Defining the God We Wish to Talk About - Trip Lee

good afternoon how's everybody doing this in case you're wondering I do know what some of you were thinking who let their little brother on stage I am a grown man I have an actual wife and kids in my own house so in case you were wondering that let's just get that off the table and I'm gonna pray that the Lord will help us father we thank you for your word God we thank you for this opportunity for us to hear from it to think about how to honor you guys think about how I live our life for your glory give us grace to do that and we ask this in Jesus name Amen I want to start by asking you a question then I want you to just think about for a moment it's a question you've probably heard a number of times what do you think it is that you've been put on earth to do like specifically what do you think you've been put on earth to do there's some people who it seems obvious for you know if you see somebody who plays basketball like LeBron James and Steph Curry like Steph Curry can make a shot from his house while he's sleeping and so that when you see him do these amazing things you think oh this guy was clearly made to do that writer you think of a great fighter like a mayweather a great singer like Adele a great rapper like me just whatever comes to mind there's some people who are world-class of what they do and they do it so well that it seems like that's what they were made to do and a lot of us wish it was that easy for us because we don't feel so world-class at anything specifically again I want to ask what exactly you think you've been put on earth to do you feel like it's just you know taking care of your family or to serve particular people in need or is it something even more specific than that it's a hard question to try to answer when we start to think specifics would it be nice if you just like got a letter in the mail one day they told you or like you got an email and it was like from J Christ to you and it just said bullet points of exactly what it is you've been put on earth to do like a job description would that be nice and when I think about job descriptions one of the things that comes to mind when I lived in DC I was renting a house and the air conditioner wasn't working that well and it was summer and it was hot and it was leaking it places in my house so I called my landlord and they send the guy to fix it and I'm happy because I don't want to be hot in my own house and so he comes and he's looking around and he asked me what's going on I said yeah it's leaking and it's not working he said ok and he's looking around and he starts asking me very specific questions so what he think is is wrong with it I said sir I don't know so do you think it's the deferral I'm like sir I'm a rapper I don't have that kind of knowledge that's that's your job you're supposed to come and figure out what's wrong and fix it and so we kept on like this he looked around he blamed me he blamed the landlord and then he left and he didn't do nothing about it so I was confused because I was under the impression that he was sent to figure out what was wrong and to fix it it seemed like I knew his job description but he did it in order for you to do what you were sent to do you have to know what you were sent to do right and when we think about my life in this world we want to think about what it is that we've been sent to do and it's not always so easy but I do want to say this there was one person who before he was even born knew exactly what he was being sent to the earth to do and did it to perfection even up until the point where he was persecuted and murdered in horrible fashion and of course that person is the Lord Jesus Christ and if we want to be the mouthpiece of Jesus if we want to speak on his behalf we have to fully understand what it is he was sent to do and exactly who he is what do you think Jesus was said to do the hard thing about thinking about that question is that Jesus is the most famous person that's ever lived so everybody has their own ideas about Jesus everybody wants to steal Jesus for their own purposes right and so we have all these things that people say that he came just to be nice to others just to do the miracles that he did just a few thousands and raise the data just to teach good principals or any of those all of what Jesus came to do I hope we understand even is those who want to talk about Jesus there are a lot of people who reject Jesus without even knowing who there right they're rejecting a week Jesus who couldn't defend himself but that's not the real Jesus or they're rejecting a mean-spirited Jesus who doesn't love us but that's not even the real Jesus maybe they're rejecting an American Jesus of European descent with all Republican talking points but that's not the real Jesus right we got to stop making Jesus in our own image Jesus came to earth to make you more like him not so you can make him more like you when we preached Jesus and people make a decision about how to respond to him we want them to be responding to the real Jesus so we want to know who he is what he came to do we're not going to figure that out just for my own minds adjust for my grandmother's are just for my pastors it has to be from God Himself in his words I want to look at first Timothy chapter 1 verse 15 if we're going to talk about Jesus and the gospel of grace we got to understand who he is and what he came to do 1st Timothy chapter 1 I'm going to read verses 15 and 16 this is God's Word Paul says here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the worst but for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me the worst of sinners Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who believe in him and receive eternal life that's God's Word and