Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] So this is going to shock you, but we're on sermon number 33 in the Gospel of John. Is that amazing? You guys have endured 32 sermons on this book, so bless your hearts.
[00:00:13] So I'm going to have you turn to John, chapter 17. We're going to look at that chapter. And I already can tell you I never finished the sermon last first service, so I don't have a lot of hope for me doing that in this service as well. But I will stop at the appointed time. How's that?
[00:00:30] We're going to speak a little bit about how do we experience, I like that word, experience.
[00:00:35] God's design for healthy relationships. You think this is an important topic today? I do, because I'm a pastor and I see a lot that's going on. Dennis Rainey was the director of family life. We went to a family life conference. Dennis Rainey was there and he shares this one, one of his books. He said the top ten personal needs for which respondents said they want help from the church. Six of those top ten involve marriage and family issues. And I've been a pastor a long time. I can say, you know, the reason why it seems to be in that arena is because those are our most important relationships and we, we're going to have struggles in relationships and probably in the closest ones we will have the most struggles. You say, why is that, pastor? Well, there's a number of reasons for it. I think number one reason is because we get to know each other as we really are.
[00:01:30] Okay. And now we get to practice really loving each other. You know, it's easy to love people you don't know.
[00:01:37] It's a lot harder to love people once you get to know them and you see them with their weaknesses and their issues. But here's the thing. I don't think we really can say we love a person until we seen them in their most disadvantaged state. And now we can say, despite this, I love you. And that's the way God loves us unconditionally. Now can I say that all of us? You know, a lot of times people might think, well, I just want to find someone who will love me for who I am. And I'm going to tell you this, that the one person I can guarantee will love you just the way you are is Jesus. Isn't he amazing? He loves us. He knows everything about us. I would even argue there are some things about you that you don't even know that aren't so nice. And he still loves you. I'm pretty impressed that he loves us.
[00:02:34] In this manner. It's amazing to me, but I think as we become more like Jesus, that's what we have to learn. And as we mature and we grow in our relationships and we get to know each other, I think it's so important to learn how to be patient and kind and forgiving and understanding even when someone is not behaving the way you'd like them to. People have faults.
[00:02:56] We can pray for them, but ultimately only God can change you. Only God can really change a person's life. And I think that's an important point. We need to understand, you know, if we have this issue, people coming forward for this relationship. There's a lot of other relationships that people are struggling with today and people are not relating to each other in healthy ways.
[00:03:25] Many people today, because of the pain of broken relationships, then decide, I'm going to live more of an isolated life where I'm going to insulate myself and only have superficial relationships. And we're seeing that so often, you know?
[00:03:39] And I think that's a dangerous place to get to because you become very alone and isolated.
[00:03:46] People stay away for fear of being hurt. Can I just say something? You will get hurt. You cannot love and not be hurt. It's part of the parcel. But it's worth the risk. It's worth the risk to love. It's worth the risk to give your life away. Because in the end, you're going to receive. Because what you're giving people is what you're going to get back. If you love people, you'll receive love. Not by everybody, but you'll see love in return. If you understand, you'll be understood. If you give, you're going to receive. It's just the opposite. People say to me, this is what I need. I'm saying to myself, well, then go out and do it, because if that's what you want, that's what you got to give.
[00:04:31] Isn't that a foreign thought to a lot of people? Some people say, nobody is friendly. Well, I'm going, well, are you friendly?
[00:04:38] If you think about it, if you're friendly, you will probably have a few friends. But if you're an unfriendly person, you probably won't have very many friends. It's just the nature of the thing. So what did God have in mind when he made us in his image? What's God's design for human relationships? And I'm not just speaking about marriage now. I'm speaking about all kinds of relationships. At work, at school, in our neighborhoods, at work in our grocery shopping or shopping and all of the interactions we have with people. You know, what's fascinating is that Jesus now is about to be crucified. And what's he thinking about? He's thinking about his needs, the needs of his disciples and our needs in the 21st century. How many think that's amazing? He really does. He's thinking about people. He's spanning time. And he prays this amazing prayer, and it's found here in John 17. And we get an understanding as God's design for human relationships. But not only that, we'll see how it relates to the great mission of the church, because it's tied together.
