2020: A Year of Celebration!

The Promises of God’s Mission!

Key Verses:  Genesis 12:1-3 & Matthew 28:18-20)

I. First, Personalize the promise!

Realize that God is the One who calls people to respond to Him.

Listen to the Old Testament foundations:

TO ADAM & EVE AT CREATION: Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to 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” (Gen 1:26-28).

TO NOAH AFTER JUDGMENT: And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image. And you, be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it” (Gen 9:1-7).

TO ABRAHAM: Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen 12:1-3).

TO MOSES BEFORE HE GETS THE TEN COMMANDMENTS: ‘Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel (Ex 19:5-6).

TO A NEW GENERATION ABOUT TO ENTER THE PROMISED LAND: And the Lord has declared today that you are a people for his treasured possession, as he has promised you, and that you are to keep all his commandments, and that he will set you in praise and in fame and in honor high above all nations that he has made, and that you shall be a people holy to the Lord your God, as he promised (Deuteronomy 26:18-19).

This mission of God is a life of grace! Grace is a call and response; an invitation to participate. The promises of God are not given to people who deserve them, but rather to people God has chosen to make His own.

The same is true for you as well. If you belong to Christ, then you the promise of mission is yours. Listen to Peter in Acts 2:38-39,

Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.

“And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.” The promise is: “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:3).

II. Second, Practice the Promise!

“For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

Jesus didn’t have a separate part of His life which was outreach or evangelism or mission. His life was mission and it didn’t matter where He was or who He was with. Mission isn’t something you do; it is a lifestyle you live. 

Don’t deform it into a church program or a special committee membership. The church is the mission committee of Heaven—may it be done on earth as it is in Heaven. We are all a part of it and it can’t be hired out to paid professionals, elected off to church officers, or abdicated through financial guilt offerings.

This is God’s promise of mission: We are God’s plan to bless the nations! But, we are easily overwhelmed by all this—the task seems to so big. But Jesus’ promise of mission is not a burden to bear heavily. Rather, it is a lifestyle that flows out of who you are in Christ. Listen to Peter from 1 Peter 2:9-12,

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.

The only way you can fail is to stop practicing. Practice, practice, practice. Never stop starting over…

III. Third, GO with grace!

The authority comes only through your relationship with Jesus Christ. Listen to Matthew 28:16-20,

All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

The power comes only through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Listen to Acts 1:7-8,

It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.

This mission of God is a life of grace—forgiveness and love. It should flow out of you like fruit upon a branch. It is a life of abiding in the Vine and then through grace bearing the fruit of what God is doing in the world. It is a life that puts flesh on Jesus’ prayer, “Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.”

You can listen to the message here:

This Message Video can be viewed HERE.

2020: A Year of Celebration!

The Promises of God’s Faithfulness!

Key Verses:  Lamentations 3:19-27

July 12, 2020 ~ FBC’s 110^th Anniversary of Gospel Ministry

Have you ever done something that is contrary to your character or values? To err is human…

Thank God that He, unlike us, does not err in His faithfulness! Today, we discuss one of my favorite promises of God—the promise of God’s faithfulness or in the Hebrew, His חֶסֶד (ḥě·sěḏ)—God’s covenant faithfulness or as translated in Lamentations 3:22, “The Lord’s lovingkindness”. Interestingly, God’s activity of faithfulness flows out of this center of who God is—His perfection. Therefore, God is truthful to His covenant promises. God is faithful in every dealing of justice and mercy. It is impossible for God to not act in accordance with His character. For God to not be faithful to all of His promises is for God to cease being who He is. Unlike us flawed human beings, it is impossible for God to act contrary to His character.

We could spend the next 30 minutes looking at evidence for this truth about God, but let’s instead focus on how we should respond to this truth of who God is and how God acts in history.

