Valuing the Fullness of Christ in Your Life

If you have your Bible and you want to turn to Mark chapter 4, I'd like us to start there and I hope to make a deposit to you to or to share with you a Deposit I believe that the Lord in his mercy has been kind enough to share with me Mark chapter 4 and Just kind of keep your finger on about verse 21 Which is where we're going to come back to when it when they get to this Specific scriptures that I want to reference but let's set up the the purpose of this parable first This comes in the middle of the parable of the sower. You can find this parable in Luke chapter 8 You can find it in Matthew chapter 13. Of course, Luke would have had to find it out by investigative reporting Mark would have had to kind of get this information probably from Peter or the early believers because There was a church the church met in Mark's house in Jerusalem so it's interesting how Mark and Luke and Matthew bring this parable out for The purpose that Jesus has in giving parables and do you know what the word who can tell me here what the word parable means? You know what it means Para is Alongside and Balo is to throw so it's para Balo to throw it to the side What will we call it if a pitchers throwing to the side Curveball, so why would Jesus throw the people a curveball and his disciples picked this up? Matthew mentions the question in one way in Matthew chapter 13 Mark mentions it another Matthew Says the disciples came to Jesus afterward and asked him.

Why do you speak to the multitudes in parables and You reveal things plainly to us Mark mentions it asked the question this way Mark remembered the question as being What's the meaning of this parable? But in both cases Jesus said something that he wanted to make sure was not misunderstood But it highlights a condition that any one of us can get into that. We want to avoid He said it's been given to you. This is how he answered the question Either what does the parable mean or why do you speak to us in parables? And and or why do you speak to the multitudes in parables and and you explained us plainly? Here's what he said that the words of Isaiah might be fulfilled that they be ever seeing and never perceiving that they may be ever hearing and Never understanding for if they perceive with their eyes and heard and understood with their ears.

They would turn To me and I would heal them and this is what Isaiah was told to say To the people after he saw the vision you remember when Isaiah's when the Lord said who will go for me? after Isaiah sees the Lord high and lifted up in his glory and Isaiah says woe is me I'm a man of unclean lips and I dwell amidst the people of unclean lips and the Lord sent One of the seraphim to a tongue from the altar and he touched his lips and I've cleansed and then the Lord asked that question who will go for me and Whom shall I sin and Isaiah said I will go and then Isaiah says what shall I say? And this is what the Lord tells him you go and say be ever seen and never perceiving Ever hearing and never understanding for the heart of this people has waxed dull They hardly see with their eyes. They hardly hear with their ears and that is a condition that Jesus is addressing in the people of Israel similar to the condition that Jesus was addressing or that Isaiah was addressing to the people of Israel in his day and Here's what I'd like us to gain from then here's what I believe Jesus wanted us to gain from that to make sure that His disciples did not Misunderstand the parable itself and the purpose of giving it He gives a commentary at the end and that's where in mark 421 That's where I want kind of want you to if you want to follow along That's where I'm going to begin. So to make sure that they understood the reason he's giving them this parable He says he asked a question or he makes a statement is a lamp brought out to be put underneath a bowl Or to stick it under a bed.

Does anybody do that? Would anybody do that you light? Why would you light a lamp? Why would you light a lamp? Because you want to see something and that what a lamp is for so why would you light a lamp or would you light a lamp and then Bring it in and cover it or stick it underneath the bed No He said a lamp is lit to be brought out and placed upon a stand So that anyone who comes into the house may see so what is Jesus saying? I'm not hiding What I'm saying from people He follows that in the next verse by saying or mark remembers Jesus follows that statement was saying Nothing is Hidden that is not made to be manifest There's nothing spoken in secret That's not made to be spoken into the dark and this is where the rubber meets the road for us. Then he says therefore be very careful how You hear for with the measure you use It will be measured to you What did he mean by that in this statement where he is he's warning of the danger of being In a state where you see but you don't fully perceive you hear But you don't gain the fullness of understanding of what you're hearing. That's a condition people can be in and the answer to that condition is Be very careful How you hear for with the measure? You use that's how we'll be measured to you.

