Why Should I Plan Life Around Telling the Gospel.

Steve Gentry

[0:00] Welcome to Village Church. [0:01] If this is your first time here, [0:03] I am thankful and grateful to see each and every one of you as always. [0:08] If you have your Bibles, go ahead and open them up to Romans chapter 10. [0:11] Romans chapter 10 will be starting in verse 13 today to kind of catch you up as to where we’re headed. [0:18] This is the last week of the Tell series.

[0:21] And next week, we’re going to start a new series called Family. [0:24] Your mission starts here. [0:26] And it’s about what the title says, that it’s going to be, we’re going to spend the month of August [0:32] taking a look at the Biblical vision for family, how God has gifted us [0:39] and God has envisioned for us to lead our families in light of the cross of Jesus, [0:45] how we’re to form our family through and for the purpose of the gospel of Jesus.

[0:51] And I’m really excited for that series. [0:54] It’s going to be about five weeks. [0:56] And then in September, we’re going to start another series going through the book of Romans [1:01] and we’ll be there for about a year. [1:04] Going through Romans and we’re not going to go chapter by chapter. [1:08] We’re going to phrase by phrase, sometimes sentence by sentence.

[1:11] So it should be fun. [1:13] I’ve literally been waiting for about five years until I thought maybe you guys could handle a series that lasts a full year. [1:19] So I was like, oh, we’re five years old now. [1:21] Let’s see if we can do it. [1:22] So we’re going to spend about a year in the book of Romans together learning from God’s word. [1:26] And I am personally very excited to start that in September with you guys on our fifth anniversary as a church.

[1:36] It’s been five years and praise God for all that he’s done, the lives that he’s changed through his grace. [1:42] But today we’re going to finish our series on Tel. [1:46] You got to talk about the gospel. [1:48] And whenever we do a series like this, here’s where maybe if you’ve been in church for a while, [1:55] this is where you are. If you’ve not been in church for a while, what I’m saying may make absolutely no sense to you. [2:00] But if you have, you hear a series like this and maybe what they do at the tail end of this series is that

[2:06] they schedule a time next Saturday where we’re all going to come and we’re going to take a two hour class to give you, [2:13] some quick, kitschy phrases that you can use while you’re telling people about the gospel. [2:18] And then let’s hit the neighborhoods and we go knocking door to door and people come to the door. [2:24] And there was a time when people did that. [2:26] That time kind of maybe is passed in our culture, but that’s not what we’re going to do. [2:31] And that’s not my point for this series.

[2:34] Frankly, I’ll be honest with you. [2:36] If that’s what I was leading up to, I think this series would have been a gigantic waste of time. [2:41] Because that’s not at all where I want to drive us. [2:47] It’s been my experience in the past 30 years in the church that we use events like that [3:00] in courses where we learn techniques, where we learn little phrases. [3:09] We use it as an excuse to not allow the gospel to engage our every single day.

[3:24] Because what we’re tempted to do is we’re very tempted to compartmentalize our lives. [3:31] Where here is where I tell people about the gospel and here is where I do other things. [3:37] And my goal today and my goal throughout this series is to give you a vision [3:43] and to give you a view that what God has designed for us to do is to tear down that wall of compartmentalization [3:50] between the sacred and the secular, between my career and my discipleship, [3:56] between my family and my church, between what I want to spend the rest of my life doing, making money,

[4:04] building a career, raising children, going to school and following Jesus. [4:09] And we’ve all got seemingly those two parts of our lives and my goal is for us to understand [4:14] that this calling, this identity that God has given us, this message of good news that God has given us [4:21] is literally not allegorically, literally supposed to inform and saturate and engage [4:31] every part of my life from the way that I speak to my children, [4:39] to the way that I communicate with my wife, to the way that I plan what I’m going to do with my time.

[4:49] The gospel is to be at the forefront of all of those things and any other way of living. [4:57] I want to specify this. Any other way of living, any other way of looking at your life, [5:05] any other vision that you’re going to have for your life is disobedience to God. [5:11] It is sin because that is how good the gospel is. [5:17] God has not created us for some of us to have the good stuff and some of us to have the less than. [5:24] But it is my suspicion that many of us look at life that way.

