back to index2018-11-11 Raise the Bar to Full
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This morning I'd like to have you guys think about a specific term, the bar. 00:00:11.800 |
And the reason why I want to use this term as a bar is because we want to talk about 00:00:20.960 |
Expectations that we have of ourselves, expectations that others have of us, expectations that 00:00:26.920 |
the Bible has of us, expectations that God has of us. 00:00:30.880 |
These are all standards by which we're supposed to evaluate life. 00:00:34.480 |
These are what's more standards by which we're supposed to be striving for in order to accomplish. 00:00:41.080 |
And the fact of the matter is we are always regularly operating by certain standards. 00:00:45.480 |
We're always evaluating things by a certain bar. 00:00:49.060 |
For example, you take a look at a room and the cleanliness of the room. 00:00:54.060 |
You have three individuals who are looking at the exact same room. 00:00:58.000 |
Potentially you can get three different interpretations. 00:01:00.360 |
A young student might look at it and be like, "Looks good to me." 00:01:05.200 |
Another person might look at it and say, "She's really disheveled." 00:01:08.400 |
The other person could look at it and be like, "I can't stay here. 00:01:15.360 |
Because they're operating off of some standard evaluating this is not clean or this is fine. 00:01:20.880 |
And the reason why I bring this up is because I would like you to think about and ask the 00:01:23.860 |
question, "How high is God's standard for you?" 00:01:34.000 |
When it comes to things like in every facet of our lives, the scripture actually speaks 00:01:43.320 |
We have standards of how God wants us to forgive those who ask for forgiveness. 00:01:50.840 |
And all the disciples said, "How can we do that?" 00:01:54.560 |
When we have standards of how we're supposed to be patient with one another, God describes 00:01:58.240 |
it as long suffering like I've been with y'all for thousands of years. 00:02:05.320 |
When it comes to even topics of our holiness and purity, scripture says, "Not even a hint." 00:02:12.400 |
You're so set apart there shouldn't even be a residue, not even a hint of immorality among 00:02:18.680 |
When you think about other standards of our joyfulness, of our thanksgiving, it's always 00:02:23.640 |
unceasingly even when you experience trials of many kinds. 00:02:28.360 |
So what I'm highlighting is God's standard for us in every aspect of our lives, godly 00:02:35.480 |
living, holiness, mercy, grace, love, and the list can go on, is perfection. 00:02:44.340 |
It's so incredibly high that the natural response should have been, "Huh? 00:02:50.760 |
I'm going to look up, I'm going to look down, I'm going to be like, 'I can't do it.'" 00:02:54.320 |
Like that's the kind of natural reaction that we might have. 00:02:56.120 |
Well, the problem is sometimes that is the reaction we have. 00:03:00.720 |
Unfortunately, sometimes we Christians run into a problem where we have the tendency, 00:03:05.400 |
where the standards that we set for our life of what is normative, we assume is dictated 00:03:09.960 |
by my deficiency rather than God's character. 00:03:14.700 |
The standards that we set in certain elements of our lives, arenas of our lives, we make 00:03:20.060 |
the false assumption that it's dictated by my deficiency rather than God's character. 00:03:26.100 |
What I mean by that is as you live your life, you're going to experience certain things 00:03:32.380 |
You're not capable, got no skills kind of moment, right? 00:03:37.860 |
And what ends up happening is you feel discouraged. 00:03:39.860 |
What ends up happening is you start to also change the expectation you have of yourself. 00:03:45.840 |
And then if you continue to live life, you'll also look around and then you'll validate 00:03:51.780 |
Because you'll look at everybody else and say, "See?" 00:03:53.780 |
You look at the deficiencies and failures of others and then come to a conclusion, therefore, 00:03:58.180 |
God does not expect of us more than we can do. 00:04:06.460 |
The Word of God shows to us the perfect standard of God in every realm of life and typically 00:04:13.540 |
it shocks us because it's so much higher than we presume. 00:04:17.980 |
There are moments when we are thought to believe that the standards are relegated to what patterns 00:04:26.060 |
But we recall God has ordained a perfect pattern in Christ. 00:04:32.220 |
So direct question to you right now, how are you doing in your standards? 00:04:37.660 |
How are you doing in the expectations and the levels that you're trying to pursue? 00:04:43.260 |
Have you settled for something that is far less than what God has ordained? 00:04:47.980 |
Have you settled for a standard that is more appropriate just simply to you or to man than 00:04:56.300 |
Now as we say this, this is sometimes paradoxical, right? 00:05:00.500 |
It's like, wow, it's true, biblical standards appear. 00:05:05.660 |
But I see with my eyes and we also know through biblical content that we are deficient. 00:05:15.020 |
