7/25/13 - Walk It Off: Part 2 (Creative Collected)
Walk It Off: Part 2
John 15:9 - I no longer call you slaves but you're my friends. Since I've told you everything that the father told me, you didn't choose me, I chose you. I pointed to you to go and produce lasting fruit.
There's two things Blaze loves to do when he has 5 minutes worth of time. He watches trailers on Hulu. He doesn't like to watch movies because they're expensive. The rent is too damn high!
So Blaze watches a trailer 15 times and says he's seen a movie. The second thing he likes to do with 5 minutes of free time is he loves to go to Youtube and watch people fall. Jesus, I'm sorry!
He doesn't like to watch the epic fails or people falling from roofs or breaking legs. He likes to watch people who do normal things and fall, like walking. Walking is very normal but surveillance footage shows that we struggle sometimes with walking!
Blaze likes to watch people fall and trip - but every time he watches someone take one step in front of the other and they're down on the ground - the best part is no one thinks anyone saw it but everything's on Youtube now.
It got Blaze thinking: this thing that most of us learn as a toddler, the most function is something we can really struggle with. The basic sense that sometimes as a Christian, the easiest thing we do once we commit to Christ, you'd think the basic thing is the walk with Jesus. But so many times in the process of walking, we slip and we fall.
It's a basic thing. Blaze spoke about it a couple of months ago, but we're going to look at some of the aspects of walking with Jesus.
Last time we talked about there being grace, restoration and freedom when we walk with Jesus. As we look at walking, there's some amazing things we get to be part of when we walk with Jesus when we allow him to lead.
We get to understand what freedom is - whether it's from old thoughts or bondage. But tonight let's look at 3 things from John 15:9. The first thing we want to look at is that there is joy in Him in the walk.
We all know someone who has too much joy! You know who I'm talking about. It usually comes out at the worst possible time like Monday morning. That joy, that for some reason, they can't control. You're just grateful that you even woke up on Monday morning and this guy is going off like a firecracker.
These people have this grin that goes from ear to ear, maybe too much coffee, and you just want to punch them. That's not the joy Blaze is talking about nessecarily here. In Verse 11, Jesus says, “I've told you these things so that you'd be filled with MY joy.”
This is a joy that comes from Jesus. It isn't any old joy. This is Jesus's joy. Anything I have pales in comparison to what Jesus has for me. So what is this joy that Jesus speaks of?
What is joy? Does it mean to be elated and delighted? Turns out there are 15 different words in the Hebrew translation for joy, and each of those 15 have 15 different definitions. The Greek also has many translations. Weeping, singing, rejoicing, etc,
Well this joy they're talking about in this verse is haddad. The picture word for haddad is so beautiful: behold a door and a fence. Jesus is saying that He's gonna give us haddad. We've heard Jesus talk about a door and a fence. John 10:1-4 talks about the one entering through the gate, and the gatekeeper opens the gate and the sheep recognize his voice. The sheep follow him because they know his voice.
Jesus is giving you his joy, and that joy is an intimate joy that comes from knowing Jesus, from being in his presence, a relational joy. If he goes right, you go right. You can't know your wife's voice if you don't spend time with her. It's interesting that as we journey out on this walk with Jesus, he's not a standstill God or savior. Some of us won't commit to the walk but Jesus says he's got our joy, freedom and restoration because he's gonna take us where we need to go.
We can have that joy with Jesus. We need to be talking and listening to our good Shepard to understand that joy. When you walk with Jesus, when you put him first, what comes from it is an abundance of joy AND peace AND hope AND love, grace, mercy. It all comes when you don't leave his side and put him first.
The second thing we get from this passage: His love is in the walk. Verse 13. This is one of Blaze's favorite scriptures: There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for his friends. You're my friends if you do what I command. That's Jesus.
It doesn't matter if you are far from Jesus or standing right next to him. He loves you just the same. You cannot change his love for you. Sometimes in the Christian realm of religion, we can look at love as a symptom, going and coming as it pleases. Jesus saw love as the cure. Jesus came as the antidote. He came to reconcile love. Before it was all about actions - now it's about grace.
When we understand Jesus, we get to share and experience that love. So many times we can look around and think of the one bad relationship we had, he/she told me they loved me but then they broke my heart, I didn't have a mother and/or father. Whatever the past may be, Jesus's love never changes. He loves you yesterday, today and tomorrow.
Isn't it great that Jesus comes out and says it. There's no doublespeak or confusing language. Jesus says that there is no greater love than to lay one's life down for one's friend. The disciples hearing this must have not wanted to die - they're not cool with it. It's an eloquent thought to want to die for someone else but who's actually gonna do it? Jesus went to the cross for us. We don't deserve it but he loved us that much.
When you walk with Jesus, you have more than an opportunity to acknowledge the love. When you're distant from something, you don't get the full benefit of interacting with something. We need to experience Jesus' love by walking with him daily.
Ephesians 18 features one of the most beautiful ideas - “I asked him with both feet planted firmly on love, you'll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus, the extravagant dimensions of Christ's love. Test the depths and breadth of God's love. Live full lives in God.”
That's crazy powerful. You experience His love. I can set a million bucks in front of you but to experience the spending of a million dollars, that's when you find out what it's truly worth. We don't just acknowledge Jesus's love - we experience Jesus's love. We get to experience that when we walk with him because it encompasses so much.
His love is to be experienced. We get to experience that when we walk with Jesus.
The last and final thing: There is security in Him on the walk. John 15:15-16 says that Jesus no longer calls us slaves but we are his friends. I chose you. I call you to go out and produce lasting fruit, so that the father will give you whatever you ask for.
But what about me Jesus? We live in such a culture that is all about ME. From TV to Fashion to Art - everything has this concept of materialism. And 99% is things we can't afford and things we don't need. We start to compare and measure and look elsewhere for validation.
When we take our eyes off of Jesus, we see everything else. We see the fear, the doubt, the world when we should be looking at Jesus. When we look at Jesus, it's easy to follow Jesus. Security that comes from knowing that Jesus chose us.
What does that have to do with walking? Insecurity will keep you from your dreams that God placed inside of you. Insecurity will keep you from where God has called you to go and what he's called you to do. Insecurity will keep you focused on yourself and not Him. But when we walk with Jesus and make him our #1 priority and preference, then that security is a game changer for us.
If we don't understand that Jesus has already been there and he's already been there and he's already there, you have nothing to fear. You have no reason to be insecure. Walking with Jesus brings insecurity.
When you understand whose you are - who you are takes a backseat because you are Jesus's masterpiece and prized posession. He loves you greatly and he's called you to be in this city at this time in the middle of this amazing revival. But we need to be people who don't just slip and fall, we need to be close to Jesus, and when we fall, we get right back up.
Think of Peter walking on the water. For that moment, he puts his first foot out and isn't so secure but then he likes it. He takes another step and that feels better. He focuses on Jesus but when he doesn't, he starts to sink. The security he felt in one moment slips away. But Jesus isn't criticizing Peter for sinking, Jesus goes after Peter and brings him up from the depths.
Jesus is gonna take us further than we could have imagined but we have to rest in the security that comes from walking with Jesus. When you feel like your dreams are falling apart, when your relationships are falling down, you have security in Jesus.
When you don't know how you're gonna balance life, work, money, friendships, when the weight of your world is on the shoulders, you need to rest in Jesus!
You can feel that right in the chest!!!!!