[5:30] Some of us are supposed to preach the gospel, some of us are not able to preach the gospel. [5:35] Some of us live to tell people about Jesus, some of us live to do other things. [5:39] There is no category where that is concerned. [5:42] If you are a follower of Jesus, everything that God gives you in your life, [5:49] every tool, every gift, every moment exists for you to be a witness to others about the good news of Jesus. [5:59] Everything. There are no other categories for your life.

[6:07] You are sent as a messenger of the gospel. Everything else is less than. [6:13] That’s the message of the scriptures. [6:17] That we have all sought things other than God. [6:23] And we’ve sought to fill ourselves with those things. [6:26] We’ve sought to live for those things.

[6:29] And God has redeemed us away from those things. [6:33] And we live as people who testify about that. [6:37] Look in Romans 10, verse 13.

[6:46] He’s going to start with a promise.

[6:49] And then he’s going to give us the implications of that promise on our everyday life.

[6:55] For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. [7:01] The most magnificent phrase in the entire Bible.

[7:10] Because it is an all thing. [7:13] Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. [7:18] There’s no greater promise than that. [7:21] But there is the opposite of that promise, which is also true. [7:25] Anyone who does not call on the name of the Lord will not be saved. [7:33] And that should terrify you.

[7:36] That should humble you. [7:39] That should convict you. [7:41] Because God has given a promise. [7:42] And he’s given the pathway of that promise. [7:44] The promise is, God saves. [7:46] The pathway is, call on the Lord for him to do it.

[7:50] And then he gives the implications of the promise, starting in verse 14.

[7:57] How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? [8:02] And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? [8:05] And how are they to hear about, excuse me, hear without someone preaching? [8:09] And how are they to preach unless they are sent? [8:11] As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news. [8:16] But they have not all obeyed the gospel, for Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us.

[8:24] So faith comes from hearing. [8:28] And hearing through the word of Christ.

[8:33] Specifically for our purposes today, I want to focus on one phrase within there for us. [8:39] If you’re a follower of Jesus, this is where you are. [8:42] Now, I also want to make a caveat that if you are not a follower of Jesus, verse 13 specifically is where you are. [8:49] If you’re not a follower of Jesus, you need to call on the name of the Lord to be saved. [8:55] If you are a follower of Jesus, if you have called on the name of the Lord and you are saved, [9:02] then he spells out for you in verse 15, how you are to view your life, how you are to view your mission,

[9:10] how you are to view your purpose in this world. [9:13] He says, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news. [9:21] And I’m purposefully going to get ahead of myself when I say, if the opposite of not calling on the name of the Lord to be saved [9:30] is that you don’t call on the name of the Lord and you aren’t saved, then the opposite of beautiful feet are ugly feet.

[9:39] How ugly are the feet of those who do not preach the good news. [9:47] I’ve seen some ugly feet.

[9:50] I do not like ugly feet. I personally don’t like feet.

[9:55] So keep them away.

[10:00] I don’t understand you if you do. That’s weird, man.

[10:04] I don’t know. You walk on those things.

[10:11] But if you desire to live for God, you will have the vision that God has for your feet. [10:23] And it’s interesting that he uses feet. Now this is a quotation.

[10:27] But what he’s doing is, is that he’s literally in this text echoing an identity that Jesus gave his followers in John chapter 20. [10:39] Here’s what Jesus says in John chapter 20 verse 21. [10:42] Jesus said to them again, his disciples, he says, Peace be with you. [10:47] As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.

[10:54] So we’ve seen in this series that Jesus came for a purpose. [10:59] He tells his disciples, he says, I can’t stay here. [11:01] I’ve got to go to other towns as well for this purpose. [11:04] I was sent to preach about the kingdom of God. [11:07] Then in John 20, he comes back to his disciples. [11:10] He’s resurrected. He comes and he says, Peace I give to you.

[11:14] What is that peace? That peace is the gospel. [11:17] That peace is I paid the penalty for your sins. [11:19] That peace is I’ve risen from the dead. [11:22] And then he looks to them and he says, As I was sent, what purpose was he sent with to preach the good news of the kingdom? [11:29] He says, So I am sending you. [11:32] And I don’t know if we know this in our era because we sit most of our going time because we’re in a car.

[11:39] But if you’re sent and you go, you have to use your feet to get there, typically.

[11:47] So when he says in Romans, Chapter 10, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news? [11:55] What he’s saying is, how beautiful is it that you are sent with a purpose?

