Cultivating Missional Living - As the Father Has Sent

As The Father Has Sent Me

In the first sermon of this series, we examined the missionary nature of God and the “sentness” of us, His church. Our God is a missionary God who sends a missionary church. We learned the word missional is the adjective used to describe the church as sent, it is a missionary entity. But, this is only half of the story.

I want to make you aware of something known as the “missional-incarnational pulse.” Here the word missional expresses the sending nature of the church, while the incarnational represents the embedding or implanting of the Gospel into a local context. So, in other words, missional speaks to our direction-we are sent, while incarnational is more about how we go.

The Incarnation

The word incarnation comes from a Latin word that literally means “in the flesh.” The Incarnation, refers to the incredible act of love and humility where God took it upon himself to enter into the depths of our world so that the reconciliation between God and humanity may be brought about. The Incarnation is God’s ultimate missional participation in creation. (John 3:16-17) When God entered into our world in and through the person of Jesus, He came to live among us. John 1:14 …The Word became flesh and dwelt among us….Might I offer you an alternative translation…The Word became flesh and blood just like us, and then moved into the neighborhood.

Incarnational Living

The Incarnation not only qualifies God’s acts in the world, but must also qualifies ours. Hear this, If God’s central way of reaching the world was to incarnate himself in Jesus, then our way of reaching the world should likewise be incarnational. Now let me just say that “The Incarnation” was a unique historical and theological event. There is absolutely no doubt that “The Incarnation” of Jesus was a special, unrepeatable event. And to be clear as we enter the world of others, we most certainly cannot take on another’s identity in the fully integrated way that Jesus did. But we most certainly can make a distinction between “The Incarnation” and incarnational ministry, the asking of believers to model their lives after the life of Jesus.

The Apostles did. They insisted that Jesus is to be the model for Christian living.

1 Peter 2:21 for to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow in His footsteps.

1 Corinthians 11:1 be imitators of me, (Follow my example) as I am of Christ, (as I follow Christ)

Peter makes clear that Jesus’ life is to be our example. And Paul states simply that we can follow his way of life because he is so closely following the way of Jesus.

Paul makes this point even more strongly in the letter to the Philippians. In Chapter 2 he tells us that our attitude should be the same as that of our Lord’s.

Phil. 2:5-7.

It is often assumed that this passage commends Jesus’ humility, which absolutely is clear in this text. But Jesus’ humility is commended insofar as it is expressed in his giving up of his identity as God, and of his divinity)

So first, to follow Jesus’ example means that we should share his profound humble identification with sinful humankind (v. 7b-8a) being born in the likeness of man, taking on the form of a servant, and being found in human form….

Second, those of us who wish to emulate Jesus should be aware of His equally humble willingness to empty himself and make himself nothing for the sake of God’s redemptive purposes (v. 6-7a) …who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant…For us to embrace an incarnational ministry, we must then be willing to relinquish our own desire and interest in the service of others.

      So this speaks to two very important ideas related to incarnational ministry-the concepts of “proximity” and “presence”

Proximity

Incarnational ministry must involve living in close proximity with others. We cannot demonstrate Christlikeness at a distance from those whom we feel called to serve. So, just as Jesus took on flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood, we must do likewise. This for some requires moving geographically to be closer to those whom God has sent them. But at the very least, it demands that we create time and space to be directly and actively involved in the lives of the people we are seeking to reach.  (God entered into Time and Space and for 33 years Time and Space were constant for God, He got involved in a very real way, with the lives of those He created)

Presence

The Concept of presence moves beyond mere proximity to identification and surrender. Jesus identified with and advocated for those he was called to. As Paul says, He humbled himself. He literally emptied himself for the sake of others. This realization suggests an incarnational approach that calls us to relational identification with our neighbors that will lead to tangible acts of love and sacrifice.

