Don’t Just Do Something, Stand There

00:00 - Speaker 1 Real Life presents the Jack Hibbs podcast with intention and boldness to proclaim truth, equip the saints and impact our culture. 00:09 - Speaker 2 Human nature is tell me what to do, draw the line, bring out the whip, make me do it and then, when I do it, give me a badge. You need to find a religion, because God wants relationship. 00:32 - Speaker 1 You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to jackhibbs.com Today. If this podcast lifts you up and encourages you to live a more fulfilled life in Christ, then make sure you leave us one of those five star ratings. To us that's like saying amen or yes. Then that rating will encourage others to listen. Now open your hearts to what God's word has to say to you. Here is Jack Hibbs. 01:01 - Speaker 2 Didn't Jesus say if you want to find your life, lose it. Give up your earthly practice of even religion and find a relationship with Jesus Christ by faith in Him and love. That's God's will for your life. What's God's will for my life? Become indebted to Him. Ephesians, chapter five, verses one and two. Therefore, be imitators of God. Be imitators of God. The word we get the word mimic or to mime as dear children and walk in love, as Christ also has loved us, there it is and given Himself for us in offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet, smelling aroma. Did you know that Jesus' sacrifice of obedience to the Father is a sweet smell to the Father? That's when Jesus was on earth, and I'm sure it's still true to the second. And we're supposed to mimic Him so that when you and I live our lives, we are to be not smelly, but we are to have an aroma. We're not to have a stink, we are to have a fragrance. The Bible says that when brothers and sisters are communing with one another, we are a fragrance one toward another. But listen, the Bible also tells us that we, as believers, to those who don't know Christ, we are the stench of death to them why? Because we remind them that number one we were once like they are now, but we announced to them by a new life that they don't have to stay the way that they are. That's why I think real, true Christianity is under attack today in this world is because just your changed life and your testimony suggests that people can be changed, and the world doesn't want to hear that. That's, in a way, too much truth for them. Don't tell me I can change, because if I can change, that means you're telling me I can change, which means you're telling me I'm going in the wrong direction and all those things is what God told me when he woke me up on that night when I was heading in the wrong direction. No, listen, we need to become more and more indebted to him. Romans 13, verse 8, a beautiful verse. Romans 13, 8 says oh no man, anything except to love one another. How's that? Oh no man, anything except this to love one another. And so the debt that we have, we mirror that debt. So, church, I hope I can say this look, if my words fail me, watch my hands. It's part of being Portuguese. 03:38 We've got two ways of talking. It's this Jesus Christ, when he lived in the flesh on earth was our prototype. Remember that we are too. You read a moment ago mimic him. We complicate it, don't make it come. It's simple. What do you mean? Well, if you know somebody who's caught up in a sin, what are you supposed to do? Mimic Jesus. Now watch how this works. If you know somebody that's caught up in a sin, do what Jesus would do. See, don't do what you want to do. Do what Jesus says to do, because normally when we know somebody who's caught up into sin, we want to call them up and say I told you, I knew that would happen to you, didn't I warn you? Jesus doesn't do that. Jesus reaches out and offers a better way. Jesus offers a more perfect way. You say to them listen, you don't have to live like this anymore In church family. 04:46 Look around our world, the world, and take a look at what's going on in the world around us. People need his love like never before. And how many people do we see? That might even be. You know marketing people right now. We know that in our own communities you know most. Look, if you live in Southern California, if you live in the most poorest community, you're still affluent compared to most of the world, but there are people being trafficked, and you've actually seen them and you haven't realized it. There are people now that are actually being marketed, trafficked by owners where they put the mom and the kid, or two or three, at Walmart's parking lot or near the freeway. Have you noticed this, though? There's signs that they have written down will always invoke God, and the font is almost always the exact same and the sign is almost always the exact same way. They just make hundreds of those signs. They commandeer these poor moms and they pimp them saying I'm hungry, my babies are hungry. Have you seen this happen? You are literally watching a form of you in trafficking. 06:16 When man is not free on the inside, he enslaves people on the outside. It's tyrannical, but you don't have to go to that extreme. It can happen in a marriage. When somebody's not free in a marriage, they respond out of insecurity and so they'll control, and that's not God. True biblical Christianity liberates people. We are not to be the ones to judge and to determine. Oh, that magnitude. Wait a minute. So wait, you're a liar and a thief. Oh, you can be forgiven. Wait, you're a murderer in a prostitute. Oh, that's too far. Oh my goodness, how dare we, when in our minds we have the capability if we never thought it of all of those sins? It's powerful. 07:13 Listen to what Chuck Swindoll said. I've read this in a book by Chuck Swindoll. It's powerful. Where, then, is our obligation to this salvation? The answer is not complicated, but it is difficult because we in our religious flesh I like that will not surrender control easily. The answer is straightforward enough. We are obligated to do nothing. 