1
00:00:09,809 --> 00:00:13,146
Ephesians five, verses 15 through 21.

2
00:00:13,480 --> 00:00:15,648
Look carefully, then, how you walk.

3
00:00:15,648 --> 00:00:18,018
Not as unwise, but as wise.

4
00:00:18,018 --> 00:00:19,953
Making the best use of the time.

5
00:00:19,953 --> 00:00:21,588
Because the days are evil.

6
00:00:21,588 --> 00:00:23,223
Therefore do not be foolish.

7
00:00:23,223 --> 00:00:25,625
But understand
what the word of the Lord is,

8
00:00:25,625 --> 00:00:28,528
and do not get drunk with wine, for
that is the battery.

9
00:00:28,528 --> 00:00:30,430
But be filled with the spirit.

10
00:00:30,430 --> 00:00:33,800
Addressing one another in psalms
and hymns and spiritual songs.

11
00:00:34,034 --> 00:00:38,405
Singing and making melody to the Lord
with your heart, giving thanks always

12
00:00:38,405 --> 00:00:42,142
and for everything to God the Father,
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

13
00:00:42,409 --> 00:00:45,445
Submitting to one another out of reverence
for Christ.

14
00:00:48,248 --> 00:00:52,052
This church is almost 45 years old.

15
00:00:52,052 --> 00:00:55,655
It's seen God do some incredible things.

16
00:00:55,655 --> 00:01:00,093
There are some incredible seasons
and stories we can talk about,

17
00:01:00,693 --> 00:01:06,032
but I don't think it is hyperbole
to say that the sermon series that began

18
00:01:06,032 --> 00:01:09,335
this weekend,
the one that we're beginning right now,

19
00:01:09,502 --> 00:01:13,540
is one of the most important series
in the history of this church,

20
00:01:14,340 --> 00:01:16,309
not just because of what
we're going to talk about,

21
00:01:16,309 --> 00:01:19,312
but because of the direction
it is charting for us.

22
00:01:20,146 --> 00:01:23,083
One of my kind of mentors from the grave

23
00:01:23,083 --> 00:01:25,385
is a British pastor named
Charles Spurgeon.

24
00:01:25,385 --> 00:01:28,888
He was a pastor and writer and preacher
in the 19th century,

25
00:01:28,888 --> 00:01:33,259
and one of his quotes that I really love
is that Spurgeon said that every pastor

26
00:01:33,259 --> 00:01:38,264
needs to have the Bible in one hand,
and the newspaper in the other hand.

27
00:01:38,832 --> 00:01:41,401
And his point was that the job of a pastor

28
00:01:41,401 --> 00:01:44,370
is to preach the truth of God's Word,

29
00:01:44,370 --> 00:01:47,540
and that truth is true always.

30
00:01:48,174 --> 00:01:50,577
All times, all cultures, all people,

31
00:01:50,577 --> 00:01:52,378
regardless of what's
going on in the world.

32
00:01:52,378 --> 00:01:54,047
Truth is truth.

33
00:01:54,047 --> 00:01:57,784
You got to preach and teach the Bible,
but you teach

34
00:01:57,784 --> 00:02:01,955
and preach those timeless things
in a particular time.

35
00:02:02,288 --> 00:02:06,092
When things are going on in the world
and you're bringing that universal,

36
00:02:06,092 --> 00:02:11,097
always true truth
to bear on that particular time.

37
00:02:11,097 --> 00:02:12,132
And season.

38
00:02:12,132 --> 00:02:16,035
So for Spurgeon, for example, that meant
preaching the truth of the gospel

39
00:02:16,336 --> 00:02:20,507
and against slavery,
which was dominant in his day,

40
00:02:20,507 --> 00:02:24,777
preaching the Bible to the things
happening in the newspaper,

41
00:02:24,777 --> 00:02:28,248
it has increasingly become my conviction
and my role here

42
00:02:28,615 --> 00:02:33,753
as lead pastor, that God wants more
of that from this church.

43
00:02:35,188 --> 00:02:38,525
Teaching and preaching and singing
and reading the Bible,

44
00:02:38,525 --> 00:02:42,662
always without excuse,
unapologetically and enthusiastically,

45
00:02:42,662 --> 00:02:47,500
but also bringing that to bear
on what's happening in our world

46
00:02:47,767 --> 00:02:52,205
in an increasingly confused
and chaotic world, we need to understand

47
00:02:52,372 --> 00:02:57,877
how that universal truth shapes
the way we think in our present moment.

48
00:02:57,944 --> 00:03:00,513
This means two things for us as a church.

49
00:03:00,513 --> 00:03:05,752
The first is you're just going to see more
of that in podcasts or classes, sermons,

50
00:03:05,752 --> 00:03:11,491
videos, more and more of us trying to help
you hold on to truth and live

51
00:03:11,824 --> 00:03:15,028
that truth out in this particular moment,

52
00:03:15,962 --> 00:03:20,133
to regain some of that prophetic edge
which says,

53
00:03:20,133 --> 00:03:24,904
in the midst of a confused world,
this is what God says is best.

54
00:03:24,904 --> 00:03:28,208
What God says is right,
what God wants from us.

