Fashion from Heaven

Col. 3 – v.12

Being clothed with Christ –  just like the clothes that we wear e.g.  a coat or jacket – it’s the clothes that people first see when they look at us – they form their first impressions by what we are wearing… In the same way – when people meet us and get to know our character and personality – are the following attributes readily evident?   (In my case I unfortunately not) – yet we are to be clothed with Christ – in other words – in covenantal terminology – we are to have the IDENTITY of CHRIST and that character & attributes of Christ must BE PUT ON BY US!  Our identity is supposed to be hidden with Christ

If we were to meet Jesus – these are the things we would readily notice about him:

• Tender hearted mercy
• kindness
• humility
• gentleness
• patience
• (Above all LOVE)

 Seems like a difficult ask – as many of us do not possess these attributes readily and I think Paul understood that we are all under construction that’s why in the very next verse he says v.13 “you must allowances for each other’s faults and forgive the person who offends you.”  So Paul acknowledges that we have FAULTS and that we should make allowances accordingly, putting on love – which is the most important piece of clothing as it binds us all together in perfect harmony.

I have seen many make over TV shows where the fashion consultants will come to wardrobe of the client and advise the person to throw out certain (if not all) of outdated, unfashionable or poor fitting clothes.   The majority of the time the client is so used to their old favourite clothes that they resist or reject the advice of the fashion consultants – obviously to the detriment of their own image!   Likewise the Holy Spirit, much like those fashion consultants, comes to convict us of sin and to sanctify us in order to produce his fruits in our lives. We like the obstinate fashion client, in need of a make over, we make all sorts of excuses in order to resist the image of Christ.

So, what about those who never apologise to us and refuse to change? We should forgive them and love them.  God will do the judging – as ‘He gives grace to the humble but resists the proud.’  Those who refuse to humble themselves and consider themselves better than others will be in danger of coming up against God (which is not a wise place to be at any time).

Part 2 – The Mosaic Covenant – Blood Covenant Series

2010_03_28 the Mosaic Covenant

Sunday Sermon 21 March 2010 – The Abrahamic Covenant – Ps Jono

NEW SERIES – Being Rooted in God’s Love

2010 03 21 the Covenant
• Colossians 2:6 -  so just as you received Christ Jesus as lord, continue to live in him, ROOTED and BUILT UP IN Him, strengthened in the FAITH as you were taught and overflowing with thankfulness.
• Andrew Murray: Two Covenants

To many a man, who has never thought much of the Covenant, a true and living faith in it would mean the transformation of his whole life. The full knowledge of what God wants to do for him; the assurance that it will be done by an Almighty Power; the being drawn to God Himself in personal surrender, and dependence, and waiting to have it done; all this would make the Covenant the very gate of heaven.

Why study the Covenants?

1. Deeper understanding of the Bible
2. Everything God does is based on covenant
3. Better Understanding of the New Covenant
4. Assurance, Freedom, Power
5. Attitude of Gratitude & Worship
6. Accountability & responsibility
7. Understand missing pieces of the puzzle
8. YOU WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN!!!

• Do you know the love
  story of God?
  Do you know the action-sci- fact
  ‘blockbuster’ story of God?

Did you know…

• God loves us & wants to bless us.
• To prove it  he has taken the initiative to enter into an eternal covenant of love with us.
• This covenant of love is available to all who will enter it.

The Covenant Story

• Covenant in Hebrew means:  BERIT – which is a treaty between two parties
• Greek: Diatheke

–        more than a promise, more than contract…

–        Has obligations on both sides

2 types of covenants:

1. Parity Treaty - a voluntary agreement between equals (e.g. David & Jonathan 1 Sam 18:3)

2. Suzerainty Treaty - treaties of loyalty between a great king and a lesser king (his vassal)

–        Superior/Inferior relationship

                God’s Covenant with Abram

• God initiated & established this treaty with Abram.
• Gen. 15:6 - Abram believed the Lord and he credited it to him as righteousness.

What did Abram believe God for?

1.  Progeny (Descendants/ Children)
2.  Divine Human relationships
3.  Land (Nation)

• We are part of this covenant!
• Gal. 3:29 -   if you belong to Christ , then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to promise.

MAKING A COVENANT IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST:

1. Exchange of Coat/Robe  – 1 Sam 18:1-4

• Taking on each other’s identity
• Two become one – end of independent living. e.g.Marriage
• Gal.3:26-27

–        All of you were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

2. Exchange of belt & weapons

• 1 Sam. 18:1-4
• Exchange of strength, support & protection
• If anyone attacks you, they attack me.

3. Cutting the Covenant – Gen.15:1-9 – Jer. 34:18-19

• God’s covenant with Abram was a blood covenant.
• Life must be given & blood must be shed.

