Piercing the Darkness - Our Faith: How God Works in Us, Part 1

Let me ask you, what does Hebrews chapter 11, the most important parable that Jesus ever told, and Niagara Falls all have in common? Well, it'll show you how God can work in your life right now today, right where you live, with everything you're facing. Stay with me. Welcome to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. The mission of these daily programs is to intentionally disciple Christians through the Bible teaching of Chip Ingram.

Thanks for being with us today as we pick up in our newest series, Piercing the Darkness. Through the last couple of programs, Chip walked through the God-honoring-life Christ model for us, and why Jesus is the ultimate source of hope in our world. In just a minute, Chip will focus in on our faith and the transformational work God wants to do in our hearts. But before he dives in, 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 also find countless resources and programs to enjoy. Well, if you're ready, Chip begins by unpacking that intriguing question he teased a moment ago. If you know Hebrews 11, 6, it says, without faith, it is impossible, not hard, it's impossible to please God, because those who come to God must believe first that He actually exists, and second, that He's a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. So of all the things that God's looking for, more important than anything else, you can't please Him, I can't please Him, your morality can't, your good works can't. Without faith, we can't please God.

Sometimes we think faith is a feeling, or faith is just a set of things that you might agree with. And so, Niagara Falls, in the middle 1800s, there was an acrobat, a fellow true story named Blondin. In the off-season, he did circuses and the rest, but they would take a tightrope from New York all the way over to Canada, and they put it over Niagara Falls. And this guy would walk back and forth, and there would be huge crowds on both sides. And then he wanted to get even crazier, so he put 150-pound pack on him, and he went from one side to the other. Later, he just got super crazy and got a wheelbarrow, put 150 pounds on it.

And I mean, the people were going nuts, nuts, nuts. I mean, if he falls, he's done. And so, one particular guy, as the story is told, is going, man, you're amazing, you're amazing, you can do anything. I believe you're the greatest acrobat ever. And he says, fantastic.

He goes, you look to be about 150 pounds, get the wheelbarrow. See, faith isn't agreeing or believing that he can do that. Faith is to the point that you believe that you entrust yourself to that person, and that's what biblical faith is. And then the third is the most important parable. In fact, Jesus would say, if you don't understand this parable, you can't, it's impossible to understand any of the others. And it's a parable about faith. It's a parable about life change.

Jesus calls it the secret of the kingdom of God. How is it that he changes a life supernaturally where we become more and more like Jesus? We adopt his values. We see life the way he sees it. And the Bible's really clear none of us can do that in our own power. And so, the question I have on your notes, how did Jesus make disciples in such a hostile environment that were so much like him that they overcame the darkness and they changed the world? I mean, think of how ridiculous a group of 12 and then 120 or so, maybe, hostile culture, multiple gods, a cruel government, it was illegal to be a Christian, persecution, and yet here we are, well over one-third of all the people living on the planet today would acknowledge at some level, I'm a follower of Jesus.

How did that happen? I'm going to suggest he did three things. Number one, he modeled what he wanted them to become. Second, he taught them the secret of the kingdom so they learned how life change actually would occur for an individual. And third, he tested their faith, not so they could fail, but he tested their faith so they could reveal his power so that when he said something in the future, they would actually believe it to the point of getting in the wheelbarrow and following. Does it make sense? That's the overview of the whole message.

So let's jump into the first one. He modeled what he wanted them to become. Our hope is how God works in history and the fundamental first way he worked in history is Jesus' life was the light of the world, not just his teaching, his teaching for sure, but what he actually did was reproduced in the life of the disciples with a very intentional process. Now, for those of you who take notes, who wonder what the blank is, are you ready?

It's coming. The result, his light continues to shine in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it. These very ordinary, uneducated men and women who followed Jesus, his life was so captivating and he passed that on in such a dynamic way that they just were little Christ-like ones. In fact, you know why we're called Christians? Because when Christianity came to the Gentiles in a city called Antioch, they were so much like Jesus. In a negative slur, they called them all those little Christ-like ones. They were merciful. They're giving away their resources.

They're greeting one another with a holy kiss. We got rich people and slaves who actually like each other. We got people from different ethnic backgrounds. They care about kids that are left on the dump. Women like have value.

I mean, who would want to be like that? The resistance, however, is the traditions of men and the lives of the enemy. If you read through the gospels and you see where did Jesus get the greatest pushback, it was among the religious community. And what happens over time is we want to take the world and our traditions and our religions and keep in control.