55
00:03:28,441 --> 00:03:32,378
The second thing this means is that
you really need to be

56
00:03:32,879 --> 00:03:35,381
a premier tonight on February 16th.

57
00:03:35,381 --> 00:03:38,384
That's even why I'm dressed
like a traffic cone this morning.

58
00:03:38,952 --> 00:03:41,354
Okay.
Because I really want you to be there.

59
00:03:41,354 --> 00:03:43,623
You're going to see some things
that are coming for our church,

60
00:03:43,623 --> 00:03:47,560
not just about the immediate future,
but then what's the next decade look like?

61
00:03:47,760 --> 00:03:49,262
Really want you to make plans to be there.

62
00:03:49,262 --> 00:03:51,531
This sermon series is in large part

63
00:03:51,531 --> 00:03:57,003
laying the theological groundwork
for what you're going to see on the 16th.

64
00:03:57,003 --> 00:04:02,041
So you're learning now
to get excited on that day.

65
00:04:02,508 --> 00:04:06,079
But we're going to begin
that sermon series here with some urgency.

66
00:04:06,079 --> 00:04:10,083
We're calling the series Every Minute
Matters, because when you become convinced

67
00:04:10,083 --> 00:04:15,421
that God wants something from you
as a church, you don't walk to that thing.

68
00:04:15,421 --> 00:04:17,123
You run to it.

69
00:04:17,123 --> 00:04:18,091
So if you have a Bible,

70
00:04:18,091 --> 00:04:21,127
would you take it out and open it
to Ephesians chapter five, your

71
00:04:21,261 --> 00:04:25,531
your phone, your tablet,
whatever device you have in your hands.

72
00:04:25,531 --> 00:04:29,669
Hey, by the way, if you're here
and you don't have a Bible or maybe

73
00:04:29,669 --> 00:04:33,473
don't know your way around the Bible,
we make Bibles available to you.

74
00:04:33,473 --> 00:04:35,908
There'll be in the pew
in front of you, here in this room

75
00:04:35,908 --> 00:04:38,444
or in the back of the room
over in East Hall.

76
00:04:38,444 --> 00:04:40,213
They'll also be on the screen behind me.

77
00:04:40,213 --> 00:04:43,149
But if you want to hold something
in your hand, read it for yourself.

78
00:04:43,149 --> 00:04:47,854
Grab one of these Bibles
and today's reading is on page 919.

79
00:04:47,854 --> 00:04:50,189
And as you're turning,

80
00:04:50,189 --> 00:04:52,625
here's the outline I'm going to use
to guide our time together.

81
00:04:52,625 --> 00:04:54,294
Three points. Very simple.

82
00:04:54,294 --> 00:04:57,864
And they go like this I want to teach
you that time is not neutral.

83
00:04:59,065 --> 00:04:59,532
Start

84
00:04:59,532 --> 00:05:02,869
swimming
and make sure everyone makes it to shore.

85
00:05:02,869 --> 00:05:04,170
Time is not neutral.

86
00:05:04,170 --> 00:05:08,274
Start swimming
and make sure everyone makes it to shore.

87
00:05:08,341 --> 00:05:09,475
All right,
let me start with the first one.

88
00:05:09,475 --> 00:05:12,211
Time is not neutral.

89
00:05:12,211 --> 00:05:12,912
The writer

90
00:05:12,912 --> 00:05:15,114
of Ephesians
five says something really interesting

91
00:05:15,114 --> 00:05:17,917
in the first couple of verses
in our passage. Let me read them to you.

92
00:05:17,917 --> 00:05:19,385
This is what it says.

93
00:05:19,385 --> 00:05:22,388
Look careful then, how you walk,

94
00:05:23,122 --> 00:05:26,125
not as unwise but as wise,

95
00:05:26,292 --> 00:05:29,228
making the best use of the time,

96
00:05:29,228 --> 00:05:32,231
because the days are evil.

97
00:05:32,665 --> 00:05:34,100
That's an interesting phrase to me.

98
00:05:34,100 --> 00:05:36,602
The days are evil.

99
00:05:36,602 --> 00:05:39,005
It begs the question,
what does he mean by that?

100
00:05:39,005 --> 00:05:43,009
I guess I tend to think of time
as neutral,

101
00:05:43,009 --> 00:05:45,578
that the days are not good or bad.

102
00:05:45,578 --> 00:05:48,281
A day is just a day.
It becomes a good day.

103
00:05:48,281 --> 00:05:51,651
If you fill it with good things,
it becomes a bad day.

104
00:05:51,851 --> 00:05:55,722
If you fill it with bad things,
time is neutral.

105
00:05:55,722 --> 00:05:59,792
It's up to us to decide
what direction our day takes.

106
00:05:59,792 --> 00:06:02,762
But that is not what the writer is saying.

107
00:06:02,929 --> 00:06:06,833
He says the days are evil
and he doesn't anchor

108
00:06:06,833 --> 00:06:10,336
that in something
happening in his particular moment.

109
00:06:10,770 --> 00:06:15,842
He doesn't say, well, the days are evil
because this political leader is in power,

110
00:06:16,008 --> 00:06:20,780
or this world event is happening,
or this catastrophe is taking place

111
00:06:20,780 --> 00:06:22,548
where we could maybe say, well,

112
00:06:22,548 --> 00:06:25,385
okay, the days are evil for him,
but not so much for us.