But I would like to take a moment to encourage you before I go into this because every time 00:05:19.620 |
I get an opportunity to speak to our church broadly, I want to always say thank you. 00:05:28.380 |
As a matter of fact, just this Saturday I was sitting with the leaders and I told them, 00:05:32.020 |
you know, right now my heart is so thankful because every time I'm at church I look around, 00:05:36.460 |
there's people meeting in rooms, encouraging each other, praying for each other. 00:05:40.060 |
There are people regularly emailing me, can we study the Bible together? 00:05:43.220 |
Every time like, you know, one of the pastors says, hey, we're going to read this book, 00:05:47.580 |
There are people who are wanting to get engaged, wanting to serve, wanting to grow. 00:05:55.700 |
And then yet this passage that I read, then all the more actually speaks to you. 00:06:01.000 |
Rather than this passage in Colossians chapter 1 speaking to individuals who have no desire, 00:06:05.340 |
no standard and are completely dead in their faith, the passage is actually speaking more 00:06:13.240 |
Where perhaps we're growing, but we need to hear all the more. 00:06:17.460 |
That God's standard is still yet farther above than we can imagine. 00:06:22.400 |
Why do I say this is because Apostle Paul in immediate context is in a scenario where 00:06:29.780 |
We believe Apostle Paul is writing this letter from prison. 00:06:33.740 |
But the reason why he's writing this is because he got a report. 00:06:38.660 |
He got news from Epaphras, his fellow servant of the gospel, that people in Colossae, in 00:06:47.660 |
If you turn your eyes over to chapter 1 verse 3, this is what the scripture says. 00:06:53.160 |
It says, "We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for 00:06:57.200 |
you since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the 00:07:02.600 |
saints because of the hope laid out for you in heaven of which you previously heard in 00:07:09.440 |
So when you think about that, Apostle Paul, when he sees the Colossians church, he's seeing 00:07:15.020 |
faith, love, and hope, the trifecta of Christian genuineness and sincerity, right? 00:07:20.980 |
He's seeing them loving people and he's seeing them hoping in eternity. 00:07:25.500 |
So if you think about it, they're doing great. 00:07:31.500 |
But does that mean then that he has no words for them? 00:07:36.380 |
We believe actually, although sometimes, we typically only tend to pray for the people 00:07:41.500 |
who are hurting, having a tough time, in weakness or sin or failure, Apostle Paul here is actually 00:07:52.700 |
And so let's read again together what he says. 00:07:57.300 |
Because the gospel is powerful and is powerfully working in them, he says, "Since the day we 00:08:01.300 |
heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with 00:08:05.660 |
the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding so that you will 00:08:10.500 |
walk in a manner worthy of the Lord to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every 00:08:15.420 |
good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all power according 00:08:20.220 |
to his glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience, joyously giving 00:08:25.900 |
thanks to the Father who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints 00:08:32.540 |
I want to give to you the main point and thrust of the entire sermon. 00:08:36.940 |
Here is the exhortation for you in the form of Apostle Paul's prayer for you. 00:08:43.020 |
That to those who are responding to the gospel and growing, he prays that we would not settle 00:08:49.020 |
for great, we're doing okay, but that there would be a fullness. 00:08:54.700 |
And that is why the title of the sermon is called, "Raise the Bar to Full." 00:09:00.260 |
We're not even talking about, "Hey, let's just move and progress from the point that 00:09:03.560 |
you are now," but rather having a standard that is of God and his perfection. 00:09:09.940 |
Having a standard that is above and beyond your own personal vision for your own life, 00:09:13.780 |
but rather something that exceeds and surpasses the expectations of what's norm for all the 00:09:21.900 |
Because Apostle Paul surely does not in this context give them a pat on the back and say, 00:09:29.660 |
No, he says, "I pray for you that you would have God in full." 00:09:36.440 |
What kind of fullness are we talking about and why am I making such a big deal of this? 00:09:40.420 |
Well, if you notice, just from the very beginning, right? 00:09:44.760 |
Just from the very beginning, you notice how Apostle Paul's prayer has so many of these, 00:09:53.780 |
He says things like, "May you be filled," which literally means full to the top. 00:09:59.980 |
And then he talks about how in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, as you walk through 00:10:04.980 |
the passage, I'm just going to accentuate some of these words for you. 00:10:08.300 |
Think about this, that he desires us to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, okay? 00:10:15.940 |
