Grow Down into Christ

Grace and Peace to you, from The Seed Community Church!

I come first to bring you good news of Great Joy. Friends - Hillside Community Church over 6 years ago started a crazy journey with the Lord of planting a Church in Centerville SD. Several families from Centerville came to Hillside, grew with you all, and finally were sent out in 2021 to start worship services.

Friends - The gospel has been planted, has taken root, and is springing up in Centerville and beyond.

In just a few years, the Church has grown, yes numerically, but deeply in a community being formed by the Spirit and in love. We’ve seen many baptized, our youth ministry is growing, and the kingdom continues to advance!

We are now actively working on planting another Alliance Church in Hurley South Dakota.

Friends - that makes you Church Grandparents! Your daughter Church is now planting a new Church.

Hillsides impact is immense - and I believe that the more we continue to trust in Christ, and faithfully partner with him, the kingdom will continue to advance. Amen?

So thank you, friends, for your partnership in the Gospel. It is so great to get to walk alongside Robbie and Jim, and I am thrilled that Robbie and I can do a little pulpit swap this morning.

Hey, let me pray as we get started. pray

“Well Pastor,” the man in my office told me, “That’s just who I am.”

The man had come in to talk (I don’t really remember what he was talking about) and his speech was littered with profanity and, even though there was nothing to be upset with, his anger steadily increased through the conversation. Now, some context, this man has been a Christian for all intense and purposes, his entire life, and at this point he was in his sixties.

When I gently paused the conversation and asked him if something was wrong, he was a bit taken a back. Nothing was wrong! I then asked about the increase of language and temper, and he responded:

“Well Pastor, that’s just who I am.”

That’s just who I am.

This kind of thinking pervades so much of our cultures thinking. You do you. I was born this way. If it feels good it is good. All with this overarching theme that “People don’t change.”

The problem with this kind of thought is it is contrary to the Scriptures, and it betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of the Gospel.

I’ve sadly come to realize this

SLIDE:

“So many Christians believe in a diluted Gospel and an emaciated Christ.”

It’s not that we don’t know the correct theology, in fact, so many believers can proclaim the historic creeds with gusto - It’s just that it doesn’t seem to actually have the power to change us. We’ve diluted the gospel - weakened it from all it’s glories.

A lot of believers functionally believe that by grace through faith Jesus will save our souls from hell and get us into heaven, but that he can’t or won’t actually help us much as we live our lives here on earth.

So many believe that gospel is about getting to heaven when we die - that we miss out on the invasion of heaven on the earth. Or as Christ taught us to pray: your kingdom come here on earth as it is in heaven.

You see, We believe in the justification of our souls - that is we are declared righteous when we are saved by grace through faith - but when it comes to actually being made holy, we call that sanctification, we are out on our own.

Dane Ortlund, author of the Book “Deeper” asks this question:

Slide:

“In our ongoing walk with the Lord now, do we functionally believe that the healthy Christian life is basically a matter of our own efforts, baptized with a little extra push from Jesus?”

Is Jesus powerful enough to save us from hell, but too weak to save us from sin right now?

Why is it, that so many believers functionally believe, and proclaim, that people never change? Why is it that so many believers live life scared, anxious, and unsure of their salvation? Why do believers believe that Jesus saved them - but God is still rather angry with them, grumpy with them, and is almost a begrudging savior?

Is that what the Gospel is? A tentative hope in a life to come but nothing tangible for the here and now?

I don’t believe so. Jesus didn’t save us just from hell. He saved us unto so much more.

The Scriptures say things like this:

2 Corinthians 5:17 CSB

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!

The question then is this - do you feel like a new creation? Is this true for you? Was Paul lying or exaggerating when he wrote this?

What about all the other glories and joys that the Scriptures talk about? John 10:10b

John 10:10 CSB

I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.

or John 15:11

John 15:11 CSB

“I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.

What about this one? Philippians 4:4-7

Philippians 4:4–7 CSB

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your graciousness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a moment of crisis, or anxiously spiraling, and had this passage thrown at you, like a kindness cudgel -

“Hey don’t worry about it - just pray about it - and peace that goes beyond understanding will guard your heart and mind.”

That’s a great hobby lobby mug verse - but sometimes feels so far from our lived experience.

Are those things true? Is it possible to live that way? Is it true that we can live with a felt reality of the presence of God and with the fruit of the Spirit abounding in us?

Here’s the answer - Yes. Jesus proclaimed it, the scripture is full of the hope of the gospel for now and in the age to come.

The question, therefore becomes, how do we change? How do we live holy lives? How can we grow in the faith? How do we become more and more like Jesus?

The Alliance, our denomination says that sanctification - that is being made holy - is subsequent to salvation, and is a crisis and a process. Meaning, we aren’t perfect