 |
| Rev. Brent Russett |
Pastor of
Sunnyside Wesleyan Church in Ottawa:
http://www.sunnysidechurchottawa.com/ _______________________________________________________
PODCAST LINK to CFRA broadcast - Sunday, August 16th, 2015:
‘A Grand View of Being a Christian’
Good morning. And welcome to good news in the
morning. My name is Brent Russett. I am
the Senior Pastor at Sunnyside Wesleyan Church. It is my pleasure to look at
some of life’s challenges, and then bring you some good news in the morning.
I
am glad that you tuned your dial to CFRA. I want you to know that you can also
find Good News in the morning on the internet at Goodnewsinthemorning.ca .
There you keep up to date with what is happening around Good News Christian
Ministries
This
morning I want to give you a grand view of what it means to be a Christian. To
do that we are going to look at a passage of Scripture found in the New
Testament in the book of Colossians.
Colossians 3
12 Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and
dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness
and patience.
13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever
grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
14 And over all these virtues put on love, which
binds them all together in perfect unity.
Twenty
year ago I would have looked at this passage much differently than I am going
to look at it this morning. Let me give you the 30 second version of the sermon
I would have preached 30 years ago. I would have said,
“Friends, we hear the words of scripture....
We are to be clothed with compassion. As we enter this new week let’s seek to
be more compassionate. We are to be clothed with kindness, let us look for
opportunities to live that out and be kind. We are to be clothed with humility.
As we enter this new week, let us watch our attitude. We are to be clothed with
gentleness and patience. With our kids, with our friends with our both, let us
try gentleness instead of harshness and patience rather that impatience. And more than this, let us try to be more
loving. Because love is what we are called to.”
Those
are the kind of sermons I heard growing up. Those are the kind of sermons I
preached when I started out. There is certainly nothing wrong with trying to be
more kind or more loving. It certainly
beats living in an unkind un loving way. But as I have tried to live that way,
I have found myself living like a Lion’s Club, or a Rotarian club member would
live. There is nothing wrong with the Lion or Rotarian clubs. They do all kinds of
great things.
But
it seems to me that as I read the gospel, the gospel is about more than just
trying to be good – anyone can try to do that. The gospel is about
transformation on the inside, and none of us can do that. The gospel is not
about trying to be more loving, it is about having more love to give. The
gospel is not about trying to be kind, it is about having kindness hardwired on
the inside, so that when it has opportunity to come out, it does. The gospel is
about being changed on the inside.
I
don’t know about you but I have found that when I tried to be more kind, or
more loving, or have a better attitude, it worked for a while. But then I ran
into all kinds of glitches. On days where life was good it was easier. When
life was harder it was more difficult. I was trying to live in a way that
wasn’t me, trying all the time to convince myself that it was me.
This
morning I want to paint for you another picture of what it means to be a
Christian. Our passage of scripture
gives two ways of trying to live the Christian life. There is the religious way, and there is the
Jesus way. If you would there are two kinds of operating systems that you can
try to live a good life with.
My
wife has an Apple computer. I have a Windows computer.. Here is what we have found. You can run
products that were really designed for windows, on an Apple, but they are often
really glitchy. You can run products that are really designed for an apple on
Windows, but they really work a whole lot better on an apple.
There
are two different ways to approach the Christian life. There is the religious
operating system and there is the Jesus operating system.
When
you overlay programs from one operating system on another operating system, it
doesn’t work very well.
The
program that we are called to run in our hearts is what I read before
Colossians 3:12
clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness,
humility, gentleness and patience.
13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever
grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
14 And over all these virtues put on love,
But
the question is, what is the operating system that will allow us to run these
things well, or do these things well.
Before we consider that let us listen to the
Millennial worship team as they sin
Music. “Be
Magnified” – 3:37
Come back with me to Colossians 2:20
20 Since
you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you
still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules:
21 "Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not
touch!"?
22 These are all destined to perish with use,
because they are based on human commands and teachings.
23 Such
regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed
worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they
lack any value in restraining sensual
indulgence.
The
people of Colossae were very religious people.--- I find most people are
religious. They may have nothing to do with organize religion but whether
shopping or sports or work or family is their religion, they worship. They have
their own home spun philosophies. They have a way to act that makes them a good
person.
