Episode Transcript
Jesus said in Matthew 28:19, go therefore, and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Welcome to go teach all nations, bringing you Christ's teachings through australian and international speakers.
And here is today's.
Today's presenter, Pastor Andrew Russell. The title of our message today is born into this body. You know, this is a challenging time.
Often for me, well, I should say once a year. It's the time traditionally known as Christmas, isn't that right? Christmas is around the corner, or should we say here? Christmas Day is tomorrow. And I had some challenges this week in regard to Christmas.
I got an SMS from my associate pastor who said that if the word Christmas is mentioned in the church, that there is a family that will leave the service. And so he asked me, what should he do? What should he do? And not only that, it's come up another time and it comes up every week, actually. If you don't know a bit of history, I'm going to share that with you today.
But Christmas has been a. It's actually something that has been a contentious issue in the life of the Christian church, going back centuries already. So today I'm going to share with you and if you're new to this, it'll be a little bit challenging.
But I want you to, want you to show you that as this comes up, it comes up not only in the life of the church, but even in the life of the community. And so let me share with you a statement here. This is from the Gospel Coalition of Australia.
This was just published. And listen to what it says. Nowhere in the Bible are Christians told to celebrate a day called Christmas.
This may sound anathema or abhorring to some Christians, but it doesn't matter whether we celebrate Christmas or not, we have latitude to Skip over what, December 25th, that's Christmas Day. Although your kids might be a little miffed on Christmas morning, miffed means displeased. And this article said Christmas is a what? A cultural event, not a biblical mandate.
Not a biblical mandate. And so this article said here to the Australian public that, hey, Christmas Day is not a biblical mandate. In fact, there's nothing wrong with skipping over it.
It's a cultural event and it's not something that the Bible tells us to celebrate. Here's another article from Metro uk. This came out on Tuesday and the title said, who invented Christmas? How long has the festival been celebrated? And notice it dug into some history here.
It says celebration actually dates all the way back to The Roman Empire in 336. That's the earliest record that they find of the celebration of Christmas during the time of the Roman emperor who, Constantine. Now, notice what it says.
It was associated with the winter solstice and the ancient Roman pagan midwinter festivals, Saturnalia, which honoured the Roman God Saturn, and Dis natilis, Solus Invicta. So back in Roman times, this day was already being celebrated, but it was in conjunction with what we call pantheistic festivals. This was the worship of nature, okay? And Saturn, that's where we get the name Saturday from.
Did you know that Saturday, that name Saturday comes from? It's named after the God Saturn or the planet Saturn. And you're getting into the time here where the Romans used to make representatives of the planets they used to worship. The planets they used to worship.
You know, there was the God Mars, there was the God Saturn. Are you getting the picture? Yeah. Sun's day as well.
Sunday, Sunday. And this is where it was from. And that last term there, Disnalitis.
Solus invicta. Notice how the Encyclopaedia Britannica confirms this, because that name is to do with the unconquerable day of the sun. Notice the encyclopaedia says Christmas is celebrated on the birthday of the unconquered sun, a time when houses were decorated with greenery and lights.
Okay? And if you go to Jeremiah chapter 10 in your Bible, you can read about the Christmas tree, okay? Because people were worshipping the Christmas tree believing that it had life. And you can read about that in Jeremiah chapter 10. And so, yes, it's true that Christmas day finds its lineage dating back to some of the pagan festivals or the worship of the sun.
Des nartilis Solus invicta, the unconquerable day of the sun. And Constantine, just a few years before this record of Christmas in 321 A.D. he established the venerable day of the Sun.
What we know is sun's day, okay? So when you understand this, when you understand this, you'll find if you look into history, that Christmas really had nothing to do with Jesus, okay? And back then, they used to decorate with lights and so forth, and it was a time of merriment or making merry. And actually, at that time, the laws were relaxed and people were given licence to celebrate however they liked. Immorality was relaxed.
And so people would go on big drinking fests and there would be all kinds of partying and so forth at Christmas time, right? This was what Christmas was really all about in its beginnings and in fact, you'll still find that today if you look at, and I'm going to show you now, an image out of St. Peter's Cathedral. If you see, and I've been there to St.