It is helpful to recognize that Jesus’ words from John 20:21, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you,” are most often used to emphasis the sending of the disciples, and subsequently the church. But we must not neglect the first half of the passage. Jesus says, “As the Father has sent me.” The word translated as (Or in some cases just as) means “like” or in a similar manner.” In other words, we need to be sent “like” Jesus was sent. ….To whom, and in what manner was Jesus sent?....He was sent to the down and outers of society. ….He was with and for tax collectors, the oppressed, the poor, the diseased. Again, taking Jesus as our example, we are called to do “Likewise.”

In my life the concept of incarnational witness has always been relegated as a way of expounding on the character of Missions, specifically in the vocation or calling of being a missionary. And I accepted that because I lived much of my life with this idea that some are called to be missionaries. But hear me, in the incarnation of Jesus Christ, God revealed himself as the One who is with and for his creation. And now, as the Risen Lord sends His Spirit to empower His church, I see that we, the church, not just some who are called to missions, but we the church, are called to become God’s People. People who are present, to have a presence, in the world, with and for the world. Like John the Baptist, pointing always to Jesus.

Incarnational witness is then, a way of describing not some calling. It is instead a way of describing Christianity in terms of Jesus Christ as the messenger, the message and the model for all, all, who follow Him. So, for us to speak of the incarnation missionally is then to link who Jesus was, what Jesus did, and how he did it, in one single great event that defines all that it means to be Christian.

Our Response

So, what does all this talk of identification, proximity, and presence have to do with our daily living?

Well I know you might get tired of me saying this, but it is all about relationships. It is about getting close enough to people to listen. Getting close enough to understand their hopes and dreams. And close enough to actually like and love them as individuals.

The Gospels tell us that Jesus was a friend of sinners…..a friend of sinners. What constitutes friendship? That is a good question. I do not have time to answer it. But let me just say. When a person invites you to meet and spend time with their friends, you can assume that that is what a friend is. A person whom you spend time with. There was a sense of quirky holiness about Jesus that drew people to him. It has been said that people who were not Like Jesus, liked him. ….So, as followers of Jesus, shouldn’t that also be true of us? Well, this will not happen in our life without our living among people.

So ? what is it going to take for us to incarnate the life of Jesus in our neighborhood? What is it going to take for us to really move into our neighborhood, maybe, for the very first time?

When I talked last year about our mission here at Ridgecrest and have shared on several occasions with individuals. I spoke about the DNA of who we are in Christ. I asked what should that be, I answered well a couple of things it should be is lovers and blessers of other people.

And From the very beginning, God’s way of reaching and restoring the world has always been through a blessing strategy…so how do we in a very practical way that’s theologically grounded explain to people how they could bless people in places they are incarnating?

B- Begin with prayer. We want to ask, ‘God’ how do you want me to bless the people in the places you’ve sent me to?’

L- Listen. Don’t talk, but listen to people, their struggles, their pains, in the places God sends you.

E- Eat. You can’t just check this off. It’s not quick. You have to have a meal with people or a cup of coffee. It builds relationships.

S- Serve. If you listen with people and you eat with people they will tell you how to love them and you’ll know how to serve them.

S- Story. When the time is right, we talk and we share the story of how Jesus changed our life.

Genesis 12:2-3 says, “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

Look for the complete Sermon at rcbcdallas.org

LTGs are for people who love Jesus and seriously want to move forward in repentance, faith, and joyful obedience.

   For several years now, since learning about an incredible discipleship tool from Neil Cole, I have praised the effectiveness of Life Transformation Groups. I have never discovered a better method for implanting the DNA of Jesus within new disciples. But recently I have gotten only resistance when trying to pass on this method.Then I read this today in a post by a Pastor at Austin Stone....  I'm thankful; for the affirmation and validation.

Going Deep

“Where do we go deep?”

This is a common question when we start describing the MC practices. Most American Christians are used to weeknight Bible studies being the place where we try to dive deeply into the Bible together. There are a few serious limitations to this practice:

It’s easy to let this be our only time of Bible study and even allow others to do our Bible-thinking for us. We become overly dependent rather than becoming self-feeders in God’s Word.

