Growth.

Steve Gentry

[0:00] Good morning. Welcome to the village once again. My name is Steve. I am one of the pastors here. If you’ve never been here before, please allow me to just thank you for being here. [0:11] I want to thank Jamie for being here as James found it necessary to go on vacation. [0:19] I have not figured out what he went on vacation from yet. I haven’t really seen him do that much.

[0:26] But he’ll probably be back next week. He didn’t really tell us. He just left. Maybe he’ll be here. I think he will. [0:33] But I do want to thank Jamie. I was blessed this morning. Jesus paid it all. And all to him I owe. [0:41] And that is such a beautiful reality that we are able to live in. [0:46] But the audacity of it is that everything that I owe I will never be able to pay. And he doesn’t ask me to. [0:55] He just pays my debt. And he continues to pay my debt. Because I don’t know if you’re anything like me, your disobedience just seems to constantly be there. [1:06] And your debt just grows and grows and grows. And as I grow in my life in Christ, I see more and more of my sin.

[1:15] Yet I continually see more and more of his grace. And that fits so well with what we’re going to be talking about today. [1:22] Last week we began a series called The Resistance. And last week we talked about the resistance to change that each and every one of us have in every area of our lives. [1:32] Especially where the gospel is concerned. And the gospel is this force that comes into our lives. [1:37] This news of what Jesus has done on our behalf. And it bids us to change. It begs us to change. It calls us to change. [1:44] And then the Spirit comes in us and it changes us. We don’t even do it ourselves. [1:50] But inside of us there is this stillborn belief that sin somehow should continue to be a power in our lives.

[1:59] So we resist the change that the gospel brings. [2:04] We talked last week about the change is irresistible that the gospel brings. And if there is no change then there is no gospel. [2:12] But this week we’re going to talk about kind of what I see as the next step in that progression of resistance. [2:19] And today we’re going to talk about the resistance to growth. [2:22] Change and growth are really the two factors that the New Testament, even the scripture at large, kind of says that the gospel and the truth of Jesus Christ [2:32] and the indwelling Holy Spirit that he fills us with at the moment of salvation.

[2:37] That this change and this growth are the things that become normal to us. [2:45] But if you talk to anyone day in and day out, that change and that growth are often the things that seem to elude us. [2:54] And oftentimes our faith becomes stagnant. And our relationship with God through Christ can become stagnant. [3:04] And what is very tempting, whenever we’re going to talk about the topic of spiritual growth, [3:10] is that we’re going to talk about the things that are going to come to our mind. [3:11] And what’s interesting also, I’m a little bit ADD on purpose sometimes, is that when the normal worship leader does not use guitars,

[3:18] there are no things I can step on up here. But today I just noticed that there are. So I’ve got to be careful. [3:23] If you see me going towards this area, say stop. Stop Steve. You’re going to step on something and break it because you’re heavy.

[3:33] So today we’re going to talk about growth. I’m telling you, I can’t resist talking about things that just come to the front of my brain. [3:41] There is no filter. It was removed years ago in seventh grade. I remember it specifically. [3:50] This has gone on for far too long. I don’t even remember what I was talking about, to be honest with you. [3:57] So let’s get back to the notes. That’s why notes are really important. Because I do not know what I was talking about. [4:03] But in the Christian life, whenever we’re going to talk about growth and the change that the Gospel brings, [4:08] what we typically do, because we’re very pragmatic in the way that we think about growth in life and change in life,

[4:15] is we want to kind of build a checklist. We want to kind of build a to-do list. [4:19] So anytime, if you’ve been in church for any period of time, whenever the pastor gives that inevitable sermon on growth, [4:25] here’s what you may hear is, okay, step one, get in the Word. Step two, get in prayer. Step three, join Sunday school. [4:33] Step four, be nice to your wife. Step five, be a good dad. Step six, be good at your job. [4:39] Step seven, pay all your bills on time. Step eight, and step nine, and step ten. [4:44] And what we do is we give these things that we are able to induce in ourselves effort to do.

[4:53] And we’ll sometimes be very successful for a week or two. [4:57] But then there comes that day when you oversleep or you’re too tired at night. [5:02] So you don’t do step one, which is get in the Word. [5:06] Or you fall asleep during prayer or you’re wondering what’s for lunch while you’re praying, which is what happens to me all the time. [5:13] And so your prayer life kind of starts to dwindle. [5:17] And then just you’re not taking any joy in your job.

[5:21] Marriage is hard. I’m married. My wife’s right there. She’ll tell you. [5:26] It’s hard for her. Easier for me because I’m not married to me, but she is. [5:31] It’s hard. And then sometimes when you’re a parent, they drive you nuts. [5:37] Why does he need to be held right now? Watching TV. It’s very important. [5:43] And so what happens is, is these steps that we will put on our path of growth, [5:48] we can’t do them consistently.

[5:51] And what often happens is, is that we feel deflated. We feel defeated. [5:57] We feel like growth is this thing that other people can do. [6:01] But why am I incapable? Why don’t I feel the power of God in my life? [6:07] I’m doing all of the things that Christians are supposed to be doing, yet I don’t feel like I’m growing. [6:14] But what I want to tell you this morning, and I hope I relieve a little bit of the pressure [6:18] that’s being put on your life, is that there is no step-by-step process of effort

[6:24] that comes from within you that can possibly bring growth in the way that God designed for it to happen. [6:32] It doesn’t exist. And so that defeat that you’re feeling in this effort that you’re putting forth, [6:39] I want you to know this morning that everyone in this room has either felt it or isn’t a believer.

