Fool's Gold Part II

By -
Following the message titled: Fool's Gold that I delivered at New Life Community Church in Fayetteville, NC, which focused on 1 Corinthians 1:18-25, I was able to give a message titled: Fool's Gold Part II in the evening service, which was based on 1 Corinthians 1:26-31. I could not get audio recordings to post here but here are some points for you to think about...


Introduction: In the midst of world that considers mankind to be the ultimate master of this universe and thus urges us to celebrate our own accomplishments as the gods of this universe the Bible calls us to humble dependency on the true God of this universe who has provided a way to righteousness for the unrighteous and life for the spiritually dead.


Point 1 (:26-29): Consider your calling! 
                              - Fact: We had nothing to offer God in our salvation. 
                              - Fact: God chose to call the destitute, the hopeless, and the worthless to  
                                 salvation in Christ.
                              - Conclusion: Therefore, no one can boast in the presence of God! 
                              - Reality: This knowledge must lead all of us to strive for unity. To make 
                                 decisions based on what is best for others. To extend grace to our  
                                 brothers and sisters based on the grace that has been given to us.


Point 2 (:30-31): Boast in the Lord!

                              - Fact: Jesus is our source of 4 invaluable qualities
                                           1) Wisdom - Even wisdom unto salvation
                                           2) Righteousness - rightness before God - Justification
                                           3) Sanctification - Being both set apart and purified over time
                                           4) Redemption -  set free from our slavery to sin and Satan,          
                                                                          adopted into the family of God upon whom we  
                                                                          wait for that day when we will finally be 
                                                                          redeemed to him for eternity.
                              - Conclusion: Therefore, If you are going to brag about anything, brag  
                                                       about Jesus!

In conclusion, I wrote this poem titled: Ode to me which reminds us of the self-serving, self-reliant, selfish attitudes that we too often have in light of the complete brokenness and complete dependency to which we are called in Christ.

Ode to Me

It's all about me, Jesus.
It's myself who set me free!
My chains are gone but they weren't that long
I don't need the 3 to abide with me
What I have to offer is the greatest of all
And everyone else just seems so small
So it must be about me, Jesus
Therefore, let everyone else do as I please
Move out of my way as I play
as the master of this day
It's all about me, Jesus
It's all about me.

To often we battle this fiercely independent spirit within our self-righteous hearts when in reality our boasting is empty and worthless because it is focused on the wrong object of affection...Come church, let us boast in the Lord and follow this command from Paul:

 Ephesians 4:1 (ESV)
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,

What do you have to brag about Jesus?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Casting Lots and Determining God's Will

By -
What is the deal with casting lots in the OT and why is it used in the NT? Was this a valid way to determine the will of God? Can we cast lots today to determine God’s will for ourselves? When I first became a Christian and began to read through the Bible, This subject led to some very challenging questions that I could not find answers to. Recently, our pastor, David, has been taking the church through the book of Acts on Sunday nights and last Sunday we read about how the disciples used lots to decide who the replacement disciple would be for Judas Iscariot. This reminded me of my own question that I had before and how many others may also be questioning this as well. Why would believers use what would appear to be a system of chance in order to distinguish the will of God? To answer this question, let’s look at 3 things. First, we will need to understand just what “lots” is and what it was used for. Second, we will look at an OT passage in which it was used. Finally, we wil
Read more

Inclusionist, Exclusionist, Pluralist...What do they all mean?

By -
While I was preparing this week to be on a panel for the discussion of theological issues I came across a very difficult question that pushed me to spend some time solidifying my own doctrine on a certain issue. The question came from a student in our youth group: "How can a person who has never been exposed to the gospel (through no fault of his own) be expected to come to a saving knowledge of Christ?" This simple question has been discussed for centuries and divided denominations since the first denomination was formed. Dr. Ken Keathley, now a professor at a Southern Baptist seminary wrote an interesting work on this very question. His paper delineates the differences between the three schools of thought on the issue presented. The excerpt presented below is from his paper titled, "None Dare Call it Treason: Is an Inclusivist a Paul Revere or a Benedict Arnold?" appearing in the Journal for Baptist Theology and Ministry, Vol. 1 No. 2. "Exclusivism holds that
Read more

The Trinity and The Triple Point

By -
In our monthly theological discussion group, a group of men and I recently discussed the Trinity . We now understand the Trinity to be: The unity of God subsisting in three distinct persons. We reviewed the different views of the Trinity, how the concept is defined in the Bible, and how it has come to be accepted as the orthodox view currently. At the close of our discussion , we began to discuss the different analogies of the Trinity. Here are a few that we discussed through the direction of Millard Erickson's book "Christian Theology." First, we talked about the egg. The egg has the yoke, the surrounding liquid, and the shell. All of these make up the egg. The egg is like the Trinity in that it has three parts unified into one egg. This is obviously an incomplete analogy since each of the parts of the egg are not really completely separated and yet totally unified. Each part of the egg has a different nature. So the egg analogy fails. What about the human/humanity ana
Read more