[12:03] How beautiful is it to realize your identity? [12:07] Because Jesus has given you this great piece of salvation. [12:11] Jesus has given you this great identity that you were someone that was dead in your sins. [12:16] You are now someone who is alive in Christ. [12:20] In John six, the apostle Paul gives it this identity when he says, Don’t you know that if you’re in Christ Jesus, your sins died on the cross with him. [12:31] And so you are to realize that your sin is dead in Christ, but you’re also to walk in newness of life because you’ve resurrected with him in a resurrection like his.

[12:46] So your sins paid for, your sins dealt with, and you’ve been given a new life.

[12:52] Then in Ephesians, Chapter two, verse ten, he gives us this greater purpose of identity when he says that we are God’s workmanship. [13:03] Gives this vision that God is building. [13:07] God is forming in Jesus this new life for you. [13:11] And he says, created in Christ Jesus to walk into good works that God has prepared beforehand for you.

[13:23] So there’s this new identity. [13:25] There’s this new life. [13:26] There’s this new way of living that’s not to look like this old way of living because the old ways dead on the cross. [13:33] But Jesus isn’t on the cross anymore. [13:35] He’s not even in the grave anymore. [13:37] He got up.

[13:38] He walked out. [13:39] And that’s the kind of God I want. [13:41] Because he’s got the power of the most terrifying thing that we face in life, which is death.

[13:49] Then he says, If you’ve been made alive in Christ, you’ve got a new life. [13:52] You’ve got a new lease. [13:53] You’ve got a new work. [13:55] Walk in it. [13:56] But what many of us do is we spend our lives saying, Well, what is that work for me?

[14:03] We do that. [14:04] We run the risk of making ourselves the center of the story. [14:08] You’re not that special.

[14:11] Jesus is.

[14:15] It’s a stop fooling around with this concept of I don’t know what those works are. [14:21] All that is is an excuse. [14:23] Because you don’t like the work God gives.

[14:27] God has been specific. [14:30] God has given us a work. [14:32] What’s our work? [14:35] Point number one this morning, all Christians are sent people. [14:41] All Christians are sent people.

[14:47] How will people know?

[14:50] They need to and can call on God to save them. [14:57] That question right there sums up the work that God has for you.

[15:08] You are to tell them.

[15:14] What work does God have for you to walk into that he has prepared beforehand? [15:20] Now, I want you to go with me logically on this. [15:23] Because it goes to the very foundation of what being a Christian is.

[15:29] Because it’s not a work that gets me salvation. [15:35] I think that’s where we start to fumble. [15:37] Because we’re like, well, if it’s not a work that gives me salvation, then what’s the point? [15:40] Here’s the point. [15:42] If you call on the name of the Lord, he’ll save you. [15:45] It’s all free.

[15:46] It’s a gift for you. [15:48] Work’s totally been done by Jesus. [15:50] He lived a perfect life. [15:51] You didn’t. [15:52] He died the death that could pay the penalty for sins for all time. [15:57] You can’t do that.

[15:58] He rose from the dead. [15:59] You can’t do that either. [16:01] Jesus alone can do all of the work. [16:05] He can do all of the things required. [16:08] He has done everything that will ever be needed to save anyone from their sins. [16:16] So there’s nothing left to be done.

[16:20] Then you say, well, then Ephesians 2.10 makes no sense. [16:23] Because it says that I was created in Christ Jesus to walk into good works. [16:27] He’s prepared before me. [16:28] So all the work’s been done. [16:30] So when all the work’s been done, what is there left to do? [16:36] Report the work that’s been done.

[16:39] That’s it. [16:40] That’s all that’s left. [16:42] That’s our only claim to being able to do anything. [16:45] What I want to say to you is that we exist to inform the world of what Jesus has already done. [16:53] That’s why it is gift at its base. [16:58] Because I can do what I’ve not been given.

[17:01] I can earn what is not a gift. [17:04] But I can tell of what is a gift. [17:07] I can tell of what someone else has done. [17:10] And we exist. [17:12] This world, God does not take us directly to heaven because he wants us to be here. [17:19] And he wants us to tell the world of all that Jesus has done.

[17:24] That’s it. [17:25] That’s the good work. [17:27] Everything you will do in your life to follow Jesus. [17:31] Everything you will do to obey the Scriptures. [17:34] Everything you will do to be biblical in your life serves as a conduit. [17:41] Through which you tell the world why.

[17:47] The danger is that often times we do other things and we obey in other ways to excuse ourselves from telling.

