An Intimate Relationship with Christ's Body, Part 2

The third thing you need is a weekly practice. There are certain rhythms in Scripture. Again, the Hebrews, chapter 10, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering,” because they were wavering. “For He who promised is faithful. And let us consider how,” in other words: Let’s think up ways. Let’s conjure up ways. Let’s have brainstorming about ways to stimulate one another to love and to good deeds. “Not forsaking our own assembling together as is the habit of some. But encouraging one another all the more,” – why? “as we see the day approaching.”

He is coming back. History, you understand, is not Eastern Mysticism. It’s not a circle. It’s not endless circles. History is linear. There was a beginning; it was called creation. And God spoke and it came into existence. And there are ups and downs and a plan and for the Old Testament history. And then Jesus came and He launched the Church and He is coming back and there’s a day where everyone in all the world will stand before a holy God. And every knee will bow before Jesus and say He’s Lord of lords and King of kings. And those who we have not cared about or stiff-armed God will be apart from Him.

And every believer, you and I, will, not for our salvation, but we will stand before what is called the Bema Seat and I’m going to give an account to Jesus Christ, “What did you do, Chip, with the time, the money, the gifts, the education, and the opportunity that I gave to you?”

You do understand that the top one percent of all the people in the world, if you make fifty thousand dollars a year, you’re in the top one percent of the economy of all the world. There’s a whole third of the world that lives on a couple bowls of rice or two or three dollars a day. The goal is not to make you feel guilty. The goal is to say you’re a steward. You’re a steward. I’m a steward. You should enjoy every good thing God has given you.

But you should also radically be sacrificial with a global view to say, “God, I had this little thing called time. And there’s this long thing called eternity. And what I do in time determines a lot of what happens in eternity.”

Here’s my question: Do you believe in the supernatural and do you believe in the reality of heaven and the promises of Jesus? Either you do or you don’t. But it’s not an intellectual question. My behavior and your behavior will demonstrate whether we believe that or not. And God is telling me and He’s telling you, “Guess what, Chip, you can’t do that without a life-giving relationship with Me. And you can’t do that without a genuine love for yourself of who I made you to be and seeing yourself the way I see you. And you’ll never do that by yourself. You are so desperate for other men and other couples,” and you women for other women, to do life in such an authentic way that we are stimulating, spurring one another on.

I mean, haven’t we all been around some people that walk really closely with God and you end the evening and you get in your car and you’re driving home and there’s just something about your time with them that – I have a mentor named Glen. And he started a bunch of orphanages in Zimbabwe and he’s an old basketball coach and every time I’m with Glen, I want to be more like Jesus. He’s so soaked in God’s Word. He’s, like, seventy-eight. And it’s like, “Now Chip, when are you going to go and do another pastor’s conference with me in Zimbabwe? I just can’t wait to go.

And, you know, most people at seventy-eight are thinking, “My social security check was late this month! Hey, Ethel? You know, I love our small group because we really get to pray. Ethel, tell us, what’s with you?” “My hip is really burdened. My hip is bothering me a lot. How are you?” “How about you, Mary Jane?” “Well, my knee replacement isn’t doing so well and my great-great-grandson, he’s, I think he’s going the other direction. I’m not sure. And -

God forgive us. Can I just ask you and challenge you? Will you not be that? Would you be that person when people get in a car or they leave your home or your group and they say, “Boy, they sure don’t have it all together, but there’s a passion, there’s something about them. There’s this hunger, there’s this concern, there’s something that they have that I want more of.”

And if they had time, they’d recognize it’s just a lot of Jesus. A lot of Jesus in your personality, a lot of Jesus in your values, a lot of Jesus in your priorities, a lot of Jesus in your calendar. And you’re not religious and you’re not quirky and you’re not judgmental, you’re just authentic. But you have to have a weekly practice. There’s got to be a rhythm.

And so the question: Are you being a passive or active member of God’s family? And I get it couldn’t be more hard than it has been in the last couple years. But I just still want you to ask it. I just, I’m seeing all kind of people that used to be active and they are just passive now. And they’ve got all kind of excuses.

I mean, there are people that should not be in church that have health issues, or that are older, or that have issues. And absolutely. You know? And then there are the other ninety-five percent that, “I can watch online later and I’m playing golf with my friends.” “I can just have a cup of coffee and put my feet up and I’m listening to so-and-so, and so-and-so, and so-and-so, and so-and-so, and so-and-so.”

