Social Restoration - Phase 2: Social Action, Part 2

Regardless of the issue at hand, don't you find yourself saying, or at least thinking, what can I do? Most of us want to do something to help, to make a difference, to make our country and our life better. So the question is, as the Church of Jesus Christ, what can we do that will actually make a difference? That's today on Living on the Edge.

Stay with me. Thanks for joining us for this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Living on the Edge is an international discipleship ministry featuring the Bible teaching of Chip Ingram. I'm Dave Gruie and we're in the middle of our series called Social Restoration, looking at four specific things serious-minded believers can do to counter cultural pressure and love like Jesus loved. Now if you missed any of these messages along the way, they're available on the Chip Ingram map or online at livingontheedge.org. Now Chip's son Ryan began this message in our previous program, so today he brings us part two of his talk, Social Action. Chip will be with us after the teaching to add his thoughts, so be sure not to miss that.

Okay, if you have a Bible, open it now to James chapter two and let's join Ryan Ingram. John Altberg in his book Faith and Doubt, he unpacks three types of faith that we have or hold. He talks about your public faith, he talks about your private faith, and then he talks about your core faith or public conviction, private conviction, and core conviction.

And here's what he says about each of those. He says your public conviction is what you say you believe. It's what you're posting on Instagram right now.

It's what you want others to perceive of you that is true of you. Then your private conviction. Your private conviction is what you think you believe.

It's the things that you hold internally. Now the interesting thing about a private conviction, let's just talk about maybe you have a private conviction of generosity. Maybe you have a private conviction of equality for all humankind. Maybe you have a private conviction of integrity and doing what's right. Is those convictions, we hold them, but they aren't really, we don't really know how true they are until they're put to the test.

See generosity is not put to the test when you have a lot, but when you have a little. Integrity is not put to the test when you're just going about life and you have nothing that is confronting you. Integrity is put to the test when you have a private decision and you won't ever be found out about it, or at least you don't think you will, and you have a decision of what you're going to do. See, for many, our private conviction, what we think about ourselves and what actually is, there's some challenge or dissonance. It says your public conviction, what you say you believe, your private conviction, what you think you believe, and then there is your core conviction. It's what you actually believe, revealed by how you live. See, this is convicting and it's convicting for me. See, if I want to know what I really believe, I just have to look at how I spend my time, how I spend my energy, how I spend my money.

See, all those things reveal what I actually believe about God. See, I was confronted with this the other day, as I would say both publicly and private conviction, and then I'm sitting in my living room. And as the protesting began to move onto the streets, I was having a quiet time and it's on my couch and my window's right here and my street is right there.

And I look out my street, as people are hitting the streets, there's no one on my street. Literally, because of my circumstances, I could stay in my safe home and be unaffected. I could stay comfortable.

Sit back. See, it was in that moment that God was challenging me of like, okay, are you going to have a faith that works? Are you going to have a faith that engages? Are you going to have a faith that's going to move into the uncomfortable? A powerful thing happened this week as a bunch of us pastors gathered together to join those that are speaking up for justice.

We just came to speak up for justice in the name of Jesus and to kneel in prayer for our country, for our city, for our brothers and sisters in love and for justice. See, core conviction is revealed not by what I say, but how I live. And James is saying your behavior reveals what you truly believe. And then he's going to say why this is so important is action is actually the completion of your faith, not in competition. We believed a lie that somehow faith and works and those things are in competition and they're, you know, pulling against each other.

No, no, no actions, the completion of it. And he begins to tell Abraham's story and Paul uses Abraham's story as well of when Genesis chapter 15 of where Abraham, you know, believed God and it was credited to them as righteousness. That's Genesis chapter 15. And then he fast forward to Genesis 22 when God asked him, hey, you to sacrifice your only son, the son of promise. And he goes, okay, well, if I'm going to believe you, then I'm going to believe you now. And he does that. He doesn't actually kill him.

God saves him in that moment. Genesis 15, fast forward 30 years, was the completion of that action. In fact, this is why James says it this way. He says, you see that his faith, this is verse 22, and his actions were working together.

They're in cooperation, not in competition. And his faith was made complete by what he did. It's easy to talk a good talk.

It's easy to, you know, to just go like, yeah, I believe all these sort of things. We're called to walk the walk. There was one of the famous examples when you may have heard of it when we talk on faith is a tightrope walker back a long time ago. I didn't write down the actual date. I think it was 1861 when this happened. It was Charles Blondin. He was a famous tightrope walker, became world renowned, and he began doing tightrope walks over Niagara Falls.