that's Jesus his job description to save sinners Jesus didn't come to team up with those who are good enough he came to save those who aren't and that's good news and that may be surprising the people in our worlds I want to look at just three surprising things and this text that people may not understand about Jesus and things that we want to make sure we don't forget or that we don't distort when we tell things about tell people about their Savior the first thing would be number one that Jesus's main work was with sinners Jesus is his main work was with sinners the world often associated Jesus with the most self-righteous and loud and obnoxious people who claim to be his followers they think Jesus followers they think the people who think they're better than everybody else the people who have their noses in the air can't see their own issues they can see everybody else is really clearly right the kind of people sometimes you came and have a conversation with like how are you doing today how are you going to be doing on the day of the Lord when Jesus comes back with Puritans I want to know how your day was going most of the time the most obnoxious and loud other people people think of when they think of Jesus so they assume that Jesus must not be for people like them the Jesus only came for SuperDuper holy people but that's not what Paul says it says he came to save sinners and if you don't trust paul jesus said himself in matthew 9 i have not come to call the righteous but sinners that's jesus himself telling us who he came for now that I'm a big NBA fan and now that the NBA season is over and the Lord and His sovereignty gave the Golden State Warriors another championship now that God in His wisdom has done all things well as he does they had the NBA draft and what happens in the draft is you know teams are picked from new players who are coming into the NBA and the worst teams getting get a better chance for choosing more quickly and when all the teams are trying to do is they're trying to find the best new players right if they're missing a point guard they want to find a great new point guard they're missing a big man and when they get a great new big man and they're trying to get the best guys to make that team that strongest possible maybe that makes you think of growing up as a kid and playing pickup basketball a kickball and there'd be two captains and they would survey everybody and be like not him he slow she can't jump and write and start to pick who the best players on and pick them on their team brings back bad memories for some of us but because that's how we're accustomed and so many things in our lives about how people get picked the world often assumes that that's how Jesus picks his team that he looks over everybody on the earth and looks for people with strengths that he can use oh he has great character I could use him and she never does anything wrong I need her on my team and he has gifts that's the thing I need to make my team stronger but that's not what Jesus does that's not how Jesus chooses did come to earth in part to assemble this team of people he would call his friends he would call his people he'd be gracious to but Jesus has a reverse kind of dress and that Jesus didn't come to team up with those who have it all together he came to save those who don't right and we cannot assume Jesus is looking for the perfect people so sometimes people will think and people that need to hear the gospel from you would think Jesus wouldn't never care about somebody like me because I have all these issues I'm lazy I have sex too much and my past is a mess and often I you know I'm I'm tempted to think that I'm not good enough for Jesus because I have done things it that I know grieve him deeply right and when we think that we should be reminded that this doesn't mean we disqualified from knowing Jesus we should remember we're exactly the kind of people Jesus came for he came for sinners and we want to make that clear if you look at Jesus in the gospel he didn't run away from sinners he wasn't like from these untouchable bishops who can't be with the people Jesus was a man of the people right Jesus spent time with sinners and I wonder whether or not that sounds like the Jesus that you present to people this Jesus who wants to be with sinners and has something to offer them do you find joy and the kind of Savior God has given you enough joy that it would overflow and how you talk about him as will Graham just noted we live in a world who doesn't really like the concept of sin very much at all so we have to help people understand even that term when we say Jesus came to save sinners because what is a sinner what qualifies as a sinner what's the sin right everybody messes up we make mistakes we like words like mistake better floor my bad that feels a little better than sin sin feels harsh but the Bible uses different words for sin hundreds of time the word sin communicates something important and the sin is more than a little mistake or a little flaw or a little mess-up sin is opposing God with our words and with our thoughts and with my actions right sin is not doing what he told us to do sin is doing what he told us not to do god says love your neighbor as yourself we only love ourselves God said live for my glory we live our own glory right we we send all of us are guilty of it and so people were often when I'm talking to people the hardest thing about understanding sin is they want to know why would God care about that I what why is God worried about what I do with my girlfriend on a Friday night isn't he supposed to be in charge everything aren't there bigger things to worry about I didn't do nothing to God and I just want you to know how how how foolish that is and we want to help people see this um