Sunday 3/18: Discipleship: Hidden in Christ / Clothed in Christ

Discipleship: Hidden In Christ / Clothed In Christ

Colossians 3:1-15

Discipleship matters because maturity matters because Christ matters!

Discipleship is who we are & how we live…It’s our Ethos, Attitude, Worldview

It’s our identity (Who we are truly meant to be)

Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand.

  • Are you there? By what means have you been ‘Raised to New Life’?
  • Eternal perspective is a result of God’s Spirit being in you.
  • If you believe you’re raised by the Gospel, part of that is where Christ is now

Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory.

  • Think about things = The Practice of Focused Attention
  • Towards ‘Heavenly Perspective’ means away from ‘Temporal Perspective’
  • We are not disciples because we live for this life, we are dead and dying to it
  • Being ‘Hidden in Christ’ means God is not judging you on your life but on Christ
  • Biblical Gospel: Christ is coming back! His Disciples share His glory!

So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.

  • Putting them to death means you don’t let them have a place in your life
  • This list is happens when your flesh runs the show
  • It takes God’s Spirit, not religious rituals / posing / new ideas (see last week)

Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming. You used to do these things when your life was still part of this world. But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language.

  • ‘These Sins’ speak of unrepentant sin
  • That was who we were before surrendering our lives to Christ
  • Willful, Deliberate, Joyful Obedience

Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.

  • Old Self = Dishonesty / New Self = Truth
  • Participate intentionally in fully becoming your ‘New Nature’ (Discipleship)
  • Renewing… Learning… Becoming! (It’s a progression)

In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.

  • The past is not the determiner of your future
  • Christ levels the playing field for us as disciples (Each ‘Saint’ has His Spirit)

Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

  • Recognition of His call to ‘Follow Me’
  • Following Christ is ‘Being’ these five things

Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.

  • Hidden in Grace / Clothed in Grace
  • Recognition of what you have been forgiven creates the standard you forgive
  • Matthew 18: The parable of the unforgiving debtor

Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.

  • More clothing…Most important clothing
  • Only one way for ‘the peace that comes from Christ to rule your heart’
  • Thankfulness is a byproduct of your recognition of your eternal union W/ Christ!

APPLICATION QUESTIONS:
Describe how you have died to this life & have been raised with & hidden in Christ

What does it look like to ‘put to death’ the sinful things lurking within you?

Describe ‘Stripping off’ your old sinful nature & putting on your new & renewed nature

What things about your past hinder your belief in Christ choosing you to live in you?

Of the five things listed in V 12, where are you strongest? Where are you weakest?

How does your level of forgiveness match up with what you have been forgiven?

How might you better cultivate love & peace from Christ ruling in your heart?

Why do you think Paul ends this passage with a call to be thankful?

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Sunday 3/11: Relationship Over Rules

Colossians Part 5: Relationship Over Rules OR Connection Over Compliance

2:11-23
When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature. For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.

  1. Paul is connecting old testament with new
  2. Spiritual Circumcision is God placing His (Christ’s) Spirit in you, permanently
  3. The baptism he is referring to is the ‘Immersion’ of God’s Spirit
  4. Circumcision & Baptism are rituals to help us experience God setting us apart
  5. We get Baptized to ‘Confess’ what God has done, and our trust in it

You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.

  1. Sin awareness is crucial, we are all spiritually dead until surrendered to Christ
  2. We are spiritually alive eternally when we trust Christ to forgive that SIN
  3. Christ’s death on the cross cancels our Spiritual Death (when we surrender)

In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed (Exposed) them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.

  1. God showed evil / darkness / rebellion / death / destruction to be powerless!
  2. God let those forces do their worst…and then He did His best!

So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality.

  • We trust God, not religious traditions or ceremonies
  • Christ is to be our reality, not our ability to follow rules and create facades
  • God used the Law to set His people apart to bring Christ out of them

Don’t let anyone condemn you by insisting on pious self-denial or the worship of angels, saying they have had visions about these things.

  • Control by condemnation is classic ‘Cult / Heretic’ behavior
  • Leaders with ‘Unique Vision’ or ‘Special Revelation’ are not Orthodox Christians
  • These thing will always appeal to some form of pride

Their sinful minds have made them proud, and they are not connected to Christ, the head of the body. For he holds the whole body together with its joints and ligaments, and it grows as God nourishes it.

  • Worship of self, not Christ. Not Indwelt with Holy Spirit. Not disciples of Christ
  • John tells us to ‘Test The Spirits’ (1st John 4)
  • We need to be connected to Christ, through the body to grow to maturity

You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world. So why do you keep on following the rules of the world, such as, “Don’t handle! Don’t taste! Don’t touch!”?