[00:05:48] If we understand the mission of the church and we're actively engaged in that, we're going to actually be moving towards healthier relationships. And there is a tie in. So without healthy relationships, marriages crumble, families disintegrate. Workplaces lose productivity and often struggle financially. Churches lose impact. People become embittered and they become lonely. And then to compensate for these losses, people try to search for meaning in superficial relationships, temporal gains, or all consuming addictions. So you know what? We were designed to relate.
[00:06:26] You were designed to be social. I'm not a social person. No, you were designed by God to be. And I'm going to just say something. There's an emptiness inside of people that will only be filled when we have the ultimate relationship. We're going to look at that, the relationship we can have with goddess, because there's something driving all of our lives. All of us in this room are driven. There's a longing. There's an ache, there's a desire. Somebody was talking this morning, talking about a person who had the wrong desires. I said, do you know how strong desires are? Desires are very strong. It actually moves people in a good direction or in a wrong direction. Sometimes you have to recalibrate the desire because that ache and longing is going to still stay inside of people. It's just got to be directed correctly. And when you and I have a desire for things or people more than a desire for God, what happens is we start losing out big time.
[00:07:23] And you know, the Bible calls that idolatry. And when we're worshiping idols, we end up forfeiting God's favor and grace in our lives. I'm quoting from scripture. You don't even maybe realize that. It says it right there in the book of Jonah. They worshiped idols and they forfeited the grace of God. So as believers, we have to ask ourselves the question, what is my strongest desire? What is driving my life? It's such an important question. And I'm gonna argue that until we get it situated correctly, until God is the aim, until he's the longing, until he's the desire, we're gonna be in trouble in our lives. There's gonna be a brokenness. We're gonna search for this and search for that and yearn for this and yearn for that, but we're not gonna be satisfied. And there's a lot of unsatisfied customers in North America today. There's a lot of discontented people living in our regions today, and yet they have everything going for them. But they're still not content. They're still yearning and longing because God wired us a certain way. So let's turn to Jesus prayer, and we're going to find three powerful insights into experiencing God's design for healthy relationships. And the first one, and I think the most important one, and I've already alluded to it and stated it, is our response to God, the father, the son and Holy Spirit, God himself. Now Jesus begins this prayer. How many think it's kind of a sacred moment? Jesus knows he's about to die, and we're going to eavesdrop on the prayer of the son of God. How many think this is amazing? If you ever wanted to learn how to pray, why do we listen to Jesus? What's he praying about? What's he praying for? Very fascinating. You know, he's going to pray for himself. He's going to pray for his disciples, but he's also going to pray for the people that are going to embrace the message that the disciples are going to give, which includes you and me. So Jesus is praying for himself, his early followers, and he's praying for followers throughout all the ages. Jesus is looking down the portals of time. He can see, he's seeing you and I as a part of this great gathering. And so in these moments just before he's going to be crucified, he's thinking about the father.
[00:09:42] He's thinking about himself going through this experience, and he's thinking about others.
[00:09:47] I can learn a lot from Jesus. The primary focus of his prayer, and I think the primary focus of our prayer should be to bring glory to goddess. You and I were designed by God for him. You were created for him to bring glory and honor to him. That's why you're here. So, you know, I always have a problem, and I've thought a little bit about this. We cannot serve God on our terms because then we make it about us.
[00:10:16] We have to serve God on his terms so we can make it about him. And when we start to do that, and here's what I'm going to say. Some of us in this room, we have the wrong target.
[00:10:27] And if you're shooting for the wrong target, you're going to end up finding out that you put your ladder against the wrong wall. You're not going to get to where you think you're going. I think this is huge. I think we have to set our aim and say, okay, what is it that God really wants from me? And ultimately, what do I really want? And I'm going to argue here and say that maybe we have, we think we know what we want, but in reality, if it's not what God wants, you're not going to be satisfied.