In large groups, studying the Bible often feels like you've obeyed it. Knowledge is not necessarily obedience, however, and we need specific accountability to help our hands obey what our head and hearts know.

The group is too large for intimate confession and correction.

There isn't enough time to cover everything each person needs to hear and say.

The Bible, our personal holiness, and our mission are critically important and deserve much more attention. LTGs are where we go deep, raising the bar of personally following Jesus.

What is an LTG?

LTGs are simple. There are only three parts to remember:

Hear & Obey – Everyone shares what they have heard from God in the 15-30 chapters of Scripture we agreed to read together over the past week and how they obeyed.  We suggest using the REAP (Read, Examine, Apply, Pray) reading plan.

Repent & Believe – We each repent of our sin, sharing how you have sinned against God this past week. Don’t forget to spend time speaking out loud, to yourself and to one another, the good news of Jesus’ work for us; this enables us to believe.

Pray for Unbelievers – Talk about how you've been praying for your unbelieving friends and mention them by name. Explain your plan to weave them into your community.

Thinking Practically

LTGs are simple, but they’re also hard. They take discipline. LTGs are for people who love Jesus and seriously want to move forward in repentance, faith, and joyful obedience.

Keep the group size small for intimacy and time - two or three people of the same gender. Once it grows past three, you multiply. You should be able to finish your meeting within an hour or so. LTGs need to meet separately from your MC’s family meeting. As LTGs are taking off in many Missional Communities, we've found that our love for the gospel grows, and our obedience to Jesus in mission grows as well.

Capturing a Missionary Vision

Cultivating Missional Living

Sermon 1 Capturing a Missionary Vision April 6^th, 2014

Isaiah 6:1-8, Isa. 61:1-2, Luke 4:18-19, John 20:21

When we hear the word missionary; what thought comes to mind? I use to think of people going into the jungles, Indiana Jones style and fighting lions and tigers to save people for Jesus. I thought of the lost as people in the jungles of Africa or the Amazon basin of South America. ...Well, in the dictionary for “missionary” it says it is a person undertaking or sent on a mission. Well that’s not very helpful, obvious but still not very defining. So then we look up mission and it says something like…the act of sending or being sent.

And this I think is very helpful. It is in fact very insightful. The idea of mission can relate to either sending or being sent. The problem for the church with this definition is that we tend to focus almost exclusively on the idea of sending rather than being sent. We tend to think primarily of sending and supporting missionaries in faraway places rather than seeing ourselves, both individually and collectively, as being sent. This reality leads us to the first essential that must strengthen and support all of our missional activity….the understanding that God by His very nature is a missionary God, and we as the church, are His missionary people.

The Missionary Nature of our God

Mission is the grand narrative of God’s Word. The entire Bible is generated by and is about God’s mission. The word mission comes from the Latin word ‘missio” meaning sending. It is the central Biblical theme describing God’s activity throughout history to restore and heal the creation. And while it is often over-looked, God’s word is full of sending language that speaks to the missionary nature of our God.

From the sending of Abram in Genesis 12 the sending of His angel in Revelation 22, there are hundreds of examples of God as a sending God. But, perhaps the most dramatic illustration of sending in the Old Testament is found in Isaiah 6. ….In this passage, we catch a glimpse of God’s sending nature. And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” Is 6:8.

Later in the book of Isiah there is a passage that is fascinating. It is where the prophet recognizes that God’s Spirit has anointed him to “proclaim good news to the poor” and “sent him to bind up the brokenhearted” (61:1).  In the larger passage of Isaiah 61:1-3 it is interesting to note that there are no fewer than six redemptive deeds that proceed from or are dependent on the verb “sent” or the phrase “he has sent me.” To emphasis the centrality of the sending theme, the passage could be rendered this way:

He has sent me, to bind up the brokenhearted;

He has sent me, to proclaim freedom for the captives;

He has sent me, to release from darkness the prisoners

He has sent me, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God;

He has sent me, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion;

He has sent me, to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of despair. (61:1-3)

If this passage is familiar it may be because Jesus applies it to His own ministry in Luke 4:18-19 as He claims to be the fleshly embodiment of Isaiah 61:1-2. It becomes, in a sense, the closest thing to a personal mission statement for Jesus.