He doesn't say, "I want you to walk in a progressive fashion." 00:10:18.260 |
He says, "I want you to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord." 00:10:20.940 |
We could possibly just stop there and all of us be floored, thinking, "What? 00:10:29.140 |
"So that you would please Him in what respect? 00:10:32.700 |
And then he says he wants us to be bearing fruit in every good work, increasing in the 00:10:37.700 |
And then he says, "Strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might." 00:10:42.060 |
Not according to ours or not according to somebody else, not according to circumstance 00:10:45.260 |
or situation, but according to His glorious might. 00:10:49.540 |
"For the attaining of all steadfastness, patience, joyfully giving thanks to the Father." 00:10:56.380 |
Do you notice how many all-complete, these suppurative words that Apostle Paul uses? 00:11:02.460 |
And that's why I want us to think about this idea of having the bar raised to full, because 00:11:08.500 |
truthfully speaking, I actually kind of feel a little bit silly. 00:11:13.780 |
If I'm given a sermon saying, "Guys, let's do better. 00:11:19.740 |
That's a little silly, considering the fact that Apostle Paul says, "No, we want to attain 00:11:25.380 |
to the fullness of His glory, fullness of strength." 00:11:34.500 |
This is not, "Hey guys, let's try a little harder. 00:11:42.140 |
We're talking about a kind of standard that Apostle Paul is giving us a vision for, which 00:11:50.140 |
As a matter of fact, he says it very explicitly. 00:11:52.100 |
If you turn your eyes to Colossians 1, verse 28. 00:11:56.220 |
In Colossians 1, verse 28, Apostle Paul says this. 00:12:02.020 |
He says, "We proclaim Him, admonishing every man, teaching every man with all wisdom, so 00:12:07.860 |
that we may present every man complete in Christ. 00:12:12.700 |
For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within 00:12:22.020 |
Do you see his drive and the purpose that he's trying to pursue? 00:12:26.300 |
He is not trying to do small fixes, small improvements. 00:12:30.980 |
He is seeking completeness in Christ, presenting you as one who is full in the Lord. 00:12:42.220 |
Is that the kind of vision you've bought into? 00:12:47.460 |
Is that the kind of vision you've bought into and therefore pray for yourself? 00:12:53.220 |
Is that the kind of attitude you are drawing? 00:12:56.180 |
I have to say in this generation, what I feel most often is that there are this kind of 00:13:05.500 |
I think that, those three words, "it is okay," "I'm okay" kind of mentality has been a great 00:13:13.260 |
People are asking you, "Hey, how are you doing spiritually?" 00:13:24.780 |
I want you to think about this even from, let's say, our enemy's perspective. 00:13:28.980 |
As I try to, again, emphasize the importance of this idea that we want to strive for the 00:13:33.180 |
high perfect standard of God, think about it from our enemy's perspective. 00:13:49.180 |
If someone asks you, "Hey man, how are you doing?" 00:13:51.900 |
You're not going to be like, "Well, I'm doing my best to strive for the perfect standard 00:13:55.860 |
You know, like we're not going to do that because then that would be really awkward, 00:13:59.140 |
And then people might be like, "All right, calm down." 00:14:02.860 |
But at the same time, all I'm trying to do is say, not trying to change the way you talk, 00:14:10.200 |
If we talk like that, I hope we're not thinking like that. 00:14:13.820 |
I hope we're not thinking that I'm just simply fine because in our enemy's position, he is 00:14:21.820 |
Because for our enemy, he reserves his greatest efforts for those who have great potential 00:14:33.180 |
No, rather he's thinking, "I want everybody to think they're okay. 00:14:41.660 |
Brothers and sisters, the challenge today then is for you to buy into this mentality 00:14:47.580 |
I want every single one of us to have certain visions that are lofty, and that vision is 00:14:55.660 |
It's straight given to us from the Word of God. 00:14:58.180 |
And it's my personal conviction, whether you are lazy, whether you're just a sloth, you 00:15:08.020 |
So we want a vision like this, the perfections of Christ. 00:15:11.780 |
And therefore then we should be able to say in our hearts and pray, "God, admonish me, 00:15:21.980 |
I am not okay by the standards of this normative. 00:15:25.060 |
I am not even okay with the standard of what is okay in our context of our church. 00:15:33.100 |
And we have to be, by definition, that kind of broken individual who is not looking at 00:15:38.420 |
our own deficiencies and saying, "But I can't." 00:15:41.860 |
But by faith we are receiving the vision of God. 00:15:48.900 |
I am willing to guess that every single one of us, we've heard sermons like this before, 00:15:56.660 |
But in actuality, when we live our lives, with our eyes, we see more of our deficiency. 00:16:06.780 |
What's more, we see how everybody else does too. 00:16:09.260 |
It takes faith to say, "God, I still believe that's your standard." 00:16:13.420 |