  • Have you died with Christ? Tough question…
  • It is the ONLY way to be set free from the power of evil in this world
  • But if you have died then only Kingdom rules will matter

Such rules are mere human teachings about things that deteriorate as we use them. These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires.

  • Phariseeism, that is what it used to look like
  • Rules can never deliver you from evil without and within
  • The Law (Old Testament) was given to prove this point

Application Questions:
How would you describe ‘Biblical Salvation’? What role does Christ play?

Where are you in regards to receiving complete forgiveness from God in Christ?

What does it mean to your daily life that Christ ‘Disarmed’ the powers of evil?

Are there ares in your Christian life where you seek compliance over connection?

What influences your life, pointing you towards something other than Christ?

Where do you struggle with a compliance to rules over relationship to Christ

How might you live out connection over compliance in your discipleship of Christ?

 

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Sunday March 4th: The Struggle for Simplicity (Colossians Pt.4)

Colossians Pt. 4: The Struggle for Simplicity
Chapter 1:28 – 2:10

So we tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ.
Proclaim, Convict, & Inform EVERYONE… Led by God’s Wisdom (H.S.)
We are guided in our own discipleship and the discipleship of others by The H.S.
This is how we create a culture of discipleship (every generation builds their own)
We have a lofty goal: All followers of Jesus Christ growing to maturity (‘Perfect’)

That’s why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ’s mighty power that works within me. I want you to know how much I have agonized for you and for the church at Laodicea, and for many other believers who have never met me personally.
The ‘That’s’ here is the vision of disciple building
Do we have a vision of ‘Biblical Disciple Building’?
That vision is dependent on Christ’s power, not our programs and organization
It doesn’t just serve our own church but even those we do not know personally
Paul had a special burden… should we have some burden?

I want them to be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God’s mysterious plan, which is Christ himself. In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
What Christ’s Disciples are to live like, that means US… NOW!
Focus on Christ…
Author and Perfecter
The Way, The Truth and The Life

The person of Jesus Christ, in all that He is & has done & will do is our simple focus

I am telling you this so no one will deceive you with well-crafted arguments. For though I am far away from you, my heart is with you. And I rejoice that you are living as you should and that your faith in Christ is strong.
Purpose in focus on Christ: (knowing the truth is the cure for deception)
The idea of ‘The Church of Christ’s Disciples’ all being one body with one goal

And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.
It takes God’s power and faith in it to get ‘Saved’, same with discipleship
Root your life on Christ: Roots are the source of growth & stability
Strong rooting (foundation) in the person of Jesus Christ is the plan
Doing it right will make us thankful to God

Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ.
We need this warning just like they did…
Our ‘Media / Entertainment’ is Corrupt, Godless and Destructive

For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.
Everything we need to know about God is contained in The Christ of Scripture
Being united with Christ by God’s Spirit is all we need: Connected to the Top!

APPLICATION QUESTIONS:
What is your role in ‘presenting others perfect in their relationship to Christ’?

What are opportunities to participate in building disciples personally & corporately?

How might you be more intentional in your focus on THE PERSON of Jesus Christ?

What are ways to strengthen your faith in Christ?

What would it look like to build more of your life on ‘Christ as Lord’?

In what ways are you letting ‘Wisdom of this World’ influence you rather than Christ?

What things can keep you from union with Christ?

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Sunday 2/18 @ Midtown Church

What Christ Jesus Did and Who He is

Colossians 1:11-20

We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need.

May you be filled with joy, always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light.

For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth.

He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see— such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.

Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything.

For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.

Realities of those who are Disciples of Jesus Christ:
They draw strength from the glorious power of Christ Jesus.
They are joyful based on God making them His people.
They have been rescued, freed and forgiven.
They see Christ Jesus as GOD.
They experience Jesus Christ as the center of all creation (seen and unseen).
They believe Jesus Christ to be preexistent of and sovereign over all creation.
They follow him as the head of the body they are part of, always putting Him first.
They are reconciled to God by Jesus Christ’s sacrificial death.

Application Questions:
How do you connect with Christ’s power to strengthen you with endurance & patience?

What are some ways you can thank God and experience joy?

In what ways do you thank God for rescuing you from the ‘Kingdom of Darkness?

How would you describe Christ’s role as ‘The Center of All Creation’?

What experience do you have with the ‘Unseen World’?

