LN 8: "Conformed" (11.25.07)

[To listen to the message, click here]

SUMMARY
The mission of the Church is fulfilled in Christ through. We have seen this in His proclaiming the Kingdom of God, His Great Commission, His compelling love and, now, by conforming us to Him.

Conformity is practically a bad word in our individualistic society. We cherish our popular notions of freedom and autonomy. No one has the right to tell us what to do or what is right or wrong. We follow our hearts. In our culture, people want (or at least pretend to want) to do their own thing; go there own way; to be different … just like everyone else. But it’s ironic that we, who say we don’t want to be conformed to anything, conform to everything, all the time. If we didn’t, why would companies spend millions on marketing and advertising? The truth is everyone conforms to something. The question is: what will it be?

This is an especially pertinent question for Christians because we are called to be conformed to Christ. (A Christian is one is trying to live like Christ). It’s also pertinent because, as Christians, we struggle with being conformed to the world. And often, we don’t struggle enough.

In Scripture we read: “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12.2); and “As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy." (1 Peter 1.14-16).

And so, to be light for the nations we must not be conformed to the world, but rather transformed. But how are we transformed? We are transformed as we conform to Christ. How do we do that? What does that look like? Jesus shows us John 14.30-15.17.

To be conformed to Christ, there are certain things that must be RECOGNIZED.

First, we must recognize the Crucial Nature of Mission. At the end of John 14, Jesus said, “I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me, but the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me. "Come now; let us leave.” This was the Upper Room Discourse before Gethsemane and the cross. Jesus knew Satan was coming and so He said, "Come now; let us leave”. What did Jesus mean by that? One scholar believes that the natural sense of that statement in the Greek language is a military one, meaning: “let us go meet the advancing enemy” (C.H. Dodd). Therefore, this statement could be paraphrased as: “The ruler of this world is coming … let us march to meet him.” In that sense, Jesus’ statement is a call to arms – a call to engage the enemy. There is an enemy, a hostile force in this world. But the enemy is not “those kind of people over there.” No, scripture tells us, “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” That is the enemy to engage: evil in the world and especially in us.

But how do we do that? How do we engage the enemy and go out in mission as light against the darkness? We must recognize the Incredible Nature of the Church.
- Jesus used the image of the vine. The vine was often used as a symbol of Israel. They were the vineyard that the Lord had planted. But they had failed to produce good fruit and so the Lord sent the True Vine. Jesus said, “I am the true vine.” He is the Vine, we are His branches, connected to Him and one another. What a picture of the Church – fruit bearing branches nourished by the Vine! Our identity, purpose and power are found in our connection to the Vine! And that picture is also powerful because a vine exists to bear fruit. That is its purpose. As William Temple wrote, “The vine lives to give its life-blood.”
- Jesus provides another picture of His followers. We are His Friends (14-15): “You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” J.C Ryle states, “There is nobody so rich, so strong, so independent, so well off, so thoroughly provided for, as the person of whom Christ says, “This is my friend”. No greater dignity could be given to us. No greater evidence of God’s love could be given than Jesus giving His life for us His friends. No greater impetus for mission can be found than friendship with Christ. And no greater incentive for people to believe in Christ than to become a friend of Christ. As we come to Christ and live in obedience to Him, we are His friends.
- This however should not lead us into a sense of self-importance, for this friendship is born of grace. We were chosen. Jesus says in the next verse, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit.” As Bruce Milne writes, “Therein … lies the ultimate encouragement in mission. We go, not because we are worthy, or equipped, or attractive, or skilled, or experienced, or in any way suitable and appropriate. We go because we have been summoned and sent.” By grace, we are chosen to go and bear fruit.

