Skip to content From the Inside Out Part 6 Jun 17 · 46 min ...more
Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Support this leader
Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Give
Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
56K followers
Since 2000 Every Man Ministries has been activating men worldwide to live out their truest identity in Christ through its discipleship resources, live events, and steaming platform.
56K followers
Living from the Inside Out 0:03 Welcome men to the men's global live stream, and here we are. We are in our final session in our series through first Timothy and the Bible for every man, a series that we've0:14 entitled from the inside out. And in it, we've really been looking at a letter that Paul wrote to Timothy, a letter that Paul wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to his spiritual son, Timothy, to0:26 encourage Timothy as he was sort of confronting things in a church, that had gotten a bit sideways. And all throughout this letter, we've seen just like we see when we look into our own lives0:38 that a lot of the problems that we face often have very little to do with what's going on out here and much more to do with what's going on inside here inside of us. But we've also seen0:50 that a lot of the good stuff in our life, the gifts, growth, new community, a lot of that comes through the work that the Holy Spirit is doing within us. And so we've been reminded that the Christian1:02 life is really an inside out game. You know, even the quality of the relationships between us, usually have a lot more to do with what's going on inside of each of us. So it's time to finish it1:14 up. So grab your bible and turn with me to first Timothy chapter 6. It's important to remember as with all scripture that this letter was not originally written, with careful1:25 numbering, chapters, verses, organized sections. Those were added later so that you and I could navigate, and study description, kind of find our way around it. But this entire book was 1 long letter1:37 written from Paul to Timothy and this final section kind of serves as a culmination, as a final challenge, to the reader. And for us kind of final words of strong encouragement from1:49 Paul as he's really wrapping up his thoughts. And so he says this to the young apprentice. We're gonna start actually in verse 2. It says teach these things Timothy and encourage everyone to obey2:01 them. Now some people may contradict our teaching but these are the wholesome teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. These teachings promote a godly life. Anyone who teaches something different2:13 is either arrogant or lacks understanding. Such a person has an unhealthy desire to quibble over the meaning of words. This stirs up arguments ending in jealousy, division,2:26 slander, and evil suspicions. These people always cause trouble. Their minds are corrupt. They've turned their backs on the truth. To them, a show of godliness is just a way to become wealthy.2:38 A lot going on here. Paul starts off by saying basically this to Timothy. Timothy, all the stuff we've talked about, I want you to live it out. I want2:50 you to live according to these things, but not only you. I want you to teach and I want you to encourage others to do the same thing. And then he he uses a word that we just we don't love3:02 as a culture. He says I want you to encourage them to obey. Obey that word. It just conjures up such bad feelings in our flesh. Right? It brings up thoughts of control3:15 of someone else enforcing their will of of submission. But for God's man, obey is not a 4 letter word. In fact, it's the only3:26 right response. When God's man encounters God's word, obedience is the only appropriate response. When God's man3:38 encounters the life altering word of God, when it starts to get inside of him, what it reveals to him must be obeyed. It's the only appropriate response. And it's our response3:50 because of our reverence, because out of our deep awe, our holy fear for who God is. And then it's also born out of the humility of recognizing who we are.4:02 And yet somehow as a culture we stiff arm obedience even as God's men were tempted to as if what God wants for us, as if his precepts and his truth in scripture isn't what's best for us or our4:14 lives. Jesus said this about his word in John chapter 8. Now he was addressing a bunch of people who were struggling with obedience. They were struggling with disbelief and struggling to4:26 remain in obedience. He said this, Jesus said, you are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you'll know the truth and the truth4:38 will set you free. Look at the connection that Jesus makes there. He says true discipleship is really put on display when you remain faithful to my4:50 teachings. When you don't simply know them or consider them or understand them or even