Understanding the Power of Expectations, Part 2

Chip Ingram: Did you know that God has two amazing gifts for you? Gifts that we rarely think about or even consider as gifts. But when you think and hear and ponder and digest these two gifts, it absolutely changes your perspective and gives you the power to live with joy, even in the midst of great adversity. Stay with me.
Dave Druey: Expectations can either anchor you or completely wreck you. Chip Ingram says there's a specific biblical way to get them right. Today on Living on the Edge, Chip Ingram shows us exactly what we can rightly expect from God, even in our hardest seasons. Today's subject is an important one, so if you ever want to revisit this lesson or share it with a friend, just go online to livingontheedge.org. If you have your Bible with you, open it to Philippians chapter 1, verse 27. Here's Chip with today's message titled "Understanding the Power of Expectations."
Chip Ingram: Your life and perspective and mine is geared around expectations. Here's the question: where are your expectations? Open your notes. Let's learn from the Apostle Paul very specifically. What can we expect from God, and what does God expect of us? Paul says what God expects is consistent conduct. Verse 27: "Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ." Circle the little word "manner worthy." It's an interesting New Testament word. The Philippians would have immediately recognized where he's going. He's taking part of their personal experience and he's going to give them this little parallel. What the Apostle Paul was saying back then was the problem with the Philippians is you're in danger of being Christians that don't live like Christians. Paul is saying is this is what God expects. You can imagine them thinking, "Well, how would you ever know for sure whether you're a Christian who's living like a Christian? Whether you really are a kingdom citizen living consistently?" Well, in the very next verses he explains. He says, "What does it look like, this consistent conduct? Then whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I'll know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel, without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This will be a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved, and that by God." Now I'd like you to circle three words, and I tried to make it as easy as possible. You notice they're in bold, right? The first thing is that you're standing firm, and then underline "in one spirit." You're standing firm in a culture that is against you. But notice you're doing it in unity, in one spirit. You're together on this. Second, circle the word "contending as one man." Literally, it's "one souled." You're in this together, but you're contending for the faith. Put a box around the word faith. Then third, he says, "Don't be frightened. Do it without being frightened." Don't let it frighten you to where you shrink back and become the secret agent Christian. This is about being bold. Here's a question I would ask all of you. Does everyone in a positive, winsome way know that you're a follower of Christ? Do they know it? Are you bold? God expects us to not give up, not give in, not shrink back. You got it? I would say 98 percent of all the people in this room say, "Chip's a little hyper, but that's Chip. I don't have a whole lot, but I would disagree with what he just said." But when he started to play it out of what it would look like in my life, I'm not so sure that I have a consistent conduct. I'm not so sure that I'm not more worried about being a citizen of the United States that is more comfortable and more happy and doesn't create waves than I am a kingdom citizen of God. When I realize that this little thing that we call time is running out, and I was made for this big thing called eternity, when you live that kind of life, yeah, you'll probably have a little more pressure, a little bit more suffering, and a lot more joy, and a lot more love, and a lot more impact. God will use you as a catalyst to transform your neighborhood, your coffee shop, your workplace, your sports team that you coach. Would you be willing to say, "Lord, would you speak to me about is my belief and my behavior telling the same story?" Ask God to make you an agent of life and change because the world is concerned about what's going on. Is anyone concerned about what's going on other than me? There's a missile that could be coming our way. There's division in this country. There's hatred like never before. Here's the deal: you are either a part of the solution or a part of the problem. There is no middle ground. Hiding in our cul-de-sacs hoping that it won't affect us and we just want to unconsciously be upwardly mobile and everything work out for us and our family and our little world is not an option. It's just an illusion. Second, what can we expect from God? He says, "For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him but also to suffer for Him, since you're going through the same struggle you saw I had and now hear that I still