The Christian Life in my Estimation (Pt. 1)

(This is the sermon from Sunday July 10, 2011. It was preached at Journey the Way & the audio my found at: Journeytheway.com)

The Christian life is an interesting theme. It is woven throughout the tapestry of history. Both personal history and world history, shaping neighborhoods, towns, cities, states, and countries. Transforming a people group in such a complete way that the course of antiquity seems to have been shifted from a region of gloom and disparity to a joyous day that lasts for all eternity.

We see it in our own lives, those of us that deeply understand the Gospel, we who know,

“…By experience that true religion is a union of the soul with God, a real participation of the Divine nature, the very image of God drawn upon the soul, or, in the apostle’s phrase, ‘it is Christ formed within us.’” ~Henry Scougal

The lives we lived before seem as though they were lived in the dead of sullen winter. Having never known the warmth of the sun nor seen the beauty of the first sprouting flowers of spring we simply continued on as we had for our whole lives. Never knowing, ever lingering in our dismal condition.

But now, as believers, as those who have been brought from death to life, we live in the spring of our belief. Knowing, not fully but in part the love that is lavished upon us. Being changed so completely that we are now capable of seeing history, as it were, change before our waking eyes.

Now there is deepness to our thinking, vitality to our speech, conviction and passion enthusiastically felt within our hearts. We are excited to new life because of the gloriousness of our Savior’s face. We are exquisitely enthralled with a beauty, which we now understand for the first time. We know that his call will demand our lives and in that we are overjoyed because we see the worth of the demand.

We know that Jesus is the King we worship; the one we bow before, the one we will, if called to, die for. That he is the King of all-possible kings past, present or future; that he is the Prince of unimaginable peace, and Servant to all whom he loves. We know that he is deserving of any and all of the descriptions of greatness, worth, beauty, excellence and glory.

But in the Christian life there are not only rapturous moments, which cause tears of happiness to pour from our eyes and our minds to soar in worship to our King, the Christian life is also filled with devastatingly low times when we know the full meaning of the word gravity in the blink of an eye or the ring of a phone call.

I sincerely hope you all know what I’m talking about. That you have felt the weight of conviction and the burden of pervious sins, partially seeing the depth of your own depravity, which you never knew nor thought to imagine, was so deep.

So while we wade through these 38 verses I want you to remember the Christian life for it is our theme today. While we look at the history of Israel we will place it side-by-side to our own Christian lives and by the sheer grace of God we will be convicted of his wonderful Excellency.