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Living Sent (Brett’s edit)
Proverbs 4:23
Kingdom Life - Bethel Church, August 13, 2017
intro
- we have a new identity in Jesus…
God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit
God is our Father, God is our servant-king, God is our sender
we are a family of servants sent to the world around us!
the problem
- living out our new identity is not automatic…
- living sent requires intentionality
Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.
2 Timothy 2:3-4 ESV
training
…let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus…
Hebrews 12:1-2 NLT
Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.
Proverbs 4:23 ESV
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
Jeremiah 17:9 ESV
Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. You must warn each other every day, while it is still "today," so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God. Hebrews 3:12-13 NLT
- we are active in our training
- our “heart” is critical to how we live
- our “heart” is sick!
- God’s family is warned to pay attention to our “heart”
- practical help in dealing with our “heart” disease…
spiritual heart diseases: guilt – anger – greed – envy
guilt says that I owe somebody else – a person or God
- I have wrongly taken something
- there is an imbalance… the debt must be paid or cancelled
- I am enslaved (Proverbs 22:7) I am hindered / slowed down
- God both pays and cancels our debt through Jesus
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9 ESV
…confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
James 5:16 ESV
This is how I want you to conduct yourself in these matters. If you enter your place of worship and, about to make an offering, you suddenly remember a grudge a friend has against you, abandon your offering, leave immediately, go to this friend and make things right. Then and only then, come back and work things out with God.
– Jesus, in Matthew 5:23-24 The Message
- how do we deal with guilt every day? confession & restitution!
anger says others owe me
- I didn’t get what I want, or what I think I deserve
What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
James 4:1-3 ESV
- the problem… we are looking to the wrong source
What do you have that God hasn't given you? And if everything you have is from God, why boast as though it were not a gift?
1 Corinthians 4:7 NLT
- God has you where he thinks best… do you trust him?
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Ephesians 4:31-32 ESV
- how do we deal with anger every day? forgiveness!
greed says I owe me
- greed is rooted in an identity problem
Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own. – Jesus, in Luke 12:15 NLT
- greed is rooted in the idea that I am my own savior
- greed is reluctance to trust God
Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." So we can confidently say, "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?"
Hebrews 13:5-6 ESV
…my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:19 ESV
Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others. By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may experience true life.
1 Timothy 6:17-19 NLT
- how do we deal with greed every day? generosity!
envy (jealousy) says God owes me
- this really is the source of and intertwines with the other issues
- who’s really at the bottom of me not getting what I deserve?
- how do I identify envy in my heart?
Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.
Romans 12:15 ESV
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.
1 Corinthians 13:4-6 ESV
- how do we deal with envy every day? celebration of others!
Heart Disease and the Cure
guilt – I owe others – confession & restitution
anger – others owe me – forgiveness
greed – I owe me – generosity
envy – God owes me – celebration of others
a little story…
from the book Enemies of the Heart by Andy Stanley
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? Jeremiah 17:9 ESV
…out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
– Jesus, in Matthew 12:34 ESV
Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.
Proverbs 4:23 ESV