Church: The Way It’s Supposed To Be

“The Good News”
Ephesians 4:17-24

1. last Sunday we looked at the bad news of 4:17-19. That people who live their lives without God are caught in a downward spiral of:
* hardened hearts
* darkened understanding
* spiritual death
* unbridled impurity --> pornography
This doesn’t describe every single person who lives a “minus-God” lifestyle BUT it’s generally true of cultures, societies & peoples who do.

2. today, I have good news for you.

Father, Son, Holy Spirit, open our ears so we can hear you speak to us this morning. Do something in our lives, in our church, in our community that we are not used to. Make us desperate for Jesus and the truth that is found only in him. Amen.

Change
1. bad news becomes good news through change. Donald Miller writes of change in his book, Through Painted Deserts: "I want to keep my soul fertile for the changes, so things keep getting born in me, so things keep dying when it is time for things to die. Only the good stories have the characters different at the end than they were at the beginning. And the closest thing I can liken life to is a book, the way it stretches out on paper, page after page."

2. the change that turns the bad news into the good news is tied up in one name – Jesus. Read 4:20-21.
Jesus the Good News
1. Paul defines Jesus by 3 verbs – know, heard & taught. Know is better translated learn.

1st. we learn about Jesus = Jesus is the content of the good news
2. Jesus is the substance of the good news that brings about change. Jesus is Christianity. Jesus is the core of our faith. It all starts & comes back to Jesus.

3. remove Jesus from our Christian faith & you have nothing. The Apostles Creed is centrally taken up with Jesus:

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
the Creator of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:
Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended into hell.
The third day He arose again from the dead.
He ascended into heaven
and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty,
whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.

4. Jesus is our one true vision!

2nd, we hear from him = Jesus is our teacher of the good news
5. literally, him we heard. Where do we hear Jesus? 1st in the written Word – the Bible. This is why it’s imperative that we become a people of the ‘the Book.’ Jesus shows up in these words. These words reveal Jesus to us.

6. where do we hear Jesus? 2nd as the Living Word who speaks not just through the Bible but through people, events & everything he has created.

7. Jesus speaks to us through people. This means that we hear the voice of Jesus in the voices of our human teachers. When I was a freshman in college, barely a 9-month old Christ-follower, I heard Jesus ask me to give my life to serve him through the words of Dr. L.L. King, who at that time was President of the Alliance. I’ve never turned my back on those words.

8. I’m blown away by this every week – people are going to hear the words of Jesus when I teach. And so I begin my sermon on Monday morning. I pray. I study. I stare at my Greek New Testament. I jot down observations. I look for connections. I consult commentaries. I may read a sermon online from the text I’m preaching. I try to allow the Scriptures to address me. And at the end of the week I walk up here with a sermon in hand & heart.

9. I speak through incomplete sentences & miss-pronounced words. And miracle of all miracles – you hear Jesus speaking to you. And I pray that you won’t turn your back on his words.

10. after speaking on pornography last week I received an email from someone who’s struggled with this issue. About 2 years ago I told this person it was time to get some help. He wrote, I have been involved for over a year in the ministry For Men Only / Pure Life Alliance. Tim, as you recall, this comes after your Christ-like counsel to me to get serious about this issue. Thank you, this was the guidance I needed to get serious and get help. I opened my mouth & Jesus spoke to this person.

11. Jesus speaks through events. Last Sunday morning Kyle Lake, pastor of the University Baptist Church in Waco, Texas, was electrocuted in front of 800 people in his church during a baptismal service. He reached for a microphone while in the water, something went wrong, and he was killed. 33 yrs old, he leaves behind a wife & 3 young kids.

12. one of his friends trying to make sense of this senseless tragedy wrote on the internet – Kyle died young. Where is God in that? I think He is in those of us who are so deeply shaken by his loss that we have found a new determination to make our lives as meaningful as possible. Death is always what wakes us up to life. Jesus is saying to 800 people in Waco, Texas right now – live, live, live. Live your life for me as if this is your last day on planet earth!

13. Jesus speaks through everything he has created. One of my spiritual pathways – the avenues through which I experience God – is creation. I took Wednesday away from the office & went to the Trappist monastery in Lafayette. I read. I prayed. I journaled. I did some planning. I took a walk. I prayed with the monks at noon. And I kept looking out of the window of the room I was staying in at a magnificent sight – a large, old gnarly oak tree, losing it’s yellow & red leaves, the topside of its branches covered with different shades of green moss.

14. The tree spoke to me not just of beauty & creativity. It spoke to me of perseverance. I thought of all the autumns & winters it had weathered. The tree spoke to me of refuge, safe places. The birds & squirrels it had sheltered. The monks it had shaded. The tree spoke to me of its life-giving nature. Season after season its leaves having fallen to the ground, decompose into the ground to feed its roots for another round of 4 seasons.

15. Jesus was speaking to me about my life & the kind of person I want to be – someone who appreciates & encourages beauty & creativity; someone who perseveres in the hard seasons of life; someone who is a safe place for people to come find rest & encouragement; someone who is a conduit of Jesus’ very life to others.

16. Jesus speaks to us all the time. Through his written Word & as the Living Word through people, events & all that he has made. If we don’t hear the voice of Jesus it’s not his fault. This universe reverberates with his Living Voice!

17. Jesus is the content of the good news as well as the teacher of the good news.

3rd, we are taught the truth in Jesus = he’s the context of the good news
18. Christ himself is the truth of the good news. He doesn’t just speak truth – he is the truth. The truth is a living person. For the follower of Christ, truth is personal.

19. I can speak the truth But I am not the truth. You can speak the truth But you are not the truth. Jesus speaks the truth & he is the truth. Every ounce of truth in the universe emanates from the person of Jesus. I am the way, the truth, and the life Jesus says in John 14:6.

20. truth is always found in the context, the environment, atmosphere of Jesus himself.

Communion
1. communion is a picture of how the bad news is changed by the good news. Jesus is the change-maker. He sees us with hardened hearts, with darkened understanding, with spiritual death & with all our impurities.

2. and he loves us still. He dies for us. He takes all of our bad news upon himself. And by the cross, his death & his resurrection he changes that bad news into good news.

3. he comes to us & says, if you acknowledge me, confess me, follow me, invite me to be yours, Than yours is unconditional forgiveness, mercy, grace, love & eternal life here & now, there & then.

4. he is the content of this meal. He is the teacher of this meal. He is the environment in which we enjoy this meal.

5. let’s eat, let’s drink, let’s enjoy sweet, sweet communion with our Maker & Redeemer.