The
people of Colossae were religious people. They were trying to be good. They
were trying to get to God. And there were all sorts of people who would tell
them how to do it.
There
were people who would say to them, “If you would just celebrate all the right
festivals, and do all the right rituals, and if you would just do all the right
religious stuff then that would make you into a good person.
There
were others who were saying, “Listen religion isn’t supposed to be easy. You
have to really work at it. If you are going to be truly good then you are going
to have to beat your body and push your body that will make you truly
spiritual.
Like
the Christians at Colossae, there have been a number of Christians who followed
them who bought into this kind of stuff. There were some who whipped themselves
with birch twigs. Some who wore hair shirts that made them itch all the time.
Some who sat on top of polls, some who went into the desert. Many of these
people lived extremely austere lifestyles, believing that if they shunned any
form of pleasure they would truly become more spiritual.
They
believed, that these things prepared the heart and the mind for transformation.
20 Since
you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you
still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules:
21 "Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not
touch!"?
22 These are all destined to perish with use,
because they are based on human commands and teachings.
23 Such regulations indeed have an appearance of
wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh
treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual
indulgence.
These
things may appear wise to some, but Paul says they don’t transform the heart.
Paul
says these things don’t help, but we try anyways. . So what do you want to do
if you want to be more loving or kind. What do you do if you want to avoid
sexual immorality of lust. We try harder. We come up with strategies. We come
up with a plan of attack. We work really hard.
Think
of all the New Years resolutions that are made a broken.. Only about 5% of them
will really help. The success rate doesn’t matter. We want to be better. We
will try to be better. But what does Paul say.
21
"Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"?
23 Such regulations indeed have an appearance of
wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh
treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual
indulgence.
This
is the religious model. Or the religious operating system if you would. Let’s
try harder. Let’s work harder. Let’s try to be better. And you know, sometimes
it work. I know some religious people who are really nice people. But what I
have found , when I have tried to operate out of here, is that this way is glitchy. It has a way of working a little bit, but you
know that this is not how we are designed to live. It is tiring too.
Let’s
go back and look at what a Jesus operating system might look like.
Look at Col 2: 20
20 Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world
Then look at Col 3:1
1 Since,
then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above
If
you are a Christian you have died with Christ. You have also been raised with
Christ. This is not something you have to try and do. This is what it means to
be a Christian. When you became a Christian, something in you died, and you
were born again. You were raised with Christ.
Or
as Galatians 2:20 puts it.
Ga 2:20 I
have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me
and gave himself for me.
As
a Christian, there is something fundamentally different at your core. The Bible
says you are a new creation. The Bible says that you have become a temple for
the holy spirit. The Bible says that you have become the dwelling place of the
Spirit of God. If you are a Christian, then that is your current reality. If
this is not your current reality, then you are not a Christian.
I
am not saying that you feel different. Feelings are not your ultimate
reality. You sometimes feel what is
going on in your spirit, but not always. I am not saying that you think
different, although Christ in you will influence you thinking.
But
I am saying that at the core of who you are, you are fundamentally difference.
Christ has done a work in you .
So
Paul says, since this is your reality, why are you trying to be religious like
everyone else. They are back at basic principles.
Basic principles say, you exert your will on
your reality and it changes your reality.
You choose, and you back up those choices by actions and things happen.
This is true, and it is basic to how the
world operates. You can run your religious life off of this as well. Choose,
execute, and change your reality.
The
problem is that as you may have noticed, there is a limit to how well we can do
this.
Paul
says, I want you to run on a different operating system. I want you to know
what it really means to live with Jesus inside of you. Here is how you go about
it.
Colossians 3
1 Since,
then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where
Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly
things.
3 For you died, and your life is now hidden
with Christ in God.
Let’s
work backwards on these verse. You died and you have a new life. That new life
is hidden with Christ in God. If you want to think of it this ways, you are in
Christ, and Christ is in the Trinity. There is this wonderful conversation
going on between the father and the son and the Spirit, and you are in the
conversation. There is a synchronization
of movement and you are among them.
As
a Christian your life is now hidden with Christ in God. That is where you are.
