Paul and the Service of the Gospel (2)
Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 9 viewsNotes
Transcript
“Christianity is a total consecration involving belonging, obedience, brotherly love, in short, total service and adoration of the living and true God.”-R. Corriveau The Liturgy of Life
Today—take a look at
Paul’s teaching about the gathering of the church--The death of Jesus as the means of reconciliation with God and life in this era is the basis of the worship theology Paul expounds.
The preaching of the Gospel—in the power of the Holy Spirit—brings people together to serve God consecrated to Him in the totality of their lives.
5 But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him.
6 Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.
How did Jesus live?
What was His personal life?—When He was 12 in Jerusalem—what was He about?
How did He live His life in the area of relationships?
Disciples? Family? People who thought/lived differently than He did?
How did He talk/treat those in authority or leadership?
Taxes? Pilate? Religious Leaders?—Nicodemas
He lived a consecrated lifestyle—Paul expounds on
I. Worship as the consecrated lifestyle of the converted: Angela
What did he say to the Thessalonians?
9 for they keep talking about the wonderful welcome you gave us and how you turned away from idols to serve the living and true God.
10 And they speak of how you are looking forward to the coming of God’s Son from heaven—Jesus, whom God raised from the dead. He is the one who has rescued us from the terrors of the coming judgment.
contrast Paul makes with Christianity and other paganism is that Jesus is the key to a relationship with the one true God.
epistrephein—to turn around/to return
reorientation of life and refocusing
15 “Friends, why are you doing this? We too are only human, like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them.
19 “And so my judgment is that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.
18 to open their eyes, so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. Then they will receive forgiveness for their sins and be given a place among God’s people, who are set apart by faith in me.’
19 “And so, King Agrippa, I obeyed that vision from heaven.
20 I preached first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that all must repent of their sins and turn to God—and prove they have changed by the good things they do.
Paul helped the new converts understand that turning from idols was necessary preliminary to a life of service to the living and true God.
Motivation: for reorientation of life was what He preached
10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.
Jesus—God’s Son
Raised from the dead
Is now rescuing believers from coming judgment
14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
10 who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.
II. Acceptable worship and the sacrifice of Christ: Angela
a) False religion and the wrath of God
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools
23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.
25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones.
27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.
29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips,
30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents;
31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.
32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
Failure to acknowledge God appropriately led to the disorderly situation of false religion and distorted human relationships
“The essence of sin is the holding back of a true knowledge of God and its implications, and therefore a failure to worship Him acceptably.”-David Peterson
In these verses, Paul reflects on OT perspective that knowledge of God should lead to appropriate worship and obedience.
1 Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.
Giving glory to God Biblically means responding appropriately to God’s own self revelation, acknowleding His holiness, majesty and power.
18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?”
20 No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God,
13 And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.
1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.
2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
What does Paul link to the renewing of the mind?
notion of right worship being restored through the work of Christ.
Lets look at the
b) The sacrificial significance of Christ’s death
Reading through Romans 3:21-11:36 Paul shows how God acted to transform the situation in Rom. 1—all because of Jesus’ death, we can fully engage with God because the situation Paul spoke of in Rom 1 has been transformed
2 Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.
Christ’s self sacrifice was the fulfillment of OT sacrificial system BUT also called believers to walk in love like He did.
c) The worship that Christ makes possible
d) Responding to Paul’s exhortation
III. Gospel ministry as a specific expression of Christian worship: Karen
a)
IV. Sacrifice, faith and the Spirit: Karen
a) The sacrificial service of Christian faith
b) Gospel ministry and the ultimate sacrifice
c) Worship inspired by the Spirit
V. Conclusion: Both