Today on Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram.
As parents, we all have a dream for our kids.
And yet there's times when they make decisions
and they get on the wrong path and it breaks
our heart. I want you to know that that happens
to us as Christians as well. And you have a Heavenly
Father that wants to stop you, help you turn
around, and help you experience the life that's
really life. Don't miss this message. Authentic
community. Can it really exist? Where someone
knows the real you, the struggles, the doubts,
the failures, and doesn't condemn but supports?
Well, I'm Dave Drewy, and today on Living on
the Edge, Chip Ingram discusses God's dream for
your life. Using Romans chapter 12, Chip shows
us what normal Christianity looks like when lived
out in relationship with other believers and
with those hostile to the gospel. If you've ever
wondered how to experience genuine community
or overcome the raw deals life throws at you,
stay tuned. Well, here's Chip with today's message,
God's Dream for Your Life. Our Heavenly Father
has a dream for every one of His children, and
God's dream is to make you like His, write the
word, Son. God gives us a very... clear picture
of what his dream is for your life in Romans
chapter 12. God's desire, God's will for every
single follower is that they would become a Romans
12 Christian. Follow along if you will. Notice
what it says in verse 1. Therefore I urge you,
brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your
bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing
to God. This is your spiritual act of worship.
And that answers one of the biggest questions.
that you'll ever face in your life. And that
question is this. How do you give God what he
wants the most? And you know what you're gonna
learn? He wants you. He wants you. My observation
is in most Christians' life, there's a missing
ingredient. And the missing ingredient in most
Christians' lives is power. We're anemic. If
your life isn't surrendered, you don't experience
his power. Becoming a Romans 12 Christian begins
in your relationship with God by being surrendered
to him. But notice beginning in verse two, it
says, do not conform any longer to the pattern
of this world, but be transformed by the renewing
of your mind. Then you'll be able to test and
improve what God's will is, that which is good
and pleasing and perfect. You know the question,
the big question in life this verse answers?
How do you get the very best from God? Verse
one answers, how do you give God what he really
wants? Verse two says, if God really loves me
and he died for me and he rose from the dead
and he has a plan for my life, how do you tap
into that? We'll explain from this verse exactly
how it works. And the missing ingredient I find
in the great majority of Christians that I talk
to is not just lack of power because of an unsurrendered
life. but a lack of peace. Beginning in verse
3 and through 8, we learn that in our relationship
to ourselves, God desires a sober self -assessment.
Notice the little phrase, for by the grace of
God. I say to every man among you, don't think
more highly of yourself than you ought to think,
but think as to have sound or sober judgment,
as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.
In the sovereignty of God, he wants you to have
an accurate, sober view of yourself. God wants
you to see yourself the way he sees you. Dearly
loved. Forgiven. And you know the big question
this answers? How do you come to grips with the
real you? This section will teach you how to
come to grips with the real you, and then it
supplies the missing ingredient. Verse one supplies
the power when you understand it. Verse two supplies
the peace. And verse three supplies your purpose.
Because see, God made you specifically. You are
his workmanship. You're created in Christ Jesus
unto a good work, which before the foundations
of the earth. So guess what? He's gifted you
to do something specific. Do you know how freeing
it is to understand this is why I'm here. My
purpose is this. And this is what I'm good at
and this is what I'm not good at. This is where
I need help and this is where I need to step
out and let God use me. It's revolutionary. It's
absolutely revolutionary. I have a good friend
over in Santa Cruz and he was a fellow entrepreneur.
He ran... half of the United States of one of
those really, really giant companies and saw
that he was kind of losing touch with his family
and the travel. And so he decided that he would
start a business of his own. And so he developed
these, about 26 of these stores around that,
you know, kind of like Joanne's or Michael's,
but he called it by his wife's name, which I
thought was very nice. And he became a mentor
of mine. I spent a lot of time and he would help
me. And I was teaching through sort of in the
infant stages of my journey about a sober self
-assessment and a part of that understanding
what your primary spiritual gift is. And he went
through that. And you know what? Just people
are people in his world. Okay, he was a good
business guy. He became very successful. When
you're very successful in business, he made a
lot of money. So there he was a good leader and
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Because you
know what his whole, like 25 years of church
experience was? Sitting on committees in meetings
where everyone wanted to talk about money and
then counting money afterwards. And if there
was ever a capital campaign, Dick, you do it.