believe them. He says true discipleship is revealed when we start to live them out.5:02 Putting them into practice displaying what it is that we truly believe. Obeying everything according to God's word. And then right away, we're reminded of the benefit of the5:14 net result. What is it that we find as a result of of obedience as a result of remaining faithful submitting to God's teaching? We find freedom as true disciples. We hold5:25 tightly to the word of God and then we discover the truth. That truth becomes the anchor of our life and it sets us free. So in first Timothy in Paul's letter, he's lovingly reminding5:37 Timothy of this. He's saying unless you guys hold tightly to the Word of God, you're not gonna find that freedom. In fact the opposite is gonna happen if obedience isn't your5:49 response then you won't know the truth and you'll remain captives to sin, to fear, and to the flesh. But6:01 Paul remember is not just encouraging Timothy to simply teach this stuff. He's not just saying focus on making sure what you say is true. He says watch out. Watch out because6:13 other people are gonna come along and they're gonna teach a different and even a false version of the gospel. So his calling is kind of double edged. Right? He's called to teach truth and also6:24 recognize lies. We need to be doing the same thing today boys. We've talked at length in our journey through first Timothy about the growing problem that we're seeing unfortunately even6:36 inside of many churches today where people are deciding which parts of the Bible are worthy of our obedience. Where they're deciding which parts are still relevant and6:48 which parts aren't. It begs an immediate question. When will we ever know when to stop? You guys ever tried to give yourself a haircut? You cut too much7:00 and then there's no going back. So you just keep cutting more and cutting more, and you know what happens eventually? You've got the buzzed head. How do we know when to stop editing God's word?7:12 How do we decide what's in and what's out? That's not the humble position that says word you tell me, word you are the supreme authority of my life. God your revealed word is what I submit to because as I see it7:24 either the entirety of scripture is good and right and true, all of it, or none of it. Because the only thing the Bible cannot be is mostly7:36 true. Like the prince's bride, he was mostly dead. Doesn't happen. The Bible is completely true. The Bible is not true for a certain point of history.7:49 Whenever we have problems with the Bible, boys, that's an us problem. That's not a scripture's problem. Scripture is true all the time. And so Paul also says, you need to teach8:01 what is true. You need to watch for those that are teaching what is untrue because ultimately, these people have an unhealthy desire to quibble and to argue over the meaning of words.8:14 Arguing over words. Getting us to question whether or not the Bible actually says what it clearly says, trying to adjust, twist, alter8:26 what the Bible actually means, muddying the water, causing confusions, asking questions about what did God really intend. Not with a desire to understand, not with a heart that's studying the word, but with a desire to8:38 confuse and to divide. It reminds me of someone. Wasn't there someone else in scripture whose question was did God really8:50 say? Anytime we twist the words of scripture or adjust the words of scripture we're really looking to do 1 thing. We,9:01 like the enemy, have come up with the truth of God's word in conflict with our own desires. And so the option is clear. We adjust and submit our desires or we adjust and pervert9:14 the word. It's a desire to disobey without feeling guilty. So instead of holding tightly, following closely, we begin to hold the word9:26 loosely. We begin to follow but at a distance and we all know where that led Peter on the night that Christ was betrayed. A series of slow decisions including following Jesus9:37 at a distance. Right? Reading the truth. But instead of submitting to it, we try and kind of skirt the edges. When we stop seeing how close we can get,9:49 things go bad real quick. Whenever God's man tries to see how far away he can get. Guys, this happens often when I speak, to10:01 young adults. And then inevitably we get questions, from couples that are in dating relationships where they want to know how far can we go physically and still be within10:13 God's plan for marriage? Terrible question Understanding how close we can get to fire without being burned. How much poison the body can tolerate before it starts to shut10:25 down. Why would we ever want to know how far away from God's plan we can get? We have to fight the urge to adjust God's word to fit around our lives and10:37 our desires as what Paul is saying these false teachers will do. Instead as God's man, we adjust our lives around