On Thursday evening during Conference, Pastor Steve Osborn
(Boulder SDB church) gave two 8-minute
messages. Here is what he shared:
Steadfast in the Bible
Philippians 2:12-18
There you are, clinging for dear life to the face of a rock with
a hand that you know can’t possibly hold your full weight
for more than a couple of minutes.
Does life ever feel like that? I think we can all agree that
we live in a crazy, mixed-up, turbulent world. It’s getting
harder and harder to live a STEADFAST life, isn’t it? People
tell you you’re crazy for believing that outdated, irrelevant
mumbo-jumbo. Your beliefs are narrow-minded, arrogant,
judgmental, hypocritical, and prejudiced. Truth becomes
more “relative” every day. Morality is whatever you want it
to be. The most important thing is to be true to yourself.
Look around: ISIS is brutally assassinating people around
the world and right here in our backyards. Anyone with a
gun can go in to a movie theater or a school or a church and
take the lives of others for any reason, or no reason at all.
Women and children are beaten and bullied. Pornography
floods our computer screens. Abortion has been legal for
thirty years and now gay marriage is here to stay and you
are trying to wrap your mind around what all this means.
Does it ever feel like your world is spinning out of control?
Like you are hanging on by one weak hand, trying to remem-
ber what you believe, what’s true? Wanting desperately to
live a steadfast life?
Paul talked about how hard it is to live as Christians in a
“crooked and twisted generation.” He said, in Philippians
2:12,
“...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling
(there’s the challenge, and here comes the promise)
, for it is
God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good
pleasure.”
Now there’s a piece of good news. You aren’t left
here to figure it out on your own. God is working in you to
help you desire and do what He wants you to do, to believe
what He wants you to believe.
He goes on,
“Do all things without grumbling or disputing,
that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God
without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted gener-
ation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.”
Isn’t
that what we are looking for — to be blameless and innocent?
To live as children of God? To shine the light of Christ? To live
a STEADFAST life in this crooked and twisted generation?
So you’re hanging on for dear life; you don’t know...how
much longer...you can hold on. When suddenly from above
comes the most beautiful thing you have ever seen...a rope!
The rope is stability, security, your lifeline.
God has thrown us a lifeline like that. Paul mentions it in
verse 16,
“holding fast to the word of life.”
Paul was talking
about God’s Word, the Bible, our lifeline.
*The truth of God’s Word provides a lifeline of stability
and wisdom for a steadfast life in this crazy, mixed-up world.*
So what do you do? This isn’t rocket science — when God
throws you a lifeline, you grab hold and hang on for dear
life! Paul uses the words “holding fast,” which means two
things: 1) believing God’s
Word and 2) living God’s
Word. Psalm 1:1 (ESV)talks
about this lifeline:
”Blessed
is the man who walks not in
the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sin-
ners, nor sits in the seat of
scoffers;”
As Christians, that
sounds like something we
want, right? Part of our
STEADFAST life? To not get
caught up in the twisted
logic of the world. To be able to live free from sin and to
avoid temptation. To stand true to our God in the midst of a
world that shakes its fist and mocks Him openly.
What’s the secret?
“But his delight is in the law of the
LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.”
(Psalm 1:2
ESV) The Psalmist goes on to describe the life of this man or
woman who clings to God’s Word, who delights in it, who
fills his mind and heart with it:
“He is like a tree planted by
streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf
does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.”
(Psalm 1:3
ESV) Doesn’t that sound like a description of a STEADFAST
life? A tree planted by streams of water; yielding fruit; not
withering; prospering.
Knowing and believing that God’s Word is true provides
stability in a world of shifting truth. If you fix your eyes on the
world, you’ll never know what to believe because the world
doesn’t even believe that truth exists. “Believe whatever you
want to believe and that will make it true for you.” But when
Jesus prayed for His disciples, He asked His Father to,
“Sanc-
tify them in the truth; your word is truth.”
(John 17:17 ESV) So
believing God’s Word provides stability for a STEADFAST life.
Just believing it isn’t enough, is it? We have to actually
LIVE it if it is going to make a difference. The Bible is chock-full
of wisdom and guidance for how to live a godly life. To whom
else would we look for wisdom in how to live other than the
One who designed life itself? Does the Bible address EVERY
situation we’ll encounter? No. But does it teach us God’s
standards; His principles; how He relates to His people; how
He expects His people to interact with one other? Absolutely.
*The truth of God’s Word provides a lifeline of stability
and wisdom for a steadfast life in this crazy, mixed-up world.*
“Hold fast” to the lifeline of God’s truth so you can be
STEADFAST in your life. Here’s the thing — it is impossible to
believe the truth of God’s Word and live the truth of God’s
Word if you don’t KNOW the truth of God’s Word. That’s
why the Psalmist said,
“he meditates on it day and night.”
You have to fill yourself up with it.
In Matthew 13, Jesus lays out some interesting principles
for sowing the seed of God’s Word. The seed may fall on the
path. If we just read it and don’t try to understand it, it does
not sink into our hearts and Satan will come and snatch it
away. The seed may fall on rocky soil and be received initially
but not take root, so when tribulation and persecution come,
10
September 2015 SR
8-Minute Message
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