Today we are going to take a posture of peace by not partnering with fear to prove our point.
Posture is a short audible fist bump to remind you God is with you in everything.
Together we're going to be emboldened to take a daily posture of perfect peace.
Okay I am reading a chunk of scripture today that will absolutely embolden you,
and so just sit back for a second and soak this in. Romans chapter 6 verses 3 through 11.
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into
his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ
was raised from the dead by the glory of the father, we too might walk in newness of life.
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him
in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that
the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin,
for one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ,
we believe that we also will live with him. We know that Christ being raised from the dead
will never die again. Death no longer has dominion over him, for the death he died,
he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you must also consider
yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Now before I share the story I'm going to
share, I want you to know this. I love the church. I am the church and when I talk about the church,
the body of Christ, I do not separate myself from it. I always include myself in the collective.
So if I point out something about the church that I think needs to be fixed, I'm not saying
you the church needs to go fix this. I'm saying we the church need to fix this. I really think
it's immature thinking to be a follower of Jesus and think of yourself above or beyond his body.
So with that being said, I recently passed a church sign. You know those marquee signs
outside of churches. Okay honestly the message on this church sign that I passed, it just broke my
heart. First of all, personal opinion, those church signs do us no favors because about 99%
of those marquee church signs are just an attempt to be cleverly convicting to a world that has very
little, maybe zero context for what the message on the sign even means. Okay but this sign, it hit
me harder than usual because of the kind of year the world is experiencing in 2020. The sign said
this, if tomorrow never comes dot dot dot, are you ready? Now that kind of message has been a popular
one among Christian churches for a long time. You know, are you ready for heaven? Are you
prepared for eternity? Yada yada yada. I think why it hit me so hard, I'll say this, I think I saw it
with fresh eyes because so many people right now are truly terrorized by the thought of tomorrow
never coming. So many people are hopeless and afraid about the future. So why do we the church,
Jesus followers, people belonging to the kingdom of God, why do we feel like we have to partner
with fear to get our point across? I think there's a better way. You know who partners with fear to
get people to buy into an idea? Sleazy marketers. Let's not be sleazy marketers. Jesus didn't come
to exploit our fears. He came to cast them out. He put the perfect love that cast out all fears
on display. And as his people, we are displays of his splendor. We are light bearers, not
fear mongers. Now is eternity real? Yes. Is hell real? Yes. Should we talk about those things?
Absolutely. But preferably in an actual dialogue where some relational bridge has been built,
not on some sign on the side of the road that holds a question but offers no real answer.
The message of the kingdom to a lost and broken
world is not, hey remember, you're gonna die someday so you better get right with God before
it's too late and tomorrow it might be too late, no no no.
The message of the kingdom is come and die now.
Die to sin, die to bondage, die to the emptiness and loneliness of living for yourself and
come be alive to God.
Don't you want to live a life?
Don't you want to live an abundant, victorious life?
We don't have to wait until heaven to do that.
You and I, as people belonging to the kingdom of God, as Jesus followers, as the church,
we have good news to share with this world and what we are inviting people into is so
superior to what we are inviting people out of.
If our speech, if our stories, if our social media posts are solely focused on the muck
people are stuck in, if we are partnering with people's fears in order to try to get
our point across, if we are so consumed by the messages and opinions of others that we
don't even have room in our headspace or our hearts to tune in to all that God is doing
right now, how are we any different than the world?
You are so different from the world.
I'm sure you know this.
I'm sure you feel it.
Maybe that's why you might be feeling some pressure or some angst or some tension right
now.
With all that's going on, it's obvious.
We are different.
It's in our kingdom DNA.
It is in your kingdom DNA to deeply desire to be different and to change the world.
But you won't change the world by acting like this world.
You won't change the world by using the world's tactics and strategies to try to prove a point.
We are all called to different spheres of influence in our culture and society.
Some of you are called to business, others are education, government, media entertainment.
All of us have been placed in different families and communities.
We're all going to be having different, very specific conversations and social and screen
engagements.
There really is no one size fits all framework or roadmap to how to handle every interaction,
but there is always wisdom from heaven.
And the good news is you have a helper and it's not me.
It's the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is a genius.
Lean into the Holy Spirit's wisdom today.
He will lead you and guide you in all truth.
Expect him to help you in conversations and in your interactions.
Expect him to be there and to help you in the small engagements and the big cultural
conversations that are going on right now.
Let him guide your thoughts, your words, your feelings, and your actions.
He knows what to do.
He knows what to say.
And when we partner with the Holy Spirit, not fear, not worldly tactics, when we partner
with the Holy Spirit, we start living abundantly and we put on display an abundant and a victorious
life.
And when you partner with the Holy Spirit, a life under the guidance of the Holy Spirit
will be proof enough to others of the kingdom of God.
The promise of perfect peace is found in Isaiah 26, 3.
In Hebrew, it is shalom, shalom, meaning complete wholeness, nothing missing, nothing broken.
This is who you are in Jesus because of Jesus.
You are a living testimony of Jesus's ultimate win.
With every step you take today, you're putting Jesus's victory on display and Satan's
defeat on replay.