Peter's Cathedral, so I've seen this firsthand, but here is the Christmas Mass, okay? What do you notice above there at the front? It's a symbol of the sun. And what do you notice the Pope holding up there? It's a symbol of the sun. So it's still there today.
And so here, I want to get some clarity here, because if you say Merry Christmas to someone in the church today, someone who understands the pagan roots of Christmas may get offended. And that's why this family said, we're going to leave if we hear the word Christmas in church today. Now, even back as far as the 1600s, we find that Protestant Christians rejected the notion of Christmas once they learned what it was.
And the government of the time, that was largely Protestant, they actually outlawed Christmas. Right? And here's a public notice, if you can read the Old English, the obfervation. It's actually observation.
We use the word S now, but the observation of Christmas having been deemed a sacrilege, the exchanging of gifts and greetings, dressing in fine clothing, feasting and similar satanical practises are hereby forbidden, with the offender liable to a fine of five shillings. So that's why I said it's been a contentious issue in the Church, because those that came to the Bible recognised during the Protestant reformation that 25 December is not the birth date of Jesus. Okay? So we, as a church, we don't celebrate 25th December as the birth date of Jesus because it's not in Scripture.
And in fact, we do know where the roots of Christmas actually extend to way, way back. Okay? Now, to understand this system of worship, that was nature, you see, in the pantheism setting, that was where pagans worshipped the gods of nature and so forth, you had, firstly the rite of Easter. Okay? We know about Easter, don't we? We still have Easter around today, just like we have Christmas around today, right? And Easter had to do with the goddess Ishtar.
Okay? And Easter was the time of spring in the northern hemisphere. And so in the northern hemisphere, it was the time of spring, and it was the time when everything began to grow, right? Everything began to grow. It was regarded as a time of fertility, okay? And that's why even today, you've got the bunny rabbits.
Ever heard the saying breeding like rabbits? Okay. It's the Sign and you have the egg was the sign of fertility. But if you go to from Easter now, which was the time of fertility, there were great festivals, very lewd sexual festivals at that time, and so forth amongst the pagans.
Now, if you travel from what was the 25th of March, which was the official time really of Easter, and you travel nine months into the future, where do you end up on the 25th of December. See that? And that's when you had the birth of the sun. That was the time when the sun was at its lowest.
If you follow the calendar and the movement of the sun as its lowest from the 22nd to the 23rd, and then from the 20 roundabout, 24th, 25th, the sun starts to rise and makes its way to its highest point again. And so from the 25th of March, time of fertility, and then the birth of the unconquerable sun, the 25th of December. So we, as a church, we do not celebrate Christmas, do we? Have you wished anyone merry Christmas today? The word Christ Mass.
Christmas comes from the word Christ mass, because on the 25th of December, the Roman state, back in Constantine's time, and even now, the Roman Catholic Church instituted a service appointed to that day. Is it the 25th of December today? Yes or no? Are we getting together again tomorrow for the 25th of December for worship? No, because we do not celebrate Christmas for the very reasons that you have learned about today. So if you come to our church at Christmas time, don't be offended if there's no decorations.
Okay, you go, well, how come they don't have decorations and so forth. And I'll let you know something. I've been in churches where they have had decorations and I've been in churches where they don't have decorations.
Is decorations an issue? Yes or no? Can't hear you. Yes or no? Many of you say no. Why isn't decorations? I mean, it's associated with Christmas, isn't it? And the pagan festivals is an issue.
Okay, well, this article that I mentioned to you before was very good. I mentioned three articles there, but I'm thinking of the one from Australia. That article went on to recognise that Christmas is a religious institution for some, not for everyone.
And it is also a national public holiday. Yes, we have it here in Australia. And then it is also a cultural tradition for others.
See that? And so I just want to say it's very important to make that distinction because there are many who observe that get involved in Christmas. They'll get the Christmas tree in their home, they'll put the Christmas lights and they're not even Christian. It's just a tradition.