[6:47] Because if you’re not a believer, you won’t feel defeated in the same way a believer does. [6:52] If you’re not a believer, what you’ll feel is religion that just fails you every time. [6:56] So you run headlong into things that feel like they bring satisfaction. [7:00] And that typically is sin.

[7:04] But if you’re here today and you want to grow, [7:09] my sermon prep took a really weird turn over the past few weeks, [7:12] and I just started writing stuff and I’m like, this has nothing to do with growth. [7:16] And then at the end of the day, I’m like, oh, actually, this has everything to do with growth. [7:19] So open your Bible to Psalm chapter 42.

[7:24] It’s a very strange place to begin talking about growth, [7:27] but I think in the end, it’ll make more sense if we go this route. [7:32] In Psalm 42, I want to, this is a coffee cup verse, as Matt Chandler calls it. [7:37] He does a great job and I’m stealing some of this from him. [7:40] Every pastor plagiarizes. I’m just honest about it.

[7:45] In Psalm 42, I want to read this with you or to you. [7:47] You don’t have to, if you want to read it with me, I guess you can. [7:49] As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. [7:54] My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. [7:59] When shall I come and appear before God? [8:02] My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all day long, where is your God?

[8:08] These things I remember as I pour out my soul, how I would go with the throng [8:13] and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, [8:18] a multitude keeping festival. [8:20] So what he’s doing there at the end is he’s remembering times when he’s been in the presence of God [8:26] and he knew he was in the presence of God. [8:28] But that’s all in the past tense now.

[8:30] And right now all that he feels is despair. [8:34] And quite often what we do, you know, they even wrote a song to this. [8:37] Maybe he used to sing, as the deer painted for the water in the King James. [8:41] But maybe you’ve sang that song and what we do is, is we kind of reduce a text like this to this place [8:46] where it gives you this idea that you’re like a deer running with Jesus through a beautiful meadow. [8:51] And it’s just you and Jesus skipping side by side and you’re panting for him like a deer pants for the water.

[8:57] But that is not what the psalmist is talking about here. [9:01] The psalmist is not writing a beautiful song about how wonderful his relationship with God is. [9:07] Right now he’s talking about a place in his life where he says, I can’t feel God at all. [9:14] It’s as if I just finished running a marathon and I’m thirsty and there’s no water. [9:21] I’m in the desert. I’m starving and there’s no food. [9:26] People are even looking at what’s going on in my life and they’re saying, I thought you believed in God.

[9:32] Where’s your God now? [9:34] Doesn’t look like you have any power of God in your life.

[9:39] And so the psalmist right here writes in the deep pit of desperation and he says, [9:47] I’m so thirsty but I can’t taste God anymore. [9:52] He’s talking about that yearning for a move of God in his life.

[9:58] So what I want to start today is I want us to understand that growth comes from a thirst for God. [10:08] We’re looking at this psalmist and we’re saying he is in a bad place. [10:12] He is. [10:14] But until you reach that place where you can specifically identify in your life that you are thirsty for God, [10:29] you cannot grow. [10:32] It’s impossible.

[10:35] Because here’s how we do it. [10:36] We just want to do religion and we want to do Christianity so it just becomes a part of our life.

[10:44] What the psalmist is writing there is he’s saying, it’s the totality of what defines me. [10:50] And when I can’t feel God in my life, it’s as if I’m dying. [10:55] Elsewhere he kind of calls it the pit of dry bones. [11:00] And if he’s numb, he feels nothing. [11:04] Because God is the driving force in his life and the big significant motivator for all of us must be [11:12] that we realize that inside of us is this thirst and no matter what we do, we cannot fill it.

[11:21] There’s a place in John chapter 6 where there’s this woman from this town of Samaria and she meets Jesus at a well. [11:28] Maybe you know the story, you probably do. [11:32] But she is an adulterer. [11:35] She’s shacking up with all these guys. [11:38] Just living in willful sin. [11:41] Man after man after man after man.

[11:44] She is sinful. [11:46] So much so that even the people in her town won’t have much to do with her.

[11:52] And she comes and Jesus is just there. [11:54] I love the way Jesus is just like, oh, nobody will have anything to do with you. [11:57] Okay, come sit with me. [11:59] He’s not like us. [12:00] He calls the sinners. [12:01] Come on.

[12:02] Come on. [12:04] And he talks to her and she doesn’t know she’s thirsty. [12:07] This is the thing. [12:07] She doesn’t know. [12:10] Jesus has to inform her of her thirst because he doesn’t know. [12:15] You may not know this morning that you’re thirsty, but here’s what Jesus does for her life.

[12:20] He looks into her soul the way only God can do. [12:24] And he reads her mind. [12:25] He reads her life. [12:26] He sees the past. [12:27] He sees the future. [12:28] He sees it all.

[12:29] And he says, where’s your husband? [12:32] Because he knows the answer. [12:34] She says, I’m not married. [12:35] And he’s like, I know, but there’s been like six dudes. [12:39] And right now, the one you live with, he’s not even your husband. [12:43] What he’s doing there is he’s not saying, sinner, sinner.

