Level Up |What No One Ever Sees


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January 7 and 8, 2017

Level Up | What No One Ever Sees Aaron Brockett | Matthew 7:21-27

Alright, good morning. How is everyone? Good. Good to see you and I want to welcome you if this is your first time to be with us. And I just want to welcome anybody who may be tuning in online. Let’s say hello to our Downtown campus that is joining us from the Public Library downtown. Love you guys. Last weekend they had their first gathering together at the library because their facility won’t be ready ‘til February 26. They had over 400 people there on New Year’s Day, which is just incredible. So, looking forward to hearing more about that. And then I want to say hello to our North campus right now, tuning in via live stream. Let’s say hello to them. We love you guys so much. Your facility is going to be ready February 19 so next month is a really, really big month. It’s so good to have you. And if you were not here last weekend, all three campus pastors had a special New Year’s message for each campus and if you missed it you can get online. We’ve included all of those sermons on the website. The guys just did an incredible job. Before we jump into this content I want to update you on our Christmas services as well as our year-end offering. We had nine Christmas services this year across two campuses for a combined attendance of a little over twelve thousand people because you took the time to pray over and to invest and to invite family and friends—that’s why we had that many people come. We had seventeen hundred more people than last year who came to the Christmas services. I was getting people messaging me on social media between services just telling me about the person that they invited and the kind of experience that they had when they were here. So I just want to thank you for your invites. And then, due to your year-end giving, we were able to send $200,000 to our partners in Pakistan who are building a hospital. There’s an area of about five million people and it’s hard for us to get our heads wrapped around this in the west but they are five million people who just don’t have access to medical care. So as part of an outreach effort they are going to building a hospital. We get to be a part of that by writing them a check for $200,000 due to your year-end giving. And then because of your generosity all year long, especially the last couple of months of the year, we were able to finish the year on a strong note and stay on track toward achieving our goal that we established about a year-and-a-half ago. If you were here a year-and-a-half ago our church cast this big vision called Humble and Hungry. And Humble and Hungry is that we

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Level Up | What No One Ever Sees January 7 and 8, 2017

want to see as many people come to know Jesus as possible. We want to make more and better disciples in our city and around the globe. One of the ways in which we want to do that is through multisites—one church in multiple locations. So we started North about a year ago. We sent about three hundred people from this campus to North. They’ve got about eight or nine hundred people coming to that campus now. And then we just started Downtown. Later this year we will start West. The Humble and Hungry vision, we said, was going to require us to give about 8.5 million dollars over our operating expenses for the year. And last year we finished where you have given, about a year-and-a-half into this, a little over 6 million dollars, which means that we have a couple more million to go before May because May is kind of when that initiative ends. Some of you have asked or maybe you’ve wondered as you looked at the email newsletter and the numbers on there and you’ve said, “It looks like we’re behind.” Well we’re not behind. We’re meeting budget and that number there is what we have left to give toward Humble and Hungry between now and May. So I want to thank you for your generosity. It was about a year ago that we had a family in our church come to us and offer to buy us a building downtown. And I still just cannot quite fully believe that and just the generosity that comes out of this church. So I want to thank you for the vision and the heart that you have to see as many people as possible come to know Jesus. Some of you are here right now because of the vision and the generosity of others. And I just want to thank you for that. Well, if you have a Bible or a device with a Bible on it go ahead and meet me in Matthew, chapter 7. If you don’t have a Bible with you we will still be in Matthew, chapter 7 and I’ll put the passages up on the screen that you see beside me so that you can follow along. If you don’t have a Bible with you go ahead and bring one with you next week. We are starting this four-part series of messages that we are calling Level Up and level up is kind of a short way of saying it’s time to advance. It’s time to make some progress. I don’t want to stay where I am. I want to move ahead. I remember the very first time that I became familiar with the term level up was in the world of video gaming. I’m a child of the 1980s. Anybody else? 1980s? There are a few of us. And I loved playing video games. Now here’s the thing. In the 1980s if you wanted to play a video game you had to go to the mall. You couldn’t open up your phone. You couldn’t necessarily play … We had Atari but Atari wasn’t great. It was just a little dull. So you’d have to go to the mall and you had to go to this room called an arcade. It was this dark room with a very creepy guy that would usually sit up front behind a desk and he had this apron on and you would hand him quarters. Now a quarter, kids, is money. It’s actual change that you would hold in your hand. So you would hand him real money and he would hand you back

