Future Focus Present Faithfulness Pt 12
“Recalibrating Our Values”
Review
A clear comprehension of the future helps keeps us accountable in the present.
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. 2 Corinthians 5:10
We will all stand before God.
We will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, "AS I LIVE, SAYS THE LORD, EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW TO ME, AND EVERY TONGUE SHALL GIVE PRAISE TO GOD." So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God. Romans 14:10-12
Most every extended passage dealing with future events also includes a strong exhortation to live holy in the present. What sort of people ought we to be today in light of tomorrow’s monumental events? How we live in this life really does affect our life in the next. Hebrews 12 encourages a disciplined life in light of some awesome present spiritual realities and some sobering future accountability. The writer suggested three life pursuits.
? Promote healing among the body.
Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.
? Pursue peace in our relationships with one another.
Pursue peace with all men
? Pursue holiness in our relationship with God.
Pursue the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.
The passage also warns against three struggles that would sidetrack that those pursuits.
Seeing to it that no one comes short of God’s grace.
Seeing to it that no one comes short of the grace of God;
Seeing to it that no root of bitterness take root and defile many.
Seeing to it that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled;
Seeing to it that no one fall prey to the grip of temporal values.
Seeing to it that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears. Hebrews 12:12-17
We have explored all but the last one.
? Guard against failing to appropriate God’s amazing enabling grace; available and sufficient.
? Guard against bitter roots; pervasive and destructive.
? Finally Guard against living according to temporal values.
Failure to daily appropriate God’s enabling grace results in a lack of spiritual power.
Failure to prevent and eradicate bitter roots of negativity results in a lack of inner peace.
Failure to put Christ before everything results in a lack of eternal purpose.
INTRODUCTION
We ALL live according to a value system. We make decisions in life according to what we consider to be important. Somewhere along the way, we categorize our world according to the important and what isn’t. We adopt our values from our parents, mentors, our culture, our peers, our education, observation or from God’s word. We then we allocate our most treasured resources to things we deem important or valuable. We not only establish and prioritize a list of important things. Out of twenty important things, #6 is more important than #3. Only the things I consider important receive my time, my energy, my money, my possessions.
If I consider a formal education important, I will sacrifice time and money to pursue it.
If I consider family important, I will give my personal resources to protect and support it.
If I determine personal pleasure and comfort is important, I will delegate resources to its pursuit.
The list can be short or extensive. It is different for everyone because it develops over our lifetime. What seemed so earth shattering at 13 years old somehow just doesn’t matter much at 65.
Possessions, power, prestige, physical looks, achievement, money, friends, home, recognition, fame, ability, sports, experiences, travel, being loved and accepted, heritage, good marriage, well behaved kids, perfect job, entertainment, feeling good, escaping pain, avoiding conflict.
We spend our whole life trying to figure out and pursue what is important. Because we have limited time, energy and money we must continually decide how to spend those limited resources based on what we consider more important. Allocation of resources ultimately reveals perceived level of importance. Monitor the distribution of resources and you will detect the degree of importance. Our values are not demonstrated by the declaration of our mouth so much as the distribution of our resources. Every Christian would strongly declare that God and His kingdom are of first importance. Yet one cursory glance at our calendar and checkbook more accurately demonstrates what we really consider important.
Scripture admonishes believers over and over again to keep their values properly calibrated.
Seek first the Kingdom of God.
Set your mind on things above.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and strength.
Consider others more important than yourself.
You are lukewarm.
Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Jesus.
You have left your first love.
Though the ages, the enemy keeps switching the appraisal reports. He continually tries to assign high values to the things that count the least in eternity. He assigns low values to the things that will count for eternity. From time to time we must recalibrate our values in light of what the Bible declares important. We need to view life from God’s eternal perspective not Satan’s temporary illusions.
Everyone adopts and lives by a value system.
Satan continually seeks to influence what we consider to be important.
Every believer must continually refocus their values according to the Biblical standard.