And the enemy wants us to believe that success and security and money and how you look and how much people think about you and how famous you are makes you a real someone. Those are always pushing against this life with Jesus. Isaiah would tell us that even in the Old Testament, the same thing has been repeated forever. He says, woe to those in Isaiah chapter 5 who call right wrong, who call light darkness and call darkness light, who call bitter sweet and who call what's really sweet bitter. And he says that over time what happens is there's this amazing gravitational pull of a world system that's contrary to God that wants to captivate your soul and your life and your mind and take you down a path that will not give life and you will not flourish.

And it promises everything and delivers death. So first he modeled it. Second he taught them the secret of the kingdom of God and how life change really happens.

And that's you're going to find in Mark chapter 4 verses 13 through 20. And he says the sower went out to sow seeds. And he threw seeds, agricultural community, right? And he threw some on a path and it was hard and the birds came and ate it up. He threw some other seed on some rocky soil and it grew up quickly but when the sun came and it was very, very hot it shriveled because it didn't have a root system. He threw some other seed on thorny ground and it grew up very quickly but the thorns came and choked the life out of the plant.

And then finally he threw some seed on some good soil and it grew up and it began to flourish and there were seeds from that plant 30, 60 and 100 fold. And when he gets done he says, he who has ears to hear let him hear. Now can you imagine hearing about this teacher who fed 5,000 people, raised a few people from the dead, everyone's talking about him. That's the message. And that phrase, he who has ears to hear means pay close attention.

What I said is really important. So the disciples when they get in a private time with him they say would you mind kind of explaining what in the world that message is about because we don't get it. Open your Bible, Mark chapter 4. I want to read to you the actual words of Jesus' explanation. Mark chapter 4, we'll pick it up at verse 10. As soon as he was alone with his followers along with the 12 disciples they began asking him about the parable and he was saying to them, listen to this, to you has been given the mystery.

The word just means a secret, not mysterious. It just means this truth has never ever been revealed ever anywhere until now of the kingdom of God. But to those who are outside everything comes in parables. And then he quotes Isaiah here with people's hard heartedness and why they won't respond. He says while seeing they may see and not perceive and while hearing they may hear and not understand. In other words he says, you know what, their hearts are hard and so I'm going to talk in parables.

This is very special truth and unless people are really willing to respond to it I just don't throw it out there. And then he says this, do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables?

Literally it's if you don't understand this particular parable you can't understand all the others and we'll learn why. These are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown and notice as I read the word, the word, the word. In my Bible I have a box around the word where the word is sown and when they hear it immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which had been sown in them. And in a similar way the ones that were sown on the rocky places they hear the word immediately respond with joy and yet they have no firm root in themselves but it's only temporary. And when affliction or persecution occurs because of the word immediately they fall away. And the others are those sown seed among the thorns and these are the ones who hear God's word but the worries of this world and the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things enter in and they choke the word and it becomes unfruitful.

And those are the ones with the seed and the good soil, these are the ones who hear God's word, accept it and bear fruit 30, 60 and a hundred times as much. Now imagine this, this is Jesus. According to Jesus if everyone sitting in this room, everyone who ever might watch this, in fact anyone who's ever opened the Bible and read this passage, if you don't understand this passage and how it operates you can't understand all the others.

Because what he basically is doing he's now launching his kingdom agenda and now he's going to say this is how it actually works. You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram and we'll get back to his message in just a minute. You know we love to hear how you're deepening your relationship with God as you study his word with us. But another way we want to support you in that is through our free resource called Daily Discipleship with Chip.

Let me encourage you to stick around after this message as Chip will tell you more about it and how to sign up. But for now, let's get back to the remainder of his talk. And so there's only five things that happen in the passage. There's a sower who's the teacher, there's a seed that is the message, there's the soil which is the hearers, and there's growth, different types of growth, and then there's the desired outcome or fruit. And the teacher is the Son of Man with moral authority, it's Jesus, teaching God's word empowered by the Spirit. The seed is God's word, his truth, his gospel.

And the soil is the response of human hearts. And these four responses are the same all the time, not just for our salvation. When God speaks to you about, say, forgiving someone, or God speaks to you about taking a step of faith, or God speaks to you about, you know, someone he's given you a nudge that you're supposed to go help that person.

There's four responses. Sometimes you, oh yeah, I really ought to do that, and then your phone buzzes and then you forget about it. It gets taken away. Or yeah, yeah, I'm going to do that, I get real excited about it, and then, oh, it gets really hard, it gets difficult, so you don't end up doing it.

Or you start to do it, and you get really excited, but then, oh man, it's going to cost too much money, and you know, I got other things to do, and I was going to go on vacation, the thorns. And then there's other people who, it's a good soil. And Luke's one unique aspect of this whole parable, he explains what the good soil is.