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Level Up | What No One Ever Sees January 7 and 8, 2017

some fake money called tokens. And then you would put the tokens into the arcade machines and play your video game. Now my favorite arcade game, hands down, was Galaga. Any Galaga fans? Yeah. And in Galaga you had this little space ship and you were trying to knock off these little alien things. And on level one you had just a few of these little alien deals and they moved really slowly so you could easily take them out. But then as you go to level two, you level up, there would be more aliens and they would move faster. And I could get to about level six or seven on one token before I would lose all of my lives. And then there would be this little blue word that would come up on the screen and say: do you want to continue? And it would give you about 10 seconds to find another token in your pocket to put into the arcade machine so that you could continue to level up. Then in the late 80s my whole world changed with this home entertainment gaming system called Nintendo. And Nintendo, you could take that thing home. It was much, much better than Atari and all of the games—it didn’t matter what it was, it was pretty much the same game with different characters and you had to level up. So with Super Mario Brothers you were leveling up into different worlds. With Mike Tyson Punch-Out you were leveling up trying to get past Bald Bull and King Hippo (never get past that guy). And then my favorite game was Contra, alright? Any Contra fans? There are a few. There are a few. Now if you don’t know what I’m talking about Contra was essentially like Galaga except instead of a spaceship you were one of these army dudes with a blue cigarette. And so you would have to go through all of these little worlds and you were trying to wipe out all of the aliens. And the really difficult thing about Contra was that you only had three lives to get through all of the levels, which was just ridiculous. It was just impossible. Until one day a good friend of mine came over to my house after school with some information that changed my life. And some of you know what I’m talking about, don’t you? The secret code. He said, “Aaron, at the title screen if you punch in the secret code, which was—and if you know it just recite it with me out loud: Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start. Some of you have no idea what I’m talking about right now. Hang with me. That code has been burned into my brain. On my death bed when my great-great grandkids are coming in, “Hey, grandpa’s got some last words that he wants to give.” I’m going to be like, “Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start. Remember that kids.” And what would happen when you would do that is that all of a sudden you’d get 30 lives! And then you had enough lives to level up. I remember I finally beat the game with that code. Now when it comes to the series that we are in, Level Up, I want us to take that concept but honestly, we’re not talking about video games. We’re not talking about leveling up your airline miles or leveling up your status on social media. What we want to do for the next four weeks is that we want to talk about what it looks like to level up in our relationships, what does it look Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point Christian Church. All rights reserved.





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Level Up | What No One Ever Sees January 7 and 8, 2017

like to level up in life. Here’s the deal. What does it look like to level up with my character? What does it look like to level up in joy and contentment and generosity and most importantly, my relationship with and my connection to God? I can’t think of a better time to talk about this then the first few weeks of the beginning of a brand new year because, if you haven’t already, maybe you’re in the midst of it—just doing some evaluation of the life that you’ve been living this last year. You’re evaluating some things which then lead to maybe making some resolutions and some commitments for the year ahead, which is a really, really great thing. The question right here is: What has life looked like for me in the past? And once I’ve got that laid out what do I want my life to look like from this point moving forward? And maybe some of you in the past week or so you’ve been doing some evaluating and doing some forecasting into the year ahead. And maybe you’ve realized that you need to be more intentional with diet and exercise. Maybe you need to get your finances in order. Maybe some of you are signed up for Financial Peace or you’re going to finally stick to a budget. Some of you are like, “You know what? The kids are growing up so fast so I just need to be more intentional with the kids.” Or, “I need to be more considerate toward my spouse.” Maybe some of you are like, “You know what? I just need to say no more often because this past year I got spread really thin. Some of you are just the opposite. Some of you need to say yes more often and you need to be pushed outside of your comfort zone. Maybe there are some personal disciplines in your life that you’ve been neglecting. Maybe you’ve been taking care of your body but you haven’t been taking care of your spirit. Maybe some of you are like, “You know what? 2016 was a really rough year for all kinds of reasons and if I’m being really honest, I stopped growing in my relationship with God. In fact, I think I’ve taken a step or two backwards this past year.” I want to be really clear that what we’re talking about in this series Level Up over the next four weeks—we’re not talking about goal achievement or self improvement alone. Now, those things aren’t bad and I hope that those things happen for you. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s just that those things don’t go deep enough. We need something deeper than that. So here’s the thing that we are after. And if you have a phone you can take a picture of the screen so that way you can go back and maybe write this in a notebook or have it with you. This is stuff that is also on our church app but if you want to pull out your phone and take a picture of something that comes up on the screen that you want to remember feel free to do that. This is what we are after in this series, me included. We want to cultivate and that word cultivate is really important because this isn’t going to happen overnight. You’ve got to cultivate the type of character that can be humble when things are great and unwavering when things fall apart. Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point Christian Church. All rights reserved.





