What Now? What Next? - Innovation Not Indignation, Part 2

There's a lot in our world that if you're sensitive to the Holy Spirit, it makes you angry. It makes you mad. Here's the question. How do you be both good and mad?

And by good I mean being angry the right way for the right purpose to bring about good. That's today. Stay with me. Thanks for joining us for this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. I'm Dave Druey, and Chip's our Bible teacher for this international discipleship ministry focused on helping Christians live like Christians. We're so grateful you've joined us as we continue our new series, What Now?

What Next? In this program, Chip wraps up his message, Innovation, Not Indignation, by studying how Jesus responded to hostility and resentment and what we can learn from his example. Before we begin, let me encourage you to try using Chip's message notes while you listen. They contain his outline, scripture references, and much more. Chip's notes will really help you remember what you hear and maybe even share what you're learning.

To download these message notes, just go to the broadcasts tab at livingontheedge.org, app listeners tap fill in notes. With that, here's Chip with part two of his talk. When I read the Bible, my first reaction is stuff like this. I can't believe his family did that. I can't believe those disciples are like that. You know, I can't believe those religious leaders. I mean, you know, he told the guy, get up and walk.

I mean, their head was in the sand, right? And I somehow read the Bible like I'm on the good team and everybody else. And when I'm a lot more honest, I realize I'm a lot more like his family. I've been angry. Anybody else been angry this last year? I've been livid. I've been ticked off. Now, I've wisely not posted where I've been ticked off. And I think some of my ticked off is righteous anger and it's good.

And I think God says, way to go, Chip. It will motivate you to do some good. And I think some of it is just downright sinful and selfish. Because there's some stuff that I want my way. There's some stuff I think is important.

It looks like it's not going to be that way. And I just have to remember, okay, God didn't promise it would be that way. So here's the question. What was Jesus' attitude and what was his response to rejection, indignation, unfulfilled expectations and injustice? I'm a master of long sentences with lots of words. But I do want you to know I choose them carefully.

And you know where this is going, don't you? If this is Jesus' response to rejection, it needs to be mine. If this is Jesus' response to indignation that he experienced, it needs to be mine. If this is his response to the unfulfilled expectations of people who say, I thought you were going to do this for me.

Anybody have some of that going on? Like in this season after all that you've done for certain people and how you've tried to help people and you've gotten stuff thrown back in your face? And then just some of the injustice that's so terrible. Well, here's his premise. Sandwiched in between the indignation and sandwiched in the major innovation, Jesus tells us what he's going to do and why he's going to do it.

You've heard it quoted before, but I'm not sure you've heard it quoted in context. His response to the indignation and rejection is no one pours new wine into old wine skins, otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled out. And the skins will be ruined.

Right? I mean, just in the day, if you've got new wine that's going to ferment, if you put in old wine skins, as it ferments, it will burst them. And you'll lose the wine and the wine skins. So here's the principle, but new wine, new teaching, new method, new kingdom, disruption, future, the way life is supposed to be rather than the way it is. New wine, Jesus' new wine, must be put into fresh wine skins, new containers, new ideas, new methods. And no one after drinking the old wine wants new, for he says the old wine is fine. Translation, when you begin to innovate, when you begin to respond in ways the way Jesus did, Jesus said, even though it's new wine, people get so accustomed, they would rather have the old, the tradition, the this makes me comfortable, even if they know it's not the right wine or the new wine or the best wine.

He's making a commentary on human nature. Are you ready for this? We're all this way. Now some of you like change a lot more than other people, but there's some level where we... I'm one of those people that I really like change until it affects me, right? And we live in a world of entrepreneurs and venture capitalists and startups and we like change.

Yeah, man, let's go. I mean, way different than a lot. We don't like it when we see some of those changes and the government makes a new law that caps that or we can't do this or someone says that or we don't get funded or... We don't like change that affects our family or our rhythm or our comfort in life. And so what I want you to see is what Jesus' practice is. First of all, and again, I can't go through all the passages, but I've given them to you so that with your cup of tea, someone told me once, would you stop talking about coffee? I don't drink coffee and I say to them, there's still help for you.