Have
you ever been someplace and wanted to be someplace else. When that happens, you don’t get much out of
where you are, nor are you able to get much out of where you want to be. I have
this maxim that I try to live by, “Where
ever you are be all there.”
Your
reality as a Christian is that your life is now hidden with Christ in God. Paul
is essentially saying, “be all there.”
He
says Since you have been raise with Christ, set your hearts on things above. Be
where you are, be where Christ is.
Christ
is seated at the right hand of God. Set your heart with Christ in heaven. Now
some of you are going to have a challenge living like this, because you have a
skewed view of heaven. You think of it
as clouds and harps and a church service that last for eternity. If that is
heaven I don’t think either you or I want to go there.
This
is why Jesus spent so much time teaching on what the Kingdom of God, the
Kingdom of heaven – as the book of Matthew calls it – is like. Heaven is heaven
because God is there, and because the character of God permeates the culture.
So
heaven is full of justice, and mercy, and goodness, and love and peace, and
joy, and hope and strength, and grace. The list could go on and on. So when
Paul says, “Set your hearts on things above.” You get the picture. You are in
Christ, who is in the Trinity, who breathes the atmosphere of heaven. Where
ever you are, be all there. Set your hearts on Christ, on justice and mercy and
love and grace.
Let
your heart love those things. Let your heart be fixed on those things.
More
than that verse 2 says, “Set your minds on things above.” In other words don’t
only set your affections there, but also what you spend your time thinking
about.
You
have heard it says that some people are so heavenly minded that they are no
earthly good. But I would say to you, if
you apply the culture of heaven to what you read, what you watch on television,
where you work, who you work with, and you choose to set you mind on what is
good and loving and just and righteous, and you can identify what it not that
you will go a long way towards being who you want to be.
You
see this is a whole different operating system that trying to choose the right
thing. There is nothing wrong with that. It is a basic principle to how the
world works. But you have something different going on. Your life is in Christ,
and when you function out of that life then you will truly be what you want.
Col 3:5
5 Put to
death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality,
impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.
6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.
7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life
you once lived.
8 But now you must rid yourselves of all such
things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander and filthy language from your
lips.
9 Do not lie to each other, since you have
taken off your old self with its practices
10 and have put on the new self, which is being
renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
When
it says put to death, it is saying put to death this false self. You see you
have already died. These kinds of things aren’t really you. Oh you used to live
like that. Some of you are in the habit of thinking in this way. But this
really isn’t you.
At
the core of who you are, your life is hidden with Christ. Sexual immorality
impurity, rage, slander, are all inconsistent with who you really are.
Now
if you are operating on the old operating system, you are going to work hard
not to go to place that you will be tempted. That is not a bad strategy. But a
better strategy, is to set your heart on things above, set your mind on things
above, understand who you really are and then live out of that, declaring anything
that isn’t consistent with that to be a not you – and you are going to be
authentic.
Here
is the principle: When you focus on what you are trying not to be, you will not
get anywhere, when you focus on who you have been made to be, that is what you
will become.
In
fact you can see how to renew who you really are
10 and
have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of
its Creator.
There
are some of you who spend a lot of energy trying to be more kind or more loving
and stay away from wrong things. Instead of focusing on those things, why not
spend some time turning you heart towards what is good and true and right and
praise worthy. As you do that, what Jesus has put on the inside will come to
the outside.
PRAYER
My prayer is that you may know Jesus personally and
profoundly, and that He would expand into every area of your life.
“ If Good News in the Morning has been a factor
in your journey of faith, we would love to hear your story. Nothing could
encourage us more in this work. Contact
us by e-mail or Twitter via the web site –goodnewsinthemorning.ca
And
Thank you for listening this morning. This program is on the air by the grace
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Christian Ministries, and send it to Box 184 , Rideau Ferry , On. K0G 1W0. Or you can give online by going to
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May you know Jesus Christ personally and
profoundly. May the Holy Spirit reside
deep within your heart . And may the
heavenly Father surround you with His constant and abiding and accompanying
love
MUSIC
All the Way my Saviour leads Me. 3:46
By Rev. Brent Russett
Pastor of Sunnyside
Wesleyan Church in Ottawa:
_______________________________________________________
PODCAST LINK to the CFRA broadcast:
PODCAST LINK to the CFRA broadcast:
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