Our Faith: How God Works in Us, Part 2

Let me summarize this and get it super practical. First summary point here is that their faith is to be in Jesus, the person, not the religious system or moral perfectionism. I don’t know about you all, I grew up in a church until I was about fifteen and I just decided: I can’t take anymore of this. No one took it seriously, no one expected me to change, they certainly didn’t change. I came to the conclusion, at about fifteen or maybe sixteen that, you know, I think church and God is pretty much like, the tooth fairy and Santa Clause. And, you know, when you’re young they want you to believe in it and sort of keep you on the moral, good path. And then we all get old enough and we realize, “Ah, we’re just kidding.” Right? Yeah, there’s probably some higher power somewhere but no one really expects anyone to live this loving, holy, others-centered life.

And so, I did what millions of people are doing now. That’s their experience. I just opted out. I just said, “I don’t know what this is all about,” but girls are a lot more interesting, sports were a lot more interesting, and my dad told me if I was really successful, I’d be really happy. And so, if you can become a workaholic at twelve, I figured out how to do that.

And if you can practice seven or eight at my size, hours a day, to get a basketball scholarship and then play around the world, I figured out how to do that. And if you have to study longer and harder than other people to get good grades to be successful, I figured out how to do that. And all I can tell you is I figured out how to do that and when I got to the pinnacle of my tiny little world’s success in a high school of, I don’t know, twelve, fourteen, fifteen hundred, I had never had the more empty feeling that I had ever had in my life.

And a coach invited me to go to a camp where there were basketball players, which was the only reason I went. And then I got there and found out it was filled with Jesus freaks in 1972. The Fellowship of Christian Athletes. I thought, Tom Landry, he’s the old coach of the Cowboys, in the Hall of Fame, I mean, he is speaking, how bad can this be? Well, after about two days I thought it was pretty bad. I mean, every morning all these guys and they are out there with Bibles open and I literally, the first three days, I’m not opening the Bible. You’re not going to indoctrinate me, you Jesus Freak people.

And then I watched them. And, yeah, I played a lot of hoop and had a lot of fun. I watched grown men love other grown men. I watched people of genuine character. I met people who took Jesus seriously. They’re making millions of dollars and have beautiful families and their priorities were not around: Look at how wonderful I am.

And I still remember walking off a practice field and watching two people talk in a way with whispers and genuine authenticity that just, it was like, I had no – I didn’t know anything about the Holy Spirit. All I knew is I thought, I don’t know what they have, but in my little world of I have a pretty girlfriend, I have a scholarship, and I get great grades that is empty. Whatever they have is what I want. And that night, that fullback sang the Lord’s Prayer and someone shared for the first time that I can remember, I’m sure I heard it before somewhere, somehow, I heard the gospel, the good news.

Not try harder, be a religious person, try to be nice to everyone. I heard, “Chip, you are far from God and inside what people can’t see is you are a very selfish, me-centered sinner who is far from God and Jesus came and loved you, lived a perfect life, and died upon the cross and He has paid for all your sin. And He wants to give you that as a free gift. And He is standing at the door of your heart and He is knocking. And if you will, by faith, let Him into your life, He will transform you and He’ll be with you all the days of your life. And, yes, He has prepared a place for you in heaven.

And I didn’t pray a very theological prayer, but all I knew was internally I was bankrupt. By the way, until you get there, you can play a lot of games with God, but you never really meet Him. I knew I couldn’t, like, Well, I think this sounds like an interesting option along with these other things that I’m doing, some of which I know… you don’t have to have really big belief in God to know some things are just outright wrong.

And they gave me a Bible that was fairly easy to read and no one told me I had to, and I hid it under my pillow so my parents would not think I had just, you know, freaked out. And I read it every morning and I read it every night. And this God who was way out there became close and personal and it was like having a coach who was speaking to my heart and my life.

And some of it was kind of hard, revealing my arrogance and my insecurity and my struggles. And some of it was, and You still love me anyway? And You still want to help me? And You have a plan for my life? And then He brought me with a group of people that were likeminded. So, I don’t know where you’re at, but this, this transformational life is about faith in the person of Jesus.

Second, Jesus creates new human hearts the same way He created the universe. You might jot that down. Anybody remember from Genesis 1 when God created the universe? What did He do? He spoke! Hebrews 11 says, “We, by faith, understand that there was nothing and God spoke the world into existence.” Psalm 33 says, “God commanded and spoke and it was.”