Let’s look at Lamentations 3:19-27 to launch our teaching on how we are to respond to the promise of God’s faithfulness. Please remember that as you hear these words that they were written by the prophet Jeremiah as a member of a small remnant of Jewish people left behind after the destruction of Jerusalem and the final wave of forced deportations of the Jewish people into Babylon. Jeremiah calls out to God,

Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and bitterness. Surely my soul remembers And is bowed down within me. This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. The Lord’s lovingkindnesses [חֶסֶד (ḥě·sěḏ)] indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness [אֱמוּנָה (ʾ^ěmû·nā(h))]. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I have hope in Him.” The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him. It is good that he waits silently for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man that he should bear the yoke in his youth.”

This passage teaches us how we are to respond to God’s covenant faithfulness:

Let’s turn to Matthew 11:20-28 to listen to this reality in Jesus’ ministry to the Jewish people:

Then He began to denounce the cities in which most of His miracles were done, because they did not repent. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. Nevertheless I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. Nevertheless I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you.” At that time Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight. All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Jesus was denouncing the Jewish people for their break of covenant with God—for their apostasy. He called judgment down on them which is what we all deserve. Jesus explained this to us in John 3:16-22,

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”

The yoke imagery with Jesus is the same as it was with Jeremiah. You are at a crossroads of judgement—either way God will be faithful to His promise to bless you or curse you based on your choice. Choose this day whom you will serve! God is faithful; that is not in question. The question is: Are you faithful to God?

These are the promises of Jesus! Here is how we are to respond: HOPE—WAIT—SEEK—YOKE!

You can listen to the message here:

This Message Video can be seen HERE.

2020: A Year of Celebration!

The Promises of Eternity!

Key Verses: 2 Peter 3:3-18

Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.” For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. You, therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

We live with an unshakable and unquenchable hope because of Jesus’ promises of eternity! This hope is not only for our own souls, but for all of creation. It is a dual hope so that we do not despair; we can join with all of creation in worship to the Creator God.

Paul speaks of this dual hope (for us and for creation) in Romans 8:18-25:

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.

Here are three ways you can respond to Jesus’ promises for eternity and persevere in this life:

1. FOCUS on the Giver of Hope — Jesus Christ!

Keep an eternal perspective because our circumstances never tell the whole story. Rarely is everything as it should be. You can get lost in that reality and live your life paralyzed with fear, doubt, and insecurity. The world is not YET as it should be, SURPRISE!

That is why our hope comes from looking to the Source of all hope and living with an eternal perspective! It is a fruitless and frustrating life to look for hope in anything/one less than Jesus.

3. DON’T LET YOUR HEART BE TROUBLED — Believe!

“Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way where I am going.” Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

Do not let your heart be troubled! Don’t quit! Persevere until the end! If you fall, get back up! IT’S A CHOICE!

Do you know what is the most useless sport statistic? It’s the score before the game is over!

When I was a cadet at West Point, I went to every home football game. When we were crushing the other team and they would score, we loved to arrogantly chant, “SCOREBOARD!” It was our way of saying you may have won that battle, but we are going to win the war. The worst was when a team came back to beat us in the end.

The world loves to arrogantly chant “SCOREBOARD!” at us, but I am here to tell you that far worse than any embarrassment we experienced in a football game, the world is going to face a harsh reality on that Day of the Lord’s return.

It’s not over until the trumpet blasts, just as Paul teaches us in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18,

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.

The scoreboard does not look like it’s in our favor right now and the enemy of your soul, as well as many people of the world, are chanting “SCOREBOARD”, but don’t you dare lose heart! IT’S A CHOICE!

God promises us that we are going to have the greatest, most unbelievable come back in the history of all sports—it’s going to look and feel like you are about to be defeated and all will be lost, but don’t lose heart!

Jesus has already won that Victory!

“These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

You can listen to the message here:

You can watch the HERE.

The Promise of Rest in Jesus

Matthew 11:25-30

“My Father has entrusted everything to me. No one truly knows the Son except the Father, and no one truly knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

 

Matthew 11:27-30

1. Come to Me
2. Take and Learn
3. Find Rest

1. Come to Me

“Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”   

Matthew 11:28

A little English class lesson…this is an imperative statement sentence. “Come to me” has the understood subject being “YOU”. But to make this even more clear, Jesus goes on to say “all of you…” or “all y’all”.

