Embodying God's Word

The task of the Church

Welcome back to my last series here at NCF. We are in week 2 of this series I am just calling, “The divine conspiracy”

It is about God’s great plan to act in this earth…It is about God’s great plan to take the rebellion of the human heart and to bring it back to himself

Last week we talked about one of the ways that God does this is through building a new family. The whole of scripture is God re-uniting his long lost family around the headship of jesus Christ

So last week my whole point was this

1. The church is the most revolutionary family in the world , with the most revolutionary mission of all time.

And so yes, God gathers us in the church

He gives us a mission to replicate his love and grace and forgiveness in every nation and community in the world…We are to teach the world the teachings of Jesus

So #1 is family…You are God’s Family…He is shaping you and forming you to look like Him and to do his will.

2. The power of the church is remaining in God’s word.

This is not a creative point

This is not one of those points that you fiercely scratch down in your notes and think…Oh wow pastor your blowing my mind today.

It is a simple truth that never ceases being true.

But it is a hard truth, because of this: It is one thing to say how impotrant God’s word is in your life

It is one thing to come to church and to hold your bible.

It is another thing entirely to spend a significant chunk of your life letting this book form you

Because it is not just a book. It is the words of the living God!

I want to leave you with this sermon because, it is not just a sermon, it is a passionate plea to read scripture!

So church you are God’s revolution for Good on the face of this earth. But the revolution needs fuel

I used to have this car that was a great car but it had one flaw....Over the years there was some sludge in the gas tank and when I would fill my tank up the float would go to the top, but when the gas would get low that float would stop going down...

So the car made you believe that you had more gas in the tank than you actually did...

Anyone who borrowed that car, I would tell them to fill it up if it ever got down to two bars...

Many of us go through life like this.

We believe that we have more in the tank than we actually do. In fact, we believe that we even have a spiritual gas tank.

Or we come to church on Sunday to fill up on the word and then we expect this to last us the rest of the week. But there is sludge in our tanks!

The tragic flaw here is that we believe that our own internal spiritual gas tank is larger than it actually is.

The tragic flaw in this thinking is that we even have a spiritual tank at all! You have no saved up bank of spirituality.

You are either living your life with God or you are not!

Even when you come to church and think, I am full! My tank overflowith…the reality is that we need a daily, hourly and minute by minute connection with God.

So I want to give you a strategy for life…This is a strategy that will help you to live your life with God

A strategy that will cause your spiritual life to blossom

A strategy that will rid your life of sin & evil thoughts

A strategy that will transform your marriage

A strategy that will make you the greatest mom or dad that ever lived

One that will help you to bless your church in amazing ways

I want to give you a strategy that will change you

And it is not my strategy: It is Jesus’

John 15:1-4

The New International Version Chapter 15

15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

Do you get Jesus’ plan?

Jesus’s plan was never to have a gas tank, but was to remain connected to the source of power!

God wants your life to be fruitful & abundant! God wants you to live a powerful life

But your whole life needs a strategy for Abiding. A strategy for staying near to the father in heaven

Because I am leaving and I want the best for you. I want to give you this strategy that will change your life

So here it is

3. Read your Bible

you want transformation? Look to scripture

You want to find God, look at the Bible.

I came to this book as an atheist and now I know and i’m relationship with living son of God....I’ve never left this book! I cant it keeps drawing me back and beckoning me in

So there are a couple of points in the Bible where the Bible talks about the Bible:

2 Timothy 3:10-17

The New International Version (Chapter 3)

10 You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, 11 persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. 12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

So Paul is writing to his understudy Timmothy.

Timmothy is pastoring the church in Ephesus

And there is this issue that is going around there. There are people called Judizers who are going around to the different homes and teaching people that in order to be a proper christian you still need to eat kosher, you still need to get circimcized and you need to follow all of the Jewish festivals.

And what Paul has to say, is listen you know my life. You know what I have gone through and how I have endured

Look at verse 14

14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it

Paul tells Timmothy, you are going to face all of the pressures of Ephesus…so what do you do? continue what you have learned…Why because you know the people who taught it to you...

Paul says keep studying your bible…why? Because you know me, because you have seen my life, you have seen it change my life

And I want to say the same thing to you today. Keep studying scripture! Why…Because you know me!

You have seen my life and the outcome of my life. God keeps moving in my life because I have created daily disciplines of abiding with God.

Then Paul goes on to say

15 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

At this point in human history what scripture is Paul talking about?

The New Testament was actually still being written

he is talking about the Old Testament

He says, “It makes you wise for salvation”

lets keep going here:

16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

All scripture is God Breathed: The words that Paul is using here to make this statement only occur here in the new testament and he is making a big statement. It is a compound word…Theo meaning God, and Pneustos meaning spirit...

So what Paul is saying is that Spirit of God who was “hovering over the waters” in creation is the same spirit that is guiding the writing of these scriptures. The spirit of God weaves the scriptures together...

And it really is crazy when you read the Bible as a whole you know these are 66 books written by different people but all through it there is this consistency in it that is like, how are all of these writers, who are separated by thousands of years able to be so consistent with one another?

The first few elements are doctrine related & the last two are practice related

So Paul Says, you know me, you know my way of life…Its like that because I honor scripture in my life

CHURCH: YOU KNOW ME, YOU KNOW MY WAY OF LIFE! It is like that because I honor scripture, Not just because its my job, but I read my bible on a daily basis. You can do that too!