[00:10:58] You're going to be disappointed. You may get what you want, but in life you'll be so disappointed with that. But I'll tell you this. If you can say to yourself, okay, I don't know what God wants with my life, but I'm willing to take the risk and say, okay, God, I'm up for it. From this point on, the agenda is going to be your will. I want you to be glorified. I want to understand it and I want to pursue it. Pursue it. Would you help me with it? What is God going to do? Say, no, I don't like that prayer?
[00:11:24] No, he's going to say, it's exactly what I want. And as you pursue that, you're going to gain something far more significant than you can ever imagine. You're going to come to a place of deep contentment and joy and a level of spiritual development that you'll just be overwhelmed by. So Jesus knows that God is glorified through relational reconciliation. I think that's an important point. So if you and I have, we had all these broken relationships in our lives, we need to understand something. God is glorified through relational reconciliation. What does that mean, pastor? It means that I work at restoring relationships. I work at trying to live at peace with all people if at all possible. I try to, you know, forgive people. I try to live in such a way that I'm honoring and showing respect and dignity to other people. I want to live in a way that my life will bring glory to God. By the way, I'm relating to people because how I relate to people is really indicative. It's a sign of how I'm truly relating to God. And we need to understand that. Let's look at his prayer here's Jesus. We're eavesdropping.
[00:12:37] After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and he prayed, Father, the time has come. What time?
[00:12:44] He knows he's about to be crucified.
[00:12:47] Glorify your son, that your son may glorify you. Interesting prayer. Glorify me, father, that I may glorify you. I could say, honor me so I can honor you. God, would you help me to be the person I need to be so I can glorify you? Father, would you help me to do what you want me to do so that I could glorify you? How many? That's a beautiful prayer. Isn't that great? Why don't we copy Jesus prayer? He's giving us a beautiful pattern here, for you granted him authority over all people, that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. So Jesus says, listen, let me read the next verse and you'll see how this all ties together. He says, now this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. So Jesus is saying, you know, in verse two, he's saying that he might give eternal life to all those who have given him. Who gives eternal life?
[00:13:54] Jesus does. And who does jesus give eternal life to? Those who come to Christ. And if you come to Christ, then you come to the father. But if you don't come to Christ, you don't know the father. Now you say, pastor, that's a pretty profound statement. That excludes a lot of people on the planet. So all the people who don't know Jesus really don't know God.
[00:14:16] Did you just hear what I said? That's a shocking statement.
[00:14:19] How can you say that, pastor, with all these religions in the world? Well, let me summarize a thought for you. What is religion?
[00:14:28] It's man's endeavor to somehow appease God, to somehow be in a right relationship with God. And so what does all these religions demand of people is they live a certain way. They live ethically, they do certain things, they believe certain things, but it's initiated from below. It's human endeavor. But all of our right behavior, all the things that we do, that we would consider righteousness, as far as Isaiah is concerned, is like a filthy rag.
[00:14:55] Because, you see, what makes Christianity different, what makes this totally different is that God himself, in the person of Jesus Christ, left heaven, came to earth, lived a sinless life, and he died on our behalf in order to reconcile us into a right relationship to the father.
[00:15:14] That is unique, and it's not something you and I did. It's something you and I embraced. We accepted that. We became followers of Jesus Christ. And it changes your life. The moment you do that, you begin to have a certain quality of life. It's not, you know, when I think we think of the word eternal, we always think of eternal life as well. That'll happen to me after I get to heaven. No, it happens to you the moment you give your life to Jesus. Because eternal life is a certain quality of life.
[00:15:48] It's eternal in duration, yes, but it changes the environment in which we're living in. And that's why Jesus said, I've come to give you life and that to the fullest.
[00:15:59] So Roland Tasker says this at the heart of the issue of Jesus prayer. The entire life of Jesus has been a setting forth of divine love, and here lies its uniqueness.
[00:16:14] All that he has said and done, his teaching, his mighty works, has been prompted by the desire that men and women should enjoy that higher life which has experienced it in its fullness only when their sins are forgiven and they're reconciled to God. In other words, if you and I are not reconciled to God by accepting Jesus as sacrifice, we're not living at the level that God designed for humanity. And I would argue today that the majority of people on the planet are not living this kind of life. And I would even argue that there are people that are in the church that don't live this kind of life because they're really not living for the right purpose.