Then, in case you were still wondering to whom He was talking to, He says, “who are weary and carry heavy burdens.” I am not asking for a show of hands, but if asked, could you honestly say you are NOT tired/weary and/or carrying some type of burden?  I couldn’t raise my hand. I know that I am to cast all my cares, for He cares for me (I Peter 5:7) But I am human, and tend to pick them back up thinking I can take care of them. But this only causes unrest in my soul. When someone offers to help us, why do we usually respond, “Oh, I got this” when in reality, we don’t. Jesus is telling us that HE wants to help us to not only carry the burden, but to truly find rest in Him!

If you will recall, when I did the 10 am phone call a week ago, I told you that Jesus used this type of invitation 23 times in the Synoptic Gospels. For us to come, we have to change directions, change our plan, surrendering to what Jesus wants us to do. And He promises to give us something that we cannot find anywhere else…true rest.

Last week, we sang the song “Lavished”, which is taken from the 23^rd Psalm:  “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.” The part that always hits me is “makes me lie down…” Sheep can sometimes be stubborn, and the shepherd would have to make them stop, lay down and rest. One of my boys was like that…he fought going to sleep even though he was sooooo tired, because he was afraid of missing something. I remember laying him in his crib, standing over him, and patting his backside, sometimes making him lay down. He would finally surrender and go to sleep, finding the rest that he needed.

Matt Chandler, from one of our RightNowMedia devotionals, pointed out that in the desert region of the Middle East, there are only two rainy seasons, so there are not a lot of these green pastures with still waters. The shepherds would take their sheep there during the day, having the sheep take rest in this peaceful lush place, with the focus of being still and finding true rest. He goes on to say that as Christ as our Shepherd, we trust Him as He leads us, because in this place, we are restored, reanimated, refreshed.

2. Take and Learn

“Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart,…”        

Matthew 11:29a          

Again, the imperative statement, with the “You” being understood is made.  It requires action on our behalf. We have the opportunity to receive the vast wisdom of our Lord and Master. We need to take advantage of this invitation! And only you can make that decision for your life.

Last week, Jerry shared from John 15:1-5 where Jesus says that God is the vinedresser or husbandman.  Dr. Earl Radmacher is quoted “So, when Jesus calls His Father the Vinedresser (Husbandman), He is describing Him in terms of His relationship and attitude as well as His actions in the lives of His disciples”.

We all know that in any relationship, there is give and take, but we tend to only take if we know the person’s heart and intent. This is why we need to be in a real true relationship with God, to know His heart and intent for us is always what is best.

The husbandman is defined as “a farmer or worker of soil” and husbandry is an agricultural term related to the production of crops or livestock. And to husband is to manage something well, showing prudence and economic sense. I can just picture Jesus, teaching and talking with His disciples, as they pass a farmer (husbandman) out working in the field. He is working a new team of oxen, trying to get them to work together, the bigger one being stubborn and not cooperating. “Take my yoke upon you…”

Or, a vinedresser working in the vineyard, knowing that it is months before he will see a harvest, still out there pruning off the fruitless vines and training the vines, putting in supports or tying them to the trellis.  He was saying to his disciples that they need to be taught on what they really need to focus on, learn from Him, abide in Him every day, and then go in the rest that you have Him with you every step of the way. The husbandman didn’t just wake up and know what all he had to do…Ask Ed Bell, he can tell you a lot of stories of what he has learned as a modern day husbandman/farmer. But he will also tell you that he sought out and learned from the best in the business. The world tells us to be the best, we have to learn from the best. Well guess what…we already have access to the very BEST…Jesus!!! He has an open invitation to learn from Him. And His ways are not like the world’s ways, but you can rest in His success when you fully follow after Him.

3. Find Rest

“and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”                

Matthew 11:29b-30

Rest is more than sleep! I recently had a sleep test done, and it showed that I was not truly resting like I should. My dad and mom recommended that I start taking Melatonin, a natural vitamin that helps your brain to shut down and allow you to sleep. I have been finding this to truly help. But what has been helping the most is that before I close my eyes to go to sleep, I close my eyes in prayer and give all the cares and burdens of the day to the Lord…

“Be still and know that I AM God!”     

