Seeing The Church As The Hope Of The World Series

Seeing The Church

As The Hope Of The World

#20/20Vision

OKAY – I would like to start off with 3 passages of Scripture that will lay the foundation for our conversation this morning, the 4th Sunday of the year 2020.

The first is in John chapter 3… Jesus is talking with a religious leader by the name of Nicodemus.

And in this conversation Jesus is explaining to him about the kingdom of God.

Telling Nicodemus (this influential religious leader and teacher) that not only is God’s kingdom, not a physical kingdom, but that to both see and enter this kingdom you must be born again (born of water and of the Spirit)…

AND THEN - Jesus tells Him that in order for this Kingdom to be fully established that He (the Son of Man)

must be lifted up (on a cross) so that eternal life can be made available to everyone who believes…

AND YOU KNOW – it is almost as if Jesus is anticipating the thoughts that must be running through the mind of Nicodemus at this very moment…

“Are you kidding me, that is insane… why in the world would God allow His Son to be lifted up and crucified on a cross? Why would God do such an inconceivable thing for finite, fallen and sinful people.”

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. – John 3:16-18

NOW BEFORE – we move on to the next passage, I want us to let those 22 words that follow directly after the comma, really sink in for a moment…

UNTIL - they make each of us (until they make you and me) extremely uncomfortable.

Perish = apollymi (to destroy, to put out the way entirely, to put an end to, to give up to eternal misery)

QUESTION – do you know anyone who already stands condemned this morning, and whose current forever is to perish?

THE NEXT PASSAGE – is from Jesus’ powerful sermon on the mountain by the Sea of Galilee… the longest recorded sermon of Jesus.

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

QUESTION – do you know what the primary purpose of salt was in the first century? Preservation…

So then what is Jesus saying in Matthew 5, to those who were choosing to follow Him?

THAT - this world is in a state of decay, death and destruction…

AND THAT – they were the ones that He has called to turn this all around.

AND THEN – Jesus continues and says to these same followers.

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.

In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. – Matthew 5:13-16

NOW - the final passage I want to share as we begin is from the 5th chapter of the second letter that Paul wrote to church in Corinth.

IN – this chapter, Paul is trying to explain to the believers in that city and to us as well..

THE REASON - why he does what he does,

THE REASON - why he makes the kind of sacrifices that he has for Jesus and the Gospel…

Sacrifices that were so extreme that some people (when they heard about or saw them) thought that Paul and his companions had to be out of their minds.

If we are “out of our mind,” as some say, it is for God… 2 Corinthians 5:13

Existemi = to be out of one’s mind, beside oneself, insane

QUESTION - has anyone ever saw the things that you do for God and the sacrifices that you have made for Him and His church… AND – they are like,

“are you kidding me, existemi (you must be insane, crazy, out of your mind) to do and give up so much.”

AND IF – no one has ever said that abut or to you…. would you

like them too?

AND - are you willing to do what it takes to have the happen?