INTRODUCTION
• WONDERFUL LIFE CLIP
• SLIDE #1
• In the classic movie, “It’s A Wonderful Life” George Bailey was miserable. He saw all his friends get out of Bedford falls and do great things, yet he was stuck in the small town running his father’s savings and loan.
• He wished he was never born, and an angel appeared giving George his wish.
• He got to see what life was like if he were never born. Once it sunk in that his life was actually a wonderful one, he is literally jumping for joy at the end of the movie.
• He finally realized for the first time that life was indeed good.
• I bet if the story were to continue George would have treasured each and every day of his life because it was truly wonderful.
• I bet we all have days when we maybe entertain some of those same wishes. I believe that as we start to grasp what God has done for us through Jesus that we will sing for joy.
• As we reflect on and start to grasp the great things God has done for us how can we contain the joy?
• We are going to examine three things that God has done for those who have been baptized into Jesus. These are things that we cannot do for ourselves.
• If you belong to Jesus you should never forget what God has done for you. WE should allow the life-changing experience to bring us daily joy!
• Let’s begin by looking at Colossians 1:12!
• SLIDE #2
• Colossians 1:12 (ESV) giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.
• SLIDE #3
SERMON
We can sing for joy because…
I. We have been qualified by God.
• I do not know if we reflect on this point very often, but we have an inheritance waiting for us in heaven!
• BUT not everyone on the planet will be qualified to receive this inheritance.
• One has to be qualified to receive the inheritance.
• Steve Jobs the founder of Apple passed away a few months ago.
• I saw one web site that said his net worth was over 10.2 BILLION dollars. Now I would LOVE to be part of that inheritance! BUT I do not qualify; I am not in the will (unfortunately) nor am I a family member.
• I cannot do anything to change that fact. I cannot QUALIFY myself to receive a part of his fortune.
• The word the ESV translates as QUALIFIED mean “to be able or authorized for a task.” It can also mean to be made sufficient or competent.
• We cannot declare ourselves QUALIFIED to receive an inheritance from God.
• For me to be able to collect a portion of Steve Jobs fortune, HE would have had to qualify me.
• WE cannot be qualified by our own decree; we can never be qualified on our own.
• From its use in this passage we may conclude that in themselves believers have no fitness for sharing in the heritage of God’s people.
• WE are QUALIFIED or AUTHORIZED through the blood of Jesus!
• That blood is applied to us when we are buried with Christ in baptism! Romans 6!
• We can receive this inheritance only as God qualifies them for such a privilege.
• What is interesting about the word translated QUALIFIED is that the verb tense is such that this QUALIFICATION happened in a ONE time past act verses an ongoing process!
• The tense of the word is aorist, pointing to the time of the Colossians’ conversion.
• SLIDE #4
• Galatians 3:27 (ESV) For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
• WE do not EARN our qualification; it is given to us when we are baptized into Jesus!
• What do we receive? What is this inheritance?
• SLIDE #5
• 1 Peter 1:3–4 (ESV) 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,
• Eternal life is part of the inheritance!
• The language of verse 12 is reminiscent of the inheritance of the Promised Land the Israelites were to receive from God! WE have a PROMISED LAND IN CHRIST!
• Christians, as the new people of God, also have an inheritance, and each believer has a share allotted to him.
• Jesus tells us this also in Matthew 19:29!
• SLIDE #6
• Matthew 19:29 (ESV) And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.
• Our eternal life will be spent with God in heaven!
• We are told that when God qualifies us, we can share in the inheritance of the saints of light!
• Not all will be qualified, we all COULD be but not all will want to be!
• SLIDE #7
• 1 Timothy 2:3–4 (ESV) This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
• You can have eternal life through Jesus, when you are in Christ; you possess an inheritance NOW! You will collect it in full when the Lord returns!
• The verb tense of the word QUALIFIED indicates in Christ you have it NOW!
• SLIDE #8
• Let’s look at verse 13 for our next reason we can sing for joy!
• Colossians 1:13 (ESV) He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,
• SLIDE #9
We can sing for joy because…
II. We have been delivered and transferred by God.
• DO you know WHY we possess our inheritance NOW, because God HAS DELIVERED AND TRANSFERRED us NOW!
• We have been delivered from the domain of darkness!
• The word translated DELIVERED means to “RESCUE, LIBERATE, SAVE FROM SOMETHING OR SOMEONE!
• God saved us from an eternity marred by darkness. Darkness represents evil. Without God’s deliverance we would be confined with Satan for eternity!
• We are QUALIFIED to receive an inheritance, NOT BECAUSE OF our goodness, achievements or personal worthiness, but because of our position in Christ!
• God will deliver ANYONE who wants to be. He will not reject you no matter who you are!
• We been delivered from the dominion of darkness!
• SLIDE #10
• Ephesians 5:7–8 (ESV) Therefore do not become partners with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light
• We were in a no win situation, we are captive to the darkness until God delivered us through Jesus!
• SLIDE #11
• Romans 6:16 (ESV) Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?
• SLIDE #12
• Ephesians 2:11–12 (ESV) 11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
• Now when we were delivered, we were not left alone! We were also TRANSFERRED to the Kingdom of His beloved Son!
• To be transferred means to carry over the line, to remove or to change! God has carried us across the line that separates the power of darkness with the kingdom of light!
• When we are transferred into the Kingdom of God we are changed!
• SLIDE #13
• 2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
• Is it not great that God not only delivered you, but He did not leave you out in the cold! He brought you into His Kingdom!
• This was done at a great price to God!
• SLIDE #14
• 1 Corinthians 6:19–20 (ESV) Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
• Let’s look at a couple of final thoughts that should move us to sing for joy!
• SLIDE #15
• Colossians 1:14 (ESV) in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
• SLIDE #16
We can sing for joy because…
III. We have been redeemed by God.
• I mentioned earlier that we were bought with a price; well that price was the blood of Jesus.
• When we commit our first sin, we are separated from God. God cannot accept us as long as we are stained by sin.
• To redeem is to rescue or deliver from something from which one cannot deliver himself.
• The word “redemption” belongs to the slave market. It involves the payment of a price to secure freedom, and Paul clearly identified that price as the death of Christ.
• A slave could not free themselves, they needed someone else to pay the price to redeem them from their slavery!
• There needed to be a way for sinful man to be able to be able to approach a Holy (without sin) God!
• God’s solution was to send His one and only Son to die in our place.
• The blood of Jesus pays the price for our sins!
• What Jesus did was to REDEEM from the curse of sin!
• SLIDE #17
• 1 Peter 1:18–19 (ESV) knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
• Also as part of redemption, Jesus took care of the problem that separated us from God in the first place. SIN!
• As an added bonus to all this that God has done, we receive the forgiveness of our sins!
• Forgiveness parallels redemption. Forgive literally means "to send away, to cancel." Through the death of Jesus, God has canceled the debt of our sin.
• It was a debt we could never repay; but since Jesus paid the debt for us, God has forgiven the debt.
• What a BLESSING!
• This is all part of being a NEW creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).
• You cannot be new with old issues dogging you.
• You do not have to allow the past to dictate your future because in Christ you have a NEW FUTURE, A NEW DIRECTION, A NEW DESTINY, A NEW WAY OF LIFE, A NEW LORD!
CONCLUSION
• SLIDE #17
• I touched on this a little last week. But with all the blessing that God has given those who are in Him, how can be possibly be in despair all the time? How can we be sour all the time?
• Because of God’s blessings in our life when we are in Christ, it indeed is a WONDERFUL LIFE with an even better eternal life awaiting us!
• Are you ready to sing for joy?
