Walking in A Winter Wonderland
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· 14 viewsWalking as a Christian as a witness, witha biblical worldview, with worship.
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
If you have not begun to sing Christmas Carols, let me be the first to implant the idea into your head.
“Walking in A Winter Wonderland” - Words by Dick Smith music by Felix Bernard (1934)
Sleigh bells ring
are you listening
in the lane
snow is glistening
A beautiful sight
we're happy tonight
walking in a winter wonderland
A couple who fall in love and enjoy the experiences of winter.
A desire to walk in a Utopian world. There is a desire to experience the joys of life in the things of life itself.
The problem with this, is it is temporal and fleeting.
There are many things we experience that come and go. When I was a kid I spent a lot of my time collecting baseball cards. When I couldn’t play baseball, I lived it and experienced it through these little cardboard pictures.
All of us have things in our life that give us a temporal feeling of Utopia and pleasure. They give us the feeling tat we are walking in a winter wonderland.
The reality is that for the Christian thee things are not where our Utopia lies. We know that we were created for God’s glory. So, how do the things we experience in this life lead us to glorify God? Do they? Are they disconnected? Do we practice living life as a Christian in some spheres of life, but not in others? Are we confused?
Principles of Faith
Principles of Faith
Walk as a Witness
“Walk” -
περιπατέω - peripateow - Walk/live
Present Active Verb -
As you are walking about - living life in this journey
Same word used to describe Jesus ministry
After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him.
John
“in Him”
This is NOT walking after him
as our example
as our teacher
This is speaking to our engrafting (Union) with Christ
into His death and life
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.
Paul is speaking of a real union with Jesus Christ in which we share in his death, resurrection and life.
This is important to understand for this life - the life we live
John Calvin - Institutes
Institutes of the Christian Religion 6. Baptism as Token of Our Union with Christ
Lastly, our faith receives from baptism the advantage of its sure testimony to us that we are not only engrafted into the death and life of Christ, but so united to Christ himself that we become sharers in all his blessings.
Believed that this “mystical union” should be seen by us as of the “highest importance”
We should approach life on this earth with the understanding that Christ takes us unto himself so that everything he has accomplished in His earthly ministry is directly received by us, through adoption.
We share in the benefits of Christ’s work
Walk with a Biblical Worldview (Mind)
This is what Paul means by being “in him”
As the Trinity is “mysteriously” united, as Christ’s two natures are “mysteriously” united in one person, we as believers are “mysteriously united” to Jesus Christ our Lord
App: This brings with it a bigger idea of being a Christian who is simply looking to Jesus as a good example. No, as his people we are united to him in a very real way. Therefore, being a witness as we “walk” carries a deeper meaning. It means:
God is present through our union with Christ
We experience something others do not, the presence of God our Father, with the knowledge of grace and salvation. We no longer fear God’s wrath.
“The approach of God to the soul or of the soul to God is not to be thought of in spatial terms at all. There is no idea of physical distance involved in the concept. It is not a matter of miles but of experience.” A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God, 61.
God is present in the world through us
Christ’s earthly ministry ended when Jesus ascended into heaven, yet His Kingdom still remains, and we are the physical manifestation of Jesus presence here on earth
We, therefore, are the visible church, and His witness
Walk with a Biblical Worldview
rooted and built up in Him
Rooted: as a plant has its roots in the ground
Implies the indwelling spirit of Christ
so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
Eph
Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
Illus: Linda and I live in a house where someone must have received a really good deal on shrubs. They are everywhere. Boxwoods, holly, etc . . . We have spent two summers trying to uproot them. Started with hacking them with an axe. moved to digging and cutting the roots. Finally like any man, I used my Jeep and a very strong rope to yank them out.
Oh, if we were a people that could have our roots solidly placed in Jesus Christ, in al that we do.
established in the faith
Confirmed: faith is the experience that confirms the indwelling of Christ
Life and its circumstances are experiential, our faith should be also
having a knowledge of God is not enough, it must be applied
being rooted in the knowledge of God is then combined with our experiences of faith in this life that confirm what we know about Jesus.
Illus:
Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Christ is all we need when we are not tied to this world and all that is offers.
When one is challenged by losing their job, filing for bankruptcy, or any other financial challenge, they will then more than likely feel alone, worthless, hopeless, etc . . . Only Jesus Christ “who never leaves” them, is where their faith leads them, if rooted in Jesus.
App: In order for us to learn about God we should be disciples of Jesus. Learning in private study and reflection. Coming together and learning in group studies. Coming and listening to the sermon. What we take in tends to form our worldview. It is the reason people sometimes drift from the truth.
Foundation: A disciples of Jesus, one who has His spirit indwelling, will have a worldview rooted in Jesus. Every thought being held captive:
Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure—not to put it too severely—to all of you.
We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,
Growth: A disciples of Jesus, desires to know him and grow in their understanding. This knowledge leads us to love God more. It also causes us to live a life of obedience toward our neighbor. Love God, love neighbor.
2 coer 2:5
Walk with a worshipful heart
“abounding in Thanksgiving”
Thanksgiving is worship - giving thanks
When we have these experiences they will lead us to one of two places: To be disgruntled and hating these experiences (world) or embracing them with thanksgiving
Giving thanks for what we have been given
This includes: People, jobs, circumstances, life transitions, illnesses, etc . . .
If we believe what we say, that God is Sovereign, then we will see every experience as God given and appointed by Him for us.
We can either complain about where God has us, or we can thank him for it.
This is easy to say, yet hard to practice.
It is not to be a discipline of our own doing. Rather, it is rooted in what we have been reminded, about the indwelling Spirit of Jesus
Jesus was able to embrace his plight in this sinful world, and not of his own human strength. He did so, with the HS.
Everything he experienced in this life was to bring worship to God the Father.
When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
Our experiences as a disciple in this life, lead to a knowledge of God, which lead us to only one response - Worship of God
App: Far too often worship of God is seen as something we only do on Sunday AM. Or, it is seen as a chore that we must do. If I do not show up on Sunday the elders or maybe even the pastor may call me and check on me. Then I have to have an excuse. So, therefore I better just show up. No, rather, if we truly experience Christ throughout the week as Paul is pointing out then we won’t only want to show up on Sunday, but we will be asking the elders if we can come more often.
Illus: I believe this to be one of the impacts on the loss of many churches over the recent years, as well as a diminishing practice of corporate worship. I grew up in a world in which we went to a “worship” service on Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night. Worship has diminished in our hearts because Christ has been reduced.
Yet, in this passage Paul is clearly reminding us that Jesus indwelling Spirit is a real, even though mystical, presence that moves us to be a witness as we walk in him, to have a biblical worldview as we walk in him and to have an heart of abundant worship in him.
Without it, we do not even have the faith to look to Christ.
Conclusion
Conclusion
As Christians we are called to experience life with the knowledge of the indwelling Spirit of Jesus Christ. And, because of this we can do as Paul reminds us:
“Walk in Jesus” “Be rooted in Jesus” “Be established on Jesus”
When we do these things in the power of Jesus indwelling spirit we will have a heart and spirit overflowing in Worship of God.
To walk as a disciple means we are a witness to the indwelling spirit of Jesus, that our worldview is rooted and established in Jesus and his teaching, and that we spend our life in worship of God through Jesus Christ.
This is why the phrase “in him” is so important. With out Jesus none of this is possible. Don’t attempt to do these things on your own.