GET ON THE CUTTING EDGE OF LIFE!
HEBREWS 4:11-13
JUNE 22, 2008
PASTOR JIM BOHRER
What sets your life course for you determines where you will end up! And whether you have thought about this or not, what you are doing right now, what you are contemplating is the culmination of words that you have heard and believed throughout your life. What you value and have chosen to invest your time and energy is the direct sum of what you have heard and chosen to believe in. And you may think in your mind right now, Oh, I am in total control of my life, I make my own decisions. Yes, you do, but you are making those choices based on words you have heard and chose to believe or not believe. And most often you have not really evaluated what the end of those decisions you are making will lead to. Proverbs 14:12.
Just this week I had a conversation with a man I will call him J. He and I began talking about life and the world and he got to the issue of responsibility. He stated that no one wants to take responsibility for his or her own actions and that people just get divorced because they are not willing to make it work. As I listened and asked questions, it turned out that he was divorced and now remarried. As I allowed him to talk, he slowly began to stop blaming the world and started taking responsibility himself. He revealed that he had put too much time into work and career and not enough time into his wife and children. The result was divorce and heartbreaks, too many to list right now.
After listening to his story for some 20 minutes he said, “You know if I had to do it all over, I would have spent less time at work and more time with my family. I really do not have much to show for all the overtime I worked do I?” The answer was obvious. Yet, whether he knew it or not, he simply followed the words and the mantra that our materialistic culture tells men and now young women (as both parents are entering the workforce en mass and hoping that the family survives), “If you work a bunch, you’ll get a lot of money, and you’ll have a lot of stuff, you’ll feel like you are Somebody and your family will love you because you gave them a bunch of stuff. Now, whenever you feel a twinge of guilt or uncertainty or conviction. You make sure you brush it off and if you have to yell at your kids and your spouse because in the END, they will understand. Hey, even though you are not there for them, it will all work out in the end, because they will look back in admiration at all you gave to them.” Well my friend found out the hard way. He found out the truth and he can’t go back and change it. Some of you here today have all the warning signs, and you are making course corrections. Some of you are here today and God is yelling to you stop and get back on the right track. But today, you will determine whether you will listen to God’s Word or follow the World’s path.
I want you to consider the power of words today:
We need to understand the power of words and consequently the power of God’s Word in our lives. We can understand something of this if we think of the tremendous effect of words in history. A leader coins a phrase and it becomes a trumpet-call which kindles men to crusades or to crimes. Some great man sends forth a manifesto and it produces action which can make or destroy nations. Over and over again in history the spoken word of some leader or thinker has gone out and done things. If that be so of the words of men, how much more is it so of the word of God.
Isaiah 55:
10 As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, 11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. 12 You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. 13 Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow. This will be for the LORD’s renown, for an everlasting sign, which will not be destroyed."
Psalm 95 from which Hebrews 4 quotes says, “We are the people of His pasture!” He wants what is best for us. He has a plan for us. He will guide and direct us like a shepherd, but you must listen to him and be changed by His Word, otherwise you will find yourself exposed to the consequences of drifting from Him. Please stand in honor of God’s Revealed Word!
11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.
12 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight, everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. (Hebrews 4:11-13 NIV)
How to stay sharp in the Word:
I. BE DILIGENT IN THE WORD (V. 11, Eph. 4:3; 2 Tim. 2:15; 2 Pet. 1:10; 2 Pet. 3:14) “Make every effort”
Diligence is the opposite of “drifting” (Heb. 2:1–3). How do we give diligence? By paying close attention to the Word of God. By going over the play book again and again so that everyone is on the same page! Israel did not believe God’s Word, so the rebels fell in the wilderness. And we see families falling apart left and right in America. And no politician has the answer, no self-help program has the solution. But God’s plan works and we need to get back to it.
Last week Tony Dungee addressed the pastors of the Southern Baptist Convention as a Southern Baptist himself to encourage us to be diligent in the Word and shepherding of the Flock of God. But do you know where he came from to give us the coaches pep talk? He came from the practice field on 56th street. The Lucas Oil Stadium is still under construction, but the Indianapolis Colts and Coach Dungee are making every Effort to be ready for the next season! They are not waiting to just show up the first Sunday. Do you realize that if the Colts do not practice before they show up the first Sunday for the game that it will not even be worth watching!
Yet, there are numerous people who will show up to church on Sunday. They have spent no time with God at all during the week, the last month. Then they show up on Sunday and say, well I didn’t get anything out of that. Well, God inhabits the praise of His people and the fact that hundreds of other people showed up and experienced the LIVING power of God should be enough to get your attention that the problem is not on God’s end or the preachers end, but it is your end. You are not even stretched out and God has already run up and down the field 10 times. You are just getting smoked. Listen, the Bible here does not say, “The preacher is living and active.” It does not say that the people are living and Active. It says, “the Word of God is living and active!” It slices and dices. It is better than the GINZUMATIC.
I read this story about a group of infidels called the Hell Fire Club. For some reason, this group had decided that it would focus its efforts on mocking George Whitefield, one of the great Methodist preachers of the 18th century. Among other things, Whitefield was known for having a powerful voice and eyes that did not focus well (brought on by neglect in the treatment of measles as a child, leading him to be called Dr. Squintum by his detractors).
