March 11, 2024 • 23 mins
In this profound message, Pastor Dan dives deep into the roles of the Church and our individual responsibilities as Christians in manifesting the kingdom of God. Drawing upon spiritual insights from Frank Viola's book ‘Insurgence: Reclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom', he presents an illuminating exposition of the Book of Colossians, emphasizing the centrality of personal sanctification, steadfast agape for Jesus, and living by His internal abiding presence.
This episode powerfully advocates for a peaceful, yet transformative revolution within the Church, grounded on tenets of love, unity, and countering godlessness. Pastor Dan underlines the high calling of Christians to serve as the corporal embodiment of Christ - engaging actively in deeds of love, fairness, and compassion, much like early Christians.
According to his interpretation, the Church is not merely an informational epicenter but a living demonstration of God's kingdom, adding a holy dimension to worldly pursuits. The core essence of this sermon is encapsulated in a significant principle - to live out our love for Jesus and by His indwelling life, consistently emulating His mission and conveying God’s image and authority to the world.
Based also on some key concepts from Frank Viola's 'From Eternity to Here', he suggests that the fundamental objective of the Church is to spread the intense life and love within the Trinitarian family, symbolizing the Three-in-One unity of God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
This sermon culminates in a call to action, challenging listeners to overhaul their understanding of the Church’s mission, inspiring them to act as catalysts for change that is anchored in love for Jesus, replacing legalistic practices with personal sanctification. This message calls upon everyone to become part of an 'insurgence', underpinned by love and powered by the Holy Spirit, that can transform the faith landscape, providing a fresh interpretation of what it means be the body of Christ.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Music.
(00:08):
You would open your Bibles to Colossians chapter 1, Colossians 1, starting at verse 15.
That'll be on page 1168, 1,168 in your pew Bible.
While you find that, let me tell you that this is the second to last in the
series of messages based on Frank Viola's book, Insurgence, reclaiming the gospel
(00:30):
of the kingdom, and it's been quite a ride.
In my opinion, this message will be the most important one so far.
And honestly, after reviewing it many, many times this week,
after writing it over a period of days, I think it's one of the most important
messages I've ever preached.
And I'm going to stick to my notes really closely because of that.
(00:51):
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
For by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or rulers rulers, or authorities.
All things were created through him and for him, and he is before all things,
(01:14):
and in him all things hold together.
He is the head of the body, the church.
He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.
For in him all all fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through him to reconcile
(01:36):
to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
And you who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds,
he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by by his death,
(01:56):
in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.
If indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from
the hope of the gospel that you heard,
which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I,
(02:17):
Paul, became a minister.
The word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God.
Freedom in Christ is a central theme of Frank Viola's book that we've been studying,
Insurgents, Reclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom.
And by now, it should be clear that Frank and I have described an insurgence
(02:40):
within the church of the status quo or contemporary Christian religion.
Before we can subvert a godless society, we must first resist the godlessness
within churches churches that proclaim Christ as their central figure.
We're not advocating violent opposition, pitting legalism against libertinism,
(03:04):
but a steady undermining via personal sanctification.
Let's get that clear.
I'm not advocating violent opposition that pits legalists against libertinists.
I am recommending that we steadily undermine them with personal sanctification.
(03:28):
And when the body of Christ embraces God's eternal purpose and lives for love
of the Lord, her actions make heavenly sense that defies libertine and legalistic reason.
My friend Frank beautifully tells the story of God's eternal purpose in his
(03:48):
book, From Eternity to Here, Rediscovering the Ageless Purpose of God,
which is my personal favorite of all of his books.
In it, he emphasizes the concept of the church as the body of Christ,
continuing his earthly ministry by caring for both its members and the world.
(04:10):
Frank emphasizes emphasizes that the early Christians had a commitment to helping
the poor, standing against injustice, and tending to the needs of those who
suffered from famine and plague.
The church is portrayed as a manifestation of Jesus's ministry,
echoing his mission to preach good news and bring freedom and heal the sick
(04:35):
and address human suffering.
The church is commissioned to proclaim claim and embody the kingdom of God,
acting as a sign of the coming of divine rule.
Frank presented the church in his book as a new Israel,
tasked with fulfilling the original calling to be a blessing to all nations,
(04:57):
sharing the gospel with the poor, and being a light to the world.
And it's central to the church's life.
Pay close attention to the next thing, because this is where it gets down to
what this local church should be all about.
