FEBRUARY 7, 2021 SUNDAY MESSAGE
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Gospel Redemption Part 1 - Feb 7, 2021
Transcription
I am REALLY excited to be continuing our series on the Gospel Story...the WARDROBE IS BAACK!!!
AS we continue in PART TWO of our exploration in the Gospel Story, we move FROM the Old Testament <Point to Wardrobe> and INTO the New Testament <Wardrobe> opening with the LIFE OF JESUS.
Now, one thing we have tried over and over to make sure you realized there is more to the gospel than JUST “Jesus died for our sins”
It’s BIGGER and more COSMIC including all of creation and not just humanity
it’s more COMMUNAL than individualistic (western church)
Has more flesh on the bones than a simple systematic theology would have us cognitively understand
...IT IS LIFE and LIFE GIVING!
Jesus’ redemptive work is not just the cross but built into the life he lived
showing US how to live,
giving us a definition of love &
showing us how to be REDEMPTIVE people with our lives on earth
If you remember, the wardrobe analogy comes from a writer by the name of Sandra Richter in a book entitled The Epic of Eden. She realized that, for most people, the Bible seems to be JUST…
a really old book FILLED with a RANDOM HODGEPODGE of stories, events, and characters,
IF they know there is an OT and NT,
they don’t know the purpose of the Old Testament or how it all connects
EVEN for those of us who go to church, the Bible CAN still FEEL:
Confusing and inaccessible to the average person,
it can still feel like a jumbled up MESS
...JUST LIKE A MESSY WARDROBE which RICHTER calls “The Dysfunctional Closet Syndrome”
Let me read her quote to you once more:
“Everyone has a dysfunctional closet somewhere in their lives. A closet where Jabba the Hut could be living, and no one would know it. The closet is crammed full of clothes slipping from their hangers, accessories dangling from the shelves, shoes piled in disarray on the floor. It is impossible to tell where one item stops and the next begins. You can’t find anything; you can’t use anything.”
So, in our series, we introduced to you a way to keep some organization through SIX chapter represented by SIX symbols:
In the FALL, we covered the first THREE:
Creation, Rebellion, PROMISE
The two threads we established that will continue to be woven throughout our series:
A COVENANT relationship is established and
A KINGDOM responsibility is set into motion through the people of God
BUT, when we left off, God’s people were caught up in this TERRIBLE cycle of failure, restoration, rebellion, restoration.
God’s people continue to be unfaithful to God WHILE
God continues to express his HESED LOVE his everlasting faithfulness….
THEY NEED HELP!
THEY NEED SOMETHING TO CHANGE
THEY NEED A BREAKTHROUGH IN ORDER TO MOVE FORWARD!
Maybe YOU ever felt STUCK and in a cycle that needs to be broken but you can’t do it in your own strength??
Maybe you are still wandering through life wondering how God changes things, how he gives purpose, identity, significance, calling..?
WELL, THROUGHOUT THESE CYCLES, God’s people were given multiple THRESHOLD MOMENTS…
A threshold moment is where you move from one position to another - it’s “those turning points in your life when you faced a difficult decision, life event or a surprising pivot which changed your life forever. Often, you’re standing at the crossroads of life trying to decide which way to go”
I want to ask you,
“When was the last time you were in a threshold moment? RECALL THAT MOMENT!
Maybe you’re in one now or maybe it’s been a while BUT...
How did you feel? How did you handle it?
Did you engage it in a mature way or stumble your way through it?”
Today, in Matthew 4:1-11 (you can turn there now), we see JESUS at a kind of threshold moment which echoes the plight of Israel (and it’s not the first time!) but with a redemptive quality to it.
As we pick up here today, Just, before Jesus begins His public, ministry an identity is established on TWO fronts:
John the Baptist: “Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” and
God: “This is my son in whom I am well pleased.”
Let’s see what happens next…
Matthew 4:1-11
4 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.
Two QUICK things:
The SPIRIT led Jesus out to the wilderness (inferring there may be a purpose/reason for it) and when he comes back Luke 4:14 says he came out “in the power of the Spirit.” So this is a significant moment or turning point in Jesus life that marks a before & after...
Second, the word used in the translation “tempted” is a little limiting. It’s not wrong but when we think of temptation it tends to ONLY mean “enticing someone towards something EVIL.”
So the word “test” is a better translation because a test is difficult or challenging BUT...
The purpose of a test is NOT to get you to fail though you might do that. It can ALSO reveal the knowledge, ability, or wisdom that you have successfully internalized.
Let me re-read verses 1-3 with that emphasis…
Verse 3 says:
4:1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tested by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The TESTer came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
SO, a challenge to Jesus’ identity - or an offer to find this identity outside of His relationship with God (individualism) - is given because the basis of the challenge is, “If you are the Son of God”
Catch this: it comes RIGHT AFTER Jesus was publicly named by God!
