Once again we are at the end of the year and I now find myself on holidays and with a bit of time on my hands. Although I do have plans on starting on Greek, I won't be spending all my time on that. I will also be doing house things, seeing friends and also listening to a series of talks. Last year I listened through a series on Song of Songs, and the year before that it was on Philippians (both from Mars Hill). So because I am a creature of habit, I will be listening to a series called It's All About Jesus, again from Mars Hill. This time Mark Driscoll gave the first and last talk while another pastor, Bill Clem, gives the remaining talks. I'll post my summary of the talks in the comments below (mostly for my own reference).If you also have time on your hands, may I encourage you to listen to some sermons in your spare time.
Direct links to the It's All About Jesus audio
(the first and last talks are close to 30mb, while the others are around 20mb - I guess Bill Clem doesn't talk as much as Mark Driscoll)
It's All About Jesus : Humility
It's All About Jesus : Identity
It's All About Jesus : Worship
It's All About Jesus : Community
It's All About Jesus : Mission
It's All About Jesus : Glory
I liked this sermon series. I kinda wish that Bill Clem did the whole series. He was a good speaker and each talked fitted into this theme of God ruling over everything and writing history and we are to join Him in this venture and not write our own sub-par history. These notes may not be that coherent, but it is what I was able to jot down on my phone while I listed to these talks.
ReplyDeleteHumility: Jesus is central to Christianity; He existed before he came to earth; Isaiah 6 has Him as an eternal holy king (See also John 12:41); In John 1:1 we see an eternal creator became a man; Jesus didn't lose divinity, but gain humanity ; Phil 2:5-8, Jesus put aside His rights and riches for His love for us; No other religion has a servant god. We need to be humble people to follow and depend on Him; Jesus is humble enough to help you let him; Jesus is humble enough to listen to us, so we should talk to Him. Jesus is humble enough to be with us ,so we should enjoy that.
Identity: If your identity is not in Jesus, then it shrinking the life out of you. We are not the subject of the story, Jesus is the hero. In Matthew 3, Jesus is willing to identify himself with sinners; the Father is well pleased with Jesus before he had done anything, the response was about love, not achievement. Our identify is based on what we do, or what has been done to us. In Luke 5 we have Peters response to Jesus being 'get away from me', he was undone by God; holy and unholy do not mix, but Jesus lets us be in His story, not our own. Peter was invited by Jesus before he has done anything. God gives us worth and value. The family you have is part of gods story, we need to trust Him with the story and not rewrite it.
Worship: We reflect what we revere. We shouldn't objectify God, but worship Him; know and experience him. In John 4, worship isn't just experience or just truth, it's both. Jesus is the access code to God, so we can worship him. We tend to want God to be part of our story, but we should let Jesus be the hero. In Isa 14:14 people say to themselves to be like god; when we worship God we champion Him, He is the hero, the doxa - we declare who He is; we get to amplify god to other to be bigger than they thought. Idols get in the way; they are man made and can be things like traditions, things god has made, health, relationships, spiritual/demonic things.
Community: Something inside us pulls us from community. We are to live in a way that people matter. We are to be in community, not do community. It takes people to perform the fruits of the spirit. In John 13 Jesus cared for people who were going to turn on him, will we? Jesus washes our sins as we walk down life; we live lives with dirt on our feet, but we are to walk back to Him. Community is a place where forgiveness happens. Life change happens at conversion, not death in heaven. An anti-community idea is that your forgiving so you can get grace, health, blessing; instead you are to do because you have received grace, health, blessings. We should plan our lives to jam in with others, to reflex God, and give a reason for our hope.
ReplyDeleteMission: Mission is how we reflect God and invite others to join His story. Mission is living for God is imaging him and getting caught, its not like a sales pitch. We are to join God in mission. In John 3, Mark 2 Jesus set the missional standard as He moved on to other towns. In John 21, Peter gave up his life following Jesus, and we are to die daily. Jesus invites us to change from us been the centre, to Him. We don't know when were on mission, we are to do it all the time. We have been sent to everywhere we interact with. The Holy Spirit converts people, we just have to do life around people. Jesus is life and invites us to his mission
Glory: 2 Cor 3. god is beautiful/ precious/ exalted/ great/ breathtaking- glory. Something in humans attract then to glory. Jesus is the Christians glory. The law brings condemnation as we are bad, we fall short of the glory of God. The Holy Spirit brings the ministry of righteousness- Jesus who didn't fall short of Gods glory. As long as we are clothed in Jesus' righteousness our identity is wrapped up in him. Jesus' glory liberates our worship. We are to read the bible looking for Jesus salvation that saves us from the law/list of rules, not just feel guilt about sin, but see Jesus as our righteousness and feel glade, made possible by the Holy Spirit. Jesus' glory creates our community, collectively we give Him glory. Christ died for the church. You become what you behold. Jesus transforms lives. Pray to see gods glory before reading the bible. Get close to others and see his glory reflected in others. Devoted life, enjoy grace from Him. Jesus glory compels our ministry. He is most important and the reason and motivation. Our whole life is His, look to Him