[18:01] I’m a good father.

[18:03] Will I give to the church? [18:07] Will I work at a church?

[18:11] I don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t chew, don’t run with the girls that do.

[18:18] That’s an old adage by the way. [18:20] Some of you got that. [18:22] Some of you are confused. [18:24] Like, chew? [18:26] What am I chewing?

[18:33] I am obeying these simple things. [18:35] I’m not obeying these other things. [18:37] Or I’m staying away from these other things and I’m doing these other things. [18:40] I’m living my giftedness. [18:42] And other people preach.

[18:46] No.

[18:50] Your obedience in one area, if it is for the purpose of excusing you from the large area, is disobedience.

[19:06] Because it goes to the heart of why you’re doing it. [19:08] Because you’re doing it to excuse yourselves to what God has clearly told you to do. [19:14] Because there is a way of following the creeds of scripture and the precepts that God lays out. [19:21] That serves us nothing more than to make us look good.

[19:26] God has not saved you so that you look good. [19:29] God has saved you so that you will tell the world about how good his son is.

[19:36] And I don’t tell you to tell people at the detriment of the other things.

[19:42] No, we’re called to do all of the things that God has laid out for us in scripture. [19:47] But it is the reason that he tells us to do those other things that I want to talk to you about. [19:53] It is the basis for their other things. [19:57] Even in Ephesians 5, when Jesus through the apostle Paul tells us to be husbands that lead their wives like Jesus. [20:07] Wives submit to their husbands like the church. [20:10] Parents who don’t provoke their children to anger.

[20:15] At the root of everything that he does, he constantly comes back to the point that you are doing these things. [20:23] So that you can get them to God through Jesus.

[20:28] Every moment of obedience, every identity that you have in God, every bit of obedience that you have to God. [20:36] Is so that you can through it tell people about Jesus.

[20:43] Any other thing would not be the gospel.

[20:47] Any other thing would actually take away from the gospel. [20:53] Everything is to get people to Jesus. [20:56] Therefore, if you have places in your life that are not getting people to Jesus, the gospel would say, repent.

[21:04] And you either find a way that you can use that thing to get people to Jesus, or you stop doing that thing.

[21:13] You may say, but wait a second.

[21:18] There are some things I’ve got to do.

[21:23] No, there aren’t.

[21:28] There are some things you like to do.

[21:32] There are some things your sin convinced you you need to do.

[21:38] There are some things that the gods of this world have convinced you you need to have. [21:43] There are some titles that I want that I don’t need.

[21:48] But there is only one thing that I can’t live without. [21:52] And that’s Jesus.

[21:57] Everything else, friends, is either negotiable or it’s a false god that you are worshipping.

[22:10] We have been given this identity by God.

[22:17] And it’s not something that God is going to compromise on. [22:20] Have you ever negotiated with your children? [22:22] I have, and I’m not ashamed about it. [22:26] Because sometimes you just want to go to bed. [22:29] You do what it takes. [22:32] Sometimes you just want them to finish eating.

[22:35] And so you promise them 17 cupcakes. [22:37] If they’ll just eat that one thing. [22:39] You do what needs to be done, friends.

[22:46] But you know what that proves? [22:48] I would make a terrible god.

[22:54] You cannot negotiate with God. [22:57] His rules are that good. [23:01] His design is that wonderful. [23:04] That anything less than absolute surrender.

[23:11] Anything less than total submission. [23:14] Anything less than His way of doing things would not be as good for me. [23:23] Therefore, for Him to compromise on His vision would not be loving. [23:28] Because it would be less than. [23:31] So for God to negotiate with you about your identity. [23:35] And say, well, for you, I’m not going to make you be sent on my mission.

[23:43] That would be hate from God to you. [23:47] Therefore, if you aren’t sent on the mission to tell people, then uh-oh.

[23:56] Go back to verse 13.

[24:00] Jesus makes that identity more specific in Acts chapter 1. [24:03] Where in verse 8, He tells His followers this right before He leaves. [24:07] He says, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. [24:12] And you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria until the end of the year. [24:19] You see that? We talked last week about the power to share the gospel. [24:23] It says that God gives us the Spirit so that we will have power.

