What Broth are You Cooking In?

Welcome

Well, good morning Lifepoint! If we haven’t met yet, my name is Dan and I serve as the teaching pastor for our Worthington campus.

New to Lifepoint

If this is your first time here…

Blessing Tree

Story about the Starbucks

Series Introduction

We’re finishing up our series through the New Testament Letter of Philippians today. So if you have a bible with you, open up to Philippians - we’ll be in chapter 4 today.

Introduction

True Crime stories [EXPAND]

One of the fasts growing genres of interest in books/movies/ tv series and podcasts is the true crime genre.

Culturally, we are absolutely fascinated by these kinds of stories. Each week, millions of Americans download and engage in the latest unsolved murders - addicted to the twists and turns of a nightmare-ish stories! The top performing shows on Apple, Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hulu - all revolve around True Crime. For some reason we are gripped - so much so that it has grabbed the attention of social commentators and psychologists alike who are all looking for the reasons why we are so captivated by some of the most brutal stories imaginable.

For some, it’s just curiosity.

One author I read said, in a strange way, we resonate with these stories because all of us a guilty of something (though that’s for another sermon at another time).

But whatever the reason, what has become clear is that our cultural addiction to true crime is having a profound impact on us…it’s shaping us…it’s forming us.

Should it really be that surprising that at the same time we’re consuming so much true crime that we’re also seeing an enormous spike around the country in anxiety, suspicion, fear of others?

This is exactly what Psychologist Chivonna Childs, writing a piece for the Cleveland Clinic thinks. She said:

When you’re constantly consuming stories that reveal the worst parts of humanity, you start to doubt the humanity of the people around you. You may find yourself worrying whether the person you’re chatting with at the grocery store isn’t actually as nice as they seem…you start asking yourself questions like, ‘What if they have bodies in their basement.’ You probably need to take a step back and consider your intake.

And point she’s getting across, I think, is a very important one; that what we take in has an ENORMOUS influence on us! What we give our attention to…what we give our minds to…what we give our time to…all of it profoundly shapes us both for good and bad.

And my goal today is not to give you a list of things you shouldn’t consume anymore - that’s for you to work on.

My goal is for us to walk away with a very real sense that what we add to our lives -what we marinate in, day in and day out, forms us into who we are becoming. I want you to walk away with a very annoying questions - and it sounds odd precisely so that it sticks with you.

Ready?

What broth are you cooking in?

What’s at stake?

And, for me, this is so much more than just a anthropologic curiosity…it’s a question that come from years of repeated conversations both with myself and with others who are trying to follow Jesus. We’ve talked about this a lot over the last couple of weeks, but one of the themes I’ve heard from so many people over countless cups of coffee is that something in their life isn’t working.

They’ve been trying the “Christianity” thing for a while…they’ve tried the church thing…and it’s not so much that they’re on the verge of giving it up - though certainly plenty of people are at that point…it’s actually much more dire than that; it’s that they’re on the verge of concluding that this is all there is…head here on a Sunday morning…listen to a message (though you will always find a better one online) and sing a few songs, which again, are better on line. And then follow Jesus’ sacrificial pattern of sacrificially “serving” others helping people find a seat on Sunday.

Jesus talks about the life that is truly life…he talks about good news of GREAT JOY…he talks about our souls finding satisfaction and rest in him…but if we’re honest, most of us actually find ourselves caught up in the vortex of the ordinary everyday life…hoping that this is not what it’s really all about.

But…

What if there is something about the way we’re going about our lives that is robbing us?

What if the ingredients of our lives are producing something other than what Jesus actually promises?

What if the reason we feel like something’s missing is because there really is something missing?

So if you’re not there yet, open with me to Philippians 4. We’ll be in vv. 8-9 today. Philippians 4:8-9.

I’ll read the passage, pray, and then we’ll get started.

Philippians 4:8–9 ESV

8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

Pray

What Broth are you Cooking In?

Alright, I told you that I want to leave you with a really annoying question…and I hope it’s nagging in the way that you can’t just let it go and move on to the rest of your day. I hope it pricks you. I hope that it get’s so lodged in your mind that you think about it even when you’re not trying to think about it.

What broth are you cooking in?

