Grace your servant. Grace a servant of the gospel Part 1

Sermon delivered at Kingdom night at TFI Ministries on 9th March 2012

It’s a greeting you find in Paul’s letters to the churches he had founded by the administration given him by God. You would often hear Paul term himself as a servant of Christ for the sake of the church. His greetings would often go like this.

“Grace and peace to you from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ” Phil 1:3

“To Timothy, a true child in the faith: Grace, mercy, peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ” 1^st Tim 1:2

“Paul and Silvanus and Timothy to the assembly of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. “1^st thes 1:2

Most of the time we take the words of Paul as his own words exclusively and we categorize Paul as the preacher of grace and while we are mesmerized by his wisdom and diligence in dispensing the gospel to almost the uttermost areas of his world, many are the times we fail to capture the energy and the passion behind him.

Paul’s words are not merely his words but words from God. He tells us grace and peace to us from God. Grace and peace has been commended to us from God and Paul has become its servant by the administration of God.

Perhaps the first thing we need to establish is that grace is not another woiye (pity party) feeling. Grace is not just any other ability that gets us by through a tough situation.

Grace is the ability and the influence of God coming from him to us. It’s an unmerited favor working for us. Grace and peace that comes from God is for us. Grace and peace serves us to unleash to us the heart of God.  Grace is the ability of God realized in the kainos creation. Its the energy of God that influences Godliness in a believer which as overwhelmingly revealed by the gospel .                                                                       

Paul in his epistle to Philippians tells them that he thanks God every time he remembers them. How is this possible? How can a single man like Paul remember all the believers in Philippi? Perhaps Paul is speaking in the sphere of a reality that is bigger than him. Remember he in Galatians he testifies that it’s no longer him who lives but its Christ who lives in him. Gal 2:20.

How is grace a servant to you?

You remember when they asked who among us is the greatest? The famous apostles were in contention as to who is the greatest among them, what did Jesus tell them? The greatest of you shall be your servant. (Mat 20:26)

He who was the greatest became our servant, for the son of man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Wait a minute; the greatest of all shall become your servant! Who is the greatest of all? It’s Jesus. He is the one by whom all things were created. He was the word who was from the beginning now manifested in the flesh. He came to his own and his own couldn’t bear him but rejected him, nevertheless he is the greatest of all and he became the servant of all.

This is how grace becomes our servant. By cleansing us and washing us. Jesus was so full of grace and truth. He knew he had the possession of the fullness of heaven and yet he girded up his towel and washed the disciple’s feet.

Grace serves you by cleansing you from all your sins. The greatest of all has become the servant of all. All are invited to come to the person of grace to buy wine and milk without a price. Grace is your servant. Grace is Jesus personified. If you have seen him, you have seen the father.

Such was the persuasion in Paul’s heart that wherever he went he proclaimed the grace and peace that is from God towards men.

Paul preached in such a manner that many believed. How is this possible? It’s because of the life and the testimony of Christ in Him, he fully identified with the death and the resurrection of Christ.

We may therefore say that Paul’s words are words of Christ after his resurrection. There is something phenomenal when we discover Christ who has become our servant. We humbly rest and allow to be served.

The gospel serves you with the life of God. When Jesus was about to be crucified he talked of the holy spirit that when he comes , he will take what is Of God and declare it to you.(John 16:14)

That word declares there in Greek is annagelo which means to disclose, to rehearse repeatedly, to show, to speak, to tell.

Friends the gospel is the servant that daily declares rehearses to us repeatedly the benefits of salvation. The Holy Spirit testifies to us about Christ. The Holy Spirit serves you with the life of God. Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Probably you have never heard such a manner of good news. We for a long time have thought that servant; serving is simply a tireless efforting procedure of proving our allegiance to God. The term servant of God has been misappropriated and abused today? What is true servant hood?

Grace as a servant; true servant hood, the greatest of all shall become the servant of all

Jesus says that whosoever desires to be greatest among you shall be your servant. Is that what we have known servant hood to be? On the contrary servant hood has been esteemed lowly. True servant hood as exuded by Christ is towards all men. It’s serving us with life and life in abundance.

Paul says that he has become a servant of this gospel according to the administration of God himself. He defines his apostleship not as one conferred upon by men but by God himself.

