Life: The Unexamined Life
Galatians 6: 7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
2 Cor. 13:5 Examine yourselves to see if you’re in the faith; test yourselves.
THE UNEXAMINED LIFE IS NOT WORTH LIVING
THE UNLIVED LIFE IS NOT WORTH EXAMINING
Life is not as difficult as we make it to be!
Often we complicate things by bad decisions, undisciplined choices, and uninformed choices.
Life is more than just showing up… it’s training to be ready… so when life happens, you are ready to meet it head on. Not scampering away into the shadows because of fear… because of the unknown. But a life of faith, hope, love… passion in God’s creations.
The art of training ourselves is one of discipline, and something we must be better at.
But before we even get that complicated… let’s step back to the basics of life. There is no life without breathe. As complicated as the rest of life gets, we are nothing without first knowing how to breathe.
Do you ever think about the process of breathing? You do if you have problems breathing, shortness of breath… or some other asthmatic issue.
Or when simple activities seem to take your breath away…
THE IDEA OF THIS SERIES…
In Genesis Chapter 2 it states that God places into us the “breathe of life” so that we might take care of the Earth, work the ground, and become stewards of God’s creation.
Walking with God should become as simple as breathing. Something you don’t even think about… you just do it!
We are given the breathe of life every time we come together in worship, praise, prayer, study of God’s word… every time we guard the unity of the faith, and walk together in God’s purposes for mankind… we following through with the very essence of creation itself… God breathes life into us! and we breathe out work within the world, stewards of God’s creation. It is time again to focus in and breathe in the life of God… and then use that God given life to breathe out ministry… good works… bringing life to all of God’s creation… most importantly to humanity… we bring the gift of salvation, hope, and the promise of future…
WAYS WE LOSE OUR BREATH?!
Sometimes just getting older we lose our ability to take in deeper breathes.
Or because we are out of shape… we lose our breath quicker than we used to, we have no endurance.
Time I ran 3 miles in college after not training for a long time… thought I was going to die. Running with my friend who was an X ranger with the military…
Have you ever had a moment where you couldn’t catch you breathe… and you were scared? Either under water… or just getting the wind knocked out of you… so much in life is complicated… but without the single brief moment of breathing in … nothing else works, matters, or happens with life.
It comes back to genesis 2… the beginning of life… we need that same breathe!
We also will say about exciting or great things in our life – That took my breathe away! I am praying God does that for us… moments where He moves to the point your breathe is taken away.
For the next handful of weeks we will be looking at ways we can breathe in the things of God and exhale the ministry of His kingdom.
In fact that is the art of ministry God wants us to learn. To go to the next level and impact our city, nation and world with the Gospel of Jesus… we must learn to walk with Him as easy as breathing itself..
We are people of faith… and we must live like it.
BREATHE IN THE THINGS OF GOD…EXHALE MINISTRY
BREATHE IN THE THINGS OF GOD
Every time we come together to worship, to pray, to study God’s word… in all the ways God has called us to grow and mature in our faith… these are moments of the inhale.
EXHALE MINISTRY
Every time we come together and take what we have learned from the Gospel and make it active in our lives… every time we are people of compassion
• We must inhale faith… and exhale action…
• We must inhale God’s spirit… and exhale the miraculous…
• We must inhale the instructions of God from His Word… and Exhale practical ministry…
• We must inhale conviction from His word… but exhale compassionate action
• We must inhale hope… and exhale that hope into the Earth
• We must inhale prayer and fasting… and exhale power and authority.
The Goal: “Find your breath again… and live life to the full.”
WHERE DO WE START THE PROCESS:
1. Catch your breath –
a. Examine your own heart
b. 2 Cor. 13:5 Examine yourselves to see if you’re in the faith; test yourselves.
c. THE UNEXAMINED LIFE IS NOT WORTH LIVING
d. THE UNLIVED LIFE IS NOT WORTH EXAMINING
2. Start working out (get in shape)
a. How we will train is how we will react, interact, and live.
b. Get in shape…
i. Mentally
ii. Physically
iii. Spiritually
c. 1 Cor. 9: 24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27 No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
A key to this: Life is a marathon, not a sprint!
