Living on the Edge

Chip Ingram: Today on Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram, when life comes apart, when a dream dies, when relationships are broken, how do you put it back together? Simply stated, you have to die. Let me say that again. If you want real life, hope that never fails, and a deep, abiding peace, you got to die. Sounds crazy, doesn't it? Well, stay with me for the next 20 minutes. You'll discover God's amazing, counter-intuitive plan of life.

Dave Druey: Welcome to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. I'm your host, Dave Druey, and today we continue a powerful series called "God's Dream for Your Life" as we gear up for the Easter weekend. Using Romans chapter 12 as the roadmap, Chip shows us what authentic Christianity looks like. Not religious striving, but relational transformation. You'll discover three missing ingredients in most Christians' lives: power, peace, and purpose. Well, here's Chip to explain how to get it, keep it, and give it away.

Chip Ingram: Well, as most of you know, Easter is kind of the high day, the pinnacle of Christianity. It's a message that you've heard, you've sung, it's about life, it's about hope, and it's about peace. And if there's ever a time, I don't know about in your personal life, but in the world that we need life and hope and peace, I would say it's about now. I mean, it's easy to kind of get focused in on your world and my world and my email and my little kind of relationships, but the world is a messed-up place right now. We're living in pretty historic days.

I mean, did you ever, ever dream that there would be a group of people, a small group, a minority, who would think that they get an A from the god that they worship by killing people they've never met? That's the world that we're currently living in, and we got to get our heads out of the sand to realize if there is a message that's real about life and hope and peace, the world needs it now. But it can't just be some religious little experience; it's got to make sense. The flip side of that is sometimes you don't even have to watch CNN or Fox or the network news to see what's happening in the world. All you have to do is kind of look in your own home.

I don't know a lot of you very well, but if you and I could go get a cup of coffee somewhere and say, tell me how you're really doing, and I promise not to tell anyone, just what are the biggest hurts in your life in the last nine to 12 months? I will guarantee I would hear about the divorce or separation you recently went through, the baby that you lost, or someone who found out that your wife or husband is having an affair. I wonder how many people here you'd say, honestly, I haven't told anybody but I have an addiction. And whether it's prescription drugs or whether it's porn or cocaine, I mean, I can just tell you. Oh no, that's not it; it's my aging parents. No, no, no; it's I lost my job, they foreclosed on my home, our business went under. That's the world that we're living in.

And here's what I wanted to do in our time together because it's really important. I want to talk today about how do you really find life and hope and peace in a world that's really messed up. There was a man many years ago named Frank, and Frank had everything that we would think would bring life and hope and peace. He lived a carefree life, he inherited a great amount of wealth, his house would be nestled up into the hills, he would have a couple of luxury cars, his kids had high SAT scores. I mean, his life would just be amazingly wonderful by all our standards.

And he lived that high life, but he found there was an emptiness about what really brings life and what really gives purpose. And so he did something crazy. He heard the words and the teachings of an itinerant preacher that had lived roughly 1,200 years before he was born, a man named Jesus. And as he read the words, he thought, this is so radical, but I've got money, I've got wealth, I've got it all, and I'm empty inside. So I'm going to take this person, and he follows these words of Christ in a very literal way and left everything. And he found a small little band of people who would say, will you leave everything with me? Why don't we try this out as an experiment? Let's radically love people. Let's not worry about material stuff. Let's just go after it. And they did.

That was almost a thousand years ago, and his little group is still going on. And they live by a motto. It's a prayer that he wrote. I think his name was Frank when he started off, but later when he got to be more famous, people started calling him Francis. And his prayer and his motto of how to live for life and hope and peace was, Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. And where there is hatred, let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope. And where there is sadness, joy.

Oh divine master, grant that I may not so much listen to the counter-intuitive, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive. That's counter-intuitive. It is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. The Franciscans, almost a thousand years later, are doing what? Helping the poor, living out his prayer. You may not agree with all they're doing, but I will tell you what, they have experienced a life that's impacted millions upon millions upon millions of people in the things that money can't buy.