07:36 You don't have to pray. You don't have to get up at 4 am for a quiet time. You don't have to do family devotions. You don't have to give your money. You don't have to take a shower every day. I disagree with that one. Anyway, you don't have to obey the Ten Commandments. You don't have to wear dark clothing. You don't have to eat low-fat foods. You don't have to pile up good deeds to become spiritual. If you have the Spirit of Christ in you, you are as spiritual as you're ever going to be. That is powerful. That's a cold, hard. 08:15 Look at what Paul is saying. If you're saying I need to do those things and then I'm right with God, you're lost. Are you hearing me? You have fallen from the grace of God. You, like the Galatians, have started. You started in the Spirit, but now you have entered into the realm of the flesh. You've got legalism going If you have to. 08:42 It's wrong. I mean, come on Again getting back to that relationship, husband and wife, if you have to, if you have to be intimate, do we have to be intimate? Well, I mean, we're kind of married, you know. But really I'm at the point of the deal. You break somebody's heart. Every single one of us desires to be desired. Don't sit there and go. No, he's not married. Oh, you more than most. It's true. Here's the deal. What you want is love, freely given, and when I talk about being in debt and standing in his debt, it's a joy. Oh, yes, lord, I give all of myself to you. 09:49 Augustine said love God and live as you please. Does that sound wrong to you? If it does, you need spiritual eyes and ears. Love God, that's the qualifier. Live as you please. What does that mean? If you love God, you are going to live in a way that blesses God. That's what pleases you. Did you get it? Did you get it? It's simple, very simple. 10:18 Billy Graham said I can choose now, as a Christian, to live any kind of life I want. And the whole stadium went silent and he says I choose to follow Christ. And then the crowd's clapped. He's like we thought but listen, very few people can hear what I'm saying. This is deep stuff, human nature is. Tell me what to do, Draw the line, bring out the whip, make me do it and then, when I do it, give me a badge. You need to find a religion Because God wants relationship. 11:01 Galatians 419,. My little children, listen how he speaks. For whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you. This is Paul speaking to the church at Galatia. Paul is basically saying do I have to go through this again with you, boy? Isn't that the life of a parent? How many times have I told you? I've attempted to say, how many times do I have to tell you? And I understand the feeling. We've all said it, we're saying it right now, but it doesn't equate. 11:33 Until they see the light bill for themselves. I'm a big fan of this. Are you kidding my kid's eight years old? What does he care about the light bill? Is he the one leaving the lights on? Yeah, and here's what you're going to do Sit him down and show him. I don't know how you bank show him online. 11:54 See the light bill, see that, see it. Now here's a little. It's both civic lesson and stewardship. We have to manage what we have wisely. So you see this amount? When you see this amount go up, that means you get to do less. 12:16 When you see this, change the stewardship, if the kid says, well, I'll have to mitigate that. I got to weigh that out. There'll be some times during the time of the summer, I don't know. I'll know the kid says daddy, I'm sorry, I didn't know that. Now I see that I love you and I see that it bothers you. I'll make sure the lights are turned off. That would be an answer to prayer For your little boys walking around. Turn off the lights. Everyone. We love dads so much. But isn't that what you want? It's exactly what we want from them. But that word back to Galatians 419,. We'll have to end with this. Galatians 419, when he says my little children, for whom I labor in birth pains until Christ is formed. That takes us, listen, that's taken us back to Romans 8, formed, the word formed. Here. Look at the meaning and we'll end with this the word formed. 13:15 You recognize the Greek word Morphu. Have you ever heard of the word metamorphis? Meta in Greek is after morphus and after change. It means that there was a life and then metamorphu happened. Meta after morph, change. There was a change after the first life. That's what that word means Change that there was a life unchanged and now you have a life changed. Meta, morphu In this word, morphu is to shape, sculpt. That's what Michelangelo did. 13:53 When you see his work, he looked at the uncut stone marble and you know, you can read about him on this. Did you know that he would walk around? I guess it was something to behold. He would walk around at this huge block. Supposedly David was his greatest achievement. I don't know if you've ever seen David, but he's huge. But the amazing thing is when you're on tour and you're listening to the tour guide tell you is that he walked around this rock. I forget, I'm gonna forget, I don't, but it was like a week or a month. He just walked around it and he's looking at it. He says and people, what is he going nuts? 14:43 In one of his sculptures when he became famous there's some angel that he did. That's spectacular. And somebody asked him. Now they knew. They asked him Michelangelo. That's his name, you know. You know that I said his name to my grandson and he said who? I said Michelangelo. And he said who's that? And I said Michelangelo. The amazing he says his name is Mike Angelo, like Danny DeVito. It was so funny. No, it's Michelangelo, it's one word. And boy, talk about a six year old and a 65 year old. Get into it. So there's this big block of stone and somebody walks up to Michelangelo and then finally says Michelangelo, what do you see? And he said I see an angel trying to get out. Is that awesome? When he looked at that stone to create the greatest work that has ever been done, david, he's looking and looking and then he grabs a chisel in a mallet, makes the first chip Back to that word. 16:03 This is what God is doing in your life. That's why watch, stay with me to shape, sculpt, form, mold, chisel or sand until a desired shape or form is achieved. Paul is saying Jack is saying your friends are saying you are saying to me, I want to see Christ formed in you. That's a church. I don't care how poor you are or how rich you are, I don't care what color you are, I don't care where you live and that's irrelevant. Has the blood of Christ brought us together? Yes, then, for both of us, because we love one another. We love one another because he told us to love one another and he gives us the supernatural power to love one another, even when we don't like each other. It's true. We can love one another and we start growing, we grow together, we grow closer to him. Christ, listen is being formed in us. So, church, let's quietly stand. 17:08 Could you imagine Michelangelo with chisel and mallet in hand and he goes to hit the rock and the rock starts moving? Can you imagine what's he gonna? Listen? He's trying to make David, but David keeps moving. You ever seen statues where they're missing a nose and an arm? I think they moved. Don't move, don't, just do something. Stand there, stand still. 17:53 - Speaker 1 This Jack Hibbs podcast, as well as all the broadcast outreach opportunities, are listener supported. Will you consider partnering with us through a special gift? Go to jackhibbs.com to learn more and stay connected.