SPEAKER: GREG SANDERS

PASSAGE: 1 PETER 1:14-25

HEALTHY FEAR IN THE NATURE OF CHRIST PT.3

Alright, so we’re going to finish up. We’ve been in a three-parter of these verses in 1 Peter. We’re going to finish up chapter 1, Lord willing, and I can speak fast enough. What we’ve been looking at is just considering the biblical calling to Christ-likeness. We could call it carrying the nature of Christ, we could call it bearing the image of Christ, but Christ-likeness, being like Jesus, for the last couple of weeks. And in our last session, we looked at five aspects that the New Testament calls us to be like Christ, and I want to remind us, because we had Dr. Jay with us for a week, and so maybe our spiritual brains are scrambled, I want to bring us back online. 

1 PETER 1:14-17

We talked about being like Christ in His incarnation. What do I mean by that? Meaning that He came and took on the form of humanity, and in that same reciprocal value, we, the people of God, are to take on the form of Christ in humanity. And it’s just a big idea that we have the opportunity to become like Christ in the world, that’s really foundation stone number one in this teaching.

The second is that we’re to be like Christ in His serving, that the way we live is we’re living from a model, we’re living from a grid, and that is that we’re looking at Jesus and the way He served, and we’re grabbing onto that mindset and saying that is going to be my life. 

If you remember, Dr. Jay shared something out of the wheat and tares, and I’ve never seen this before. He talked about how wheat, when it’s full-grown, bows its head low because of the weight of the fruit on it, and it’s this moment of humility, and it’s a reminder to us that we are here to serve everyone. I’ve used this phrase several times, John Maxwell is one of my favorite quotes, that with one small exception, the world is comprised of others, that we live with a grid that says I’m actually here to serve. 

I was on a job site this week in Dallas, Texas, with my crew, and it was a miserable job. We showed up, and it was, it was very unready for us, and so the HVAC wasn’t working, and it was a second-story room that they’re building, a room about this size with big glass wall windows, and so it basically it was a greenhouse. So I every morning, I would sit down in our Bible study before we went to the job site, and I would sit with the guys and say, “I need you to remember today you’re here to serve, you’re here to put others on your mind.” 

Well, why do we do that? Well, because in our humanity, it’s really easy to get a little irritated. It’s a little easy, I mean, my poor nephew, I was up in a lift rigging things, and I’m dripping sweat all over him. He’s underneath me, working, and I just holler to my, “Hey, Jonah, you can move, you don’t have to work there.” But we’re to be like Christ in His serving. 

The third thing is, we’re to be like Christ in His love, and I think love becomes this word that we use all the time, and we often don’t know what it looks like to live. The word love here is agape in scripture, agapeo in Greek, and its simplest definition is, it is the choice to live for the benefit of someone else. It’s not just to serve them, it’s to actually itemize what makes life better for them, I’m going to choose that behavior. What do they need? I’m going to fill that lack. 

There was this movie we used to watch with our boys, Robots, Big Weld was the main character. It’s an animated movie, so just stick with me for a second. He had this one phrase that I loved, and his life phrase was, “see a need, fill a need.” I would love to offer to you a simple explanation of love from a biblical worldview. It is that you are constantly looking for needs and you’re filling them. You’re asking the question, what do they need? I would offer that love never asks the question, what do I need? Instead, and we’re going to talk about it later, love puts the what do I need in the hands of the Lord, and says, I trust you with it. 

The fourth thing is that we’re to be like Christ in His patient endurance. Patience, makrothumia, in the Greek, it means a long holding of the mind. What it means is I’m able to process information that would cause me to get heated. That’s really one of the thumia in the word thermal, it’s a long holding of my heat index, is the easiest way to understand it. It means I can endure a lot without blowing my top. That’s what patience means. I can go through a lot without losing my emotional composition. I can endure whatever’s necessary without losing a gasket. 

