Living on the Edge

Chip Ingram: Have you ever wondered why God uses some people more than others? And then you look at their life and you scratch your head and you say, "Well, God, why would you use them?" I mean, they're not overly smart, or they don't seem especially holy or religious. Why does God use some people more than others? That's what we're going to talk about today.

Dave Drewry: In our last program, Chip Ingram introduced a series called You Were Made for More with the stunning promise: God is scanning the Earth right now looking for hearts that are fully His. Today on Living on the Edge, Chip gets to the heart of what that actually requires, and it starts with something he calls a dislocated heart.

It's not a concept you'll find in most churches, but once you understand it, you'll see it everywhere in Scripture. If you missed the first part of this message, catch up any time at livingontheedge.org. Now, here's Chip Ingram with his message: Develop a Dislocated Heart.

Chip Ingram: God gives us a holy ambition. He's looking for those who would dare to dream and to believe that they can, in fact, change the world. And I would really say it like this: change your world. We don't have to change the world if we will each change our little sections and the things that cause our heart to beat faster and the needs and the hurts that cause something inside of us where the Spirit of God is poured out and says, "If you had more time, you could really care and make a difference."

And we keep telling the Spirit, "Well, I will later, when things slow down. And I will later when I have more time. And I will later when I have more resources." And I've got news for you: that later is never coming. It comes when you say, "That I must do. And God, I will listen to your voice and rearrange my time and my schedule around what it will cost to do that." And those who do that experience a holy ambition.

Well, our model is going to be a man that had a holy ambition. What I like about him: he's not a prophet, he's not a priest. He's a business guy. His job in that day was to be the cupbearer. And you would taste the wine, taste the food so that if it's poisoned, you died before the king does. It was a great job if the food was good.

But he also became a confidant. You became friends with the king. You were the inside man. It was always chosen someone outside the royal line. So, in this case, he wants a Jewish cupbearer because he's the Persian king because a lot of Persians want his job, and the way you get to be the king is you kill the present king.

And so we're going to meet a man named Nehemiah. And God has judged His children because they've worshiped idols. And because of their worship of idols, they've been dispersed. And after they've been dispersed, He promised He would regather them. And there has been a partial return, and Zerubbabel was one of God's men, a prophet. And he went back and said, "Hey, people, you know, God promised. Let's get with the program." And it wasn't very successful.

And then Ezra headed back, and he's a teacher and a scribe and he teaches God's word and still wasn't getting any traction. And so we pick up the story in Nehemiah one. And it says the words of Nehemiah, the son of Hacaliah, in the month of Kislev, which is our November-December, in the 20th year, and the reference is the 20th year of King Artaxerxes, who's the king of Persia.

While I was in the citadel of Susa, Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish people, the Jewish remnant that survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem. And by the way, it's interesting that people that get a holy ambition that's from God ask questions. Nehemiah gets a report and he asks about the people and he asks about the place.

And now we get the report. They said to me, "Those who survive the exile are back in the province and they're in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates have been burned with fire." So the wall would be protection, it would be a functioning city. The gates are where the elders would meet. It's how you could close things off; you would have security.

It would be a functioning city that was growing and making progress. We know that the temple hasn't been rebuilt, but the walls are crumbled and the gates are burned. Basically, you look at Jerusalem and this is the city that God promised would be the hope of the world. And if you could go back in a time machine and look at that city at this moment, you would just say God's agenda is dead.

All those promises He made and a coming Messiah and it's done. The place is a shambles. And there's people today that when you look at the world situation, you look at the economy, you look at the violence and the murder, when you look at terrorism, when you look at people that have the ability to actually blow up whole cities, people are saying, "Where's God in all this?"

The answer is He lives inside His children and they have an agenda today just like there was an agenda then. And the issue will happen that will really make the big difference is how will you respond to the news that you see today? I mean, Nehemiah could have said, "Well, that's really tough. I got a full-time job. I mean, someone has to eat the king's steak and drink the best wine in the world."

