Come to Order, Pt. 2
Study Guide, January 26, 2025
Pastor Clay Olsen
We see them everywhere. They are really impressive. We usually don’t think about how they work, we just take for granted that they will work, because we depend upon what they do for us and our families and communities every day. We’re talking about…‘Water Towers’. These beauties are on average about 130 feet high, and they hold about…any guesses in gallons? Right, about one million gallons of water! And the really big ones can hold up to 2 ½ million gallons of water! What is also impressive is how they work. Water is pumped up into the giant tank and then by the power of gravity the water flows down and through the water systems to those whom it serves. Of course, some larger communities/cities just use pumps all along their water system. But, water towers are pretty cool!
And have you noticed how some water towers also have huge rods reaching up from the top of them? Because of their height, some telecom companies rent space on top of water towers for their cell towers. That’s just great business cooperation right there!
But we point this out as just another example of how wonderfully orderly our world around us really is. Like we pointed out in our study last time that, essentially, all of life is about ‘order’. Why, even when God was affirming His eternal plans for the national identity and future ministry of Israel, He used His ‘fixed order’ of creation as a confirmation of that. Notice: Jer 31:35-36- “Thus says the Lord, Who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; The Lord of hosts is His name: “If this fixed order departs from before Me,” declares the Lord, “Then the offspring of Israel also will cease from being a nation before Me forever.” NASU
Oh yes, life is all about God’s ‘fixed order’. We’ve talked about that in how even the orbits of the planets follow a fixed order. Every planet follows a fixed order in their journey around the Sun. We never have to worry about Mars veering from its orbit and cutting in front of the Earth. Like the Earth going, “Whoa…Mars…stay in your lane Bro!” “Oh yeah…Sorry about that!” That never happens. All the planets always stay in their lanes. Why? Because our Awesome God created them to follow His ‘fixed order’…in order for them to always orbit around the Sun. And you know where we are going with this, right?
Yes…for in the same way, and even much more, God created human life with a ‘fixed order’ for our lives as well. Even more than the planets were created to orbit around the Sun, you and I were created to orbit around the SON…the Son of God, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We were created to live a ‘Son-centered’ life. We were certainly not created to live a ‘self-centered’ life. We were created to live a ‘Son-centered’ life, a ‘Savior-centered’ life…a ‘Christ-centered’ life. And everything else in our life, both in this temporal world and in the world that is coming, is completely dependent upon our living out our daily lives in a consistent and continual orbit around the Son of God. For if we do not follow this ‘fixed order’ of ordering our life, orbiting our life, centering our life around the ‘SON’, we naturally set ourselves upon a course of destructive consequences…actions, decisions, and even destinies that are at cross purposes with God’s created order for our lives!
How remarkable it is to realize that the essential problem with most people’s lives is that their life is simply ‘out of order’. They are trying to live a significant, fulfilling, and rewarding life, all the while their soul is completely out of order…they are ‘out of orbit.’ Again, every person in this world was created to live a life that orbits around the Son of God, around the Savior of the world, around the Peron of Jesus Christ. They were created to live their life ‘centered around the Son’. And to the degree that their life is ‘off-center’ from the Son, to that degree destructive consequences are set into motion, in their life now, and on into their after-life.
Notice the place that Jesus is to have and to hold in each of our lives. In our last study we looked at the passage in Colossians that proclaims that Jesus Christ is both Savior and Creator. He is not only the Savior of our lives, He is also the ‘Sustainer’ of all life, of all that exists in life, physically and spiritually. And now, as this revelation continues, we see this: “He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.” Col 1:18-20 NASU
You see it? Christ is not just to have ‘a place’ in a person’s life. He is to have ‘first place’ in a person’s life…and first place in everything! If Christ does not have ‘first place in everything’ in a person’s life…then not only is that person’s life ‘out of place’, but ‘everything’ in that person’s life is out of place…mentally, emotionally, volitionally…physically and spiritually. God is to have a very precise place in each of our lives, for all of life was created to follow a ‘precise order’, in order for our life to both function and to flourish. We saw last time that if the Earth’s position was not in the precise place that it is in relation to the Sun, it would cause turmoil and destruction for life on Earth. Similarly, if a person’s position in relation to the Son of God is not in its precise place, it also causes turmoil and destruction in their life upon Earth…and afterwards, as well. Again, there is only one place that Jesus Christ is to have in anyone’s life…in your life and in mine…and that’s ‘First Place!’ And Christ is to have first place ‘in everything’ in our life.
A way that we can expand upon this ‘precise order’ for us to follow in life is through examining some ‘points of order.’ Like what? Like this: When Jesus was speaking to the curious crowds around Him, wondering what His message for their life was, Jesus said this: (And we’ll use two versions in order to unpack Jesus’ words) Mark 8:34-36- “And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?” NASU And in the NLT: Mark 8:34-36- “Then, calling the crowd to join His disciples, He said, “If any of you wants to be My follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?”
