Simplify your life. We hear that a lot. Some
of you have made some big decisions about simplifying
your life. But you know what? It erodes. One
week, two weeks, three weeks pretty soon. It's
busy, busy, busy. How do you sustain it? That's
today. Welcome to this edition of Living on the
Edge with Chip Ingram. We are an international
discipleship ministry devoted to helping Christians
worldwide to live out their faith for the glory
of God and the benefit of all people. Appreciate
you being with us as we begin winding down our
series, Spiritual Simplicity. Throughout this
study in 1 Corinthians 13, Chip explained what
it looks like to prioritize love and declutter
our lives. So for these last couple of programs,
Chip will talk about the power of authentic community.
where we can experience genuine love despite
our flaws and build connections that will grow
our faith. But before he teaches on that, let
me encourage you to download our message notes.
Now, this is a practical tool available for every
program that includes Chip's outline, the scripture
he references, and more. Get them under the broadcasts
tab at livingontheedge .org. App listeners, tap
fill in notes. All right, here now is Chip with
his talk, The Love Train. Get on board. If you
have a Bible, it begins in 2 Corinthians 5. The
big question that I'm wanting to ask and answer
is how do you sustain spiritual simplicity? And
every week we've had a song. Were any of you
kind of waiting, wondering what the song was
going to be this week? Come on, go ahead. Were
you? All right. This is my favorite song of all
the songs because it's my era. It's the OJs.
It's get on board the love train. And we're going
to talk about getting on a train. I'll explain
what that train is. I'm going to explain theologically
what that train looks like. And then I'm going
to give you a game plan to get on, stay on, bring
other people on a love train. So what is the
love train? I sat down and you know what? I don't
know where the OJs are coming from, but I know
where God's coming from. And the love train to
God is a supernatural community that is forcefully
moving through his story that we call history
to bring life and love. He wants to bring that
up there, his kingdom. A little bit of it down
here where people that have no idea that there
is a God who is real, who is loving, and who
cares. And he wants you and me on this love train.
And he wants us to invite people by how we live
and what we do. And the love train is the church
of Jesus Christ. And I'll tell you what, the
tracks are God's sovereign, faithful, unchanging
purposes. And he's going to fulfill his plan
over time. And it's a time to glorify himself,
to bring all things under the reign of Christ,
to present to himself a people to be loved and
to be loved by him in a new heaven and a new
earth forever. And the ticket has already been
purchased. It was purchased by Christ on the
cross for everyone. And everyone who is willing
to believe, to turn from your sin, God so loved
the world that he gave his one and only son that
whosoever would believe in him shouldn't perish,
but have eternal life, a quality of life that
begins now and that goes on forever and ever
and ever. It's the love train. The architect
is God the Father from the foundations of the
earth. The engineer at the head of this train
is the Lord Jesus Christ, and we are his body,
and he is the firstborn from the dead. And the
conductor going up and down the train, checking
on you and checking on me and wanting to know
how's it going, and letting you know where the
stops are is the Holy Spirit. It's a real train.
It's kind of almost like a liquid relational
train, too, because there's times where we're
all spread out, going all kind of different places.
But God has these tracks, and this train called
his church is moving on it. And he's invited
you to come aboard and to bring others. And it
makes lots of stops. And if you want to write
something under the stops, the frequent stops
is wherever there's a human need. That's where
the love train stops. When there's a lonely person,
the love train stops. Someone has a financial
need, someone is depressed, someone is discouraged,
someone in your neighborhood, someone at work,
someone in your family. Every time there's a
human need, the love train stops and the spirit
of God dwelling inside your mortal body as you're
abiding in him will take the truth of his word
out of your lips and your hands and your life
and your money and your gifts, and he'll express
the love of God through you. And I want to say,
get on board. Get on board. You get on board
the love train, you'll simplify your life. You'll
stop doing some stuff that's meaningless. You'll
stop pretending. You'll stop trying to gain approval,
and you'll stop all kind of things that seem
so important now, but six seconds after you die,
you'll look back on your life and realize it
was junk. It was silly. It was irrelevant. I
was playing trivial pursuit, but for real. Well,
you say to yourself, okay, I got it. The message
of living a sustained, spiritually simple life
is get on board the love train. We talked about
the process, and I'll review it for you at the
end. You got to surrender at a point in time
in your life. You've got to step away from the
world. You've got to step into community. You've
got to step up and be who God made you to be,
and then you've got to step out. Now, let me
give you the theology, 2 Corinthians 5. I want
you to understand, this is God's love train.