That’s the concept in the scriptures, and we see this in Jesus, we see this most eloquently on the cross. He’s in this incredible pressure cooker of an environment. How many have ever hung out on a hot day in the Middle East with nails in your wrists? Just think about that for a second. It’s hot, it’s miserable, He’s been abused. If there was ever a person in the history of humanity that had maybe a pass to go, Okay, I’m done, it would have been that moment, and instead, at that moment, He steps into this intercession place, because He’s living for others, and He says to the Father, Please forgive them, they have no idea what they’re doing. 

I want you to just try to get your head wrapped around that, it’s not just a cool Christian greeting card concept, “Father, forgive them, they don’t know what they’re doing.” This is Him in an incredibly human moment, being abused and wounded and bleeding, and at that moment, instead of focusing on all the things that were going on, He just says, Hey, Lord, they just did something awful to me. There’s no way they knew what they were doing. Please forgive them.

It’s just this ability to hold the emotions, to choose the right.

The fifth thing we looked at was that we’re to be like Christ continuing his mission, and what’s that mean? It means that we’re on this earth to extend the Kingdom, and that’s really why we’re here. We’re not here to extend our life, we’re here to extend His mission. 

I often think that gets forgotten, especially I think the modern church, we have this beautiful concept that we can live the lives we want to live and add Jesus to them. But Jesus seems to teach a concept that says, when you came to me, you exchanged your life, and everything you wanted it to be for mine, and whatever I choose to release back to you is awesome, and it’s wonderful, but the only thing I’ve promised you that you’ll get is me. I know it’s a super un-American teaching, but we’re to extend His mission. 

So those are the “what’s” we’re to be, but picking back up in this conversation, I want to look at the “how” we live out this Christ-likeness in verses 14 through 17. “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written: ‘YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.” If you address as Father, the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth;” 

THE REAL FOUNDATION TO SHARING THE GOSPEL

So we’ve been really focusing on what it looks like to live with this healthy fear of, I know what I’m supposed to be, I know who I’m supposed to carry. So how do we live it out, becoming like Christ? First thing we must learn to see Christ-likeness as the real foundation for sharing the gospel. Every single one of us understands that one of our marching orders that were given to us is to go into the world and preach the gospel. 

How many have ever heard that phrase at least once, and yet most of us struggle with what’s that even look like? I want us to just take this mindset. The number one thing you and I can do to share the gospel is to carry Christ-likeness in us. To reveal Him in all that we do. In fact, I would say it’s not the number one thing, it’s the most important thing that we could do. 

I think the church has taken on this idea of evangelism and spreading the gospel as just a church initiative. It’s actually not, nor was it ever intended to be that. Jesus didn’t speak it to the church, He spoke it to individuals. It was always to be shared person to person, always to be shared by people who’ve been transformed by it. 

The church, what we do right here, was actually created to be a celebration and a gathering of those who’ve come in contact with Jesus, and they’ve had their lives transformed. Now, is it wrong for people to come in and find the Lord in church? No, not saying that at all. But I’m saying the intention of Heaven was that people would find Jesus through you. 

If we consider that reality and we ask the question, why are we, the church, losing the war in culture? Percentage-wise, we’re losing the war in culture. The population of people unsaved, or have not been transformed by the Kingdom, is rising. Church attendance is declining. That has been going on for several years in the U.S.

I actually think the only way we answer that question is if we can conclude that person to person, hear this, this is going to be tough, person to person, the gospel that we present is not very attractive. It’s definitely not as attractive as it was intended to be, and I think there’s several reasons that may be given, and I don’t want to oversimplify, but the main reason is that we don’t look or act like the Christ that we’re proclaiming. 

John Poulton wrote a book, it’s a perceptive book, it’s called A Today Sort of Evangelism, and I love this quote, “The most effective preaching comes from those who embody the things they’re saying.” They are the message, that’s what the Kingdom was intended to be communicated by.

