Principled Living In An Unprincipled World

Every day a man used to walk by a jewelry store, stop and set his watch by the big clock in the window. One day the jeweler happened to be standing in his doorway. He greeted the man in a friendly way and said; "I see you set your watch by my clock. What kind of work do you do that demands such correct time each day?" "I'm the watchman at the plant down the street," said the man. "My job is to blow the five o'clock whistle." The jeweler was startled. "But...you can't do that," he blurted out. "I set my clock by your whistle!”

This sounds much like 2 Cor 10:12 or of the culture we live in.

This morning we will look at Principled Living In An Unprincipled World

We need principles in our lives. We cannot live according to our hearts or the world around us. 2 Corinthians 10:12

God’s Word gives us principles to live our life by, this morning we will look at four of those principles found in Psalm 37

The first principe to live by is found in verse 3…Entrust

The classic verse on trusting God is…Proverbs 3:5, 6

The word translated here is also translated “boldness or confidence”

How do we trust the Lord…

-By knowing Him… Philippians 3:10

Being in His Word

Being in His house

Being with His people

-Because He is trustworthy.

Numbers 23:19

-Because He has the power to make things exist Isaiah 14:24

-Because Unlike ours, His plans are perfect Romans 8:28

There is a blessing for trusting…you will dwell in the land. To the Jew dwelling in the land was the greatest blessing imaginable.

We need to recognize the contrast between joy in God and the vain allurements of this world.

Matthew Henry put it this way “We must make God our hearts delight and then we shall have the desires of our heart”

Myles…where did we place our trust? We did trust the doctors but did not place our trust in them, it was always in God

The second principle to live by is found in verse 4 Enjoy…delight yourself in the Lord

Who is the source of our joy?

1 Peter 1:8-9

What is there to be joyful about?

God has saved us Ephesian 2

God has given us a purpose 2 Corinthians 5:17-19

God has given us a future hope John 14:1-4, Romans 8:18-25

Worry steals our joy….John 16:33 tells us that Jesus has overcome the world and we have no need to worry because Jesus has overcome the world.

Anything that comes into our lives we can endure because Jesus has already settled the matter and we can look to our future hope. Matthew 6:25ff

-The stress of work, raising families, bills/finances, these all steal our joy.

Happiness depends on happenings…joy depends on Jesus

There was no joy in the circumstances surrounding Myles but we had great joy in the Lord because we look to Him for our joy, not circumstances.

The third principle is found in verse 5 Execute….Commit your way unto the Lord

Who do you commit yourself to?

Proverbs 16:3

Paul’s life is marked by commitment 2 Corinthians 5:7.. “we walk by faith and not by sight”

Paul would go places others wouldn’t, speak to others we wouldn’t, love the unlovely…why? He was committed to God

Matthew 22:37-38…Paul loved God with all his heart and that worked out in his life by living a life committed to God’s plan for him.

As Paul wrote in Galatians 2:20 Paul followed Jesus example of service.

We need to commit to God and His plans for our life, not the worlds way. We do not need to chase money or fame or even success but commit to living the life God has for us

In football a player is told that to catch a pass he literally is to look the ball into his hands. Otherwise what might have been a touchdown and victory will be nothing more than an incomplete pass.

The fourth principle is found in verse 7 Endure…Be still and quiet before the Lord

How do we endure?

We are to endure with patience

As a good soldier 2 Timothy 2:3-5

Philippians 4:13

The Him=Jesus… the all powerful (Col. 2:8-10)

This verse is not saying that God will give us the power to be super Christians, to necessarily give us abilities we do not possess.

The context speaks of enduring hardships… verse 12 tells us that Paul faced times of abundance and of want but endured.

We also see in 2 Cor. 11:21-27 of all the hardships that he faced and endured through the power of Christ.Paul never taught us that I can do _____(fill in the blank)_____ because of Jesus but that the hard times that we face can be endured because of Christ.

The focus of Paul’s teaching and specifically Philippians 4 is that we can endure any circumstance through Jesus, not that we can “do” anything or that we are immune to life’s challenges.

When the hardships of life come to God’s people, they may find in Him strength to endure and grow. It is not what happens to a person but how he/she reacts to it that counts. Valuable violins are not made out of soft pine that has known only warm showers and gentle breezes. They are made out of wood that has endured the cold and storms of many winters. Such wood has character in it. Christian character is not formed by lying on flowery beds of ease, but is the product of treading rough highways in life.

Lets live as a people who trust in the Lord

A people who delight in the Lord

A people committed to the Lord

a people who wait patiently on the Lord.

Let’s commit to living as principled people.

pray