Pathways to Intimacy with God - How to Win the Battle for Your Soul, Part 2

Every day, you and I are bombarded with messages, voices, temptations, and people that make walking with God almost impossible. How do we win the battle for our soul in the everyday pressures of life?

That's today. Stay with me. Today, Chip wraps up our series Pathways to Intimacy with God. Our prayer is that through these programs, you've uncovered a newfound closeness to God that you haven't experienced before. And to help others discover that deeper connection, take a minute after this message and share this series with someone, either through the Chip Ingram app or by sending them the free MP3s you'll find at LivingOnTheEdge.org.

Well, with that, here's Chip for part two of his talk, How to Win the Battle for Your Soul. See, there's a world system that is eating our lunch. And you battle with it and I battle with it. And the issue here is not have we been deceived or seduced by the world system.

The only issue is how much. And you know what the Scripture says? Do not be conformed to the world, but how be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

What? That your life or your lifestyle could demonstrate or prove what God's will is. How it's really supposed to be that which is good and acceptable and perfect. Jesus is speaking to us tonight with the same heart and love and compassion that he spoke to the rich young ruler. He's not down on us. These verses aren't in the Bible with a God going bad boy, bad girl, clean up your act, shame, shame, shame.

This is a God who looks at you and looks at me and looks beyond all the superficial stuff in the world and the world system and says, I got better for you. Don't get sucked in. Don't get seduced. Don't get deceived.

Understand these paths of walking with me and talking with me and living in community. They're done in a very hostile environment. And the environment is so hostile that in the American church, 9 out of 10 Christians are completely seduced. The Gallup polls and the Barna polls show of all American Christians, 90% of them do not live differently, act differently, talk differently, divorce differently, marry differently, spend their money differently.

They don't do anything differently than the world. And I want to ask you, how could that be? And I'm going to get on the solution side of this real quickly because I don't know about you. I can't take much more of this.

But you know, a good diagnosis is really important for you to get to a good solution. How could that be? I mean, I wish all that stuff wasn't true. And you know, Barna, his stats are wrong.

And Gallup's had, you know, like many, many bad days. But they are true. The divorce rate among Christians, bankruptcies among Christians, it goes on and on. You ask me, what tool, what powerful tool, what means could the enemy have to engraft this world system in such a way that we don't even know it's happening to us? It's a way that's filled our minds and our images and it has deceived and seduced and the world system has been planted in the very core, in the back of our mind. So there is a way that seems right to us. We think we're doing the right thing.

We think we're going down the right track. We think we're doing it for the right reason and the end thereof is death. And death means separation. And it means the death of kids with mom and dads. It means the death of marriages. It means the death of life in people's inner hearts and life. It means the death of purity that gives us access and power with God. And now I'm going to unveil it.

Are you ready? This is what He's used. It's what He's used. Is it evil in itself?

Absolutely not. This is what He's used. We've enthroned it in the center of our room so that we can all sit around and make it the object of our worship. And we bow down to it. It tells us what we don't have and what we need and what we need to drive and how we need to look.

It tells us what's in and what's not in. In the average American household it runs six to seven hours a day. It's become the new babysitter. And now we have little instruments that we can stick in it so we don't have to play with our kids, we don't have to talk with our kids, we don't have to teach our kids, we don't have to have family devotions, we don't have to deal with big issues.

In fact we don't even have to sit around a table and talk to each other anymore. We can keep it on and it can numb us to death. And I'm not talking about the violent, sexual, perverted, materialistic stuff that comes out of it. I'm talking about just even the good stuff. It has the power to numb your soul. And the world system comes pumping through it. And we get deceived and we get seduced. And if there's any doubt in your mind, just try.

I used to say ten days and no one ever makes it. Just try turning it off. Go home and unplug it for three days. And you'll realize there's some level of addiction.

You need to turn it on. I mean you've got to know the news, right? Yeah, because the world won't go on unless you know what's happening. The names just change.

It's about the same every night. Now is this a stick our head in the sand, never watch TV, never read the paper, never watch a DVD, is that the message? Absolutely not. But it is a message that says there is a world system. Lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. There is deception going on. It's powerful when it comes through there. So you better have your game face on when you turn that on. And you better decide in advance what you want to watch, what you will watch, what you won't want to watch. And you better train your kids. And you better have a huge input of truth renewing your mind to counteract what you know is happening to you day in and day out. Okay, let's get on the solution side. How in the world do we overcome the world's barriers to intimacy with God? Okay, how in the world can we live Christ-like lives in a polluted world? Let me give you three very clear ways. Number one, it begins with a new attitude.