So, what you need to understand is this, this is not some little religious book. This just happens to be a written Word of God that is sharper than a two-edged sword, that pierces to the soul of joint and marrow, that is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of our hearts. And it’s powerful!

And so, the same way that when God was creating new life, He just spoke it, what He wants us to understand and what the secret to the kingdom is, is Jesus is saying that I speak My Word into your heart and if you will receive it by faith, and that means by believing it to the point of action, getting in the wheelbarrow, new life! Bonds broken! New power! New perspective.

In fact, you can put it this way: Our relationship to His Word reveals our relationship to the Lord. I put three little passages under this. These are Jesus’ words, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” I mean, in other words, your relationship to His Word – am I in it? Do I study it? More importantly, do I apply it? – will reveal your real relationship to the Lord. In John 8, you know, we all, we want God to work. Jesus said to a group of Jews who just believed on Him, “If you abide or continue in My Word,” in other words, listen to it for the purpose and put it into practice, “then you’ll know the truth and the truth will set you free.”

Knowing about the truth, agreeing with the truth changes nothing. It makes you smarter than most people. But He says the people that actually have power to break addictions, to solve marriages, to love people they don’t like, to be used in ways they never dreamed, they take in the Word and they put it into practice and they recognize this is what is true and there’s all this noise and all this junk and all these lies bombarding me, and I put that into practice and then you’re free.

And finally, Matthew 24:35 says heaven and earth may pass away, but God’s Word will stand forever. I mean, it’s so important. Obedience, not knowledge, is the organ of life transformation. Obedience. In the West, especially in North America, it’s subtle but we’ve made hearing God’s Word or even being in a Bible study – and by the way, is it important to hear God’s Word? Yes. Is it great and important to learn and study God’s Word? Yes. There is not a correlation between doing that and genuine, long-term life change.

It’s the application of God’s Word, it’s putting it into practice that brings about the life change.  But here’s the question: are you a Word-centered Christian? And I know, and you know, your faces are like, “Yeah, I’ve tried that a few times. I don’t know how to do it.” Some of you just need to just turn off your Netflix and social media and the TV just for a week. Just for a week. And stumble through getting in God’s Word every day. Everybody does what matters. You have plenty of time to do all things that really matter. I’m like you, I struggle. I mean, there’s so – I get distracted so often with so much. And I am, like, super working at not being distracted.

Don’t waste your life. Don’t find yourself like I did. Thank God it happened early.  God’s plan, Jesus said, “I came that you might have life and you could have it abundantly.” He, made you, He died for you, He wants what is best for you, and He said, “Look, there’s a way that seems right to a man,” here’s a path. It’s what everyone is telling you. It ends in death. Here's My path, right? “My Word is a lamp unto your feet, it’s a light unto your path.” Do life in community with others. Ask God, “Where do I fit in?” Step into living life with Jesus. Make that the center and the focal point of what you do and why you do it and what you are going to do. Here’s the paradigm: I am the sower and the Word of God is powerful, supernatural, life-giving. Take in the Word of God and respond and as you do, in the context of community, you will become, over time, just like Me.

And then third, Jesus tested their faith and revealed His power, but don’t miss this, so that when He said something in the future, they would actually believe it to the point of getting in the wheelbarrow and following. The author is very, very clear. It says, “Then He said to them, ‘Let us go to the other side.’” Think of you go to the best lecture you have ever experienced in your life. That’s this message. And then He didn’t actually say this, but then He says: Okay, now, let’s go into the lab and let’s try this on. Remember? It’s all about My Word. Did you hear Me? I said, “Let us go to the other side.”

So, they get in the boat, storm comes up, they are professional fishermen, “Oh, Lord, help us! Help us! We are going to die, we are going to die!” So, impossible situation, does anybody remember, how did He calm the storm? He spoke. “Peace, be still.” Whoo! Peter, John, James, “Oh my.” And Jesus shows His disciples that, number one, He’s the Lord of the natural realm; that was the storm.

The second, He’s the Lord of the supernatural realm. So, they go to the other side, they get there, and when they get there, there is a demoniac and each time it’s impossible. He has a legion of demons. No matter what they do, no one can control him. It’s impossible. And so, as Jesus approaches, He starts crying out, “Ahhhhh!” And Jesus speaks, casts out a legion of demons, he’s clothed and in his right mind. Before, he was cutting himself, they would put chains on him; he would break them. In other words, there’s such power that no one can calm.

