JUNE 9
Theme: Red Gospelled || Topic: No gory no glory
Introduction
God, the ultimate transformer, is in the glory business. As we have stated in our Megamorphic vision, we as a Church are about "being transformed by being Church". God brings about glory through His transformation process which operates through the worshipful life of faith that works by love. This love as demonstrated by Jesus on the cross, is not only willing to lay down its life for enemies but actually does it. That same love also is about living in reality as defined and designed by God and outlined in God’s word the Bible. That reality says all of us, from every race, are born in sin, with a sinful nature. Thus we are not "inherently good", as so many in today’s so called enlightened world would have us believe. For one, that is why children do not have to be taught to misbehave but rather, they have to be taught to behave.
Jer 17:39 "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?"
Romans 3:23 "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God"
Romans 3: 4 "Let God be true though every man a liar"
The notion of being "red pilled’’ comes from the movie the Matrix. As such, making the choice to take the red rather than blue pill leads to opening the partakers eyes to a reality which runs contrary to previous beliefs. Having one’s eyes opened to reality includes recognizing that preferred lifestyles and ideologies are not the utopia once thought and that things once thought undesirable or even in need of fighting against to the point of bloody and gory warfare, are actually things that represent and lead to eternal glory. Likewise the notion of being "Red Gospelled".
Saul being ‘’’Red gospeled’’:
Acts 9:1-19 "Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3 As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. 4 Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” 5 And he said, “Who are You, Lord?”
Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” 7 And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no one. 8 Then Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened he saw no one. But they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. 9 And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank. 10 Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and to him the Lord said in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.”
11 So the Lord said to him, “Arise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying. 12 And in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, so that he might receive his sight.” 13 Then Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. 14 And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.” 15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. 16 For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.” 17 And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized. 19 So when he had received food, he was strengthened. Then Saul spent some days with the disciples at Damascus."
None of this brought any glory to Paul, His birth and ethnic nations Rome and Israel. However as with Abraham the Father of all those who believe with the specific apostolic call Paul was given to the gentiles Paul helped bring glory to many nations, and to God.
God has eternal purpose for nations and the gory of the cross was and is vital to the glory being possible.
Gods’ approach to man’s selfish, rebellious ways was suffer the consequences Himself , turn the other cheek by purchasing and offering the free gift of salvation
Review of Week 1: No confrontation, No transformation
Willingness to change and to heed warnings, accept advice and be willing to be coached are all key parts of Biblical humility. So all of us can be ‘red gospelled’ in an ongoing discipleship lifestyle.
75th Anniversary of D Day – gory at the time, glory for generations to come.
No Gory no glory
Without the gory of the cross, there is no eternal glory for God, the nations, or any of us.
Exodus 15:3 "The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name.”
This is a classic and very common excuse used by atheists, agnostics and the likes for trying to justify their hard hearted unbelieving attitude of “how can God be love and kill people?”. Central to these evil attitudes are deep rooted high-mindedness and fearfulness. High minded in that they think, as the puny human beings they are that they know better than God, and fearfulness that those same entrenched reasonings open them up to being blinded by Satan to the loving truth and eternal reality that only through the shedding of blood is there remission of sin, and only through the death and resurrection of the cross are sin and death conquered.
Gory
The Sword
Biblically, literally and metaphorically, the sword represents most, if not all of the various factors involved in what is generally perceived as gory. It is very important for us to make sure that our understanding is based on the loving truth of scripture, not our own human reasonings. Some examples of human reasonings are;
Matthew 26:50-52 And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus and took him. And, behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest's, and smote off his ear. Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.
People use this to argue that all Christians should be pacifists, however as is the classic case of all poor or heretical interpretation, this belief is based on a small part of one verse and that is not how truth is established in terms of sound Biblical interpretation. People using this reasoning often focus on the line that says “for they that take the sword shall perish with the sword”. It seems their reasoning is more motivated by not wanting to die and/or seeing perishing as a negative. Of course God does not want us to willy nilly get ourselves killed, however martyrdom does have rich Biblical eternal rewards. In this particular reference, Jesus had just told the disciples to take a sword, so let's make sure we are interpreting scripture with at least two or three references and within the context of the full counsel of God’s word. We as Christians should not stand by and do nothing about injustice such as rape, terrorism, abuse and the likes. Similarly Romans 13 gives a clear Biblical mandate for nations and authorities to employ people to defend against wrong and to enforce right. It is clear from John the Baptist, that people are not required to forsake serving in the military and there is nothing in the scriptures that states that believers should not serve in the armed forces.
There are some provocative scriptures relating to the use of the sword in Biblical imagery, important to prayerfully read these and ask God for our own revelation based convictions as to why war, physical weapons and even seeming wanton destruction are all part of the full counsel of God’s word. In short, at the heart of gaining such understanding is fully coming to terms with the notion that evil is real and it is a just thing in God’s purposes for evil to be destroyed.
Gen 3:24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
Matt 10:34 "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.
Matthew 11:12 From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been subjected to violence, and violent people have been raiding it.
1 Timothy 6:12
Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
2 Cor 10:1-6 By the humility and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you—I, Paul, who am “timid” when face to face with you, but “bold” toward you when away! 2 I beg you that when I come I may not have to be as bold as I expect to be toward some people who think that we live by the standards of this world. 3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 6 And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.
1 John 3: 8 “He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
There is no other gory like the gory of hell
Here’s a few references, but encourage a Berean study of the various verses that together work to enforce this truth: Hell is real, it is inescapable, eternal, in your face, gory!
Rev 20: 15 Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.
Luke 16:19-31 19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’ 25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’ 27 “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family,28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ 29 “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’
30 “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
31 “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”
Matt 13: 42 They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will
be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
See also, Matt 13:50 , Matt 22: 13, Matt 8: 12
GLORY
Laying down our lives is God’s way to eternal glory. Some would see these truths as being a contradiction to the notion of serving in the military, again that is not the case and it is important that we develop our understanding based on Godly revelation and wisdom based around the full counsel of God, as taught by those who have their own family lives in order.
Rom 12: 21: Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Matt 5:43-36 43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in Heaven.
Rev 21:24 to 26: keynote Megamorphic Scripture with central understanding that despite all the gory we see throughout history and more than ever in the world around us today, the nations have eternal glory.
24The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25 On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. 26 The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it.
There is no glory like the glory of Heaven
Revelation 21
Revelation 22
B.I.D - Roxology
In rock music, it's the thing to finish with what is called a “Trash can”, the essence of the trash can is to express full on hard out epic finale type expression. When it comes to the cross, the victory of the cross, Jesus has taken the sinful trash of the lives of all those today and throughout history from every nation, paid the price for that sin, overcome death itself and purchased the free gift of salvation which brings together all people, all born again believers in the ultimate, glorious celebration - the marriage of the lamb.
So let’s turn on way more than a trashcan, let's turn on the full rubbish dump and awaken the whole world to this glory.