SHIFT #2: Relational Shift
Notes
Transcript
Bookmarks & Needs:
Bookmarks & Needs:
Bookmark: 2 Corinthians 5:14-21
Housekeeping Stuff & Announcements:
Housekeeping Stuff & Announcements:
Thank Donna. Welcome everyone to the family gathering.
It’s a new day here at EHBC, and many of our church family are gathered here to worship together… it’s a great joy to see your faces…well, your eyes at least. =o) We’ve called today kind of a “soft opening” of in-person services in the church building, and this is because, first of all: not everyone is here.
But we are still streaming, and many of our church family members are out there watching right now, as well as many who have started watching in other parts of the country, so can we just turn to the camera in the sound booth and tell them that we love them? On three, we’re all going wave and shout, “We love you!” Thanks for doing that!
Second, we are calling this a “soft opening” because we are going to be doing some things very differently today. I’m not sure what this will mean long-term, but I pray that today, we have an anticipation of something new… a service unlike any I can recall Eastern Hills ever having before, at least during my time here, which has been over 30 years.
Third and finally, we are calling this a “soft opening” because we intend on really celebrating when we can finally bring the whole church family back together safely under one roof to worship the Lord together as His people. For now, we’re thrilled to be together to this extent. We’ll really celebrate when the family reunion comes to full fruition. For today, we’re going to keep our masks on (except me since I’m speaking), we’re going to maintain safe social distancing practices, and we’re doing all of that out of love for one another. Thanks for understanding this. I look forward to one day not having to be concerned about that.
When we started streaming after the stay-at-home order, I had originally kind of kept our sort of “normal” order of service the same as we usually did it. I received much feedback that once the songs were over, people were ready to hear the message, so they didn’t think two separate announcement times were good for flow. I agree. So for now, we’re going to keep it that way. We will go from our more “active” worship time into our examination of the Scriptures, and we’ll do all of the housekeeping stuff up front.
This morning, there might be some here or watching online who are just checking Eastern Hills out. We have a text response system called Text-In-Church that we use to helps us stay in contact. If you’re here in the building today for the first time, and you’d like to receive some follow up, prayer, are have some questions, we’d appreciate it if you would text the word SCREEN WELCOME to 505-339-2004. You’ll get a text back with a link asking for more information. Thanks for taking the time to fill that out. Now, even though many of us are back in the building this morning, we know that many are watching who have never even been here physically. We’re going to keep streaming in the future. We would love to continue to worship with you in the weeks, months, and years to come, and so we’d like to be able to communicate with you as well. SCREEN If you’re visiting with us online, you can text the word LIVE to 505-339-2004. Like the local group, it will ask you to click a link just to provide us with your name and email address. We want to be able to pray for you, follow up with you if you have any questions, and keep you apprised about things as we look forward into the coming weeks and months. Text LIVE to 505-339-2004 for online only. Text WELCOME for local. Thanks.
One other way that you can connect is that we have this morning’s service all set up on YouVersion, so you should be able to see it if you get on YouVersion and look for our Live Event.
SCREEN GRAD SUNDAY DRIVE-IN NEXT SUNDAY 5/31 at 9 am, bring or mail cards from now to then. Unfortunately, I don’t think you can give to the grads online. There is a list of this year’s grads on our Announcements page and on the Student Ministry page, so you can know who is graduating this year. We may stream that service live at 9, and then a replay at 10:30. We’re working on the logistics of that. But also, that night at 8:45, we will have an outdoor viewing (weather permitting) of the graduate video that we have traditionally shown during the morning service. Please plan to come and enjoy that as well.
PRAY
Alternate Forms of Worship Service
Alternate Forms of Worship Service
As I said in my opening, we are going to do something today that is perhaps unlike any service I’ve been a part of here at Eastern Hills. With the concern that singing can be a “superspreader” of COVID-19, we decided that this morning, we would have a service without singing.
For many of us, singing and worshiping the Lord go hand-in-hand. It really is that way for me. I love to sing and play the guitar, the drums, or another instrument both to the Lord and to lead others to worship Him. Leading worship and praise in song for the past 9 weeks has been a blessing, and a lot of fun, especially because I’ve gotten to do this with my wife and daughter.
Music seems to kind of transcend the spoken word. Putting lyric to melody evokes in us a different response to what is being said, and I think part of that is because we are sharing in it together, singing the same thing, at the same time, in the same key, to the same Lord. There’s great community there.
However, the other side of that coin is that we in many ways define worship as “singing.” It’s not wrong for singing to be “worship,” but that doesn’t mean that worship is always singing. Sure, the psalms have great passages about singing to the Lord. Consider just Psalm 47:6-7 as an example:
6 Sing praise to God, sing praise; sing praise to our King, sing praise! 7 Sing a song of wisdom, for God is King of the whole earth.
