Standing In Awe Of God
There’s something about time and familiarity that causes us to become complacent. Over time, if we’re not careful, our worship can become like this. Our fellowship can become like this and our faith can become like this. It can become religious and routine. Let us seek the one who first sought us. Let us love the one who first loved us. Let us recover our awe of Christ.
“Let us recover our awe of Christ.”
Scripture:
John 3:1-7
Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
“How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’
Highlights:
• Both time and familiarity are the agents of complacence.
• If we’re not careful, our faith can become religious and routine.
• An underwhelmed Christian, is a religious Christian.
• “Religion begins with man, and ends with man. Whereas, Revelation, or the revealed Word of God begins with God and it ends with God.” - Dr. Willem Van Gemeren
• When we, as Christians, lose our awe of God we begin to hope in our own works and in our own efforts. And all of life at that point, will become overwhelming because we can't do it.
• To leave Jesus at, or relegate him to, a wise teacher with a peculiar authority is to reduce him to a sage of old with tips for everyday living instead of the risen Christ and shepherd of our souls that He is.
• Those of authentic faith come to Christ, for Christ.
• One who is to be born of supernatural faith seeks Christ and then keeps seeking Christ.
• Jesus quenches thirst and then invites us to drink more. We’re no longer drinking for satisfaction, we’re drinking because of satisfaction.
• Whenever we come to Jesus from a religious posture, we pray manipulative prayers and we preach manipulative sermons because it begins with us and ends with us. Everything is about us.
• Coming to Jesus cannot be done in a way we want, in order to achieve something we want, especially if what we want is not ultimately Him.
• It’s not works as the root of our salvation. It’s good works as the fruit of our salvation.
• One can be quite religious, and yet spiritually dead.
• Christ did not come to fix our lives, but to give us a new one.
• Being religious reduces the revelation of the mystery of Christ. It makes our salvation nothing more than an oxidized fact of our faith.
• “Christ was sent, not to mend wounded people or awake sleepy people or advise confused people or inspire bored people or spur on lazy people, nor educate ignorant people, but to raise dead people.” - Dave Ortlund
• Let us recover our awe of Christ.