This is the Apostle Paul, and he so understands
in the midst of his hurt and his pain, and he's
going to talk about before this passage how he's
perplexed and how he's discouraged and he's down
but not out, and difficulty, and then he's going
to get to the end of this passage in chapter
6, and he's going to talk about what he's actually
been through and squeezed into all the adversity
in life. He understands that life matters when
you live and have an eternal perspective. And
in verse 14, He tells us very clearly. He says,
for Christ's love compels us because we are convinced
that one died for all and therefore all died.
And he died for all that those who live should
live no longer for themselves, but for him who
died and was raised again. So just notice here,
Christ's love compels us. What's life like? on
the love train. It is not trying hard. It is
not being moral. It's not coming to church and
it's not being religious. It is being connected
in surrender where the spirit of God through
the word of God and authentic community, his
love compels you. Actually, the word is, it's
a picture of being hemmed in. If you've ever
seen one of those movies, you know, like one
of the old Batman movies where the walls are
coming in and they're trying to get out of there.
or Indiana Jones movie. The apostle Paul is using
that word to say, the love of God is just hemming
me in. I'm compelled. I am so loved and see the
plight of people apart from his love. I have
to do this from the inside out. And then notice
he says, it changes his focus. He says, we're
convinced that one died, therefore all died.
And he died for those. Here's the focus. that
we should live no longer for ourselves. That's
big. That's what surrender's about. This isn't
like Christ is a part of your life. This is where
the central focus of why you get up and what
you do, and what you do with your time, your
money, your energy, and your relationships, you
don't live for you anymore. We no longer live
for ourselves, but for him, Christ, who died
and rose again. And so the question is not what
will make me happy, it's what will make you happy.
The question is not what do I do with my time,
the question is what do I do with the time entrusted
to me. The question is not what do I think I
should do with my kids, the question is what
does your word say I ought to do and must do
with my kids. See, it's a radical change on the
love train. Then he goes on to say, in verse
16, it gives you new eyes. So, notice the purpose,
from now on we regard no one from a worldly point
of view. Though once we regarded Christ in this
way, we do so no longer. I have it memorized
in a different version, and it's amazing when
you're reading these words and my brain's saying
another one. In my version of many years ago,
therefore from now on we recognize no man according
to the flesh, even though we have known Christ
according to the flesh. He says, when you're
compelled by the love of God and you're now not
living for you, but you're living for him, he
says, you get a new set of eyes and the color
of their skin and their background and whether
they're smelly or clean, whether they're cool
or uncool, you don't look at that anymore. You
have that experience like Samuel the prophet
did when, you know, he said, hey, I know God's
got a new king around here somewhere. And the
big, tall, handsome guy says, is that it? God
says, no. And they go through all the boys. And
finally, it's the youngest one. And then he says
in that passage, 1 Samuel 16, 7, for God doesn't
see as man sees, for man looks on the outward
appearance, but the Lord weighs the heart. And
when you're on the love train, that's what you
start looking at. You look at people's inside
beauty. You start looking at where they're really
coming from. You look past all the exterior.
And that's why the body of Christ starts looking
real, real different with all different kinds
of people, with all of our different baggage.
All of our different struggles, all of our different
backgrounds, all of our different colors, all
of our different cultures. That's what the love
train's all about. And not only that, you get
new eyes, but you get a new hope. Verse 17, he
goes on to say, therefore, if anyone is in Christ,
he's a new creation. The old has passed away,
the new has come. You know, we quote that, and
I actually got it in a little set of verses about
your new life in Christ, and it's absolutely
true. that when you come and turn from your sin
and receive Christ as your savior, if anyone
is in Christ, you become a new creation. The
old is passed away. Behold, everything, notice
the tense of the verb, becomes, it's a process,
becomes new. But in the context of this passage,
you know what it's saying really? It says we
don't look at people external anymore. And now
he says, when we look at people, There's no single
person or situation beyond the love and the redemption
of Christ. What Paul's really saying is this
whole passage is about reconciliation. This whole
passage is what happens when you're on the love
train and the love of God is pulsating through
your spiritual veins. He says, you know what?