[24:26] And He gives us that power so that we can tell people. [24:28] So we’re to look for opportunities. We’re to pray to the God who gives that power. [24:31] That will give us those opportunities to give people the gospel. [24:35] And then Jesus here says, I’ll give you power. [24:38] And it’s so that you can do what? You can be My witnesses. [24:40] What does a witness do? A witness reports of things that have already been done.

[24:43] Of things that he’s already seen.

[24:47] And that’s what God wants us to have this vision of for our lives. [24:53] But what if we do not want to do that?

[25:00] Then you aren’t following Jesus.

[25:04] If I go to 7-Eleven and you go to Wawa, you didn’t follow me.

[25:15] You can only follow Jesus where He’s going.

[25:20] So many times the things that we say God has called us to, [25:23] I think first we should have checked the Bible to see if that’s legit.

[25:28] I hear people all the time. [25:30] And man, as old as I am, I’m sure I’ve said some stupid things too that God’s called me to that He never did.

[25:38] But in all of the things that you say God has called you to, [25:42] has He called you to that in Scripture? [25:45] Or are you making it up?

[25:51] Don’t throw that trump card on someone if it’s not biblical. [25:56] If you throw it on me, I’ll tell you it’s not biblical. [25:58] And you should too.

[26:02] But here’s the key. What has God said we are? [26:04] And then what are we saying God called us to that may actually take away from what He’s clearly said?

[26:13] Because if God has called me to this, then He will not, [26:18] I repeat, He will not call me to something that would limit this.

[26:30] Because this is the most important thing to Him. [26:33] There’s nothing that’s more important to God than that.

[26:38] That’s what love is. [26:40] It’s Jesus.

[26:43] We love people by telling them about Jesus and showing them what He has done and is currently doing in our lives. [26:49] And the only way that we can be sure we’re doing that with certainty is if it’s made clear in Scripture.

[26:56] Many of us try to have a very mystical view of God’s calling for each and every one of our lives. [27:03] But it is not to be that way. [27:06] It is to be more specific. And God has been plenty specific. [27:09] He’s written it in Scripture. [27:12] God will never call you to anything that disagrees with His Word. [27:17] That would make Him inconsistent. And God is completely consistent.

[27:23] God has called you to His Word. [27:25] Therefore, it’s probably good to know His Word.

[27:33] So in having a sense of identity, in being a witness to Him for the whole world. [27:39] Because note that He’s talking geographically here. [27:41] They were in Jerusalem. Judea was next door. [27:45] Samaria was a little further than that. [27:47] And then the rest of the world was outside of there. [27:49] But with their way of travel, if you got to Samaria, you felt like you’d been to the ends of the earth.

[27:54] It took them a couple of days.

[27:58] And so for our purposes, we must understand that God does not put a limit to how much you can obey Him.

[28:07] What limits are you putting to how much you can obey Him? [28:11] What time constraints are you putting on God where your sense of identity is concerned?

[28:17] An hour? Every other Wednesday?

[28:21] That’s not going to get to the ends of the earth.

[28:25] And so God has this global vision of sending people out to take news that you’re witnessing to.

[28:36] And so number two, the only way for that to happen is that being sent changes every part of your life.

[28:44] This is where it’s like, oh man, I’m sent by God. I’m sent by the King. [28:49] That’s really cool. [28:50] And so we stay there because that feels pretty nice to say. [28:54] It makes you feel royal.

[28:57] But then, if you ever stop for a moment to ponder how that changes the way that you live your life.

[29:04] For you to live as someone sent for the purpose of the gospel will necessarily cause changes to happen in your life. [29:12] Or it didn’t happen. [29:14] Look at verse 14.

[29:19] It says, how will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? [29:22] And how are they to believe in Him in whom they have never heard? [29:25] And how are they to hear without someone preaching?

[29:29] I mean, Paul gives us a pretty easy thing here for us to understand. [29:34] I think this is one of the most understandable portions of scripture because it’s just common sense. [29:38] That if you never tell someone, they’ll probably never know.

[29:44] He just asks in logic, how do you know? [29:45] In the logical order, he says, well, how are they to hear if no one tells them? [29:53] And by the way, how is someone supposed to tell them if no one’s ever sent to tell them?

[30:03] And so he literally marries his promise to save with his command to go.

[30:14] And he says, understand, I’ve designed the gospel so that it works in your life and then it fills you up. [30:21] And then the overflow is that you can’t keep quiet about Jesus.

