Is it possible to be an absolutely moral person,
even go to church faithfully, but completely
miss out on a real relationship with God? Could
that be you? Find out today. Thank you for being
with us for this edition of Living on the Edge
with Chip Ingram. Chip serves as our Bible teacher
for this global teaching and discipleship ministry,
helping Christians develop an authentic faith.
Well, in this program, Chip picks up where he
left off in our series, I Choose Hope. Today,
he'll identify the connection between what we
worship and what we put our faith in, and how
we can actually worship something more than God
and not even realize it. That's a sobering thought,
isn't it? Well, if you want help correcting that
mindset, go again in your Bible to Philippians
chapter 3, as we join Chip with part two of his
talk, Finding Hope. The apostle Paul said, I
knew all about God. I had it all memorized. I
kept all the rules. I was morally pure. I fasted
the right days. I went to the temple. I sacrificed.
If you can get there on your own, I was over
here. But what's he say? I count it. The word
is garbage in one translation. It's dung in another
translation. It's just a really graphic word.
It's poo -poo. He said, I look at all the junk,
all the self -effort, all the religiosity compared
to intimacy and life and grace and power and
the transformation. Over here, I was a slave
to religion. I'm a son of God. I was a slave.
And when you try to earn it on your own, you
get arrogant. And anyone who doesn't disagree,
you take them out. So he tried to take out the
church. And then Jesus revealed himself, the
surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
And then he doesn't say, this is very interesting,
notice in your text, he doesn't say, for whose
sake I lost all of that. He changes the word.
Whose sake I've lost all things. Now, you gotta
understand, let's not make this like Bible world.
This is a guy that is a Roman citizen. Comes
up in Tarsus. There's sort of the elite, the
Harvard, the Yale, the Stanford of his day. That's
where he, and he's the number one student of
the number one professor. And he's the star.
I mean, he's the man. He's so much so that, boy,
when this way, this Christianity starts, he goes
after them. He lost his reputation. Alienated
from his family. kicked out of his position of
power, lost his money, became an outlaw, ended
up being persecuted. When he says, I lost all
things, this isn't some theoretical, oh, this
is a transfer of intellectual issues. This is,
I count all of it. Not just the religious side,
but everything I've lost. Everything that people
value, power, money, fame, success, career, upward
mobility. He had all that. He goes, all of that
compared to Christ. Where's his hope? It's in
a person. It's in a person who's the second person
of the Godhead. Who from the foundation of the
earth would give us freedom to choose. to accept
or reject him. And then knowing the consequences,
what actually from the foundations of the earth,
agree with the Father and agree with God, the
Holy Spirit, that he would come and be born,
that he would grow up absolutely dependent and
live an absolutely perfect life so that people
would know. You ever wonder what God's like?
Jesus said, the Father and I are one. He came
and he explained him. You read through the Gospels.
You want to know what God is like? Just look
at Jesus' life. You know what he feels? This
is how he feels about hypocritical people. It's
not pretty. This is what he feels about people
that are hurting and broken and honest and come.
And then he came knowing that he came to seek
and to say that which is lost. So he purposely
set his face like a flint and said, I'm gonna
go to that cross. I know the break it's gonna
be with the Father. I'm gonna hang on that cross.
And when I hang on that cross, I'm gonna take
the sins of all people of all time. And I will
be the sin offering being fully man and fully
God. And the Father will pour his just wrath
out on the sin that separates people. And I will
absorb it. And in that moment, he'll turn away
and I will be hidden in the earth. And I'll declare
the victory in the shield is the word, the place
of the dead. And I will rise in victory and conquer
Satan, conquer sin, conquer death. And I will
ascend to the father and I will be at his right
hand. And I will open my arms to whosoever would
believe. I will forgive your sin. I will bring
you in relationship with me and eternal life
will begin the moment you turn from your sin
and receive me and walk and follow me. The surpassing
value and the spirit of God is the one who will
live inside of you and you will be sealed and
you will be adopted and you will have an inheritance
and the spirit of God will actually. manifest
the very presence and person of Jesus so that
the goal of the Christian life is not fire insurance.
The goal isn't I pray to prayer. The goal isn't
that I have life after death. The goal is I didn't
have a relationship with God and now the surpassing
value is I am now connected with God solely and
completely based on Christ's work on the cross
and his resurrection. And the goal is to love
him and to be loved by him. That's what Paul's
saying. Over here, it was, this is what I can
do. This is what I've achieved. Over here, this
is what God has done. And this is what I receive.
