BEHOLDING BY BECOMING - BENEVOLENT SABOTAGE 1

TEXT: COME FOLLOW ME AND I WILL MAKE YOU FISHER OF MEN

1. Come follow me –

2. And I will make you –

3. Fisher of men -

We were born again to reproduce fruit.

And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

BE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLE IN GENES (PHYSICAL)

MAKING DISCIPLES - BEING FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY - SPIRITUALLY.

YOU WERE BORN AGAIN TO REPRODUCE AND BIRTH SPIRITUAL CHILDREN IN CHRIST

REAL STRUGGLE IS THAT OUR HEART IS NOT THERE

BUT HERE IS THE CALL OF THE FATHER TO US: TO JOIN HIM IN HIS MISSION

BEHOLDING BY BECOMING - CULTIVATING A COMMUNITY OF CHRIST CENTERED WORSHIPERS

THIS NEW SERIES TITLE

BECOMING THE CHURCH BY MODELING CHRIST’S MISSION: A MISSION OF BENEVOLENT SABOTAGE

BENEVOLENT SABOTAGE: THE ACTIVE AND AGGRESSIVE PUSH OF THE CHURCH AGAINST THE SPIRITUAL ADVANCEMENT AND SPREAD OF THE EFFORTS OF THE ENEMY

STATE WHAT THAT MEANS FOR US ON MISSION

MESSAGE TODAY

CONSTRUCTING A CONTRAST COMMUNITY

JESUS WAS DEVELOPING A COMMUNITY A CONTRAST COMMUNITY– MARKED AND DEFINED BY HIS LOVE THAT THEY WERE CALLED TO SHARE, AS THE SINGULAR MARK OF HIS PRESENCE AND REALITY (JOHN 17:23).

John 17:23 ESV

I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

THIS IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF THE MISSION DEPENDS ON THE HEALTH OF THE COMMUNITY

HOW DID JESUS CONSTRUCT THIS COMMUNITY?

I. JESUS CLEANSED US INTERNALLY

John 13:3–4 ESV

Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist.

John 13:5–6 ESV

Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?”

John 13:7–8 ESV

Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.”

ALL OF YOUR WAYS WILL BE CLEANSED FORGIVEN: BYT THE DEMONSTRATED LOVE OF GOD THROUGH THE HUMILIATING SACRIFICE OF JESUS

A. THE LOYAL LOVE OF GOD - John 13:1-

John 13:1 ESV

Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

THE PSALMIST SPEAK OF GOD’S STEADFAST LOVE AND FAITHFULNESS TO HIS PEOPLE

He Always Remains Loyal To His Children

How Has the Lord Shown His Loyal Love to You

First: The Recognition That Something Was Wrong And You Needed The Lord

– That Was Benevolent Sabotage: Overcame Your Resistence

13:18 - Jesus says I KNOW WHO I HAVE CHOSEN

Second: Then You Came To Experience the Ongoing Benefits of Grace

You Were Unworthy – But He Loved You AND GAVE YOU WORTH AND VALUE

You Were Broken – But He Loved You BACK TOGETHER

Third: You Found That Your Continued Battle With Sin Is Met, Each Moment By Christ’s Continual Choice to Love You

You Still Deal With Sin In Your Passions, Desires and, Therefore In Your life

Jesus washed the feet because OF THIS - HE KNEW WE WOULD GET DIRTY IN THIS WORLD (explain this)

SIN IS AN ACT OF DISLOYALTY - BUT HEAR THIS

In Those Moments, Days, Weeks And Or Months When You Choose Sin Your Faithful And Loving Father Always Chooses You!

IT IS THIS REALITY THAT WE LIVE AND SPEAK TO OTHERS WHO DO NOT KNOW THE LORD

You do not speak words of Condemnation – But A Word Of Celebration: That Christ Died For Sin And Has Laid Out Eternal Forgiveness

SO BENEVOLENT SABOTAGE CAN BE SUMMED UP AS THIS:

THE MESSAGE OF ETERNAL LOVE OF GOD BEING UNLEASHED BY THOSE WHO ARE ETERNALLY LOVE

YOU CAN DO THIS? YOU CAN DO THIS.

· WHEN PEOPLE ARE LOVED THEY DO NOT NEED A BOOK TO TELL THEM WHAT TO SAY. THEY DO NOT NEED A MANUSCRIPT TO READ AND THEY ARE NOT WORRIED ABOUT GETTING IT WRONG. WHAT THEY HAVE EXPERIENCED THEY CANNOT SPEAK WRONG ABOUT – HOWEVER INADEQUATE AND LIMITED THEIR LANGUAGE IS

WOMAN AT THE WELL: COME SEE A MAN

MAN BORN BLOND:

NEITHER OF THEM NEEDED HELP AND NEITHER OF THEM WORRIED ABOUT WHAT TO SAY: THEY JUST EXPRESSED IN THEIR OWN WORDS THEY ENCOUNTER WITH JESUS.

IF JESUS CAN SAVE AN ENTIRE CITY FROM THE WORDS: COME SEE A MAN THEN HE CAN BRING OTHERS TO HIM BY YOUR TESTIMONY.

A. OUR LOYALTY TO ONE ANOTHER

Identifying with Jesus means identifying with His mission

i. Practiced, first, in community

1. Marked By HUMILITY

- Jesus washed feet and told us to do so (vv13:13-17)

John 13:13–14 ESV

You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.

John 13:15–17 ESV

For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

2. Marked by LOVE

John 13:34–35 ESV

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

3. Marked by UNITY

John 17:20-23-

John 17:20–21 ESV

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

John 17:22–23 ESV

The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

Paul combines all of these when calling us to imitate the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:3-4

Philippians 2:3–4 ESV

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

WHY - 2:12-14

Philippians 2:12–13 ESV

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Philippians 2:14–15 ESV

Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,

Here Is The Point

A Community Marked By Humility, Love And Unity With And For One-Another Will Be A Undeniably Compelling Community

NEXT WEEKS SERMON

II. JESUS CLEANSED US PRACTICALLY

A. Elimination Of Judas

i. John 13:10

ii. John 13:17-19

b. Now: Elimination Of

i. Judas like disciples

1. Judas like disciples are Satanic informants (v2, v27)

a. The devil’s plot is against the mission of Christ

i. In us

ii. For others through us

2. Dealing with people who live this way is not evil, bad or wrong: it is necessary for the health of the body

a. Little leaven levens the whole lump

3. But we do so with a process of grace

a. Gala 6:1

b. Matthew 18:15

ii. Judas like dispositions (within us)