Transformed Purpose (2)

Luke 24:44-49

We will become fully formed followers of Jesus who live intentionally seeking to share Jesus and invite others to join us in becoming fully formed followers of Jesus.

Today we examine the last of the six transformations that express what a fully formed follower of Jesus looks like.

Each of these transformations represent an on-going, life long process of growing in Christlikeness.

Transformed Heart: John 3:16

Transformed Mind: Philippians 2:5-11

Transformed Affections: Deuteronomy 6:4-5

Transformed Will: James 1:22-25

Transformed Relationships: 1 John 4:7-5:4

Transformed Purpose: Luke 24:44-49

Many of you remember the TV series, Mission Impossible. Each episode began with what we might call a mission briefing. The team leader was given a tape or a disc and these are the words recorded on the devise:

Your mission, , should you choose/decide to accept it, ... As always, should you or any of your IM Force be caught or killed, the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions. This tape/disc will self-destruct in five/ten seconds. Good luck.

40 days after His resurrection Jesus met His disciples for a final mission briefing. He was soon to ascend into heaven, taking His place at the right hand of the Father. The Holy Spirit, sent by the Father and the Son would come upon these believers (and over 100 others -Acts 2:1-ff).

The Assignment: SHOULD WE CHOOSE TO ACCEPT…

Luke 24:44–49 HCSB

Then He told them, “These are My words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about Me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. He also said to them, “This is what is written: The Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead the third day, and repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And look, I am sending you what My Father promised. As for you, stay in the city until you are empowered from on high.”

This assignment - will not self-destruct, even if we fail to carry out His instructions.

How does His purpose become ours?

Those to whom Jesus was speaking some 2,000 years ago had spent three years with Him. Some - the twelve (now eleven), and a group of women had travelled with Him throughout Galilee, Judea, and even Samaria.

That their purpose is transformed by that intimate contact is really no surprise. You’d expect nothing less.

A New Grasp of God’s Word: vs 44-45

Most of those in that first century setting knew the Bible, that it what we call the OT, fairly well. They were raised on the accounts of Adam and Eve, Noah and his family, Abraham and his descendants. They knew in a way difficult for us to comprehend the Exodus story - how God raised up Moses and delivered His people. They recognized the failure of generation after generation of their forefathers who failed more often than succeeded in living as the called-out people of God.

Those listening to Jesus at that moment had followed Him because they recognized that in one way or another God was at work in a powerful way through Him.

What about us?

Knowing God’s Word

Recent research indicates that

A third of Americans who attend a Protestant church regularly (32%) say they read the Bible personally every day. Around a quarter (27%) say they read it a few times a week.

Fewer say they only read it once a week (12%), a few times a month (11%) or once a month (5%). Close to 1 in 8 (12%) admit they rarely or never read the Bible.

A 2016 Lifeway Research study found 1 in 5 Americans said they had read all of the Bible at least once. However, more than half said they have read little or none of it.

https://research.lifeway.com/2019/07/02/few-protestant-churchgoers-read-the-bible-daily/

If we are seriously to engage with God’s Word we need assistance. Not mine, not some Bible teacher you watch on TV or listen to on the radio.

The assistance we need is nothing less than the direction of Jesus via the Holy Spirit as we read God’s Word.

The fact that Jesus ‘opened their minds to understand the Scriptures’ points to an undeniable truth:

The Living Word interprets the Written Word. If one does not know Christ, one cannot understand Scripture.

James R. Edwards, The Gospel according to Luke, ed. D. A. Carson, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.; Nottingham, England: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; Apollos, 2015), 734.

Knowing God’s Word is so much more than being able to rattle off the order of the books in the OT and NT. It is much more than being familiar with the stories recorded in the Bible.

To ‘know’ God’s Word we must ‘know’ Jesus - and we, like those early followers must cultivate a relationship with Him that animates our very life.

Grasping God’s Ultimate Purpose

What in the world is God up to? In these chaotic and confusing times it is easy to become distracted.

There are multiple challenges brought to our attention every single day:

Inflation, rising interest rates, ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, unpredictable and constantly changing weather patterns...

our own physical and emotional issues, our family hurts and pains, and the list is endless.

Jesus - who had experienced physical pain unimaginable just 40 days previously; Jesus - who showed His hands and feet - scarred from the stakes used to bind Him to the method of execution -

Jesus points to the ultimate purpose of God:

Luke 24:46–47 HCSB

He also said to them, “This is what is written: The Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead the third day, and repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

Genesis 1:1 - 2:1 tell us clearly that God was pleased with His creation.

However, shortly after the creation of man and woman sin entered the world and from Adam and Eve sin rapidly spread through the entire world.

God spared Noah and representative animals that He might restore His creation purpose.

Through Abraham, the Exodus, the Conquest of the Promised Land, the time of Judges, the rise and fall of Israel and Judah to the moment Jesus stands before those first followers, God has been working to insure that sin will be broken, sin will be dealt with, sin will no longer reign.

In the death of Jesus sin is defeated once for all. In His resurrection Jesus assures us of life - a different quality of life that God freely gives to all who trust in Jesus.

Being Grasped by the Power of the Holy Spirit

Luke’s account continues in what we call the book of Acts -

The promise which Jesus speaks of in Luke 24:49 is further explained i n Luke’s fuller account:

Acts 1:8 HCSB

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

The Holy Spirit - a distinct person of the Triune God, is the presence of God made tangible in our lives, empowering us to obey/do all Jesus commands!

The Apostle Paul describes the indwelling Holy Spirit in a very practical way:

Ephesians 5:18 HCSB

And don’t get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless actions, but be filled by the Spirit:

Allowing God’s Holy Spirit to grasp us for His purpose is the only way we can accomplish the task of being witnesses.

REFLECT AND RESPOND:

Our continued attendance here is important. Our gathering for fellowship, Bible teaching, corporate worship are part of the life of a believer.

But what de do here on Sunday after Sunday is not the purpose.

If all God purposed for us was to gather with other believers, He’d best just immediately take us to His presence.

His purpose is clearly identified from Genesis to Revelation, as summarized by Jonathan Edwards, the significant pastor/theologian of the Great Awakening in the mid 1700’s:

...we see that the great end of God’s works, which is so variously expressed in Scripture, is indeed but one; and this one end is most properly and comprehensively called, the GLORY OF GOD...

Edwards, Jonathan. The Works of Jonathan Edwards: Volume I & II . Kindle Edition.

God’s glory is expressed in His creation,

His glory is expressed in and through His Son - Jesus Christ -

and as Jesus is made real in us through the indwelling and empowering of the Holy Spirit, God’s glory is to be expanded to fill the earth.

We cooperate with other churches around the nation and the world for the express purpose, summarized by the Mission Statement of our International Mission Board:

The greatest problem in the world is lostness.

The only solution to this problem is the gospel.

Together, Southern Baptists send IMB missionaries to be steadfastly present among people and places where Jesus is not named or known.

God will finish what He has determined to accomplish - with or without Community Baptist Church!

What a privilege we have to be invited to this impossible mission!

Join us on this mission impossible yet made possible by the empowering presence of God -

God is sovereign - He rules whether we acknowledge Him or not!

We have sinned - each of us has sinned and as result should be condemned.

God provided - through Jesus’ sacrificial death as our substitute, God insures we can be set free from our sin.

Jesus, our substitute lived a perfect life and He invites us to experience His resurrection life as the Holy Spirit indwells us.

Now, we choose:

will we join in His life?

today is the day...