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B.I.O. - Practice #3: Be On Mission 24/7, Part 1

Living on the Edge / Chip Ingram
The Truth Network Radio
December 12, 2024 12:00 am

B.I.O. - Practice #3: Be On Mission 24/7, Part 1

Living on the Edge / Chip Ingram

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December 12, 2024 12:00 am

Did you know The Purpose Driven Life is one of the best-selling books of the last century? What makes it so impactful? In this program, Chip dives into humanity’s profound quest to answer the question, "Why am I here?" Don’t miss how our purpose is deeply intertwined with God's divine calling for us to live on mission 24/7.

Main Points

Practice # 3 – To Be On Mission 24/7

I. Three facts about us who placed our faith in Jesus Christ:

  • We have a new standing before God - Romans 5:1
  • We receive the Holy Spirit and are in community - Romans 8:15
  • We are given a new assignment to be on mission - Matthew 4:19

II. Jesus clearly stated His mission.

  • Luke 19:10 and Mark 10:45

III. Jesus modeled His mission.

  • He had compassion on the multitudes - Matthew 9:36
  • He spoke the truth in love - John 3
  • He showed grace & acceptance without compromising truth - John 4 and Matthew 9:10-17
  • He boldly declared the gospel despite opposition - John 10

IV. Jesus gave His disciples and us a global mandate! - Matthew 28:18-20

V. God Has Given Us a Supernatural Message of Reconciliation - 2 Corinthians 5:14-21

  • Motivation: Christ’s love compels us.
  • Mission: Live for Him who died for us.
  • Perspective: View others as God’s creation, not from a worldly perspective.
  • Role: Be ambassadors of reconciliation.
  • Our Calling: We are His workmanship - Ephesians 2:10

VI. God has equipped us for an invisible war! - Ephesians 6:10-12, 18

VII. Increasing your “On Mission” Impact:

  • Take your assignment seriously.
  • Build relational bridges intentionally.
  • Demonstrate your concern specifically.
  • Share the message boldly.
  • Pray for God to work powerfully.
  • Give your time and money generously.

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About Chip Ingram

Chip Ingram’s passion is helping Christians really live like Christians. As a pastor, author, and teacher for more than three decades, Chip has helped believers around the world move from spiritual spectators to healthy, authentic disciples of Jesus by living out God’s truth in their lives and relationships in transformational ways.

About Living on the Edge

Living on the Edge exists to help Christians live like Christians. Established in 1995 as the radio ministry of pastor and author Chip Ingram, God has since grown it into a global discipleship ministry. Living on the Edge provides Biblical teaching and discipleship resources that challenge and equip spiritually hungry Christians all over the world to become mature disciples of Jesus.

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The best-selling book in the last 100 years, other than the Bible, is The Purpose Driven Life, over 30 million copies translated in scores of languages. Why? Because we all long to know, what's my purpose? Why am I here? And today, we're going to help you answer that question.

You don't want to miss it. 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, and we're nearing the end of his newest series, Bio, three essential practices to becoming more like Jesus. For the past several programs, we've covered the first two practices, which are the B and the I in the word Bio, coming before God daily and doing life in community. So if you're ready, here's Chip to dive into the final habit we can learn from Jesus's life, being on mission 24-7.

You may not know it, but my background, my dream was to be a major college basketball coach. So my undergraduate and graduate work was in education and psychology. And that's provided an interesting background as I began to study the life of Jesus, what he taught and what he practiced. And here's the thing that just amazes me about Jesus's teaching and his practices. He goes to the very core, the heart of mankind. In other words, those big questions like, why am I here? And who am I? And what's my purpose?

All those things get answered very clearly by Jesus. So the big one is like, who am I? The answer, as we come before God, our maker, we learn we have a Father. I'm a beloved child of God. Or then I ask myself, so where do I belong? And Jesus says, you belong in a new family, in a community where, are you ready for this? They love you.

They're commanded to love you and you to love them just for who they are. The last question is that big one about purpose. I mean, why am I here?

What's my purpose? That's a big one for all of us. And it's also the reason why secular researchers right now have come up with some very interesting observations about what they call the nuns, people with no religious affiliation. They're seeing anxiety. They're seeing struggle.

They're seeing mental health issues like never before. Now, this is a secular article, and they said it's the loss of religion. Once the next generation loses a sense of religion, of ultimate meaning, of purpose, of a God who made you and he put you on this planet for a purpose, well, then where do you go?