And he said, I hated it all. And we went through
a journey and he discovered his spiritual gift.
And he discovered what he likes to do is launch
things. And what he likes to do is equip people.
And what he likes to do is bring together networks.
And so he said, you know what? I just decided
I'm not going to be on any more boards. This
was a spiritual decision. He said, this is what
I'm going to do. And he actually was the one
that launched Living on the Edge. It was his
idea. He's the guy who got it going. And I can
now tell you four, five, six, seven, eight different
ministries he's launched. And he just says there's
such joy when you figure out how God made you
and you fulfill your purpose. Do you know yours?
Do you realize how so much of Christendom is
like people got like another job? And often a
job you don't like. And often a job you don't
like and you're actually not doing very well
at. That's not true spirituality. True spirituality
is relational. It's practical. It's measurable.
It's normal people like us that are surrendered
to God on a day where we actually cross that
line and then progressively we're separate from
the world's values and then we develop a sober
self -assessment. And we start to discover our
purpose and why we're here and it actually gets
downright exciting. The fourth thing you see
is that it's relationship with believers is it's
serving in love. True spiritual maturity is love
must be sincere, and the word literally is without
a mask or without hypocrisy. Hate what is evil,
cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another
in brotherly love. And then the rest of that
passage, we'll unpack it and it'll talk about
honoring one another and giving preference to
one another. And it's really about people that
actually know each other and like each other
and sacrifice for one another and pray for one
another and do whatever it takes to help one
another. And it's like doing life in community.
But you serve in love, but it's real love. It's
not a... A meeting I go to, it's not okay, you
know, we made it three out of four times this
month. I'm feeling really good about that checkbox.
I read the Bible four times this week. It's so
different when it's a relationship with this
God who loves you so much and you open his word
with a sense of holy trembling that he would
so love and want to speak to you today and he
would love to hear what's on your mind and on
your heart. And actually his spirit lives inside
of these other people called other fellow Christians.
And he's deposited gifts in them. And he wants
to hug you through them. And he wants to love
you through them. And he wants to hold you accountable
through them. He wants to encourage you through
them. And are you ready? He wants you to do that
right back. And there's this amazing thing in
the early church. Remember what Jesus said? A
new commandment I give unto you. To the early
disciples, John 13, that you love one another,
how? Just as I've loved you. By this, not by
buildings, not by external morality, by this
the world will know that the Father has sent
me by how you love one another. And this section
of true spirituality from Romans 12 answers the
question that we all struggle with is how do
I experience authentic community? Boy, there's
so many lonely people. I don't mean just being
in a group. I don't mean just being a member
of something. I mean, how do I experience where
there's someone or two or three in my life that
I can unzip my heart and I can risk putting it
out there and I can tell them things and I won't
be condemned and they'll support me and love
me. And when I'm going through a horrendous time,
they'll be there for me and they know I'd be
there for them. You ready? Having some friends
who would literally, not figuratively, not metaphorically,
friends who would die for you. That's authentic
community. And I'll tell you what, when you get
around people that love each other like that,
it's powerful. You know what's missing in most
Christians' lives? It's not just power. It's
not just purpose. You know what's missing in
most Christians' lives? Experiencing God's presence.
Somehow it's like we do these things and we hope
God will do this and like he's out there somewhere,
somehow, someway. Do you know God's primary plan
apart from when you read his word or you're talking
to him or meditating? Do you know his primary
way to manifest his presence? It's through other
Christians. I mean, if an angel comes at the
middle of the night at the foot of your bed tonight,
go for it. Tell me about it later. And if he
hugs you and, Fixes you a meal and says, you
know, tell me what's really going on inside because
I really want to hear it because I really care.
God bless you. But for 99 .9 % of all the rest
of us, you know how Jesus is going to show up
in your life? He's going to show up in the body
of another person. A man or a woman or a fellow
student where there's kind of this chemistry
and this... safety and this love, and you're
devoted to one another in brotherly love. And
you give preference to one another in honor.
And you do life together. You're listening to
Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. We're halfway
through today's message, so don't go anywhere
just yet. Today's insightful lesson comes from
our series called God's Dream for Your Life.