Do you see the difference? His hope, his moorings,
his future, it's in Jesus. Question, is your
relationship right now? with Jesus? Growing more
passionate and rich and real? Are you experiencing
deeply God's love, his forgiveness, promptings
from his spirit, a hunger for his word, a sense
that there's purpose and direction and that he
actually wants to even use you to help others
and that as you do that, things happen you can't
explain? In other words, is your unconscious
passion to be just a little bit more moral and
try and get God to work things out so that what
your hope really is in can come in? Or is it
in himself? See, God doesn't give his glory to
another, and he won't be a means. He's not a
means for your kids to get into the right school.
He's not a means for you to be happy. He's not
a means for your life to work out right. He's
not a means that if you believe in Jesus, your
marriage just goes great. He's not a means that
all your kids turn out right. He's not a means.
He's the end. Now, the amazing thing about grace,
as your hope is in him, there's sort of a domino
effect that it impacts all those other things,
but none of those things ever. can become your
hope. In fact, we're warned often, don't let
him. Not because God's mad, because he loves
us and doesn't want us to miss. There's three
big takeaways, I think, that are super practical
from this passage I'd like to share with you.
Whatever we put our hope in will determine what
we worship. Whatever we put our hope in will
determine what we worship. If my hope is in my
job, I worship it. If my hope is in my family
or my mate, I worship it. If my hope is in someday,
some way I'm going to, I will worship it. If
my hope is in money, I'll worship it. False hope
is always focused on the external, the rules,
the laws, success, status, and salary. And the
confidence in that hope is, this is what I got
to do. Workaholism, believe me, I understand
that one. It's all about what you can accomplish.
What you've got to do. In the text, it was circumcision,
the law, and religious works. But in our day,
the external can be church attendance or morals.
The external can be you worship education. You
worship your kids. Your whole life is around
your kids, their education, their sports, their
traveling team. It can be money. It can be your
looks. I mean, I believe in working out as much
as anybody. I got news for you. No matter how
many vitamins you take, how much you work out,
and how many surgeries you can afford, you're
going to get old. And you're going to get wrinkles.
And probably a lot more. But you know what? Ask
yourself, what's my hope in? Is it when I make
partner? Is it when my kids get in this school?
See, what happens is if your hope's in anything
other than Jesus, it doesn't have the power to
deliver it. And so false hope is in external
things and the confidence is in yourself and
what you can achieve. And the source of real
hope, it's always internal. It's a rich, deep,
growing relationship with Christ. It's grace.
There's a sense of dependency. There's a sense
of gratitude and empowerment. And finally, it's
confidence in what he's done. And so, this is
another one of those questions I'm asking me
and you. If you don't give me words, but I could
see your financial statements, where all your
time goes, what you think about, what you dream
about, and what you want to happen, and what
gets you really down, you would know in a minute
what your hope is and what you really worship.
I have a concern that an intellectual understanding
of what it means to be a Christian has substituted
what it means to be a genuine follower. And what
I can tell you is there's just great pictures
in our church of both people who I see when difficulty
and pain and adversity comes, it's obvious where
their hope is, and they cave. And I had a conversation
just this week of maybe the most of all difficulty,
and I was in amazement at a man and his wife
of where their hope was rooted. Because takeaway
number two is false hope always ends in either
pride or despair. If you happen to be pretty
successful unconsciously or consciously, it's
look at me, look at what I did. I'm a self -made
man, a self -made woman. Look at my success.
Look at my family. I've got how many patents.
Look at what I built. Look at what I wear. Look
at how I dress. Look at me. I mean, we're Christians,
so we do it in subtle ways, but we do it. The
problem is that no matter what you achieve, the
horizon's always moving. You're listening to
Living on the Edge. We'll get back to our series,
I Choose Hope, in just a minute. But quickly,
I want to remind you that we're in the middle
of our mid -year match. Thanks to a few close
ministry friends, every gift we receive until
June 30th will be matched dollar for dollar.
For more information about how to partner with
us, go to livingontheedge .org or call us at
888 -333 -6003. And thanks for doing whatever
God leads you to do. Well, let's rejoin Chip
now for the remainder of his message. I had an
elder many, many years ago in a church that I
served many, many years ago, and he loved these
sailboats, and people would be talking. He goes,
the thing is, when you're on a sailboat, and
if you're kind of sailing toward the sun, the
horizon's always moving. And I didn't know exactly
what he meant. He goes, you know, people think
I'm single once I get married then. No, no, no,
no. Well, then if we have some kids, well, then
if our kids turn out right, then, then, then,
then, then. And the hope just keeps changing.
And then people realize it doesn't have the power
to deliver. I've actually sat across the table
from a man who was being completely honest with
me, who was a billionaire. who he would only
be satisfied when there was a new number behind
how many billions he would have. And he was a
follower of Jesus, but his hope was in his money.
Super high levels of debt tell you what? Your
hope is in things. I mean, do you have the 4K
yet? I mean, has the Apple 12 come out yet? Has
Samsung done? I mean, and... It's like an addiction.