It all starts with here. You know it's a decision, it's a new attitude, and the new attitude is Philippians chapter two verses five through nine. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus. And it goes on to say, who although he existed in the form of God did not record equality with God a thing to be grasped. But he emptied himself taking the form of a bondservant and being made in the likeness of men. Without an appearance as a man he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Now get this, for this reason also God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name. Have this attitude in yourself, verse five is followed by verses three and four.

And verses three and four are a command. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit. But consider others as more important than yourself. Don't think merely on your own stuff and your own things, but think of others as more important than yourself. An example is have this attitude that Christ had. See the world system says get, get, get, put down to push you up.

The world system says I gotta be number one. Jesus who had all glory says to us consider others, be a giver instead of a getter. And he says here's the example. He was exalted in glory. He didn't think it was wrong to have his deity veiled. Some of his attributes veiled so people would look at him differently. And then he came in the form actual as a man.

He lived a perfect life. He was obedient to the Father's plan even to the point of death on a cross, counter to, it's a paradox. And what did Jesus receive for his obedience?

By being a humble servant and being a giver and a lover instead of a getter and a gainer. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess and God will highly exalt him because there's a different economy we're gonna learn about and the different economy is God's economy and it is counter, it is anti, it is against, it is the opposite of the world system. Well everything we learn from the world if we do just the opposite we'll be right in the center of God's will. And so it starts with a new attitude. The second is it requires a radical renunciation. This is I think some missing teaching in the church right now. It requires a radical renunciation.

And you know renunciation is like an old word and you're bringing in one of those really old words but it's such a powerful word and it's packed with meaning. Because to renounce something means I've been in step and I'm doing this and I'm going this direction and you realize whoa, that is wrong. I renounced that relationship.

I had no idea that that group secretly was funneling money that was causing slave trading to occur over in Sudan. I renounced my relationship with them. I'm totally getting away from it.

That's the idea. And Jesus calls us to renounce our relationship with the world. There can't be this I'm gonna be a really good Christian and plus Jesus plus the job I want and everything working out. Jesus plus the socioeconomic standard that I have to have.

Jesus plus no, no, no. Renunciation talks about God I want your way, your agenda first and foremost and I trust you. Notice what Jesus said in Luke 9 23 to 25. And he was saying to them all, so this isn't for superstars, this isn't for pastors, this isn't for missionaries, this is for all Christians. Notice if anyone, if anyone wishes to come after me, what's this whole series about?

Intimacy. Isn't that what coming after Jesus is? If anyone wants to follow me, if anyone wants to be intimate with me, if anyone wants to taste and experience my love and my passion and my power. If anyone wants to come after me, then notice he must deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me.

Circle the word deny, circle the word take up and circle the word follow. That's what renunciation of the world requires. You have to deny yourself. The world says you deserve a break today. The world says you ought to have this. The world says you can't afford to charge it. The world says you got to put others down to get you up.

The world says you got to get the best, you got to be first, you should never have to wait. You're the most important person in the family, you're the most important person in the world, you're the most important person of everything. Life revolves around you. And Jesus says just the opposite, deny yourself. And then he says well how do you deny yourself? You take up your cross in one big emotional event, is that what it says? You take up your cross how often?

Daily. Why? What was the cross? I mean we make it like this big religious symbol. The cross wasn't even used in Christianity as a symbol until 300 years after Christ died. When he's using it in this text, the cross, he could have said take up your electric chair. He could have said take up your lethal injection.

The cross was an instrument to kill someone. What he's saying is deny yourself and then you put yourself under the spiritual knife daily and you die to your me first mindset. And you have the attitude of Christ and you say Lord what would you have me to do today? And then follow me. But then notice the reasoning here.

I love this. The words of Jesus are so cutting and so hard but his motivation is so loving and so compassionate. Because what he knows is as you follow the world and I follow the world and I have and you have, the end thereof is death. And so he gives us the reason. This isn't like he's the super demanding.

