For the longest time, I thought God only used really special people. People that were smarter than me. People that were more holy than me. People that had more Bible education than me. And then I had a chance to rub up next to some of the most ordinary people in the world that God was using in the most dramatic ways.
And I realized those aren't the things that make people useful to God. It's something else. And that something else is what we're going to talk about today.
You don't want to miss it. Welcome to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. We are a discipleship-driven ministry on a mission to encourage Christians everywhere to live like Christians.
And in this program, we'll begin winding down our series, Piercing the Darkness. We hope you've been encouraged by Chip's latest teaching. And to help others find that same encouragement, take a minute after this message and share it with a friend or loved one.
You can do that through the Chip Ingram app or by sending them the free MP3s that you'll find at livingontheedge.org. Well, there's lots of helpful content to get to today, so here's Chip with his talk, Our Love, How God Works Through Us. Here's my question as we get started. How are you currently responding to sort of the darkness in the world and the darkness in your world? What's your, if you're honest, don't raise your hand, don't whisper, don't say anything to anyone. Just in your mind, is your response fear? As you think about the future and what's happening in the world or your life or work or family or finances or, is it anxiety? Is it like, oh my, what's the world coming to and what about this? What about my kids?
What about my grandkids? What if maybe you're an analyzer? You kind of analyze all the darkness and maybe on a bad day you're a blamer. You know, I'll tell you what, here's the real problem. And it's those people or it's the media or it's education or it's academia or it's that other political party, whichever one that happens to be.
So how are you responding? Because we're all living in a world where there's breakdown and chaos and corruption and the world's always been dark. There's always been tragedy.
There's always been all kind of evil. And in the midst of it, there's been a small group of people that refused to bow to the darkness and realized that by the power of God, we can pierce it. And our love is how God works through us, how he actually uses ordinary people like you and me to extend exceeding grace to undeserving recipients. That communities change and families change and neighborhoods change and workplaces change when Christians let the love of God and the light of God ooze out of us. And all through history, Jesus was the absolute epitome of that picture. In him was life and the life was the light of men and the light came into the darkness and it pierced it. The darkness couldn't overcome it. And that's how God works through us.
If you pull out your notes, we can jump in together. Jesus' final conversation with the disciples was all about where he was going and what he wanted them to do. And he talked about they would do greater works than him. His last conversation with Peter was one of a question. Peter, remember, he betrayed him. He said, Peter, do you love me?
I mean, do you really love me? And he wasn't talking about emotions. He wasn't talking about intentions. He was talking about loyalty. If I could change one word because our culture has so taken love and made it so squishy. When the Bible talks about love, it's far more than any emotion or any feeling or liking someone or romance.
Our culture has taken love and made it almost fully romantic. At the core of love is who you're loyal to. Peter, are you loyal to me above your life? Peter, are you loyal to me and my agenda above your agenda? Peter, are you willing to obey me and follow me and do what I made you to do?
And God's heart behind all that has always been one thing. I want you to experience the joy of my presence. I want you to experience the love of my fellowship. I want you to experience the peace and the power of being used by me.
And so we're going to talk about how is it that God works through ordinary people like you and me. When Jesus was asked, what's the greatest commandment? Of all the commandments, what's the greatest?
Put it in your notes. Matthew 22, 36 to 39. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. And you're to love your neighbor as yourself.
And when he's talking about love there, he's not talking about a good feeling. He's talking about other centered, sacrificial, being loyal and doing actually life God's way by God's power to fulfill God's purposes. The evidence here is John 14, 21. So first I memorized really early because I thought if someone asked me, do you love God? I love God.
I have a good feeling in my soul or my heart or whatever about God. And then I read this verse where this is the last night Jesus is with his disciples. And it says to them, he who has my commandments and keeps them, in other words obeys them, he or she it is that loves me. So if we have his commandments and we don't obey, we don't love. The commandments that he gives us are sort of threefold because you ask, well, what are we supposed to obey? Well, the great commandment, love God with all your heart and then the great commission.
Go into all the world and make disciples of every people group. And then finally, what I just called the great compassion. Jesus said, when you do it unto the least of these, you've done it unto me. We love when we help people that no one cares about. He said, when I was in prison, you visited me.