ADDITIONALLY, the Tester wants to question Jesus’ confidence in the Father’s IDENTITY too.
He is undermining Jesus’ trust and loyalty, as THE SON to the Father, with His physical welfare after fasting for 40 days and nights.
What I want you to see is that, the TESTER is hoping he can get Jesus to focus on his current circumstances - his hunger, his thirst, the conditions of the environment - to help sow doubt in:
the relationship he has with - and
the character (or identity of) - ...God, the Father.
The voice of the evil one IMPLIES:
A Father wouldn’t let his son go through this hell.
A Father wouldn’t let his son go out into this dangerous wilderness.
It implies: “Does the Father REALLY care about you?”
AND, if you are the Son of God, you can DO something about this so DO IT! “Turn these rocks into bread….”
In your threshold moments, have you ever..
struggled with your own IDENTITY?
Or maybe the ID of God and whether you could TRUST him?
I think it’s one of the most fundamental struggles in the christian faith!
Let’s see how Jesus responds. V. 4
4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
I think it’s interesting how we see Jesus engage the Tester in this moment? At times, when I read it, I’ve wondered:
Is this just a Chess game of wits…
later the tester quotes the scripture so is this just a battle of “who knows the bible better (a Cosmic “Sword Drill” from 80’s-90’s evangelicalism)” -
...that’s not quite what’s happening here either.
There are multiple significant themes playing out that we can observe in these few lines but that quote would have recalled an entire history for Jewish people!
Let me read to you from the portion Jesus quotes in Deuteronomy 8:2-5.
2 Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. 3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. 4 Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. 5 Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.
Jesus isn’t just QUOTING random scripture, he is referring directly to another moment of testing in a wilderness as he echoes the story of God’s People:
To reveal that he is REDEEMING THE FAILURE of his people during THEIR Test.
If you go one step deeper - because it’s not just about God’s people, he wanted all the nations to know him so, “where else did the TESTER, the Satan, the Serpent present a test to humans?”
...in the Garden of Eden where representation of - not just God’s people - but HUMANITY failed.
The TESTER is trying to get Jesus to fall for the same old lies that have worked throughout history to derail humanity and this time, it isn’t working...
This is a clear moment where we see Jesus strategically representing HUMANITY - and reclaiming the ground they lost - by re-enacting their tests and proving victorious right here and NOW as a new Adam with a new inheritance for those that choose to live in his ways.
Some have said “Jesus became human as the first one who succeed at being human in the way God intended.” So we can do it as well!
SO, it’s possible that you read Jesus’ response that people “shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” as “people don’t need bread to live...only the word of God matters.” That’s silly. You need food but you cannot TRULY LIVE on bread alone:
You can EXIST and move through life just SURVIVING as a human being but you are not FLOURISH or truly LIVING without purpose.
Human beings, at the core of their psyche, need to know they have significance...in fact, when this is denied, humans wither.
So the test given here IS about TRUSTING GOD, it is about IDENTITY, and IT IS ABOUT becoming HUMAN and About Jesus being a representative of redemption that plays out in the rest of Jesus’ wilderness experience.
The devil tries again...
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city (Jerusalem) and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said (THERE IT IS AGAIN, a shot at Jesus’ identity again), “throw yourself down. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
A second assault takes place in Jerusalem and, this time, it is aimed at questioning Jesus’ trust in God to physically protect rather than to physically provide. The Testers quotes Psalm 91 in a blatant misuse of Scripture. He is trying to manipulate Jesus but...
7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Jesus doesn’t fall for it. After two DIRECT attacks against Jesus’ identity fail the enemy tries to come at it from a slightly different angle. It says,
8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
Staking claim to Jesus’ identity via his inheritance. In this culture the Father leaves their families land to an heir and so the devil is saying, “Forsake God and submit to ME as the benefactor of your inheritance - let ME be your father, your blessing, your provider and all of the Kingdoms of the world will be yours.”
Verse 10...
10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” 11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
Once again, Jesus doesn’t fall for it. In fact, every time Jesus resisted an attack, his true identity, authority, and power became more certain...and more complete.
We know that the FINAL “RENEWAL of ALL THINGS” finds is completion in the book of Revelation BUT, what we may not realize is that it STARTS right here. JESUS BEGINS the RENEWAL PROCESS
Almost like Jesus' incarnation is a result of sitting in the throne room of heaven and he says to the Father: “Hold my wineskin, I’m gonna go down there and show ‘em how to do this!”
Let me walk you through it!
