Trusting Jesus No Matter What - Discovering Who Jesus Is, Part 2

If someone stopped you on the street and said, I hear you're a follower of Jesus.

Who is he exactly? I don't know what you would say, but this is what I'll tell you. What you will hear today from God's word about who he is, is bigger, more majestic, more powerful than anything that will come off the top of your head. You don't want to miss what God wants to say to you today.

Stay with me. Thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Living on the Edge is an international teaching and discipleship ministry focused on helping Christians live like Christians. Well, we're in the middle of our newest series, Trusting Jesus No Matter What, and today Chip picks up where he left off last time in his message, Discovering Who Jesus Is.

But before we get started, if this is your first time listening to Living on the Edge or you want to learn more about what we do, go to livingontheedge.org. You'll find tons of resources there and programs to learn from, or if you prefer, the Chip Ingram app is also a great way to get plugged in with our ministry. With that, go in your Bibles to Colossians chapter 1 as Chip begins by continuing to ask crucial questions that help us learn more about Jesus.

Let's dive in. Third question is, what is your role? He's the head of the body, the church. The word head there means he's the authority and he's also the source. When he died, he purchased us for the Father, and by his blood we've been forgiven. And now that he doesn't walk around in a physical body, but we are the extension, we are his body. And notice it says he's the firstborn from the dead. In other words, he blazed the trail.

And if he rose, the apostle Paul teaches us, we all shall rise. And then he's the supremacy. He has first place in everything. So what he did is, yes, he is God. Yes, he's created everything.

Yes, he sustains everything. But he was also human and he had to be human to die. And what he did is he came and he lived this perfect life and then he died and he rose from the dead.

And then he modeled for us, I'm going to overcome death. You'll overcome death if you're a follower of Jesus. I overcame sin. You can overcome sin if you're a follower of Jesus. He overcame Satan and he says to us, greater is he that is in us and he that's in the world. Are you starting to get a grasp of the Jesus that you can say, I'm going to trust him no matter what.

The cost is immaterial. He is a forever and forever God who is eternal, who loves me. My life, eternal life began when I trusted the Lord Jesus.

And as it began, I may die, but after I die, my life will continue better and better and better as I'm living in the very presence of God in a new heaven and a new earth. See, when you have an eternal perspective and you understand who Jesus is, it starts to get a new view of what matters and what doesn't matter. And if people reject you and money looks differently and risk looks differently, this is the kind of Jesus that creates a robust faith that's unwavering, that you don't have to see it, you don't know how it's going to work out, but you trust him. My biggest concern for much of the church is we have a group of people that have followed a set of principles or have some sense that if we do certain things and attend certain activities, that somehow that's the thing that pleases God. If those things are really what you're doing in order to express your faith, they're very important and very valid.

My fear when I look at the maturity of the church, my fear when I see families disintegrating and abandoning biblical morality, my fear when we see the things that are happening all around us, if there's not a group, it doesn't have to be big, just regular people like you and me who say, I trust you, Lord, no matter what, because you blazed the trail, I will be resurrected. And this life is very short and I'm going to walk with you regardless of what it takes. In the words of the Apostle Paul, my body is a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to you, and this is my spiritual service of worship. I'm on mission, and my mission isn't to be happy. My mission is to follow you with all my heart, all my soul, all my mind, and to love you and love my neighbors myself. And the amazing thing is the great byproduct is the kind of joy and the kind of peace and the kind of life that you really want, but it's a very, very different path. The truth is Jesus is Lord over the church, and our response, we must obey him fully and completely. I had a chance recently to hang out with a group, they're called Big Life, and they're all over the world in really some of the most challenging places. In fact, I just got a text from a friend who, they have some Afghan Big Life workers planting churches, loving people, and four of them were martyred.

And they were martyred actually getting Muslims and people who may be translators out of the country to find safety after all that's happened in that country. And as I've rubbed up next to these kind of Christians, one of the things you see is as they teach people to do Bible study, literally they get into the text and then the moment they're done they question, what does God want me to do? No partial obedience, immediate obedience. They talk about radical commitment that's immediate at great cost is the kind of obedience that God says, my favor, my reward, my provision, that's the promise. That's where power and grace will take you through thick and thin. You know, it's back to those Old Testament pictures, you know, they're at the edge of the water, right? And it wasn't like, okay, come on man, let's get this thing going, open it up, and when it opens up we'll all walk through.