the teaching of God's word it10:49 shapes us. And Paul gets real practical real quick because he knows that 1 of the key areas that you and I are going to be most tempted to do this. Most tempted to11:01 ignore, to stiff arm the word of God, to try to soften the rough edges or to try to outright disobey is with regards to money. Because we've been sold a lie and11:12 we've bought the lie that we can have as much as we want. That we can amass as much wealth as we desire. That we can sacrifice whatever we need to sacrifice time and relationships even time with God and11:24 that our lives will be all good. But look what Paul says. Right after talking about the things that we must live into, he says this in verse 9 and 10.11:36 But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and they're trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction.11:49 For the love of money is at the root of all kinds of evil, and some people craving money have wandered from the true faith and pierce themselves with many12:01 sorrows. But I want you to notice the language. People who long for, who desire. Later it says in the passage12:13 those that love money that have a craving for it have ultimately wandered and pierced themselves with all sorts of troubles.12:25 And if you notice that language has very little to do with behaviors around money with amounts of money where the problems begin. It has everything to do with heart attitudes towards12:36 money. Money is no different than anything else we've been discussing over the last 5 sessions. Remember when we're talking about money, it's an inside out issue. Right? That12:48 longing, those desires, temptation, the love of things, men, money is always a heart issue. It's always an issue of the heart and what it13:00 is that money does to our hearts. How money seeks to take control of our hearts. Notice Paul never says that there's something inherently wrong with money itself.13:12 Money is arbitrary. It could be anything. In this passage, Paul is only talking about heart positions, attitudes, intentions, emotions that then become13:23 motivations that ultimately become actions. Paul is saying, when money sits as our chief desire, when money becomes what we seek after,13:36 it will start to dominate our minds. It will start to control our thoughts. And once it has our minds, it moves to our hearts and it starts to control our emotions13:48 and it starts to inform our feelings until ultimately it starts to control our hands and our actions until we've accumulated what we believe is enough of it.14:00 Enough of it. That is the lie that we would all do well to expose in our own lives because when we think about our desires for money, the stuff that we want, oftentimes as followers of14:12 Jesus, we're trying to figure out some equation, some amount that leads to happiness but still protects my holiness. Right? I want to know kind of how much does it take, to where I don't have fear, to where I don't have14:24 worries, to where I'm pretty comfortable, but I'm not too comfortable. So I still trust in God, but here's the reality. There's no equation. We have to expose the human heart because when it comes to money, what14:36 I really want is more. I always want a little bit more. A little more money, a little14:48 more authority, a little more autonomy at work, or a little more flexibility, a little more vacation time. This becomes a treadmill that our enemy will run us to15:00 death upon until we realize I don't want things. I just want more. If we back up a bit, guys, Paul addresses this heart issue just15:11 before this when he's talking about contentment. Look at verses 6 and 7. Yet godliness with contentment is itself great wealth.15:24 After all, I love this reminder. We brought nothing into the world when we came into it, and we can't take anything with us when we leave it. So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be, there's that word again,15:35 content. Paul is saying you've got to start inside and you have to rewire your brains to think correctly, to think biblically. To pause right there,15:47 that's the intention of these series of the Bible for every man is developing and then implementing a biblical worldview where God's word becomes the lens through which we see everything. Right now15:59 we're shining it on contentment and godliness and how we're supposed to interact with money. So we reject the lie that culture has given us that success is measured by16:11 excess. Right? That the more I have the better I should feel. Let's reclaim the idea that rich, the true wealth is to live according to God's word. That tells me that it's godliness16:23 partnered up with contentment. That's what makes wealth. That's the equation for enough. Choosing to be content is not about giving up on your desires.16:36 It's not about, I guess this is my lot in life. It's not about just