Abundant Influence
Notes
Transcript
INTRO
INTRO
What has happened to the Christian Nation many grew up in?
This country was founded upon Christian ideologies and standards.
There was a public practice of decency and morals established by societal standards and governance.
All of that was slowly eroded by compartmentalism and silence within the majority until the majority quietly passed away and dwindled into obscurity.
Today the majority of the Church in America that actually feared the Lord and stood for biblical principles has been replaced by a relativistic tolerance that has abandoned God and embraced progressive, culturally shaped, beliefs.
As a result, today’s “American Church” is nothing more than a feel-good religious side piece of an eternally irrelevant life.
What happened?
There are many complicated and entangled observations we could make, but the overall summary can be boiled down to this:
This spiritual crisis is the result of the Salt of the Earth losing its taste.
Matthew 5:13 says, “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.”
Christians are not meant to be trampled under foot. We are not meant to be quiet and keep our beliefs to ourselves. We are not meant to only practice our faith in private. We are not meant to be more American than Christian. We are not meant to be more anything than Christian. Christ was meant to define so much more than our religious beliefs. He is meant to define who we are, what we stand for, what we bow to, and how we live out our lives in humble display so that we have Abundant Influence on those around us!
The greatest growth of Christian Influence takes place when living a Christ-shaped life is at odds with the culture. We are in a time in our nation where more people need Jesus than ever before. We are in a time where secular humanist philosophies are wreaking society and people need hope. We are in this place, at this moment, for a time such as this! Now more than ever before, we need to embrace the Abundant Influence that comes with faithfully following Jesus!
3 Changes We Need to Make In Order to Have Christ-Driven Abundant Influence
3 Changes We Need to Make In Order to Have Christ-Driven Abundant Influence
1 So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. 4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” 7 So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” 8 and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
1) Out With Selfishness and In With Maturity (v.1-3)
1) Out With Selfishness and In With Maturity (v.1-3)
1 So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
“So put away…” What is the “So” referring to in the text?
1 Peter 1:13–16 “Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
A Jesus-followers, we are to no longer be intoxicated by the ideologies and promoted mannerisms of this world, which exalt self or people. Rather we are to be “Sober-minded,” that is spiritually sensible, reasonable, and intentional, as we fully embrace hope and life in Jesus.
We are to be obedient, as opposed to disobedient, children and no longer conform to self-satisfying, selfish, and ignorant passions and knee-jerk reactions. Rather we are to seek after mature and serious holiness in all that we think and do.
We are to put away the old childish, impulsive, careless, self-centered ways that reflected a destructive and dying culture and long for pure spiritual nourishment that provides us with growth and maturity as embrace salvation from sin and death that comes only through Jesus!
Peter writes, “if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.”
If the idea of abandoning the ways of this world and embracing spiritual maturity seem like a step backwards for you, then you may not have actually come to a saving faith in Christ and truly seen His goodness.
Peter is calling them to walk towards that which they have experienced and know that Christ is good. Peter is reminding them that Jesus is far better that what this world has to offer! His ways are not over bearing and burdensome.
Matthew 11:28–30 “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
If we are to be the Salt of the Earth and embrace the Abundant Influence God has given us, we must recall, retain, and focus on the goodness of Christ as we put away our impulsive selfishness and embrace and crave spiritual maturity!
John 3:30–31 “30 He must increase, but I must decrease. 31 He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all.”
Out With Selfishness and In With Maturity!
2) Out With Instability and In With A Solid Foundation (v.4-8)
2) Out With Instability and In With A Solid Foundation (v.4-8)
4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” 7 So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” 8 and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.
When Christ is center of our lives and our reason for everything we do, our lives are stable and built on a solid foundation.
Jesus must be the cornerstone that sets the reference and direction for every other piece of our lives.
When a builder is erecting a stone structure, the cornerstone is carefully selected to be the very first piece laid in place. From this one stone, the entire structure is dependent for how it sits and how it stands. The cornerstone has to be meticulously perfect in every way or the structure won’t be square and sturdy at its base. Likewise, as the structure is raised, without the cornerstone being perfectly shaped, the structure will diminish in its stability. A stone structure is fully dependent upon the cornerstone for all dimensions.
If you reject Jesus as your cornerstone and build your life upon something else, then His life, purposes, and standards will be a stumbling block that brings offense and annoyance.
If we place higher value on anything other than Jesus or we view the world through any lens other than Jesus, we will be unstable and our perspective will be skewed.
There is only one way to ensure internal and eternal stability in our lives: Look to Jesus as the cornerstone and adjust our lives to be in alignment with Him.