Psalm 46:10

and

“Put your hope in the Lord.” This is a good practice for my nighttime routine, but I also need to practice these during the day. 

Psalm 37:34

It is important to realize that we don’t work for the rest, but rather, what we do comes out of our rest. We rest at the feet of Jesus, learning from Him, and then go out sharing the message of grace, hope, love and peace. By resting in Him, our faith is made stronger. True rest is an intermission, or a cessation of motion, something that fidgety people like me struggle with doing. But in those moments, our hearts, minds and souls come into focus, allowing us to love God with all that we have and for Him to fill us with more of His love for others. Therefore, it is out of this rest that we are able to fulfill His calling for our lives…not as a task, but as a mission of love!

You can listen to the message here:

You can watch the video for this message HERE.

The Promise of Discipleship!

(Mark 1:17)

Written and delivered by Pastor Jerry Ingalls to the First Baptist Church of New Castle, Indiana.

Jesus invited His first followers in Mark 1:17, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” This was Jesus’ invitation to come to Him and learn how to be in relationship.

I believe the promise of following Jesus is the primary place that churches, as organizations and as people, need to return to a biblical understanding of what it means to respond to the promises of Jesus. Jesus doesn’t say, “follow Me and get to work.” Jesus says, “follow Me and I will transform your story through relationship!”

There are key conceptual metaphors (images), Jesus uses to illustrate this point. One of those images is the John 15 teaching of the vine and branch. Listen to John 15:1-5,

I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

The branch doesn’t think about getting to work at producing fruit, it remains united with the Vine. The branch only gets stronger and healthier because of union with the Vine. If the branch tries to get busy producing fruit on its own, then the branch bends and threatens to snap under the heavy burden of carrying that which it was not ready for. Fruit comes in its own time! The branch is pruned through the Father’s love—fruit only comes from the trinitarian work of God!

Churches all over America are bending and threatening to snap under the pressure. Many pastors and missionaries, elders and church leaders, and quality volunteers already have snapped under the unrelenting pressure to lead an organization in the global mission of Jesus Christ. Primarily because the mission can only be accomplished by a people who are in union with Christ. No amount of organizational genius or leadership charisma can make up for the essential ingredient the church needs to be successful to its mission: transformed people who are first faithful to following Jesus Christ and bearing fruit through the pruning of the Father and indwelling presence and power of the Holy Spirit!

For the decades I have been involved with the church, it has felt like we had a job description and we have worked hard to get busy “being on mission.” Even doing it, regardless of our connection to the Vine, the health of our own souls, the vitality of our own relationship with Jesus. We prodded one another to bear fruit instead of encouraging one another to abide in the Vine. In the name of Mission, many a church has become a dried out branch. It’s producing something, but is it producing anything that will stand the test of fire? Only God knows!

One of our church leaders shared this with me, “A tree in the vacant lot next door was still producing leaves on all its major branches, but a large storm came along and toppled the tree to within a few feet of our house. The inside was actually nearly hollow. But you never would have known by looking at the outside. This can often be said of the church. External health does not always reflect internal (heart) health.”

I have personally seen the damage a burned out missionary does in the foreign mission field and I have personally been the burnt out pastor in the American church. Today, I am here to tell you that there is a better way—the new way of the Spirit. This new way was ushered in with Jesus Christ nearly 2,000 years ago.

Hear the connection to Jesus’ fruit imagery, as Paul teaches us the new way in Romans 7:4-6,

Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.