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Level Up | What No One Ever Sees January 7 and 8, 2017

Wouldn’t it be amazing if we could say that this is true of us right now? That we have the type of character that when things are going really good at work, when we have enough in the bank, when our relationships seem to be going well and it seems like we’ve got our health, we’re feeling pretty good that we can be humble about that and we can realize that God gets the glory for that and it isn’t just because of our achievements and the things that we do. I can actually be a blessing to others instead of a discouragement to others, because I don’t know about you, but my human nature is that when things are going really, really well I have a tendency to maybe push others down and use that to prop myself up. What would it look like for me to take the blessings in my life and actually pull people up and encourage them? What would it look like to have the type of character that when life falls apart, I don’t? That I could remain unwavering? That means that I’ve got to build my life and I’ve got to build my identity upon something that is actually much, much stronger than my perspective and my circumstances. If there’s anything that 2016 has taught or just simply reminded us it’s that there is so much that goes on that is just simply outside of our control. Isn’t that true? And for the control freaks in the room, you hate that. You turn on the news and you can’t control that. You can’t control what happens even inside your own body. You can’t control what other people are going to say to you or how they are going to interact with you. There is so much that is outside of our control. So if you are constantly up and down depending upon what others say to you or about you or what happens in the world then you’re going to lead an incredibly unstable life. I want to dig down with something a little bit more stable so that way when life falls apart, I don’t. And I love these words that the Psalmist writes us in chapter 18, verse 2. And I want us to say these words out loud together, here at the Northwest campus and Downtown and the North campus. I want to hear you as well. Let’s just say these words out loud together. Psalm 18: “The Lord is my Rock, my Fortress, and my Savior; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety. That’s a great passage. Here’s the thing I just want you to ask of yourself—of yourself. Not your neighbor, not your spouse, not your teen-aged kids. Is that true for you? Is it true for you? Is it true for you yet? And here’s the thing. If the answer is no, that’s okay. Like seriously, that’s okay. I know you’re thinking that you’re in church and so you need to say yes, you know you’re in church and you’re like, “Well, I don’t know that I necessarily feel that but I’ll act like I feel it.” See it’s one thing to actually say those words out loud, sitting around several hundred other people just because a guy on a stage or a screen asked you to. It’s another thing to actually believe those words down to the very bedrock of your character and to say, “When I’ve got nothing left, I trust that.” I hope that over the course of the next several weeks together that you and I could be led. See here’s the thing. Some of you may be brand new to church or whatever. I know there’s this Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point Christian Church. All rights reserved.





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myth that whoever is standing on the stage has got this figured out, “So let me share with you what I’ve figured out.” That’s not what it’s all about. No, I don’t have it all figured out. I still stumble. I still fall. I need Psalm 18 too—maybe more than anybody in the room. I need to be reminded in the times when I can get unstable, when I can feel up or down or in a good mood. Just ask my wife. Good mood or bad mood depending on how well this goes. That’s pretty unstable. But sometimes you all aren’t very fun to be around, alright. Just being real. And so what do you base your sense of security on? What is a good day and a bad day? See, we’ve got to drill down to something that is actually much more … We’ve got to level up to what is much more solid. So here’s what we’re going to do over the course of the next four weeks together. And I hope that you will join us for the next four weeks for this series. We’re going to be looking at a sermon that Jesus preached. It’s recorded in Matthew, chapters 5 through 7 called the Sermon on the Mount. And the Sermon on the Mount, if you’re not familiar with it, is the very first sermon that Jesus preached early on in His ministry. It’s the longest that Jesus preached. And Jesus is going to hit all kinds of every day, real life, practical issues in this sermon that are also very, very challenging. And what Jesus is doing in the sermon is, essentially, He is challenging every single one of us to level up. He’s saying this isn’t your reality now, this isn’t your reality yet but I want to encourage you by the power of My Spirit to level up in all of these different areas. He’s going to hit a whole bunch of them that deal with our relationships, that deal with our finances, that deal with our thought life, that deal with our ability to forgive other people and it’s going to be challenging. If you are not familiar with the Sermon on the Mount let me just go ahead and give you a heads up that Jesus is going to say some things every single week that you’re not initially going to like or understand. And that’s okay. In fact you’re going to hear some things that Jesus says in the sermon and you’re going to go, “I don’t know that I agree with that. I don’t know that I like that. I don’t see how He can ask that of me. That’s impossible. That’s just impractical.” Let me just give you a few examples, In Matthew, chapter 5 Jesus is going to drop this on us. He’s going to say, “Be perfect,” there you go, alright? “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” And you’re like, “I’ll get right on that. How in the world do I set about doing that?” Jesus would say, “Listen, you all know that it’s wrong to commit adultery but I’m telling you that even if you look at somebody lustfully, you’ve already committed adultery with that person in your heart.” And you’re like, “Busted.” We’ve all kind of done that, “How is that committing adultery in my heart?” Well He’s like, “The eye is the window to your heart and what happens in your heart really will end up manifesting itself to your actions. So I’m really concerned about your heart.” Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point Christian Church. All rights reserved.