[00:16:53] They've gotten sidetracked by all kinds of earthly distractions. Cause you remember Jesus warned in the parable of the sower, he said, the seed goes out into the soils of the human heart. But there's some people, they spring up with joy, but there's no substance to, there's no depth, there's no foundation, and they perish. And then there are some. The seed falls in the weeds and in the thorns. And Jesus likens that to the deceitfulness of riches and the deceitfulness of the things of this world. And people get entrapped by the values of this culture and they get swept away and choked out in the eternal. The life that God promises is now taken away from us. But then there are some people, they hear the word and they act on it and they become fruitful and they grow. And that seed bounds and it becomes 30, 6100 times as great. Because what's happening is that they are doing the same thing Jesus is doing, and he's laying down his life for other people. And as you and I begin to do that, you know, unless the seed falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone. But when it dies, it comes forth and it produces, it produces more than that one little seed.
[00:18:09] Ff. Bruce says, let me finish, tasker, he says, and when once the perfect sacrifice of himself has been offered, it will affect that reconciliation, the gift of eternal life, which will be available to all believers. FF Bruce says now he prays that he may indeed be glorified. None can glorify him but the father. Unlike others, he seeks the glory which comes from the only God.
[00:18:33] Let's stop here for a minute. Where are you looking for approval? Where are you looking for affirmation from people, from society, from your peers?
[00:18:44] Are you looking for that approval that can only come from God?
[00:18:48] Isn't that amazing? You know, Jesus says, I'm only looking for one's approval, and that's you, father. If you tell me it's good, it's good, you know, I'm going to say something. Everybody wants to be affirmed and encouraged, approved.
[00:19:02] But, you know, some people's approval means nothing. They have an agenda, they're manipulative. They'll tell you you're great until you stop doing what they want, and then you're terrible. Ever admit that? I've had that experience. Not that I was trying to seek their approval, but if I don't do what they want, I'm bad.
[00:19:19] Okay, we need to seek the approval of one person. Wouldn't it be awesome when you get to heaven and your heavenly father says, wow, good job. I'm so proud of you. You know how many have had this experience as a child? Your parents said to you, I'm so proud of you.
[00:19:40] I'm so thankful that you're my child. I'm so grateful you've been affirmed by your father.
[00:19:48] It's pretty, pretty powerful stuff, right? You know what happens when you have that kind of affirmation? As a child, I could say to my friends, hey, my dad wouldn't approve of that. Therefore, I'm not going to do it. Why? Because I wanted my dad's approval. That was more important to me than my friend's approval.
[00:20:04] Isn't that amazing?
[00:20:05] That's what it comes down to, guys.
[00:20:08] Whose approval are you living for? I want my father's approval. When I get to heaven, I want my father in heaven is say, paul, you did a good job. The apostle Paul says, I've run the race, I've kept the faith, I fought the fight.
[00:20:22] You know, I'm waiting now. God's gonna, he's gonna reward the apostle Paul. You know, at the end of his life, he was deserted by most people. He was maligned and abused. You know, people treated him poorly. The greatest, you know, earthly, I think one of the greatest earthly christians that ever lived was abused.
[00:20:40] But, you know, when he gets to heaven, he's going to be cheered. And now looking back, we can look back and say, oh, man, he was so awesome. Do you know, we rarely value the people we live with until they're gone. How sad is that? That's why I try to affirm people now and tell them what they mean to me now.
[00:20:59] It's so important. People need to hear that. But we're not doing it for that reason. We're wanting our father's approval.
[00:21:07] He goes on to say, the cross, as he knows full well, is to be the vehicle of that glory. Can you imagine saying, wow, this is what's going to bring glory to God, my death?