He says that of this gospel he has been made a minister/ servant according to the stewardship from God for the benefit of believers. (Col 1:25)

True servant hood therefore is inspired by the stewardship from God through the gospel. Do you want to become a true servant of God? Succumb therefore to the stewardship of God which is manifested through the gospel. If you are busy condemning people and adding burden to people and intimidating and instilling fear on the people of God and you call yourself a servant of God then you are not a true servant?

We need to go back to the definition Jesus expressed of true servant hood which was to give his life as a ransom for many.

What kind of a gospel are you dispensing to people as a servant of God? Is it a gospel that adheres and draws inspiration from the finished work of the cross or it’s a gospel that points people to the law (Moses)?

Do you feel you have served God when you place demands on people to follow in order to be accepted by God? Does your satisfaction come when you see people around you try to prove themselves before you as a minister/ servant?

Do you give people a list of to do’s in order for them to be blessed by God? Check these out. These are all signs of Old covenant servant hood where the servant, Men of God were sent to give people instructions on what they should do in order for God to bless them more, to receive the favor of God or even to relate with God. They did so because according to the Old covenant there seemed to be distance between God and his people. People were required to do things outwardly for them to be blessed, accepted and to receive favor from God.

However we have been made competent ministers of a new covenant. We are pointing people to Christ and his finished works of the cross.  What do I mean? The distance that existed between God and his people have been eliminated by Christ in his physical appearance, By the body of his flesh. Col 1:21-22.

Paul said it clearly

2^nd Cor 3:6-7He makes us worthy to be the servants of his new agreement that comes from the Holy Spirit and not from a written Law. After all, the Law brings death, but the Spirit brings life.

The Law of Moses brought only the promise of death, even though it was carved on stones and given in a wonderful way. Still the Law made Moses' face shine so brightly that the people of Israel could not look at it, even though it was a fading glory. CEV

Friends we have been made worthy servants of this new covenant not the letter/ the law for the law kills but the spirit gives life. We are ministers of this new order which has come from God and by his stewardship through the gospel.

What an opportunity to serve God through this administration which is of the spirit? What a joy to become a servant of the gospel to the nations? If we would grasp the bliss of this new covenant then we would run to the ends of the earth and flow the love of God to all men.

True servant hood, true apostleship, derives its inspiration from the gospel. This is a charge to you; that you have been made competent by the administration of God to be a competent minister/servant of the gospel.

 No more serving two covenants

It’s time to stop serving another gospel and serve the gospel which we have been entrusted with. You may ask that if it would suffice to mix the Old and the new. After the entire bible is made up the Old Testament and the New Testament right? Wrong!

The Old Testament is a servant of the New. It serves the purpose of bringing us to Christ as Paul teaches us that the Law was a school master to bring us to Christ (Gal 3:15-23).

The Law which represented the Old covenant/ the old way of God relating to his people kept us captive until the revelation of faith, until the seed Christ should come.

The Law therefore has served the purpose of tutoring us to Christ. Gal 3:24. The law served us simply in revealing transgressions of men. It served the purpose of locking us up until Christ is revealed. In fact the Law was not given to gentiles but to the Jews to serve them that purpose.

The Law / the old covenant served us the purpose of bringing us to Christ. How do we view the Old Testament scriptures as a kainos creation?, Do we do away with those old Pages no? We view those scriptures with absolute awe of God in revealing us how those scriptures serve to reveal Christ for the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed and the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed. Christ is the one who has been from the beginning.

The law and the prophets testify of Christ (luke24:27) There the Bible now serves you with the revelation of the knowledge of Christ.

This is the summary of the bible, the gospel. The gospel in the garden of Eden, the gospel preached to Abraham, to the children of Israel, through the prophets and now the word has become flesh and is dwelling in us. You are a kainos creation in christ. The life you live in the flesh you live by the faith of the son of God who died for you. Amen Let him serve you and behold the manner of of a being you are, he serves you so that you can serve him in the nations, amen.

the true vine, Part 2

part 2

 Stay joined to me, and I will stay joined to you. 

Just as a branch cannot produce fruit 

unless it stays joined to the vine, you cannot

 produce fruit unless you stay joined to me.

The beauty of inclusion lies with Christ 

and in him do we find life; 

with him and in him is the fountain of life. 

When Jesus says that we should stay 

joined in him, He is not telling the disciples ways or process of finding their position or their connection in Christ. He simply says stay joined in me.