Why did he use the term measure in? in in in the sense of this word measure is a sense of how you estimate a value How do you determine the value of something? That's what that's what we get an estimate on the house We make an estimate on a business you you make an estimate when you're determining what car you want to buy or sell something of value you you want to see what What it's made of what quality? What's it worth? Now let's apply that to Jesus saying With them with the way you estimate The value you place on the Lord Jesus That is going to determine What you gain? from the Lord Jesus We give you a practical example of that Jesus to you if your estimate of Jesus your appraisal of him is God sent him to die on the cross To save you from your sin Spoke words that you are to learn and follow So that and and left live the life as an example for you to imitate So that you can go to heaven someday. That's what you'll get. That's what you have because that's The value and the estimate you placed upon him, but is there more to the Lord Jesus than I just described if you estimate if your appraisal of the Lord Jesus is that he is the divine nature of God that God fully intended for a human to be With the very essence of God himself in pure human form full of the divine nature of God for in him all the fullness of God dwelt bodily and we are Complete in him if your estimate of the Lord Jesus Christ is God's very own perfect and pure divine nature was in Christ to be transferred to you and I So that we could become everything that God intended a human to be Then that's what Jesus will become to you Jesus will become your source of God's wisdom Jesus will become to you and I our source of perfect self-control Jesus will become for you and I our Perfect desire to do what's right to choose what's right to think what's right to walk in the way That's right literally through knowing him God's own nature is Imparted to us God downloads himself into our own nature So that everything that is natural and powerful in God's nature comes to us now and through the knowledge of him like Peter said Everything that we need for life and godliness is given to us through the knowledge of him what makes what God did and does through the Lord Jesus Christ so magnificent to us is Everything that made him so special Everything that gave him the ability over sickness over death over nature over demons and spirits all of that in him was Given so that you and I could actually Use it When we need it The fullness of God in Jesus Christ is given to make you and I complete like him and If that's how you estimate the Lord Jesus, that's how he'll become to you see Jesus goes on to tell the disciples to him Who has with the measure you use that's how it's going to be measured to you to him who has what's going to happen more shall be given To the one that has the right estimate to the one who sees Jesus for his fullness and who he is that God gave Every grace in Jesus Christ to make us completely like God Created man to be in the beginning because what did God say? Let us make man in our Image and likeness and that's why Jesus was the Son of Man Jesus Christ was everything God intended man to be And the only way for us to become what God intends for us to be is to fully Utilize to fully draw from and receive from Christ Every grace that God gave in his Son to complete us To make us completely what we he wants us to be But if all we think of the Lord Jesus as is the one who died on the cross for our sins If all we think of he's an example for us to follow if all we think of is that he gave us words to keep and that someday we're going to see him in heaven and If that if that's your measure of him, that's all you have But if my measure of him is it every single day? I wake up the Lord.

Jesus actually dwells in me and all the where where Jesus dwells all the fullness of the Godhead dwells And that means I don't have to be a husband in my own strength Because the very divine nature of Jesus is with me to be a husband You don't have to be a wife or a mother by yourself Because Jesus Christ in the fullness of the glory of God dwells in you To strengthen every area you're weak in in your natural self and I don't understand how the church has lost this vision of Fullness the fullness of God dwelt in Christ and The fullness of God in Christ was supposed to become the fullness of God in us You're familiar with this you brothers and sisters, you know the scriptures You know in Ephesians chapter 4 that God gave ministry gifts. He gave apostles. He gave prophets He gave evangelist He gave pastors and teachers for what the equipping of the Saints caught the artisan and the Greek The the word is would be translated for that Physio, we need we need spiritual physio.

We get out of adjustment and God provided apostles and prophets and evangelists and pastors teachers to physio us Until what so that the body of Christ could be built up? towards a goal until every single person here and all those who know him come to the unity of the faith and the full knowledge of the Son of God and become what mature Complete perfect and it's what I in my own experience. I'm wrestling to see where this consciousness is it are we fully aware that there is a fullness to pursue a Completeness to be full of Christ full of the Spirit full of joy full of peace full of wisdom Christ Dwelling in us Strengthening us with power through his spirit in our inner man so that he can Tabernacle there in faith and when where God Tabernacles his glory is there and his nature Enables men to do what they cannot do on their own and if that's how you see Jesus That's how Jesus becomes to you. You remember Paul's struggle When he was facing something so difficult that he pleaded with the Lord three times to take it away it said he had a thorn in the flesh a Messenger of Satan to Buffett in the literal Greek words to strike him in the face He pleaded with the Lord to take him take it away and you remember the Lord's answer to him.