It's a time of festivity and merriment. Now if you follow, if you pursue Christmas the way the Romans used to do it or the pagans used to do it, then you're engaging in really a practise that's not really sanctified from God. What I mean by that, if you're drinking and getting drunk, right? If you're spending copious amounts of money on gifts and so forth, right? That's the pagan spirit of the festival.
In fact, we are counselled. Even if you go back to the time of the early founders of the Seventh Adventist Church and Ellen White, this council there, because some people were saying, could we have a Christmas tree? Could we have. Right? And the council was, look, you can, yeah, if you want to have it, have it.
Nothing wrong with it because we do not celebrate Christmas as such and Christ Mass as such, right? But use it to benefit those in need. Let's bring gifts for the poor, let's give. And so there we follow now not really in the spirit of Christmas, but in the spirit of Christ.
Amen. We follow in the spirit of Christ. But if you're someone like me that grew up believing that 25 December was the birthday of Jesus and my dear mum over here is to take us when we were kids to midnight mass where we could hardly keep our eyes open, Paul is sleeping.
The church. Then of course, when I found out that it was actually a pagan festival not sanctioned by Jesus anywhere in scripture, but the birth of a son, well, I was very upset about that. And so when I came into the Adventist church and I learned the Bible and I found out, I said, I don't want to have anything to do with Christmas.
I don't want lights that. Don't bring a Christmas tree in my home, don't bring lights around and guess what? I've got some lights on my house at the front. My dear wife said, no, it's nice and colourful for the kids, you know, so, you know, so I guess what I'm saying is let's think about it in the broader context.
Let us not judge one another for that. And I've learned, okay, it's not such a big deal having lights and even a tree if you really want it, although personally it's not my thing. And you'll have some churches that will say, no, we don't want any of that in our church.
And then you'll have some that will say, well, we would like to Put some decorations up. Let it be a matter for the individuals, right? Well, for the church, I don't need to get all upset about what everyone else is doing. I can stand where I would like to stand upon my own convictions.
Is that fair enough? Amen. And I think we can do the same because it is a cultural tradition. In fact, a lady by the name of Rebecca read this story.
She was from Singapore and she was not a Christian. She took a trip to New Zealand and it happened to be around Christmas time. And their bus driver said to the group, listen, it's Christmas Day today.
I actually told them the day before, this is Christmas Day tomorrow. And. And he said, you're going to have the afternoon off tomorrow because it's Christmas Day and I'm going to go to church.
And she was thinking, what? You know. And so anyway, he did that. The group had the day off.
And as she was walking around there in the city, one of the cities in New Zealand, she just kept seeing the church and the church, and then she eventually just ventured in and walked into one. Anyway, she became a Christian because of that experience, you know, of learning about Jesus. And the tour bus arrived, just saying, I'm going to church.
And so she decided she'll go and have a look. And today she says that's where it started for her. And so we do have.
In our church, we do have what we call a Christmas outreach. And that is applicable just to the season of where we like to invite people from the community church and say, hey, listen, guys, come and join us for a nice service and a nice lunch and a lovely time of fellowship. So hopefully that gives you a little bit of context.
Jesus himself asked the question when he was in his day, in Matthew 15, 9, you can read this. He said to the people of time, why do you make void the law of God by your tradition? So there are some traditions that go against the law of God or the will of God, but there are some traditions that do not. And we have to try and determine what those traditions are.
But for the record, we do not celebrate Christmas. We celebrate who? Jesus Christ. Amen.
We celebrate Jesus Christ. And so with that in mind, we're going to lay the foundation. Because even though we don't celebrate Christmas, this is the time.
Some people think about the birth of Jesus, isn't it? Some people think about the birth of Jesus. And I thought we'd reflect upon the significance of Jesus coming into the world today, okay? Particularly focusing on this text here. Hebrews 10:5.
Hebrews 10:5. Wherefore when he cometh into the world. I'm reading from the King James.
Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith, sacrifice and offering. Thou wouldst not but a what a body. Has thou prepared me or prepared for me? All right, so Paul here, the Apostle Paul, he is referencing some texts in the Old Testament that talk about the time when Jesus was going to come into the world.