And I’m thinking, Yeah, well, I hope those guys on video you are listening to when you have cancer show up at your door. And I hope they knock on your door and say, “You know, I know it has been a lot of video, but I just, I’d like to give you a hug and tell you that God really loves you and could we maybe have a meal together?” I’ve got news for you, that doesn’t happen.

I’m all for, I’m one of those people that people listen to, so I’m not against any of that, right? What I’m talking about is there is no substitute for face-to-face, heart-to-heart, I love you, you love me, this is where I’m hurting, this is where you’re hurting. I don’t know if I can make it any longer.” “I don’t know if I can make it any longer. Let’s do this together.” That’s what we need.

What must we believe about God for that to occur? I think the most important thing is just His love. And I think we’ve got this crazy idea that love is like this ethereal something that is floating out somewhere and we hope it just comes and lands on me, “Oh! I feel God’s love! I feel God’s love!”

Now, you know what? I’ve had a couple mystical experiences, and I have some friends that had some very mystical experiences where, in just shattering, terrible times, they have actually felt the physical hands of God around them. But ninety-nine point eight percent of the time, you’re going to experience God’s love and His hug and His words of life through a mortal body in whom Jesus lives, called another person.

In fact, this isn’t Chip, this is – “My commandment is this,” this is Jesus speaking and it’s the last night that He will be alive on this earth, “love each other,” – how? “as I have loved you.” How was that? Oh, when it was convenient, when I felt like it, when it worked out in my schedule, when… “I want you to love the way I loved you.” “Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friend.” And, by the way, I think in some ways, it would be easier to have one great act of moment of lay down your life physically than it is to lay down your life over and over and over and over and over and over to put the needs of others ahead of yourself.

And if that’s true for people outside your family, be careful, here it comes, alright? Be careful. What would it look like for you to have that attitude toward your mate? What would it look like in obedience to God, regardless of what is going on or where you have been, to lay down your life for your mate as an offering to God?

That’s what Jesus did. He laid down His life for you as an offering and aroma to the Father. “You are My friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything I have learned from My Father, I have made known to you.” Do you hear the intimacy, do you hear the authenticity?

I mean, this is the God of the universe. “You’re My friends. You didn’t choose Me; I chose you.” And there’s a mission, “I appointed you that you would go and bear fruit,” and what kind? “Fruit that will remain.” Why? “So that whatever you ask in My name, the Father will give you.”

And I think when you have those kind of relationships and that kind of focus, the kind of things the early Church asked, “Oh, Lord, we see these brutal Romans taking these little children and they put them on the dump heap because there might be a small defect, or because it’s a girl and they wanted a boy,” and it was legal. “God, would You hear our prayer and we are going to take them. And we don’t have enough food to take care of our own kids, but we are going to take them.”

Three pandemics in the first three hundred years of the Church, “Oh, God, would You preserve our life?” Major cities were completely wiped out. Rodney Stark in talking about the rise of Christianity, he’s a sociologist, I have no idea where he’s coming from spiritually. But he charts three major pandemics that happened in the first three hundred years.

And he said, “I mean, hundreds of thousands of people died. But the rich could flee to the hills. And the only people left in the cities were Christians. And when they died bringing others back to health, they were literally called martyrs.” And so, I mean, like, the New York Citys of the day, the San Franciscos, the LAs, the Shanghais of the day. People would come back and the only people left were those that were nursed back to health by Christians, or Christians that survived it.

And he says, “That is why, by 313 A.D., there were sixty million people in the Roman Empire and thirty-three million of that sixty million professed to follow Jesus. It’s our radical love, people. Our radical love for each other, our radical love for those that don’t have. “This is My command: Love each other.”

You know, you’ve got grown kids and you’ve got grandkids. And I don’t know about you, do you ever just feel like, I don’t know really know what to pray? But you want to pray something that is significant. Colossians 1, Philippians 1, Ephesians 1, and Ephesians 3 are prayers in the Bible. And I just don’t know any better. And so, I’ll often, “God, I bow my knees before the Father in heaven who knows all things. And I am going to ask You now for Annie and Jason and Eric and Ryan and for their mates and all my grandkids, would You strengthen them today in their inner man so that they might be able to comprehend the height and the depth and the length and the width and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. Lord, would You do that today?” Guess what, He’ll answer that. He’ll answer that.