IDENTITY
TESTING
Israel
Creation (ends in rebellion)
Covenant (ID/Relationship Established as God’s Chosen People through abraham)
Baptism (Red Sea)
Wilderness Testing (40 Years)
Ministry to the nations begins (same land)
Blessed (with a land of M&H)
to BE a blessing (to the nations who will inevitably go through their land)
Israel FAILED
Jesus
Creation (John 1:1 creation)
Covenant (ID/Relationship Established as “lamb of God” & “Son”)
Baptism (by Johnny B)
Wilderness Testing (40 Days)
Ministry to the nations begins (same land)
Proclaiming the Kingdom of Heaven (words and works)
Fulfilling the law by becoming the sacrificial lamb
Jesus SUCCEEDED
Where others have failed, Jesus is able to overcome. He begins a RENEWAL storyline whose trajectory moves toward victory.
Chances are, you have recognized similar seasons in your life.
Creation - the genesis of your relationship with God has a starting point.
Met god for the first time or
had to surrender yourself and take it on as your own
Baptism - you made a decision with a public proclamation.
There was an identity exchange &
a point in your life that you made a decision and moved from being one thing to being another.
Testing - we are not immune to testing. That we will find ourselves in Wilderness seasons to help reveals what WE are made of.
Thankfully your salvation does not depend on you
Our salvation does not depend on our performance on the test b/c...
Jesus ability to pass this test on our behalf made a way for all of us to enter the kingdom of heaven and into salvation even when we don’t pass the test
So let’s strive to love God and people not to earn anything but our of a grateful heart that he has already done it. We are then freed to become incrementally more like Jesus every single day.
Public Ministry/Calling -
You walk in a way that engages the world around you in mission, kingdom calling, and evangelism!
YOU TOO have a ministry set before you that Jesus wants you to accomplish!! BUT YOU CAN DO THAT UNLESS YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!! You can’t do that unless you know where you are at on this journey!!
I want to push you toward your next threshold moment. What’s your next phase in this journey?
If you don’t know Jesus, let’s talk! Let us know so we can come alongside you in this journey. Do you know WHO YOU ARE?
Or maybe the challenge from the enemy is to find your IDENTITY outside of your relationship with God!
Do you know HOW God has built you to engage the world around you...HAVE YOU IDENTIFIED YOUR PURPOSE AND SIGNIFICANCE on this EARTH?
1) Identify where you are. I have been in Threshold moments and simply identifying my placement was helpful: “why are things so difficult right now? OH I am in a wilderness moment right now.” Identifying it helps you feel a little less lost.
2) Get into community. If you are coming up blank on these questions, I want to know if you have ever asked God about your identity. Ask people you trust who know Jesus!
ROOTED
Spends Multiple weeks on processing many of these questions for you personally and as a group
Have you ever gone to God to ask what am I supposed to do on this earth?
3) If you feel like your ID is being attacked by the enemy. ID PRAYER and EPHESIANS 1
The TESTING in the wilderness did NOT go as the Enemy intended but it did accomplish the task of revealing what Jesus was really made of. Jesus passed the text!
He demonstrated His faithful resolve and proved that He was the SON of God and the HEIR to the throne of KING of Glory.
This wilderness test proves to be the launchpad by which Jesus is established and propels Him INTO his public ministry to the nations and the renewal of all things and YOU HAVE A PART IN IT TOO!!
Imagine if we all stepped up to the test knowing that Jesus has already won the battle.
Imagine if we were so established in our ID and calling that we couldn’t be deterred!
I want to encourage you to Take one step toward the next
COMMUNION:
(1 COR. 11:23B-26)
“The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
SAVE THE DATE: The 2020 Marriage Retreat is scheduled to be Saturday and Sunday, November 7 and November 8!
PRAYER REQUESTS:
We are hosting prayer team meetings for both the congregation at large and individuals to sign up for individual prayer.
SUGGESTIONS FOR WORSHIP:
Coty Miller’s own “Praise & Worship” Spotify playlist and “Praise & Worship” YouTube playlist (slightly different from each other), both of diverse music that are being constantly updated!
Bethel Music :
Bethel Music’s hours of live music YouTube Playlist, also being constantly updated
Bethel provides chords to most (if not all) of their songs here (just have to register email, but free!)
Live worship moments from the Upper Room YouTube Playlist
Journal writing! (I’m a writer too, so sometimes creative writing and writing my thoughts to God is my form of worship.)
Declare and worship with truth by singing and praying scriptures.
WORSHIP NIGHT! Dedicate a night to worship with friends and family, your house church or neighbors, those who need prayer, love worship, or just enjoy music through a video chat platform like Zoom. You can have one person leading at a time (switching off to whoever else wants to lead) while others sing along, pray, or prophesy, etc.
Serving your community, both online, in person, or both, is a great way to worship God, from spreading encouragement and God’s Word online to physically serving food to others. If you are able to go out and serve, click here for opportunities.
COMMISSIONING:
As Jesus said in John 20:21,
"Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."
Go, be the Church!
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Amen.