Want to dig deeper into these truths? Well, the
full series is ready for you online at Living
on the Edge. Well, now let's rejoin Chip with
today's message. The final portion of becoming
a Romans 12 Christian isn't just your relationship
with God or your relationship with the world
or yourself or believers, but the evil in the
world. Relationships with non -believers that
are hostile to the gospel. And unfortunately,
sometimes relationships with believers that are
evil and hostile toward you. But it's supernaturally
responding to evil with good. Here the Apostle
Paul, you can hear him just reaching into the
Sermon on the Mount by the Spirit of God. Bless
those who persecute you. Bless and curse not.
Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave
room for the wrath of God. Vengeance is mine.
I will repay. If your enemy's hungry, what do
you do? Feed him. If your enemy's thirsty, what
do you do? Give him a drink. Do not be overcome
with evil. See, we're humans. Evil is going to
come into all of our lives on your little journey
on this earth. Some of you had more than others.
You're going to get ripped off. You're going
to get betrayed. You're going to have mates walk
out on you. You're going to have kids say terrible
things to you. You're going to have people who
you've loaned them money and they promise to
pay it back. And guess what? They're not going
to. And there's evil that's sort of systemic.
You can love God with all your heart. Guess what?
Christians that love God with all their heart
get cancer. They get hit by drunk drivers. They
get swooped into down economies and lose their
homes. And they've been faithful with their finances.
Evil is coming your way. So what's true spirituality?
What I love about what God says, true spirituality
is how the Spirit of God lives the life of Christ
out in relationship with my Heavenly Father,
with the world, with myself, with believers,
and then with unbelievers when the raw deals
are coming my way. The question it answers is
how do you overcome the evil aimed at you? And
the thing that most Christians, listen carefully,
most Christians have missing in their life is
perspective. We all could probably take out a
three by five card or get out your mobile device
and press the little app where it says notes
and we could probably all list four or five people
that used to walk with God that don't walk with
God now. After their mate walked out on them.
After the car wreck. After they got ripped off
at work, right? See, there's a reason that almost
25 % of the book of Genesis is dedicated to the
life of Joseph. Because Joseph is a picture of
true spirituality, of how do you respond at the
evil aimed at you. And it wasn't easy. And I
mean, he was betrayed. falsely accused, forgotten,
sold. But that little phrase, the Lord was with
Joseph. And do you know what Joseph had? Perspective.
Joseph kind of took, even though they didn't
have him in those days, follow it. Joseph took
the helicopter of spiritual perspective. And
in those days in prison or falsely accused, he
just kept taking that helicopter up really, really,
really high and looking at all of it and saying,
you know something? There's a sovereign God that
either decreed or allowed this and he loves me
and I don't know how it's going to work out.
But if I don't bail out and trust him, he'll
work it for my good and he'll do in me and through
me what could never happen. And so I refuse to
be bitter. I refuse to not forgive. I refuse
to become a victim. I refuse to let the world
shape me. I will trust my God because I have
perspective. And he would say to his brothers
at the very end of the book, you meant it for
evil. but God meant it for good. If all those
difficult things wouldn't have happened, he would
have not been the second most powerful person
in all the world, and he would have not saved
the Jewish nation. And God has a game plan, and
you have a Joseph story to live out. It'll be
a big one for some, a smaller one for others.
Are you starting to catch what true spirituality
is all about? It's about relationships. It's
measurable. I mean, you can measure. Am I surrendered?
Am I separate from the world's values? Do I have
a sober self -assessment? Am I serving in love?
Am I supernaturally responding to evil with good?
And then it helps you ask and answer those questions.
And little by little, as we walk through this
together, you will begin to experience as you
trust and obey by faith God's power, God's peace,
God's purpose. God's presence and God's perspective.
And that's why I'm so excited. And you know what
I love about this? Guess whose book we got this
out of? This text? It's just the Bible. It's
true. What Jesus said to them, he said to us,
if you abide in my word, and that word just means
if you take it in for the purpose of apply it
by faith, then you'll know the truth and the
truth will set you free. As you turn over the
notes, I want to close with this one very important
perspective. There is a danger on our journey.