113
00:06:25,385 --> 00:06:28,921
He just says, hey, no matter
where you live, no matter when you live,

114
00:06:28,921 --> 00:06:33,793
no matter with whom you live, the days
they are evil.

115
00:06:33,793 --> 00:06:35,461
So what does he mean?

116
00:06:35,461 --> 00:06:38,965
Well, when the Bible talks about evil,
it really means two things.

117
00:06:38,965 --> 00:06:41,100
This is really important for us.

118
00:06:41,100 --> 00:06:42,802
I want to help you think of them.

119
00:06:42,802 --> 00:06:45,872
So I'm going to say that
when the Bible talks about evil, it

120
00:06:45,872 --> 00:06:48,941
means Sauron and Saturday.

121
00:06:50,042 --> 00:06:51,144
Here's what I mean.

122
00:06:51,144 --> 00:06:54,147
Sauron is the bad guy
and the Lord of the rings.

123
00:06:54,514 --> 00:06:59,051
And the reason why I pick him is because
it's become very popular in our culture

124
00:06:59,252 --> 00:07:03,089
to make sure that when you make a book
or a movie or a television show,

125
00:07:03,289 --> 00:07:07,660
you show that the bad guy has reasons
for being the bad guy.

126
00:07:08,294 --> 00:07:10,263
They don't think of themselves as evil.

127
00:07:10,263 --> 00:07:12,665
They have their own kind of narrative.

128
00:07:12,665 --> 00:07:15,735
So Thanos, for example, in The Avengers,

129
00:07:15,735 --> 00:07:19,205
he he doesn't think about himself
as a genocidal maniac.

130
00:07:19,672 --> 00:07:24,877
He thinks about himself as fixing
the overpopulation problem of this planet.

131
00:07:24,877 --> 00:07:27,880
So when he snaps his fingers in half,
the people on Earth die.

132
00:07:28,014 --> 00:07:31,017
He thinks he's a hero, not a villain.

133
00:07:31,050 --> 00:07:34,053
And that's how we tend to write bad guys
anymore.

134
00:07:34,187 --> 00:07:36,589
But not talking in the Lord of the rings.

135
00:07:36,589 --> 00:07:38,458
Sauron is just evil.

136
00:07:38,458 --> 00:07:42,361
He just wants to oppress
and dominate and destroy and kill

137
00:07:42,361 --> 00:07:44,297
anything that gets in his way.

138
00:07:44,297 --> 00:07:47,767
He has no inner monologue,
he has no higher purpose.

139
00:07:47,934 --> 00:07:49,502
He's just evil.

140
00:07:49,502 --> 00:07:52,638
And the Bible
is full of those kinds of stories.

141
00:07:53,473 --> 00:07:56,008
That's because our world
is full of those kinds of things.

142
00:07:56,008 --> 00:07:59,345
Pharaoh in the Book of Exodus
will tell the midwives

143
00:07:59,345 --> 00:08:02,215
that if the Hebrew family has a baby
boy, they should murder it.

144
00:08:03,816 --> 00:08:04,650
Herod will say the

145
00:08:04,650 --> 00:08:08,621
same thing in Matthew and Luke
when he's trying to stamp out the Messiah.

146
00:08:08,621 --> 00:08:12,792
If you find a Jewish child is a boy
under the age of two, you need to kill him

147
00:08:12,992 --> 00:08:18,431
so that hopefully I can show I can save
myself from the challenge to my authority.

148
00:08:18,764 --> 00:08:22,101
Heyman in the book of Esther,
is plotting behind the scenes

149
00:08:22,101 --> 00:08:25,471
to bring about
the genocide of the Jewish people.

150
00:08:25,571 --> 00:08:27,340
The world is full of evil.

151
00:08:27,340 --> 00:08:29,342
The Bible is full of evil.

152
00:08:29,342 --> 00:08:31,410
Evil is a reality.

153
00:08:31,410 --> 00:08:34,380
But most of us don't deal
with that kind of evil.

154
00:08:35,414 --> 00:08:36,883
Now, some of you do.

155
00:08:36,883 --> 00:08:39,652
Your police officers, your prosecutors,
and God bless you.

156
00:08:39,652 --> 00:08:41,187
I can't even imagine.

157
00:08:41,187 --> 00:08:45,491
But for most of us, Sauron
is not the kind of evil we encounter.

158
00:08:45,491 --> 00:08:48,794
Instead, it's
more the Saturday kind of evil.

159
00:08:49,161 --> 00:08:50,329
Now, here's what I mean by that.

160
00:08:50,329 --> 00:08:52,598
Look at what Jeremiah 213 says.

161
00:08:52,598 --> 00:08:54,600
This is God speaking. Listen to this.

162
00:08:54,600 --> 00:08:58,771
He says, for
my people have committed two evils.

163
00:09:00,139 --> 00:09:00,573
They have

164
00:09:00,573 --> 00:09:05,311
forsaken me the fountain of living waters,
and hewed out cisterns

165
00:09:05,311 --> 00:09:09,949
for themselves,
broken cisterns that can hold no water.

