IF Week 2: If Only
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INTRO
I. Initial Questions
What did we talk about last week
What comes to mind when u hear the phrase “if only”
In ur home, did u grow up w/parents more worried about doing the right things, or not doing the wrong things?
How do think that might have affected how you view God; life; yourself?
If you could write your own eulogy, what would you WANT it to say?
Have some folks say their eulogy
what you want ur eulogy to say
I would want it to say that I was always found to be Faithful 2 God, my wife, my kids, & my Church.
I would want them to say that I acted Justly, was merciful when others didn’t act justly to me, & walked in fellowship w/God
Is the eulogy you want the same as what your eulogy WOULD say?
video
as we reflect on this question, let’s listen to a 20min msg frm Pastor Mark Batterson
play video
What stuck out to you about he video?
P. Mark calls attention to the saddest epitaph o the bible
17 Call the name of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, ‘Noisy one who lets the hour go by.’
“noisy one who lets the hour go by”…the man who missed his moment
Most people regret aren’t the things they did, but the things they didn’t do
Remember the question “if u had ur life to do over again, what would u do differently?
the vast majority of the folks interviewed listed
risk more,
reflect more
do more things that would outlive them
When we started I asked
The biblical view on this is sins of commission (doing what u shouldn’t do) & sins of omission (not doing what we ought)
The point is: righteousness is more than doing nothing wrong
it’s doing something right
we often worry so much about not doing the wrong things & think we’re ok
but holiness is more than not doing the wrong things
consider this, people aren’t simply set aside (made holy) from something
often people are set aside for something!
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Mark Suggests that what grieves God most isn’t sins of commission (the stuff we do) but rather sins of omission (the stuff he called us to that we missed)
But, As Pastor Mark says, before we can get to “what if”, we gotta get past our “if only’s” (the things we didn’t do)
which comes more naturally to u: risking / reflecting
as for me: reflecting
This will require a bit o both reflecting and risk:
what’s an “if only” (regret) that you have?
what have u learned from it?
How has/might God leverage it?
For folks who dwell on the mistakes the last 2 ?’s r tough 2 answer.
We can’t get to a point to learn from it or God leveraging it cause we can’t get out from under the crushing weight o the “if only”…we feel condemned
Remember Paul’s statement in...
1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
When we accept Jesus as Lord & savior we are in Christ & our sins r forgiven & forgotten!!
P. Mark makes a distinction between condemnation & conviction.
last week we said.
What distinction did P. Mark make?
Condemnation: feeling guilty over confessed sin.
Conviction: feeling guilty over unconfessed sin.
Thoughts; agree/disagree?
Is it harder 4 u 2 tune out condemnation or tune in2 conviction?
P. Mk said: If you don’t listen to God’s convicting voice, you won’t hear His comforting voice or His guiding voice either. Hearing the voice of God is a package deal. If you don’t listen to EVERYTHING the Holy Spirit has to say, it’s difficult to hear ANYTHING He has to say.
Agree/Disagree?
Here’s the point: There is no condemnation for your sins! If you’re in Christ, The H.S. convicts us o sin & we deal w/it learn from it & let God leverage it.
How do we “deal w/it?”
1st we gotta recognize!
Take a look at what Paul said in...
3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,
& in...
21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
We gotta recognize what Christ has already done on the cross!
Then we gotta apply
(not like as in apply for a grant)
we gotta apply Jesus work on the “if only’s” & “shouldn’t have’s” by repenting
we repent by seeing sins the way God does
confess ‘em
& turn from ‘em to God
Don’t ya think God gets tired o recognizing & applying?— Nope!
remember
22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
God’s loyal love never ends!
God loves u!! He wants us to make things right w/him & continually live in right relationship w/him!
& his mercies are always new.
P. Mk. calls attention to the word new saying
these aren’t the same mercies, but unique mercies special & specific for the day & the need.
They’re just like the flue vaccine that is different ea. flue season
It’s a new strain o mercy every day!!
trie this:
figure out how old u are starting from the day u got saved (remember, ur a new creation).
what’s that #?
Now how many days is that?
mine is:
That is the sum total o unique mercies u’ve recieved to-date!
Is recognizing & applying only done when we 1st accept Jesus as Lord & Savior?— Nope!!
The H.S. convicts us as we walk & keep in step w/him.
But is conviction, recognition, & application the sum total o our time following Jesus?
nah…If we do that we live in what P. Mk calls the “Glass-half-empty Gospel
We get stuck in the 1st 1/2 o 2 Cor 5:21: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin,”
and miss the whole 2nd 1/2!
Mk says
“we tend to focus on the penalty 4 sin being paid, which is wonderful beyond words. But the righteousness of Christ has been credited to your account. (Let me stop there)
this is the 2nd 1/2 o the vs: “so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
us becoming the righteousness of Christ is, as P. Mk calls it, Jesus’ righteousness being credited to our account!
When God sees u he’s not looking at your if only’s or shouldn’t haves…he sees christ’s righteousness
So, what’s the righteousness accredited to our account?
P. Mk continues:
…The glass isn’t half empty; it’s full o the righteousness of christ. This half-empty mindset causes us 2 focus on forgiveness, but Jesus didn’t die on the cross just to forgive u. His aim is much higher than that. He. died to Change you.
I gotta stop again:
the righteousness in u & me is changing us from the inside out!
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
U r new!!
U r a different critter after Jesus than u were b4
P. Mk goes on
& He didn’t die on the cross to keep you safe. He died to make you dangerous— a threat to the enemy. He died so that you could make a difference 4 all eternity”
So, r u a threat to the enemy? / have u been playing it safe?
what’s the difference?
Remember what we said earlier: “righteousness is more than not doing the wrong thing…righteousness is doing the right thing”
Literally righteousness is doing the right thing as God sees it.
In the context of “what if” it’s doing those God given “what if’s”… the good works prepared for us in advance that we should walk in them.
HOMEWORK
take 10-15min 2 write a confession.
take the whole time & write continually & specifically.
Remember the number o mercies u’ve rec? take some time and give nuanced praise to God for that this week.
what happens if we spend time reflecting on mistakes & sins if we do not turn them over to God?
How do we get passed our “if only’s?
How do we turn them over to God?
Confession/Repentance