As part of the body that Christ is the head of, how do you & should you relate to Him?

How do you live out the reality of being reconciled to God through Christ Jesus?

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Sunday 2/11 @ Midtown Church: ‘A Prescription for Growth’

COLOSSIANS Pt. 1: A Prescription for Growth

Colossians 1:1-10

This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Timothy. We are writing to God’s holy people in the city of Colosse, who are faithful brothers and sisters in Christ. May God our Father give you grace and peace.

We always pray for you, and we give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God’s people, which come from your confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven. You have had this expectation ever since you first heard the truth of the Good News.

This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God’s wonderful grace.

You learned about the Good News from Epaphras, our beloved co-worker. He is Christ’s faithful servant, and he is helping us on your behalf. He has told us about the love for others that the Holy Spirit has given you.

So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding.

Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.

Paul’s Five Point Prescription for Spiritual Growth / Christ Discipleship

#1. Receive Grace / Experience Christ’s Forgiveness

#2. Expect God to work in you, build your hope by recognizing HE does.

#3. Practice loving others by God’s Spirit (loving the unlovable)

#4. Keep asking God to reveal Himself and spiritual wisdom to you through others

#5. Live out what He is growing in you: Relational / Experiential Reality

Application Questions:

In your normal week how do you receive God’s grace and peace?

How does the Reality of Jesus Christ help you live with confident hope?

How is the Gospel ‘bearing fruit’ in your life? Are you continuing to change?

Who is an example to follow of someone with ‘Spirit Given’ love for others?

Who prays that God would make you more Spiritually Mature’? Who do U pray this 4?

Who could you approach to help you grow in spiritual wisdom and understanding?

What is an intentional change to the ‘way you live’ that will grow your discipleship?

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Sunday 2/4 @ Midtown Church

Discipleship Ownership

Luke 14:26-27
“If you want to be my disciple, you must, by comparison, hate everyone else—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple.”

Luke 14:28
“But don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it?”

Philippians 2:12-13
Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27
Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.

Application Questions:
Where are you W/ making Jesus #1 in your life? What are ‘Costs’ you would consider?

How would you rate the past ‘Results of Your Salvation’?

How would you rate your trust that God is at work in you so you can please Him?

What areas of your life might you become more of disciplined in?

How can you ‘Get in Training’ for the ‘Eternal Prizes’ of Disciple Building?

What Goals can you set to address you discipleship needs?

What are some initiatives that will move you toward those goals?

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Sunday 1/28 @ Midtown Church: ‘The Art of Discipleship’

The Art of Discipleship: Doing it Jesus Way… Biblical Disciple Building Principals: Communal  /  Progressive  /  Practical 5 Key Initiatives: Prayer  /  Relationship  /  Situations  /  Content  /  Accountability Prayer: Ephesians 6:18 And […]

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This Sunday Message at Midtown Church Discipleship Because Maturity Matters

God desires us to become mature as disciples of Jesus Christ

Matthew 28:18-20
Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

We pursue maturity in order to reproduce that maturity.

2 Timothy 2:1-2
Timothy, my dear son, be strong through the grace that God gives you in Christ Jesus. You have heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others.

We can follow a process revealed in Scripture to produce maturity.

2 Peter 1:5-9
In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.

We will consider maturity to be a spiritual transformed life.

Romans 5:2-5
Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory. We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

Galatians 5:22-23a
But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

We can create a flexible, relational, progressive, discipleship culture.

Ephesians 4:11-13
Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.

Romans 14:17-19
For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. If you serve Christ with this attitude, you will please God, and others will approve of you, too. So then, let us aim for harmony in the church and try to build each other up.

Application Questions:
How might you grow in your commitment to Biblical Discipleship?                         In what areas do you need to mature so you can contribute to disciple building?
What is keeping you from reproducing your faith in others?
In what ways are you currently growing, in what areas are you stuck?
How has God transformed you in the past?
What are ways you would like to see Midtown help people grow?
How can you envision your involvement with disciple building here @ Midtown?

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Midtown Church Sunday 1/14: Your Word For 2018

Join us This Sunday @ Midtown Church as Woody Johnson Shares a message on ‘Your Word for 2018’

Choosing A WORD For The Year!

And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true” (Revelation 21:5).

“The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23).

“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert” (Isaiah 43:18-19).

How to determine your WORD?

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

1. PRAY
“Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead” (Philippians 3:13).

2. ASK
“Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19).

3. WAIT and LISTEN.
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11).

“You crown the year with your goodness, and your paths drip with abundance.” Ps. 65:11

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