Discipleship - walking along with
Jesus - what we need.
How are we doing? How are the
Colossians doing?
called
out of the world
redeemed
rooted
in Christ
established
taught
gathered
in thanksgiving
Seems it should go well. But . . .
warning - danger zone - look out!
Jesus, not a philosophy
Jesus, not a theory
Jesus, not some sort of empty idea
that slips away
But what do we depend upon?
Heard
a local pastor say the church is here to serve families - wrong,
that’s a by-product
Have
heard many say the church is a social organization - wrong
We
think we have a good philosophy of religion
Are
we being dangerous by having “worldview through song lyrics”
meeting?
No,
because we will see the futility of all pursuits outside of Christ
crucified for you and me, sinners.
We don’t depend on human
tradition
What’s
up with church tradition then? It all points uniformly toward Jesus.
Human tradition points to us. Very different directions.
But we depend on our upbringing
our
intuition
“Trust
the Force, Luke!”
trust
our reason
trust
our street smarts
trust
our diligence, our friends, our college degree, our government
We turn to everything except
Jesus. We don’t walk in Christ. We pursue our own interests.
uprooted
unestablished
against our teaching
petty, spiteful, impatient, easily
angered, distrustful
That’s where our sinful nature
pulls us.
That’s the record that we have.
haters
of God
self-righteous
self-serving
in
love with our own glory
dead
in trespasses and uncircumcision - natural state
What will you do? What will you
do?
Nothing. Flee? Despair? Give up?
Lash out? Nothing we can do.
What’s the good news?
Nothing we can do - Jesus has done
it.
God
made alive with Jesus - we have a friend in the resurrection business
He
buried us in baptism - the power of God to wash us clean from sin, to
put the old man to death
He
raised us to newness of life
He
filled us with his spirit
He
circumcised us, cut off the deadness - it hurts
He
took our place in death and led us in life
He
took that record of evil that we had and nailed it to the cross
How?
In his flesh
He
didn’t just declare us not guilty. He became sin for us. He died
for us.
What’s the result?
disarmed
this world
triumphed
over this world
Walk in Christ Jesus! Restored,
forgiven, built up, established, giving thanks. Lay down the enmity.
Lay down the desires to run things ourselves. Lay down the burdens.
Be conformed into his image, as you remain his baptized child.
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