So, do I say that for our shame? No, I say that for a pause, that all of us should be asking a question, Am I embodying Him to those that meet me? When they leave my presence, can they say, man they feel like Jesus, man they talk like Jesus, man they react like Jesus, man they love like Jesus?, because that is how the gospel was meant to be communicated. 

INVITE THE HOLY SPIRIT INTO OUR EVERYDAY LIVES

Second thing is we must learn to truly invite the Holy Spirit into our everyday lives. I think this is a wildly not practiced idea. Oftentimes, the church will talk about the Holy Spirit, we know we need the Holy Spirit, but we just don’t have the basic, simple, fundamental discipline of inviting Him into our daily lives. Well, how do we do that? Sit with Him and have the courage and tenacity to invite inspection.

A lot of times, we err because we believe the Lord didn’t convict me of anything, therefore, I’m fine. Oftentimes, He doesn’t bring conviction because He understands there’s no heart desire for it. We see this pattern in Scripture. There’s a gentleness in Him that He won’t speak to it until we’ve positioned ourselves and said, will you come, will you come look at me?

So I want us to begin by assessing our own lives. So assess your own life. Are there areas of conflict? Are you in turmoil? First step, simple, pragmatic, just look at your life, give an analysis. Are there areas of my life that are in difficulty, that are in conflict, that are in turmoil? Take those areas, bring them to Him, and ask Him for His perspective on you in that situation. How am I doing here, Lord? 

Write down what you hear. This is important because it imparts faith, and you’ll retain it. Statistically, from just a study of psychology, you remember largely what you write down. Most people don’t remember what they hear. They have a partial memory of what they hear. How many wives would attest to that? Tell me what would happen if every time you spoke to him, he pulled out a notepad and wrote down the list of things you wanted him to do, angels would sound. 

But when you write it down, here’s why it’s important, here’s why it imparts faith, when you write down what the Lord whispered to you, you’re making a declaration, this is what I heard God say. And when you make a declaration, this is what I heard God say, faith is built in your heart, because faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word. So, when I hear God’s voice, faith is birthed in my heart. 

So, when I declare what I heard, now there’s an accountability, which is what I love, when I write it down, I can’t pretend He didn’t say it, because I didn’t want to pay attention to it. Because every time you write it, you’re making a solemn declaration, this is what God said to me. 

Well, what if I was wrong? Great, take it back to Him and ask Him. I do that regularly, “Hey, that’s what I think I heard you say, was I right? Was I wrong?” Oh, what if He says yes? Then just go with it. Worst case scenario, you stand before Him someday, He’s like, Hey, that was totally off, but you got faith credit for trying. 

And then, after you’ve had that conversation, be willing to ask the Holy Spirit, Am I pleasing to you? Are there any places I’m not carrying the nature of Jesus well? Now, if those two questions instantly cause you to get nervous, I would offer that you have the wrong perspective on this, because we’re not asking Him to come indict us, we’re asking Him to come lead us, to come coach us. 

David prays a prayer that I love, search me and know me, see if there’s any wicked way in me. Why would he pray that prayer? Because he had already assessed his own heart, and he couldn’t see anything. He’d already come to the conclusion, to the best of my ability, I’m clean before the Lord, now I need the Lord to shine his searchlight on the areas that I don’t know how to see. 

That’s a great place to land, because it’s humble. It just says, Lord, I need you to show me what I can’t see, and then once you hear that, and you get His perspective, live it, do it, and walk in obedience. 

Dr. Jay said something last week to our team that I want to share with you, because I thought it was amazing. He said, “When it comes to the revealed truth of the Holy Spirit (as in when he shows you something or gives you direction), there is a very important time element that is connected to it. When we have truth revealed to us, we are to move immediately into obedience. Obedience is the first step. That moves us into the process towards righteousness, then holiness. You will never get to holiness without the discipline of consistent obedience to the way and nature of Jesus, which is righteousness, because the greater dimensions of Him are released through obedience.” 

