Loving the World.

Steve Gentry

[0:00] All right, good morning. Welcome to Village Church. [0:02] I’m grateful to see each and every one of you. [0:05] I want to start by thanking everyone that came out to Village Serve yesterday. [0:10] And if you’re unfamiliar with that, what that is, is we have a partnership with the county. [0:15] And inside of Chesterfield County, there are certain codes that you have to follow, [0:20] whereas your yard and landscaping is concerned.

[0:24] And when it gets overgrown, well, the county can fine you, give you a court summons, [0:28] something of that nature. And we have a partnership with them that when they come upon a situation of someone [0:34] that has some sort of illness, a widow, someone that can’t possibly physically make the changes themselves, [0:42] that they give us a call and we go out and usually it’s about a week’s notice before they’re going to find them. [0:47] And we go out and we take care of it for them. [0:49] And we had two houses that we took care of yesterday.

[0:51] And by God’s grace, he will give us more favor with the county where that’s concerned. [0:56] And we’ll be able to take more of those on this summer. [1:00] But if you’re anything like me, there is a thread kind of through you where you see situations like this. [1:07] And the reality is that these people and they’re usually someone that’s elderly. [1:13] They’re not always the nicest and most pleasant people in the world. [1:16] They don’t get themselves into these types of situations where their children don’t want to help them.

[1:21] And they have no one that wants to help them because they’re really nice. [1:25] They’re usually pretty gruff and unkind. [1:29] And yesterday we even had a situation with a family where the husband is overcome with Parkinson’s disease [1:36] to where he shakes uncontrollably and they even have some of their children living with them [1:42] who just weren’t taking care of the situation. [1:44] If you’re like me, you look at that and you’re like, oh, they don’t deserve our help, you know.

[1:48] They put themselves in that type of situation. [1:50] And in that type of thing, I have to remind myself of the grace of God. [1:58] And the fact that they don’t really deserve it, they’ve put themselves in the situation. [2:01] That’s kind of the point of why we help them. [2:04] Romans 5 reminds us that while we were in our sin, Christ died for us. [2:12] And it goes on in Paul’s logic.

[2:14] He talks about the reality that it doesn’t make any human sense for a good man to die for a bad man [2:19] and that we are all bad men and that God, Jesus, is the only good one. [2:25] And he gives himself over for us. [2:27] So the reason that we do village serve, the reason that we go and we help these people [2:32] and the reason that we did this yesterday is because of the grace of God. [2:37] Because we don’t deserve God’s love, yet he gives it anyway.

[2:41] And so really it’s a picture of what God does for us in the gospel is why we go and we help these people [2:47] and what we see and what we saw yesterday is we take really ugly, dilapidated landscaping [2:52] and we turn it into something that’s kind of pretty. [2:55] And that really is what God’s doing in this world through those who trust him, through those who follow him. [3:00] As he’s restoring us towards his kingdom. [3:03] And so if you’re like me, you need these reminders in your lifestyle and in your actions

[3:08] of why we do what we do. [3:10] And I pray that next time one comes and we only give you a week’s notice that you’ll come out and you’ll help us. [3:17] But pray with me, Father, your grace is so powerful that it can redeem sinners like us.

[3:27] Lord, may we never forget that. [3:31] And may we spend our days reflecting on it. [3:34] And may through this life as through your son, we grow closer and closer to you. [3:39] May we continue to count the reasons why you’re good, the reasons why we praise you. [3:44] And I pray that it would grow to ten thousand. [3:48] And that in your kingdom, that as we spend those years worshiping you,

[3:57] Lord, that you will just fill us with your glory forevermore.

[4:01] And I thank you and I praise you for it. [4:04] In the name of Jesus, I pray. [4:06] Amen. [4:07] If you have your Bibles, turn them to 1 John chapter 2. [4:11] We’re going to start reading in verse 12 this morning. [4:13] If you haven’t been with us for the last few weeks, we’re making our way through the book of 1 John verse by verse,

[4:20] unpacking what it is that God wants to teach us through this text. [4:25] And what we’re seeing is that this book is written in reflection of the gospel according to John. [4:30] And what John is doing is he’s taking who Jesus is, how he revealed himself to us and how that affects our life. [4:37] The reality that through him, we have redemption through him. [4:41] We can be taken from people who are sinners. [4:44] And through that realization, we can come to him for forgiveness and he will cleanse us of our unrighteousness.