I mean, what do you do with your life? And what I love about this last practice, Jesus answers the question definitively about our purpose. He says to you and says to me, if you're going to follow me, you come before God.

You do it on a daily basis. If you're going to follow me, the way we're going to do life, not alone. We're going to do life in community. And then now he says, be on mission 24-7. Here's what I mean by that. It's to develop the habitual outward focus on the needs of others to demonstrate Christ's love and compassion, building bridges to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. So being on mission is not like just some job or it's not like just serving in the church here or there.

All those things are important. But you and me individually being on mission, it's developing a mindset where we're constantly looking for the needs of other people so we can share the compassion and the love of Christ that builds a bridge that allows them to respect us and to have curiosity and interest so we can share the good news. Christ died for your sin. He rose from the dead. Here's the good news.

You're forgiven. It's an amazing, amazing story that we get to tell. For those in leadership and pastors, let me tell you that being on mission means the focus of your small group or the focus of your church needs to develop a culture of serving in love with the containers of small groups that multiply where you're empowering the people in the church to meet the greatest needs. The greatest needs in your community, the least of these, the helpless, the hopeless, the marginalized, the people caught in the sex trade, the poor. The first 300 years of the church, if you read the church fathers, they took a commitment to the poor super seriously.

They did radical, radical things to meet the needs of the people that were very marginalized. And that's our mission, to share the gospel and to meet the needs of people so our Heavenly Father's love and compassion and salvation and a new life can be experienced. Well, before we talk about the action and how to get there and what we're going to do, I want to pause and I want to do just a little bit of theology because I think it's easy to get to do this and do that. Let me remind you and me of three facts that are true of every single person who's placed their faith in Jesus Christ. Fact number one is we have a new standing before God.

Romans chapter five, verse one. Therefore, having been, notice past tense, justified by faith, present tense, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Fact number two, we receive the Holy Spirit and we are in a new community.

Romans 8, 15 says, for you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you've received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry, Abba, Father. And then fact number three, we are given a new assignment to be on mission. Jesus said, follow me and I will make you a fisher of men. And when it comes to purpose, when it comes to mission, Jesus is absolutely clear what his mission is and then he is absolutely clear about what he's calling us to.

Listen carefully. Here's Jesus' mission clearly stated. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.

Could it get any clearer? That's why I came. He came to seek and to save hurting, isolated people that are stuck to save them, to secure them, to bring them to the Father. In Mark 10, 45, he says, for even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and get this, give his life a ransom for many. What's a ransom? A ransom is what you pay to purchase someone out of a difficult situation. The purchase price of Jesus' blood.

He died in your place, in my place, the people of all the world for all time. Literally the word is to atone or to cover or to make salvation possible for whosoever believes. But he didn't just come with a purpose, he modeled it. Let me give you a few ways that Jesus modeled this purpose of seeking and saving the lost. First, he had compassion on the multitudes. In Matthew chapter 9, verse 36, seeing the crowds, he felt compassion for them.

Why? Because they were distressed and downcast like a sheep without a shepherd. This word compassion is very, very interesting. It's not just empathy.

The Greek word is splakna. It comes from the internal organs. It's a picture of seeing someone's need, seeing someone hurting, seeing someone suffering, seeing someone trapped in an addiction. And it's not like, oh, that's too bad.

It's this visceral something down inside that I mean you just feel like I can't not do something to help this person. And when Jesus saw the multitudes of his time, he had compassion because he saw that they were distressed, their life was not working. And then another key word, and they were downcast. See, it's a community of farmers and people that are raising sheep and oxen. And when a sheep was downcast, what would happen? A sheep would lay down, and if a sheep lays down in the thick grass, if it leaned over too far, it would be called downcast. And what that meant was if the shepherd didn't find the sheep, that sheep would die. Unless it got help, that sheep rolled over too far, a sheep cannot roll back over.

A shepherd would have to come and provide some help. And when Jesus saw the multitudes of his time, and when the resurrected Jesus at the right hand of the Father sees all the needs of the world, when he sees the hurts and the pain, the corruption, the injustice, when he sees the poverty, when he sees hurting people, people caught in sin, people that are struggling, the conflict in marriages, the loneliness, the isolation, he sees mankind distressed and downcast. And his heart is not judgment, it's compassion. And so he modeled that for the disciples. He deeply, deeply cared and does care about people. And then what did he do? He spoke the truth in love. I'm reminded of the conversation with Nicodemus.

Now, think of this. This is an expert. This is a guy that's like super morally pure. This is a guy who knows the Old Testament backward and forward.