As we move through the New Testament, sending language is found throughout the Gospels, the book of Acts, and each of the Epistles. However, the most comprehensive collection of sending language is found in the Gospel of John, where the words “send’ or “sent” are used almost sixty times. The majority of uses refer to the title of God as “one who sends” and of Jesus as the “one who is sent”.

In the final climatic sending passage of John’s Gospel, Jesus makes clear that He is not only sent by His Father, but now He is the sender, John 20:21, As the Father has sent me, I am sending you”

With this statement, Jesus is doing much more than drawing a vague parallel between his mission and ours. Deliberately and precisely he is making his mission the model for ours, saying “As the father has sent me, I am sending you.” So, our understanding of the church’s mission must flow from our understanding of Jesus’ mission.

The Missionary Nature of the Church

So, the purpose of this brief survey of sending language is not merely to emphasize the missionary nature of our God, but to highlight the importance of understanding the church as a sent missionary entity. God is a missionary God who sends a missionary church. This is why the word “missional” when properly applied is helpful. The word is simply the adjective form of the noun “missionary.” It is used to describe the church as those who operate as missionaries in their local context. So, at the core of the missional conversation is the idea that a “genuine missional impulse is a sending rather than an attraction one. ..In other words, we should be sending people of the church out among the people of the world rather than attempting to attract people of the world in among the people of the church. This is so helpful because most people do not think of the church in sending, missionary terms.

Let me offer to you 3 ways is seems people view the nature of the church in our day. First comes from our heritage in having been birthed out of the Protestant Reformation. We have inherited a particular view of church that emphasizes:

the proper preaching of the Word,

the proper administration of church ordinances,

and proper church discipline.

This view tends to give us the impression that the church is a place where things happen at. So the church is thought of as a place a person goes to, to hear the Bible taught, to participate in the Lords Supper and baptism, and in some cases, though rare today, to experience church discipline.

    A second view is our Contemporary Variation on the first. While we are not far removed from this first view as a place where certain things happen, a more accurate description of the way people view the church today would be as a vendor of religious goods and services. Members are viewed more as customers for whom the religious goods and services are produced. Churchgoers expect the church to provide them with a range of services. These might include great worship music, dynamic children’s programs, small groups, seminars on parenting and marriage, and so on.

     One of the major problems with both of the first two is that the church is seen as an institution that exists for the benefit of its members.

A third view of the nature of church we might call the “Missionary Vision of the Church”… a body of people sent on a mission. Central to this view is understanding the church as a people called and sent by God, to participate in His mission for the world. The church still gathers together, but the difference is that we don’t gather for our own sake, but instead for the sake of others, or…better yet, for the sake of God’s mission. We come together as a collective body of believers to be equipped through prayer, worship, and the preaching of and study of God’s Word in order to be sent.

So why does all this matter:

Well for one reason, consider the concept of cultural distance. What is cultural distance; it is how far a person in our neighborhoods and communities is from a meaningful engagement with the Gospel of the Kingdom.

Let me explain. Our cities have changed so much in the past few years culturally.  And there are four distinct levels; we might say barriers to engagement with our community.

Level 1- Contains those with some concept of Christianity who also speak the same language, have similar interests, most likely share the same nationality. And are from a similar class grouping as us and our church. Most of our friends would probably fit into this group.

Level 2- Contains the average non-Christian in our context. A person who has little real awareness of, or interest in, Christianity and is somewhat suspicious of the church. This category might also include those previously offended by a bad experience with church or Christians. We call them de-churched.  We encounter these people every day in our extended relationships, school, work, the park or mall….