It takes faith when you say, "God, you have qualified me." 00:16:16.360 |
It takes faith to say, "God, I have your strength." 00:16:21.260 |
And so by faith, we have to go fight against the things that we see with our eyes and say, 00:16:29.580 |
Now, in order to highlight this even more, I want to give you guys some specific tangible 00:16:34.020 |
questions to check, to do a quick cross-check. 00:16:38.500 |
And this question comes by way of asking you, "Do you then have any difficulty receiving 00:16:49.700 |
Do you have any difficulty receiving instruction and challenges from other individuals? 00:16:54.060 |
But a more maybe precise way to ask this question is, "Do you have difficulty when you are 00:16:57.980 |
challenged even though you think you're doing okay?" 00:17:04.180 |
Do you have difficulty receiving instruction and challenge when you think you're doing 00:17:10.180 |
And to make it even more tangible, I'm going to call out some possible scenarios. 00:17:16.980 |
Are there moments when you think you're trying your best, loving your wife, leading your 00:17:26.300 |
But I can imagine that many men who are married could potentially feel that way. 00:17:31.060 |
Like, "I'm doing the best I can, working hard, you know, earning that bread," all that kind 00:17:36.060 |
And then the wife comes along and says, "I just feel like you don't share. 00:17:52.180 |
Or if the wife says, "I just feel like you're not being considerate. 00:17:54.940 |
You go take off and do your task and do your errands and you do your job, but you never 00:18:00.340 |
And the guy's sitting there thinking, "Just ask. 00:18:06.100 |
Like, those are possible scenarios that could potentially happen. 00:18:09.940 |
Now wives, wouldn't it be awesome if the husbands completely turned that attitude around? 00:18:15.300 |
And they're like, "Oh, you want to talk about it? 00:18:25.940 |
Can you imagine if a husband received that kind of challenge that way? 00:18:37.700 |
Rather than thinking like, "I feel really underappreciated. 00:18:46.140 |
But, but, if you flip it around, the guy could be thinking, "Give me more. 00:18:57.620 |
My vision for my husband role is not status quo. 00:19:05.300 |
I want to be like Christ who washes his wife, leads his wife, sacrifices, loves her to death. 00:19:23.220 |
Because for a lot of the students, your parents are still trying to put their input into your 00:19:30.420 |
They're trying to tell you what to do, how to manage your time. 00:19:31.820 |
And you're sitting there like, "I'm a grown man. 00:19:43.980 |
Can you imagine rather than saying, "Get off my back. 00:19:48.740 |
What if you turned around and said, "Thank you. 00:19:50.940 |
I know you're trying to make me a responsible, mature adult. 00:20:06.580 |
Nowadays, it's not abnormal for a lot of people to put in extra hours. 00:20:14.620 |
Your boss comes around and is like, "You missed this." 00:20:19.940 |
Like, your boss comes around and is like, "Why did you forget to do that?" 00:20:22.100 |
And you're like, "Do you know how hard I'm working?" 00:20:27.740 |
But what if you turn around and it's like, "Oh, my gosh. 00:20:31.060 |
Thank you so much for pointing that out to me. 00:20:41.260 |
I am not saying that your boss is always right. 00:20:44.700 |
I am not saying that your, you know, parents are always right. 00:20:47.980 |
I am not saying that your spouse is always right. 00:20:51.780 |
I am asking you, where is your heart when you are challenged in that moment? 00:20:56.020 |
How are you in your attitude receiving the challenge when you believe, "I didn't sin. 00:21:15.820 |
Am I achieving the fullness that God wants me to achieve?" 00:21:24.300 |
Not just simply challenging you to be a doormat and have everybody run over you. 00:21:27.260 |
I'm challenging you to think, "Is my heart in a condition where you will readily assess 00:21:38.540 |
Thank you because God has called me to more." 00:21:42.620 |
That's the kind of hard attitude I'm trying to inspire in you today. 00:21:50.100 |
We want to achieve, too, the fullness that God wants for us. 00:21:53.660 |
More specifically in this passage, then, Apostle Paul leads us down some of these areas that 00:22:13.660 |
As we look at this passage, it's awesome because Apostle Paul reinforces the idea with three 00:22:19.540 |
He says, "I want you to have, be filled, topped off and capped with the knowledge of 00:22:25.460 |
God's will, with much more spiritual wisdom and all understanding." 00:22:33.260 |
Now recently, we had an exam, an eldership candidacy exam for our brother James Hong, 00:22:38.780 |
who I love dearly, and he did an awesome job. 00:22:41.380 |
As I was sitting there, I was both, on a human level, very impressed, on a spiritual level, 00:22:51.660 |
Here at this church, we believe in the high authority of the Word of God, but what would 00:22:55.820 |
that mean if we didn't know the content of it? 00:22:58.980 |
To believe in the authority, sufficiency, and inerrancy of the Bible and yet not know 00:23:06.220 |
During that exam, I felt challenged, like, "Oh my goodness, I've got to know this stuff," 00:23:10.660 |