When I was naked, you clothed me. It's helping people that just aren't as fortunate as us. And that might be emotional, it might be physical, it might be spiritual, but it's people often that are the disenfranchised of our world. Jesus has this very special concern for. And so to obey him is to love God, love our neighbor, share the gospel, and help the disenfranchised. The acid test I've given you is on this little study on love is in John chapter 15. Let me just read verses 12.
This is again the last night. This is my commandment, says this to his disciples and later to us, that you love one another how? Just as I have loved you. And so imagine being with him and pondering how he's loved you. And then verse 13 says, greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. And then he goes on to say, you are my friends if you do what I command you. And so all I'm trying to get is that love is not just an emotion, it's not an intention, it's not singing songs, and it's not coming to church.
All those have their place. Love is loyalty to God and to God's agenda to the point of making very specific sacrifice with your time, your energy, your life, your dreams, and your money so that you care about what God cares about and we care about other people. That's what love is.
The challenge, however, is we have an adversary, if you will, right? Does anyone have a big argument like, no, let's not love people. I mean, who wants to do that, right? We all want to love people, right? We all want to be selfless. We all want to be kind. We all want to care about others. We watch movies where someone makes a great sacrifice and I don't know about you, but I'm a weeper.
Oh my gosh, I can't believe they did that. It's so beautiful, right? So why is it so hard for us? Here's why it's so hard. I put it on the very bottom of your notes. I put it in the New Living Translation. There is an adversary, there is an enemy who energizes a philosophical world system that is trying to seduce your heart and your emotions and your passions and your goals away from the Lord Jesus Christ.
We get it in 1 John 2, verses 15 through 17. And it's in the form of a command and notice how many times the word love shows up because love is about loyalty. Do not love this world, nor the things that are in this world. For when you love this world, are you ready for this?
You do not have the love of the Father in you. So you can love the world or you can love God, you just can't love both. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see and pride in our achievements and possessions. Another translation says the world system is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.
In other words, sex, salary and status. The world says those are the things that will bring security and happiness and significance. Now God would say all those things are gifts for me as a byproduct of walking with me, but boy they're really bad goals. Now notice it goes on. These are not from the Father but from the world and this world is fading away along with everything that people crave or lust after. But anyone who does what pleases God, notice, will live forever. So all I wanted to do in the first part is just say, could we get real that love is not a feeling, love isn't an emotion, love isn't crying when you see little kids on TV with their bellies out.
Love is not just being a nice person, love is loyalty and action and obeying. Have we got it? You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram and Chip will be back in just a minute to finish today's talk. But quickly I want to remind you that this program is only possible because of the generosity of listeners like you. So if you'd like to support us, go to livingontheedge.org.
That's livingontheedge.org. And thanks for doing whatever God leads you to do. Well let's rejoin Chip now for the remainder of his message. So how in the world could God use ordinary people like me and ordinary people like you to pierce the darkness and really make a difference?
And I'm going to suggest two things. First and foremost is God has to work deeply in you and second, He has to work very powerfully through you. Notice I've put in your notes, how can you bring all that you are and all that you have to pierce the darkness in this moment of history with the light and the love of Christ? You might be living in one of the most strategic times in all of world history. We've never had technology that shapes the world. We've never seen power like we have to destroy the entire world. We have conflict as never before.
We have economies that are crumbling. We have a global situation where we're interwoven with other countries like never before. We have three major ideologies that are fighting for who will win. It's Christianity, Islam, and secular humanism. And they're at war with one another for what is true, what is right, who will give direction to the future.
And they have very, very clear agendas, very, very different methods, and very, very different outcomes for all people. And God has called those of us who gather on a morning like this who say, Jesus is Lord, and He says, here's the agenda. You are the light of the world.
If our hope is in anything political, if our hope is in technology, we're going to be sadly mistaken because all of world history, leaders come, leaders go, technology comes, technology goes. And at the core of why there's darkness is there's sin. And there's this corrupt human nature where power and wars are the history of the world. And in the midst of that, there's been a people, the people of God that pierced the darkness.