making peace with your position. To choose a heart attitude of contentment isn't really about giving anything up at all.16:49 It's the conscious decision to choose to be content. And it's not a response. It's always a choice. Contentment is the choice to value17:01 what it is that we have and deem that that is enough. And I think we do remember to remind ourselves that our flesh is always gonna decline that offer. Our flesh17:13 does not believe that we have enough. It always wants more. It'll convince us that we need more. And if it can't sell us need, it'll convince us that we deserve more.17:25 And marketers and social media influencers are filming clips all day long to try to convince you of this. And if we're not careful, we bite that hook. We buy the product only to find out that in 6 months,17:37 version 2 is coming out and you need to get a new bigger better whatever. Remember money is not the issue. It's a heart position. So contentment can't be reached through17:49 in a dollar amount because it's a heart position. But if money isn't bad, right? We've heard that money is arbitrary then is there instruction about what we are supposed to do with it?18:01 Can can money be redeemed? Can it be used to even do things that are good? Spoiler alert. Yes. Jump down with me. Paul gives us some great encouragement on what we should do with our wealth in verses18:13 17 through 19. With what God has entrusted us, Paul says this, teach those who are rich in this world. Let's go to the heart. Not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable.18:25 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 good18:37 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 foundation18:49 for the future so that they may experience true life. So again, we see the heart issue of money. But in these verses, Paul is moving beyond contentment. Right? The stuff that we want,19:01 desires, needs. And he's really getting at the deeper heart issues whenever we start to attach our self worth to our net worth.19:13 Whenever we start to believe that what we have or what we lack, in personal value is based on what we have in wealth. That's why he says, tell those who are rich not to be proud. Tell them not to associate19:25 the things they have with their value. Because that's the allure of wealth that it would tell us who we are, that it would give us our personal confidence. But then he also gets into a deeper issue when he19:36 says, tell them that their trust should be in God. And there it is. We've talked about idols over the last couple of weeks. Money has the potential to19:48 be 1 of the greatest idols and I know I've gotten off track when it's my bank account that brings me peace, when it's my bank account that gives me hope, when I think about the future and I find that I'm20:00 okay when I think that I'll have enough money to solve my problems. Money is not bad, but when it usurps Christ's place as our20:12 peace, as our hope, as our confidence, now we've gotten off track. But I love that he's flips their script and kinda redeems it and says, actually,20:23 money can be used to do incredible things. He says use it use it well use it prayerfully use it eternally invest in kingdom things Find places where the word of God is20:35 going out where where people are encountering Jesus Christ and then get on board with your finances. Someday, we'll look back at the money that we offered and the money that we withheld.20:47 And I promise you at that point, reminds me of the final scene in Schindler's List. When he's done so much with his wealth but he has this this moment when he looks at the car that he kept and the20:59 suit that he has even down to the pin that he's wearing and he says, all of this could have been used better. Man, I don't want that for you or me. I want us to get to heaven feeling as though we properly21:11 invested everything the Lord entrusted to us and we saw eternal dividends. Now there's been a lot of things kind of building in this passage you can feel it21:23 so far. Right? We've seen some traps that the enemy lays out. We've exposed the reality that our hearts are gonna be the source of some of these these temptations that we're gonna be drawn into. And so at this point,21:34 Paul lays out a new encouragement for Timothy, kind of a broader encouragement. 