Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves.
Do what it says.
James 1:22
Equipped-Part Four
Sunday services March 13th
CIT: Paul using an analogy from the Old Testament, reminds Corinth to persevere and overcome the challenges of this world and the long difficulties of a life of carrying your cross.
CIS: Will you persevere despite difficult times and difficult trials, and will you live in the life of Christ and not the life of sin.
SO: To encourage ROLC to live in the glory and presence of God which is the life that God has given us. We have access to the friendship of God just like Moses!
MO: Devotional
Introduction: Over the last 3 weeks we have talked about being equipped and understanding and deciding what God has asked us to do, and to be equipped for the work that God has called us to do. The first part was taking the first step. Actually saying yes to the will and adventure of God. The Second step was understanding the role of Providence and patience. The third piece of equipment was humility, and drawing near to God. This week I am talking about perseverance. What does it mean to persevere?
How do we avoid burn out?
How do we avoid deep wells of discouragement?
What does it truly mean to live (Abide) rest in Christ and in his power?
T/S: Don’t Lose Heart!
4 Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. 2 But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
1. Don’t lose heart and remember the veil
Exp: I need to preface this passage with a little old testament story. I don’t know how familiar all of you are with Moses. Moses led the people of Israel into the desert after they were free from slavery in Egypt. Moses then ascended a mountain called Sinai, and met face to face with God in a cloud of Glory.
15 Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. 16 The glory of the Lord dwelt on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. 17 Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. 18 Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
Exodus 24:15-18
Moses Saw the glory of God, he dwelt in this world in the direct presence of God, and saw with his own (שכינה šekīnah) the Shekina glory! Moses was in the dwelling place of God, he experienced the full presence of God and it was spectacular!
29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. 30 Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. 31 But Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses talked with them. 32 Afterward all the people of Israel came near, and he commanded them all that the Lord had spoken with him in Mount Sinai. 33 And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face.
Exodus 34:29-33
Moses came down and his face was shining! (There was a translation mix up and some Christians thought that Moses was horned) (PIC) Nevertheless the power and glory of God was so thick upon Moses that he literally was shining!
Ill: Why does Paul make an allusion to this story from Israels past? (This was 1500 years after the fact!) Simply put this access and special friendship with God, that was given to Moses by grace, is now given to us!
We have access to this mountain of Moses, this presence of God! This light that dwelt as thick as light on the face of Moses now rests on our spirit. We have the living Holy Spirit of God dwelling inside of us, and we are now subject to his will.
(He now lives with us) (Shekina) We call this new dwelling the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
App: This application of this is outstanding! If God himself dwells among us and inside of us, then we are to be a shining light! We are supposed to look like Moses, not
literally shining perhaps but spiritually we are called to be bright! We are called to shine as lights in a dark universe. The church is called to be a shining city on a hill!
This little light of Mine I am gonna let it shine!
T/S: However the darkness is strong.
2. Jars of Clay
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So death is at work in us, but life in you.
Exp: There is a reason that Paul says in another place, that when we are weak we are very strong! There is a reason I preached on humility before I preached on shining perseverance because this recognition of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is no small matter. Paul points it out here, we are jars of Clay.
Boy he knew it too! Paul knew what it meant to face difficulty!
24Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. 29Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant? 2nd Corinthians 11:24-29
We are wretched! We are called to take up this cross, this is not some club for good people, we are disciples! We are following after Jesus and in his footsteps, this means that we must take on daily discipline! We must recognize our need and utter dependance on Jesus.
You must die daily
Ill: Church sometimes I can be clumsy! I can be a total klutz in some situations. Once in Mexico myself and a friend were messing around in a pottery shop and we bumped and jostled each other and end up breaking an entire shelf of glass ornaments. The Mexican shop owner came over to us and demanded that we pay for all of them. We gave him all the Pesos we had and got out of there asap. I have never been more scared in my life!
App: My point! Life is fleeting and fragile. We are fragile! You are a jar of clay in some state of decay. Maybe you don’t need me to teach this to you. Maybe you know your jar (flesh) is cracked or cracking. You may not always realize it, but you are daily dying. We carry death around with us, but sometimes buried deep inside we also carry life and life abundantly!
We are pressed
We are persecuted
We are crushed
Perplexed!
T/S: We are delivered into the hands of the redeemer!
3. Do not lose heart
13 Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, 14 knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. 15 For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.
16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
Exp: We have that same spirit! We have the living shekina glory of God dwelling in us and abiding in Jesus! We are not walking in this world alone, we have obtained this promise of God, he is with us, he makes his dwelling among us! His Holy Spirit is indwelling in us, Jesus promises this to his disciples.
“I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. 5 But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
John 16:4-11
This is the crux of the passage.
App: Now the application.
What are we called to do in light of the implications of this passage. We have explained the passage, and we have illustrated this passage. Now we must apply its lesson.
Altar Call
Where are you?
Have you lost heart?
Do you long for something deeper than yourself?
Do you want to be filled with the Holy Spirit?
Let’s worship and press in
