The Gift of God
This is my final sermon here
• What do you speak about when it is your last sermon?
• Ephesians 3:20-21 (NLT)Now glory be to God! By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope. 21 May he be given glory in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever through endless ages. Amen.
• This is the purpose for which we were created – to give glory to God
• So this is how I want to finish up. I want to finish my time here by giving glory to God in the church
• And I want to this by speaking about God in terms of what He is doing to restore His relationship with mankind
• Because once we understand what He has done and is doing with us we can’t respond in any other way but to give Him glory
To understand this we have to begin with God Himself, but more precisely the Godhead, the Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit
• There is a tendency on the part of Christianity to regard God as this awesome all-powerful being, the great God omnipotent, omniscience, omnipresent, a Holy God somewhat detached from humanity because of our sin
• In fact in some traditions it’s taught that God the Father is off somewhere in heaven busy running the universe while Jesus fixes up the mess on earth
• And you end up with this dual concept of God yet scripture plainly teaches God is One
But is this an accurate concept of God? Is this how He would like to be regarded?
• Well I don’t think so. In fact it was part of Jesus’ mission to reveal an accurate perception of the Father to us
• John 1:18 (NLT) No one has ever seen God. But his only Son, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart; he has told us about him.
• So there were some misconceptions floating around amongst the Jews about God and part of Jesus mission as one who was close to the Father’s heart (He knew Him intimately) was to correct these misconceptions
• And its interesting that as Jesus talks about God He keeps addressing Him by using the title of “Father” as though there was a shift of emphasis from “God” to “Father”
• “Yes, God is awesome, He is omnipotent, He is Holy, He is running the universe, but first and foremost He would like to be represented to mankind as a “Father”
• And why would He choose this title to describe Himself unless He planned to do something with it?
• What does the title “Father” imply? Sons
• And that changes everything is the way we are to regard God because it changes our emphasis from this detached GOD off somewhere, to a personal, relational FATHER who is very much involved in what is going on on this earth
• And this it starts to get a little mind boggling
• If we go back to the verse we read at the beginning we begin to get a sense of awe of that God is really up to in his dealing with mankind
• Ephesians 3:20-21 (NLT)Now glory be to God! By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope.
• Eph 3:20 (LB)God is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask for, or dream of - infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes
• In those quiet moments of your life when you sit out under the stars, or watch a beautiful sunset, what is it that you would dare to ask or dream about?
• What is your heart’s desire? Well whatever it is this Father of ours has something infinitely more planned for us than we can ever imagine.
• 9 “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man, The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9 (NKJV)
• We may dream about having a lot of material things (recent visit to Q-1 in Surfers Paradise) but ultimately we are relational beings and if we indeed want real happiness it will only come through relationships; marriage relationships, family relationships, church relationships, friendship relationships and spiritual relationships
• And this is why God would prefer we regarded Him as a FATHER rather that just GOD
• Because what this Father of ours is up to is that He wants to share the very “life” and “love” that exists in the Godhead itself with His creation
• Diagram
• That is why He has titled Himself “Father”. That is why Jesus is called the “Son”. And that is why you and I are born into the spiritual family of God as his adopted children
• Ephesians 1:5 (NLT)His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ.(we will come back to this in a moment) And this gave him great pleasure.
• This is the reason you and I and every other human being exist – to be adopted into the Father’s family
• Wow, isn’t that dumbfounding – it is to me
• Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NLT) He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.
• We were created with a yearning in our hearts – a yearning that will never be satisfied this side of eternity, a yearning that keeps drawing us towards a relationship with our FATHER
• Look what Jesus said on the eve of the conclusion of His mission
• Notice the inclusive, relational terminology that Jesus uses
• John 17:20-26 (NKJV)20 “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. 24 “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. 26 And I have declared to them Your name, (Father) and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”
• It can’t be any clearer than that – the Father wants to share the “life” and “love” of God with us
• Isn’t that something to glorify the Father about?
But this is only part of God’s Story
• For in order to make this dream possible, this Father of ours has gone to extraordinary lengths to make it a reality
• Ro. 8:32 (NKJV) He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all—how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?
• So not only does God the Father devise this incredible plan, but now He provides the means by which it will be accomplished through the life of His Son
• So Jesus emptied Himself of His glory in order to make this dream a reality
• The Son had to come because Ancient Israel demonstrated for all time that mankind stands totally and completely condemned in relation to God’s law
• It’s as if God said, All right you’ve had your go at being perfect, you’ve messed it up big time, so I am going to do it for you”
• So He sends His only begotten Son to rescue his adopted children
o So Jesus lives the perfect life we could not live
o He dies the death we should have died for our sins
o And He defeated death by rising from the death so that we could live forever in eternity with Him
• Not sure we grasp the significance of those three statements
• It think we understand the crucifixion and the resurrection part better that we understand the “Living the Perfect Life for us”
• This part is rarely talked about but it is an amazing liberating aspect of a Christians standing before God
• “Why did Jesus need to be baptised?” He didn’t. He was perfect, He didn’t need to repent!
• He did it to because He was vicariously living the perfect life you and I could not live
• What that means in tangible terms is that when we fail to live up to the uncompromising demands of God’s law we are still accepted by the loving Father as His adopted children because we are not accepted on the flawed life we live but on the perfect life Jesus lived when He walked the dusty roads of Palestine
• 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV) 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him
• 1 Corinthians 1:30 (NKJV)30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—
Let me give you another example. Anyone here offer up perfect prayers each day? I do! Why?