Larry Crabb explains of the old way of the letter as opposed to the new way of the Spirit,

Perhaps, like me, you’ve been working hard to figure life out, to get it right so things go well. The Bible calls that approach the old way of the written code. No matter how dressed up in Christian language, the old way will not form you spiritually. It leads to inward emptiness, churning, unbearable pressure.[1]

Crabb is describing the life of freedom through Jesus Christ’s invitation into the new way of the Spirit, the life of grace in His easy yoke. Paul elaborates in Romans 8:15-17, the new way of the Spirit is animated by the Trinitarian fellowship of God,

For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

The work of the Holy Spirit is not only to draw us into a relationship with God, but to then transform us into the Image of Christ. The most important thing I can ask you to do is to submit yourself to the work of the Trinitarian God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—so that you will reflect the Image of the One who saved you.

God desires for you to reflect Him through your love, care, and stewardship of His Creation.

The church are those who are called to be in relationship with Jesus; to abide in the Vine or as another conceptual metaphor (image) of this relationship says, to rest in His easy yoke.

Jesus is the One who builds His Church and Jesus is the One who produces fruit on our branches because His Father sends the Holy Spirit flowing through the Vine into us.  

It is the Holy Spirit who fulfills the promise of Jesus, “I will make you become,” in the Mark 1:17 call of discipleship: “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” Jesus coupled his invitations to discipleship with a promise, and that promise with the new way of the Spirit, as Paul explained in Romans.

The promise is fulfilled in a disciple as the follower submits the entirety of his/her life to the yoke of Jesus and learns from Him. The same original Koine Greek Word for “Follow Me” is used in Jesus’ invitation of Mark 1:17 is also used  for “Come to Me” in Matthew 11:28-30, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

The call to Christian discipleship is a call to follow Jesus, to come to Him and in Him to be transformed. Paul says in Romans 8:29, “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren.”

God’s will for your life is to be transformed to the point that you look like Jesus, from the inside out, to be “conformed to the image of His Son.” God’s will for your life is that you will be His representative, His ambassador on the earth; His faithful steward of all that He entrusts to you.[2]

All of that is grounded in the concept of you being made by God as an Image Bearer from Genesis 1:27. In following Jesus, you are on the journey of being restored back to your original intent—as a redeemed and restored Image Bearer—to becoming the best version of who God designed you to be!  

This happens in the yoke! This happens abiding in the Vine! This happens when you follow Jesus! It is the work of the Holy Spirit to conform us into the image of Christ so that we can carry on His work—to become fishers of people—to reflect God’s love and grace to all. As another leader shared, “We are fishing for people to rescue them from darkness and captivity, and to reconcile and restore them back into the family.”

This journey is what happens when you follow Jesus. Paul explained in Romans 12:1-2:

Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

The Koine Greek word translated “transformed” is metamorphoō. This is where we get the English word metamorphosis. Ruth Haley Barton describes this process of metamorphosis as “the process by which a caterpillar enters into the darkness of the cocoon in order to emerge, eventually, changed almost beyond recognition.”[3] This is the work of forming us in the image of Christ through the Word and Spirit, through His Truth and grace.

Jesus made it very clear that this was an impossibility apart from God, as He said in John 14:26, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” Jesus’ call to Christian discipleship is an invitation into union with Himself, sealed by the Holy Spirit (ref. to Ephesians 1:13-14). The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is what fulfills the promises of Christian discipleship in our lives. This is the work of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit!

The call upon every disciple is to follow Jesus, to come to Him, and it is the promise of Jesus Christ to experience rest for their soul, the life of faith, walking in the Spirit, the abundant life, all with a new life purpose. In all of these promises, the fulfillment is found in and through a mature Christian life. In Ephesians 4:13, Paul defined this maturity with one standard for all believers: “until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”

We are called to become like Jesus, to be in union with Christ, each day of our lives, until the day God perfects us in His presence (Philippians 1:6; 2:13). This process of transformation, promised by Jesus and explained by Paul, happens in the yoke as the disciples learn from Jesus how to be like Him. It only happens when we abide in the Vine. In other words, it only happens when we wholeheartedly commit ourselves to a relationship with Jesus.

While the results of the transformation are the work of God alone, there are practical lifestyle choices that a disciple must make to imitate Jesus Christ and, then, become like Him.

