Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Sarah and I do a podcast, and you can access it through our church app. It's called Grotentio, and we're doing a series of podcasts on being able to identify your emotions and deal with them in a healthy way.
[00:00:26] And we'll be dropping a podcast tomorrow in a.
[00:00:36] In an environment like we live in.
[00:00:40] If we're going to be healthy Christians and we're going to be an influence for good, for others, we have to come to terms with what's going on inside ourselves.
[00:00:54] We have to recognize the good and nurture it, and we have to recognize the bad and deal with it.
[00:01:03] I want our church to be part of the solution, not part of the problem.
[00:01:09] I want healthy, beautiful, vibrant souls infecting people around us instead of us being infected by the viciousness, the ugliness, and the insanity of hatred and anger.
[00:01:38] I'm just going to take it for granted that when you interact on social media, you're going to remember that you are a child of the living God.
[00:01:52] You are a representative of Jesus Christ.
[00:01:56] You are the ones who the scriptures say, by this shall all men know that we are your disciples, that we love one another.
[00:02:10] Ah. I'm going to assume that you believe in that the power of love is greater than the power of hate, and that you're going to not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
[00:02:27] Our dear Heavenly Father, oh, how I pray that we could be exactly what you called us to be, the light of the world.
[00:02:39] And I pray that we would shine brightly, especially in dark times and dark places.
[00:02:46] I pray that the beauty of Christ would be evident in how we treat other people, especially people we don't agree with.
[00:02:55] I pray that there would be something encouraging, inspiring and a nurturing as we respond to the broken world around us.
[00:03:10] And I pray that you would be pleased with us.
[00:03:15] Grant us insight into life in Christ today.
[00:03:19] In Christ's name, Amen.
[00:03:23] We are studying through the Book of Colossians, and the book of Colossians is really all about maturing in the life of Christ, not permitting ourselves to get stalled at some point in our spiritual development, but to continue to grow and mature and become better people day by day.
[00:03:51] This book is built around the poem of Christ. Do you remember it?
[00:03:57] I'm going to read it to you again.
[00:04:00] The whole book is built around this poem of Christ.
[00:04:04] It's either an explanation of the poem or it's a way to apply the poem to our daily life.
[00:04:11] And this is what Paul wrote.
[00:04:15] Christ is the image of the invisible God, the prototype of all creation.
[00:04:23] For by him all things were created. And in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, Whether thrones or dominions, rulers or authorities, all things were created through him. And for him he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
[00:04:48] He is the head of the body, the church.
[00:04:52] He is the beginning, the prototype of life after death, that in everything he might be preeminent.
[00:05:02] For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
[00:05:19] So recently a friend of mine asked me, why does it have to be so hard?
[00:05:26] Why can't it just. Why can't it just be more simple and easy to understand? What Paul wrote there is dense. It is. It requires a great deal of thinking.
[00:05:40] I want to share with you what N.T. wright said.
[00:05:44] It is part of God's plan for his people that they should wrestle in reading the Bible with puzzles and problems that library of mere timeless truths would never produce and thus to grow to maturity, a maturity that is appropriate for a fully human being.
[00:06:11] Listen what he said.
[00:06:13] The Bible is written the way it is instead of in a bunch of simple sentences, because God wants us to have to think about it and struggle with it.
[00:06:31] How do you make a muscle stronger?
[00:06:34] You make it do something that's too hard for it, right?
[00:06:40] Do you remember being in third grade and having to stop doing, adding and subtracting and start doing, multiplying and dividing? It got a little harder.
[00:06:53] And then it got a little harder because you had to do whatever, right?
[00:06:59] So in all maturity, there has to be a challenge.
[00:07:05] There has to be a difficulty that causes us to grow and develop it ourselves so that we are competent to deal with that difficulty.
[00:07:15] And Paul does the very same thing. He doesn't want us to be eternal spiritual third graders.
[00:07:24] He wants us to struggle with some hard ideas. He wants us to feel the pressure of it. He. He wants us to think about it because he knows that is what the Holy Spirit is going to use to grow us into the complete human being God wants us to be. Are you with me, Church?
