What Child is This? - What does He Want?, Part 2

What would happen if you actually believed that Jesus was alive in you, that he's not down on you, that he wants to be your best friend, that he has an amazing plan for your life, and that this whole Christmas season is about teaching you what he wants the most?

That's today. Chip Ingram. Living on the Edge is an international teaching and discipleship ministry motivating Christians to live like Christians. And in just a minute, we'll wrap up Chip's series, What Child is This?, with an encouraging message that'll give you a fresh perspective toward Christmas this year. But before we begin, if this series has spoken to you, take a minute after this message and share it with a friend.

Now, you can do that through the Chip Ingram app or by sending them the free MP3s that you'll find at livingonthedge.org. Well, with that, here's Chip with part two of his talk, What Does He Want?, from Colossians chapter one. What would happen if you believed, as a believer and follower of Jesus, that he actually lives in you, that he's not down on you, that he's the best friend that you would ever have, that he knows what's gonna happen next week, next year, that he has a plan for you, that the unlimited resources of all of heaven, the one who created and spoke everything into existence, would like to make you holy and whole, and every single day direct you about that decision, help you work out that issue in your marriage, bring you peace as you wrestle with, are you gonna be single, is God gonna bring someone into your life, give you discernment about what role and what job, what to do with one of your kids that's having a struggle, that he would be a father and a friend and a lover of your soul, and you would never have to get in line. God, I know there's almost seven billion people. Oh, wow.

It doesn't work that way. In fact, Jesus was explaining this to his disciples, and for some of us, you've been a Christian for a while, and you've read the New Testament, and oh, yeah, yeah. Well, it wasn't oh, yeah, yeah for them. Now, imagine this itinerant preacher, he comes and starts speaking, and all the religious people say he's a wacko, and he's a liar and a blasphemer, but once you see a handful of people raised from the dead and walks on water, and he fulfills all these Old Testament passages, and pretty soon you're realizing, I think this is the real deal, and so unlike a lot of people, you follow him wholeheartedly. I mean, you are in, and the kingdom's coming, and he's the Messiah, and I mean, you see things that people have never seen, and maybe you're Peter, John, or James, and literally, I mean, the cloud came down, you heard God's actual voice, and you're thinking, this is awesome, and then he gets near the end, and he goes, you know what, the plan is a little different than you guys. See, you guys only want to read half of that Old Testament. Yes, I am the Messiah, but the Messiah's a suffering servant, and I'm gonna die for the sins of people, and then in three days, I'll be risen from the dead, and I will come back a second time, but there's a little delay here, and if you're these guys, you're thinking, I don't really think this is a great plan, and he goes, no, no, it's really better for you.

Well, how's that? And I mean, they're trembling, and they're realizing, you know, public opinion is going south, religious leaders and rumors about an assassination are everywhere, and he gets them in this room, and they take the Lord's Supper, and he washes their feet, and they sing a hymn, and then he takes them out to this place where they've been hanging out and praying, Mount of Olives, and he says, don't let your heart be troubled, don't be uptight, you believe in God, believe also in me. You know, and then he goes on, if it were true, I wouldn't have said it, and he goes, you know, you understand that I'm going to the Father, and I love it, I can just picture Thomas raising his hand, and he goes, you know what, I don't really get this, okay, if these other guys do fine, I don't get it, what do you mean if we've seen you, we've seen your Father? None of this makes sense, would you talk like English, or Aramaic, or Hebrew, or whatever you're talking, but like shoot it straight, because this makes no sense to me. And he says, Thomas, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father, it's better that I go, and then he begins to explain, he goes, in fact, there's another one, it's a very interesting word, another of the same kind, like me, and he's not going to come until I leave, and he's the Spirit of Truth, and when I leave, the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit, is going to come and dwell inside of you, and you have access 24-7, and he'll bring to your remembrance the things that I taught, and he'll direct you, he'll convict you, he'll empower you, whatever you need, my Father and I, as you trust and remain and abide in me, we will be with you, we'll never forsake you, and you have access, and you have intimate relationship with the Creator and the Savior of the world, 24-7, 365. And I think at that point, they're starting to get it, but then in John chapter 15, because this is the way God works, he always speaks in a way we can understand.