I. Be carefully guarded
Hebrews 12 instructs the body to “see to it” that we guard against temporal values. He refers to a character from the Old Testament to make his point. Esau was the brother of Jacob, son of Isaac, son of Abraham the founding father of the Jews. Hebrews identified him as an “immoral and godless person”
A. Guard against self-centered sensuality
“immoral” (pornos)
Our English word “pornography” comes from this Greek word.
To be sexually immoral; to be a fornicator. The word is a broad word including all forms of immoral and sexual acts. It is premarital sex and adultery; it is homosexuality and abnormal sex; it is all kinds of sexual vice, whether married or unmarried.
There is no specific Biblical record of Esau’s sexual immorality but the Bible makes a reference to his marriage to multiple women outside the rules and traditions of Israel.
When Esau was forty years old he married Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite; and they brought grief to Isaac and Rebekah. Genesis 26:34-35
Esau’s marriage to pagan women brought grief to his parents.
The entire culture at the time of this writing was morally bankrupt. Even the church was infected thus triggering this grave warning from God. God instructed them to do everything possible to guard the community from the infiltration of immorality and impurity which devastates the community.
Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. 1 Corinthians 6:18
Immorality in the church is a huge problem today. It is the core of a multitude of internal problems. I believe that anger problems are closely linked to sensual problems. We are a sensualized and sexualized culture. It infects everything – even the church. One recent survey indicated that 60% of the men of a specific congregation had viewed pornography within the last year. People flush their families and everything they own for that next pleasure fix; that numbing sensation. A man will completely mangle his marriage and family for a moment of sexual ecstasy. Esau was a man focused on the sensual. He was wiling to sacrifice the important for the immediate.
Philosophically it is called “hedonism” where pleasure is assigned the highest value.
Life revolves around attaining the next pleasure be it taste, touch, smell, sight, hearing through sex, drugs, entertainment, activities, food, drink. We devote our resources to anything that activates the pleasure centers of the brain. We are a sensualized culture. Everything ahs to do with appealing to the senses. We avoid anything that does not make us feel good.
For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things. Philippians 3:18-19
Paul warned Timothy that in the last days there would arise those who would be lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. We must be on guard against a sensually driven life.
B. Guard against man-centered materialism
Not only was Esau morally impure but “godless.”
Westcott (Greek Scholar) sums up this word by saying that it describes the man whose mind recognizes nothing higher than earth, for whom there is nothing sacred, who has no reverence for the unseen. An unhallowed life is a life without any awareness of or interest in God. In its thoughts, aims, pleasures, it is completely earthbound. — Barclay's Daily Study Bible (NT)
This term describes a person who lives a “life without God”. Spiritual reality ranks far down the value scale. Again we are talking about conduct not creed. Many who affirm God with their mouth avoid him in their everyday life. We live in a culture today where people may attend church regularly but whose lives appear little different to those who don’t. We live a man-centered life. Things become more important than God. Lovers of money. What God says has far less impact than what I feel. For all practical purposes we are “godless”.
The central factor to Esau’s “godlessness” was his willingness to forfeit spiritual blessing and responsibility for a mere moment of sensual satisfaction.
When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field, but Jacob was a peaceful man, living in tents. Now Isaac loved Esau, because he had a taste for game, but Rebekah loved Jacob. When Jacob had cooked stew, Esau came in from the field and he was famished; and Esau said to Jacob, "Please let me have a swallow of that red stuff there, for I am famished." Therefore his name was called Edom. But Jacob said, "First sell me your birthright." Esau said, "Behold, I am about to die; so of what use then is the birthright to me?" And Jacob said, "First swear to me"; so he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew; and he ate and drank, and rose and went on his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright. Genesis 25:27-34
Under Hebrew culture the birthright of the firstborn had to do with the responsibility to care for the family after the elder’s death; to pass on the godly heritage. It was a God-given heritage offering a double portion of inheritance and requiring a continual close connection with God.
Esau was willing to forfeit this special divine privilege and responsibility for a moment’s physical relief. He was too focused on catering to his own fleshly appetites than his spiritual responsibilities. There are ONLY firstborns in the church of Jesus Christ. Everyone is a firstborn.
God grants every Christian this eternal birthright to be a channel of His blessing.