Those are the recognitions, now we look at the REQUIREMENTS – things that need to take place in our lives.
- The first is Pruning. Jesus said (1-3), “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.” It has been pointed out that the vine dresser does two things to ensure as much fruit as possible – in winter he cuts off the dry, withered branches and in the spring removes the useless growth from the branches. He clears off and cleans up. Branches that consistently do not bear fruit are removed, while those that do are pruned. Pruning in the Christian’s life takes place through the Word, the Spirit, the Church (others being shaped by the Word and Spirit), circumstances and trials. We don’t always like pruning and we often wonder why God allows certain things to happen – why being a Christian is so often difficult. But the purpose of pruning is that we might grow and be more fruitful. The Lord disciplines those He loves. God trims and cuts us that we might grow and live more fruitfully.
- The next requirement is Abiding in Christ. “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me." Bearing fruit is the work of Christ in us. It is impossible without Him. To be a Christian is to abide in Christ, to remain connected to Him. To abide in Christ is to remain in His love: to rejoice in it, depend upon it, do nothing to grieve Him, but rather do what delights Him, to keep his commands. Not to do that is to be fruitless and disconnected from the vine. We must bear fruit. Now, none of us do this perfectly, but to never do it is a sign of something wrong.
- Part of abiding is Prayer. Prayer is crucial to mission. Milne writes, “In the work of mission, the church advances on its knees.” Prayer is one of the ways that us branches are nourished by the Vine. And so Jesus encourages us in v.7 “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.” As we abide in Christ (are seeking His will and plan), we can seek God confidently in prayer. As we seek His will, he will answer our prayers according to His will.
- But abiding in Christ is not simply an inner state, it requires Obedience. “If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love.” Jesus said, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” We show our love by living the way God wants us to live.
- And we abide in Christ as we Love One Another. Jesus said, “This is my command: Love each other,” and “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” We are to love like Jesus loved – sacrificial, self-giving love. We are marked as disciples by our love.

As we abide in Christ (pruned, praying, loving, obeying) certain RESULTS take place. We read in v8, “This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” When we bear Fruit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control) we prove that we are Jesus’ disciples. And as fruit bearing disciples, we bring glory to God the Father. Therefore, we find ultimate fulfillment because we are doing what we were made to do. We were created for God’s glory. As the Westminster catechism states, “The chief end of human beings is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” And therefore another result is Joy. Jesus says, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”

Our society looks at this and thinks, ‘a life of conformity and obedience and monogamous faithfulness to one Person – ugh! What could be more restrictive and constricting and demeaning and dull and dissatisfying?” But the reality is just the opposite. True life, true love, true purpose, true joy is found in being conformed to the character of Christ, obeying His good commands (living His way), bearing fruit as we abide in Him, and being faithful and loyal to him as our one and only Lord and Savior. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “Discipleship means joy.”

Only a life that is being conformed to Christ is compelling to the world. Only a life that is filled with the light of Christ can shine in the darkness. People need to hear the Good News, but they also need to see Christ in us. He is the Light of the nations, but He shines through us. And so conformity is not a bad word when we are being conformed to Christ. For that means that He is re-constructing us into the men and women we were meant to be.

I love the words that were etched into Ruth Bell Graham’s gravestone – words she noticed while driving on the highway one day and wanted as her epitaph: “End of Construction. Thank you for your patience.” May that be said of each of us at the end of our lives: End of Construction. Our lives are in process. We are not perfect nor are we complete. God is at work in us (and He who began this good work will see it through to completion). May our lives be a process, a journey, an adventure of becoming conformed (re-constructed) into the likeness of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.


POINTS TO REMEMBER

“The gracious indwelling of God with his people is not an invitation to settle down and forget the rest of the world: it is a summons to mission, for the Lord who dwells with His people is the one who goes before them …” (Leslie Newbigin).

The problem is then: How can we be light for the nations if we are like the nations? If we are just like the world, we have nothing to offer the world. We try to be “relevant” to the world rather than compelling. We want to fit into the world b/c we think that then we will have an audience. But what was the method of the One who called His people to be light for the nations? God set His people apart. He called them to be distinct from the other nations in order to be light to them. Now they misused this calling and became self-focused, but that was not the intent. God made Israel “holy” not so that they would be “holier than thou” but that they would be an example and a guide for the nations around them. If we are not conforming our lives (albeit imperfectly and often inconsistently) to the likeness of the One we proclaim, then we have nothing to proclaim. You can’t give what you don’t have.


SCRIPTURE TO CONSIDER

Do not conform to the world – Romans 12.2; 1 Peter 1.14-16
Likeness of Christ – Romans 8.29; 1 Corinthians 15.45-58; 2 Corinthians 3.17-18; Philippians 2.1-11
The real battle – Ephesians 6.10-18
Being transformed – John 14.30-15.17

LN 7: "Compelled" (11.11.07)

[To listen to the message, click here]

SUMMARY
“You know what the secret of life is?” That is what the old cowboy Curly, in the movie City Slickers, asks the main character, Mitch.
Mitch: No, what?
Curly (raising his index finger): This.
Mitch replies: Your finger?
Curly: One thing, just one thing. You stick to that and everything else don't [matter].
Mitch: That's great, but what's the one thing?
Curly: That's what you've got to figure out.