He's referencing particularly from the Book of Psalms, and he says it is written there, sacrifice and offering you would not or you did not desire, right, But a what a body have you prepared for me. And this is now speaking to the idea that before Jesus came into the world, preparations were made, preparations were made and it was ordained that God would come in human form, that a body would be there for him to take, to take upon himself. And we could almost say then that in reference to this body, that it was predetermined.
It was predetermined. How tall Jesus would be, what the colour of his hair would be, what the colour of his eyes would be, the length of his smile, how big his hands and his feet would be. It's very interesting, isn't it? It's very interesting.
A body has been prepared for God. For before he came, he was known as the Word. In the beginning, John chapter one tells us, verse one, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Verse 14 says, and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And dwelt among us. And in becoming and being taken on a human body.
This is an extraordinary notion. This is an extraordinary notion. I had a Jewish man at my home this week who was putting in like a cat flap in our screen door.
And he said. He said, we just don't get you guys. I just don't get you Christians.
He goes, look, look, I'm not a person that really reads a whole lot. He goes, but how can you believe that? How can you believe that God would come and be some carpenter, be some man? And I said to him, well, I get it from your writings. I said, I get it from your own teachings.
I don't think the question you should ask is how. The question you should ask is, where does it say it? Where does it say it? And so we're going to go back into the Book of Psalms here and notice where Paul is drawing this statement from. In Psalm 139, it says, for thou has possessed my reins.
I want you to know that these are prophecies concerning Jesus. These things were written before he came. Okay? And you can actually hear Jesus speaking in the Old Testament before he came.
Because the Old Testament was written before Jesus came. The New Testament, of course, was written after he came. And so notice here in Psalm 139, it says, for thou hast possessed my reins, Thou has covered me in my what? In my mother's womb.
My substance was not hid from thee. But when I was made in secret. Talking about his body.
Okay? My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret in my mother's womb. Notice it goes on and says, thine eyes did see my substance. The words yet been unperfect.
The word unperfect is the Hebrew word golem. It means embryo. Even when I was in an embryo, you saw the embryo.
And he says, and in thy book, all my members were written, which in continuance, were fashioned, when as yet, there was none of them. You see that what's members referring to? All my members are written in your book. What's members referring to? Your body parts.
Okay, remember First Corinthians, chapter 12, where Paul describes the church as a body, and he says, there are many members. The hand can't work without the foot, and the foot can't work without the hand. And here in the Book of Psalms, it's saying of the body that was prepared for Jesus, that God had it all thought out.
It was all planned, even though he had not yet come. Even though he had not yet come. And so that when he comes, you know the story where Christ was born, he comes exactly how God had seen, exactly how God had determined.
And no doubt the law of heredity was at play. In other words, he was born into the nation of Israel, wasn't he? And he would have had some characteristics of his mother, right? Perhaps some features of his mother. We don't know.
None of us was there to see him. But what's incredible is that this body was prepared for God before he came. I like to refer to Jesus as the second person of the Godhead, because there are three persons of the Godhead, isn't it? The Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit.
But it was the Word that came down. Now, I want you to notice something, because now as we trace Jesus and this body, we're going to learn a little bit about ourselves in the process. Okay? What does God want to demonstrate? What does he want us to learn as we behold God's plan for Jesus to come? Listen to what Psalm139 goes on to say.
We're going back to Psalm139 notice I will praise thee, for I am what fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvellous are thy works and that my soul knoweth right well. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God.
How great is the sum of them. Do you know what you're reading? You're getting access into the mind of Jesus here. Jesus is celebrating the body.
Are you with me? Jesus is celebrating and he says, I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Have you ever thought about that before? This is the prophecy. Marvellous are your works.
How many times have you said that about yourself over the course of this year? How many times have you said, lord, I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvellous are your works, O God. Have you said that often? Yes or no? No.
No. You know, I saw a website where it had body modification. Have you heard of that? These are people that are given over just to.
To modifying their body. And you've got people sharpening their. Grinding their teeth away so they can have pointy teeth.