–        e.g. Henry Stanley

1. Dying to ourselves, giving up our rights
2. Beginning a new walk with covenant partner

4. Hands & Mixing of Blood

• Intermingling of blood – our lives become one.

5. Exchange of Names

• The ‘H” from YHWH was incorporated

–        e.g. Abram – became AbraHam

–        sarai – became saraH

• And God takes Abraham’s name: “the God of Abraham…”

6. Make a Scar

• Scar will bare witness to the covenant
• Circumcision: Gen.17

7. Giving Covenant Terms

to be discussed next week

8.       Eat the memorial meal

–        Communion

–        I’m in you and you are in me.

9. Plant a Memorial

• If you agree to abide by the covenant, then…
• God’s identity becomes your identity
• God’s strength becomes your strength
• Your enemies would become God’s enemies
• God’s pronouncements of blessings and curses apply to you, too.

“iServant” – part 1

Read Philippians 2 –

Paul who is in prison and in chains writes this letter because of his care and concern for the Christians in Philippi (if anyone had a right to complain it was Paul because he was in prison).

Phil. 2:2-3 he encourages us to be of one heart , one mind and one spirit & purpose in being UNITED with CHRIST.

V. 3 – we should do NOTHING out of selfish ambition or vain conceit – but in HUMILITY consider others better than ourselves.

• So let’s look for the good in people. See them as Christ sees them. See their God given potential and gifts.

v.4 – Each of us should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

•  This includes looking out for the needs of others – including students, migrants, refugees, the poor, the fatherless, widows, those who have had a tough time and have lacked certain good relationships.
•  Are we looking out for others, and not just ourselves?

 Paul is really dealing with the ISSUE OF PRIDE & SELFISHNESS (it looks like nothing much has changed in mankind over 2000 years).

 He then presents a strong case dealing with our ATTITUDES: which SHOULD BE THE SAME AS THAT OF CHRIST JESUS.

He goes onto describe some key features of Christ:

1. Jesus did not hang onto or grasp to his high position (even though he is God) a. in other words he LET GO OF HIS RIGHTS!!! He could have demanded so much as king, but chose instead to make himself NOTHING and become a SLAVE-SON.

2. He made himself NOTHING –

     a. this means no titles, no position, no degrees, no occupation, no middleclass or upper class or any class for that matter. (He was born in a manger)

3. He took the very nature of a servant –

    a. Jesus didn’t just SERVE people (including his brothers & sisters, God the Father etc) HE took the VERY NATURE OF A SERVANT

    b. Today it’s so hard to get certain people to serve others –their family, their church, their community, – we are all so busy and don’t have enough time… but Jesus did MORE than serve – he became A SERVANT (in nature) even though he was still the son of God.

c. IN fact he came to DIE for us.

 d. So if Jesus is our Master – and Jesus washed the feet of his disciples – he said NO SERVANT IS GREATER THAN his MASTER. How much more should we as FOLLOWERS and DISCIPLES Of Jesus CHRIST – go LOWER than our Master Jesus. WE should serve and wash the feet of each other. Are you greater than your master?

4. He HUMBLED HIMSELF and became obedient even to death on a cross:

    a. The KEY IS HUMILITY – Jesus set an example for us in ALL our DEALINGS – we should HUMBLE ourselves. ONLY THEN DID GOD exalt Jesus to the highest place and give him the name that is above every other name! What an awesome Servant-King, Master, Leader, friend and God we serve. Take some time out to examine yourself:

1. Check our pride and selfishness – are we just living for ourselves? Is our pride decreasing?

2. Check our attitude – IS IT THE SAME AS CHRIST who: a. Cared for others, loved people, healed people, shared life with everyone – including the despised & rejected? b. Served others – even washing the feet of his disciples?

3. Are you Serving God in any capacity? Are you serving in the House of God? If you are serving – have you taken the VERY NATURE OF A SERVANT? Do you have the very nature of a servant? In other words do you pick and choose what you want to serve in? Do you serve on your own terms – when you want, how you want, with who you want? How does that reconcile with the obedience that Jesus had?

4. Do you consider others better than yourself?

5. Are we living the humility that Christ had? Read Hebrews 5:7-8.

My Presence will go with you and I will give you rest (Exo.33:14)

In Exo.33:14 we see God making an incredible promise to Moses.   Now Moses and the Israelites were at Mt Sinai, they had seen the miraculous power of God in delivering them out of Egypt and now that come to the Mountain of God to worship their God. It was at this mountain that God commissioned them to be his kingdom of priests that would bless the nations.  And now they were about to launch forth to take the promised land.  But Moses realized the importance of the presence of God on this mission.