especially because there was a question like, "What are the names of the cities of refuge 00:23:20.420 |
It was going down the list of just describing, naming them all. 00:23:24.180 |
Some guy next to me gave me the elbow and was like, "Hey, do you remember that from 00:23:37.260 |
Then I felt that conviction, like, "I should know this stuff." 00:23:41.300 |
Because honestly speaking, it points to Christ. 00:23:46.980 |
Now, obviously, God is not challenging us to say, "I want you to know facts." 00:23:52.060 |
I remember the exam questions of list all the cities that Apostle Paul visited in all 00:23:58.180 |
I remember I memorized an acrostic and all that kind of stuff. 00:24:02.140 |
Knowledge is obtaining facts and information, but Apostle Paul gives us a picture here and 00:24:07.540 |
says, "I want you to understand first a knowledge of God's will. 00:24:11.860 |
You as Christians should be experts in this arena. 00:24:18.380 |
We're talking about expectations of God today. 00:24:20.580 |
You as Christians should be experts in answering the question, "What is God pleased by? 00:24:30.460 |
These are questions you should be grappling with. 00:24:33.460 |
If you're young and you haven't had the opportunities to wrestle with your heart and wonder, "Is 00:24:38.460 |
what I want in God's will?" and you wrestle with that, I don't fault you for that. 00:24:43.940 |
But we should be striving to know first and foremost, "What is displeasing to my God? 00:24:53.780 |
Those passages of the scriptures where God says, "My will for you is that you should 00:24:57.300 |
be sanctified, you should be holy, that you reflect Christ," all of these things, you 00:25:03.940 |
You should know it like the back of your hand. 00:25:08.100 |
But what's more, he says, "There should be then spiritual wisdom." 00:25:11.660 |
Now the Hebrew definition of spiritual wisdom, it's big. 00:25:16.560 |
But the most predominant one, the one that happens most, is the idea of skillful wisdom. 00:25:23.380 |
An individual who, because of their craft and trade, knows how to accomplish their work 00:25:32.580 |
Likewise, in the book of Exodus, it talks about these skilled craftsmen who helped build 00:25:42.500 |
You should have a skill in navigating your spiritual life, right? 00:25:47.700 |
It may be a corollary, it's like, "You should have the street smarts when it comes to your 00:25:54.800 |
You should understand how things are normative with God. 00:25:59.740 |
And then what's more, it talks about understanding. 00:26:03.340 |
And in this, there should be an ability for you to interpret truth. 00:26:07.760 |
It is one thing to know facts, it is another to skillfully use it, it's another to interpret. 00:26:15.540 |
You should be the one saying, "Oh, look at that observation. 00:26:20.940 |
You should be the scientist examining the faith. 00:26:27.940 |
This is God's desire that we be rich in Him and in all speech and in all knowledge we 00:26:35.100 |
And God says as a warning to every single one of us that throughout history, throughout 00:26:39.140 |
the past, there is pain for those who are not seeking the knowledge of God. 00:26:47.340 |
Scripture says it is not good for a person to be without knowledge. 00:26:50.140 |
Hosea 4, 6, "My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge." 00:26:55.660 |
Now just by way of a practical application of this, I feel like in our day for some odd 00:27:01.180 |
reason, well, I kind of know why, it's been almost noble to be like, "Yeah, I'm not a 00:27:07.780 |
It's also become noble to say, "You know, for me, I don't get involved in politics. 00:27:12.860 |
You know, for me, I don't get involved in policy stuff. 00:27:16.900 |
Because there's almost something noble about being your average, run-of-the-day Christian 00:27:20.820 |
and you don't have pride and arrogance like those people. 00:27:24.780 |
Like that has become something of a norm these days. 00:27:29.900 |
In our day, it's not not talking about politics that we need. 00:27:36.740 |
We don't need Christians to get out of politics. 00:27:43.700 |
We need Christians who are driven by knowledge of truth. 00:27:46.760 |
We need Christians who are driven by the character of God because they understand His will. 00:27:50.940 |
We need individuals who are actually more in tune with truth, more in tune with knowledge, 00:27:57.700 |
That if they don't know about a topic, then they should be willing to say, "I just don't 00:28:03.060 |
But the fact of the matter is, it is not a noble thing, neither is it a cool thing for 00:28:06.420 |
you to say, "Well, I don't get involved with that stuff." 00:28:11.340 |
It is actually the exercise of the great muscle of your brain and your heart to grapple with 00:28:22.380 |
And so we as Christians, we are actually all the more challenged. 00:28:25.620 |
There should be a fullness of knowledge in your life. 00:28:32.660 |
Now, Scripture says that knowledge helps put everything into motion. 00:28:40.540 |
Therefore, knowledge, when you understand God, when you understand His spiritual realms, 00:28:46.060 |
