Abide #2

Northside Church

Abide #2

2/6/22

Jamey Mills

Good morning, My name is Jamey, I am the lead pastor here at Northside. It’s such a blessing to have you all here this morning. Look forward to spending time with you guys all week…

Soooo…. What do you want to talk about?

We are in the second week of a series we are calling Abide… which is mostly coming from Jn. 15.

Abide defined…

Last week we looked at Jn 10… and the major idea was this… part of what it means to abide in Jesus is coming to this place where we recognize and respond to the voice of God in our lives… and Jesus uses sheep and shepherds as an example. His sheep.. Know His voice… they know His heart… they come to Him and follow Him…

And we talked about how best ways to start recognizing the voice of God in your life… to begin responding to it… to begin to recognize the presence of the HS in your life is by spending regular time in God’s Word… His truth begins to resonate in us… and I believe our ability to recognize and respond to His Word grows as a result.

Some important things happened in 1991…

Desert storm

Hubble Telescope Launched

Some of the dead sea scrolls were unveiled

Rajiv Ghandi Killed

U.S.S.R. Comes to a Formal End

Dr. Suess passed away

Salsa sales surpassed ketchup sales

Gas was about 1.14 a gallon

I got my driver's permit…

The Bulls won the NBA title…

The NY Giants beat the Bills by 1 in the super bowl… New kids on the block rocked the ½ time show.

The Twins won the world series over the braves…

Evidently Bill Gates borrowed a book from Warren Buffet and never returned it. Adventures in business… evidently it's the kind of book you steal?

But maybe the most profound thing about 1991 is the fact that it's the year the movie City Slickers came out…

Okay that’s not true…. I ironically only remember 1 thing about that movie…

Well 2 if you count that we can't show it in church.

The scene is Billy crystal… who is Mitchy the kid… His life is totally falling apart. He and two of his friends go on this cattle drive… to sort of figure life out… and he ends up having this conversation with this old, battleworn yet terrifying cowboy named curley.

Curley tells him… you all show up here wanting the same thing… thinking that two weeks with a bunch of cows will somehow solve all your problems…

And then he asks do you know the secret of life?

And Mitch said no… what it is…

Curley holds up a finger… and Mitch says… your finger…

And Curely said… No… it's one thing. And if you stick to that… everything else doesn't mean… uhhh… much.

And so Mitch asked, what is that one thing… and then curley said… that's what you have to figure out.

How disappointing… such a common philosophy in our day…

The key to life… to purpose… to identity… to contedness… to experiencing real and full life… Curley says… you find within yourself. It's up to you… what do you like, what do you love, what do you want, what makes you happy, what feels good…

Really to some degree. The question is… where do you draw those things from…

It’s one of those things that I have no idea how you look at history… or even what’s going on in our current culture and come to the conclusion that there is any wisdom at all in suggesting that real life comes from the thinking or whims of humanity.

If there is one thing… I can tell you one place I wouldn’t look or count on is the hearts and minds of humanity… it’s not dependable…

Thankfully… we donut have to look there…

Jesus Himself spoke into that one thing… the secret to life… when He said this…

Matthew 6:31–33 NLT

“So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

Matthew 6:31-33 (ESV)

Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles (those far from God) seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Jesus says… that one thing… is to seek the Kingdom of God and what it means to be right with Him…

To seek Jesus and what it means to be right with God… above all else… and then trusting Him with the rest of it. It is the ultimate view of majoring in the majors and allowing the minors to be what they are.

In a sense, if we aren’t right with God, what else possibly matters… have you ever thought of it like that…

Part of Abiding is understanding and investing in the fact that closeness with Jesus really is that #1 thing…

God desires that…

God is unchanged and unmoving… in those times and places we feel far from God… remembering that it’s not God that has moved…

In 1 Peter 3:15

1 Peter 3:15 NLT

Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it.

Peter said it like this… in your heart, set apart Jesus as Lord.

To set apart… Like in the sea of all that is… Jesus is other… He is not one of many things… He is set apart… as Lord… of my life… in my life…

Captain of my ship… His way and not my own… to give Him leadership and authority…

And it reminds me of

James 4:1–10 NLT

What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure. You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. Do you think the Scriptures have no meaning? They say that God is passionate that the spirit he has placed within us should be faithful to him. And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.

(NLT)

What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? 2 You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. 3 And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.

4 You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. 5 Do you think the Scriptures have no meaning? They say that God is passionate that the spirit he has placed within us should be faithful to him. 6 And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say,

“God opposes the proud

but gives grace to the humble.”

7 So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. 9 Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.

James helps understand what it means to see and keep Jesus as that #1 thing in our lives…

Submission:

NLT uses humility, but the word is submission. Primarily a military term that means to rank under… but here it means to do so voluntarily. This

Submission is this idea of willingly putting yourself under the authority of Jesus in your life

… Looking to Him for truth, wisdom, and leadership… it’s most seen in our obedience to Him and His word… one author said it like this “there simply is no such thing as trusting in Christ as Savior without at the same moment submitting to Him as Lord. Not my way but yours… not my thoughts but yours… not my life but yours…

Resisting Evil:

Not giving into temptation… but fighting it. Preparing and praying into it.

