The Better Magnificence
Everything around us in the digital world, whether in social media, advertising, or online entertainment, is seeking to grab our attention with the new and improved—something more magnificent than the thing before it. As we kick off our global outreach week on Sunday, we’re going to ponder a different sort of magnificence which turned the world upside down in Paul’s day and continues to today. We as a church will be invited to a totally different approach to greatness in our personal lives and through that in ministry to each other, to our community, and to the world.
Extreme Diligence, Extreme Reliance
Gospel advance requires extreme diligence: intentionality, hard work, discipline, investing ourselves, taking risk. But equally important is extreme reliance: understanding that it is not my hard work, but God’s Word—shared and applied—that will bring lasting change. It’s Paul saying on one side, “I worked harder than them all!” Yet that wasn’t his identity, because in the next breath he says, “yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10). And when we see Christ—fully accepting you, fully in control, completely satisfying to your every heart need—you’re going to joyfully say, “I’m going to give it all, as I wholly rest on Him.” Extreme diligence. Extreme reliance.
Shock and Awe
When we think of passages outside of the Gospels that teach us about the suffering of Jesus for us, one of the most loved is Isaiah 53. But due to chapter divisions in our Bibles, what we don’t often see is that Isaiah 53 is a poem—which actually begins in 52:13-15. In this sermon we’re going to slow down and look at these 3 verses. They’re packed with hope for people who feel like sin and failure is inescapable. The stakes and emotions are high in this short section—so we need the Holy Spirit to awaken us so we can digest his Word and be more transformed as His beloved church.
