I AM COMPLETE IN CHRIST
by Bobby Sullivan
CORE VERSE: 1 Peter 5:12, NIV: “With the help of Silas, whom I regard as a faithful brother, I have written to you briefly, encouraging you and testifying that this is the true grace of God. … My purpose in writing is to encourage you and assure you that what you are experiencing is truly part of God’s grace for you.
SPONTANIOUS: Unforced-Voluntary-Uncontained-Unprompted-Unsolicited-Unplanned performed or occurring as a result of a sudden inner impulse or inclination and without premeditation or external stimulus arising from internal forces or causes.
I want to be Supernaturally Spontaneous with sudden explosive capabilities, born to respond to the call at a moment’s notice. We are entering a season when the answer will be here before the question arises; when you will spring into action before the crisis or opportunity occurs. Even in worship “spontaneous worship” erupts from the overflow of our hearts towards His.
INTRODUCTION: What would people think if they knew that you were a Jesus Freak? Or maybe the first question to be asked is, are you a Jesus freak? Now, this may come as somewhat of a shock to many of you, but I’m a fairly opinionated individual. I tend to be one of those people that almost always falls on one end of the teeter-totter. I just can’t seem to stay balanced in anything. I am an extremist. I am all in or all out and have nothing to do with mediocrity. I confess, as a pastor I struggle with the whole “manage my expectations” concept of ministry because I am so ALL IN, which challenges my friends who by personality are not wired that way.
Introvert or extrovert. Opinionated or reserved. As we look at ourselves, and most of the other Christians around us, I think most of us would agree that when it comes to our walk with Christ, we often feel like our devotion, our allegiance, our love is less than it could be. It is lacking something. We have given Jesus our heart but have held back a piece that keeps it from being whole.
And the result is that many of us want to shy away from the teachings of Jesus such as, “Whoever is not with me is against me.” (Matthew 12:30) It makes everything too cut and dry. Too black and white. We find ourselves saying, “Yea, I love Jesus, but I’m not some kind of fanatic. I don’t have to talk to others about it, wear a scripture verse on my t-shirt, or have bumper stickers all over my car to be a Christian.”
There is a psychiatric diagnosis known as Dissociative Identity Disorder. It is a personality condition where a single individual evidences two or more distinct identities or personalities, each with its own pattern of perceiving and interacting with the environment around the person. It is not the direct result of substance abuse or another medical condition. It is a personality disorder, originally called Multiple Personality Disorder.
It is different than schizophrenia in that it is not a fracture of the normal functioning of the brain, but a fracture of the actual elements that make up a person’s personality.
And to some degree, spiritually, it is a condition that almost all of us struggle with. We desire our identity to be found in Christ, but we find it in other things. AS A RESULT…… LIVING WITH A SPIRITUAL DISSOCIATIVE DISEASE MAKES US MISERABLE.
It is not how we were created. It does not please the Father. It leaves us with a gaping hole in our heart that is continually trying to be filled by other things.
We will discover today that our completeness was already accomplished through the cross so stop trying to be what you already are!!!!!
8 You love him passionately although you have not seen him, but through believing in him you are saturated with an ecstatic joy, indescribably sublime and immersed in glory.
“Inexpressible” (NIV), “unspeakable” (KJV), or “indescribable” (NRSV) is the Greek adjective aneklalētos, a word which occurs only here in the New Testament, and “describes a joy so profound as to be beyond the power of words to express.”
Remember? He touched me, oh He touched me, and O the joy that floods my soul. Something happened and now I know, He touched me and made me whole.
Shortly after Peter wrote this book, he was crucified upside down. The day before they crucified his wife. Nero had burned down Rome and used Christians as human torches. So, Peter understood persecution yet remained full of joy. “Not sure how” He did almost plead to his listeners and readers to grasp true grace.
