Wednesday, September 18, 2024

Jesus, the Cornerstone - Part 2

 This message was preached at Word Of Grace Church on September 15th 2024 by Lasya. For the audio & video please click here.  For the worship please click here.

JESUS, THE CORNERSTONE 

Part 2 


Last week we looked at Jesus, the cornerstone - what does it mean that Jesus is the cornerstone of the church? That our faith is built on the revelation of who he is. So we are doing a check of the foundation, making sure that we are building on the cornerstone. 


  1. Believe that Jesus is who the Bible says he is - he is fully man, fully God - he has a dual nature and he is absolutely real. 

We believe the truth of the bible that Jesus is from God and is God, he became incarnate, he was born to a virgin who was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit having no imputed sin of Adam. Only one other man in the history of creation without a human father and that was Adam. The virgin birth of Jesus Christ is important because in Christ, God was creating a new humanity. Illustration of a glass of dirty water. 


  1. Believe in Jesus’ death and resurrection

Salvation is simple. We simply receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We do not need to complicate that with 100s of doctrines. Imagine at the time you came to receive Jesus, if you have been preached about total depravity, perseverance of the saints, the doctrine of man and God… we are not saved by the cleverness of perfect theology, they are saved by the power of God. Peter’s speech at Pentecost v. the book of Romans. But the Bible is full of theology because it's meant for us to grow in our faith through it. If you’re here just looking in, not sure whether you really want to receive this Jesus or not, this is my message - God so loves YOU, that he sent his only son, that whoever believes in him will have eternal life. To the rest, we are here to remind ourselves of the life and work of Jesus - to study his word and build ourselves up in the most holy faith.  (Jude 1:20) 


  1. The sufficiency of his sacrifice for our sin: Not just as a historical fact, but that he took our sin and shame on the cross. 1 Peter 2:24 “ He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.”  What makes Christianity different from other world religions is that we are not to pay for our sins. The fact is that we cannot. Romans 6:23 “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Illustration of receiving a message about 30k in my account.


Some things that the cross has done for us- Not just understand it with the mind but your heart, will, emotions, body. 

  1. Expiation of our sins - removes sin- “as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.” ‭‭Psalm‬ ‭103‬:‭12‬ 

  2. Propitiation for our sin - removes the wrath of God Romans 5:9 ““Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.”

  3. Reconciliation with God - removes enmity with God Romans 5:10 “for if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now, that we are reconciled….” Illustration of Tamilians and Malayalis

  4. Justification - removes the guilt of sin. When a person commits an offence, not only is the offence punished, but the person becomes a criminal. Romans 3:28 “for we hold that one is justified by faith, apart from the works of the law”

  5. sanctification (positionally) - removes defilement from sin. This is the result of grace. Romans 3:22 “the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe”

  6. Transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light - Col 1:13 ”He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.” 

  7. Redemption / release from our bondage to sin. ““We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. ‭‭Romans‬ ‭6‬:‭6‬ ‭


Now we see why the cross has become a symbol of the Christian faith. 1 Corinthians 1:23 - 24 - “or Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” 


Response - freely you have received, freely give. Illustration of an issue with a colleague. Forgiveness doesn't come naturally to us, but it’s that very nature we must put to death. It was not natural for Jesus to go to the cross - he was sorrowful to the point of sweating drops of blood, but we must, as Jesus did, yield our will to his way. 


  1. The truth of his resurrection on the third day

Why is it important for us to believe that not only did Jesus die for us but that he rose on the 3rd day? 1 Corinthians 15:14 and 17 “14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins The victory over death and sin and darkness is evidenced by the resurrection of Jesus. There were many who opposed Jesus and his followers, but what no one could do was produce his body. Michael Eaton “ the stone was not rolled away to let Jesus out, it was to let the witnesses in” 

Not only do we believe that Christ is resurrected but that we are raised with him. When we believe in Jesus we have a new birth. Col 2:12 “ having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.” 

Q. What is our state in Christ today? Rev 20:6 “Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.


Response - Believe and be baptised. Baptism is the immediate expression of faith. There is no magic in the water, but there is power in the proclamation of faith in Jesus. We are baptised into Jesus. It is a symbol that is given to us of believing yourself as dying and being raised with Christ.


  1. Believe he is building his church and is coming back again 

    1. On this rock, I will build MY church - Whose is the church? Eph 4:11-12 - HE GAVE the apostles…  for the building up the body of Christ. illustration of an architect and masons, etc. Each of us have been “given” by Jesus for building the church. We are compelled by the love of Christ.(2 Cor 5:14) Illustration of Karen travelling across the world to build up the church… Colin and Navaz… 

      1. Jesus is not building parachurch organisations - the local church is the hope of the world. Church is the instrument through which he has decided to reveal His manifold wisdom (Eph 3:10). Illustration about the building move being from God. 

