remember” three times. He is actually pleading with them from a personal standpoint. He uses the word “I” over and over again. These are brothers and sisters that he loves and believes it is his obligation to tell them truths they should already know. We have seen what Peter wanted to remind his friends of Salvation (1.1-4), Growth (1.5-7), and Assurance (1.8-11).

12 I will always remind you

of these things-the things listed from verse 1 to verse 11.

even though you know them-do they know them in their head or in their heart? The actions they display will show where the Word of God is held. If they have them in their heart, this will lead them to do them.

and are firmly established in the truth-this solid foundation, the one upon the rock.

you now have-this is very keen. Philippians 3.12-16.

13 I think it is right

to refresh

your memory

as long as I live-Colossians 4.17 reminds us to do what God has equipped us to do, and to complete it.

in the tent of this body-for me it is EFCC

14 because I know that I will soon put it aside-for me it is next week

as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me-I believe that God has called me to a different, a new stage in my life.

15 And I will make every effort-I was going over the list of almost four hundred messages, three hundred CEs, and two-hundred fifty FNFs I have taught. Wow, we have come a long way haven’t we. It has been a good work, I pray that it is also a fruitful work. As I look out across this room, I see that it has been. More on that next week.

to see that after my departure

you will always be able to remember these things

I believe many of us are at the point where we do not need to know new things, we are at the point where we need to remember what we know. It is when we begin to do what we know that God will bless us with greater understanding of His Word and His purpose in our lives. The was a missionary to the Philippines who was trying to help a young convert grow. He encouraged him to memorize the Sermon on the Mount, particularly Matthew 5.3-10, what we call the Beatitudes. The young man became upset after trying to memorize these great truths after two weeks. He was unable to do so. He went back to the missionary who encouraged him to continue to memorize those 8 verses. The young man left. The missionary didn’t see him for a few months. When he did, the young man was overjoyed to quote all of Matthew 5-7 to the missionary. The man was impressed with the memory work. He asked the young man how he did it. He told him that he couldn’t memorize the passage and was getting ready to quit trying. One day, he decided to memorize it in a different way. He would do what it said. He figured if you did one verse a day he could memorize the 8 verses. His life was changed, the verses memorized, and many people were blessed.

This is where we stand today. We are trying so much to memorize the Bible or know about the Bible that we forget to do it. We want the Word of God to be so much a part of our lives that we read, listen, and memorize, but forget to do it. The CYA’s CHAT group has been studying the purposes God has created us for. In each lesson, Rick Warren reminds us that Jesus promised us that we would be blessed if we did what the Word of God said, not merely heard it. That is so important, we need to do whatever the Word of God tells us in order to be changed by it.

Turn with me to James 1.22-25. Read

My question for you today is, “What is God wanting you to do in your life?” It could be something as simple as reading His Word, being baptized, joining the prayer meeting, going on a mission trip to something as difficult as surrendering your heart, soul, mind, or strength to Him. We all have that one thing that God calls us to do. What is it that God is calling you to do? Let’s go back over that list in verses 5-7 and prayerfully choose one we know we lack and ask God to develop it in us this week. Remember, as you ask God to do this, He will but only as we seek the opportunities that He will provide for us.

For instance, if I ask God for knowledge or a way to express my knowledge, I need to be seeking those opportunities to express the knowledge He has given me in a loving and godly manner. I was listening to the radio last night on the way home for our fellowship night. The man basically said that people give up their intellect when they become Christian. I was fuming, I wanted to call in and give the announcer a piece of my mind. That wouldn’t have been

Let’s say that God has called me to self-control. What would this mean? In the area of our lifestyle, we would need to ask God to show us areas that we are doing things on our own power and then seek the Holy Spirit during those times. Do we dress appropriately, are our hobbies godly, is our entertainment pure, what bad habits do I possess, is my speech proper, how do I present myself to people? The list can go on, but you get the picture.

Each of us need to ask God what area we need to work on, to ask God for the strength to overcome that sin, and then go out and do it in His strength.

Father,

As we go from here to CE and beyond, help us to remember our salvation and how great it is, help us to remember the growth You have brought about in our lives already and the life You have called for us to live and let us grow in it, and by the fruit we see, let us gain assurance that we are following the Truth that sets us free.

Amen.

1 Peter, New Testament, Sermons

Praise, Glory, and Honor

Gallery June 13, 2004 David

Praise, Glory, and Honor
June 13, 2004	Sermon by DRW	Passage 1 Peter 1.3-9

Many, if not all, of us have read or are aware of the Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. As you know, it presents forty days of readings, questioning, and studies to encourage us toward the habit of living out the five purposes God has for our life. The purposes are worship, evangelism, fellowship, discipleship, and ministry. There is now even a CHAT Bible study that covers, so far, the first seven days of the book. CHAT is an acronym standing for Check-up, Hear the Word, Act on it, Talk to others about it. All this is exciting and beneficial for the individual and the church. Today, what I would like to do is remind us of the why. Why did God present us with all things? Why did God give us His Son? Why did God give us His Word? Why did God . . . ? The questions are endless; the answer is always the same: He gives us all things for His praise, His glory, and His honor. Thus, the title for today’s message.

If you have your Bible, turn with me to 1 Peter 1. We will be looking at verses 3-9. We will be looking at three causes of joy in our lives. We will look at our inheritance, our Savior, and our challenges or trials.