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Level Up | What No One Ever Sees January 7 and 8, 2017

Jesus would say, “Look, it’s easy to love your friends but I’m telling you to, “… love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” And you’re like, “Jesus, I don’t know that I have the ability to do that. In fact Jesus is going to say some things in the Sermon on the Mount that will not only challenge us—all of us—but for some of you it’s going to greatly annoy you. It will irritate you. It will get under your skin. And you’ll be like, “I wish I wouldn’t have heard that because now I’ve actually got to do something with it.” Some of you are going to be tempted to write it off. You’re going to say, “Well that just meant to be figurative.” Or, “That can’t be literal.” And when you are tempted to think those things and in those moments when you are really challenged by what Jesus says, I want you to remember a few things. Here’s the first thing: The Sermon on the Mount is an extended explanation—this is not a to do list. This is not Jesus saying, “You better get your act together list. That’s not what it is. It is an explanation of what the great commandment looks like in real life.” And if you need a reminder of what the great commandment is, the great commandment is to love God and to love people. The Great Commission is to make disciples. The great commandment is to love God and to love people. It’s one thing to say, “Hey, love God and love people.” Jesus is going to take three chapters to tell us how to do that. That’s the Sermon on the Mount. Here’s the next thing that you need to be reminded of whenever you read something challenging. Not once in the three chapters does Jesus ever say, “Live like this, and you will be made right with God.” Your salvation is not dependent upon the things that He gives us or challenges us with in the Sermon on the Mount. Your salvation is dependent upon the finished work of Jesus Christ on a cross. You’re saved by grace through faith. I’m going to say that over and over and over again because people are going to get tripped up in the next four weeks if I don’t come back to that. Jesus never says, “Hey, live like the Sermon on the Mount and God will love you.” He never says that. So be reminded of that. Here’s the next thing. We need to understand that since you are, or if you are not yet you can be, made right with God through Jesus you should now live like this. Since you are saved by grace you’re set free to live like this. Well, live like what? Live like the Sermon on the Mount. So Jesus is going to challenge us and say, “Hey, I want you to level up. I want you to level up in these areas of life. It can be difficult but don’t do it by your own power and your own strength.” Here’s the big idea for this entire series: The Sermon on the Mount is the life Jesus died for you and me to live. I should hear you talking back to me a little bit more on that because that’s really good. New Year’s resolution: You can talk back to me because if you do I’ll preach shorter and it will be better. It’s up to you. So let’s try that one more time: The Sermon on the Mount is the life Jesus died for you to live. Yeah, alright.

Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point Christian Church. All rights reserved.





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Level Up | What No One Ever Sees January 7 and 8, 2017

I want you to burn that into your brain: The Sermon on the Mount is the life … Jesus didn’t just go to the cross so that we could go to heaven. Jesus went to the cross so that we could live the Sermon on the Mount here. I’m telling you, if more of us would strive to live out the Sermon on the Mount my life would have been better in 2016. Yours probably would have been as well. See the key isn’t in politics or who is in office, the key isn’t the economy, the key isn’t all of the social issues the key is people who are willing to say, “You know what? I’m going to actually die to myself and strive for what Jesus teaches us in the Sermon on the Mount. It is not a code of ethics. It is not a description of our morals. This is a description of our character. It’s what we were meant to be. It’s how we are meant to live. Not what we yet are but it’s what we’re striving to be and will one day become. You can write this down. The Sermon on the Mount is the description of a character that has been absolutely consumed by Jesus. So when you come across a passage that is challenging, and you will—we’re actually going to get one here in about two minutes—don’t push back from the table but actually let that be an indicator that this is an area that you need to level up and I need to level up. Now here’s the thing. It’s not by your own power, not by your own strength, not by your own effort or ingenuity but by His. So let’s look at what Jesus teaches us starting in chapter 7. We’re going to start in verse 16. Jesus is going to say, “Listen, the whole key to leveling up is to work on an area of our lives that few people ever see. So follow along with me, verse 16. It says, “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? “A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire.” Verse 20: “Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.” Jesus is addressing this fact, this truth, this reality that we all know in our lives. He says, “Listen, some people aren’t who you think that they are.” And we’ve all probably been in a relationship, we’ve worked for somebody who maybe said one thing in private and did another thing in public or vice versa. Or maybe we’ve been hurt be somebody. The context in which Jesus says this was false prophets, which was a big, big problem in the Old Testament. If there is anything worse than a false prophet it’s a false prophet who is popular and who would say things that sounded really, really good to people but was leading people astray. You can’t really tell the difference between a false prophet and true prophet. That’s why you need to look at their fruit—the fruit of their lives, their actions. Eventually you’ll find them out. This is really, really good teaching. You can actually read that and say, “Man, this is really practical stuff. I’m going to use this tomorrow at work and I’m going to start testing the actions of my boss, or of my co-workers, or my teen-aged daughter, or whatever it is. Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point Christian Church. All rights reserved.





