What is an Apostle?

Watch the complete sermon here: https://www.bridges.church/messages/every-day-is-a-mission-trip-mark-6-7-13/

Hey, thanks again for sending in questions related to our recent sermons. We’ve started in the Book of Ephesians. In this last Sunday, we looked at Ephesians chapter two, which is all about grace, how God, despite what we reserve, seats us in the heavenly realms with Jesus Christ. We are co heirs with him. We are given exceeding riches, and it really changes us.

We talked about a comparison illustration of what God does is really the story of Les Mis and how the priest is nice, generous, gracious to Jean Valjean when he does not deserve it, and it changes Jean Valjean. We said our problem with sin is really deeper rooted than actions. It gets down into our nature, that our instincts, that our wiring is bent away from God. But God’s grace intervenes. It’s explosive in our lives and changes us, really, to be different kinds of people gives us a new nature.

We are reborn, or we are brought from death to life. It’s dramatic, it’s drastic. So the question is, if this has happened in our lives, then why do we still sin? What’s going on there? I thought we had a new nature now.

And that’s a great question. Paul actually asked the exact same question. Romans Six. How can we still live in sin like you died to it? What are you doing?

You’ve tasted something so much better. Why would you go back to this old pattern of behavior that is actually consistently how the New Testament speaks of it? We are told to take off the old man, put on the new man. It is a continuous process of living into the new nature that we have. We have a choice now, but unlike before, we have seen something better, we have tasted something better.

And so, through time, we believe that God’s grace to us will more and more and more. So teach us to say no to ungodliness. That’s Titus, chapter two. It is God’s grace that has appeared to us and teaches us to say no to ungodliness is because of God’s actions on our behalf that we lean more into God. And yes, our old sinful nature is dead.

Galatians talks about that. But then we also have this choice of, are we going to go back to this old pattern of behavior, which is dead, which is dying, which we know is not as good? Or are we going to lean into our new nature, into the thing that we know is better, into the life that we know is better? So it comes down to choice. But the good news is that God’s grace will eventually win in the end, that we will eventually become so transformed that we are entirely new, that the old is really entirely gone, and the new has really entirely come them and God will complete the work that he began in us.

Philippians One six. Thanks for the question. We’ll see you next time. Bye.