Transcript
Good morning everyone!
When you came in you should have got some notes. You’ll need those.
Most of you seem familiar but for those who are newer around these parts, my name is Aaron Grosch and I serve the church part-time currently, developing membership & eldership candidate materials and I dabble in a few other things, like our weekday online devotions. That online devotion is where the idea for this sermon came from. We were reading from Genesis 6-8 going over the Noah story and Genesis 6:5-6 says this:
“5 The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. 6 The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.”
One of our resident trouble-makers dropped a slightly tongue-in-cheek statement that I’m sure some of your will resonate with. She said something like, “Oh boy, I bet he regrets it now too!”
Normally I laugh at these one-off comments or ignore them, but this one sunk in a bit and I thought, “You know, I bet a lot of people feel like God feels this way about creation now and I know a lot of people act like God feels this way. I know I’m prone to act this way from time to time. As if the world is going to Hell in a handbasket and we’re just here hanging onto Jesus until it’s all done or we see him face to face. Right? Does anyone else feel that way from time to time?
Well, it’s a lie. And it’s a lie that’s keeping us from living the Holy, Productive, Joyful, and Hopeful lives God has called us to. From the beginning, God created mankind to rule and reign with him, to cultivate, to subdue, and to multiply, creating other cultivators or subduers. He created us to take action. To build. To explore. To enjoy. To build families and homes, to build tools and work, to create music, to sing, to study the animals, learn their behaviors and work with them. He created us to turn the raw materials of earth, starting from the garden, and to build out the very physical, very real Kingdom of God on Earth. And he’s never changed his mind about that plan. Though sin entered into the picture, God did not abandon humanity nor did he destroy us. No at the first sign of resistance in the Garden God’s doubles down on his commitment to plan A. There is no plan B. God’s desire is to rule and reign with his children on earth, the praise of His glory, forever and ever. That’s it. That’s what it was in Genesis 1 when he created Adam and Eve He told them to go, to build, to explore, and take dominion. That’s what it was in Genesis 3 when he cursed the Serpent and promised his eventual death blow and undoing. That’s what it was through the flood, through Abraham, the Exodus, the reign of King David, and right on through to the coming of Christ. God himself is so committed to his plan A that He sent his son, fully God yet fully man to come and make a mockery of satan, sin, and Hell itself. Since there was found no man born of another man who could resist sin to the death, He himself came to live as we ought to have live, die the death we out to have died, and be raised to life again so that what we broke in our relationships, would be restored. So that we would no longer be ruled by the great Accuser, Satan himself, but that we might be set free to live increasingly and fully for the Kingdom of God.
John 10:10 Jesus says,
“The thief comes in the night to steal and destroy but I have come that you might have life - and life to the fullest.”
In Matthew 6:33 Jesus says,
“Seek first the kingdom, and all these things [ talking about what you need to live in this world ] will be given to you.”
The fullest life is the Life God created us for. A creation is at its best when it is doing the work it was created to do. And we were created to actively rule and reign with him. To live lives fearing God alone, to worship him and let our lives flow from our sincere worship of God. And those lives, aren’t ethereal, spiritual lives. They’re flesh & blood, sweat & tears lives. Real lives. They’re the very days we are living - not just our quiet times and the slot we give to Church worship once a week - though those things are good and holy. They are a part, not the whole, of the Christian life. We were created to go, be and do unto God, with God, through God, and for God.
Paul tells us in Ephesians 2:10 that we Christians,
“Are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
This mission and purpose are dripping in Paul’s letter to the Colossians (and ALL of the scriptures if you’re looking for it for that matter!) Colossians 1:9-14
Colossians 1:9-14
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. 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.
Why does Paul pray for the Colossians to grow in the knowledge and wisdom of the Lord by the Holy Spirit?
So that you may live a real life!
Christian's should be holy, joyful, diligent, beautiful and gracious serious people because the Father sent the Son who willingly stood in our place on our behalf and reconciled all things to himself through his death and the work of the Father raising him and the Son sent the Spirit so that we might continue the work of the Son who came to do what? Announce the Kingdom and begin building it!
We are not passively waiting for the world to go to Hell in a handbasket, instead, we are commanded to work and pray that we would bring Heaven to earth.
In Christ, We have a mission. We have a purpose. We have value. We have something to pursue and God has graciously given us everything we need for life and Godliness. (1 Peter) We hear this ALL the time at Mosaic.
Coming to church, singing to him in worship, being encouraged and challenged by his word, repenting of your sins of fixating on your mission, your sinful immediate desires, instead of his mission, encouraging one another with a warm greeting and true and beautiful word every week is one small part of the joyful Christian life. It's a launching point for the week lived in the same maner...for the life live continually before God, for God, with God and to God.
Scripture says
Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
and
Whether you eat or drink, do all to the glory of God.
Cultivate, Subdue, take dominion, multiply, fill!
You are free! You’ve been set free! Don’t you know you’ve been delivered from the Domain of darkness? The bounds of Satan have been loosed! You may never attain perfection - the Apostle Paul didn’t - but strive anyway! Rebel against the great Accuser and his Fake Kingdom that has an end and life fully and totally before God and build a kingdom that will never end!
Christianity has teeth.
Yes, we ought to deal with the sins in our own hearts, we surrender and seek the Lord for spiritual renewal. But we do that for a reason! We mend, to get back to work. We rest to be refreshed to join him in the building! As Christians, we aren't waiting for heaven to take us up one day, biding our time and nursing our wounds. No we're yoked with Christ to do Good works prepared in advance for us. You, my friend, my brother, my sister have a mission. And that mission is the work of heaven meets earth.