I don't look at people the way I look at them
anymore. Therefore, if any man's in Christ, he's
a new creature. The old stuff he did, the addictions
that she had, I mean, the stuff. That we think
God could never forgive. The stuff about people
that we want to reach, oh, they're never open.
I got news for you. If any man is in Christ,
the old's passed away. God can do anything. He
wants to do anything. He did that for people
in this book. He's done it through church history.
And so you get a new focus. You get new eyes.
You get a new hope. And then notice in verses
18 and 19, you get a new responsibility on the
love train. You're listening to Living on the
Edge. We'll get back to our series, Spiritual
Simplicity, in just a minute. But first, if this
teaching has ministered to you, consider becoming
a monthly partner. Your regular financial support
goes a long way to help us encourage pastors,
create resources, and share Jesus with today's
youth. Visit livingontheedge .org to learn how
to support us. Well, with that, here again is
Chip. The love train is not a sit back, It's
so good to be heaven bound. What would thou haveth
me to do, thine God? He says, well, I'll tell
you what I'll have you to do. I'll have you strap
it on. Those guys in the NFL don't even understand
what contact is all about. I've sent you into
a spiritual warfare and I have equipped you and
I love people and I've sent you to get out and
rescue them. And so notice what it says in verses
18 and 19. He says, all this is from God who
reconciled us to himself through Christ and,
underline this in your Bible, gave us the ministry
of reconciliation. That God was reconciling the
world to himself in Christ. And here's the good
news. Not counting men's sins against them and
he's committed to us. This message of reconciliation.
Our message isn't clean your life up and start
coming to church, need to read the Bible a lot,
start doing this, this, this, this. Here's the
message. Guess what? God currently is not counting
your sin against you. He counted it and placed
it on Christ. You have a ticket that's been purchased
on the love train. God loves you. And if you
get honest with people, most people running their
own life, it's not going very well. Most marriages
aren't going very well. Most parenting isn't
going very well. Most people's finances aren't
going very well. And if you talk real honestly
with the people where it's going really, really
well, it's a weird thing to have everything going
great and have this huge emptiness in your life.
And God called you and God called me to be winsome
and loving and caring and outwardly focused and
to believe that no one is beyond his reach. And
then you have this new responsibility. You want
to tell him, God's not counting. Your sin's against
you. He loves you. He's forgiven you. That's
good news. Would you like to receive the good
news? And then finally, he's given you a new
role and me a new role. Look at verse 20. He
says, we are therefore Christ ambassadors as
though God were making his appeal through us.
We implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled
to God. The word reconcile just means become
friends. God's just saying, I want to be friends
with people. Sin is a barrier. Let's get reconciled.
It's like two people that are having trouble
in a marriage. They get reconciled. People that
went divorced and they realize, man, this is
not working. And they repent and they get some
good counseling and they're reconciled. God says,
I want to reconcile all people and you are my
ambassadors. What's an ambassador? An ambassador
is someone from another country, from another
land who represents where he came from. And your
citizenship is in heaven and so is mine and you're
in Christ and you're heaven bound and you're
on the love train if you're a Christ follower.
And he says, I want you, I want you like liquid
to seep into every kind of need and just love
people where they're at. Don't judge them. Tell
them the truth. Put your arm around them. Don't
make it just words. Actually help them and tell
them there's a God who cares. And then verse
21 is just this amazing, amazing verse of truth.
It says, God made him Christ who had no sin to
be sin for us so that in him, while we might
become the righteousness of God. We not only
have a role as an ambassador, we now have a standing
before the God of heaven that is identical to
the Jesus of heaven in terms of God seeing us
completely righteous, a son, a daughter. That's
why the love of Christ compelled him. Paul was
a very, very, very religious man until he got
saved. And then he realized how broken all of
his religiosity was. And then he got in relationship
with the living God. And then he became a passionate
relational follower of the living Christ with
unlimited power, that little phrase, who was
dead and came back to life. And Paul would remind
us that same power. dwells in you if you're a
Christ follower. So spiritual simplicity, how
are we going to sustain it? Number one, here's
a little word picture. Get on the love train.