The truth is that we have never been separated from God apart from the alienation in our minds that we became enemies with God. Sin corrupted us to live our lives independent of God and we therefore withered and died. The truth though is that the earth is the Lord and its fullness thereof.

God did not create humanity for doom. We are his offspring.

Paul knew this as he toured Athens.

Acts 17:28 for in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain even of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

Therefore we draw various conclusions from these portions of scripture. We all began from God apart from him we are nothing. We were once alienated in our minds and became enemies with God. The consequence of our separation was sin and death. The law of sin and death is still in operation to this day as is manifested in the sons of disobedience.

However Christ has triumphed in redeeming man. He has single handedly dealt with the magnitude of our separation from God which brought us death. Apart from him we can do nothing.

 Col 1:22 But his Son became a human and died. So God made peace with you, and now he lets you stand in his presence as people who are holy and faultless and innocent.(CEV)

We are joined to Christ by grace through faith. We in Christ have been engrafted into Christ. We who were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ (Eph 2:13).

We have been engrafted into the vine called Christ and as long as we are in him we will bear fruit .

I have seen believers being inundated by the prospect of bearing fruit. We have become so much obsessed with the puny thing we call fruit that we forget where our nutrients come from. The question you may probably hear being aired out in church every Sunday is something like this. You must do this and that you must prove your love for God, you must pray harder, PUSH pray until something happens eh?

I have heard enough pastors tell their congregation that the reason why God cannot bless them is because they are not productive enough; they are not showing enough obedience points for God to bless them. We have become so much obsessed with the puny thing we call fruit for a lack of a better word. We have accredited faith as a requirement for bearing fruit and have forgotten that faith and fruit have got nothing to do with us. Its God who causes us to be fruitful, faith comes by hearing the word and the word of God.

If I may ask you, who’s responsibility is it to bear fruit? Is it the branch or the vine? When we see that a tree has no fruit do we go ahead and squeeze the branch and demand that it produces fruit, yea? NO. It’s the prerogative of the vine to transfer nutrients to the branches and all parts of the tree. The same nutrients that are transmitted from the roots through the stems is the same nutrient that reaches to the branches.

If I may ask you again have you ever seen a banana tree struggle to bear bananas. Or a mango tree wondering whether it should produce Mangoes or oranges? I bet not. Then why are we as believers struggling to bear fruit which God our father wants to produce through us?

Its therefore action of dead works to demand fruit from believers. When we are fed with the correct gospel fruit happens. Jesus did not appoint you to bear your fruit but his. The way you bear fruit is because you are joined with him.

While it’s important to be fruitful in life and to be productive after how God has created us. We must be aware that we are not manufacturing fruit by ourselves. If you manufacture any fruit that comes from your effort then we will liken that to adultery. Its as a father who comes home and the wife runs towards him hugs him and delivers the news.” Honey we have a bouncing baby boy four months old” knowing very well that the man and his wife did not engage in any intercourse. That is ashaming and disgusting right!

God does not want you to bear any fruit that is apart from him, that’s why Jesus reveals to us that apart from him we can bear no fruit. What conclusions can we draw from these truths.

·         You cannot bear any fruit! Shock! God bears his fruit in you and through you. Apart from Christ you can do nothing.

·         No branch can attach itself to the stem. All the teachings that tell us that we have to position ourselves, locate ourselves and more that focus you on yourself is therefore of dead works. The branch does not locate itself in the vine, it is simply there. Your responsibility as a branch is to realize you are already in Christ.

·         You don’t position yourself, locate yourself in Christ, Christ locates you in himself, open your eyes and behold your position and identity which is in Christ Jesus. Pursue actively the consequences of your co inclusion in Christ, you are in him.

·         Christianity is not a quest of vainly trying to bear fruit. God seeks to bear his fruit in you and through you. The fruit of the Holy Spirit are fruit empowered by the spirit not your improvement program or your positional ability. Open your eyes and get mesmerized by the energy of God energizing itself in you. This the power behind your functioning and ability.

·         Good fruits are not realized by focusing on the fruit but in the nutrients, what kind of a gospel are you hearing? Is it a gospel that directs you to yourself? Are you hearing a message that leaves you with questions like , what must I do? What is my part in this? Check out that is a gospel that leads you to works(relying on your own strength)

    The gospel , the good news takes you back to the activity of God in you. If its about commitment, the gospel takes you back to Christ who has been commended to you, then what you must do is drawn from his power within you.

