Text: Matt 28:18, Title: Reaching the Raised Bar 1, Date/Place: NRBC, 6/14/09, AM
A. Opening illustration: Tyler Jones is the lead pastor/planter of Vintage21 Church in Raleigh. He spoke on the decline of the evangelical church. And so as not to bore you with all the statistics, suffice it to say that he made his case for his final statement in his intro: “within two generations the evangelical church will lose ½ its people.” He gave six reasons usually cited for this decline: too much political alignment, failure to pass the faith on to children/teens, failure to educate sufficiently in the faith (inability to give a defense among an increasingly hostile and academic culture), doctrinal fights within denominations, decrease of funds, cultural change. But he said that although these factors have influence, they are not the main problem. The main problem with evangelicalism (including Southern Baptists, and NRBC) is that our world doesn’t revolve around seeing, knowing, and loving Jesus! What Jones said first, Stetzer, Driscoll, Piper, Akin, and Chandler all echoed with much passion.
B. Background to passage: Post-resurrection, just before the ascension, last words of Jesus, Great Commission. The context that we live in is a culture that seeks relevance over truth. Evangelicalism in general and Southern Baptists in particular are experiencing decline. We are losing scores of people because the church is not something they see as helpful. Generations hang in the balance if revival doesn’t come to our churches. Driscoll said, “You can’t make the wind blow, but you can set the sail,” in reference to what we can do to help usher in the Christ-centered revival that our churches need. To set the sail in our world we must jettison the status quo; we must refuse to passively carry on as usual; we must destroy the maintenance mentality and the peacetime mindset. Years of hypocrisy and infighting have turned unbelievers away, and now we must refocus, raise the bar, and seek the face and favor of Christ in our day. We must understand the times, and passionately pursue the gospel! So in this series of messages, I want not only to remind us where the bar has been raised to, but try to be intentionally practical about how we at NRBC are to reach that bar, and set our sails awaiting the wind of God to blow. I also hope to stir your hearts to service, and call out those among us who would carry the torch for the nations, those who will carry a cup of cold water to the thirsty, those who will carry encouragement to moms and dads and grandparents in the task of passing on the faith to the coming generations, those who will carry the gospel to the world through a thoroughly biblical church and worldview, those who will carry resources from the kingdom to the poor, and those who will do all these things at NRBC for the glory of Christ!
C. Main thought: And that is my thought for today, from the Great Commission passage, that we do all that we do for the exaltation of Jesus, because God has given him all authority in heaven and on earth.
A. Read the list of Scriptures, and give a biblical basis for the exaltation of Jesus! Deal specifically with the references in the text to Daniel 7:13-14, and applications to the church from Ephesians 1:20-21. Camp out here a while. So how do we do it?
B. Display/Proclaim His Sufficiency
1. God went to great links to make sure that Christ would be and always will be exalted. The saints and the angels are currently exalting Christ, and basking in the joy of His presence. And they will continue to do that. The church (NRBC included) has been given the role of putting on display the glorious sufficiencies of Jesus to the world as well as invisible realms.
2. Illustration: “we are a band playing one song, and we will play it till we see Him.” Speak of Jonathon Edwards’ sermon that he preached about the “Admirable Conjunction of Diverse Excellencies” Robertson McQuilkin… It took about twenty-four hours to shake free of preoccupation with my own wounds and to focus on the excellencies of God. As I did, slowly love began to be rekindled. And with love came joy. “The more we learn of Jesus the bigger and more glorious he becomes in our eyes. To one extent or another everyone and everything in this sinful world will let us down. The closer we get the smaller and less appealing it will become. But the closer we get to Jesus the more beautiful and worthy we’ll discover that he is.”
3. The evangelical world (NRBC included) gets caught up in fads, gimmicks, tricks, technologies, etc. We get stuck in traditions, routines, motions, programs, etc. We must recenter our thoughts, methods, programs, and traditions on seeing, knowing, loving, and living Jesus Christ. We must concentrate, fix, meditate, memorize, teach, and proclaim the beauty, winsomeness, attractiveness, and glory of Jesus. He is the highest and the best of all beings. He is utterly sufficient for any need or task. He is higher and greater 10,000-fold than any other thing. “For He’s more wonderful than my mind can conceive, He’s more wonderful than my heart can believe, He goes beyond my highest hopes and fondest dreams, He’s everything that my soul ever longed for, Everything He’d promised and so much more, More than amazing
More than marvelous, More than miraculous could ever be, He’s more than wonderful, That’s what Jesus is to me.” Are you convinced that Christ is really the greatest? If not, you will have a difficult time proclaiming this truth. Do we proclaim this truth? Is this at the core of all that we do at NRBC? Proclaming and displaying an all-sufficient, all-satisfying, worthy enough to die for Savior, exalts Christ!