And then second, remember the theology. When
you're rightly connected to the living Savior,
the love of Christ will compel you. This is not
about duty. This isn't about oughts. This isn't
about shoulds. This is about God's love being
so experienced. Because you stepped down and
you stepped away and you stepped in and you stepped
up and you can't help yourself. You're stepping
out and reaching and caring for people. And when
that begins to happen, you don't live for you
anymore. You have a new focus. You live for him.
And then you get new eyes. You don't see the
same way. And there's a hope for everyone that
you meet, no matter where they've been, what
they've been through. And then you realize, I
got a new responsibility. My new responsibility
isn't just kids' SAT scores or someday, some
way, I hope I'll get married or I hope this job
works out or maybe someday this thing will go,
you know, IPO. There's all kind of important
things in life, but your core responsibility
is to be an ambassador, a representative of the
living God wherever you are, and that your ministry
is reconciliation. And he's given you gifts and
dreams and desires so that you can do that all
kind of different ways and all kind of different
businesses and all kind of different gifts and
all kind of different roles. And you can be moms
and sisters and dads and nephews and nieces and
school teachers and bricklayers and plumbers.
And we can just be all kind of things because
he needs all kind of people. But at the end of
the day, what we realize first and foremost,
we're on the love train. And we're imploring.
were imploring people to be reconciled to God
because he became sin, the sin offering for them
and for us that they and we, if we by faith would
receive it, would become the righteousness of
God. Well, the picture is one thing. The theology
is another. The third is, I just call it a game
plan. How does it really work? And I'm just gonna
walk you through this. A lot of this you've,
hopefully some of you are gonna say, I have heard
this before. You should, okay? I mean, this isn't
new. I've heard this before. So if I would stop
right here and say, okay, if the incarnate Jesus
in a supernatural body would come from behind
that curtain, walk out, I'd say, excuse me, Jesus,
I know you don't need a microphone, but I'd like
to ask you a question. What do you want us to
do? I mean, could you just... Give it to us.
What exactly in a sentence do you want us to
do with our lives? Lord Jesus, could you give
it to us? I think he'd say, love God, love people.
That's how simple life is. We get it really complicated.
Love God. Are you loving God? Now, I didn't say
feel like you love, but just love God and love
people. The ultimate test of success. And the
ultimate test of spiritual maturity, of becoming
what he commanded, make disciples, is that I
love God more deeply and authentically each day.
And I love others more sincerely and more practically
in ways they can understand. This is Living on
the Edge with Chip Ingram. And you've been listening
to part one of Chip's message, The Love Train.
Get on board from our series, Spiritual Simplicity.
Chip will be back shortly to share some helpful
application for us to think about. Most of us
live very hectic lives, moving too fast, demanding
too much, and delivering too little. If you're
desperate for an alternative that actually works,
then this study is for you. Chip's teaching will
help you escape this destructive pattern and
reveal how to better prioritize what matters
most and love others in a fresh, revolutionary
way. If you've missed any part of this series,
catch up anytime through the Chip Ingram app.
Well, Chip's joined me in studio now, and Chip,
we're an international teaching and discipleship
ministry, but many don't know half of the impactful
work we're involved in. So take a minute, if
you wouldn't, share some examples of how Living
on the Edge supports and encourages people everywhere.
I'd be glad to, Dave. One of the great joys of
my life is the letters, emails, Facebook messages
that I get from people literally all around the
country and all around the world. And they tell
me these amazing stories of how living on the
edge has been a tool used by God to change their
life. Maybe you're one of those people that have
really been impacted by the ministry. I mean,
I hear from people from every age, profession,
background, every person imaginable. What I hear
is this same constant drumbeat of God spoke to
me. I took a step of faith. Now God's using me.