It's an agricultural world. They understand about grapes and, you know, pruning and vine dressers, and so on that very last night, he goes, look, my Father is the vine dresser. I am the true vine. You are the branches. And then he gives them this parallel about how the, you know, the life comes through the vine into the branches, and the supervision of the vine dresser who's the Father.

And in John 15, he says to them, this is how the intimacy will go on. He says, abide or remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself. It must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

I am the vine. You are the branches. If a man, if a woman, if a student remains, abides, stays in connected to me, and I and him, you'll bear much fruit, because apart from me, you can't do anything. And if anyone doesn't abide me as a branch, he's like a branch that's thrown away and withers, and such branches are picked up and thrown into the fire. But if you remain and abide and stay connected to me, you can ask whatever you wish. If my words are in you and you are in me, you can ask whatever you wish, and I'll give it to you. That's what God wants.

And so, he says you need to make room for him every day. That's the response. I meet Christians all the time, and we all have struggles. But I meet Christians all the time, and I get it. I'm busy. You're busy.

There's demands. But I will tell you what, if you would remain and be connected to Jesus the vine in this next year, your whole world would change. If you began and just said, you know something, 20 minutes, that'll change not only my life, but probably my eternity. If you said the first 20 minutes of every day, I'm going to abide or remain. And then if you're really a friend, I don't know about this religious stuff, I'm just going to talk to you like a friend. No these, no those, no jargon.

Hey, this is me. I'm really angry about this, I'm really struggling about this, and this marriage isn't going the way I think. Will you help me?

One of my kids is going through a really tough time in school, and I don't know what to do. Would you help me? And by the way, thanks for what you did yesterday.

And here's some dreams I have on my heart. And you just begin to talk to a friend. And you read it, and by the way, I don't get it all, but if you show me something to do, I'll do it, okay? I can't do it on my own, but I'll do it.

You spend the first 20 minutes, and then each time you pull out your phone, make that just a little memory. Oh, you know, I'm going to check in, I'm going to check in. Some of you will be praying a lot. You know what will happen? You'll abide. You'll be connected. The spirit will flow.

The truth will flow. Temptations will lessen. Marriages will improve. Your perspective changes.

All of a sudden, some things that you love to do that were a little questionable, you get, yeah, I don't know, I don't get it. You won't have the desire. It won't be about external things. It'll be God changing you from the inside out. He wants you to receive His pardon. He wants you to become whole and holy. He wants you to be certain. You can be certain of heaven if Christ lives in you. And fourth, Jesus wants you to be spiritually mature.

He wants you to be a grown up. Look at verse 28, 29. The apostle Paul writing says, for him and Timothy, we proclaim Him Jesus. In other words, they tell people.

They're bold. We want you to know about Jesus, the Savior of the world. He's come, Emmanuel. And we don't just proclaim and tell people the story.

We are admonishing everyone and we're teaching everyone that we, on a certain day at a certain time, could present them before God is complete or mature. And by the way, he says, you know what, this is my passion. For this purpose I labor, struggling according to this power that mildly works within me. In other words, I'm pressing out. I'm working hard. I'm energized.

I'm focused. Because here's what I want to do. I don't want you all just to come and make a decision and have Christ live in you. That process of becoming mature, that's God's dream. I want to be a part of you becoming all God made you to be. The truth is God wants you to be spiritually mature. Notice the truth. God uses His Word, His people, and every circumstance to make you like His Son.