Notice that Jesus is revealing an ‘order for their life’ here in order for them to not forfeit their soul. And what was that ‘order’? Also notice what Jesus began with here: “If anyone wishes to come after Me”, or, “If any of you wants to be My follower.” What Jesus is referring to here is the very thing that makes up part of ‘Biblical repentance’, which is ‘an intention to follow Jesus’. Note this carefully: It is your ‘intention’ that reveals what you are ‘willing to do’ about something. And, mark it down, the ‘will’ is the part that is often left out of a person’s response to the Gospel. What we mean is that ‘repentance’ involves not only the mind and emotions, but also, and particularly, the ‘will’. As in, do you intend to follow Jesus, as opposed to continuing to follow yourself? What did the Prophet Isaiah reveal is the basic problem of mankind and their sin? Isa 53:6- “All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on Him the sins of us all.” NLT
Remember, the essence of ‘sin’ is ‘going our own way’ as opposed to ‘going God’s way’. The central problem of sin is following our own way as opposed to following God’s way. That’s one reason ‘repentance’ is often illustrated by the ‘U turn’ sign. Actually, an even more accurate sign than the ‘U turn’ sign is an ‘Upwards turn’ sign. We need to turn our mind and heart ‘upwards’ with the intention to follow God instead of ourselves.
Now, sometimes people have misled unbelievers in their witnessing by leaving out the repentant part of Biblical belief, or Biblical faith. Or, in sharing about a person’s need to trust in Jesus they leave out their connected need to turn to Jesus as they then trust in Him. For just as Isaiah revealed man’s sin problem was ‘going their own way, following their own way’, he then revealed the solution was to…well, let’s notice: Isa 55:6-7- “Seek the Lord while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the Lord, and He will have compassion on him, and to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.” NASU And in the NLT version: Isa 55:6-7- “Seek the Lord while you can find Him. Call on Him now while He is near. Let the wicked change their ways and banish the very thought of doing wrong. Let them turn to the Lord that He may have mercy on them. Yes, turn to our God, for He will forgive generously.”
You see it? An essential part of ‘trusting’ in Jesus in faith is ‘turning to Jesus’ in repentance. What makes up saving faith is both ‘turning and trusting’. Remember, Isaiah pointed out that ‘going our own way’ is the essence of sin…it is our central ‘sin problem’. We were created to ‘go God’s way’…to follow God’s way and will for our lives. There should be spiritual message signs all around the world something like the ‘Wrong Way’ road signs. People start out on the journey of their lives spiritually going the ‘Wrong Way’. At some point in their lives, the earlier the better, they need to ‘Turn Back, or Turn Around’ and ‘follow Jesus Christ’, who is both their Creator and Redeemer. The Apostle Paul described the conversion of the Thessalonian believers like this: 1 Thess 1:9- “For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God.” NASU
Mark it down: Saving faith is both repenting and believing. Remember, Jesus first words about the Gospel were these: Mark 1:14-15- “Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” NASU When it comes to saving faith, repentance and belief are part of one another. Or, we should say, when it comes to saving faith, repentance and believing are inseparable.
Charles Spurgeon described ‘Repentance’ like this: He said, “If you are asked which comes first, repentance or faith, you may answer by another question: “Which spoke of a wheel moves first when the wheel begins to move?” Great way to put it, right? They move together. And, again, as Isaiah pointed out, turning from following our way with the intention of turning to God to follow God’s way is ‘repentance’, and ‘repentance’ is necessary in order to receive God’s pardon and salvation.
As followers of Christ, we need to dispel a common notion…an inaccurate presumption really, about repentance and belief, thinking about them or speaking about them as though they are two separate things in the Bible. They are not. They have become two separate things in much religious jargon and many aberrant teachings, but they are never separate from one another in the Bible, nor in relation to salvation, and even on into the workings of sanctification. We must never separate repentance and belief in our thinking because the only kind of ‘belief’ that Jesus spoke about was a ‘repentant-belief’…or a ‘belief of repentance’. And the only kind of ‘repentance’ Jesus spoke about was a ‘believing-repentance’…or a ‘repentance of belief’. When the Apostle Paul spoke about his sharing of the Gospel, he said this: Acts 20:20-21- “…I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house, solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.” NASU Repentance and faith…turning and trusting…these always go together in order for there to be a faith that saves, or in order for one to have ‘saving faith’.
There has always been a danger in the church of an ‘imbalance’ in its teachings and in its message. In some church arenas the caution of not mixing works with grace has gone so far as nearly eliminating repentance from their message of the Gospel. Yes, it is of utmost importance that we make it clear that salvation is a gift from God, and that it cannot be merited or earned by man’s works. We must protect the Gospel of Grace, of the fact that: Eph 2:8-9- “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” NASU We are saved by Christ’s works and not ours. But, as Spurgeon also reminded the Church: “Repentance is part of salvation, and when Christ saves us, He saves us by making us repent.” In describing the salvation of Cornelius and his family in the Book of Acts it states it like this: Acts 11:18- “When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, “Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.” NASU God provides the gifts of repentance and faith for those who respond to the Gospel by believing in their mind and heart, or – trusting in Jesus Christ to forgive their sins, and by repenting in their mind and heart, or – turning from going their own way to going God’s way. They respond to Jesus’ call with an intention to follow Him, which is ‘repentance’, and with their invitation of receiving Him into their life, which is believing in Jesus as their Savior and Lord.
To sum it up: We were created to have a relationship with our Creator. Therefore, God has created everything in life with a ‘fixed order’ in order to fulfill that purpose of God’s. And as we follow God’s fixed order, we will not only find that fulfillment in our relationship with our God and Savior, but we will also then flourish in it, both now and in the Kingdom that is coming soon.
Next time, we’ll explore more of God’s fixed order for our lives.