Back to The Future

Whatever kind of tribulation presses upon us, we must ever look to this end: to accustom ourselves to contempt for the present life and to be aroused thereby to meditate upon the future life

So, how do we as Christians live this life with a mind for the future blessings that await us?

Principles of Faith

One who is moving in a forward trajectory as Christ leads us is:

Led by the Holy Spirit (4 & 11)

Disciples

Warning:

Not a blind faith

Not meandering blindly

Not fact versus values

fact - what we know of the real word (reality w/o emotions)

Value - what value we apply to these facts (emotions)

God’s world takes both fact and value

experiential aspect of the Christian life

To discern God’s purpose and to be obedient to it among all the ambiguities and perplexities of life is always a struggle. We may often be wrong both in our understanding of what God is doing and in our attempted obedience, just as it is made clear in Scripture that the people whose stories it tells were often wrong, or only partially right, in their discernment of God’s purpose.8 At best, we can hope to choose the relatively better and to reject the relatively worse. We can never claim that either our understanding or our action is absolutely right. We have no way of proving that we are right. That kind of proof belongs only to the end. - Newbigin, Lesslie. Foolishness to the Greeks: The Gospel and Western Culture (p. 60). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Kindle Edition.

Some in the Reformed faith see any talk or speech about experience unbiblical.

Newbigin, Lesslie. Foolishness to the Greeks: The Gospel and Western Culture (p. 60). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Kindle Edition.

Yet, Calvin spoke often of experience in the HS.

About this passage he believes that both Paul and the disciples had varying degrees of the HS

Scripture shows us plainly that the HS leads men in a very real experience

Disciples persuading Paul, HS leading Paul

Agabus - who prophesied about Paul’s troubling future (11)

HS in the disciples was not contradicting himself in Paul

both led by the HS

Yet, God moved Paul in a greater way

The result is God providing his written Scriptures, His word for our guidance and rule of faith

combination of God’s word as truth and the HS working through experience of the believer

Calvin:

The Christian’s present life is about making sure we do not become comfortable in it and always look to the future glory

Paul did not shy away from discomfort, pain and agony of this life

Led by the HS into the glorious future

2 Corinthians 5:8 ESV

Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

App: Following the HS is not merely an emotional stirring, nor is it only based off of a knowledge or fact based truth. It is a combination of these in which God’s truth moves us to a response that may be emotional. It is a very real experience of God in this life in a way that we experience.

Illus: Jesus and Lazarus

John 11:32–44 ESV

Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?” Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

John 11:32

One who is moving in a forward trajectory as Christ leads us is:

one who lives in community (5)

Christianity is communal

travelled together

families included

Jews and Greeks together

This means we worship together (5)

This means we serve as a missional community

The Essence of the Church, Craig Van Gelder

The church is God’s personal presence in the world through the Spirit. This makes the church, as a spiritual community, unique. -

Gelder, Craig Van. The Essence of the Church: A Community Created by the Spirit (p. 26). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Missiological ecclesiology

Understanding the church as being missionary by nature represents a more holistic way of thinking about mission. In this view, the Spirit-created church lives as the very body of Christ in the world. Its existence declares that the full power of God’s redemptive work is already active in the world through the Spirit. It lives as a demonstration that heaven has already begun for God’s people. This Spirit-led community possesses all the power of God’s presence, even while it awaits the final judgment of evil that will lead to the creation of the new heavens and new earth. -

already begun for God’s people. This Spirit-led community possesses all the power of God’s presence, even while it awaits the final judgment of evil that will lead to the creation of the new heavens and new earth.

Gelder, Craig Van. The Essence of the Church: A Community Created by the Spirit (p. 33). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

App: We are a people of community and our mission is one that is shrouded in community. As a community of people we come together as God’s church, led by his Spirt and moving toward the future. A community whose eyes are on the future, while living in the present.

Gelder, Craig Van. The Essence of the Church: A Community Created by the Spirit (p. 33). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Illus: Mother who was bleeding out after delivery in Sigonella.

Paul was moving toward death, looking at the future glory.

Acts 21:14 ESV

And since he would not be persuaded, we ceased and said, “Let the will of the Lord be done.”

Oh, if we could be a community who looked to the future in trust and simply followed with this understanding.

Lines out the door and blood provided in abundance. A community all working toward one goal, looking at the future blessings but working in the present toward that end.

One who is moving in a forward trajectory as Christ leads us is:

With no fear of death (13)

Paul had no fear of death

English Standard Version Chapter 21

13 Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” 14 And since he would not be persuaded, we ceased and said, “Let the will of the Lord be done.”

Death is a part of the Christian life

it is a part of life and we are not immune

Yet, it is not a part of our life that we see as insurmountable if we have a heart and mind for the future

We have our faith in the resurrection

Fact - Jesus was raised and we will be raised

Experience - new life in Christ as a taste of the glory to come

John 8:52 ESV

The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’

Hebrews 6:4–5 ESV

For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come,

Illus: Paul walked in faith and trust in the Lord.

Paul was moving toward death, looking at the future glory.

Acts 21:14 ESV

And since he would not be persuaded, we ceased and said, “Let the will of the Lord be done.”

Oh, if we could be a community who looked to the future in trust and simply followed with this understanding.

Conclusion

Paul followed Jesus and went to Jerusalem as he was led no matter what dangers awaited.

Just as Jesus had gone to the cross and laid down his life, Paul would go to Jerusalem.

Jesus looked to the future glories as motivation.

Paul looked to the future glories as motivation.

We should look to the future glories as motivation and not love the things of this world, not even our life.

Illus:

Reformation - 1517 Luther and 95 thesis on the church door

Wasn’t happy with the state of the church in the present as it became comfortable in this world:

put itself as the mediator of God

supplanted Christ himself

Only Scripture was understood with the help of the Church

Only works and indulgence could gain your righteousness

Luther fought these: why?

His understanding of God’s truth

His experience of a God of wrath

These being combined by the HS into an ability to live in God’s grace and mercy through Jesus Christ alone

App: Luther was not content with the present, nor enamored with the past. No, he had his eyes set on the future glories and this caused him to challenge the church of Rome to repent and reform.

Let us be a community of believers, a church of God’s people, who look to the future glories and serve faithfully as we set our mind on the work of Christ and all of its benefits.

Let us be a missional church moving forward as we follow Jesus Christ, so that He may receive all honor and praise.

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