Tag: God

The True Gospel & Worldwide Fruit (Colossians 1:1-8)

On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn Colossians, Imago Dei Class, Messages1 Comment

This week we will begin our Colossians series by studying the first eight verses of the book. These verses contain Paul’s opening greetings, which includes his declaration of authorship, official address, and thanksgiving. Too often opening greetings are skimmed over, but there’s plenty here to learn about the nature of the gospel, the role of faith, and the responsibility of those who are ministers of the gospel.

1. Reason for Thanksgiving (1:3-5)

After his customary extension of grace and peace to his brothers and sisters in Christ at Colossae, Paul tells them that he always gives thanksto Godfor them. “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you” (Col 1:3). Then he tells them why he gives thanks for them, “since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven” (Col 1:4-5).

Why is Paul thankful for the Colossians? First, because he has heard of their faith in Christ Jesus (v. 4). Second, because their faith in Christ has produced the natural fruit of loving each other (v. 4). And third, because their faith is not in vain, but is rooted in a sure hope that is laid up for them in heaven (v. 5).

When we look at our own lives or the lives of believers around us, these same things should encourage us and lead us to thanksgiving. We should be thankful for genuine faith in Christ. Thankful for the Spirit bringing real fruit from our faith in our lives. Thankful that our faith will result in a future inheritance in heaven.

Simply put, Paul is thankful that real Christianity has taken root at Colossae. People have trusted Christ, are loving one another, and are living with their gaze fixed on heaven. If we, our church, or our families are doing the same, let us thank God; it all comes from Him!

Continue reading “The True Gospel & Worldwide Fruit (Colossians 1:1-8)” →

Post-Christmas Blues: Why Christmas Leaves Us Longing for More

On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn Devotionals, Miscellaneous6 Comments

It’s a feeling that comes every year. I felt it yesterday when our timed lights on the Christmas tree cut off for the last time of the Christmas season. We spent an entire month leading up to this day, and just like that, it’s over. I remember feeling the same way as a child. It’s the same feeling I would get when a good friend would have to go home after coming over to play. I call it the post-Christmas blues.

As a child, I felt the blues because there were no more presents or family gatherings, and I had to go back to school. Its certainly not as strong now, but I still feel it. I love Christmas and everything about it. Every year, I am sad to see it go. But why?

I don’t think its the lights, trees, decorations, or festivities. Nor is it the family meetings, delicious goodies, or joy of seeing my kids enjoy Christmas day. All of these things are great, but what is unique about Christmas, especially for followers of Jesus, is a month long opportunity, not to savor the external trinkets of Christmas, but to savor the reason for Christmas: the Savior Himself. And to do so with the people that we love.

As an adult, I’m not as concerned about all the external trappings of Christmas. I am concerned about worshiping Jesus as I ought to, and leading my family to do the same. And Christmas is an incredible opportunity to do just that. But here’s the thing. Every year when Christmas ends, I feel like I didn’t do enough.

I didn’t read enough advent devotionals. I didn’t meditate on the incarnation enough. I didn’t lead enough discussions with my family on the meaning of God sending His Son. I didn’t encourage my brothers and sisters in Christ enough. I didn’t sing the songs of the season with enough of my heart. I didn’t sit back and rest in Jesus enough. I didn’t share the news of His coming with nearly enough people.

The post-Christmas blues, then, are just a symptom of this underlying diagnosis: I am not enough. I will never worship, serve, and glorify God enough. But its at this point that I must remember the whole point of Christmas: that God knows I will never be enough. No one can be. But His Son is! True enough- I haven’t worshipped Jesus as much as I could have this season. But my relationship with God is not based on how much or how well I worship Him. It is based on the perfect life, death, and resurrection of the Son of God. And in that I can rest in every season.

A Longing for Heaven

I have learned to embrace the post-Christmas blues. God has set eternity in our hearts, and if we are His people, nothing on earth will satisfy us. That’s a good thing, because we were not created for this world alone.

In heaven, we will get to spend unhindered time with God’s people, with family, and with friends. In heaven, we will get to rest and enjoy all that God has done for us. In heaven, we will get to worship Jesus perfectly. And we will be able to do all of these things without the distractions of this world.

