Fruit of Renewal
Notes
Transcript
WELCOME
WELCOME
GOOD MORNING
FINAL WEEK OF SERIES
We are in the final week of our RENEWAL series
Next Week we will begin a New Series entitled | SONG ON THE ROAD TO RENEWAL
The pursuit of renewal that we have talked about over the past 5 weeks is not a quick trip to the grocery store to pick up a little renewal and then go on about our day.
Renewal is a lifelong journey of obedience surrendered to our God and King
Starting next week we will begin a 15-week study on a songbook God gave to the Hebrews for just such a journey.
Psalms of Ascent - 15 Songs that were to be sung on the journey from the home to the Jersualem as they prepared to worship God at the Temple.
We will take 15 weeks to work our way through this songs -
There themes are similar to spiritual rhythms or disciplines, yet completely different than how we’ve thought of that topic before.
My hope in our current series was to get our minds around the idea of renewal
We are going on a journey
Get ready
Pack your bags
This next series will be the songs we sing together on the long road of obedience.
READ / PRAY
READ / PRAY
REVIEW
REVIEW
DIGGING DEEP VS SKIMMING THE SURFACE
I pray that as we’ve gone through these few verse over the past 6 weeks that you have a sense at the depth, complexity, and richness of God’s word.
I love God’s Word
Big Pictures - Inter-Connected Themes across history
Smallest of Details - All displaying God’s glory for us.
In the end, they both cause us to think deeply
(1) “THINK OF ALL THIS… I FALL TO MY KNEES AND PRAY...” CULTIVATING OUR HEARTS
Do you think of all this?
Skimming vs Digging
Journey to renewal begins on our knees. We’ll be reminded of this again next week.
(2) “GLORIOUS, UNLIMITED RESOURCES...” SOIL INTO WHICH WE PLANT OUR HOPE FOR RENEWAL
The Glorious unlimited nature of God is the soil into which we plant our hope for renewal.
(3) “STRENGTHENED BY GOD...” - THIS IS OUR HOPE
First Petition - Strengthened in Your Inner Being
Mind (Head)
Emotion (Heart)
Will (Hands)
(4) “UNDERSTAND & EXPERIENCE GOD’S LOVE...” - THIS IS OUR ROOTS
Second Petition - Understand and Experience God’s Love
mind and your heart, not one or the other but both
(5) “FILLED WITH THE FULLNESS OF GOD...” - THIS IS OUR GROWTH
Third Petition - Be filled with the fulness of God
Love Justin’s illustration last week about the bottle filled with sand.
(6) FRUIT OF RENEWAL
What is the purpose and result of renewal?
The danger is this:
We conclude that the purpose of renewal is our personal development and happiness.
Is it ultimately all about us - our maturity - our happiness - our development?
This would be a very self-centered / man-centered perspective on renewal
Our desire / appetite for renewal would only be as strong as our self-focus
IN REALITY...
We are going to see that something much greater is at stake
The goal of renewal, the FRUIT of renewal is so much greater than our own personal development
BIG IDEA | The fruit of renewal is the glory of God and the joy of all peoples.
Let this sink in for a moment
Your personal renewal
Our corporate renewal
Is ultimately about the glory of God
WHAT DO WE MEAN GLORIFY GOD?
WHAT DO WE MEAN GLORIFY GOD?
THE WORD
Doxa
This is where we get the word, “doxology” - Praise God, honor, praise, worship, magnify God
THE ILLUSTRATION
But what does this mean
One of the most illustrations on this that I’ve heard was from pastor and author John Piper.
Two Types of Magnification
Microscope - small appear big
Telescope - something appears small but is actually huge
I love the Orion constellation.
At one end is a star named Rigel
It appears as a dot in the sky but in reality it is over 20x the size of our sun and some 300,000x brighter.
A telescope helps us appreciate the true size, power, and beauty of something that may initially appear small and insignificant.
Our lives are to serve as a telescope, through which others can see the true value, worthy, and beauty of God.
Today passage helps us see how the fruit of renewal magnifies God. It glories God.
GLORIFIED THROUGH US
GLORIFIED THROUGH US
“NOW ALL GLORY TO GOD”
He has strengthened our inner being
He rooted us in the knowledge and experience of his love
He filled us with the fulness of God
NOW - He is glorified
The FRUIT of renewal is the glory of God. WHY?
“HE IS ABLE… HIS MIGHTY POWER… INFINITELY MORE...”
J.B. Phillips wrote a little book entitled, Your God is Too Small.”
I wonder if this is true for some of you.
In his book, JB says, “God will inevitably appear to disappoint the man who is attempting to use Him as a convenience, a prop, or a comfort, for his own plans. God has never been known to disappoint the man who is sincerely wanting to co-operate with His own purposes.”