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Level Up | What No One Ever Sees January 7 and 8, 2017

But here’s the thing. Jesus is going to turn the table on us here in the very next verse. He’s going to say, “Yeah, sure. Go ahead and test other people by their actions. Test them by their fruit and while you’re at it, test yourself. Test your own fruit. Test your own actions. What’s in your heart? And is it really genuine? Is it really true? Look at your own character. What Jesus is going to say next in verses 21 through 23, I think, has got to be in the top three, top five most challenging things that Jesus ever says in the gospels. Let’s just go there. Verse 21, He says, “Not everyone who calls out to Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven. Only those who actually do the will of My Father in heaven will enter. On judgment day many will say to Me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in Your name and cast out demons in Your name and performed many miracles in Your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from Me, you who break God’s laws.’” Those are sobering words. Tough to hear, maybe even tougher to fully understand. They way that our logical human brains work is, “Okay, Aaron. Tell me what that means. Tell me what that can’t possibly mean. Tell me if I’m in or out, if I’m saved or if I’m not saved. And Jesus knew that this would be tough for us to hear as well. That’s why Jesus is going to offer us an explanation in the very next verses. But He’s going to offer an explanation by telling us a story. He’s going to teach a parable. And many of you have probably heard this parable before but you just didn’t realize where this parable was told. This parable was taught as an explanation of those three verses. And it’s the parable of the wise and the foolish builders. So Jesus says in verse 24, “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears My teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.” So the explanation of the story isn’t difficult. Jesus is using it to describe what He meant in verses 21 through 23. So what’s He saying? Well He’s saying you can make two houses and they look very similar on the outside. The house has four walls. It’s got windows. It’s got a door. It’s got a roof. It’s got plumbing and electrical—it’s all there. He takes two houses that look very, very similar but the can be very, very different underneath if one of them is built on sand and the other is built on rock. How do know? How do you know which one is built on sand and on rock? Jesus says, “You don’t until the storm hits.” You don’t until the day comes. And then when the storm comes it will actually reveal … You can go a long time with a house built on sand and nobody will ever know it until the storm comes and then it’s revealed. That’s what He’s saying. So to get back to verses 21 through 23, I don’t think that Jesus is teaching that you can lose your salvation because that would be inconsistent with some of the other things that we read Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point Christian Church. All rights reserved.





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in Scripture. I don’t think that Jesus is meaning to explain how salvation works there. I think Jesus is meaning to explain how discipleship works there and how we stand strong and secure in the midst of changing circumstances. Jesus is going to say, “Look, you can take two people who say that they believe in God, who say that they are Christians, who attend the same church, sit in the same row, carry the same Bible, raise their hands all to the same songs—one of them is building his house on sand and one of them is building his house on rocks.” Well how do you know? You don’t. Until the storm hits or Jesus comes again. And He says, “Honestly, it’s not even up to you to guess, ‘Oh, that person is building on sand,’ or ‘That person is building on rock,’” Jesus says, “No, no, no, no. That’s up to you to evaluate in your own life.” So how do you know? That’s the question. How do you know? “I can believe these things and feel all of these things about God but how do I know that I’m building on sand or building on rock.” And Jesus, backing it up to verses 21 through 23 would say, “Listen. It is not about just what you say you believe.” It’s not just about what you say you believe because you can go back to verse 21 and it says that these people who Jesus didn’t know they called Him Lord. The word there, actually, in the Greek is kyrios. It’s their word for Jehovah, which basically means that they are acknowledging that Jesus is God. He’s not just another prophet. He’s not just another good teacher. They are acknowledging, “Jesus, You are God.” And Jesus is saying, “Listen, it’s not just what you say that you believe. You can believe all kinds of things that never make it from your head to your heart.” Going on Jesus says, “Listen. It’s not just about the way you feel,” because not only do they call Him Lord in the passage, they call Him Lord. Lord. And in Jewish literature that was actually a way to communicate a feeling of emotion. Jesus would actually do this in Luke, chapter 10. If you remember the story where Jesus goes over to Mary and Martha’s house for dinner and Martha is a doer. She has the spiritual gift of hospitality. She just can’t get out of the kitchen. She just wants everything to be perfect, and that’s great. But Mary chooses something better and she sits at Jesus’ feet and she’s like, “Teach me Jesus.” And what did Jesus say to Martha? “Martha. Martha.” It’s a sign of emotion and affection. Jesus is saying, “Listen, it’s not just about the way you feel when you come to church.” These people in verses 21 through 23 they were excited about Jesus, they clapped at all of the right places, they raised their hands in worship. They were in. They even wore the t-shirt All In. They were excited and Jesus says that it’s not just about how you feel. He goes on and He says, “It’s not just about what you do.” This is so convicting for me in verse 22. You look at it and it says, “Jesus, didn’t we prophesy in Your name and cast out demons in Your name and perform many miracles in Your name?” Which is just another way of saying, “Jesus we are teachers of the word. We heal people. We did miracles. We led people to Christ. Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point Christian Church. All rights reserved.