let's say I was over somebody's house and they said hey Tripp I have a Playstation and I said the only game I play NBA 2k they said yeah let's play that and let's say we're playing PlayStation and let's say they beat me what never happened but just hypothetically let's say they beat me and I'm so angry that I take their PlayStation and I throw it through that TV right and I throw the controller through their wall and I kick off kick that door down and I'm like I bro see you next time but now how do you think they would respond we would probably both go to jail for a fight but what if I said well I didn't do nothing to you I think your PlayStation I didn't do anything that you are you disappointed with me well is obviously this is my stuff so of course when you do something to something that belongs to me that I have for a particular purpose of course that's an offense to me and in the same way scripture tells us clearly the earth is the Lord's and all this in it God has created everything and it belongs to him and he's made it for particular purposes so that when we use these bodies these minds these hearts that God has given us for things other than God's glory we steal from him when we sin against another person that he created to be loved we offend him sin is not breaking some random rules that God wrote it is an offense against God himself so of course he's ascended look when we share the gospel with people this idea of sin sometimes we don't really want to say it we don't want to bring it up but we cannot evangelize without acknowledging that part of God's character is his holiness and that we are not holy like he is we fall short of it you notice it doesn't say Jesus came just to eat adjust to be friends with sinners adjust to pick sinners that Jesus came to save sinners we need to be saved because we our lives are full of sins and God will judge us for our sin also what salvation are we offering people if there's no sin to be saved what are we telling people they need to be saved from if we've never sinned against the holy God my guess is that at a conference like this there not a lot of people who are intellectually denying sin and the need to bring it up but I would guess there are plenty of us who kind of want to emotionally deny sin and the need to bring it up it is never exciting to talk about somebody send to them and we're so kind of steep in this world where there's no right and wrong that it feels gross to talk about us being sinners and broken and under judgment I will like that that doesn't feel good but but I want to encourage you yes let's stay in these cultural conversations let's listen to our culture let's listen to our neighbors but that is not where we get our theology we get it from God we can learn from others but at the end of the day scripture has the last word this is why we want to soak in the world of the Bible we want to soak in the god of scripture so that when to our world sends things like a ridiculous concept we understand I know the guy who created it and here's how he feels about sin and he sent a savior to do something about it some people may think I send disqualifies us but Jesus did not come to team up with those who were guiltless he came to save those who are guilty that's good news and we get to share it second thing that may surprise people we don't want to forget to share when we talk about Jesus answers this question that someone may have how guilty can I be number two Jesus shows mercy to even the worst of sinners Jesus shows mercy to even the worst sinners um nobody really likes extremes we like moderation right so we you know we like it warm outside but not so hot that I'm sweating because then I got to remove layers that's not good I don't want sweat stains and my pits when I'm outside all right we like hot food I like spicy food but if you put a ghost supper in my food and sneak it in we'll probably fight that's not nice it's gonna burn my whole mouth off that's not cool or you know we like skinny James not too skinny or it gets weird right we like things in moderation they're like moderation and so sometimes we think Jesus is like that with sin we think that Jesus likes moderation in who we say right so maybe he'll say centers but not those there's not those drug dealers who stand on the block he couldn't save those sinners not that dude who sleeps around he couldn't save those sinners not those prejudiced people of that person who's hurt so many people he couldn't save them but here's the thing Jesus saves even the worst of sinners the grace of Jesus goes even to the extremes Jesus doesn't save in moderation that's really good news this is what Paul says I'm going to read it again he says Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the worst but for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me the worst of sinners Christ Jesus might display his immense patience it is surprising to hear the Apostle Paul one of the leaders of the early church who wrote half of this New Testament that we read all the time we call himself the worst of sinners and he says that sincerely it's not like your friend who left the offering at home one week and was weeping not like that like he did stuff right he was this anti Christian terrorist approving of the murder of Christians not only did he not used to spread the gospel he did everything he could to stop the gospel right and Paul understands that he's the worst of sinners and yet here's this man who without him none of us would be in this room that the Lord used in such mighty ways and one of the things that this shows us is that there's nobody that's too far gone the none of us can drift so far we're getting the stuff that's so terrible that Jesus can't save us there's no season of life that's so dark and hard