I mean, He's actually working every moment of every day. A lot of us, it's, you know, have you ever had, like, you go to 3D movies and you're watching the movie and it's kind of like this and it's real weird and someone just gives you glasses and you put it on and all of a sudden, whoa. He's saying, I want you to get on new glasses that you see life in a completely different way. You start listening and learning and applying. In fact, that's the application. We must habitually listen, learn, and apply God's Word and notice it's in the context of community. You do it with people. Some of you maybe have been like me, I've coached Little League and I've coached high school and coached various sports and some of you are supervisors in your work or you're a boss or you're a parent. And have you ever had maybe someone come to work or, you know, a kid on one of your teams, I've had this happen multiple times, and you just want to go to someone you really trust and say, this is unbelievable. This kid or this worker, I mean, they've got gift oozing out of their ears. Like in the workplace, it's like, man, she is smart, she's quick, she's got people skills. I mean, it's just unbelievable. I mean, she could run this place in five or 10 years.

Or, like in my world, it was like, my lens, are you kidding me? You're in eighth grade, you got a 38 vertical jump, you can do a crossover dribble, you got great hands, you understand the game. This kid's going to be in the NBA. And there's all this gift. And yet, if you've been around very long, you've seen people with all this gift and all this potential, and they kind of ride their gift. And they get promoted because of their gift.

But they don't discipline themselves, they don't structure, they don't work hard like other people. And then they crest early. And what you knew was their potential was here, and they landed here in work.

There's a lot of marriages like that. There's a lot of kids. This was their potential.

This is where they landed. And as a boss or a coach, as a parent, is there anything that makes you more sad than when you see the potential that could be and then you just see, wow. That's how God feels. He wants you to be spiritually mature. That word mature is teleos, we get a word telescope.

A telescope is something that looks far into the distance. It's the idea of God wants you to personally fulfill his ultimate design. That what he made you to do, who he made you to become, that you would have the kind of character and the kind of love, the kind of skills, that you would discover the plan, and that you would just mature.

That's what he wants for Christmas. He wants to pardon you. He wants to make you holy. He wants to remove all fears so that you would know every day, I'm on my way to heaven. Not because of what I've done, but I'm tasting it because I'm abiding and I'm walking.

You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. We'll get back to our series, What Child is This, in just a minute. But quickly, I want to remind you that we're in the middle of our year-end match. Thanks to a few close ministry friends, every gift we receive until December 31st will be matched dollar for dollar.

For more information about how to partner with us, go to livingontheedge.org or call 888-333-6003. Thanks for doing whatever God leads you to do. Well, let's rejoin Chip now for the remainder of his message. In fact, I love the last portion of John when he's talking to these disciples, and he's trying to help them. I mean, he's really trying to help them get it, because this was very foreign to them.

We've got a couple thousand years to look back to say, hey, this really works, but they didn't. And so when he sums it up, he says to them in John 15, beginning at verse 8, this is my Father's glory, and that's one of those Bible words, but this is what enhances the Father's reputation. This is what lights it up. This is what brings him joy. This is what helps people see him for who he really is. This is my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit showing or demonstrating or proving yourselves to be my disciples.

That's what it means to be mature. You bear much fruit. And in the Bible, there's two kinds of fruit. One kind of fruit is love and joy and peace and patience and goodness and kindness and gentleness and self-control.

It's character. And the other kind of fruit is that you accomplish things for the living God, and they used to be like this, but now they're like this because of you. And you bear much fruit. And then he gives the motivation. He says, as the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now, here's our word again, abide or remain or stay connected in my love. And then he tells you how.

It's really simple. If you obey my commands, you'll remain in my love, just as I have obeyed the Father's commands and remain in his love. And then verse 11 is one of my favorite in all the Bible.

It's his motives. These things, think of that early first day, I say to you, disciples, and I know you're scared to death. These things I'm saying to you about the Father and the vine and the branches and abiding, that my joy could be inside of you and that your joy could be full to the brim. God wants to be your friend. He wants to make you whole. He wants you to taste heaven every single day. And he wants you to grow up and be who he made and designed and deep in your heart and spirit you long to become. That's what he wants. It's a pretty cool Christmas present to give to him. When we talk about Christmas and what God wants, that's all what he wants for you. And I just want to touch on what he wants from you. Because as you know, sometimes receiving things is really, really, really, really awesome.