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Level Up | What No One Ever Sees January 7 and 8, 2017

We gave a huge Christmas Eve offering that we sent to build a hospital in Pakistan. We helped turn people’s lives around.” And Jesus looks at them and says, “Yeah, yeah, yeah that’s great but I never knew you. I never knew you.” And what He’s talking about there is relationship stuff. And relationship can’t be found in religion. Relationship can’t be found in church attendance. Relationship can’t just be found in what you say you believe about something or even the way that you feel or even the things that you do—it’s all in proximity with the person. You can’t have a relationship with a person if you’re not ever around them, if you’re not actually investing in the relationship and trying to grow in it. So what’s Jesus saying? You take two people who believe all the right things about God, feel all of the right things about God, do all of the right things for God. One of them is building on sand and one of them is building on rock and eventually it will be revealed which one you have been building on. That’s super convicting for me. And so if it’s not about my beliefs and it’s not about my feelings and if it’s not about what I do, then what is it about? And Jesus says, “Here it is. It’s all about who you know.” It’s all about who you know. It’s not a religion. It’s a relationship. It’s not just a head thing. It’s a heart thing. It’s not just an action thing. It’s a relationship thing. See, Jesus says, “Listen. I want to know you.” And isn’t it true, especially in our world today with social media, celebrities, and all of that kind of stuff that you can actually feel like you know somebody when you don’t really know them? You can know a lot about a lot of people but that doesn’t really mean that you know them. A few years ago we had Willy Robertson from the TV show Duck Dynasty come to our church. Maybe some of you were here for that. It was on Father’s Day. I was all excited about it. I drove to the airport to pick him up. He got into my truck and we were talking. I took him to his hotel room and told him I’d pick him up the next morning. I went and picked him up the next morning. We hung out in the green room out back and we did three services together. And, man, he’s the real deal. What you see on TV—that’s him. And we talked about Uncle Si and we talked about beards and he made fun of mine. We talked about hunting and all of those kinds … We talked about God and family. He’s just a great, great guy. We got done and I was taking him back to the airport and we’re heading down 465 and he said, “Hey, Aaron. What’s your cell phone number?” Now on the outside I played that really cool. I was just like, “Oh.” But on the inside I was like, “What!?” So I was like, “Yeah, sure man. It’s like 317 …” I gave him the number. He pulled out his phone and he typed it in and like 30 seconds later my phone pinged and it was an area code from Louisiana. And he’s like, “Yeah, man. I just sent you mine.” On the outside I Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point Christian Church. All rights reserved.





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Level Up | What No One Ever Sees January 7 and 8, 2017

played it really cool. On the inside I was like, “What!?” It was like, “Willy Robertson just gave me his number. We’re BFFs man!” I was taking him to the airport and I’m like, “Hey, man. Thanks so much for coming. It was great. Have a safe flight,” and all of that. And I’ve got his number now! I go home. Now there’s etiquette to these things. I don’t know if you know this or not. It’s like a 48 hour rule. I’m like, “I’m not going to text him too soon. That could be weird. I don’t want to be like a creepy preacher guy.” So I waited 48 hours and then I texted him and I was like, “Hey, did you get home okay. I hope the flight was great. Thanks so much for being here. Thank the family for allowing you to be with us on Father’s Day. It was really great. If I can do anything for you let me know.” And a few minutes later he texted me back. I was like, “What’s this?” So every few weeks or so—this went on for about three months and then he stopped responding. But every few weeks or so I would be watching the TV show and I’d pull out my phone and I’d say, “Hey, kids. Check this out.” And I’d text him and I’d say, “Hey, did Uncle Si really do that?” And he’d text me back or whatever. And it was always like one or two word answers, like, “Please back off. I’m regretting ever giving you my number.” And I would figure out a way to work that in to every conversation. Like Lindsay and I, my wife, we would go out to dinner with friends and we’d be talking about whatever—we’d be talking about something totally unrelated and I’d figure out how to bring that into the conversation. Like, “So, Willy texted me this last week.” And my wife would look at me and she would go, “Don’t you mean that he texted you back? Because that’s a different thing.” I was like, “Honey, shhhh. They don’t need to know that.” Here’s the thing. I could stand up here in front and tell you, “Hey, I met Willy. Hey, I know Willy.” But I don’t really know Willy. It’s been a while since I’ve talked to him. And here’s my fear and I say this as lovingly as I can. I’m just afraid that some of you know Jesus the way that I know Willy Robertson. You met Him one weekend. Maybe it was at a men’s or a women’s conference, maybe it was at a passion event, maybe it was at an Easter service or a Christmas service. And it’s not that it wasn’t genuine. It’s not that it wasn’t real. Maybe you even exchanged numbers. Maybe you put a t-shirt on and you got into the baptistery, but do you know Him? Be honest about it. “Well, what do you mean?” “Well are you pursuing that relationship?” Friendship dies if you don’t make investments. Marriages die if you don’t make investments. Jesus is saying, “Listen. I want a relationship with you. I want it to be personal. I want it to be close. I want it to be intimate.” And you can know a lot about Jesus, and you can come and fill your head with a lot of knowledge about Jesus, and you can actually stick Jesus in your back pocket and say, “Hey, when I need You I need You to be

