The unlimited potential of a man in Christ

Intro

Why were we created?

Everything has an instinct. Birds don’t just have the mechanical ability to fly, but they have the inclination to fly. If you take an egg and hatch a bird, even if it has never seen another thing fly, it will fly. Why is that? Because it has a built in inclination of it’s purpose. Every animal has an instinct to do the thing it is equipped to do.

Don’t take that for granted. That isn’t a given.

So then why were we created?

Romans 1 (NIV)

1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God—2 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures 3 regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, 4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. 5 Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake.

We recieved grace, and were called for the name sake, the glory, the legacy, the revelation of Christ.

Christian means “little Christ” You were saved to be the signature of Christ on the world.

6 And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. 7 To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. 8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. 9 God, whom I serve in my spirit in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you 10 in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you. 11 I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong—12 that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith. 13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles. 14 I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. 15 That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome.

Paul wanted to meet with the church in Rome so that they could encourage one another, but he also says he’s obligated. He needs to preach to the wise and the foolish. He is compelled by Christ’s worthiness to preach the gospel to all.

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” 18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness,

There are many reasons why Christ came to earth, I don’t know if one is above another, but the gospel - exists - to reveal the righteousness of God. While, at the same time, the wrath of God is also being revealed. The gospel, your salvation, happened so that you might be Christ’s signature on the world.

19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

All of creation sings of God’s character. We, being made in His image, then born again into the image of His Son - exist- to reveal His invisible attributes.

C.S Lewis: “If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.”

Why is it: That we love heroics? When the world is saved? When the little hobbit defeats evil and love and peace reign?

Again don’t take this for granted. There is a collected instinct among all people that there is good and there is evil, that there is right and there is wrong. What is that? Why is that there? It is so evident that even A-theists who have no scientific reason for morality admit it must be there.

We were created with a nature that says, there is good and there is evil. The definitions of those are warped and perverted but every person knows, why?

Colossians 1 (NIV)

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 2 To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father. 3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people—5 the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel 6 that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. 7 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, 8 and who also told us of your love in the Spirit. 9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.

The truth is, the name Christian is quite fitting. The reason you were created is to reveal the invisible attributes of God. His goodness, righteousness, love, compassion, justice.

We saw the new spider man movie in theaters and when spider man swung in to save the day people literally cheered! We love when the savior swings in. Because we were created to be the body of the Savior. We were created to bear fruit in every good work, to grow in our knowledge and relationship with God, to be strengthened in power for endurance and patience.

Adam was created to walk with God and tend the garden, all of that got screwed up, but our instinct for good is still there. That’s why evangelism is so simple. That’s why the greatest A-theism will ever achieve is to forever argue against divinity, because they’re trying to convince a bird not to fly.

13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.

We are built with an instinct toward the heroic, toward goodness, but we’ve traded the goodness of God for a lie. The gospel reconciles that. It redefines good as CHRIST, so that we might be fulfilled, our purpose achieved in serving Him.

17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.

19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. 21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant. 24 Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. 25 I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness—26 the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. 27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

28 He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. 29 To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.

Outro

You are not the savior, that’s true, but you are not… not the savior either. We are nothing without Christ, bound to fill that void for goodness with nothing but darkness. However, in Christ our potential is Christ Himself. To be like Him, re-formed in His image, born in Spirit, to do works like He did, for His supremacy… to be one with Him, and through Him, be one with the Father.

“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which,if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.” C.S Lewis

No matter what culture has said, no matter what your parents or your peers fed you to believe, you can do anything in the service of God. There is no limit to the magnitude your life might have on your family, on your community, and even the world. You were created to show God to history itself. And in Christ that’s actually possible.