What is the “one thing” that gives direction and motivation to your life? What is at the center of your life? What is your core – your motive power? What drives you? What causes you to get out of bed in the morning? What makes life worth living? What motivates you? And to bring it back to the theme of our series, what motivates our mission as the Church? Last week we looked at the Great Commission – to go make disciples. What moves us to do that?

I believe that what should be our answer for both these questions (personal motivation and that of the Church) is one and the same. The Apostle Paul states it in 2 Corinthians 5:14: “Christ’s love compels us.” That is the “one thing” - the love of Christ. That is where the meaning of life is found.

Read: 2 Corinthians 5.11-15. What made Paul and those with him so confident in what they believed, so passionate, so committed to telling the story of Jesus in its truth that people accused them of being out of their minds? It was the love of Jesus Christ, as expressed in His death and resurrection for us. That was the compelling force in their lives.

“Christ’s love compels us.”
What is love? Love is often considered, by our silly society, to be a feeling or emotion. It is equated with sex or self-love or some wishy-washy, spineless tolerance. But love is not merely a feeling, it is a decision. It is a commitment. We often define love in human terms, when in reality love is defined by God Himself. “God is love.” Therefore, God defines love. If you want to know what love is, you must know God, for God’s activity with His people (His unmerited self-giving) defines love.

And so, it’s not simply love, but Christ’s love, that compels Paul. So, what is the love of Christ?
The love of Christ is expressed in His death.
- We see this in 1 John 3.16 “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.”
- And in 1 John 4.9-10, “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
- Jesus Himself said, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”
And so the love of Christ is seen in His death for us. Jesus took our place. He took our punishment, our brokenness, our failures, our guilt, our shame. He carried it for us and took it away. Our anger, our resentment, our hurtful words and actions; our cheating, our addictions, our perversion, our self-focus – all of it condemns us to eternal death and separation from God. But in an act of undeserved love Christ died in our place so we could have life with God. Do you understand that? The reality of that? The cosmic repercussions of that? When we look at Jesus, we see the love of God.

And the love of Christ is also expressed in His resurrection. He not only died for us, He was raised for us so that we could be raised up out of death like Him and with Him. He was raised to plead our case at the Father’s right hand so we have access to God through Him. And He was raised so that He might come again to bring us into life eternal. If you read the Gospel story and are not able to sing “Jesus Loves Me”, you better read it again, because you’ve missed the point.

Christ’s love is compelling. Something compelling is something that has a powerful and irresistible effect or influence. The love of Christ is compelling. It has a powerful and irresistible effect. The word in our passage has a few different shades of meaning. It can mean to hold together, to surround, to control, to compel. And so it gives us a picture of the compelling nature of Christ’s love.
- Christ’s love holds us together. Christ’s love heals our brokenness and makes us whole. It pieces us back together and sustains us. Apart from the saving and sustaining love of Jesus, we would remain broken or fall apart.
- Christ’s love surrounds us. The word can be translated hem in or encircle. Christ’s love is a surrounding love – a shield before us and a guard around us.
- Christ’s love controls us. We are gripped by His love. In 1 Corinthians, Paul says, “You are not your own; you were bought at a price.” Because we owe our lives to the love of Christ, that love redefines us, giving us a new direction and motivation. The love that redeemed us rules us.
- And Christ’s love compels us. It is a motivational force. It is a pressure that causes action. His love is so potent and powerful that it constrains and impels us and urges us on.

But what does Christ’s love compel us to do? What is compelled by Christ’s love? Everything – every aspect of our lives. There is to be no secular/sacred dichotomy in the life of a Christian. In Christ, all of life is sacred. Everything that we do (whether it be business or pleasure) is to be inspired and influenced by the love of Jesus Christ. The love of Christ is the motivation for life and for mission. It is the one thing that makes sense of life and makes life worth living.

POINTS TO REMEMBER
Our society suggests that everyone must find there own “one thing”. I don’t buy that. I believe there is only one thing that makes sense of life and makes life worth living. And that is the love of Christ.

