Peace on Earth - Fear Not, God Uses Costly Obedience, Part 2

Did you know that there is one barrier that stops most Christians in their tracks from experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit and being greatly used of God and finding God's peace? One barrier.

We're going to talk about what that is and how to remove it. Stay with me. Thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Living on the Edge is an international teaching and discipleship ministry motivating Christians to live like Christians. Well, after Chip set up, you may be wondering, what is this barrier he's talking about and how does it relate to the birth of Jesus? Well, Chip will make that connection for us as we near the end of our newest series, Peace on Earth. But before we begin, if this is your first time listening to Living on the Edge or you want to learn more about what we do, go to livingontheedge.org.

You'll find resources on tons of topics and countless programs to enjoy. Or if you prefer, the Chip Ingram map is also a great way to get plugged in with our ministry. Well, get your Bible out and go to Matthew chapter one as we join Chip for the second half of his talk, Fear Not, God Uses Costly Obedience. God indeed loves each one of us and has a wonderful plan that brings great joy, new life, requires radical costly obedience. But somehow when your expectation, like those Jews who thought the Messiah is going to come and they rejected Jesus. Why?

Because he didn't fit their box. I want a Jesus that does what I want Jesus to do to make my life work on my terms in my way. And when you don't get that, you can reject the very Jesus of the Bible. That's what the Jews did.

And I watch it happen. In fact, I was preaching and teaching a number of years ago and there was a guy from another city who came and he just was so eager spiritually. And he came to a series and then he prayed to receive Christ and every week he'd come up, you know, what about this? What about this? And I'd give him a passage and he'd read it.

Well, what about this, this and this? And I would give him a book and the next week he'd read the book and he would drive every week and come back. And I mean, three, four months, he's just growing and growing and growing. And I hadn't seen him for, I don't know, maybe five, six weeks. And it was after a service and I was right down there and he comes walking down and he goes, hey, I just wanted to say bye. I said, well, are you moving?

He goes, well, not exactly. You know, I read all the stuff he did. I read those books you told me. And, you know, before I came to Jesus, I had a pretty big problem with my girlfriend and a pretty big problem at work. I've done this for four months.

I still have a pretty big problem at work and a pretty big problem with my girlfriend. So thanks. You've really taken an interest in me. I really appreciate it, but I'm done.

So what do you mean I'm done? Well, I tried it. I tried it. It doesn't work.

I still have those problems. At what degree have you and I unconsciously bought into that line of reasoning to where, you know what, you don't volunteer. You're not in the Scriptures.

You're not all in. Because part of it is, well, you know, I'm not getting what I want. And if I'm not getting what I want, as though life was all about me, isn't Jesus here to make my life happy and comfortable and better? And didn't they tell me that there's a wonderful plan for my life? And didn't I translate wonderful to mean easy, what I want? See, what Joseph is saying to us, I have a wonderful life, but there is a price of radical, costly obedience, which is the path. The little Bible study is the price.

Jesus would say in John 16, this is his last words on the last night to his disciples, in the world, not if, in the world you will have trouble, difficulty, pain, tribulation, but be of good cheer. I've overcome the world. They persecuted me. They're going to persecute you. It was hard for me. It's going to be hard for you. I ended up going to the cross. You'll end up going to the cross. I have a resurrected life. You'll experience a resurrected life.

Your life isn't about getting better or improving or being nicer. It's a whole new life that I promise, but it comes with the price after it's received completely by the grace of God. And then it says, here's the path. John 12, 24, unless a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it remains by itself, but if it dies, it brings forth much fruit. It's the upside down kingdom. Get, keep, control, me, mine, loss. Give, share, sacrifice, other-centered, gain. If any man will come after me, Luke 9, let him deny himself, take up his cross, her cross, and follow me. For what will it profit a man or a woman to gain the whole world and yet forfeit his soul? The path is a very counterintuitive journey. Aren't I just supposed to come to a few meetings and sing a couple songs and try harder to be a nicer person and God, aren't you supposed to make my life work out? That's not what the disciples heard.

Notice there's not just a path, but there's a process. I put it on the screen because verse one of chapter five is one of the most magnificent verses in all scripture. Therefore, having been justified how? Through faith. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have gained by faith in this grace in which we now stand and we boast or exalt or glorify and hope of the glory of God. In other words, there is a day coming, it's eternal, and we will be with him and God has promised it. And we boast also in our suffering because we know that suffering produces perseverance.

This is the process. Everyone goes through suffering. Perseverance produces character.