Let’s pray:

Father, thank You so much for Your Word. Thank You for the opportunity given to each one of us to open this life changing book and seeing Your work in our lives. Today was ask as we open the Words that bring life, that our relationship with You would grow, our reason for living would be altered, that we would be changed people. Speak to each of us today for Your glory, honor, and praise. Amen.

1. Rejoice in Our Inheritance

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has cause us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

Our inheritance as we see from verse 3 is the most life changing experience anyone will encounter. It is our salvation. Through Jesus Christ we are born again, we become part of God’s family. If you haven’t experienced this wonderful relationship with Jesus Christ, and you would like to talk about it, see one of the church leaders or you can e-mail me if you would like to do that. My wife will have that information for you if you would like to talk with her after the service.

a. Hope

Salvation brings to us a hope that is not known apart from God. The word hope doesn’t mean wishful thinking, that someday this might happen. In the Bible it means the assurance that it will come to pass. Such as the hope mentioned in Hebrews 11.1: faith is the assurance (proof if you would) of things hoped for, the conviction that things unseen will come to pass. This tells us that what we read in God’s Word, the Bible, will come to pass. All the promises of God are going to be fulfilled. We can see the marvelous examples of His Word being fulfilled throughout the Bible, from a coming Savior in Genesis 3 to the very day that Savior will enter Jerusalem in Daniel 9 to the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. The most telling evidence of the promises of God being fulfilled is in our own lives. I remember when I was in Junior High School. I was small and an easy target for gangs to take their troubles out on. I would go to school every day in the seventh grade only to go home with a little less money or a project that I had worked on so hard in shop classes taken away from me. All this happened to by the hand of the black gangs called the Crips and the Bloods. I was a white guy walking through the dividing line of both gangs. I had become a Christian in 1972 in Germany. I walked into a church on a Sunday evening, tired from a long walk, not even knowing it was a church because I had never been in one before. The pastor was giving the salvation message. I went forward to receive Christ as my Savior. The pastor there didn’t tell me to go home and read the Bible or to go to church. He just welcomed me into God’s family. Shortly after this, we moved to California when all this turmoil at school began. I dropped out of Junior High School. When it came time for High School, we had moved. I went to a safer school, graduated with high honors. The reason I bring this story up is what God did in that time. Remember, I still loved God, but didn’t know anything about Him. I didn’t pray regularly. But God was doing a work in my life that I would begin to see evidence of in High School but come to fully realize later in life. When I read Galatians 5.24-25, I can’t help but praise God for fulfilling His promises in my life. My family is from Iowa and North Carolina. Their beliefs about people who are not white are less than godly. When my family heard what was happening to me in school, they were angry at black people. When they hear my story, they are amazed that I have pastored Taiwanese churches all my life, over 22 years now. They marvel that my best friends are black, Filipino, Chinese, Taiwanese, Hispanic, and the list goes on. They wonder how it could be so when my Junior High years were so tumultuous. This is why I marvel at Galatians 5.24-25. You see, God promises that His Holy Spirit will work in our lives producing love, not bitterness, joy, not anger, peace, not turmoil, patience, not frustration, kindness, not vengeance, goodness, not hatred, and so the list goes on. God was doing what He promised in my life without me realizing it was happening. The hope that is within me, is that God will accomplish His work in me and through me. We all have this hope. God is at work in the world, we just need to see it.

Let’s read verse 4:

4 to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,

b. Eternal Life

As we read through these verses, we see that inheritance, that salvation, provides us with something imperishable, pure, and eternal. This lets me know that my salvation is never going to be taken away from me. This fantastic gift, this inheritance, is mine because of the new birth that has caused me to become God’s child. This is my faith, my hope. If you want to read on your inheritance, read through Ephesians 1-3. You will marvel at all that God has done for us and will do through us.

Let’s read verse 5:

5 who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

c. Protection

The third aspect of our inheritance is protection. We have a hope, we have eternal life, and we have protection during this life. It is God’s work to protect you and to bring you through this life.

Let’s look at the second cause for our rejoicing and that is our Savior.

2. Rejoice in Our Savior

6 In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials,

7 so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

8 and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,

9 obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.

I would like to read verse 8 at this point

8 and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,

When we come to a greater realization of what God has done for us in Christ, we cannot help but rejoice. Peter was talking to people who were close to Christ’s era but were not alive when Christ walked the earth. Peter did. They didn’t. I figure the argument he was hearing went like this: “It is easy for you to believe that God will help you through this life. You used to walk with Him and talk with Him. We never did. How can we have such faith?” His response: “You don’t need to see Him to love Him. You don’t need to see Him to believe in Him. You have the opportunity to experience what I had experience and it will produce great joy in your life. That opportunity comes through the work of the Holy Spirit in your life as He reveals Jesus Christ to you.”

For the sake of time, let us look at the third point for today:

3. Rejoice in Our Challenges

To this point, I have been talking about good things: salvation, inheritance, hope, eternal life, Jesus. What about the hard things in this life. More and more, we are seeing that life is difficult and not always bringing us into circumstances in which it is easy to rejoice. In order for us to understand that joy doesn’t come in circumstances but in our Savior, even through trials, I would like to closely examine verses 6-9. Please walk with me through a dissection of verses 6-9.

6 In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials,

8 and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,

9 obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.

What does all this mean? Our lives are to bring glory to God by the way we live our lives, even in the dark times. We are to bring praise to God in our lives, as often as possible, despite the circumstances we find ourselves in because of His promises and His Son. We are to bring other people to praise God because of our lives too. We are to honor God in our daily decisions based upon the promises of His Word and the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

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