have." Interestingly, again, you can circle the word "granted to you." It's pretty easy, it's in bold. It literally means God has given you a privilege. You know the word grace, or some of you have named your daughters Charis. That's the word grace. That's the root word. God has given you a precious grace gift. There's a privilege to it and there's a responsibility to it. Paul's playing with these Philippians and reminding them, "Hey, citizen, right? Of Philippi, privilege, responsibility." Now, here's the grace gift God's given you: privilege to believe. You can receive eternal life. He's changed your life. He's taken you out of the kingdom of darkness, placed you in the kingdom of light, sealed you with the Spirit, given you spiritual gifts, given you a purpose, given you a family of God, created a place for forever and ever looking forward. He's going to transform your life and make you more and more like Jesus so the world can see how much God loves them. It's an amazing grace gift to believe. So why don't you put a little box around believe? But he says there's another gift. You've been given the gift to get to suffer. How many of you honestly—don't raise your hands because not many would go—how many of you ever thought suffering is a gift from God? That's foreign to American Christians. Suffering is a gift from God? Yes. He said He's given you a gift of suffering and you're going through this same struggle, this conflict, this persecution. Some of it is from within and some of it is from without. Paul is going to leave Timothy at Ephesus, young pastor. Second Timothy 3:12: "Timothy, all those who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." It's a promise. What's Paul doing? Setting expectations. Here's a young guy, "I followed Jesus, I'm now a young pastor, what I'm going to do? I've sacrificed everything, it's going to be great, right?" Well, you really live for God, you'll be persecuted. Or how about Jesus? How did He set expectations the very last night? What did He say? "Just think positive, guys. Just think positive. It's all going to be super duper. I'm going to heaven, I'll be back, we're going to mojo a little bit later together." What'd He say? "In the world you'll have tribulation, you'll have troubles. But be of good cheer. I've overcome the world." In fact, I read this morning and I thought in light of the current events, the very last time Jesus was hanging out with His disciples and He basically gave His sermon to the Pharisees, pretty unpopular—white-washed tombs, snakes, vipers. I think I underlined the word hypocrite seven or eight times. I'm a follower of Jesus, and He just alienated the entire establishment and all the power. Jesus was perhaps the most politically incorrect person who's ever walked the face of the earth. In the midst of that, you're following Him thinking, "Whoa." He's been talking about leaving, dying, raising from the dead and they don't figure out what He's saying. Then He makes this crazy statement like, "You see that temple? Destroy it. I'll rebuild it. I'm coming back." The disciples took Him aside privately and said, "When will all this take place? And will there be a sign ahead of time to signal Your return and the end of the world?" Just listen to this: "Don't let anyone mislead you, for many will come in My name and say I'm the Messiah. They'll lead many astray. Wars will break out near and far, but don't panic. Yes, things must come, but the end won't follow immediately. Nations and kingdoms will proclaim war against each other. There'll be famines, earthquakes in many parts of the world. But all this will only be the beginning or the birth pangs of the horrors to come. Then you'll be arrested and persecuted and killed." How's this for preparing the team for the next game? "You're going to be arrested, persecuted, and killed." You know what's interesting? They were. But they didn't give up, they didn't give in, and they didn't shrink back. Why? Because they knew it was true. They experienced God's power. They leaned into the suffering. He says, "Many, though, will turn away from Me and betray Me and hate each other. Many false prophets will appear and they'll lead many people astray. Sin will be rampant everywhere and the love of many will grow cold." Sound familiar? "But those who endure to the end will be saved, and the good news about the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world so that all the nations will hear it, and then finally the end will come."
Dave Druey: There's more in just a moment here on Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Before we continue, if you've never been to Chip Ingram's YouTube channel, you're missing out on a whole library of teaching you won't see anywhere else. Series like BIO: Three Essential Practices to Becoming Like Jesus, and even messages like the one you're hearing today. Whether you want to dig deeper into a topic or pass something along to a friend, it's all right there. Just look up Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram on YouTube and subscribe. Now let's get back to our message.