In heaven, the warmth, the light, the joy, will never end. Because we will be with God. That’s what my heart longs for every Christmas. And that’s what remains just out of my grasp every year, so that I will never be fully satisfied until I take hold of it. Until then, I will be content to taste the coming beauty of heaven every Christmas season, and to embrace the blues that come along with it, as it reminds me year after year, the best is yet to come.

The Triune God: The Ultimate Christmas Gift

On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn Theology1 Comment

Christmas is here! And all that comes with it: lights, decorations, gatherings, and…gifts. What does that last word do for you- gifts? Does it create excitement, perhaps over the gift you might receive or give? Or does it create a sense of burden over the gifts you need to purchase? Whichever it may be, how would you feel if I told you that our practice of gift-giving could (and should) deepen our appreciation of the Triune God?

Why do we give gifts at Christmas, anyways? We may say, “because God has given us the gift of salvation.” And while that may be true, the gift God has given us is much more than that. The ultimate Christmas gift is a Trinitarian gift. It’s a gift prepared, given, and protected by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is a gift that redeems the world and restores all that mankind lost in the Garden of Eden, chiefly, an intimate relationship with the Triune God.

When God gives us the gift of salvation, He gives us Himself and the ability to know Him. That’s what we lost in Eden. Everything else is merely a symptom of that broken relationship. So God prepares, purchases, and extends this gift to us. But He does so through each member of the Trinity giving themselves so that we may know God in all of His fullness. Let me explain.

Continue reading “The Triune God: The Ultimate Christmas Gift” →

Psalm 98- Why and How We Should Sing Praise

On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn MessagesLeave a comment

Today we are going to take a look at Psalm 98 together. This psalm helps us with something that we do every week: sing worship to God. But Psalm 98 has much broader implications than just singing. Though its only nine verses, it encompasses the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation and encourages us to celebrate that story through songs of praise.

Singing praise is central to the Christian life. We sing praise every week as the gathered body of Christ. But do we know why we sing praise? Do we know how to sing praise? Do we know how to make praise a part of our everyday life? Let’s remember, it is to the holy God of the universe that we are called to render this praise; we should not take such an endeavor lightly!

Thankfully, we have Psalm 98 to guide our way. The big idea of the psalm is this: we should praise God in the present by remembering what He has done in the past and looking forward to what He will do in the future. Let’s consider the components of this idea in turn.

Continue reading “Psalm 98- Why and How We Should Sing Praise” →

The Preeminent King Who Reconciles All Things

On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn MiscellaneousLeave a comment

Our focus as a church this week was on the preeminence of Christ. Preeminence refers to the exclusive right of being first, supreme, or surpassing all others. The Son of God in the person of Christ is preeminent (Colossians 1:18). He is before all things (1:16) because He created all things (1:15-16) and holds all things together (1:17b).

Christ is also preeminent over the church (1:18). The church is made up of those whom Christ created; they are part of the “all things” He created in 1:16, who rebelled against Him (1:21) but have been reconciled back to Him (1:22). But how did this reconciliation occur? By the preeminent One “making peace through the blood of His cross” (1:20).

The beauty of the gospel captured my heart this Sunday. Colossians 1 presents the Son as the One who created all things and currently holds all things together. But it also presents Him as the One who reconciles all things by His own death. Only the One who created all things can reconcile all things back to Himself- and there was only one way for Him to do that- “by the blood of His cross” (1:20).

Here is the prominent reminder for us: everything that we need, from the greatest need of salvation to the smallest need of our next breath: Christ provides. He created all things. He sustains all things. He reconciles all things. By the blood of His cross.

Grace for the Humble- 1 Peter 5:5-11

On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn MiscellaneousLeave a comment

Once again, I have been tasked with teaching on a passage and topic that I have neither mastered nor have begun to gain proficiency in: humility. Some of you may have just breathed a sigh of relief. You’re already pretty humble- so you think- and so you’re poised for a nice pat on the back! But once you think you have humility, you’ve lost it. So I am here to help you regain it. For others, you may have groaned, because you struggle with pride, and now find yourself blessed to sit through a sermon on humility.

Most are somewhere in between, wondering what in the world I am about to say, but here’s what I can promise you: we all have something to learn today. Not because of what I say but because of what God says. We all have the opportunity to sit before God’s Word and to hear Him speak to us about a virtue that is absolutely necessary for His people.