C. Living Transformed Lives
1. The next question and the next answer must follow: do we live the kind of transformed lives that will persuade our culture that Jesus is the highest, the greatest, and the best of all beings? In addition to articulation, the church must demonstrate by the lives of its members that Jesus really is the most glorious.
2. Prov 4:18, Matt 5:16, Isa 60:1-3, Philip 2:15, 1 Pet 2:9, 1 John 5:6-7, Acts 9:36,
3. Illustration: Those of you who have sat close to me know that I can’t carry a tune, my tones are off. It makes my mind wander and probably yours too, if you sit very close to me. I have to remind myself that it’s not the sound that comes from my lips, it’s the music that comes from our hearts that praises Him, lifts Him up, and glorifies Him. How can I deal with my neighbor, In a way which glorifies God. Sandy the busy busy busy dog. In San Antonio we had a dog on our street –Sandy. Sandy wasn’t a bad dog – but the owner was. Every morning Sandy would open every newspaper on the street, Thank you Sandy. Every trash day, Sandy would make sure every trash can was turned over, What a help you are! If you left you front door open, or garage door open Sandy would come in to remind you, Thanks Sandy The dog catcher was on every neighbor’s speed dial – no kidding. How can I deal with my neighbor. In a way which glorifies God?
4. Does our life demonstrate a new heart, a new set of values, an overriding passion, a different life, and sovereign, everlasting joy beyond circumstances? If we fail to do so, our hypocrisy will be our undoing. Our lives testify to the authenticity, not only of our faith, but of our Savior. Our culture is tired of infighting, hypocrisy, and fakeness. They want real life, real Jesus, real solutions to real problems. And we always hear, “don’t look at Christians, just look at Christ,” but that doesn’t remove our responsibility. And this doesn’t mean that we have to live perfect lives, by any means. But that we must be humble and open with our mistakes. We must be known for what we are for and not against. We must be known for our likeness to Jesus rather than political stance. We must look for ways to demonstrate the tangibility (don’t know if that’s a word) of real faith in the world. We must become known for our love of each other, our love of God, and our love of others, as it is the identifying mark of the believer. Faithfully transformed believers bring Christ glory. The opposite is also witnessed to in scripture—men blaspheming Christ because of their lack of transformation.
D. Give Christ Preeminence
1. God’s method of exalting the Son was to ensure His preeminence. One of the ways He did it was by conferring upon Him glory and dominion, and a kingdom, so that all nations would serve Him. One way was by giving Him the title scroll of the universe, because He was worthy to break the seals. And another way was by making Him head of the church.
2. Col 1:18, Rev 5:4-5, 9-10,
3. Illustration: Bill Hybels “unless we give Him the place of preeminence he deserves, we will be frustrated, empty people.” "God expects of us the one thing that glorifies Him and that is to remain absolutely confident in Him, remembering what He has said beforehand, and sure that His purposes will be fulfilled." “When I am impressed by anything on this planet, do I immediately turn and worship Jesus because in everything He is more impressive, more magnificent, more majestic, more imposing, more splendid, more spectacular, more grand, more awe-inspiring, more striking, more stunning, more breathtaking? Because that is what it means for Christ to be preeminent. That is what Paul is saying about Jesus.” Tell about the blogger who pointed out that even though the Conservative Resurgence fought and won the battle for the inerrancy of scripture, if we do not submit unto the authority of that inerrant word, we didn’t need to fight the battle—it is of no help to battle for a truth Word, if we are not going to live it.
4. There are many areas that Christ’s preeminence (or lack thereof) will work itself out. Our own agenda’s and goals will be different from those without Christ in the center part of their lives. If Christ is preeminent in our lives, we will be kingdom-minded. In our families, the biblical teaching of headship and submission and discipleship should be in place. In our finances, our checkbooks will reflect a priority on Kingdom causes. Our calendars will display a priority on growing and seeking God, as well as service to the King. In our choices of attire, TV, music, internet, hobbies (not that any of these things are bad), Christ will have His say. The world should look at the choices we make and be confused. You should have to explain why you willingly give up your money, time, and possessions to honor Christ. Those that are around you, should be able to quickly know that your relationship to God is the most important thing in the universe, and you will not sacrifice it for any pleasure or treasure known. Displaying Christ’s headship in the church is very important. Is Christ functionally really the Head of our church? Is it clear that we are operating on His agenda, and not our own? In business, giving, ministry, it is clear that Christ is leading us as a body?
A. Closing illustration: the history of the church at Ephesus
B. Recap
C. Invitation to commitment
Additional Notes
• Is Christ Exalted, Magnified, Honored, and Glorified?