This is the central part of the message that we've been hearing for the last
(05:22):
couple of months in this Insurgency series.
The body of Christ in a local church fulfills God's ageless purpose by loving Jesus,
living by his indwelling life, edifying its members,
showcasing the Lord's priesthood and body, living a shared life as God's family,
(05:47):
and expressing God's image and authority in the world.
The ultimate goal is seen as expanding the life and love within the Trinitarian family.
That is to say that we are to reflect the unity of Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit Spirit for the earth to witness, embracing God's eternal purpose
(06:12):
and being an instrument,
I should say, being an insurgent.
And that requires us to do a re-evaluation, which I think this series has been
for many of us, because the church's expression on earth, at least in my lifetime,
hasn't been particularly impressive. Right.
(06:33):
God's original intent before the fall was and is God's eternal purpose.
We want to be as it was in Eden before the fall.
Do you know that if at least 51% of the members of this family embraced such
a paradigm shift that we would see nothing less than a complete recalibration
(06:56):
of what it means to be the local church?
Church, and honestly, and I mean this sincerely with love in my heart,
if I have rocked you over the last several years, if I've unsettled you, good.
That was the point, because I'm going for a recalibration, and I don't do this
(07:18):
in my own strength or for my own benefit. I don't have an agenda.
I don't have any personal gain in this. I simply want to see Christ's kingdom
reign here at Shiloh Church.
And as an expression of Christ in this community, like no other,
because there's plenty of churches.
But how many kingdom fortresses are there? How many kingdom outlets are there?
(07:44):
How many citizens of the kingdom are roaming the streets of Jasper because of
the fuel and information that they receive in their local church?
So let's revisit that list of things that I referenced a minute ago.
Number one is loving Jesus.
What do you do for love's sake?
(08:05):
It's a daily occurrence for most people. It's witnessed in our dedication to
spouses and children and grandchildren.
You adjust your schedules and change priorities to match their hopes and dreams, don't you?
You desire them to see you cheering for them on the sidelines so that they know how much you care.
You shower them with lavish gifts, and you wait with them through sickness and pain.
(08:31):
Write this down. You do countless other things, all for love's sake,
and loving Jesus is meant to be all of that, too.
Can you say you've done all of that for love of Jesus?
Because that's what it means to devote yourself to Christ.
(08:51):
Number two, living his indwelling life.
Now, I want to quote Frank here from his From Eternity to Here book.
According to Scripture, goodness is a life form.
It's a person. It is God himself. Only God is good.
Therefore, when a Christian seeks to be good, he's eating from the wrong tree.
(09:17):
The result is that his fallen nature will eventually win out.
He will find himself in a losing struggle of seeking to do good but finding
himself doing evil instead.
And Frank quotes Romans chapter 7, verses 19 to 21.
Release Christ to live in and through me. That means you emphasize the importance
(09:41):
of depending on his indwelling rather than relying on personal knowledge of right and wrong.
Let's say that again.
We depend on his indwelling nature rather than our knowledge of right and wrong.
Okay? The focus is on being partakers in the divine nature.
(10:05):
As the apostle Peter put it, living by the same life that Jesus lived. You hear that?
A life higher than human existence.
We often emphasize imitating the historical Jesus. Sorry, Emily,
but we ask, what would Jesus do?
(10:25):
But the better question is, how did Jesus do it and why? why?
That's the question that you have to answer when you're faced with a moral dilemma.
How did Jesus deal with these situations, and why did he deal with them the way he did?
How did Jesus Christ fulfill God's mission? Because that's what he said he came to do.
(10:51):
How did he live the Christian life?
Jesus lived by the indwelling life, not his own, but acknowledging his deeper
dependence on his father's life in him.
You hear that? Jesus dealt with everything by referring to the father within.
(11:12):
He was not living his own life, but a life indwelt by the heavenly father.
So that he could say, like no other person who ever lived, the father and I are one. Amen.
The same principle applies to us Christians. Living by the indwelling Lord is
the key to fulfilling God's mission.
(11:35):
The divine life within believers provides spiritual instincts.
Guiding them in knowing what to do in various situations and empowering them to act accordingly.
Remember how Jesus told us that when we needed words, the Holy Spirit would give them to us.
(11:56):
Again, it's the indwelling Christ within expressing himself through us that
gets it done, not our grasp of the memory of Jesus's words.