[12:46] What he’s doing is he’s looking into her life. [12:50] And he didn’t warn me. [12:52] And he’s looking into her life. [12:56] He says, you’re thirsty, but you are trying to fill the void of your life that only God can fill with all of these men. [13:10] And he basically looks at her and says, how’s that working for you?

[13:16] He’s not poking fun at her. [13:18] He’s not saying you’re so immoral. [13:20] He’s not joining the moral majority in this moment. [13:23] What he’s doing is he’s saying, do you realize why no men are enough and why you continue to seek out more and more men? [13:31] Because you’re thirsty, you’re trying to quench it, and it’s not working. [13:36] So you just go on to more and more stuff.

[13:39] And then here’s what he says in John six, verse thirty five. [13:43] He says, I am the bread of life. [13:48] And he’s then at this point talking to the disciples about why he was engaging this person that they thought was sinful. [13:54] He says, whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me will never thirst.

[14:04] He’s saying you’re thirsty.

[14:08] For me. [14:10] And then one chapter later in John, chapter thirty seven, excuse me, John, chapter thirty seven, John, chapter seven, verse thirty seven. [14:17] He’s at a feast with basically the entire nation of Israel. [14:20] It’s the feast of Booth’s, one of those Old Testament feasts. [14:23] And he looks at them on the last day of the feast, the great day. [14:27] Jesus stood up and cried out, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.

[14:35] Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. [14:41] Now this he said about the spirit whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the spirit had not been given because Jesus was not yet glorified. [14:52] He looks at them. He looks at the entire nation of Israel who are performing this religious feast. [15:00] He looks at them. He looks at them. [15:00] The Old Testament calls for them. [15:03] And he looks at them. It’s kind of like in the book of Isaiah where he says, you know, you lay precept upon precept, but your heart is so far from me.

[15:08] And Jesus looks at the nation of Israel and is saying, look at what you’re doing. [15:12] You’re eating and you’re eating and you’re eating and you’re saying you’re doing it to the glory of God. [15:17] But God is here and you don’t even recognize me. [15:23] You can continue to do these religious feasts, but you’re not doing them for God. [15:28] You’re doing them to convince yourselves that you’re not thirsty. [15:31] I am what you are thirsty for.

[15:36] He says, it’s only people that believe in me that will ever be quenched. [15:40] Spirit’s going to come and he’s going to do it in my name. [15:44] Because we’re thirsty. [15:47] But notice what Jesus is calling them to here. [15:49] Notice what Jesus is saying here in John chapter seven. [15:54] He says, whoever believes in me as a scripture has said out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.

[16:00] So there is this idea that God through Jesus is going to quench the thirst that so invades us. [16:07] He’s going to quench it and then out of us will flow that living water into the lives of others. [16:13] So what is God doing here? [16:15] Because Jesus saying, come to me, but I’m going to send the spirit. [16:18] What he’s doing is he’s saying that when you come to me, it’s kind of like what we talked about when we talked about John 15, [16:23] abiding in Jesus, this organic growth that happens where he bears fruit.

[16:28] When he’s saying, abide in me, he’s inviting us into this life of worship. [16:32] He’s inviting us into this outpouring of ourselves into the life of God. [16:37] And what Jesus is saying is when you thirst, you must come to Jesus because growth and the quenching of it will only emerge. [16:46] It will only come when the life of God is engaged. [16:52] You cannot find it anywhere else. [16:56] It is only from God that you are going to get it, not from effort driven obedience, but from grace driven response and gratitude that is satisfied and pleasing God.

[17:09] What are you talking about, Steve? [17:11] Last week, we took a look at 2 Corinthians, chapter three, verse 18. [17:17] Turn there quickly.

[17:20] Reads, and we all with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord. [17:25] God does that in Jesus. He reveals himself to us. [17:29] This is our being transformed. [17:31] What Jesus is talking about in John chapter six and in John chapter seven is that he is going to transform us, [17:37] not based on what we do, but totally based on what he does. [17:41] That’s why effort as being your first step of growth is never good, because effort is what got you into the thirsty place to begin with, because your effort is not good enough for God.

[17:53] You’re like, well, that doesn’t sound very fair. [17:55] Well, it wouldn’t be if God didn’t say instead, I’m going to do all the effort myself. [18:02] And I’m going to save you. [18:04] And I’m going to reveal my glory to you. [18:06] I’m going to invite you into life with me. [18:08] I’m going to transform you.

[18:09] And I’m going to unveil your face to see my glory.

[18:14] And then he says, being transformed in the same image from one degree of glory to another, for this comes from the Lord, who is the spirit. [18:27] That is the change. [18:30] But that is what growth looks like. [18:32] Last week, we ended and we said it is a progressive thing. [18:36] The change that takes place. [18:38] Repentance is the fact that we continue to change as we learn more and more of God and more and more about ourselves and realize just the gap that happens.

[18:46] And God brings himself to us and then carries us along so that we can be where he is. [18:52] And that changes us, but it also progresses us and it grows us. [18:57] And the very next chapter, Paul writes, we don’t have to go very far today, just chapter four, turn over to verse 11. [19:06] Paul begins to write to the church of Corinth, who has been known as a typically wicked church.