And as I read that, I thought to myself, where'd he get those crazy ideas? Now, I know he got them from Jesus, but how does it really work? Secular scholars say that the Apostle Paul was probably the greatest mind of the first century. He was from Tarsus, which was a nice town. He was a Roman citizen, which was a big deal. He had wealth, and his life wasn't making sense. And he tried so hard, so hard, so hard, so hard to be good. And then he encountered the living Christ. And he realized that he had to die. He needed to stop trying, stop working, stop attempting, stop trying to prove, pose, and he met the living Christ.

And in the midst of a world, and here's what you got to understand, sometimes we think it's really, really bad now. You ought to study church history. I majored in history in college. You ought to study what Rome was like and what it was like to grow up there. You ought to study and look at the culture of what the Greeks taught. And there were gods on every corner, and there was an immorality that makes our triple-X porn look mild. The poor had unbelievable injustice. Greed and power ruled. People got crushed. Women had nothing.

And in the midst of all that, this brilliant intellect said, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. Yet not I, but Christ lives inside of me. And now this life that I live day by day in this physical body, I live by faith in the son of God who gave himself for me. And what he was saying was, listen to that word, I'm crucified with Christ. He said, I had to die. I had to die to my agenda, my selfishness, my greed, my demands. I had to die. And Francis picked that up and he put it in that prayer that he prayed and that prayer that he lived. The gateway to the deepest relationships, peace that won't go away, and hope that you can have when you find out someone you love has cancer or when you find out someone you love has hooked up with someone else begins with a death because when there's no death, there can't be resurrection.

In one sentence, the Apostle Paul, out of his letter to the Galatians chapter 2 verse 20, says this is how it works. Now, here's what I want to do. I want to step back and ask, how does that really play out? And so we're going to ask four very basic questions. Question number one is, well, how did we get here? How did the world get this messed up? There's chaos out there, and there's chaos in here. And what I want to tell you is the world, this world that we live in now, is not the world God created. The world that God created, the eternal creator of all that is, who spoke the world into existence, created an absolutely perfect world. And he created human beings that he placed in a perfect world.

Dave Druey: You're listening to Living on the Edge, and today's teaching from Chip Ingram continues in just a minute. His message is available anytime at livingontheedge.org. Listen again, share it with a friend, or explore hundreds of additional programs, all free, all online. You can even search for specific topics like parenting, personal growth, and unchangeable truths, plus find small group resources and practical tools to help you live the Christian life every day. It's all waiting for you at livingontheedge.org. Well, now let's get back to today's message.

Chip Ingram: There was God and the human beings that he made in perfect fellowship. But God, in this perfect world that he made, wanted to have a very real relationship with us. And there's a price for freedom. See, you can make robots and have them bow down to you or say words to you, but robots don't have the freedom to say yes or no; they're programmed. God wanted people that would have a real, authentic relationship with him because they had to be able to do what free moral agents can: say yes to him or say no to him. And so what we find is the great price of freedom was that we mankind said, God, I don't want you. I'm going to do my own thing. I think I know what's best for me.

And there was devastating consequences. The theologians call it the fall, or when sin entered the world. And the impact was that it separated us from God, it separates us from each other, and it separates us even from ourselves. And the scripture says that even the globe, the actual earth, the fall impacted. That's how we got here. And so there was a need, there's a tremendous need. If God cares, what are you going to do about this? See, if God made the world the way as it is, he's not a very good God, he's not a good God, he's not a kind God, he's a cruel God. But the world that you live in is messed up. God didn't mess it up; we did. But he cares.

And so the question number two is, where is God in the chaos? Not just in the suffering that's happening in places around the world, but where is God in your chaos? In the relationship that isn't going well and the anger and the bitterness and the people that have talked about you and all the junk? Where is God in the chaos? Here's the message of Easter. Get this down. Easter is about a divine intervention. Anybody here know what an intervention is? Anybody had a friend or a relative? I have. That's either a crack addict, a sex addict, an alcoholic, a prescription drugger, a cocaine addict?

Well, I have. I've been involved in intervention when my mother did it with my dad with us kids. You know what interventions are? Interventions are people are living in destructive ways that are killing them and ruining everything and everyone around them. And we watch the devastation, we watch the pain, and then someone gets the courage to say, I'm not playing in the system any longer. And you get all the friends, and you get all the family, and usually find a pro who's done this before because you need to know what you're doing. And you all create this place and then usually have to trick them to get them there.

