Spring Life, 2008 - part 1

   The Matrix is one of my favorite movies and it is also Dave and Karen’s as well. Last week Dave reminded me of this clip and how well it fits with what we’re talking about this morning. As you saw Neo, played by Keanu Reeves senses that something is not right in his life; there is a growing discontent with things as they are and he is beginning to realize that something is not right, there is something missing in his life, but he is not sure what it is. Have you ever felt that way? I mean you have accomplished some good things in your life, you have a relationship with God, a good house, car and a decent family life – but with all of that, you still feel like there might be something missing, something that would take your life from being average to being amazing?

    If you have ever felt like Neo, then you are in the right place this morning because I have two pills to offer you. The pills represent two choices and you get to decide which one you want. There is a red pill and a blue pill. If you choose the blue pill everything continues as it has always been and your nagging sense of something missing will just go away and you will continue on in your just average life. If you choose to take the blue pill you will be like everyone else, living after the illusion of satisfaction and significance that this world offers. It’s an illusion, but as long as something does not break into that illusion, like a death, or a relational failure, or you lose your job or something like that, you will be able to continue in your blissful illusion right up to the day that you die. Once you die, you will have to face the reality of a wasted life, but up until that time your life can be quite safe, relatively easy and blissfully-illusionary.

   On the other hand you can choose to take the red pill and with it you will enter a reality unknown to him; a reality that is much different than you probably have known before. But within reality comes the knowledge of all that you sense is missing in your current life. The blue pill is familiar, safe and unreal; the red pill is filled with uncertainty, challenge and although the path is more difficult it contains the power for you to become free. That pretty well describes what we are going to discover in the Bible this morning. All I can do for you is present your options to you; you get to make the choice; you make that choice every day.

    So this morning I offer you the blue pill. If you receive it and act on it daily, you will discover the power that will radically change your life.

    Last week I pointed out that God wants to give all Christ-followers some of the power that He used to create the universe. Specifically, God wants to take the same light that He used to create life in the universe and shine that light into your heart so that you could see things as they really are. This is the power to truly understand your life and your purpose as it really is.

     The day that you said “yes” to the grace of God found only in Jesus Christ, is the same day that God said “yes” to giving you access to His life transforming power. The good work that was started on the first day you became a Christ-follower will, God has promised, to continue until completion.

   I think I might know what so of you are thinking. “OK, if that is true than why am I still feeling like there is something missing? I have an average life, but I don’t feel like I’m living a great life?”

   This morning I want to offer you the answer to that question. But I want to caution you; this is not a smile answer. If it was simple and easy than everyone would be doing it. Secondly, you can only get it from God and God alone. That is not some religious answer; the quality of your relationship with God is inherent in the nature of the answer.  In other words there is no other way, no short cuts, no substitutions; to see that I want to do a little review from last week. The Apostle Paul wrote to al l the Christ-followers who lived in Philippi in Philippians 1:5-6:

…for you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until now…

    That is the what? – Premise. Notice that the premise to the promise is that you become missionary. We’ll talk more about that in a moment.

    Now what comes after the premise? – the Promise.

And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. (Philippians 1:5-6, NLT)

    For every one of God’s promises there is a premise that needs to be fulfilled if you want to receive that promise.  So there are things that only God can do for us and that we cannot do for ourselves. You cannot save yourself, what I mean by that is that you and I are hopelessly lost based on our own merits. We cannot pay our own sin debt. That is why we needed Jesus Christ to come into our world and pay our debt for us. This is not a works oriented righteousness; this is a grace oriented relationship we are talking about here.

    So there are things that only God can do and that we can’t do for yourselves; however, there are also certain things that God will not do for you. God will not make you accept His gift of life in Christ. He offers it to us, but he does not make us take it – to do so would violate his design of people. So you have to choose – do you want the blue pill or the red one?

    There is always a premise to God’s promise and in Paul’s letter to the Christ-followers in Philippi he introduces the idea of being in partnership with God as a way of life. The premise to the promise is that we understand that our relationship with God is one of accepting His purpose of us becoming His missionaries. Not vocational - ministers, but missionaries.

    Another way to say that is that every Christ-follower has a part to play and there are no exceptions.

    If you can truly understand and apply this principle in your life it will radically change the quality of everything in your life. This is the secret ingredient, the magic pill that is missing in most Christ-follower’s life. The promise of life-transforming power has a relational premise – you must understand your purpose is to be a missionary, not a church worker, but a person who lives for the accomplishment of God’s purpose in your life and sadly most people who consider themselves as a Christian do not understand this premise.

     Let me try to illustrate this more. Have you noticed that in America, Bibles are everywhere?  You can find them in grocery stores, bookstores, motel rooms, everywhere.  They're available in all sizes, shapes, translations, versions, leather bound, paperback and electronic versions. I recently stepped into the modern age; - I bought an IPod, which I just love. Did you know that you can get the entire Bible in an audio format? The bible is everywhere around us.

