Christ In Me (Part 2)

March 14, 2019

Sermon Series: Christ in Me

Inspired by:

“Only Jesus” CD by Casting Crowns

“Only Jesus Devotional”

 by Pastor Mark Hall

With Tim Luke

Psalm 27

John 1:19-27

1 Corinthians 3:5-8

Philippians 3:4-8

“Nobody” Casting Crowns

https://youtu.be/Tf_g21ikiEo

It’s Not About Me?

Let us pray…pray for the Spirits leading

A reading from the Gospel of John, chapter 1 verses 19-27. Listen to the un-self-seeking words of John as they question him on who he is…

John 1:19-27 GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

John Prepares the Way

¹⁹ This was John’s answer when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” ²⁰ John didn’t refuse to answer. He told them clearly, “I’m not the Messiah.”

²¹ They asked him, “Well, are you Elijah?”

John answered, “No, I’m not.”

Then they asked, “Are you the prophet?”

John replied, “No.”

²² So they asked him, “Who are you? Tell us so that we can take an answer back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

²³ John said, “I’m a voice crying out in the desert, ‘Make the way for the Lord straight,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”

²⁴ Some of those who had been sent were Pharisees. ²⁵ They asked John, “Why do you baptize if you’re not the Messiah or Elijah or the prophet?”

²⁶ John answered them, “I baptize with water. Someone you don’t know is standing among you. ²⁷ He’s the one who comes after me. I am not worthy to untie his sandal strap.”

Good morning. We are continuing our journey to the cross this week. As I have stated before, lent is a time of soul searching and confession as we search our hearts and prepare it for the new life, we rise to on Resurrection Sunday. We think about what Jesus did for us. We contemplate the great love that was shown on Calvary’s Cross for you and me.

We are sojourning to the place of redemption…where God’s greatest work was done…to the place where we surrender ourselves to the One who surrendered Himself for all of humanity. But the questions I have asked us to ponder is this, what does it look like when we begin to become the glove that the hand of our Savior can wear for His glory? What does it look like when we surrender ourselves and not live for Jesus but let Jesus live through us? I want Christ to be seen in me but is it more important for Christ to be seen through me? One is about me…the other about Christ…

Last week we looked at our motives…why we do what we do. In this world, we are told that we need to leave a legacy. My question is, what or whose legacy are we leaving? As we read God’s Word, we come to realize…if we don’t already…that none of the real heroes of the bible didn’t wake up one day and thought “I want to be a hero.” It was that they knew the secret…there view of themselves was this…I got nothing…I have no business here…they were humble…they weren’t looking to leave a legacy…they were looking to live for God… That I should be our legacy. It is the only one that leads to the One we are here to elevate, not ourselves. Pride and ego need to go if Christ is going to live through you and me.

Beloved…it is not about you and it’s not about me. Take John the Baptist as a pioneer of it not being about him but about Jesus. John pointed to Jesus even from the womb when he leaped in his mother’s womb as Mary walked into the room…while she was pregnant with Him. He devoted his whole life to pointing to Jesus. He could have made a name for himself, but he didn’t. He doesn’t even tell them who he is in the scripture I read this morning. Only the only name he brings into the conversation is the One who comes after me… At times we want to have that flashing neon light on us…I am this and I have done that … Most of us are ready to give that list of who we are when asked…but the legacy is not about me…it’s about Jesus. I am just a nobody sharing the Good News. “I can’t remember the woman’s name but all she talked about was Jesus…” Now that’s a legacy of being a nobody.

The world tells us that we need to be somebody, otherwise you are nobody. If we are here to bring glory to God, then we can’t be self-seeking for our glory. So, we pray to God and ask Him to keep us humble at heart.  But, think about this for a minute, John didn’t have to do that, he already was. He saw himself as a nobody and Jesus as everything.

Look church, I can stand up here and tach you how to (fill in the blank) but that is not going to do any good…who cares about those things compared to the moment your eyes are open, truly open, to who Jesus is and who we are and why we are here…when you finally grasp these concepts…

And even after Jesus humbles us…many times we soon forget…amnesia, and we are saying “I am going to do this…and that for you today Jesus” instead of “What are you going to do through me today Jesus…I can’t wait to see…”

Then there is Paul…I want to have the resurrected heart of Paul…after he had his divine appointment with the Somebody… paraphrase the encounter.

Now he could have pounded his chest all about himself… Philippians 3:4-6 tells us:

He was circumcised at 8

He was an Israelite Gods chosen people

Hebrew of Hebrews

Pharisee extraordinaire

Persecuted those who were of the way

Righteous and flawless in the law

But he didn’t. He considered himself week and in his weakness proclaimed Christ:

Philippians 3:7-8 GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

⁷ These things that I once considered valuable, I now consider worthless for Christ. ⁸ It’s far more than that! I consider everything else worthless because I’m much better off knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. It’s because of him that I think of everything as worthless. I threw it all away in order to gain Christ

Paul got it:

1 Corinthians 3:5-8 GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

⁵ Who is Apollos? Who is Paul? They are servants who helped you come to faith. Each did what the Lord gave him to do. ⁶ I planted, and Apollos watered, but God made it grow. ⁷ So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is important because only God makes it grow. ⁸ The one who plants and the one who waters have the same goal, and each will receive a reward for his own work.

It doesn’t matter who…all that matters is Christ be glorified…all that matters is Christ in me…working through me…on to the world around me…that still sits in darkness…All that matters is Jesus. I love how Pastor Mark Hall of Casting Crowns puts it- “We are not the point but here to point to the point…” I love that. I want to live that. I want to live that each moment and with every breath I breath. I am nobody…but let me tell you about Somebody…

(play “Nobody” by Casting Crowns)

AMEN!