At a meeting of the Hell Fire club, a man named Mr. Thorpe had carefully studied the mannerisms of Whitefield and stood to deliver one of Whitefield’s sermons for the sole purpose of mocking the great preacher. As he stood with his eyes crossed and shouting out the message that was preached with sincerity by Whitefield, but mockingly by Thorpe, he came across the verse "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." Even as he said the verse he felt the conviction of the Holy Spirit and he sat down in fear and broken over his sin. He had intended to mock the Word, but, as Phil Johnson notes, he accidentally converted himself. That’s how powerful God’s Word is. As God promised, His Word will not return void, but it will accomplish exactly what He pleases.
II. ALLOW THE WORD OF GOD TO PENETRATE YOUR HEART!
A. ITS DOUBLE EDGE WILL EITHER CONVICT AND CHANGE YOU.
B. OR IT WILL CONDEMN AND CUT YOU.
C. GOD IS MORE CONCERNED ABOUT GETTING TO YOUR HEART THAN ANYTHING ELSE. Matthew 15:15-20:
15 Peter said, "Explain the parable to us."
16 "Are you still so dull?" Jesus asked them. 17 "Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? 18 But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ’unclean.’ 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20 These are what make a man ’unclean’; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him ’unclean.’"
See if your heart is clean, if your mind is renewed, your actions will soon follow. But if your heart is dirty and sullied by the ways of the world, you actions will always return to the filth!
III. HAVE THE WORD OF GOD PERMEATE YOUR LIFE.
Be Committed to:
You spirit will either be sharpened by the Word or your senses dulled by theWorld.
Everyone here wants to be right with God. You want to make choices for God. Choices that will bring blessing and life to you. But, you can’t confess unless you agree with God about sin. The Greek word for Confession means that you say the same thing that God says about sin and that you need forgiveness. The word Confession comes from HOMO LEGEO: Legeo means to say or speak. Homo means the same. To say the same thing as God. But if you do not know the Word or what it says about sin, you cannot say the same thing God says about it. If you don’t know what the Word says about living for God, you will by default live the way the World pressures you to. That is why we live in a dangerous time. People everywhere will say that they are OK with God, but they live in a way that is opposed to His nature and His word. And while He loves you and them, He cannot wink at sin and laugh at it. He must deal with sin as a righteous and good judge.
1. Public Proclamation. The number one mark of the church is the public proclamation to the church gathered in the name of Christ. If all that happens at the corporate worship time is a little devotion from the reader’s digest or a pep talk from the coach where the Word may be referenced but is not explained, exposed, and applied to your life, it may be a gathering of Christians, but it is not what the New Testament calls a church. The church centers around the Preaching and Teaching of Christ.
2. Peer Accountability: I am not mainly talking about having someone telling you where your wrong, but the accountability that you would see on a football team where the coach and the team brings out the best in you. And because you have a consistent work out, you do get better at it every week.
This happens most effectively when it is organized and weekly. There are many ways that people have tried to have this, but the most effective in the past 2 centuries has been Sunday school. Why? Because unlike other Bible studies that have 6 or 13 weeks, and then it ends and it might move location and not have a children’s component. Whereas Sunday school has an assigned ongoing weekly time to meet together. It is always available and you never come to a stopping point. First, no one ever graduates from the Bible! Secondly “It is a living Word.” It is not getting so much information and then you’re done. It is a process of transformation that is continual until we see His glory.
3. Personal Devotion: This happens when you set apart alone time with God. There you have a time for reading or listening to the Bible, prayer and Scripture. Sometimes people want to know how much time should I spend in the Word every day? Well that depends on where you want to go. I know we are all busy and there are sometimes you don’t have the luxury to slow down for as long as you like, but be careful of making that your normal attitude toward God’s Word!
Illustration: It’s like the lady the other day at the Speedway quick stop, she was at pump 2 and I was at pump 3. She said to the attendant just give me $5 worth of gas. I thought Goodness gracious, where is she planning on going to? Pump 8. If all you all you have is a few minutes for God all day every day, I can tell you that you are running on fumes for your Christian life! You need to get your tank topped off more often!
Another man came to me this week and spoke about the difference in his life since getting sharpened in God’s plan through the Word of God and Peer accountability. He had been through Men’s Fraternity which shows men from the Bible how God called us to live. That we need a Word to OBEY (God’s Voice through His Word and prayer). A man needs a Work to do (a vocation or calling) and a Woman to love.
He said, “My career is on track because God is now in control of my priorities. Now my family is stronger as a result of putting God first. Really putting God first gives your family greater priority in life. It is just like putting your spouse before your kids gives them greater stability and assurance.” Listen the abundance of evidence has overwhelmingly shown that the number of relational difficulties Americans are experiencing stem back to their childhood experiences of absentee fathers and unfortunately now, absentee mothers. Unless children see Dad and Mom committed to God each other and the family, kids will grow up with a whole host of insecurities and anxieties. Unless we get back to the Word of God as a nation I believe we are going to implode. We will not need to worry about Iraq, Afghanistan, or China. We will just tear apart at the seams. And I fear that we are in a generational curse that seems to be spiraling downward and it will take great calamities to get people to stop chasing the wind and turn back to God.
Praise God that His Word is still sharp! Praise God that His Word still saves. And praise God He is a Savior that wants us in his pasture! He loves you and He wants you to have the abundant life. But to have that you must be willing to be on the CUTTING EDGE OF HIS WORD.
Today, I tell you, Faith Comes by hearing and hearing through the Word of God. Today I can confidently tell you that Jesus welcomes all those who by faith in His finished work of forgiveness through his shed blood are welcome into His family! You need to repent of following the World and start following Him. I can guarantee you that He will keep and care for you. You come in response to His Welcome right now.