He says the good soil are those who receive and accept God's word, they persevere even when it's challenging, and they have an honest and a good heart, and they actually put it into practice. You'll notice there's only one response that produces fruit. And you know, if we lived in an agricultural society, fruit would be, oh, we get it. But in the Bible, the fruit usually has two aspects. One is the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control. In other words, it's the character of Christ. When you take in God's word and respond in this way, you actually start becoming more and more like Jesus.

But the other fruit is the kind of fruit where you care about other people, where you lead others to Christ, where you help the least of these. He has ears to hear, let him hear. And then did you notice the application, he says if you respond to the light that I give you, you get more light. What's responding? It's obeying. If you don't respond to the light that I give you, remember what Jesus said? Even the light you have gets taken away. See, the enemy doesn't care if there's millions and millions of Christians who come and listen to God's word, sing a couple songs, and go back to their life, and it's a little box or a compartment of your life, and this is how you really live, but then you jump over and you say, oh, I believe Jesus can go across Niagara Falls. I believe Jesus can do 150 pounds. I go to Bible studies and we study how Jesus can do all that.

And then bam, you're back over in your life here. The enemy doesn't care if you do that. And so notice the three explanations. The lamp is the purpose of God's agenda. And he was saying to them, a lamp is not bought to be put under a basket or under a bed, is it? It's brought out to be put on a lamp stand for nothing is hidden except to be revealed nor anything secret but that'll come to light. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear. And he was saying to them, take care how you listen.

In other words, how you hear for the purpose of putting it into practice. For by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you and more will be given besides. For whoever has truth, light, to him more will be given. But whoever doesn't have, even what he has will be taken away. Light is to be declared and revealed the way and the life of Christ and to expose darkness. So he says, you know, if you have a lamp, you don't walk into a room and go, hey, let's put that one under a bushel. Or in other words, what's the parable about? God's word, the truth, I've given you light, not so you have this private little conversation and I don't want anyone to know, but I'm a Jesus follower.

And he said, no, no, no. When the light lives in you, you're one of mine. Here's the lampstand. You declare it by your life and how you live. You declare it with your words. And guess what? It'll expose everything around you.

And people that are hypocrites and corruption that's in where you work and people that are not caring about people that no one cares about, when you're a light like that, you will expose it in ways that will bring about changes in culture and churches and communities and workplaces and neighborhoods. He says, the second is the growing seed. It's the process of how this works. And he was saying to them, the kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil and he goes to bed at night. And when he gets up daily, the seed sprouts and grows how he himself really doesn't know. The soil produces the crop, first the stalk, then the head, then the mature grain in the head. Now when the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle because the harvest has come.

But did you notice he made it really clear? A stock comes up, then there's fruit, then there's seeds. God's agenda in your life is not quick. It's not easy.

It takes time. When you walk with Jesus, he will change your life but he doesn't zap you. I was this way, whoa, thank you so much Jesus. All my attitudes are great. I love everybody.

I've forgiven everybody. I'm just, that's not how it works. He says it's like a seed that goes into the ground and there's germination. And notice there's cooperation.

It says he went out each and every day. He's working the soil. He's cultivating the soil. That's our part. You can't change your life.

Only God can change your life but he chooses to never do it alone. You cooperate. He does his part.

You do your part. It's a process. It takes time. And so for some of you with a real sensitive conscience, keep plugging away but could you, could you relax?

I meet some people that no matter how much they're growing, it's not enough, it's not enough, it's not fast enough. God's got a plan. If you're in his word and you're putting it into practice and when he speaks to you about doing something and you respond, you're going to wake up five years from now, ten years from now, twenty years from now if he doesn't return and we will remember how you used to be, how you used to be so quick and you had a temper that was so quick and how you were just so focused on yourself and then five years later, it's not quite like that and then now we're out here ten years and you're one of the most compassionate, kind, other centered person that we've ever met. But there's no such thing as saints by accident and by the way, there's no such thing as people who become spiritually mature by showing up and listening to someone talk about God and even discussing it. You have to have the intentional path of following Jesus and according to Jesus, the mystery of the kingdom is rooted in his word and how we respond. And then notice the mustard seed. This is the one that gives me great hope. How shall we picture this kingdom of God or by what parable shall we present it?

It's like a mustard seed which sown upon the soil, though it's the smallest of any of the seeds upon the soil, yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and forms large branches with the result that the birds of the air can nest under it. And so what he wants you to know is that this new relationship, this walking with him, it starts out real small. You need to take a little baby step. You forgive your mom or maybe you forgive what your dad didn't bring you or that he wasn't around or whatever. And you ask Christ to forgive you and you say, you know, it sounds like God's word is really important and you might be sitting here going, I've tried reading the Bible a couple of times and it's just, but you start to take a step and say, I want to learn.