[30:29] And he says, that is how it’s going to go over the world. [30:34] Is that you begin to be so filled with the desire for God in your life that you are filled and filled and filled. [30:43] Then you go and you tell, you go and you witness, you go and report. [30:48] And you make any change in your life that is necessary because those things may stand in front of the ultimate joy in the world. [30:58] Jesus.

[31:01] So the question then is, is what if we don’t make those changes? [31:06] Whatever you pour your life into and spend your time planning is where you find your [31:11] identity. [31:12] This is what you truly believe in.

[31:17] So whatever you’re spending all of your time pursuing, that is what you’re going for. [31:21] Everyone’s going for something in this world. [31:23] Everyone’s sent into some type of lifestyle here this morning. [31:25] The question that I have for you this morning is, is what are you going for? [31:31] There’s three things, and as a church, here’s what I want to do for you.

[31:37] My desire is to motivate you with the gospel.

[31:44] That’s why that’s about all I preach is the gospel, because I don’t think there’s anything [31:48] else that’s a good motivator. [31:51] So we motivate you with this amazing story of Jesus, and we may get motivated for it. [31:57] We get excited about it, and we’re all glad to be saved by Jesus, or we’re not saved. [32:03] So we’re motivated, and then we live to equip. [32:06] That’s what Sunday morning is, is we walk in and we get equipped.

[32:11] That’s what groups are. [32:12] You walk in and you get a little more equipped. [32:14] That’s what personal discipleship is about. [32:16] You walk in and you get equipped. [32:17] Equipped to what? [32:18] To follow Jesus.

[32:19] Where is Jesus going? [32:20] Jesus is going to spread the gospel throughout the world.

[32:25] But it’s the third thing that troubles me about myself, and it troubles me about all of us.

[32:32] Are you available?

[32:35] You can be motivated. [32:38] You can be equipped. [32:40] But if you’re not available, everything else is a giant waste of time. [32:46] Motivation was pointless. [32:47] The equipping was pointless. [32:49] Because you’re not available to be sent.

[32:55] Think about that for a second. [32:57] Are you available to live the mission of Jesus?

[33:03] Think about this. [33:05] When there are opportunities to get motivated about the gospel, or to get equipped about the gospel, [33:11] what reasons do you give for not being there?

[33:17] What reasons are you giving? [33:19] What things are you doing? [33:20] What else are you pouring your life into? [33:22] Well, I don’t really need to be motivated about the gospel today. [33:27] I don’t really need to be equipped about the gospel. [33:28] I’ve got this other thing going on.

[33:30] So I’m unavailable.

[33:36] That’s what you’re pouring your life into. [33:38] That’s what you’re pursuing.

[33:41] I know I should tell people about the gospel.

[33:46] But I’m unavailable.

[33:49] I get it. [33:51] In the history of the world, we’ve never been busier than we are now.

[33:57] The question is, what is your busyness building?

[34:02] I mean, be honest. [34:03] What is your busyness really doing for you?

[34:08] All that stuff that you’re pouring your life into, [34:10] all of the things that you’re acquiring, [34:12] all of the things that you’re doing in your life, [34:15] what is it building? [34:16] Is it building a life founded on the gospel, [34:20] or is it building a life founded on something else?

[34:26] In Luke 9, verse 23, Jesus looks and says, [34:29] if anyone would come after me, he must take up his cross. [34:32] Follow me.

[34:36] But here’s what we do, is it’s a lie. [34:38] We believe that we can have it all.

[34:45] So we don’t deny ourselves anything except the gospel.

[34:53] And that’s why it’s a lie that you can have it all. [34:55] I mean, it’s foolishness.

[34:59] You literally can’t. [35:03] Because all the stuff that your hands are holding, [35:05] you are going to sacrifice something. [35:08] And the great deception of Satan on your life [35:11] is that you’ve somehow been able to sacrifice something. [35:12] You’ve somehow convinced yourself and been deceived

[35:14] that you’re not sacrificing the gospel [35:17] so that you can have all of those other things. [35:20] You are.

[35:25] You’re sacrificing it for money. [35:27] You’re sacrificing it for leisure. [35:29] You’re sacrificing it for a career. [35:31] You’re sacrificing it for a family.

[35:41] What is it that commands your time apart from Jesus?

[35:46] What is it that commands your vision for your life? [35:50] If it is not the gospel, [35:52] if it is not this amazing story of a God who saves, [35:56] the God who created all, the God who controls it all,

[36:02] then what is it? [36:04] Because you are sacrificing your identity.

