Scripture: Matthew 28:16-20 (Call to Worship - Psalm 8)
God's New World Order
I. God's New Age Has Arrived in Christ Jesus! - Jesus Resurrection inaugurated God's New Order
II. Jesus Commissions Us to be His Witnesses - to be His Change Agents
INTRO:
Grace and peace from God our Father and Jesus Our Messiah, Savior and Lord!
Over the last hundred years or so there has been a reoccurring theme that has been promoted by various United States Presidents, Prime ministers, leaders of the Communist party and even leaders of the Third Reich. That theme has revolved around the idea of a "New World Order" being inaugurated in our world.
Both President Woodrow Wilson and Prime Minister Winston Churchill used the term "New World Order" in referring to a new period of history that they believed would soon usher in dramatic positive changes in global politics, social order, monetary systems and health care. President Wilson believed that a New World Order was going to come to realization following the peace accords after WWI while Prime Minister Winston Churchill saw a New World Order coming after the end of WW II. Both men were right. History does tell us that after WWI and WWII our world did experience some positive global changes but not to the extent either man had envisioned.
More recently, President George H. W. Bush in a speech delivered on September 11, 1990 during a joint session of Congress stated that he believed that once again the world was on the verge of experiencing a whole New World Order. It was to be a New World Order much like the one Prime Minister Winston Churchill had envisioned some 45 years earlier. In his speech, President Bush even borrowed some of Churchill's worlds to describe this New World Order. It was to be a time when the "principles of justice and fair play" would rule. It was to be a time when all over the globe, nation after nation would "protect the weak against the strong." President Bush went on to say that he could envision a New World Order that would see "A world where the United Nations, freed from cold war stalemate, is poised to fulfill the historic vision of its founders. A world in which freedom and respect for human rights find a home among all nations."
As we all know Bush's "New World Order" never came to fulfillment. Eleven years following his speech the world watched in horror as terrorists crashed two Boeing 767 planes into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center crushing any hope of a New World Order that would bring global peace, harmony and tranquility. Since that time there has been a continued uptick in the number of terrorist attacks all over the globe resulting not in a time of peace and tranquility but a time of global unrest and anxiety.
Currently, any hope of a New World Order is primarily based on the premise of a new shared global economical system. The theory is that if the world would adopt a global banking system that somehow through the shared use of money the world's ills would be solved. Many believe that what the world needs more than anything else is a global financial reboot. They believe that money has the potential power to fix all of the world's problems or at least enough of them to set the world on a new course of peace, harmony and tranquility.
The sad truth is they are wrong. Money in and by itself can never fix our world's problems. That is not to say however that we do not need a global financial reboot. Anyone looking around our world knows that things are not going well. The richer and more powerful countries are becoming even more richer and more powerful while the poorer and less fortunate countries are suffering more and more.
It makes no sense that two people doing the same work are paid such vastly different wages all over our world. For example, the average worker in Australia is guaranteed a salary of at least 10.00 an hour while in Mexico the average worker is guaranteed a salary of less than a dollar an hour. It shouldn't be that way. The situation is even more dire in places like Bangladesh were the average worker is paid only 26 cents an hour or around $ 500.00 per year. So, you can see that we do need some type of financial reboot all over our world. But money in and of itself is not the total answer.
The Good News this morning is that there is an answer to all the world's problems. The Good News this morning is that our LORD Jesus Christ has made it possible for this through the power and presence of His Holy Spirit. The Good News is that our Lord has made a way in which people all over the world can experience everlasting peace, harmony and tranquility both in the here and now and in the hereafter. The Lord has made a way in which everyone - every man, woman, boy and girl all over the world can be rescued, redeemed and restored into His Holy Image. Now, I believe that is a New World Order that everyone would want to receive and experience today.
The Bible tells us that God's New World Order:
+Involved Jesus the Messiah, God's Only Begotten Son emptying Himself and being obedient even to the death on the Cross (Philippians 2:5-11).