No My grace is sufficient for you. And what was the next statement? My grace is sufficient for you For my power is made perfect in weakness So what is the grace of God the grace of God is God's power? to be perfected in our weakness power to control our tongue Power to control our mind power to control our responses power to control our emotions power to turn Ordinary human life in this earthly vessel this vessel of clay we have Paul said this You spoke of it today this treasure in an earthen vessel Christ the fullness of God in whom all the fullness of God dwelt that we could be complete this fullness dwells in us to show what that the all Surpassing power that we live by is not us The power that controls my tongue is Christ The power that controls my mind is Christ the power that controls my response to difficulty is Christ Because Christ is in me and therefore with me every day every moment every situation and every child Regardless of where I am who I'm dealing with what it's like Christ is in me to be exactly what I need in that moment If I measure him to be that see you see how important it is You think that's possible in this life? That we can be so dynamically filled with the spirit that we could actually be known to be someone like that You remember the early crisis in in the church Because many people that had been saved on the day of Pentecost stayed in Jerusalem so now you have a lot of Greeks and Jewish believers in the early church and Because a lot of them had not gone back home. The early church was responsible for caring for a lot of people and Some of the Greek widows were being overlooked.

They were newcomers I don't think it was intentional but in the daily distribution of trying to make sure everyone had enough They some of the Greek widows were being overlooked And do you remember what the answer what the Apostle said when they brought the question in the Apostles? Hey, this situation is going on. Do you remember what they said? Look from among you and what are you gonna find? Men known to be full full of faith Full of the Spirit full of wisdom, that's how I know it's possible and I want to experience life being full I Want to know what it means to fully know? Jesus to be not just I'm and I'm not seeking an experience. I'm not seeking a filling I'm not seeking some kind of Pentecostal charismatic experience I am seeking for the Holy Spirit to have full Control, I'll be happy.

I just want my mouth fully controlled by the Lord Jesus I want my mind fully controlled by the Lord Jesus. I want my Emotions my soul. I want him in total control I want to give him consent to do and display in me What is only possible by his divine nature I've enjoyed his forgiveness.

I've enjoyed his mercy. I continue to every day But he's more than just forgiveness He is the very divine nature of God to transform my natural man into a into a man of righteousness and Godliness and blamelessness and you know how Through the trance so such a deep work in my heart that it's not just I'm willing to do his will I delight to do it. I do it out of love.

It's a privilege I don't do it because I'm told to do it. I do it because I get to do it My nature is so changed I'm like the salmon waiting at this at the western shore of the Pacific over here Trying to smell that familiar scent that where he was born and when he picks it up. It's like I've gotta go there I want to be divinely inspired led and controlled by Jesus Christ It's it's even there are pictures He's given of this in this life and you guys live right in the middle of it Y'all are in the Fraser Valley the most fruitful area in In all of British Columbia, right? And you know what they have all around here.

They have these gorgeous trees Fruit trees and you guys have an abundance of it all around you. Do you know how they actually make that? How they make a fruit tree They They you know, they don't just they don't just take it from seed and plant it and grow it they have another way to do it because Fruit trees of themselves are not the strongest so they what they like to start with is what they call root stock and Root stock is just something they're looking for that stable Drought resistance disease resistant and it can be a common a Fairly common tree and they'll take root stock and it gets about a pencil thick as it grows and they will literally take a knife and cut the top of the root stock off and they'll look for a Skeon you don't know it ever heard that term before a Skeon is it was a Greek term for the son of a nobleman? Now, why would they call what they're gonna there? We call it a graft But they'll take a skeon which is a shoot off of one of their most favorable and desirable fruits and in this shaft this skeon has all the qualities all the DNA Necessary to produce this dynamically delicious fruit and when they take that skeon and they place it on common root stock and They bind the two together it forms a union and a bond and you know what happens after that Everything that grows from that point on produces the fruit of the skeon So, I don't care if your roots are in Adam, I Don't care It's not where you come from. They should determine what you do Because we have been grafted into the Lord Jesus Christ and his nature is And this was Paul's heart if you want to if you want to follow me and you turn there you can but you don't need To in the end of Colossians, this was Paul's heart He said I want you to know my purpose for you This was at the Church of Colossae because he had never been there.