I know that’s a lot, just that last phrase, “the greater dimensions of Him are released through obedience.” What do I mean? If he whispers something, do it. If the Lord has spoken to you and you’re not living into it, stop asking why you’re stuck. You’re stuck because you’re not obeying. 

So, the right way to get unstuck is obedience. We step back into obedience and say, all right, Lord, I may not want to. I love this, Jesus makes this prayer, and I love it. He’s in the garden, He’s like, I don’t want to do this. If it’s possible, take it away from me. Didn’t get taken away, so He did it. What is that? That’s obedience. There’s always grace for the effort and the try, I want us to hear that, there’s never grace for obstinate disobedience. 

You’re like, well, that’s a strong statement. Does He not say He “resists the proud but embraces the humble”? You see, pride is the reality of the life lived in the self-deception of not needing or wanting the Holy Spirit’s guidance. I got this, that’s deception. I don’t want to know what the Lord has to say about this, that’s deception. I’m not even going to ask the Lord what He wants, that’s deception, it’s actually just pride.

In failing to move into immediate obedience to the Holy Spirit’s leading or revelation is disobedience, church. Please hear that, if you or I fail to step into what He says, that’s disobedience, and think at times we want to put a time pocket in where we can think about it, that’s deception. 

CHRISTLIKENESS AND SUFFERING ARE CONNECTED

Thirdly, we must learn to embrace the reality, oh, you’re going to love this one, that Christ’s likeness and suffering are actually connected. How many would just go on record and go, I love suffering. You see, Christ’s likeness and suffering are actually connected, and suffering is a huge subject in itself. I think there’s a lot of ways we could try to understand it, but in the end, I think there’s just one thing that stands out in the text: suffering is part of God’s process of making us like Christ. 

I want you to remember this phrase that was spoken about Jesus, that He learned obedience to the Father through what? the things He suffered. If Jesus had to learn obedience through suffering, why would we assume we don’t? I would offer that we have to assume that suffering is a necessary tool that the Lord uses to teach us how to obey. Wouldn’t it be easier if you just gave us stuff we wanted to obey? Yeah, you don’t get credit for that, because you do what you want to do, because you do it. 

This is Jesus’s statement. This is Paul’s statement. This is Peter’s statement. Nobody gets credit for doing the thing, he basically says this way, if you love people that are lovable, that’s easy. You actually only get credit when you love people that aren’t, because that takes the ability to suffer through difficulty as a good soldier. 

And whether we suffer from disappointment, frustration, or wounding from others, or some other painful aspect of life tragedy, I want us to see this in light of Romans 8:28 and 8:29. That God is always working for the good of His people, and that good purpose is to make us like Christ. “All things work together for good to those who are in Christ.” 

Okay, we love those verses. Yeah, well, that doesn’t mean your life’s going to be awesome. It means that the purpose of God is to make you look like Jesus, and He’s going to use whatever it takes to make you look like Christ, and you’re going to stay in that cycle until you figure it out. 

Israel stayed in a holding pattern in the desert because they didn’t learn the lessons that were given to them. It should have been a very short transit that they were walking in, not forty years long. They stayed in that process for forty years because they refused to learn the lessons that the Lord was putting in front of them. 

Push pause, there are believers that have been in the same lesson for forty years. They’re in the church, they came to the church when they were twenty-six, they’re now here, and they’re sixty-six, and their lives look exactly the same. Why? Because they’ve been unwilling to grab on to the lessons that He’s been teaching. 

It’s not that He kicks you out of the fold, He just is like, well, you could keep walking the same track, if you want, forever. I would tell you straight up, there’s nothing in the world I think is worse than running circles. I hated track for that reason. I could run a mile through the woods, I’d be fine. Put me on a track, I’m like, oh my, make it stop please. 