This singing is commanded. We should sing praise. But this isn’t the only way to worship the Lord. He made us to be dynamic beings, in His dynamic likeness. We are not strapped to a single viable form of worship. Consider these other passages:
6 Come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. 7 For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, the sheep under his care. Today, if you hear his voice:
Physical posture: kneeling, as an act of worship.
18 I will praise you in the great assembly; I will exalt you among many people.
Declaring God’s greatness as an act of worship.
In my opinion, one of the greatest worship services recorded in Scripture had no music… just the reading and explanation of Scripture:
2 On the first day of the seventh month, the priest Ezra brought the law before the assembly of men, women, and all who could listen with understanding. 3 While he was facing the square in front of the Water Gate, he read out of it from daybreak until noon before the men, the women, and those who could understand. All the people listened attentively to the book of the law.
5 Ezra opened the book in full view of all the people, since he was elevated above everyone. As he opened it, all the people stood up. 6 Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and with their hands uplifted all the people said, “Amen, Amen!” Then they knelt low and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.
These are just a few of the things that we can do, from biblical examples, to worship the Lord together. And that’s because the point of worship is focusing on God, not ourselves.
While singing is a great way to worship the Lord, it is certainly not the only way. This morning, we are going to participate in just a few other ways of worshiping together, and my hope and prayer is that doing this together would broaden our concept and framework of worship. That this would especially be a blessing to those who can’t sing a lick or play an instrument at all.
First of all, we are going to participate in a responsive reading together. Psalm 136 is very likely a responsive reading, with the congregation replying to every line, “His faithful love endures forever.” Our hymnals (which you don’t have in front of you) contain several responsive readings, each one constructed from Scripture. We will use three of these responsive readings this morning in place of songs:
This is Responsive Reading 170:
This is Responsive Reading 170:
WL: I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify Your name forever. For great is Your love toward me; You have delivered me from the depths of the grave.”
W: For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will have the power to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!
One way we can glorify His name together is to reflect upon some of the names our God has in Scripture:
NAMES OF GOD VIDEO (3 minutes)
Responsive Reading #4:
Responsive Reading #4:
WL: “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “the One who is, who was, and who is coming, the Almighty.”
W: Great and awe-inspiring are Your works, Lord God, the Almighty; righteous and true are Your ways, King of the Nations.
WL: Lord, who will not fear and glorify Your name? Because You alone are holy, because all the nations will come and worship before You, because Your righteous acts have been revealed.
W: The Mighty One has done great things for me, and His name is holy.
There are other physical ways that the Bible suggests for worshiping our God:
1 Clap your hands, all you peoples; shout to God with a jubilant cry.
Taking other actions: clapping, shouting, as acts of worship unto God. Everyone, of almost any age, can take part in these forms of worship, even if they can’t yet read.
We are going to take thirty seconds to clap in praise to our God. This will seem like a long time, given that we usually only clap for 5 or 6 seconds. During this time, focus your applause on the One we are applauding to and for: the One whom we have just reflected on and Whose greatness we have just declared.
APPLAUSE for 30 seconds
This is Responsive Reading #617
This is Responsive Reading #617
WL: I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
W: For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God, after being put to death in the fleshly realm but made alive in the spiritual realm.
WL: God presented Him as propitiation through faith in His blood, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His restraint God passed over the sins previously committed.
W: We are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. therefore if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come.
WL: Now everything is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them.
W: May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
WL: I meditate on all You have done; I reflect on the work of Your hands.
W: He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Now that we have given the Lord our applause, and reflected on what He has done for us in Christ, we will pray, and then together, we will do the other part of Psalm 47:1, as we shout “amen” together as we close this time of worship.
PRAY
SHOUT “AMEN” at the close as our final congregational act of worship.
Opening
Opening
Last Sunday, we started a three-part “mini-series” of messages that I had written for our BCNM student camps a couple of years ago, and then preached through at our evening services later. Several of our evening service attenders requested that I share these messages with the entire church family. We started last week with Shift #1: Reality Shift. You can find that message on our website, on our YouTube channel, and on our Facebook page if you missed it. The focal passage for this series is 2 Corinthians 5:14-21. Let’s stand together and read that now.
14 For the love of Christ compels us, since we have reached this conclusion: If one died for all, then all died. 15 And he died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the one who died for them and was raised. 16 From now on, then, we do not know anyone from a worldly perspective. Even if we have known Christ from a worldly perspective, yet now we no longer know him in this way. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come! 18 Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. 19 That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf: “Be reconciled to God.” 21 He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Pray
How many of the people in the room wear glasses?
