1. After You Believe
18 June 2017

2. hope not “going to heaven”
but resurrection into the new creation “the new heaven and the new earth”

3. shalom
Everything wrong with the world will one day be made right.

5. What is the point of being a Christian?

6. Life Heaven

7. character

9. Christian ethics
To “do” To “not do”

10. What we are “here for”… is to become genuine human beings,
reflecting the God in whose image we’re made:
in worship
in mission
by “following Jesus.”

11. Matthew 19:16-30; Mark 10:17-22; Luke 18:18-30
Rich young man
Matthew 19:16-30; Mark 10:17-22; Luke 18:18-30
I want us to look at the story of this rich, young, eager man

12. What good thing must I do?

13. Mark 10:17
Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

14. “eternal life” “going to heaven” 1st century Jew: the age to come
the time when God would bring heaven & earth together
the time when God’s kingdom would come & his will would be done on earth as it is heaven
[CLICK] many think “going to heaven” [CLICK] but as a 1st century Jew

15. How can I find true happiness?

16. How to behave
How to be happy
[CLICK] how to be happy

17. wrong
Keep the commandments
Go to heaven
[CLICK] wrong

18. Mark 10:20
Teacher… I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young.

19. 10 commandments No other gods No murder No idolatry No adultery
Don’t misuse the name of the Lord
Sabbath
Honour parents
No murder
No adultery
No theft
No false witness
No coveting
[CLICK] no murder. [CLICK] Sabbath, [CLICK] but the 1st 3

20. Mark 10:21
Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him. “There is still one thing you haven’t done,” he told him. “Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

21. challenge
Not 1 or 2 more commandments
Not a higher moral bar
But be transformed

22. Mark 10:22
At this the man’s face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.

23. How are we to be the people who will not only inherit the kingdom of God but who actually partner with God to see it happen?

24. Mark 10
2-12 divorce
17-22 money
35-45 power
[CLICK] each line

25. NOT… BUT… …here are the rules to obey …follow your heart… your dreams
…transformative, character-changing

26. Mark 10 2-12 divorce 13-16 way of the child 17-22 money
32-34 death – resurrection
35-45 power
[CLICK] for v 13-16, 32-34

27. the coming of God’s kingdom follow me

28. How to behave
rules
How to be happy
longings

29. Not specific type of behaviour But a call to type of character
Mark 10
Not specific type of behaviour
But a call to type of character

30. being human being eikons being Fully Alive shalom
The NT shows us how & points us to…

31. character

34. character

35. The harder I work the luckier I get

36. N.T. Wright
we urgently need to recapture the New Testament’s vision of a genuinely “good” human life as a life of character formed by God’s promised future… that future-shaped character lived within the ongoing story of God’s people, and with that, a freshly worked notion of virtue.

37. Character transformation
aim at the right goal
figure out the steps to take
those steps need to become habits
[CLICK] each line

38. character
The goal is a life of character, a life of reflecting Jesus