+Began that first Sunday Morning of Easter when Jesus rose from the dead proclaiming "I am the first and the last, and the living one. I was dead, and look! I am alive forever and ever. I have the keys of death and Hades." (Revelation 1:17b-18 KNT).
+Involves all of His disciples being commission to "go and make all the nations into disciples. Baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Teach them to observe everything I have commanded ..." (Matthew 28:19bff KNT)
This morning, I would like for us to look at some of the truths of what we could call God's New World Order and then see exactly what this New World Order means for us in our everyday lives.
I. God's New Age (God's New World Order) Has Arrived in Jesus Christ!
When Jesus walked out of that tomb it signaled that a New Age, a New World Order for all of Creation had begun. Jesus' Resurrection signaled that a cosmic watershed moment had occurred for everyone and everything. All the promises that God had given to Adam, to Noah and to Abraham and his children had now come to pass. All the promises surrounding Israel's final return from exile had now come to pass. All the promises God had shared throughout the Psalms and the Prophets had come to fulfillment.
Jesus, God's Only Son, Israel's Messiah was now God's anointed King over all of creation. On the Cross of Calvary, Jesus had taken on Himself all of the sin of the world and had defeated evil once and for all. Later on the Apostle Paul in writing to the Church at Colossae would put it this way - Jesus " ... stripped the rulers and authorities of their armor, and displayed them contemptuously to public view, celebrating his triumph over them ..." (Colossians 2:15 KNT).
Jesus' Resurrection sounded loud and clear the message that God's New World Order - the Age of Salvation and Sanctification, the Age of Spiritual Formation, the Age of the Indwelling Presence of the Holy Spirit had begun. Jesus' Resurrection sounded forth the message that the powers of evil, corruption and even death itself had been defeated. Jesus' Resurrection sounded forth the Good News that the LORD had rescued his good creation and had made a way for all things to be redeemed, renewed and restored.
This morning, we can never underestimate the significance and impact of Jesus' Resurrection. Sadly, I think too often we in the Church under celebrate Easter and merely pay lip service to Jesus being raised from the dead. We tend to place Jesus' Resurrection in the same line that of Lazarus being raised from the dead or Jarius' daughter being raised from the dead.
We fail to understand that there is a major difference between natural bodily resuscitation and supernatural bodily resurrection. People like Lazarus, like Jarius' daughter or even like people today who are brought back from the dead are still the same people. They still have the same natural body subject to decline and decay. They still continue to age, get sick and die.
Jesus' Resurrected body was something that had never been seen before or since. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John had a very difficult time being able to describe exactly what happened that Easter Morning. Jesus' Resurrected body was more than physical, more than mortal, it was for lack of a better term - transphysical.
In sharing stories concerning Jesus after the Resurrection we read how the disciples and others knew it was the same Jesus but there was something very different about Jesus after the Resurrection. He wasn't a spirit or a ghost. Jesus had a body that they could see and that they could touch. But he also had a body that now enabled him to do things that before were impossible. He had a body that could appear and disappear whenever he desired. Jesus had a body that could in one moment be here on earth and in the next moment be with His Heavenly Father in Heaven. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15 that Jesus went from possessing a living natural body like Adam's to possessing a life giving body and spirit.
We need to understand that Jesus' life, death and resurrection was a total game changer. Up to Easter morning the common belief concerning resurrection among God's people was that of a general resurrection. The majority of God's People believed at some point in the future in which they called the Last Day, God would give his people new bodies. At the same time God would make all things right with His world and a whole new time of creation would begin. This is what Martha was referring to when she told Jesus that she knew that one day Lazarus would be resurrected (John 11:24). She believed that one day that Lazarus along with all of God's righteous people would be raised from the dead and given a new body and a new place to live.