It is 1100 feet across, 260 foot drop. He did this 17 different times and he did all these different, you know, shenanigans on it. I mean, you can go and read what he did is incredible. At one point, he's walking on stilts. At another point, he had his manager on his back walking across. On one particular time, he's got a wheelbarrow and he's going back and forth across the Niagara Falls and the crowd is just cheering. Some people estimated there's up to 100,000 people would come out to watch these acts and the crowd's just cheering. And then he goes, does anybody believe that I could take a man across this? And the crowd's cheering, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Who wants to volunteer?

Crowd got silence. See, it's one thing to believe in the ability of someone. It's another thing to get in the wheelbarrow.

Following Jesus means getting into the wheelbarrow and saying you have my whole life and you get to steer and lead it. That is faith. I trust you. I trust that your work for me is final and complete and your words for me are true and trustworthy.

Why is it important? Your behavior reveals what you truly believe. Action is the completion, not the competition of faith. And then he's going to go on to say faith without action is like body without the breath.

And what I love is he gives two illustrations. He gives Abraham and then he goes and gives Rahab. You know, she was a part of the enemy of Israel at that point. She was a woman and she was a prostitute. And James elevates, quote, the wrong person who activated her faith to unpack this for us.

Notice what he says. In the same way was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous. Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction. You can pick up the story if you want to unpack that more in Joshua chapter two as the body without the spirit is dead. So faith without action or without deeds is dead. Faith without action is like a body without breath. See, it's not enough just to feel bad about something.

See, feeling bad isn't the same thing as doing good. At the same time, we have to ask and wrestle. OK, God, what would you have me to do?

Let me give you a few things. Pray. Prayer is an act of faith.

Wherever prayer focuses, the power of God falls, that we would pray. That you would take time to learn and to listen, to dive in. Maybe for some you go, I want to help educate my kids and begin to talk about that with our family. Maybe it's going and just encouraging people.

It's more than just posting, by the way. For some, you may feel strongly like me where I go like, hey, I'm going to go out and take a stand in a visible way and protest peacefully. But faith without action is like a body without breath. Social restoration demands that followers of Jesus put their faith into action. Social restoration demands that followers of Jesus put their faith into action. In fact, the way Jesus said it this way. He says, in the same way, let your light shine before men. That they see your good deeds, your good works, your faith in action, that they may glorify your Father in heaven.

Like the way we live out our lives, the way we love, the way we shine the light and the grace and the truth and the justice of Jesus is to point to the heavenly Father. Where they go, wow, God, you are great. You know, so much of our love today comes with strings attached.

I'm going to love you, but I expect something else to come from you. In fact, that was even how Del Mar when we first started this with them and rightfully so, you get this, they were a little suspicious. They're like, why are you doing these nice things for us?

And like, hey, like the first couple of years, like we don't really know if we trust you and we're not so sure and totally get that. But we said, we're going to love you just the way we think Jesus would love you. And so we've done things like Del Mar Serve Days where we've done Beautified the Campus. Every Friday, we drop off coffee and donuts for the teachers. At the end of every semester, we throw a party for the teachers and bring in a taco truck and we just bless and serve them. It's so fun because we hang out together and we get to, you know, make an incredible environment just to say, wow, we so love you.

And we've done that time and time and time and time again, eight years of this. One of our team members had this great idea because with COVID, we weren't able to do the lunch at the end. They said, well, what if we sent them like Chipotle gift cards and just and send them an encouraging note from awakening?

That's a fantastic idea. Since we can't gather and since we can't honor you and it's been such a crazy year. We still want to love you even though we're not with you. Why?

Just simply because that's what Jesus would do. And so we did that. And then I got this email. I just have to read it to you. This comes from one of the faculty at Del Mar and they say, hello and thanks for the gift card. Thanks as well for all the help you've provided. You provide to our community of students and families.

I was just emailing with Courtney trying to express to her how amazing, all caps, I think your organization is. And notice this balancing that with the balancing that with the really hard time I have in understanding some of your core religious beliefs. And then in parentheses, and I guess my own baggage I carry in terms of understanding of the Christian church. The fact of the matter is your deeds are inspirational and the love behind them is evident and strongly felt. Oh church, that we would be a people everywhere we go, that our light would so shine before others that they would look at our lives. They would look at how we love and they go, I am not so sure about what you believe, but I cannot deny how you love.

They glorify the Father. Social restoration demands the followers of Jesus put their faith into social action, a faith that works. You're listening to Living on the Edge and Chip's with us to talk about the message you just heard. But in case you joined us a little late, our guest teacher today was Ryan Ingram with his message, Social Action. Social restoration is complicated. Even with the best of intentions, well-meaning people get themselves into trouble. So how do we make a difference and bring light, not heat? Well, these messages from Ryan Ingram bring a lot of clarity to that question. He looks at our current circumstances with a gospel vision of community and provides biblical solutions. For a limited time, resources for social restoration are discounted and the MP3s are always free. To order your copy or to send it to a friend, visit us online at livingonthedge.org.