It's just my job. Don't blame me if I have a Rolex sundial and an Armani toga and that Lexus chariot I have is pretty hot. In fact, I got six horses now instead of four and they really zip when I go through town. And I'm called by God, I'm doing what God wants me to do. It's working for me, right? And I didn't create that mess. I'm just a regular guy.

I'm not even a prophet. I didn't go to Bible school, didn't go to seminary. Look, I'm a business guy. Okay, I'm a wealthy business guy. Yes, I have affluence, yes, I have influence, yes, I'm positioned in the strategic place in world history. But God couldn't use someone like me. Look at his response.

When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and for some days I mourned and I fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. Will you put a circle around the word "sat"? Would you put a circle around the word "wept"? Would you put a circle around the word "mourned"? And would you put a circle around the phrase "fasted and prayed"?

When you see God's agenda going down the tubes, when you see what's happening in America, when you see that only one out of 10 or one out of 12 people who are self-identified as followers of Jesus living like Jesus, you think of Gandhi's words who said, "I think very highly of your Jesus, but I can't recommend Him to my people because His followers are so unlike Him." His response: he stopped.

He sat down. I mean, when you sit down, you stop. He didn't say, it's not like watching TV and there's a World Vision commercial or a Compassion and you see the little kid with the belly and you go, "Oh boy," and flip back to sports or news or something. "That makes me uncomfortable." It's not like going to the mall and looking at the eyes or talking to someone that's got a pregnancy and she doesn't know what to do with it, or someone who's got an addiction and is just absolutely strung out and asks for help. It's like you just want to push the remote button. Well, someone else will take care of them. Makes us uncomfortable.

He stopped. And then he let it get under his skin. He deeply emoted. He wept. He cried. And here's the deal: his life is working great. He lives in a gated community and God's agenda is just slipping downhill. And his heart response to God's agenda is he stopped, he deeply emotes, and then to mourn has to do with grief.

Ever lost a child? Ever lost a best friend? Ever lost a job? Grief, that's what grief is. It shouldn't be this way. And by the way, this isn't a gut-level, knee-jerk response. You're going to find as we later read through the first part of this chapter is that it's interesting the author tells us it's November-December and in the beginning of chapter two, he'll give us another structural marker.

And we're going to learn there's three months of this guy dealing with this issue of "my life works, I'm comfortable, God's agenda's going down the tubes. God, what do I do? God, what do I do?" First, you stop. And then by God's grace, you let it sink in and you get uncomfortable and I think you actually weep. And then you mourn and then you act because you realize you got to hear God's voice and you can't do something stupid and you don't really know what God wants you to do and you're only one person, right?

And so you fast. And all that means is you stop eating for a period of time to take that time to give spiritual attention to hear the voice of God about what He wants you to do with your life right now. And you pray. I was talking to this fellow on the plane and we were talking about these church planting movements and I had all these questions and what about this and what about that.

And I said, "What have you learned?" He said, "Well, we did some research. We took our top 100 church planters." And it's a multiplying, reproducing model and so their lowest guy planted 50 churches in that year and their highest guy planted 500. Long story, but amazing and accurate and true. And so we brought in an outside consultant and we had him interview and examine all of our top 100 church planters because we thought, obviously these are our best guys.

I guess if you had a sales force and 100 of them were producing 80 percent of the results, you'd do a study and find out, "What are they saying over the phone? Or how do they greet people? Or how do they close?" and learn from them. He said, "So we looked at them." He said, "We can only find one thing they have in common. Different personalities, different countries, India, South Asia, all over. They only have one thing in common. Ready for this? On average, they pray two to three hours a day. They each fast one day a week and they fast one weekend a month."

Dave Drewry: You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Don't go anywhere yet, there's more coming up. We're in a brand new series this week called You Were Made for More: How to Discover God's Purpose for Your Life. If you ever have trouble catching one of these programs, or if you want to share any of these messages with a friend or family member, every lesson is available free at livingontheedge.org. You'll also find study resources and bonus content from Chip. That's livingontheedge.org. Now, here's Chip.