Level 3- contains people who have absolutely no idea about Christianity. Or they might be part of a fringe subculture or ethnic group with another religious impulse. We might include those marginalized by Christianity, the gay community, drug abusers and alcoholics, ex-inmates from prisons or even people with mental disorders. This would also include people with an agnostic approach to Christianity. (I do not believe personally in God, but admit He might exist.)

Level 4- contains ethnic and religious groups with a bad history of the church. Muslims and Jews. The fact that they are even here in the west, might help reduce the distance between us and them and sharing the Gospel. But just about everything else gets in the way of a meaningful conversation about Jesus.

Why this matters is that our church has operated almost exclusively in the first level. And doing church the attractional way where we do things to get them to come to us works pretty good at the first level.  Although churches around are operating at this level so it becomes more about who is the most attractive church.

But the population in Dallas Texas is increasingly defined by descriptions of those in the level 2, 3, and 4 category. So, more and more people who call Dallas home find themselves further and further away from the influence of our church.

This means that if we remain in our attractional posture, those outside the church, and outside our reach, will have to do the cross-cultural work to find Jesus. What? ….What I’m saying is that those who are far away from God are being asked to become like missionaries and cross over the cultural barriers to come to us. We are asking lost and de-churched people to become missional when we are the sent ones.

It would be like Isaiah answering back to God, don’t worry, if we wait long enough those disobedient Israelites will see their own way back to you God.

But I believe this is a pivotal moment Ridgecrest, a moment when we as followers of Christ will rediscover the heart God gave us for himself, one that loves our neighbors and communities. One that longs for the journey of Going, as the church, instead of just coming to the church!

Complete Sermon Video

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDWTjOK24Es

World Missions a foretaste for this Sunday,

What is the Purpose, the Promise, and the Price of World Missions. The purpose of world missions is to spread a passion for the supremacy of God into people groups where there is no indigenous, evangelizing church. This assumes something about "disciples" and something about "nations." These terms are used in Matthew 28:19, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations."  My assumption about "disciples" is that they are people who have seen "the glory of God in the face of Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6), and who cherish "God in Christ" as the supreme value of their lives (Philippians 3:8). My assumption about "nations" is that they are not geographic, political countries but "tribes, languages, peoples and ethnic groups" (Revelation 5:9; 7:9). Based on these two assumptions, then, the purpose of world missions is to spread a passion for the supremacy of God into people groups where there is no indigenous, evangelizing church.

   According to one research group are still over 500 peoples in the world with populations over 10,000 which did not have any church planting missionary effort in them. All but less than 200 of these peoples are targeted by mission agencies. This is remarkable progress toward finishing the real missionary task of the church.

   But the real source of hope in world missions is not the statistics of man; it's the promise of God. Namely, Matthew 24:14 - "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations." The "shalls" of God are backed by omnipotence. This great work of spreading a passion for God into people groups where there is no indigenous, evangelizing church cannot fail. This is the great hope of the missions enterprise. The word of God will not fail.

    But the price will be very high. Not so high that it is not worth it. But very high. Jesus expresses it in Matthew 24:9: "You will be hated by all the nations because of My name." The purpose and the promise will not happen without the price of opposition and suffering. In fact, the price is not just the result but the strategy of the purpose. God has a certain number of martyrs appointed (Revelation 6:11). Jesus said that when you are arrested and taken before governors, "this will be a time for you to bear testimony" (Luke 21:13). The purpose, the promise and the price are all bound together.

    Notice the phrase, Matthew 24:14 "all the nations,"…. in the purpose, the promise and the price? "Make disciples of all the nations." The Purpose

"This gospel . . . shall be preached . . . to all the nations." The Promise. "You will be hated by all the nations." The Price. I call all of you with the writer of Hebrews 13:13 (again!) to "go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach."….. What will this mean for you?