[00:21:18] Jesus knew it, and he prays that he may so accept it as to bring glory to his father. In turn, he's prepared to lay down his life because he knows, you know, the father and the son decided of this game plan way back in eternity. Jesus, you know, was willing to do this long before he came to earth. But he said, now the hour's here, I've got to go through with it. It's executing the plan. You know, it's one thing to know something, it's another to execute. That's a lot harder. Isn't that true? Sure it is. Jesus desires now to have his glory restored. But what does that mean for him? Well, first of all, he would be glorified for the work that he was about to accomplish. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. How many here say, you know what? That's what I want. I know I'm doing God's work and I want to complete it.
[00:22:10] That's what will bring glory to my father. I want to live my life in such a way. I want to live a holy life, a blameless life, an obedient life, a self giving life, a life that will honor the father. I want to complete this life. I want to finish well. I see a lot of christians, they don't finish well. They're all over the map, you know, and it's tragic. I see some people finishing well. You know, I'm excited. I'm going to do a funeral here on the 27th for caring, gooding.
[00:22:39] This lady lived well. She served, she poured out her life for other people, you know, they're kids. It's going to be interesting. I'm going to speak. They said, could you speak about my mom? I said, I have no problem. I totally respect your mom.
[00:22:54] They said, do you know the verse that speaks to us most about her? I said, what is it? One corinthians 13, four, seven. I said, yep, I can speak on that text because she amplified a life of love and she gave her life away for others.
[00:23:11] That's the kind of life you want to end with, that people can speak well of you. You know, sometimes you get to a funeral service and we're all hoping they made it.
[00:23:20] Do you know what I mean by that?
[00:23:23] We're looking, did they really make it? Their life certainly didn't evidence it. You're just hoping at the last minute because they may have known the gospel, that they may have cried out to God, you don't want to live that kind of life, that he might share the equality that he enjoyed with the father.
[00:23:40] He says, and now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. So Jesus was with the Father in all eternity. And what did jesus do? He said in Philippians, Paul said, and he laid down his right to be equal with God the Father. How many say, that's impressive?
[00:24:01] What did that really mean? He laid down his, what we would call his non moral attributes.
[00:24:07] These are his power attributes. You know, Jesus was not no longer omnipresent. That means he couldn't be everywhere at one time like God the father was in the spirit. He limited himself to a human body. That's a big limitation. When you're God, could you imagine limiting yourself to be a baby? And he limited himself to be in poverty.
[00:24:30] He wasn't born in a king's castle. He was born in a stable, of all places. That's great limitation. And then it says, you know, he didn't know everything. He says, I don't know when I'm supposed to come back to earth again. As God, he knows, but as a human being, he limited himself that he was no longer omniscient. He knew some things, but he didn't know everything.
[00:24:53] And then he limited his power. Yes, he was still powerful. Yes, he could speak to the wind and waves, but he only did what the father told him to do. And he only said what the father told him to say. And he limited everything else.
[00:25:04] I'm impressed with Jesus. And then I hear christians today, no, this is what I want. This is my rights. I'm standing up for this going, what are you guys talking about?
[00:25:14] You know, listen to me.
[00:25:18] Let this mind be in you. That was the same mind as it was in Christ Jesus, who thought it not robbery to be made equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and humbled himself. He laid down his rights.
[00:25:33] And all I ever hear from people today, my rights. This is what I deserved. I'm standing up for this going, my goodness, are we missing the point?
[00:25:43] Are we behaving like Jesus?
[00:25:47] I'm just throwing it out there, you know? Sure, we have rights, and once in a while, we probably need to exercise them. Paul did. Oh, I'm a roman citizen. Why are you treating me like this? But for the most part, Paul suffered. He didn't exercise every right he ever had. Sometimes we lay them down for the sake of peace. We lay them down for the sake of love. We lay them down for many reasons. And you say, how does that apply to you and me and our relationship with God?
[00:26:18] How can we explain the nature of the life we have with God? Well, I've already mentioned it's eternal, but it's more than just an intellectual understanding. Ff. Bruce says, the father and the Son, well, we know it's only through Christ we have the life, but the father and the Son know each other in a mutuality of love and the knowledge of God. Men and women are now admitted to the mystery of this divine love, being loved by God and loving him and one another in return.
[00:26:47] What's he saying? He's saying that when we really know God's love, we'll love people.