They're tattooing themselves as lizards and all kinds of stuff. Right? Body modification. I thought you were fearfully and wonderfully made.
Decorating themselves with all kinds of things. How many times? How many times? I want to share with you something here that I believe is in connection with this text and I believe this is biblical, is that Jesus here is celebrating the way Adam first celebrated. Because in the Bible it calls Jesus the second Adam, isn't that right? And he came into the world.
He came as the second Adam. But here Jesus is celebrating. He's celebrating the creation.
He's celebrating the wonders of God, even in the fashioning of himself. Even God said to Jeremiah In Jeremiah chapter 1, verse 5, he said to Jeremiah, jeremiah, before you were in the womb, I knew you and I brought you forth and I ordained you as a prophet to the nations. I had a plan for your life.
Incredible. God knew you before you were in the womb. He fashioned your members.
And Jesus is celebrating, he's celebrating here and he's glorifying God as his creator. And yet how few recognise how fearfully and wonderfully made they are. And was this a perfect body that Jesus was coming into? Yes or no? Was he coming into a perfect body? Yes or no? Yes or no? The Bible says in Romans 8.
Three that he took upon himself sinful nature. That means a weak human body. A weak human body.
He didn't take a body that Adam had in the very beginning of creation. He took the body that you and I have. He took the body of physical makeup.
After 4,000 years that sin had had its effect on the human race. Perversion of appetites and all kinds of stuff had an effect on the human race. Sickness and disease.
Christ came and he took on that body. But yet he is still honouring this Creator and saying, I am fearfully and wonderfully made. And he represents us.
He represents us as a people who ought to be saying that same thing, as a people that ought to be celebrating that God has given us life. That God has given us life. In fact, look at Proverbs 8:31.
It's also messianic prophecies here, but it says, rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth. And my delights were with the sons of men. Jesus understood that when he was here, he was going to be delighted to be with the sons of men.
He was going to be delighted to be amongst his. His fellow men. Ellen White calls him the elder brother of the human race.
How delighted are you with your fellow man. My delights were with the sons of men. Now remember that text.
The Apostle Paul says, sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body have you prepared. Paul's quoting right. Here's the other part of the text.
Now, Psalm 46. 7. This is where it's the other part of the quote that Paul was referring to.
Psalm 46:7 says, sacrifice and offering. Thou didst not desire mine ears. Hast thou opened burnt offering and sin offering Hast thou not required? Then said I, lo, I come in the volume of the book.
It is written of me. I delight to do thy will, O my God. Yea, Thy law is within my heart.
Did you understand this text? Sacrifice and offering you did not desire. You see, God gave the sacrificial service, the animals, the. The Lamb that had to be sacrificed as an offering for sin.
Those sacrifices pointed to the true Lamb of God that would come, Jesus Christ. Isn't that true? That would one day come. And now Christ's body takes.
It's even more significant. Now, not only is he celebrating the marvellous works of God, but the Bible tells us that when he comes, and this is Jesus speaking, he says, lo, I come in the volume of the book. It is written of me.
But he says, now, sacrifice and offering, you did not desire God. But what is it? What's the contrast? I delight to do thy will, O my God. Yea, Thy law is within my heart.
What does that mean? Sacrifice and offering, you did not desire. What does that mean? Most people when they read this, they say, well, that's because Jesus would be the true sacrifice. But that's not actually correct.
Let me show you Samuel 15:22. Here's the principle. And Samuel said, hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold to what obey is better than sacrifice.
And to hearken, that means to listen is better than the fat of rams. So Christ understood that this body that he would come into now would be the temple in which he would obey God. Isn't that right? He would obey God.
To obey is better than sacrifice. That's why it doesn't matter how many times you come to church, doesn't matter how much money you put in the offering bag, right? You know this, don't you? Doesn't matter how many people you talk to, how many people you witness to, if obedience is not there. So Jesus, in this body, he came to obey.
He understood that this was first and foremost. And so where we have disobeyed, Jesus came to obey. So when we celebrate Christ's coming into the world, we celebrate our humanity.