[00:07:44] And that's another reason why I've told you on many occasions, Christianity is a thinking religion.
[00:07:51] It requires us to think.
[00:07:54] It requires us to take ideas that. That are a little hard to understand, think about them, ask ourselves questions about them, have discussions about them, until we grow into the potential that we're competent to deal with those ideas in our understanding and in our application. All right, so that also means that some sermons are harder to understand than others.
[00:08:25] All right, you want to feel good, sermon, you can find them all over on the Internet. I'm here to cook steaks.
[00:08:40] I'm here to throw out giant chunks of powerful holy truth and you have to cut it up and digest it to the best that God has given you the ability to do. All right, so let's do this together.
[00:08:57] This week Paul wrote, if with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations?
[00:09:16] Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch, Referring to things that all perish as they are used according to human precepts and teachings.
[00:09:29] These have indeed the appearance of wisdom in promoting self made religion and asceticism and severity to the body.
[00:09:39] But they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
[00:09:46] If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
[00:09:57] Set your mind on things that are above, not on things of the earth.
[00:10:02] For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
[00:10:07] When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
[00:10:15] What Paul is saying is there are inferior ways of thinking that have the appearance of the appearance of being helpful, but in fact they're no help at all and they're actually harmful.
[00:10:32] There are, there are religious ways of thinking that have been taught for generations that have the appearance of saying, ooh, that would be helpful.
[00:10:46] But in fact those religious ideas are man made and they're not only not helpful, they're hurtful.
[00:10:56] Now let's drill into that a little.
[00:10:58] Paul starts by saying if you died with Christ to the elemental principles of the world.
[00:11:11] This is the same term that we looked at last week that I said we should probably translate the spirit of the age.
[00:11:20] This is what Paul says.
[00:11:23] Our culture creates a way of thinking and every generation does that. And that's why these generations get labeled.
[00:11:33] Baby boomers, Gen X, Gen Z.
[00:11:36] Ah, who, who knows what's next?
[00:11:40] All right, all these generations get labeled because each generation generates a cultural way of thinking.
[00:11:51] And the same thing was true in Paul's world.
[00:11:57] When Caesar Augustus was the Caesar, the Roman culture had one way of thinking.
[00:12:05] When he died and Tiberius became the emperor, they had another way of thinking. And when Paul wrote this, Nero was the emperor and there was a radically different way of thinking. All right, so every culture, every generation produces a cultural way of thinking. And listen to what Paul said. Paul said, if we're going to live the Christian life. We can't let the cultural thinking establish our way of thinking. We cannot think the way everybody else around us thinks and be the influential Christians God wants us to be. Do you see?
[00:12:49] Especially in, in times where the culture has lost its equilibrium and, and people will say things that are just unthinkable to say, and they'll write things that are just unthinkable to write. We cannot allow the cultural values around us to establish our thinking patterns. Church.
[00:13:16] We have to actually die to that way of thinking.
[00:13:22] Ah, we should each thoughtfully ask ourselves, what am I submitting my thinking to?
[00:13:35] We should, we should consciously ask ourselves what is creating my present way of thinking?
[00:13:44] Now, often our present way of thinking is established by reacting to something.
[00:13:52] We agree with something and that triggers our thinking. Or we disagree with something and that triggers our thinking.
[00:13:59] So instead of listen, instead of our thoughts being guided by what Christ teaches us, we allow our thoughts to be guided by messages that are, that are bombarding us from our culture.
[00:14:17] And we find ourselves saying, oh, I agree with that. I like that. Oh, I don't agree with that. I don't like that. But you know what I'm doing? I'm just responding.
[00:14:28] I'm not really setting an agenda for a healthy thought life. I'm just responding to how my culture is bombarding me. Do you see?
[00:14:39] I don't want my thought life directed by some social influencer. I don't want my thought life directed by some cable news network.
[00:14:52] I don't want my thought life guided by some political agenda I have. I want to die to that way of thinking. And I want to. I want my thought life guided primarily by the wonder of, and the beauty and the majesty of the thoughts of Jesus Christ.
