Faith Embraces

Preached by Ps Jude Blayney

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FAITH = For Activation In The House
In the current series on faith:

• How faith builds
• How it moves us higher
• What is the fuel of faith?
• What faith embraces
• Embracing Jesus
• The basic characteristics of faith.

Faith embraces all the facets of Jesus....

Revelations 4:6-8

Here we have four creatures that surround the throne. Each of these creatures is significant. It is no coincidence that we have four gospels. Let's have a look at each of the gospels. In each gospel a different, unique aspect of Jesus is presented for us. Each Gospel relates to one of these creatures.

What facets of Jesus life do we need to embrace?

1. King/Royal nature – the lion.

The loin is symbol of royalty. The Book of Matthew is about Jesus being the King. His lineage is presented in the opening chapter to show us He is of royal blood. He is a direct descendent of King David. He is the King.

1 Peter 2:9

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His glorious light.

We are of royal Blood. When we receive Jesus as Lord and saviour of our lives we become a Son of God. We become royalty. Faith says we are now royalty. We have authority to deal with every situation that we will face. We can change the situation to what it is meant to be.

Christians who settle for not being royalty settle for second best. We are not meant to live a life of the second best. Our lives are meant to display the greatness of God through our overcoming of situations. We are not meant to be second best.

2. Servant – the calf or ox

The calf or ox is a symbol of servant-hood. The ox/calf is there to serve the masters wishes. It does what its master wants by being yoked to the cause. The Book of Mark is about Jesus being a servant. This is the calf or ox. He serves us through his life. A servant does things straight away. They do not question the leader or authority figure. The gospel of Mark is full of immediately, straight away and now. Jesus came to serve man through healing and the cross. There is no lineage in the book of Mark because a servant does not come from any special family. The gospel of Mark is a favourite with Evangelists because of the immediately aspect of the healing.

If we make this our main focus then there is a danger that we can become soppy in our approach to Christianity. People demand us to serve them.

The opposite of this may erode your faith. The "me" mentality is the opposite of servant.

3. Man – the man's face

Man is human. The book of Luke is primarily about Jesus being a man. The lineage shown in chapter three does not display his kingly line. It starts with his earthly father and finishes with Adam the first man. It is about his humanity.

Throughout the book of Luke, who is a doctor we see an account of Jesus' life. Luke 1:1-4

As a Christian we are meant to understand and embrace our humanity. We are humans. We live on earth. We have a life that needs to be lived. Jesus had a life on earth that He needed to live. All men live by principles, policies and ideals. Man needs to be taught certain things. Luke is the gospel where the story of Jesus remaining in Jerusalem is seen. Luke 2:41-50

Other parables peculiar to Luke include the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32), good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), the grateful Samaritan leper, Zaccheus (Luke 19:1-10), and His raising of the Nain's widows son (Luke 7:11-17). Each of these stores displays the compassionate nature of Jesus' humanity.

As Christians, we are meant to be compassionate. We are not meant to be so caught up the clouds that we lose sight of the nature world, which exists around about us. We are human beings. Jesus was the only man to successfully live life to the full. By faith we successfully live life through Him.

There is one problem if we only or primarily focus on Jesus' humanity. We can unbeknownst to us develop a spirit of the 'okay'. It's okay to not give regularly, it's okay to get drunk occasionally, and it's okay to swear occasionally, it's okay. Living an okay life will erode our faith. Let's remember to consistently embrace what Jesus is to us and live our lives completely in abundance.

4. God – the eagle

An eagle's domain is primarily in the heavens. When ever we see an eagle mentioned in the bible it talks about God or communion with God. The gospel of John is primarily concerned with the divinity or godliness of Jesus. Jesus is the Son of God. It is all about Jesus' glory breaking forth and through even brighter than the darkness of the Jewish opposition.

We see it begins with the heavenly statements of John chapter one.

We are God's representatives here on earth. Our nature has changed. We have the authority and power to change the world through our language and actions. We have the Son of God inside of us.

A danger does exist for us if we place too much emphasis on the divine; we lose sight of the natural. We can easily begin to disregard life as not the real deal. God wants us to continually embrace life. We could easily get too spiritual about things and fail to recognise that we live in a natural world with natural laws. Blaming the devil for the speeding ticket, blaming the devil for every headache or sickness that shifts us out of any responsibility we have been given.

When we get too spiritual, a problem occurs; we get lazy in our approach to the normal things of life. Eventually we will get lazy about the normal things of Christian life. We stop reading the bible because God can speak to us in so many ways. We stop worshipping God because we are always 'in worship'. Laziness results from having so much but losing sight of what we have. The more we have the more responsibility we have.

Faith takes the time to embrace all of the four facets of Jesus. He was the king - the lion. He was the servant – the calf/ox. He was the man. He was God – the eagle.

Our role as Christians is to embrace all four aspects of Jesus.

If we leave out or forget to view Jesus in some way we leave ourselves short in our walk with Jesus. Our faith will become eroded because we do not have all four foundations set in our lives.

What happens if we forget or omit or downgrade:

1. Jesus' royalty. (The book of Matthew)

The church will lose its authority in the world. Our influence will wain. Lack of influence means we lack the power to change the accepted norms of society. Although we have the power to change history we neglect it. We become just another religion or even a 'sect' in the eyes of the world.

2. Jesus' servant-hood (The book of Mark)

The church would lose its power to express its gifts in a constructive way. We become self centred lacking submission. We become independent, self absorbed people who wonder why things aren't changing and yet we fail to do anything about it. Under this 'banner' we see Christians who feel lead by God but never seem to achieve anything of significance.

3. Jesus' Humanity (The book of Luke)

The church loses its relevance in society. Even though we are not of this world we are still in this world. Being human gives us social responsibility. As Christians our lives are intertwined with the world. We cannot and should not attempt to escape it, rather use it as a door into people's lives.

4. Jesus' Divinity (The book of John)

The church becomes just a social organization that is here to administer funds it has for only the social benefit of the world around us. God's divinity is the power to change things. It is not by might nor by power but by the spirit of the Lord. Our ability to adequately affect the community, in which we live, stands firmly on the presence of God.

Over Emphasis – what happens if we over emphasise...

1. Lion - leads to a over dominant and controlling relationship

2. Servant - leads to an overly soppy and weak life, you can end up being pushed around

3. Man - leads to a overly social person who gives not much of himself

4. Eagle - leads to an over spiritual person who sees everything as spiritual

Under emphasis – what happens if we under emphasise...

1. Lion - leads to a church or Christian who has no authority in this world

2. Servant - leads to an inability to express your gifts and talents

3. Man - leads to a church or Christian who will lose their relevance in society

4. Eagle - leads to a church or Christian who just becomes a social organization that lacks real power to change the world.

We cannot and should not just focus on any one aspect of Jesus. Our lives are built on foundations. Faith builds with purpose. That purpose is four fold. God wants our faith to build the community by being royalty, serving continually, walking truthfully and living dynamically under the power of our God.

Let's build with faith. Let's build with purpose. Let's build.