[36:09] And I mean to say by all of this, number three, this morning, [36:11] that life only has meaning if you have beautiful feet.

[36:17] Everyone wants to have meaning, but no one wants [36:21] what God says has the most meaning.

[36:26] The philosopher Gerard Way once put it [36:28] that everyone wants to go to heaven, but no one wants to die.

[36:37] I mean, it’s true.

[36:40] Heaven sounds pretty good. [36:42] Heaven sounds better than this. [36:45] I mean, I could barely move this morning. [36:47] Heaven’s got to be better than that.

[36:50] But I don’t want to die.

[36:55] I mean, God’s been so crystal clear to us [36:57] about the vision for our lives. [36:59] And everybody says, well, I want my life to have meaning. [37:01] I want my life to have purpose. [37:02] I want my life to mean something. [37:05] Yet we either, A, throw out this big vision

[37:08] that’s never going to happen because we’re never going to put feet to it. [37:11] We’re never going to go after it. [37:12] So we sit around until the opportunity presents itself, [37:15] never doing anything, because it’s not as big as that thing. [37:20] That’s this newer generation’s big thing, [37:22] is it’s go big or go home, and all of them just stay home.

[37:28] So nothing ever gets accomplished.

[37:32] Or we believe the lie proactively and intentionally with our lives [37:37] that there’s something better than the Gospel.

[37:41] Because we won’t sacrifice anything to get the Gospel. [37:44] We won’t sacrifice to give anyone the Gospel.

[37:49] What you are chasing with your life [37:52] is what you are proclaiming to the world gives you meaning. [37:57] What is it?

[38:00] Your commitment level to environments [38:04] to be motivated and equipped with the Gospel [38:06] reveals your availability to tell the Gospel.

[38:14] Because I know that even after four weeks of talking about it,

[38:19] given the opportunity to tell someone the Gospel, [38:23] many of us are still stumped to say, [38:27] well, what do I tell them?

[38:32] See, what that reveals is not a lack of ability, [38:37] because it’s not about sermonizing. [38:40] That’s not what preaching is. [38:42] Preaching in this text is just telling people the Gospel, [38:45] the story of Jesus, what Jesus has done.

[38:56] We’ve filled our lives with so much that we don’t have time [38:59] to memorize the story.

[39:03] And that’s why at the core, [39:05] it is not about having a new technique.

[39:13] Because it is not my task

[39:18] to give you an event to come to, to go knock on a door. [39:21] It is not my task

[39:25] to tell your neighbors. [39:26] It is not my task

[39:30] to tell your extended family. [39:32] It is not my task to tell your coworkers. [39:36] It is not my task to tell your children. [39:41] It is not my task to tell your friends.

[39:46] It is my task [39:48] to motivate and equip you [39:52] to do all of those things.

[39:56] But only you [39:59] can make yourself available.

[40:04] Only you can do that.

[40:08] 2 Corinthians 5, verse 20 tells us,

[40:12] Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, [40:17] God making his appeal through us.

[40:21] We implore you, or better, we beg you, [40:26] on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

[40:35] Your someone should tell them, [40:38] must turn into I will tell them.

[40:45] If it does not,

[40:49] then you are disobeying the very purpose [40:52] for which God has saved you.

[40:59] Own this identity. [41:04] Own it.

[41:08] When we started Village Church, [41:12] we were a very small team, eight or nine of us. [41:16] We would get together every Sunday morning, [41:19] and we would recite Romans 10. [41:22] Before we were even having services.

[41:26] Because we believed

[41:30] that every time we got together to do this,

[41:36] that God was going to do something.

[41:40] We believed that God was going to motivate us, [41:42] and God was going to equip us, [41:43] and then God was going to send us as available people on his harvest, [41:46] and God was going to save people. [41:48] Because what we gather for here, [41:51] this is not a waste of time,

[41:53] this is the best use of your time.

[42:00] But I don’t want it to stop here.

[42:04] I want it to keep going out there, [42:07] in the world, at your job, in your neighborhood. [42:10] I truly believe that your neighbors should have a better chance [42:14] of coming to faith in Jesus because you live on their street.

[42:21] The question is, do they?

[42:24] You say, well, I just don’t have time.

[42:29] Why don’t you?

[42:33] And trust me, I know you have an answer to that question.