In a sense, we celebrate our humanity. We celebrate that we have life and we praise God. But we also celebrate the fact, as I shared in the Sabbath school lesson this morning, that we are also accountable in this life.
Isn't that right? We're accountable to God. And his commandments shows us that we're accountable to God and we're accountable to one another. And Jesus understood, when I come, listen, when I come, Lord, your law is written in my heart.
I will be accountable to you, Lord. I will love you with all my heart and all my soul. And I will love my neighbour as I love myself.
And so here humanity is presented to us in the context of who Jesus was as well. And to what extent, to what extent would Jesus obey? To what extent would Jesus obey? To the extent that he would deny himself and he would give his life. Isn't it for the sins of the world, for those who did not obey, for those who were not accountable, for those who only wanted to be accountable to themselves? That's not what it means to be human.
To be human means to celebrate the life that God has given you, to live a life being accountable to God and being accountable to one another. Amen. This goes for your marriages.
This goes for relationships between parents and children. This goes with your relationships with your children, to your teachers. You're accountable to your teachers who are accountable to the government.
We deal honestly in our affairs. We don't steal from others. Right? And that's why Jesus said of this humanity as he invited us, he says Matthew 16:24.
It says, Then said Jesus unto his disciples, if any man will come after me, let him what, deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. So the cross is a symbol not only of Christ's self denial, but of your self denial. Of your self denial.
Where you say, well, no, God, you're showing me a different life, God, you're showing me a much better life, God, right, Because my life as I'm living at the moment, I just want to be accountable self. I want to do what I want to do. I want to eat how I want to eat.
I want to take what I want to take. I want to listen to what I want to listen to. Even if it's corrupt, even if it's immoral.
I want to watch what I want to watch. Oh, that's not the body that Jesus lived in. Well, the body that Jesus lived in was a body that gave glory to God.
Amen. If any man will deny himself, take up his cross. You know, in the ministry sometimes, you know, when you're sharing things, you're teaching the word of God, you'll sometimes find someone that will just say, well, yeah, I don't see it that way necessarily.
And you're entitled to your opinion, but be sure, be sure that your opinion is consistent with God and his word. Amen. Because God is not in it for a popularity vote.
God doesn't have the problem of sin, we do. And God is showing us how through Jesus, we can overcome. We can overcome.
And so here, now, Christ lives in this body, a life of self denial. Not only when he died on the cross, but every moment of every day having the law in his heart. He said, not my will, but your will.
Do you know who's going to inhabit eternity? Those people that say, not my will, Father, but your will. But your will be done. Fulfil your will in my life.
I shouldn't say this here with Marco standing out the back there, you know, but I got a call from the president of South Australia to come and work in South Australia. This is like the third time he's called. He said, andrew, I wouldn't do this to you, but just had someone take a call somewhere else and we really need someone.
And then we had a very honest conversation. And what I love about his name's Pastor David Butcher is he said, listen, I may say what I want to say and think what I want to think, and you would know your context and what you've got going on there, but we trust to the Lord's leading trust to the Lord's leading, you know, and we ought to trust to the Lord's leading in our lives, even if. Well, to do that.
To do that really means to deny yourself that God's will may be done. But how much. How close are you to God that you can trust that God's will is being done in your life? How close are you to God? Do you hear his voice speaking to you? Are you seeking wisdom from His Word and direction from His Word? Yes or no? So quiet.
Is everyone seeking for wisdom and direction from the Word of God? Yes or no? Everyone is. Is everyone? Everyone is. Wow, you guys are very optimistic.
I know people don't open the Word of God during the week. I know people don't even pray, but they're in church every week. It's not everyone, and I'm not pointing the finger.
The message here is to call us to Jesus. Amen. Because until you do that and you solidify your walk with the Lord, then how can you say that you are doing his will? How can you say that you are being directed from God? I'll tell you now, there are only few in the church who are being directed by God.
Only few. How do I know that? All through the Bible it talks about a remnant, a faithful remnant. And they're usually a few.
They're usually a few. Isaiah 1. Sorry, I forget the text now.