[19:15] And in chapter three, he ends it by talking to them about the growth that needs to take place in their lives. [19:20] But then in chapter four, he begins to identify how they can change. [19:26] And the first thing that changes inside of this thirsty nature of us is that when we engage the life of God, we begin to see the differences between us and God. [19:40] We begin to glory in different things that we used to glory in. [19:44] We begin to fill our thirst with God rather than other things. [19:50] And at first, Paul finds the church at Corinth in a place where they’re just exceedingly wicked in chapter one, excuse me, in First Corinthians.

[20:00] But in Second Corinthians, he engages them differently. [20:03] Here’s what he says in First Corinthians about the church that he’s writing to here in Second Corinthians. [20:07] In First Corinthians chapter three, he says, But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. [20:16] I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. [20:20] And even now you are not ready for you are still of the flesh. [20:26] Look at what he says there about the church at Corinth.

[20:29] He says, I can’t even address you a church as people who know Jesus.

[20:37] Because that’s what the difference between being a spiritual person and a fleshly person is. [20:41] When Paul writes that you’re a person of the flesh, he’s saying you are not a Christian. [20:47] He’s saying, I couldn’t even address you that way, because you are not filling your thirst for God whatsoever. [20:55] He’s saying you are thirsty, so you run headlong into just rampant immorality. [21:00] Here’s what was going on in the Corinthian church. [21:03] They were getting drunk off of communion.

[21:06] Even though in the Baptist churches, it’s just grape juice. [21:08] Somehow they drank so much grape juice they got drunk. [21:11] I don’t know how that… I don’t know. [21:14] It’s weird. [21:15] They were getting drunk off of communion. [21:18] They were participating in pagan sex worship of fertility gods.

[21:25] Stepmothers were sleeping with their stepchildren. [21:28] Just rampant sexual immorality. [21:31] They were suing each other for just stupid frivolous things. [21:36] This was a church in turmoil. [21:38] Paul looks inside of this church, sees nothing but sin. [21:41] He says, I can’t even address you as people who are thirsty for God.

[21:47] I can only address you in a fleshly way. [21:50] Then he spends the rest of the book of 1 Corinthians unpacking how they can stop sinning. [21:59] He says, stop this! [22:02] Don’t you know the gospel? [22:04] Don’t you know this is what God has freed you from? [22:08] Don’t you know the beauty that you have in Jesus?

[22:10] Don’t you know that sin is no substitute for Jesus in your life? [22:16] That’s what you’re doing. [22:18] That’s why you’re sinning so much.

[22:22] It’s because you’re trying to quench a thirst that only God can quench.

[22:29] Between 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians, great repentance takes place.

[22:37] Through the power of God, through this grace-driven work that the Spirit does in their life, [22:44] some of them repent. [22:45] They still have a lot of problems. [22:47] You see that in the whole book of 2 Corinthians. [22:49] There’s been a great deal of repentance taking place in this church. [22:53] In 2 Corinthians, Paul addresses them differently.

[22:57] In 2 Corinthians, he begins to unpack not simply the power of the gospel over sin, [23:05] but rather the power of the gospel in living a life for the gospel. [23:12] Here’s what we do with growth, typically. [23:15] The less you sin, the more you grow.

[23:19] The more you avoid sin, the more you’re not sinning, [23:24] the more places you can point in your life and say, [23:26] I don’t do that, I don’t do that, I don’t do that, [23:29] the better of a Christian you are, the better of a follower of Jesus you are. [23:32] Jesus would never be near sin, so you’re not near sin. [23:36] There’s no immorality taking place in my life whatsoever.

[23:41] Here’s my question. Why does Paul write 2 Corinthians?

[23:46] Why does Paul write? [23:49] Sinning less is not the end of growth.

[23:57] If you could ask the apostle Paul and he said, it’s just the beginning.

[24:02] Because you must replace it. [24:04] Because here’s what we do. [24:05] We want to stop sinning, stop sinning, stop sinning, stop sinning. [24:08] So we stopped it, we stopped it, we stopped it, we stopped it, [24:10] and we just still have this thirst. [24:13] Nothing’s the end of growth.

[24:13] We just filled it. [24:15] We just stopped doing one thing.

[24:19] You’re going to replace it. [24:21] And so many of our struggles with sin, what they are is the fact that [24:25] we tried to stop it and didn’t put anything else in its place, [24:27] so that’s all we could turn to. [24:31] That’s all we could turn to. [24:32] You can turn to anything else.

[24:34] And so Paul writes 2 Corinthians, and what he’s doing, [24:37] and oh boy there it was again, what he’s doing sometimes, I’m going to fall. [24:40] What he’s doing sometimes here though, is what he’s unpacking for the church [24:45] at Corinth, that the life of the believer is about doing something.

[24:52] It’s about replacement.

[24:56] It’s not just we’re avoiding sin, we’re building a new life. [25:00] It’s not just the change was that I don’t do this, the change was I now do this. [25:07] And so what does that look like? [25:08] Well, the first thing when we’re seeing here is in engaging the life of God. [25:13] Look in 2 Corinthians, chapter 4, where I said we were going to be. [25:18] Let’s start reading in verse 11.