He had never seen them He said this is my purpose for you have not seen my face and for the law to see ya And then he says and for all who have not yet even met me personally and here's what his purpose was to present to them Every man and he uses two terms to admonish every man and to teach every man Admonish comes from the Greek word noose and teeth in me noose is your mind teeth in me is to sit in order So when you admonish someone, you know what you're trying to do. You're trying to set their mind in order This is the way you need to think so Paul said I want to cause every man to think this way and I want to instruct every man to be perfect in Christ Now here's when I use that word that's when the intimidation starts That's where the test of faith begins and the first of all to misunderstanding of the word perfect comes from the Greek word tell us which is the end or the goal and The goal of Christ of God for all of us is fullness in Christ and And if I were to ask the children here God is what would you say? God is Good. Okay, who said that? Yeah, God is good it Doesn't it make sense if God is good.

You want the fullness of God? To pursue the fullness of goodness Everything good. Don't you want a good mind? Don't you want a good heart? Or you know, you just want to live with the bad because it's not possible, you know in this life Nobody can be perfect. You can think that way if you want to I Am going to pursue Everything that God gave us in Christ and That means that my wife will not mind if I pursue that either Because if I am pursuing Everything that God has given us in Christ, that's all goodness.

That's all righteousness That's all love. That's all peace and Paul calls it this treasure That's what he called it He says he goes on to say in the beginning of chapter 2 and Colossians My purpose is this that they may be Encouraged in heart. The Greek word is perical a though there it It's it's a word most often used when a commander is addressing the troops about to go for battle he Exhorts them or he seeks to encourage them and here's so here's Paul Writing these believers saying I want to encourage you with this mindset That your hearts would be knit together in love unto the full assurance of complete understanding so that you could have all the benefits of completely understanding the mystery of God in in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hid and So, I don't know why I don't Hear it enough in my circles that there are brothers who gather together to provoke one another on exhort one another on and say let's pursue fullness Let's pursue to be full of the Holy Spirit Let's pursue to be filled with all Love joy, peace patience kindness goodness meekness Self-control when all of the brothers and sisters here are being filled with the Spirit in this way against such things No law instead the very life of God is Making us something that he designed For God was in Christ Jesus Reconciling the world to himself not imputing men's trespasses against them and God has given us the message of Reconciliation Do we understand what that means? It's not just that.

Okay. God now accepts us. That's true Don't think I'm not saying denying that yes through Christ's death and blood and His atonement yes God now Forgives us we are now Acceptable to him through Jesus Christ, but it goes so far beyond that Jesus Jesus death was to reconcile us to God in other words to put us and God on the same page in Every single thing we we agree with every word God says We know that everything he says is perfectly good it's exactly what we need you see If that's not how you think the Bible calls it the evil heart of unbelief Because every single word of God is pure goodness Every single word of God is pure wisdom Every single word of God leads us to a life that is better than we could ever find without him It's perfect freedom perfect joy Perfect rest and it's found living in His son and there is so much more to know about the Lord Jesus than we fully know now and That isn't that what the church is supposed to be Let's gather Regularly and let's the word assume benign oh Or soon be bottle and Paul means it literally means to get on the boat together Let's get on the same boat.