I'm always going on about the red ink, but you know, in this case,
knowing what the red ink says isn't as important as letting the one who spoke
(12:18):
the red words in your Bible speak again through you.
Let new red words come out of your mouth.
And I'll qualify that by saying if your Bible doesn't have the words of Jesus in red, I'm sorry.
Number three, edifying the Christian family.
Edification is a word that means providing moral and intellectual instruction.
(12:41):
In this case, with regard to loving Christ and living within within his nature,
is the moral and intellectual edification we seek to provide here in the family
and in this local church.
Our religion, on the other hand, has often modeled a message that is built around
(13:03):
programs and instructions of the knowledge of religious tenets and dogmatic traditions.
It's true. The truth is, is most churches are better at reproducing whatever
brand of Christianity they proclaim.
So most churches like this one make good Methodists.
(13:24):
Most churches, if they're successful, make good Presbyterians, good Baptists.
Oh, and don't lump all the Baptists into one group because there's many different
brands of those. and on and on it goes. Catholics reproduce Catholics.
But the indwelling Christ reproduces other people indwelled with Christ.
(13:46):
And so, unfortunately, the temperature in your average church,
the moral temperature, the intellectual temperature in your average church is
a tepid bowl of bathwater.
Neither hot nor cold. Edifying the family is not a process of introduction into
(14:06):
a host of legalistic traditions,
nor giving them permission to do anything and everything with no regard for
the royal holiness of our Lord.
We edify our spouses, our children, our grandchildren, by bearing witness to
our core beliefs to the Christ dwelling within. in.
(14:27):
We bear witness through character traits, through language, through mannerisms,
cultural norms, and countless other ways.
Those are the things that we imitate.
Got to tell you a story for just a second outside my notes, but I can't help
thinking about this every time I look at this line.
I remember one day several months ago watching my little granddaughter,
(14:49):
Jane, and playing at her toy kitchen.
And, you know, this time she's less than two years old.
And I noticed that every time she would get something out of a cabinet,
she would turn and kick it shut with her foot.
And I thought, I wonder why she does that. Say, say, mom, do you do that when
you're working in the kitchen? And mom said, yes.
(15:12):
You see, they catch every little thing, and they assume that's normal. Why wouldn't they?
Now, go back to this edification of the Christian family and realize that you have a responsibility,
a really frightening responsibility as parents and grandparents and as teachers
(15:32):
and adult leaders in in all sorts of situations because the young look at your
example and assume that's normal.
And what normal things have you communicated about life with Christ living within,
the indwelling Christ within?
Can they see Christ indwelling in you?
(15:52):
Number four, showcasing the Lord's priesthood in the body.
And this kind of has something to do with what we just said, but in a broader sense,
the world of the unchurched and unbelieving people that we bear witness to in
the same way that we edify our families is making decisions about Jesus, our Lord,
(16:18):
and the body of Christ based on our testimony of witness.
Our family of God, this family of faith here called Shiloh Church,
demonstrates traits to outsiders that they will identify to make decisions about
God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
(16:41):
And that witness is our priesthood.
How are you at recognizing your priesthood as an expression to the world that
doesn't know Jesus of what Jesus is like?
How are we, as a family of faith, testifying to the world the true nature of
(17:02):
the Christ who dwells within?
Number five, living a shared life as God's family.
Deep love embodied in Christian believers via the indwelling Christ binds us
all together as surely as any blood tie. high.
In effect, we have been transfused with the blood of Christ and thus born again.
(17:27):
This common spiritual blood makes us family, but it's more than that because
we are said to be of one accord.
The Apostle Paul said to the Philippian church, complete my joy by being of
the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.
(17:47):
It seems impossible to us, but there is hope among the sanctified.
And perhaps the absence of such a lofty pursuit is the only real obstacle. You hear that?
Maybe the reason that we haven't become of one accord is because we haven't made that the goal.
And let me reiterate that this doesn't mean being nice to one another and pretending
(18:11):
like we like each other. It doesn't mean that we act like we agree with each
other, but then destroy each other and reputation out in the parking lot.
To be of one accord means all the time.
The body of Christ is a family because while we may not be the same and we may
have different tastes and different character traits that make us unique and
(18:35):
interesting and downright funny, At the end of the day,
we share a core nature that is the indwelling Christ within.
And he doesn't want to be torn apart any more than you would want to be torn apart.