[4:50] And that changes our lives to where we’ve been pursuing sin. [4:54] And now we struggle and we pursue his righteousness. [4:59] We pursue to obey the commands that he’s given us. [5:02] We make it our grace driven effort like we talked about last week to find our joy in his commandments that they won’t be a burden for us. [5:12] But rather they’re actually what we find our delight in as God continues to work in us through day in day out repentance to make us more like his son Jesus. [5:22] And gets more and more glory out of us.

[5:27] And in first John chapter two verse twelve, he does what he’s been doing all along through the first one and a half chapters. [5:33] He gives us these implications that the gospel has on our lives, these things that the gospel are going to cause in us. [5:41] But just so that we won’t think that we’ve grown past the gospel and now through our effort, we are earning God’s love and favor. [5:48] He continues to draw us back to the gospel by declaring the truth of it to us, declaring what God has done to us through Jesus. [5:57] And this is what we read in verse twelve. [5:59] I’m writing to you little children because your sins are forgiven for his name sake.

[6:05] I’m writing to you fathers because you know him who is from the beginning. [6:10] I’m writing to you young men because you have overcome the evil one. [6:14] I write to you children because you know the father. [6:18] I write to you fathers because you know him who is from the beginning. [6:23] I write to you young men because you are strong and the word of God abides in you. [6:29] And you have overcome the evil one.

[6:33] So he draws us back to the gospel and what he’s really pointing out in this specific area of the text, [6:40] which is point number one this morning, that the gospel is a force of change in every phase of life. [6:48] They’re kind of in our default mode. [6:50] They’re kind of becomes this ingrained thought inside of us that maybe you’re in a phase of life where the gospel is not something that you need to focus on. [6:59] The gospel is something that you’ll come back to later and you can focus on when you actually find that you have some need of it and can apply it to this area of your life. [7:07] And this part of the text is written kind of in the face of that.

[7:10] Pointing out that in every single phase of life, you are someone who is number one in need of the gospel and number two should glory in what God has done and the reality that he has given in your life through a relationship with him. [7:25] If you’ll notice, he goes from the age of where you’re the fathers to the young men to the children in every single phase of life that we are desperately in need of the work of the gospel. [7:37] So the gospel then changes the vision for our lives. [7:42] Faith in who Jesus is and what he has done for us must command every part of life and is true in every phase of our life. [7:53] You will never grow past your need of the grace and forgiveness of Jesus. [8:01] You’ll never grow past that.

[8:02] And so what he’s doing here is he is building really a community around the gospel. [8:10] And I think he’s making his aim here pointing out every single phase in life. [8:14] And if you’ll notice, he starts off with this text in verse 12. [8:18] I am writing to you little children.

[8:22] And he’s writing this as a loving father to the church filled with people of all ages whom he loves. [8:28] There’s two different viewpoints on why John points out the different phases of life. [8:33] The first one is that he’s talking to different maturity levels where the gospel is concerned. [8:38] He’s writing to people who have been saved for many years as well as people who have only known Jesus for a very brief time. [8:45] But there’s also another train of thought where he’s just simply writing to people of all different age groups. [8:50] The reality is that the implications are the same regardless.

[8:54] That in our lives, old, young, and even younger, we never grow past our need for the gospel and we are never out of reach of what God wants to do with us in the gospel. [9:09] And so the community that he’s building is John isn’t their biological father.

[9:14] He’s just a pastor and apostle who’s loving these people with the love of a father. [9:20] He’s speaking to the unity that he desires for the church to have. [9:25] A unity in which we really love each other and the commonality that we have with one another is the truth of what God is doing in our lives for the gospel. [9:35] There kind of tends to be this kind of reality in our lives and we’re a very young church only about three and a half years old. [9:41] And we come in and it’s like, man, I have nothing in common with anyone there. [9:45] I’m having a really tough time connecting because, man, they’re just so different than I am.