For additional information, just give us a call at 888-333-6003. Chip, great teaching from Ryan today. I know you want to talk about it, but before you do that, could you take just a minute and talk about the increasing pressure Christians are facing?

I mean, you're in contact with a lot of people. What do you see happening? I think as Christians we see two responses, neither of which is going to bring about long-term positive change. And one is a combativeness, an anger, a sort of the culture is the enemy. And the other is what I call instead of being combatant, we capitulate.

And so go with the flow, you know, who am I to judge? Let's just all be loving. And so the one has truth with no grace and the other has grace with no truth. And so at Living on the Edge, we've spent the last 20 years developing resources, whether it's audio or books or teaching or CDs or my favorite, small group material, to help people live out truth and grace. And we've had very generous people partner with us to create all those resources, to pay for airtime, to hire staff. We are living in a day where if Christians do not live like Christians and refuse to attack but are strong and winsome and loving and effectively treat people radically, lovingly the way Jesus did and yet not compromise the truth, we will see America go right down the tubes. And so there's never been a day when we need to do more and we can't do more without the prayers and the financial support of our Living on the Edge partners.

And so if you've never given to Living on the Edge, let me tell you, now is a wonderful, wonderful time. We will be true to Scripture and we'll be true to equip people to live out both grace and truth and the power of the Holy Spirit. So thank you for those of you that support us.

Please continue to do so. And for those of you that have not, I would highly encourage you, get on board today. We can make a difference together. Well, if that mission resonates with you, we'd love to have you join us. Helping Christians find the balance between truth and grace and the boldness to speak up in love will change the world we live in. Now to send a gift to support the ministry of Living on the Edge, just go to livingontheedge.org, tap donate on the app, or give us a call at 888-333-6003.

That's 888-333-6003. And thanks in advance for following God's lead. Well, I don't know about you, but the note that Ryan shared there at the end of the teaching really encouraged me.

In fact, I've had a chance to watch this over the years as they actually planted and launched the church about eight years ago, and they did it in a public school, and they've developed all the ways you have to do it in a school. But they have this line. It's really been interesting. From day one, they said, This is not a place that we meet. This is a place that we love. And so every Friday for eight years, they've taken something to the teachers every Friday. It's an underprivileged area so that the children are poor. And so when COVID hit, I mean, the kids didn't have breakfast, some didn't have lunch, and they paused. I mean, here we're in a world where people can't gather in church. Churches are very concerned that we're not even going to be able to have enough income to meet the needs of our church. And here this church said, We can't go to them in the same way, but we have to love them.

And you heard the story of how they took, you know, Chipotle cards and figured out how to get food to the kids all throughout the area. And this was a response of one of the teachers. I'm writing to express all capitals how amazing I think your organization is, and balancing that with the really hard time I have in understanding some of your core religious beliefs. And in parentheses, he or she says, And I guess my own baggage I carry in terms of understanding the Christian church. The fact of the matter is, your deeds are inspirational, and the love behind them is evident and strongly felt.

In other words, translation here, I not only don't believe what you believe, I've got a pretty negative view of Christians in general, I've got my own baggage, and you're the kind of people that, you know, when we all say things in general about a group that we don't know very well, this is someone saying, I would probably have very, very negative views of you all, but I can't deny your love. It's inspiring. These kids are getting loved. Each week when you come and bring, you know, donuts and coffee and supplies to the teachers, and you haven't done it a couple times, and it wasn't just a little program, you have loved us. What's happening is, love never fails. It's so powerful. And so what I want to ask you, because the goal of my little time as I get to partner with my son's teaching, is not just that we understand it.

It's that we apply it. Who can you help today? Who can you serve?

I mean, a specific person. It can start in your house. It could be in your neighborhood. It could be at work. I understand with all the restrictions we have, it might be more challenging.

Or maybe with all these restrictions, there's greater opportunity than ever before. What need could you meet? Could you just sit quietly at this moment and say, Lord, bring someone to my mind that has a need that needs to be loved, Christian or non-Christian, Republican or Democrat, Libertarian, Black, White, Asian, Hispanic, Almighty God. Would you just bring someone to my mind that has a need today that without fanfare, without a big preachy message, I'm going to meet the need. I'm just going to love them.

Love never fails. Can you imagine there's over a million of us hanging out together right now as I'm speaking? What if each one of us this day met one need of one person in the name of Jesus? The ripples would be amazing.

Let's do it. You know, an easy way to share Chip's messages is with the Chip Ingram app. With just a couple of taps, any message you choose is on its way to your friend, someone in your family, or on social media to help others who could benefit from the truth of Scripture and its encouragement. And don't forget to include a quick note about how it made a difference in your life. Well, I hope you'll be with us again next time. And until then, this is Dave Gruey saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.