I used to have 20/20 vision. I had no problem seeing things far away, and no problem reading the fine print on things like shirt tags, advertisements, and junk mail. You know, the really important stuff. =o)
However, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve started to notice that I am becoming increasingly farsighted: I can see things far away just fine, but things close to my face are difficult to see well. I started having to hold small print further and further away from my eyes, and then it would be too small to read. But if I held it close enough to read it, it was too blurry to understand. Numbers were the worst… because I had a hard time telling the difference between a 3, 6, 8, and 9.
It’s important to note that I really didn’t want to try on the readers. This was a question of pride: if I tried on readers, then I was admitting that I couldn’t see, and that was the same as admitting I was old. (I’m not proud of this…)
One day, a friend saw me struggling to read something and offered me their readers to help. “No, thanks… I’m good,” I said. “No, really… you should try them.” “OK, fine…” And I tried on the readers.
It was like magic! My whole perspective on the tiny type I was reading changed. It became clear as it could be, and I could make out every little letter and punctuation mark. I was hooked.
Putting on the glasses changed how I saw things. I saw things as they really were: the way they were meant to be seen. You could say that those readers changed the way I related to what I was looking at.
Last week, we looked at three Reality shifts that happen in our lives when we surrender to Christ: Not In to In, Old to New, and Sinful to Righteous. Today, we’re going to talk about how that Reality Shift should create a RELATIONAL SHIFT: a change in how we see Jesus, ourselves, and others as well.
RELATIONAL SHIFT #1: HOW WE SEE JESUS
RELATIONAL SHIFT #1: HOW WE SEE JESUS
14 For the love of Christ compels us, since we have reached this conclusion: If one died for all, then all died. 15 And he died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the one who died for them and was raised. 16 From now on, then, we do not know anyone from a worldly perspective. Even if we have known Christ from a worldly perspective, yet now we no longer know him in this way.
We need to start at the end of verse 16 to have a good place to start looking at the rest of these three verses. (start with “even if...”)
16 From now on, then, we do not know anyone from a worldly perspective. Even if we have known Christ from a worldly perspective, yet now we no longer know him in this way.
When Paul wrote about knowing Jesus from a “worldly perspective,” he was getting at how people might only think about Jesus as a man, and not as the Son of God, the Messiah, the Christ.
For example, some might say that Jesus was just a good man and teacher who died a tragic death.
How would that work with what Jesus said in John 14:7-9?
7 If you know me, you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” 8 “Lord,” said Philip, “show us the Father, and that’s enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been among you all this time and you do not know me, Philip? The one who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
Jesus said that if someone knows Him, then they know the Father. If they have seen him, then they have seen the Father. He is saying clearly that He and the Father are One and the same.
30 I and the Father are one.”
This is either true or not. Either Jesus is God or these statements are not true.
If Jesus was a good man, would He lie?
If Jesus was a good teacher, would He teach false things?
Certainly not. He is more than a good man or a good teacher. He is God, just as He said He is.
Another example: some might say that Jesus was a political revolutionary trying to overthrow the government who was killed for treason.
How would that work with what Jesus said in John 10:14-18?
14 “I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 But I have other sheep that are not from this sheep pen; I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. Then there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17 This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have the right to lay it down, and I have the right to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”
Jesus said that He voluntarily lays down His life for the sheep.
How could He lead a revolution from the grave?
An even better question: How could He have risen from that grave if He were not exactly who He said He was: the Messiah, the Son of God?
He couldn’t have. And Jesus never tried to overthrow the government, and His disciples didn’t try to after He died and rose. Not much of a political revolution.
For Paul, who wrote the letter that our focal passage comes from, he probably had hated the name of Jesus before his salvation, because he would have felt like it was a blasphemous lie against God, because he didn’t believe what Jesus claimed could be true. He saw him from a “worldly perspective.”
But here, Paul wrote that he “no longer [knows] Him in this way.” (the “worldly perspective.”)
So the first relational shift is seeing Jesus in a spiritual way: as completely man, but also completely God. He is the One who came to die for the sins of mankind in order to offer salvation to all mankind.
If we don’t see Jesus in this spiritual way, then our other two shifts for this message are going to be just about impossible.
RELATIONAL SHIFT #2: HOW WE SEE OURSELVES
RELATIONAL SHIFT #2: HOW WE SEE OURSELVES
14 For the love of Christ compels us, since we have reached this conclusion: If one died for all, then all died. 15 And he died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the one who died for them and was raised.
In verse 14, Paul wrote that Christ’s love compels him (“us” here is authorial… 2 Cor. 1:1 says that Paul and Timothy are writing this… probably Paul dictating, with Timothy doing the writing) to do what he is doing: sharing the Gospel (verse 11).
The idea of being “compelled” is that the love of Christ “squeezes” Paul, basically giving him no choice but to share the Gospel.
He explains that this compulsion of love is because of what Jesus did: the One (Christ) died for all.
This passage might be a little confusing: it reads that “if One died for all, then all died.” Let me explain: Christ has died for all sin as a representative of all humanity… so “One died for all.” How can we conclude “then all died” because of the fact that Jesus died for all?
