How To Work With God(From Our 12-1-24 Worship)
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Transcript:
It was another, it was another gig on another night for famous blues magician Darrell Davis. He didn't realize that this night was going to change the course of his life. He was used to, after the show, people coming up to him and giving him compliments and talking to his adoring fans. But on this night, He would meet a man who wouldn't, wouldn't really be classified as an adoring fan.
You see, on this night, a white man walked up to Mr. Davis and said, I can't believe that a black man can play that good, play like Jerry Lee Lewis on the piano.
And the reason he said that to him, his next sentence was, is because I'm a member of the KKK. Mr. Davis laughed at him and said, you can't be serious. And he says, I am serious. And from that point on, for the next several hours, Mr. Davis and this man sat in conversation. Darrell asked him, he said, how can you hate someone that you don't even, you don't even know them?
Like, you really need to know somebody to be able to hate them. And over the next several hours and then several days, Mr. Davis and this man formed a friendship. And that friendship would lead to this man renouncing the KKK. But it wasn't just this man. Over the next several years, Mr. Davis would work with some 200 members.
This gentleman would introduce Davis to his friends. And one by one, They would begin to build a relationship and they begin to work together. And over 200 members of the time of the last research that I can get a hold of, over 200 people have renounced the KKK. All because Mr. Davis sits and has a conversation.
Talks with them, becomes their friend. You wouldn't think, it's unlikely pairing, isn't it? It's amazing sometimes how people that you, you don't think would work well together sometimes work the best together. And this morning, if you have your Bibles, I want us to look at another unlikely pairing. Two, two groups that you wouldn't think would work well together, but in fact, when they do work together, it's magical.
If you have your Bibles, go with me to 2 Corinthians. We're going to We're going to stay in 2 Corinthians the entire, entire time this morning. And we're going to start in chapter 6 and look at verse 1. Paul says, Working together with him, then we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in me. Now you look at that sentence, and I ask you who the him is.
And you have no other choice but to say, well that's God. Paul is talking about us as human beings working alongside God. You want to talk about an unlikely pairing? There it is. God and man working together. How does that even, how does that even work? What does it, what does it look like? How can it be so?
Isaiah 55, 7, 8, and 9. My ways are above your ways. So are my thoughts above your thoughts, says the Lord. We're not even on the same level as God. And yet this morning I say to you, it's possible. It's possible for us to work together. But how do you do that? What's it look like? Well, to answer that question, I want to back up a chapter to chapter 5.
I want us to go through chapter 5 this morning and look at some things and ask the question, What does it take? for us to work together with God. What's it look like? What's required of us? And I believe that these things could be helpful to each and every one of us. So we back up into chapter five and Paul here is going to start with this.
For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, he's talking about our body. We have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent, in our bodies, physical bodies, we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling. If indeed, by putting it on, we may not be found naked.
For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened. Not that we should be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed. So that which is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the spirit as a guarantee. You see, the first thing you're going to do, you have to do, if you're going to work with God, is you have to be prepared.
You notice here that God is the one that does the preparing. You think about it. He has done things for us that we cannot do for ourselves. How would I ever pay for my sin debt? God's taken care of that. How would I ever provide all the material blessings that I need for my life? God has already done that.
God has done so many things to prepare for me and for you. But I want you to notice here, it's not just about the preparation, is it? You see, with this preparation, along with it comes, comes with a desire. You notice all the words I've underlined. We groan. We long to put on the assembly dwelling. We groan being burdened.
You get this idea that not only is it just the fact that God has prepared us, but for the faithful Christian who, who believes God follows God wants to be with God. There is this real desire to be with him. And I wonder, I wonder this morning you look at the desire and the preparation, those two elements together.
I ask you a question this morning. Do you desire to go home? And if you don't desire to go home, does that mean you're not prepared? That's a hard question. It's not a simple 30 second, well, yeah, yeah, of course, maybe. That's a deep question. It's got a lot of facets to it. It's got a lot of, a lot of things tied to it.
A lot of emotion tied to it. We're talking about our lives and our families and our homes and everything that we know here on Earth.
But do we desire God more? I can't answer that question for you. I have a hard enough time answering it for me. But you notice the two things here go together, and I wonder if we don't have that desire, what is standing in our way? What's keeping us from desiring God that much? What are we hanging on to?
What stands in our way? What's keeping us from being, walking into and stepping into the preparations that God has made for us? We're going to work with him. We have to be prepared. But next, if you're going to be prepared, it changes the way that you live life. It changes your actions. It changes your decisions.