Is suffering easy? No. So, how do we stay in it? Two ways. In the midst of suffering, step back long enough to do a couple things. Address where you are wanting to forfeit His nature in the process, that’s number one. Addressing yourself, where do I want to let go of the nature of Christ? What do you mean? It’s really simple. If you’re in a situation that’s difficult, and you want to act a certain way, and you’re like, I know that’s not the nature of Christ, then that’s an area you want to forfeit the nature of Christ. Maybe you want to do something you know the Lord doesn’t want you to do. That’s an area you want to forfeit the nature of Christ. 

So assess that, be aware of it, and then recognize that that area that you want to forfeit, or that aspect, is what He can grow in you with that situation. The very thing we want to forfeit might be the place we could gain the most, because that’s what He can bolster and build in us. Does that make sense? 

The second thing is, follow Jesus’s model in Gethsemane, and I want to explain that. He asked the Father to remove the situation before Him, remember this, “if it’s possible, let this cup pass.” And then He committed to move forward, trusting the goodness of the Father. What does that mean? It means it’s okay, it’s legal to say, please get me out of this situation, please take this situation away, but if the situation doesn’t change, we stay the course. 

If He sovereignly doesn’t remove the situation from you, you stay in the situation. There is zero pass for us removing ourselves from the situation. That’s Jesus’s model, that He stayed in the hurt locker and said, the only way I’m getting out of this is if you remove it. Rome could have walked in at that moment, said, You know what, we got this all wrong, you’re innocent, and He would have been right to go, Okay, He just removed me from the situation. 

A lot of times, we want to pull ourselves out of the difficulty, and then go, Oh, God, got me out of it. No, He didn’t, You did. You removed yourself from the situation because you didn’t want to go through the suffering it was going to take to see it through. Well, yeah, but Jesus died. Yes, sometimes the situations He’s putting us in are intended to kill some things in us. 

That’s not a very happy message. I get it, it’s also the Bible. You see He’s not really in it for us to have a wonderfully happy life. He’s in it for us to look like Christ. And when we do this, we position ourselves to extract the growth from the process, and we’re submitted to the leadership of Heaven in that situation. 

IS CHRISTLIKENESS ATTAINABLE?

So, is Christ-likeness attainable? Can we actually do it? Yes, but I want you to understand this: Christ-likeness is a life pursuit and a choice that we make. He doesn’t, and He will not thrust it upon you. You are never going to wake up and have the Lord say, Today you’re going to be like Christ, and I’m going to make you do it. He has chosen it as the way, for sure, but He will not choose it for us. 

The other thing I would offer is that if you’re trying to do it in your own strength, you’re crazy. The Lord has given us the Holy Spirit to dwell within us and to change us from within. How does the Holy Spirit change us from within? We honestly assess and recognize where we’re not Christ-like. That’s the first step, we get honest with the Lord, we take it to Him, Hey, Lord, I’m really struggling in this situation, I’m not seeing Jesus in me. And then we choose to repent for it. 

You see, discipleship, church, is learning to see where we need to change instead of waiting for conviction to drive it. Discipleship is learning to see where we need to change, instead of waiting for conviction to drive it. If you’re living unscriptural, the scriptures alone should convict you. You shouldn’t need the Holy Spirit to come say, Hey, by the way, what are you doing? 

There’s a responsibility on us to read the scriptures, to know the scriptures. To study them and say I am going to modify my life to match this, I don’t need you to come in and tap on my shoulder all the time. That’s an incredibly American point of view on scripture. You know, if the Lord wants me to deal with something, He can convict me of it. 

I don’t know how many have ever been in a managerial or a boss position and had an employee try to tell you what to do. There’s just something wildly offensive about it, like, oh, I think you have this chain of command confused. You’re here to take orders and do them. You’re not here to give orders. 

Could I offer that when we do that, when we say to the Lord, Unless you convict me, I’m fine. What we’re saying is, I’m giving you orders of how this is going to work, because He already said, “My sheep hear my voice”, I’m the living word, obey. He talked about obedience to Him, all these things that we have, and the answer should be voraciously we should be consuming this thing to ask the question, what can it teach me to be like Christ? 

