Big Ideas

We are in this brand new series that is entitled: “Big”. Over the course of the next few weeks, I want to inspire you to have Big message, big prayer, and big actions. The reason, we all need to be inspired to be big is because in actuality we are small. However, in acting big, that is, faking it until we make it, we grow into astronomically big proportions. Six or seven months ago, when i dreamed this series and started writing down the ideas and themes for this series, i dreamed that all of us were called to become big. When I say big, I don’t mean overweight and fat, but I mean a personality with influence that is greater than our own. These dreams I have for all of us were not medically induced hallucinations because I know you are thinking about your neighbor — that sucker doesn’t have what it takes to be big in anyway except on the couch where he occupies too much space. We are bigger than we know and just because we are not a big church doesn’t mean that we can’t have big implications to the people and society around us. Can I remind you how big our message is as Christians? Our message is life changing. It’s crazy, it’s life altering, it’s a destiny changing event. We deserved to die and be punished for things we couldn’t and can’t stop ourselves from doing. But God, having a foreknowledge of our failings, made a way to be judicially satisfied and still welcome us into His kingdom as his heirs. We don’t deserve to inherit anything but, we inherit it. Not because we earn it or deserve it, but because God gives it to us freely and willingly so we can partake in his life. God wants us to share His life, His story with Him. Jesus saves us for this reason and for this purpose. We cannot forget how big that it. An agnostic once asked me, “Jonathan, I know you are Christian, but are you Christian because that is your cultural identity or do you really believe Christ is the only way to eternal life?” I answered almost immediately, there are multiple ways to eternal life– Buddhism, Hindu, Islam, and Judaism– except when you go through those doors, the eternal life that is waiting for you is nothing but fire and brimstone at best, purgatory at worse, and reincarnation, if you like sick dark comedies. Yeah, i know there will be emails to me about that last statement. But let me explain that– everybody has eternal life if we believe souls live on past our physical bodies. But not everybody tastes paradise which is heaven, the kingdom of God in eternity. The Big idea is that Jesus Christ changes the game of religion and turns it from a works based system guaranteeing universal failure, to a grace based believing that assures all who have faith universal success in the name of Jesus. This is a big idea and it changed everything. It’s a big idea and we are not sharing it. This is a big idea and we don’t let it consume our lives. What does that tell us about any of our ideas? In fact, the reason we probably don’t consider this big is because we don’t know what it means to be consumed to such a big idea. Do you know what happens when we allow this idea consume our lives? No, we don’t become flesh eating zombies. We become big! Let’s read, 1 Corinthians 15:1-10. 1Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you— unless you believed in vain. I want to stop here for a second. Verse 2 is so important to why we have to allow the big idea of Jesus saving us from our sins consume our lives: If we don’t believe it, there is no point in meeting here at church on a weekly basis to be reminded of it by a dude who pretty much says the same thing over and over again using the same words because he is unread and uneducated and has limited vocabulary and horrible grammar. Paul says, “it’s vain.” Do we want to be one of those churches that contain people who do not believe? This is not a, I’m skeptical of what you’re saying, type of disbelief; this goes more along the lines of – I’m simply pretending because I have nothing better to do, type of disbelief. I’d rather you vehemently deny belief in Christ so that I can logic bomb you into a Freudian slip and open up the believer’s closet you’ve been hiding in through this post modernity. I know this is hard for some of you to believe, but there are people out there who go to church on Sundays and compartmentalize their “Christian” lives because that’s what they do as part of their identity. If going to church is your hobby, you need to find a new hobby because that is pretty lame. A pastor had coffee with me a few weeks ago and said, “Jonathan, I don’t know how you do ministry in an urban place like New York. I worked there for a few months and everybody was too busy to pretend to be Christian.” Yeah, we’re too busy to pretend to be Christian. I said a lot of things to this pastor, but wait one minute—we do pretend to be Christian with our Christianese and singing “Jesus Take the Wheel” at the karaoke like the Bible Belt Christians; we just pretend to be Christian on Sundays when we go to church and try to absolve ourselves with the guilt we’ve been marred with all week by doing some type of community service, like moving the tables and throwing out the trash or just being around other “good” people. But we don’t believe in the ideas of the Bible, we’re too egalitarian to believe in it literally. Believing in an idea is to sell it pervasively through your life. What I mean by that is: if you believe the gospel set you free, then why don’t you live like a free person? Believe you’ve been saved and see the world through the lens of a saved person. 