This is for, what's he say? For whoever wishes to save his life, do it your way. Me first mindset will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake, he is the one who will save it. And then he just, it's logical. He says for what is profited of a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself or literally it's his psyche or his soul, the real you.

I mean what's the use if you end up with the great car and the kids at the right schools and all the money and the 401k and the right looks and all the right surgeries and you're alone and empty and joyless and have no peace and you're sitting in your big house with your big plasma TV with no one that really loves you on Christmas Eve with kids that are alienated with a divorce or two in the rearview mirror and no one gives a rip about you but you sure look good on the outside. And Jesus says the world system is a disastrous, deceptive, seductive plan to bring death and destruction to your life and I love you so much. I don't call you to some mild little commitment. I call you to deny yourself. I call you to take up your cross on a daily basis and die to those desires of the flesh, desires of the eyes and that need and that compulsion that you have and I have to be first and to be the center and to be arrogant to pride in very, very sophisticated Christian ways I might add.

At least I've learned to do it in many of those ways. And then he says deny yourself. I remember sitting next to a guy who did one of the dot com deals and sold his company and made 10, 12 million dollars and then decided to go into politics and that didn't quite work out and as it happens with many dot coms the guy starts it and then they bring someone else in to run it and then he ends up with a whole lot of money and not a lot to do on his hands. And we were at a little banquet and I met him a couple, three different times and he looked at me and he says you know I've got a problem, I've got to discover what should I really do with my life and I said well what do you mean? He said well I did this, I got all this money and you know I want to be a good steward of it and this but I want to really serve God but I want to be rich. And I said so what should I do?

Because I'm not sure exactly what direction to go so you know I said so let me get this right, you want to serve God but you really want to be rich. He said right and you're asking me what should you do? He said right, I said repent. I said what do you mean? I said repent.

He said I don't know what do you mean? I said repent. It is the desire to be rich, it is at the root of many of evil that causes a man to pierce his very soul. If God would give you blessing and resources, enjoy them, be a good steward, you know every good thing enjoy, give generously and use it for his glory but if your desire is to be rich, that desire and being God's man are antithetical. So you got a whole, whole group of Christians that want to follow Jesus and be rich, follow Jesus and live a certain way, follow Jesus and only do their things this way at these times and you know what?

It's what we call the evangelical American both and strategy. I want all that Jesus can give me on my terms and I want my heaven here and my heaven there and I want to do it my way. God says deny yourself, take up your cross daily and follow me and if he's given you capacity and ability for wealth, he will bless you with wealth and you will understand it's his but it can never be the desire of your heart. It can't be what drives you. If it drives you, there's a God in your life and it's the rich young ruler and it means death. And so there has to be a renunciation, there has to be a point in time where you say Jesus matters more than that stuff and God all these other things in and of themselves are they evil?

No. But they can have no place, it can't be both and. A new attitude, a radical renunciation and then here you have to embrace a new economy. A new economy and an economy is just how things work, it's a new paradigm, it's a new kingdom, it's a new system, there's a new set of values, there's new priorities. In the kingdom you live differently, in other words the whole world is like fish going this way and you're the spiritual salmon going upstream, going upstream and then you get tired and actually when you see all the other Christians going down this way you think you're nuts. But here's the kingdom economy, the kingdom economy is threefold, the way to life is death.

It doesn't make any sense, it feels suicidal doesn't it? But what did the Apostle Paul say in Galatians 2 20? I've been crucified with Christ, what's crucified mean? I died and it's no longer I who live. Well what do you mean Paul, did you physically die?

No. It's that Christ lives in me and the life I now live, in other words the life I live in my present physical body I live in the flesh, how do I live? I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me. He's saying by faith I live in this body, my old man died, my new agenda, a new economy, the way to life is death. I'm going to die to my desires, die to my will, die to my agenda, die to my future, die to my demands and my selfishness and I'm going to say each and every day God what is your will? I'm going to follow you, I'm going to put others first by faith since you love me and died for me by your grace you will not withhold any good thing from me so I'm going to walk with you. The way surrender leads to purpose, passion and power.

If we said it in our day that's how I would say it. The way to life is death and death really is surrender. When you surrender on a daily basis to God's agenda it leads to purpose, it leads to passion and it leads to the kind of power and the love and the joy that we're all looking for. But the way to get there I'll tell you is different.