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Level Up | What No One Ever Sees January 7 and 8, 2017

on call but other than that, would You please kind of mind Your own business?” That isn’t a relationship. That’s not what He’s offering. Now, is your salvation based upon the effort that you are making to invest in a relationship? No. But your discipleship is. Your character is. See, listen. Grace is free but growth requires participation. And some of you have received grace but you’ve not grown. And that could have been 10 years, 15 years, 20 years ago. You’re still a spiritual infant because you got your salvation card put it in your back pocket and you stopped growing. And Jesus says, “Level up.” Why do I need to level up? Because when the storms hit, you fall apart. And actually others look at that and say, “Why should I become a Christian? Why should I trust Jesus? You’re no different than me.” It’s because you’re building upon a foundation of sand even though you’ve got your beliefs right, your emotions right, and all of the actions right. And Jesus says, “I want more for you than that.” Jesus isn’t saying, “Listen. I don’t like you.” Or, “I don’t want you.” Or, “I don’t know you.” What He’s saying is, “Please, I’m offering you something more, more than what you’re taking advantage of.” It’s like that computer program that you downloaded and you don’t know how to use. You’re using like two percent of it. And Jesus says, “I’ve got something so much more.” So what does it look like to level up from the foundation of sand to a foundation that is made of rock? I just want to give you three simple words. Here’s the first one write it down. Lordship: Lordship. Some of you have taken up Jesus’ offer of grace and salvation but you’ve never made Him Lord. And some of you, maybe this is what scared you off because you got a bad definition of Lordship, a bad example of Lordship, and you’re like, “Man, if Lordship is about me giving up all of my wants and desires and Jesus is ruining my reputation because I’ve got to become some bland Christian—then I’m out.” That’s not what it means. The analogy that Jesus uses for Lordship in the parable is a foundation. We don’t often think about it in those terms. But when you build a house, that house is submitting itself to the foundation that is underneath it. And it stands secure in the storm. And a house doesn’t just say, “Well, I don’t want to be on this foundation anymore. I’m going to go over here.” It doesn’t do that. It’s fixed upon the foundation and Jesus says, “I desire to not only be your Savior but I want to be Lord over every area of your life.” I’m afraid that some of you have been attending church for a really long time but honestly you’ve never made Him Lord. And some of you believe all of the right things about God. In fact, when it comes to doctrine and theology there may be nobody who knows more than you but you’ve never really made Jesus Lord. And when it comes to worship your emotions are stirred, you know all of the words, and you feel something good but you’ve honestly never made Him Lord over every area of your private life. And some of you, you’re serving every single weekend, you’re serving during the week but Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point Christian Church. All rights reserved.





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Level Up | What No One Ever Sees January 7 and 8, 2017

