EMBRACING OUR LOSSES IN CHRIST
INTRODUCTION: Every month I receive a statement of accounts concerning my retirement funds. Every year, I receive a year end statement of those same accounts that gives me the overall picture of how I have done financially for the past 12 months. I can see if I have progressed, or if I have fallen behind. Then, in response to that information, I then make decisions for the next year. One of the things I have learned is that there are some years that I sustain a loss. For whatever reason, things did not turn out roses. Now, I used to think that this was solely the result of unpredictables, but have now come to the conclusion that at times these losses are actually a restructuring in order to produce even greater gains. So, knowing this, that my momentary loss will produce greater gain, I embrace my losses. This is what we must do in our Christian Life – embrace our losses for greater gain.
Here at the start of a new year, it is important for us to set our convictions firmly with our life as a believer. I am not talking about resolutions. For resolutions, so often go by the wayside soon after they are made. I am talking about convictions – principles we should be willing to adopt, defend, and maintain as part of the very core of our being. And yes, the Christian should have those core convictions. Jesus died to give them to us, and we should live in obedience to them. Salvation brought us heaven as a gift, and stripped away personal ownership of our lives. Our core convictions are planted firmly in what happened when we lost ourselves in Christ
I EMBRACING THE LOSS OF OUR PERSON IN CHRIST
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NIV) 19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
A God is looking for our personal standard
1 Normally, when we see the word “body”, we associate this with the “body of Christ”, the church.
2 This verse does not speak to the corporate body of Christ, but to the individual believer and their body, their person.
B God says that we are the individual temple of the holy Spirit
1 Each believer is a temple
2 Each believer has a standard to uphold
3 God is not looking for corporate achievement, but individual accountability
C We received the Spirit of God individually from God the Father
D We were each purchased individually by Christ.
1 The Blood of Christ is applied to each of us individually
2 Each one is judged individually
a We do not all get to heaven and then God says, “well, lets see how we did as a group.”
b God looks at us one at a time
1 Whether believer
a) Corinthians 3:11-15 (NIV) 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. 14 If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.
b) 2 Corinthians 5:10 (NIV) 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
2 Or unbeliever
a) Revelation 20:15 (NIV) 15 If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
E We belong to the Lord – this means that,
1 My rights are not most important
2 To be bought with a price means to be delivered by purchase
a Word comes from one that means to buy in the marketplace
1 Sin is a marketplace. Will try to sell us anything we need to keep us from God
2 The marketplace of sin will also sell us anything we need to keep us distant from God.
3 The marketplace of sin will offer us everything we need to confuse us about God’s work in our lives.
a) Kind of like hiring a maid and then cleaning up every time before she comes!
b Christ’s death on the cross was a ransom paid for my deliverance
1 To be received out of the marketplace of sin
2 To be placed in the ownership of God
3 We are His temple
a His residence
b His dwelling place
c His occupied building
WE LOST OUR OWNERSHIP TO OURSELVES – WHEN WE DIED TO SIN WE ROSE TO SERVE A NEW MASTER – GOD ALMIGHTY.
What we do not understand is really what that means:
· God the Father is our Master – Potter and the clay.
· God the Father is our Teacher – Hen and chicks
· God the Father is our Encourager –
We need to accept and embrace as a fundamental part of our being the fact that we are no longer the master of our destiny or the captain of our lives. We lost that at the cross. In reality we had already lost it, we just changed masters!
II EMBRACING THE LOSS OF OUR PURPOSE IN CHRIST
Matthew 28:19-20 (NIV) 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
WE HAVE A NEW PURPOSE IN CHRIST – A NEW DIRECTION, FOCUS, AND PRIORITY
A “THEREFORE”
1 A word that guides our thoughts and vision backward.
2 A word that asks us to pause and contemplate what our lives have been through
a We have been forgiven
b We have been bought
c We have been transformed
1 From darkness to light
2 From Satan to God
d We have been changed
e We have been adopted into a new family – God’s family!
B Our past is to propel our purpose
1 We are to go
a What makes us go
b In the world – desire makes us go – we want, and go to achieve the want
c Desire is not enough for the Christian
d The believer needs more than desire – he must have a burden
1 Desire is not enough to spur the Christian to his or her purpose
a) I really want to go to church, but I am just too tired.
b) I really want to give to the Lord’s work, but I need to get these other things
c) I really should help out, but I am already too busy.