And he walks in and goes, oh, what's going on? And they say, we love you and you have a big problem. We care so much, we refuse to play the game, we're intervening now, and we want you to know there is hope and there's a path that you can take, but we won't support this any longer. And I'll never forget the day my mom did that with our family after my dad was an alcoholic for about 25 years. And she said, you can have this bottle or you can have me and the kids, but you can't have both. And you got 24 hours to figure it out. 24 hours later, said, I'd choose you all. Now, I wish he would have got some counseling and got some help, but I'll tell you what, radical change in his life. Came to Christ after that.

But you know what Easter is? God looking down from heaven, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, of seeing all people of all time simultaneously in all of our needs and seeing the chaos and the destruction, both personally and globally. And the son saying, I'll go. Let's do an intervention. Let's help them see that they are messed up and they are selfish and they need to die and receive life so they can be resurrected. And so Jesus came and he did the intervention to rescue us. His life mission, he said, was I came to seek and to save those which were lost.

And so the first thing he offered was life, because we're on death patterns. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Circle the word have, present tense the moment you believe. And then the very next verse was probably as life-changing for me as the first one: For God did not send his son into the world to judge the world, but he sent his son to save us. God's not down on you. God's not down on me. He's not this angry god whose arms are crossed with a big club who has a lot of rules and just waiting for you to mess up to bang over your head or knock you on the knuckles.

His invitation is not get religious, get more moral, try harder, pull up your bootstraps. That's not it. It's an intervention where you say, how you're living your life doesn't work. It's bringing death to you and death to others. I want to give you life. There's a gift. And what we're going to learn is he went to the cross and he died on the cross for you. He intervened and said, what you can't do for yourself, I'm going to do. And he literally paid—that's what the word redemption means—he paid for your sin and paid for mine. And then he rose from the grave and says, look, free gift.

But he says, not just life, I'm going to give you hope. The very last night, he looked into his disciples' eyes, and he could see the fear in their eyes. And they'd seen him feed the poor and raise people from the dead, and they knew he was the Messiah, but it was like, how is this going to work because you keep talking about your checking out? And he said, do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house are many dwelling places, and if it were not so, I would not have told you. And then listen carefully, for I go and prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and I will receive you to myself that where I am, you may be also.

Do you get it? It's about relationship. It's not about morality. When the relationship is right, the morality always changes. But he says, you need hope. You need hope when your marriage is falling apart. You need hope when you find out someone you love has cancer. You need hope when your parents are totally messed up. You need hope when your biggest dreams were to get into that school and you didn't get in. You need hope when you've based all your life on that athletic career and then boom, it's ACL and nobody wants you. You need hope when life doesn't work. But guess what? There's going to come a day, and the research is in: 100% of the population at some point in time dies. It's true.

So you know when you need hope? You need hope that there's someone personal and real and who's the God of the universe who made you, who is preparing a place and wants you with him because he loves you. And then knowing that in a fallen world, you need peace. I mean, you get anxious when you don't have enough money, you get anxious when, you know what, you used to have a house, you don't have a house, you get anxious when you don't have a job. You get anxious. And you know what he says? Don't let your heart be troubled. And then he goes on to say, look, I want to give you peace. In the world, you will have tribulation, but be courageous. I want you to know I've overcome the world.

And the peace that I have, I'm in control. Hey, it's awful at times, it's difficult at times. I'm in control of the big tsunamis and the little tsunamis. I'm sovereignly in control of all that there is, and I will take even all the evil and all the people and all the bad stuff. And for those who would turn from their sin and say, I want a relationship with you, I will do an intervention and we'll do life together, and I want to love you. That's the message of Easter. And the question you ought to be asking is, if that's the message of Easter, what gives this Jesus the right to make that outlandish offer? Don't other religions have offers about peace and life and hope? I mean, what makes you think this one's real, right? That was my question.

Jesus makes this offer based on four things. First, his life. Sinless, revealing God's character. If we could have found, if his enemies could have found one sin, the message of Jesus and all of his claims go out the window. But instead, Jesus said, look, here's the deal. I've come to do an intervention, and you have death. Life, you want to see what life looks like? See the poor, I feed them. See the hungry, I feed them. See the people that have lost close, I raise them from the dead. If you've seen me, you've seen the Father. You want to know what God is like? You see this prostitute and the messed-up life she's had and the four partners? Go and sin no more.