I spent all of last week in the class with Dr Ed Stetzer, a leader in the MISSIONAL CHURCH movement. We looked at the importance of the missio Dei (the mission of God) and how the church is an instrument that is called forth to partner with God on HIS MISSION to reach all the nations of the earth.  If we are truly going to be a Spirit led people who are ON GOD’S MISSION – then we must be people of PRAYER.

Every Missionary (that includes every Christian who lives on this earth) is called to a life of prayer that is Spirit filled and led. As a CHURCH ON MISSION with GOD- our churches need to be Houses of Prayer for all nations!

Accordingly there are some powerful principles we can learn from MOses encounter with God on the Mountain:

1) REVELATION and Mission should be birthed out of prayer and God’s word:

We see Moses in dailogue with God. Notice that God first makes a promise that His Presence will go with Moses and He would give Moses rest. Moses then immediately prays this promise: “If your presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here…”  Moses repeats and prays the promise the God made to him in v.14!

In the same we must pray to understand the Lord’s Will and moreover we must understand the importance of God’s PRESENCE that went with Moses and the children of Israel.  

The word PRESENCE in Hebrew can literally be taken ”the FACE of GOD” – in a sense it is the same word that is used in the Deuteronomic blessing in Numbers 6, where the Priest would bless God’s people by declaring that “God will make his FACE TO SHINE UPON YOU.” Likewise, it si important to understand that God’s presence involves GOD”S FAVOR and BLESSING being Upon us.

This adds new insight into what is meant by SEEKING GOD’S PRESENCE and SEEKING HIS FACE!  In otherwords when we approach God in prayer we are to seek Him, but more than that we are to SEEK HIS FACE. When we look at someone’s face – we give that person our full attention and respect…. it is also a picture of exclusivity and intimacy. 

So when we being to understand God’s Presence – turning to seek His face, his favor and blessing – shining upon us – then we can have the confidence to do what he wants.

But Moses went a step futher.

2) Moses prayed “Show me your glory”:

This was a daring prayer of Moses – for no one could see the face of God and live.  So God hid Moses in the rock and caused  his goodness pass by Moses.  IN Exo. 34 – we see that Moses saw God’s glory – He saw the goodness and very CHARACTER (the essence) of GOD!

So when we pray don’t merely focus on claiming the promises of God which are in His word – PLEASE UNDERSTAND – that the center and basis of our FAITH MUST BE IN CHRIST ALONE – IN HIS CHARACTER AND GOODNESS!  many Christians claim scriptures as though it were some magic formula – yes they are promises and God does answer prayers. BUT LIKE MOSES – we need to understand that we need to seek our saviour – we need to seek God’s character and not merely the subject of what he has promised.  Our trust, our worship, our adoration, the subject of our prayer must be focused on Christ and WHO HE ESSENTIALLY IS!

Seek the GIVER not the GIFTS. More than that we will be TRANSFORMED WHEN WE BEGIN TO SEE WOH CHRIST IS. Like the apostle Paul I encourage all of us to pray: “I want to Know CHRIST, the powe rof his resurrection and the feloowship of sharing in his sufferings, becomign like him in his death. And so somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead” (Phil.3:10-11).

God bless all of you!

You are missionaries of the Most High God – so begin to live as missionaries!

ps Jono

M.A.R.C.H. ON!

Contentment & Generosity because of God’s grace & character

I’m  not sure whether anyone has mentioned the importance of CONTENTMENT in other sermons in the series – I think that could have been brought into the equation – once we understand contentment – then it becomes easier to deal with BALANCE…  so people will inevitably struggle with balancing work, money, relationships, service in church etc… – but it’s because they haven’t learned to be CONTENT – as Paul says I have learned to be content in all situations whether with much or little. Most people struggle with wrong desires – related to food, money, relationships – because they haven’t learned to be content with the situation they are in and those wrong desires begin to be the driving factor.

 I also think it was great how the point was made that we cannot out give God. When we meditate on that we begin to realize that God is in fact a GENEROUS GOD – so if you really KNOW GOD and his character – you will become like Him – in generosity – God is a Blesser! And God doesn’t bless us just because we bless him, honor him, do good works… rather God blesses us because when we are generous- we become more like him (in nature & faith). And God LIKES PEOPLE WHO ARE LIKE HIM! (god loves cheerful givers).

 We cannot earn God’s blessing – everything he gives us because of his goodness and Grace. We cannot earn it – so even if we  tithe faithfully and we do not receive any financial blessings in return- Don’t get upset! God is Still Good!  I think the issue boils DOWN TO HAVING THE CHARACTER OF CHRIST – which in part entails BEING GENEROUS and being content.

Blessings

Ps Jono