The Jigsaw Puzzle – Part IIIThe Doctrine of the Christ
Posted by Church of God of Carmichael on Sunday, October 4, 2020
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We’ve been speaking to you the last 2 weeks about the joy we have in coming to worship, and also about “a puzzle” so we’re going to continue with that this morning. Speaking about a jigsaw puzzle, about the pieces of life that we sometimes have to put together, (“and we know how that sometimes work.”) So we have another installment of that series this morning, and we began with a model or way to look at this puzzle, with the 6 ways to lay out this model before us, for how we look at things. We have to be aware of our situation, the need we have in our life at any moment of time, that brings us to a need to move from one place to another. Because if I just “stay there” the need grows, and nothing gets better. So at a certain place in time, I’m faced with a choice. I have a choice to elect something different. And many times before we get saved, that’s when the Lord deals with us in making a decision, to make Christ our Savior. That’s a moment of “election,”.. a choice. But following that life continues, on this narrow way that we’ve elected, so we have to invest in it. We have to make decisions to help that investment grow. If we don’t we’ll probably be at the end of His Mercy, having once made an election, but having never added to it. Especially during this time, we need to make investments, don’t we? Sacrifices, giving up of something that The Lord can use to help our experience grow, ..for the need to make investments! At points in times we’ll come to crossroads, where there will be other choices, elections that we’ll be confronted by. Alternatives that we can choose. Going along and then thinking “Ah, this way isn’t what I thought it was, but that other way looks more attractive,” and we’re then faced with temptation to go down that side road. So we need to kind of prune, to let go of opportunities, or alternatives that might take us down a false or wrong direction. Then finally as we go through this life and process, it brings us to a place of dedication, which involves service. So these 6 things, that we’ve been talking about, are ways to look at every piece of the puzzle of life, that we’re confronted with. As we are moving into a decision, are we required now to make an investment? So we can start to apply this. And we’re going to be doing this as we go along in the next several weeks, comparing these biblical doctrines to life’s situations. Putting the two together, so we can use biblical doctrines in a practical way, that will help us in a Christian walk to be faithful to the plan of God of biblical teachings. So part of my objective here is that we might be well grounded in biblical doctrine. Not everybody grows up with Sunday school, and church, with biblical teachings, and really do not know how to apply biblical doctrines, so that’s part of my goal …that we learn about it. Second that we can apply it to life’s situations to put “puzzle pieces ” together so that they fit properly. So now we’re going to carry on in this part of the series, “The Doctrine of Jesus Christ.” We’re going to be starting with Jesus as a symbol, and as a reality of God that everyone can began with. The person of Jesus Christ, what He presents….. and why He’s important to you.
TEXT:JOHN 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
You could appropriately read this as “In the beginning was the “Creator”, and the Word (“Creator”) was God. The verse we need to come to (John 1:14) “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” Other texts might use this as a verb, an action word, as a “creation” word. Something that is “creating.” So we think of nothing, then something. Something out of nothing is the Creator. That’s a good analogy of how we are to begin with. Our spirit is empty, void, without God. The spirit is dead before we know God. There comes a moment, when we become aware that we are nothing….we become aware we are empty. We become aware when something is not working out, that we need to move from where we are. There’s a danger in staying where we are. We can appreciate that God still makes something out of nothing today for men, women, boys and girls. The He can take an empty thing, and make a something thing out of an empty thing. But only God can do it! “Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” John 1:13 , But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: John 1:12 : and then where we spend most of our time. “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” John 1:14, as we also will spend time in Matthew 28. There are two parts to this. Someone once said, that the entire text of the bible, hinged on John 1:14 The entire history of humanity and the spirit of the world. Speaking about biblical doctrine. My consensus is, that it is concluded somewhere else. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” John 1:14 That first part of the verse is “the hinge.’ And the Word was made flesh. Made human! We’re speaking about the Doctrine of Jesus Christ this morning! Again, there’s two parts. The first part is that God came down to heaven. That heaven and earth have an agreement! In agreement in a moment of time. When a baby was born in Bethlehem, His name is Jesus. And in this moment God becomes man! So when we speak of the Doctrine of Jesus Christ, .. God becomes man in the person of Jesus! We take it for granted, but some are still trying to figure out who Jesus is! Which is why it is still important to rehearse these doctrines, that have been around for 2,000 years, still today. So that men and women can still understand the truth of these doctrines, and how it is to be applied in our lives everyday. The Doctrine of Jesus Christ is one of the foundational doctrines, of the plan of God for humanity. That men and women would know, that God came down in a agreement of Heaven and earth, in the person of Jesus Christ! . Jesus is a symbol of heaven, but also a historical person! There have been witnesses to the fact of Jesus being an actual historical person. Even sceptics have come to now agree. Someone might say “I want you to prove to me this doctrine of Jesus Christ.” And that’s why this message. Two parts. The first, God came down from heaven to earth in the form of man, And the Word was made flesh. All history begins to turn on this fact! Only Christianity can and does make this claim, that God came down in the form of man, in the form of Jesus! If God was not made flesh, than everything we have believed becomes false. The doctrine of Jesus Christ makes plain, that He alone is God incarnate, God in the flesh!
The second part of this message is in, Matthew 28:6 He is not here: for he is risen, as he said, Come, see the place where the Lord lay. The resurrection. Jesus has been crucified, His body prepared for burial, the stone is rolled away from the tomb, with the witnesses that He is no longer there. The Doctrine of Jesus Christ, where heaven meets earth, a fearful and holy place, where you take your shoes off! We need to see ourselves in heavenly places here on earth! A place of reverence! Not found caught up in uniquely earthy things. But instead finding ourselves on earth where Heaven is! Where there is an agreement between Heaven and earth! And in that moment people can find, The Doctrine of Jesus Christ!
The Doctrine of Jesus Christ!