You see this lady whose heart's broken and this guy that's just lost his daughter? I raise her from the dead. You see people who don't have purpose and these religious people and all their pious stuff? I shoot it straight with them and say quit pretending, quit posturing, quit being a hypocrite. His life, I mean, it marks AD, BC. All of life is around this single solitary life that's changed the world.

Dave Druey: You've been listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram, and we'll hear more encouragement in just a moment. Chip brought us face to face today with the truth that's counter-intuitive, but central to everything the Christian life promises. The gateway to deeper relationships, to peace that holds when everything falls apart, to hope that doesn't crumble under the weight of real life begins with a death. As Paul wrote to the Galatians, "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live." Francis understood it, Paul lived it, and Chip laid it out plainly today. When you stop striving, stop posturing, stop trying to earn what can only be received, that's when resurrection becomes possible.

For over 30 years, Living on the Edge has existed to bring that message to people who need it. Not religion, not performance, the real thing. And it reaches them because of partners who believe this mission matters. If you already give to support this ministry, thank you. Every program, every resource, every moment of teaching that lands in someone's heart at just the right time happens because you said yes. And if you've never given before, today's a great day to start. To donate right now, visit livingontheedge.org or call us at 888-333-6003. You can also mail us by writing to Living on the Edge, PO Box 3007, Atlanta, Georgia 303024. And don't forget to subscribe to the Living on the Edge podcast, now featuring complete, full-length teachings from Chip Ingram. Subscribe to the Living on the Edge podcast today. Well, now here's Chip.

Chip Ingram: As we wrap up today, first, I want to invite you to join me for the rest of this message in our next program. But just for today, I want to ask you that question I asked in the teaching: where is God in your chaos? He's closer to you than you could ever imagine, but he's a prayer away, he's a leaning in away, he's a "I really need your help, Lord" away. God wants to help you. You know, this is that time of year where it's so easy, depending on your background, that oh, it's Easter and we kind of go through the motions and you go to a service here or there. And oh yeah, Jesus hung on the cross, he died, he rose the third day, and there's five or six songs you like, and that's not what it's about.

That's the story, but it's about hope. It's about hope for you. It's about hope in the things that you struggle with, hope for your fears, your family, the hope that you need to have because some people that you love died in the last year. This is a message where Jesus wants you to know it's not lilies, it's not dressing up. It's me. It's what he said to Martha: "Martha, do you believe I'm the resurrection and the life? He who believes in me, though he dies, he will live." There's hope for today and there's hope for forever. And he wants you to know, I want to give you peace. He doesn't promise he's going to wave a little wand and all your problems go away and everything's going to be wonderful. But what he promises is that I'll be with you.

What he promised was, I've prepared a place for you. What he promised is that my spirit will dwell inside of you if you will turn from your sin, ask me to forgive you, and I will come into your life and I will take you out of the kingdom of darkness and I will place you in the kingdom of light, and you will become born from above, or born again, a child of God. If you are already a child of God, then just in your heart of hearts say, Lord, I need you, and then get into his word. And if you're not a child of God or don't know for sure, how at this day, on this moment, cry out, Lord, I need you. I fall short, I know I've done things wrong, but I believe today you died in my place on that cross. I believe today you rose from the dead to prove it's true. And you promised if I believe in my heart and I confess with my mouth that you would save me, deliver me.

Share that with your Heavenly Father at this moment. And he will forgive you, and he will give you a spiritual birth right now in your life. And his promise is eternal life, beginning now, forever and ever. And if you have just prayed that with me, make sure to contact us at Living on the Edge. We have a resource that's helpful and is free, and make sure you call or text the greatest Christian you know and say, hey, I don't have it all figured out, but I prayed to receive Christ and I need help. And I know God will meet you. Great to be with you today.

Dave Druey: To get in touch, go to livingontheedge.org/salvation. Well, real change doesn't start with trying harder; it starts with dying. I'm Dave Druey, inviting you to find out more about what that means and why it's the best news you'll ever hear next time on Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Today's program is produced and sponsored by Living on the Edge.