1 that I think we all have to grab a hold of and take seriously because it's gnarly. Look at verse21:46 11. But you, Timothy, are a man of God so run from all these things. But you, Timothy, you are21:58 God's man. Paul starts off by reminding Timothy who he is, who he truly is, his deepest identity. He says, Timothy, you are a man22:10 of God. And he starts with identity because like we said, identity drives all of our activity. Everything we do comes out of who we are. And so it's important to remember who we are because if we forget,22:22 if we lose sight of, if we have a false identity, if something is untrue that we're believing about who we are, now our actions will falter. And so God has put people in our lives22:34 like he put Paul in Timothy's life to remind us to remind us who we are. And identity is so important because if we know who we are then we'll know what to do.22:47 If we remember who it is that we truly are, we start to live out of that overflow. Who it is we believe ourselves to be for God's man, it's Jesus Christ and not culture22:59 that gets to define our identity. And it practically looks like this. When I've settled the fact that I belong to Christ, that I'm his, that you and I have been purchased,23:12 ransomed, forgiven, set free, declared righteous. Now we can act in accordance with that truth. We can live that truth out.23:24 But where did that identity lead Timothy when he when he was reminded of I am God's man? That those things are true about me. What was the next action? It was to run from things that were ungodly.23:38 Flee. As in you ain't gotta go home, but you gotta get up out of here. Don't play around with this stuff. Don't tolerate it. Treat it like cancer. Don't allow a hint of it in your23:50 life. It's gonna grow. It's gonna take over. He's saying flee from that stuff because that's not who you are. But as God's man, we need a we need a bearing. We need a heading. We don't just run aimlessly24:02 away from sin to find ourselves in different sin. We have to run towards something. Brothers, the Christian life can never be reduced24:15 to simply avoiding sin Because the Christian life is pursuing the righteousness of Christ. It was always a both and with Jesus. When he saw24:27 people in sin, it was walk away from that and come walk with me. We don't just flee sin to live lives of of kind of neutral, indifference. So we don't just flee sin to try24:38 to clean ourselves up. We run away from sin. We run towards Jesus. Paul knows this. Keep reading. Paul says, what do you wanna do? Pursue righteousness and a godly24:50 life along with faith and love and perseverance and gentleness. What he's saying is those sinful things that that's not gonna lead to love and and perseverance. He's saying come25:02 towards Christ. Fight the good fight for the true faith. Hold tightly to the eternal life to which god has called you, to which you've25:14 declared so well before so many witnesses. This is an active passage. He says pursue. Show show perseverance. He says fight.25:27 Hold tightly. Hold fast. I love it, man, because it reminds me that the life of following Jesus is an active life. It's not passive. It's not primarily cerebral25:39 or intellectual or ethereal. If you look at that list you'll also see it's not easy. I mean those are heavy words holding tightly fighting back25:52 against an enemy against an ensnared culture that's living in opposition to the truth. But God's man remembers he's not fighting against the26:03 culture. We have 1 enemy. We are fighting against Satan for this culture. And the only hope, our only weapon, the gospel of26:15 Jesus Christ. It's the only hope of the world. It's the only answer. I care deeply about who our next president is, but make no mistake, that's not where my hope is. I care26:27 about who sits on our city council, but that's not where my greatest trust or my greatest faith is. That's not what brings me peace. We have to remember brothers, there is no system that we can reform,26:39 no laws that we can change that a bad heart cannot destroy. But there are also no bad systems and no terrible laws out there in this world that a heart26:50 transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ cannot overcome. It's the perfect answer. It's the right response. It's our holy weapon. We don't just need a bunch of government adjustments,27:02 changes in our schools and workplaces. Those would be great, but those things will not last. And our God has always done incredible things in times of27:14 terrible opposition and oppression. The hope of the world is in the heart that is transformed by the love of Jesus Christ. Period. That's where the27:26 series bottoms out. The Christian life, the changes that we wanna see in this world, everything that we wanna see out there, remember, I first have to experience in here.27:38 All the changes in the world are gonna come from the inside out. So we minister truth to the inside of every man. Look at the encouragement in verse 20. Guard what27:50 god has entrusted to you. Guard it. Protect it. Fight for it. And so it begs the question, what28:02 has been entrusted to me? Well, first and foremost, the gospel. The truth about who Jesus is. The truth about who we are apart from him. Our faith. The hope that we have in28:14 Jesus. That reality that we were all once dead in our sins separated, but now alive in Christ, that truth, that gospel message has been entrusted to us. What