Sermon Central
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"X-Factor For Christians”
Contributed by Bubot Parago on Oct 7, 2018 (message contributor)
Summary: There is an unknown to be known, an X-factor in all believers of our Lord Jesus! When I searched the google, they defined The X-factor as a variable in a given situation that could have the most significant impact on the outcome.
I am inspired to preach our text on 2 Corinthians 8:9 because of this verse also penned by Paul in Ephesians 3:8 “Although I am less than the least of all God’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ…”
The unsearchable riches of Christ! What are the unsearchable riches of Christ? I searched up the concordance and looked up every verse that mentions riches and Jesus, and found some amazing things. A reminder to let us have this caution... that how much we unpack, unearth some of these unsearchable riches of Christ, we’ll only scratch the surface. We’re going to see only limited riches, because it would still be not enough on how amazing Jesus is, and how generous He is with us. The riches of God’s wisdom and knowledge are so deep we could never plumb the depths, so infinite we could never track them to the end. But for the meantime, it would be sufficient for us... I hope by the end you’ll be saying with Paul, “Oh, the depth of the riches of Jesus! They’re unsearchable!”
This is the reason why I like to exhort from this text.
“You know the generous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that by His poverty He could make you rich.” ( 2 Corinthians 8:9NLT )
There is an unknown to be known, an X-factor in all believers of our Lord Jesus! When I searched the google, they defined The X-factor as a variable in a given situation that could have the most significant impact on the outcome. For, “You know the generous grace...” Know what? The unknown grace, the unsearchable riches of Jesus Christ. “The exceeding grace of God in you. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift!
And so, our topic for today is the factor in our situation being Christians, an X to be solve, an unknown to be known that would be relevant once revealed, which could change our ordinary, mundane religious life into a very exciting, significant impact on our future, our family, our finances, our focus....
Let us solve it.
Let:
"The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.”
“...that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints,”
Are you ready?
This verse ( 2 Corinthians 8:9 ) is the story of Jesus Christ, from riches to poverty. This is the story of every believer, from poverty to riches. Christ is here, in this verse, revealed, and so are we.
I- eXceeding riches of CHRIST
These eXceeding riches is what the Apostle John had clarified as he wrote; “Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.” John is saying these not only on the soul and physical aspect but more so on concerning all things" so in all respects compare 1Pe 4:8 and Matthew 6:33 of our Lord’s discourse. Of course, since his soul's prosperity is presupposed, "above all things" does not imply that John wishes Gaius' bodily health above that of his soul, but as the first object to be desired next after spiritual health. Apostle John meant to say that “I know you are prospering in the concerns of your soul. I wish you similar prosperity in your body. Perhaps John had heard from the brethren (3Jo 3) that Gaius was in bad health, and was tried in other ways (3Jo 10), to which the wish, 3Jo 2, refers.
I want that to be clear because of the teaching of some in the faith and prosperity movement wherein this verse is commonly used.
In fact, Apostle Paul had warned Timothy about these in 1 Timothy 6:5 “who suppose that godliness is a means of gain”
(see also, 2 Pet. 2:14-15)
At the very least, it’s dangerous when a Christian’s material prosperity gets ahead of his spiritual prosperity. Paul warned (1 Tim. 6:9-10), “But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”
In my years of Christian life, prosperity and blessings for me is balance:
Blessings is:
#1 Spiritual first (Matthew 6:33) whereby the Kingdom of God is foremost and then all things that we are looking and seeking for will be added unto us. If we continue to get right with God and His righteousness then blessing #2 which is Emotional Blessing comes next as we learn to understand people and forgive people just as Jesus had understood and forgiven us. Remember we can not give what we don’t have. We received forgiveness from the Cross? We can freely give understanding and forgiveness to others!