1st Peter 2: 21-25 21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. We were straying like sheep, lost like a bunch of stupid animals and despite this; we were healed of our stupidity and a worthlessness. I want you to highlight these verses or write them down in your bibles or book mark it. This is the summary of everything you need to know at minimum about Christianity—your faith. I don’t care if you don’t know how many Judges the Israelites had; how many kings; failed revolutions; or how the apostles lived and died. What you need to know are these two verses as the basic premise for what we believe. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. I need to explain why Paul puts this in here, verses 5-9. Verse 5b, it shouldn’t surprise anybody that Jesus appeared to the disciples. In fact, people who know the Apostles would believe the apostles based on the merits of the Apostles. Meaning people who intimately knew the disciples would take their testimony at face value and believe. However, if you didn’t know the disciples and the character of the disciples, you would just assume that they are hallucinating. So Paul throws in verse 6 – Jesus showed up at a place with at least 500 men at one time, meaning there was most likely at minimum 2,000 people who all saw Jesus and some of them are still alive! 2,000 people can’t have the same bad drug trip! That’s what Paul is saying. There are witnesses! The resurrection of Jesus is not a mythological tale; nor is it allegory for something abstract. The resurrection is a historical fact and event that can be traced backed to first person witnesses. This also leads us to the understanding that this would be the first of many to come. But I know there are still disbelievers, this is what Paul is saying and I know it’s true because we have people, maybe not in this room, but people definitely catching this on the podcast, because we have a lot of those, who would argue—fanatics are crazy, anybody can join a cult and claim to see something with the right amount of psycho persuasion. For good measure, Paul says “let’s talk about James,” the half brother of Jesus. If anybody would deny the divinity of Jesus, it would be the guy who grew up with the man. If anybody in this world knows who you are, the best person/people to ask would be your siblings. They would know best, if you really a saint or not because they’ve seen you. But James believes! I want to make the plea to all of you right now that if you are held back from fully believing in this gospel idea in your life to have any significant meaning outside of pure religion, heed what the arguments were in the first century! There are witnesses whose lives were changed because they witnessed God in motion. I’m not done yet, but I’m almost there. I sense that some of us believe in the power of salvation and work of Jesus Christ; yet we don’t believe in ourselves as being worthy of that reception. This might be the reason a lot of our friends leave the church and don’t come back. If this is the case, I want you to know this and call them back—have them come to church with you. Invite people who say they are not clean, who are afraid to be judged! We love them here. Verse 10-11. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.- 1st Corinthians 15:1-11 Verse 10 – Accept who you are, your mistakes both past mistakes and chronic mistakes. When we can accept us for ourselves, then God’s grace is not worthless and wasted. It is when we stop trying to fix ourselves and accept the fact that we’re broken, can we really understand the grace of God. Look at what the Psalmist writes in Psalm 139:14: I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” We are humble, when we recognize God pours his kindness and grace upon us. True humility is not convincing yourself that you are worthless, but recognizing God’s work in you. It is having God’s perspective on who you are and acknowledging God’s grace in developing your abilities. Let me take this one step further and I’ll close. We work hard to share this idea, this gospel, this work of God—our vision, because when we work hard and accomplish anything, we are doing it despite ourselves, because God is blessing us to do the work. Therefore, get out of your minds that you are not worthy of being a bannerman for the big idea that is Christ and just get out there and undoubtedly share the big idea and be the biggest influencer, understanding where you stand. God’s work in you is bigger than you. Let’s pray.