B2B: Where Are We Going? (Part C)

Back 2 Basics Recap

Mission: Talihina First Baptist Church exists to help the lost be saved and the saved be disciples.

Vision: At TFBC our ambition is to be an outpost of God’s Kingdom that spreads His Gospel and His Influence throughout the valley and beyond.

We have explored the nature of the Kingdom of God and established what it means to be an outpost that represents The Kingdom and promotes Kingdom Culture in all it does.

Last week we looked at and defined what the Biblical Gospel is and is not.

It is not a “Good ole boy”, Prosperity, Social, nor “Cheap Grace, just pray this prayer” gospel

The Biblical Gospel and the Gospel we promote is a Gospel of Grace, Mercy, and Repentance.

That is, we are all condemned and guilty as selfish, sinful, and rebellious against Our Creator who is Holy, Holy, Holy. In His love, He graciously extends mercy to us through the death, burial, and resurrection of the perfect Jesus. We are freely invited to embrace His grace through repentance as we turn our minds and how we think about all of life away from selfish sin and towards Jesus as the Lord and Master of our lives. We are saved by grace, through sincere faith in Christ. His grace is transformational and displayed in repentance.

This week, we want to conclude exploring our vision statement by asking the question: “What does it mean to spread His influence throughout the valley and beyond?”

2 Corinthians 2:14–17 ESV

14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? 17 For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:14–21 ESV

14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. 16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

1) We Make Him Known…

2 Corinthians 2:14–17 ESV

14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? 17 For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.

Christ is to lead us.

We are to spread the fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere.

The aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing

To those seeking out hope, making Christ known leads towards the path of life in Him.

To those settled in their sin and unconcerned with the things of God, making Christ known comes across threatening.

Leading question: Who is sufficient for these things? Leading Answer: The Conquering Christ who leads us in triumphal procession.

We do not make Him known because our motive is personal gain.

We make Him known because our motive is a commissioning by God and seeking to please Him.

2) We Make Him Seen…

2 Corinthians 5:14–17 ESV

14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. 16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Christ not only leads us, but His love controls or compels us!

How we live is changed and different because Jesus died for me, I have died to my sinful flesh.

Since I now truly live in the reality of Christ, I no longer live for myself, but for Him who died and was raised.

Our actions towards others and our regard for others is no longer from a fleshly point of view (us v. them; their life v. my life; better v. worse, etc.)

We now regard others the way Christ does: Saved v. lost

Anyone saved is a new creation, no longer constrained to worldly ways, but living, walking, talking, working, regarding others in new way.

Anyone lost is enslaved to sin and in need of the rescuing triumphant Christ who defeats sin and flesh and gives new, forgiven, and redeemed life in Himself!

As we who are saved, live out our new life from a new perspective and new motivation as we regard no one according to the flesh, we make Christ seen to those around us.

When we, the church, live like the world, we take the light of Christ and hide it under a bowl.

BUT when we, the church, live as the light of the world, we put Christ on display for a dark world to see Him!

3) We Make Him Heard…

2 Corinthians 5:18–21 ESV

18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

All of this is from God… He reconciled us to Himself through Christ.

Reconciled means “restored fellowship and rightness of relationship”

He made us a part of the ministry of reconciliation in Christ.

He calls us to the ministry of reconciliation:

The Ministry of reconciliation is that in Christ God made a way to not count our trespasses against us.

But, we who have received Christ, now also have the responsibility to share the message of reconciliation.

Because of this we are ambassadors for Christ.

An ambassador does not represent themselves or their own desires. They represent the one who sent them.

As Christ’s ambassadors, God is making His appeal through us!

Our purpose and responsibility as Christians to represent Christ well as we implore each other and the lost to be reconciled to our Creator through repentance to Christ!

To fellow Christians, we lovingly speak the truth to our brothers and sisters as we challenge one another to focus solely on Jesus and His transformational work through the Holy Spirit in our lives.

To the lost, we lovingly speak truth to their lostness and endangerment from sin and call them to salvation in Christ by repenting to Him and turning their hearts and minds to Him.

Our message is that for my sake, your sake, and their sake God made Jesus, who was perfect, to become the atonement for the our imperfection so that we might through Him be reconciled and made righteous before God.

We cannot be good ambassadors for Christ if we do not speak up!

Closing

If we are going to be a church that is an outpost for God’s Kingdom that spreads His Gospel and His Influence throughout the valley and beyond, we must make Him known to people by living for Jesus and telling others about Jesus.

We must represent Him well as we speak up and live out a genuine faith in Christ.