And where are we headed? We are headed to be filled with every single grace that God has given us in Christ so that at least somewhere in some places a church experiences dynamic spiritual life in Christ an incredible love for one another incredible righteousness incredible self-control incredible godliness incredible blamelessness No one trying to earn anything only a group of people trying to receive Everything that God fully intended for them to have in Christ and you just like encourage one another and and you know, you kind of some people can get kind of get sidetracked and This is why Jeep back to the parable Where I started let me end going back to the parable of the sower Why did Jesus bring this be very careful how you here in the midst of that parable? Because what is God supposed to do? Can God force this on us? Is he going you know, it would be nice if God put us in a headlock, right? He said come on like you dummy like wake up, but does God do that? No No God says if you seek you'll find if You knocked the door will be open and if you ask you'll receive But that's why it's so important to be very careful how you here because if you'd have not heard that All the divine nature of God is given in Christ Is that what you're going to be looking for? Is that what you're going to be Looking to receive that you can have to me. This is this is very appealing to me These things I have spoken unto you. Can you finish that Jesus is talking to disciple these things? I have spoken unto you that My joy Will be in you and what if my joy is in yours in you.

What is your joy become? Full do I not want fullness of joy if the joy of the Lord is my strength Absolutely. I want it. I want every bit of joy.

I can have rejoicing in the Lord Always counting it all joy, even when you face trials of various kind living in a win-win situation when the days are good Thank you father when the days are bad. What are you gonna do through this? What am I gonna learn for this? It's just win-win. I Want what Jesus said look the thief is the one who comes to steal kill and destroy What why have I come I have come that you might have life and more abundantly Listen it's the same old lie If you're out there thinking that you're gonna lose something by becoming a follower of Christ It's like a person standing at the toilet saying I'm not really sure I want to let this go Can I keep it a little longer You know, it's like it's like do you cry after you flush? I don't but but listen to what Paul said The things I once thought gain Now they're trash to me compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ That's a heart of faith You know, it's interesting the very verse that brother Greg taught the children is Think of it with me, you know without this faith without this heart that this is how God wants your life to be So full of joy so full of life so full of his grace that you radiate his goodness We radiate his good.

That's what he wants without this faith. It's impossible to please God You know what you are without this faith. You are that you are that steward who was only given one talent and Why why did the master only give him one talent he said he gave each according to their abilities So, why was this guy's ability only one talent worthy when another guy could handle two and another guy could handle five Why what did the master see in this guy that he limited what he gave him? He knew his heart didn't he? When the master came back, what did the servant say the servant revealed out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks? What did the servant say about his master? I? Knew you to be a hard man No, he wasn't That's not how the other servants felt Jesus said come unto me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest for my yoke is Easy and my burden is light and you will find in me rest for your souls so that servant had the evil heart of unbelief and It's the same lie that they that the devil said in the very beginning It's the same lie.

There's nothing There is no greater joy than Seeking to know all the fullness of God that he has given us in Jesus Christ So I just want to encourage especially my fellow elders here all you older brother and the wise of your elders Listen, you don't settle for anything less than the fullness of Christ the fullness of Christ you grow up into him and all things and so I Visit here often in my spirit and and I pray for this church often and you know what? I pray for you that the eyes of your heart would be enlightened that you would know the hope to which you've been called and What is the riches of his glorious inheritance in the Saints and what's the last thing and what is the exceeding greatness of his power towards us and That power is like the working of his mighty strength which he exercised in Christ Jesus when he raised him from the dead So resurrection power in Christ is available Because in him if we've been united with him in the likeness of his death What certainly we will be united with him in the likeness of the resurrection and the life in the death He died he died to sin and the life he lives He lives to God in the same way That's how you live you reckon yourselves to be dead to sin and alive to God and you present yourselves to the father as Those who've been raised from death to life and you give God your members you give him your tongue You give him your mind you give him your emotions and you let God Christ in you make these instruments of righteousness and you display to the world the living God because of the way you live and speak and act and This is the purpose of the church To get us all on board Until every single one of us Knows God in this way That's the goal. That's the purpose for church Not just us kind of banding together and limping along until we all get to heaven someday That's a wonderful future. But know that in this world in This world we are as he is Here in this environment In Abbotsford in this day and time in this corrupt culture Christ dwelling in us is greater Than he that's in the world.