And then we ask the Holy Spirit to teach us by the study of scriptures, by listening to teachings, with counsel with those who can advise you, whatever it is. Get hungry for the Holy Spirit’s leadership. Ask Him, teach me. If you have an area that you’re failing in regularly, just go to Him. Will you help me learn how to do this right? Because I don’t see Jesus in this part of my life, I drive that process, and then practice the life pattern of Christ. 

I want you to catch this quote from William Temple. Now, I know that this is not allowed in charismatic churches, I’m going to quote an archbishop from the 1940’s because it’s an amazing quote. Speaking to the very thing, and he’s using William Shakespeare as an example. I happen to really like Shakespeare, so I think it was fun. 

He said, “It is no good giving me a play like Hamlet or King Lear and telling me to write a play like that. Shakespeare could do it—I can’t. And it is no good showing me a life like the life of Jesus and telling me to live a life like that. Jesus could do it—I can’t. But if the genius of Shakespeare could come and live in me, then I could write plays like this. And if the Spirit of Jesus could come into me, then I could live a life like His.”

Bottom line, we have the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we can live like this, and I would offer a simple caution to this truth. I want us to be very careful to live in respect and reverence for the Holy Spirit, to practice deep honor to His leading and His presence. If you do that, you’ll walk in more of Him. 

Church, if we walk in violation to the Scriptures, you’ll notice that the Holy Spirit will pull back and wait for you to recognize that distance. We live in arrogance if we assume He’s going to walk in the front door and go, Hey, what you’re doing is wrong. What happens is, we start living in a diminished release of His presence, and we get numb to it. 

We get so anesthetized, we don’t even notice that He’s actually.. Do you remember the concept of Ichabod in the Old Testament? The statement was, The glory of the Lord has left the building. In other words, the Lord pulled away, and the people of God were so numb that they didn’t even notice He had left. I would offer that when we live in consistent violation of the Scriptures and the nature of Christ, He pulls back, and a lot of times we don’t even notice. We have to become more aware of His presence. 

See, Paul teaches marriage as a mere picture of our relationship with the Lord. In Ephesians, he teaches that wives are to submit to their husbands, and the word here is to voluntarily come under his leadership. So we’re not going to talk about marriage, I’m just going to use it as an example.

A very real way to understand that is to consider Paul’s challenge, what he was really saying. If we break down the Greek, he’s saying, and we put it in simpler language, he’s saying to women, be easy, be really easy to lead by the way you respect, honor, and obey your husband’s desires. I know in America, we’re like {gasp}. Go study, that’s what it says. 

If we lateral that command to us, the people of God, who are the bride of Christ, it gives us a principle for how we are to posture ourselves to Him. We are to respond in a way to the Holy Spirit as our guide and our teacher, as our leader, that makes us very easy for Him to lead. I’m doing the work to make myself easy to lead for you. I’m not forcing you to drive me. You see, God’s purpose is to make us like Christ, and God’s way to make us like Christ was to give us the Holy Spirit, so we have this constant guide and government. 

There’s four things we have to surrender to to live there: the truth that Christ- likeness is God’s purpose for your life, the reality. See that our nature is actually death, and the patterns of our nature are going to bring more death. In the best way, we got to get over ourselves. We got to be willing to go, you know, what my own core tendencies are not going to help me. 

We have to step into the reality that we need His nature to actually live the Kingdom. I’m not going to be able to live out the Kingdom unless I grab on to the nature of Christ, and living in the process of constantly choosing His nature over your own. I don’t have a problem with someone going, Oh, that’s my sin nature, I can’t do that. I’m going to choose the nature of Christ. Nothing but gold stars for that statement, to the statement of, this is just who I am. You see, you exchanged your life, you’re crucified with Christ, yet you live. 

1 PETER 1:18-25

I want you to listen to what Peter says when he continues on with this subject in verses 18 through 25. He says, “knowing that you are not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with the precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. For He was foreknown before the foundations of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you, who were through Him, who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.”