Lord, would you show me? And what he says is it'll start small and then there's two or three people and then they start praying about something and they begin to dream a dream and think, you know, I think God could do something in our neighborhood. You know, I think God could do something with this group of guys that we just used to go out and drink and do crazy stuff and now I'm a follower of Jesus and I think God could do something with these other stay-at-home moms while I'm in the park. I think, and then two or three people and then you start praying about it and then pretty soon fast forward 8, 9, 10 years and pretty soon there's a group of women or there's Bible studies or there's life change or there's things that are launched. It happens small, seemingly insignificant with ordinary people who are listening to God's Word. Here's what I can tell you. Good seed, God's Word, in a good heart, someone who says, Lord, I may be really uncomfortable and I may not know a whole lot, but if you speak to me, I'm going to obey.

Good seed and good soil produces fruit 100% of the time. This is Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram and you've been listening to part one of Chip's message, Our Faith, How God Works in Us, from our series Piercing the Darkness. Chip will be back shortly to share some helpful application for us to think about. The purpose of light is to illuminate and make things visible. It's the opposite of darkness, right? In this series, we'll better understand our call as followers of Jesus to be a light in this dark world. Discover how the life Jesus modeled while on earth, along with the ideas of hope, faith, and love he taught, empowers us to be difference makers and pierce through the darkness we see all around us.

I hope you'll join us for every part of this series, but if you miss a message, you can always catch up through the Chip Ingram app. Well, Chip's joined me here in studio now, and Chip, I think it's safe to say that we all want a better relationship with God and really grow spiritually. So take a minute if you would and talk about a habit you've developed in your personal walk with Jesus that our listeners can apply to their lives.

Well, that's an easy one, Dave. It really begins and ends with time in God's Word, actually learning to meet with God on a daily basis. It's just foundational for every believer's journey, and it's a practice that I find are really hard for Christians to get consistent in, and then they often feel like, I don't know how to do it, I can't understand the Bible. And so we've developed something called Daily Discipleship, and I think that's the great place to start. It's a free video tool where I literally mentor and study the Bible with people, I mean individually. I talk for about 10 minutes max, and then I ask them to give me 10 minutes with a small resource to get in the Bible for themselves.

We look at the very core text of Romans 12, James 1, Ephesians 6. We'll learn how to pray. We'll experience time with God, not just simply read the Bible. Check it out, Daily Discipleship with Chip.

Thanks, Chip. So if you're looking for a practical way to deepen your faith, let me encourage you to sign up for Daily Discipleship with Chip. This free video resource will help you learn more about God and His Word. To sign up for any of our Daily Discipleship series, visit LivingOnTheEdge.org. That's LivingOnTheEdge.org, app listeners tap Discipleship. Well, with that, Chip, let's get to that application we promised. Thanks so much, Dave. I want to wrap up by talking about Jesus' Parable of the Mustard Seed.

It's the very smallest seed, and it yields this great fruit and this great covering. And I guess what I would ask you is, where is God prompting you to plant a mustard seed, a seed of light, a conversation, maybe starting a small group, really praying for maybe a neighbor or two? What I can tell you is there was a bricklayer named Dave with a high school education who had a dream for college, and he started a little small group of Bible study. And I got there about the third year, and every year it never got to be more than three or four or five just guys.

And he was just about ready to give up, and I was sort of the last year that he said, Lord, if you don't do something, I'm out of here. And that little Bible study went from three or four of us to about 250 college students over the next couple years. And I look back now, and there are students that were in that ministry, in ministry all around the world, on every continent that are changing the world, because one bricklayer with a high school education invested in three or four young guys, and God began to work. God has a plan for you. You start small, you dream big, and you go deep, and God's going to work. We don't have to lose hope, but we do have to step up.

Good word, Chip. As we wrap up this program, Living on the Edge depends on listeners like you to help us continue encouraging Christians to live like Christians. So would you consider becoming a monthly partner to help others benefit from this ministry? You can set up a recurring donation at LivingOnTheEdge.org or by calling us at 888-333-6003. That's 888-333-6003, or visit LivingOnTheEdge.org. App listeners, tap Donate, and thanks for doing whatever the Lord leads you to do. We'll listen in next time as Chip picks up in his series Piercing the Darkness. Until then, this is Dave Drury saying thanks for joining us for this Edition of Living on the Edge.