But herbal tea is great. First of all, Jesus challenges the status quo and what he does in Luke chapter 6 is he goes for the jugular. If you were very familiar with Judaism at that time, in fact, even to this time, if there is a religious marker, those people that are in and those people are out, the symbol is the Sabbath. I mean, you can go to Israel to this day and I mean completely pagan Jews, they honor the Sabbath. They figure ways. They pre-program all the elevators in Israel so you don't have to push a button and violate the Sabbath. So you get on and it goes by itself and they preheat everything and they do all kind of amazing things.

But it's the external thing. And so what does Jesus do? He goes with his disciples and they're walking in the fields and he's purposely, don't miss it, he's purposely, he's going to poke them in the eye. He goes, you think it's all about keeping these external rules that make you right with God. I'm going to take the biggest external rule that you have, I'm going to poke you in the eye. I'm going to challenge the status quo. And he does that and then they get all upset.

And then the text right, the text flows right from that one too. And he's in the Sabbath and there's a man with a withered hand and they're there thinking, is he going to heal on the Sabbath? Like, I mean, what could be worse? Helping someone on the Sabbath. Wow.

Right? The logic of it is amazing. And the cross-reference says, Jesus looked at them with disdain because they were so blind. And he brings the man up, remember, open your hand, he's healed.

And let me just, let me just read for you, this is the response of religious leaders who know the law, who have major portions of the Old Testament, who fast a couple times a week. And Jesus says, hold out your hand. So the man held out his hand and it was restored. At this, the enemies of Jesus were wild with rage. And they began to discuss what to do with him.

Namely, kill him. And then notice one day soon afterward, Jesus went up onto a mountain to pray. And what does he do? He innovates. And he says, I came in hopes that the religious establishment would receive its Messiah.

And what you're going to watch is a series of innovations. So there's a new vision. He grabs a new group, prays all night, calls them disciples. And then he does this miraculous thing where crowds come and the text is very clear.

They come from Jerusalem and as far out as you can look on the map. And it says specifically, they're all healed. And then he goes up onto a mountain and he preaches a sermon on the mount and basically says there's a whole new vision. This is where we're going.

After that, it opens up. He finishes the sermon on the mount, Luke 7. There's innovative compassion. I mean, we don't get this because we don't have sort of the cultural bias. He heals a Roman soldier slave.

They hated the Romans. And he goes, no, no, no. This new vision, you don't get to choose black, white, Asian, Indian, rich, poor.

No, no, no, no. In this kingdom, there's a new vision. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

Blessed are you when you're persecuted for my name's sake. This is a new kingdom with a new way. And there's going to be compassion for everyone.

And then there's innovative action. He says, you know what, let's make sure this isn't about talk. This isn't about a new ideology. So a widow comes by and you can almost see him taking the big miracles that happened before Elijah did this one, and Elijah did that one, and he's going to go and mimic each of them to know that one greater than them is here, and he raises this boy from the dead.

He goes, this new kingdom is power. This is power. This isn't about talk. This isn't about coming to religious services.

This isn't evaluate. Well, so-and-so talked a little bit too long, and I wish we'd do a little bit more hymns. And that course was okay, but the drums were a little bit loud, and let's go to lunch. You know, those big things that we talk about in church.

He said, no. And then his teaching. His teaching wasn't like, okay, you've got to stay in the synagogue. He starts teaching and tells stories, and then he tells parables, and then he does Q&As, and then, oh, by the way, let's pause, and let's heal someone over here, and let's let people challenge me, and let's do this out in the marketplace. Let's invade what's happening in the world. Let's not have a little place where we're asking everyone to come here. I'm going to go out, and we're going to live, and we're going to love, and we're going to help, and I mean the world is being transformed.

And then he innovates with his teaching, and then his methods, and the world's changing. It's internal, not external. It's his kingdom, not your kingdom. It's for all people, not some people. It's about power.

It's not about talk, and now it's not about head knowledge. It's putting aside all of our prejudice, and it's living it out. So what's our attitude to be?

