Session #3

 

We love stories of personal change.  Remember Aaron from the first session?  His story is an example of how we enjoy hearing stories of people overcoming obstacles in order to meet goals and accomplish dreams.  But like we also realized, we often get inspired by stories of change that encourage us to go out and take action in the direction of our own goals and dreams.  We learned that we love the idea of taking charge of our own destinies.  

But in the last session, we came to realize that if we are going to invest in personal change, we are wise to do so in the direction that invests in eternity, not our selfishness and pride.  We have learned why Jesus said in Matthew 6:24, “You cannot serve both God and money”.  Investing in worldly things leaves you feeling empty, while at the same time prevents you from being filled.  Because Christ is eternal, only He can leave us filled and provide an overflow so that even when we are filled, there is always room for more.

So we have come to understand the value of investing eternally, but there is a very important next step that we must address.  Eternal investments are not a one time deal - they involve daily choices, and this requires deep change at a heart level.  For instance, Jesus challenged the rich, young ruler to sell all he had, give it to the poor, and then come follow Him, but that was just the first step.  If the young man had done this, it would have been a tremendous first step that showed that he was choosing to invest in the eternal rather than the temporal - but it would have only been a first step.  

The reason God called him to make this drastic decision was not because that one decision was enough to bring about personal change - rather it was a significant decision that would help to establish the course for deep, personal change in his life.  Christ was calling the man to make the decision to lay down what he treasured most, so that Christ could become his greatest treasure.  Laying down his treasure once was not the eternal investment.  Laying down his treasure was the first step so that he could invest eternally on a daily basis.  

And it is the same for us.  Christ is not interested in us making one-time decisions to sacrifice that which we treasure to show that we love Him.  That’s not love.  It’s a one time gesture.  It’s not that much different than giving up a day with your friends to go help an elderly neighbour clean their yard.  You do it to show kindness, respect, and to be a good neighbour - which is nice - but it doesn’t change the fact that you can’t wait to be done so that you can go back to hanging out with your friends.  Your gesture was a one-time investment.

Gestures don’t reflect deep change, and Christ calls us to deep, significant, lasting change.  He calls us to die to self - to put to death our old ways of living so that He can provide us with a new life that is full of joy and abundance.  But experiencing this means significant change must happen on a heart level that runs deep.

We can assume that the rich, young ruler would have realized this - even if it was on a subconscious level.  It is likely one of the reasons why he left his conversation with Jesus in such a depressed state.  To make this investment was going to change his daily life.  He would have to choose to put to death his old ways of living in order to follow Jesus.  He was someone who everyone served and respected because he had money and power, and Jesus was calling Him to give up all that had led to that identity.  Jesus was calling Him to a new identity found in Him, rather than the one he currently had based on financial prosperity.  Jesus was calling Him to change that required deep change at the heart level.

You may at this point in your life have a hard time relating to the rich, young ruler.  You may not have anything specific in your life that you feel like God is calling you to surrender.  But it will happen - it always does.  We live in a world that values that which opposes God.  And God calls us to be in this world, but set apart from it.  Therefore, you will not be able to travel through this life, striving to live for God, and not come across moments in time where Christ is calling you to surrender.  

I know I can certainly relate.  Surrender is a continual process for me.  Over the past decade, God has been working on my heart in regards to how I define success.  You see, the truth is that the story of Aaron is one for which I can relate.  (Minus losing out on the girl part - I got the girl, for my wife is the woman of my dreams!  I had to put that plug in there!)  Growing up I was sick a lot of the time.  And it left me feeling delicate, and weak.  I loved sports, but I was also small, and so I would see others progressing further and faster than me, and it at times perpetuated this feeling of weakness.  So I decided to counteract it.  I decided that I would work out to get stronger, I would practice harder than others, and I would seek to work my way toward success.  

Now, there was actually nothing wrong with my desire to improve and grow stronger.  I was determined, and I acted on that determination - and it was called perseverance.  I don’t regret those things.  However, there was a very big problem that was developing in my heart, and unfortunately I was blind to it - this I do very much regret.   My pursuits were driven by an unhealthy definition of success.  I was driven by a desire to grow stronger and more talented than those around me.  The more I worked, and the better I got, the more my heart grew prideful.  My definitions of success were based on what I could accomplish compared to those around me, and it was leading me toward a collision course where the Lord was going to out my pride, and call me to surrender.  Just like the rich, young ruler, He was about to inform me that I was lacking that “one thing”.