I'm going to tell you what, being a Christian at times is scary. It's hard to do the right thing. In fact, quite often times, if you want to know what the right thing is, you can almost ask yourself, what's the hardest thing to do? That's probably the right thing If you're gonna if you're gonna work with God, you're gonna have to take some good courage to do it.
Look at verse 6 13 So we are always of good courage We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord for we walk by faith not by sight Yes, we have a good courage and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. You see, this good courage, it changes things. That word literally means to be certain of, or to be, have confidence in. Apostles, listen, we know, we know that when we're here, we're away from the Lord.
And if we have that desire for God, you know, we want to go home. But, notice verse 9. If you say, yes, Doug, I want to go home right now, I'd love to go. But I can't go yet. Well, what do you do in the meantime? Verse 9. Whether we're home or away, we're making our aim to please Him. You think about that. Do you think that when all God's singers get home, you use that old song?
You think that when all of God's singers get home that they will please him? You think he will rejoice for Jesus and his bride to finally come through the gate? To enter that city where the gate swings outward and ever? You think we please him when we're there? Maybe I'm going out on a limb here, but I think we will.
Of course we can please God when we're home with Him, but what about while we're still here? Is it possible for us to please Him here? Do you think we can be faithful? Do you think that we can, we can go about and do the good works that He's prepared for us, Ephesians 2, 10? Do you think it's possible for us to please Him here?
Yes. Yes, it is. You see, really, when you think about it, for the faithful Christian, whether I'm here or whether I go home, it's a win win situation. If my aim is to please Him. You say, how do I, how do I get prepared, Doug? How do I walk in God's preparation? In everything that you do, seek to please Him. You see, God becomes your standard in that situation.
He affects your choices. He affects the things you do and don't do. He goes to the thoughts and intents of your hearts of your heart and changes them. What if everybody on earth live their life seeking to please him? How would it be different? Would you have to lock your doors anymore? Would you have to be worried about strangers?
How would the world be different if everybody Aim to please him. How would the world be different if you aim to please him? We can't change everybody else, but we can start with ourselves. We have to seek to please him. And to do that, we're going to have to take good courage. We're going to have to be confident of what he has given us.
We're going to be confident of his word, of the salvation that he's promised to us. Now, we understand From that last text that the Judgment Day is coming. But if we're going to work, work with God, that knowledge has to affect us and how we interact with other people. Look at verse 11. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others.
But what we are, what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known to you also, also to your conscience. We are not Commending ourselves to you again, but giving you cause to boast about us so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not, uh, not about what is in the heart.
For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God. If we are in our right minds, it is for you. For the love of Christ controls us. Because we have concluded this, that one has died for all and therefore all have died. And he died for all that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
You see, Paul, in the middle of all this context, I know we're looking at a very specific thing, but Paul is having to fight against, in 2 Corinthians, people outside, false teachers who have come in and are trying to influence the Corinthians to draw them away from God. You go down later in the book and he's going to talk about these super apostles who they talk good and they look good and they smell good and they say the right things, but they're drawing the people away from God.
Paul says, I don't care if you think I'm insane. I'm fighting for your souls. We understand the judgment day is coming. We understand that there will be those who will be eternally lost and therefore we must persuade others. Everyone we come in contact with. The girl that checks you out at Food Giant has a soul.
The delivery driver bringing your Amazon packages has a soul. Everyone has a soul, and every one of those souls will have to stand before its God in judgment. Someday. If we're going to work with Him, we have to persuade others. We know it's coming. And as much maybe sometimes as we might want to run around and tell people it's coming.
You know, hell's coming, hell's real. But you really can't start there.
My son, I love him to death, he asked me the other day, he said, Daddy, why don't we tell people when they're wrong? I said, Colin, do you like it when I tell you that you're wrong? Sometimes you gotta build a bridge first. You gotta show somebody love and show them that you're serious, that you care about them.
Before they will entertain listening. to the truth. You're the first Bible that people will ever read. Most people, if they ever go pick this book up and begin to consider what's really inside of it will be because they read the gospel of you first. We must persuade others because judgment's coming. The world's not promised another day.
He may come tonight. He may come 2000 years now. We do not know. But in the meantime, if we're going to work with him, we must persuade. And if we're going to persuade people, this kind of goes maybe without saying, but we have to see people as souls. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh.
Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, and behold, the new has come. You see, I think we take that verse But verse 17 a lot of times and we kind of take it out of its context.