[9:50] And John kind of vanquishes that mindset with what he’s drawing us back to and he’s pointing out the overarching theme of the church is not what we have in common in our interest and our phase of life in this world. [10:03] But rather what he wants us to realize is that our commonality is the gospel. [10:08] That our unity must be around the gospel. [10:11] And when we make our unity about anything else, it is a less than reality because he’s calling us out of that towards the truth of what Jesus has done for us. [10:23] And he desires then for that to be the change that we seek in our lives because I don’t know about you, but I don’t always want change. [10:32] Sometimes I get into a place in my life where I feel like, OK, I’m kind of coasting.

[10:36] I’m feeling pretty good about where I am right now. [10:39] And I kind of like the situation that I’m in. [10:42] So the gospel is calling me to change. [10:44] Well, I don’t really need that change right now. [10:45] I don’t really want that change. [10:47] And really, he’s writing to say, no, your life must be really defined by the constant change that the gospel is bringing in you.

[10:56] You will never grow past where God wants you to be in this world. [11:01] The life of following Jesus is a life of constant change. [11:05] It is not a static reality. [11:08] It is a dynamic movement in the person and work of Jesus Christ. [11:13] And we have not reached the level of maturity that God has for us until we see him face to face in his kingdom. [11:21] And so in every phase that you enter into your life, take the gospel with you.

[11:27] Have it as that force in your life where you constantly look to see who you are in relation to who God is and then make repentance your action in that. [11:38] But then second this morning, I want us to move on to verse 15. [11:43] Because really, verses 12 through 14 are John calling us back, giving us a review so we won’t get confused and think that we’re earning God’s love, [11:51] but rather we’re not trying to earn it. [11:53] We’re living in light of the reality that God loves us because of Jesus and not because of ourselves. [11:58] But then in verse 15, he comes down into our lives in what I believe is going to be one of the hardest parts of the book and the thread that’s going to hold the rest of it together.

[12:10] Is the reality that we’re not going to want to be honest with ourselves in this sense. [12:15] So that first John one nine reality of confess our sins and he’s faithful and just to forgive us. [12:20] It’s kind of like he’s shining a mirror and telling us be honest about who you are because it’s the only way in which you can come to God. [12:27] He kind of draws us there in verse 15. [12:30] He says, do not love the world or the things in the world. [12:37] If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

[12:43] And that is something that can feel very weighty on us because it’s something that each and every one of you and myself included struggle with. [12:56] And what he’s really getting us into in this text is that all of life is to be built on faith that the gospel is true. [13:05] And here’s what I mean by that. [13:06] And here’s why that is different than what I’ve already been talking about so far. [13:10] What he’s talking about in this text is the reality that this world is not all that God has for us, but he’s calling us to something more that he has promised to do in the future. [13:24] It is a question of allegiance that our allegiance must be to God’s missional work.

[13:32] Because here’s the reality. [13:33] Everything that he’s talked about thus far has been very personal. [13:38] It’s been something that he wants to do in you, something that he wants to shine a mirror on in you. [13:44] But here he scales back from you and begins to focus on the world as a whole and how you personally work within it. [13:53] God does not just declare and promise a work in you. [13:58] He declares and promises a work in the entire world so that we will not be satisfied in the way it presently is.

[14:05] Look in Colossians chapter 1 verse 20 to kind of begin to get what I’m talking about. [14:10] Speaking of Jesus, he writes, [14:12] And through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of Christ. [14:20] The work of Jesus on the cross is a work that you in your sin cannot have a relationship with God, [14:28] but Jesus through his work on the cross forgives you of your sins, gives you the righteousness of Jesus and reconciles your relationship with God. [14:37] But that is not the end of what God promises to do through the blood of Jesus Christ.

[14:44] Here he promises that not just people, but the world as a whole, the entire world and all of heaven. [14:52] So everything that is in existence will one day be completely reconciled to the way in which God wants it. [15:03] Now, I don’t know if you follow the news, but we do not live in a world that screams the glory of God in every situation. [15:13] The past few weeks, we’ve experienced a few earth shattering realities that show the ugliness of this world. [15:22] That show the sinfulness, the reality that there is evil in this world. [15:28] And it’s not just decisions that people make and then they pay the penalty for those decisions.