It's what God uses. The hard times, difficult times. Character produces hope because you realize I'm changing and I'm seeing things differently and there's power. And hope doesn't disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit that's been given to us. That's the process. James chapter one, same process. It's to consider it all joy, not if, but when.

External, unfair, unjust, painful trials, drunk drivers, downturns, abandonment, sexual immorality by someone that you love, ungrateful kids, uncaring parents. You do understand that whether you're a follower of Jesus or not, everyone is experiencing in a fallen world, pain and suffering and difficulty and injustice. What God says as you follow Jesus, I'll redeem it.

I will use it, but you have to be in the process. And then finally, I love the last part. It's the product or the reward. Ephesians 2 10 says you, regularly you, just like a Joseph, just a Mary, elderly couple, regular people. You are his work of art or his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto a good work and a purpose from the foundations of the earth.

God has a plan to use you in your world, in your relationships, with your personality, with your background, with your baggage, with your pain and with your struggles. I mean, the reason I talked about the wonder of those first few people, were they regular or what? A priest who couldn't get his wife pregnant, a peasant girl, a blue collar worker. We've got a whole group of people thinking I need to know more or be more or have more for God to ever use me. Or you think that you've so blown it in the past, that's why the genealogy. Rahab, prostitute, she's in the line.

Tamar, sleeping with her father-in-law to get back at him. I mean this is a book of reality, not of romantic idealism. And then at the very end, now to him, chapter 3 of Ephesians, who is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that you could ask or think to him, be the glory and in the church. In other words, when you go through that process, you know what the wonderful life is? It's the wonderful thing first he does in you, that you're so different over time.

And then the wonderful thing he does through you that you're just shocked you're amazed. We had an anniversary coming up, so we went out to dinner. But we sat there for a couple hours and I'm not old, but I'm older, okay? Old is when you give up on life, only look in the rearview mirror, whine about everything that hurts and complain and blame.

Older is you've got a lot more tread on you than most people and it's a little bit harder to stay focused and keep going hard. But I will tell you, after 45 years of marriage, the blessing of older, we went back and, boy, the struggles we had in our marriage, big ones, rebellious child, miscarriage, cancer, made a big move and betrayal. And there's not a single thing after 45 years.

Here's the blessing of older. When you're on the front end of it, it's where is God? And the will of God is persevere and you don't know how it's going to come out. You get older, there wasn't a single thing that we talked for two hours where we could look back at the difficulty, the pain, the injustice, our own mistakes that God has not used for good. But you got to take that by faith.

I mean, apart from a commitment, I would have given up on my marriage. I can't even tell you how many times I was going to quit the ministry. You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. We'll return you to Chip's message in just a minute. But first, let me tell you, God is doing incredible work through this ministry all around the world. And if you'd like to join us, consider partnering with us during our year-end match. Every gift we receive until midnight on December 31st will be matched dollar for dollar. Join us today by going to livingontheedge.org or by calling 888-333-6003.

We appreciate your generosity. Well, with that, here again is Chip. I know what it's like to be the non-biological father of two little boys and adopt them when they're six years old and for the first five years think, oh my gosh, what have I done? It's so hard, so difficult, where we ever really connect. They don't have my genes.

And someone would say, thanks, Lord. But I'm on the flip side now of sons in their 40s, married well, raising kids, being used by God. You have need of perseverance, the writer of Hebrews says, so that once you've done the will of God, you might receive what is promised. When I left high school, I went away to school and I really, my parents relocated, so I really didn't go back, so I don't have like high school friends. I still knew a few people. But last September, I got a note, they said we're having our 50-year reunion, so I thought every 50 years I should go. And so a number of my classmates, to my shock and to theirs, is we'd become Christians, followers of Jesus. And some of them had read a few books or something that I'd done, and they said, you know, we, it's really astonishing.

If you don't mind, we're going to have the big party and all that stuff, but we've got two hours blocked. Would you come and tell your story? Because actually, as we've been talking, none of us can believe. I mean, you were the arrogant, mouthy, insecure, foul-mouthed jerk. One guy, I was, about 15 years after, you know, I got involved in ministry, literally, he calls and goes, he saw something on the internet. This isn't the same Chip Ingram from Gehenna Lincoln High School, is it? And I said, well, yes, it is. Next line, are you still as arrogant now as you were then?

He was just being honest. You know what God's given me? A wonderful life, an astonishing life, a miraculous life. All I can tell you is I'd never opened this book. I never met the risen savior.