Now I know that sounds like a strange metaphor…I really tried to come up with something cooler than that, I’m just not that creative. But actually the more I thought about it, the more realized it’s a sticky question - one that I think we can all make sense of.

Imagine for a moment you’re slow cooking a nice cut of meat. You’re probably not just going to throw it in the crock pot and leave it on for a while. You’d waste it!

Now, you’re going to add seasoning. You’re going to add a bit of a broth to inject flavor!

And depending on what you add, the outcome could be drastically different, right? And not just in terms of what dish you end up with…but whether or not it’s any good! So you carefully select the ingredients to build the right flavor pallet…so that you do it right.

Well, I think in many ways, this gets after the nuanced process of formation that every single one of us goes through!

I mean, at the end of the day, people are complicated - it’s very rare that you can boil down someone’s personality to a single trait or characteristic and the reason is because there are some many outside factors that shape and form us into who we are right now.

Our Family’s Shape Us

Our backgrounds shape us.

Some of this is what Sociologists call “Family of Origin” traits. And the idea, at its most basic level, is that your immediate family that raised you will have nurtured into you certain characteristics and experiences. And it doesn’t stop with them, but your family has all been shaped by their family and their family by their family and you keep pushing back. Now, it doesn’t explain everything about you nor does it guarantee you end up just like your family. But it does have an impact on you.

Our Experiences Shape Us

Our experiences shape us.

What you have walked through in your life will absolutely have an impact on you, right? Hard things, good things, failures and success will take part in the process of forming you.

Our Intake Shapes Us

But I think what Paul is specifically pointing out here is that our intake shapes us. Those things we inject into our lives - what we read, what we watch, what we listen to…what we give our time, attention, and focus too. These things have an enormous influence on us.

After all, isn’t this is a HUGE part of the national conversation right now? Both side of the political isle accuse the other of just following along with either some broader and not so subtle agenda from the Left or the Right. Why are they so concerned about how and what you’re listening to? Because we know it does something to us.

This is why, like we looked at earlier, the Cleveland Clinic was saying, “You probably need to stop listening to so much True Crime…because ya’ll are starting to freak out!”

And the point with this is that we are being formed…all of us. It’s not a question of if, but what are we allowing to form, shape, and mold us…and more than that, to what end? What are we being formed into?

To pick back on on my annoying question, this is our broth!

Finding Your Broth

So…

What broth are you cooking in?

What “seasoning” are bringing into your life - what ingredients are you adding? What are you keeping out?

And this, is an uncomfortable question, because it requires a close and honest look at ourselves. We’re talking about an inventory of what we give our time, attention, and focus to during the day…what we think about…what we dwell on…what we give our minds too.

Here it is as a simple question: what am I’m giving my time to in an average week.

What shows are you watching right now? What are you listening to? The podcasts? News Hosts? Sound bites? What are you reading? What are you watching?

List it out this week - all of it.

Likely, you’re going to find some things you’re perfectly comfortable sharing with other people…and then a few things (maybe more than a few) that you’d at least need a disclaimer…or wouldn’t want anyone else to see at all.

Friends, this is your broth.

And remember, it’s not a question of if you’re cooking in something but what you’re cooking in.

And Paul knows this about us. He knows full well that part of our human condition is that we are profoundly malleable. Far more than we like to believe. And yet this is precisely why he is bringing this up at the end of his letter. Because while some of what forms us, we have no control over - like our family of origin…to some extent our experiences…we are very much in control of our intake. We are in far more control of the seasoning, the ingredients, than we’d like to admit.

And this is what he turns to at the end of his letter - that we are going to give our time our attention…our minds to something…but if we want to follow Jesus in a way that brings about true rest…if we’re tired of just hearing about the Life that this truly life…if we want to know, hold on to and experience the Gospel as good news of great joy…than it’s time to take a full account of the ingredients of our lives…it’s time to take a close look at the broth we’re cooking in.

Look with me at v 8.

Philippians 4:8 ESV

8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Think About These Things

And it’s interesting, at least to me…

Paul is intentionally broad here. He’s got a list, and we could spend the rest of our time clarifying exactly what each of these words mean…but in doing that, I think we might miss the forest for the trees.