   I do not know, but it will have to do with "all the nations."

Pastor Greg

Loving God and Loving People; The Depth of Christ's Love: Its Freedom John 10:14-18

Some further thoughts from Sunday"s Message

     Since Jesus cared so much that we know how freely and willingly he suffered for us, let's look at just a few other illustrations of this truth. Let the truth sink in…. No one took his life. He chose to give it for us. He embraces the suffering. He was eager and willing. It was—and I risk the statement— It was his joy to live and die for us.

    Do you remember the story in Luke 4 where he comes to the synagogue in Nazareth where he had grown up? He read the Scripture reading that day. Then he said that the Scriptures were fulfilled in their hearing that very moment. But when he pointed out that the blessings of the Messiah were going to include the gentiles and not just the Jews it says in verses 29-30, They rose up and cast Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff. But passing through their midst, He went His way.

    Now what's going on here? A mob of people, enraged over the local teacher's teaching, carry him to the edge of a cliff to throw him down. And the next thing you see is Jesus walking through their midst—like the children of Israel through the Red Sea—and going his way. Why? The reason is this: his hour was not yet come. No one take's my life from me. I lay it down on my own initiative. And I lay it down at the appointed time. Not one second before and not one after.

    Later on in his ministry he was on his way to Jerusalem and some Pharisees came up to him (Luke 13:31-32) and said, "Go away and depart from here, for Herod wants to kill You." But Jesus said, "Go and tell that fox, 'Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I reach My goal.'" What does this mean?.... Don't go up there, the king wants to kill you. The king! He has all the authority. He can do anything he wants with people like you. You don't stand a chance.

     How does Jesus respond?.... There was a saying among the rabbis in Jesus day that went something like this, "Better to be a lion's tail than a fox's head" (I. H. Marshall, Luke, p. 571). Here was the lion of Judah being warned that a fox was out to get him. So he says, "Tell that fox that I have ministry to do and I have a plan. I cast out demons, I perform cures, and on the appointed day—not before and not after I reach my goal." In other words, "Nobody takes my life from me. I lay it down of my own initiative."

Pastor's Pen 7/24/2013

Pastors Pen,

    Pray everyone is having a blessed week. We remain busy here at the church with many items coming to completion. We will move into the remodeled sanctuary next week and the Children’s wing and young adult rooms will also be complete.

    But just around the corner is a huge event and opportunity for our church. Vacation Bible School is coming and  I’m asking for everyone in any way that they can to help us reach out to the children of our community. We have many volunteer positions still available and would love to have your help.

    Many say VBS is a dinosaur of the past and that the money and effort outweigh the results. I say that is a lie of the evil one. I have never had a year pass where at least one child did not receive Jesus and one family not hear about our church and join. As far as I’m concerned that would be well worth our efforts.

    So plan to join us August 12^th -16^th for VBS. There are several meetings planed for training and information.

LATl,

Pastor Greg

From The Pastor Pen

Our only hope of comprehending the incomprehensible love of Christ for us: His Holy Spirit

   Jesus has loved us in ways to a degree that is said to be beyond human comprehension. So let's start there. If that's true then what hope is there that I might help you comprehend the love of God and the love of Christ for you?   

      What is the basis of my hope that through my preaching you might actually experience the incomprehensible depth of Christ's love? The answer is given in Romans 5:3 Paul calls us to exult in our tribulations knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, [brings about] proven character; and proven character, [brings about] hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God [that is, God's love for us, not ours for him, as the next verses will show] has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who was given to us.

     So the hope of comprehending the incomprehensible love of Christ: Is The Holy Spirit and here is the basis of my hope that in my preaching about the love of God and Christ for you, will be that you will actually experience that love, and comprehend in some significant, life-changing measure the incomprehensible love of Christ. The basis of my hope is that God has given you—who are believers in Christ—the Holy Spirit.   