Chip Ingram: Now I'm in no way a "I think Jesus is coming back tomorrow"—"the end's coming, the sky's falling." But what kind of world would we have to be living in to tell us that it's close? Maybe more hurricanes? Bigger earthquakes? More wars? I think it's really interesting that we unconsciously think that some things that have happened in the past, they're going to happen someday, some way, but probably not in my lifetime. Really? Jesus goes on to say it will be the same as in the day of Noah where people were doing business, having parties, marrying, going about their life and all I want to say is it seems like the birth pangs are more intense now and we should have an urgency at a level that we haven't had. We shouldn't be afraid about our job, we shouldn't be afraid about our money, we shouldn't be afraid about our reputation, we shouldn't be afraid. We should be bold. Because here's the deal: at some point in time there's going to be things that are true and things that are untrue. The one thing Jesus said is there is no gray. "Anyone who's ashamed of Me, I will be ashamed of them when I come with the angels of My Father." Paul said, "I'm not ashamed of the gospel." Now the question is, are we willing to take that stand? Before we wrap it up, I have talked about suffering and Peter in First Peter 2:20 and 21. You might jot that down. That's one you might actually want to memorize. Because when Peter writes, Nero is burning Christians and throwing them to the lions. Peter's writing to the church and he says, "If you suffer for doing what's wrong, for being a crook, for doing evil things, what credit is that?" But then he says, "But if you suffer for doing what is right, being righteous, walking with God, making a difference, this finds favor with God." Are you ready for this? "For you have been called to this purpose, to suffer. For Christ left you an example to follow." See, if we're trying to avoid suffering all the time, you will never become the man or woman God designed you to be. You will never have the relationships and you'll never have the impact. Jesus suffered. The apostles suffered. Now, here's the thing. Don't automatically think every time you're suffering that it's because you're such a wonderful, committed, amazing follower of Jesus. Pretend we're on a highway together on this message and I just parked the car and I say there's a cul-de-sac we're going to go over here just for a second, okay? Are you ready for a quick cul-de-sac? Here's the cul-de-sac. When you read scripture, there's at least six specific reasons why we suffer. I'm not going to go through all these in detail, but here's what I want you to do. Maybe put a little box and then write this question: when you're going through a difficult time, ask God, "Why am I suffering?" Why is this marriage like this? Why is this health like this? Why is this situation at work like this? Why am I having this problem with my son or daughter like this? Why am I so depressed right now? Just ask God. Biblically, there's at least six possible reasons why you're suffering. I've given you the passages so that you can do your own Bible study. The first one is my sin. When I am angry, when I say things I shouldn't, when I do things that are wrong, when I'm rude to people, when I'm mean to one of my kids, when I lie or when I steal—and by the way, I've done all those things—there's consequences, right? Galatians 6:7 and 8 says sowing and reaping. You sow things and you reap them. So sometimes I'm suffering because I was either stupid or evil. We all do stupid things and we all do evil. Second is other's sin. Psalm 49:1. David says, "A friend betrayed me." Drunk driver goes left of center, hits a car, someone you love. God didn't make him do it. He got drunk. God didn't create robots. Sometimes we suffer because of other people's sins. Third is spiritual attack. You decide to get in God's word on a regular basis, you decide to be more bold, I'll just warn you, stuff will start happening. Job was the most righteous man. He didn't know what was going on. Ephesians 6 will describe what spiritual attack looks like and how to defend yourself. Fourth, it's a fallen world. People came to Jesus and said, "The tower in Siloam, it fell and these people died. Hey, what's going on?" And Jesus said, "Do you think that those who died are more sinful or unrighteous than others? I say no." In other words, concrete cracks, wood rots. In a fallen world, there's just certain things. It's a mystery. We can expect negative, difficult weather. It's not designed the way God wanted it. It's a fallen world. Fifth is spiritual discipline. God loves you so much that there are times that the velvet vice—Hebrews 12—He disciplines every son, He disciplines every daughter. He'll get your attention in the way that makes sense to you. Some of us, apparently, it must be our health. I don't know anybody particular. ACL, back, ankle rebuild. I could go on. Some it's a relationship. But sometimes we're asking God, "Take it away, take it away, take it away." He's saying, "Look, I'm trying to get your attention because I love you like we get our kid's attention so that you can look upward and we can address this issue. This arrogant issue, this pride issue, this lust issue." We all have those things, don't we? And you have a Father who wants to help you. Finally, spiritual development. There's times where Paul's living the life like never before, making a huge difference, and what happens? He gets this physical ailment that keeps him dependent so people could see the power isn't Paul, but it's God. He says, "I've learned to be content." I want to give you a summary about suffering and then I want us to pray. Suffering is God's gift to accomplish His ultimate good in a fallen world. Is that crazy? Suffering is God's gift. When I suffer, it draws me nearer. When I suffer, I look up. When I suffer, I have compassion for other people. When I suffer, life's not all about me. When I suffer, I'm not so judgmental. When I suffer, I'm following in the footsteps of Jesus who suffered so you could live and I could live. Joni Eareckson Tada, quoting her coach, said God permits what He hates to accomplish what He loves. What a truth. Lord, You know the suffering in this room and You know the reasons. Lord, You know the world situation and the desperate, desperate need for regular, ordinary people like us to stand firm and to contend and to not shrink back. And yet we tell You that, God, we can't do that and we're afraid and we struggle. But Lord, You have told us that Christ in us is the hope of glory and that we can do all things through Jesus who gives us strength. Have a little moment with your Heavenly Father and ask Him, "Lord, help me see myself right now the way You do. Help me grasp how much You love me. Help me to be a person who stands firm, doesn't give up, doesn't give in, doesn't shrink back. Help me lean into my suffering and discover some of the whys. Change me and then use me to change others."