166
00:09:09,949 --> 00:09:13,653
God says at this particular time
his people are evil.

167
00:09:13,953 --> 00:09:16,489
But he doesn't mean Sauron.

168
00:09:16,489 --> 00:09:18,157
He means Saturday.

169
00:09:18,157 --> 00:09:18,524
He says,

170
00:09:18,524 --> 00:09:22,595
they're not coming to me for the things
they're supposed to come to me for.

171
00:09:22,728 --> 00:09:25,398
They're going somewhere else.

172
00:09:25,398 --> 00:09:27,033
They're not coming to me for comfort.

173
00:09:27,033 --> 00:09:28,267
They're going somewhere else.

174
00:09:28,267 --> 00:09:30,069
They're not coming to me for provision.

175
00:09:30,069 --> 00:09:31,337
They're going somewhere else.

176
00:09:31,337 --> 00:09:32,071
They're not coming to me

177
00:09:32,071 --> 00:09:35,675
for guidance, for meaning, for purpose,
for right, for wrong.

178
00:09:36,375 --> 00:09:37,877
They're going somewhere else.

179
00:09:37,877 --> 00:09:42,315
What he has in mind here is not so much
a conscious, oppressive evil,

180
00:09:42,448 --> 00:09:46,586
but a subconscious slow drift
away from God.

181
00:09:47,954 --> 00:09:52,291
The kind of drifting that happens
on a regular day, on a Saturday.

182
00:09:52,291 --> 00:09:53,926
You see, when the writer of Ephesians five

183
00:09:53,926 --> 00:09:58,030
says the days are evil,
what he means is that there is a steady

184
00:09:58,030 --> 00:10:03,269
and slow undercurrent in every culture
and in every time and in every place

185
00:10:03,436 --> 00:10:07,006
that takes us slowly away from God.

186
00:10:08,407 --> 00:10:09,709
That left to our own

187
00:10:09,709 --> 00:10:13,112
devices, absent any kind of intentionality

188
00:10:13,112 --> 00:10:17,483
or strategy,
we always go to bed further from

189
00:10:17,483 --> 00:10:20,486
God than we were
when we woke up in the morning.

190
00:10:21,487 --> 00:10:24,490
It's the steady, slow ebb of of

191
00:10:24,757 --> 00:10:28,027
of culture and it's undercurrent.

192
00:10:28,594 --> 00:10:31,197
In fact, I be so bold as to say this.

193
00:10:31,197 --> 00:10:34,367
The biggest spiritual danger
to most of our lives

194
00:10:34,367 --> 00:10:37,770
and most of our families is autopilot.

195
00:10:39,639 --> 00:10:42,308
It's the kind of drifting
you do, the kind of living you do,

196
00:10:42,308 --> 00:10:45,011
and you just get up
and you you do the morning routine

197
00:10:45,011 --> 00:10:47,847
and you go to you go to work,
you go to school, you eat lunch, you

198
00:10:47,847 --> 00:10:50,516
you work in the afternoon,
you come home, you fix dinner,

199
00:10:50,516 --> 00:10:53,853
you clean up, put the kids to bed,
watch an hour of television and go to bed.

200
00:10:53,853 --> 00:10:56,822
It's just a normal day,
but it's a normal day.

201
00:10:56,822 --> 00:10:57,723
The writer says.

202
00:10:57,723 --> 00:11:02,061
That is evil and the evil
that he's talking about is the drifting.

203
00:11:02,061 --> 00:11:04,296
You do away from God.

204
00:11:05,765 --> 00:11:07,800
In fact, the biggest spiritual enemy

205
00:11:07,800 --> 00:11:10,803
for most of us might just be Netflix

206
00:11:12,405 --> 00:11:15,241
because of the slow, distracting
pull away from God.

207
00:11:15,241 --> 00:11:17,877
This makes me
think of when my family growing up

208
00:11:17,877 --> 00:11:21,714
would go to the beach,
and I was a really skinny kid.

209
00:11:21,714 --> 00:11:24,717
Like, if I turned sideways,
you couldn't see me very skinny.

210
00:11:25,284 --> 00:11:28,688
And so when I would get in the ocean
without really trying,

211
00:11:28,954 --> 00:11:32,158
the undercurrent would take me
half a mile down the beach,

212
00:11:32,158 --> 00:11:35,194
just to drive my dad crazy
because, you know, he's trying to relax.

213
00:11:35,194 --> 00:11:36,295
It's his vacation.

214
00:11:36,295 --> 00:11:38,064
His wife hits him and goes, Where's Zach?

215
00:11:38,064 --> 00:11:40,366
And he looks up and I'm gone.

216
00:11:40,366 --> 00:11:41,167
I mean, I'm gone.

217
00:11:41,167 --> 00:11:44,937
And the thing was, I wasn't trying
and it wasn't like a plan I had.

218
00:11:45,037 --> 00:11:47,073
Hey, this summer
I'm going to run away from home.

219
00:11:47,073 --> 00:11:48,441
I'll just swim away,

220
00:11:49,475 --> 00:11:49,975
I won't.

221
00:11:49,975 --> 00:11:52,778
I wasn't
trying to get away from my family.