Unlike the rich, young ruler, there was not a particular moment where the Lord confronted me - for me it was a process.  Slowly and gently He began to help me realize that my definition of success, and His definition of success were not aligned.  That my definition of success was based on pride, while His was based on love.  And since the Bible is very clear that pride makes us an enemy of God (James 4:6), my definition of success was foolish, and as such, I needed to make a change.  I needed to surrender what I desired, for an ultimate desire for Him.

Now, there is something that I’d like to note here.  All my life, I have desired to serve the Lord.  From the time I was young, my parents did a wonderful job of teaching me God’s truths, and helping me realize that investing in eternity is always the best investment.  However, my heart still went down this path.  Even while I was playing sports, I would always pray before practices and competitions that I would honour the Lord with my efforts.  I did have a desire to do that, but the reality is that because I was competing within the world, the world and what it values got ahold of my heart.  While I desired to serve the Lord through my efforts, my heart came to value winning over worship.  This too was a slow fade, and one that snuck up on me, and changed me in ways that caused me to invest in the temporary things of earth, rather than the eternal things of God.

I share this story for a very important reason.  Many of us may struggle to relate to the story of the rich, young ruler, but the truth is that the rich, young ruler is all of us.  We all live in this world, and we are all susceptible to the pulls of what this world values - money, power, sex, influence, our number of social media followers, winning, accomplishments, status, and the list could go on and on.  The things of this world will pull at our hearts because our hearts do initially desire them.  And it is for this reason that Christ came to this world, to provide a way that we can reorient our hearts so that we desire relationship with Him above all else.  If He hadn’t come, then we would not have that opportunity, and we would be lost.  

So the big lesson here is this - we are all susceptible to the pulls of this world, but Christ came so that we can reorient our hearts to desire something much greater than anything in this world - Him.  

Now many of you at this point may be saying something like, “So you’re saying that if I want to live for God, I have to give up everything that I find fun?”  No, this is not what I’m saying.  There will definitely be some things that you have to give up, but not all things that you enjoy are bad.  In fact, many of them are blessings from God.  He wants you to enjoy them.  He just wants to make sure that you don’t enjoy them more than Him.

I like Tim Keller’s definition of an idol.  He says that an idol is a good thing, that becomes an ultimate thing.  This is what happened in my life with sports and my definitions of success.  They were what I was ultimately living for, and God called me on it, and called me to surrender it so that I could have a deeper relationship with Him.  I wish I could say that it’s something that I’ve done and am done with, but the truth is that it is a continual process.  I am continually working on ensuring that my definitions of success align with what God says is important, and that I am viewing success through what He says is valuable, not what the world thinks is valuable.

Anytime we are talking about something that is competing against Christ for importance in our lives, we are talking about idols.  Once again, I like how Tim Keller describes these - he calls them “counterfeit gods”.  They are things which we think will satisfy us, but really they only leave us feeling empty.  Keller also provides great wisdom pertaining to how we remove these idols in our lives - we have to replace them.  When it comes to surrendering our idols to the Lord, we have to replace them with the Lord.  

Remember, an idol is often a good thing that becomes an ultimate thing.  The idol is not something that is bad in and of itself, what is bad is that it becomes ultimate in your life.  So for those who ask the question, “Does surrendering to Jesus mean that I have to give up everything I find fun?”, the answer is no.  God wants us to enjoy good things, but He also wants us to understand that those good things will serve as curses rather than blessings if they take the place of Him in our lives.  This is because when He is first in our lives, everything will be aligned in the direction of Him.  And it is only then that we can really have joy in our lives.  Otherwise, we are living opposed to how He designed us to live, and this always brings chaos.

Once again, I need to go to the teachings of Tim Keller for this next point.  When it comes to ensuring that Christ is first in our lives, we need to make sure that he is our greatest fear and greatest treasure.  You see, when it comes to idols in our lives, we fear losing them.  And we fear losing them because they are our greatest treasures.  It is for this reason that we hesitate to surrender.  We realize that God is asking us to give up something, but we fail to realize that He is asking us to trade it for something far greater in return.  He is asking us to make Him our greatest fear and Him our greatest treasure.  For when we do this, we go from allowing our idols to control us, to allowing Him to control us.  And the gospel proves that there is none better to control us.  He made us, loves us, wants what is best for us here on earth, and wants to give us eternity with Him.  No earthly idol can even come close to that.