But there's something about at times when you can give some things that it's equally awesome and sometimes even more powerful. So let me just highlight, and I've given you some passages to check out, here's four things he wants from you. One, Jesus wants you to share in his suffering for his body, the church.

Paul said he rejoiced. See, we've got a whole world that suffer, suffer, suffer. Anything that's painful, I don't want it, I don't want it, I don't want it.

And we've missed the point. You're going to suffer. It's a fallen world. There's pain. There's difficulty. People mess up. They'll betray you. There's injustice.

There's corruption, right? You're going to suffer. Jesus says, why don't you suffer for me and for what really counts? Why don't you join in my suffering? Why don't you get your expectations out of, is everything going right for me all the time?

And why don't you take the difficulty of life and why don't you turn it around and leverage it and do it for me? I built a relationship with a lady. I didn't know much about her and she began to write me. She listened on the radio probably 15, 16 years ago and we began to write back and forth.

She had this beautiful handwriting and was an artist who would send me a picture. Over time I learned that she was a nun and she was a nun up in San Francisco. She would get up at 4.30 in the morning and copy the message on these little cassettes and then give it to Mother Superior and to other nuns.

Apparently Living on the Edge was going hot in the, I think it's called a cloister. It was a special group of nuns that never left this place. One day a year they went out of this place and she shared her life story. She went in as an early woman in her 20s and she was in her 80s by the time we finally met. She was in her 80s and we didn't agree on everything but she was this born again and loved God and she was a spirit about her that was sweet.

I mean super sweet. I got where I could call her on the phone and they'd bring her to this phone and we would talk. Then she had some sort of bone deterioration, had extraordinary pain and had real problems. Teresa and I drove up to see her.

They had these sort of bars type place and she could be on one side and we were sort of like prison. It was a little weird to tell you the truth. I don't always get, it's amazing God does a lot of amazing things in lots of different groups. But she had spent her whole life praying and worshiping and loving God and praying for people. She was in excruciating pain and I said, her name was Sister Mary of the Holy Spirit. I accidentally, early in our relationship, I called her and I said, well Sister Mary, she just stopped me. My name is not Sister Mary. My name is Sister Mary of the Holy Spirit. I said, okay.

I guess you get to choose your name in there. But she was precious. I remember asking her about it and it was excruciating and they've tried this, they've tried that. And she said something I don't think I've ever heard the most famous Christian leader in the world say. She said, every time I have sharp pains shoot up the back of my neck and then it goes down my leg and many nights I can't sleep, I just lay there and I think of how much Jesus has suffered for me. And I think of even in my physical body that I could in any way identify with the fellowship of his suffering. And if I could take any of these things and allow these suffering moments to be prayers that I offer up to other people, I think, oh, that I would be worthy to suffer and experience a small portion of what he suffered so that I could understand how much he loves me. And I thought, I never preached that one before. And I learned a lot from Sister Mary of the Holy Spirit. Would you be willing to sign up for some suffering for the right reason and the right way and leverage your difficulty instead of running from it, avoiding it, or complaining to God that everything isn't just the way you want it? That would be a nice gift to give him this year. The second thing he wants from you is he wants you to be a servant, to present God's word to your world.

Paul said, I became a servant to present his word in all of its fullness. There's two types of Christians, some are fans and some are followers. Fans are like a 49er game. I want to be a fan. I go to the store, I go to Jersey, I put this number on it, I get a baseball hat, I put it on backwards, I buy season tickets, I go to the game, they play the game, yeah, go, yeah, go to the tailgating party, oh man, I'm a 49er, this is awesome.

You are a fan. When you're on the team, you go to two-a-days. You go to the weight room.