Dante describes this love in the final vision of Paradiso as, “the Love that moves the sun and all the other stars.” God’s love, as revealed in Jesus Christ, holds the universe together. It moves the sun and other stars. And so, it move us.

Why are we often not compelled by Christ’s love? Why are we, in the Church, so often lethargic, complacent, self-interested and scared? Where is the burning in our hearts?
- Maybe we haven’t taken seriously what Christ has done.
- Maybe we haven’t taken seriously the purpose of what Christ has done.
- Maybe we have allowed other, lesser loves to distract us.

To know Christ’s love, according to Jesus, all you have to do is repent and believe.
- To stop trying to be God yourself and hand control to the only true God.
- To turn away from all the dead ends in your life and to follow the Way of Jesus.
- To confess your brokenness, failure, inability, your helplessness and hopelessness – and to believe that Jesus is your only Rescuer and Hope.
- To ask for forgiveness and find God’s incredible mercy, acceptance and love.
And when you do that – when you truly repent and truly believe, you will know and experience the love of Christ. A love that will not let you go, will never disappoint, and will satisfy your deepest longing. A love that will hold you together, will surround you, will lead you and will compel you to really live.

So, do you know what the secret of life is? One thing. His name is Jesus and His love for you is beyond words.


SCRIPTURE TO CONSIDER

[Linked to biblegateway]

Christ’s love compels us - 2 Corinthians 5.11-15
Christ’s Love - 1 John 3.16; 1 John 4.9-10; John 15.12-13
Compelled to do what? - Galatians 2.20; Philippians 3.7-14

LN 6: "Commissioned" (11.04.07)

[To listen to the message, click here]

SUMMARY

The “Great Commission” teaches us that, as followers of Christ, we are a commissioned people. But what does that mean?

Commission is a word that, at it’s root, expresses beautifully the Christian calling. Commission comes from ‘com’ meaning ‘together’ and ‘missio’ ‘the act of sending’. Therefore, being commissioned has to do with being gathered together and sent out. To commission is to entrust someone with a task or duty and granting certain powers or authority in order to accomplish that task. To commission is to empower someone for active service. And that is what Jesus did for His disciples. He entrusted them with a task and gave them the authority and power to accomplish it.

And what Jesus commissions His followers to do is to make disciples. That is the one imperative in the Great Commission. Our mission, as we follow Jesus, is to invite and help others to follow Jesus. But how do we do that? In Jesus’ final words to His disciples in the Gospels He tells us.

- In Matthew, Jesus tells us we are to baptize in the triune Name and teach others to obey everything He has commanded us.
- In Mark’s longer ending, we are told, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.”
- In Luke we read, “The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things” (24.45-48). Luke echoes this in the beginning of Acts: “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
- And in John, Jesus said, “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.”

Now when we put all this together, I believe we find that:
We are called to invite and help others follow Jesus
by preaching and teaching about who we follow
by witnessing as to why we follow
by serving and showing how we follow
and by joining them to the One we follow and with those who follow.

* We make disciples by preaching and teaching about who we follow. Preaching means to announce, make known, publicly proclaim, to tell everywhere. The picture is of a herald making an announcement. Though not everyone will deliver a sermon, per se, every Christian can, in their own way, tell someone else the story of Jesus. Likewise, not everyone is called to lead a classroom, but every Christian is called to be willing and able to teach others. We teach our children. We teach co-workers when they ask a question or come to us with a problem. We teach through example. And not only that, we can bring others to where the Good News is being proclaimed and explained (i.e. the Church).

We make disciples by proclaiming and explaining who we follow. We make the Good News of Jesus Christ known. We teach others to obey everything Jesus has commanded us. And what has Jesus commanded us? That we love God with everything we’ve got and love one another as he has loved us. Our message is love. Our activity is love. Our motivation is love. We make known the love of God. A love that calls for response.

* We make disciples by witnessing as to why we follow. Jesus said, “You will be my witnesses.” A witness is one who testifies to something out of first-hand knowledge or experience. The disciples, who had been with Jesus during His earthly ministry were witnesses of what He said and did – His teaching, miracles and character. But that’s the just disciples, we may respond, so we’re off the hook, right? Wrong. If you are a follower of Jesus, you have, in some way, experienced Him - you can, in some way, bear witness to the grace and transforming power of God in your life. And if you can’t that’s problematic. Not that you have to have some wild testimony (e.g. I was a drug-dealing, bank-robbing gang leader in prison …), but either God is real in our lives or He is not. In our witnessing to God’s work and presence in our lives, we express to others why we follow.