     God’s promises and their corresponding premises can be found by anyone who wants them, in the Bible; so in America we are inundated with the Word of God, it's everywhere. Yet millions of people still miss the blessings clearly declared in the Bible. Why?

    Because it's not automatic, it is not predetermined and it’s not automatically applied in people’s lives, even if you attend church services.

    The Bible is a book of blessing; it provides the truth that can bring you comfort, strength, hope, wisdom, healing, joy, power, and purpose.  But just because you have a Bible doesn't mean you're going to get the benefit from it.  Just because you know what God has said, that is not the same thing as being a Christ-follower.

    The Apostle James wrote a letter where he explains the importance of understanding this difference. In his writing you and I are offered the red pill, if we chose to receive it. James clearly tells us about the secret ingredient that is missing in most church people’s lives that give you the ability to tap into God’s power. If you have your Bible with you please turn with me to the book of James and let’s look at what James wrote in 1:25:

But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it. (James 1:25, NLT)

    The Bible is called the perfect law because it's exactly what we need.  It promises freedom and it promises blessing; it contains that light the God wants to shine in your heart so that you can see things as they truly are.  If you receive it you can get out of the illusionary life of the matrix. James gives us three important steps:

STEP 1:  I MUST RECEIVE GOD'S WORD

James says in verse 1:21:

So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls. (James 1:21, NLT)

    Notice the phrase “accept the word” This is one Greek word and it’s based on a hospitality term which literally means "to welcome".  If we're going to tap into God’s power then we must welcome the Word, the truth of God, into our hearts.  We must be receptive.

    James gives an illustration.  He says it’s “planted in your hearts”.  James says your relationship to God it illustrated like the relationship between soil and seed. The Bible compares itself to a seed; a seed has all the life giving power contained in it. In Jesus’ parable of the sower, He said, “The word of God is a seed and it's planted in our hearts.”  So your heart is the soil that God’s seed is planted. And if you know this parable, Jesus talks about the different kind of soil, or attitudes people have toward the seed. He tells us that some hearts are hard, others are distracted; some are shallow and some are rich soil for the seed to grow and flourish. This is just another way of saying that you have a part to play, you cannot provide the seed, and you cannot do anything to deserve it. God provides the seed by grace. But, the type of soil God’s word gets planted in is a choice you make, it’s the part we must play.

     If you really want that missing ingredient active in your life, then there is a part you must play and God is not going to do it for you. It is not automatic, God will not force you to do it, you must choose to do it, or in this passage you must choose to receive it, to respond to it positively. Are you with me?

     What is the difference? Well, it’s like taking two seeds that are exactly the same, they have the exact same potential contained in them and you plant them in two different locations and you get two different results, same seed; different results. In one location the soil is prepared and ready to receive the seed and the other is not. 

    How is it that you can take two people and put them in the same church, hearing the same message, and exposed to the same things; yet one person is blessed by it and the other person says they didn't get anything out of it?  It’s because one heart was prepared and one wasn't. James says we must receive the word of God with the right attitude.

     Last week I gave you a challenge for the next 6 weeks. That you would believe that God’s promise of power is true; to receive God’s Word positively. What do you have to lose? This is your Lenten focus. Do you believe that God will continue the work He began in you until completion? To believe is to receive. If you want to be blessed, you first have to receive it.  Now reception is the first step, but it’s not enough, it’s only the first step.  James says we not only need to receive the word of God, but...

STEP 2:  REFLECT ON THE WORD OF GOD

Look at verse 1:23-24:

For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. (James 1:23-24, NLT)

    God's Word is like a mirror.  The purpose of a mirror is for evaluation. We look in a mirror to assess the damage from the night before and then we do something about it.  What good is a mirror if we don't do anything about what we see?  Yet, we do this all the time when we learn something from God. We get all excited about it and we realize that God has spoken to us and we think that’s really cool, but then don’t do anything about it.

   I think one of the reasons why people don't read the Bible is because they're afraid. They're unwilling to face themselves and see themselves as they really are.  They don't want to look in the mirror of God's Word, or when they do, they forget what they saw. The first step is to be receptive, and the second step is to reflect on what it says. To really understand what it says about our thinking, attitudes or actions.

STEP 3:  I MUST RESPOND TO THE WORD OF GOD

    In other words I must do something about it, act on it, live it, practice it and align my attitudes with it. Look at James 1:22:

But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. (James 1:22, NLT)

    This is the secret ingredient; this is the magic red pill that will change everything; this is the difference between an average life and an amazing life. It has nothing to do with your current circumstances, or the lack of talent or the lack of opportunity in your life. The difference is your willingness to act on the premise of God’s promises.