[00:26:52] It's what's going to happen. It's the fruit of it. It's the outcome of it. So if I'm not relating to people in a loving way, I've got to ask myself a few questions. And this eternal life, as we think, only happens after we physically die. No, it's happening the moment we really receive Christ, the moment we enter into that relationship. Now we have the highest form of life because we're now living in the highest environment.
[00:27:14] We're in a new kingdom. We're living in a different level. We're not saying everybody's bad. We're just saying we're at a different level. What does it really mean? Well, I like what merrill. He describes it this way. He says, a worm is content to live in soil. And I added, a fish is content to live in the water. How many know? You and I don't. We wouldn't survive in that environment, in water. I mean, we can dip in once in a while, we can do a few things, but we can't just stay down there forever. It's not going to work, you know. We need not only the wider environment of earth, sea and sky, but also contact with other human beings. In other words, you and I are designed by God to relate socially for the complete fulfillment of our being. We must know God. Thus Jesus said, jesus is now telling you what eternal life is. You and I really cannot live fully unless we know God intimately and personally. You're not living that life. It's not an intellectual thing, it's not knowing. Oh, this is what it's all about. It's not understanding the gospel. It's actually relating to God in a personal way so that you and I are living in a different environment.
[00:28:22] And it's not only endless since then, the knowledge of God would require eternity to develop fully. There's so much to learn about God.
[00:28:31] Do you ever thought about it? God's eternal and you and I live for a brief moment and we think we know a lot.
[00:28:36] Come on now.
[00:28:38] And qualitatively it must exist in an eternal dimension. There's a quality to it. I like that.
[00:28:45] As Jesus said further in this prayer, eternal life would ultimately bring his disciples to a lasting association with him in his divine glory. In other words, you and I, once we get introduced to him, we will always know him forever.
[00:29:01] That's beautiful. I love that the relationship will never end. It will never cease.
[00:29:09] That's eternal life.
[00:29:11] Now what happens to not know God leaves you and I with an emptiness in our soul. I would argue that the reason why people are so discontented in our society is they don't know God.
[00:29:26] And if you try to throw anything into your soul to try to substitute for God, you're going to be disappointed. The vacuum that God fills is so great that only God can fill it. You can throw people in there, you can throw money in there, you can throw fame in there, you can throw success in there. It's never going to satisfy because the vacuum inside of your soul is so big. It was designed to be filled by God. And that's why Augustine writes this. He says, you know, our souls are restless until they find their rest in thee, o God. And I love listening to David's longing for God. He says it this way, oh God, you are my God. Earnestly I seek you. My soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you in a dry and weary land where there is no water. I know that's poetic, but what is he saying is, nothing will quench the thirst in my soul. But you, o Lord, and it's true.
[00:30:16] And you know, you can have the love of beautiful people in your life. I'm a very rich person. I have so many beautiful people that love me.
[00:30:24] But this is going to shock you as much as I have all of your love in my life.
[00:30:28] There's still a huge gap and there are moments when I'm alone. It's being God. I say, God, I need you.
[00:30:39] I feel such a longing still. I need more, Lord, and I need more of you. And I cry out to God, and God hears that cry and he fills me with his life and his spirit. And I'm trying to encourage you. If you run off and chase all these other things, you're going to be so unhappy and dissatisfied. You're going to make those things idols. And really, what is repentance? You're turning from the worshiping idols to serve the true and the living God. And I remember reading this in Jonah one day and it really struck me. He said, there's a verse there, I think in chapter two, verse five, it says, if you worship idols, you forfeit the grace of God. And I wonder how many christians today are so busy pursuing all kinds of other things and are actually forfeiting the grace that God wants to put into your life.
[00:31:31] And how sad that is.
[00:31:33] I'm going to tell you, pursue God.
[00:31:37] Do we know God's love?
