Going in Christ
Abide DNA • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 3 viewsJesus promises us a Counselor will be given to us to teach us as we testify about the truth of Jesus Christ.
Notes
Transcript
DNA Series Overview
We chose the title DNA series for a reason
Just like DNA carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of all known organisms
We wanted to spend time on the Bible's DNA for all Christians - knowing Christ (the command to Abide in Christ), Growing in Christ (the command to love like Christ (one another) and produce fruit), and Going in Christ (the command to testify about Christ in all situations, to all peoples, in all places).
Specifically for us as a church the goal was to use this series to place us in a story - a beginning, middle, and end.
We had a beginning, we are now technically still in it! So where is it going?
Again, to borrow the DNA analogy, 98% of humans are the same, it's the 2% that makes us unique.
That's what we wanted to highlight this month, the 2% that makes us unique because of our story, our place, and what we see as God's vision for us.
We covered the first two structures of our DNA (knowing and growing) and how shift to "going in Christ"
we're going to connect two of God's commands (to Abide and to Love one Another) with a promise (a Counselor will be with us to testify about Christ) and implication/assumption (that we too will testify and be his witnesses because).
the question for us as a church, is how do we bear out this mission, this call to witness and testify the truth of who Jesus is, the implications of both his Lordship and Salvation in a city like Atlanta?
A Call to Testify is:
a call to remember where you came from
A call to be teachable (to be Counseled)
a call to meet resistance
A CALL TO REMEMBER WHERE YOU CAME FROM
A CALL TO REMEMBER WHERE YOU CAME FROM
John 15.26-27 “When the Counselor comes, the one I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father—he will testify about me. 27 You also will testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.
Recall this passage is part of Jesus FAREWELL ADRESS during the Last Supper where he is reminding them of his mission to do everything the Father commanded, which includes being crucified and leaving them. These disciples have been PHYSICALLY with him along the way
but He is reminding them, predicting twice, that he will be betrayed
Not me, never, I would never betray you Jesus
Every disciple, every follower, even those WITH Jesus at one time were NOT followers.
What made them all the same, whether they remained with him or not, was John 16.8, the Spirit will convict people of their sins, teaching them of God's ways (14.26). That was them. That is us.
In John 16.8, Jesus came to convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment: 9 About sin, because they do not believe in me
That is the believers common ground with every person they encounter, Christian or not: a need to be convicted of sin.
Rosaria Butterfield, Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert - lesbian athiest and professor, shares her story of wrestling with her own sin and what the gospel offered her, and then later other how others, often Christians would give the impression that who you were sleeping with at night was more important than the universal need for us to repent of our sin.
it's the danger of wanting to be friends with someone SO you can share the gospel instead of sharing the gospel BECAUSE you ARE their friend
That posture and conviction leads to a humility, an understanding of OUR need
A CALL TO BE TEACHABLE (Counseled)
A CALL TO BE TEACHABLE (Counseled)
which leads to a spirit of being teachable.
why do we go to counselors? we are admitting we need someone trained and compassionate in how they hear what we REALLY need and skillfully applying truth to how we think, how we see ourselves, the world around us. It requires a posture of humility to say, I can't do this on my own, I need a helper.
humility is the heart of being counseled or teachable
John 14.16, the Holy Spirit is called, the Counselor, 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you forever.
John 14.26, the Counselor will teach all things, and remind us, But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you.
John gives us another name for the Holy Spirit to give us a picture of its purpose and how it works in the disciples life in 2 ways
it teaches.
Biblical counseling illustration - the counsel of God's word to everyday life
John 16.4 Jesus didn't have to tell the disciples everything at once while he was with them. He was living life WITH them day by day.
John 16.13, Then the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.
it produces fruit over time
Is. 32.15, reminds us the Holy Spirit, God's spirit, bears fruit, it transforms us into His image
15 until the Spirit from on high is poured out on us.
Then the desert will become an orchard,
and the orchard will seem like a forest.
15. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce fruit and that your fruit should remain
being counseled by Spirit, the word of truth, the God's Word (the Bible) will bear fruit over time
it may cut - its the sword of the Spirit after all - but but just like a scalpel in the hands of a good physician, it will bring healing
ILLUSTRATION
Counseling experience. - you want it fixed now
however, when you find joy and rest in what Jesus did for you, to cover your sin, your humbled and thankful, you're teachable
A CALL TO MEET RESISTANCE
A CALL TO MEET RESISTANCE
Which is important because as Jesus reminds the disciples, that when you love me like I love you, and you love others like I love you.
John 15.18 says, The world will hate you like it hated me.
this love that I give to you and that I command has to be talked about - you will bear my witness, you will adovate for me.
Acts 1.8 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.”
Jesus clearly assumes his followers would bear witness as they journeyed on in life, John 16.7 says I will send the Counselor to you so like me, you can witness about what happens when people try to be their own Gods - and they will hate what you have to say
but remember, it's because they DO NOT know me - just like at one time YOU didn't know me and resisted me
We know this experience right, wanting to produce fruit in a dry land, wanting to do justice where there is none, wanting to be ethical where the standards keep shifting, wanting to show compassion where there's only transaction and process.
which is why we have to remember the heart of sin
we want to be in God's place - we don't want to be told how to live our lives, what to give up our reputations, our careers, our dreams for the family.
which is why we have to remember where we started. We didn't start out a chosen people - He chose us.
1 Pet 2.9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who
called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
we are being sent a Counselor to teach us these truths, what to do and say, that points people to Christ.
that is the goal of a Counselor - to be WITH you, to speak the truth AS YOU NEED IT and AS YOU CAN RECEIVE IT
John 16.13, Then the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. For he will not speak on his own, but he will speak whatever he hears. He will also declare to you what is to come. 14 He (the Holy Spirit, the counselor) will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.
so be encouraged, the conviction of sin IS what shines a light on God's glory it IS what gives us hope that the lost will be found, that forgiveness and reconciliation can be accomplished.
God's glory, our love for God and to each other, and our humility and brokenness are not opposed - they are two sides of the same coin.
JONATHAN EDWARDS - God-Enranced Vision of All Things (p. 34)
"all gracious affections that are a sweet odor to Christ, and that fill the soul of a Christian with a heavenly sweetness and fragrancy, are brokenhearted affections. A truly Christian love, either to God or to each other, is a humble brokenhearted love.
Christian, Remain in Him as He is in You, so you may hear the word of truth from the Counselor, and be His witnesses to the ends of the earth.
if you're hear today and don't follow the Jesus we're talking about, I pray you would know the the joy and mercy that comes with being brokenhearted.
Panel Q&A
Panel Q&A
Question(s)
Question(s)
When considering your own salvation story and spiritual journey, share one example of how you came to embrace a Spiritual truth. What did you hear testified and how did that translate to sharing it with others?
When thinking of how the heart of "hating the truth of Jesus" is a refusal to have our lives ruled over, how did you see that in your own spiritual journey? For example, how you came to be convicted about your desire to set the course for your life, who you would marry, the direction of your career.
In what ways, or when, do you find it difficult to testify about Jesus love for you when the world "hates" what you love, who you love, how you love? At work, with certain family members?
Share an example of how the Spirit pointed you to what Jesus commanded to show compassion, grace, and patience for others? For example, to "love your enemy".
Considering Paul's reminder that the cross will sound foolish to those who are wise in their own eyes, how does this encourage you in your current season of life?
Benediction/Encouragement
Benediction/Encouragement
18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is the power of God to us who are being saved. 19 For it is written,
I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and I will set aside the intelligence of the intelligent.,
20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn’t God made the world’s wisdom foolish? 25 because God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength. 27 Instead, God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong. 28 God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world—what is viewed as nothing—to bring to nothing what is viewed as something, 29 so that no one may boast in his presence.