2 We all want to do more, but our desire to do more does not cut it.
3 We must be burdened as believers
a) We must be burdened for others to know the gospel
b) We must be burdened to give to the work of the Lord
c) We must be burdened to serve Christ
THE REASON WE ARE NOT MORE FAITHFUL, NOT MORE OBEDIENT, NOT MORE SERVANT LIKE IS BECAUSE WE ONLY WANT TO BE, WE ARE NOT BURDENED TO BE. AND WE WILL NEVER BE MORE OBEDIENT, MORE FAITHFUL, OR MORE SERVANT-LIKE UNTIL WE ARE BURDENED.
ILLUSTRATION: Greg Laurie, in his book, “HOW TO SHARE YOUR FAITH”, WRITES, “Yet so many of us give up so easily. We may ask our unbelieving friends, "Do you want to come to church with me?"
"No," they flatly reply.
"OK, never mind," you say, dropping the subject and perhaps feeling slightly relieved.
How can we give up so easily? Do we really believe what we claim to believe? Are we convinced of the reality of a heaven and a hell? Do we actually accept that the wages of sin really are death? If so, how can we be so casual about telling others?
Many years ago in England, a criminal named Charles Peace was arrested. He was a burglar, a forger, and he was guilty of double murder. He was condemned to death for his crimes. As he was making his way to the gallows on the day of his execution, a chaplain walked by his side. This minister was simply "going through the motions," speaking coldly of the importance of faith and belief. In the course of his oft-repeated speech, the minister mentioned the power of Jesus Christ to save from sin.
Suddenly the criminal spun around, looked the chaplain in the eye, and exclaimed, "Do you believe that? Do you really believe that? If I believed that, I would willingly crawl across England on broken glass to tell men it was true." If we really believe what we are sharing, we should be gripped with the urgency of the message.
C Go and Make – I know these are two commands, but I have combined them
1 Two present tense words
2 No end to the going and the making
3 We do not need an ending to the going and making
a God gave us that – its called heaven
4 We need a beginning to the going and making
a That’s called a burden
D Baptize and Teach – Once again two commands that I have combined
1 We have achieved when another is associated with the body of Christ and taught to do for others what has been done for him
a Told about Christ
b Not forgotten about
E God promises that we will never be alone when we are fulfilling our purpose
III EMBRACING THE LOSS OF OUR PREFERENCES IN CHRIST
1 Peter 1:15-16 (NIV) 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."
A “But just” – “after the pattern of
1 We are all about patterns
a We take the same route to places we know
b We use the same recipes for meals we like
c We wear the same size clothes and shoes
d We tend to do things the same way each time we do them.
2 Just as our earthly life has patterns, our Christian life has patterns
a The Christian pattern is unique
b The pattern of the Christian is after God Himself
c God is a good model
Here is an important point to understand, ……
3 We are already holy in spirit before God
a When Christ died for us we became justified before God
1 Just as if we had not sinned
2 What is the state of sinlessness called – holiness!
b God is commanding us to make our outside like our inside
1 Or be labeled like the Pharisees.
2 God wants our outward behavior to match our inward transformation
4 When God gives a command, God gives the power to obey that command
a So, if God tells you to be holy as He is holy, He has given you the ability to do that
b The reason we do not live holy lives is that deep down we refuse to either call or rely on God’s power
5 The reason we do not rely on God’s power to live a holy life is the same reason we do accomplish God’s purpose for our lives.
a We are not burdened for the things of God
b We may desire the things of God, but we are not burdened for them.
6 If we were burdened for the life God asks us to lead we would lead it.
a Burdens can often bring about unexpected progress in our lives
ILLUSTRATION: Burdens, too, can often be stepping stones to higher ground! A biologist tells how he watched an ant carrying straw which seemed a big burden for it. The ant came to a crack in the earth which was too wide for it to cross. It stood for a time as though pondering the situation. Then it put the straw over the crack and walked over it! What a lessons for us! The burden can become a bridge for spiritual progress if we endeavor by God’s help to live the overcoming life!
—H.G. Bosch
—Encyclopedia of 15,000 Illustrations
So, this new year – 2006, even as we come to Communion, I am not asking you to have a resolution as a believer. I am asking you to get a burden as a believer. I burden for the purpose God put you here (the win others for him)and a burden for the preferences of your life (to live a life of holiness)
A powerpoint presentation is available for this message, please email for file