The second way in the new economy is the way up is you can write the word down. I mean it's human, God created us. We want to be honored, we want to be exalted, we want to be in a position where we influence people for good and for right and God says that ambition is not wrong.

He says it's how you get there. Notice what Jesus said in Luke 9 48, whoever receives this little child of my name receives me and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For the one who is the circle of the word least among all of you is the one who is greatest.

Circle greatest, least greatest. You see the paradox? If you really want life to the fullest die. If you really want to be exalted, if you really want to go up the way to go up is down. Be a servant. Servanthood leads to exaltation and honor. Surrender leads to purpose, passion and power.

Servanthood leads to exaltation and honor. Can you imagine what would happen in your house if we started out doing one another in servanthood? Who gets to do the dishes tonight? Mom can I help out with this? Hey honey I'll take care of that, I'll go out and take care of that. What would happen?

No you watch this program, I got to choose last night. What would happen if servanthood became the byword of your family, of this church, of how you went to work? You know I'll tell you, you will be exalted. You will be the best friend of many people. You will be the friend that everyone wants to be around. Does this mean doormat?

No. But it means a servant's mindset. If you want to be great, be the least. And the final aspect of the new economy is the way to gain is to give. Jesus would say in Luke 6 38, give and it will be given unto you. It will be poured into your lap, a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over.

For by your standard of measure or the size of cup or the size of basket that you give to others, it will be returned to you. Jesus says the whole world is about getting on top, being in the center, and gaining gaining gaining. And he says the way to get on top is be a servant, the way to gain is to give, and the way to discover life is to die. Generosity is the gateway to genuine prosperity. True wealth. And by the way, God does not mind giving financial wealth to Christians. And financial wealth is not evil or bad. Unless it has your heart.

And you always know if it has your heart is when he taps you on the shoulder and he wants to do something with it differently than you've planned. And by the way, the only antidote to greed is to be a giver. You need to systematically give and be generous with your time and your talent and your treasure. You need to give because me and you and the rich young rulers that are all sitting in this room are so prone by all these ads to get the next gadget and just the next big size house. Have you ever noticed if you're going to shop for a house or shop for a car that if you set a budget that the one you really want only costs about two thousand more? Right?

I mean if you say we can afford a house like this I'm guaranteeing you at about three percent and that's the one you really want. Why? It's called the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life. You are human. What's the antidote? The antidote is to say God it's not mine and you give generously. And not just of your money. You give your heart away. And the way you give your heart away is you give your time.

And you care about people. I love the prayer at the end and we're going to close the series and my application is to encourage you to consider praying this for seven days. Slowly, contemplatively, but one of the greatest radicals of his day Francis of Assisi was an extraordinarily wealthy man whose father was extraordinarily wealthy. And as church history tells it he had a radical encounter with Jesus Christ and took things extraordinarily, extraordinarily literally. And as the story goes, I don't know how much is mythology and how much is true church history, he left all that he had.

I mean he left his father's wealth, he left his clothes, and as the story is told he literally went naked and left all that he had. And started with a group of people who said let's just do what the New Testament says. And so he says, Lord make me an instrument of your peace. Where there's hatred, let me sow love. Where there's injury, pardon. Where there's doubt, faith. Where there's despair, hope. And where there's darkness, light. And where there is sadness, joy.

Do you see how outwardly focused it is? This is a kingdom prayer. Oh divine master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, get, but to console. To be understood. Why didn't anybody come up and talk to me?

Why aren't they asking me questions? I don't really feel a part. Not to be understood, but to understand. To be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive, it's in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it's in dying that we're born to eternal life. This is the path of paradox. It will go against your grain and your flesh in the world system. And you will do it and you will discover the life that is really life. And you will have joy like you can't imagine. You will have intimacy and answers to prayers that you thought were only for quote famous people out there somewhere.

Because God wants this for us. And he longs for you to get to experience his love at a deeper and greater level than any of the magic. You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram, and the message you just heard, How to Win the Battle for Your Soul, is from our series Pathways to Intimacy with God.

Chip will join us in studio to share some insights from today's talk in just a minute. Most of us would consider ourselves faithful, church-going, Bible-reading, praying Christians. But let me ask you, are you close to God?