And so to make that lofty, almost impossible goal a priority will really distinguish
(18:58):
this local church from the vast majority of so-called Christians.
Number six, and the last one on this list.
Expressing God's image and authority in the world, like priesthood, but more.
Expressing God's image is a matter of presenting all that we can know about our awesome creator.
(19:20):
God has imparted a tremendous amount of knowledge to generations of his people.
God has risked leaving himself open to criticism, hostile blasphemies,
and endless skepticism. It would be easier sometimes if God wasn't transparent so often.
You see, that's why people blur God's image wherever it shows them something
(19:42):
about God they don't like.
When the Lord indwells a Christian believer, it's even easier to know him.
And then you have a certainty that's just unfathomable to some people.
Therefore, when those who know God well declare his unchanging nature and authority,
it is often offensive to the others.
(20:03):
And as the Lord's image bearers, we have to offer both his grace and his justice.
And this is why we've said things that
have been hard for people because they want to pigeonhole
us but the truth is you have
to be unwavering in your commitment to the
unchanging nature of God but at the same time expressing one of his most visible
(20:30):
characteristics which is grace and so you say to people whether you want to
or not God doesn't approve of all these things that that we try to say he approves of,
but one thing we know for sure is that through Jesus Christ, he approves of you.
You can't change his nature. You can't change his royal holiness, but you can,
(20:53):
escape his justifiable wrath through Jesus Christ,
meaning he's never going to say that certain things you want him to agree with,
he's changed his mind about, but he will always say that he won't change his
mind about you as long as you are in Christ and Christ indwells you.
(21:16):
Loves you unconditionally, but his royal holiness is unchanging and unwavering,
and we can't deal adequately with him without accepting that and surrendering to it.
So, thanks to Frank's insights from his book, From Eternity to Here,
(21:38):
Rediscovering the Ageless Purpose of God, and what we've learned through his
book, The Insurgents, Reclaiming the Gospel gospel of the kingdom,
so that we understand that the church within churches can be an insurgence that
challenges the status quo and it urges resistance against godlessness through
personal sanctification.
(21:58):
In other words, we resist by becoming sanctified or deliberately trying to be
holier in the eyes of God today, not in the eyes of the world, in the eyes of God.
And you want to know the secret to being holier in the eyes of God?
Surrender. Submission.
(22:20):
Let him have all authority over you. Let him displace you and indwell within.
And you will become more sanctified. That's what the word means.
It's a call to a daily commitment. and it's a shift from legalism to dependence
on Christ and dwelling the life that witnesses,
(22:45):
most evidently through love and expressing God's image and authority in the world.
Therefore, we are inspired to embrace God's eternal purpose fervently,
understanding that the recalibration of our mission requires genuine transformation
transformation, and how we express our faith and love in the world.
(23:08):
The insurgent is propelled through
a purpose-driven and love-infused life expressed as the body of Christ.
Let us pray. O God, take all that is from you and burn it in the hearts of your
people, and may it stir them like nothing they've ever heard.
(23:30):
And then, Lord, erase whatever is incorrect so that only a pure and sanctified
message of your word, your heart and mind remains. Amen.
Music.
Music.
(00:08):
You would open your Bibles to Colossians chapter 1, Colossians 1, starting at verse 15.
That'll be on page 1168, 1,168 in your pew Bible.
While you find that, let me tell you that this is the second to last in the
series of messages based on Frank Viola's book, Insurgence, reclaiming the gospel
(00:30):
of the kingdom, and it's been quite a ride.
In my opinion, this message will be the most important one so far.
And honestly, after reviewing it many, many times this week,
after writing it over a period of days, I think it's one of the most important
messages I've ever preached.
And I'm going to stick to my notes really closely because of that.
(00:51):
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
For by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or rulers rulers, or authorities.
All things were created through him and for him, and he is before all things,
(01:14):
and in him all things hold together.
He is the head of the body, the church.
He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.
For in him all all fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through him to reconcile
(01:36):
to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
And you who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds,
he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by by his death,
(01:56):
in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.
If indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from
the hope of the gospel that you heard,
which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I,
(02:17):
Paul, became a minister.
The word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God.
Freedom in Christ is a central theme of Frank Viola's book that we've been studying,
Insurgents, Reclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom.
And by now, it should be clear that Frank and I have described an insurgence
(02:40):
within the church of the status quo or contemporary Christian religion.
Before we can subvert a godless society, we must first resist the godlessness
within churches churches that proclaim Christ as their central figure.