Peter simply calls out the stupidity of our old nature and our old lives, and I want to offer that we have to look at that truth and let it penetrate our hearts until we actually can agree with Peter and go, you know what, my core nature is pretty stupid, it’s not going to lead me to Christ likeness. My question to us is, can you see the wrongness, the futility, and the ugliness of your non-Christ nature? Are you willing to see that, and what’s your response to that visual? 

Because Peter, Peter advises in his teaching from a belief that you and I are people who are so undone by our native natures that we’ve made a decision, and here’s the decision, “since you’ve purified your souls in obedience to the truth for a sincere love of the brothers and sisters, fervently love one another from the heart.”

Peter’s answer is, you’re so disgusted at your core nature that you’ve decided to grab on to Jesus and love people like him. I want us to notice that Peter focuses on because it’s the, it’s the key to carrying Christ’s nature is obedience to the way of Jesus and a fervent love for others. Those two things, I’m going to obey the way Jesus said to live, and I’m going to love other people. 

How many have ever heard this statement that love is not a feeling, it’s an action. If you’re waiting to feel love, you’ll never actually love, because love is an action. And Peter declares that these two realities purify our lives. 

So, are you walking in complete obedience to Christ in all areas of your life, or have you become content with sustained sin patterns in your life? These are real questions we have to ask. Am I content with sustained sin patterns? Am I living in fervent love towards everyone in my life? Is there anyone that I’m not living that way towards? Be willing to look at that. 

Are there people I just can’t seem to love? When you can’t love someone, it’s an indication that you’re doing it in your own strength, and you’ve yet to learn how to love through Christ. The only remedy for that church is to fall on your face and cry out for the Lord to teach you how to carry His nature. 

And Peter ends with a very sobering reminder, “for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable, but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God. For, “ALL FLESH IS LIKE GRASS, AND ALL ITS GLORY IS LIKE THE FLOWER OF GRASS. THE GRASS WITHERS, AND THE FLOWER FALLS OFF,  BUT THE WORD OF THE LORD ENDURES FOREVER.” And this is the word which was preached to you.” 

What’s he saying? God is at work, and He’s made this reality. Your flesh life is limited, short, and not eternal, and you will stand before Jesus and give an account for what you did with His nature in this life, so it’s time to stop pretending, time to stop playing with this gift, because the purpose of God for His people is the nature of Christ. That’s the image we are to bear, that’s the imprint we are to leave, it is our legacy. 

Stand with me, please. I want to take us into bread and cup, and just want you to ask this question: Are there any areas that come to mind where I know I’m not carrying the nature of Christ, and what am I going to do with that?  Maybe go on and say, How’s my relationship with the Holy Spirit? Am I living in a daily encounter with the Holy Spirit? If I’m not, why don’t you just apologize for it? You were sent to guide and teach me. I haven’t been asking for your leadership. I’m sorry. I put myself on the throne. Please forgive me. 

When we come to the table, Jesus says, Let us examine ourselves. And John, I was set at a conference, and John Wimber said, said it just so simple, “The last time I checked, He gets all of me, and I get all of Him.” That’s the examination – is He getting all of me? I would offer that any area of us that we’re not releasing to Him is limiting an area of Him that He wants to release to us. 

So, Holy Spirit, as we come to the table, we do it with clarity of mind and a soberness of heart, desperately wanting to be a people that don’t just talk about you, but carry your nature, that actually have relinquished our nature in favor of yours, because that’s the exchange you’ve given us. So we ask for your guidance, your leadership, your conviction, your encouragement in this process. As we take the bread, we take the cup, Jesus, we do it in remembrance of you, the way you lived, the life you gave, the suffering, the sacrifice. We honor you, the head of the church, the chief cornerstone. We thank you just for these kinds of moments where you call us back to a grounded position to give ourselves completely back over to you. We love you. We honor you.