that Jesus can't bring you back and forgive you of your sins I think the Lord wants us to be able to help people understand that hey whatever that thing is in your mind that you did that you think you can't be forgiven of you can jesus says even the word of sinners and I know I'm not alone in this there are sins from my past that haunt me to this day that I can't think of more than a few minutes without just being weighed down right without just intense guilt and how do I keep from self-loathing and depression the way that I do is that I know Jesus Saves even the worst of sinners and again if you think y'all know Jesus can forgive me but I can't be used because my life has been a mess again Paul is a great example right Paul has been used mightily by the Lord Jesus I mean earlier in this passage Paul is going through what a mess he says I was formerly a blasphemer a persecutor and an arrogant man but I received mercy God shows mercy even to the worst of sinners we want people to understand what mercy is people know what mercy is mercy is when somebody did something they deserve to be slapped but you didn't slap them that's mercy oh when you've grown up your little brother you put them in a chokehold you let go before they passed out right that's mercy mercy is when you deserve judgment and it's with held and God is incredibly merciful to us and that we deserve judgment but he doesn't give it and I wonder if anybody questions God's mercy today of the folks you're talking to do how can God be so merciful if he's so holy I thought he cared about sin well of course he's already dealt with it in the Lord Jesus while we would still read at the right time Christ died for the ungodly Jesus took the punishment that we deserved our sin was placed on Jesus that's why God cannot hold those sins against us it's amazing that God doesn't try to hold every grudge like we do some of us just let somebody step on your shoe on Monday it's a wrap for y'all's relationship unless somebody like not text you back right away is over never talk to me again we hold grudges like crazy but there's a God in the heavens who through what he's done in Jesus is offering us a chance to have right standing with him to wipe the slate clean and not hold anything against us that is incredible other thing I want to think about what Paul called us of the worst of sinners this is an example to us as believers we can learn from Paul's humility because Paul doesn't try to pretend like God chose him because he's perfect but it's what we do as Christians we understand that to be a Christian part of what that means is you acknowledge that you're a sinner in need of a savior but from how once we come into the family of God we begin to pretend like we're not sinners at least we pretend for everybody I hate bro anything you struggling with I can pray for struggle huh you know what I have been praying too much so you could just pray for him I miss work because I was seeking a little space so if you just pray for me I stop you know you got some actual struggles in your life we think sometimes too especially around non-christians that pretending to be perfect and somehow good for our evangelism that is a lie what happens when we pretend to be perfect for those who don't know Jesus as we send the signal that you have to be perfect in order to know Jesus or at least that you have to pretend because as much as you think you're fooling people nobody thinks your person they just wonder if you actually think you're perfect so it doesn't help you to pretend like you're perfect cuz it doesn't help other people to walk with you it doesn't help other Christians when you pretend like you're perfect because then you feel like other Christians feel like they're the only ones who really have sinned we help each other and we admit it and it doesn't help non-christians because it gives them a false picture we want people to know we we serve a savior who's not calling us to clean ourselves up perfectly before we come to him because he knows we can't he saves even the worst sinners do not lie about the gospel of Jesus by pretending that you're perfect be honest about your mistake and also be an example of the way you respond to your sin repenting and trusting in Jesus again we want people to know that Jesus is the kind of Savior who didn't come to team up with people who are innocent but can to save those who have issues last thing I want to point out when we evangelize the last thing we want to keep in mind and tell people they may surprise them about Jesus number three Jesus is patient and generous Jesus is patient and generous people often think of God as impatient and stingy first thing that comes to mind when they think God to think about the old man upstairs old man screaming at us to get off his lawn we got to walk on eggshells around them because if he finds out what we're really like he would never tolerate our presence and I think we have to earn our way to Jesus get it all together so the old man will like us listen to verse 16 Paul says for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me the worst of sinners Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life Paul basically says that God showed him mercy to use him as an example God used him as a picture of how patient is everyone use in school and you did something that everybody else did but you got like suspended for it just to use you as an example like this is what happens when you chew gum we ruin your whole life by suspending you and putting you back a grade right using God is using Paul as an example but in a much different way to show of how patient is this is what happens when you trust Jesus he's he's patient another example you know how when I'm like a young dude wants to get a girl he tries to show off