[42:37] I’m not trying to Jesus-joke you, I promise. [42:39] Maybe I am.

[42:43] But is what you’re spending all your time on better?

[42:50] Is it?

[42:59] Is it? [43:00] The argument from this text, [43:03] in reverse order, [43:06] is this.

[43:08] Jesus sends us to tell.

[43:14] We tell people the gospel. [43:17] People hear the gospel. [43:20] People who believe call on the Lord. [43:26] And those that call him are saved.

[43:31] That is the strategy that God has laid out. [43:37] That is a 2000 year old technique that still works.

[43:45] Don’t look for a better one. [43:48] Don’t look for a better life. [43:50] Live this one. [43:53] You are plan A, and there is no plan B.

[44:00] You’re his church. [44:02] Jesus died, that you might live, [44:06] so that you could tell the world how you came back to life.

[44:13] Live this mission.

[44:18] There’s no better life. [44:20] There are only lies.

[44:24] As the band comes up,

[44:29] and I know that’s heavy.

[44:32] It’s heavy for me. [44:34] I’m not an island to myself. [44:37] Neither are you.

[44:40] But when I begin to think about this, [44:42] and I think about all the reasons that I’m timid, [44:45] or I think about all the reasons that I’m unavailable, [44:47] or I think about all the reasons that I don’t, [44:49] I think about all the reasons that I avoid discipleship, [44:51] I think about all the things that stand in the way

[44:53] of me giving God my life, [44:55] and then I think about the utter hugeness, [45:00] I have no other word, of the Gospel.

[45:08] I just have to ask myself, who do I think I am, [45:10] and who do I think runs this world?

[45:14] I have the God of the universe telling me, [45:18] this is what you live for, this is what you exist for, [45:21] this is the life that I’ve given you. [45:23] The one that breathed air, [45:25] the one that breathed life into my nostrils, [45:29] the one who had the power to take dirt and make me,

[45:33] tells me, you live for this, [45:35] and then I say, oh, but I’ve got something else. [45:39] I’ve got this other thing, it’s a commitment, [45:41] I mean everybody’s got to do that, right? [45:43] And I think we joke about that, [45:45] but when we go home, we should really take a look in the mirror

[45:47] and say, what a tragedy.

[45:50] What a tragedy that I would put anything [45:53] for any period of time in front of what the God of the universe has made clear.

[45:59] What a tragedy that I would let my fear of any man [46:03] or any person trump my fear of God.

[46:13] And then I boil it all down to the fact that I am a sinner.

[46:19] And that repentance is me looking at that sin and saying, [46:23] thank you God for giving me a better life.

[46:28] Because every week I like to put us face to face

[46:34] with the blood of Jesus and his broken body.

[46:39] When I think about my sin and then I look [46:42] at the cup which represents his shed blood, [46:44] I look at the bread which represents his broken body, [46:47] and I think about Jesus and I think about him pouring his life out [46:51] so that he could give it in to me. [46:54] And then I think about the fact that he’s taken this wretched sinner

[46:57] that I know I am and he’s lifted me up, [47:00] he’s taken condemnation away, and he said, [47:03] go, you live that life and I’m filled with grace [47:06] and I’m filled with hope and the spirit seems to testify to me. [47:10] Steve, you’re saved, you’re bought, your condemnation’s gone, now go.

[47:18] And if in my going,

[47:23] I’m not saying, God, I’ll go for you, [47:26] I’ll tell them.

[47:31] Was my faith in that real?

[47:36] If you’re in here this morning and you’re a follower of Jesus [47:38] in just a moment, I’m going to call you to go to one of the six tables in this room. [47:43] And in that moment, understand that the reason God gave us this [47:47] is he says that when we do it, we proclaim the Lord’s death. [47:52] You proclaim that you believe the gospel, you’re telling people.

[47:58] But it’s supposed to be a foundation and a catalyst [48:01] to you walking out there and you telling people with your mouth [48:06] and you setting up your life so that you can tell people with your mouth. [48:10] If you’re in here and you’re not a believer,

[48:14] you can stop at verse 13, [48:18] because that’s where you are.

[48:21] But here’s the promise that God has for you right now.

[48:26] Anyone calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

[48:33] Because faith comes by hearing. [48:37] Hearing from the word of Christ.

[48:40] Call on Jesus today. [48:43] They’ll say. [48:45] When you’re ready.