day no. 13,089: what now?

This morning I am preaching two services at Pontiac Bible Church on Philippians 3:12-21.

The big idea is focusing in on the life we live in light of Christ asking, "What now?"

I will begin by reviewing the fact that Paul traded his former goals of reglious achievement as his means of salvation for Jesus' achievements on his behalf.

We will briefly discuss that he traded this goal for the goal now of knowing and becoming more about and like Jesus.

I will then march through PHP 3:12-21 as Paul unpacks what the Christian life of pursuing the goal of becoming like Jesus should look like.

1 - Dissatisfaction = first and foremost we must admit that none of us have arrived, even on this side of the Cross.

2 - Diligence = Paul then points out the fact that this dissatisfaction doesn't lead to despair or laziness in either assuming you're in because you had an experience back in the past or because there isn't anything you could do now to earn anything before God.

3 - Dependence = Paul anchors his diligence in the dependence that Jesus had a hold of him.  He oriented his life around reaching and holding on to Jesus BECAUSE Jesus is already holding on to us.

4 - Defining Development = Paul stresses emphatically that these are the necessary ingredients of being saved and living as a saved child of God.  A combination of faith and good works is evident in everyone who truly worships Jesus.  Faith in Jesus' finished work and current devotion to good works for His glory and our and our neighbor's respective good.

5 - Destination = Paul lastly fleshes out the two different destinations of those who orient their lives the way he has previously explained and those who ignore this advice and choose to ride their own melt and live their own way.  They follow their own desires and they will end up in hell.

That is the basic format going forth this morning at Pontiac Bible Church.

Link to the audio/video to come.

day no. 13,087: slackers suffer want‏

Proverbs 13:4

The slacker craves, yet has nothing,
but the diligent is fully satisfied.

 

Slackers crave.

Workers are content

 

Lazy people get nothing for all their efforts.

The diligent have everything they need.

 

Slackers suffer want.

Workers satisfy their needs.

day no. 13,086: what happens when agape and phileo get married?‏

Husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church. (EPH 5)

 

What kind of love is that you ask?

 

Agape: the steadfast, never stopping, always, forever kind of love that is based on covenant and not on circumstances.

 

That is how husbands are called and commanded to love their wives.

 

Wives are called to love their husbands. (TITUS 2)

 

What kind of love is that you ask?

 

Phileo: the friendly, warm, helping, tender kind of love that experienced by besties.

 

That is how wives are called and commanded to love their husbands.

 

Men are called to lay down their lives and commit.

 

Women are called to orient their lives around helping their husbands in camaraderie.

 

That isn’t to say that men are not called to be friendly and warm with their wives or that women aren’t called to commit to and selflessly die to themselves in order to live for the well-being of their husbands.

 

Husbands and wives should both agape, phileo and eros each other.

 

But men are commanded to play the role of Savior to their wives. Not literally of course, only Jesus saves. But the role men are called upon to play in God’s production is Protector, Rock, Lead Servant, and Savior.

 

And women are commanded to play the role of helper, friend and companion. Not literally just a slave at the beck and call of their husband per se, but one who orients her life around helping him in his pursuits and making him feel safely loved as a friend who respects him. 

The role women are called to play in God’s production is Friend, Helper, Comforter and Counsellor.

 

Men often want to hang out and be buddies with their wives. That’s what men need.

Women often want to be wooed, pursued and romanced. That’s what women need.

 

If both spouses do what God is calling and commanding them to do, there will be no void or vacuum of needs going unmet.

 

Men need companionship, but more than that they need to extend loving kindness and adoration to their wives.

 

Women need romance, but more than that they need to extend friendship, fellowship and fun to their husbands.

 

Everyone gets what they want and need by dying to themselves and serving the other.

Too many husbands and wives respectively look outside of their homes for what they want and need rather than committing themselves to being what their spouse wants and needs.

 

Do unto others as you would have done unto you.

 

If husbands and wives embrace that, they will seek what their spouse needs rather than what they want and both will end up loved in the ways God commands and calls us to.

day no. 13,085 continued... not Christ comma Jesus‏

Too many people claiming to be Christians ignore the Christ.

 

Christ was not Jesus’ last name.

 

He wasn’t listed in the phone book as Christ, Jesus.

 

Christ is a title.

It means Messiah.

