Magnifying Christ’s Presence in Our Fellowship
1 Corinthians 2:4-5; Philippians 1:20
Jim Davis
Powerful fellowships are built by faith in the name of Jesus. Peter commanded those on Pentecost to be baptized “in the name of Jesus.” He was commanding them to be baptized by the authority of Christ. After all, it was the last command Jesus gave his disciples before his ascension to heaven. It was also the first command given on Pentecost.
Matthew 28:16-20
16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." NIV
Acts 2:38-39
38 Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off-for all whom the Lord our God will call." NIV
It seemed to be of utmost importance for the first century Christians to teach, preach and obey the authority of Christ. This is the symbolism of baptism. I die to self-rule to accept Christ’s authoritative rule. The apostles wanted the world to know they were teaching and preaching by heaven’s authority. They wanted those coming to Christ to know they were placing their lives under the authority of Christ. First century Christian fellowship began under the authority of Christ, and continued to be built by power of Christ.
By surrendering to Christ’s authority and rule over our lives we experience his powerful authority in our circumstances.
Mark 16:15-20
15 He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well."
19 After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. 20 Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it. NIV
The first Christians were not only baptized by the authority of Christ, they were also admonished to live daily by the authority of Christ.
Philippians 2:9-11
2:1 If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7 but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death-
even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father. NIV
The strife in the Philippians’ fellowship would be solved by the Philippians bowing their hearts and minds to receive Christ’s presence as they sought to develop the mind of Christ. Our problems must bow their knees to Christ. Paul admonished these Christians to submit their problems to the mind of Christ. The battles we face in life are battles that must be won in our hearts. It’s the attitude the Holy Spirit is seeking to develop within our hearts that makes victory possible. When the Holy Spirit is allowed to do his work within Christ’s presence is realized. Where Christ’s presence is felt we discover peace in the midst of trouble.
We Either Magnify Christ or Our Problems
Where Christ’s presence is realized Christ is magnified. The disciples Jesus called and trained during his earthly ministry understood one absolute truth—they were powerless without Christ. When Christ was arrested in the garden Peter drew his sword and cut off a man’s ear—he was striving to bring God’s kingdom about through human strength.
Matthew 26:52-54
52 "Put your sword back in its place," Jesus said to him, "for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. 53 Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? 54 But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?" NIV
When you come to the book of Acts things have changed. Now those disciples are seeking to discover Christ’s presence in their own hearts. In doing so, they became dependent upon heavenly powers to accomplish the impossible. That’s why they simply laid claim to the authority and power of Christ. They were experiencing marvelous results.
Without Christ we tend to magnify our problems. When this happens our problems become our gods. Whatever we allow to prevent us from coming to Christ, from doing God’s will becomes our god.
The Israelites had made the giant David slew their god. The giant had tied their hands in hopeless despair. They were having trouble believing in the power of God, but they had no problem believing in the power of the giant. David faced the giant believing God would help. However, David’s battle with the giant was a battle he won in his heart before he ever stepped out to take on the giant.
What are the giants in your life that are keeping you from reaching God’s potential for your life. There is not a person in this audience who is not facing a giant. All of us have our own giants. Through the help of God we must become giant slayers.
When the disciples went forth preaching the gospel in the name of Jesus Christ—remember this means they were placing their efforts in the hands of God—they were signaling they were dependent upon God for the results.
One of the giants we face in our lives is the lack of resources. How many times have you side-stepped what God was calling you to do because you felt you lacked the resources, power, finances, connections, schooling, or opportunity. Each of these became a giant obstacle obstructing your view of God’s potential. How often do we create our own giants?
The other day I saw a sign that said, “To live frustrated over what you don’t have, is to fail to appreciate what you have.” To live frustrated over our lack of resources leads us to overlook the resources at our disposal. What is it that you already possess that God can use to fill your deepest need?
The only way you can get a handle on the giants in your life is to look down on them from God’s perspective. Moses came to God in the burning bush asking, “Who I am, that I should go to Egypt.” God asked Moses the most basic questions. What do you have in your hand? Didn’t I give you a mouth to speak for me? But Moses says my mouth doesn’t work all that well God, because you made me stutter.
When we fail to look down upon what we already have from God’s perspective, even what we have at our disposal may become a giant obstacle of hindrance. Amazingly, Moses and David were shepherds. God used what was in their hands—a staff, a sling, skills learned while shepherding. Moses staff was turned into a snake, he struck the Nile River with his staff and the water turned to blood; it was held up as God parted the Red Sea; it struck a rock causing water to gush from it providing life giving water to those in the wilderness. God told him to speak to a rock to bring water forth water from the rock, but Moses refused and used his staff instead—he paid a price.
