Cross
Reawakening to the Glory of Christ, 2 January 2022
Reawakening to the Glory of Christ
Series—40 Days of Prayer with The Alliance
Matthew 19:27-30; Exodus 20:3; Habakkuk 3:2
Series Big Idea: The aim of this 40-day focus is to fix our gaze on Jesus, remember who He is, what He has done, what He has given us to do, and what He will do in the future.
Big Idea: The bottom line of our mission is God’s glory, not ours.
What’s the most amazing thing you’ve ever seen, the most majestic, beautiful, splendid thing? Maybe it was a vibrant sunset, the birth of a child, the Grand Canyon, or a starry night away from the city. There are things so beautiful, so honorable, so incredible words can’t begin to describe them. You might say they are glorious.
Happy New Year!
We’re beginning 2022 on our knees…literally. Today we begin a series along with Christian & Missionary Alliance churches across the country. For the next forty days, we’re going to pray like never before. One of the Alliance Core Values says “Prayer is the primary work of God’s people.” For the next 40 Days we’re going to fix our gaze on Jesus, remember who He is, what He has done, what He has given us to do, and what He will do in the future. We often say around here it’s all about Jesus…not religion or rules or being perfect, but Jesus.
I’m frequently heartbroken when I hear the tragic stories of people walking away from the faith because of an abusive priest, a corrupt pastor, or other sins committed by so-called Christians. If that’s you, I’m deeply sorry. But no matter what has been done to you or those you love, I can assure you Jesus has never harmed you. In fact, he was harmed for you! We don’t worship tradition or even the Bible, but Jesus Christ who lived, died, and rose from the dead…for you and me. That’s amazing! That’s marvelous! That’s glorious!
Much of what I plan to say today I’ve said before, but it bears repeating…especially as we begin a new year. Much of what I plan to say is incredibly challenging…especially for me! So let’s begin with prayer!
The key word during these 40 Days is reawakening. It means to emerge or cause to emerge again; awaken again. I think that’s obvious looking at the word. It implies sleep or slumber followed by a renewal of an interest or feeling.
The late Keith Green penned these prophetic lyrics in his song Asleep in the Light:
Do you see, do you see all the people sinking down? Don't you care, don't you care are you gonna let them drown? How can you be so numb not to care if they come? You close your eyes and pretend the job's done Open up, open up and give yourself away You see the need, you hear the cries so how can you delay? God's calling and you're the one but like Jonah you run He's told you to speak but you keep holding it in Can't you see it's such a sin? The world is sleeping in the dark that the church just can't fight 'Cause it's asleep in the light How can you be so dead, when you've been so well fed Jesus rose from the grave and you, you can't even get out of bed
I believe the problem in our world today is not the world, but the Church. We can complain about the evil and darkness “out there,” but the world is simply acting like the world. The problem is the Church is, too! We’ve fallen for the idols of money, sex, pleasure, and power. We’ve become obsessed with our rights rather than loving others well. By many measures, the Church in the United States is dead…just like the world…filled with individualistic, narcissistic, consumeristic people who will do anything possible to be happy. If we’re not dead, we’re at least asleep, apathetic…maybe even pathetic!
We need an awakening! We need to wake up from our comfortable, selfish ways of living. [I’m sorry, hopefully I’m just preaching to myself!]
Perhaps you’ve heard of the Great Awakenings in our nation’s history. God used people like Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield to wake up the lukewarm Christians, convict the godless, and stir the first of two major revivals in the US and England. The stories are remarkable. Christianity.com notes,
The Great Awakening in America in the 1730s and 1740s had tremendous results. The number of people in the church multiplied, and the lives of the converted manifested true Christian piety. Denominational barriers broke down as Christians of all persuasions worked together in the cause of the gospel. There was a renewed concern with missions, and work among the Indians increased. As more young men prepared for service as Christian ministers, a concern for higher education grew. Princeton, Rutgers, Brown, and Dartmouth universities were all established as a direct result of the Great Awakening. Some have even seen a connection between the Great Awakening and the American Revolution --Christians enjoying spiritual liberty in Christ would come to crave political liberty. The Great Awakening not only revived the American church but reinvigorated American society as well.
If I have one prayer for 2022, it’s that we would experience a spiritual awakening. By “we,” I mean First Alliance Church. I mean the Church of Toledo. I mean the USA. I mean our world. I’ve been praying for spiritual awakening for years, but I was especially hopeful when the pandemic began nearly two years ago. I thought the fear, sickness, death, uncertainty, and chaos of COVID-19 would be the perfect opportunity for the light of Jesus to shine through His Church, for His people to come together and unite to bless the unchurched, to offer faith, hope, and love to a desperate world.
Instead, …well, you know what happened. Tragically, the world sees the Church as part of the problem rather than part of the solution! I often go back to one fundamental question: do we look like Jesus? That’s what a Christian is! Does my life and yours look like Jesus? If not, we need to change our lives…or our label!
I don’t mean to beat up anyone—except perhaps myself—but I do want to acknowledge the state we’re in. It’s not good. I have four prayers I’ve been praying for years…direction, protection, unity, and passion. I want God to lead us. We need protection from the very real enemy who wants to steal, kill, and destroy. He loves to bring division—and he’s doing a very good job these days—which is why I specifically pray for unity (which was also Jesus’ prayer for us in John 17). Finally, I pray for passion, a hunger for God, a thirst for righteousness and justice, a zeal for the widow, the stranger, and the orphan. I long to see us known as the most humble, kind, generous, loving people on the planet!