[15:34] In Boston just a few weeks ago, there are more than 200 people who suffered the consequences of the sin of a few. [15:44] People who did not by their own volition do a sinful act are suffering because of someone else’s sinful act. [15:52] So we know through these pictures and through these things that happen in our world that this is not a world that is untouched by evil in its present state. [16:03] So what God is saying there is he is making a promise that there is coming a day where because of the sacrifice of Jesus, [16:12] because of what Jesus has accomplished on the cross and through his resurrection, the world will be as God designed it originally. [16:21] It will be a sinless kingdom in which he will rule and reign and the life that we live must be in light of that.

[16:32] But really the problem of sin is the problem that we see in 1 John 2.15. [16:38] In Romans chapter 125, we see the reality that we exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator who’s blessed forever. [16:50] So our ultimate problem with sin and the ultimate problem from the first sin of Adam and Eve has been this reality that we have an allegiance to what God has made in this world more than we have an allegiance to God. [17:06] So it is a commitment problem. [17:08] It is what we align our lives with and what we believe will make our lives better that we spend our lives in pursuit of. [17:18] We align ourselves with things that we believe will make our lives better.

[17:24] That’s what allegiance really does. [17:26] I work for this company and I believe my life will be better if I work for that company over there. [17:31] So I take my allegiance from here and I move it over there. [17:34] That’s the reason you move from one job to another because you believe it will make your life better. [17:41] The reason that we get married is because we believe that in allegiance with this spouse, we will have a better life than we have by ourselves. [17:50] Reason we have children if we have more purpose is because we believe with children.

[17:56] Our lives will be better. [17:59] We believe and we align ourselves to a reality that we believe will give us a better life. [18:06] And so what God is giving us here is a command that our allegiance is not to be towards anything that he created. [18:15] Our allegiance is to be towards him because what he is promising to do is to ultimately turn this world into a kingdom in which everything will be aligned to him. [18:26] And in faith, we trust in that above what is already going on. [18:31] So our lives are spent in pursuit of his kingdom above the kingdom of this world.

[18:38] Our effort then must be towards the work of redemption. [18:43] We take everything captive towards the allegiance of him in our lives from family to career to possessions to relationships. [18:54] We seek to take everything in our lives to the allegiance of him. [19:00] And this is what the life of love looks like in Jesus. [19:03] It is rejecting that which is based on the lie that hope is in this present world and sacrificing it for the hope that is in God’s kingdom.

[19:14] The reality of what God promises is that we will either be the benefactors of what he will do in the future through faith and what Jesus has done. [19:23] Or regardless of what we believe is going to happen and then we could ultimately experience the penalty of not trusting in that. [19:31] But he will get glory no matter what we trust and believe. [19:35] So what this is is that this is a cry for us to trust in him and his love so that we can experience the beneficial reality of his kingdom. [19:49] So faith then must shape number three this morning our view of the world and our purpose on it. [19:58] So God is working through reconciliation to restore his kingdom.

[20:04] And he’s restoring it to those who trust in his promise. [20:07] But here’s kind of an issue that we may have in the text. [20:11] Is that in the gospel according to John verse 316 John writes for God so loved the world that he sent Jesus. [20:24] So does that contradict what we’re reading here in first John chapter 2 verse 15 that we are not supposed to love the world. [20:34] If we believe that he’s telling the truth then we must understand that the problem is our definition of love and what it draws us towards. [20:44] In John 316 when God expresses his love through faith in Jesus he does not do it by leaving the world as it is.

[20:53] He does not do it by aligning himself with the pursuits that this world is in an evil. [20:57] But instead he sends a revolutionary force of change for the world in the person and work of Jesus. [21:04] God humbles himself into this world dies on the cross in order to redeem the world from sin and reconcile it to him. [21:12] Beginning a work of change in the world. [21:15] So the only proper love that exists just like we talked about last week in first John 316 is the love that we see exercised on the cross of Jesus Christ. [21:27] So if we are to align ourselves with the proper definition of love that is sinless it must be defined by the gospel.