I had no idea what he could do. I wanted to quit my marriage, quit the ministry. I've had so many struggles. And all I can tell you is God keeps his word. And our only claim to fame is we didn't give up and I married above myself.

And we clung to one another. And now 45 years, I can look back and go, amazing, high cost, greater reward. Don't believe the lie. Follow Jesus. Everything will be easy.

Everything will be great. Jesus said, I come so they can have real life, eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed. But I want you to know the journey is challenging and it is so, so worth it.

As you get to the back page, let me just highlight some real application to put this into practice. So many of us have had very, very sincere people and a lot of teaching roaming out there that suddenly have planted seeds into your mind and to your heart that why should it be? I had one guy say to me, why does it have to be this hard? And I wanted to get theological. Well, your own flesh, sin, the devil, fallen world, you need more?

It's going to be really, really hard. But you're more than a conqueror through Christ. You can do all things through Christ who gives you strength. As you absorb his word into your heart, he'll change your thinking. He will give you power to overcome temptations. He'll give you power to break addictions. He'll give you power as you persevere and you'll desperately in the community of God's people. And as you do, your life will become astonishing, miraculous, wonderful, and there are no shortcuts. What was Matthew's not so subtle message by including the Gentile woman and morally flawed people in the genealogy of Messiah? And for those of you that feel like I just don't measure up and I'm too far gone or I've made big mistakes that maybe there's still secrets, can I just tell you there's not a big enough mistake? There's nothing in your past. Remember the first line is the Christmas message, God loves you.

Not if he loves you, he's for you. His lineage is filled with messed up people like you and me. Second is when and where have you been disappointed with God? And how have your expectations of what a wonderful life looks like from God changed as we've studied Joseph? Some of you just need to get a set of glasses off, God didn't do that, I didn't get that and this hasn't worked out. Just throw those rose colored glasses away and put on some Bible glasses to say it's normal, it's difficult, it's painful, I need God's grace, I need God's people, I need God's word, I refuse to give up and we're gonna see the wonderful thing he's gonna do in me and through me. And I just need grace for this moment because I can't even think about next week or next year and all the issues I have in my life. And that's what Joseph did, that's what the early disciples did. What fears are holding you back from immediately radically obeying what God wants you to do? By the way memo, you're going to suffer.

Think of this, it's a fallen world. So you can say I'm gonna do relationships my way, make it about me, I'm gonna do money my way and try and create my own security, I'm gonna do work my way and try and get all the credit and guess what? You will get the consequences, you'll suffer. People will say you're a selfish arrogant person, do your own thing, we don't want to be around you and you'll suffer.

And you'll have the normal stuff that we all have, right? A little cancer here and there, a little down trodden situation there, a rebellious child over here, singleness when you don't want to be single over there, a divorce, right? Or you can say since I'm going to suffer, I want to suffer for doing what's right, I want to be righteous, I'm going to swim upstream, I'm going to do life God's way, I'm going to do relationships God's way, imperfectly, my money God's way, imperfectly, serve him imperfectly and in the midst of that, guess what? You will suffer and he'll change you and he'll love you and you'll have an intimacy with him and people will see how he changes your life and he will use you in ways that as you little by little by little take these tiny baby steps of those promptings and little by little by little by little, you'll go to a high school reunion and people will go, this is a miracle because that's what it's all about. It's not some idealized life where everything goes your way.

That's a myth. It's a wonderful, challenging, supernatural, awesome life. Don't let your fears hold you back. Fourth question was how does God's wonderful provision, protection, power and blessing on Joseph inspire you? You think, well, Chip, this is scary. Who will take care of me?

Well, if you're Joseph, a few magi showed up with some coin and if you don't know what to do, a dream, hey, guess what? Better go to Egypt because they're going to wipe this group out. By the way, it's time to come back. Herod's dead.

Here's direction, provision, protection. Didn't Jesus promise you if you're a follower of Jesus, I will never, ever leave you or forsake you. Trust me. Just trust me. Probably the most important question you could ask as we wrap this up and go into our Christmas season is, Lord, what baby step of obedience, where have you kind of prompted me? Who did you ask me to talk to? What did you say I should do?

Who do I need to forgive? Just, you know, it's not like some big thing. It's just like when you just say, the moment I hear God's voice, I'm going to obey. I'm going to obey when I feel like it. I'm going to obey when I don't feel like it. I'm going to obey when it's popular. I'm going to obey when it's unpopular. I'm going to obey when it's super costly and I have no idea how God will work it out.