You come back from injuries. You prioritize your life around what does it take for this team to be all that it is supposed to be and what's my role on this team, how do I make my teammates better, and I will pay the price of whatever it takes for this team to win. And Paul said, that's what I was, a servant. I'm not asking God, how can you make my life work out for me? I'm asking God, as your servant, what would you like to do in me and through me to fulfill your purposes on this little ball that spins around in space called planet earth until all things are reconciled unto you. That would be a good gift to give to Jesus. The third thing he wants is Jesus wants you to help others become spiritually mature. In other words, he wants you to be a disciple maker. So often you hear, join a small group or for your own benefit, it would be really good to get into the Bible or talk with God and here's how we, you know, if you've been through this, we have a program for that. If you've been through that, we have something to help you here. Here's what I can tell you.

All those things are wonderful. But he wants every single person in whom the Spirit of God lives that your vocation is to make disciples, helping other people come to know Christ and then once they come to know Christ, you admonish them. It just means you coach them.

I mean, you help them figure out what do they do in the difficult relationship and what do they do with all their debt and what do they do with the thoughts and issues and pains from the past and their dysfunctional family and then you instruct them and you spend time with them and you mentor them and you go through thick and thin and you know what happens? They become more and more and more and more like Jesus and you do too as you make disciples. Didn't Jesus say, did Jesus say go therefore into all the world in big, big churches? Go therefore into all the world and pray a prayer. Go into all the world and be nice, moral people. What did Jesus say? Go into all the world and make disciples, followers. And then he says there's a special time.

Well, they'll actually go public baptizing them and there's certainly water there for sure, but the idea was identification from their old life to a new life. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and then just don't leave it and then teach them. Everything I taught you. Well, what did Jesus teach us about time? What did he teach us about money? What did he teach us about marriage? What did he teach us about our enemies? You teach them everything I taught you so that we have these little Christs, these little mirrors in a fallen world and they meet moms and dads and workers and business people and students who are very imperfect, but just keep reflecting progressively more and more what Jesus is like and then people start thinking, you know what, there may be something to this, not religion, but to the person of Jesus and who they're talking about. Finally, what you could give him for Christmas is he wants you to exert energy and work hard in his power to help Christians live like Christians.

You know, sometimes we just so want everything easy. The greatest disciple maker I've ever known is a bricklayer who helped me when I went to college. He had a high school education. His job was laying brick. His vocation was making disciples, and I went into his living room with three or four other guys.

Three years later, there was 250 college students. He then moved his family, not for a job, but to start it on another campus as he laid brick during the day, asked me to join him. I ate with his family.

I stayed in the garage apartment in the back. I worked for him and learned what work looks like. We did Bible studies together. He gave me books to read. I watched him raise his kids.

I think it was for me I really needed this because I was so intent on wanting to be cool. He was very uncool. He didn't dress cool. He didn't talk cool. He wasn't dynamic. In fact, some of the Bible studies were just downright boring and biblical. And you know, after about three or four years around him, I didn't know whether God wanted me to be a lawyer or a basketball coach or a scientist because I changed my major and tried them all. But I knew one thing.

It really wouldn't matter much. What I want to be is I want to be a man of God like Dave. I want to have a marriage like Dave. I want to be a dad like Dave. And I want to be a Christian like Dave. And I want you to know that your job description is to make disciples. And you can do that as a stay-at-home mom, a CEO, a construction worker.

You can do that as a student. But that reorientation is what we give to him in response to all he's given us. You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. And the message you just heard, What Does He Want?, is from our series, What Child Is This?

Chip will join us in studio to share some insights from today's talk in just a minute. For most of us, the Christmas story is a pretty familiar one. So in the routine of the festive holiday season, we forget about the incredible significance of December 25th. In this six-part series, Chip reminded us why Jesus came, who He really is, and what He wants from us. We hope this teaching has changed how you'll celebrate Christmas this year. Let me encourage you to go back and revisit any part of this series by going to livingontheedge.org.

That's livingontheedge.org. Well, Chip's joined me in studio now. And Chip, before you come back to share your application for this message, you know, with all the turmoil and rampant evil happening in today's world, it's so easy to be pessimistic about the future. So what advice do you have for Christians to avoid dwelling on all the negativity? Because, you know, it's not like all of these concerns are just going to go away.