[21:36] It must be defined by Jesus and what he did. [21:40] So what do we do with that. [21:42] How do we handle it. [21:43] We’ll look in John chapter 17 verses 15 through 18. [21:48] John speaking Jesus himself praying for his followers praying for the Christians that he’s going to create in this world he writes. [21:58] I do not ask that you take them out of the world.

[22:01] Jesus prays to the father but that you keep them from the evil one. [22:05] They are not of the world just as I am not of the world sanctify them in the truth. [22:12] Your word is truth as you sent me into the world. [22:17] So I have sent them into the world. [22:22] It’s interesting what Jesus writes here. [22:24] He writes and he prays God Father do not take those whom I have redeemed out of this world be a lot easier to not love this world if we weren’t in the world.

[22:36] But what he’s doing here is he’s giving the reality that we are to have our understanding of love first transformed into Jesus is it definition of love. [22:48] And then secondly we are to see ourselves as coming from a different origin as those who do not trust in Jesus in this world. [22:58] Notice at the end of that text in verse 18 of John 15. [23:02] He writes as you sent me so I have sent them. [23:07] If you’ve been sent into this world what that means is is that your place of origin is not of this world. [23:17] So we are to see our lives as being foundationally and fundamentally different than this world.

[23:25] We are to understand and see our point of origination our place of citizenship as being with God in his kingdom. [23:38] That’s what faith does. [23:40] Faith is trusting that God’s kingdom is something that is going to happen as something that is so sure we live in the reality of it in the here and now. [23:53] So we spend our pursuit aligning our lives with the values of his kingdom in order that we can be in faith of God. [24:08] That’s what faith is. [24:10] You can’t have faith in something you’ve already seen because at that point faith is unnecessary.

[24:15] You’ve seen it. [24:16] It’s real. [24:18] Faith is something you’ve not yet seen. [24:21] The kingdom of God is something that I’ve not been in. [24:23] The kingdom of God is something that I’ve not seen yet but God promises in Colossians 1 20 as well as in other areas and especially what he’s promising here that he is going to restore this world to his vision. [24:37] And so faith in that is me living as though it is sure as though the promise has already been kept and aligning myself with the reality of that kingdom.

[24:50] Now I moved really fast through three points so that I could spend a lot of time on point four.

[24:59] Finally this morning the gospel aims to draw our affections to God over this present world.

[25:09] We must seek to stimulate our affections towards God and throw off anything that hinders it. [25:18] Faith in Jesus will lead you to align your life with God in every way imaginable so that anything that hinders your relationship with God anything that hinders your absolute obedience to God you will seek to sacrifice out of your life so that you can follow him. [25:40] Excuse me follow him on hindered Hebrews chapter 12 points out something very interesting. [25:47] He writes Therefore since we’re surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us looking to Jesus the founder and perfecter of our faith who for the joy that was set before him and do it the cross despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. [26:14] I don’t know if you notice something in that text but he gives us two things that can hinder our relationship with God the first well the second but I’m going to talk about it first is sin so I’m not going to spend the next few moments laying out a bunch of immoral actions that you are not to take part in because I don’t think I would have any problem getting you to agree with me on those immoral practices. [26:36] The scriptures clear it tells us that immorality doesn’t give God glory.

[26:40] The other term in there though is the term weight and he puts a difference between the two. [26:48] So there are things that will slow our affections for God and tempt our allegiance away from God that at face value are not sinful but can become sinful in our lives and this is where we begin to get in some very interesting areas because nobody wants to be a legalist right. [27:14] And that’s the first thing we’ll say well don’t be a legalist. [27:19] Well this isn’t legalism because it’s what God has called us to do in Jesus. [27:22] This is the grace driven effort of being a follower of Jesus and aligning your passions and your affections with his passions and his affections. [27:32] And here’s what I mean by that.

[27:34] Look in the rest of the text look in verse 15 to verse 17 I’ll reread 15. [27:39] Do not love the world or the things in the world. [27:43] If anyone loves the world the love of the Father is not in him for all that is in the world the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride and possessions is not from the Father but is from the world and the world is passing away along with its desires. [27:58] But whoever does the will of God abides forever. [28:03] He gives us three things in verse 16 he gives us the desires of the flesh the desires of the eyes and then depending on your translation either pride of possessions or pride of life. [28:14] And these are three things and three indicators and questions for us to really reflect on in our lives to see if we are loving the world and the things of the world.