We're not advocating violent opposition, pitting legalism against libertinism,
(03:04):
but a steady undermining via personal sanctification.
Let's get that clear.
I'm not advocating violent opposition that pits legalists against libertinists.
I am recommending that we steadily undermine them with personal sanctification.
(03:28):
And when the body of Christ embraces God's eternal purpose and lives for love
of the Lord, her actions make heavenly sense that defies libertine and legalistic reason.
My friend Frank beautifully tells the story of God's eternal purpose in his
(03:48):
book, From Eternity to Here, Rediscovering the Ageless Purpose of God,
which is my personal favorite of all of his books.
In it, he emphasizes the concept of the church as the body of Christ,
continuing his earthly ministry by caring for both its members and the world.
(04:10):
Frank emphasizes emphasizes that the early Christians had a commitment to helping
the poor, standing against injustice, and tending to the needs of those who
suffered from famine and plague.
The church is portrayed as a manifestation of Jesus's ministry,
echoing his mission to preach good news and bring freedom and heal the sick
(04:35):
and address human suffering.
The church is commissioned to proclaim claim and embody the kingdom of God,
acting as a sign of the coming of divine rule.
Frank presented the church in his book as a new Israel,
tasked with fulfilling the original calling to be a blessing to all nations,
(04:57):
sharing the gospel with the poor, and being a light to the world.
And it's central to the church's life.
Pay close attention to the next thing, because this is where it gets down to
what this local church should be all about.
This is the central part of the message that we've been hearing for the last
(05:22):
couple of months in this Insurgency series.
The body of Christ in a local church fulfills God's ageless purpose by loving Jesus,
living by his indwelling life, edifying its members,
showcasing the Lord's priesthood and body, living a shared life as God's family,
(05:47):
and expressing God's image and authority in the world.
The ultimate goal is seen as expanding the life and love within the Trinitarian family.
That is to say that we are to reflect the unity of Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit Spirit for the earth to witness, embracing God's eternal purpose
(06:12):
and being an instrument,
I should say, being an insurgent.
And that requires us to do a re-evaluation, which I think this series has been
for many of us, because the church's expression on earth, at least in my lifetime,
hasn't been particularly impressive. Right.
(06:33):
God's original intent before the fall was and is God's eternal purpose.
We want to be as it was in Eden before the fall.
Do you know that if at least 51% of the members of this family embraced such
a paradigm shift that we would see nothing less than a complete recalibration
(06:56):
of what it means to be the local church?
Church, and honestly, and I mean this sincerely with love in my heart,
if I have rocked you over the last several years, if I've unsettled you, good.
That was the point, because I'm going for a recalibration, and I don't do this
(07:18):
in my own strength or for my own benefit. I don't have an agenda.
I don't have any personal gain in this. I simply want to see Christ's kingdom
reign here at Shiloh Church.
And as an expression of Christ in this community, like no other,
because there's plenty of churches.
But how many kingdom fortresses are there? How many kingdom outlets are there?
(07:44):
How many citizens of the kingdom are roaming the streets of Jasper because of
the fuel and information that they receive in their local church?
So let's revisit that list of things that I referenced a minute ago.
Number one is loving Jesus.
What do you do for love's sake?
(08:05):
It's a daily occurrence for most people. It's witnessed in our dedication to
spouses and children and grandchildren.
You adjust your schedules and change priorities to match their hopes and dreams, don't you?
You desire them to see you cheering for them on the sidelines so that they know how much you care.
You shower them with lavish gifts, and you wait with them through sickness and pain.
(08:31):
Write this down. You do countless other things, all for love's sake,
and loving Jesus is meant to be all of that, too.
Can you say you've done all of that for love of Jesus?
Because that's what it means to devote yourself to Christ.
(08:51):
Number two, living his indwelling life.
Now, I want to quote Frank here from his From Eternity to Here book.
According to Scripture, goodness is a life form.
It's a person. It is God himself. Only God is good.
Therefore, when a Christian seeks to be good, he's eating from the wrong tree.
(09:17):
The result is that his fallen nature will eventually win out.
He will find himself in a losing struggle of seeking to do good but finding
himself doing evil instead.
And Frank quotes Romans chapter 7, verses 19 to 21.
Release Christ to live in and through me. That means you emphasize the importance
(09:41):
of depending on his indwelling rather than relying on personal knowledge of right and wrong.
