Sermon Tone Analysis

*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:

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/…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.

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/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) *

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    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)*

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    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 *

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James says in verse 1:21:

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/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) *

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    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.