02042015JesusWorksInYou#3DonRuhl

Jesus Works in You #3 

Don Ruhl • Savage Street, Grants Pass, Oregon • January 14, In the year of our Lord, 2015

Prelude: 

  1. What did we see in the conversations Jesus had with Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman? 
    1. Is Jesus, is the Spirit only for the elite?
    2. Is Jesus, is the Spirit only for the poor?
  2. Jesus keeps us in tune with all the people around us, 
    1. that is, with the great variety of people we meet daily,
    2. whether from small children to the elderly, and
      1. everyone in-between.
      2. Is there a class of people Jesus did not want?

Persuasion: 

  1. What Does Immanuel Mean?

    23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us” (Matt 1.23).

    1. Did Mary full grasp whom she would help bring into the world?
    2. If Jesus is “God with us,”
      1. God was in the womb of Mary, and
      2. God is in us.
        1. Where do I take Him?
        2. What does He see through your eyes?
      3. Man crucified God.
        1. How could they do such a thing?
        2. Did He appear to be God?
          1. No, He appeared to be ordinary.
          2. We have become used to Him as a carpenter and common man.
            1. However, many in that generation found it difficult to accept.
            2. What do you think you would have done?
              1. Consider John 6,

                52 The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?” (John 6.52).
              2. They questioned how “this Man,” could give His flesh.
                1. Compare verses 41–42,

                  41 The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.” 42 And they said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” (John 6.41–42).
                2. They could not comprehend a common man,
                  1. a man who had lived among them, and
                  2. whose ordinary family they knew,
                  3. as claiming to have come down from heaven.
        3. However, Jesus directed them back to the Spirit – John 6.61–63.

          61 When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before? 63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6.61–63).

          1. They compared Jesus the man with what He proposed, and
          2. they could not make it work in their minds, because
            1. He was unimpressive,
            2. He was just like anyone else.
        4. Then compare the words of Peter – John 6.67–69.

          67 Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?” 68 But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (John 6.67–69).

          1. What had Peter come to realize?
          2. How come others then, and today, could not see it?
            1. Man wants a god in his own image.
            2. Man does not want to be remade in God’s image.
    3. So then,
      1. it is Jesus at work in us,
      2. not we in Him.
        1. The wonder is that God is with us,
        2. not that we have entered God’s heaven and helped Him.
          1. When you think of Jesus working in you?
          2. Do you think of God working in you?
            1. That God is truly in you?
            2. How does a human, a mere creation, respond to such a truth?
              1. What do we do with such awareness?
              2. We have to go about our lives, but
                1. what should this new awareness do to us
                2. as we go about our daily activity?
    4. This puts Jesus/God at the most personal level, yet,
      1. He is still divine,
      2. which puts Him on the level of mystery.
        1. Mystery that we will never fully know,
        2. at least while living on Earth.
  2. Beware of Reducing God to Our Level 
    1. Saying that God/Jesus is with us,
      1. does not mean we make Him the same as us.
      2. It is not that He indwells us through the Holy Spirit to be our servant.
    2. We cannot control Him.
      1. He dwells in us to control us.
      2. He dwells in us that we might serve Him.
        1. It is not about our agenda.
        2. It is about His agenda!
          1. How do we go about doing His agenda
          2. rather than getting Him to do our agenda?
            1. We have to look closely at our prayer life.
            2. How do we pray?
            3. For what do we pray?
            4. Do our prayers come before, during, or after our agenda?