This is sort of the other side of submitting to Jesus… part of what that means is resisting the devil… the world actually means… to stand against… sin and evil in our lives but also within the world around us; it has to do with standing with the Lord against sinful, often appealing things that corrupt and enslave not just us… but those we love and those around us.

Many of us have this habit of drawing hard lines with people… instead of realizing what the true enemy is… or what we are truly standing against. That's not to say that we don't have to at times draw agonizing boundaries with people in our lives… but even then… i think it’s incredibly important to remember what the enemy is… is sin and the corruption and captivity it brings.

Resisting the devil leads to him fleeing.

It says that in resisting the devil… he will do what? FLEE… and that's a message we need to hear. Resisting… is huge and powerful in our lives… I’ve experienced it… at times it's easy to come to these places where we feel stuck or trapped in sin… its an incredibly hard place to live or even breathe… I hope you hear this… Hope is real. You're not unloveable or unforgivable… The things God talks about has to do with REAl life and REAL freedom in the face of the very captivity we find ourselves in. And if you’ve forgotten God’s heart toward that… sit in the story of the prodigal son all over again.

Drawing near to God

This is what God desires… nearness… authenticity… relationship with you. He’s not looking for blind… unattached obedience… but a heart that desires to draw near… to honor Him.

Isaiah 29:13 NLT

And so the Lord says, “These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And their worship of me is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote.

(NLT)

13 And so the Lord says,

“These people say they are mine.

They honor me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me.

And their worship of me

is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote.

One of the things you clearly see in the psalms is this heart that LONGS for nearness with God…

Ps 42 talks about how the deer pants for streams of water… is the same way my soul thirst for God…

PS 145 talks about how the Lord is close to all who call upon Him in truth.

King david counseled his own son saying… Know God… and service Him alone with your whole heart and a willing mind. If you seek Him… He will let you find Him.

Drawing near to God… is what he desires… closeness… no running through the motions… its relationship… Rules without relationship lead to rebellion.

Cleansing hands/purifying hearts

Has multiple ideas…

It comes from the Jewish ceremonial stuff with their priests… and its about coming before God the right way.

It has to do with having reverence… or even holy fear of God.

It was to do with being about the right things… being about Kingdom things with our hands and in our hearts.

It also has to do with repentance.

James uses the idea of misery, sorry and tears to talk about repentance… and it seems like the Church has made a movement away from that… almost thinking that if it hurts… if it doesn't feel good it can’t be from God… but brokenness and contrition are revealing… we sometimes forget that the heart of sin is an offense to God. Repentance isn't just about us… it's about dealing with that offense… being thankful for grace and forgiveness and seeking real wisdom and help… for real change.

Taking sin seriously… in our lives.

Dealing with divided loyalty

It reminds me of when after years of wandering… Moses had died and God told Joshua that it was his time to step up and lead God’s people into the land He had promised them… and God used Joshua in miraculous ways to do that…

Israel was that sheep that had gone astray… like some of their forefathers, they had begun sort of engaging in culture to the point of taking on its “religion”... and Joshua’s dying words were this… You have seen God do amazing and even inexplicable things. Don’t ever grow tired or apathetic toward doing what God says and don’t chase the gods of your culture… It won’t go well for you at all. You’ve see God do exactly what He said He would do…

And then Joshua said this…

Joshua 24:14–15 NLT

“So fear the Lord and serve him wholeheartedly. Put away forever the idols your ancestors worshiped when they lived beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord alone. But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”

(NLT)

14 “So fear the LORD and serve him wholeheartedly. Put away forever the idols your ancestors worshiped when they lived beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt. Serve the LORD alone (not the Lord and…). 15 But if you refuse to serve the LORD, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the LORD.”

Joshua is saying… make a choice. What is it that you want? What is that one thing that will determine how you face every other thing… and then boldly Joshua says… as for me and my house… it is the lord…

And His boldness… and passion for the Lord had a great impact. The people rose up and said… We’ll never abandon God, everything you’ve said is true…

But the truth is… these people that God has set apart… that were called to be, believe, live differently… continually struggled with allowing the gods of the cultures around them to blur their vision and passion for the Living God…

to the point of God referring to them prostitutes… someone who belonged to another (Him)… but were selling themselves out… they were at best divided.

Jesus Himself said…

Matthew 6:24 NLT

“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.

(NLT)

24 “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.

Is your loyalty divided? Is God gruely that #1 thing?

Humility

One author said this… humility is the starting point and summary of salvation.

Humility is the word that God put on my heart as we planted Northside.

It means to make oneself low; the complete realization of unworthiness and losteness because of sin… and without that… you’ll never see God or respond to God the right way.

One author said this…

the more we see God as He really is, glorious and holy, the more clearly we see ourselves as we really are

… and it's not a glorious picture… and it leads us to this place… this deeply felt conclusion that we need Jesus. That we are broken… and lost and sinful… and its where we realize captivity of sin and the reality of where real life and freedom are found… its where God’s truth begins to resonate in us…