does it mean to28:26 protect it? In our own lives and in our own hearts, we must first protect the true gospel. We have to defend the true gospel in here in here. I have to make sure that I have28:37 it right. I have to remind myself of it constantly. Paul says, I pray I never get beyond this. I pray the cross is always the thing that's right in front of me. We've said it before guys. The enemy's weapon of28:49 choice it seems like in culture today is untruth. It's lies. Untruth shot at the heart of God's children. Right? Our enemy wanted to become like29:01 God. Spoiler alert, he failed. But now he hates God and the things that God loves which includes us. So the enemy is always trying to sell us an untrue gospel. He tries to pervert29:13 the gospel from the core from the inside of our hearts by getting us to question the nature of our salvation. And he does this by trying to convince you and I that we are either just not good enough or29:26 that if we tried a little harder, we could earn God's favor. Tries to shame us into the lie that we're not good enough or he tries to tug at our pride as if maybe we've already29:38 achieved this goodness, but neither 1 is true. And really guys, that's the good news. That's what makes the gospel good news. What we were powerless to do for ourselves live29:50 according to God's perfect standards, Jesus did for us. So don't ever believe the lie that you either earned God's favor or that you somehow lost it. Because 1 is30:02 gonna lead us into pride thinking that we've earned the blessings that God has given us or maybe somehow our wonderful obedience has forced his hand. The other lie leads us into30:13 shame. The lie that we're too far gone. That God's just too disappointed with us and we'll never be able to come back into a position of favor. And people have always made this type30:25 of error in thinking because the gospel doesn't make sense. It's quite literally too good to be true. Jesus was once trying30:37 to drive this point home. Trying to clearly explain the nature of our salvation, the gospel, God's heart towards us. He was surrounded by tax collectors and sinners.30:49 Isn't it funny to you that all kinds of people that were nothing like Jesus really liked Jesus? They followed him around. They were curious. They surrounded him. They wanted to hear his teaching. So31:01 this is who Jesus is surrounded with. And he's trying to ensure that people had the true and clear gospel. That the idea of31:13 pride and entitlement and the ideas of shame and inadequacy that both of those things were gonna pervert the gospel in their hearts. So Jesus told them this story in Luke chapter 15.31:25 He says there once was a guy who had 2 sons and he goes on to talk about 1 of the sons who got really really lost. So son goes out31:37 and and he says to his dad, I want my inheritance now. Well, in this culture, as in all cultures, you get your inheritance when the parents pass. But to say that in this culture was really like31:49 saying, dad, I wish you were dead. All I want is your stuff. But I I I wish you were gone, and I just and I had your things. So the dad's brokenhearted, but he says, okay.32:02 Take your money. And so the son takes it and he goes to Vegas. Not Vegas, but Galilean Vegas. Waste the money. Makes terrible choices. The partying stops and he's all alone. And he's completely32:14 hopeless. But he comes to his senses. Right? At his very lowest point, he figures, I'd be better off at least going home and being a slave in my dad's house. At least then I could eat. So he goes32:26 home and Jesus paints a beautiful picture of the gospel of Jesus Christ and of God's heart towards you and towards me. It says this, while the32:38 son was a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and32:50 kissed him. Says he fell upon him and began kissing his neck. I remember when my kids were babies. Remember this area the skin right here under the neck. It's like perfect. It's undefiled. It's soft. It's all fatty.33:02 I remember just digging my face in there and getting as much of that as I could. That's this dad's picture for his son. Now remember the son had just been lying with pigs, which means he was both ceremonially unclean33:14 and also he was he was funky. He probably smelled terribly. Dad didn't care. Because the dad was showing him and reminding you and I you don't ever have to clean yourself up. Just show up33:26 and God takes care of the rest. This son was lost in a false understanding of the gospel. This son was lost believing the lie that he was just too far gone. The lie33:38 that he had sinned just too bad, that he had known the truth and blown it anyway, that he had embarrassed God's name, That he had just wanted God's stuff and not really God himself that he had wasted the stuff33:50 that God had given him and do you know what his father's response is? Is it the spiritual