Sermon Tone Analysis
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Intro:
Mom & daughter at breakfast.
Is God here?
Getting more and more specific… Is God in my juice cup?
Yes… Little girl: Gotcha!
Unwittingly we shape our concept of God to more comfortable, to fit our idea of who he should be.
To be able say, “gotcha!
I can manage you now!”
there are several problems with this but for our purpose today as we move into the 2nd half of the chapter, we must ask ourselves if the object of our faith is big enough to handle our lives and circumstances.
Many times, our conception of God, our faith in God is in something too limited, too small.
Essentially, it’s idol worship.
(Jesus and… from last week).
To recap: In ch. 1, Paul offered a prayer designed to guide our minds and hearts to ponder exactly where we have put our faith.
Jesus clearly has something to do with it, but we’re prone to making our sp;iritual experience “Jesus and ______” rather than “Jesus only.”
His conclusion in that part of the chapter is to remind us that our faith in Christ (belief in the gospel) has brought us into a new place in creation.
The logical direction to go from here is to elaborate on who Jesus really is.
If the goal is to having a saving faith in Christ, what have we put our faith in?
Who is this Jesus?
Have we done the same thing to Him that the little girl did?
Have we turned Him into a “gotcha!”?
To do and be what we want instead of living by faith in the eternal Lord and Savior of all?
He Is...
Most scholars agree that vv.
15-20 are a hymn of the earliest church.
If you want to teach someone a concept they’ll remember, make a song out of it.
The Image of God
Image = icon.
Paul wants us to understand that Jesus of Nazareth fully represents God, in fact, he is God.
Why this matters: Jesus is much much greater than we can imagine.
If we’re going to commit to basing our life and faith on Him alone, we need to know that He is has the power and ability.
That he’s worth our faith.
Creator
Jesus gives everything in creation coherence.
Illus: TV tube.
Electron beam pulsing millions of times/sec create an image we can discern.
Jesus is the one who gives our world meaning and purpose.
All the millions of events, circumstances, thoughts, people, interactions make sense (or defy sense) because of Christ.
We make sense of senselessness by our faith in Christ that reminds us that the Creator didn’t create without purpose.
Everything has a meaning.
Head of the Church
With v. 18, Paul answers the unspoken complaint that the world we live in doesn’t completely reflect Jesus’ Lordship.
This is true.
I’d ask you first to imagine just how bad things could/would be without Christ as Lord.
Paul’s point in v. 18 is to remind us that the mission is on-going.
Key to Reconciliation
Peace is the key.
So We Are...
Past, present and future.
Formerly enemies
In the past we were far away from God. Paul is careful to communicate that it was OUR thoughts and deeds that caused the separation.
Separated = alienated.
Isolated, lonely.
When we are out of a reconciled relationship with God, our entire life is changed.
Chronic sinful behavior results.
We are full of fear, suspicion, our natural inclination to self harm and harming others is unchecked.
Personally reconciled
That was the past.
The present is that we are, individually and corporately, reconciled to God through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.
He has completely identified with us: shared our suffering, borne our sins and taken the consequences of our sentence of death by his death on the cross.
A Jesus only lifestyle consistently recognizes that our reality is perfection in Christ - holy, blameless and without fault.
But we must be wise.
Don’t Drift Away
There’s a warning built in...
Conclusion:
Are we living with a “gotcha” kind of faith?
One that makes God fit our idea of what should be?
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