you are going to have an established value system. 00:28:49.180 |
When you have a value system, now you have your priorities, right? 00:28:54.020 |
Now you have your policies, the methodologies, and then you have your execution, what you 00:28:59.540 |
Your knowledge is going to affect all of that. 00:29:01.660 |
And therefore, our next challenge is raise the bar in every good work. 00:29:06.820 |
Next challenge to you is raise the bar in every good work. 00:29:10.420 |
Let's turn our eyes to Colossians chapter 1, verse 10, and let's take a look at this 00:29:16.900 |
So that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord to please Him in all respects, bearing 00:29:28.740 |
That in our life, in pattern, in what we do, we should always be evaluating, is this pleasing 00:29:36.140 |
What's more, His expectation is that you would be bearing fruit in every single work that 00:29:43.100 |
I mean, if you're honest, God is challenging us to raise the bar on everything. 00:29:49.780 |
He is asking you, do not have a compartmentalized life where in your workplace, because you 00:29:54.860 |
think you're doing some monotonous, again, regardless of whatever kind of job you have, 00:29:58.740 |
whether it be blue collar, white collar, whatever color collar you wear, that's hard to say. 00:30:15.380 |
Sometimes because sometimes the things that we engage in doesn't have a direct effect 00:30:22.300 |
Sometimes the stuff that we get engaged in is just monotonous. 00:30:26.460 |
We have the tendency to lower the standard, and God says, "No, you bring the fruitfulness 00:30:35.700 |
Here's an interesting passage that I want us to think about. 00:30:39.460 |
In this book, Colossians chapter 3, turn there. 00:30:44.660 |
Colossians chapter 3, verse 22, Apostle Paul challenges a group of people. 00:30:50.440 |
They actually have a very unique colored collar. 00:30:56.340 |
He says this, "Slaves, slaves in all things obey those who are your masters on earth, 00:31:02.100 |
not with external service as those who merely please men, but with sincerity of heart fearing 00:31:08.740 |
Whatever you do, do your work heartily as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing 00:31:12.340 |
that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. 00:31:16.220 |
It is the Lord Christ whom you serve, for he who does wrong will receive the consequences 00:31:21.020 |
of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality." 00:31:32.460 |
And non-Christians out there looking at this passage, it's like, "How dare you? 00:31:46.540 |
It's condoning Christ-like character in everything you do. 00:31:50.540 |
That more above, like so far in importance above simply the kind of work you do or the 00:31:55.380 |
position that you hold is your godliness of character in the work that you perform. 00:32:01.740 |
That in every good work, God expects you, how many aspects, all aspects to walk in a 00:32:13.740 |
And as we think about this, this could become incredibly discouraging, right? 00:32:21.180 |
It means everything, everything that we do, God is expecting us to be fruitful. 00:32:25.300 |
Now I want to speak to this a little bit because I do believe it's difficult. 00:32:28.380 |
We live in a generation where I think people across the board have a susceptibility to 00:32:37.460 |
And I see a regular pattern nowadays where I talk to young individuals who are working 00:32:41.380 |
and if they have the capacity, sometimes they look at their jobs and then they quit because 00:32:54.540 |
What's more, sometimes they look at their work and it's just too big. 00:32:57.220 |
You feel like a wee little tiny man who's walked up to this gigantic fortress and it 00:33:02.260 |
almost feels like you're just being expected to take over this massive, massive fortress. 00:33:08.380 |
Well, again, I want to give you that encouragement. 00:33:12.460 |
We're not trying to find that fulfillment or the power to overcome that fortress in 00:33:20.180 |
If you are looking at your work, waiting for it to fulfill you, you have it backwards. 00:33:25.580 |
God is trying to convince us of the power, the supply, the resource, and you bring the 00:33:39.020 |
We understand from Scripture when Apostle Paul says, "Listen, some of us, we workers 00:33:43.700 |
in the field as Christian laborers, we plant and then I come in water and then it grows. 00:33:54.360 |
And then he looks to you and he says, "Bear fruit. 00:34:00.700 |
The two of those together is absolutely important for our lesson today. 00:34:05.500 |
There is a massive call for us and God says to us today, "I want you to strive for this, 00:34:12.340 |
not looking at your deficiency and getting discouraged, but having faith in God. 00:34:20.300 |
And that leads us to point three, raise the bar in all power. 00:34:25.560 |
Raise the bar in all power and let me explain to you what I mean by this. 00:34:29.780 |
He says, right, "Increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthen with all power," this is 00:34:35.000 |