Are you ready to spend all kind of money this
Christmas that you don't have to impress people
that don't care, to get someone to look at you
and say, oh, wow, you're wonderful? And at the
same time, and again, if this produces a little
discomfort, good. I just came back from people
that are pastoring churches of 500 or 1 ,000
people. They don't even have a library. Now they
got two books. They got a Bible and the one I
gave them. It always leads to despair or pride.
1 Timothy 1 or 6, 17 says, instruct those that
are rich in this present world not to be conceited
or arrogant and fix their hope on the uncertainty
of riches, but on God, by the way, who gives
us all things. Look at the last line. Why? So
that you can not have anything to richly enjoy.
Having things is not the problem. It's our priorities,
and where's our focus, and where's our hope?
I had a challenging experience when I lived in
Atlanta. We got to be a part of a church plant,
and one of the really key members was a guy that
had done well, lived in a very nice country club,
knew all the right languages, a spiritual guy,
and was at the foundation group of launching
the church. And probably a year or so after I
left, I got news of... And he had this fund,
and I don't know if he was a hedge fund guy or
whatever, this or that. And all I can tell you
was he went missing. He was missing for like
a week. And they found him a week later at a
cabin. And he had this fund, and the thing had
slowly gone down, gone down, gone down, gone
down. And he hid it because his identity and
hope was really in, I'm a rich, generous guy.
And they found him and he put a shotgun in his
mouth and a note that said, I'm sorry I failed
everyone. And it just broke my heart. See, we
can intellectually think our hope is in Christ.
Here's how you know. Just look at your behavior.
Your behavior never lies. What I believe and
what you believe has almost nothing to do with
what we say or what we think we believe. What
we believe is how we actually behave. Our behavior
reveals the core of our beliefs. It will happen
again this year as tests are taken and we will
have high school students that do not get the
grades they want and they won't pass the tests
they want and they will do what they do here
very often so much that it's almost not reported
and they will step in front of a train because
their hope is they didn't get into that school
and the pressure they feel and the shame that
they think they're going to bring on their family.
And it's real here. Education is not hope. Money
is not hope. How many likes is not hope. How
many followers is not hope. What other people
think of you is not hope. The only hope that
will never disappoint is a deeply rooted relationship
with a God who'll come through all the time.
Finally, true hope is rooted in relationship
and results in joy and endurance. There's a byproduct.
If there's no joy in your life, let me tell you
this. Your hope is somewhere, but it's not in
Christ. He loves you. He's for you. He'll take
you through any circumstance. He doesn't promise
it's always going to be easy. In fact, what he
promises is there's going to be tribulation.
But he'll not only give you joy, he'll give you
endurance. Hope is built in Jesus who left heaven.
paid for you, loved you, cares for you. If you're
a follower, he lives in you. He'll guide you,
direct you, protect you, sustain you. You might
have a lot. You might have a little. You might
be single. You might be married. You might have
kids. You might not. But he promises that the
fruit of his living life as you stay connected
to him is you'll experience love and peace and
joy and kindness and goodness and gentleness
and self -control, and your life will be full,
not easy. But it's built on a hope and an endurance.
The Apostle Paul would say it well in Romans
5. Therefore, we have been justified by faith.
We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ, through whom we've obtained our introduction
by faith into this grace in which we stand. That's
what Paul was saying. He goes on to say, but
we also boast or exult in hope. Are you ready?
Of the glory of God. And not only this, but we
exult in our tribulation. See, when really hard
times come, knowing that tribulation brings about
perseverance, you hang in there. You just hang
in there. That's why we need each other. That's
why we need his word. Hard things happen. And
perseverance brings about proven character. It's
in the vice of life and the difficulty that you
actually change. And proven character produces
hope. Because what you realize is nothing out
there can ever satisfy you, but nothing out there
can ever make you or break you. And proven hope
doesn't disappoint because the love of God has
been poured out within our hearts through the
Holy Spirit who's given to us. Lord, my prayer
is that you would help us this season as never
before to sink our roots deep into the hope of
the living Christ. Our faith is not about how
many times we pray or how many times we read
the Bible or how many times we come to the church
or a lot of external things. Those things are
great means, but they don't make us right. It's
you. It's us believing your love, forgiveness,
resurrection. It's a relationship. So would you
help us to put our hope in you like never before?
And Lord, I just feel compelled that you've brought
Maybe a handful of people that need to put their
faith in you for the very first time. And so
I ask, if you're one of those people that say,
I need Jesus. I've been thinking about it. Could
I invite you to find your hope in him right now?