222
00:11:52,778 --> 00:11:55,481
I was just trying to have a good time
in the ocean.

223
00:11:55,481 --> 00:11:58,684
But the undercurrent
was stronger than I was.

224
00:11:59,785 --> 00:12:02,755
And so it would slowly, surely,

225
00:12:02,755 --> 00:12:05,791
gradually pull me away.

226
00:12:05,791 --> 00:12:06,859
Look at what the writer says.

227
00:12:06,859 --> 00:12:08,427
He says the days are evil,

228
00:12:08,427 --> 00:12:11,764
and then he actually names
one of the ways the days are evil.

229
00:12:12,465 --> 00:12:14,166
But it's interesting what he chooses.

230
00:12:14,166 --> 00:12:17,369
Look at what he says in verse 18, he says,

231
00:12:17,369 --> 00:12:20,372
and do not get drunk with wine,

232
00:12:21,507 --> 00:12:22,742
for that is debauchery.

233
00:12:22,742 --> 00:12:24,744
Why does he choose that?

234
00:12:24,744 --> 00:12:26,412
Don't get drunk with wine.

235
00:12:26,412 --> 00:12:29,415
Not even drunk, but drunk with wine.

236
00:12:29,749 --> 00:12:31,450
Well, here's what I think he's saying.

237
00:12:31,450 --> 00:12:34,754
Almost
no one sets out to get drunk with wine.

238
00:12:35,654 --> 00:12:37,757
You don't go to the grocery store,
see your friend

239
00:12:37,757 --> 00:12:40,292
buying a bottle of wine and say,
hey man, do we need to talk?

240
00:12:41,494 --> 00:12:42,728
That's just not what wine does.

241
00:12:42,728 --> 00:12:47,433
Wine tends to accompany a celebration,
a good meal, a family gathering.

242
00:12:47,433 --> 00:12:47,700
Right?

243
00:12:47,700 --> 00:12:51,303
What he has in mind
is that you didn't set out to get drunk.

244
00:12:51,437 --> 00:12:53,405
You just set out to relax.

245
00:12:53,405 --> 00:12:56,642
But relaxing led to drifting.

246
00:12:59,912 --> 00:13:01,113
Friends, how many nights

247
00:13:01,113 --> 00:13:04,683
have you gone to bed saying,
how did I do that again?

248
00:13:06,852 --> 00:13:12,158
How many years do you end the year saying
I thought I would be further.

249
00:13:12,158 --> 00:13:15,961
How many new years do you begin saying,
I've got to get right with God.

250
00:13:15,961 --> 00:13:18,030
I've got to grow spiritually.

251
00:13:18,030 --> 00:13:20,132
I've got to reconnect.

252
00:13:20,132 --> 00:13:23,235
It's because time is not neutral.

253
00:13:23,335 --> 00:13:27,206
Left to our own rhythms,
our own autopilots,

254
00:13:27,206 --> 00:13:30,476
we always drift away.

255
00:13:31,877 --> 00:13:34,280
So what do we do?

256
00:13:34,280 --> 00:13:37,917
Well, full disclosure I'm going to really
press that ocean metaphor today.

257
00:13:37,917 --> 00:13:39,451
Okay. Be ready for that.

258
00:13:39,451 --> 00:13:42,421
So it's second we start swimming.

259
00:13:42,888 --> 00:13:43,856
We start swimming.

260
00:13:43,856 --> 00:13:49,228
The writer says, if you don't want time to
to cause you to drift away from God.

261
00:13:51,497 --> 00:13:53,365
Then you have to be intentional.

262
00:13:53,365 --> 00:13:54,466
You have to be strategic.

263
00:13:54,466 --> 00:13:56,602
Look at what he says.
Let's begin in verse 15.

264
00:13:56,602 --> 00:13:58,804
Look at the intentional
strategic language.

265
00:13:58,804 --> 00:14:01,740
Look carefully

266
00:14:01,740 --> 00:14:05,811
then how you walk
not as unwise but as wise,

267
00:14:05,811 --> 00:14:09,815
making the best use of the time,
because the days are evil.

268
00:14:09,815 --> 00:14:15,354
Therefore do not be foolish, but
understand with the will of the Lord is.

269
00:14:15,354 --> 00:14:18,490
Do you hear the intentionality,
the strategic thinking?

270
00:14:18,490 --> 00:14:19,658
Look carefully.

271
00:14:19,658 --> 00:14:21,126
Watch how you walk.

272
00:14:21,126 --> 00:14:23,462
Be wise, not unwise.

273
00:14:23,462 --> 00:14:26,332
Understand what the will of the Lord is.

274
00:14:26,332 --> 00:14:31,237
What he's saying is that
unless you and I decide to go

275
00:14:31,270 --> 00:14:34,273
towards God, we will drift away.

276
00:14:35,341 --> 00:14:38,277
Neutrality is a myth.

277
00:14:38,277 --> 00:14:41,280
It's intentionality where it's death.

278
00:14:42,815 --> 00:14:45,918
This makes me think of my dad
because I guess he got tired of my mom

279
00:14:45,918 --> 00:14:47,219
elbowing him at the beach.