verse 10b and 11, "strengthen with all power according to his glorious might for the attaining 00:34:40.200 |
of all steadfastness, patience, joyously giving thanks to the Father." 00:34:46.920 |
I want you to take a moment to think about that. 00:34:49.200 |
God says, "I want you to be filled with knowledge and therefore I want you to be full in every 00:34:55.840 |
good work in all respects," right, pleasing the Lord. 00:34:59.880 |
But I want you to also be filled with the resources of God, to be filled with the power 00:35:04.520 |
of the Lord, not according to the power of this world, but according to the glorious 00:35:10.040 |
Now, in order to encourage you and really make this more tangible, let's think about 00:35:17.600 |
At the beginning of the sermon, I said a certain important phrase, which was, "For our standards 00:35:24.720 |
that we live by, sometimes our standards are in accordance to mankind," meaning it is acceptable 00:35:35.960 |
We should be living by the standards that are acceptable to God, but we are regularly 00:35:40.880 |
tempted to accept and adopt the standards that are acceptable to man. 00:35:46.000 |
In order for it to be acceptable to even you or to me, we exercise a rationale, okay? 00:35:56.400 |
There is a standard of man and a standard of God. 00:35:58.720 |
Therefore there is also a rationale of man and a rationale of God. 00:36:03.480 |
Therefore there is also a power of man and a power of God. 00:36:10.800 |
Let's take an individual who is operating by the power of man. 00:36:14.200 |
Listen to his rationale about his work, about who he is, about his attitude. 00:36:20.280 |
He has standards and expectations that he operates by, and he has an explanation for 00:36:27.240 |
If he says, "Man, I've got this pattern where I isolate myself all the time. 00:36:31.520 |
I go into hiding and I don't want to be around people." 00:36:38.400 |
And every time I opened up and shared, they just squashed me. 00:36:50.440 |
Imagine if I'm a person who is suspicious of everybody. 00:36:58.600 |
It is very difficult to me to open up to you, and I just don't trust you. 00:37:10.720 |
Can you imagine if I have a wall of preservation where I'm always defending myself, and you 00:37:15.560 |
And I say, "Because I've always had to fend for myself. 00:37:18.200 |
I grew up in a broken family and nobody actually fended for me. 00:37:27.480 |
What if I'm a hoarder and I'm just greedy, and every time I get a chance, I just grab 00:37:35.680 |
I say, "Because I was always deprived when I was growing up. 00:37:48.600 |
Do you see how that individual has a standard? 00:37:51.840 |
That individual has a rationale, but that individual also has a power. 00:37:58.720 |
And I'm willing to bet he believes that if he had a better family, if he had better friends, 00:38:03.240 |
if he had better protection and money, he would believe he was in power. 00:38:08.800 |
But God is telling you, "You have been qualified by me. 00:38:15.320 |
I have given you the spirit and the power of Christ in you. 00:38:19.160 |
And I want you to operate not by the rationale of man when he says, 'I want you to walk in 00:38:23.640 |
a manner worthy of Christ,' it is in accordance to what God has given you. 00:38:28.960 |
It is congruent to what God has empowered in you." 00:38:32.080 |
And he says, "I want you to have this in full." 00:38:42.000 |
God desires us not to walk by the power of our own might, but by the power of Christ. 00:38:48.880 |
And this will produce in us an incredible steadfastness, an incredible patience that 00:38:57.480 |
This guy whom it would make so much sense to be angry, bitter, and distraught is walking 00:39:09.200 |
God wants you to be full of that kind of power. 00:39:13.080 |
Now, we want to move to the final and last exhortation, which is raise the bar to full 00:39:22.120 |
And he says that in this passage, as we take a look at the final verses, verse 11 and 12 00:39:30.240 |
he says, "Strengthen with all power according to His glorious might for the attaining of 00:39:34.800 |
all steadfastness and all patience, joyously giving thanks to the Father who has qualified 00:39:40.040 |
us to share in inheritance of the saints in light." 00:39:45.760 |
And here he says there should be a kind of joy in you, a thanksgiving to the Father as 00:39:50.700 |
you look forward to the inheritance of the people of light, the children of light. 00:39:56.600 |
And if you read it a certain way, it's almost kind of like if I put it into the context 00:40:02.640 |
If the Father told you, "Hey, I want you to do this now," and you're just like, "That's 00:40:08.120 |
You know, before I thought I was doing okay, but I should do it, you know? 00:40:13.820 |
Like, "Okay, yeah, and I want you to do it with power." 00:40:16.480 |
And then you find yourself having that little bit of attitude. 00:40:25.080 |
So if you can imagine a scenario where the parent is scolding a child, like, "Go clean 00:40:36.880 |
Like, that's kind of how I initially read the passage. 00:40:38.920 |
Like, "Oh, gosh, there's this incredible high standard of God that we're supposed to strive 00:40:46.160 |