[00:15:14] I want to think about people the way Christ teaches me to think about people.
[00:15:21] I want to treat people the way Christ teaches me to treat people.
[00:15:25] I want to think about life the way Christ teaches me to think about life.
[00:15:30] I want to value life the way Christ teaches me to value life.
[00:15:35] You see, this is what Paul is saying. If we're going to live a maturing Christian life, we got to get serious about what is setting the agenda of our thoughts.
[00:15:50] Ah, Paul uses a word here that is, it's the only time it's used in the whole New Testament and we get our word to dogmatize from it. But in this context, it has a broader meaning.
[00:16:11] It has the meaning of what is setting the course.
[00:16:22] What do your thought patterns look like?
[00:16:28] And then he gets says, now Let me give you an example.
[00:16:32] Now he goes from the big idea to a specific example. He says, for example, a lot of religions are built on prohibitions.
[00:16:45] And then he gives three.
[00:16:47] Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle. All right?
[00:16:53] Ah.
[00:16:54] Many of us grew up in religious environments where the don'ts set the agenda for everything.
[00:17:05] You can't do this. You can't do this. You can't do this. You mustn't do this. If you do this, your God will reject you. All right, Paul is saying that kind of religion has the appearance of being helpful, but it isn't helpful.
[00:17:26] Now, let's think about this for just a minute.
[00:17:31] External religious acts are, Paul says, used up in the doing of it.
[00:17:44] All right, let's just take a simple one.
[00:17:50] When I was a boy, our church had a rule about not going to movies.
[00:17:57] So it was not acceptable to go to movies. All right?
[00:18:03] If you didn't go to a movie that you wanted to go, go to, you used up the value of that just in that moment.
[00:18:19] Ah, all right?
[00:18:25] But it didn't change who you were as a soul, you see, because oddly enough, you couldn't go see it in the movie, but. But when it came on tv, you could watch it in your house.
[00:18:41] Do you see what I'm saying?
[00:18:43] In these external acts of religion, you use up the value of it in each moment as opposed to in the religion that Paul is teaching.
[00:18:56] It's not about external acts of religion. It's about becoming a different person, person and thinking in a different way and having a more healthy soul in relationship to Christ. And that never gets used up, you see.
[00:19:15] So Paul says religions got very comfortable with creating codes of prohibition.
[00:19:28] And he said people thought that that would help them. And in fact, it didn't.
[00:19:36] It didn't change their soul at all.
[00:19:41] If you want to see a movie and the only reason you don't see it is because you're afraid how the church will treat you. There's no, there's no virtue in that.
[00:19:52] In fact, you have become a worse person because you have allowed the culture around you to manipulate you.
[00:20:01] Church.
[00:20:02] Now Paul is saying religions of prohibition do not help you live a solid, healthy Christian life.
[00:20:13] That isn't to say that we should use our freedom as a cover to do any wicked thing we want to do.
[00:20:23] Church, uh, we, we who died to sin. How can we live any longer in it?
[00:20:32] This is. This is Paul saying, listen carefully. This is Paul saying, I want to tell you how to continue growing spiritually.
[00:20:43] And it begins with the way you're thinking.
[00:20:46] If you think you're growing spiritually because you're getting better at checking off the prohibitions, you're. You have deceived yourself.
[00:20:58] You can avoid doing a lot of wrong stuff and not be a good person.
[00:21:04] Church, can you hear this? You can avoid doing a lot of wrong stuff and not be a good person.
[00:21:14] On the other hand, you can make mistakes and be a good person.
[00:21:24] Church, you can be growing in Christ and still make mistakes.
[00:21:32] Then Paul says these external religious acts and inferior thinking are invented and taught by people, not by Christ.
[00:21:47] These are the commandments and the teachings of men.
[00:21:52] When I don't really see the wonder of Jesus Christ and I want to be religious, I start making things up to substitute for Jesus Christ.
[00:22:07] Can you hear this?
[00:22:08] If, if I don't really feel that Christ is compelling, then I start creating a religion where subtly I substitute Christ for this.
