Living Beyond Redemption

This year our 2020 theme is “Seeing Spiritually.”

We are looking to see with both natural eyes and with spiritual eyes, to see what God is doing.

Less than a fourth of the way into the year, the whole world has come to a halt because of an “unseen enemy” - COVID-19.

Now, most of us are being compelled to stay in our homes which means, as a church, we are forced to conduct much of our activity online.

When news of these restrictions first came out, I became very alarmed.

First of all, because I’m new here and I’m looking forward to getting to know people, and this is making it more difficult.

Secondly, because I work with people and I know that many people don’t do well when they don’t have the direct support of other people. We are created for relationship, not social distancing.

Thirdly, I think there is a much bigger picture playing out here that has to do with power and control and kingdoms clashing in the world and in the spirit realm. But that’s not my subject here.

My point is, that when churches are not able to meet, how do we continue to “be the church”?

We know that the church is not the building or the programs and services, but it’s the people.

But much of what we do in church centers around gathering as the church.

We see in Acts that the believers were in “one accord.”

Acts 1:14 ESV

14 All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

After a time of gathering, the church was then scattered by persecution.

Acts 8:1 ESV

1 And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.

This did not end the church, rather, this is how the church spread and grew.

So the church continues to be the church whether gathered or scattered.

We just finished a series called “Redemption Stories,” a study on the book of Ruth and its fulfilment in Christ’s death and Resurrection.

Where do we go from here?

After Jesus dies an rose again, He ascended and gave His Holy Spirit to the church to complete His mission on earth.

Those whom Christ redeemed are now the people of God, not just Jewish followers of Jesus, but believers in Christ from every nation.

God was not just redeeming a people for Himself; He was redeeming a people who would take His message of redemption to the ends of the earth, to people who may have been thought to be beyond redemption.

To be the church means to be the people that God has redeemed and to live out the purpose for which He has redeemed us.

God didn’t save you just to go to heaven when you die.

God didn’t just save you to live a good life and do good.

God didn’t just save you for relationship with Him (getting warmer).

God saved you to be like Him; to reflect His image, to be in Christ and to be a conduit of His Holy Spirit.

Let’s look at a scripture that I shared last week about being re-stamped in God's image and unpack more of what God has intended for us:

Seeing beyond deception

2 Corinthians 4:1–4 ESV

1 Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. 2 But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

God made you to reflect His image.

Remember what Adam and Eve were tempted with at the fall? It was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Before that mankind knew only goodness, because they walked with God.

They trusted God completely and they enjoyed perfect innocence.

The serpent deceived them first of all by causing them to doubt God, to think that He might be holding something from them.

Then he planted the seed of pride in their hearts by telling them that they would be like God.

They were already like God, made in His image! God is good!

Sin distorts God’s image.

Knowing good from evil does not make you like God, it meanss you have to choose moment by moment and day by day, who you are going to be.

That seed of pride in each of us distorts God in our minds.

It makes us question God at every turn. It makes us trust our own judgement more than God’s Word.

We think we are so clever. We can twist anything to make it sound the way that we want to hear it.

In Universities and Seminaries across America people are being taught not to believe the Bible. From the “higher criticism” of the last century, scholars have learned to entertain their doubts more than to reinforce their beliefs. I have had numerous professors tell me that, “you can make the Bible say anything you want it to say.”

But is that the point? To make the Bible say what you want it to say? When we interpret the scriptures are we looking for something to support an idea that we have or are we seeking God to see what He would say to us? Whatever happened to a genuine search for truth?

I was taught and I myself teach, that what we are looking for is not some deeper meaning or lofty ideas but the plain meaning of scripture. The most profound truth is simple, anyone should be able to understand it.

Karie and several others shared in their testimony that they didn’t understand the Bible until they committed their life to Christ.

That is because God’s Word is meant to change you.

If you are not willing to change you will probably doubt most of what you read or simply not comprehend it.

Karie refers to witnessing as “sharing truth.”

We are not trying to convince people that we are right and they are wrong.

We are simple declaring what we have found to be true and they can take it or leave it.

If it’s true, it should be self-evident. If it’s not self-evident, then it is because it is against what they have chosen to believe.

Jesus brings God’s image to light!