• Because those feeble pathetic petitions that I call my prayers are intercepted and wrapped in Jesus’ perfect prayers before they even reach the Father
• That is why He is called our mediator 1 Timothy 2:5 (NKJV)5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus
• That is why He is called the “Way” (John 14:6) the “Door” and the “Gate” (John 10:7-10)
• Diagram
• John 10:7-10 (NKJV)7 Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
• He opens the door and gives us access to the life and love of the Godhead
• Doesn’t that knowledge take enormous pressure off you? It does me
• This principle applies to every aspect of our lives – You weren’t a perfect husband/wife today, a perfect parent, a perfect boss or worker?
• And by living a perfect life for us Jesus has opened the way for us to have access to the “life” and “Love” of the Godhead
• Now if we weren’t impressed by God the Father’s love by planning to share the “love” and “life” of the Godhead itself with us, then surely we would be impressed with this display of love by the Son
• So is this something to glorify Jesus Christ about?
But as the commercial goes, “But wait there’s more!”
• We have a loving Father whose purpose is to adopt every human being who wants to be in His family
• we have Jesus Christ who through His life, death and resurrection opened up the gateway for us to have access to the “life” and “Love” of God
• But now the Father says I am going to plant the “life” and “love” of God in your hearts by literally taking up residence in your physical bodies
• John 14:23 (NABWRNT) 23 Jesus answered and said to him, “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.
• And through the process of being Born Again, God the Holy Spirit comes and takes up residence in our hearts bringing with Him the divine nature
• 2 Peter 1:2-4 (NKJV)2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
• So God gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Counsellor, the Comforter, the Sanctifier who produces those wonderful qualities or fruits of God we read about in Gal 5:22
• So is this something to glorify the Holy Spirit About?
So in summary
• we have God the Father who loves us so much He wants to share the life and love that exists in the Godhead itself
• We have God the Son who lived the perfect life we could not live, died the death we should have dies and defeated death so that we could spend eternity with Him
• And we have God the Holy Spirit who comes and takes up residence in our hearts so that we can partake of the Divine Nature
What part have we played in the process so far? Nothing!
• 1 Corinthians 1:30-31 (NLT) God alone made it possible for you to be in Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made Christ to be wisdom itself. He is the one who made us acceptable to God. He made us pure and holy, and he gave himself to purchase our freedom.
• So what part have we played in the salvation process? Nothing, all we have to do is believe and God adopts us into His family puts this whole process in motion
• I bring this up because someone asked me to explain the part our “works” play in the process
• There is a short answer to this question but before I give it to you, we need to ask the question why are we so concerned with this issue of “works”?
• I mean we have just read what God has done for us and what He is offering us, eternal life with Him forever, and He is going to give us all things
• But like the disciples before us we don’t seem to be satisfied with “all things”, and we want to know who’s going to be the greatest in the kingdom because we have made all these sacrifices over the years and surely they have to count for something
• The answer to this question is the same as it was 2000 years ago, when the Mother of the Sons of Zebedee came to Jesus asking that her two sons sit on either side of Him in the Kingdom (Matt 20:20-28)
• Matthew 20:23 (NKJV) 23 So He said to them, “You will indeed drink My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with; but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by My Father.”
• Any hierarchy that exists in heaven is decided by the Father and it is based on the gifting that comes from Him just as in the case of spiritual gifts in the church today
• Billy Graham was not great because He prayed more hours each day than you and I, it was because of His gifting from God
• You know a lot of these issues we spend so much time on today will simply not be issues in the kingdom because there will be no such thing as pride – we will have perfect contentment in whatever role God has in store for us
Now I’ll give you the short answer
• Galatians 2:20 (NKJV) 20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
• If we are dead and Christ is living in us, if any works are produced whose are they?
• Philippians 1:11 (NLT)May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—those good things that are produced in your life by Jesus Christ—for this will bring much glory and praise to God.
• John 6:63 (NLT)It is the Spirit who gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
• And its just as well God has done it all for us because if we were to be judged on our own merits where do we end up? All have sinned…. Rom 3:23
• So we should follow Paul’s example when He says 1 Cor 1:31 As the Scriptures say, “The person who wishes to boast should boast only of what the Lord has done.”
• So we have come full circle – all glory goes to God
• So when we read stories like the Parables like the Talents, it is not their works that made them acceptable, it was the fact of whether or not they used the gifts God had given them
• Jesus condemned the man for not making use of His gifting
What should our response to this unmerited gift God has offered to us? – Worship, love and obedience
• This unmerited gift (grace) is not an excuse to sin
• But invariably when you preach grace this question will come up
• But in order to respond this way, one has to make two huge assumptions
• First it assumes you will want to continue your life of sin
• That is a little hard to do if you have God living in you – your whole nature has changed
• Prior to our conversion we used to walk according to the flesh
• Now that we have been born-again we walk according to the Spirit
• Second, you would have to have a very warped concept of love to respond this way
• Let me give you an example to help clear up this misconception
• Susan and I have been married for 28 years
• Over those long 28 years she has had to extend a great deal of love and grace as she puts up with me which is very commendable
• How do I respond to Susan’s love and grace?
• Do I now go out and have a string of affairs so that Susan’s love can abound even more?
• God forbid! Rom 6
• And it exactly the same with our response to God’s love
• Why would we want to respond to all God has done to free us from sin by returning to a life of sin
So from beginning to end it is a work of God
• The Father devises and initiates the plan to share the life and love of the Godhead with us
• The Son opens the way for us to have access to the life and love of God through His life death and resurrection
• And the Holy Spirit comes and lives in us so we share in the Divine Nature
• What a great God we serve – “Glory to God in the Highest”
• Let’s give Him all honour, glory and praise