3. Seek God, pray, He will hear…
a. A key verse for this series… for LIFE:
b. 2 Chron. 7:14
i. If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray…
ii. God says… I will hear
iii. God promises… I will heal your land…
If there was ever a time where we needed the breath of God… it’s today. For the Lord to rain down upon us…
The context of this chapter and verse… Solomon is dedicating the temple… and this text is the perfect definition of repentance…
When we are stuck in our sin… we are suffocating from life… short of breath, trying to survive… God speaks to us…
I am… the giver of life… I will hear your prayers… humble yourselves, and pray… this is a moment of repentance… and crying out to God…
Lord Forgive us… hear us… humble us… and heal our land…
test yourselves.
Pray… Breathe in… breathe out…
And God poured in the breathe of life… that we might steward creation.
There is no life outside of God… and with God there is life to the full.
Story: F. Jim Cymbala preaches at a church in the slums of New York. He tells the following story: It was Easter Sunday and I was so tired at the end of the day that I just went to the edge of the platform, pulled down my tie and sat down and draped my feet over the edge. It was a wonderful service with many people coming forward. The counselors were talking with these people. As I was sitting there I looked up the middle aisle, and there in about the third row was a man who looked about fifty, disheveled, filthy. He looked up at me rather sheepishly, as if saying, “Could I talk to you?” We have homeless people coming in all the time, asking for money or whatever. So as I sat there, I said to myself, though I am ashamed of it, “What a way to end a Sunday. I’ve had such a good time, preaching and ministering, and here’s a fellow probably wanting some money for more wine.” He walked up. When he got within about five feet of me, I smelled a horrible smell like I’d never smelled in my life. It was so awful that when he got close, I would inhale by looking away, and then I’d talk to him, and then look away to inhale, because I couldn’t inhale facing him. I asked him, “What’s your name?” “David.” “How long have you been on the street?” “Six years.” “How old are you?” “Thirty-two.” He looked fifty- hair matted; front teeth missing; wino; eyes slightly glazed. “Where did you sleep last night, David?” “Abandoned truck.” I keep in my back pocket a money clip that also holds some credit cards. I fumbled to pick one out thinking; I’ll give him some money. I won’t even get a volunteer. They are all busy talking with others. Usually we don’t give money to people. We take them to get something to eat. I took the money out. David pushed his finger in front of me. He said, “I don’t want your money. I want this Jesus, the One you were talking about, because I’m not going to make it. I’m going to die on the street.”
I completely forgot about David, and I started to weep for myself. I was going to give a couple of dollars to someone God had sent to me. See how easy it is? I could make the excuse I was tired. There is no excuse. I was not seeing him the way God sees him. I was not feeling what God feels. But oh, did that change! David just stood there. He didn’t know what was happening. I pleaded with God, “God, forgive me! Forgive me! Please forgive me. I am so sorry to represent You this way. I’m so sorry. Here I am with my message and my points, and You send somebody and I am not ready for it. Oh, God!” Something came over me. Suddenly I started to weep deeper, and David began to weep. He fell against my chest as I was sitting there. He fell against my white shirt and tie, and I put my arms around him, and there we wept on each other. The smell of His person became a beautiful aroma. Here is what I thought the Lord made real to me: If you don’t love this smell, I can’t use you, because this is why I called you where you are. This is what you are about. You are about this smell. Christ changed David’s life. He started memorizing portions of Scripture that were incredible. We got him a place to live. We hired him in the church to do maintenance, and we got his teeth fixed. He was a handsome man when he came out of the hospital. They detoxed him in 6 days. He spent that Thanksgiving at my house. He also spent Christmas at my house. When we were exchanging presents, he pulled out a little thing and he said, “This is for you.” It was a little white hanky. It was the only thing he could afford. A year later David got up and talked about his conversion to Christ. The minute he took the mic and began to speak, I said, “The man is a preacher.” This past Easter we ordained David. He is an associate minister of a church over in New Jersey. And I was so close to saying, “Here, take this; I’m a busy preacher.”
