How to Die and Be Raised with Christ
Notes
Transcript
2018-04-01
1 How to Die and Be Raised with Christ
Re-creating Easter Every Day
2 The Embarrassment of the Bible
1 – Marketing run amok
– Deut 31:6
– Ps 34:19
– Ps 103:2-5
– Mt 6:33
– Mk 10:28-30
– Phil 4:19
– “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing” Ps 23:1
3 How to Interpret These Promises
1 – The simple interpretation
– Do right and God will reward you with health and wealth
– Pain = you’ve done wrong
– The spiritual interpretation
– Imperceptible benefits, mostly in the life to come
– Pain = just hang on
– The sufficiency interpretation
– God is all you really need; with Him, you’ll be alright even if you’re not OK
4 The Triangle of Sufficiency
1 – From Willard’s Life without Lack :
– Trust in God
– Death to Self
– Love for Neighbour
– All are divine gifts (but we have a role to play in each) and we receive them in ever-increasing
abundance
5 Trust in God
1 – The first and foundational sin is to mistrust God’s goodness toward us
– Gen 3:4-6, Jer 2:13, Isa 55:1-2, Mt 7:9-11
– Faith makes us ready to receive God’s sufficiency
– Faith = trust
– Trust brings sufficiency in the moment of need – even a blood-stained moment
6 Trust in God
1 – Trust is a gift from God, not something we work up in ourselves
– Where you do not trust, don’t pretend to; instead, ask for it
– “Lord, give me trust in you. I want it. Take me through whatever I need to prepare me for it.”
– The discipline of praise
– Gradual process
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7 Death to Self
1 – When we fled God, our desire for the infinite remained
– Misdirected to things
– Impatience and manipulation
– Desires can’t be satisfied by things (Eccl 1:8), so must be resisted
– Hard to let them go
– “This isn’t abundance; it’s dry!”
– What’s really dry is the never-ending quest to get what you want
8 Death to Self
1 – The joint project of crucifixion
– Jesus was crucified so we could be, too
– Understand what death to self is and ask for it: “Lord, give me the gift of death to self. I want it.
Do whatever is necessary for me to lay everything down for you.”
– Disciplines of self-denial (fasting)
– A gradual process
9 Love for Neighbour
1 – Love is neither a feeling nor an action; it is a source of action
– Arises from character
– Don’t try, train
– Trust in God
– Die to self
10 Love for Neighbour
1 – Planning to love
– Pick somebody
– Ask God how to love them
– Seek thankfulness for them
– Sacrificially work for their true good
– Practice secrecy
– Could mean saying “No” to them
– Leave you ego at home
– A gradual process
11 Conclusion
– Summary
– Trusting in God draws us nearer to Him and positions us to receive His blessings
– Dying to self makes room for His abundant life by rejecting counterfeits
– Love for neighbour flows through us into a thirsty world, making our life a joy to ourselves and
others
– Mutually reinforcing
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