And what I want you to know is that that's the
heart of our ministry. We want to put teaching
and tools and small group materials and downloadable
things that we actually give away to help people
not just live like Christians, but be ambassadors
and agents of change and grace in their homes,
their schools, and their workplaces. And if you're
one of those people that God has impacted you
and actually you're impacting others because
of living on the edge, I have a very specific
request. Would you consider becoming a monthly
financial partner? And of course, it helps us
practically. No doubt about it. It would really
help us to know that X amount of dollars are
coming in from a monthly partner. But literally,
even more than that, it's about a group of people
saying, We want to be a part of this mission
to make a difference in the crazy world that
we're living in. We want to make an impact, and
we want to make an impact with you all. God's
spoken to us. God's changed us. We want to help
you help others. And so here's my request today.
Would you pray and just simply say, Lord, if
this is... part of your desire for me to partner
with Living on the Edge on a monthly basis, will
you show me and then show me what that looks
like and how much? And what I will say is whatever
amount that is, it's perfect, whatever God shows
you. But what I long to see is people who partner
that are on the team, a part of the family, and
we make a difference together each and every
day. Thank you in advance for doing whatever
God shows you to do. Great encouragement, Chip.
Well, if you want to be part of supporting believers
all across the world, consider becoming a monthly
partner. Your regular support will go places
and accomplish ministry work like you wouldn't
believe. So set up a monthly gift today by going
to livingontheedge .org or by calling 888 -333
-6003. That's 888 -333 -6003 or visit livingontheedge
.org. App listeners tap donate. Well, with that,
here again is Chip. As we wrap up today's program,
I just have to tell you, I love that song. The
love train by the OJs. Get on the train. Join
hands. Now, you know what? I don't have quite
the soul that I had in my younger years. But
I just have to tell you, I love that song, not
just for the rhythm and the beat, but the words.
We need to get on board with speaking the truth
in love, but loving each other radically. So
let me share a story about something that's happened
just recently in my living room. I did a series
at a local church, and it's filled with all young
people, very multicultural. They have very little
Bible background. Most of them are first -generation
Christians. And when I got done with this four
-part series, I said, if anyone would like to
learn just how to simply follow Jesus, Teresa
and I are going to open our home. Come on over
tonight for the next three Sunday nights. And
Teresa was a little nervous because we didn't
know whether five or 50 people would come. But
about 12 or 13 came. And I just, I wanted him
to see what it looked like to follow Jesus, to
be surrendered, separate from the world, a sober
self -assessment, serving in love, and supernaturally
responding to evil with good. After the first
week, a lady came and said, for 12 years I've
wrestled with God, I do all the right things,
and I discovered it's surrender. I just want
you to know I surrendered my life last week after
our time. Another lady came and said, I never
understood before. I've been coming to churches,
but I trusted Jesus as my Savior. Two or three
of the younger people said, I don't know why,
but life was so confusing. And we started meeting
on Sunday nights, and we started to pray for
one another, and there weren't expectations,
and we started to love one another. When we love
one another, it's the most powerful witness in
the world. I found that there's so many people
that... Their Christian life has become, I go
to this meeting, or I listen to this message,
or I watch this video, and there's this podcast,
and then I try really, really hard to be a good
person, and then I learn those people are the
bad people, and those other people are over here,
and we join sides, and we join tribes. I don't
know that in all my ministry experience, I've
seen such power, such answers to prayer as we
simply came together vulnerably to care for one
another, to love one another. And that's God's
hope for you. Are you connected with others?
Are you in loving relationships? If not, get
there. Start a group. Open your heart. Let's
get off the warpath and get on the love train.
Great word, Chip. And here at Living on the Edge,
we want to help you cultivate meaningful community.
So if you're thinking about starting a small
group or you and your friends are looking for
the next subject to study, check out our resources
today. Our small group tools are easy to use
and will deepen your relationship with God and
each other. To learn more, go to the store at
livingontheedge .org or call us at 888 - 333
-6003. Again, that's 888 -333 -6003 or visit
the store at livingontheedge .org. We'll listen
in next time as Chip wraps up his series, Spiritual
Simplicity. Until then, this is Dave Druey saying
thanks for joining us for this edition of Living
on the Edge.