Isaiah 1, I think it's verse 12, says, if it wasn't for a remnant, we should be as Sodom and Gomorrah. Uzziah the prophet recognised, if it wasn't for a faithful few that God continued to walk with and to work through, all of Israel would have been destroyed. Ellen White says not one in 20 will be in the kingdom of God.
Some of her statements, she says not one in 100 will be in the kingdom of God. So not everyone is right. Not everyone.
And how important is it? Jesus presents to us an example here of what it means to be human, what it means to be a child of God. If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. And if you know about the early followers of Jesus, they followed him where they followed him even into peril, giving their own lives for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
They gave their own life just so others would have the opportunity to hear the good news of Jesus. They went to places where they knew there was the threat of death, but they went there because they said, someone has to go there. Someone has to go there.
How many of us are saying someone has to Go and tell people about Jesus. How many of us are saying that someone has to tell them, I want to talk to them about Jesus. I need to tell this person about Jesus.
God, bring me someone that I can share the good news of Jesus with. Bring me someone that I can share and I can tell them. The wonderful works that you have done in my life is that you let us take up our cross.
Jesus says, deny himself and follow me. Jesus will lead you where he will lead you and he will engage you where he desires you to be engaged. And if we're not seeking him, if we don't have the law of God in our hearts as Christ did, then how can God fulfil his purpose and his plan not only in your life, but in the lives of those that he calls you to minister to.
How can he fulfil it? I was introduced to someone here today at the church. Pastor, please come and meet my friend. It's their first time here.
And I just say, praise the Lord, you know, first time. And here someone has come to worship and hear the gospel of Jesus Christ because someone took the time to invite them. Someone took the time to share.
And so we find Jesus here calling us to be a people after God's own heart, as he was. And so we find now not only Christ, the body in creation, celebrating as Adam celebrated, but now walking as Adam should have kept walking. Amen.
Walking as Adam should have kept walking. But of course, Adam fell and Christ came to succeed where Adam and the rest of us has failed. So that we may learn how to walk with God, that we may learn to be accountable to God.
We may learn to love as Christ love. And love involves denying yourself, especially in this world, because there is so much in this world to lead us away from God. Satan does not sit still.
Satan does not sit still. There is so much. And you know right now, if there are things in your life that you know Satan is trying to bind you with so that you can move in the opposite direction of the Lord.
But now we move on this body of Christ. Okay? And we move on now, as I said, we are represented here as well, Jesus through the humanity of Jesus. And now let's find out now what the Bible says about our bodies.
There's a question raised here in First Corinthians 15, and I share this with you because someone asked me this very question. Let's read the question together. But some man will say, how are the dead raised up? It's talking about the resurrection and with what body do they come? With what body do they come? And so someone asked me, you know what? And let's go to the Bible.
Let's go to First Corinthians. Let's go to First Corinthians, and we read verse 15. First Corinthians, verse 15.
We'll start there. In verse 35, it says, but some man will say, how are the dead raised up? My Bible says, and with what body do they come? With what body do they come? So we have Christ now born. But he's born with the same humanity that we have, sinful nature.
That doesn't mean he sinned. Right, because he had to trust to God to overcome that nature. And do you know what happens when you trust to God? Now, many of you can testify to this.
When we trust in God the way Jesus trusted in God, and when we obey out of loving obedience to God, God changes that nature. Would you agree with that? What does it mean? He changes the nature. He changes the heart.
He changes our hearts. Have you experienced a change in your heart since walking with Jesus? Yeah, there's many things that I used to do that I don't do anymore. Why? Because Jesus changed my heart.
He gives to us a new nature. All right, we're still in this weak bodies, of course, but Christ does the work of changing the nature. To change the nature means to change the heart.
Amen. Now our bodies haven't changed, have they? And so First Corinthians 15 talks about the change that will ultimately come to the body. Let's have a read here.
Let's have a read here. And let's read verse 38. Let's read verse 38.
First it says, but God giveth it a body, and it hath pleased him. And to every seed his own body. God has given all of us a body.
