Radical Lives

Radical Lives
Sermon Notes – Ps. Jim White
Sunday 27 June 2010
• The ministry team have been looking at some new leadership material that we will be incorporating into the life of the church – it is very much based on building teams and support through coaching – and the material speaks about a number of key stages in the development of a leader. And interestingly enough – one of the stages is called – “Taking Measured Risks”.

• I’ve yet to find out what a “measured risk” looks like – but I like the sound of it. Because it sounds like it’s calling us as Christian leaders to a measure of faith – to step out into some unchartered waters...

• When you think about it, just about all of the famous Christian leaders that we could name – men and women who were or are world changers – are “out there”. They are risk takers – but risk takers within the boundaries of God and the realm of the Spirit. They have lived, or are living, a radical Christianity!

• I was also thinking about our times together here in worship – even last Sunday when we were singing about the chains being broken and lives being healed, eyes being opened and Christ revealed... You guys are passionate and hungry and desperate for God – for His presence – for the manifestation of His healing and delivering power... God sees that – and He responds to our hunger for Him.

• When you think about that – it’s a radical thing to do – it’s a radical thing to believe that God – the Creator of the Universe – hears and feels and receives our worship. It’s radical in terms of what the world generally believes about life and its meaning – or lack of meaning - and what is considered “normal.”

• I looked up the definition of the word “radical.” It means “to change from the accepted and traditional form – departing markedly from the usual or customary.”

• That’s who we are. We are a people who want to change – and live a life that is different from the accepted and traditional... from the usual and customary... especially when you think about our place in relation to the everyday world we live in. I certainly don’t want to simply be part of what’s accepted from a cultural worldly perspective, because it’s normal and usual.

• We are called to be world changers – culture changers – countercultural, radical, passionate followers of Jesus Christ.

• This race of life that we are on may be a marathon – but it’s not meant to be boring – and it certainly doesn’t have to be traditional, usual and customary.

• Play video clip.. “Maybe We’re Supposed to Run!

• Maybe we’re supposed to be radical – maybe we’re supposed to run!

• I’m challenging myself and all of us this morning. Last week was about standing up and contending for the faith. This week it’s about running the race of life – not walking, not just being proper and traditional and living life the way everyone else wants to. If you really think about it – everything about this Christian life is radical.

• I did a search for the word “radical” in the bible – and I knew it wouldn’t be there in my regular NKJV – BUT – I found it used a few times in The Message Bible. And it’s really interesting – the context in which it is used.

• Let me read Mark 6:11-13 in the NKJV – This is Jesus speaking to His disciples - “And whoever will not receive you nor hear you, when you depart from there, shake off the dust under your feet as a testimony against them. Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgement than for that city! So they went out and preached that people should repent. And they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick, and healed them.”

• But in The Message bible, it says – “If you’re not welcomed, not listened to, quietly withdraw. Don’t make a scene. Shrug your shoulders and be on your way. Then they were on the road. They preached with joyful urgency that life can be radically different; right and left they sent the demons packing; they brought wellness to the sick, anointing their bodies, healing their spirits.”

• So where the NKJV says – they preached that people should repent – The Message says – they preached... that life can be radically different.

• And at first I thought – that’s taking a bit of liberty with the translation... how do you get being radical from repentance?

• Then I found another couple of examples – in Acts 20:21 – “...testifying to the Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” But The Message says – “urging Jews and Greeks alike to a radical life-change before God and an equally radical trust in our Master Jesus.”

• So there’s a definite pattern – where other versions speak about repentance, The Message bible speaks about a radical life-change.

• In Acts 19:4 – Paul talks about (NKJV) a baptism of repentance. In the Message it calls it a baptism of radical life-change...

• In Rom 2:4 – (NKJV) the goodness of God leads to repentance – compared with (The Message) “In kindness He takes us firmly by the hand and leads us into a radical life-change.”

• Just when I was about to get all worked up about the Message leaving out the word repentance – I thought I had better have a look at what the true definition of repentance is. Well, according to my Bible Dictionary, true repentance is a change of mind – a change of purpose – and a change of life.

• And when it’s all said and done – that’s a radical life-change – exactly what The Message bible calls it.

• So – our repentance – is in truth, a step into radical Christianity and a radical life-change. And when that young man on the video clip says, “Maybe we’re supposed to be radical – maybe we’re supposed to run” – he was right.

• Maybe our faith is meant to be a radical faith. Remember – radical means a change from the accepted and traditional – departing from the usual and customary.

• It’s interesting that the speaker at the AOG men’s breakfast was saying – everyone has faith – faith is just what you put your belief in. We believe when we sit on a chair, it’s going to hold us up. We believe the sun will rise each morning. Everyone believes stuff.

• But maybe we are meant to be living life with a faith that is constantly pushing the norm. I’m not sure if “measured risk” is the right term for it – but it’s got to be more than just comfortable and safe.

• Radical faith is like the faith of Abraham – who (Heb 11:8) “By faith... obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.” It takes a lot of faith to pack up your family and lead them off into the future without knowing where you are going to end up. To some extent I know what it feels like. When we left for bible college at the beginning of 1995, we had no idea where we would end up – and the last place we thought it would be is back here in Ballina. But by faith, we trusted God – and His plan has been far better than anything we could have thought of. But at the time – it was a radical move – and a radical life-change.

• And (Heb 11:17) By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son...” I don’t know what that would be like – but God does. He offered up His only begotten Son. Abraham, in the end, didn’t have to go through with it – but our Heavenly Father did.