Jesus' Resurrection was not only a game changer it was thought to be spiritually impossible. How was it that one person, especially a person who had been "hung on a tree" had experienced resurrection? How was it that Jesus who had been condemned by both the Roman Government and the Temple authorities been raised from the dead?
I believe this is one of the main reasons why the chief priests and the elders wanted so badly for Jesus to be crucified. They thought they were going to make it impossible for Jesus to be the Messiah. They mistakenly believed that there was no way the Messiah could die at the hands of any pagan (Roman in this case) force. By doing all they could to make sure that Jesus was crucified they believed that they had proven once and for all that Jesus was neither the Messiah nor was His God's Only Son. In their opinion, Jesus' death on the cross would invalidate all of his teaching and convince everyone that he was not God's Only Son and definitely not Israel's Messiah.
What they did not count on was that what Jesus Himself had told his disciples and others multiple times that He would "have to go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and be raised on the third day." (Matthew 16:21 KNT).
What they did not know because they had closed their hearts and minds was that Moses and all the prophets had foretold of everything that was going to happen to Jesus. The LORD God Almighty had already shared through His prophets that the Messiah had to suffer and then come into His glory. (Luke 24:25-27).
The truth is no one believed that Jesus was going to be raised from the dead. Not the high priests, not the elders and the scribes nor even Jesus' disciples. It was inconceivable. After all no one as yet had been raised from the dead. It had never happened. Yes, when the Day of the LORD would come there would be all kinds of resurrections. But that would be when God would raise all the righteous people and bring an end to evil, sin, death and the grave.
When Jesus walked out of that tomb - He was declaring that God's New Age had arrived and that He (Jesus) had been given all authority in Heaven and on earth.
Not only had a New Age arrived but a New Lord and King was on the throne. No longer was evil in control. No longer was sin in control. No longer was the Devil and the demons in control. Jesus was in control.
Jesus was Lord of Lords and King of Kings. It was now time for His Kingdom to be established on this earth as it was being established in Heaven.
You see it is not the case that it is up to you and me this morning to establish Jesus as the LORD of LORDS and King of Kings. He doesn't need our vote.
Philippians 2:9ff reminds us:
"Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed upon him that the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father."
St. Paul is not talking about an event that is only to take place sometime in the distant future. It is not that at some time way out there people will bow down to Jesus. No, for Paul and for all of the New Testament that time began when Jesus walked out of that tomb. Jesus is not somewhere waiting in the wings to be inaugurated with power and authority. The Resurrected Jesus is Lord and King right now. The Resurrected Lord is Lord of All Creation - Lord of Heaven and Earth.
The question we have to ask ourselves is:
+ DO WE RECEIVE HIM - Do we acknowledge Jesus as our Savor and as our Lord?
+Have we repented of our sins and been baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and received the infilling presence of His Holy Spirit?
+What does our lives then look like with Jesus being our Savior, Messiah and Lord?
+Does Jesus give us a mission? Are we commissioned then to do something in the here and now?
II. Jesus commissions us to be His Witnesses - to be His Change Agents
It is here that we need to hear from the Apostle James who reminds us that faith without action is not true faith. Believing in the LORD, accepting God's grace of mercy, forgiveness and love propels us to action.
The New Age - the New World Order of Jesus being LORD and KING is here. That not only means that sin, death and evil have been defeated it means that you and I have a life to live out and a mission to accomplish.
That mission is similar to the one that was started back in the Garden of Eden. As you remember the LORD blessed Adam and Eve and told them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth."
Adam and Eve were a reflection of God - they had been made in His likeness and were enjoying a genuine human relationship with God. God had given the task to go and expand the Garden of Eden until it over took all of God's good earth. Every future human being, every tree, every section of soil was to become a part of Eden's Garden - ever place was to become holy and sacred - a place where man and God could dwell together.
Now, we all know about the Fall and the consequences of that Fall. How through Adam and Eve's rebellion and idolatry our world was taken over by sin and enslaved by evil. Instead of the gifts of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control taking over our earth the sins of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, idolatry, sexual immorality, jealousy, anger, drunkenness and things like these took over our earth.