This is a guy that has position. And they have this conversation and he wanted to find out more about Jesus. And in the conversation, Jesus looks right at him.

I mean, this is the expert. He says, Nicodemus, you must be born again. You can know all about God.

You need to know him. You need to have a spiritual birth. Jesus modeled, I came to seek and to save the lost. But there are moments, even with people that have very high standing, you speak the truth, even though it may sting, but you do it in love. Not only that, he met people right where they were and he showed grace and acceptance without compromising the truth.

One of my favorite stories in all of the New Testament is the story of the woman at the well. And yes, he violated the culture of even meeting with a woman. Yes, she's a Samaritan. I mean, this is like the difference between blacks and whites in the 50s.

I mean, this is the cultural barriers and the hatred between these two Samaritans and Jews was very high. She couldn't believe. But he met her right where she was. And he didn't start off with, hey, I realize you had five husbands and the guy you're living with isn't. He looks at her with compassion and he says, if you knew the gift of God and what he has for you, the living water, you would ask me for a drink.

And she takes it pretty literally and goes, well, you don't even have a bucket. And then he reveals gently, meets her right where she's at. And he tells her about her past and she surmises that he's a prophet. And instead of condemning her, never compromising the truth, he said, I came for people like you. I came for people whose lives are a train wreck. I came for people whose lives aren't working. A woman like her felt used and abused and was passed from man to man and no one cared.

And the reason that she was out there at that time of day, because she was ostracized from the other women. And Jesus said, you matter to me. And he actually then uses her to reach a whole group of people. Or, you know, remember Zacchaeus is up in the tree and he's a tax collector. And he didn't just say, you know, you're despised.

And if I hang out with you, people are going to think less of me. Jesus looks at him and says, Zacchaeus, I need to go to your house. Why don't we grab a meal?

In fact, why don't you invite your friends? And all the religious leaders and, you know, what's he doing over there? You see, he was on mission. And he met people right where they were. He never compromised the truth. But he went to where they were.

He built bridges. And the disciples, all their preset mindsets of what it meant to be righteous, he's blowing their mind like, you're talking to a woman? You're talking to a Samaritan?

You're eating. In that culture, when you ate with someone, you were saying, we have genuine real relationship. A Pharisee wouldn't even walk into the house of a Gentile, let alone eat with him. Jesus broke barriers because he cared deeply about people. He was on mission 24-7. Now what he does is he says to his disciples, it's going to be really rough.

And so I want to model something for you. We're going to boldly share the message, even when there's persecution, even when there's pushback, even when they try to kill you for it. And so in John chapter 10, he begins to talk about his message of the Good Shepherd. He talks about his sheep hear his voice.

And by the time he gets to the end of that message, in verse 31 it says, so they took up stones again to kill him. He's modeling that there's no compromise. We're going to build bridges. We're going to love people. I'm going to do whatever it takes to reach distressed, downcast people that are lost and hurting.

You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. We'll get you back to our series, Bio, three essential practices to becoming more like Jesus in just a minute. But quickly, I want to remind you that we are in the middle of our year-end match. Thanks to a few close ministry friends, every gift we receive until December 31 will be matched dollar for dollar.

For more information about how to partner with us, go to livingontheedge.org or call 888-333-6003. And thanks for doing whatever God leads you to do. Well, let's rejoin Chip now for the remainder of his message. I love that passage.

You know, we all know John 3.16, but most people don't know John 3.17 and 3.18, where it has this perspective where the Son of Man did not come into the world to condemn the world. But to save it. God's heart, as he sees lost people, when he sees people in immorality and lifestyles of all kind and confusion and wickedness and things that sin has shaped and warped their lives, his heart is, I love you. I want to forgive you. I want to heal you. And I want to restore you. And he modeled that for his disciples, and then more than modeling it, near the end, he says, OK, you saw what I did. Remember? Follow me. I'll make you a fisher of men. Then he gave them a global mandate.

I mean, this would be ridiculous. Imagine being with 11 other guys at this point and probably maybe 100, 120 real close followers, and there's multitudes, and he gets you all together, and he's in his resurrected body. And your eyes are like, wow, everything's happened so fast. You were in deep sorrow, and now he's alive, and what he said is true, and what are we going to do now, and what's our purpose? And notice in Matthew 28, Jesus came to them and said, all authority, literally all power in heaven and in earth has been given to me.

So resource is not going to be a problem. You've seen me raise people from the dead. You've seen me speak and things happen. I've cast demons out.