So what exactly does it mean for Christ to be our greatest fear and greatest treasure?  It simply means we value Him above all else.  In every situation we fear missing out on experiencing Him because we treasure Him above all else.  As an athlete, one of the ways I could tell that my heart was not in the posture of surrender that I wanted it to be was when I feared missing out on practice time.  The fear of missing practice time showed that my greatest treasure was winning, results and accomplishments.  Now, there was nothing wrong with wanting to practice and be my best, for this too can absolutely honour the Lord.  In Colossians 3:23, we are told, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord…“.  The problem was that my fear in missing practice was at the expense of other priorities which God places greater value on - time with Him, family, etc..  

When Tim Keller teaches about removing idols in our lives, he points out that when you have an idol, you make poor decisions in other areas of your life, but when Christ is your ultimate treasure, you make better decisions in all aspects of life.  For me, my desire to practice was causing me to neglect other areas of my life which were more important.  But once I started surrendering to Christ, and making Him my greatest fear and treasure, I started demonstrating greater overall wisdom in all areas of life - including sport.  I have come to realize that I am a better athlete when Christ is my greatest fear and treasure because instead of being controlled by my selfish desires in sport, I am being controlled by Him - the One who will never let me down, and never lead me astray.

And so now, I’d like to provide you with an opportunity to reflect.  What are some unhealthy fears and treasures in your life?  

I don’t want to stop sleeping with my boyfriend or girlfriend.  

I don’t want to stop looking at porn.  

I’m scared about not getting into college or university.

I’m scared I won’t get the scholarship I’m hoping for.

I’m concerned I’m going to lose the championship.

I’m concerned I’m going to mess up my music recital.

I have friends who are not a good influence on me.  If I lose them, I’ll be lonely.

I want to be dating someone so badly.

If I don’t watch the shows, movies, and listen to the music that everyone else does, I’ll be left feeling embarrassed and feel like an outsider.  

I don’t want to stop pursuing followers on social media.  I’ve invested so much time, I don’t want to lose what I’ve gained. 

The above list is in no way exhaustive.  We are all different, and there are so many different idols that can try and compete for our heart.  It’s important that we take the time to really examine what has become our ultimate desires, so that we know exactly what we need to surrender so that Christ can be our ultimate desire and so we can pursue investing our lives eternally, rather than in that which is temporary.

As we do this, let’s take a look at a couple of verses so we can understand the joy available to us through them.

In John 10:10, Jesus said…

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

And in Ephesians 4:22-24, the apostle Paul said, 

“You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”

These verses paint a picture of very joyful reality.  Jesus tells us very clearly that he came to give us life to the fullest.  And the second verse tells us that in order to have that life, we must surrender to Christ by getting rid of those things which compete with Him as our ultimate treasures.  We cannot have the joy Jesus gave His life to bring us if we don’t actively fight against that which is preventing us from having it.

To review, the way to remove the idols in our lives is to replace them with a new one - Christ.  He must be our greatest joy and treasure.  To illustrate what this can look like, let’s examine the statements made above, but this time restating them from the perspective of Christ being our greatest fear and greatest treasure.  Let’s examine what putting off the old self, and putting on the new self can look like.

I don’t want to stop sleeping with my boyfriend or girlfriend.  But I will.  I will put up guardrails to make sure this stops.  I don’t want sex to be something that controls me.  I recognize that being controlled in these ways will lead me to make decisions over time that will hurt me, and others.  I recognize that making this decision now, is making a decision to benefit my future spouse.  It’s a decision I want to make.

I don’t want to stop looking at porn.  But I will.  I recognize that this is distorting my perception of reality.  I don’t want pictures and videos to hold power over me and my decisions.  I don’t want to be controlled by people who make videos that are meant to get me addicted to their products.  I don’t want to give them that power over me.