[00:31:40] Do we actually love him? Do we love others? You know, you have to measure your love for God by the way you're relating to other people and how we're treating them. You know, Eugene Peterson, in his book Christ plays in 10,000 places, speaks about the threat of gnosticism, which is all about those alternative stories out there about Jesus. Now, I don't know if you know, but in the second and third century, there were all these fabrications about the life of Christ and they weren't true. And they've reappeared in the 20th and 21st century in a big time way. And everybody's embracing this stuff. You know, he says, in these accounts of the christian life, the hard edged peculiarities of Jesus life are blurred into a sublime divine. What does he mean by that? Well, they're taking away the stuff that makes people uncomfortable about Jesus. How many know Jesus is an uncomfortable person? If you're a sinner, just pointing that out, you're going to get uncomfortable. How many know that Jesus poked the bear?
[00:32:38] How many know that Jesus addressed issues in people's lives and they walked away unhappy. How many know religious people who thought they were following Torah to the letter, and they said, jesus, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said to the rich young ruler, sell everything you have and go and give it to the poor and then come and follow me. Now, you know what he had said to Jesus before? Jesus says, well, what must you do to inherit good life? Jesus, keep the laws, the commands. He said, well, I've done that since my youth.
[00:33:07] Had he? Jesus says, well, what else must I do? He said, see, what should I do to be saved? Can't do anything. You got to trust Christ. That's what he was saying. You got to trust me completely. Why was he telling him to get rid of his riches? I'm going to tell you why he said that, because this man, when he walked away from Christ, was basically saying, I trust my riches more than I trust God.
[00:33:31] That's what was the impediment in his life, to follow God. Pretty strong language. We can have impediments in our lives. We think, oh, I'm really serving God. I'm really doing it. Are we or are there impediments in really trusting him?
[00:33:46] It goes on to say the hard historical factuality of the incarnation, the fact that Jesus became flesh, the word of God made flesh, God's full and complete revelation of himself, is dismissed as crude. People see that as crude. He goes, sometimes something finer, more palatable to sensitive souls, is put in its place. Jesus was not truly flesh and blood, according to the gnostics, but entered a human body temporarily in order to give us the inside story of God and initiate us into the secrets of the spiritual life. So what does false spirituality look like? People are glorious as long as they are good looking, well mannered, bolster my self esteem, and help me fulfill my human potential. But if they smell bad, function poorly, they certainly deserve to be dismissed. How many are already saying? How many already see what the problem with all of this is?
[00:34:41] Because God accepts us right where we're at. As a matter of fact, if we can't accept people in their mess and we can't accept imperfection in others, then we're not really embracing Christianity. We have a false understanding of it. Against the life of the community, of the children of God, commanded to love one another, the gnostic is absorbed in themselves against the life of the ordinary, an embrace of family and work, cooking and sewing, helping the poor, healing the sick, all the foolish, weak, and despised things in the world, which obviously Paul was honoring in one corinthians and which God honors.
[00:35:17] The gnostic claims a special status among the elite that exempts him or her from the sacred ordinary. What's he saying?
[00:35:25] He's basically saying, you know, all these people that hype up Christianity, it's all of this beautiful stuff. They don't understand the full scope of what real Christianity is. The real Christianity is going to work every day, putting in and doing the best you can, laboring for Christ, putting up with nonsense in people's lives, treating them like Christ, serving people with the mundane ordinary of life, that's truly serving God.
[00:35:51] And we need to hear that because we want to make it something other than that. We want to make it spectacular, but it's just ordinary. It's quite mundane, and I think we need to understand that. I'm going to stop because I ran out of time. I even got more done in the first service. This is unbelievable. Let's stand.
[00:36:12] I want to share something that I shared with the first service. In closing, just permit me to take a couple more minutes here.
[00:36:19] You know, we get into his prayer, but then I shared a little bit. Jesus actually prays for protection for his people, the disciples. And I want to give you a picture. You know, a lot of times we think of spiritual warfare. What is spiritual warfare? Well, it's the battle going on in your mind, first of all.
[00:36:35] But you know, when you think of spiritual warfare, immediately the image might come. Ephesians six, right? The roman soldier is all dressed up. Paul's chained to him. So he tells you you gotta put on the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness. You know, we go through all these antics.
