Protection and Motive
Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 4 viewsNotes
Transcript
Church Vision
Church Vision
Review the balance of in-service and out-service
Commend team for a great response to in-service
Almost every person serving on a team
Commend for out-service
Serve Saturday
Backpack program RES
Upcoming RFD this week
The message the Lord laid on my heart this weekend and this morning is, “Protect this.”
Protect what He has built. Protect unity. Protect this assembly. Protect our motives.
Make no mistake, the enemy is prowling around us and looking for a way in to steal, kill and destroy us and this church. We need to be aware but not focused on this fact.
We have to be intentional about protecting what the Lord has created here.
3 points in hopes to protect His vision for this church and protect unity in His church.
All of this is for His glory.
All of this is for His glory.
According to John 1:4-5
In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
When Jesus came into this world He was the light of the world and His light was meant to shine into the darkness, overcome the darkness and give us life. He came so that we may have life and life abundantly. Jesus’ life did that but then He gave us that light to continue with this mission in the world.
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
a. We are supposed to want to shine brightly.
We are called to to shine. We are called to stand out. We are called to push back the darkness. We are called to speak truth. We are called to be seen.
Jesus says, do not hid it! Do not try to cover it up and keep silent. Jesus says, so let your light shine before others!
b. But don’t do it for your glory.
We are not called to bring glory to ourselves, our church or our denomination. We are called to promote my name, Caleb's name or Jennifer’s name. We are called to shine brightly but only for the glory of whose name is worthy of glory. and His name is Jesus.
Mankind’s natural response is to look to the people and give them credit. People driving by yesterday could have been thinking about how great these people are.
But we in our hearts must reject that line of thinking. We must reject the selfish motives and need for recognition. We must not allow our hearts to enjoy the focus being on us.
We must point them towards God and His glory. We must point them to where we were and were the Lord has brought us to.
Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.
Remember how this verse affected me as a child.
We must remember that we will receive an inheritance. We will receive a crown of glory. But remember what we will do with that crown.
the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
“Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created.”
So, let them see your good works, let us shine brightly into this community but give all of the glory to Jesus because only He is worthy to receive all glory and honor.
Every single one of us must be lead by the Spirit.
Every single one of us must be lead by the Spirit.
Discuss the difference between gathering and assembling
1 Corinthians describes assembling
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
For the body does not consist of one member but of many.
This is describing the “assembly” of the body of Christ. Many parts, many gifts coming together, to work together for the advancement of God’s Kingdom, to shine the Light across the world, for the glory of God. This is how God designed the body of Christ to operate.
But there are threats to this assembly. There are threats to this unity. And He describes it in verses 21-26.
He talks about eyes saying to hands, I don’t need you. Looking down at other parts as weaker or less honorable, or not as pretty or flashy or getting attention.
1 Corinthians 12:24–27 (ESV)
But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
What the Lord is saying here is that there are ways for division to get into the church. Its through attitudes of jealousy, envy, strife, superiority, rivalries and anger.
Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
These are destructive to the unity in the body of Christ. These will cause us to loose what the Lord has blessed us with here.
So, in order to protect this, we must EACH be lead by the Spirit. We must EACH actively oppose our fleshly desires and strive to walk by the Spirit.
When one or more of us are walking towards our fleshly desires, we are walking in opposition to those who are walking in the Spirit.
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.
We must see that its not just up the leadership of the church to be lead by the Spirit to protect unity. Its up to each and every one of us. We must EACH be unified in dying to our desires and keeping in step with the Spirit.
And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
We must be motivated by love.
We must be motivated by love.
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
We can assemble all of these gifts and come together but its all just noise and its all for nothing, it has no gain if we don’t have love! If we aren’t motivated, driven by love.
Love for the Lord.
And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.
And love for each other.
And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
See when we assemble this church through our God-given gifts and talents and do it with love. We will be
1 Corinthians 13:4–8 (ESV)
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends.
Do you see the connection between the fruit of the Spirit and these verses? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
When we as a people, as Christ-followers, as a church operate out of love, it will cause our light to shine brightly into the world!
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
When people from this community walk in these doors or meet us on the streets, we should be identified by our love. Our love for God and our love for each other should be obvious to those around us. That should be a bright shinning light to those around us. God is love. and God brings life.
Let us be defined by love.
So, in order to protect this assembly, in order to proceed in a biblical way, in order to not allow the enemy to cause division, in order to for this church to preserver the coming trials and difficulties,
We must each of us remain humble and not try to steal any of the glory from God.
We must each of us crucify our fleshly desires and motives and be lead by the Spirit, so that the fruit of the Spirit would flourish in our lives and in His church.
We must each be motivated by love for the Lord and love for each other.
When this community sees that we are not selfish in seeking the glory, that we have the fruit of the Spirit produced in our lives and in our church, and that we are motivated by our love for the Lord and for each other, the light of Jesus will shine brightly.
And like we said at the beginning in John chapter 1, the light of Jesus will shine into the darkness, push back the darkness and bring life to this community.
All for the glory of God.
Let us pray.