We must baptize ourselves in the revelation of his grace and immerse ourselves in the results of that. If not, we will be submitting applications for the next series of “The Walking Dead”
Peter transitions from exhorting to expression. He begins verse 13 with “So then” or “therefore.”
It’s a general rule of Bible study that whenever you see a therefore, you ask, “what’s it there for?”
Theology to ethics.
1 Peter 1:13-25
1 Peter 1:13 “So then, prepare your hearts and minds for action! Stay alert and fix your hope firmly on the marvelous grace that is coming to you. For when Jesus Christ is unveiled, a greater measure of grace will be released to you.”
“So many of us cavalierly gloss over what he has done and zero in on what we’re to do, and that shift, though it might seem slight, makes all the difference in the world. Our obedience has its origin in God’s prior action, and forgetting that truth results in self-righteousness, … (obedience flows out of revelation, anything more is a religious act)…. pride, and despair. As you study Scripture, remember that the imperatives are always rooted in the indicatives. God calls you to become who you already are in Christ.” E. M. Fitzpatrick
The devil’s biggest trick is to keep you on a treadmill of performance making you try to be perfect and please God. The lie is to knock you out of your position with Christ.
“God has not given us power to imitate Him. He has made us partakers of His nature so that we can actually be like Him. You don’t become a Christian by acting like one. We are not on a performance basis with God.” Neil T Anderson
You will never have an unloved minute with God.
Anything that causes distance between you and God is a demonic doctrine.
Romans 12:1-2 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, … be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
Ephesians 4:23-24 “…be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”
Align your mind with the divine. Your concept of Gods view of you will ultimately determine your view of him.
Repent and realign yourself to the revelation that you are a child of God with a renewed mind.
ALIGN YOUR MIND!!
“Your mind trying is catching up with what your spirit already knows.” Caroline Leaf (Switching On Your Brain)
A Mind Focused On These Four Things Will Allow You To Express Your Godly DNA In These Extreme Times:
- His Nature 2. His Discipline 3. His Love 4. His Word
HIS NATURE: 14 As God’s obedient children, never again shape your lives by the desires that you followed when you didn’t know better. 15 Instead, shape your lives to become like the Holy One who called you. 16 For Scripture says: “You are to be holy, because I am holy.
Holy (hagios) :— Wholeness, fullness, abundance, overflowing, completely complete, — set apart for God, to be, as it were, exclusively his.
Being Holy in the O.T was nearly impossible. In the N.T we need to express what God has done in you. Don’t just go witnessing, be a witness! Maybe we should learn to be spontaneously deliberate and supernaturally decisive. I am inspired by being intentional in every aspect of life.
Remember last week, almost 150 years ago, pastor and preacher Dwight L. Moody said this, “Of one hundred men, one will read the Bible; the ninety-nine will read the Christian.” But to Moody’s point, few people actually read it. What many people do read is the life of a believer.
You are the righteousness of God.
You are the apple of his eye
Ministers preach BE HOLY for I’M HOLY. I get it but when it becomes a sin management course that can never be passed, you will always fail. When the light finally comes on, darkness will fade away. Streets preachers and others constantly beat you with the holy stick! God will not come unless we do this or that.!! That revelation will reveal to you that you are not an obstacle to God not coming to Bridgewater! We need a godly electrician to take off the light faders. Our walk with God does not fade in and out.
Be holy for I am holy is more of a personal invitation rather than a commandment. For as whole as he is, so can you!
I believe he is saying, be complete as I am complete.
(Colossians 2:10). When you know that you are complete in Him, you can realize your ability to do great, remarkable things.
What does complete really mean?
Webster dictionary defines complete as:
com·plete adjective \kəm-ˈplēt\
- having all necessary parts: not lacking anything
- not limited in any way
- not requiring more work: entirely done or completed
- fully carried out: thorough
In the verse listed above, we see the fullness of God lives in Jesus so if the fullness of God is in Christ and Christ is in us, then the fullness of God lives in us!! Not just a trickle, not just a sprinkle but the fullness of God!
