SERMON INSIGHTS

The series on the invitation continues, reminding us of the high calling our God has extended to us. This is not an earthly calling or position, but an invitation to share His nature, to put on the glory that He Himself has, and to be part of Him. The two important themes of this invitation are life and glory.

The Church’s Drifting Agenda

The Lord has brought us back to this purpose because the church has “gone a bit wild”. The divine, heavenly agenda and purpose for which God established the church is missing in many places. In these times, the Lord asks us to remember our heavenly high calling.

Looking at the world, as examined from Matthew chapter 24, people are concerned about themselves and life on earth but the church is shifting from the heavenly agenda to an earthly one. Instead of seeking to meet God, learn about Him, and fellowship with Him to build a personal relationship that leads to glory at the end of this temporary life, the church is now focusing on the problems and mundane things of this world.

The challenges and seeming difficulties of these end times (the tribulation) are causing people to seek answers and solutions. Governments are failing to provide solutions. Sadly, the church, which is supposed to be the light, has gone astray and is involved in things like confusing prophetic messages. This is a “falling standard” and “totally another gospel” that is not the one handed over by Jesus Christ.

Our society is rotten because the church has lost its direction and purpose, failing to be the “salt”. The Lord is bringing us back to the basic reason for our calling.

The Core of the Invitation: Life and Glory

We have learned that God has called us:

• From a state of lost glory to a new state of Risen Glory.
• From death unto life.

The invitation is to eternal life and to be like God, to share His glory, as Jesus said He shares His glory with us (John 17). This is why it is a high, heavenly calling, decided by God Himself.

God knows the fallen nature, the destruction, rottenness, misdirection, pollution, and darkness in the world and in the church. For the world to come back, it must be through the church. The world is in darkness and needs light, which is found in the Kingdom of Christ. The church must come back and “search herself” to be sure she is “actually in the faith”.

The church needs deliverance and healing; it needs redemption. We must know who we are.

The invitation is from the Father through the mission of the Son. “As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God”. The high point of the calling is to become the children of God.

For God so loved the world that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16). Those who believe have the possibility of eternal life and become sons and daughters of God. Everlasting life and sonship mean we are now taking on the fullness of God, who is eternal, powerful, and glorious.

The purpose of the Christian faith is to know Him and share His resurrection spirit of power and life, that we may enter into His glory. It is not for earthly riches or possessions. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have agreed to call our attention to this glorious position of eternal life and glory. We must cherish and stand by this high calling, even in challenging times, confusion, and tribulations.

The Danger of False Ministry

We are in times where false Christs, false prophets, false apostles, and false teachers have risen with false teachings, signs, and miracles. They are making signs and miracles the basis of the church. People are gathering, not because they have found and love Christ, but because they believe following Jesus will give them solutions to their problems and the mundane things of this life.

Jesus addressed this when people followed Him after He fed them, telling them they were not looking for Him because of the miracles, but because He gave them food to eat.

Jesus said, “Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you” (John 6:27). He declared, “I am the bread of life”. The will of the Father is that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life, and He will raise them up at the last day (John 6:40).

Jesus is the resurrection and the life. He is the light and gives life. If you come to Him, you should be thinking of life, not what you shall eat or wear, which is what the pagans seek. However, because times are difficult, the church has changed its message, and some have become like “wolves in white clothes like sheep,” devouring the people.

The Fullness of Divine Glory and the New Life

The invitation is to the fullness of divine glory as sons and servants of God. After receiving life, we are made children and servants, a royal priesthood. We are given power to become the children of God, which is a new spiritual status and a new nature we should live. We are told to set our affections on things above.

The mystery is that we are children of God in the flesh yet being transformed on the inside to be like Jesus Christ and to share the same nature with the Father. We are called unto glory, eternal life, and victory over sin, death, Satan, and diseases, as children and servants of the Lord.

As servants of the Most High God, the Lord imparts His spirit, the Holy Spirit so we can walk in glory, proving we are new people who do not walk like ordinary human beings. The Holy Spirit changes and transforms our lives. The power of God is inside and upon us, enabling us to walk in light, power, and glory.

The mechanism of this godly life and glory life is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Christ baptizes with the Holy Spirit, who comes upon you. We are called to a new life, a totally new life, with a new mind, new understanding, new power, and new glory. Preaching should not be according to man’s wisdom and philosophy, but the wisdom from above given by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit takes us from a normal natural nature into a divine, heavenly nature, even while we are in the flesh.

When the church worships, people should see Jesus Christ and the Father. Their worship should be distinct, originating from the Holy Spirit, and not worldly styles.

Eternal life is to know the only true God and Him whom He has sent. This revelation of God is possible because we have been born again by Christ and the Holy Spirit has come upon and is leading us.

If we obey Christ’s commandments, He will manifest Himself to us, showing His love, and will introduce us to the Father. When others are with us, they should see beyond us and see the Father and Jesus Christ. If the preaching and teaching is just to make people happy about the conditions of this life, it is missing the mark.

The core of sonship and servanthood is a new life. This new life is being “risen from the grave, unto a new life”. We have a different name written in heaven (the name of Jesus) and our name is in the Lamb’s book of life. We are called to be an agent, a vessel of revelation of God to the human race and creation.

2^nd Peter 1:3-4 says that His divine power has given us all things pertaining to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who has called us to glory and virtue. By His great and precious promises, we “might be partakers of the divine nature,” having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

The Process of Transformation

The process of transformation is a work of the Spirit.

• We are sanctified by the Spirit through the truth, which is the Word.
• Christ is our sanctification, redemption, and righteousness.
• The old, sinful nature is cleansed by the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.
• We are begotten again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The resurrection is the business of a new life, lifting us from being “dead in sins and trespasses”.
• We are given an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and reserved in heaven.
• We are kept by the power of God through faith. This power is in the Word, the preaching, and the operation of the Holy Spirit.
• The purpose of this process is for us to be presented to the Father by Jesus.

This process involves going through manifold temptations, challenges, and trials. The trial of our faith is much more precious than gold. This process is that our faith “might be found unto praise, honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ”. Though we face material struggles, we have the hope of glory.

This new life requires controlling the body and not pursuing or prolonging in this world, so we might attain the glorious end of sonship and have a reward as servants.

The invitation is for a newness of life, a life of glory. This new life is based on the power of the Word, the working power of the Spirit, the knowledge of God, and the spirit of obedience (righteousness). It’s a new mind, a new spirit, and a new nature.

This new life changes our determination. We no longer determine our lives based on economic or material considerations like good pay, a job, or a well-educated spouse, which are the materialistic determinations of the world. As Christians, we consider where God wants us to be and the future in divine purposes for us.

This glory we are talking about is not according to human understanding, expectation, or perception, but glory as God understands it and as He confers upon us.

May the Lord give us understanding and the spirit of patience to wait until reality. Amen.