[00:36:48] If Paul was living in the 21st century, here's a picture he'd give you.
[00:36:54] He'd have you fighting in a jungle with unseen enemies coming at you. You're totally surrounded, and you know you're in bad shape and you're outnumbered. At that moment in the 21st century, what's the most important instrument that you have?
[00:37:10] Well, yes, prayer. You're spiritualizing it. Communication.
[00:37:15] You have communication with headquarters.
[00:37:20] You want to communicate that you need support, that you can call in certain points that you are surrounded, that people could fly in or rescue you from that point, an extraction point, or come in and take out the enemy, and this is where they're located. And strategic pinpoint bombing, you need that support. How do you get it? Communication. Do you know what I notice is happening a lot of times in our lives? We're fighting a tremendous battle, very little communication. We're not communicating.
[00:37:56] And we wonder why we're being overrun, while we're having problems in relationships, while we're having challenges in our lives, very little communication.
[00:38:05] You know, Patty and I, I'm gonna share this. We prayed for years separately. But I don't know. I don't know. Five years ago, I can't remember. Now it's gone. Gone by for a while now. Every night we pray together.
[00:38:18] Well, it's not only bonded us at a deeper level, but I'll tell you what's happened. The scripture says, one can chase a 1002, can chase 10,000.
[00:38:30] We just said, you know, it's serious. We got so many concerns. There's so many people we care about, so many people we love. But I'm not just satisfied with praying with Patty.
[00:38:40] I've got people praying all the time. That's why our church has a Tuesday night prayer meeting. That's why for an hour before every service, for over almost 40 years, I've met with men to pray with me. Why? Because we're in communication. I gave him that visual the other day. I said, you know what? We're like a platoon in here, and we got enemies all around us, and we are being overrun. And you know what we're doing? We're on the radio, we're calling to headquarters and saying, you know, this is the location. This is what we need to do. And today, as we were praying, spirit of God, I just got so intensely in this prayer time. I said, God, what we really need is a breakthrough. We need a breakthrough in our lives because you know what's happening. People are listening, listening, listening. But are we doers of the word of God? Are we really experiencing the presence and power of God in our lives? Are we really, you know, overcoming some of the things that are happening to us? And I said, we need to pray and give God specific ordinances of what needs to be happening, because we're in a battle.
[00:39:43] And I want to tell you something. Some of you are sleeping, you're not awake. You're just being overrun. Your families are being overrun. What's going on? You gotta get on that communication thing, and you gotta be talking. And you can't just do it by yourself. You're not going to make it. All of the isolationists never make it. I've been a pastor now, 40, almost 43 years, maybe 43 years, and I've discovered one thing. If you're just doing this by yourself, you're going to get wiped out.
[00:40:15] You need people around you.
[00:40:18] You're a platoon that's calling out to God. Amen.
[00:40:22] Let's pray. So, Father, we cry out to you today.
[00:40:26] It's a powerful prayer.
[00:40:29] We're in the midst of your prayer, Jesus, and we see what you're praying about. It's so different than how we think. Lord, we want your approval in our lives. We want you to be glorified in our lives. We want, Father, your kingdom to come, your will to be done. We recognize we got to do this together.
[00:40:49] We can no longer live in isolation. It's not going to work. Our society is going backwards. It's a perverted, perverse society, and its values are terrible. And, you know, we look at that and we can criticize that stuff, or we can begin to realize maybe it begins by the change that needs to occur in us. You need to wake us up. He needs to get us a little more serious about this christian life. We need to start stepping up to the plate and making a difference. Lord, I believe that we can be difference makers, but we can't do it alone.
[00:41:23] We need you.
[00:41:25] We need you. We can't do this. We can't even change ourselves if we're really honest. We can't change ourselves. We need you, and we need each other.
[00:41:37] So, Father, I pray today that you would awaken us, that we would start seeing, Lord, a cry that comes out to you, that we would put away the things that we have substituted in our lives for you. We'd put those things away. We'd pay the price. We'd call out to you.
[00:41:55] We would get serious about our faith. We thank you for that, Lord. In Jesus name, amen. God bless you as you leave.
