Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Sermon Outline, November 2, 2008

My sermons can now be downloaded online from our church website. I have been preaching a series on the Church entitled Images of Zion. This week's sermon was on the Church as the family and household of God. It can be found here.

Here is the outline of the sermon with some extra Scripture references.

The Doctrine Expounded
Christ emphasized that all biological relationships were secondary to a man's relationship to Christ and the Church. This seen in several passages from the Gospels.

Matthew 10:34-37-The context of this passage is the sending out of the twelve as sheep among wolves. Verse 21 is important as Christ notes that with His coming families will be torn apart because one member chooses Christ and another does not. In Verses 34-37 Christ tells us that despite being the Prince of Peace, peace is not always the result of the preaching of the Gospel.

Mark 10:20-35- Here Mark sandwiches a story of Christ being harassed by the scribes (vs. 22-30) inbetween a story of Christ being harassed by his family (20-21 & 31-35). It is clear from this passage that one's biological relations were trumped by one's relationship to God. The one's who do God's will are the true family of Christ.

John 9-This the story of the man born blind and healed by Christ. What needs to noted is that the man is kicked out the synagogue for following Christ. When this happens his parents are left behind.

Other Scriptures of note: Matthew 28;10, Luke 11:27-28, Romans 16:1, 23, I Corinthians 16:20, Ephesians 2:19 & 6:23, I Timothy 5:1-2, and Hebrews 2:10-18.

All of these, plus numerous other Scriptures, point us to the fact that the Church is the family of God. The Church is the great family, with God as Father, Church as Mother, Christ as the Brother.

Implications for Biological Families
1. Obedience to Christ and His Word trumps all other authority.

2. Our families are to model the Church, the great family. When someone enters our home they should see the Church in minature.

3. Our children are first and foremost are brothers and sisters in Christ. They are sons & daughters for a time, but we should raise them to stand beside as fellow members of God's household.

Implications for the Church Family
1. We are all here by God's grace. Not a one of us deserves to eat the table or be called sons of God. Illustration: Mephibosheth (II Samuel 9). This should shape how we treat those within the body of Christ. If Jesus is not ashamed to call them brethern then we shouldn't be either. This should also shape who we invite. Illustration-Jonah. Too often because we think a lot of ourselves we are not excited to invite to Christ those whose souls are dark and messy. When we understand that were dead and Christ made us alive, we will cease being proud and bring to Christ all who will come, no matter what problems they bring with them.

2. We should never forget the grand privilege of being sons of God. We call upon our Father in Heaven who hears our prayers and cares for us. One of our primary self-images should be that of children of God.

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Let the saints be joyful in glory, let them sing aloud on their beds, let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two edged sword in their hand, to execute vengeance on the nations, and punishments on the peoples; to bind the kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron. Psalm 149:5-8