    James says, “Don’t just listen to God’s Word”. The word "listen" in Greek is the word for "auditor".  If you audit a class in college you didn't take it for credit, and that means you don’t take any tests and you have no responsibility for understanding what is being taught.  You just listen.

    We have too many auditors in the church.  They come to church, walk in, hear the Word of God and walk out with no intention of ever being changed.  I was one for years.  I took notes, wrote things down, but it never changed me. The part that we must play is to receive, reflect (which means to understand the implications of the truth God has revealed to us) and then apply whatever God teaches you.

   If you really want to tap into God’s power, you have to let it change you if you’re going to be blessed by it.  That may sound obvious, but too many people don’t do this.

   James says when we are merely auditors of God’s Word, we are just deceiving ourselves. We think that just gaining content is what makes a person spiritually mature; but the test of maturity is not knowledge.  The test of maturity is character.  Many people have great Bible knowledge, they can quote Scriptures like a bible professor, but they are spiritual midgets.

\\

   Illustration:  Let's say as a loving church that you are, you become concerned about your pastor's health.  So you come to me and say, “David, as you move into your older years we don't want you to have any future problems – you know, where your chest drops into your drawers and your backside inverts into your stomach -- so we took up an offering and we bought you a gift; Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Bodybuilding Book.  You tell me that this book has changed your life.  It's fantastic.  It has changed the lives of millions of people.  If I would just learn it, it will keep you strong.  It will be a blessing to you as it has to so many other people.  So read this book.” 

    And so I say, "Great, I’ll read it." Then I go away for 6 months and come back and I'm the same guy, maybe even a little fatter.  You say to me, "Hey, what happened?  Didn't you read the book?"

    What if I said to you; "I did read the book and I enjoyed it thoroughly. This is the greatest book I've ever read.  I loved it.  I even underlined portions of it with colored markers and memorized sections of it. I even started a group study of the book and looked at the etymology of every single word. Every morning I would spend a couple hours studying it. I am a mature follower of the Arnold Schwarzenegger method of body building.”  Would that be true? Why not?

      How often do we do that with the Word of God? 

    It's not how many times you've read through the Word of God; it's how many times it's been through you.

     You have to be a doer of the Word and not just a hearer.  I only deceived myself if I think that because I have knowledge of God promises that makes me mature.  Having knowledge of a bodybuilding book doesn't produce muscles. Just because we know something doesn't mean we act on it. Which pill will you choose to take?

    Recently Willow Creek Community Church conducted a survey of the people attending their church. Bill Hybels is the pastor and has been a leading model for thousands of churches all over the world. They have over 20,000 people attending their weekend services. One of the things that Willow is known for is its excellent level. Their weekend services are amazing - Great bands, multimedia, drama and gifted teaching.

    Because Bill Hybels is a stand up guy, he wanted to find out if all the money and effort they were putting in was actually making a difference in lives of those attending. That is a bold, gutsy question. To make an interesting story short, they discovered that although they have 20,000+ people attending their incredible services, it was not resulting in life change.

    Why? Because, in my opinion, the model they have developed in their church is one that relies on professional ministers and renders everyone else as mere attenders and therefore just consumers.

    The goal, unintentionally, was not to get people playing in the game, but to get people into the grand stands to watch the professionals play the game. They had a focus of only hearing the Word and it has resulted in many people being lulled into the dangerous idea that because they we're hearing a lot about God, it automatically resulted in becoming mature; they took the blue pill.

    James would say, "They are hearers but not doers."  This is why we are so big on Life Groups at North Point. Because we are not interested in you just becoming hearers of the Word, we want you to get into the exciting game of life transformation. Our Life Group system creates opportunities for every single person to find a place to get into the game – to become doers and not just hearers.

    So if you want to be blessed, you have to live the word of God, not just hear it. Not just become a consumer and let the “professionals” do the ministry.

    I pray that North Point Church will develop a reputation where people outside of our church family will say, "Those people of North Point, they are doers of the Word.  They practice what everybody else talks about.  They actually live it out."  Wouldn’t it be amazing if our reputation was that the people of North Point Church are a Living Bible?  I think we ought to be a Living Bibles.  The best translation of Scripture is the one you live out every day.  Friends, there is no other way to tap into God’s life transforming power. Jesus said it this way in John 13:17:

"Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them." (John 13:17, NLT)

      I think the simplest definition of maturity is to be a doer of the Word.  That's what it means to be mature.  You do what the Bible says.  We must not only read the word, we must not only understand the implications, but we must live the word - Be a doer of the word.

    If you're always taking in, one study after another, and never get out in ministry, it's going to dry up your spiritual life.  James is saying that the blessing of the Bible comes when we start living it.