This is where we're coming to. It's not long. It's not hard to understand. It's just very challenging to apply. Our attitude, we've talked about our focus, our response, and our priorities.

Our attitude is innovation, not indignation. The command is in Romans chapter 12, verses 14 through 16. Bless those who persecute you. Bless and curse not. I don't know about you, but I didn't grow up knowing what it meant to bless. It means to want the favor, and the blessing, and the good things of God to be upon another person. First and foremost, it means you want salvation for them, eternal salvation. Second, it means, notice it says, bless those who persecute you. Bless and curse not. And the first step is always forgiveness.

That's the command. I want you to think about that person that hurt you the most, that made you the most angry in the last year. See, this isn't a lecture, people. This is the birthing of a movement of God, if we will allow it. And God says to each one of us, me, I want you to bless those people you're ticked off at. I want you to get them real clear in your mind.

I want you to feel how angry you've been. And then to bless actually is a prayer. You begin praying. See, the only thing that can change your heart is you begin to pray for people what God wants for them. Lord, would you bring them to know you? Would you bring them to know you?

Would you bring them to know you? But the second part is you can't pray that with a heart that's hardened. Lord, would you forgive them? By the way, forgiveness, there's a whole other message. The forgiveness is a three-step process.

It's a decision, it's a process, and then it's a culmination. To forgive is a choice. I release you from the payback that I want you to have for the wrong that I think you've done. The process begins, I begin to pray for them. I never take a Lord's Supper unless I pray for them. I pray for them daily. And it starts out with change them, change them, change them, change them, and then He'll soften your heart and you'll say, God, give them a great marriage.

Lord, they need a good job. And you'll actually start praying like you care about them. And as you pray and do that, it may take six months or a year.

In my case, it took over two years once when I was betrayed. And when you hear something good about the people that you have desperately hated or who betrayed you or you think is wrong, and when you hear something good about them and you can honestly rejoice, you'll know they're forgiven. And by the way, it's supernatural. And you say, well, how would that really work?

Notice the instructions. Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. See, the context is at verse 14, Romans 12 completely changes and it answers the question, how do you respond at the evil aimed at you?

Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. Can you imagine what would happen if a white policeman saw the hurt of a black radical that maybe threw rocks at him and visited him in the hospital? Can you imagine what would happen to a policeman after being injured in a riot to have a black radical come and say, man, I'm so sorry and I had no idea that the intent was never for that. Can you imagine what would happen to the people that you disagree with politically and ideologically if you got to know them? That when they had a miscarriage, you would go and pray with them? When they were hurting financially, you'd say, you know, I know we come from different worlds and you may not allow me, but I'd like to help out in this.

That's what it's saying. That's what the early church did. They walked arm in arm into stadiums. Oh Lord, thank you for the privilege of suffering. Will you please forgive these people as they would be thrown to wild animals? Nero would actually impale Christians on poles and use them for his cocktail parties and then set them aflame and they would sing as they would be burning to death, forgiving their captors. That's the Christianity that changed the world. It wasn't a Christianity of they went to meetings, gave a little bit of money, went on a missions trips every two or three years and tried to be nice people. Jesus was a revolutionary.

He started a revolution. Any time it gets to be religion, it dies. And then finally, there's a warning. When you start to take steps like that, it says, be of the same mind toward one another. Who's the one another here? It's not fellow Christians. Basically, it's try and think, can you imagine if you could ponder from, instead of how you live, you know, I live in a very unique world where one of my closest friends in Charlotte is the pastor, black pastor of a very, very significant church and Charlotte's been through just utter hell and some of the racial things that have happened and people being killed. We've grieved together.

And then I have a lady on our staff whose husband is a police officer in Columbus and he's finding himself in situations being called to go around the country and put on combat gear and it's a bizarre world. And the hate just keeps flowing. It doesn't stop unless someone says, I'm not, there can't be an us and a them. We can disagree. We can look at things differently. But be of the same mind.