Theresa and I lived in Santa Cruz with our family and all those things that you read about in some of those books, we got to experience. We saw overt demonic activity. And it was then amazing to teach our kids at a young age how to speak out loud who they are in Christ and their authority and watch demonic influences leave our home from the mouth of a ten-year-old. This is real stuff. We don’t have to be afraid.

Third, while He is on His way, He now hears about a little girl who is dying. And on the way it says a woman comes up and touches His garment. Most of you know the story. But she is described as a woman who has seen all the doctors, has lost all of her money. In other words, there’s no hope. Each time, no hope, impossible situation, she touches it, she’s healed, and then what does He say? “Daughter, your faith has made you well.” By the way, in each story, they worshipped Jesus after He does this. He’s the Lord of the physical world.

And then finally, He makes it and by the time He gets to where the little girl is, she has already died, they are mourning, and He says something like, “Hey, stop. She’s not dead, she’s just asleep.” And they laugh. “You don’t understand.” And so, He goes in and how did He heal the little girl? Anybody remember? He spoke, storms stop. He spoke, demons flee. And then He says to this little girl, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” Why did He do that? What did the disciples need to learn? They needed to be in the wheelbarrow with Him and be scared to death and look at their version of Niagara Falls and go, “How can we ever follow You?” And learn physical world, supernatural world, the natural world, and even the eternal realm.

I got you. You can trust My Word, for your relationships, for your finances, for your future, for your decisions. But if you’re not in it, you can’t. Or if you’re in it because you feel like this is what good Christians do. Oh gosh, we’re on a year-long reading program. I haven’t read it yet. I’ll read it really, really fast. I read my reading program, God!

The Lord is much more concerned about the Word getting in you and you putting it into practice than He is how much you read or how many Bible studies. Some of the most carnal people on the face of the earth know the Bible better than you and me. They are study-a-holics. They just have anger issues and they are selfish and they are religious and we don’t like to be around them and they are arrogant and they want to usually argue about stuff.

The kind of people we want to be around are humble, gentle people who realize they have struggles just like I have struggles and you have struggles. And they get up and they meet with God because He’s the most important person in their life. Lord, I am really, really struggling because it’s, even after all these years, Theresa really made me crazy last week and I’m having a tough time with it. Lord, you know, I got grown kids and now I’ve got grandkids and, you know, you know, we’ve got this big opportunity and Lord, I don’t know what to do.

You know what His answer to…trust Me. Trust Me. And “trust Me” isn’t like, mmmm. “Trust Me” is I’m going to respond to what I know and I’m going to take a baby step toward that truth. And I’m going to obey whatever You have shown me to this point. And I’m going to leave the outcomes to You. Anybody here feel like it might be time to maybe get in the Word for you to find life? It’s the secret of the kingdom. I promised to be gentle, but I can’t not be direct – are you a person that basically is like the guy, “I believe You can do anything! I believe You can do anything! Wow! Wow!”

And Jesus is saying: Great. Get in the wheelbarrow. Let’s start doing life together. Let’s stop talking about this and studying about this and agreeing with Me and how about we get a hold of your time, a hold of your relationships, get a hold of your money. Because the only reason that I gave you this is that My plan is better.

Guess what, I know where the stock market is going to be in a month. I know the day you’re going to die. Huh! I know the kind of person you’re looking for. I know what your kids need from you. I know what you need as a single person in this season to be sustained. I know exactly what is going to happen at your company and who is coming and who is going and the lane that you need to be in. Would you like to know? That’s God! That’s getting in the wheelbarrow. We so view commitment as what we are going to lose instead of what we are going to get. That’s why Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is like someone who found a great treasure and it was hidden in the land and he realized this treasure is more valuable than anything that he has.

And so, he goes and sells all of his possession and sells his home and buys the land so he gets the treasure. That’s just being smart, that’s not being holy. If you knew there was three billion dollars buried in a field and you had to mortgage your house, empty your bank account, in order to buy the field and then laugh when you go, “Wow, that was a big sacrifice but I got three billion dollars,” would anyone feel sorry for you? No, you’re like really smart. So, my question, do you want to be a smart follower of Jesus or a dumb follower of Jesus? Boy, that was straightforward, wasn’t it? It boils down to that.