[28:26] And here’s what I mean when I point out in Hebrews chapter 12 verses 1 and 2 the weight that we are supposed to throw off the term for desires is the term lust in Greek. [28:38] All right now lust is not just a word that has sexual connotations lust is any craving that controls you. [28:49] So you can lust over a lot of things you can lust over a career you can lust over having a better family or finding a family to begin with you can lust over having the best children in the world you can lust over having a ton of money. [29:05] There’s no guy in here probably no woman either that if I were to bring a stack of money and just place it in the middle of the stage. [29:13] I mean you may start salivating because you want it.

[29:18] Anything that you believe your life would be better if you had it is something that you crave and something that is going to test your allegiance to God and possibly tempt you away from it. [29:39] And this is something that in our culture is very prominent and hard to point out because we don’t want to call it sinful. [29:50] We’d like to call it anything but sinful and that is our innate natural default mode to use all of our pursuits in life to try and keep up with everyone else where affluence leisure possessions material gain. [30:08] You name it even having kids on the honor roll having the spouse of the year having your belly gone and six pack abs. [30:17] I mean going to the gym seven times a day because you just got to lose that weight because my life would be a lot better if I didn’t have that problem or my life would be a lot better if I had this job or my life would be a lot better. [30:30] If I had this spouse my life would be a lot better if my kids would just accomplish this goal.

[30:36] My life would be a lot better if I didn’t have these certain realities in my life. [30:42] Anything that you put in there is something that you are pursuing something that you are craving and something that will put you into a place where you need to be honest with yourself according to first John one nine. [30:57] And realize that your allegiance is drawing you towards loving this world and the things of this world.

[31:07] The reality this morning is that it’s not something that we really want to deal with. [31:14] And in this culture just like any other culture.

[31:20] We are tempted and must fight the God of pursuing material gain and identity and the things of this world. [31:30] So God that we have to fight his reality. [31:32] I got people in here from all different income levels. [31:38] Some of you have a little less some of you have a little more and it’s not by which side of the room you’re on by the way I’m not saying you guys are for but what it is is that no matter where you are economically. [31:52] There is someone who has more than you. [31:56] And so what you’re tempted to do in this world is gauge your identity by what they have and say if I just had a little bit of what they had my life will be better.

[32:09] My life will be complete. [32:11] You look at your boss at work if I just had his title. [32:15] My life will be complete. [32:17] I’d be better and I do a better job than he does.

[32:21] If I just had this position. [32:23] If I just had this going on in my life I’d be better.

[32:31] It takes zero faith to believe any of that.

[32:37] When you live with faith in the gospel you find your purpose and your pursuit in the reality of the gospel remember it is about affection. [32:51] Believing in the coming kingdom of God is believing that got what God has promised will come true and aligning your life with the pursuit of making that happen. [33:04] We must consider how our lifestyle choices work toward restoring the kingdom of God and through redemption. [33:12] If you want to know if you’re struggling with this today you have to begin to ask yourself hard questions. [33:19] And I’m not going to come down there and I’m not going to get personal with each and every one of you and throw in your face how your lifestyle choices are ruining the kingdom of God. [33:27] That’s not my goal because that could get really dirty in a real hurry.

[33:30] But what I want you to understand is that you have to begin to ask yourself the questions of how every decision that you are making in your life is working towards building the kingdom of God that is coming. [33:46] And reflecting to this world that needs the gospel that you are a citizen of that kingdom. [33:54] All the way down to when you get up in the morning to when you go to bed at night and everything in between you must consider how all of those decisions fit in God’s framework. [34:09] And here’s the reality that if we are not asking these questions our lifestyles are probably not contributing to the kingdom of God. [34:21] And when we begin to get there we begin to come down to where is faith working in our lives. [34:29] We must deal with the harder questions of our lives and what we are putting our hope and faith in.

[34:37] Because here’s the reality this morning. [34:40] Life in the suburbs can kill your soul.

[34:44] Keeping up with everyone else in every category leaves very little space for God.