I speak to the oceans, to the winds. All authority has been given unto me. Therefore, literally as you go about your life, make disciples of all nations.

Well, how? Baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. In that culture, if you are a Jew and you were baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, you are saying I'm coming out of this community, and I'm joining now this community because that old person is now dead, and I'm new alive with a new family and a new identity. That's what baptism really meant. And then after the new identity of becoming a part of this new supernatural community called the church, he says, then teaching them what? To go to a service, teaching them to sing songs, teaching them to be a little bit nicer than other people. What's it say?

No, no. Teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. In other words, everything you heard me teach and everything you saw me do, I want you to teach them what I taught you, and then I want them to do what I did because you are doing what I did. That's a disciple. That's an apprentice.

That's a follower. That's a student who says, I want to be like my rabbi. I want to be with my rabbi.

I want to imitate my rabbi, and I want my life to so grow that I would have disciples or followers that would reflect my relationship, that I'm becoming like Jesus and they're becoming like Jesus. Do you see the difference? He didn't say make decisions. He didn't say see how many people we can get into a building and, quote, grow a church. Those are important parts, but that's not the commandment. Make disciples of every nation, and don't think nation as like China or Russia or different countries.

The word is ethnos. So inside even the United States, there's all kind of ethnos or different people groups, groups of people that need to know God died for you. He loves you. He has a plan for you.

He's for you. And then he gave them a supernatural message. He goes, that's the commandment, and you'll never be alone, and I've got all this authority, but I'm going to give you a supernatural message of reconciliation that as you speak this message, the Spirit of God is going to take the clarity of that message. And as people's hearts are opened by the Holy Spirit, as you begin to teach exactly what I taught you, you're going to see people come to be followers of me just the way that you were. The Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 5, it's one of my favorite passages in all the New Testament, he talks about his motivation. Now think about those of you that maybe have been around the Scriptures a little bit more, and you know he's been beaten a couple times. He's been left in the deep, you know. He's persecuted, and he just keeps getting up.

He just won't give up. What was it that motivated the Apostle Paul? And the same motivation that God wants to be in our heart and our mind as we come before him daily, as we do life and community, and as we are on mission 24-7. Listen to what he says in 2 Corinthians 5, beginning at verse 14.

This is his motivation. For the love of Christ compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. Apostle Paul says, I'm compelled, I can't not share, I can't not care. God has so loved me, he's hemmed me in before and behind and up and down, and he's hemmed me in with his love, because I've become absolutely certain and convinced that one died, Jesus, and he died for all. This message, this life, this forgiveness, this restoration, this healing, it's available to everybody. And he says, that's what motivates me. And so his mission then, verse 15, he died for all, that those of us who live, notice this, listen to this servanthood, listen to the focus, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him, Jesus, who died for them and was raised again. Do you see the flip? Do you see the mindset?

That's why we have to go into training. You're not going to become some kind of evangelist overnight. It just starts out with like looking at other people's needs, having a servant's mindset, exercising compassion, saying, Lord, I'm glad the Apostle Paul felt so overwhelmed by your love that he felt compelled and hemmed in to love others, but I don't know about you, a lot of times I look at myself and I think, Lord, if I really cared, I'd be sharing and caring at a level that I'm certainly not now. So would you please help me to grasp how much you love me?

This isn't about feeling guilty. This is about, God, if I could ever grasp how much you love me and grasp how much you love other people, I would be convinced that one died for all, and therefore the mission, Chip, don't live for yourself, live for those Jesus has died for and cares about. This is Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram, and you've been listening to part one of Chip's message, Practice Number Three, Be on Mission 24-7, from our series BIO, Three Essential Practices to Becoming More Like Jesus.

Chip will be back shortly to share some helpful application for us to think about. It's been said that the 21st century church is thousands of miles wide, but only an inch deep, meaning many people identify as Christians, but few truly live out a life that honors God. In this new series, Chip takes us on a journey through the Gospels, revealing the profile of an authentic follower of Christ. Together, we'll explore the discipleship path Jesus modeled while on earth, built around three simple yet powerful practices that will help us live out our faith.

You're not going to want to miss a single program of this meaningful series. Well, Chip's with me in studio now, and Chip, as we look around our world, you know, there's so much evil, negativity, and hostility, and frankly, it's hard not to feel hopeless. But despite all of that, the good news is still being preached and transforming lives everywhere.

