
New Year 2023
• Series: Christmas Hope
Big Ideas: God’s judgment, self examination and faithfully living in Biblical transformation. Knowing Christ and conforming to His death and resurrection are more than simple metaphors. Making Christ known as an expression of my transformed life. Self examination and faithfully living in Biblical transformation. Amos 7:14–15 Then Amos answered, and said to Amaziah:“I was no prophet, nor was I a son of a prophet, but I was a sheep breeder and a tender of sycamore fruit.15 Then the Lord took me as I followed the flock, and the Lord said to me,‘Go, prophesy to My people Israel.’ Jeremiah 6:17 “Also, I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not listen.’” (Who is close enough to the trumpet to hear the warnings?) 1 corinthians 13 1 Corinthians 10:1–13 Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, 2 all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. 5 But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. 6 Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. 7 And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.” 8 Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; 9 nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; 10 nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. 11 Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. 12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. Hebrews 10:30-31 For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The LORD will judge His people.” 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. 1 Peter 4:17 For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? Knowing Christ and conforming to His death and resurrection are more than simple metaphors. “The power of the gospel is in the dying. The power of the resurrection is in the cross. Christ has invited the universal church, His body, to share in His suffering, death, and resurrection. It's not meant to be, “pick your favorite from the list”. Crucifixion was meant primarily for those who rebelled against authority. For a criminal to carry their cross to the place of their death was a show of complete and utter submission. When Jesus calls us to take up our cross He is claiming authority and we are submitting to Him. There was nothing casual about a crucifixion or the cross. It was an all or nothing commitment. We can’t have one part of us nailed to a cross and one part walking around. To deny the death is to deny resurrection power. If we are questioning the power of God in our lives, if we feel like it’s missing… we have to look first for what isn’t nailed to the cross.” (idols) -Monica Sweeney In the following verses, Paul did not deny his history, education, accomplishments, and zeal for things he thought were good. He also did not gloss over the horrible sinful man he was prior to Christ. He actually acknowledged them and willfully laid them all down at the feet of Jesus for the sole purpose of finding full identity in Christ alone and then he admonished us to do the same. Philippians 3:3-6 3 For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh, 4 though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: 5 circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; 6 concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. 1 Timothy 1:12-13 And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, 13 although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. 1 Corinthians 6:9–11 Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. Philippians 3:7–14 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.12 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. John 12:23–26 But Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. 24 Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. 25 He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor. Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Making Christ known as an expression of my transformed life. John 13:12–17 So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. 16 Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. The fragrance of heaven to a dying world: Mr. Adolphe Saalfeld was born in Germany in 1865. He was a self-made businessman, and the chairman of the chemists and distillers Sparks, White, and Co. Ltd. At the age of 47, Saalfeld boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a first class passenger. He carried with him a leather satchel filled with a collection of 65 vials of concentrated perfume oils which he hoped to market in America. At the time Titanic sailed, the American perfume market was booming. Saalfeld’s 65 vials and satchel went to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean with the Titanic in the morning on April 15, 1912. But nearly 100 years later they were recovered. There is a wonderful special that the National Geographic Channel did on Titanic and the discoveries that have been made. In it, Bill Sauder, one of the premiere Titanic researchers describes examining Adolphe Saalfeld’s perfume vials. Here’s what Sauder said about the Saalfeld satchel: The one thing I’ll remember from the Titanic artifacts until the day I die is when the Saalfeld perfume vials came up. When you recover stuff from the Titanic, it’s wet, it’s rusty, and it’s rotten; and the smell that comes off it is perfectly alien, perfectly fetid. You know it’s a kind of death you have never experienced. And so the lab is kind of unpleasant. And then all of a sudden somebody opens up this satchel, this leather satchel, and out comes the fragrance of heaven. It’s all these flowers and fruity flavors and it’s delicious. It’s the most wonderful thing you've ever had. [tearing up as he speaks] Um... it was just a complete, overwhelming experience. It was like all of a sudden, a fragrance of heaven, you know, kinda goes through the room. So, instead of being surrounded by all of these dead things, um, for those few minutes the ship was alive again... [he breaks down and weeps openly] NOTE: NatGeo video, cued to Bill Sauder: https://youtu.be/eq4oPM35r6k?t=2283 2 Corinthians 2:14–16 Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. 15 For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. Take Away: Communion 1 Corinthians 11:26–32 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.27 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. 30 For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. 31 For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.