[25:20] For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, [25:24] so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. [25:29] So death is at work in us, but life in you. [25:32] Since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what has been written, [25:38] I believed and so I spoke. [25:40] We also believe and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus

[25:45] will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. [25:51] For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people, [25:55] it may increase thanksgiving to the glory of God. [25:58] So we do not lose heart. [26:00] Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. [26:03] For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory

[26:08] beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen, [26:12] but to the things that are unseen. [26:13] For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. [26:18] So growth happens when the life of God is engaged. [26:22] And here’s what Paul is talking about here. [26:25] He’s looking at them and he’s saying after chapter 3 when he says,

[26:29] this grace is going to transform you more and more and more and bring more and more change, [26:33] he then turns the camera to his life and he begins to explain to them, [26:38] this is why I live the life that I live. [26:41] And this is what you need to be focused on. [26:44] He’s saying, for we know that when we come to Christ, [26:48] there is a death that takes place inside of us.

[26:52] And what is that death? It is our death to sin. [26:55] But he’s saying that death to sin is then immediately replaced by life in the Spirit. [27:03] Remember that Spirit that in John chapter 7, Jesus said had not come yet, [27:07] or John’s writing he said it hadn’t come yet. [27:10] In 2 Corinthians chapter 4, Paul is saying, it has come. [27:15] You in Jesus have the Holy Spirit invading your life, taking over your life,

[27:23] prompting you to do things with your life. [27:25] And when Paul is put on the spot and says, what does it look like? [27:29] Paul says, it looks like the way I live. [27:34] And then later he actually said this in 1 Corinthians, he says, follow me as I follow Christ.

[27:41] Pretend you’re a little me. [27:43] And why would he say something so seemingly braggadocious? [27:47] He says that because he is in his life not forming the gospel for his life, [27:56] but forming his life around the truth of the gospel.

[28:03] In other words, he sees the magnificence of what the gospel has done in his life, [28:08] and then he begins to just go, okay, it can have everything, [28:11] because it is the greatest gift that has ever happened. [28:15] It deserves my all. [28:18] Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. [28:21] And while Paul realizes that what he has in his entire life is nothing compared to the work of Jesus,

[28:28] it is exactly what God wants. [28:33] I’ve said it before, God wants to invade our lives through the truth of the gospel [28:38] with such a force that the lines between where he ends and we begin become very blurry.

[28:47] And you see yourself doing very strange things, and that’s what Paul is doing. [28:51] Paul is writing to a church that looks at his life because at this point he’s suffering great turmoil from the gospel. [28:57] I mean, and later in chapter 11, he’s going to look at them and he’s going to point out all of the ways in which he suffered for the gospel. [29:03] He’s been whipped the 40 lashes minus one twice, which is the whipping that Jesus endured right before the crucifixion. [29:10] Paul went through it twice. [29:11] He’d been stoned and left for dead.

[29:14] Not this stone, that stoned. [29:16] And he’d been stoned, dragged out of the city because they thought he was dead. [29:20] And then he gets up, walks back into the city, continues to preach the gospel. [29:24] I believe it was a manifestation of God, and he was miraculously risen from the dead after dying by being stoned. [29:28] He then says, I’ve been shipwrecked trying to get to a remote island while I was trying to tell people the gospel. [29:34] A day and a night I spent at sea.

[29:36] I’ve been in prison for the gospel. [29:37] I’ve been kicked out of cities for the gospel. [29:40] I’ve been hurt for the gospel. [29:42] I’ve been hungry for the gospel. [29:43] I’ve been thirsty for the gospel. [29:44] I thought I was going to starve to death at one point.

[29:47] I’ve suffered for the gospel. [29:49] And the church at Corinth, they’re looking at him and they’re saying, is it worth it? [29:54] I don’t know about this, Paul. [29:57] We like that not sinning stuff. [30:01] We got cool with that after your first book. [30:04] That was hard enough.

[30:06] But now, you want me to do something?

[30:11] What?

[30:13] And Paul says, I don’t just want you to do something. [30:17] I want you to do everything.

[30:19] Paul’s saying, my life is defined by God because he’s engaging the life of God. [30:31] And he finds so much joy in the fact that he knows God and he’s known by God, not just known by God. [30:40] He’s known by God and not sent to hell for his sin. [30:43] He’s known by God. [30:44] And then God says, come in. [30:46] That righteousness of my son, I’m going to count it as yours.

[30:49] You can come in. [30:50] You can be in my presence. [30:51] Come as if you belong. [30:52] I’ve adopted you. [30:54] I’ve made you a joint heir with Christ. [30:56] Engage my life.

[30:58] Grow in me. [31:00] And Paul looks at that and he says, sees the beauty of it. [31:03] And it’s only beautiful if you know you’re thirsty for it. [31:07] But he sees it. [31:08] And then he sees all of the things in his life that might keep him from that glory. [31:14] And from just focusing on that all day, every day.

[31:18] And he says, I’ve got to make changes so that I can just have more of God.

[31:25] And you’re looking at Paul, who was a rich man, who was a powerful man, who was just in religion, whereas the Pharisees were concerned. [31:31] He was very powerful. [31:32] And in Philippians, he says, I count that all but loss. [31:35] He says, I don’t need any of that as long as I’ve got God. [31:37] So I throw that away so I can run headlong into God. [31:40] And so what happens when you engage the life of God?

