Honouring Christ in His Kingdom

Introduction

One thing that salvation has is requirements.

We appreciate God’s blessings in our lives, but then there’s the challenge.

We have seen all that God has to offer regarding salvation. . .this then is the challenge how will I respond

God requires us to act like we’re saved

God wants Kingdom citizens to have kingdom behaviour

We normally treat this as a list of “donts” but, what do I “do”?

We need to develop a psoture that is not ONLY concerned about donts but one that tells me the mind I need to have

Col 1:13 “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,”

The word “transferred” means:

To move from one place to another

To change, to turn someone away from one thing to something else

When God saves you He turns you. He moves you from one place to another - this means that something needs to change. . .in you!

The verses prior to this one give credence to this notion

Col 1:9-11 “For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously”

We have been qualified to share in the inheritance Col 1:12 “giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance [Acts 26:18] of the saints in Light.”

Verses 1-12 actually show us the reasons why Paul is thankful for the brethren. They have so much in Christ.***

Here’s the problem, many of us wanna change from the outside with the hopes that it will be reflected on the inside***

We wish to suggest that this begins by HONOURING CHRIST

Defining Honour

The term means to regard someone or something highly

To place the greatest esteem on

The biblical term is connected to “weight”. - The value of something was shown in its weight.

When Christ saw us He saw value, That’s why now “He’s not ashamed to call them brethren"

Do we vaue Him the way HE values us. . .this is the challenge!

Honouring Entails

#1 Do I know Christ?

Part of honouring Christ is knowing who Christ is, and our Book actually tells us

He is the “image of the invisible God”, The “firstborn of all creation”

Jesus is the exact representation of God - He is God [And we honour Him becasue of that] - Jesus “brings God into our sphere” [no more theophanies]

“Firstborn above all creation” He is Lord - this is important to note because “everything was affected by sin” so we needed someone to come that was able to master the very thing that marred God’s creation; Enter Jesus!

APPL. I honour Jesus as Lord because He’s the one in control.

Sometimes life gets out of control but it’s good to know i can put it in the hands of someone who has full control

Some suggests “firstborn” means “born first” - First born suggest priority (Ps 89:27 David; Ex 4:22 Israel) + the prep. ‘of’ is not present in the text. So whatever you supply, must be consistent with NT teaching.

“He is head of the body, the church; He is the beginning the firstborn from the dead”

Christ rules His church because He bought the church

We honour Him because of who He is to the church

Here’s the reason: (vs. 18) “that He Himself will come to have first place in everything”

This is what honouring Jesus is all about, that “He will have first place in everything”

The Knowledge of Christ needs to shape you to be like Christ

That’s why Christ must be preached becasue He is the standard

That’s why we need to:

Col 3:1 “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.”

Col 3:10 “and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him—”

Let the peace of Christ rule your heart, let the word of Christ dwell richly - This is what honouring Christ looks like.

If I wish to honour Christ I must

Submit

Obey

The more you submit and obey, is the more like Christ you become. Because that’s what He did SUBMIT & OBEY.

But when we don’t Know Christ it’s hard to turn to Christ.

It’s hard to trust Christ when you hardly know who He is

That’s why you turn to drugs, alcohol, blue soap and bush doctors

We turn to the wrong places becasue we don’t know Him

If we only knew who Christ is

“If I had time”

A-Z Jesus

Put Him First

Let Go and Let God

Let Go of the weakness and Let God bring the power

Let Go of the problem Let God bring the solution

Let Go of your inadequacies Let God bring the sufficiencies

Husbands/Fathers Honour God

Wives/Mothers Honour God

Ministers Honour God

Leaders Honour God

Let the whole church Honour God and watch God get to work