Not only does He want us to do it, but He expects us to do it with joy." 00:40:52.880 |
The fact of the matter is it's absolutely appropriate. 00:40:55.200 |
And in order to illustrate the fact, I want to use a popular TV show. 00:41:11.360 |
Now, I love this because there's a chef named Gordon Ramsay who is, again, a celebrity now 00:41:18.200 |
And he walks into these established restaurants who, over a long period of time, maybe they 00:41:22.920 |
were like super popular a long time ago, but over a long period of time, they started to 00:41:43.000 |
He points out and calls them out for their low standards. 00:41:46.440 |
And then he motivates them to do more, brings them back up to the codes of your food and 00:41:51.960 |
health department, and then inspires them to do more in their culinary arts. 00:41:57.560 |
But you guys know why I don't show you a clip of it because there's way too much cursing. 00:42:04.040 |
But the whole premise of the whole story of him trying to get people with low standards 00:42:15.040 |
And he does this thing where he's like, "All right, that's it. 00:42:20.600 |
Just imagine I'm doing this with an English accent. 00:42:24.560 |
And then he brings everybody in, the chef, the sous chef, and the salsasters, and the 00:42:48.080 |
And the chef is just standing there with his arm crossed because he knows what's coming. 00:43:08.280 |
And the chef going around, he's like, "You have no passion for food. 00:43:12.320 |
You don't even have passion for these people. 00:43:20.160 |
Like, he's just calling out that man and just demolishing him like this, you know? 00:43:24.360 |
And then, you know, they have a pan out to one of the hostesses or one of the servers, 00:43:36.520 |
But you guys know exactly where I'm going with this analogy. 00:43:40.880 |
We're talking about not only doing the right things, but we're also talking about the kind 00:43:46.360 |
of joy and passion that God wants us to have. 00:43:49.560 |
Now the analogy is so good, it just operates by itself, and I don't even have to talk about 00:43:53.040 |
it that much, but there should be a level of distance between the analogy of Chef Gordon 00:43:57.160 |
Ramsay versus the analogy of our love for Christ and what we're doing in terms of setting 00:44:06.160 |
Because what Apostle Paul is saying is not, "Do it right. 00:44:13.360 |
We're talking about an individual who has anger, right? 00:44:16.320 |
Gordon Ramsay has anger, indignation, and a sense of, "What is this?" 00:44:24.240 |
And that is an incredible convicting challenge for me because we're talking about the gospel, 00:44:29.040 |
we're talking about our faith in God, we're talking about eternity. 00:44:32.520 |
Apostle Paul is saying, "You have been qualified. 00:44:36.000 |
You have been qualified for this inheritance, everlasting, permanent, unstained by anything. 00:44:42.440 |
This is a great treasure that you have been given. 00:44:47.240 |
Shouldn't you at least have the same kind of indignation and passion? 00:44:51.080 |
Shouldn't we also, and likewise the other side, have the same kind of joy and gusto?" 00:45:01.520 |
"Do not be full in everything in all respect, be full in every good work, but have joy in 00:45:07.320 |
thanksgiving because that is appropriate for Christians who are calling upon the name of 00:45:14.280 |
We are not simply raising the bar, gritting your teeth, and trying to do it. 00:45:29.880 |
Like there's, man, I just got to share it just honestly. 00:45:33.480 |
Like as I studied this passage, I kind of thought about, "Godness, God, what you're 00:45:38.200 |
doing right here, Lord, you're saying to me nothing short of 100% surrender is okay for 00:45:45.560 |
God, as I was meditating on this passage, I'm sitting here thinking, "God, every moment 00:45:50.960 |
when I started feeling less, right, and I got all discouraged, and I threw a little 00:45:58.560 |
You know, like these are the moments when I could exercise my faith in you, to have 00:46:03.760 |
great joy and know that what you have started in me, you're going to complete. 00:46:19.840 |
And in moments when people point the finger and say, "But what are you doing?" 00:46:26.800 |
Because I cannot just simply year to year do and repeat everything I'm doing just because 00:46:33.120 |
I have to intentionally think, "How am I trying to attain and strive for the perfect measure 00:46:40.160 |
And there is no single element of my life that is not open to that kind of scrutiny. 00:46:46.240 |
Whether it be my service, my home life, whether it be my own relationships, my thoughts, everything 00:46:54.360 |
And I pray that you would be challenged today, that there would be that kind of, I guess, 00:47:06.360 |
And just like Chef Ramsay could look at something, taste it, and say, "What is this?" 00:47:11.440 |
For those of us who have taste of heaven, those of us who have taste of Christ, we should 00:47:14.940 |
be able to look at the world, have all these people present it to us and say, "Look! 00:47:27.480 |
I have an inheritance, the people of light, that God has secured for me.