Captivated by the King: Mission Introduction:

We are captivated by the King, so our mission is to make disciples.

The one who was free when called is Christ’s slave.

1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3 concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4 and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, 6 including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

Introduction:

Have you ever seen something so beautiful that you were just caught by its glory?

Niagara Falls: Each time I go there, I’m just amazed. Dozens of time...

Tajmahal: Gleaming white: Just so attractive and beautiful.

What you’re seeing is just so captivating, so beautiful it takes your breathe away.

Beauty Lures us in: Like people aren’t going to those massive hills in Holly Springs made out of garbage thinking, “Wow, what a gorgeous green hill?” No, they go to the Blue Ridge Mountains: Bigger hills. Such beautiful subtle beauty.

Theological Concept for this: Irresistible Grace

We are just lured into the majestic rule and reign of Jesus Christ. The bate is so beautiful, that we give in and forever captured!

Thesaurus:

Captivated=Awe, Transfixed, mesmerized, hypnotized.

Captivated=Enslaved!

But not in a negative sense, but in a positive sense...

New Slogan: Captivated by the King: What does that mean??

Captivated

Held captive

“Paul, a servant...”

Rhymes: Paulous, Doulous

Sense of Identity: NO COMMA in the Greek

Paulous Doulous: Paul Slave.

Like his last name.

Paul unpacks this theme of being a slave in chapter 6:

Romans 6:15-23: slave appears 8x

20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

PAST TENSE: WERE slaves to sin

FRUIT as Slaves from Sin=SHAME

PRESENT TENSE: FREED FROM THE “Control of Sin” (NIV)

v. 22: BUT NOW, SET FREE from your former slave-owner—sin—and now you’re free citizens? NO! Slaves of God!

“FREED” TO BE SLAVES OF GOD

Fruit=Sanctification

We are held captive by God for the purpose of producing the right kind of fruit!

Markus Doulous:

Freed from the control of sin. No longer held captive by the wrong capturer.

Belong to God

Purchased: I Cor 6:19-20: “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.”

Being a slave to God, I have transitioned from Given the Free Gift of God: Eternal life

Need to be sensitive to this kind of language!

How can we say so flippantly that we are slaves of God? Like, human trafficking and modern day slavery is still a thing! On the spectrum of evil, it ranks up there. So how can we make sense of this?

To be held captive by anything other than God is wrong. God is the only safe place we can say, I belong to him, and not come across as creepy. God is the safe-house for humanity, the only owner we should belong to which produces real freedom!

Tajmahal:

Held captive by it’s beauty:

Turn away to the left: gardeners getting paid peanuts for working the grounds. I remember taking a picture of the gardens and one of the young gardeners happened to be in the picture. She slowly approached me and motioned that I pay her for taking her picture!

Turn away to the right: Mickey and Minnie selling Disney. Why were they there?

Human degradation and consumerism

Anything that captures our attention will have it’s faults and will ultimately fail...

Niagara Fall’s grandeur will eventually erode to a ripple...

And if that which captivates us ultimately holds us captive, it will always lead to death other than God.

God will not disappoint, fade or fail.

More specifically who we are captivated by:

2. Captivated by the King!

Slave of Christ Jesus… Paulos Doulos, Christouh Heysou

Jesus Christ: Jesus the Messiah

Descended from David:

LOOK UP Matthew 1: Look at list: Out of all the people he could have chosen, Paul picks David! Why?

Answer: II Samuel 7:12-14: When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son.

Promised Gospel: That Jesus would come as the King!

Descended as a human (v.3)

Declared to be Divine (v.4)

Paul is saying, I am a slave of the King!

Servant KING:

Matthew 20:26-28: It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, 28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Luke 23:1-2: “Then the whole company of them arose and brought him before Pilate. 2 And they began to accuse him, saying, “We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.”

Philippians 2:3

3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

6 Who, being in very nature God,

did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

7 rather, he made himself nothing

by taking the very nature of a servant,

being made in human likeness.

8 And being found in appearance as a man,

he humbled himself

by becoming obedient to death—

even death on a cross!

Captivated by the King:

Markous Doulous, Christou Hesou

Captivated for What?

THROUGH WHOM WE HAVE RECEIVED GRACE: Our Response

v.5: We have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations. 6 including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

This is a response to being this Doulous/servant is essentially the Great Commission:

To bring about obedience of faith=make disciples

To make disciples is to bring about obedience of the faith among all the nations!

Just as our King was obedient to death, even death on the cross, we are called to bring about obedience of faith!

So How do we do that? How do we bring about obedience?

Begins with Repentance

Luke 24:46-47: “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”

Calling Sin a Sin

This is hard!

Begins with Rejoicing

Understanding Grace:

Leon Morris:

v.5: Through whom we have received grace…

“The word is cognate with that for “joy”, and the basic meaning is “that which causes joy”.”

To receive Grace is to receive that which produces joy!

Mission statement: Our mission is to make disciples who experience the JOY of belonging to Jesus!

Luke 24:52: Jesus ascends to heaven: Apostles leave with great joy!

When you discover the grace of Jesus, you discover the joy of Jesus… One and the same!

Are you joyful?

To make disciples=Heavy Burden, almost guilt producing

But I think that’s approaching with the wrong perspective.

Jesus=Joy!

Conclusion:

Captivated by the King, so our mission is to make disciples who discover the joy of belonging to Jesus with resurrection life...

Captivated: Lured by God’s Grace: Paulos Doulous

Captivated by the KING: Christou Hesou

Belonging to Jesus:

Being a slave or servant of Jesus is really about discovering to whom you belong...

Obedience of faith is also your calling as one called to belong to Jesus Christ

As a servant of Christ, as one owned by Christ, you belong to him.

“You are not your own” the Heidelberg Catechism argues, “But belong, Body and Soul, in life and in death to my faithful savior Jesus Christ.”

See how Paul writes this same concept of ownership in verse 6: “Including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.”

Mission statement: our mission is to make disciples who discover the joy of belong to Jesus!

This is where we find true freedom!

Example: Predestination and Prostitution

It is worth remembering David Well’s famous definition: worldliness is whatever makes righteousness look strange and sin look normal.

For Jesus Sake:

Webster’s Dictionary: “The good, advantage, or enhancement of some entity (as an ideal)”

We are captivated by the King, so our mission is to make disciples (of all nations)...

Through Christ, we have inherited grace to make disciples of all nations for Jesus’ sake.

You are those people who are called to belong to Jesus Christ!

We are captivated by the King, so our mission is to make disciples who experience the joy of belonging to Jesus with resurrection life.

You are a people who belong to Jesus Christ!

You, too, are a people who are held captive and captivated by Jesus Christ...