We take verse 17 and we talk about maybe ourselves, right? When I lay the gospel, I become a new creation. And yes, that's true. But this verse 17 is found in the context of verse 16. Where what? Paul says, we change the way we regard people. We don't look at people like people anymore. You look at someone and you see their fleshly body, and you might see the way they talk and the way they act, and you might see the things that they do for you or do to you, good or bad.
But in reality, that person is a soul. And verse 17 is talking about people have potential. I mean, you think about this. Drug addicts, criminals. The worst of the worst. If they can, if they can come in contact with the gospel, what do they have the ability to do? They have the ability to become a new creation.
What if you take verse 16 and 17 and put it together and say, we should treat people like their potential, instead of their past. We should treat people like the potential that they have, instead of their past. That person, maybe that was, that was mean to you or rude or cut you off in traffic. They have a soul.
And regardless of what they've been through in their lives and what's happened to them, they have the ability to become a new creation. The gospel is powerful enough to change their life. God's blood is powerful enough to forgive their sins. If it can forgive yours, it can forgive theirs. You think about all this, working together with God.
As we wrap up this morning, maybe it's a duh to say that we should work with God, but look at what Paul here says as we finish out the chapter. Look at what he says we're working towards. All this is from God, who through Christ, what, reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.
That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself. Not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ. God making his appeal through us. We implore you on the behalf of Christ, we reconcile to God. For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin.
So that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Paul says God reconciled us. He made us right before God and he has given us this charge. You want to work with God? Work it reconciling. I don't know what that looks like for you. Maybe it's maybe it's building relationships. Maybe it's baking pies and sending someone.
Maybe it's writing handwritten notes and putting them in the mail. I don't know what it takes to reconcile for you because you're an individual person with individual opportunities. Your ability to reconcile may be different than mine, but if you want to work with God, this is how you do it. You help individuals change their eternity.
It's officially December now. I've been saying for a month and a half, like, we've got a tree up. It's not December yet. We've got gifts under the tree. It's not December yet. Finally, December, it's the season of gift giving. What better gift could we give someone than to help them find their gift of eternal life?
That was given them by their savior. A gift. It's always been there. It's always been there. Ever since we've been alive, it has been there. But you have to figure out how to unwrap it, how to use it, how to use it the way God intended for us to use it. Don't know what your need is this morning. Maybe you're struggling, maybe you're hurting.
Whatever your need is, we can help you with your time while we have this invitation.
Transcript:
It was another, it was another gig on another night for famous blues magician Darrell Davis. He didn't realize that this night was going to change the course of his life. He was used to, after the show, people coming up to him and giving him compliments and talking to his adoring fans. But on this night, He would meet a man who wouldn't, wouldn't really be classified as an adoring fan.
You see, on this night, a white man walked up to Mr. Davis and said, I can't believe that a black man can play that good, play like Jerry Lee Lewis on the piano.
And the reason he said that to him, his next sentence was, is because I'm a member of the KKK. Mr. Davis laughed at him and said, you can't be serious. And he says, I am serious. And from that point on, for the next several hours, Mr. Davis and this man sat in conversation. Darrell asked him, he said, how can you hate someone that you don't even, you don't even know them?
Like, you really need to know somebody to be able to hate them. And over the next several hours and then several days, Mr. Davis and this man formed a friendship. And that friendship would lead to this man renouncing the KKK. But it wasn't just this man. Over the next several years, Mr. Davis would work with some 200 members.
This gentleman would introduce Davis to his friends. And one by one, They would begin to build a relationship and they begin to work together. And over 200 members of the time of the last research that I can get a hold of, over 200 people have renounced the KKK. All because Mr. Davis sits and has a conversation.
Talks with them, becomes their friend. You wouldn't think, it's unlikely pairing, isn't it? It's amazing sometimes how people that you, you don't think would work well together sometimes work the best together. And this morning, if you have your Bibles, I want us to look at another unlikely pairing. Two, two groups that you wouldn't think would work well together, but in fact, when they do work together, it's magical.
If you have your Bibles, go with me to 2 Corinthians. We're going to We're going to stay in 2 Corinthians the entire, entire time this morning. And we're going to start in chapter 6 and look at verse 1. Paul says, Working together with him, then we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in me. Now you look at that sentence, and I ask you who the him is.
And you have no other choice but to say, well that's God. Paul is talking about us as human beings working alongside God. You want to talk about an unlikely pairing? There it is. God and man working together. How does that even, how does that even work? What does it, what does it look like? How can it be so?