If it were arbitrarily up to us to show the world the truth about God, then I think we would fail because none of us does it perfectly.

That’s why we point to Jesus, He is the perfect image of God.

We reflect God’s image more or less according to how well we are following Jesus.

Notice that in this passage, minds are actively blinded by spiritual forces.

It starts with our own rebellion against God, but it is reinforced by satanic strongholds that keep peoples thoughts bound to anything but the truth that can set them free.

I think a perfect example of this is the fear that has so permeated our society and the world right now. Yes, this is a serious situation. We have a virus for which we have no natural immunity and no tested cure. But when you look at the numbers it’s a lesser threat than many other known afflictions and diseases.

So what makes the world come to a stop for this virus? It’s the unknown factor. We don’t know who may have it and not know it. We don’t know when it’s being transmitted until sometime after it has already happened.

In the absence of knowing, we are left to our imaginations. That’s where fear comes in. What if you have it? What if you are responsible for someone else getting it? Those are good questions to ask, but fear causes us to imagine the worst.

Now that we are “past the peak” and the worst case scenarios that were first portrayed are no longer likely even by the most conservative estimates, we can talk about what probably happened.

We have a credible threat with an unknown element. Fear paints a worst case scenario. That scenario is promoted by media which makes its money from emotionally driven stories. That story hits a politically charged atmosphere where the leaders of our nation are already looking for reason to blame and we get a response that is definitely going to err on the side of caution even if it seems extreme.

So we have this stronghold of fear that is suffocating our nation.

What is the remedy? To see the light of the glory of God in Jesus!

What are we really afraid of? We are afraid of what we don’t know!

Shame? Suffering? Death? These things have never stopped us before!

I’m not saying we shouldn’t be careful. I’m saying we shouldn’t be afraid!

This could be the greatest opportunity of our lifetime to show the world who Jesus is!

Showing glory beyond ourselves

2 Corinthians 4:5–10 ESV

5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.

God made you to be in Christ.

Remember last week we said that when God looks at you He sees Jesus? Well when other people look at you, they need to see Jesus too!

You may say, “that’s a lot of pressure!” “I’m not perfect!”

People are going to see you fall, let them see you get back up again.

You’re a jar of clay, but you contain treasure inside!

The Archaeological Encyclopedia of the Holy Land Dead Sea Scrolls

DEAD SEA SCROLLS The Dead Sea Scrolls are perhaps the greatest archaeological discovery of the present century. The seven scrolls were found by a Bedouin in a cave near the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, in 1947. Some of these were acquired by E.L. Sukenik for the Hebrew University while the rest were sold in the United States and later bought by the Government of Israel; all are now kept in the Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem. Shortly after the first discovery several scholars, and larger numbers of Bedouins, began the hunt for more scrolls. Numerous additional ones were found in the vicinity of Khirbet Qumran, and some in four other caves to the north of that site.

If you are in Christ, then Christ is in you.

It doesn’t matter that you are weak, God will use you to touch the world.

God made you to shine His light.

2 Corinthians 4:6 AMP

6 For God Who said, Let light shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts so as [to beam forth] the Light for the illumination of the knowledge of the majesty and glory of God [as it is manifest in the Person and is revealed] in the face of Jesus Christ (the Messiah).

The reference in verse 6 is to God speaking light into existence at creation.

The implied meaning is that when we speak the truth as redeemed people in Christ our declaration has the power to illuminate the darkness.

When we speak truth it’s like turning on a light.

People will say, “why couldn’t I see that before”?

The fact that you are weak or just plain normal means that God gets the glory for what He does through you.

God made you to radiate His life.

Paul talks about his suffering here.

Perhaps you can relate to that and perhaps you can’t.

The point is that new life is happening.

People are coming to Christ.

People are being restored to God’s original design.

Good things are happening all around him!

Paul sees a parallel to Jesus’ death and resurrection.

The persecution that they are experiencing is the death part.

But the life that is produced by the gospel is the resurrection.

Just like Jesus, Paul will gladly endure the death to get to resurrection!

You might think that standing up here preaching a sermon would feel pretty good. Sometimes it does. There is an energy that comes with preaching under the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

But it might surprise you to learn that some days I don’t feel like it. In fact, if I were to be really honest, some Sundays I don’t even want to go to church.

