Second to One Series
In this series we will be looking at areas where we need to submit to Christ’s authority.
I hear a lot of stuff going around the Christian church about God being concerned with our greatness, that He want you to be a winner, and that we are all victors in Christ.
On one level this is true. We are all victors. Romans 8 makes this clear but it is also clear that our victory is because of Jesus’ victory over sin and death. It should also be clear that the greatness being preached by many is merely ‘lifestyle’ preaching with a fluoride smile thrown in!
In our church we have a vision and a mission. We’re clear about what God has called us to be how how we’re to live.
Our vision is simple: Serving God in Our World.
Our mission is broken down into five areas:
S - sacrificial living
E - extending the kingdom
R - relationships with God and each other.
V - vibrant in worship
E - empowering people.
I hope the new banners around the church help remind us of these values.
In this series we’re going to look at being second! We like to win. We’re all a little competitive. We might appear serene on the outside but all of us like the idea of being first, gold medalists, top of the podium.
There are three key scriptures what we will need to keep in mind as we go through this series:
1. Give Up and Pick Up
Mark 8:34-35: 34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.
Notice that Jesus said these word to the crowd. It’s an invitation to all to follow Christ, but it’s an invitation with a cost.
The word deny (aparneomai) means to deny totally; to disown, to abstain. This is stronger than not contradicting or holding your tongue on a subject. This word means to totally break all connections with someone or something.
So Jesus is saying if we are to be His disciples then we need to totally break connection with the way we live to follow Him
Notice too that Jesus is speaking to the crowd - the followers who like what He’d doing - and telling them that to be a disciple involves more. It involves self-denial. He elaborates by saying that we literally lose the the life we have to gain the life He gives (35).
2. Shift Focus to Get All
The second Scripture we will refer to and keep in mind is another well known verse:
Matthew 6: 33: But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Here Jesus is again being clear and concise. Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness. Now this might be the simplest thought in the world but it might be quite profound too: if something is to be sought first, then that means that something else has to be second.
It means that the concerns that take up the life of the non-Christian, the non-Disciple, should not be the top priority of Disciples of Jesus (see verses 25-34).
Everyone knows that you need money, shelter, clothing and food to live life. But note this verse:
32: For the pagans run after all these things…, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
Unbelievers run after these things. They seek them and pursue them. Does that mean that they are wrong or sinful things to have? No. For the verse continues, …and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
What Jesus is telling us here is that if we seek first His kingdom all these things will be given to you as well (33b).
Now if we think that there is some formula here so that we can seek God’s kingdom and then get rich as a result we will find we won’t get rich because we're not seeking God;s kingdom wholly and we're certainly not denying our greed.
Jesus is saying that if we seek His kingdom first, all the other essentials, will be added to us - money, shelter, clothing and food to live life - for God supplies all our needs according to His riches in glory (Philippians 4:19). Note: that’s needs not greeds!
So in this series we’re going to look at being Second to One [Jesus’ will] in or life. We’re going to look at how we do this in practical areas and how that kind of life influences others.
Over the course of this series it should also emerge that Christianity is not a lifestyle choice. It’s the only way to life life, but we are not going to lower our faith the the basis of a life that looks like a shopping basket of random, contradictory inconsistencies.
We are going to discovery that denying ourselves to follow Christ is a calling and a command in which we are challenged daily to follow Him again.
As Luke puts it: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. (Luke 9:23).
3. Come Last to Be First
This will be the hardest teaching some of us will ever hear. Why? Because is will strike us at the very core of one of the enemies deceptions; that we are god-like. Put another way, it will attack our pride.
Living sacrificially means giving up our advantage is some area. It means that we live Second to One.
What did Jesus tell us about greatness?
Mark 9:33-35: They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, ‘What were you arguing about on the road?’ 34 But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest. 35 Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, ‘Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.’
We have a strange idea of greatness. We have an idea that it’s the one who comes first who is great. In the Kingdom sincere love is shown by our security in who we are in Christ - we don’t have to strive for position because we are positioned in Christ.
This changes our attitude to serving others. We have nothing to prove because there is no greater gain than having Christ with us.
Genuine love of others is what took Jesus to the cross. Genuine love comes from three things:
- relationship with Jesus
- security in who we are in Christ
- a resulting change of attitude
Surrendering our advantage in the world’s eyes is weakness and gullibility. It means to be seen as an easy target. But that’s the difference between weakness and meekness.
Matthew 5:5: Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Meekness is strength under control.
Weakness will always try and compensate for the lack.
Meekness fears nothing for it is security that comes form God’s love.
Weakness fears everything in the area of the weakness.
Meekness seeks to prove and justify nothing for all security is found in Christ.
Weakness will look for love and approval from others, for what others think is paramount.
The world sees meekness as inferiority but the meek see the world as weak.
Empowered people are people who are meek, content to sheer another’s success and not striving for position.
In fact they are the type of people that God promotes in the kingdom (cf.Mark 9:35 & Phil 2: 5-11).
Wrapping it up:
So those are the foundation passages for our series, Second to One.
Here are the areas that we’re going to consider over my next six preaches:
Second to One in our Relationships
Second to One in Our Worship
Second to One in Our Life Goals
Second to One in our Finances
Second to One in Our Work
Second to One in Our Sexuality
No comments:
Post a Comment