[34:53] Because what will happen is little Johnny next door, man he’s in soccer camp at six months. [34:58] So I gotta put my son in soccer camp at six months. [35:01] And I gotta send him to this camp. [35:03] And I gotta get a job to pay for that. [35:05] And I gotta have a better car with this. [35:07] He’s got heated seats.

[35:08] I gotta get some heated seats. [35:09] So I gotta go get that car. [35:11] And I gotta do this. [35:12] This kid got into that college. [35:14] I gotta hire five tutors for my son so that he can get into those colleges. [35:18] And oh man we’re gonna ruin our lives if we don’t keep up with everyone else.

[35:27] And here’s the reality. [35:30] Within that framework when you live your life like that. [35:36] What you gotta do is you gotta ask yourself. [35:38] Where’s God?

[35:41] Where’s the space for living as a citizen of the coming kingdom? [35:46] Where’s the space for faith in God?

[35:52] Do not love the world or the things in the world. [35:59] We are citizens of another coming kingdom. [36:05] And faith dictates that I align my life with the values of that kingdom. [36:12] I raise my children to love that kingdom. [36:15] I love my wife with the love of Jesus.

[36:22] But I gotta have space for God in my life. [36:26] Because I fear that most of us and I am tempted in every way as you are. [36:32] We very quickly program God in the space for him right out of our lives. [36:38] To where he may get the first 15 minutes and the last 15 minutes. [36:43] But that is a joke of a citizenship. [36:46] If that’s all he gets.

[36:49] How is your life lived in pursuit of the mission that God has given us?

[36:59] This is why the pride of life and the pride of possessions. [37:03] Different translations are completely synonymous.

[37:08] Because it’s about where your hope is anchored. [37:12] It’s about where your soul is finding its satisfaction. [37:16] It’s not just in the stuff. [37:20] The answer isn’t just get rid of all your stuff. [37:22] You’ll just replace it with another false God. [37:25] The answer is where is your hope anchored?

[37:29] If it is in this present world then the pride of life for you. [37:34] Is in sustaining everything you can get in your own little earthly kingdom.

[37:42] We are called to not find our ultimate hope in this world. [37:47] We are called to exercise a lifestyle of reflecting to a world that our hope is in the kingdom that Jesus is building. [38:00] That’s why there is no sickness that is so debilitating in this life.

[38:06] That wrecks our faith. [38:08] It’s not because sickness isn’t hard. [38:10] Sickness is real hard. [38:12] It’s not because suffering isn’t real. [38:14] Suffering is real. [38:16] Suffering exists because of sin.

[38:19] Sometimes suffering is a blessing from God because it gives us an opportunity to exercise the reality that there will be 10,000 years and then forever more where there will be no sickness. [38:29] Where there will be no suffering. [38:31] Because I realize that I’m entering into a kingdom that will be perfect and will be God’s ultimate design. [38:36] So in this life I can exercise a type of faith. [38:39] No matter what phase of life that I’m in. [38:42] No matter what part of life that I’m in.

[38:43] No matter how much I have in this life. [38:46] I can live a life in which I can honestly say if it was all taken away tomorrow I’d still have the kingdom. [38:55] And I’m still marching towards the kingdom.

[38:59] Have faith in God’s kingdom above this one.

[39:06] What does your focus, time, and energy output look like in your pursuit of money? [39:13] Affluent lifestyle and possessions. [39:17] And then compare it to your pursuit of living for the mission of Jesus.

[39:26] When we do that we begin to see what our faith is being placed in.

[39:36] We could ask ourselves a very hard question this morning. [39:40] When I’m looking at the career for many of us that’s the path that we’re on. [39:45] And I look at my career, my family, my lifestyle. [39:52] And I look in those things that in just a minute we’ll see are going to pass away.

[40:00] And I have to ask myself how often do I use those things as an excuse as to why I can’t live God’s mission over here.

[40:10] See when I start to deal with that I get into my living room and that’s where it’s like maybe I shouldn’t bring it that close to home.

[40:20] But you’ve got to ask yourself what are the excuses that you use in your head as to why you can’t live for God the way that you know his scripture has commanded you to. [40:31] And then you begin to find the false hopes of your life and you find where your affections really are. [40:41] Live as sent into a world that is passing away. [40:48] Verse 17. [40:50] We get both a warning from God as well as a promise from God. [40:57] He writes in the world is passing away along with its desires.