Like every journey, there's dangers. But there's
a danger on our journey to begin to very subtly
begin to think that sort of the R12 journey or
the Romans 12 journey is like a moral code and
a set of bars to live up to, okay, I'm gonna
be surrendered, I'm gonna be separate, super
self -assessment, I think I got that down, I'm
gonna serve in love, and let's see, I can't remember
the last one, supernaturally respond to something
with something. And you can turn it into, The
very thing we're trying to avoid. And so I want
to remind you that true spirituality has nothing
to do with living a good life so that God will
love you. True spirituality has everything to
do with beginning to grasp the height and depth
and length and breadth of how much God has already
loved you, has demonstrated that love, and you
living out of the freedom of that love. And so
I just put the little chart of the entire book
of Romans. What did he do? Chapters one through
three, all of us fall short of the glory of God.
We sugarcoat this. This isn't just being not
a nice person. We have sinned. We've betrayed
God. We're people that have committed treason
and he's holy. And his just wrath is upon us
for what we have done. And that's the problem.
In chapters four and five, there's a solution.
The solution to sin is salvation. Jesus, fully
man, fully God, lived a perfect life, died upon
the cross to pay for your sin and rose from the
dead and offers a free gift to whosoever would
believe and receive it. Chapter 6 through 8 goes
on to talk about how this new life is lived.
And he didn't leave us alone. It wasn't a moral
code. Try hard. He said, the spirit of the living
God in the new covenant will take up residence
inside your mortal body. After he takes you out
of the kingdom of darkness, he places you in
the kingdom of light. And his spirit takes up
residence in the living. presence of Christ and
the power of Christ by the word of God and the
community of God's people births, literally Paul
talks about, until Christ is formed in you. That's
called sanctification. And it's a journey, and
often it's two steps forward and three back and
then four steps forward, but you grow. And then
finally he reminded them that God always keeps
his promises. So chapters 9 through 11, his promises
to the Jews will be fulfilled, but they fumbled
the ball in terms of their responsibility as
a blesser and an instrument of God. And so he
says, I'm going to take them out of the game
and I will fulfill everything I made promises
to Abraham and to David. But the church is going
to be my agent of blessing until I call time
out and bring the very final days of history
to a close. And after 11 chapters of regardless
of where you've been, God loves you, died for
you, puts his spirit inside of you and will keep
every promise. Therefore, I urge you brothers
to what? Offer your bodies a living sacrifice.
Have you ever placed your faith in Christ personally
to forgive your sin? Because what I've seen over
and over is People just unconsciously think I'm
trying hard to be this good person. And it's
interesting and they begin to experience some
change. But what sometimes they never realize
is you need on a certain day at a certain time
to be born from above or to be born again. And
that's back in chapter three and the beginning
of chapter four. And where you come to God on
a day like today and you just honestly admit,
God, I need your help. I violated a holy God
today. I believe your blood paid for my sin and
your resurrection proved it's true. And on this
day, I want to ask you to come into my life forever
to forgive me and to be my father. And if you've
never done that, that's the smartest, wisest,
best thing you'll ever do. This is Living on
the Edge with Chip Ingram. and a message from
our series, God's Dream for Your Life. Today,
Chip showed us what Romans 12 Christianity looks
like, experiencing God's presence through authentic
community and responding supernaturally to evil.
Chip will be back with one final word in just
a moment. Friend, for over 30 years, Living on
the Edge has been committed to one mission, helping
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but relational, practical, measurable Christianity
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originally preached. Subscribe today. Well, now
here's Chip. What we've described, this dream,
is really normal Christianity. I mean, if you
had a video camera and you could, in the first
30 years of the church, sort of just walk around,
you know, like Peter and then later the Apostle
Paul and James and John and the boys, what you
would have seen as, you know, thousands of people
came to Christ in the midst of a very, very difficult
culture and opposition and persecution, what
you would have seen as them, by the power of
God, living surrendered lives, combating the
idols of the world and being separate from the
world, and accurately discovering who God made
them to be, radically serving one another. It's
just amazing what happened in the early church.
And if we could take that camera through the
centuries of church history, what we've described
in the last two days is simply what it means
to be a genuine follower of Jesus. And so can
I ask you, where are you at? Which of these five
relationships do you need to say, Lord, I need
your help here. I want to be a follower of Jesus.
I want your dream to be a reality in my heart,
my life, my relationships. Let me ask you, will
you ask God to give you clear direction? And
then join me in our next broadcast as we continue
this journey together. I'm Dave Drewy, and we'll
see you next time as we continue our series called
God's Dream for Your Life, Monday on Living on
the Edge. Today's program is produced and sponsored
by Living on the Edge.