Try to understand where a person's coming from and what they've experienced and how they see life. You don't have to agree. But when there's no empathy, there's no hope of reconciliation. And then the other warning is very clear. It says, don't be haughty in mind but associate with the lowly. Don't somehow think, oh, we're gonna be the Christians and we're gonna solve things and these people don't really get it but we do and we're a little bit better. So that's self-righteousness.

That's ugly. Do not be wise in your own estimation. There's no room for superiority, self-righteousness, no class mindset. There can't be an us or them. It can't be it's their problem. It can't be a denial of our own need. Some of you are thinking, this guy better wrap this up pretty quickly because it's getting a little heavy.

Summary. God is using the now, this moment in history to shake his world. He always starts with shaking his own people. Most of his own people will respond with indignation and will protect their turf, their view, their rights and their power. That's what will happen with most of Christendom in the United States.

But there will be some and I'm praying it's us and there'll be pockets all over the US and pockets all over the world. There'll be some who understand the times and know that following Christ we must innovate. We must have a new vision of the kingdom, not how God can fix America or make our personal lives work out. We need to innovate with compassion and not just care about the people that look like us or think like us or agree with us. We need to innovate with action and replace a lot of words and a lot of going to meetings with a lot of specific help of real people. And we need to innovate with teaching that's fresh and life-changing and focuses on the everyday in every way followers of Christ. And then we need to innovate in our methods, methods that connect the heart and the mind where we become followers that are saying, 24-7, 365, Jesus, you lead, I'll follow. P.S.

Lord, I'm scared to death and thank you that you'll give me everything I need and I cannot do this alone. I'd encourage you by personal application, I put some discussion questions that will take you through a process like I'm going through to really ask, what am I doing with my indignation and how have I blamed other people and what does God need to do in me so He can do something radical through me? It doesn't mean you compromise the truth. It doesn't mean you change how you view a lot of things.

It completely means we don't respond with indignation. We respond with innovative ideas and thoughts and ways and attitudes that bring restoration and healing and life. Lord, we are in desperate need of you, of your grace, of the ability to see ourselves for where we really are instead of where we think we are.

Lord, we need eyes to not condemn other people, judge them and assume that our view is completely right and that we have nothing to learn. And Lord, there is evil and it means taking a stand and not being doormats and being strong, but Lord, your strength was with meekness, not weakness. It was with power under control. It was power submitted to the Father. It was power submitted to the Holy Spirit.

You didn't have to call, but you could have. Angels down. You modeled for us that good is more powerful than evil. And so we ask you now in Jesus' name that you would help us apply that in our personal life. Amen. Chip will be right back with his application for this message, Innovation, Not Indignation, from his series, What Now?

What Next? When the world gets turned upside down, it becomes really obvious how much people need Jesus. The anger, the hostility, the division, it's devastating. So the question is, how do we tell people about the peace only Jesus offers? Where do we start? In this brand new teaching from Chip, he challenges us to authentically live out our faith by identifying six biblical mindsets we have to adopt. When you invest time in this series, you'll learn what it means to be a genuine Christian in a world that's crumbling all around us. To listen to this entire series, What Now?

What Next? Making Disciples in a Disrupted World, the Chip Ingram app is a great way to get plugged in. Chip, today's message was such a great challenge to resist being indignant or hostile towards people with different beliefs.

But that habit requires more than just a strong will to make any lasting change. We have to be deeply devoted to God's Word. And Chip, you really have a passion for studying the Bible.

Where did that come from? Well Dave, I've told this story and I'll keep telling it many, many times. I was a very slow-growing Christian. In fact, in my life at the time, it was pretty much go to Bible study on Thursday night and hit all the bars in Wheeling, West Virginia with my basketball team on Friday and Saturday night. And I was stuck. I wanted to do what God wanted me to do, but when I was tempted, I just caved in.

I just couldn't seem to live the Christian life. And there was a bricklayer named Dave Marshall who was on our college campus. And I went to a couple of those Bible studies and he asked if he could meet with me. And he wanted to help me learn how to hear God's voice and understand the Bible.