 

Jesus the Christ: the Savior, the Messiah, the Rescuer, the Promise One, etc…

 

The early gathering of those who believed that Jesus’ life, death and resurrection fulfilled the promises of God and completely provided the means by which to be saved and sanctified were called Christians.

Acts 11:26b

For a whole year they met with the church and taught large numbers. The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch.

 

Christian meaning “those identified above anything else by their association with Jesus

Christ.”

 

So it is curious today that so many people who call themselves Christians reject entirely their need for a Christ.

 

They don’t believe they are bad people in need of saving.

Many don’t believe that they are dead people in need of regeneration.

Most don’t believe that they are disqualified from Heaven on their own merit.

 

To call oneself a Christian is to confess, at the very least, that a Savior is necessary.

To call yourself a Christian is to confess that there is only One who can save.

 

God saves sinners and His Christ is the only means by which we are reconciled to Him.

 

Many in churches today are not Christians.

They are Moralists and Good Worksians.

1 Timothy 2:5-6

⁵ For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,⁶who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.

 

To be a Christian means to confess a Christ and not just any Christ, but a very specific Christ named Jesus.

day no. 13,085: pop culture‏

A few weekends ago, Paige and I travelled to Chicago, attended a wedding, went to IKEA and drove home all in one day.

 

On the drive home after escaping toll booth purgatory, we exited to get some grub at Taco Bell (because they’re open late and it was late).

 

It was there that I first experienced Mt. Dew Sangrita Blast.

 

SO. GOOD!!!

 

It’s available only at Taco Bell, so it looks like I will be using my out-to-eat times on tacos and Sangrita Blast!

 

I know. I know.

 

I’m 35 and I drink pop (or soda depending on where and at what point in history you’re reading this).

day no. 13,084 continued... so that happened.

I prayed on Monday night that by the end of the day on Tuesday I would have a new job.

There was a phone interview scheduled with CBE for 1pm, so I had reason to hope that perhaps the interview would go well enough that a job offer would be made at the end of that interview.

I had also been asked to meet Paul and Stan for coffee at Panera before work to hang out and spend some time together.

What resulted was a conversation about the needs of Candeo Church and the gifts and skills Paul and Stan believed me to possess.  The cool part was that the church’s needs and my skills were one in the same.

Paul and Stan had come prepared to offer me a job working along their capable sides as the new Administrative Pastor of Candeo Church.

In addition to coming on board, I would also begin attending Cornerstone School of Theology to begin working on my MATS degree (Masters of Arts in Theological Studies) which will wrap up at the end of the summer of 2016.

The idea being perhaps after 2 years of experience in full-time vocational ministry and a completion of theological training, I may be asked to help plant the first church outside of the walls of Candeo (and perhaps the first 3C Network church to bust outside of the borders of Iowa).

I called Paige on the drive to work and in little to no time it was determined that I should respond quickly in the affirmative.

So as of late this morning, I put in my resignation at CUNA Mutual and accepted the offer of Candeo Church.

Amazing, right?

God heard my prayer and answered my heart’s desire.

It is not to say that this happened immediately.  In fact, I had been praying this for months prior to this day.  I felt like the widow relentlessly knocking on the door begging for resolve.  I don’t know how long she banged on that door, but I glean from the parable that it was after plenty of opportunity to stop knocking and to quit.

I can relate.

What relief, joy exhaustion, rest, etc… came when that door was opened.

It has been one of the more difficult seasons of my short life.

I’m glad it’s over.

I’m excited to move forward.

day no. 13,084: wisdom and worship‏

1 Corinthians 2:1-2

When I came to you, brothers, announcing the testimony of God to you, I did not come with brilliance of speech or wisdom.² For I didn’t think it was a good idea to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

 

We are often told that you have to choose: would you rather be wise about worldly things or wise about Godly things.

 

Paul here states that this is a false contradiction.

 

If you are not wise towards God, you are not wise towards anything. There is a worldly wisdom good for gaining the world, but God calls that foolishness.

 

There is a wisdom rooted in Christ that seeks to orient all thoughts, actions, beliefs and behaviors under His Lordship, but the world calls that foolishness.

 

If you do not understand God, you do not understand the world.

If you do not choose God, you do not get the world as a booby prize.

You either get God and earth along with Him, or you get nothing.

 

Why?

 

Because Christ is and owns everything.

 

If you make Him your all, you will be called foolish by the world.

But you will inherit the earth by your meekness.

 

They will lose the very world they worshipped.