I believe praying for awakening is the first step, but we can’t stop there. Prayer is not simply asking a genie for wishes. It’s so much more than talking to God. It’s even more than talking with God. Prayer is doing life with God. It’s relational, not religious. It’s about knowing and obeying God, trusting that He has a better vision for our lives than we could ever imagine. When it comes to spiritual awakening, I can pray, but I also need to take action.
There’s an old story about a man who prayed, “God, why don’t you feed the hungry people in the world?” to which God replied, “Sir, why don’t you feed the hungry people in the world?” We must pray for spiritual awakening, but we’ve also been invited to participate with God in His plan for the renewal of all things. In a famous interaction with Jesus,
Then Peter said to him, “We’ve given up everything to follow you. What will we get?” (Matthew 19:27, NLT)
This is a classic, selfish, human response, isn’t it? What’s in it for me? What do I get out of the deal? Why should I follow you, Jesus? I want to do things my way!
Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. (Matthew 19:28, NIV)
I love that phrase “the renewal of all things” in the NIV translation. The original Greek word for renewal, paliggenesia, (pal-ing-ghen-es-ee-ah) is from two words:
paling, “again”
genesia, “beginning”
Jesus is speaking of the world made new, recreated. It’s not a picture of clouds in the sky, but all things being renewed, including our planet. Scripture refers to new heavens and a new earth (Is. 65:17, 66:22; 2 Peter 3:13; Rev. 21:1).
Jesus is saying a day is coming when there will be no more sickness, pain, viruses, political stalemates, violence, tears, hatred, homelessness, injustice, or apathy. Jesus will sit on his glorious throne, and for all followers of Jesus, it will be glorious! He invited his followers—and continues to invite his followers today—to participate with him in the renewal of all things.
And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or property, for my sake, will receive a hundred times as much in return and will inherit eternal life. (Matthew 19:29, NLT)
Jesus is casting an eternal vision for them, saying if they truly surrender their lives to following Jesus, they will ultimately experience something truly remarkable…for eternity! It will be glorious! Then he utters these famous words:
But many who are the greatest now will be least important then, and those who seem least important now will be the greatest then. (Matthew 19:30, NLT)
We all like that verse…until we are the ones going last! We like the idea of loving our enemies…until we have one to love. We all believe in the value of forgiveness…until there’s someone to forgive. What Jesus is really saying—and what his overall message was—is summarized in one, simple, three-letter word. I believe this is the secret to true satisfaction. It’s the pathway to meaning and purpose. It’s the way to experience the abundant life Jesus spoke of, and the most important step in following him. It’s a very unpopular word, but if you can grasp it, you will be able to not only experience reawakening and renewal in your life, it will be contagious for the benefit of others, too. If we can take this one step, it will change everything for us in 2022…and beyond. Are you ready?
Die!
Happy New Year! I know death is the one thing most of us avoid at all costs—except for those struggling with suicidal ideation (please call 800.273.8255). Of course, I’m not speaking of physical death. That will eventually happen for all of us. I’m speaking of dying to yourself.
I haven’t heard much about it recently, but there have been some court cases over the Ten Commandments and their placement in certain public places. We don’t have time to explore God’s Top Ten today except to say I struggle with the first one…every day! No, it’s not “thou shall not murder.” You can relax, it’s not “thou shall not steal.” It’s actually the first one:
“You shall have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3)
I want to be God. I want to be in control. I want it my way. I want to be happy at all times and do whatever possible to avoid suffering and pain. But despite my ability to fool myself, I’ve recognized I’m not god! Hopefully you’ve come to the same realization about yourself! No offense! Here’s the mantra of my boss and dear friend, Rev. Thomas George, our District Superintendent:
You were made by God, for God, and for God’s glory.
Most of you can probably accept that you were made by God. Even if you believe in certain types of evolution, every creation has a creator, and God the Artist created you in his image with dignity, value, and worth. For details, see Psalm 139.
You were made for God. That means you have a purpose, which is greater than your own desires. It’s not that God doesn’t want you to be happy, but His higher priority is for you to be holy, to be set apart, to trust and obey, not because He’s a control freak, but because Daddy knows best. His will and plans for you are far greater than anything you could imagine.
There have been numerous movies about robots taking over the world, somehow gaining enough intelligence to overrule their programming to cause destruction rather than assistance. If you had the ability to design a robot, how frightening would it be if it turned against you and did whatever it desired?
God has created us. He has designed us. Yet we’re not robots. He has given us free will, the ability to make choices. Just like I can’t make you love me, so God can’t make us love Him, obey Him, follow Him…but that’s His desire for us. There’s nothing God wants more than your heart. In fact, every commandment, rule, and law in the Bible was summarized by Jesus.
He answered, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Luke 10:27)
That’s my new year’s resolution! But I’ve learned it’s not about trying harder. I can’t achieve it on my own strength. Even though spiritual practices such as prayer, Bible study, and fasting are useful tools, the first step is to die.
Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. (Luke 9:23)
I have the hardest time with the word “daily” here! I wish I could say a magical prayer, get a Get Out of Hell Free Card, and be done with it, but that’s not what it mean to follow Jesus. It means every day we are to pick up our cross…die to ourselves, our rights, our will…and follow Jesus.
The good news—the great news—is that following Jesus is the pathway to true greatness, true purpose, true meaning, true life. He’s not out to get you, but rather died to prove his love for you. The message of Christmas is that God became one of us, lived on our planet, showed us what it means to be human, gave everything for us, and shows us the pathway to enlightenment, wisdom, peace, freedom, hope, and joy. Jesus didn’t come to make bad people good. He came to make dead people come to life.