I told you so speech? Is there a list of really spiritual activities the son34:02 has to do to make himself clean and acceptable again? Is there chastisement of any kind? No. Brothers, this is the same response34:14 our father in heaven has for us as we move towards him. It says that he looked to his servants and he said, bring the finest robe in the house34:26 and put it on him. He was telling the son, you don't have to clean yourself up. I'm gonna cover you up. He was saying, who you think you34:38 are, this life that you're living, this is not who you truly are. He's saying, cover my son. Put my robe on him. Just like on the cross, we were wrapped34:50 in Christ's love, covered with his forgiveness, and God put the righteousness of Jesus on us as a covering. In this story, the robe signifies the covering of Christ35:02 over every lie, over every betrayal, over every false thought. You and I, just like this son, have been clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. But the dad35:14 doesn't stop there. He doesn't just cover him up. He's got more to do with his boy. He says, put a ring on his finger. The ring signified the father's ownership over the son.35:27 This was the God saying to him. This was what the father says to us. This is what the dad was saying to his boy. He's saying, I want you to remember who you are that you belong here with me, That you are mine remember35:39 guys identity drives everything. That's why the father wants to remind him. You're my son This is our family seal. This is the royal. This is the ring that reminds you that you belong to me It's like a promise. Do35:50 you know that scripture says that that's what the Holy Spirit is like for us. It's like a seal. It's like a promise ring. It's like a down payment that someday God is gonna step forward36:02 at the final judgment and say that one's mine belongs to me. Finally, he says, put sandals on his feet. In those days, slaves would go barefoot.36:15 And so the sandals on his feet signify the picture of complete restoration. His status had changed. He was no longer a slave to36:27 sin. He was free. That's the gospel we have to protect, that we're never too far gone, that we cannot do it ourselves, but the Christ has done it perfectly.36:40 But Jesus intentionally told a story about a man who had 2 sons. Well, it turns out the other son was lost too. Now he wasn't lost36:51 far away in sin. He was lost up close in arrogance and performance. When his father called to him to tell him that his brother was home,37:03 it says he was pissed. What? You're We thought your brother was dead. He's now alive and you're mad? That's what scripture says in verse 28. The older37:15 brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, look all these years I've never37:27 disobeyed your orders. Some translations say all these years I've worked for you. That you never gave me a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends, but when this son of yours Oh, by the way, like he didn't37:39 know. The 1 who squandered your property, in case you forgot dad, with prostitutes comes home now and you killed a fattened calf for him. 2 sons. Both of them were lost.37:51 2 perversions of the gospel. 1 was lost far away in the bondage of sin into his own poor decision making and ultimately38:03 lost in the lie that he was too filthy and too unworthy to come home. The other son was lost up close, but lost in a world of earning, of38:15 legalism. He was lost in the pride and the lie that either he had to or that he could or that he had earned, worked for his father's love.38:28 But I want you to notice something very interesting. The story is not about the 2 boys. Remember Jesus didn't say, I want to tell you a story about 238:40 men. Jesus said, I've got a story about a father. A father who had 2 sons. The story, the lesson, the truth,38:52 it's all about who the father is, what he does, how he responds to the sons. And what did God do for his 2 sons?39:04 God ran to meet the son that was lost in sin. But it says, god also went out to meet the son who was lost in pride. It was shameful to draw up his39:16 his robe and run, but he wasn't embarrassed of the son that was far. But he also was compassionate towards the son who wouldn't come in because of his pride. He went towards39:27 both. Nothing can separate us from the love of our father. Not our own sin and not our own pride. Not those feelings of shame or our39:39 unwilling attitudes of unforgiveness or arrogance. Because his grace like that robe covers both of us and that is how Paul finishes his encouragement to Timothy.39:52 By simply asking the father for grace. God's grace be with you all. Isn't that beautiful? The life that God wants for us isShow more In this video 0:00 Living from the Inside Out
5:34
Comments No comments yet. Start the conversation.
Comments
Keep it kind. Comments are public.