Don't settle for ever-increasing knowledge about God. Dive headfirst into life with God with confidence, knowing that God in Christ by the power of the Spirit will not fail. He will build his unending Kingdom and the gates of hell won't prevail. Plant your gardens. Raise your children. Build your businesses. Train your bodies. Educate your minds. Gather in small groups throughout the week. Open up your home and pray and praise God with your friends and family.
Why?
Because all of it matters. God is using all of it to build his kingdom and to push back the work of the great Accuser not only in your spiritual life, but across the whole world. All of it is God's. All of it matters. All of it! Your finances, your relationships, your work, your family, your house, all of it! Not one ounce of it is meaningless,w asted or useless in the hands of God. In God's sovereign and wise rule, ALL of it is being used for his glory.
But we're prone to forget that! We fixate on what we don't or can't have and go after it with reckless abandon. We see the immediate pleasure, and readily take it in place of the Kingdom building joy. We forget the depths of goodness in God, and pursue being filled by waters unable to quench our thirst. We give up hours of our days to being passively entertained by movies, tv shows, youtube, and tiktok videos, video games, and Facebook news feeds. We give the news media control of our fears, our angers, our hopes, and our dreams. We focus so much on our kingdoms that we forget that we are here to build God's kingdom. We forget that we are building a world without end. We are forgetting the mission and we're suffering for it. We're less connected than we've ever been. We're more anxious and angry than we've ever been. We're giving up so much, taking on the burdensome yoke of the world rather than the yoke of Christ which is easy, light, and not a burden. It’s a holy, productive, and hopeful joy!
When the rest of the world is drowning in fear, anxiety, anger, and bitterness towards perceived enemies, that’s exactly when Christian laughter and joy should increase not decrease! Why? We have a hope that will not disappoint. Jesus Christ really did come. He really did live and die and rise again in our stead. He really did unite us with Him, making us sons and daughters of God. And he really will come again to rule and reign, with us forever. No matter what Fox News, CNN, or your Newsfeed on social media says. Our God reigns. He always has and he always will and he’s called us to live as if that’s actually true in our everyday lives! And he’s given us the Spirit and his word, and his body to guide us, protect us, instruct us, nurture us, and propel us into the world!
Christians we ought to be bold doers, full of hope and confidence, joyful and expectant. Not because our lives are freed from suffering, but because we know the whole story, the full story, we know that death has been defeated, we know that Satan is on a leash, his time is coming to an end, and every second that goes by his time grows shorter. We know that sin was made a mockery of, that in Christ it has been stripped of its all-consuming power. We can, by faith, through the work of sanctification, take back ground we gave up and then some!
Can I get an amen brothers and sisters? Has Christ come? Has he died and was he rose again? And will he come again? Yes? Then let’s get to work!
Included in today’s notes you’ll find a copy of the Lord’s prayer from the book of Matthew and on the reverse side a guide to prayer and action. When Jesus was asked how to pray to live the kind of life God intended, to build a relationship with God he gave us this outline. The ACTS model loosely follows that. Use these tools to align your heart and mind before God, confess your sins, share your needs seeking the provision of your Father with Thanksgiving, and then Go take action! Start small and build from there. Take this with you. Use it as a kind of training wheels to get you moving. Do it every day. Make that your starting point and build from there.
Ask yourself and ask God what it would look like if your finances were ordered in such a way to be generous and faithful givers as God has called you to? Who would you bless and how? What would it look like if you view your children as God’s gift of stewardship for you - as little women and men given to you for the glory of God and the building of his kingdom? What would it look like if you really lived as if everything in your life, was really to be done for the glory of God? Because, in Christ, that is what all of life is to be done for! What would life look like if you broke your addiction to social media, gambling, porn, or any other pacifier that’s keeping you from enjoying the full life lived for God, with God, and to God? What would it look like if you were not enslaved financially to your debtors and had some margin to build with? Wrestle with these things before God. Seek his wisdom and then begin to build.
One. Little. Stone at a time, as God enables. Your life likely won’t change in a day. We didn’t create the mess we’re in now in a few weeks. We’ve developed unrighteous and unwise habits that have slowly built us up to this point. God knows this. That’s why his word is full of encouragement, “Don’t grow weary, you WILL reap a harvest of righteousness” in Galatians and James says that when we “humble ourselves, at the right time, God will lift us up.” That’s why it’s essential we fix our eyes on the Kingdom. Align our lives with the Kingdom. Little bit by little bit as God gives growth. All those other things will take care of themselves. We grow weary and exhausted when we fixate on the fruits instead of deepening our roots. We give up our diet changes because we don’t see fast enough results. We stop paying our debts because it feels like we’ll always have them. We stop investing in relationships because they don’t feel like we hope they would. Don’t grow weary. Stay the course. God is faithful. Your diligence before Him will be seen and rewarded fully. His Kingdom will be built. Stand firm. And if you need a moment, take a rest because you’ve added some other yoke than the one Christ has for you, reassess, find Christ there and when you’re ready, take back up his light and easy yoke and walk with him again, plowing the ground and planting seeds. Watering and tending. Praying and waiting. Trusting fully that God will accomplish all he has for you and his world.
Keep the mission front and center and build a productive life unto God. Enjoy Him. And remember, NONE of it is wasted in God’s sovereign rule. When you stumble, be quick to repent. Seek the Lord for forgiveness and wisdom, then take actions to align yourself with God’s desires again and continue on. Seek the counsel of wise men and women in your life. Feast on the Word. And look back at the end of your life with gratitude knowing that the Lord was exceedingly kind to you and faithful to not waste an ounce of your life. Amen?
Let’s pray.