      2. He is not building churches that are neatly segregated by race, gender, age… we will not have a white church and a brown church, youth church or elderly church, we are building Christ’s church and Christ is not divided - we are one man in Christ. Gal 3:28There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

      3. There are no spare parts in the body of Christ. If you’re struggling to find your place, be honest and come talk to one of us. We believe in body ministry. That we are a priesthood and no one is exempt from having to get our hands dirty building up the church of Christ. 

Response - Get caught up in what Jesus is doing on the earth and in the church


  1. Jesus’ return - Rev 22:12 Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. What are we supposed to do in the waiting? the parable of the 10 virgins. Oil can only be bought by developing intimacy with Jesus. It’s our relational currency. The gifts of God are irrevocable, but the anointing flows from intimacy. let us not be found lacking oil when he returns. Let us strive to hear him say well done, good and faithful servant.


Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again),  Spirit-filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English-speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that has people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service.  Word of Grace is part of a wider international family of Churches called RegionsBeyond.To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org.   


Thursday, September 12, 2024

Jesus, the Cornerstone - Part 1

This message was preached at Word Of Grace Church on September 8th 2024 by Lasya. For the audio & video please click here.  For the worship please click here.

JESUS, THE CORNERSTONE


Psalm 118:22; Mark 12:10; Luke 20:17; Matthew 21:42; 1 Peter 2:7; Acts 4:11; Eph 2:20  all repeat the same verse from Psalm 118:22 - the stone the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. There is a progressive revelation - the psalmist said it prophetically about the messiah, Jesus declared it about himself, and the disciples recognised that Christ is indeed the cornerstone and proclaimed to the church. 


What is a cornerstone? In architecture, a cornerstone is the first stone that is set up that indicates the establishment of the building, the orientation (how the building is to be built), and the supporting stone for the whole building (if you took out the cornerstone, a mighty building would also collapse). Illustration of the leaning tower of Pisa ad1173


This verse refers to the centrality of Jesus -in creation (John 1 - in the beginning was the word), in history (BC and AD is marked by the birth and death of Jesus), in the word of God (Luke 24:27 - on the road to Emmaus, Jesus shows the disciples how all of the scripture speaks of Jesus). 


Jesus is central to the Christian faith and must be central in the church. When the focus of the church turns from Jesus to anything else, it’s no longer a church. Today, due to architectural advancements, the cornerstone is really not used in the same way. It is now more of a decorative block to write about the establishment of the building and is often even hollowed out to store some documents etc. And churches can become the same when the focus is on the music or the preacher, or the rich or the poor, programmes or picnics… no it needs to be about Jesus. So we do not worship saints or angels, we do not glorify leaders or political affiliations, we worship Christ - the cornerstone. 


Jesus’ questions are always deeply searching. On one occasion he asks his disciples in Matt 16:15-18 But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” 

It is on this revelation of Jesus that the church is built. So what must we do to build on this cornerstone? Firstly, we must believe. 


Why believe? John 20:31- “but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” 


  1. Believe that Jesus is who the Bible says he is - believe the story of the gospels about Jesus 

    1. Fully man - Jesus Is real

      1. Gal 4:4 “when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of woman, born under the law…”. He is rooted in history, was born at a time and place and in flesh and blood, to a woman (a virgin as prophesied). He was hungry, thirsty, sad, troubled, tired, and tempted. He lived fully as a man on this earth. Hebrews 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. The amazing life that Jesus lived on earth is a life that was lived fully as a man, obedient to the Father and empowered by the spirit. It is a life that is within reach for each of us who have been saved by Him. A Christian is one who believes in the reality of Jesus' actual existence on earth.

      2. Jesus is real – Hebrews 11: 6 - whoever draws near to God must believe that he exists - Jesus is real! The difficulty is that we do not see him today, but we have witnesses - We have witness from the word of God (1 John 1:1 - That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life), witnesses from people, witness from God(1 John 5:9-10 - If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. 10 Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself). Illustration of harry potter and Narnia and the word of God. When did Jesus become real to you? Our history is in danger today. The story of the gospel in India. But today, we prefer fantasy to reality - scrolling and gaming addiction from a very young age. The more we give ourselves to fantasy, we lose touch with reality. john mark comer - the only place that God will encounter us is in our actual life 

Response - Witness - we need to witness to others about Jesus, introduce people to the witness of the word of God and make space and invite the witness of God concerning Jesus.

 

  1. Fully God - Jesus is God: He is not a moral teacher, philosopher, guru, a miracle worker, a saint or even an angel - He is not a smaller earthly deity whose divinity is minimised by becoming human, and he is not merely a means to the ultimate - he IS the ultimate. Jesus is fully God! John 8:58 “Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” It is the name by which God revealed himself to Moses. In fact Jesus makes several I am statements throughout the gospels which can only be fulfilled in God. 