Now, there is one more thing about being a witness. Not everyone wants to hear the truth about God. The world doesn’t always applaud when we witness to the fact that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. In fact, the world is often hostile to such assertions. The proof of that rests in the Greek word for witness. The word is martyr. As Christians witnessed to their faith in a hostile culture, the word took on the meaning of “one who tells what he believes, even though it results in his being killed for it”. What is your witness like? Are you so confident in Jesus Christ that you would face death to bear witness to Him – to stand for His truth, His reality, His way? What about simply facing rejection or awkwardness or ridicule?

* We make disciples by serving and therefore showing how we follow. Jesus said, “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” How did the Father send His Son? In humility, as a servant. Jesus said, “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Jesus came to serve. And so if we are going to follow Jesus, we must likewise serve. Our attitude must be like that of Jesus. Jesus not only gave us a message to preach, He gave us a model to imitate. In serving others, we show the love and truth of Christ. In laying down our lives for others, we bear witness to the validity of the Gospel. We not only talk about it, we live it. Our method has to match our message. How can we convincingly speak to others about Christ’s love and humility, service and sacrifice if we are not willing to humble ourselves like Christ and serve those around us? (the poor, the sick, the self-satisfied, the despotic boss, the pain in the neck co-worker, the grumpy neighbor, the antagonistic colleague …) We follow Jesus by being like Him.

* Finally, we make disciples by joining them to the One we follow and with those who follow. The ultimate expression of this is baptism and profession of faith, being marked as belonging to God. But the practical expression of this is that in disciple-making, we are not simply getting people to join our group or to be like us, we are bringing them to God through Christ. The point of disciple-making is not to make 100 Presbyterians or 100 Baptists or 100 conservative evangelicals or 100 little copies of us (heaven help us!), the point is to bring them to Christ – to help them be like Christ. We join people not to a movement or perspective or denomination, but to Christ Himself. Our responsibility is to help bring people into communion with God and with God’s people. So we have a responsibility to welcome, accept, and embrace others, just as Jesus did for us. We then involve them, encourage them, and hold them accountable as we would want them to do for us.

We are a commissioned people with an overwhelming responsibility. How could we ever conceive of having any measure of success at it? Because we are not called to go alone. Jesus promised, “surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Christian mission can only take place if Jesus is present. Without Him, we can do nothing. But with Him, nothing is impossible. We can follow Jesus anywhere and do anything because He is with us. Jesus gives us a great commission, but He gives an even greater promise. The promise of His presence.

How will you respond to this? Think back to our previous messages. Will you be like Jonah and run away from it – away from the people God is calling you to reach? Or like Abraham, who even though he didn’t know exactly where God was leading Him or what would happen, stepped out in an act of radical faith and followed? Will you go with Jesus and be light for the nations?

POINTS TO REMEMBER

“Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.”

It’s fitting that the Great Commission begins with this scene of worship, for as John Piper says, “Missions begins and ends in worship”. Piper writes, in his book, Let the Nations Be Glad:

“Missions is not the ultimate goal of the Church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever. Worship, therefore, is the fuel and goal of missions. It’s the goal of missions because in missions we simply aim to bring the nations into the white hot enjoyment of God’s glory … But worship is also the fuel of missions. Passion for God in worship precedes the offer of God in preaching. You can’t commend what you don’t cherish ….When the flame of worship burns with the heat of God’s true worth, the light of missions will shine to the darkest peoples on earth.”

Our commission to make disciples of all nations begins and ends in worship. We will only go and make disciples when we have a passion for God – a fervent desire to glorify Him. Worship fuels mission.

SCRIPTURE TO CONSIDER

The Great Commission - Matthew 28.16-20

The other "Commissions" - Mark 16.15 ; Luke 24.45-48 & Acts 1.8; John 20.19-21

Jesus' "all authority" - Daniel 7.13-14

Importance of preaching - Romans 10.13-15

The importance of experience in witnessing - Acts 4.18-20; 1 John 1.1-4

Jesus' example of serving - Mark 10.42-45; John 13.1-17; Philippians 2.1-16