Christ In Me (Part 3)
March 24, 2019
3rd Week of Lent
Sermon Series: Christ
In Me
Inspired by:
Casting Crowns: “Only
Jesus” CD
“Only Jesus Devotional”
by Pastor Mark Hall
With Tim Luke
Psalm 63:1-8
Ephesians 5:13-14
Psalm 139:23-24;
John3:19-21
“Awaken Me” by
Casting Crowns
“Wake Up Sleepy Head”
Prayer of Illumination…
A reading from the Epistle to the church in
Ephesus written by Paul. Chapter 5, verses 13 and 14… Listen to the wakeup call
Paul was inspired by God to pen for His church:
Ephesians 5:13-14 The Voice (VOICE)
13-14 When the light shines, it exposes even the dark and shadowy things
and turns them into pure
reflections of light. This is why they sing,
Awake, you sleeper!
Rise from your grave,
And the Anointed One will shine on you.
Rise from your grave,
And the Anointed One will shine on you.
Good
morning. I remember growing up and having to get up for school in the morning. I
was always one who went to bed early but always hated getting up in the morning.
My mom would come into the room and say things like “wakeup sleepy head…its
time to get ready for school.”
Well,
like a lot of kids, I would throw the covers over my head so that I could get a
few more moments of sweet sleep… Then the light would be flicked on. Any
thought of sleeping went right out the window at that point. With the light
shining I knew it was time to get up…my nice comfy, dark room was now illuminated
with light… And I also knew it was my
warning sign that if I didn’t get up now there would be heck to pay…
We
are continuing our journey to the cross this week. I believe that 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 ponder over what Jesus
did for us and the great love that was shown on Calvary’s Cross for you and me.
As
we journey 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, I have asked us to ponder 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?
One
thing we talked about as we begin to let Christ live through us the fact that
it is the legacy of Christ working through us that is seen not what we do. Also
the legacy that we leave is the legacy of, well, being nobody as we point to Jesus
and not ourselves that is a sign of Christ living through us not us living for Christ.
In
order to be this kind of Glove for Jesus…for Christ to be seen in and through
us…we need to come out of the darkness into His glorious light. Let’s face it
people. This world we live in is dark for many people and we, as Christians
have also been living in darkness…in complacency… We have allowed the world to
take over our church’s, our homes, our families, our schools and even our
marriages. We have gone along to get along.
When
we do this…we allow the light of Christ diminish in us… Oh it’s still there, we have just turned it down so that it is not
quite so bright and unable to illuminate the parts of us that needs to be
removed from darkness…the part that has fallen asleep. In order to change
the tide in the world, we need to bring the Light of the world into it. But
that is impossible to do when the light barer is not even bright enough to illuminate
its own life…or dare I say is afraid of
the Light illuminating what is within them…to be awaken from their slumber.
The
Ephesians scripture tells us that the Light makes everything clear, within that
Light we hear:
Awake,
you sleeper!
Rise from your grave,
And the Anointed One will shine on you.
Rise from your grave,
And the Anointed One will shine on you.
The
thing is, within this light may also see our own depravity…our own sin… But as
we are enlightened and illuminated by God’s light all that is not of Him will
be removed…the dark cannot stay where there is light. We must look upward, not vertically
or within of that light.
I
love the way Pastor Mark Hall of Casting Crowns states it in his Only Jesus
Devotional:
“Only Jesus can awaken us
from our self-absorbed spiritual comas. Only the power of His Holy Spirit can
give us new life when we are lost or can bring us back to Him when we’re
already His child but running from Him.”
Psalm
139:23-24 tells us:
23 Search me, O God, and know my
heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 Point out anything in me that offends you,
and lead me along the path of everlasting life.
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 Point out anything in me that offends you,
and lead me along the path of everlasting life.
We
need to awaken from our slumber, awaken from our complacency, awaken from our
sin and transgressions. We can’t be a light barer in the world if we are afraid
of the Light. We can’t bring the Good News to those who still sit in darkness
if we are still sitting there ourselves. If we truly want Jesus to work through
in the world around us we must first come out of our own darkness into His
glorious cleansing light.
19 And the judgment is based on this fact:
God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the
light, for their actions were evil. 20 All who do
evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be
exposed. 21 But those who do what is right come to
the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.”
Play “Awaken Me”
“Awake, you sleeper!
Rise from your grave,
And the Anointed One will shine on you.”
Rise from your grave,
And the Anointed One will shine on you.”
Amen
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