What has God placed in your hand? When Peter and John met the cripple on their way to the temple in Acts 3, they simply said, we don’t have any silver or gold, but in the name of Jesus Christ we command you to stand up and walked. After the miracle, the people looked to Peter and John thinking the miracle was done by their own power.
Acts 3:1-11
3:11 While the beggar held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon's Colonnade. 12 When Peter saw this, he said to them: "Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? 13 The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. 14 You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. 15 You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. 16 By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see. NIV
Today the world’s system seems to be a giant immovable obstacle to accomplishing God’s potential. However, the world system has never been an obstacle for God’s people. Daniel was taken captive to Babylon to be brain washed. The Babylonians changed his name from Daniel to Belteshazzaar. The name Daniel meant “God will judge.” The name “Belteshazzaar” was a derivative from the name of the chief Babylonian god Bel. This helps you to see how the world system was against Daniel. They change his name to refocus his life on the Babylonian culture, but he chose to live by the authority of God his God. He refused to eat their food, and to seek wisdom from their Babylonian Gods. He became the wisest of men in the midst of Babylon’s wise men.
God destroyed the wisdom of the wise men of Babylon. He frustrated the intelligence of the intelligent by the wisdom he gave to Daniel. It was through Daniel’s wisdom he struck fear in the hearts of the Babylonians. More than once they sought to destroy Daniel, but he stood against the odds and won.
You may believe the dynamics of the religious world is a giant standing in the way of your own personal growth. However, the disciples of the first century faced the dynamics of the Jewish system which stood opposed to preaching Christ. When the cripple was healed in Acts 4, immediately the Jewish leaders called Peter and John on the carpet questioning them about the miracle. They simply spoke boldly in the name of Jesus.
Acts 4:8-14
8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: "Rulers and elders of the people! 9 If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, 10 then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11 He is
"'the stone you builders rejected,
which has become the capstone.'
12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. 14 But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say. NIV
When Peter and John faced their giants those observing were led to praise God, as a result the giant shrunk in size. It was all because they placed themselves under the authoritative power of Christ. When they looked down on their giants from God’s perspective they shrunk in size.
How often do you see a person or a group of people as the giant preventing you from reaching God’s potential? You may think a person or a group of people has the ability to make God’s potential for your life a reality. But you get no help from them. They seem to be against you. You may face prejudice that seems to block your God given potential. The first disciples crossed the seemingly impossible barriers between the Jew and Samaritan, also the barrier between the Jew and the Gentile as they preached the gospel to the uttermost part of the world. They did it all in the authority of Christ, as a result they experienced the power of the risen Christ.
Listen to what the Lord told David as he faced his enemies.
Psalms 110:2
2 The LORD will extend your mighty scepter from Zion;
you will rule in the midst of your enemies. NIV
Your circumstances may become your giant. How often do we allow intimidating circumstances to become our giant? We can only see our circumstances as a hindrance to God’s potential for our lives.
Our spiritual burdens often become a giant crushing the life of God out of us. Maybe you have an addiction. There may be some other spiritual problem you are magnifying. Everybody has one. Maybe it is something awful in the past that makes you feel unworthy to pursue God’s dream for your life. Everybody has a problem that makes them feel the same way. The prophet Isaiah felt the same way when God called him.
Isaiah 6:5
5 "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty." NIV
Conclusion:
What made possible the expansion of Christianity in the first couple of years of its existence? Those first century Christians made no claim to have the resources, or the ability to take the world for Christ.
We invoke the name of Christ because Jesus has all authority; he is the Son of God; he reigns supreme over all the giants we meet.
1 Corinthians 2:4-5
4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power. NIV
The gospel came to them with the power of the Holy Spirit.
1 Thessalonians 1:4-5
4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. NIV
They lived by the gospel because they believed the message was the message of God. They allowed God to begin his work in them through the message.
1 Thessalonians 2:13-14
13 And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe. NIV
Bible Study Questions
What was the importance of the first Christians to teach, preach and obeying the teaching of Christ?
What do we experience when we obey the authority of Christ?
How does the authority of Christ apply to the daily problems we face?
What difference do we see in the disciples' life before Pentecost and after Pentecost?
What does obeying the authority of Christ bring to our troubling circumstances? Study the following scriptures for discussion (Philippians 1:3-30; Philippians 3:7-16; Philippians 4:10-13).
What happens when we look at our problems without the authority of Christ? Is it possible to make our problems our God?
Explain what this lesson describes as a giant?
How do we allow our resources to become a giant obstacle?
What happens when you become frustrated over what you don’t have?
How do we allow the world system to become a giant obstacle?
How may the dynamics of the religious system become a giant?
How may we allow a person or a group of people to become a giant?
How may your circumstances become a giant?
How often do we allow a person or a group of people to become a giant?
How do we allow or spiritual problems to become our giant?
What made possible the spread of Christianity in the first century?
What are you allowing God to do in your heart to remove your giants?