Chip Ingram: Maybe you didn't get that. I'll go over that again for you. The only common denominator of these supernatural movements of God is they pray two to three hours a day. They fast one day a week. They fast one weekend a month. Now, please don't hear there's a formula and that if you start doing just this that God will automatically—but you know what it hit me? I get up and meet with God. I pray. I don't pray like that.

You know what I realized? It's because they care a lot more than I do. I want God to do something really great and I'm willing to make a mild to significant sacrifice for Him to do something great. But I don't care enough to pray for people two hours a day. But I bet most of us, me included, I bet most of us figure out how to slip in an hour and a half to two hours of TV.

I mean, because we need it, right? Got to wind down, it's been a big day, lot of pressure, got to catch the news. Not saying it's wrong. I'm just saying your behavior and my behavior tell me and tell you what matters. And I just got this thought as I've been flying and thinking, what would happen if I'd prayed the way they prayed and fasted the way they fasted so that I could hear like never before what God wants me to do? And then what if something kind of wild is a lot of you decided, "Yeah, let's get in on it"?

I wonder what God would do. What I call this is a dislocated heart. See, he's living in the lap of luxury. He's affluent and influential. But his heart is dislocated; it's in Jerusalem. A dislocated heart is a God-given concern for others that propels us out of our comfort zone. It's a passionate concern for God's agenda that supersedes our own desires for personal peace and prosperity.

You want a little exercise that will move you little by little is I would write that definition on a card and then under it I would write out Second Chronicles 16:9 and read it over in the morning and read it over at night and see if God doesn't do something inside your heart. A God-given—by the way, you don't work this up. This isn't artificial. This isn't "I want to be holy, I want to be spiritual." It is a God-given concern for others that propels you.

I don't think Nehemiah was going, "Oh, I want to go, I want to go." I think he's like us. "I don't want to go anywhere. I like this job, I like my Rolex sundial." And God did something that propelled him out of his comfort zone. Passionate concern. What's it look like? Let me give you a couple pictures. I don't want you to think I make up this stuff like dislocated heart. I've heard of a dislocated shoulder, in fact, my rotator cuff—no, okay.

Jesus had a dislocated heart and he says that this attitude that was in him should be in us. Who being in very nature God didn't consider equality with God, Philippians two, something to be grasped but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient. That's the key word: to death, even death on a cross.

The rest of the passage says how God did in Jesus' modeling the same thing that's happening with these church plants: therefore, he was highly exalted. He was lifted up, he was supported, he was exalted. Jesus was living in comfort, receiving the adoration of angels. Jesus saw the need of mankind. He left his comfort zone to be a missionary. And he says we're to have that attitude of crossing a culture. It means you cross some barriers to connect with people that don't know that God loves them.

See, we've got this whole thing backwards like we got to be perfect and I don't know what to say. Don't say anything. Just go—tell you what, you just start loving people like crazy and being generous with your time and your money and your energy and invite people over, ask them questions, listen to them, love them, and then you come back and tell me what happens in a couple months.

You'll be the most popular person in your company. You'll be the most popular person in your neighborhood. And I will tell you what, pretty soon you're going to get jammed up because they're going to say, "Why in the world are you doing this? No one treats me like this." And you're going to have to come up with something like, "Well, actually it's not me. It's this Jesus who lives in me and He gave me a dislocated heart that compels me out of my comfort zone to build a bridge with people that aren't always like me, to tell them that He loves you and He's already forgiven you and He wants you to receive it. And He can work this thing out in your marriage, and He can work this thing out with your kid, and He can work this thing out with this addiction. He loves you, He's God, He's for you."

The second example is the Apostle Paul. He says, "I speak the truth, I'm not lying. My conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart for I wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my race." Do you get what he's saying here? I wish I could lose my salvation and be separated from God forever if all of my Jewish brothers could understand Jesus is the Messiah, forgiveness is available, and they could all spend eternity—now, it's not a possibility.