I know of no greater picture of this than baptism. Some churches sprinkle, which is fine, I guess, but the ancient tradition involves dunking a person completely in what is symbolically a water grave. They die to their old self, their sinful nature, and then are resurrected with Jesus, new life in Christ, recreated, reawakened. In one sense, we need to die daily…and be renewed daily.
To borrow a phrase, we need to let go and let God. Some of you have been trying so hard to be good, striving, and struggling. You can’t impress God. You can’t manipulate God. You certainly can’t compete with God. But you can love Him. You can let go and surrender. You can trust and obey. You can seek first His Kingdom rather than your pleasure.
You were made by God, for God, and for God’s glory.
As long as you pursue your own glory, you’ll be frustrated. Despite what all of the self-help gurus want you to believe, it’s not all about you. It’s all about God! We need to reawaken to the glory of Jesus, and what a glory it is!
In the Old Testament, the word for glory is hod. It means splendor, majesty, beauty, vigor, authority. The prophet Habakkuk wrote,
LORD, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, LORD. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy. (Habakkuk 3:2, NIV)
I can’t think of a more timely prayer…and that was written around the 7th century BC!
We are a Jesus-centered family restoring God’s masterpieces in Toledo and beyond for His glory.
The bottom line of First Alliance Church’s mission statement is the glory of God.
As we begin this new year, I want to challenge you to make God’s glory your highest priority. It goes against everything the media and social media want you to believe. It is counter-cultural. It is radical. It is the true alternative lifestyle!
Yet I believe if we reawaken to the glory of Jesus rather than our own glory, it will transform our lives, it will transform this church, it might transform our city, and it could even change the world. Jesus said,
…let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:16, NIV)
You can seek your glory or God’s glory, but not both! What will you choose in 2022?
The Wonderful Cross (song)
O the wonderful cross bids me come and die and find that I may truly live
You can listen to this message and others at the First Alliance Church podcast here.
You can watch this video and others at the First Alliance Church Video Library here.
Series—40 Days of Prayer with The Alliance
Matthew 19:27-30; Exodus 20:3; Habakkuk 3:2
Series Big Idea: The aim of this 40-day focus is to fix our gaze on Jesus, remember who He is, what He has done, what He has given us to do, and what He will do in the future.
Big Idea: The bottom line of our mission is God’s glory, not ours.
What’s the most amazing thing you’ve ever seen, the most majestic, beautiful, splendid thing? Maybe it was a vibrant sunset, the birth of a child, the Grand Canyon, or a starry night away from the city. There are things so beautiful, so honorable, so incredible words can’t begin to describe them. You might say they are glorious.
Happy New Year!
We’re beginning 2022 on our knees…literally. Today we begin a series along with Christian & Missionary Alliance churches across the country. For the next forty days, we’re going to pray like never before. One of the Alliance Core Values says “Prayer is the primary work of God’s people.” For the next 40 Days we’re going to fix our gaze on Jesus, remember who He is, what He has done, what He has given us to do, and what He will do in the future. We often say around here it’s all about Jesus…not religion or rules or being perfect, but Jesus.
I’m frequently heartbroken when I hear the tragic stories of people walking away from the faith because of an abusive priest, a corrupt pastor, or other sins committed by so-called Christians. If that’s you, I’m deeply sorry. But no matter what has been done to you or those you love, I can assure you Jesus has never harmed you. In fact, he was harmed for you! We don’t worship tradition or even the Bible, but Jesus Christ who lived, died, and rose from the dead…for you and me. That’s amazing! That’s marvelous! That’s glorious!
Much of what I plan to say today I’ve said before, but it bears repeating…especially as we begin a new year. Much of what I plan to say is incredibly challenging…especially for me! So let’s begin with prayer!
The key word during these 40 Days is reawakening. It means to emerge or cause to emerge again; awaken again. I think that’s obvious looking at the word. It implies sleep or slumber followed by a renewal of an interest or feeling.
The late Keith Green penned these prophetic lyrics in his song Asleep in the Light:
Do you see, do you see all the people sinking down? Don't you care, don't you care are you gonna let them drown? How can you be so numb not to care if they come? You close your eyes and pretend the job's done Open up, open up and give yourself away You see the need, you hear the cries so how can you delay? God's calling and you're the one but like Jonah you run He's told you to speak but you keep holding it in Can't you see it's such a sin? The world is sleeping in the dark that the church just can't fight 'Cause it's asleep in the light How can you be so dead, when you've been so well fed Jesus rose from the grave and you, you can't even get out of bed
I believe the problem in our world today is not the world, but the Church. We can complain about the evil and darkness “out there,” but the world is simply acting like the world. The problem is the Church is, too! We’ve fallen for the idols of money, sex, pleasure, and power. We’ve become obsessed with our rights rather than loving others well. By many measures, the Church in the United States is dead…just like the world…filled with individualistic, narcissistic, consumeristic people who will do anything possible to be happy. If we’re not dead, we’re at least asleep, apathetic…maybe even pathetic!
We need an awakening! We need to wake up from our comfortable, selfish ways of living. [I’m sorry, hopefully I’m just preaching to myself!]