How does God work deeply in you? Open, if you will, to Hebrews chapter 12 because we're living in a day where it's really easy to get discouraged, it's really easy to get weary, it's really easy to want to just back away and find a sort of a safe place and hope things get better somehow, someday. In the last 2,000 years, there's been a 200-year history plus or minus where we've had this American experiment where a country and the alignment of the values of Judeo-Christian values have been by and large in alignment up until probably the last 30 or 40 years. So you being a person of integrity, you doing a deal with the handshake, you considering your neighbor more important, you being kind to one another, mercy and honesty, all those values, the laws that we have, all that grew from Christian teaching. And those days are gone.
That's not the ideology of America. There's still huge, huge pockets of it, but there is a whole world that has developed that it is not about being a good person and loving God and loving your neighbor. And as you are more vocal and more outward in your relationship with Jesus, the persecution and the difficulty and the getting canceled, it just keeps increasing. The writer to the Hebrews wrote to a group of people that after, you know, 50, 60 years of the church growing, pretty soon it got really, really hard.
And a lot of them were saying, You know what? I don't think I can do this anymore. I don't think I can follow Jesus anymore.
The price is too high. And so they were going to go back into Judaism. They were going to go back into, you know what?
Just going to go to the temple and worship. I can't handle any more of this. And the entire book is written to them. Don't shrink back. The theme of the book is endure, endure, endure. Don't give up because Jesus is a greater priest. He's a greater savior. He's the only hope. Don't shrink back.
Walk with him. Endure whatever. And then they give this chapter 11, which is this history of all the people of Old Testament history who were faithful.
And they paid a huge price. And then in chapter 12 it opens up, Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, then here comes a command. Let us lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that set before us.
Well, how? Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of the faith, motivation, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and he sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him, Jesus, who has endured such hostility by sinners against himself, so that you do not grow weary and lose heart. Let me make a couple observations about this passage, and you have a pen. You might want to jot them down, because I think life's going to get way, way harder for people that really walk with God.
Maybe better than ever before, but harder. First, for God to work in you deeply, you have to get perspective. And the perspective of this passage is all of Hebrews 11, whether it was Abraham or Sarah or Noah, whether it was Isaiah, whether it was all that list of people who endured hardship, who believed that, you know what, there is a real heaven, and there's a real God, and I won't give up no matter what, and life that's really life comes from him. And he's saying, since we have such a cloud of witnesses, since we can look back and see how the result of their life, don't give up.
And then he gives us some real specific application. He says, eliminate distraction. He says, lay aside every encumbrance. It's an athletic word, and in fact, the literal word for encumbrance is lay aside every fat.
It's a metaphor. In other words, anything that would drag you down, anything that would weigh you down, anything that would keep you from pursuing as fast as you can, he says, in your faith, you need to understand, and lay aside not just bad things, but anything. He says, lay aside every encumbrance in which easily this word entangles us.
In some of the original manuscripts, they were trying to get the right translation for this, and it's either entangled or traps, or in some early manuscripts, or things that distract us. Lay aside the sin. Lay aside the things, even the good things that weigh you down.
Lay aside anything and everything that distracts you from making your number one passion following Christ and making Him known. Yesterday, I had sort of one of those wonderful kind of experiences, and I had one of those big birthdays, you know, where everyone started talking about how old you're getting, and it was the big 7-0. And, you know, it was really wonderful. Teresa had done a lot of work, and all my kids, and all my grandkids, and saved my family in Nashville. And so there's 22 people, pretty big family, 12 grandkids. And my sisters had flown in with their husbands as well.
We had some of the best talks ever. My one sister is about four and a half years older than me, and the other is about a year and three months older. And my father came through the war and was an alcoholic, and my mom went through some challenging times, and so my sister went through a period of tremendous rebellion. My middle sister was anorexic, and I became a workaholic by 11 or 12.
And there is a lot of challenging, painful darkness through all of that. And one by one, first my middle sister, and then me, and then later my oldest sister, one by one, we came to know Jesus, and God, you know, brought mates into our life that have had to live with tremendous challenges and not just idiosyncrasies, but damage that my father and my mother... Now, my parents gave it their best shot, but they came from very damaged backgrounds. And as I sat around with these kids and my grown kids, and, you know, Teresa and I started a new lineage, and Punky and her family started a new lineage, and same with Jeannie.