What a high calling what a purpose for gathering together and strengthening one another and Watching over so that no one falls short of this Everyone enters into the fullness of everything that God desired for us in Christ and this is the beauty of it Every person who begins to walk in this Becomes the kind of testimony God wants in the world When you walk this way you make the gospel beautiful When you take when you take the Lord Jesus in this way to your work your co-workers your supervisors Those under you those over you they see righteousness they see God at work in us and It's measurable. They can feel it. They can sense it and it has a spiritual force of gravity Back to that, let me finish with this back to that that now the parable itself, you know what we have to face, right? You know what we face Why did Jesus bring about this be very careful how you hear as an illustration of the parable? We made he makes it very clear.

I'm not trying to hide it No one does you don't you don't light a lamp to hide anything You light a lamp because you want people to see what does he want us to see be careful? Lest the word sown in your heart gets snatched away before it does you any good because that can happen It can happen Or you could be one at first at one time you receive the word with joy It was good to you. You rejoiced in it But but the soil was shallow because it was rocky. No, I'm gonna give you a hint about this is Is there only one type of soil that it's good and all the rest bad You just got to look for the right good soil and find it Or is good soil something that has to be? cultivated I passed through Eastern Middle Washington And I was going through wheat country and all as I passed through and I saw all this wheat There were it was only a little bit of it was being harvested Most of it was just about gold ready to harvest but all in the fields.

I saw these piles of rocks What were they doing there every time the farmers were plowing and They knocked these rocks up as they cultivated They separated them out and piled them So, you know what the rocky soil is It's a person has had a very little cultivation It's not cultivated his heart very deeply and the third soil It some seeds fell among the thorns Now if you were planting would you just see some thorn bushes over there and throw seeds in it? No Neither would it neither would they but you know They had their plows if they had a good team of oxen may have had two blades Maybe three at the most and you're plowing ground and there's some thorns in there. You're gonna knock them down You're gonna cut them apart, but you think you're gonna kill them at first Or just stunt them Turn them over but you are going to turn the soil over enough to where you can plant and That gives the chance for the seed that you plant to take off and begin to grow But if that's how you leave it what's going to happen That which is still alive in the soil is going to recover and it's suddenly begun to grow and If it's allowed to grow what's gonna happen It's going to actually take over what you've planted and choke out the good Why because you stop cultivating? You know, you're not hoeing anymore you're not you're not getting rid of the things that need to be getting rid of and There's one soil and I love the way Luke says it the good There's one good soil is the the man with a and it uses the two words for good Kalos and Agathos both the man with a good and noble heart You think anybody's heart is just good and noble by oh, they're just now and then God finds a good noble heart and that man bears fruit Or do you is it possible? that a person with a good and noble heart Has through cooperation with the Holy Spirit Stored up good things didn't know what Jesus said the good man bringeth forth good out of the good stored up in him is it possible that those who cooperate with the Holy Spirit have put to death the practices of the body and They put to death their members upon the earth and they've set their minds on things above and not on things of the earth where Christ is seated at the right hand of God and that the soil that Jesus is described is a soil that someone has cultivated and Continues to cultivate which is why he says and they lay hold of the word and through endurance Endurance of what you continue the process You continue to cultivate the life of Christ in you And if you'll continue to cultivate the life of Christ in you if you will measure Jesus for who he is Every grace that God filled his son with Was for you and I it's not to be he's not to be in some museum case The Lord is not interested simply in you saying wow how wonderful Jesus is how pure Jesus is how holy Jesus is how powerful Jesus is if I could only touch it because it is that museums, right? they have a lot of wonderful things to look at but all the sign says Keep your hands off Don't touch this not God's glory in Jesus Christ. It's meant for you and I It's meant for a mother it's meant for a father.

It's meant for a grandfather. It's meant for a worker It's meant for a husband. It's meant for a wife To make you exactly what God intended you to be in Christ and if that's how you'll estimate Jesus If that's how you see him That's how he will become to you and I and I hope you don't forget I hope my elders here will never let you forget, you know, just encourage one another Make it your purpose all of you that every single person is Moving towards that fullness that mature that completeness so that the Jesus They know who's already forgiven them the Jesus.

They know that has died for them and rose again Will become the Jesus who with the glory of God dwells in them Leading them by his spirit every moment Every day to everyone with everything they encounter. Okay Thank you