And you will never, ever regret it. You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. And the message you just heard, Fear Not, God Uses Costly Obedience, is from our series, Peace on Earth. To learn more about this ministry or our many resources, visit livingontheedge.org or call us at 888-333-6003. That's 888-333-6003 or livingontheedge.org. Well, before we go any further, Chip's here in studio to talk about something that's really critical.

Chip? Thanks, Dave. I'll be right back to share some application from today's message. But let me take a moment and address what we believe and what all the research tells us is the most important issue for the Church of Jesus Christ to address. It's getting back to what Jesus said when He said, make disciples of all people.

Teach them to actually obey all the things that I taught. You know, I read an email this morning and it was a couple who said, in 2014, we came to know Jesus and we got really excited. And so we started going to church every single week. And then after going to church every single week, we got involved in a group and we volunteered to help in whatever the church needed.

And we did that for like four or five or six or seven years. And then they wrote and said, we got to the point where we felt spiritually starved. We were involved in programs and activities and church attendance, but our soul, we felt like we were wandering. We were asking questions like what's our purpose and why are we here and how does our family and our marriage actually work? And then they tell the story of someone turning them on to Daily Discipleship with Chip, which is our one-on-one mentoring video series that we've developed over the years.

We've had over a quarter of a million people go through it. And it's where I meet with people individually through video, but it's focused on one-on-one. And they begin to talk about their life change, where they became self-feeders, where they begin to grow, where life was transformed from the inside out. What I want you to know is that discipleship following Jesus is really about life change. It's seeing God for who He is. It's developing some basic habits that we all need to connect with God, to do life with other people, discover our gifts and realize that each one of us has a ministry, not just a church, but everywhere we are, everywhere we go, beginning in our own home. That's been our message and we've developed tools to help the average person connect with God, do life in community and actually be used by God at work in their neighborhood.

And God is working in tremendous ways. Here's my request. Would you help us disciple God's people? Would you help us create these resources and the technology that can take it to the next generation? That's our dream.

That's our calling, but we can't do it without you. Would you pray about giving during this year-end match and up to December 31st, every gift you give will be doubled dollar for dollar? There's so much at stake.

God is working greatly. We want to be a part of Him solving the discipleship deficit in America and around the world. Well, if you believe God is calling you to join us in this discipleship mission, right now is a great time to become a financial partner. We're in the middle of our year-end match, which means every gift we receive until midnight, December 31st, will be matched dollar for dollar. You can support us today by calling 888-333-6003 or by visiting livingontheedge.org. That's livingontheedge.org or call 888-333-6003.

Have listeners tap donate. Well, Chip, let's get to that application you promised. Thanks, Dave.

As we wrap up, I want to challenge you with something that a friend from Singapore sent me recently. It was the final words of a Christian from Rwanda who was martyred for his faith. It's called the Fellowship of the Unashamed.

Lean back and listen carefully. I am a part of the Fellowship of the Unashamed. The die has been cast.

I stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I will not look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is secure. I am finished and done with low living, sight walking, small running, smooth knees, colorless dreams, chintzy giving, and dwarf goals. I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, or popularity. I now live by God's presence, lean by faith, love by patience, lift by prayer, and labor by power. My pace is set. My gait is fast.

My goal is heaven. My road is narrow. My way is rough. My companions are few. My guide reliable and my mission clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, deterred, lured away, turned back, deluded, or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice. I will not hesitate in the presence of adversity.

I will not negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder the pool of popularity. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I must go on till heaven returns. I will give until I drop, preach until all know, and work until He comes. And when He comes, He will have no problem recognizing me.

My colors will be clear. This is what a man wrote the night before he was martyred, when he was told, If indeed you don't recant tomorrow, we will kill you. How about you? Could you read that and mean it? Challenges me, I know that. Let's be those kind of Christians. Wow, what an inspiring and challenging letter.

Thanks for sharing, Chip. And as we close, if you really want to surrender your life to Jesus and pursue Him wholeheartedly, we want to help. Go to TrueSpiritualityOnline.org and check out our resources. You can order Chip's popular book, True Spirituality, get some small group materials, or watch countless insightful videos. These tools were designed to show you the clear path to becoming a genuine all-in follower of Christ. Check them out today. That website again is TrueSpiritualityOnline.org. We'll listen in next time as our guest teacher, Tim Lundy, will tap in to wrap up our newest series, Peace on Earth. Until then, this is Dave Druey saying thanks for joining us for this Edition of Living on the Edge.