Perhaps you’ve heard of the Great Awakenings in our nation’s history. God used people like Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield to wake up the lukewarm Christians, convict the godless, and stir the first of two major revivals in the US and England. The stories are remarkable. Christianity.com notes,
The Great Awakening in America in the 1730s and 1740s had tremendous results. The number of people in the church multiplied, and the lives of the converted manifested true Christian piety. Denominational barriers broke down as Christians of all persuasions worked together in the cause of the gospel. There was a renewed concern with missions, and work among the Indians increased. As more young men prepared for service as Christian ministers, a concern for higher education grew. Princeton, Rutgers, Brown, and Dartmouth universities were all established as a direct result of the Great Awakening. Some have even seen a connection between the Great Awakening and the American Revolution --Christians enjoying spiritual liberty in Christ would come to crave political liberty. The Great Awakening not only revived the American church but reinvigorated American society as well.
If I have one prayer for 2022, it’s that we would experience a spiritual awakening. By “we,” I mean First Alliance Church. I mean the Church of Toledo. I mean the USA. I mean our world. I’ve been praying for spiritual awakening for years, but I was especially hopeful when the pandemic began nearly two years ago. I thought the fear, sickness, death, uncertainty, and chaos of COVID-19 would be the perfect opportunity for the light of Jesus to shine through His Church, for His people to come together and unite to bless the unchurched, to offer faith, hope, and love to a desperate world.
Instead, …well, you know what happened. Tragically, the world sees the Church as part of the problem rather than part of the solution! I often go back to one fundamental question: do we look like Jesus? That’s what a Christian is! Does my life and yours look like Jesus? If not, we need to change our lives…or our label!
I don’t mean to beat up anyone—except perhaps myself—but I do want to acknowledge the state we’re in. It’s not good. I have four prayers I’ve been praying for years…direction, protection, unity, and passion. I want God to lead us. We need protection from the very real enemy who wants to steal, kill, and destroy. He loves to bring division—and he’s doing a very good job these days—which is why I specifically pray for unity (which was also Jesus’ prayer for us in John 17). Finally, I pray for passion, a hunger for God, a thirst for righteousness and justice, a zeal for the widow, the stranger, and the orphan. I long to see us known as the most humble, kind, generous, loving people on the planet!
I believe praying for awakening is the first step, but we can’t stop there. Prayer is not simply asking a genie for wishes. It’s so much more than talking to God. It’s even more than talking with God. Prayer is doing life with God. It’s relational, not religious. It’s about knowing and obeying God, trusting that He has a better vision for our lives than we could ever imagine. When it comes to spiritual awakening, I can pray, but I also need to take action.
There’s an old story about a man who prayed, “God, why don’t you feed the hungry people in the world?” to which God replied, “Sir, why don’t you feed the hungry people in the world?” We must pray for spiritual awakening, but we’ve also been invited to participate with God in His plan for the renewal of all things. In a famous interaction with Jesus,
Then Peter said to him, “We’ve given up everything to follow you. What will we get?” (Matthew 19:27, NLT)
This is a classic, selfish, human response, isn’t it? What’s in it for me? What do I get out of the deal? Why should I follow you, Jesus? I want to do things my way!
Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. (Matthew 19:28, NIV)
I love that phrase “the renewal of all things” in the NIV translation. The original Greek word for renewal, paliggenesia, (pal-ing-ghen-es-ee-ah) is from two words:
paling, “again”
genesia, “beginning”
Jesus is speaking of the world made new, recreated. It’s not a picture of clouds in the sky, but all things being renewed, including our planet. Scripture refers to new heavens and a new earth (Is. 65:17, 66:22; 2 Peter 3:13; Rev. 21:1).
Jesus is saying a day is coming when there will be no more sickness, pain, viruses, political stalemates, violence, tears, hatred, homelessness, injustice, or apathy. Jesus will sit on his glorious throne, and for all followers of Jesus, it will be glorious! He invited his followers—and continues to invite his followers today—to participate with him in the renewal of all things.
And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or property, for my sake, will receive a hundred times as much in return and will inherit eternal life. (Matthew 19:29, NLT)
Jesus is casting an eternal vision for them, saying if they truly surrender their lives to following Jesus, they will ultimately experience something truly remarkable…for eternity! It will be glorious! Then he utters these famous words:
But many who are the greatest now will be least important then, and those who seem least important now will be the greatest then. (Matthew 19:30, NLT)
We all like that verse…until we are the ones going last! We like the idea of loving our enemies…until we have one to love. We all believe in the value of forgiveness…until there’s someone to forgive. What Jesus is really saying—and what his overall message was—is summarized in one, simple, three-letter word. I believe this is the secret to true satisfaction. It’s the pathway to meaning and purpose. It’s the way to experience the abundant life Jesus spoke of, and the most important step in following him. It’s a very unpopular word, but if you can grasp it, you will be able to not only experience reawakening and renewal in your life, it will be contagious for the benefit of others, too. If we can take this one step, it will change everything for us in 2022…and beyond. Are you ready?
Die!
Happy New Year! I know death is the one thing most of us avoid at all costs—except for those struggling with suicidal ideation (please call 800.273.8255). Of course, I’m not speaking of physical death. That will eventually happen for all of us. I’m speaking of dying to yourself.
I haven’t heard much about it recently, but there have been some court cases over the Ten Commandments and their placement in certain public places. We don’t have time to explore God’s Top Ten today except to say I struggle with the first one…every day! No, it’s not “thou shall not murder.” You can relax, it’s not “thou shall not steal.” It’s actually the first one:
“You shall have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3)
I want to be God. I want to be in control. I want it my way. I want to be happy at all times and do whatever possible to avoid suffering and pain. But despite my ability to fool myself, I’ve recognized I’m not god! Hopefully you’ve come to the same realization about yourself! No offense! Here’s the mantra of my boss and dear friend, Rev. Thomas George, our District Superintendent:
You were made by God, for God, and for God’s glory.