God gives us the privilege and responsibility to disseminate valuable spiritual treasure to the world around us which requires continual connection to the source.
Such a responsibility can only be effectively carried out by those who view relationship with Christ as the absolute number one priority and value in life.
Why isn’t the American church dramatically affecting our pagan, godless culture today?
We have sold our eternal birthright for some temporal pleasure.
We embrace Christ as an escape from hell but ignore Him as a cherished companion.
We live nearly as godless as the pagans around us. We demonstrate little difference in our everyday walk. We have no spiritual power due to our failure to appropriate God’s enabling grace. We experience no inner peace due to our failure to forgive and bless. We live without eternal purpose due to our failure to embrace Christ above all. We want the blessing of being completely devoted to Christ without the cost of such devotion.
The Biblical landscape is littered with those who traded bullion for broth.
Adam and Eve (Gen 3) Achan (Josh 7) Balak (Num 22) Samson (Jud 16) Gehazai (2 Kings 5)
Judas (Matt 26-27) Annanias and Saphira (Acts 5) Demas having loved this present world.
A close cousin to hedonism is materialism. Where hedonism views sensual pleasure as the highest pursuit, materialism views the acquisition of things as the highest pursuit.
John warned the church not to love the world or the things in it.
Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever. 1 John 2:15-17
The world teaches that the highest pursuit in life has to do with pleasure (hedonism), possessions (materialism), prominence (egotism). The world encourages you to spend your time and energy in pursuit of pleasure without self-control, possessions without sharing and prominence without serving or sacrifice. The Bible teaches us to pursue Christ first and foremost. In His right hand are pleasures that last through eternity. He has given us all things to enjoy. In Him we have identity and importance. By reason of our identity with Christ, all of our deepest longings are realized.
Those who spend their life and resources pursuing these things instead of Christ will in the end lose them all. Only those who actually lose their life in pursuit of Christ will in the end gain true life.
The tragedy of an immoral godless life
1. A miserable life
A life dedicated to the pursuit of pleasure ends in miserable frustration because the flesh is never satisfied. Pleasure without self-control leads to addiction. It is a driven life plagued with disappointment, anger, bitterness, broken relationships, depression. A life dedicated to the pursuit of “stuff” is equally miserable because the eye is never satisfied either.
For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. 1 Timothy 6:10
Then He (Jesus) said to them, "Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions." Luke 12:15
2. A missed opportunity to touch eternity
Only later did Esau understand the gravity of his actions.
For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears. Hebrews 12:12-17
Once he forfeited the birthright to Jacob there was no turning back. It had passed to another.
There is only one chance to fulfill our birthright. There is only one chance to know the glory of being a channel of God’s blessing. Once an opportunity passes, it is gone forever. There may be other opportunities but that one is GONE. The time of prayer - The opportunity to share Christ -
The opportunity to encourage a fellow believer - The chance to demonstrate the supernatural grace of Christ over the flesh - Those opportunities for blessing pass us by every time we trade them for the immediate.
Paul urged the Ephesians to make wise use of their time.
Be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. Ephesians 5:15-16
Some life choices bring negative consequences that cannot be reversed. Lost virginity, wasted time, ill spoken words, missed opportunities. Some things just cannot be reversed. You can’t turn back the clock. How many times have we traded ripe opportunities to partner with God in things that count for eternity for a bowl of soup?
II. Be completely devoted
What do you consider more valuable than anything else? We so easily sing “I Surrender All” but actually relinquish very little for the cause of Christ. I’m not like Esau. I am afraid we are more like Esau that we would like to admit.
Let’s get real for a moment. Given your choice, what would you choose?
? Consume 2 hours watching television or a movie or invest two hours waiting on God?
? Spend $100 on a new dress or send $100 to put clothes on a destitute orphan in Russia?
? Tell my funny story or listen to someone else’s not so funny story?
? Vent 15 minutes on how someone hurt you or pray 15 minutes for God to bless them?
? Spend an afternoon vegging on the couch or an afternoon visiting someone in need?
? Plan a vacation of self indulgence or a vacation of sacrificial service?