What's the text say? Text says it wasn't until they stepped into the water that the Lord parted the water. And see, faith always involves risk, but it's not that big a risk.

If the one you're placing your faith in happens to have created the world, all things visible and invisible, thrones, dominions, powers, rulers, and he's currently holding it in the palm of his hand, and he's been resurrected and promises that if you follow him your future is secure. Is it hard? Yes.

Is it challenging? Of course. But it's Christians living like Christians.

That's just what we do. Question. Where's God speaking to you that you need to obey? I cannot tell you how many people I've talked to have said, you know, I believe in Jesus, but I believe in the Jesus that has only a heaven. I believe in Jesus that, you know, wants to help me. I believe in a Jesus that, you know, I think he's all love, and so I don't have any problem with, you know, people living different kind of lifestyles, different kind of morality, regardless of what the Bible says, because my Jesus would, here's what I'm trying to get you to see. We have reframed and created a different Jesus that then becomes a different gospel, and the Apostle Paul says, heaven forbid, that Jesus doesn't hold up when someone you love gets cancer. That Jesus doesn't hold up when you're clinically depressed, and you don't know what to do or where to go.

It doesn't hold up when people abandon you or betray you, and you find yourself absolutely alone and afraid. The Jesus who made all that there is, who sustains all there is, who blazed the trail, and who currently, with myriads of angels worshipping him, crying holy, holy, holy, is a Jesus that you can count on, a Jesus that you can put your faith in. And so you would ask Jesus, what's his goal? What's his mission? He says, God was pleased to have all the fullness dwell in him.

In other words, his mission is to reconcile all things to himself, things on earth, things in heaven. Jesus is going to make everything right. Like you, I struggle, okay?

I'm not saying this is easy. There's a huge earthquake and, what, 40,000 people, and then weeks later another earthquake. I have a very, very close friend whose wife had cancer, and we battled through it and prayed through it, and then she got cancer again.

I mean, major, major surgeries and reconstruction of everything under the sun. And, you know, we've been buddies for about 12 years, and his wife's had cancer three different times, and now it's like every six weeks she goes in for a scan. I don't like that. Ticks me off.

And I reverently, hey, God, you know, she's one of the most godly people I've ever met. A lot of life doesn't make sense, and I don't like it. But guess what? I'm not all-knowing, and neither are you. I'm not all-wise. I don't see the end from the beginning. And God looks at all things through this lens of eternity.

And what is the best possible ends for the most possible people in the best possible way? God knows what he's doing. It doesn't mean I like it. It doesn't mean it's not hard in a fallen world. It doesn't mean that I'm not scratching my head at times, and you are with, I don't get it. But that one little thing that I'm kind of glad of getting older is I can look back at things that were like 20 years ago, 15 years ago, 10 years ago.

That's terrible, unfair. What were you doing, God? Well, guess what? I can look back now and say, thank you, thank you.

And then so I'm honest, there's some I don't get it. I think there's an old song that says something about if you don't understand what God's doing, you can trust his heart. He's got your back and he loves you. And so the truth is Jesus is the sovereign king of time and eternity. And our response is we will reign with him forever.

Isn't it amazing? We'll reign with him forever. The Apostle Paul may be the greatest example because you read what he went through, right? You know, a night and a day in the deep and beat with rods three times and left for dead once stoned. And yet he finishes the faith. He has this picture that people don't talk about.

I'm going to receive a reward. There's actually a real heaven, actually a new earth that's coming, and it's actually real. And he lived his life with like this crazy idea that everything Jesus said is true. And even the disciples, remember that very last night they were arguing about who's going to be the greatest. And Jesus said, hey, if you want to be really great, he gave him a different way to get there, right?

Servanthood and humility and be last. But remember what he said to them. He knew what they were going to go through. He said, you are going to rule with me on these thrones in the new heaven, the new earth. I mean, there's something about getting that big picture that life isn't just now.

It really begins to cause you to have a kind of faith that's different than the Jesus make my life work out today. You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. We'll return you to Chip's message in just a minute. But let me quickly share with you God has called us to do incredible ministry work all around the world. And when you regularly give to Living on the Edge, you're part of what we do. So consider becoming a monthly partner today when you visit livingonthedge.org. We appreciate your generous support. Well, with that, here's Chip. Well, I want to ask you two or three questions, and then I want to have a very gentle moment of great encouragement. In light of what we've been talking about, question number one is this. How would you describe Jesus in your own words after reflecting on Colossians 1, 15 through 20? I mean, just right now, right?