I Am Complete In Christ!
Paul Ellis “Holiness is not one aspect of God’s Character; It is the whole package in glorious unity … When the angels sing ‘Holy is the Lord,’ They are not admiring Him for His rule-keeping or sin avoidance. They are marvelling at the transcendent totality of His perfection.”
You are not as holy as your behavior dictates or thinks, you are as holy as your identity.
“Calling does not merely mean “invite” but conveys the idea of God’s power in bringing people from darkness to light. Just as God’s call creates light when there was darkness, so he creates life when there was death. The reference to “calling” is important, for again grace precedes demand. Otherwise, the Petrine parae-ne-sis (Peters instructions) could be confused with the idea that human beings attain their own righteousness or that they live morally noble lives in their own strength.
All holiness stems from the God who called them into the sphere of the holy.” Thomas R. Schreiner
He pickled you and permeated you with his presence. That is what will change this province, not lessons in morality!
You are a sign and a wonder! You will not have to hold up what you already are.
Holiness does not come from you or what you do! It originated from God.
Jesus did zero sin and he became sin; we did zero right and I am the righteousness of God!
When you were born you were born in sin but when you were born again you were born in righteousness. Born into the very nature of God.
- HIS DISCIPLINE: 2 Peter 1:3 “By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.”
Billy Graham (In his book Lifetime Guarantee) “Are Christians a truly holy people? Or are we TRYING to become a holy people?… As an oak sapling grows, it doesn’t get “oakier.” An oak is an oak. It simply matures into what it is, a full-grown oak tree.”
Jesus grew in favor, in wisdom and stature but he was every bit the son of god and Holy!!!
Behavior is always connected to identity!
Keep confessing you are a sinner as a saint and your confession will catch up to you.
Stop saying, “I’m a sinner saved by grace”
Start confessing you are a child of God created from the seed of Christ destined and designed to display the goodness of God, demonstrating the love of God in full. Every demon will know they are destined for destruction because I was born.
Luke 2:52 “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.”
1 Peter 1:17 Since you call on him as your heavenly Father, the impartial Judge who judges according to each one’s works, live each day with holy awe and reverence throughout your time on earth.
This Inspires confidence!!! (Judges in order to find something good. Warren Wiersbe – The Bible Exposition Commentary)
He comes to draw out the goodness like a refiners fire.
His discipline draws out his desires for your life.
He deals with me uniquely, originally and individually!
- HIS LOVE: 18 For you know that your lives were ransomed once and for all from the empty and futile way of life handed down from generation to generation. It was not a ransom payment of silver and gold, which eventually perishes, 19 but the precious blood of Christ—who like a spotless, unblemished lamb was sacrificed for us.
20 This was part of God’s plan, for he was chosen and destined for this before the foundation of the earth was laid, but he has been made manifest in these last days for you.
Notes: Jesus is committed to unearthing or revealing his true expression of grace in you! What the world needs now is love sweet love! They need a manifestation of God’s love.
4.) HIS WORD: 21 It is through him that you now believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, so that you would fasten your faith and hope in God alone.
22 Now, because of your obedience to the truth, you have purified your very souls, and this empowers you to be full of love
for your fellow believers. So express this sincere love toward one another passionately and with a pure heart.
23 For through the eternal and living Word of God you have been born again. And this “seed” that …
…he planted within you can never be destroyed but will live and grow inside of you forever. For: Human beings are frail and temporary, like grass, and the glory of man fleeting like blossoms of the field. The grass dries and withers and the flowers fall off, 25 but the Word of the Lord endures forever! And this is the Word that was announced to you!
Hebrews 10:10 (NLT) “For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.”
Hebrews 10:14 (TPT) “And by his one perfect sacrifice he made us perfectly holy and complete for all time!”
Acts 26:18 (AMP) “to open their [spiritual] eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness and release from their sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified (set apart, made holy) by faith in Me.”