How much of what we consider important to us has any real connection to anything of eternal significance?
Moses was willing to give up the all the temporal treasures and glory of a world empire.
By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward. Hebrews 11:24-26
Jesus left it all.
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich. 2 Corinthians 8:9
Paul considered it all garbage.
But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Philip 3:7-11
What was Paul’s value scale? The value of knowing Christ far surpassed anything else this world had to offer. So valuable, he was willing to lose everything to pursue it and he did lose it all. Even after he lost it all, he had absolutely no regrets. He still considered it an insignificant loss. Loosing everything brought no more grief than someone stealing trash from a garbage can.
His identity and purpose in life was completely tied to His relationship with Christ.
Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision; for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory(boast) in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh (personal achievement)…Philippians 3:2-3
I will rejoice…according to my earnest expectation and hope…Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Philippians 1:18-21
At any given hour, jets full of people streak across the sky to destinations all over the world.
People from all walks of life jammed into a flying tube.
Rich, poor, sick, healthy, famous, obscure, smart, not so smart, young, old, talented, not so talented, gifted, ordinary, those with family, those without, married, unmarried.
There is one thing that every one of these people has in common.
Should that plane plummet into the ocean and everyone perish, every single one of those people will stand before God with only what was in their hearts. So guard over your heart with all diligence because form the heart flow the springs of life. (Pro 4.23)
At that moment in time the only thing that will matter will be their identity with Jesus Christ.
At that moment in time their degrees will be useless, their money will gain them nothing, their fun filled vacations, their days by the pool, their parties, their lavish dinners, their house, their families will all fade in comparison to the one in front of whom they now stand. None of it will matter. Only one life will soon be past. Only what’s done for Christ will last.
What eternal glories are we forfeiting for a bowl of broth today?
What do we consider more valuable that knowing Christ?
What will you sacrifice today for true satisfaction tomorrow?
Jesus was brutally blunt.
Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. Matthew 16:24
If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. Luke 14:26-27
So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions. Luke 14:33
"To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this: 'I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; and you have perseverance and have endured for My name's sake, and have not grown weary. 'But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 'Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent. 'Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.' Revelation 2:1-7
What is a “first love”? That is the fresh love and passion that drove the relationship at first.
Fiery, exclusive, all-consuming, engaged, sacrificial, focused, creative, spontaneous, constant.
1. Remember! Can you remember when your passion for God was greater than it is now?
2. Repent!
3. Do what you did at first!
We have allowed so much stuff get in the way of our pursuit of God. We have pursued other things to fill our cup. Pleasures or possessions or prominence
Test it! Purge them. Like an addict, we think we can stop any time but when we try to quit there is excruciating withdrawal.
We must be continually guarded against sensuality and materialism.
We must continually remind ourselves of our need to keep Christ our ultimate pursuit in life.
AW Tozer penned this most candid prayer.
Father, I want to know You, but my cowardly heart fears to give up its toys. I cannot part with them without inward bleeding, and I do not try to hide from You the terror of the parting. I come trembling, but I do come. Please root from my heart all those things which I have cherished so long and which have become a very part of my living self, so that You may enter and dwell there without a rival. Then shall You make the place of Your feet glorious. Then shall my heart have no need for the sun to shine in it, for You Yourself will be the light of it, and there shall be no night there.
As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; when shall I come and appear before God? Psalms 42:1-2
O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, In a dry and weary land where there is no water. Thus I have seen You in the sanctuary, To see Your power and Your glory. Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips will praise You. So I will bless You as long as I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness, And my mouth offers praises with joyful lips. Psalms 63:1-5
Seekers of your Heart
Chorus 1
Lord we want to know You Live our lives to show You All the love we owe You We're seekers of Your heart
Verse 1
Until we give You first place Until we let You begin To fill us with Your Spirit Renew us from within
Nothing matters nothing's gained Without Your holy presence Our lives are lived in vain
Verse 2
Because Your heart was broken Because You saw the need Because You gave so freely Because of Calvary
We can now be called Your own Completed creations filled with You alone