Our heavenly Father intended that human beings would love with pure agape love. But sin has caused human beings to extorted one another, manipulated one another and do all manners of evil against one another. Instead of human beings becoming vessels of God's life giving spirit sin has caused us to become vessels of destruction, decay and death.
But Praise the LORD all that ended with the Resurrection of Jesus. No longer do we have to be enslaved by sin or be under the penalty of sin. No longer do we have to live in a world overwhelmed by sin. No longer do we have to live in despair. Through Jesus death on the Cross, His Resurrection and the sending of His Holy Spirit we can now today enjoy a far different life. We can be freed from both the penalty and power of sin. We can enjoy a Spirit-filled and Spirit-led life.
You and I live in a time that is by any means perfect . The ability to sin and the ability to rebel against God is still present. However, it is also true that no longer does sin have to rule and reign over the earth. On the cross, Jesus defeated sin, evil and death. The only reason sin and evil can rule today is because men and women, boys and girls choose rebellion, idolatry and sin over the mercy and grace of our LORD JESUS CHRIST.
We live in the Age of the Holy Spirit. We live in a time when the Holy Spirit can convict us of sin, cleanse us of sin and enable us to live a life of genuine humanness, a life of holiness, a life of spiritual formation called sanctification.
We live in a time when our LORD Jesus has told us to go and make disciples - not to be defeated by the Devil or sin. Not to live in despair or defeat. We live in a time when Jesus Christ has sent His Holy Spirit to do more in us and through us than we could even think possible.
So, what is keeping us from fulfilling our Great Commission in the United States? What is keeping us from recreating our earth with the power and presence of the Holy Spirit? What is causing the Body of Christ in the United States to have diminishing returns when it comes to rescuing, redeeming and restoring our world into the Image of Jesus? What is making us in the Church retreat when we should be advancing?
Actually nothing. There is no force greater than God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. The words our Lord Jesus told Peter are as true today as they were 2,000 years ago - "And I tell you, you are Peter, and this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it."
Now, we know that Jesus wasn't meaning that the Church would be built on the person Peter - after all, he was merely a sin stained human. But it would be built on the Rock of Jesus Christ. It would be built on Jesus Himself through His Disciples - Disciples like Peter, James and John and the rest of us this morning.
So, how do we go about fulfilling this Great Commission? How do we go about living a life of Holiness that our LORD has not only made possible but invites us to live?
I am so glad you asked.
+We begin by praying - praying for salvation, praying for the infilling cleansing presence of the Holy Spirit, praying for an anointing of God and praying for the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Pentecost was birthed in a spirit of prayer. Ever renewal or revival has been birthed out of a spirit of prayer. Salvation and a life of sanctification has been birthed out of prayer.
Jesus tells us that His House is to be a House of Prayer. It is to have the aroma of prayer.
Yes, every church is to have other aromas as well - the aroma of children, teens, adults, worship, fellowship, praise, learning, compassion, encouragement, service and a hundred other aromas as well. But the Church, the Body of Christ's #1 task is to be that of prayer.
How else are we to know what to do? How else are we going to be able to enjoy God's Presence? How else are we to know how to live? Without prayer there is no presence. Without prayer there is no power. Without prayer there is no salvation. Without prayer there is no direction. Without prayer there is only chaos.
A spirit of prayerlessness is what plagues so many people and churches today. To many leaders and individuals in the Church don't know what to do or how to do what needs to be done or even how to bring God's Glory down because they have not prayed long enough to pray through.
Prayer places us right at the heart of God. Prayer opens the door for us to be transformed and renewed into the image of Jesus. Prayer enables us to surrender our self-will. Prayer brings us into oneness with God and with one another. Prayer enables us to know that it is okay for us not to have all the answers and even for us to not even know how to pray. The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit will help pray. All we have to do is to open our hearts, our minds and our souls to the LORD in prayer.