Most of you can probably accept that you were made by God. Even if you believe in certain types of evolution, every creation has a creator, and God the Artist created you in his image with dignity, value, and worth. For details, see Psalm 139.
You were made for God. That means you have a purpose, which is greater than your own desires. It’s not that God doesn’t want you to be happy, but His higher priority is for you to be holy, to be set apart, to trust and obey, not because He’s a control freak, but because Daddy knows best. His will and plans for you are far greater than anything you could imagine.
There have been numerous movies about robots taking over the world, somehow gaining enough intelligence to overrule their programming to cause destruction rather than assistance. If you had the ability to design a robot, how frightening would it be if it turned against you and did whatever it desired?
God has created us. He has designed us. Yet we’re not robots. He has given us free will, the ability to make choices. Just like I can’t make you love me, so God can’t make us love Him, obey Him, follow Him…but that’s His desire for us. There’s nothing God wants more than your heart. In fact, every commandment, rule, and law in the Bible was summarized by Jesus.
He answered, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Luke 10:27)
That’s my new year’s resolution! But I’ve learned it’s not about trying harder. I can’t achieve it on my own strength. Even though spiritual practices such as prayer, Bible study, and fasting are useful tools, the first step is to die.
Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. (Luke 9:23)
I have the hardest time with the word “daily” here! I wish I could say a magical prayer, get a Get Out of Hell Free Card, and be done with it, but that’s not what it mean to follow Jesus. It means every day we are to pick up our cross…die to ourselves, our rights, our will…and follow Jesus.
The good news—the great news—is that following Jesus is the pathway to true greatness, true purpose, true meaning, true life. He’s not out to get you, but rather died to prove his love for you. The message of Christmas is that God became one of us, lived on our planet, showed us what it means to be human, gave everything for us, and shows us the pathway to enlightenment, wisdom, peace, freedom, hope, and joy. Jesus didn’t come to make bad people good. He came to make dead people come to life.
I know of no greater picture of this than baptism. Some churches sprinkle, which is fine, I guess, but the ancient tradition involves dunking a person completely in what is symbolically a water grave. They die to their old self, their sinful nature, and then are resurrected with Jesus, new life in Christ, recreated, reawakened. In one sense, we need to die daily…and be renewed daily.
To borrow a phrase, we need to let go and let God. Some of you have been trying so hard to be good, striving, and struggling. You can’t impress God. You can’t manipulate God. You certainly can’t compete with God. But you can love Him. You can let go and surrender. You can trust and obey. You can seek first His Kingdom rather than your pleasure.
You were made by God, for God, and for God’s glory.
As long as you pursue your own glory, you’ll be frustrated. Despite what all of the self-help gurus want you to believe, it’s not all about you. It’s all about God! We need to reawaken to the glory of Jesus, and what a glory it is!
In the Old Testament, the word for glory is hod. It means splendor, majesty, beauty, vigor, authority. The prophet Habakkuk wrote,
LORD, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, LORD. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy. (Habakkuk 3:2, NIV)
I can’t think of a more timely prayer…and that was written around the 7th century BC!
We are a Jesus-centered family restoring God’s masterpieces in Toledo and beyond for His glory.
The bottom line of First Alliance Church’s mission statement is the glory of God.
As we begin this new year, I want to challenge you to make God’s glory your highest priority. It goes against everything the media and social media want you to believe. It is counter-cultural. It is radical. It is the true alternative lifestyle!
Yet I believe if we reawaken to the glory of Jesus rather than our own glory, it will transform our lives, it will transform this church, it might transform our city, and it could even change the world. Jesus said,
…let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:16, NIV)
You can seek your glory or God’s glory, but not both! What will you choose in 2022?
The Wonderful Cross (song)
O the wonderful cross bids me come and die and find that I may truly live
You can listen to this message and others at the First Alliance Church podcast here.
You can watch this video and others at the First Alliance Church Video Library here.
Sin Knows No Strangers, 12 March 2017
13 03 17 Filed in: Sermons | A Love That Never Dies
Sin Knows No Strangers
Series: A Love That Never Dies
Romans 5:6-11
Series Big Idea: Throughout Lent, we prepare for Jesus’ death, resurrection, and return
Big Idea: Because of Jesus, we can be friends of God rather than enemies.
I believe the two most important questions in life are
- Who am I?
- Who is God?
Our text today addresses some powerful issues of identity we must all ponder carefully in order to answer those two questions.
What words describe you?
What words describe God?
A Love That Never Dies. Ever so briefly yet dramatically, these words describe our Lord’s love for us, and they serve as our overarching theme in these weeks leading up to Easter. God’s love for us is a love that never dies, and that’s a good thing! For “sin knows no strangers.” Sin is pervasive, powerful, and persuasive. In both its global and most intimate forms, sin seeks to draw us away God.
Listen for those truths in today’s text:
Paul, once known as Saul of Tarsus, is in the midst of writing to the first Christians in Rome. He offers them rich insight into their identity.
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. (Romans 5:6)
For whom did Christ die? The ungodly.
When did Christ die? When we were still powerless.
Why did Paul mention “we” and then “ungodly?” You’re a good person, right? You’re in church. Most of you haven’t murdered anyone or robbed a bank. Jesus died on the cross because we’re good people, we are loveable, and he loves us.
I think most people think they’ll go to heaven when they die because they’re good people. They pay their taxes. They vote. They brush their teeth!
Jesus died for the ungodly. That’s me!
Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. (Romans 5:7)
Let that sink in for a moment. Would you die for someone? Your child? Your best friend? Your spouse? What about LeBron James? President Trump? Putin?
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
This is stunning. I’ve heard it 100 times, but it is truly remarkable.
Jesus died for the powerless and feeble (v. 6)
Jesus died for the ungodly (v. 6)
Jesus died for sinners (v. 8)
Jesus died for his enemies (as we will see in verse 10)
Jesus died for you and me.
Drop the mic! That’s incredible!
You don’t have to hope God loves you.
You don’t have to wonder if God loves you.
God loves you. He demonstrated it. He proved it. His actions speak as loud as his words.
He loved you and me while we were unrepentant sinners.
Isn’t this good news? Isn’t this great news?
We celebrate the death of Jesus last Sunday. It’s called Good Friday because Jesus dying for us—hopeless, helpless sinners—provided a pathway for forgiveness, reconciliation with our Heavenly Father, peace, joy, and hope.
But it gets better…and worse.
God’s Wrath
When you mentioned words to describe God, how many said, “Wrath?”
God is love.
God is kind.
God is forgiving and gracious and merciful.
Yes. But God is also just. And justice includes wrath.
Does God hate people? Absolutely not…but He hates sin. He hates sin! And we are sinners. You know this. Earlier in chapter three, Paul states the obvious:
…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (Romans 3:23)
That’s one of the most depressing verses in the Bible.
Have you ever felt short?
God is perfect. 100% pure. He has a zero tolerance policy for sin. Zero! So when we sin—and we all sin—where does that leave us? Separated from God.
That’s the bad news. But the good news is Jesus’ death covered all of our sin.
Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (Romans 5:9-11)
We have been justified. That means God approves of us because of Jesus, an acquittal that sets of free from the penalty of our sin. Justification happens now. On judgment day we will be saved from God’s wrath. It will be awe-inspiring to see and be spared of God’s wrath.
Because God is just, He must judge. He must be fair. We will all get what we deserve…unless we follow Jesus and receive grace—unmerited, undeserved favor.
Have you ever thought of yourself as an enemy of God? Paul says that’s what we were, enemies of God.
You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. (James 4:4)
But Paul says we’re reconciled. That’s becoming one of my favorite words. We don’t hear it often because it doesn’t happen often. It’s easier to remain bitter, angry, or even silent. Reconcile means
- Restore friendly relations between
- Cause to coexist in harmony; make or show to be compatible or consistent
- To compose or settle (a quarrel, dispute)
It’s as if we wore white t-shirts, our sin stained them with dirt, and Jesus wraps a white robe around us, allowing us to stand before God perfect and pure. Jesus does the heavy lifting. We just open our arms and say yes.
Hallelujah!
To summarize…
Sin has made us enemies of God.
God’s grace, mercy, and never-ending love have rescued us.
Through Jesus, we can be friends of God.
I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. (John 15:15)
And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. (James 2:23)
This is a truly amazing reality. We weren’t always friends of God. We were enemies, yet through Jesus we can be reconciled. We can know God…not just about God, but truly know God.
Are you a friend of God?
Credits
Some ideas from Rev. Steven H. Albers, CTA.
You can listen to this message and others at the First Alliance Church podcast here.
Series: A Love That Never Dies
Romans 5:6-11
Series Big Idea: Throughout Lent, we prepare for Jesus’ death, resurrection, and return
Big Idea: Because of Jesus, we can be friends of God rather than enemies.
I believe the two most important questions in life are
- Who am I?
- Who is God?
Our text today addresses some powerful issues of identity we must all ponder carefully in order to answer those two questions.
What words describe you?
What words describe God?
A Love That Never Dies. Ever so briefly yet dramatically, these words describe our Lord’s love for us, and they serve as our overarching theme in these weeks leading up to Easter. God’s love for us is a love that never dies, and that’s a good thing! For “sin knows no strangers.” Sin is pervasive, powerful, and persuasive. In both its global and most intimate forms, sin seeks to draw us away God.
Listen for those truths in today’s text:
Paul, once known as Saul of Tarsus, is in the midst of writing to the first Christians in Rome. He offers them rich insight into their identity.
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. (Romans 5:6)
For whom did Christ die? The ungodly.
When did Christ die? When we were still powerless.
Why did Paul mention “we” and then “ungodly?” You’re a good person, right? You’re in church. Most of you haven’t murdered anyone or robbed a bank. Jesus died on the cross because we’re good people, we are loveable, and he loves us.
I think most people think they’ll go to heaven when they die because they’re good people. They pay their taxes. They vote. They brush their teeth!
Jesus died for the ungodly. That’s me!
Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. (Romans 5:7)
Let that sink in for a moment. Would you die for someone? Your child? Your best friend? Your spouse? What about LeBron James? President Trump? Putin?
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
This is stunning. I’ve heard it 100 times, but it is truly remarkable.
Jesus died for the powerless and feeble (v. 6)
Jesus died for the ungodly (v. 6)
Jesus died for sinners (v. 8)
Jesus died for his enemies (as we will see in verse 10)
Jesus died for you and me.
Drop the mic! That’s incredible!
You don’t have to hope God loves you.
You don’t have to wonder if God loves you.
God loves you. He demonstrated it. He proved it. His actions speak as loud as his words.
He loved you and me while we were unrepentant sinners.
Isn’t this good news? Isn’t this great news?
We celebrate the death of Jesus last Sunday. It’s called Good Friday because Jesus dying for us—hopeless, helpless sinners—provided a pathway for forgiveness, reconciliation with our Heavenly Father, peace, joy, and hope.