To bow your heart and say to him, Lord Jesus,
today's my day. I want to turn from my sin and
I ask you. to forgive me. I place my trust in
your work on the cross, your resurrection. Come
into my life right now. Make me your son. Make
me your daughter. And he will. In Jesus' name,
amen. Before we do anything else, I want to say
the same thing to you that I said to the people
in the room that I was teaching. If you realize
today that you're one of those people, that you
know a lot about Jesus, that you've never surrendered
to him, you've never asked him to forgive you
personally, to come into your life, to be your
Lord and to be your Savior. It's so easy to know
all about God, but not actually know him. That
was me for the first 18 years of my life. went
to a social church. I heard stories about Jesus.
I intellectually believe there was a God, but
I didn't know him. I didn't have a relationship.
And today's your day. This is the day that he
is broken through and you understand like never
before. He loves you. He wants you. And that
problem of sin, that problem of you not being
the person you know in the depth of your heart
you need to be is solved. if you receive the
gift by faith. And so right now, I would encourage
you, I don't care whether you're running on the
treadmill, driving in the car, you know, there's
kids in the backseat, taking a walk in the park.
At this very moment, I want you to pause within
yourself and cry out to God, Lord Jesus, save
me. Today, I believe you died in my place. Today,
I believe you rose from the dead. Please forgive
me of all my sins. based solely on the work of
Jesus in his resurrection, and come into my life.
Make me your son. Make me your daughter. And
as you have done that, God will answer that prayer.
He longs to answer it, and He will. In fact,
if you just prayed with me, He did. So make sure
you tell the greatest Christian you know, I prayed
to receive Christ today. Number two, find a church
this weekend that teaches the Bible. And number
three, go to livingontheedge .org. That's livingontheedge
.org. And we have some free resources to help
you on your new journey. Welcome to the family.
Thanks, Chip. Well, if you prayed to receive
Christ, we do have a free resource we'd like
to put in your hands that was created specifically
for new believers. This tool will help you understand
what it means to trust in Jesus and what to do
next. Request this free resource by calling 888
-333 -6003 or by visiting livingontheedge .org,
then clicking the New Believers button. That's
livingontheedge .org or call 888 -333 -6003.
Let us help you get started in your faith journey.
Well, Chip's still here in studio with me. And
Chip, you know, I've heard you talk before about
one of your mentors, Bob Buford. Some might be
familiar with his book, Halftime, or the organization
he founded called The Leadership Network. Well,
describe the impact he had on your life and what
he taught you about making disciples. Well, Dave,
I have to tell you, I'll never forget being with
Bob. And he asked a question that no one had
ever asked me. He said, Chip, who gave you permission
to become the person that you've become? And
then he said, you know, we all have dreams and
thoughts inside of us and potential, but we rarely
can see who we could really become. And God often
brings a mentor, a person into your life that
helps you see things that you could never see
on your own. And I realized that there were mentors
in my life, people that coached me, not just
about discipleship, but mentored me, really cared
about me and my particular life in ways that
really opened the door for me to become who God
made me and wanted me to be. And we at Living
on the Edge realized that people need mentors.
And it was out of the pandemic that we decided
to do a little thing called daily discipleship
where I begin to mentor people one -on -one.
And I got a couple cameras and a cup of coffee
and an open Bible and not teaching, not preaching,
but sat down for eight to 10 minutes for 10,
15, 20 days, depending on what we did. And I
just opened the Bible and I mentored them about,
this is how you hear God's voice. Here's how
you study. Here's how you deal with big decisions.
Of all the things I've had a chance to do, that's
been the most fulfilling because of the kind
of response. Oh, now I'm in the Bible for myself.
Oh, now I'm sharing this with our whole family.
People are learning and becoming who God meant
them to be because they're getting some coaching.
As you think about your own personal life, can
I encourage you? Go to our website and choose
to do a daily discipleship. And second, Would
you give generously to this mid -year match so
that I can keep producing those kind of resources
to mentor people so they can become all that
God designed them to become? Thanks so much for
whatever God leads you to do. Well, if you want
to stand with us to see Christians really live
like Christians for the glory of God and the
good of all, now is the perfect time to partner
with us. As Chip said, we're in the middle of
our mid -year match. which means every dollar
we receive until June 30th will be doubled for
greater impact. So visit livingontheedge .org
or call us at 888 -333 -6003 to make your gift.
That's 888 -333 -6003 or go to livingontheedge
.org. App listeners, tap Donate. As we close,
do you want to deepen your connection to God
amid your busy life? Then take Chip with you
by subscribing to our daily podcast. With a few
simple taps on your phone, you can access the
full length versions of our latest series. And
if you're always on the go, download a handful
and listen to them at your own pace. Let us help
you grow your faith. Search for Living on the
Edge with Chip Ingram today on Apple Podcasts,
Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
For Chip and the entire team here, this is Dave
Drewy, thanking you for listening to this edition
of Living on the Edge, and I hope you'll join
us again next time.