Welcome again to our series on abiding in Christ, and specifically the many lies that try to hinder us from this marvelous position.
In part one, we examined the lie of God’s House; how contrary to popular opinion, and Christian vernacular, God’s House is not a physical building, and “the church” is not the four walls that believers gather inside. Rather, the church is the body of believers themselves, unified in Christ Jesus, as members of His flesh and bone (Ephesians 5:30).
Today, we will continue examining the lies that seem to permeate Christian vernacular, and try to keep us from abiding in Christ, as we scrutinize the lie of serving. We have a lot to get into, so let’s get started.
Welcome to the sixth and final part of our series on how Jesus has conquered your sin. Having laid the complete foundation from the previous five weeks, we are now ready to deal with the aspect of victory in Christ that most people get distracted with: your actions.
As I’ve alluded to in previous studies, it’s incredibly easy to become completely focused on your actions, to the exclusion of all else— including Jesus Christ.
Many Christians become myopic regarding their works, and use their works as a litmus test to judge their standing and the standing of others towards God. This kind of thinking opens the door to all manner of confusion and doubt, because it gets a person looking at themself rather than Jesus.
Today we will be examining how Jesus has conquered your sin, including sinful actions, through the redemption of Christ and the power of His Spirit in grace.
Welcome to the fifth part in our series on how Jesus has conquered your sin. It’s been quite a journey over the past month, as we’ve seen a number of different aspects on the victory over sin which Jesus has given to us.
Today we are going to look at the the outward demonstration of salvation, the things that people can see. People often become overly focused on that external, which can become a trap, but as we apply the principles of the previous parts of this series, along with what we will see today, it will bring clarity.
When discussing Grace, the topic of sin usually follows closely behind. It is difficult people to comprehend their new life in Christ, when sinful behaviors are prominently in view. This struggle leads many to embark on a war against sin; with the primary markers being:
- Focusing on sin and behavior
- Feelings of fear, doubt, and condemnation
- Often consumed with guilt and unworthiness
Those of you that are familiar with my testimony, know that I lived that way for many years. I was focused so greatly on my sin that I kept a daily record of each sinful action. Every day I felt worse, more condemned, and further away from God. And the more I tried to conquer sin, the more I failed, and deeper into the pit I went.
So what does this all mean? Is sin an unconquerable foe? Not at all! What I want to share with you today is a different perspective, on how sin can be conquered, and has been conquered in Christ.
Attend a typical church building, or read a regular study or commentary and you will eventually come across the doctrine of the Judgment Seat (or Bema Seat) and rewards doctrine – which is typically explained as various “crowns” which people will receive (or not receive) based in some way on how they performed on the earth.
They say that there are two different judgments, one which they call the Great White Throne judgment… where those who do not know Jesus and are not in the Book of Life, will be “judged” (i.e. condemned) while believers will be sectioned-off for a second judgment to determine how many rewards (or crowns) we receive or don’t receive based on our life.
So in-essence, even though Jesus has totally and completely forgiven and removed all sin from us, and made us completely new creations in Him, you still must worry about your performance on some level, because your eternal rewards in Heaven, are still dependent on your performance. Or so this doctrine would have you believe.
In this study today, we will be taking a look at this common doctrine of the Bema seat, and Crown rewards, and see what the scriptures actually say about it.
I have been asked a number of times, about the name ThrivingBranch. What exactly does it mean, anyway? And while I have explained it before, It occurs to me that I have not shared an actual study on it in quite a while.
So in light of that, what I want to share with you today, is not merely the explanation of the name (that wouldn’t really constitute a Bible study by itself), but the words of Jesus from where the name ThrivingBranch comes from, and the amazing truth contained in it. And as we look at this today, we are going to see some aspects of our identity in Christ that will have a profound effect, even in our daily life.
You will know them by their fruit; The words of Jesus in Matthew 7:16, are often quoted in isolation, and many times in a judgmental way when looking at the deeds and works of others… “Haven’t you seen everything that this guy is doing? Jesus said you will know them by their fruit!” is what is commonly said, when being critical of others.
This kind of judgmental examining of people’s performance is not what Jesus had in mind when he said these words, however. And as we examine the additional things He said along with verse 16, we can see this clearly.
So what I want to share with you today, is what the often misunderstood verse of scripture truly means, and by seeing it, we will see another amazing aspect of Jesus Christ.
Do you have a nagging feeling that you need to do something for God? A lot of believers have this feeling, and it causes them a lot of distress because they feeling as though they are somehow “letting God down” or not living up to their full potential. It’s actually a huge mental trap to get stuck in – especially because churches always tell people that they need to find “God’s Perfect Will” for their life; and so people are left wandering around and stumbling about looking for this mythical unicorn of “God’s Perfect Will” – I know because I’ve lived that way, and it is very discouraging and disheartening thinking that there is this magical path you need to go down, but not knowing where it is; and having so many Christian brothers and sisters telling you that you need to find it, but no-one seems to be able to help.
Well, if that happens to describe you today, then I’m going to share something with you that’s going to be very freeing… you don’t have to do anything for God! Now I know that right away some people will want to scream blasphemy! Heretic! Yet the Biblical truth is that God only wants you to do two things, and neither of them are what we could consider to be “works of service” He wants us to: Believe, and Live.
One of the more notable statements made by Jesus can be found in Matthew 6:33, in which Jesus says that we are to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all of the other things will be added to us. Now, as believers we have become fairly adept at seeking God’s righteousness, as that was made available for us by Jesus on the cross. Yet it is interesting that His righteousness was not the first thing mentioned by Jesus when telling us what to search for. Jesus said that we are to seek first the Kingdom of God.
Now in many Christian circles, the Kingdom of God is not talked about very much; most people don’t even properly know what the Kingdom of God even is, or how to define it. We haven’t really sought it first as we were told to, but we have instead been seeking His Righteousness without His Kingdom. That’s why today in this study we will be examining what His Kingdom is, and what it means to seek (and find) the Kingdom of God.
When you hear the word “God” spoken, what is the first thing that comes to mind? For many, it is terms like “all powerful”, “ruler”, “judge”, “creator” and it is certainly true that God is indeed all of these things. Yet He is so much more. One of the more popular cliché statements used in our current culture is that Christianity is not about religion, but about relationship… and while that is absolutely true, for many of us, the truth of that statement is lost in our daily lives.
For many people the relationship with God does not progress beyond the basic “Christian behaviors” and rituals that most people perform because it is what they think a good Christian is supposed to do. I’ve spoken with people time and time again who are not actually living out of a true relationship with Jesus, but out of rituals and traditions that are empty and unfulfilling. And they flounder around – many of them their entire life, searching for something that they don’t even know exactly what, because they can sense something is missing but they have not made the connection, that what is missing is the foundation of a real relationship with Jesus Christ. This is what we will be studying today.