Maybe you're jogging, maybe you're in your car, maybe you're watching on a screen, TV, maybe alone, maybe with a group. And if you just paused in light of this passage and in your own words said, this is who Jesus is, how would you describe him? And maybe more important, how is that different than how you thought about him before we studied this together? Second question for you is what challenge or difficulty do you think now is beyond his ability to help you to get out of or to get through? I mean, in light of who Jesus is, I mean, the Jesus of Scripture, Colossians 1, you think he can handle this one.

So if so, I think the last question is what will it look like for you to trust him? And right now, over the years, I've been doing this pastor thing for a long time. And when I get right to here, what I realize is when people get really honest, down deep, a lot of them feel like, okay, I get, I actually intellectually believe all this is true, but it's probably true for people like you, Chip. I mean, it's probably true for our pastor or, you know, those three friends that are super godly, but I mean, you don't know.

I mean, I can't remember the last time I picked up my Bible or, you know, people don't even know about that affair or, I mean, my family life and my finances are so messed up and, you know, I don't even know where I began. I don't think Jesus is going to help someone like me. Can I tell you his posture toward you right now, not if you clean things up, not if you take, you know, four wonderful steps that are positive. Jesus' posture toward you right now is this. Here's his invitation. Come to me, all of you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

You see, what qualifies you to get help is if you're weary, if you're stressed out, if you're burdened, if your life isn't working. See, he is so loving and he's so compassionate. Those are the very things that draw him to you. He's not saying work your way to me, just come.

I mean, today, now, just come, and then it goes on. He says, take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly or humble in heart. I love that.

One is literal, but the other is a metaphor. He says, take my yoke. In other words, let's team up together.

It's that picture of, you know, the two oxen, and he says, let's get connected together. I want you to start following my teaching. I want you to become my apprentice or my follower. And so Jesus is saying, if you're weary, your life's not working out.

You really feel like no one could care after all that you've done. I've heard this hundreds of times, but this Jesus that created the world, this Jesus that sustains it, this Jesus that's going to reign forever, come. Just come right now, just as you are. I'll give you rest.

Your step, take my yoke, Lord Jesus, today, right now. I want to get connected to you. I want to go where you want me to go. I want to do what you want me to do. And then I love this. He says, you'll find rest for your souls. That's the promise. Peace.

So much of our lives are medicating ourselves, trying to find peace, accomplishing things, trying to find peace, going through relationships, trying to find peace. He says, I'm humble and lowly in heart. And what he means by that is that he's accessible.

Yes, he's created all that there is, heavens, visible and invisible, thrones, dominions. He says, I'm going to descend and I'm going to meet you right where you're at. I'm going to tell you that I'm here to rescue you. Remember, I'm going to reconcile all things, that word all is big, all things to himself. And he wants to reconcile you.

You are one of those all things. And you might be a follower of Jesus and realize it's a realignment, or you may be someone who you consider yourself far from God. And the God of the universe had us meet on this day at this time to say, I love you and I want you.

Come. Then the final word is, my yoke is easy and my burden is light. That word easy, don't be fooled.

That's a translation. Literally, it's my yoke is comfortable. In other words, it'll fit you. He knows where you're at, what you're going through, what you can handle, what you can't. And when this was done in the New Testament times, you know, it would be a bigger, stronger oxen, usually with a weaker one.

And so they created it so it fit well. And the big one would lead and the other one would learn. And so the strength of what you need, Jesus is going to carry. But you've got to come and you've got to be honest and you come as you are. And here's the result, peace. Peace. I've had more conversations than you could ever imagine with people with incredible wealth, incredible success, painfully difficult marriages, one, two or three, children that don't talk to them anymore, spent their life in directions that they thought would bring, peace and life, and now feel like they're just too far gone. And I want to tell you, God wants to give you peace. If you've never received Jesus as your Savior and you're thinking, I want the peace.

Could you tell me how? It's an act of the will. It's receiving what Jesus did on the cross where he died for you and rose from the dead.

And like any relationship is you ask. And so right now, by the way, you don't have to close your eyes to pray. Jesus says he looked up. You might look up and say, God, I need you. I've done a lot of things wrong.

I'm hurting. And today I take you up on your invitation. Right now I come and I ask you to forgive me and to come into my life.

I believe today you died on the cross to pay for my sin and you rose from the dead to prove that it's true. And I'm in desperate need for peace. And so I receive your yoke today and I want to follow you.