Peter says that we are living stones being built up as a spiritual house for the purpose of worshipping God and present to Him worthy, adequate, and proper sacrifices of praise that glorify and magnify Him!
We are to live in such a way that put Him on display for others and give the Glory He is due!
Peter says it is an honor to glorify the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
It is an honor to point to the exaltation of the Most High God.
It is an honor to declare and display His mighty works.
It is an honor to have our lives built in alignment with Him.
It is an honor to draw people’s attention to the hope that is in Christ.
It is an honor to be a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.
It is an honor to no longer have lives of instability, but lives that are built on a solid foundation.
We cannot have the Abundant Influence we are gifted with through Jesus if our lives are not in alignment with Jesus. The world around us will not be influenced to come to Jesus if we are continually stumbling over Him and we display instability because our lives are not in alignment with Him.
Out with Selfishness and In With Maturity
Out With Instability and In With a Solid Foundation
3) Out With Insignificance and In With A New Identity (v.9-12)
3) Out With Insignificance and In With A New Identity (v.9-12)
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
For far too long, Christian have used the excuse of insignificance to cover their purpose of living out their faith for Jesus.
“Well who am I? I’m nobody special. I’m just one person. What difference can I really make? God can’t really do anything through me. I’m not really that kind of person…blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah…”
You are a somebody because you are His!
Peter says, you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession!
You may ask, “Isn’t this all reserved for ethnic Israel?” NO! If anyone is in Christ we are the New Israel of God (Galatians 6:15–16).
We are not a race that is based upon a certain ethnicity, but is comprised of every ethnicity because it is comprised of those who have embraced the blood of Christ!
We are a royal priesthood. The priests of the OT represented the people before God and brought their sacrifices to Him, but as a royal priesthood, we no longer carry the sacrifice into the temple, we are the temple and the sacrifice of Jesus is within us. We are to no longer represent the people before God, but we are to represent God to the people!
We are a holy nation! We are not limited to one location with physical boundaries, but rather we can be in any location maintaining and displaying the spiritual boundaries that define us. We fulfill the mandate to be God’s influence among the nations of this world.
We are a people of His own possession!
We don’t belong to this world or have permanent ties to anything but God and God alone! We are healed. We are holy. We are His!
Don’t you think for one second you are nobody special. If Jesus holds you in His grip you were saved on purpose for purpose!
You are His for the purpose of proclaiming the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness and into His marvelous light!
You were once, not a people, but you are now God’s people.
You once were without mercy, but you are now basking in God’s mercy.
You were once an enslaved citizen of this world of destruction, but you are now freed from the ideologies of this world because this world is no longer your home. Your citizenship is with Jesus, not this world!
You may have once been insignificant in this world, but you are not who you were. You have a New Identity that is defined by Jesus!
You are eternally significant because you are to now cut ties with the dark passions of the flesh display the marvelous light of Christ!
We are to live as mature, solid, new people in Christ! When we do, we will draw some heat from this world, but when the world draws attention to us saying that we are haters, bigots, and intolerant evildoers, people lost in darkness will see Jesus on display in us and turn to God and glorify Him.
If we are to have abundant influence in this world we must no longer see ourselves as insignificant, but rather we are purposefully and eternally relevant in Jesus!
CLOSING
CLOSING
Out with Selfishness and In With Maturity
Out With Instability and In With a Solid Foundation
Out with Insignificance and In With a New Identity
Will you dedicate your life to embracing the Abundant Influence that God wants to have in you and through you?
Will you use these steps as an altar this morning and simple come and declare to God, I’m all yours.
Thoughts for Later
Thoughts for Later
What are some ways that adults display childish mentalities in our world today?
How are the ways of this world aligned with childish behavior and the ways of God aligned with mature behavior?
What are some ways of the world that still linger in your own life?
How does worldliness (self-centeredness) contribute to emotional, social, physical, societal, mental, and spiritual instability?
What are some ways you’ve personally experienced instability due to worldliness in your past?
Are there any areas of instability you currently experience due to worldliness? If so, what are they?
How can aligning your life with Jesus (the Cornerstone) help provide a solid foundation and stability in these areas?
What does it mean to you personally to have a new identity in Christ?
In what ways do you see yourself as a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and a person of His possession?
How does embracing this mindset with humility potentially change how you see yourself and the world around you?
Do you prioritize your place of belonging with Jesus or with this world?
What is one thing God wants you to do today to be the Abundant Influence He has made you to be in this world?