July 1st and 2nd, 2000

Reality According to God

The Truth About You

Review:

Last week we looked briefly at the Book of Ephesians and laid a foundation about God. We said that the devil has attempted to destroy God’s reputation so that people won’t trust Him and follow Him. The Bible is a six thousand year story of how God chose to reveal Himself by not just wiping out His enemies, as I would have done, but using the situation to reveal Himself to the universe. He used the objects of His wrath to reveal Himself to the Objects of His mercy…that’s us!

The point is, you never have a true picture of reality until you see the truth about God. Then you can begin to understand the truth about yourself.

-So today we are going to look at Reality according to God …the truth about you.

1.     THE WRONG WAY TO FIND YOURSELF

-Example of photographer-taking a year off to find himself. He was hoping He was lost somewhere in Colorado.

-Before you laugh too much at him….some people are doing the same thing in various ways without leaving home.

-Psychology told me that I was a product of what I thought about myself and what I perceived others thought about me.

There is Scripture that says, Pr 23:7 “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he:..”

-In other words, your perception of yourself is the thing that guides you.

Romans 12

2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will. (NIV)

 2 Do not conform to the fashion of this world; but be transformed by the complete change that has come over your minds, so that you may discern what God's will is--all that is good, acceptable, and perfect. (TCNT)

 3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. (NIV)

2. THE RIGHT WAY TO FIND YOURSELF

YOU HAVE TO HAVE A TREASURE HUNT

1.     Your Life is Hidden

 1Pe 3:4 But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

Col 3:3

For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

-The person you used to be died in Christ.

-You now have to begin to look for that new person.

-That person is hidden on the inside of you and can only be discovered by looking at Jesus.

-The clue is to look at Jesus.

2 Corinthians 4

4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

 5 For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.

 6 For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," {Gen. 1:3} made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

 7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

-Satan has blinded the eyes of unbelievers so that they can only see the outside.

-We have the light to see beyond that to the truth.

THIS TREASURE

-What does that mean? We have whatever God put in us in a physical body….. what did He put in us?

-What is this treasure we are looking for?

IT IS THE LIKENESS OF GOD

IT IS THE WORK OF GOD ON THE INSIDE THAT IDENTIFIES US WITH HIM

Last week we saw in the first chapter of Ephesians that God said a lot about you like:

HE HAS BLESSED US

WE BELONG TO CHRIST

GOD LOVED US

GOD CHOSE US

WE BELONG TO HIS DEARLY LOVED SON

HE SHOWERED HIS KINDNESS ON US (THAT IS A GOOD KIND OF SHOWER TO TAKE-SHOWER OF KINDNESS/SHOWER OF BLESSING)

WE HAVE RECEIVED AN INHERITANCE FROM GOD

HE IDENTIFIED AS HIS OWN BY GIVING YOU THE HOLY SPIRIT

-Paul says that he prays we will begin to understand the greatness of His power for us.

Ephesians 2:4-10 NLT

4 But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so very much, 5 that even while we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God's special favor that you have been saved!) 6 For he raised us from the dead along with Christ, and we are seated with him in the heavenly realms – all because we are one with Christ Jesus. 7 And so God can always point to us as examples of the incredible wealth of his favor and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us through Christ Jesus. 8 God saved you by his special favor when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10 For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

Verse 10 said we are GOD’S MASTERPIECE

NIV – GOD’S WORKMANSHIP

TCNT – GOD’S HANDIWORK

-The Greek word there is poiema-poy-ay-may

It means to make. We can see the words poem and poetry there. We are now God’s work of art.

-He recreated us to be like Him.

-That is the source of your value.

-In Matthew we see Jesus walking with His disciples and He asks them who people are saying that He was.

-Peter answered, not his opinion, but by revelation, YOU ARE THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD.

-Then Jesus spoke to Peter by revelation………YOU ARE PETER…. You could add that the revelation of Jesus is the foundation of the church.

-Peter found Himself when He found Jesus.

2 Corinthians 3

18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect {Or contemplate} the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (NIV)

-We see our real personality come out when we see the real Jesus.

-Our new life is hidden in Him. We can only grasp that when we see Him clearly.