Scripture is useful for :

a. Teaching:

you can use all scripture to give instruction.

b. Rebuking:

The word literally means “giving proof in the midst of a trial.” Paul says listen Timothy, the word of God is your proof in all things:

c. Correcting:

This means making a wrong idea right

Practice:

d. Training in Righteousness:

The Bible if you allow it to will give you training in righteousness. Scripture will shape and mold your life to live in such a way that is beyond reproach. It will reshape your motives, scripture will

e. Equipping for Good work:

The bible reshapes how you think so that you actually will the good for others. You begin to want the best for everyone. So the more you go to scripture, the more you are compelled to desire the best for everyone.

So I have been saying this from the beginning and I will say this to my dying breath. READ YOUR BIBLE!

And when you have read through a whole book of the bible just read another and the spirit of God

By abiding in God’s word…He can slowly shape you over life time

By abiding in God’s word we come to be in relationship with the truth. We begin to be deeply formed by truth and then we can spot falsehood wherever it is at.

We can spot where the enemy is trying to deceive us

we can know where secular culture is trying to get us to compromise.

And we can live in accordance with the truth

And my last point this morning is deeply conspiratorial…this is why I am calling this series the divine conspiracy

4. Embody the word of God

And I think the question is how do we do that, right?

Flip with me to the book of Ezekiel.

Ezekiel was a prophet during the time of the exile of Judah to Babylon. the first time that you read Ezekiel you might say…what in the world is happening here? It is written in an apocalyptic genre which makes it difficult for 21st century readers to truly understand

But here is what this is, God has Ezekiel live in such a way that his life is a message to the Israelites…In many ways Ezekiel is like God’s prop to Israel

SO Ezekiel is a Priest and the year he is supposed to start his service, he goes into exile.

Ezekiel 2:1-9

The New International Version (Chapter 2)

2 He said to me, “Son of man, stand up on your feet and I will speak to you.” 2 As he spoke, the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet, and I heard him speaking to me.3 He said: “Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me; they and their ancestors have been in revolt against me to this very day. 4 The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says.’ 5 And whether they listen or fail to listen—for they are a rebellious people—they will know that a prophet has been among them. 6 And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them or their words. Do not be afraid, though briers and thorns are all around you and you live among scorpions. Do not be afraid of what they say or be terrified by them, though they are a rebellious people. 7 You must speak my words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen, for they are rebellious. 8 But you, son of man, listen to what I say to you. Do not rebel like that rebellious people; open your mouth and eat what I give you.”9 Then I looked, and I saw a hand stretched out to me. In it was a scroll, 10 which he unrolled before me. On both sides of it were written words of lament and mourning and woe.

Notice God tells Ezekiel 2x not to be afraid of the words of the Israelites…Why? Because they are rebellious.

He says…Don’t be afraid and don’t listen to their words

But listen to my words

And know what, don’t rebel with them…You have to be the one guy shouting in the crowd that there is a different way...

The one who stands up in the crowd and shouts that you are going the wrong way...

So here God tells Ezekiel:

STOP LISTENING TO CULTURE!

LISTEN TO MY WORD!

Do you get it? Some of us are more formed by the culture around us then we are by God’s word to us!

Lets keep reading into chapter 3

Ezekiel 3:1-11

The New International Version Chapter 3

3 And he said to me, “Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the people of Israel.” 2 So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat.

3 Then he said to me, “Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it.” So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth.

4 He then said to me: “Son of man, go now to the people of Israel and speak my words to them. 5 You are not being sent to a people of obscure speech and strange language, but to the people of Israel—6 not to many peoples of obscure speech and strange language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely if I had sent you to them, they would have listened to you. 7 But the people of Israel are not willing to listen to you because they are not willing to listen to me, for all the Israelites are hardened and obstinate. 8 But I will make you as unyielding and hardened as they are. 9 I will make your forehead like the hardest stone, harder than flint. Do not be afraid of them or terrified by them, though they are a rebellious people.”

10 And he said to me, “Son of man, listen carefully and take to heart all the words I speak to you. 11 Go now to your people in exile and speak to them. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says,’ whether they listen or fail to listen.”

Do you see what happened here?

Ezekiel had to eat the message of God…

Ezekiel speaks to Israel, but more than that, he becomes the message to Israel…

So, you will see all sorts of wild things all through the book…

Ezekiel is told to basically make a clay model of the city and destroy it…

Make bread and lay on your side for 390 days and eat it

He was told to make his bread with a fire that was burning human waste (he refused, and god provided cow dung)

He had to burn his hair

Why? It’s all strange and weird, but the point was that he didn’t just tell the message that God had for him, he was the message, he embodied it…

So, whenever you would walk to the center of town, there Ezekiel would be sometimes not saying anything, but simply being the living representation of what was on God’s mind.

So, you walk past him…and no words are spoken…you just get the message!

In the book of revelation, Jesus tells the church to “eat this book!” Why, because as christians we are supposed to be deeply formed by the message of God…we are supposed to be deeply formed by the words of God and the story of God

We are supposed to be so deeply formed that we become the message of God

5. When you daily read scripture, your life will become the message

So Church, I have two more Sunday’s here after today. And if there is one thing I could reach into your life and force you to do it is to have a daily habit of reading the Bible.

It is God’s way that he will form and shape you to become the message of God!

Lets pray

Church:

6. God wants you get formed by the word so you can shape the world