And I sat there, and I just thought about the various paths that I was at crossroads in my life and the opportunity, whether it was sleeping with someone or whether it was what I was going to do for money or whether it was fame or whether it was an agenda that everyone said this is more important, and at times very, very challenging sacrifices. And there's something, you know, I think the world loves smart people and young people. And by the way, if you're smart, wonderful.
And if you're young, it's wonderful as well. But God values wisdom and experience. And so if you don't have a great picture of life, you can think growing older is a bad thing.
It was wonderful to sit there and have seven decades under my belt and look at my grandkids from five-year-olds all the way up to 21-year-olds and say, you know, you're going to have all kind of opportunities in your life. And there is a path where this world system will say it's about how you look and what you accomplish and what school you get in and how much money you make and what kind of car you drive and, you know, what kind of logos on your purse and how many likes you have. And there's this whole path, and it ends in death. And there's this countercultural follow Jesus, light of the world path that's super challenging on the front end. But I'm sitting here, and I have grown children that walk with God, that married people who walk with God, and you have the kind of families because we took this path imperfectly, by the way, and we've told a lot of stories of where we got off the path or wandered on the path. But you know what a beautiful thing is? Is to be 70 years old and be able to step back with a lens and look at this is how life really works.
And then to have a life where because I've been a pastor a bunch of years, over 40, I've been in counseling sessions with literally by this time thousands of people who understood I could do this or I could do this. This marriage doesn't feel very fulfilling. I could get a divorce or I could work on it. This addiction feels overpowering. I could give in to it or I could go get help.
This child is making me crazy. I can stick with it and provide boundaries and love and do whatever God wants me to do and I can't control the outcomes or I'll just let it go and tell lies to myself like kids will be kids and I'm not really responsible. There's a path. There is a way that seems right to men and to women that the world just is bombarding you with each and every day that leads to darkness and death and there is a path that is narrow and challenging and deep and rich and fruitful that leads to life. And the writer of Hebrews is saying to them, there's so many who've come before us, this cloud of witness, so lay aside. It's a command. Lay aside, get rid of, clean the closet, declutter your life of relationships and hobbies and idols and things that distract you and entangle you and keep pulling you away from the path that's correct because of how much God loves you and because of the consequences.
One of the greatest things you can ever do is just don't give up, just don't give in, just don't become cynical. And then in verse 2, he tells us how. He says, all this is so you can run with hupomeno. That's the word for endurance. He uses it three times in this passage. It's the word James uses when he says, consider it all joy knowing the testing of your faith produces hupomeno, endurance, and that as you endure through difficult times, that's how God builds character. That's how he builds faith. He says, lay aside and run this race.
How? Fixing your eyes on Jesus, not fixing your eyes on other people and what they have, not fixing your eyes on all the problems, not fixing your eyes on circumstances, not fixing your eyes on the if-when or the if-then scenario that if I get married, then I'll be happy. If I can get healthy, then I'll be happy. If my kids turn out right, then I'll be happy. If we can never buy a house, then I'll be happy. If-then, if-then, if-then, if-then. And then when you finally get the then, you want a bigger then. There's no end to it.
Now, don't get me wrong. In the gracious love of God as you follow this path, what he promises in the presence of God is fullness of joy. What he promises is my peace I've given to you. What he promises is there's fellowship and love and connection with people. What he promises is as you're on this path, the byproduct is he may bring prosperity and blessing. He may have you go to a good school.
He may actually give you wealth, both material, family, financial. What he's saying is God delights in the prosperity of his servants. I look back, and I remember getting quarters out of the back seat when my kids were small as I was going through seminary, and I'd already been to grad school. And then pastoring this amazing church of 35 people in the middle of nowhere and thinking that I'm going to be here until Jesus comes, and this isn't what I signed up for.
A little tiny town in Texas. I didn't know that I needed to learn how to be a pastor. I didn't know that I needed that group of people to build into my life before God could ever do anything very significant through my life. God never wastes hard times. He's not down on you.