You see, his larger point is not to get us to focus on a specific list of things that we should or should not give our time, attention, and focus to…his point is for us to be very very mindful of what kinds of things occupy our minds.

He’s laying out a grid for us as if to say, “Take inventory of your life - look at all of what you are choosing to take in - look at all the ingredients…all the seasoning…the broth…

And he invites us into an uncomfortable exercise: How does my intake compare to what Paul says here in v. 8?

Honestly?

How about this…and let’s just talk about me for a second.

What’s part of my intake right now and how does that line up with Paul’s grid here?

Is it true…honorable…just…pure…lovely…commendable…worthy of praise?

What about my podcasts?

And we could run through a whole list of any of these things.

Am I giving my time, my attention, my focus to those things that are true and honorable…pure and worthy of praise? Or am I adding a different set of ingredients…and with those ingredients, what kind of broth am I creating?

Now, let me be clear here. Paul is not so concerned with what other people see you doing or what they see you taking in.

This is where were I think the church has really got things things mixed up in the past.…we become overly concerned with the outward appearance.

Which may be the version of Christianity you grew up around - a list of rules of what you could and could not do…what you could and could not watch.

You were told Christians don’t watch those shows…Christians don’t listen to that music…don’t read those books.

And I’m not saying all of that is bad…in fact, with my own kids, sometimes we have to be black and white with. But if we never get to the point where we are explaining the why behind it, we’ll find ourselves reinforcing something more like a moralistic system than the life giving relationship with God that is actually promised in Christianity!

No! Paul offers this grid to us because he cares about our inner world. He cares about what we are becoming…he cares about the why behind what we’re doing or not doing…what we’re adding or not adding…he cares about the ingredients, the seasoning, the broth!

A Taste Test

So again, I’m asking that same annoying question…what broth are you cooking in?

Think about this way for moment…what does chef worth their salt do from time to time?

A taste test.

And I know I might be stretching the metaphor a bit too far with this…bear with me…

But I wonder…what would we find with a taste test? If you’re honest with yourself…and dare to answer the question - “what broth am I cooking in” - what would you taste?

I think the vast majority of us would find something’s a little off…

You might even find something is way off…you might look through this inventory of your life and what you taste is: -Unhappiness -That you’re unsatisfied… -That you’re unsettled…

And if you we’re to actually answer the question what broth am I cooking in…the real - transparent - honest answer is that whatever it is, it’s not good. And if you put the pieces together…that whatever broth you’re cooking in is shaping the person you’re becoming…is forming you…has a profound influence over your life…then what hope do you have for a remedy? Is this what it will be like forever?

Friends, this is where we need to be reminded of the story of the Gospel. That while we are the ones who insist on going on our own way - adding what ever we’d like, taking out what what ever we’d like,

God steps in as the master chef - not just to taste test, spit us out and be done with us, but steps in to remake the dish we have botched!

This is how the Bible talks about the brokenness of humanity…how it talks about sin. Instead of following the recipe God had laid out for us, we took it upon ourselves to add and subtract what we saw fit…the live the way we wanted…and where this leaves us is exactly what we just talked about: unhappy, unsatisfied, and unsettled.

And yet, The master chef…He takes our broth…and the mess we’ve created ourselves and begins the process of making something new. Recreating us into something far greater than we could have imagined.

He is the master chef who knows all of what’s going on in our lives - he knows the broth - he knows every detail - every ingredient that’s been added - everything that’s been left out - he knows all of what we’re cooking and what’s formed us to place we’re in right now. He knows where we’ve skipped a step or where we’ve branched on our own - and because he knows all of this perfectly, he knows all of what we need to be made new!

Himself.

He is what’s missing. He is what we need.

And the offer of the Gospel today is not that you need to just go and find a new recipe…it’s not that you need to go and find a whole list of new ingredients…it’s simply that you need him.

That you step into this process of being made new simply trust Him…in his Death and Resurrection, and what here is new life…a new way of life…everlasting life! This is what is promised to us in following Jesus!

So What

Look at again a Philippians 4:8

Philippians 4:8 ESV

8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Keep a close watch on your intake. Keep a close watch on your ingredients.

[EXPAND]

Conversation in Lifegroup. Conversation with spouse. Intake Inventory. Sabbath

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 ESV

23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.