Let's say that again.
We depend on his indwelling nature rather than our knowledge of right and wrong.
Okay? The focus is on being partakers in the divine nature.
(10:05):
As the apostle Peter put it, living by the same life that Jesus lived. You hear that?
A life higher than human existence.
We often emphasize imitating the historical Jesus. Sorry, Emily,
but we ask, what would Jesus do?
(10:25):
But the better question is, how did Jesus do it and why? why?
That's the question that you have to answer when you're faced with a moral dilemma.
How did Jesus deal with these situations, and why did he deal with them the way he did?
How did Jesus Christ fulfill God's mission? Because that's what he said he came to do.
(10:51):
How did he live the Christian life?
Jesus lived by the indwelling life, not his own, but acknowledging his deeper
dependence on his father's life in him.
You hear that? Jesus dealt with everything by referring to the father within.
(11:12):
He was not living his own life, but a life indwelt by the heavenly father.
So that he could say, like no other person who ever lived, the father and I are one. Amen.
The same principle applies to us Christians. Living by the indwelling Lord is
the key to fulfilling God's mission.
(11:35):
The divine life within believers provides spiritual instincts.
Guiding them in knowing what to do in various situations and empowering them to act accordingly.
Remember how Jesus told us that when we needed words, the Holy Spirit would give them to us.
(11:56):
Again, it's the indwelling Christ within expressing himself through us that
gets it done, not our grasp of the memory of Jesus's words.
I'm always going on about the red ink, but you know, in this case,
knowing what the red ink says isn't as important as letting the one who spoke
(12:18):
the red words in your Bible speak again through you.
Let new red words come out of your mouth.
And I'll qualify that by saying if your Bible doesn't have the words of Jesus in red, I'm sorry.
Number three, edifying the Christian family.
Edification is a word that means providing moral and intellectual instruction.
(12:41):
In this case, with regard to loving Christ and living within within his nature,
is the moral and intellectual edification we seek to provide here in the family
and in this local church.
Our religion, on the other hand, has often modeled a message that is built around
(13:03):
programs and instructions of the knowledge of religious tenets and dogmatic traditions.
It's true. The truth is, is most churches are better at reproducing whatever
brand of Christianity they proclaim.
So most churches like this one make good Methodists.
(13:24):
Most churches, if they're successful, make good Presbyterians, good Baptists.
Oh, and don't lump all the Baptists into one group because there's many different
brands of those. and on and on it goes. Catholics reproduce Catholics.
But the indwelling Christ reproduces other people indwelled with Christ.
(13:46):
And so, unfortunately, the temperature in your average church,
the moral temperature, the intellectual temperature in your average church is
a tepid bowl of bathwater.
Neither hot nor cold. Edifying the family is not a process of introduction into
(14:06):
a host of legalistic traditions,
nor giving them permission to do anything and everything with no regard for
the royal holiness of our Lord.
We edify our spouses, our children, our grandchildren, by bearing witness to
our core beliefs to the Christ dwelling within. in.
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We bear witness through character traits, through language, through mannerisms,
cultural norms, and countless other ways.
Those are the things that we imitate.
Got to tell you a story for just a second outside my notes, but I can't help
thinking about this every time I look at this line.
I remember one day several months ago watching my little granddaughter,
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Jane, and playing at her toy kitchen.
And, you know, this time she's less than two years old.
And I noticed that every time she would get something out of a cabinet,
she would turn and kick it shut with her foot.
And I thought, I wonder why she does that. Say, say, mom, do you do that when
you're working in the kitchen? And mom said, yes.
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You see, they catch every little thing, and they assume that's normal. Why wouldn't they?
Now, go back to this edification of the Christian family and realize that you have a responsibility,
a really frightening responsibility as parents and grandparents and as teachers
(15:32):
and adult leaders in in all sorts of situations because the young look at your
example and assume that's normal.
And what normal things have you communicated about life with Christ living within,
the indwelling Christ within?
Can they see Christ indwelling in you?
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Number four, showcasing the Lord's priesthood in the body.
And this kind of has something to do with what we just said, but in a broader sense,
the world of the unchurched and unbelieving people that we bear witness to in
the same way that we edify our families is making decisions about Jesus, our Lord,
(16:18):
and the body of Christ based on our testimony of witness.
Our family of God, this family of faith here called Shiloh Church,
demonstrates traits to outsiders that they will identify to make decisions about
God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
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And that witness is our priesthood.