    You can see that at the end of verse 5: " . . . the Holy Spirit, who was given to us." See the Holy Spirit of God dwells in you. He is in you. "Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God." (1 Cor. 6:19)

     If this were not so my aims in preaching about love to this church would be futile. I am preaching to people who are indwelt by the Holy Spirit of the living God. And to some who yet still can be indwelt by this Spirit of God. How? Acts 2:38 says, Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

    Now how does the presence of the Holy Spirit give me confidence that my preaching on the love of God for you will result in a real experience of that love? My answer: because verse 5 says that the work of the Holy Spirit is to be the Agent of God in pouring his love out into your heart. Verse 5: Hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit. One of the main reasons God has given the Holy Spirit to you, is so that HE might pour out God's love into your heart.

    Do you see what this means? It means that without the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit, we cannot experience and comprehend the love of God in Christ. The love of God is a divine and supernatural reality. But you and I, apart from the Holy Spirit, are merely natural and we are unspiritual, and we do not recognize or value the love of God in Christ. But when God opens our eyes to his truth, and the Holy Spirit comes into our hearts by faith, he awakens us to the reality of God's love and begins to pour it out into our hearts.

    This should greatly encourage some of you who feel that your past behavior makes it difficult, if not impossible, for you to feel loved. The fact is, it is not only difficult, it is impossible—and not just for you, but for all of us…. Hear me because this is so important to grasp.    

     Apprehending the love of God for you—experiencing it, being gripped by it, tasting it—is not the product of good preaching plus good behavior. It is not the product of merely natural forces—good or bad. It is the work of God, the Holy Spirit. The love of God is poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. Without that you can have the best behavior, and you will never truly know the love of God. And with that, you can also have the worst behavior, and the Holy Spirit will still pour the love of God into your heart.

    But someone may ask where preaching fit into this does? What does what I am doing, as your pastor have to do with the work of the Holy Spirit pouring out the love of God into our hearts? The answer is given in verses 6-8 and the connection that they have with verse 5. Verse 6 begins: For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Notice the connection. In verse 6 what we have is the recounting of a historical fact. "Christ died." And we have the meaning of that fact, which is, God's purpose in it: "Christ died, for the ungodly"—to take the place of the ungodly, to save the ungodly.   

   Now this is different from verse 5. In verse 5 we have Christian experience—the Holy Spirit pouring out the love of God in our hearts. In verse 6 we have history ("Christ died"), and we have theology (Christ died to save the ungodly).

    And the connection between the history and the theology on the one hand (v. 6), and the experience on the other hand (v. 5), is that the history and theology are the foundation and context of the experience. What's happening is this. Paul has said that the Holy Spirit pours the love of God into our hearts. But then he shows us what that love is. And he bases it on history. This means that the work of the Holy Spirit in your heart is not to describe the love of God to you. It is not the job of the Holy Spirit to describe the love of God to you. That is the job God has assigned to history and to the Word of Scripture that interprets that history, and to preaching which brings them both to bear upon your mind.

    You learn the nature and content of the love of God from the way that love acted in history in Jesus Christ, and you experience that love as a present life-changing reality as the Holy Spirit pours it out into your heart. Both of these are crucial. If we make claims to have experiences of the love of God without solid foundations in history and its God-given meaning, we become cultic, emotionalistic, fanatical; and if we claim to understand the history and the meaning of history but we don't experience the love of God poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, we become barren and impotent and intellectual.

   The point is this; my message, from God’s Word, cannot take the place of the Holy Spirit in your life. And the Holy Spirit will not do the work assigned to the Word of God.

My calling is to describe the love of God to you. His calling is to pour it out in your hearts. …

My calling is to point you to what Christ did; His calling is to open your eyes to see it as glorious and personal. …

My calling is to make it plain; His is to make it precious.

Mine is to make it clear; His is to make it dear.

Mine is to take you on a tour around the deep and scenic lake of the love of God; His is to plunge you in and saturate your life with the love of God—to baptize you in it.

LATL

Pastor Greg