[00:22:24] I substitute. Here's a good example.
[00:22:28] We serve the Lord's Supper once a month.
[00:22:32] All right?
[00:22:34] I've had people who say I have to take the Lord's Supper every single day, every single Sunday.
[00:22:44] And I say, why?
[00:22:47] And they say, well, that's the way I grew up in church. And I said, okay, but why did the church make that rule to begin with?
[00:22:56] Where does it say in the scripture that you have to serve the Lord's Supper every single Sunday?
[00:23:03] All right, now here's, here's what happens.
[00:23:07] If I lose a healthy relationship with Jesus Christ, if I lose a sense of his presence in my life, if I lose a sense of his direction in my life, it's easy to replace all that with the ritual of the Lord's Supper.
[00:23:26] So the ritual of the Lord's Supper takes the place of my personal ongoing day to day relationship with Jesus Christ.
[00:23:37] And if I don't have that personal relationship with Christ and I don't have the Lord's Supper, then what is my relationship to Christ?
[00:23:45] You see what happens? This is what Paul is arguing. Paul is arguing. Man makes up this religious stuff and the, and what happens is it ends up being a substitute for Christ himself.
[00:24:00] And when you substitute in anything for Christ, you have an inferior thing.
[00:24:10] These false religions appear and promise to help, but they actually damage the soul.
[00:24:18] Verse 23.
[00:24:22] They have the appearance of wisdom.
[00:24:26] This is a, this is a, this is a, this is a way of talking about framing.
[00:24:37] Framing is a term that means how you look at something determines what you see.
[00:24:48] Okay, here's an example.
[00:24:54] There are two people looking at an elephant.
[00:24:58] One is looking at the elephant from the front one is looking at the elephant from the back.
[00:25:05] And the one who's looking at the elephant from the front says, this animal has a giant nozzle on its face.
[00:25:14] It's huge.
[00:25:16] The person on the back is looking at the tail and going, it doesn't look so big to me.
[00:25:23] And I wouldn't call it a nozzle.
[00:25:27] And the person in the front says, what are you talking about? It's totally a nozzle.
[00:25:34] I see him blowing dirt in the air out of it.
[00:25:38] And the person in the back goes blowing dirt.
[00:25:41] What are you looking at?
[00:25:43] This thing is swatting flies with.
[00:25:47] Okay, do you see what framing is? The way you look at something determines what you see.
[00:25:54] If you're looking at it from the elephant from the front, you see a different animal than if you're looking at it from the back. Well, this is true of all of life. The way you look at stuff determines what you see. And Paul says, these people who are teaching this false religion, these people who are teaching the man made religion, they're creating a frame that shuts out seeing Christ clearly and they're putting in that frame seeing the elements of their man made religion.
[00:26:32] So where you are supposed to see Christ, you see the wisdom of a man made religion.
[00:26:42] The second thing he says is this, this man made religion is, here's another word that is only used once in the, in the New Testament. And some people believe that Paul invented this word and we're translating it a self made religion.
[00:27:03] We go beyond just the church creating a religion and then for ourselves we create a mini religion inside the church.
[00:27:15] For example, the church has these, these ideas, but a subset of these ideas we don't really like.
[00:27:25] So we drop that subset from our religion.
[00:27:31] Okay, this is an easy one.
[00:27:37] This whole idea of generosity.
[00:27:40] Christ taught us to be generous. Okay, I like the church, but I don't like this teaching on generosity.
[00:27:47] So what I'm going to do is I'm going to drop that from my religion. I'm going to go with all the other stuff, but I'm dropping that and I'm not going to practice that in my religion because I don't like that part.
[00:28:00] See what I'm doing? I am making a subset of religion that doesn't require anything of me that I don't want to give and anything that the religion requires of me that I don't want to give, I just create a little subset religion of my own and I delete that.
[00:28:20] It's gotten so bad that it is not uncommon for, for me to Meet pastors who do not believe in the deity of Jesus Christ.
[00:28:31] How can you call yourself a Christian and not believe in the deity of Jesus Christ?