Amen. Just like he gave Jesus a body. But now he goes on.
And let's jump down to verse 42. As it speaks about the resurrection, so also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, but it is raised in incorruption.
Verse 43 says, it is sown in dishonour, but it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, but it is raised in power. Verse 44 says, it is sown a natural body.
It is raised a spiritual body. Do you know what you're going to look like when you are raised? Are you going to have a body? Yes or no? Okay, Paul explains it a bit further down. Let's jump down to verse.
This was the text that she was struggling on. Verse 50 says, now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
And she asked me, she said, she said, the Bible says flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. We are flesh and blood. Jesus took upon himself flesh and blood, Isn't it a flesh and blood body? Is that what it's talking about? Let's read on.
Verse 51 says, Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last. What trump? Okay, this is where Paul in First Thessalonians, chapter 4, he's speaking about the second coming of Jesus.
And he says, the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God. And the dead in Christ shall rise first. Okay, and so it's a cross reference here to the coming of Jesus, when the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised.
And it says, for the trumpet shall sound, verse 52. That is for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. So what's going to happen now? This is what Paul is actually getting to. He said, listen, we're sown in these mortal bodies, right? But one day this mortal will put on immortality.
And what was corruption as far as our weak human nature, right? We will be made beautiful, beautiful physical bodies once again. And I say it's bodies. It's very clear.
Let's go to our final text. Let's go to the book of Job. Let's go to the book of Job, chapter 19.
Job, chapter 19. And when we look at the resurrection of Jesus, we find that Jesus was raised to immortality, wasn't he? Jesus was raised to immortality. He didn't have the same body he had.
He exchanged that body, that body that was prepared for him. He exchanged that for immortality. Corruption now had put on incorruption.
And I know this image here, it still shows the scars in Jesus hands, doesn't it Shows the scars in Jesus hands. Let's read Job, chapter 19. And let's read verse 26.
Notice what job writes here. And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my what? Yet in my flesh what's going to happen? Shall I see God? So Job was flesh before, right? Job was flesh before. And he says that when I die and worms destroy my body, yet when Jesus comes, guess what? I will see him again in my flesh.
But not in that same body he had before, in a new body. A body that puts on immortality. A body that doesn't have the effects of sin upon it.
A body where you will gladly throw away. You don't need those glasses that you're wearing at the moment. No grey hairs.
Nobody needs to dye their hair anymore. And so we trace Jesus now through this experience of coming as a man. Marvellous are your works.
A body have you prepared for me? You know every member. It's written in your book. That's how we ought to live as Christians.
But then in this body, through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, your law, I've come, Lord, I delight to do your will. Remember Psalms 40? Paul was quoting from. I delight to do thy will, O my God.
Thy law is within my heart. And now we live as Jesus. Jesus was accountable to the Lord for his life.
Celebrating, celebrating life in that body. But of course, that body had to be broken, wasn't it? That body of Jesus had to be broken. He obeyed even unto death.
Even unto death. And we are called to take up our cross and follow him. We are called to walk in the light of God's word.
And if we do, our bodies will be changed. Our bodies will be changed. And we will be raised incorruptible.
Some of us won't be raised. Some of us may be there to see Jesus come, but our bodies will still be changed. Amen.
Our bodies will still be changed. The idea that when I die, I go straight to heaven is not a biblical notion. When you die, you don't go straight to heaven.
When you die, you rest in peace. Amen. You rest in peace.
So Jesus becomes our example in all things. And I believe as we come to the close of the year and as we enter into the new year, we ought to remember what Jesus came to demonstrate for us when he became a man. The Bible tells us in the Book of Peter that he is our example in all things.
In all things. We don't celebrate Christmas, but we celebrate. We celebrate Christ.
And today we are given the opportunity to celebrate Jesus. We are given the opportunity to know that God came into a body that was prepared for him, that God came to demonstrate for us what humanity should have been, what humanity should have been in continuance, and then call us back to him, particularly through his sacrifice when he gave his body over to death and in the resurrection we get to celebrate.
This programme has been brought to you by 3ABN Australia radio.