honestly you’ve never made Him Lord. And what’s happening is that you are actually serving to keep God in your debt and Jesus says, “No, no, no. I want to be Lord. I don’t want you to bargain with Me. I want to be Lord over every area of your life.” And you are like, “Well, how do I know if I’m on sand or on rock?” Well, what happens when you get bad news? What happens when you get criticized? And if somebody criticizes you and you fall apart your foundation is sand because you’re going to have enemies, especially if you’re trying to live for Jesus. And people who misunderstand you and think that you are being holierthan-thou that’s just a simple test. If somebody says a cross word about me do I fall apart? And if I fall apart that’s a red flag and it’s time to level up to a more solid foundation. If you’ve ever said, “You know what? I really want to follow God but I’m torn because I don’t know if it would be worth it. I don’t know if it will really pay off,” then you’re still building on sand because you’ve never surrendered your will. What it is that you’re saying is that you’re saying, “Listen. I want a foundation made of rock but I want the flexibility of sand.” And Jesus says, “That’s not what I am offering.” So, are you willing to obey even when it doesn’t make logical sense to you? See there is this example in 1 Samuel where King Saul is asked by God to do a very strange thing. He wipes out the Amalekites and the God says, “Okay, when you wipe out the Amalekites I want you to wipe out all of the livestock.” It doesn’t make any logical sense at all. It’s inhumane. It’s cruel. It’s a waste of resources. And Saul says, “I don’t know why God would ask me to do that. That doesn’t make any logical sense.” And so he doesn’t. He keeps it. And when the real prophet, Samuel, comes and confronts him (just like Samuel confronted David) he says, “Saul, God asked you to actually wipe out all of the livestock. Why didn’t you do that?” And Saul’s like, “Oh, that little thing? I didn’t realize that God really totally meant that. In fact, I thought that it would actually be better to offer this as a sacrifice to God. I thought it would be better if I could take all of these resources. And, actually, I could do a lot of good in people’s lives.” And Samuel looks at Saul and he says, “Saul, to obey is better than sacrifice.” What is he saying? He’s saying, “Saul, you didn’t surrender your will. Yeah, I realize that it didn’t make any logical sense to you in the moment but when God was telling you that, God wasn’t trying to be cruel. God wasn’t trying to be wasteful. God didn’t want the livestock. God wanted your heart. And when you took matters into your own hand you kept your heart. You decided to build on a foundation of sand. In other words, “Saul, not everyone who says Lord. Lord …” “Didn’t you see all of the amazing sacrifices I made in Your name to enter the kingdom of heaven?” And He says, “No, no, no. Whoever surrenders his will and does the will of God the Father—it’s Lordship.” Can I just ask you this? Is Jesus Lord over every area of your life? It’s a foundation thing. Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point Christian Church. All rights reserved.





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Level Up | What No One Ever Sees January 7 and 8, 2017

The second word is this word right here. It’s my favorite word: Grace. It’s grace. See a person who is building on a foundation of rock realizes that there isn’t anything that they can bring to the equation. All of my work, all of my beliefs, all of my effort is useless. It doesn’t do me any good. There is nothing I can bring to the table. See you can receive grace but you’ve actually got to live in it. And you realize that you’re not living in it when you say, “You know, God. I’ve been doing all of these things for a while, it’s time for You to do some stuff for me. God, I’ve been going to church for a while. I need to see this reflected in my life circumstances.” You’re still operating on a bargaining kind of relationship with God. And a Christian, somebody who is building on rock says, “Even on my best day all of my righteous efforts, as Isaiah says, are like filthy rags. I can’t bring anything to the table and so I let go of it all. I give it all up for the sake of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord.” I love what Paul says in Philippians, 3. He says, “Whatever I’ve managed to achieve in this life, I count it as loss for the sake of Christ.” “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of,” there it is that word right there, “knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” And what he’s saying is that until you see that everything that you bring to the table, your beliefs, your actions, and your efforts are totally and completely inadequate—until you realize that you are saved by grace alone then you’re not building your life upon the solid rock of a foundation. Here’s the third word. It’s just simply the word: Personal. Jesus wants to know you. And this is not transactional language. That’s what gets us into trouble. Oftentimes I’ll be talking to somebody and I’ll say, “Well, tell me about your relationship with the Lord.” Nine times out of 10 what they’ll say is, “Well, I attended this church for a while.” Or, “I grew up Catholic.” Or, “My grandma was a Baptist.” And I’m like, “Well that’s not what I’m asking because those aren’t personal responses. Do you know Jesus personally?” This is this idea of a pursuit. I’m chasing after Him. I realize that I need His grace every day because I keep falling and I keep slipping up and He’s there to pick me up. So it’s the Lordship of Jesus Christ. It’s depending upon His grace. And it’s this relationship that is personal. So when it comes to your connection to God, is it personal or is it distant? Is it transactional or is it intimate? And if it’s not personal and intimate then maybe it’s time to level up. Not by your own power. Not by your own strength. Not by your own effort, but by His. Realize what it is that Jesus is offering to you and take Him up on it. Take Him up on it. Father, we come to You right now and thank You for this teaching. You know that it’s so, so challenging and it smacks me in the face and it convicts me and it reminds me that I need to be in a relationship with You, chasing after You. Not because my salvation is dependent upon my effort but my growth and my foundation most certainly is.

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Level Up | What No One Ever Sees January 7 and 8, 2017

God, I pray that today that Your Spirit would be in this room and if there are those who need to surrender their will and give their life to you, and maybe if there are some people that it’s just going to dawn on them that they believe all the right things and feel all of the right things and have been doing all of the right things but they’re still building their life on sand, God, I pray that wouldn’t be crushed by that information but convicted and that they would have the courage to do something about it and to simply just acknowledge that to You and say, “God, I want to build on a solid rock of a foundation.” Meet us in this place as we take communion together and as we sing a song to You in response. I pray that nobody would leave here unchanged. We ask this in Jesus’ name. And the church says, “Amen.”

Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point Christian Church. All rights reserved.





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