280
00:14:47,219 --> 00:14:49,121
So about the time I was 8 or 9,

281
00:14:49,121 --> 00:14:51,857
as soon as we'd show up to the beach,
he would take just me.

282
00:14:51,857 --> 00:14:52,858
None of my siblings.

283
00:14:52,858 --> 00:14:55,995
Just me, take me to the water,
turn my back to the ocean.

284
00:14:55,995 --> 00:14:58,030
And he would say, Zach, look at me.

285
00:14:58,030 --> 00:14:59,932
Do you see that building there?

286
00:14:59,932 --> 00:15:00,466
And I would look.

287
00:15:00,466 --> 00:15:02,401
And he said, that's our hotel.

288
00:15:02,401 --> 00:15:06,572
When you're in the water,
you must be in front of this hotel.

289
00:15:07,439 --> 00:15:12,044
If at any point you end up to the right of
this hotel, you need to go left.

290
00:15:12,845 --> 00:15:15,881
If you're left of this hotel,
you need to go right.

291
00:15:15,915 --> 00:15:18,584
Stop playing. Stop having fun.

292
00:15:18,584 --> 00:15:22,254
Get in front of the hotel,
then you can go back to having fun.

293
00:15:23,055 --> 00:15:24,089
That was pretty much the talk.

294
00:15:24,089 --> 00:15:25,557
That's exactly the way he gave it.

295
00:15:27,159 --> 00:15:27,693
But the thing

296
00:15:27,693 --> 00:15:30,930
is, I see wisdom in what he was saying.

297
00:15:30,930 --> 00:15:33,866
It's the same wisdom
that's here for us in this passage.

298
00:15:33,866 --> 00:15:37,937
Three things that my dad was saying
that this writer is saying that you and

299
00:15:37,937 --> 00:15:43,142
I must do, if we don't want time
to cause us to drift away from God.

300
00:15:43,142 --> 00:15:44,276
Here's the first one.

301
00:15:44,276 --> 00:15:47,279
You have to feel the current.

302
00:15:50,082 --> 00:15:51,083
Brothers and sisters,

303
00:15:51,083 --> 00:15:54,086
the current of culture
is stronger than you.

304
00:15:56,622 --> 00:15:59,024
It will change the way you think.

305
00:15:59,024 --> 00:16:02,661
It will change what you think is good
and what you think is bad.

306
00:16:02,661 --> 00:16:05,664
What you think is right
and what you think is wrong.

307
00:16:05,664 --> 00:16:08,667
If you're wondering as a culture,
how did we get here?

308
00:16:08,701 --> 00:16:11,236
How did we become so confused?

309
00:16:11,236 --> 00:16:15,541
How did we get to the place
where we don't know such basic things?

310
00:16:15,541 --> 00:16:19,678
The answer is day by day by day.

311
00:16:20,279 --> 00:16:21,447
Days became weeks.

312
00:16:21,447 --> 00:16:22,581
Weeks become months.

313
00:16:22,581 --> 00:16:24,650
Months become years. Years become decades.

314
00:16:24,650 --> 00:16:28,020
Decades become generational change.

315
00:16:28,020 --> 00:16:32,791
If we're not aware of the current,
we will never pursue intentionality.

316
00:16:32,791 --> 00:16:33,993
Brothers and sisters, hear me?

317
00:16:33,993 --> 00:16:37,863
How many friends have we seen drift away?

318
00:16:39,631 --> 00:16:41,100
I've been a pastor for 20 years.

319
00:16:41,100 --> 00:16:43,569
How many families have I seen drift away?

320
00:16:43,569 --> 00:16:45,904
Not because they woke up one morning
and said, you know what,

321
00:16:45,904 --> 00:16:48,173
we don't do the whole God thing anymore.

322
00:16:48,173 --> 00:16:50,342
It was just decision by decision.

323
00:16:50,342 --> 00:16:51,810
That's how it works.

324
00:16:51,810 --> 00:16:54,813
You have to feel the current.

325
00:16:54,880 --> 00:16:59,184
The second thing, though, is
you have to face the right direction.

326
00:17:00,152 --> 00:17:02,554
My dad said, do you see the hotels act?

327
00:17:02,554 --> 00:17:06,592
This is where you should be
without knowing where you should be.

328
00:17:06,625 --> 00:17:09,628
How do you know
if you've drifted down the beach?

329
00:17:09,661 --> 00:17:11,730
It's all sand.

330
00:17:11,730 --> 00:17:13,766
What he was saying is
this is how you know.

331
00:17:13,766 --> 00:17:18,003
Look, the writer says, understand
what the will of the Lord is.

332
00:17:18,003 --> 00:17:19,938
Brothers and sisters, it breaks my heart.

333
00:17:19,938 --> 00:17:24,243
Is a pastor that I know so many people
who call themselves Christians,

334
00:17:24,643 --> 00:17:28,180
Christians, followers of Jesus Christ,

335
00:17:28,180 --> 00:17:31,350
but have no idea what Jesus says about sex

336
00:17:32,851 --> 00:17:34,453
or money

337
00:17:34,453 --> 00:17:38,457
or career, or right or wrong, or culture,

338
00:17:38,624 --> 00:17:41,627
or your family, or your decisions.