But it gets better…and worse.
God’s Wrath
When you mentioned words to describe God, how many said, “Wrath?”
God is love.
God is kind.
God is forgiving and gracious and merciful.
Yes. But God is also just. And justice includes wrath.
Does God hate people? Absolutely not…but He hates sin. He hates sin! And we are sinners. You know this. Earlier in chapter three, Paul states the obvious:
…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (Romans 3:23)
That’s one of the most depressing verses in the Bible.
Have you ever felt short?
God is perfect. 100% pure. He has a zero tolerance policy for sin. Zero! So when we sin—and we all sin—where does that leave us? Separated from God.
That’s the bad news. But the good news is Jesus’ death covered all of our sin.
Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (Romans 5:9-11)
We have been justified. That means God approves of us because of Jesus, an acquittal that sets of free from the penalty of our sin. Justification happens now. On judgment day we will be saved from God’s wrath. It will be awe-inspiring to see and be spared of God’s wrath.
Because God is just, He must judge. He must be fair. We will all get what we deserve…unless we follow Jesus and receive grace—unmerited, undeserved favor.
Have you ever thought of yourself as an enemy of God? Paul says that’s what we were, enemies of God.
You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. (James 4:4)
But Paul says we’re reconciled. That’s becoming one of my favorite words. We don’t hear it often because it doesn’t happen often. It’s easier to remain bitter, angry, or even silent. Reconcile means
- Restore friendly relations between
- Cause to coexist in harmony; make or show to be compatible or consistent
- To compose or settle (a quarrel, dispute)
It’s as if we wore white t-shirts, our sin stained them with dirt, and Jesus wraps a white robe around us, allowing us to stand before God perfect and pure. Jesus does the heavy lifting. We just open our arms and say yes.
Hallelujah!
To summarize…
Sin has made us enemies of God.
God’s grace, mercy, and never-ending love have rescued us.
Through Jesus, we can be friends of God.
I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. (John 15:15)
And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. (James 2:23)
This is a truly amazing reality. We weren’t always friends of God. We were enemies, yet through Jesus we can be reconciled. We can know God…not just about God, but truly know God.
Are you a friend of God?
Credits
Some ideas from Rev. Steven H. Albers, CTA.
Covenant & Kingdom: The Cross, 5 October 2014
05 10 14 Filed in: Sermons | Covenant & Kingdom
Big Idea: The Cross is about a substitutionary death―our Covenant, and the victory of God over our enemies― the Kingdom.
Key Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:14-21
Introduction
In previous weeks we said the Bible is a big book. It’s actually a library of 66 books. We usually study it verse-by-verse, like looking through a microscope. This series will look at it through a telescope, examining the big idea of the Bible.
Covenant and Kingdom are woven throughout the Scriptures like a double helix is woven in DNA.
Covenant is a sacred treaty in which two parties become one. In ancient times, this always involved the shedding of blood by an animal to imply consequences for failure to fulfill the agreement.
God made a covenant with Abram, promising blessings to him and his offspring in order for them to bless the world.
Covenant is about relationship. Being. Invitation.
Kingdom is about responsibility. Doing. Challenge.
Life is filled with tension between being and doing, relationship and responsibility, being invited into relationship with God while also being challenged to represent Him and bless the world.
As we look at this idea of challenge, of kingdom, of doing God’s work in the world we are going to look at the most important week in human history, the Passion Week.
In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.” (Luke 22:20)
Did you catch that? Jesus introduces a new covenant in His blood. Remember, covenants required the shedding of blood for two parties to become one.
For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. (2 Corinthians 5:14)
As we have said throughout this series and our earlier series on Ephesians, followers of Jesus are “in Christ.” Whatever is true of Jesus is true of us. We’re on His team. We wear His uniform. Because Jesus died, we have died. Jesus is the Son of God. We are Sons of God (it’s not a gender issue).
And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. (2 Corinthians 5:15)
Jesus gave His life for us. The only appropriate response is to give ours in return.
So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:16-17)
This is not an instant thing. Jesus actually likens it to a birth. The moment you are born, you are completely human, but not fully developed. We are not perfect. Our world is not perfect. We can, however, live in peace in the midst of chaos knowing we are never alone and one day we will rule and reign with our Father the King forever.
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: (2 Corinthians 5:18)
God the Father gives us the same ministry of reconciliation He gave Jesus because we are His, too! A human brought sin and death into the world and, therefore, God became human to conquer sin and death through Jesus. He became One of us. Last week we talked about how He understands temptation. He also understands pain and suffering.
Have you ever looked at our broken world and thought, “Why isn’t God doing something?”
He is.
You’re it!
…that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:19)
We begin in covenant with the Father and then He enlists us to serve in His Kingdom, to announce the good news that Jesus is LORD. We are His team. There’s no plan B! He’s our Father. He’s the King. We have royal blood and represent Him.
We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. (2 Corinthians 5:20)
We are on a mission from God. We are His ambassadors, His representatives. When people see us, they see Him. You are the only Bible some people will ever read!
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
That’s the cross. Jesus had no sin, yet God dumped our sin upon Him. It killed Jesus! By Jesus’ blood we get the antibody for the disease of sin. He became Sin and we become Sons (again, not gender). We become, to God, exactly as Jesus is. When the Father looks at you, He looks at you as if it was Jesus because we are one with Christ.
Covenant gives us value.
Kingdom gives us vision.
On the cross, Christ extends His arms as if to welcome us. He was suspended between heaven and earth, the vertical bar an image of our covenant relationship with the Father and the horizontal bar a picture of our kingdom responsibility to love our neighbor.