[31:42] And we’ve got to keep moving. [31:43] I don’t know why I wrote so much. [31:45] He engages the life of God and he finds himself firmly finding his thirst quenched, finding his passions fulfilled, those desires he didn’t even know he had. [31:56] God’s just filling them all. [31:58] And what happens is, is the things that matter to God now matter to Paul. [32:04] And Paul says, watch me as I live for God and you do likewise.

[32:09] Because here’s what he says in verse 15. [32:12] He says, for it is all for your sake so that as grace extends to more and more people, it may increase thanksgiving to the glory of God. [32:20] God has defined what his glory looks like.

[32:24] It looks like more and more people being redeemed.

[32:30] This is what Paul says. [32:31] He says, when you engage the life of God, you grow. [32:36] But it doesn’t stop. [32:37] It keeps going. [32:37] When you engage the life of God, the things that matter to God now start to matter to you. [32:45] When you engage the life of God, the mission of God becomes your mission.

[32:53] Growth occurs as the mission of God is lived.

[32:59] Look at what Paul says. [33:00] And all over the scriptures, if you begin to read the scriptures, scriptures is a story of this amazing mission that God goes on to redeem people for himself. [33:10] From the Garden of Eden, from the first version of the gospel, which is in Genesis chapter 3, he makes a prophecy that he’s going to redeem people himself and that people aren’t going to be able to redeem themselves. [33:21] And here’s what he says in verse 15. [33:23] He’s saying that as grace extends to more and more people, it increases Thanksgiving. [33:30] He’s saying, do you understand why your life and your growth is stagnant when you’re trying to grow in God?

[33:38] Because here’s what you’re trying to do. [33:40] You’re trying to sit alone, just you, in a room, reading a book, reading your Bible, praying a bunch of these prayers that you don’t really mean anyway. [33:49] Over and over and over again, you listen to 17 sermons, you did all this stuff and you just like, I don’t feel any growth happening in me. [33:58] It’s because you are focusing only on yourself. [34:03] You’re falling back into the same habits that caused you to be sinful and try to fill your thirst of sin. [34:10] You are the center of this process.

[34:14] And God says, no, I am. [34:16] And here’s what matters to me. [34:18] Here’s the only path that you can grow in. [34:21] When you run headlong into my life and you worship me and you find your joy in me and the fact that I’ve redeemed you from your sin, [34:30] and then I send you to other people so that more and more people can come to me, build your life around my mission.

[34:42] And what we want to do is be able to spend 15 minutes a day reading our Bible and praying, and then growth is just going to happen.

[34:52] It’s just going to happen. [34:54] I think I quoted it before, Rick Warren says, you can’t hope to watch TV three hours a day, read the scriptures three minutes a day, and then grow.

[35:03] That is not a good equation for growth, folks.

[35:07] It just doesn’t happen. [35:10] So here’s what we do. [35:11] We focus all of our power, all of our intentions on career, on family, on hobbies, on this and that. [35:26] The other thing, finding a girlfriend or a boyfriend, on pleasing your girlfriend or your boyfriend, on just simply keeping your wife happy, [35:35] or keeping your husband happy. [35:37] She does, she makes me happy.

[35:40] I don’t think I do the same, but I’m just kidding. [35:43] His father’s day, I’m allowed to make those jokes.

[35:47] I’m doing whatever I want, it’s Father’s Day. [35:49] I’m going to Dairy Queen later.

[35:52] It’s good stuff, go get one, man. [35:54] Bless your kid.

[35:56] But here’s what we do. [35:59] We pour all of our power, all of our energy into money, success, career, family even.

[36:13] And those are the very things that we tried to fill our thirst with before we even met God. [36:18] And then we just kind of hope pie in the sky, throw a prayer up to heaven, that we will sort of drift towards growth in the Gospel.

[36:29] While I’m doing all these things that really only benefit me and are really very self-focused and just have nothing really to do with God, [36:35] I’ll say they have something to do with God, maybe I’ll just drift towards growth. [36:40] You don’t drift towards growth.

[36:44] You drift towards that default mode which is sin. [36:50] That’s what you drift towards. [36:53] Here’s how Paul ends 2 Corinthians chapter 4.

[36:59] See, you live the mission. [37:01] More and more people need to hear the Gospel. [37:02] And then he says, so we do not lose heart.

[37:06] You know why he says that? [37:09] Because without the mission, you know where you’ll find yourself?

[37:16] I had to go that long without drinking water just to be able to do that. [37:21] I’m so thirsty.

[37:25] I’m so thirsty.

[37:28] Is God even real?

[37:32] He’s not doing anything in my life.

[37:36] He’s not moving in my life.

[37:40] Where is he?

[37:43] He’s in verse 15.

[37:48] Verse 15 exists to explain verse 16.

[37:53] You want to lose heart?

[37:57] Don’t live his mission.

[38:00] Don’t live his purposes.

[38:03] Don’t focus on the fact that other people need the Gospel that you have, that good news. [38:10] Just focus on yourself.

[38:13] You will lose heart.

[38:18] Let me read more in verse 16. [38:22] Because though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. [38:27] I’m getting older. [38:29] So are you. [38:32] And we’re wasting away, are we not? [38:35] Here’s what he says.