So what is humility? It is an attitude of mind that realizes that we have no reason to be distinct, special, or important in God’s eyes. It is the recognition that without God, we are nothing. Even in comparison to others, in the grand scheme of things, we are all the same- creatures that are completely dependent upon God for life, breath, andevery good thing.

1 Peter 5:5 commands us to put on humility, “Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble’.” After exhorting the elders in verses 1-4, Peter encourages the entire church, “all of you,” to clothe themselves with humility. Why? Because God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.

Thus we see the necessity of our subject this morning. God opposes those without it. The word oppose conveys the imagery of being set in battle array. God opposes the proud as if He is a battling army. Thus we are commanded to clothe ourselves with humility, a rare verb that refers to a slave putting on an apron before serving, as Jesus did before washing the disciples’ feet.

So, what do you want this morning? Do you want God to oppose you? To set His face and His power against you? Or do you want God to be gracious towards you? What determines whether we receive God’s opposition or His grace in our lives? Humility.

Continue reading “Grace for the Humble- 1 Peter 5:5-11” →

Old Testament Wisdom for New Testament Believers (Proverbs 4:23-27)

On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn Miscellaneous1 Comment

“The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom ” (Proverbs 4:7a). If you want to be wise, get wisdom. Pretty simple, isn’t it? The entire book of Proverbs is filled with wisdom. So get the book, there you go- wisdom! But if you’ve ever read the book of Proverbs, you know it doesn’t come that easily.

Proverbs is a part of the rich wisdom literature of the Old Testament. Such literature is not conducive to interpreting at face value and immediately applying it to our lives. We have to slow down and understand the individual proverbs in their original context. We have to read them through the lens of biblical theology, and then apply them to the current context of our lives as New Testament believers.

In this message I want to help us “get wisdom” by studying a passage of Proverbs in the ways I just mentioned. Our text will be Proverbs 4:20-27,

Continue reading “Old Testament Wisdom for New Testament Believers (Proverbs 4:23-27)” →

Reflecting God’s Love- A Eulogy for Dorothy Rachels

On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn MiscellaneousLeave a comment

This Saturday I had the privilege of speaking at Dorothy Rachel’s funeral in Thomaston, GA. She was my wife’s grandmother, whom we all referred to as “Memomma Dot.” She was the spiritual matriarch of the family and played important roles in my wife’s and my own faith journey. She was full of faith, love, and life. I used her favorite verse for the message- John 3:16. My aim was demonstrate that her remarkable life can only be explained by the fact that she knew and experienced God’s love.

I am posting the audio recording of message here for Memomma’s family and friends who were not able to attend the funeral and for those in attendance who asked if we had a recording. I pray that it will be a blessing to you, honor Memomma, and bring glory to God!

The Center and Core of the Whole Bible

On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn MiscellaneousLeave a comment

I’ve been reading through Ned Stonehouse’s biography of J. Gresham Machen, the conservative New Testament professor at Princeton Seminary who stood against the liberal theology that was making inroads in the Presbyterian Church of America in the 1920s and 1930s.

Throughout the Book, Stonehouse highlights key sections from Machen’s works. In one of them, titled What is Faith?, Stonehouse recounts where Machen clearly sets forth what he believes to be the “center and core” of the whole Bible: the grace of God. And I couldn’t agree more. He writes,

Continue reading “The Center and Core of the Whole Bible” →

The Ministry of the Mundane

On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn DiscipleshipLeave a comment

1748-slide1

 

Do you ever feel like your days run endlessly together? Wake up, go to work, come home to innumerable chores, go to bed, repeat. Where is the abundant life God promised? Are you missing it? Is it possible to find purpose in the predictable and meaning in the mundane?

I (Jarrett) found this article earlier in the week, and I had to rewrite and repost it, because I think that every believer will be built up and edified through it!

If we are followers of Christ, the answer to the above questions are “yes,” for nothing done in surrendered obedience is ever wasted. At each moment, God uses our mundane, earthly experiences to train and equip us for something greater, to center our thoughts on the eternal, and to be active participants in his outpouring of love and grace. Living God’s great adventure is not a matter of location or vocation, but rather, a continual process of heart and mind transformation.

Continue reading “The Ministry of the Mundane” →