[00:28:38] What has happened is exactly what Paul said. They weren't comfortable with the tension of the modern age and Christianity, so they created a religion of their own in which Jesus is a pretty good guy, he did some pretty good things, but he's not God.
[00:28:57] Do you see? Paul says, when I create my own religion, it has the appearance of being helpful, but it's really damaging.
[00:29:08] Are you following this?
[00:29:11] And then he said, asceticism.
[00:29:14] This is. This is.
[00:29:17] The more.
[00:29:18] The. The more I deny myself, the more holy I am.
[00:29:25] I once heard a very famous pastor who was very famous in the 60s and 70s. I once heard him say to a large crowd, there are probably at least a thousand people there. He said, if I couldn't preach against anything else, I would preach against Hershey candy bars.
[00:29:49] If I couldn't preach against anything else, I would preach against Hershey candy bars. Okay? At the time, I didn't understand what he was saying, but it struck me as odd. I mean, really, Hershey candy bars.
[00:30:05] Listen, what he was saying, it doesn't matter what it is, but if you deny yourself, makes you a better Christian.
[00:30:19] That's basically what he was saying.
[00:30:22] Even if it's something as innocent as a Hershey candy bar, you are a better Christian if you. If you force yourself, you refuse to let yourself eat it.
[00:30:33] Okay?
[00:30:35] That's exactly what Paul is talking about.
[00:30:39] A Church. In First Corinthians 14, Paul says this.
[00:30:45] There were people who felt like eating things that came from the city market. The city grocery store made you unclean.
[00:30:57] And then there were people who thought, it's just food.
[00:31:01] So there was a problem in the church. The people who thought it made you unclean, they were judging the people who were eating it and saying, you are sinning.
[00:31:13] And the people who thought it was just food, they were looking back at the other people and say, you guys are. You guys are disgusting. If it was up to you, all we would eat is broccoli and water.
[00:31:27] And it created a problem in the church. So listen what Paul said.
[00:31:33] Eating doesn't make you better or worse.
[00:31:37] Not eating doesn't make you better or worse.
[00:31:41] Our faith is not about what we deny ourselves. Our faith is about how we connect to Jesus Christ.
[00:31:52] You get this.
[00:31:54] It is not. It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person. It's what comes out of the mouth that defiles a person.
[00:32:04] Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ said that.
[00:32:09] In fact what Paul is implying is this, this self denial and this self abuse.
[00:32:19] The final term is severity of the body. There are actually people, Christian people who whip themselves.
[00:32:29] There's actually a practice where people have. They whip themselves because they feel like it makes them more holy.
[00:32:40] And this is exactly what Paul is preaching against.
[00:32:43] Listen what he says.
[00:32:45] In fact, these self made religions always produce pride.
[00:32:52] I'm better than you are.
[00:32:54] I don't eat Hershey candy bars.
[00:32:58] I'm better than you are. I don't let myself have any fun.
[00:33:02] I'm better than you are.
[00:33:05] I knelt and whipped myself two times this week.
[00:33:09] I'm better than you are.
[00:33:11] I fast twice as much as you fast. It produces self righteousness which is at the core of the rebellion of man against Christ.
[00:33:24] I'm good enough. I can make myself good enough. I really don't need Christ.
[00:33:30] I'll just fast more.
[00:33:32] I'll. I just won't eat.
[00:33:35] All right.
[00:33:40] Life in Christ changes our focus.
[00:33:44] If then we were raised up with Christ.
[00:33:52] Seek the things that are above where Christ is on the right of the of God being seated.
[00:34:02] Set your mind on the things that are above and not on the earth.
[00:34:07] What does it mean to be raised up with Christ?
[00:34:10] This is the idea that we talked about last week. Remember?
[00:34:15] Buried with him in the likeness of his resurrection. Raised with him in the likeness of his.
[00:34:21] Buried with him in the likeness of his death. Raised with him in the likeness of his resurrection.
[00:34:26] The salvation experience is a dying to the sinful way of life with Christ and being raised up to a life that is directed and guided by Jesus Christ.