[38:37] Even though on the outside you’re going to look like death, [38:40] and sometimes, some days are better than other days. [38:42] Some days you have good hair days and other days it’s just like, what happened? [38:46] He says, even though you’re wasting away on the outside when you are engaging the life of God, [38:51] when you’re just finding your joy in Him, [38:55] saturating yourself with His essence,

[38:58] glorying in what He’s done for you, [39:00] and then focusing it to others. [39:02] So what does John 7 verse 38 say?

[39:06] It says that He will create a river of living water flowing out of you. [39:13] Where do you think that living water is going?

[39:16] What do you think? [39:18] You think it just like does a big loop and comes back at you? [39:20] There’s like a big U-joint somewhere and it’s coming back? [39:23] No, it’s flowing in others. [39:25] He’s saying, look at the Gospel, look at what it’s done in my life, look at this joy I have.

[39:31] Being renewed day by day, you know what that looks like? [39:33] Growth, growth, growth, growth. [39:38] When you’re just worried about you,

[39:42] your needs, what you deserve,

[39:48] you’re not going to grow.

[39:55] Look at this. [39:56] For this light momentary affliction, [40:00] at this point in Paul’s life he has experienced some serious beatings. [40:05] More suffering, more sickness than any of us have probably suffered. [40:10] Maybe some of us have suffered more, but most of us haven’t suffered. [40:13] I know I haven’t suffered like this.

[40:14] And he’s saying, this is a light momentary affliction [40:18] compared to the glory that I have with God.

[40:23] And he says, it’s preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparisons. [40:29] Check this, verse 18, and then we’ll close. [40:31] As we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen.

[40:38] Hmm. [40:39] That’s a very interesting thing to say, and then he finishes, he says, [40:42] for the things that are seen are transient, temporary, [40:46] but the things that are unseen are eternal. [40:48] Here’s what he’s talking about here. [40:52] Growth happens in intentional environments.

[40:55] How’d you get that? Just track with me.

[41:00] He says, for the things that are seen are transient. [41:02] He says, we do not grow by focusing on the things that we see. [41:07] What’s things that you see? [41:08] Well, and you can take this to a bad place, but I don’t care. [41:12] I’m going to go with it anyway. [41:13] I can see my wife, right?

[41:15] I can see her right there. [41:18] Alright?

[41:20] If I focus my life on her and her needs,

[41:28] 2 Corinthians chapter 4 says I’m focusing on the things that are seen.

[41:35] I can see you.

[41:39] What if I devote my life to everything that you need? [41:42] I can see a job, I can see money, I can see my family, I can see my son, [41:47] I can see my car. [41:48] It’s a sweet ride.

[41:51] If you know what I drive, you know that’s funny.

[41:56] Some of you are like, those pastor’s Rolls Royces. [41:58] Yeah, right. [42:01] 2001 GMC Sonoma, baby. [42:04] Rollin’ on 14s. [42:06] From the factory. [42:08] Oh yeah.

[42:11] Here’s the thing, I can see that, I can see my house, I can see my lawn, [42:14] I can see all these things. [42:16] And Paul says, if that’s the basis of what I’m trying to grow with, [42:21] I’m missing it.

[42:23] He’s saying, those things are transient, they’re temporary, they’re fleeting. [42:26] They won’t be here in a hundred years. [42:29] Focus on the things that are unseen. [42:32] Because in verse 14, Paul’s answering a question when they look at him. [42:36] They basically looked at Paul and said, Paul, you seem to suffer a lot, [42:39] aren’t you afraid you’re going to die?

[42:41] Because he’s in a lot of pagan places and people are threatening his life. [42:46] And he says, the worst thing that they could possibly do to me is they could kill me. [42:52] But in verse 14, here’s what he means when he says in verse 14, [42:55] he says, but if they kill me, God’s going to raise me up from the dead for eternity anyway. [43:02] So that’s not so bad.

[43:05] Paul is saying, focus your life on the mission of Jesus and everything else will come into place.

[43:17] You know what the best thing I can do for my wife is? [43:20] Look for the gospel.

[43:22] I can teach a guy how to be a good husband with some Dr. Phil advice, but he can miss the gospel.

[43:30] But you cannot live for the gospel and be a bad husband.

[43:36] You can’t do it. [43:38] Ephesians 5, that’s why my marriage represents the gospel.

[43:45] I can’t follow the gospel and be a bad husband. [43:47] Bad father, bad friend, bad pastor.

[43:53] But if I begin to focus on the temporary transient things of this life, my needs, my wants, I’m missing the mission of Jesus. [44:04] So you must intentionally put effort in 2 Peter chapter 1, verse 5. [44:10] And there’s a lot after this, but I’m only going to focus on verse 5. [44:13] Because sometimes we tend to focus on this type of thing and focus on the gospel. [44:18] And it’s just still this pie in the sky thing that we don’t know what we’re supposed to do because my effort won’t do anything. [44:24] So do I just sit there? Is that the truth?

[44:27] And some people will say that and I say that’s stupid. [44:29] But here’s what happened in 1 Peter chapter 1. [44:31] He says, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. [44:40] In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials.

[44:48] I think I’ve got the wrong verse there. [44:51] Sometimes you don’t remember what you were reading there. [44:54] Yeah, I’m in 1 Peter chapter 1. Put 2 Peter chapter 1 up there. [44:59] There we go. For this very reason. [45:01] You guys must have been really confused.