Do you really know him? Through this ten-part series, Chip challenged us to move beyond the rituals and customs of the Christian life and experience an authentic relationship with God. We hope this series has helped you develop a deeper, closer relationship with your Heavenly Father and Creator. Let me encourage you to go back and revisit any part of this teaching. You can do that by going to LivingOnTheEdge.org.

That's LivingOnTheEdge.org. Well, Chip's back with me in studio, and Chip, today we're wrapping up your series Pathways to Intimacy with God. But take a minute and talk to that person who may feel far from God and spiritually disconnected. What advice do you have for them to reignite their faith?

Well, Dave, I think most people would say, start reading the Bible, spend quality time with God, take maybe some passages where you're struggling and memorize a short chapter. I think all of those would be great places to start, but most of us are struggling with the lack of community. Isolation has killed us.

The enemy, that's his goal, to get us isolated, to get us discouraged, to get us looking inward. And the only way to experience the life of the Holy Spirit is to be with people. We need to get in a room with a group of people centered around the Word of God and say, we're going to meet every week or every other week. We're going to do life together. We're going to be open. We're going to be honest.

We're going to dig in. We're going to apply the scripture to our lives, and we're going to encourage one another. And so let me encourage you to go to our website and choose the small group study that best meets the needs of your family or a group of men, a group of women, or a group of couples. We have studies to help you get back in sync, get in rhythm, get in community, because there's life there.

And God longs for us to experience the very life of Christ, but we can't do it alone. Thanks, Chip. We have a growing small group library on a variety of topics, and they're so easy to use. Chip provides the teaching, then you'll have time to discuss what you've heard alongside our helpful study guides.

So if you're not in a small group yet or don't know what to study next, let me encourage you to check out our resources. And for a limited time, we've discounted all our small group resources so you can get into community today. To learn more, go to LivingOnTheEdge.org or call us at 888-333-6003. That's 888-333-6003 or LivingOnTheEdge.org.

App listeners, tap Special Offers. Well, with that, here again is Chip. As we close not only this program, but the entire series, I've got to tell you that Prayer of St. Francis, it's such a counterintuitive way of living, isn't it? I mean, it's a radical kingdom mindset, but it is transformational.

And I just want you to know that there are ancient paths. There are people that for centuries and centuries have done life differently than everyone else. I remember being overseas and trying to explain this to a group in Russia, and it was on a little bit different topic.

But as I was talking, this quick picture came to my mind. They've been stuck in hundreds of years of tradition. It was very radical. And I said to them, what if from early childhood you grew up and people got into their car, they put it in reverse, and everyone drove their car backwards? I mean, they would get in, turn, look out the back, and they would drive in reverse all the time. And they would hear the sound, you know, when they got going real fast, so no one went more than about 15 or 18 miles an hour. You know, they'd begin to laugh, but I said, if the only thing you'd ever seen in all your life, everyone drives backwards, you would think that would be normal.

And I said, but what if it's not? What if the car wasn't designed to be driven backwards, but there's a whole new way? And, you know, they kind of chuckled with me. I think by and large the world for sure, and unfortunately that it breaks my heart and I'm sure God's heart, is I think many of his children are going about driving the car of their life backwards. You know, we're trying to find life by getting.

We're trying to get intimacy by taking. And God would say, you know, I long to speak to you. I love you. And the way up is down, and the way to life is death, and the way to wealth is to give. And when you live your life My way, there's the Spirit's power, and there's joy, and there's love, but it just doesn't make sense in this world system. My prayer for you is that you would enjoy the great depth of God's love and realize He wants to speak to ordinary people. He wants to hug you. He wants to care for you. He wants you to remember Him.

And He wants to do amazing things in an ordinary, regular person just like you and just like me. What an encouraging way to wrap up this series, Chip. Thanks. Well, before we go, I quickly want to thank those of you who regularly give to Living on the Edge. You're making a big difference in helping Christians live like Christians. But if you're benefitting from our ministry and haven't responded yet, let me encourage you to join the Living on the Edge team. You can do that by setting up a recurring donation at livingontheedge.org or by texting DONATE to 74141.

It's that easy. Text the word DONATE to 74141 or visit livingontheedge.org. App listeners, tap Donate, and thanks for doing whatever the Lord leads you to do. Well, from all of us here, this is Dave Druey saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.