I’m not asking for pity, I really do have a point. The point is that I have learned that it doesn’t matter how I feel, God can use me regardless of whether I feel anointed or whether I’m ...meh.

Actually, I have found that sometimes when I’m at my worst, that’s when someone really gets blessed. Times like that have helped me to realize that it doesn’t matter how I feel, God will use me because it’s not about me it’s about Him!

I’m not getting beat up and stoned like the Apostle Paul, so maybe its not a good comparison. But perhaps you can relate better to my story?

God wants to bless people through you.

His life radiates through you.

Your faith, your response to God, may be what God uses to turn someone from death to life and from darkness to light.

Living life beyond mortality

2 Corinthians 4:11–18 ESV

11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So death is at work in us, but life in you. 13 Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, 14 knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. 15 For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. 16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

God made you to be a conduit of His Holy Spirit.

When Jesus was raised from the dead He ascended into heaven and promised to send the Holy Spirit to the church.

The Holy Spirit is what empowers the people of God (the church) to carry out the mission of God.

We will talk more about that mission next week, but for now I want you to begin to be more aware of who you are and what you have to offer.

By seeing spiritually, you will know that you can do more by the Holy Spirit working through you than you could do on your own.

Paul is being persecuted, but he is encouraged by the results.

“It’s not what it looks like,” he would say, “it looks like we are loosing, but we’re winning!”

Remember the resurrection, death always looks overwhelming, but life wins in the end!

What would you do if you really knew the fullness of the power that is in you by the Holy Spirit!

What could you do if you were not afraid?

If you had nothing to loose?

If you knew that this world is not all there is and this life is not the end?

God made you to speak declarations of life.

I said last week that our faith is a reflection of God’s faithfulness.

Our response to God empowers us to be like Him.

More than that, He has given us His Spirit.

So our believing gives us the the power to speak life.

Paul quotes a Psalm here which is reminiscent of what Jesus experienced on the cross.

Psalm 116:10–11 ESV

10 I believed, even when I spoke: “I am greatly afflicted”; 11 I said in my alarm, “All mankind are liars.”

What did Jesus say on the cross? “Father forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing!”

Paul also puts a twist on this Psalm in that, instead of believing, despite his suffering, believing has become his declaration of life.

Paul talks about the grace of God spreading and increasing.

Just looking with natural eyes, people are probably wondering just how much Paul and his companions can endure?

But to Paul, that’s nothing!

From an eternal perspective, his suffering is causing the gospel to spread more rapidly and that, in the long run, is far more important.

God intends your life to have eternal value.

God redeemed you for a purpose, but that purpose is much bigger than you know.

On my preaching calendar for the year, I had these next few weeks designated as a time to talk about spiritual gifts, and we may get to that. But I realized in light of the current situation that a teaching on spiritual gifts, as least the usual way that we teach it, was not appropriate right now.

We usually think of spiritual gifts as being the way that we each contribute to the working of the church. But what does that mean when the church is not meeting in the normal way? That brings me back to the question of this series, “What does it mean to be the church? Maybe spiritual gifts are not just about how we serve in the church, but also how we serve the world around us?

Expect that in the coming weeks and months our idea of what is means to be the church will change from merely going to church to living out our calling as believer in Christ wherever we are scattered. We as the body of Christ still want to support and encourage one another, but we are all being deployed into our communities as God’s people with a purpose.

God only knows what all of this means in light of eternity and what will come of it.

If we are seeing spiritually then we can say like Paul:

2 Corinthians 4:17–18 The Message

17 These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. 18 There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever.

I am sure of this, you are not here just to ride this out. God has a purpose for you that will have an eternal impact.

Keep your spiritual eyes wide open and your heart tuned to his Holy Spirit to see what that might be.

Questions for Reflection:

What are you seeing? What is God speaking to you through this time? Is there anything that God has shown you or told you which requires a response?

How are you holding up? Has this time of testing made you aware of your weakness? Where have you seen God’s power exceed your own strength or ability?

What role do you, as a Christian, have in making a positive difference? How is God using this situation for His glory? How is God using you to make an eternal impact?