And I honestly didn't want to meet with him, but it felt like just too lame to say no. And so I said yes and Tuesday mornings for a year, he came and knocked on the door and we would go down to the little kitchenette at 7 a.m. and we would open our Bible and Dave taught me to pray. He taught me how to study the Bible, how to memorize Scripture, how to discern God's voice.

To this day, the most important investment in my life was meeting one-on-one with a bricklayer named Dave Marshall with a high school education who taught me how to feed myself spiritually. And I say that because through the pandemic, we started something called Daily Discipleship where I meet with people one-on-one. We've had about 130,000 people launch and go through that with me. In our last Romans 12 Daily Discipleship, we actually had over 35,000 people do it with us and even its spread to You version. It's become, I think, one of my most passionate things. I want to help people meet with God, hear His voice, build convictions. And so our dream in the next 24 months is to double the number of people that I get to mentor one-on-one. And it's an expensive proposition.

It takes a lot of time, a lot of energy, a pretty big crew. And I'm committed because those are the kind of Christians that raise kids differently. Those are the kind of Christians that say no to temptation and walk with God. Those are the kind of Christians that change the world.

If you would like to be one of those Christians, go to our app or to livingontheedge.org and you can jump right in. Daily Discipleship with Chip. If you have benefited from Daily Discipleship with Chip, can I encourage you, there's never a better time to give to Living on the Edge than right now. Every dollar you give right up through midnight of December 31st is matched dollar for dollar.

And I can't think of a better investment. Would you pray about partnering with us so we can actually disciple people one-on-one? Well, if you're already praying and supporting the ministry of Living on the Edge, thank you.

We couldn't do what we do without you. And if you're ready to step up and join us or increase your commitment, today would be a great day to do it. And like Chip just said, every gift we receive between now and December 31st will be doubled. If you've been looking for a way to make a difference, this is your opportunity. And right now, your gift will have twice the impact. To send a donation, give us a call at 888-333-6003, or if you prefer, donate online at livingonttheedge.org.

App listeners, just tap donate. On behalf of Chip and the team here, thank you in advance for your generosity. Well, Chip, the big takeaway from this message is to soften our hearts toward those who we don't see eye-to-eye with.

Now, could you give us some real practical advice on how to start doing that? Dave, you know, I had an experience recently. I was speaking at a conference, and an older gentleman came who was conservative in his views in every area, and, you know, no problem there. But he started asking me a bunch of questions, and you could just feel the resentment and hostility and, I mean, all the things that have happened in our world, and especially our country. And we began to talk, and he'd heard me speak on, you know, a number of the issues that we've talked about in this series.

And his heart was getting soft, and I asked him, I said, tell me, what's going on inside? And he said, you know something? He said, I realize that I've been so angry about what's happening in our country and some things happening in the church and blaming other people that I've not been much use to God.

And I'm one of those people that has posted a lot of really angry things and attacking people. And as you were teaching, I realized it's very unloving, and I don't think there's anybody who doesn't know Jesus that's going to be attracted to Jesus by how I've been speaking. And so he said, well, I realize I've got to address my issues. My beliefs are the same, but my attitudes have been really wrong. Second, he goes, I sort of have had an us-and-them mentality. You know, some people inside the church, us who are right and them that are wrong, and especially outside the church, like, you know, we Christians, we've got this right, and they out there, as though they're the evil people. And he said, what I realize is God loves them, and I'm not going to change my view on what's right and what's wrong, but I've got to change how I think about them.

They're not the enemy, and that requires a lot of grace. I'm leaving this conference with, that's what I need to do in my life. And as I listened to him, I thought, what maturity to recognize he's going to own his own stuff and take some real practical steps. And what I would say to my brothers and sisters today is I think it's a good example for all of us to follow. Just before we close, would you pray for those who are feeling challenged to respond to Chip's encouragement right now?

There's always a spiritual battle when we feel prompted to draw near to God. Thanks for taking a minute to do that. And if there's a way we can pray for you, would you let us know? Call us at 888-333-6003 or email chip at livingontheedge.org. We'd love to hear from you. Well, for everyone here, this is Dave Druey saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.