his stuff the war right so he's like oh she's gonna be there I'm gonna put on my best Jordans or my best fairies whatever you were cuz I'm gonna put on my best stuff when I see her it pulls up in the car like a what's up girl it's his grandmother's car she don't know that and he's like hey come come hang with me this is the kind of stuff I have that's what dudes do try to say like hey look at the stuff I have if you hang with me maybe you could enjoy some of the same stuff well God does something similar in the Lord Jesus yet he has far better stuff to show off than cars or clothes or words Jesus is showing off his incredible patience right Jesus is holding out his patience and he's saying look at me look how immensely patient I am here's this worthless sinner watch how patient I am let me show that off and he's using that as a way to rule sinners to himself right that he's the kind of immensely patient God who saves in it so maybe you're talking to people who feel too going from Jesus maybe you feel too far gone we want to remind people Jesus has not written you all he is immensely patient he has immense patience to give out and he's showing it over and over again that may say I keep messing up we want to say Jesus hasn't written you off he's immensely patient I'm promiscuous hasn't written you off he's immensely patient I've heard a lot of people Jesus has not written you off he is immensely patient and he saves the worst of sinners as an example of that right as an example of those who would believe in him and receive eternal life we want people to know this is how God is offering salvation we receive it by believing and we receive it we don't earn it it's given to us we believe in who Jesus is you earn wages you work some hours and you get the money you earn for it you earn Awards you play good and basketball season when you're in high school when you got the best player trophy if you got a participation trophy that don't count you didn't earn that you earn wages you earn awards you receive gifts right you woke up on Christmas morning that would guess under the tree even though you were jerk the whole year you didn't earn that but it was given to you freely right just out of goodwill this is what salvation is like it's not earned by us like a wage or an award it's given to us like a gift right through faith those who believe and receive eternal life we want people to know this is what I got is like he gives salvation freely because of what Jesus has done and when we lift up that Jesus we want to ask people hey don't you want to know this immensely patient and merciful Jesus right don't you want to know this lord who didn't come for people who deserve it but came to save people who don't you can know this Jesus even now so if you remember that that question that I started with it may be a good question for you to ask people sometimes what do you think you will put on earth to do we know what Jesus was put on earth to do to save sinners and we want other people to know that you can't live for what you will put on earth to do apart from where Jesus assisted to write what Christ did is connected to us living the way that we were made to live we want everybody to know that and our code by saying this this sometimes even though there's this great Jesus we get to tell people about we don't really like to share the good news of Jesus because we forget that it's actually good news that we're sharing right it feels like a burdensome hard message to tell people but it's actually good news it's actually a good Savior we don't have to try to convince people that Jesus is better than he actually is right we don't we're not a part of a political campaign trying to dress up a flawed candidate we're actually campaigning on behalf of an actual great Savior who actually keeps his promises we're not trying to dress them up we get to tell people about a gracious Savior we get to tell people about a patient Savior we get to tell people about a loving Savior we get to tell people about an Almighty Savior who would ever feel motivated to tell people terrible news nobody would but we get to tell people good news we get to tell them about a good Savior and even though it's bad news to tell as part of it that we are sinners and we need to save you we get to tell them the good news that overrides right did yes your Center and you need a Savior but there is a savior that's even greater than you imagined matter of fact the works already done you just gotta show up and receive so you don't have to earn your way he earned it for you oh you don't have to defeat your sin he already defeated it for you you don't have to defeat the devil he defeated him for you but you have to defeat death he already defeated it for you see he rose from the grave we get the privilege of telling people about a great Savior I want to encourage you as you go to focus in on the character of Jesus and when you think about sharing the good news with someone remember who the good son of God is at the center of that news and let that joy overflow as you tell folks about what he offers hey man hey man let me pray [Music] father we thank you so much for your good news and we thank you for getting it to us Lord give us grace to to preach the good news with joy because of our actual joy we have in knowing Jesus we ask in his name amen

Channel: Wheaton College Billy Graham Center

Views: 90,383

Rating: 4.9605441 out of 5

Keywords: ReKindle, gospel witness, engaging gospel conversations, Christian, evangelical, evangelism, evangelism and leadership, Billy Graham Center, Billy Graham Center for Evangelism, Wheaton College, Trip Lee, Amplify, Amplify conference, Ed Stetzer

Id: S6dCL-5ETyw

Length: 29min 9sec (1749 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 18 2017