Isaiah 55, 7, 8, and 9. My ways are above your ways. So are my thoughts above your thoughts, says the Lord. We're not even on the same level as God. And yet this morning I say to you, it's possible. It's possible for us to work together. But how do you do that? What's it look like? Well, to answer that question, I want to back up a chapter to chapter 5.
I want us to go through chapter 5 this morning and look at some things and ask the question, What does it take? for us to work together with God. What's it look like? What's required of us? And I believe that these things could be helpful to each and every one of us. So we back up into chapter five and Paul here is going to start with this.
For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, he's talking about our body. We have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent, in our bodies, physical bodies, we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling. If indeed, by putting it on, we may not be found naked.
For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened. Not that we should be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed. So that which is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the spirit as a guarantee. You see, the first thing you're going to do, you have to do, if you're going to work with God, is you have to be prepared.
You notice here that God is the one that does the preparing. You think about it. He has done things for us that we cannot do for ourselves. How would I ever pay for my sin debt? God's taken care of that. How would I ever provide all the material blessings that I need for my life? God has already done that.
God has done so many things to prepare for me and for you. But I want you to notice here, it's not just about the preparation, is it? You see, with this preparation, along with it comes, comes with a desire. You notice all the words I've underlined. We groan. We long to put on the assembly dwelling. We groan being burdened.
You get this idea that not only is it just the fact that God has prepared us, but for the faithful Christian who, who believes God follows God wants to be with God. There is this real desire to be with him. And I wonder, I wonder this morning you look at the desire and the preparation, those two elements together.
I ask you a question this morning. Do you desire to go home? And if you don't desire to go home, does that mean you're not prepared? That's a hard question. It's not a simple 30 second, well, yeah, yeah, of course, maybe. That's a deep question. It's got a lot of facets to it. It's got a lot of, a lot of things tied to it.
A lot of emotion tied to it. We're talking about our lives and our families and our homes and everything that we know here on Earth.
But do we desire God more? I can't answer that question for you. I have a hard enough time answering it for me. But you notice the two things here go together, and I wonder if we don't have that desire, what is standing in our way? What's keeping us from desiring God that much? What are we hanging on to?
What stands in our way? What's keeping us from being, walking into and stepping into the preparations that God has made for us? We're going to work with him. We have to be prepared. But next, if you're going to be prepared, it changes the way that you live life. It changes your actions. It changes your decisions.
I'm going to tell you what, being a Christian at times is scary. It's hard to do the right thing. In fact, quite often times, if you want to know what the right thing is, you can almost ask yourself, what's the hardest thing to do? That's probably the right thing If you're gonna if you're gonna work with God, you're gonna have to take some good courage to do it.
Look at verse 6 13 So we are always of good courage We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord for we walk by faith not by sight Yes, we have a good courage and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. You see, this good courage, it changes things. That word literally means to be certain of, or to be, have confidence in. Apostles, listen, we know, we know that when we're here, we're away from the Lord.
And if we have that desire for God, you know, we want to go home. But, notice verse 9. If you say, yes, Doug, I want to go home right now, I'd love to go. But I can't go yet. Well, what do you do in the meantime? Verse 9. Whether we're home or away, we're making our aim to please Him. You think about that. Do you think that when all God's singers get home, you use that old song?
You think that when all of God's singers get home that they will please him? You think he will rejoice for Jesus and his bride to finally come through the gate? To enter that city where the gate swings outward and ever? You think we please him when we're there? Maybe I'm going out on a limb here, but I think we will.
Of course we can please God when we're home with Him, but what about while we're still here? Is it possible for us to please Him here? Do you think we can be faithful? Do you think that we can, we can go about and do the good works that He's prepared for us, Ephesians 2, 10? Do you think it's possible for us to please Him here?
Yes. Yes, it is. You see, really, when you think about it, for the faithful Christian, whether I'm here or whether I go home, it's a win win situation. If my aim is to please Him. You say, how do I, how do I get prepared, Doug? How do I walk in God's preparation? In everything that you do, seek to please Him. You see, God becomes your standard in that situation.
He affects your choices. He affects the things you do and don't do. He goes to the thoughts and intents of your hearts of your heart and changes them. What if everybody on earth live their life seeking to please him? How would it be different? Would you have to lock your doors anymore? Would you have to be worried about strangers?
How would the world be different if everybody Aim to please him. How would the world be different if you aim to please him? We can't change everybody else, but we can start with ourselves. We have to seek to please him. And to do that, we're going to have to take good courage. We're going to have to be confident of what he has given us.
We're going to be confident of his word, of the salvation that he's promised to us. Now, we understand From that last text that the Judgment Day is coming. But if we're going to work, work with God, that knowledge has to affect us and how we interact with other people. Look at verse 11. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others.
