What Else is Good News about the Gospel (Part 1)

January 2, 2012

Today, we started a new sermons series titled “What Else is Good News about the Gospel?” It is a four week sermon series looking at what the gospel means for us, today. This sermons series is born out of some things I have been reading recently. Including Love Wins. by Rob Bell and Insurrection by Peter Rollins. Feel Free to read the notes and leave a comment as well as listen to the audio at the bottom or on iTunes.

Scripture: Colossians 1:15-20

Ever heard the Phrase “The Gospel of the Good News of Jesus?” Ever what what was so good about the Gospel? Sure, it means that someday, somewhere, we will have eternity and that is great. But what about here, now, in this place, at work, during the football game? Is it good news now or is it just a good news for later? Fire Insurance if you will?

That is what we are going to spend the next 4 weeks looking at. What else about the gospel is good news?

we are going to do it a little differently. we are going to read a verse then talk and read a verse and talk some more.

Prayer:

First, this was an ancient hymn. We know that this hymn was a sort of confession and that the earliest house churches would sing it during their meetings. there isevidence they wouldmeet in the kitchens and sing, read scripture, and read a word of encouragement from an apostle colossians is the word of encouragement to the church We don’t know if Paul originally wrote this but we know at the very least Paul was familiar with it.

15: The Son = Jesus

- When you see Jesus you see God.

- When you see God you see Jesus.

- In the OT if you saw “God” you were probably seeing Jesus.

- To be first over all creation is to say that Jesus existed forever and always and there was never a time Jesus did not exist.

16: Jesus created all things.

- Genesis 1 was Jesus.

- Kingdoms, Powers, Money, Cars, music, poetry,Atoms, Quarks, dogs, giraffes, monkeys, the duck billed platypus….all created by Jesus. except for cats.

- Jesus gave you your mind to create, invent, and innovate. Use it! when you use it to create and invent you are being like Jesus.

- But this means everything you have is a gift from Jesus. Even your paycheck that you worked for is a gift. And your job, and your spouse, and your kids.

- When you borrow something that belongs to someone else you are expected to take care of it.

- Not only were they created by him but also for him. That means everything you have was given to you by Jesus and you are supposed to use it the way Jesus would have you use it.

- 1 in 6 people in the world do not have clean water it costs 10 dollars for a water treatment equipment to give clean water to a village.

- Ever 30 seconds a child dies of Malaria. It takes 10 dollars to provide a net to keep that from happening.

- The number 1 crime in the world is human trafficking. 30 dollars provides aftercare to help those rescued from slavery become an individual.

- The good news is that you use what Jesus gave you to make the world better like Jesus did.

17: All things are held together in Jesus.

- Your calendar, budget, family, everything is held together because of Jesus.

- I would argue that all of these things fall apart because Jesus has been left out of it.

- The divorce rate of non-Christians is nearly 50% but for Christians who are involved in their church, it drops to 28%

- when involved in life of church, cell, Sunday school, it drops to 15%. we have two cell groups.

- Maybe make Jesus the priority and see what happens with everything else you are trying so hard to control

here is how I make my priorities. Jesus, spouse, kids, church. this is why I take vacation, this is why I read my bible first when I get into my office, this is why I have a rule of three

18: Jesus is the head of the Church

- Not the pastor.

- Not the trustees, PPR, D.S., or Bishop. not our budget, or anyone in this churchIt is all Jesus.

- This idea of the first born among the dead is this idea of resurrection. That Jesus kicked off something all will experience, we will physically raise from the dead where we will then spend eternity with God or without.

he did this so that he would be first in all areas of the church, and our life.

19: The fullness of God was in Jesus.

- When you see Jesus you see God. .

- Jesus does not represent God but in fact is God in the flesh.

I met a pastor who believes Jesus is a representation.

if Jesus is not God we are making an idol every time we pray. but if he is god then we are approaching god himself.

20: Through the blood of the cross Jesus reconciled all things to himself.

- This is the good news of the Gospel.

- Jesus’ death on the cross brought all people into right standing with God.

- Jesus death on the cross brought all things into right standing with God.

- does this makes universalist? yes, and no. everything was reconciled but it is up to us to either accept or reject our reconciled status.

- This is good for the whole universe. That through the death of Jesus on the cross the universe is now fundamentally different.

- This means a fundamental shift in the way we have always been taught because it becomes good news for your pet dog….

- It means dogs are in right standing with God.

- It means that the whole world was fallen and destitute but that through Jesus’ work on the cross, my childhood pet dog Brutus will be in heaven

When we follow Jesus this is good news for you and your eternity but it also becomes good news for your neighbors and for the waitresses at Eat N’ Park.

- Because when you realize that the whole world has been reconciled because of Jesus’s death it means you see the world differently.

- Suddenly it isn’t about making sure your neighbors fence is in the right spot or that the guy who cut you off gets a 1 finger salute. It means love, grace, and second chances win.

It means that you become generous with your tips and you actually leave good tips to your waitress. My mom was a waitress and she said the worst time to work was Sunday afternoon because the church crowd would leave bible tracts instead of tips. This is not how it should be. Tracts are great but for a single mom who lives on tips a tract and no tip means the electric doesn’t get paid. We should be generous with our tips and I would even argue to be generous when service is bad.

I have a missionary friend who was not always a Christian but worshipped in Candomble and they practiced animal sacrifices. He says that when he tried to do animal sacrifices there was always a shortage of chickens and goats and often they would have to decide to do either the sacrifice or feed his family. There were simply no animals in his village. Then when he became a Christian the goats and chickens were everywhere, their family had more food than they could handle. He puts it this way: “The Gospel is good news for the chickens too.”

This brings the question: how do you see the universe? If you see the universe as fallen, broken, messed up, then it will impact how you act and what you do. It means you need to get everything you can keep for yourself and enjoy what you have now before God destroys the whole thing.

But if the universe is reconciled through the cross then suddenly it is a beautiful and life giving place that is blessed by God enough that God gave His only son. This means that all the junk in this world is relegated to its rightful place, underneath God and is being remade, reframed, and reorganized so that even that junk brings glory to God. It also means that you get to be generous with everything you have and are because God was generous to the whole world. Which has deep implications for our time, money, family, etc… because are you spending it on things that are just as life giving as God was or are you keeping it for yourself on things that won’t last?

communion together for all. taking communion to you because Jesus came to you.

Sermon Audio