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Printer Friendly VersionI. INTRODUCTION:
A. This is the sixth Sunday after Epiphany
1. We are just ten days from the beginning of Lent
a) Following Lent we enter the seven Sundays of Eastertide and
the culminating Day of Pentecost
(1) This has special significance to us as Wesleyans
(2) We move in spring toward the festival of the Holy Spirit
2. The fortieth day (of the fifty of Easter) celebrates the
ascension of Jesus
a) Beginning Easter we have the forty days of our Lord’s
appearance to his intimate followers
(1) Then he ascended on high
b) Matthew 28:18-20 All authority has been given to me, on earth
and in heaven. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them
in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching
them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always,
to the end of the age.
B. This is how we received the church
1. With its mission to keep Christ central
2. To spread discipleship to all tribes and nations
3. Not just as disciples, but as Christ’s disciples
C. We are extensions of what God began in this season
II. The Seeds of the Church
A. Jesus invaded human history by invading the history of the
people of God
1. Into their homes and places of study and prayer
2. Into their debates and concepts
B. In him was the goal of God for all of us
1. The mystery of revelation
2. God creating a new people
a) A new nation
b) A new covenant
c) A new creation
3. Titus 2:11-14 God’s grace has appeared for the salvation
of all mankind, teaching us to renounce ungodliness and worldly cravings,
and to live serious, godly lives in this present age, awaiting our blessed
hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,
who gave himself for us to free us from all iniquity and to purify for himself
a people of his possession, eager to do what is good.
C. We study him to know the will of our Creator
1. He was fully God
a) Never less than God
b) Humbling himself, but not less than God
(1) Colossians 1:19 In him God in all his fullness was pleased
to dwell,
(2) 2 Corinthians 5:19 God was in Christ reconciling the world
to himself, not holding anyone's misdeeds against them, but entrusting us
in this ministry of reconciliation.
2. He was fully human
a) He was the embodiment of God’s desire for all humankind
(1) Romans 8:29 Those whom God knew before they were, he ordained
to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn
among many brothers.
(2) 1 Timothy 2:5 There is one God and one mediator between
God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
b) God as a human –
(1) As humanity was originally created to be
(2) Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the
firstborn over all creation.
3. He was the restored image of God in humankind
a) As Adam was originally created to be
b) As we are to be in him: Colossians 3:8-10 You must now put
away all of these: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your
mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self
with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in
knowledge after the image of its creator.
Here is born our ethics – our lifestyle – our standards
4. He claimed what no other could or has
a) He is the standard of faith
(1) John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
(a) He is the WAY to God
(b) He is the TRUTH about God
(c) He is the LIFE to be lived for God – in God
(2) To know him is our message – mission - life
5. To be faithful in this moment of life we hold
a) This cannot be lived in isolation
b) We were not called to retreat from sin
(1) Monasticism is good for renewal
(2) But it is not to be our lifestyle
D. We are called into the masses
1. To create disciples
Baptizing them into God – creating a community
Teaching them all he taught – discipleship
Loving God with all our heart – and our neighbor – ministry
Observing all he taught - stewardship
2. To create a “Jesus” community
As the church we exist to proclaim him
To know him and present him in our age
1 Corinthians 4:1-2 One should regard us, as Christ’s subordinates, and
stewards of God’s mysteries. It is required of stewards that they be
proven trustworthy.
III. Jesus was inaugurating this new life
A. He stood in the midst of all their theology and yet:
1. They saw a man forgive sins
a) Luke 5:26 Amazement seized them all, and they glorified God
and were filled with awe, saying, " We have seen strange things today."
2. They saw God in human skin
a) Can people act in union with God?
b) Is there something bigger than our heritage?
All else is surpassed in him
3. Matthew 12:6 “I tell you, something greater than the
temple is here.”
4. John 4:12 They asked him, “Are you greater than our
father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons
and his livestock.”
(1) Bigger than our doctrine
(2) Than our Law
5. The message was Christ and the mission is Christ
a) The scriptures are for and about him
b) As is all creation!
c) John 5:39 You search the Scriptures because you think that
in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me.
B. This is so subtle – we may miss it while being religious
1. The church is not the end
2. Our ministry is not the mission
a) Christ is all and in all
b) Colossians 1:16 Through him everything in heaven and on earth
was created, not only things visible but also the invisible order of thrones,
dominions, powers, authorities, or authorities- everything was created by
him and for him.
c) It is all about Christ – and him crucified
(1) Beyond our doctrine
(2) That which supercedes scriptures
(a) John 5:39 You study the scriptures diligently, supposing
that in them you have eternal life; their testimony points to me;
(b) We must not serve the secondary
C. It is possible to be very religious but not in him
1. The saddest words of life:
2. Matthew 7:21-23 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord,
Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will
of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did
we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many
deeds of power in your name?' Then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you;
go away from me, you evildoers.'”
D. What are we saying?
1. We need to live beyond ourselves
2. To serve – and not make the church mine
a) Each may have a doctrine
b) Each may have a gift
(1) But the church is Christ’s body
(2) His community
E. We are saved as we lose ourselves in him and give ourselves
to each other
1. Philippians 3:8 I count everything sheer loss, far outweighed
by the gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have forfeited
everything, and count it all so much rubbish, for the sake of gaining Christ.
Conclusion:
This is the goal of Christ in his true church
2 Corinthians 5:15 He died for all, so that they who live might cease to live
for themselves, but for him who for their sakes, died and rose again.