Sermon Central
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Is Jesus Christ The Lord Of This Church? Series
Contributed by Douglas Bryan on Aug 1, 2005 (message contributor)
Summary: I once saw a package of plastic shark teeth that were labled as "genuine imitation shark teeth." I wonder if we aren’t guilty of being genuine imitation Christians at times. As Paul begins his letter he points out that the Colossians were 3D Christians-
SERIES: JESUS CHRIST IS LORD...SERIOUSLY!
SERMON: IS JESUS CHRIST LORD OF THIS CHURCH?
INTRODUCTION:
This church will be what it ought to be when our members become what they should be.
I am beginning a new series of messages this morning from Paul’s letter to the church in Colosse. So, I would like to invite you to turn with me to that book–Colossians 1. I am calling this series "Jesus Christ is Lord!" That’s a pretty simple statement. As a matter of fact say it with me - Jesus Christ if Lord. The question that you and I need to answer this morning, however, is Jesus Christ really the Lord of our lives.
Several years ago someone came up with the statement which says, "If Jesus Christ is not Lord of all, then He is not Lord at all!" Here’s the thing–If Jesus Christ is not in control of your life then that means that something else is. It may be that you are controlled by...Your spouse, Your children, controlled by alcohol, pornography, or drugs, your job, your search for pleasure. Or it could mean that you’re living your life simply for yourself. You may only be concerned about what is best for you and whatever happens to everybody else–that’s their problem.
Over the next 6-8 weeks I want to challenge you to put Jesus Christ first in your life. Allow Him to truly be Lord and to take your faith in Him seriously! Jesus Christ is Lord...Seriously!
This morning I want us to think about the question, "Is Jesus Christ Lord of this Church?" READ: Colossians 1:1-8
In order for Jesus Christ to be Lord of this Church He must first be the Lord of our lives. Now in the passage we just read Paul says that in order for Jesus Christ to truly be Lord of this Church that we, the people, need to be multi-dimensional Christians, or 3-d Christians. I bet that you didn’t know that’s what Paul said. For the moment I am asking you to trust me on this one.
When I was a young kid I was introduced to the world of 3D by the popular Viewmaster (How many of you had one of these or at least have looked through something like this?) These were the neatest toys. You could stick a disk in there with pictures and it looked like you could jump right into the scene.
For those of you that have an interest in math you probably already understand that a line is a one dimensional object. It has no height nor depth–it simply goes from side to side–it has width and nothing else. A 2 dimensional object is something like a square or a rectangle. Not only does it have width--goes from side to side, but it also has height. When you add a third dimension to a square it becomes a cube. Now it has width, height, and depth.
In a similar fashion, Paul says that we need to be more than simply one dimensional Christians. Let’s take a closer look and see what Paul says about being 3 dimensional Christians
I> FAITH - VERTICAL
A. The first dimension of our Christian walk is faith
1. VS 3-4a
ILL> While listening to the radio this week I heard a brief thought by James Dobson. He said, "God has not called us to make His Church grow. God has called us to be faithful–to be obedient to His Word."
2. I had to think about that for a minute
a. "God has not called us to make His Church grow."
b. After I thought about it I had to agree–we cannot make His Church truly grow
c. We can do some things to make the attendance go up
d. We can have a lot of special events in order to make our averages go up
e. But, we cannot make His Church grow
3. Paul said the same thing
a. 1CO 3:6
"I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow."
B. But God has called us to be faithful–to put our faith and trust in Him
1. Faith causes you to do things that you may not want to do
a. You do it because of God’s nudging–you know it is His will–it’s what God expects
2. When you don’t do anything with your faith, then it’s not faith–it’s just a belief
a. James 2:14-17 (MSG)
14 Dear friends, do you think you’ll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? 15 For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved 16 and say, "Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!" and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? 17 Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?