I’m scared about not getting into college or university.  While this is a concern, I won’t allow it to consume me.  I will work hard, stay determined and persevere to achieve the academic goals I have.  In the end, I recognize that I don’t have ultimate control over these outcomes, I can only influence them.  So I will stay focused on what I can control, and make the best of whatever the results.  My identity is not found in my academic performance.

I’m scared I won’t get the scholarship I’m hoping for.  It’s true that if I don’t get the scholarship I may not be able to afford school, but I can’t control this circumstance, and to try to control it will only lead to stress and anxiety, which will actually hurt my performance and hinder my chances at the scholarship.  I will remain strong and courageous as I pursue this goal, and will not allow this circumstance to control me and my mindset.

I’m concerned I’m going to lose the championship.  Being a champion means facing the reality that losing is an option.  The greatest champions are willing to lose because they understand it is part of the process of learning how to win.  I refuse to be the type of competitor that places so much value on winning that it consumes me in ways that brings upon anxiety and actually hurts my performance.  I choose to be a much wiser competitor than that.

I’m concerned I’m going to mess up my music recital.  It would be embarrassing if this happened.  It’s not something that I want.  But if it happens, I will be prepared for how I will respond.  By showing everyone that I know how to respond in the face of failure, I’ll show them that I take control of failure by refusing to be controlled by it.

I have friends who are not a good influence on me.  If I lose them, I’ll be lonely.  I would rather be lonely than be controlled by other people.

I want to be dating someone so badly.  I look forward to meeting that special someone, but I’m not going to be controlled by my desire to date in a way that will lead me to date anyone who comes along.  That’s called being desperate, and I’ll never allow myself to be controlled by feelings of desperation.  Doing so will always lead to foolish decisions that will leave me looking desperate, and foolish.

If I don’t watch the shows, movies, and listen to the music that everyone else does, I’ll be left feeling embarrassed and feel like an outsider.  I can show strength by simply stating that I don’t enjoy that kind of stuff.  I will be separating myself from the crowd in a way that shows confidence and poise.  I am showing that I am not someone who will be defined by the expectations of my peers.  And whether they all want to admit it or not, I’m simply modeling what they all wish they had the courage to do - be set apart in strong, courageous ways.

I don’t want to stop pursuing followers on social media.  I’ve invested so much time, I don’t want to lose what I’ve gained.  It’s true that I’ve spent a lot of time doing this, but it’s also true that it has begun to consume me.  I won’t allow this to happen.  Rather than continuing to invest time, I recognize the wisdom in cutting my losses and start taking the free time I now have to engage in things that are actually worth my time.  It’s foolish to think that my worth could be defined by the number next to the word “followers”.  I’m going to start acting in a way that is actually worth following.

My hope is that you noticed something above.  I didn’t say anything about Christ.  It’s because when Christ is your greatest treasure, it leads to wise decisions overall.  We have this misconception that living for Jesus and loving Him above all else means that every single world that comes out of our mouth is about Jesus.  While that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it’s also not necessary.  Loving Jesus is wise, because it’s exactly that - wise.  He created us to live these ways, so we shouldn’t be surprised that valuing Him above all else leads to wise living.  

When you read the commentaries above, it should be clear to you that anyone who would speak in these ways is not a victim to this world’s ways of thinking.  Which means they must be led by something “out of this world”.  It’s actually Someone, His name is Jesus, and the ways of thinking outlined above are examples of the wisdom that comes from surrendering to Him.  It is further proof of the benefit that comes here on earth when we choose to invest eternally.

C.S. Lewis put this point well when he stated, “Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.”  Jesus calls us to live for Him because it leads to the best life here on earth, and provides hope and excitement for eternity that follows.  

In closing, please be encouraged.  Many of us have made mistakes.  Many of us have done things that we are not proud of, and maybe even ashamed of.  Making mistakes is part of the process of putting off the “old self” as we put on the “new self”..  Christ came so that you can put off the old self.  If there wasn’t an old self, then you wouldn’t need Him.  So don’t be controlled by past mistakes, be thankful for the love, grace and hope that is available to you now.  Find hope in surrendering to Christ so that those mistakes hold no power over you.

Put off the old self.  Surrender to Christ, and put on the new self He has made available to you.  This wisdom will serve your present, and your future.  It is an investment that will last for eternity, and there is no better investment than that.