Received from Heaven

Received from Heaven

Intro: From Him, through Him, and to Him are allthings

Romans 11 is about the coming salvation of Israel and describes God’s mercy towards both Gentiles and Jews. He then concludes with this thought in verse 36.

Romans 11:36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. (All things in Greek, “all, every, whole, always) Romans 12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God (or in light of God’s mercy), to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

“Divine initiative and human response is the pattern in both OT and NT”

· Our response to God’s mercy and kindness towards us should be to give our lives to him, for us to be at his disposal, literally to place our lives and our wills on the butchering block. Root word for sacrifice here literally means kill or butcher.

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

It’s not about me!

From Him are all things:

Context: Jesus and his disciples were baptizing in the Judean countryside and John was also baptizing at Aenon which is believed to be near Shechem which was the center of Samaritan habitation.

John 3:25-30 Now a discussion arose between some of John's disciples and a Jew over purification. And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness—look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him.(TPT) he’s now baptizing everyone with larger crowds than yours. People are flocking to him! What do you think about that?” John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase (become greater), but I must decrease.”

· During this time many disciples of various teachers would compete with one another; John had no time for this.

· Jewish custom at this time stated that a representative would act on the sender’s authority but had to strictly adhere to the constraints of their mission. The authority always stemmed from the sender!

· Here John the Baptist is proclaiming the idea that he is merely a messenger, and while he is bestowed with authority, he must be faithful to the mission he was given which was paving the way for Jesus Christ!

John 3:30 He must increase (become greater) Greek- auxanoliterally means to grow or spread!

Jesus clearly cannot grow greater than he is! He can only grow through our closer perspective or through the spreading of His Word, His Kingdom, His Church!

It is our job to point people to Jesus, so his kingdom can grow and spread!

Matthew 16:18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Through him are all things:

Acts 3:12,16 Peter’s response concerning the healing of the crippled man: “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk? (v16) And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.

Philippians 2:13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure

Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through him (Christ) who strengthens me.

James 5:16-18 (NLT) Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years! Then, when he prayed again, the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops.

To Him are all things:

Colossians 3:17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

It is all for his glory! His Kingdom not mine!!

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Why is this so important? The Christian life is a race that does not end with me! Think of this, how many of the early church members, apostles, leaders, etc. are still alive? How many of their generation are still alive? Not one. If they constantly pointed to themselves as though they were the answer and only had people following them, the Christian faith would have died. Yet, the reason it survives until this day is because they were willing to pass the faith onto the next generation by pointing to Jesus Christ! They never pointed inward, but they pointed upward! It is his call, his purpose, his plan for our lives for us to spread the kingdom of God not only to our peers and those in the world, but to the next generation and to leave a legacy behind of faithfulness to the gospel of Jesus Christ!

If we believe everything is about us, then our religion and beliefs will die with us. But if we believe it is all about a God who reigns and his Son who was given for the atonement of sin then we have something to pass on. . .

John 3: John’s response without offense is remarkable. We need to be ready to pass the baton!! His course was finished but the course was not finished!

The race: 1 Cor. 9:24-27 Hebrews 12:1-2 It is not about us it is about him, it is about running the race for his glory and passing the torch on!

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My strength is never enough; but his grace is always sufficient 2 Cor. 12:9

1 Corinthians 3:4-9 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human? What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building.