339
00:17:43,228 --> 00:17:44,363
But how in the world

340
00:17:44,363 --> 00:17:47,366
can you know if you're drifting,
if you don't know

341
00:17:48,233 --> 00:17:51,236
where you actually should be?

342
00:17:51,870 --> 00:17:56,308
So the writer is telling us that Jesus
Christ, his person and his leadership,

343
00:17:56,442 --> 00:18:01,980
his life is death, his resurrection,
his kingship is our hotel on the beach.

344
00:18:04,016 --> 00:18:06,885
He's our reference point.

345
00:18:06,885 --> 00:18:09,388
We know the culture is taking us away from

346
00:18:09,388 --> 00:18:12,391
God when it disagrees with him.

347
00:18:12,658 --> 00:18:14,193
We have to feel its pull.

348
00:18:14,193 --> 00:18:17,763
We have to face him, know who he is,
know what he wants.

349
00:18:17,763 --> 00:18:20,466
By the way, if you're here
and you're not a Christian and maybe

350
00:18:20,466 --> 00:18:23,702
going to church is part of your new year,
new you, awesome.

351
00:18:24,436 --> 00:18:25,838
Glad that you're here.

352
00:18:25,838 --> 00:18:29,541
And I want you to understand that
the whole idea of Christianity is this.

353
00:18:29,541 --> 00:18:32,544
That God knows that time drifts you away.

354
00:18:32,578 --> 00:18:35,848
He doesn't
expect you to know how to not drift.

355
00:18:35,848 --> 00:18:39,885
So he came to you in the person of
Jesus Christ

356
00:18:40,018 --> 00:18:45,190
who lived in our place, showing us
what a non drifting life looks like.

357
00:18:45,491 --> 00:18:47,659
We got so mad at
him for it. We murdered him.

358
00:18:49,128 --> 00:18:49,695
But that's okay

359
00:18:49,695 --> 00:18:52,698
because that was part of God's plan
to rescue us from our sin.

360
00:18:52,831 --> 00:18:57,669
As Jesus took on our guilt,
died as our atoning sacrifice, rose

361
00:18:57,669 --> 00:19:01,573
from the dead, ascended into heaven,
and promises forgiveness

362
00:19:01,573 --> 00:19:04,576
for everyone who grabs hold of him.

363
00:19:05,878 --> 00:19:07,646
Brothers and sisters,
we have to feel the current.

364
00:19:07,646 --> 00:19:09,181
We have to face the right direction.

365
00:19:09,181 --> 00:19:12,451
And then third, you know,
we have to force ourselves to move.

366
00:19:14,586 --> 00:19:16,522
This is the whole point of Bible studies,

367
00:19:16,522 --> 00:19:22,628
a podcast of sermons of small groups
and circles, and everything we do here

368
00:19:22,761 --> 00:19:26,265
is designed to help you see Jesus, hear

369
00:19:26,265 --> 00:19:29,601
Jesus one Jesus, and move

370
00:19:30,302 --> 00:19:33,305
to Jesus.

371
00:19:34,773 --> 00:19:35,474
Ten minutes

372
00:19:35,474 --> 00:19:38,477
of a quiet time in the morning
is not sufficient

373
00:19:39,444 --> 00:19:42,748
for 24 hours of cultural undertow.

374
00:19:44,917 --> 00:19:46,652
It takes intentionality.

375
00:19:46,652 --> 00:19:47,986
It takes movement.

376
00:19:47,986 --> 00:19:53,192
It takes listening and hearing and obeying
the voice of Jesus.

377
00:19:53,192 --> 00:19:57,329
Otherwise, there's not a single
one of us here in this room

378
00:19:57,462 --> 00:20:00,365
who is incapable of drifting away.

379
00:20:03,902 --> 00:20:05,070
Of course, there's enough there.

380
00:20:05,070 --> 00:20:07,472
And just those two points for all of us.

381
00:20:07,472 --> 00:20:10,676
But the writer won't leave it there,
because it's not enough

382
00:20:10,676 --> 00:20:12,711
that you and I
would swim against the current.

383
00:20:12,711 --> 00:20:15,714
The third thing he has for us is to say

384
00:20:15,814 --> 00:20:19,751
we have to make sure
everyone makes it to shore.

385
00:20:20,953 --> 00:20:22,554
Look at what he says in the passage.

386
00:20:22,554 --> 00:20:23,322
Verse 18.

387
00:20:23,322 --> 00:20:27,926
He turns his attention away
from the individual and on to the group.

388
00:20:27,926 --> 00:20:30,929
He starts his one another in verse 18

389
00:20:31,196 --> 00:20:34,299
and do not get drunk with wine, for
that is debauchery,

390
00:20:34,299 --> 00:20:38,503
but be filled with the spirit, addressing
one another in psalms and hymns

391
00:20:38,503 --> 00:20:42,608
and spiritual songs, singing and
making melody to the Lord with your heart,

392
00:20:42,774 --> 00:20:47,646
giving thanks always and for everything
to God the Father, in the name of our Lord

393
00:20:47,646 --> 00:20:52,618
Jesus Christ, submitting to one
another out of reverence for Christ.

394
00:20:52,651 --> 00:20:55,988
He says this two really powerful things
that he sang.