    1. I am the Bread of Life (John 6:35)

    2. I am the Light of the World (John 8:12)

    3. I am the Door (John 10:9)

    4. I am the Good Shepherd (John 10:11,14)

    5. I am the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25)

    6. I am the Way and the Truth and the Life (John 14:6)

After seeing the risen Christ, Apostle Thomas (doubting Thomas) was the first to fall down and worship him and called him “My Lord and My God!” The apostles, who saw him as fully man, testify of this in the epistles Col 1:19For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things

Jesus is not the same as any of the other Bible heroes, it is entirely different. For Centuries, there was a dispute in the church as to the exact nature of Jesus - was he fully man with God like traits, or was he fully God who put on a form of humanity. And the issue was resolved in the Chalcedonian Creed in AD 451, where the church stated their stand as to the nature of Jesus Christ as one person who is fully man and fully god - hypostatic union/ a dual nature. Yes it is a mystery, but it is not a fantasy.  But the real question today is, is he “your Lord and your God?” 

Response - Worship with reverence and awe - we need to worship him with reverence and awe because he is the king of kings and Lord of Lords - we teach our children to honour and worship him. We must have a high view of Jesus. 


Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again),  Spirit-filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English-speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that has people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service.  Word of Grace is part of a wider international family of Churches called RegionsBeyond.To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org.   

Wednesday, August 7, 2024

BACK TO BASICS PART 8 - LOVING ONE ANOTHER

 


This message was preached at Word Of Grace Church on August 4th 2024 by Colin. For the audio & video please click here.  For the worship please click here.


BACK TO BASICS PART 8

LOVING ONE ANOTHER

Rom 12:9-17

How do we love one another? In Romans, Paul lays a foundation of doctrine in chapters 1 to 11.

Rom 3:20  Through the law, we become conscious of sin, but obeying the law does not make us right with God.

Ch3:21 But now righteousness apart from the law has been made known….but through Jesus to all who believe. Jesus changes us by his Spirit.

Ch1-3 Talks about the sinful state of man.

Ch4-8 Talks about how to get right with God

Ch 9-11 Talks about the role of Israel after Christ

And then comes chapter 12 with the big ‘therefore’.

Romans addresses both Jews and Gentiles who are believers and how they should live as children of God.

There are more than 1000 commands and instructions in the New Testament. Some think there are no commands in the New Testament except to love one another. Yes, the whole law is summed up in the two great commands.

There are over 100 ‘one another’ commands in the New Testament. How do we relate with fellow believers and those in the world? How we treat people is a reference to how we relate to Jesus.

Matt25:35-30

What does love look like?

V9. Love must be sincere –‘agape’ which is unconditional (The same word is used in Rom 5:8, i.e. God demonstrated His agape to us in this that while we were yet sinners…)

Matt 10:37 Anyone who ‘loves’ – Stergeo love which is family love

Jn11:3 the word used is ‘Phileo”, which is for friendship.

And then we have Eros love, which is romantic love.

Rom 12:9-10 Mentions agape, storge and philio

V10a Brotherly love – we should be like family and friends.

V10 Be kindly affectionate. The church is our family, and we should love each other in a manner we bear with each other. All families have squabbles; we must know how to handle them and makeup.

V18 Keep the peace as far as it depends on you

V10b Honour one another (ESV says outdo one another in paying the price). Are we willing to pay the price to honour one another, i.e., everyone? We take the initiative and do not wait for others to honour us.

We can show this in deeds and words.

DEEDS Greeting one another. The command to greet one another are repeated five times. Rom 16:15 with a holy kiss. 2Cor 13:12 ..holy kiss.

Lev19:31 says Rise in the presence of the aged – revere your God. I am the Lord.

Rom 13:7: “If respect then respect..”

How do we do this biblically?

Phil 2:3 Consider others better than yourselves. We are the light of the world – how? We are light by our deeds, behaviour and words. We are called to be thermostats and not thermometers.

WORD – appreciating people. Start in the home between spouses and children.

V12 Share with God’s people in need. Practice hospitality.

V16 We need to honour everyone across ethnicity, language and cultures

Revelation 7:9 People from every tribe, language and tongue are before the throne of God. When we do this, the manifold wisdom of God is on display, and the people will see that the Father sent Jesus.

Rom15:15 Admonish one another i.e. caution or reprove gently

If we care for one another, we need to warn our brothers and sisters in love and gentleness with much humility and grace.

Col 3:16

You can only do this if you have a relationship.

People do not want to know how much you know till they know how much you care.


Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again),  Spirit-filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English-speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that has people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service.  Word of Grace is part of a wider international family of Churches called RegionsBeyond.To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org.