• Abraham’s faith was a radical faith. I was watching a little video clip of George Muller this week. And he too was a man of radical faith. He ran orphanages in England – and lived totally by faith. Sometimes, when there was no food in the house – he would sit the children down at the table and give thanks – and there would be a knock at the door, and the milk cart or the bread cart would have broken down right outside their front door, and had to be unloaded. He fed and housed hundreds of children – and never asked anyone for a cent. That was radical faith.

• Maybe we’re supposed to experience radical worship. I know we are all looking for something more – certainly compared to the idols and material things this world has to offer – but also what many traditional forms of religion can offer. Compared to both – our worship could be described as pretty radical. Certainly, the place of worship that we desire, could be regarded as radical.

• Radical worship that touches the heart of God, also changes us, our purpose, our heart and mind.

• In a book entitled, “Make Love, Make War”, the author speaks about worship elevating us into the presence of God, renewing and refreshing our spirits, offering the deepest expression of love for our Saviour. And yet it can also be a call to arms, a battle cry in spiritual warfare.

• This fellow of course talks about worship being how we live and how we serve God. He says we can wage spiritual warfare and share God’s love through a life of radical worship.

• And listen to what Paul says about worship in Rom 12:1-2 (NLT) – “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind He will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship Him.”

• You don’t get much more radical than giving your body to God – becoming a living sacrifice... But this is how we truly worship Him. This is the genuine fruit of repentance. And then Paul says in verse two:

• “ 2 Don’t copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”

• Again, this is repentance – or as The Message puts it, a radical life-change. Repentance is a change of mind – a change of purpose and a change of life. When your mind is renewed by the Word of God – and you make a choice – or a cultural shift – to live a life set apart for God – THEN you begin to know the will of God for your life. It’s the fruit of radical worship.

• Maybe we are supposed to be radical givers. I can give you an example of the opposite... Megan looks after a few littlies a few days a week, and sometimes we call in for a visit. Well, you only have to watch them playing together to learn what a 2 or 3 year old thinks about giving. Not much!

• The basic rule is, if it’s mine, it’s never yours. If it looks like mine, then it’s probably mine. If I have played with it, then it’s mine. Even if I’ve looked at it, it’s mine. If you want it, but I didn’t get to it first – it’s still mine. Things are so simple when you are two. It’s all about me.

• Well, that’s the opposite of radical giving. Radical givers recognise that all we have is God’s. We are simply stewards. And radical givers know that “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matt 6:21).

• If we store everything away for ourselves – out of fear, or greed – it reflects a heart that has a blockage problem – a lack of trust problem with God... a lack of understanding that we are stewards with a call to represent the nature and the heart of God – even through our finances.

• It’s a radical thing to honour the principle and pattern of tithing that has been laid down throughout the Word of God. Because it represents a change of mind – a change of purpose – and a change of life.

• It’s a radical thing for us as a church to provide super cheap groceries to people on limited incomes. We put a lot of time and effort into that. Only a church and a team of people with a radical and renewed way of understanding life and the world would do that.

• Then there’s radical love. And you cannot find a more appropriate or powerful expression of radical love than that of Jesus Christ for you and I. Radical love is agape love. It’s not love based purely on emotion – or love based on the needs and desires of yourself. It is not self centred love.

• Agape love encaptures the heart, the mind, and the will. The will is all about choice. Healthy, stable, consistent love involves a choice to love... Because we don’t always feel like being loving – and our thoughts don’t always line up with being loving. So sometimes it is simply a matter of choosing to love.

• You know the big difference with what we often see as love – and what the love of God is really all about? Those who do not know Christ – and even some who do – are primarily seeking love to fulfil their own needs – to fill themselves up – to get out of a relationship what they believe is going to make them whole and complete.

• But remember what it says in 1John 4:19 – “We love Him because He first loved us.” And John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that He gave... His only begotten Son...”

• Radical love is not about self – what I can get out of it – how my needs will be met. If we go into a relationship thinking – I need someone to love me – I need someone to make me happy – I need someone to make me feel whole.... Then we are setting ourselves and the other person up for huge disappointment.

• There’s no denying that many have been down that track – because it’s normal and usual. But we are called to more than just what’s normal – we are called to be emotionally healthier than what’s just the accepted – the traditional – the usual or customary. We are called to radical love – other centred love – a love that gives – freely – unconditionally – and has enough wholeness and completeness already to give to the other person.

• 1John 4:10-16 – “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Saviour of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.”

• Radical love for others comes from knowing the love of God – spending time with Him, knowing the gift of salvation, which includes opportunity and potential for wholeness and completeness in every area....

• We could go on and talk about radical hope, radical commitment, radical prayer, radical joy... because every part of this new way of living that we have stepped into in Jesus Christ – is radical. Repentance is a radical life-change.

• I’m asking myself this morning – does my life truly reflect radical faith? Am I a radical giver? Do I love with the radical agape love of Jesus Christ? Do I walk in true repentance?

• I think we would all understand that repentance is a turning from sin and selfishness – toward God and righteousness. But for me – has my mind been changed? Has my purpose changed? Has my life really changed to something that could only be described as “radical?”

• Carry that statement with you today from the video clip. Maybe we’re supposed to be radical – maybe we’re supposed to run...

• Maybe this morning, Jesus Christ is calling you to make a radical decision to follow Him – to put your trust in Him. It’s called a radical life-change... repentance! Walking away from sin – receiving the forgiveness of your Heavenly Father – and asking Jesus Christ to come and live in your heart.

• It’s radical – but sometimes a change of mind, a change of purpose and a change of life – is exactly what we need.