Prayer isn't a key - it is THE KEY.
In Acts chapter six when the Church was tempted to merely become a social gospel church the Apostles resisted that temptation. The Apostles knew the value of both prayer and Bible study. They knew that it would only be through prayer and the study of God's Word that our world could be rescued and redeemed. They knew that through prayer and Bible study that people's heart would be changed. They did not abandon helping the poor or the weak but they did it through prayer and the Word not as a substitute for prayer and the WORD.
And yet, one of our major problems today is to put those two things - Prayer and the Word as high priority items.
Sadly, in the US we are at a time when we are abandoning both the Prayer Meeting and Small Groups for time of merely worship and praise. We are wanting to gather together to sing a few songs hear a simple message but not spend time on our knees crying out to the LORD or digging into His Holy Word wrestling and struggling with Scripture.
And yet, from its very beginning the Early Church was known for its prayer time and its Word time. For it was out of being in the presence of God in prayer and out of its time of reading and understanding the WORD of God that it was able to
+Turn the world upside down.
+Have the courage to preach the name of Jesus even when the government threaten it's very existence
+Bring healing and wholeness to its world
+Enjoy the joy of the LORD
+Reach out and win new souls to the Kingdom
+Fulfill its commission to co-partner with God in rescuing, redeeming and restoring its communities and its world
So, what does all of this have to do with us this morning?
1. Simply this - we are to understand that the Resurrection of Jesus has changed everything. Jesus is the Savior and LORD of our World. All power and authority in Heaven and on earth has been given to Him. Jesus has defeated evil, sin and death.
2. There is no other name in which you and I can be saved. Today we can be saved by grace through faith along in Jesus Christ.
3. We are to baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit
4. We are infilled with God's Holy Spirit as we surrender our hearts, minds and souls.
5. It is then through prayer and God's Word that we then know how to live out the Resurrected Life. It is then through prayer and God's Word that we are to co--partner with the LORD in rescuing, redeeming and restoring our world into His Holy Image.
When trouble came to the disciples of the Early Church they prayed. When they didn't know which direction to turn they prayed. When they need supernatural wisdom and knowledge they prayed. When they wanted courage, encouragement and renewal of power they prayed.
When new people were added to the Kingdom they prayed and taught them the Word of God. When people wanted more wisdom and to know how to live they saturated their lives they prayed and saturated themselves in the Word of God.
The Early Church had to be flexible - it had to adapt and change. It went from being a small group of people who at first believed that Gentiles were outside of any hope of being saved. It was through prayer and visions and reading God's Word that they began to understand that Jesus had come for everyone - Jew and Gentile. In not time the Church was filled with both Jews and Gentiles. One of the greatest Gentile leaders of course was St. Luke who wrote both the Gospel of Luke and Acts of the Apostles.
Along the way the Early Church learned even more ways how to reach different people groups, different cultures and different generations. It did that through allowing the Holy Spirit to lead them. Those leadings came out of reading God's Word and spending time in prayer.
The Early Church was always able to be ahead of the curve because it listened to the God who lives not only in the present but in the future as well. Again it learned how to be ahead of the curve through prayer and Bible study.
This morning as we close - let us ask ourselves some very important questions:
+Is Jesus Christ our Savior and LORD? Have we repented of our sins and asked Jesus to forgive us of our sins?
+Have we ask the Holy Spirit to infill us with His Holy Presence? Have we received the purifying and cleansing fire of God's Holy Spirit?
+Does our church and our lives have the aroma of prayer? Are we saturating our lives with the Word and do we make prayer - both individual and corporate prayer a priority in our lives and in the life of the Church.
+Are we actively engaged in co-partnering with the LORD to rescue, redeem and restore our homes, our neighborhoods and our communities? Are we actively being Jesus to those around us?
Closing song and open altar time