Is God small in your mind and heart because because you have simply tried to use him as a prop for your own purposes?
Or does God loom large in your heart and mind, like a mountain, into which you can hide and find safety and shelter - fully surrendered to his purposes.
HOW DO WE GLORIFY GOD ACCORDING TO THESE VERSES?
The danger is that we think that we glorify God by what we do for him. But let’s remind ourselves of these verses once again but this time, with the understanding that the result is God being glorified.
When we cease STRIVING and FALL TO OUR KNEES AND PRAY - God is glorified
When we STOP DRINKING FROM EMPTY WELLS and DRINK FROM THE GLORIOUS, UNLIMITED RESOURCES OF GOD - God is glorified
When we ADMIT OUR WEAKNESS and ALLOW GOD TO STRENGTHEN US IN OUR INNER BEING - God is glorified
When we STOP BEING DISTRACTED and GOD CAUSES OUR ROOTS TO SINK DEEP INTO UNDERSTANDING AND EXPERIENCING HIS LOVE - God is glorified
When we SEE OUR EMPTINESS and GOD FILLS US WITH THE FULNESS OF GOD - God is glorified
WHAT HAVE WE DONE FOR GOD AND WHAT HAS GOD DONE FOR US? God is glorified!
THIS IS SO IMPORTANT?
Some of you feel weak, broken, tired, exhausted, burdened, beaten down by life. You wonder how your life could ever glorify God. The expectation that your life is commanded to bring him glory feels like simply adding one more failure to an already long and growing list of failures.
At the beginning of this series I said that these feeling are not hinderances to renewal but may very well be the result of God’s providential hands bringing you to the starting line where the journey to renewal begins.
When you come to the end of yourself - fall to your knees - a look to God
“Now all glory to God...”
He is bigger yet, stronger still, more than you can imagine or dream - Your mind cannot comprehend
GLORIFIED BEYOND US
GLORIFIED BEYOND US
God’s glory is so expansive, such length, such width, such height and such depths that it bursts out beyond a single person.
GLORY TO GOD IN THE CHURCH (ASSEMBLY)
LIVING STONES
You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honor.
And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God.
Jesus is a living cornerstone (resurrection)
We are living stones together.
All nations, all peoples, all tribes, and language
DOES IT REALLY MEAN ALL THIS?
God’s purpose was that we Jews who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God. And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.
THE WORLD & THE CHURCH
A World of Divisions
Last night I made the mistake of scrolling through FaceBook before bed. A cloud of discouragement soon formed in my thoughts.
I saw injustice, lawlessness, name calling, arguments, and divisions
I saw some of my Christian friends participating
My sleep was restless under the weight of a heavy heart - how
The Church of Glory
“God’s Purpose… He did this so we would praise and glorify him”
What did he do?
Jesus is the healing balm to the wounds of injustice
Jesus is the eternal judge against all lawlessness
Jesus is the name above all names and he gives us a new name - son/daughter
Jesus is the bridge of reconciliation between divided peoples.
“Glory to Jesus in the church”
GLORY TO GOD IN JESUS
The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven. This shows that the Son is far greater than the angels, just as the name God gave him is greater than their names.
The fact that Jesus sat down indicates that his work of salvation is complete.
Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor
and gave him the name above all other names,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
GLORIFIED FOREVER
God’s glory extends for all eternity.
I typed into google, “How to describe eternity?”
“Its impossible for a full human understanding of the term because it will have to include some reference to time but eternity is beyond time.”
THE INFINITE, ALL-POWERFUL GOD, BEING MAGNIFIED THROUGH OUR RENEWAL
In our WEAKNESS, we look to Jesus for STRENGTH and he is glorified
In our EXHAUSTION, we look to Jesus for RENEWAL - he is glorified
In our DEFEATm we look to Jesus as our VICTORY - he is glorified
In our MOURNING OF SIN we look to Jesus as our GLADNESS - he is glorified
In our THIRST & NEED, we look to Jesus as our SATISFACTION - he is glorified.
THE FRUIT OF RENEWAL IS THE GLORY OF GOD AND JOY OF ALL PEOPLES.
COMMUNION
COMMUNION
Let us glorify God by looking to Jesus together as we celebrate the sacrament of communion.
REPENTANCE
This is for people who have surrendered their life to Jesus
In what areas of your thoughts, attitudes, and actions have you failed to magnify God this week?
Focused on the the wrong thing
Small view of God
Participating in the world’s bickering or proclaiming the hope we have in Jesus?
In this moment - repent
Acknowledge where you have fallen short in a silent prayer
LOOKING TO JESUS
BREAD
He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
CUP
In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.