Sermon on April 24, 2022
KaB FKB (Volker Aßmann)
Belonging at Jesus
This sermon is translated from German into English. You can find the original video here
Do you know the Olympic motto? Being there is everything !< >Participation is everything, even if you finish far behind .<
These include, for example, the Olympic team like Eddie the Eagle:
Since childhood, athletically clumsy Briton Michael Edwards (better known as Eddie the Eagle) dreamed of competing in the Olympics once in his life. But he wasn’t good enough at any sport. When he found out that ski jumping was hardly practiced in England, he tried to teach himself the sport. He eventually becomes the first British ski jumper to compete at the Olympic Games, in Calgary in 1988. His personal best was 73.5 m, and he finished 109th at the Four Hills Tournament in 1988/89.
To belong, to be part of something meaningful.
E.g. finally the cowl from CMA (Christian Motorcyclists Associatian ) wear, that’s what you’ve been waiting for, Dieter, and it was very important to you to officially belong, to be part of CMA.
Belonging is a deep basic need of life. We want to be part of the clique, maybe you always wanted to be class representative, part of the better football team…
We want to be part of a certain group of people who might be cool or influential or respected.
How about being in the book <Who is Who<? But you have to pay a lot of money for 2 years until the next issue.
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The Book of Life
In Judaism and Christianity, life is the idea of a divine register containing the names of all people pleasing to God who have ever lived.< (Wikipedia)
When the disciples (students/followers) came back from Jesus and beamed with joy about spectacular things they had done and experienced in the name of Jesus, such as driving out evil spirits, Jesus told them what really is a reason for joy, what really counts:
“ Rejoice rather that your names are written in heaven.“ (Luke 10:20)
This means that nothing and no one can compare with this gift of being allowed to belong to God.
No miracles you may have experienced or done in the name of Jesus Himself. No column about you in the book “Who is who “, no membership of any church or Olympic team or CMA…!
To be in God’s book of life means the highest and greatest, being incomparably more than a millionaire, or influential politician or influencer . Whoever’s name is written in God’s book of life can be sure of belonging to God forever and ever. This is not a book that you have to pay for entry and pay again in two years.
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Your name – written in God’s hands
But how did your name get into this important book?
When Jesus Christ was nailed to the cross, He wrote in His hands the names of everyone who would trust Him.
Then the Son of God died for you and paid for your guilt and loss with His life:
“Through His death on the cross in human form, HE reconciled you with Himself in order to bring you back into the presence of God and present you holy and spotless before Him. (Col.1:22)
“ He cleared the list of charges against us; He took the indictment and destroyed it by nailing it to the cross.“ (Col.2:14)
To personally accept this in trust and faith as God’s great gift and to experience that God forgives you all your debts is the only requirement to be in God’s book.
This is God’s great gift to you when you trust Him and bring all your guilt and failure to Him and believe that He has already died for you.
“ Can a mother forget her infant? Doesn’t she feel for the child she gave birth to?
Even if she were to forget him, I (God) will not forget you.”
“ Behold, I have marked you on the palms of my hands.“ ( Isaiah 49:14-16)
God speaks again and again of His devotion to His people, of His loyalty, which surpasses all of our highest ideals by a whole world.
Should even a mother ever leave her newborn child (or later) and be unable to love, which is unlikely but possible, God can never do such a thing.
If you believe in Jesus, you are not on any church list, you are in God’s hands and in His heart.
Of course, God can never forget you and lose sight of you, but at the latest when God sees Jesus‘ pierced hands, HE will read your name there.
HE can and will never forget you: you belong to HIM and you are safe, in good hands and safe in his hands.
If there is one thing you will never forget about this service, it may be His hands, with your name in God’s hands and in His heart!
I will probably never forget what my first encounter with CMA was: you stood around the grave of Pierre, who was yours, and you said goodbye to Pierre in the cemetery with the words:
FOREVER IN HEAVEN – 08/02/2014
That was Pierre’s and that is your and my hope and confidence: safe in God’s hands. Belonging – to God!
Rev.21,27 : „Nothing unclean will be allowed in (into God’s new city and world), not even anyone who practices idolatry and spreads lies, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s (Jesus) book of life.“
In the Bible we read about this absolute prerequisite for access to God, personal faith in Jesus!
And that’s why Jesus Christ’s invitation applies to you today: Believe me – and I’ll write your name in my book forever and ever – you belong to me!!
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The big difference – Never forgotten by God
This is not about lip service, but about an existential question: What is really important in your life?
Your work, your possessions, your family, your belongings?
And what remains when everything melts between your fingers like sand?
What remains and what is really important?
“ Then those who respected the Lord talked together, and the Lord saw and listened to them. And He had all who feared Him and honored His name written in a book to remember them.
„The day I act, they will be mine,“ says the LORD Almighty.
>I will spare them as a father spares his child who respects Him.
Then you will know the difference between the righteous and the ungodly, between those who serve God and those who do not. ‚”
To stand in God’s book of life, to belong to HIM as a child of God, that is the decisive and greatest thing!
And not just as a confession, but as a motto and purpose in life: I have decided to follow Jesus – never back!
Even if this is not a value recognized in our society, it is the central message of the Bible:
Entrust your life to me (God) and serve me with everything you have and are!
As God’s child, you are safe in His hand that has your name on it. And as His child make the decisive difference in your life and follow HIM! Live in His footsteps, with Jesus and Jesus!
And be sure, even if it threatens to be buried in the crises, the day will come when the decisive difference will become visible: You were and are in His hands!
You will be spared and protected as a father spares his child who respects Him.
„The day I act, they will be mine,“ says the LORD Almighty.
>I will spare them as a father spares his child who respects Him.
Then you will know the difference between the righteous and the ungodly, between those who serve God and those who do not . ‚” ( Malachi 3:16)
“ Rejoice rather that your names are written in heaven.“ (Luke 10:20)
Come and follow Jesus!
Amen!
Hebrews 12 : 22-24 : “You have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, to Jerusalem which is in heaven. You have come to the festive gathering of an innumerable company of angels and to the church of God’s firstborn whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God Himself, the Judge before whom all must answer, and to the righteous who are already made perfect, whose spirit is with God. And you came to the mediator of the new covenant, Jesus, and were sprinkled with His blood…“