ʻAt that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus' resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people. When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, "Surely he was the Son of God!"ʼ (Matthew 27:51-54)
The day of Judgment came because God the Father judged sin. He declares His judgment upon Jesus. The earth shook. Rocks split. Tombs broke open. The universe was forever changed.
On the cross Jesus died instead of us.
His body was broken instead of ours.
His blood was shed as a new covenant.
He gave everything for us. It’s only appropriate that we return the favor.
ʻWhen you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the Cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.ʼ (Colossians 2:13-14)
The early church fathers described it this way: God tricked the devil! Satan thought he won when Jesus was put into the tomb, but Jesus had one final play!
Jesus entered the world of the dead and announced to the spirits captive there that He had won. Jesus has the keys to death and hell. He won them. He’s our champion!
You see, the Gospel is really really good! He has died in our place so that we might be in Covenant with God, so that we might be ONE with him, so that we might be connected again. And he has defeated the principalities and the powers of darkness, bringing forth the brightest of light and healing and is asking us to do the same.
Credits
Ideas for this series taken from book of the same title by Mike Breen and 3DMovements.com.
You can listen to this message and others at the Scio podcast here. You can also subscribe to our podcast here.
Key Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:14-21
Introduction
In previous weeks we said the Bible is a big book. It’s actually a library of 66 books. We usually study it verse-by-verse, like looking through a microscope. This series will look at it through a telescope, examining the big idea of the Bible.
Covenant and Kingdom are woven throughout the Scriptures like a double helix is woven in DNA.
Covenant is a sacred treaty in which two parties become one. In ancient times, this always involved the shedding of blood by an animal to imply consequences for failure to fulfill the agreement.
God made a covenant with Abram, promising blessings to him and his offspring in order for them to bless the world.
Covenant is about relationship. Being. Invitation.
Kingdom is about responsibility. Doing. Challenge.
Life is filled with tension between being and doing, relationship and responsibility, being invited into relationship with God while also being challenged to represent Him and bless the world.
As we look at this idea of challenge, of kingdom, of doing God’s work in the world we are going to look at the most important week in human history, the Passion Week.
In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.” (Luke 22:20)
Did you catch that? Jesus introduces a new covenant in His blood. Remember, covenants required the shedding of blood for two parties to become one.
For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. (2 Corinthians 5:14)
As we have said throughout this series and our earlier series on Ephesians, followers of Jesus are “in Christ.” Whatever is true of Jesus is true of us. We’re on His team. We wear His uniform. Because Jesus died, we have died. Jesus is the Son of God. We are Sons of God (it’s not a gender issue).
And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. (2 Corinthians 5:15)
Jesus gave His life for us. The only appropriate response is to give ours in return.
So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:16-17)
This is not an instant thing. Jesus actually likens it to a birth. The moment you are born, you are completely human, but not fully developed. We are not perfect. Our world is not perfect. We can, however, live in peace in the midst of chaos knowing we are never alone and one day we will rule and reign with our Father the King forever.
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: (2 Corinthians 5:18)
God the Father gives us the same ministry of reconciliation He gave Jesus because we are His, too! A human brought sin and death into the world and, therefore, God became human to conquer sin and death through Jesus. He became One of us. Last week we talked about how He understands temptation. He also understands pain and suffering.
Have you ever looked at our broken world and thought, “Why isn’t God doing something?”
He is.
You’re it!
…that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:19)
We begin in covenant with the Father and then He enlists us to serve in His Kingdom, to announce the good news that Jesus is LORD. We are His team. There’s no plan B! He’s our Father. He’s the King. We have royal blood and represent Him.
We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. (2 Corinthians 5:20)
We are on a mission from God. We are His ambassadors, His representatives. When people see us, they see Him. You are the only Bible some people will ever read!
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
That’s the cross. Jesus had no sin, yet God dumped our sin upon Him. It killed Jesus! By Jesus’ blood we get the antibody for the disease of sin. He became Sin and we become Sons (again, not gender). We become, to God, exactly as Jesus is. When the Father looks at you, He looks at you as if it was Jesus because we are one with Christ.
Covenant gives us value.
Kingdom gives us vision.
On the cross, Christ extends His arms as if to welcome us. He was suspended between heaven and earth, the vertical bar an image of our covenant relationship with the Father and the horizontal bar a picture of our kingdom responsibility to love our neighbor.
ʻAt that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus' resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people. When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, "Surely he was the Son of God!"ʼ (Matthew 27:51-54)
The day of Judgment came because God the Father judged sin. He declares His judgment upon Jesus. The earth shook. Rocks split. Tombs broke open. The universe was forever changed.
On the cross Jesus died instead of us.
His body was broken instead of ours.
His blood was shed as a new covenant.
He gave everything for us. It’s only appropriate that we return the favor.
ʻWhen you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the Cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.ʼ (Colossians 2:13-14)
The early church fathers described it this way: God tricked the devil! Satan thought he won when Jesus was put into the tomb, but Jesus had one final play!
Jesus entered the world of the dead and announced to the spirits captive there that He had won. Jesus has the keys to death and hell. He won them. He’s our champion!
You see, the Gospel is really really good! He has died in our place so that we might be in Covenant with God, so that we might be ONE with him, so that we might be connected again. And he has defeated the principalities and the powers of darkness, bringing forth the brightest of light and healing and is asking us to do the same.
Credits
Ideas for this series taken from book of the same title by Mike Breen and 3DMovements.com.
You can listen to this message and others at the Scio podcast here. You can also subscribe to our podcast here.