In fact, there's one country where we've really seen God move in remarkable ways. Would you take a minute and talk about that? Dave, I'd be glad to because I think it's a very hopeful picture for us in America. I know a lot of people are very discouraged, disappointed. It feels like it's getting darker and darker, but when it gets dark, God often does some of His greatest work. This started about seven years ago, and since that time, with approval, and I want to be a little bit vague, we've had the opportunity to literally help millions and millions of believers in China and millions of pastors.

And by God's grace, all I can tell you, it's a lot like the picture in my mind of when Peter was released from jail, and the angels came, and he just walked by everybody, and the gates opened on their own. I can't go into all the details, but I do want you to know this, is that we have taught on who God really is and provided resources, books, training. We've taught on what a disciple really is, Romans 12, in the midst of the pandemic, the art of survival, and it has been a movement and an explosion like I've never seen to people that are under such duress. We are in the midst currently and continually of training and helping pastors who are then teaching God's Word, and many of them have zero theological background. And so they're taking what we give them, and they are actually teaching it all across that great nation.

You know, I would remind people, China is not our enemy. There's government agencies and ideology, but there are millions, perhaps a hundred million brothers and sisters there who are reaching others. And we are a critical part of feeding those pastors and those leaders to help that church be the church in the midst of a very dire situation.

My request is, would you help us? Your generosity has allowed us to do this, and your prayers and generosity will allow us to expand in China like never before. Thanks for whatever God leads you to do.

Thanks, Chip. It's so humbling to hear how God is using this ministry. And if you're already partnering with us, thank you. You're an integral part of the work we're doing all around the globe.

So if God is moving you to co-labor with us, now is a great time to become a financial partner. Thanks to a handful of donors, every dollar we receive between now and December 31st will be doubled dollar for dollar. To send a gift, call 888-333-6003, or visit livingontheedge.org.

That's livingontheedge.org, or call 888-333-6003. App listeners, tap Donate. Chip, today you focused on being on mission, and for some that idea can sound a bit daunting or overwhelming. But the truth is, Jesus didn't intend this practice to be scary or something we dread. So would you take a quick minute and help us get a better perspective? I'd be glad to, Dave. The fact of the matter is, living authentically, seeing the world differently, it's really about a mindset. It's really about not asking, What's in it for me? And, How's my life going to work out?

It's a different mindset that begins to say, What's going on around me? How can I serve others? Lord Jesus, I'm your ambassador. I'm your representative as I drive. I'm your representative in this meeting. I'm your representative in my neighborhood. I'm your representative at work.

I'm your representative at home with my children or my roommate. The goal is to be on mission 24-7 where the Spirit of God has the ability to help you see what's going on outside yourself so that we move in and care for other people. And as Jesus promised, as you give your life away, give, it'll be given unto you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running back into your lap.

This kingdom principle, as we give away our life, as we give away our time, as we care for others, as we give away our money, it is in that counterintuitive of caring for others that we receive from Him the deepest and most meaningful things that we want. And so today I have an experiment to help people learn to do this, Dave. I do this on a regular basis. I'm going to ask each one of you listening to my voice right now. I know many of you don't carry cash, so you'll have to do a little work here. Whether it's a 5, a 10, a 20, or a $100 bill, I want you to put it in your pocket today. And then your mission today is to ask the Holy Spirit, who does God want you to give this to to help, in Jesus' name?

So you've got this money every time your hand goes in your pocket or your purse or whatever. I want you to be thinking, before this day ends, I have an assignment. I'm on mission to give this to someone who is really hurting, and not in some big preachy way, but I just want you to know that Jesus sees what's going on in your life, and He wanted me to give this to you. What I can tell you is that is a first taste of the kind of life that God wants for you in every area.

Your time, your energy, but this is a great way to start practicing it. I keep cash with me all the time, different denominations, so that each and every day, I'm just forced with my eyes and my mind to say, Who will come across my path today that needs a small touch from Jesus through me? That alone has helped me be on mission 24-7. Great action steps for us to follow, Chip.

Thanks. As we close, are you looking to get even more plugged in with Living on the Edge and our resources? Then let me encourage you to check out the Chip Ingram app. You can listen to our most recent series, sign up for daily discipleship, and more. We want to help you grow in your walk with Jesus. And the Chip Ingram app is a great way to immerse yourself in Godly, enriching content. We'll listen to next time as Chip wraps up his series, Bio, Three Essential Practices to Becoming More Like Jesus. Until then, this is Dave Druey saying thanks for joining us for this Edition of Living on the Edge.
Whisper: medium.en / 2024-12-12 05:48:07 / 2024-12-12 05:59:24 / 11

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