Paul is a little more clear about this in Romans 5:
12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all people, because all sinned.
The first man, Adam, sinned, and we all sin just like he did. And death came through sin.
Jesus had to die for all because all are dead in sin apart from Christ. If there was some other way to be saved, then Jesus didn’t need to die.
This doesn’t mean that all are saved, because of how verse 15 reads: “…so that those who live…” While all of humanity is worthy of death because of their sins, because of Christ there are two possibilities of death: either someone is dead IN their sin because of their refusal to surrender to Christ, or dead TO their sin because of their surrender to the work of Christ, and are saved.
This second relational shift is this: Jesus died for all SO THAT we are new, as we spoke of in the first study, and because we are new, we should see ourselves differently:
Going back to our first point, if we see Jesus correctly as fully man AND fully God, then we understand that He has all authority over our lives. Like Paul, His love compels us to love others by sharing the truth of the love of Christ with them.
We should see that we are not merely our own… we should no longer live for ourselves alone, but for Jesus who died for us and was raised.
7 For none of us lives for himself, and no one dies for himself. 8 If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.
Understand that this means that our lives are to be different as a result of this change in how we see ourselves. If we have gone from NOT IN to IN, OLD to NEW, and SINFUL to RIGHTEOUS, our lives should reflect that fact because Jesus paid for our lives with His own.
What does “no longer living for ourselves” look like when it comes to our priorities?
We strive to bring glory to God first, rather than ourselves.
We strive to serve God first, rather than ourselves.
We strive to love God first, rather than ourselves.
RELATIONAL SHIFT #3: HOW WE SEE OTHERS
RELATIONAL SHIFT #3: HOW WE SEE OTHERS
Just the first half…to the word “perspective”
16 From now on, then, we do not know anyone from a worldly perspective. Even if we have known Christ from a worldly perspective, yet now we no longer know him in this way.
In what sorts of “worldly perspectives” do we see others?
Favorite sports team
Clothes they wear or car they drive
School they attend, where they work, or what they do for a living
Age
Political party
Economic status
Gender
Race
Why should we NOT know anyone from a purely worldly perspective now?
Because we are compelled by the love of Christ to see them from a spiritual perspective.
Because those other people are not just a label that we put on them.
Because they are some of the “all” for whom Christ died.
Because we do not live only for ourselves, but for Jesus.
This third relational shift says that since we aren’t to see anyone from a worldly perspective from now on, we should see people the way Jesus sees them: as His beloved creation, created in His image (Gen. 1:27) worthy of respect, dignity, and His love.
16 For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
And salvation through the Gospel is available to all.
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek.
This aspect will be fleshed out a little more in the third message on June 7.
Closing
Closing
These shifts (how we see Jesus, how we see ourselves, and how we see others) are about our RELATIONSHIPS: How we RELATE to others and ourselves. Jesus is fully God and fully man, and He died so that we could be in relationship with God through faith in Him. Since He did that, if we are saved, we don’t only live for ourselves, but for Him. And because we live for Him, we have to relate to others the way He relates to us: in love.
Since Jesus is fully God, He has a total claim on our lives: every part of them. Christian brother and sister, think for a moment: What is an aspect of your life that you have refused to give Jesus control over? Are you willing to give Him that part of your life today?
If we are in Christ, we have died to our sins, and we are alive in Christ. Our lives are now to be centered on living for Jesus, and making Him known to others as we show them His love personally.
The challenge for each of us today is to see Jesus as Lord, see ourselves as His subjects, and see others in love, just as He does.
If you have never surrendered your life to God through faith in Jesus Christ, then today, right now, trust in Christ alone for your salvation and begin to experience the reality shift we talked about last week, and the relational shifts we talked about today.
We are not going to have a personal invitation time, due to social distancing. However, if this morning you have surrendered your life to Christ, we want to know about it so we can follow up with you and answer any questions you might have, whether you’re online or here in person. Please email us at info@ehbc.org, and I or one of the other pastors will follow up with you.
After I pray, use this reflection time to respond to God, to give your offering if you’re giving online, or just to reflect on how wonderful our God is. We do have the offering plates set up in the back, and you can give as you leave this morning if you’d like to do that.
Pray
Reflection song from Donna.
Tomorrow is Memorial Day, a day to remember those who in defense of our nation gave what Abraham Lincoln called their “last full measure of devotion...” dying so that we might live free. We honor their sacrifice with a moment of silence.
I want to thank each and every one of you for coming today, and for worshiping with us. We are going to exit through the doors to the courtyard, and are going to dismiss by rows, starting in the back and working forward, while Donna plays our postlude. Our safety and security people will help organize our exit time. God bless you, and we’ll see you at the drive-in service honoring our graduates next week!