[00:34:42] In Christ we are raised above these man made religions.
[00:34:49] Could I remember, could I remind you what Paul said to the Galatians?
[00:34:53] But I say walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
[00:35:01] For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit and the desires of the Spirit against the flesh.
[00:35:11] For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the good things you want to do. This is what he says. Paul said to the Galatians, you need to understand that there are, there is two life principles within you.
[00:35:27] There is a life principle he calls the principle of the flesh and there's a life principle in you. He calls the Spirit. The principle of spirit.
[00:35:36] The principle of the flesh is what produces man made religion.
[00:35:42] The principle of the Spirit is what happens when we become genuine Christians and Christ becomes the center of our life and we start trying to think like Christ. We try. We start trying to have the opinions of Christ. We start trying to do what Christ would have us to do in every situation of life.
[00:36:06] Church the neglect of the body will never cure the soul.
[00:36:10] Would you hear that?
[00:36:12] The neglect of your body will never cure your soul. Your soul is cured by one thing and that is by the saving grace and the. And the holy presence of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
[00:36:27] So Paul said we have to start paying attention to what we're seeking in life. What do you want out of life?
[00:36:35] What are you trying to get out of life tomorrow? What are you going to give your best efforts to?
[00:36:44] We. We all have to go to work. I'm going to work tomorrow. I'm going to start next Sunday sermon. I always do every Monday. All right.
[00:36:52] But tomorrow I'm also going to say my life is not just about the task I have to get done this week.
[00:37:02] My life is also about something that is eternal. And I'm going to have time in every day of my life to seek that which is above.
[00:37:13] I'm going to open my Bible. I'm going to. I'm going to say to the Holy Spirit, please help me to understand what you're saying to me today.
[00:37:23] I'm going to find one good idea and I'm going to carry it with me throughout the day.
[00:37:28] I'm going to have my prayer time. I'm going to sit quietly in the presence of Jesus Christ.
[00:37:34] I'm going to. I'm going to ask him for something of his holy nature to rub off on me. I'm going to ask for the Holy Spirit to guide my way. I'm going to talk to him about the things that matter to me. I'm going to set my mind every day on things that are above. I'm not going to permit myself to only live in the tyranny of the next five tasks I have to get done.
[00:38:01] Church that's what Paul is saying. Paul is saying that's the way you become a strong, good Christian.
[00:38:10] You designate time in your life to seek the things that are above. Where Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father.
[00:38:22] Where do your thoughts habitually turn?
[00:38:25] What do your thought patterns look like?
[00:38:30] Are you following Paul's instruction?
[00:38:35] Or would you say that your thought patterns are more guided by the spirit of the age than they are by Jesus Christ?
[00:38:44] Would you say you think a whole lot more about the here and now than you do about the eternal, the spiritual, the divine?
[00:38:56] Would you say you're making more progress in understanding the fleshly mechanisms of the world or the spiritual Life that lives in the wonder and the majesty of our Lord Jesus Christ, our Creator, our Sustainer, our Redeemer, the one who promises us eternal life.
[00:39:23] Then Paul said, verse chapter three, verse three, you died and your life has been hidden with Christ in God.
[00:39:36] When Christ appears who is our life, then you will appear with him in glory.
[00:39:46] So Paul is saying there is an old approach to life that we have to die to.
[00:39:54] You can't go on living a wicked life and hope to live a healthy Christian life. You got to die to it. You got to let it go.
[00:40:05] You got to say, that used to work for me. It doesn't work for me anymore. Church, I do pretty good breathing in air.
[00:40:16] I do terrible in trying to breathe underwater.
[00:40:20] I'm not designed for that kind of life.
[00:40:24] Fish do real good in water, they don't do so good in air. That's the same truth. Now. There was a time when I could thrive in a sinful condition because I was dead to God.
[00:40:40] But Christ came into my life and he changed the nature that characterizes me. And now to live in that kind of sinful life is impossible.
[00:40:55] We're drowning, we can't survive in that anymore.