Dave Druey: You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram and the end of a message titled "Understanding the Power of Expectations." Chip will wrap up today's lesson in a moment, so stay tuned. And remember, you can always revisit or share these teachings with someone you know by visiting us online at livingontheedge.org. No matter what your schedule looks like, you can catch this whole series anytime by subscribing to the Living on the Edge podcast. For Chip's complete sermons, unedited start to finish, look for the Chip Ingram Sermon podcast, available wherever you listen. And if you haven't already, be sure to request Chip's book, *Yes, You Really Can Change*, available on our website. It's a straightforward, biblically grounded look at what genuine transformation actually takes place and where the power for it really comes from and what it looks like once it's actually working in your day-to-day life. When you order today, we'll include a second copy so you can work through it alongside someone in your life who's ready for a breakthrough. Just look for Chip's book *Yes, You Really Can Change* online at livingontheedge.org/offers. For 30 years, Living on the Edge has pursued a clear goal: to help Christians live like Christians. And these Bible teachings and faith-building resources continue reaching new listeners today because of the faithful donors who stand beside us. If you've been blessed by this ministry, would you help make sure it keeps reaching people? Give today at livingontheedge.org or call 888-333-6003. You can also mail your gift to Living on the Edge, P.O. Box 3007, Suwanee, Georgia 30024. Well, now here's Chip.
Chip Ingram: We're ending on a note that's a bit unusual. I talked about two gifts. Of course, the first gift is the gift that we can believe. But I don't think most of us think of suffering as a gift. Here's what I'd like you to do. I want you to lean back right now and I want to give you the six reasons that suffering happens in a believer's life. The first is that we sin. I do things that are wrong and I suffer and the response is to confess and tell God I'm sorry, He forgives me. The second is other people sin against me. In a fallen world, that's going to happen. That's not God's will, that's not what He wants, but it happens. But God will use it for good. Third is spiritual attack. There's times where I'm suffering because I'm in the midst of a real spiritual battle and so I need discernment to know what's going on and why I'm suffering because I want to respond with the armor of God. Fourth is in a fallen world, there are just certain things that happen. We talked about Luke 17 and this tower that fell. Wood rots, bridges rust. It's a fallen world. It doesn't mean anyone did anything bad or wrong. Fifth is spiritual discipline. There are times that you are so loved by God that He kind of brings that velvet vice of circumstance to get your attention, to realign your life and your heart so He can give you the best. Finally, it's just spiritual development. There are certain aspects of becoming like Jesus that you just can't ever experience or develop apart from suffering. So let me encourage you. This might be one where you want to go to the website, download the notes, I've put all that information there so that you could look at something visually. When you're suffering or when someone who is hurting that you care about is suffering, you can kind of walk through these reasons and begin to ask the Holy Spirit, "Lord, I need to respond to suffering in different ways, but I need to discern why I'm suffering." God loves you, He's for you. It is a gift to suffer for doing what is right. Let's make sure that's why we're suffering. But we need insight from the Lord to know how to lean into the kind of suffering He allows in our life. Father, I pray and I ask in the name of the Lord Jesus that those listening to my voice at this very moment that are going through difficult times, that You, by Your Spirit, will give them discernment about the cause of their suffering and their response in order that they might meet You, become more and more like Your Son, and experience Your joy even in the midst of pain. In Jesus' name, amen.
Dave Druey: I'm Dave Druey, so glad to have you with us. Be sure to listen again next time for more Bible teaching from Chip Ingram here on Living on the Edge. Today's program is produced and sponsored by Living on the Edge.