How are you at recognizing your priesthood as an expression to the world that
doesn't know Jesus of what Jesus is like?
How are we, as a family of faith, testifying to the world the true nature of
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the Christ who dwells within?
Number five, living a shared life as God's family.
Deep love embodied in Christian believers via the indwelling Christ binds us
all together as surely as any blood tie. high.
In effect, we have been transfused with the blood of Christ and thus born again.
(17:27):
This common spiritual blood makes us family, but it's more than that because
we are said to be of one accord.
The Apostle Paul said to the Philippian church, complete my joy by being of
the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.
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It seems impossible to us, but there is hope among the sanctified.
And perhaps the absence of such a lofty pursuit is the only real obstacle. You hear that?
Maybe the reason that we haven't become of one accord is because we haven't made that the goal.
And let me reiterate that this doesn't mean being nice to one another and pretending
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like we like each other. It doesn't mean that we act like we agree with each
other, but then destroy each other and reputation out in the parking lot.
To be of one accord means all the time.
The body of Christ is a family because while we may not be the same and we may
have different tastes and different character traits that make us unique and
(18:35):
interesting and downright funny, At the end of the day,
we share a core nature that is the indwelling Christ within.
And he doesn't want to be torn apart any more than you would want to be torn apart.
And so to make that lofty, almost impossible goal a priority will really distinguish
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this local church from the vast majority of so-called Christians.
Number six, and the last one on this list.
Expressing God's image and authority in the world, like priesthood, but more.
Expressing God's image is a matter of presenting all that we can know about our awesome creator.
(19:20):
God has imparted a tremendous amount of knowledge to generations of his people.
God has risked leaving himself open to criticism, hostile blasphemies,
and endless skepticism. It would be easier sometimes if God wasn't transparent so often.
You see, that's why people blur God's image wherever it shows them something
(19:42):
about God they don't like.
When the Lord indwells a Christian believer, it's even easier to know him.
And then you have a certainty that's just unfathomable to some people.
Therefore, when those who know God well declare his unchanging nature and authority,
it is often offensive to the others.
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And as the Lord's image bearers, we have to offer both his grace and his justice.
And this is why we've said things that
have been hard for people because they want to pigeonhole
us but the truth is you have
to be unwavering in your commitment to the
unchanging nature of God but at the same time expressing one of his most visible
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characteristics which is grace and so you say to people whether you want to
or not God doesn't approve of all these things that that we try to say he approves of,
but one thing we know for sure is that through Jesus Christ, he approves of you.
You can't change his nature. You can't change his royal holiness, but you can,
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escape his justifiable wrath through Jesus Christ,
meaning he's never going to say that certain things you want him to agree with,
he's changed his mind about, but he will always say that he won't change his
mind about you as long as you are in Christ and Christ indwells you.
(21:16):
Loves you unconditionally, but his royal holiness is unchanging and unwavering,
and we can't deal adequately with him without accepting that and surrendering to it.
So, thanks to Frank's insights from his book, From Eternity to Here,
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Rediscovering the Ageless Purpose of God, and what we've learned through his
book, The Insurgents, Reclaiming the Gospel gospel of the kingdom,
so that we understand that the church within churches can be an insurgence that
challenges the status quo and it urges resistance against godlessness through
personal sanctification.
(21:58):
In other words, we resist by becoming sanctified or deliberately trying to be
holier in the eyes of God today, not in the eyes of the world, in the eyes of God.
And you want to know the secret to being holier in the eyes of God?
Surrender. Submission.
(22:20):
Let him have all authority over you. Let him displace you and indwell within.
And you will become more sanctified. That's what the word means.
It's a call to a daily commitment. and it's a shift from legalism to dependence
on Christ and dwelling the life that witnesses,
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most evidently through love and expressing God's image and authority in the world.
Therefore, we are inspired to embrace God's eternal purpose fervently,
understanding that the recalibration of our mission requires genuine transformation
transformation, and how we express our faith and love in the world.
(23:08):
The insurgent is propelled through
a purpose-driven and love-infused life expressed as the body of Christ.
Let us pray. O God, take all that is from you and burn it in the hearts of your
people, and may it stir them like nothing they've ever heard.
(23:30):
And then, Lord, erase whatever is incorrect so that only a pure and sanctified
message of your word, your heart and mind remains. Amen.
Music.
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