A couple weeks ago Matt talked about the art of remembrance. These are things that I know I daily need to remind myself of in order to have the right perspective and therefore make better decisions.
The art of remembering either pushes us toward Christ or it inches us away
"Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead."
Philippians 3:13
Paul's not meaning forget everything but rather forget the things behind you that Christ has already paid for and that would hinder your relationship with Christ.
So, how you go about remembering and what are you supposed to go about remembering.
1. Remember what God has done
"I will remember the deeds of the Lord;
yes, I will remember your wonders of old." Psalm 77:11
"Remember the wondrous works that he has done,
his miracles, and the judgments he uttered" Psalm 105:5
We’re going to remember how God has interacted with His people and behaved in the scriptures so that as our life plays out we can have the confidence that He delivers, that He saves that He’s in and around even the worst of circumstances.
Not only do we see it biblically but in our own lives He has shown us a thousand mercies. Some of us walk in a level of idolatry that everything that is good and right in our lives we take credit for and anything that goes wrong God gets blamed for. When everything goes right you’re the one that pulls it off and you let one thing go wrong and God’s the one that did this to you. You’re a blasphemer and you have a wicked heart and that’s why you respond that way.
No one in this room got up this morning and went, “Oh my God everything’s working!” But you let yourself get up tomorrow and have chronic pain that doesn’t go away for a year or two, maybe ever, you watch how quickly will go, “You tricked me, you betrayed me.”
We should be constantly overwhelmed that He’s given us these gifts but our flesh doesn’t allow most of us to think that way. We need the Holy Spirit to really do a work in our heart because we are not constantly aware of the wonderful gifts that God has given us.
2. Remember the resurrection of Christ
"Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel" 2 Timothy 2:8
Why this is so important: Because the scriptures say if Christ has been raised then we too will be raised.
I Cor. 15 - our physical, perishable bodies will give way to a new, PHYSICAL, touchable, moveable body that is imperishable. You, at your healthiest, are a shell of what is to come.
Don’t forget that there’s a resurrection coming. If you forget then you’re going to live as though this life is it.
3. Remember that at one time you were outside the covenant promises;
"Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world." Ephesians 2:11-12
and remember that you’re part of something much bigger and historic than you can fathom.
The metanarrative . . .
A creator God created all things. The fall occurred and breaks everything and then we’re isolated from God. But then God come to a man named Abram and He tells him, I’m going to create a people and through that line of people I’m going to raise up a Messiah and through that Messiah I’m going to reconcile all things to Myself and all nations on earth will be blessed because of it. He gives the law to Moses.
He gives the law not so that we would be perfect but to reveal to us that we cannot be perfect. He gives the law as the first blow to destroy and kill religion. It becomes evident that they can’t obey the law so He gives them a sacrificial system to show that God is righteous and sin will need to be atoned for; innocent blood will have to be shed to cover (propitiation), and then the sin will have to be taken away (exviation), and the whole sacrificial system is built around communicating to Israel that their sin costs. All the prophets and psalms testify to this. Christ shows up and says I am He. He lives the perfect, righteous life that was imparted/imputed to you and I; He dies our death on the cross. All of your sin, past, present and future, nailed to the cross of Jesus Christ, with Christ. God makes Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in Him; we become the righteousness of God, He becomes our sin, dies, is resurrected, ascends, makes intersession for us, sends the Holy Spirit, we become not only beneficiaries of the cross but agents of it, and this is the way we live our lives.
Our life has one purpose: the Name and the renown of Jesus Christ. Your money, your job, your house, your children, your hobbies - everything is about the gospel of Jesus Christ and God reconciling all things to Himself. The man who understands this lives out the epic. The man who gets the metanarrative lives life intentionally
Paul says, don’t forget what you’re caught up in. Don’t forget God’s been doing this thing a long, long time and that you have a part in pushing it forward.
Play your part well.
But above all and in all and through all,
4. Remember the cross – for without it you no longer have Christianity. Without the blood-splattered, wrath-absorbing cross of Jesus Christ you no longer have our faith.
"For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
1 Corinthians 11:23-25
What keeps us from being proud people? The cross. We’re an interesting dynamic because we are horrific, wicked sinners; so horrific and so wicked that Christ had to die for us and at the same time so loved by God that Christ was glad to die for us. So we don’t walk with a swagger but we don’t sniffle either. The cross is constantly in our hearts. When it’s not and you stumble about, you will run from Him and not to Him. If you understand that it’s His sacrifice that gives you right standing with God, when you stumble and fall, you can approach the throne of grace with confidence because you know it wasn’t your merit that got you in to begin with.
Remember.
Creative Soul July 2023 Recap
8 months ago