Because it is in the yoke of Jesus Christ that one becomes mature—submissive to the Father’s calling and empowered not by the flesh, but by the Holy Spirit. Paul used the word τέλειος, translated “complete”, to describe the aim of all church ministry in Colossians 1:28-29,

We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ [italics added]. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.

Again referencing Ephesians 4:11-13, the reason God gives the church spiritual leaders is to bring about mature (same Koine Greek word τέλειος) followers of Jesus:

And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ [italics added].

Though no person will perfectly reflect Jesus Christ to the world, in this life, God invites us to remain/abide in our relationship with Him until the end; not getting busy on a job description, but in living an intimate life of union with Jesus. This is our response to the promise of Jesus for Christian discipleship: to focus on our relationship with God, not get busy for God.

Every disciple who continues to follow Jesus Christ can be confident of this completed work as Paul promises, “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6).

This is the life of faith, hope, and love that proclaims the gospel—your transformed story will bring thriving to our communities to the glory of God. This is revival! It’s a promise!

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FOOTNOTES:

[1] Larry Crabb, The Pressure’s Off: Breaking Free from Rules and Performance (Colorado Springs, CO: Waterbrook Press, 2012), 1.

[2] One of our church leaders commented, “I have always been struck by the language used in Ephesians 6:19-20. Paul, who of course was in prison when he wrote this Epistle, says he is ‘an ambassador in chains’ for the Gospel. It’s a very striking visual for me, (especially having touched the post Paul was tied to in the Bema in Corinth) because while we have freedom in Christ, there are also many things that chain us, some out of our control and some of our own making. Politics, family dynamics, workplace protocols, financial limitations all can make our work as ambassadors feel ‘heavy.’ Yet another burden Christ invites us to let go of in the yoke.”

[3] Ruth Haley Barton, Sacred Rhythms, 12. One of our church leaders added, “A caterpillar does not ‘strain’ or ‘work hard’ to become a butterfly. It is transformed by a process working inside it. it will naturally become a butterfly if it continues to do what caterpillars are designed to do.”

The Promise of the Holy Spirit!

Key Verses: Romans 8:28-30; John 16:13-15; Galatians 3:1-3; Romans 15:13

God has given us every opportunity to respond to His promises. God makes a way for us to experience His promises by giving us a choice of how we live our lives. Or in my personal short-hand: every promise comes with a praxis (practice of life).

Let’s learn together by looking at Romans 8:28-30 twice. The first time to learn the promises and the second time to hear the invitations to practice them. I want to teach you this because most of us were taught to do the first and not the second. The Apostle Paul wrote,

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.

There are many promises of God found in this passage. (You may find more because I’m not trying to be exhaustive in this teaching.) Here are seven promises:

Allow me now to finish today’s teaching, by focusing on how all this is possible, because we are not humanists, we are Christians with a biblical worldview! My job is not to motivate you to go out there and get it done now that you know the truth. That would either we be religious legalism which is the “heavy-burden” of the Pharisees or it would be motivational speaking using cognitive-behavioral therapeutic techniques. Neither are faithful, biblical preaching. God’s plan is for each of us, individually, and all of us, collectively, to reflect the very image of Christ to the world, therefore God has provided a way for us to live according to all of His promises.

All the promises of God are ours in Jesus and it is through the promises of Jesus Christ that we can respond to and live accordingly. Listen to Jesus’ promise from John 16:13-15,

But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.

We cannot live according to the promises of God apart from the promise of Jesus to give us the Holy Spirit. As Jesus taught in John 15:5, “Apart from Me you can do nothing!”

Do you believe that? The early church struggled to believe it and live according to it! Listen to Paul rebuke the Galatians who struggled to live according to what they so quickly believed about God’s grace in Jesus Christ. Paul very directly said to the Christians in Galatians 3:1-3,

You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

I leave all of us with these same questions. May we each learn the truth about ourselves and respond to the promises of Jesus Christ for the Holy Spirit. There is freedom for you in your response.

Allow me to pray God’s Word, from Romans 15:13, over you to give you hope for the journey you have before you this week: “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

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