So please help me. And I would say if you prayed that with me, let me encourage you to text or call the greatest Christian you know and find a Bible teaching church this weekend and show up and say, I'm not sure how it all works, but I've committed my life and received the Lord Jesus. And you can even go to our website at Living on the Edge, livingontheedge.org and there's a pretty clear place where you've received Christ and we have some information we'll give absolutely free to get you on your way.

If you're a follower of Jesus and all that I've said is sort of old territory, but you need to put the yoke on because you're in desperate need of peace, could I encourage you, turn around, get back on track. You don't have to work your way there. You don't have to feel bad about yourself.

You don't have to whip yourself with wet noodles. I'm a terrible person. Just come. Draw near to God. He'll draw near to you. He loves you today right where you're at and He wants to help you today.

Now the ball's in your court. If you come, He will help you. Before we go anywhere, as you have listened to today's message, I just want to remind you it was for you.

Jesus with open arms is saying, come to me. I want to forgive you first and foremost. Invite me into your life. Trust what I did on the cross paid for your sin and that when I rose from the dead, I am the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, I want to give you eternal life.

And so come right now. Put your faith, your trust, and trust your life to Him. Believe on the Lord Jesus and He promises. You have the right to become a child of God. You become one of His. Would you not do that, oh I should, I ought, maybe someday, but what would others think?

And all those thoughts that are going through your mind, just stop it. There will come a day where you and me and everyone on the face of the earth will come before the resurrected Christ, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. We will bow our knee and with our tongues we'll confess that He is indeed God, Lord, and King. And for all of us who do that willfully, who receive the free gift, it's glorious. But there will be those who just say, later, or they stiff-arm God. Don't be one of those. Be one of those that come to Him as a child.

He'll never force us. It's a love relationship. If you prayed to receive Christ with me, text or call, as I said earlier, the best Christian you know and tell them what you did. And then get online at livingontheedge.org. It's easy to find and we have some information to help you on your journey.

Welcome to the family. Well if you prayed with Chip, we do have a free resource we'd like to put in your hands that was uniquely created for new believers. It's a tool that will help you gain a clear biblical understanding of what it means to trust in Jesus. Request this free resource by calling us at 888-333-6003 or by visiting livingontheedge.org then clicking the New Believers button.

That's livingontheedge.org or call 888-333-6003. Let us help you get started in your faith journey. Well before we go, Chip's still with me in studio and Chip, you know, I wanted to take a minute here and share something we've received from one of our listeners named Ted.

He writes, Dear Chip, two years ago I joined a global tech consulting company as an inclusion and diversity lead in operations. Upon realizing how much I need to deal with different communities, including the pride community in our company, I've been praying to God for wisdom that if he thinks I'm compromising my faith because of my role, that he takes me out of the role. Your message put in words what God has been putting into my heart to use my role to connect with everyone, regardless of their preferences, to allow them to experience God's love for all of us. Your message about loving others and not judging others, especially outside the faith, is a reminder of how much God can use me in this role to spread his message of salvation and of unconditional love for everyone.

Wow, thanks for sharing that, Dave. You know, it's messages like that from Ted that deeply encourage me. He realized that quitting might mean losing an opportunity to share the gospel. And when God's word goes forth, and when you have people that are willing to take a stand and not compromise on the truth, but be out there in the public square the way Ted is, it never returns void. Our vision is to see a movement of Christians living like Christians for the glory of God and the good of all. And I want you to know that as you become a monthly donor, you can help us take that step to a whole new level. Your regular support helps us to continue to provide the kind of valuable resources that equip people like Ted, right where they are in the workplace, at school, family, and their communities. Will you help us build a strong foundation of disciple makers by becoming a monthly partner? Thanks for praying about that and then acting on whatever God shows you to do.

Well, as you prayerfully consider your role with this ministry, let me remind you that every gift is significant. When you partner with Living on the Edge every month, you multiply our efforts and resources in God-sized ways. To set up a recurring donation, go to LivingOnTheEdge.org or visit the Chip Ingram app. That's LivingOnTheEdge.org or check out the Chip Ingram app. Well, before we go, I want you to know about an easy way to listen to our extended teaching podcast. Hear Chip anytime on Amazon's Alexa Echo and Echo Dot. Just say, Alexa, open Living on the Edge, and you'll hear that day's extended teaching anytime you want. Well, until next time, this is Dave Druey saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.