Well, Dave, you're right. I mean, the issues are big. The negativity is strong. And what I want to say to my brothers and sisters right now is we must guard our heart. We have to protect our soul from the continuous stream that's coming across on the Internet and news feeds and nightly news that over and over and over keep reinforcing our own view or how bad things are, how difficult they are.

And what it produces is a sense of cynicism and hopelessness. And that's not a believer of Jesus Christ. The first century could not have been more harsh politically, economically, emotionally, in every way for the followers of Jesus, but they guarded their heart. They put good things in their mind. And they weren't afraid of Caesar and they weren't afraid of dying. And they didn't dwell on all the things that were wrong. They understood there is a new life and there's a new heaven. And they were the kind of people that demonstrated hope day in and day out.

But it takes tremendous discipline. It means we have to fuel our hearts and our minds with good things. It's absolutely essential that we consume good biblical content daily, that first and foremost we're disciples of Jesus, that we commit to the discipline of developing good habits, building up our strength, our courage, our joy, and our peace. Living on the Edge is committed to teaching and discipleship. It's helping Christians live out the truth of God's Word no matter what's happening in their world or the world.

And here's my question. If God has used the ministry of Living on the Edge to guide and deepen your life, or the life of someone that you care about, would you reinvest in the ministry today? And right now, every dollar you give will be doubled dollar for dollar until December 31st. Please pray and then follow God's leading about what He wants you to do by partnering with us financially.

Thanks so much. Well, if you feel like God's moving you to partner with us, as Chip said, now's a great time. Thanks to a handful of donors, every gift we receive between now and midnight December 31st will be matched dollar for dollar. To send in your gift, call us at 888-333-6003 or go to livingontheedge.org.

That's livingontheedge.org or call 888-333-6003. App listeners, tap donate. Well, with that, here again is Chip. Hey, as we close today's broadcast and actually wrap up this whole series, I want to encourage you, just some perspective, okay?

Just lean back and relax a little bit. Giving God what He wants the most is not like a sense of drudgery or poverty or, oh, I'm going to become this super religious person who's just, you know, weird. When you give God what He wants the most, which is you, it really opens the door to the life, the life that's really life. You know, I didn't grow up as a Christian, and as a result of that I chased a lot of things to try and find life that's really life.

You know, I tried to find it in the opposite sex or in sports or in fame or success or pleasing people or doing my work faster or better than other people. Here's what I want you to know. Everybody has a Lord. Everybody has something that you believe is going to save you or make you. And Jesus comes and says, they're idols.

They'll let you down. I made you. I created you. I died for you. I came as a baby, but I rose from the dead. I have a life that's really life. And true life is found when you surrender to Me, not just receive My forgiveness, but remember what Jesus said to those disciples? Follow Me.

Follow Me. And you know, He has a purpose. He has meaning. I'll make you a fisher of men. I'll show you why I put you on the earth.

I'll use you in ways that you'll see other people's lives change that will bring you incredible joy. There's something that's hard to grasp, but when you give your life away, you actually find it. You know, we get a taste of it every Christmas as we think about other people and do some things to help others that normally we wouldn't help. There's a joy that wells up inside of us. God wants you to know that the child that came is really the Son of God and that He gave His life for you, that you might live no longer for yourself, but for Him who gave His life for you.

And in so doing, you will discover and enjoy the life that's truly life. Thanks, Chip. And as we close, I want you to know that as a staff, we ask the Lord to help you take whatever your next faith step is. And we'd love to hear how it's going. Would you take a minute to send us a note or give us a quick call?

Either one is easy. Just email chip at livingontheedge.org or call us at 888-333-6003. Again, that's 888-333-6003, or email chip at livingontheedge.org. Well, from all of us here, I'm Dave Druey, thanking you for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge, and I hope you'll join us again next time.