But see, you know what a dislocated heart is? You know what it answers the question is: Do you care? Do I care? Okay, it's a little more than that. It's, do you really care? Do you care enough to get out of your comfort zone? Do you care enough to rearrange your life? Do you care enough to deal with whatever you need to deal with insides so that you say, "Well, I can't really help anybody else because basically I got some of this double life stuff going on"?

Okay, God understands that. Go to Him, ask Him to forgive you, get some help, get rid of the double life and start living the life. Do you care enough to make a radical sacrifice of your time and your energy? I would just ask: Who's the last person you led to Christ? Personally. I mean, you prayed with someone, they received—who's the last person? Who's the last person you invited over to your home that doesn't know Christ, from your neighborhood or work? Who's the last person?

Just give me a name in your head. Who's the last person you took to lunch at work just for the purpose of encouraging them? Who do you pray for at work? Who do you pray for in your neighborhood? Who? I'm not trying to induce guilt. I'm just saying if we don't really care, we don't have a dislocated heart. If we don't have a dislocated heart, God will not strongly support us. And He wants to. He longs to support you.

Dave Drewry: You're listening to Living on the Edge and the message titled Develop a Dislocated Heart, part of our series You Were Made for More. As we're learning, God is not looking for the most talented, the most educated, or the most polished. He's looking for people who are all in, people whose hearts are fully His and who are willing to let that change everything about how they live.

If that's the kind of person you want to be, we want to help. The Real You is a free online assessment we've created—a thoughtful, biblically grounded tool that helps you understand how God has uniquely wired you: your personality, your strengths, your spiritual design. Not so you can feel good about yourself, but so you can get clear on what God made you to do. Thousands of believers have found it to be a genuine turning point. Take the quiz free at therealyou.org.

This ministry exists for one reason: to help Christians actually live like Christians. Not just believe the right things, but let those things reshape how they think, how they treat people, and how they show up every single day. That's what this series is all about. And it happens because people like you believe this mission is worth supporting. Join us. Give online at livingontheedge.org or call us at 888-333-6003. Or if you'd like to connect with a community of people on the same journey, find us on Facebook and Instagram @livingontheedge with Chip Ingram. And for the full uncut version of Chip's messages, subscribe to the Chip Ingram sermon podcast, available wherever you listen to podcasts. Now, here's Chip.

Chip Ingram: Today we learned that the first prerequisite for making a difference for God is a dislocated heart. As you heard Nehemiah's story and then saw the example of Jesus and Paul and let me ask you: Do you have a dislocated heart? Do you have a God-given concern that has propelled you out of your comfort zone? Do you find that you are willing to give up personal peace and prosperity to really care about people and make a difference?

Or do you have to admit, like I do and many of us very often, that somehow the everyday stuff of life has crowded out really caring for other people? So as I went through the end of today's broadcast, I talked about how to develop a dislocated heart. Would you like one? Would you like to care for others deeply, passionately? Well, it begins with honest evaluation. I can't do that for you.

Even as you heard my voice, I know the Spirit of God is at work. Ask yourself, "Do you really care about people or have you unconsciously been squeezed into the mold of really living a Christian life with the premise: God, what can you do for me? God, how can you work my life out?" After an honest evaluation, where you see that you don't have a dislocated heart, I invite you right now: honestly repent. I mean, honestly repent.

Get before God, tell him you're sorry, honestly look in your own life and heart and repent. And then carefully consider the price tag of following him and just today—I mean, right now as you hear my voice—ask him for one. There's few prayers that God is willing to answer as immediately and as powerfully as hearing your voice honestly say, "Oh God, will you give me a dislocated heart? Will you help me look at people and care about people the way that you do?" Pray it today and you're going to see God work.

Dave Drewry: I'm Dave Drewry. Next time, Chip Ingram digs into the second condition God is looking for, something that happens quietly on the inside before anything changes on the outside. That's next time on Living on the Edge. Today's program is produced and sponsored by Living on the Edge.