[00:40:59] But, ah, there is a new and better life. And that new and better life is. I can't survive in wickedness anymore, but now I can thrive in the life of Christ.
[00:41:13] Now my life is not hidden in sin.
[00:41:17] Now my life is hidden in Christ.
[00:41:21] Now I don't thrive in wickedness, I thrive in holiness.
[00:41:26] Now I. Now the things I want the most are not the things that make me ashamed. The things that I want the most are the things that are going to lead to eternal glory. This is what Paul is teaching us.
[00:41:44] The Christian life exists in a new spiritual environment.
[00:41:52] We are hidden with Christ in God. Our new environment is not dictated by the culture around us. The new environment is dictated that our life is now absorbed in Christ and in God.
[00:42:11] The Christian life anticipates the historical of Christ.
[00:42:17] When Christ appears, who is your life? Listen, Church, this is. This is. You can. You can bet on this.
[00:42:28] Ah, the world and everything in it is passing away.
[00:42:33] Do you get that?
[00:42:35] The world and everything in it is passing away.
[00:42:39] It's all temporary.
[00:42:41] It was never created to last forever.
[00:42:45] It will all melt with fervent heat and there will be a new heaven and a new earth in which righteousness will reign.
[00:42:55] How can I permit myself to be guided by the temporariness of every age and hope to be prepared to live an eternal life with Jesus Christ?
[00:43:11] It can't happen.
[00:43:12] If I'm going to be prepared to live an eternal life with Jesus Christ, then I have to let go of my. Of my.
[00:43:22] My wicked life. And I have to start taking hold of the life that only Jesus Christ promises and gives.
[00:43:31] The Christian life is destined to share the revealed glory of God.
[00:43:39] Someday, the revealed glory of Christ is going to be evident.
[00:43:45] And something of that glory will be evident in every one of us who have been followers of Jesus Christ.
[00:43:53] When he appears, we will see him and we will be like him.
[00:44:00] Listen what Paul said to the church at Corinth. Listen to this very carefully.
[00:44:05] And we all, with unveiled faces, behold the glory of the Lord.
[00:44:13] We are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.
[00:44:23] For this comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
[00:44:27] Listen what? Listen what Paul says.
[00:44:29] In this new life in Christ Jesus, we spend time with Christ.
[00:44:36] We set our mind on the things that are above and not the things that are earth.
[00:44:40] We live in the environment of Christ.
[00:44:43] We let Christ influence our thinking. He starts changing our. He starts changing our character. And little by little, we become more like his glorious self.
[00:44:58] We are being transformed into the glory of Jesus Christ.
[00:45:06] That's the Christian life.
[00:45:08] The Christian life is not a set of prohibitions. It is a transformation through a personal relationship to Christ into the glorious image of Jesus Christ.
[00:45:22] When he shows up, we will be like him because he has that. He is at work in us right now, making us like Him. Do you hear this?
[00:45:34] When he shows up, we'll be comfortable with him because we're already living a life that is hidden in Christ, hidden with Christ and God.
[00:45:46] I don't believe a healthy Christian will be surprised when they open their eyes in heaven that they'll say, home.
[00:45:55] I recognize this.
[00:45:57] I know. I know this place.
[00:46:02] I've never felt more at home in my life because we're being transformed so that the glory of Christ is somehow or another expressed in us.
[00:46:16] A glory that we will live in eternally in the presence of Jesus Christ.
[00:46:22] This is a second look at the Christian life. Our dear Heavenly Father, I ask you in hope.
[00:46:31] I ask you in faith.
[00:46:34] I ask you with a longing heart that you would grant to everyone online, everyone in this room, this new sense of the calling of Jesus Christ, that we'd be willing to let go of our old way of life and we would take hold of a new way of life.
[00:47:00] A way of life that is characterized by a different way of thinking.
[00:47:06] A way of life that is characterized by a religion that. That changes my heart, not just my external actions.
[00:47:16] Then, Father, I pray that as we are transformed into the image of Christ more and more in a daily way, people would see Christ in us.
[00:47:27] In Jesus name, amen.