[41:03] But whoever does the will of God abides forever.

[41:10] He promises in this text that all those things of this world all the sins. [41:17] All the hurt. [41:19] All the pain. [41:21] All the anger. [41:23] Everything that could possibly bring suffering into our lives it will pass away.

[41:30] But so will our careers.

[41:34] So will our bank accounts. [41:37] So will our cars some sooner than others.

[41:42] Those degrees on my wall are going to pass away. [41:47] Every pursuit I could imagine that makes my life a little bit better here. [41:53] It’s going to pass away.

[41:57] But God’s kingdom is eternal. [42:02] It’s never ending.

[42:06] And so when I’m investing my life because that’s what we’re doing every day. [42:11] I’ve only got one thing that’s guaranteed to return forever.

[42:18] That’s that I’m a citizen of the kingdom of God. [42:22] And he calls me to exercise that as living with that identity from John 17. [42:28] As being sent as his ambassador into this world. [42:33] We aren’t to live as those whose hopes are based in this world. [42:36] But as those who are sent into this world with the hope of Jesus for the kingdom that is to come. [42:43] To love the world the way that God does is to engage it as a citizen of Jesus kingdom.

[42:49] Because your faith is so sure that it is coming. [42:53] You live as though it has already happened. [42:56] It is not a call to disengage from the world and go live in a tent and sell all your possessions. [43:02] Rather it is a call to be strategic within the world to show that your hope is in God’s kingdom. [43:11] We live in it but know that we are not of it. [43:14] Because our hearts hopes and loves all belong to the God who sacrificed everything that he had.

[43:22] In order to redeem it. [43:25] Therefore faith is me following suit because I trust him above all. [43:31] The world will pass away but God in his glory never will.

[43:40] As the band comes up.

[43:44] This morning.

[43:46] I want us to spend some time really honestly taking inventory in our lives. [43:52] I don’t know about you but my affections are a daily battle.

[44:01] We take communion every week here at the village.

[44:05] And sometimes we are asked why.

[44:08] And frankly it is because of how forgetful we are. [44:12] That is why. [44:13] Very simple reason. [44:15] I forget where my citizenship is all the time. [44:17] And I start living with a love for this world. [44:21] Then on Sunday morning I have to come face to face with the body and blood of Jesus Christ.

[44:29] That this great God and King gave his very life to redeem me and you. [44:39] The fact that he loves me so much. [44:44] That in my rebellion he still wants me to spend eternity in worship of him. [44:51] And experiencing the glory, joys and ultimate pleasures that exist in his kingdom. [44:58] That he came and he shed his blood. [45:02] Which is what the cup represents.

[45:05] He shed it for me and for you. [45:07] So that I wouldn’t have to take the penalty for my sin. [45:10] He took it for me. [45:13] The bread represents his broken body.

[45:17] The reality that the God who created it all came in the flesh. [45:25] And was beaten and bruised and hung on a cross to suffer and die. [45:32] And take the wrath of Almighty God for the sin that I and you are responsible for.

[45:45] I’m prone to wander and I’m prone to forget.

[45:50] And sometimes that’s why we fall in love with the world. [45:55] Because we don’t remind ourselves of how much the Almighty God loves us and pursues us. [46:07] If you’re not a follower of Jesus. [46:10] If you’ve got doubts, you’ve got questions and maybe you want to believe. [46:15] Today is the day of salvation. [46:19] Trust him.

[46:20] And he’s promised to forgive you of all your sins. [46:25] Because of what he’s done for you. [46:28] I’ll be right over there in just a moment. [46:31] And if that’s the boat that you’re in. [46:33] I’d love to talk to you. [46:34] I’d love to pray with you.

[46:36] If you are a follower of Jesus. [46:38] And you’re anything like me.

[46:41] When you come forward. [46:43] Come to remind yourself where you’re a citizen of. [46:47] And then go out these doors. [46:50] And live.

[46:53] As a citizen of the kingdom of God. [46:55] When you’re ready. Come.