395
00:20:56,121 --> 00:20:59,558
The first is that no one is strong enough

396
00:21:00,959 --> 00:21:03,962
to face the current of culture alone.

397
00:21:04,896 --> 00:21:06,465
No one

398
00:21:06,465 --> 00:21:08,533
says, hey, Zach,
the only way you're going to make it,

399
00:21:08,533 --> 00:21:11,470
even if you feel the current,
even if you face the right direction,

400
00:21:11,470 --> 00:21:15,173
even if you force yourself to move
the only way you're going to make

401
00:21:15,173 --> 00:21:20,479
it is if you have people around you
who are singing to you, teaching you,

402
00:21:20,512 --> 00:21:23,682
waving their hands on the beach,
saying, zag, zig zag,

403
00:21:23,782 --> 00:21:26,785
you're drifting away.

404
00:21:26,785 --> 00:21:29,187
You might say, well,
I don't want to be judgmental.

405
00:21:29,187 --> 00:21:33,392
Well, let me ask you, if you showed up
at my family's at the beach

406
00:21:33,892 --> 00:21:36,728
and you see my dad on the sand going,
Zach.

407
00:21:36,728 --> 00:21:39,731
Zach.

408
00:21:39,931 --> 00:21:42,901
Would you say to him,
you're so judgmental,

409
00:21:44,102 --> 00:21:46,071
you should let Zach play in the ocean?

410
00:21:46,071 --> 00:21:47,406
However, he feels?

411
00:21:50,042 --> 00:21:53,045
No, because if I drift away, I die.

412
00:21:53,578 --> 00:21:55,213
What do you think happens

413
00:21:55,213 --> 00:21:58,216
when someone drifts away from God?

414
00:21:59,017 --> 00:22:03,255
You need people still
standing on the beach waving their arms.

415
00:22:03,255 --> 00:22:05,924
Is why I'm telling you. I'm
so glad you're here this morning.

416
00:22:05,924 --> 00:22:07,326
You understand? I don't get commission.

417
00:22:07,326 --> 00:22:10,329
Like if you show up at a Bible study
this week, I don't get a bonus.

418
00:22:12,564 --> 00:22:14,032
But you and I both know you.

419
00:22:14,032 --> 00:22:17,235
We can help you a little bit here,
but no one knows you.

420
00:22:17,903 --> 00:22:18,770
Not here.

421
00:22:18,770 --> 00:22:21,973
No one knows if you're drifting,
you got to show up

422
00:22:21,973 --> 00:22:24,976
to something else for that.

423
00:22:25,110 --> 00:22:26,545
And you need it.

424
00:22:26,545 --> 00:22:28,680
And I need it and we need it.

425
00:22:28,680 --> 00:22:32,818
And then the second thing he says is
that God will hold us accountable,

426
00:22:32,884 --> 00:22:36,955
not only for our own spiritual growth,
but for that of those around us.

427
00:22:38,490 --> 00:22:41,026
Don't you see that in the passage?

428
00:22:41,026 --> 00:22:44,463
And listen, everybody in
this room is responsible for someone.

429
00:22:44,463 --> 00:22:44,996
Parents.

430
00:22:44,996 --> 00:22:48,433
You have children, spouses
you have your spouse,

431
00:22:48,433 --> 00:22:51,436
your coworkers, your neighbors,
your friends, your colleagues.

432
00:22:51,436 --> 00:22:56,141
Listen, what God is saying is seek
is not just measured by the health

433
00:22:56,141 --> 00:23:01,513
and enthusiasm and excitement
and robustness of this one hour a week.

434
00:23:01,513 --> 00:23:04,950
We are measured by how desperately we care

435
00:23:05,550 --> 00:23:08,553
that everyone around us makes it.

436
00:23:09,488 --> 00:23:12,691
And I could apply this
to a million groups, but with the men's

437
00:23:12,691 --> 00:23:15,794
summit on the horizon,
let me just say this husbands

438
00:23:15,794 --> 00:23:18,797
and fathers.

439
00:23:19,030 --> 00:23:21,600
You will give an account to God,

440
00:23:21,600 --> 00:23:24,736
not simply
for whether you made it to shore,

441
00:23:24,970 --> 00:23:28,774
but whether your children
and your wife did as well.

442
00:23:30,909 --> 00:23:34,279
Because they live in a
culture that has after them.

443
00:23:36,848 --> 00:23:39,851
We have to be saying to them,

444
00:23:40,352 --> 00:23:43,355
face the right direction and move.

445
00:23:45,991 --> 00:23:46,892
And not only that,

446
00:23:46,892 --> 00:23:50,462
we have to do this with urgency.

447
00:23:52,764 --> 00:23:55,767
Because people who drift, die,

448
00:23:55,801 --> 00:24:00,105
and every single minute matters.

449
00:24:00,605 --> 00:24:04,543
Let me pray for us, father God,
thank you so much for this warning.

450
00:24:04,543 --> 00:24:07,546
It's not fun to be warned.

451
00:24:08,313 --> 00:24:09,915
But it is loving.

452
00:24:09,915 --> 00:24:11,283
Help us to hear it.

453
00:24:11,283 --> 00:24:13,418
In Jesus name we pray. Amen.