But what we are, what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known to you also, also to your conscience. We are not Commending ourselves to you again, but giving you cause to boast about us so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not, uh, not about what is in the heart.
For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God. If we are in our right minds, it is for you. For the love of Christ controls us. Because we have concluded this, that one has died for all and therefore all have died. And he died for all that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
You see, Paul, in the middle of all this context, I know we're looking at a very specific thing, but Paul is having to fight against, in 2 Corinthians, people outside, false teachers who have come in and are trying to influence the Corinthians to draw them away from God. You go down later in the book and he's going to talk about these super apostles who they talk good and they look good and they smell good and they say the right things, but they're drawing the people away from God.
Paul says, I don't care if you think I'm insane. I'm fighting for your souls. We understand the judgment day is coming. We understand that there will be those who will be eternally lost and therefore we must persuade others. Everyone we come in contact with. The girl that checks you out at Food Giant has a soul.
The delivery driver bringing your Amazon packages has a soul. Everyone has a soul, and every one of those souls will have to stand before its God in judgment. Someday. If we're going to work with Him, we have to persuade others. We know it's coming. And as much maybe sometimes as we might want to run around and tell people it's coming.
You know, hell's coming, hell's real. But you really can't start there.
My son, I love him to death, he asked me the other day, he said, Daddy, why don't we tell people when they're wrong? I said, Colin, do you like it when I tell you that you're wrong? Sometimes you gotta build a bridge first. You gotta show somebody love and show them that you're serious, that you care about them.
Before they will entertain listening. to the truth. You're the first Bible that people will ever read. Most people, if they ever go pick this book up and begin to consider what's really inside of it will be because they read the gospel of you first. We must persuade others because judgment's coming. The world's not promised another day.
He may come tonight. He may come 2000 years now. We do not know. But in the meantime, if we're going to work with him, we must persuade. And if we're going to persuade people, this kind of goes maybe without saying, but we have to see people as souls. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh.
Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, and behold, the new has come. You see, I think we take that verse But verse 17 a lot of times and we kind of take it out of its context.
We take verse 17 and we talk about maybe ourselves, right? When I lay the gospel, I become a new creation. And yes, that's true. But this verse 17 is found in the context of verse 16. Where what? Paul says, we change the way we regard people. We don't look at people like people anymore. You look at someone and you see their fleshly body, and you might see the way they talk and the way they act, and you might see the things that they do for you or do to you, good or bad.
But in reality, that person is a soul. And verse 17 is talking about people have potential. I mean, you think about this. Drug addicts, criminals. The worst of the worst. If they can, if they can come in contact with the gospel, what do they have the ability to do? They have the ability to become a new creation.
What if you take verse 16 and 17 and put it together and say, we should treat people like their potential, instead of their past. We should treat people like the potential that they have, instead of their past. That person, maybe that was, that was mean to you or rude or cut you off in traffic. They have a soul.
And regardless of what they've been through in their lives and what's happened to them, they have the ability to become a new creation. The gospel is powerful enough to change their life. God's blood is powerful enough to forgive their sins. If it can forgive yours, it can forgive theirs. You think about all this, working together with God.
As we wrap up this morning, maybe it's a duh to say that we should work with God, but look at what Paul here says as we finish out the chapter. Look at what he says we're working towards. All this is from God, who through Christ, what, reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.
That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself. Not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ. God making his appeal through us. We implore you on the behalf of Christ, we reconcile to God. For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin.
So that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Paul says God reconciled us. He made us right before God and he has given us this charge. You want to work with God? Work it reconciling. I don't know what that looks like for you. Maybe it's maybe it's building relationships. Maybe it's baking pies and sending someone.
Maybe it's writing handwritten notes and putting them in the mail. I don't know what it takes to reconcile for you because you're an individual person with individual opportunities. Your ability to reconcile may be different than mine, but if you want to work with God, this is how you do it. You help individuals change their eternity.
It's officially December now. I've been saying for a month and a half, like, we've got a tree up. It's not December yet. We've got gifts under the tree. It's not December yet. Finally, December, it's the season of gift giving. What better gift could we give someone than to help them find their gift of eternal life?
That was given them by their savior. A gift. It's always been there. It's always been there. Ever since we've been alive, it has been there. But you have to figure out how to unwrap it, how to use it, how to use it the way God intended for us to use it. Don't know what your need is this morning. Maybe you're struggling, maybe you're hurting.
Whatever your need is, we can help you with your time while we have this invitation.