The disciples asked Jesus what we must do to continue to do the works of God. Jesus drew them back to himself. Believe in me who he has sent. John 6:28-29. The gospel communicates supply not demand. What God requires of you he has supplied to you. Stay blessed as you enjoy your union wth Christ. You are in Him as a branch go therefore and bear fruit of his kind

The true vine; part 1

    part 1

John 15:1-5” Jesus said to his disciples: I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.

He cuts away every branch of mine that doesn't produce fruit. But he trims clean every branch that does produce fruit, so that it will produce even more fruit.

You are already clean because of what I have said to you.

Stay joined to me, and I will stay joined to you. Just as a branch cannot produce fruit unless it stays joined to the vine, you cannot produce fruit unless you stay joined to me.

I am the vine, and you are the branches. If you stay joined to me, and I stay joined to you, then you will produce lots of fruit. But you cannot do anything without me” (Contemporary English version)

Jesus announces a great report of great Joy to the disciples. He is in the summit of his ministries and the events are rolling on quickly as he nears his crucifixion which is the apex of his mission and the passion of his heart.

In order to appreciate the vine we must know some few things. First the vine is the whole plant plus the branches. When Jesus makes this statement therefore he refers himself as the true plant. “I am the whole picture in here” That is his announcement. I am the real picture guys! I have brought you new Kainos way of perceiving things. Jesus makes that statement which is so profound.

Jesus does not only define who he is and who is father is, but he also defines us. He says you are the branches. A branch is found in the vine and does not survive apart from the vine.

Who is this vine? He is Jesus, the one in whom all things hold together. He is all and in all. He is God and by him and through him all things were created. He is the firstborn of all creation. He is the second and the last Adam. He is the perfect man of Genesis 1. He is the word which was from the beginning and now made flesh and the disciples saw him face to face and Jesus opened their eyes to see the reality of who he is.

Who are the branches? It’s you and i? This verse has been misunderstood for many years and the proponents of religion have used these portions of scripture to place a hedge between themselves and the world. Those who ‘know God ’ and those who don’t. Those who have made themselves to be branches and those who have not branchified themselves for a lack of a better word.

The reality though is that Jesus reveals the identity of man. Man started in God. Jesus is the vine and mankind is his branches. If that was not so he couldn’t have said the branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit he casts away. The earth is the Lord and its fullness thereof (Psalm 24:3).

This is the reality that Jesus brought and unveiled before a bunch of unregenerate people. Iam the reality and you are the branches in me, part of the vine. Every branch in him that does not bear fruit Jesus says that he casts away. What is that branch? I believe it’s the branch of separation. It’s the branch of hostility brought about by the law of sin and death which was in operation since the fall of Adam. It’s the branch of the law and the code of conduct that man could not keep to please and attain Godliness.

Col 1:21-22” You used to be far from God. Your thoughts made you his enemies, and you did evil things.

But his Son became a human and died. So God made peace with you, and now he lets you stand in his presence as people who are holy and faultless and innocent.

” C E V

That’s the statement of our past as declared by the scriptures above, our thoughts made us severed from the vine. We fell out of the divine perfection of God in the fall. As the result of this separation we withered and died But Jesus came and died for us and us who were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

The branch in him that does not bear fruit he casts away and that was what he came to do. Cast away that which severed us from the vine.The gospel now reveals your identity. You are the branch existing in the vine. Your faith does not improve that but it confirms it.

Jesus presented you before God as one holy and faultless and innocent before God. You are already clean through the words spoken to you by Jesus and received by you through faith and trust and reliance in the working of God.

This is the glad announcement of the gospel that you are also included in Christ. People have accused the preaching of grace as a preaching that encourages universalism. Whatever universalism is, that thought is a concept of being severed from the vine who is Jesus. When we grasp the integrity of the gospel, the project of God, the success story of the cross that makes us kainos creation in Christ Jesus , then we as Paul declared therefore do not regard any man according to the flesh(2^nd cor 5:14). We calculate that humanity is equally represented in Christ Jesus. The knowledge of this inclusion saves people .

We draw a fair and a just inclusion therefore that Jesus is the true vine and father is the true vine dresser and you are the branch. You existed in God before the creation . Of God do you take the origin f image and likeness.