The second thing we need to know is His humility. “Now that I your Lord and teacher have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”

It’s humility. Do you realize He washed Judas’ feet? See, we have got this, “Well, I’ll wash people’s feet that I respect.” “I’ll start loving him when he starts loving me.” “Well, I’ll become more affectionate when he gets off the blankety-blank sofa.” Or TV, or his gaming, or work. And so, we keep waiting for the other person to make the radical move.

At one point, I memorized lots of Scripture, but it probably wasn’t for all the right reasons. I literally got to where if it was a cool passage, I memorized it. Because when I memorized Scripture, I didn’t understand how it worked, I didn’t understand renewing your mind, all I knew was my motives changed, my desires changed, and things changed more rapidly and God – I heard His voice like never before as I memorized Scripture.

And so, I started with a few verses and then I did a few chapters and then I did a few small books. And I don’t say that to impress you, I just say if you binge on Netflix and if you do social media, you’re going to be the product of Netflix and social media.

Hey, watch a good movie, check something out on Facebook here and there, but let me tell you, take classic passages – Romans 12, Colossians 3, the Sermon on the Mount – and it’ll take a little while and because your brain is kind of foggy and it has gotten really lazy.

Remember when you could remember phone numbers? All you can say is, “Siri, call so-and-so,” or, “Alexa, do this,” or, “Alexa, do that.” That convenience is costing you some things. I’m not saying you shouldn’t use it, I’m just saying compensate.

If you took fifteen minutes before you went to bed and you just keep reading that passage over. And then you look at it and you sort of try and say it to yourself and you can’t get it and you peek and you peek. And you do that just before you go to bed, your sleep will change. Your mind will change. God will speak in your subconscious. And then, pretty soon, you have a chapter here and then you have something else here. And then pretty soon, when you wake up, you know, God will bring this to your mind or that to your mind.

And this is a passage that I memorized just because I thought it was cool. And it was probably a decade later as I studied it, I realized there are only two places in the universe where God dwells in His fullness. Think of that. Only two places in the universe where God can be all that He wants to be.

One of them is in heaven, because it’s an absolute perfect environment with angels and seraphim praising and honoring Him. Listen to Isaiah 57:15, “For thus says the high and exalted One who lives forever, whose name is holy, ‘I dwell on a high and holy place and also with the contrite and lowly of spirit.’” Why? “In order to revive the spirit of the lowly,” literally, the broken, the hurting, the wounded. “And to revive the heart of the contrite.” When you come to God and peel back all the junk and I – and broken – He will, whoosh, rush to meet you.

Gentle and Lowly – is a book by Dane Ortlund about the heart of Christ. And I want to close with an excerpt from it. It just keeps opening my eyes to how much God loves me.

“In other words, when Hebrews 5:2 says that Jesus can deal gently with the ignorant and the wayward, the point is that Jesus deals gently and only gently with all sinners who come to Him, irrespective of their particular offense. What elicits tenderness from Jesus is not the severity of the sin, but whether the sinner comes to Him. Whatever our offense, He deals gently with us. If we never come to Him, we will experience a judgement so fierce it will be like a double-edged sword coming out of His mouth at us – and he quotes some passages.

“If you do come to Him as fierce as His lion-like judgement would have been against us, so deep will be His lamb-like tenderness for us. We will be enveloped in one or the other. To no one will Jesus be neutral. Consider what all this means. When we sin, we are encouraged to bring our mess to Jesus because He will know just how to receive us. He doesn’t handle it roughly, He doesn’t scowl, He doesn’t scold, He doesn’t lash out the way many of our parents did.

“And all of this restraint on His part is not because He has a deluded view of our sinfulness. He knows our sinfulness far more deeply than we do. Indeed, we are aware of just the tip of the iceberg of our depravity, even in our most searching moments of self-knowledge. His restraint simply flows from His tender heart for His people. Hebrews is not telling us that instead of scolding us, Jesus loves us. It’s telling us the kind of love He has, rather than dispensing grace to us from on high, He gets down with us, He puts His arm around us, He deals with us in the way that is just what we need. He deals with us always gently. Jesus described Himself as gentle and lowly.”

When hard times come, isolation and secrecy are the enemy’s greatest weapons. We need each other.