Sermon Theme
It seems there is always a GREAT HUMAN NEED held before us demanding an immediate and compassionate response..
Irish rock legend Bono held before the world and its leaders the great need of those who live in poverty in Africa. He called upon the 2007 G8 summit to be true to their commitments to retire the debt of poor African countries and to substantially increase humanitarian aid.
We remember the ‘Band Aid’ campaign of Bob Geldhof in 1984 for relief of poverty in Ethiopia Flowing fromn that in the United States the ‘We are the World’ campaign.
This first week in September 2015 here in Australia has indeed been a tumultuous one..
- 4 brutal and very public murders in context of domestic violence
- Massive movement refugees in Europe & Australia accepted 12,000 extra displaced people from Syria
While all of the above are important for the Church as social justice issues… Christians NEED to ask ourselves what is the world’s GREATEST NEED…. And How does our passion for that need compare to these other needs that grab the headlines?
“We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We IMPLORE you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:20)
The Lord’s Supper brings us face to face with the greatest need that humanity faces
God’s drastic and mind-blowing action in having His only Son die for the sins of the world!!
Global warming/poverty in Africa/ Displacement of peoples/ Domestic Violence will end – but for most, alienation from God will be eternal
Do we see reconciliation to God as the greatest need of humanity?
If so, what do Al Gore’s and Bono’s passion about their causes teach us?
Sermon outline
- ALIENATION FROM GOD
- WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW……..
- RECONCILIATION THROUGH CHRIST
Readings reproduced on this page:
The Holy Bible: New International Version. 1996, 1984. Grand Rapids: Zondervan
Sermon Outline
Readings
Colossians 1:1–23 (NIV84)
1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
2To the holy and faithful brothers in Christ at Colosse: Grace and peace to you from God our Father.
3We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,
4because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints—
5the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel
6that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth.
7You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf,
8and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.
9For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.
10And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,
11being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully
12giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.
13For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,
14in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
16For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.
17He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
18And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.
19For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,
20and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
21Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.
22But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—
23if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
.
Text
Colossians 1:19–23 (NIV84)
19For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,
20and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
21Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.
22But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—
23if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