[45:04] Because I’m down here. You’re up there. [45:07] All right, here we go. For this very reason. [45:11] Stop here. Make every effort.

[45:16] Make every effort. [45:18] Make every effort. [45:21] Make every effort. [45:24] You will not grow by accident. [45:29] You will not focus your life on a hundred different things that have nothing to do with the gospel. [45:36] And then suddenly, mysteriously, find yourself growing in the grace of God.

[45:44] And here’s where we confuse is, is we say, effort doesn’t get me to Jesus. [45:49] So effort won’t get me to grow. [45:51] There’s a difference there. [45:53] There is an effort where you try to grow under your own power. [45:57] And then there is a response to the beautiful grace of God that he has bestowed on you. [46:03] That you run headlong into his life and you just begin to live it.

[46:08] Not because you want to earn his love, but because he’s already given you his love. [46:13] And you just want to please him.

[46:17] Your problem is not that you’re making an effort to please God. [46:21] Your problem is you’re making all your effort to please yourself.

[46:28] And that’s why you’re not growing.

[46:33] You’re growing in an intentional environment. [46:36] What do you mean by that Steve? [46:37] Here’s why the local church is so important. [46:39] Here’s why Paul writes a whole book of Ephesians saying that the local church in Ephesians 3 verse 10 says that it is the manifold wisdom of God. [46:48] Here’s why Paul says that. [46:50] Because in our life, we will not do anything that we do not create an environment for.

[46:56] We won’t. [46:57] You’re not going to spend time with your kids if you don’t mean to. [47:00] You’re not going to go to work if they don’t have one. [47:03] You know what I’m saying? If there’s no job, you’re not going to do it. [47:06] You have to create intentional environments. [47:09] Here is an intentional environment.

[47:12] Sunday morning. [47:14] You’re here to worship God through song. [47:15] You’re here to be preached to from the word of God. [47:18] You’re here to learn. [47:19] It’s an intentional environment. [47:21] Community groups are an intentional environment.

[47:24] Where you come together, discipleship, growth happens life on life. [47:28] People coming together and learning how to live out the mission of Jesus in their everyday lives. [47:35] Village serve. [47:36] A thing where we find blighted homes in the community that the sheriff’s office kind of sends our way. [47:40] And then we go and last Saturday a bunch of us went out and mowed a man’s lawn who was blind. [47:45] And blessed him.

[47:47] And he told me 1700 stories that I didn’t understand. [47:51] But you know what? He wanted to tell them. [47:53] So I just stood there not understanding and just saying, yeah, okay. [47:56] But that’s an intentional environment in which we are able to do what Jesus did. [48:03] Serve.

[48:06] We have to have these environments in order to grow. [48:11] Or we will drift towards the gospel being irrelevant in our lives.

[48:19] That’s why scripture is so important. [48:21] That’s why prayer is so important. [48:23] Not because we check things off and get a gold star. [48:26] But because that is how God has designed his life to be engaged. [48:30] If you don’t know how to read the scripture. [48:32] If you don’t know how to pray.

[48:35] Remember, we have environments, community groups, where you can learn how to do those things. [48:40] We have people who would love to help you. [48:42] We create environments for those things. [48:46] But here’s what you do.

[48:48] I got this other thing.

[48:53] You know.

[48:56] Other stuff. [48:58] So here’s my question.

[49:03] Is all of that other stuff more important?

[49:11] Is all of that other stuff creating in you a life where you engage the life of God?

[49:19] Where what matters to God now matters to you?

[49:24] That’s my question for you today.

[49:27] Where are the environments in your life? [49:30] Where you are intentionally trying and thriving off of the life of God to grow.

[49:37] Where are they?

[49:40] We want to help you with that.

[49:44] Join us.

[49:47] Create environments with us. [49:51] So that we can run headlong into the life of God together. [49:56] And then he says he will create a river of life flowing out of us.

[50:02] It’s about his way, not ours.

[50:07] If you can’t point to a tangible place that you are serving in an environment that is extending the gospel to people,

[50:17] then how are you engaging in the life of God?

[50:21] It’s why we do services in the format that we do them. [50:25] It’s why we do community groups. [50:27] It’s why we do village serve. [50:29] Not so that we can just have more stuff. [50:31] But so that we can grow in the life of God together.

[50:41] Live his mission. [50:43] Move with God. [50:45] Father, we love you.

[50:49] Come before you right now to praise you. [50:55] For we are a needy people.

[50:59] Oftentimes we don’t even know how needy we are, but you give yourself to us anyway. [51:04] And you say come run headlong into me. [51:08] You belong there through the work of Jesus. [51:11] And Lord you want to create a river of life that flows out of us and into the lives of other people. [51:17] I pray today that we will begin to take steps in each and every one of our lives together. [51:23] So that we can live together for the gospel.

[51:26] Together for you. [51:28] God may we not just build a bunch of stuff. [51:32] A bunch of programs. [51:34] For us to just feel like we are growing. [51:36] God help us to really grow. [51:39] Help us to really have environments here as a church where people will grow in you.

[51:45] May we stop resisting growth for the sake of transient things that are going to fade away. [51:53] May we not through the way we live our lives say other things are more important than you.

[52:02] God may we repent this morning. [52:04] All of us, myself.