He's for you, and he loves you. But the world says easy, quick, leverage, scale. God says deny yourself, take up your cross, follow me, because those who seek to save your life will lose it, and those who seek to give your life away, that's when you find it. And then you can add all kind of things because they're blessings, but they're not the blesser. This is Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram, and you've been listening to part one of Chip's message, Our Love, How God Works Through 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, before we go any further, Chip's with me in studio to share an important word with all of you. Chip?
Thanks so much, Dave. I'll be right back in just a minute, but before I do, let me ask you a question. Have you ever helped a believer in China or Singapore or maybe Indonesia really grow in their faith or dealt with some of their problems? Or maybe have you sat across the table from a pastor in Egypt or the Middle East and said, let me give you some resources to help you in your church?
Well, if you're a supporter of Living on the Edge, you've actually done that. So much of what we do is not only here in America, but God has opened unbelievable doors across the world. And as you support Living on the Edge financially and as you pray for us, you are actually a part of ministering to those people.
In fact, that's what the Bible says, because we are a body. And what I want you to know is that as that continues to expand, one of our greatest needs is for monthly partners. It's great to have people give, and we're so grateful. But it's the monthly partners that we can know that this amount of money is going to come in each month allows us to plan and strategize because the needs here and around the world are expanding like never before.
If you would like to become a monthly partner, could I encourage you to pray, ask God what He would have you do, and whether it's a small amount, a big amount, you just do what God asks you to do. And as you give monthly, I want you to know we're going to help fulfill the Great Commission together. Thanks so much for whatever you lead you to do.
Thanks, Chip. Well, as you've heard, God has called this ministry to help Christians really live like Christians, both here in the U.S. and all around the world. So if you'd like to help us fulfill that mission, we'd love to have you join the team. Become a monthly partner today by going to livingontheedge.org or by calling 888-333-6003. That's 888-333-6003 or visit livingontheedge.org.
Atlas Nurse Tap Donate. Well, with that, Chip, let's get to your application. Thanks, Dave. As we close today's program, I'd like to take just a minute and speak to a very specific group of people. I'm going to talk to those of you that are really seeking to follow God, and you want Him to use your life, and today you are discouraged.
I mean, you just are like, I don't know how much longer I can do this. You know, I've avoided temptation. I'm living a pure life. I'm putting God first.
I'm meeting with the Lord. I'm trying to help these other people. I'm trying to be a man or woman in integrity. And God, I'm discouraged, and I just don't know how much more I can take. And here's the word I want to give you. Don't give up and don't give in.
All I can tell you is this from Hebrews chapter 12. Persevere. Persevere. Sometimes the greatest thing you can ever do is just say, Today I won't give up. God's promise as you persevere is that He changes your character. He transforms your life. The greatest things that ever happened in our life are in times of difficulty, pain, injustice, and trials. Everyone through Scripture and church history that God ever used found themselves right where you're at.
And here's victory. You just don't give up. Call a friend, text a friend, say, Hey, I'm ready to quit.
I'm really discouraged. Would you just pray with me? Open the Psalms and say, Lord, I'm hurting. Please, please just speak to me. I would get so discouraged I would go to a little coffee shop, especially when I was single, and I would just read 1 and 2 Timothy because I didn't really have a dad in my life at the time.
He was really struggling with his alcoholism. And I would just read those passages like Paul was speaking to me, and I just didn't give up. Don't give up.
Don't give in. What I can promise you, after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace will confirm, strengthen, and establish you. Amen.
Amen. Thanks, Chip. And before we go, let me take just a quick second and tell you about a resource we've created to help you deepen your relationship with God in a very practical way. It's called Daily Discipleship with Chip. Through this free video course, you'll learn to study God's Word alongside Chip one-on-one. For each series, you'll spend no more than ten minutes with Chip in a particular passage of Scripture. Then he'll challenge you to spend ten more minutes on your own.
It's that easy. You'll be blown away by how much you'll learn about God and His Word. So sign up for any of our Daily Discipleship series today. Just go to livingontheedge.org to learn more. App listeners tap Discipleship. Well, join us next time as Chip wraps up his series, Piercing the Darkness. Until then, I'm Dave Druey, saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.
