Think Like Jesus Part 2

What's the first thing that comes to mind when you think about your purpose as a believer? Growing closer to Jesus? Studying God's Word? Supporting your local church? All of those things are essential parts of life as a Christian, but today, Dr. Timothy Brown will show you that there is another reason why you're alive. You are uniquely created by God to reach those who have never heard the gospel! Join Jesus in sharing salvation with the world!

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Welcome to Truth for Transformation with Dr. Timothy Brown. You're about to hear a message from God's Word filled with biblical wisdom, practical insights, and life-changing truths. A message designed to inspire your faith and give encouragement.

SPEAKER_00 0:21

There is a whole world of people beyond the walls of this church who need to hear the message of Christ. And that's where discipleship begins. And then we reach them and we share with them the very love of God and the very power of God and what He's done for us. And they follow us back into this place. And it's that people make decisions. We support that and we help them and we pray them through and we walk through with it. And it gets dirty sometimes, but it doesn't matter because it's what we're called to do. That is our purpose.

SPEAKER_01 0:52

What's the first thing that comes to mind when you think about your purpose as a believer? Growing closer to Jesus? Studying God's word, supporting your local church. All of those things are essential parts of life as a Christian. But today, Dr. Timothy Brown will show you that there is another reason why you're alive. You are uniquely created by God to reach those who have never heard the gospel. Join Jesus in sharing salvation with the world. Prepare your heart, open your mind, and get ready to embark on a journey of faith with Dr. Timothy Brown in the book of Philippians, chapter 2, as he continues his message.

SPEAKER_00 1:34

The gospel is what we are oriented towards. That is our alignment. Quite a few years ago, I went backpacking with a couple friends of mine, and we went up in Virginia, and so we were hiking. It was going to pretty much take most of the day to get from the bottom of the mountain to the top of the mountain. It was a pretty long hike, and so we were in the midst of this hike. And before we started the elevation piece, the guys that were with decided they were going to stop and take their packs off and fill up with water and have water as they're going up the elevation. But I was like, that water looks nasty. It was yellow. And I don't know about you, but drinking yellow water just, you know. And so I'm thinking, I'll just wait because I knew when I get to the top that there was a spring up there and I could get water in the spring, it'd be nice and clean and good. So anyway, so I said, hey guys, I'm gonna go ahead and catch up with me later, and and so we'll see each other at the top. So I went on for a while, and then I realized I'd made kind of a mistake because it had snowed through the night, and there was about three or four inches of snow on the ground, and the trail marks were on the ground because of the elevation, so they weren't on the trees, so there wasn't any markers to follow. So I just did the best I thought I could where the trail was, and finally I realized I've come to the edge of a cliff and there's no trail here. Where do I go? So the first thing I did, I mean, the very first thing I did, I cried. No. I pulled out my map and I pulled out my tool, my compass. And I knew where we were going, I knew where it was on the map, and all I had to do was orient my compass to the direction of where that destination was, and then I would know this is the direction that I stay on, this is my course. So I used my compass, and about every 20 minutes or so I'd stop and make sure I was still on course. And that's what I did, and I finally got to where the guys were. But what had happened was because the snow covered, I got off trail and I was way off trail. But the tool, the compass, got me back to where I needed to be. And can I just simply say that Jesus and his word is our compass? Amen. He is the head of the church, he is the head of the body, and so he is the compass, and so we orient ourselves to him, and we let him be the very thing that drives and directs us as his people. But in orienting ourselves and aligning ourselves, we have to have shared priorities and shared allegiances and shared values. But what we don't have to have is the same opinions and the same preferences and the same priorities. You know why? Because God doesn't cookie cut us, he cuts us all separately and individually, and he uses the uniqueness in his body, but at the same time there is uniqueness, but there's alignment. And too often we weigh into the uniqueness and we let the uniqueness drive the alignment and it destroys. And so he begins to give for us really several thoughts here. In order for us to be really, really aligned, he says, first of all, to have the same love. Same love. Jesus said in John chapter 13, A new commandment I give to you that you love one another as I have loved you. And he says later, by this all men will know that you are my disciples. Now, please hear me. The world in which we live, our modern world, has so perverted the word love that we really don't have a full, true definition of what biblical love looks like. And so the everyday modern idea of love has everything to do with feeling. I fell out of love. Right? You've heard this term? I fell out of love. That's not biblical, that's not even possible. Because that's not the true definition of love. The true definition, biblical definition of love is commitment that I committed to you. And when I commit to you, it's a commitment no matter what the circumstances are. We're committed together, and we're gonna see it through together, no matter the valleys, no matter the darkness, no matter the fog, no matter however it is, we're gonna figure this thing out together. Because we are committed to each other, and so it's not based on the shallow feelings of things, but it's based on a deeper commitment to each other. And let me tell you that in our world in America, anyway, that the Christian church does not know love, it's shallow based, and it doesn't take anything from the right side of the congregation to not like the left side of the congregation. Amen. Just a color of something can divide. You know why? Because we're not committed. And committed means that my eyes are opened and I see you for who you are, and you are God's child, and you are a person, and you're an individual, and you're valued, and you're important, and I see you for that, but not as an object. And that's what American way of thinking is: that love is only based on the object. As long as I can use you for me, I love you. The minute that I no longer can use you for me, we're done. But commitment says, this is forever. So honestly, when somebody comes and joins church, the expectation is we love each other, we care about each other, we're committed to each other, and there's gonna be times that we're gonna have differences of opinion. I don't know about you, but I've been married for 43 years. In the 43 years we've been married, this is what I've discovered. I am wrong a lot. Now I'm just trying to save my marriage here and keep things going, okay? It's true, it's really true. It's how I married the most wonderful woman in the world, I have no clue. I have no clue. I caught her in a bad day, I guess. I don't know. But let me tell you something that in our beginning to know each other stage, in fact, to simplify the story, I saw her in Sunday school. And so now we we argue to this very day, I'm still not gonna change my opinion, but she was wearing a red dress. Becky says, No, she was wearing a blue dress. Am I right about that, Becky? I got the colors right. I can't even see her. She's here somewhere. Oh, she's hiding. I remember this, and so come on, let me just talk to you guys. After Sunday school, I got behind her and I watched her all the way to the auditorium. She was so beautiful, and I just wanted to get my hands around her. And so we went in the auditorium and I sat behind her. I didn't forget worship, forget music, forget preaching, forget all that. I had the Holy of Holies in front of me. I had Decay. I was so smitten. And then I discovered before church was over that she had a boyfriend. And I prayed, Lord, help me figure out how to kill Mark. He's gotta die. And we gotta do this in a good way, Lord, because we do this together and you'll be okay with me, and and this will be this will be a holy, a holy thing. He's gotta die. You know I'm joking, right? But luckily, Mark made a dumb mistake, and so when he did, Becky said, I'm done with you, I don't want to hang out with you no more. And so when she did that, I was there like 20 minutes later. Bang, bang, bang, bang. And so 43 years later, here we are. 43 years later, three girls, 11 grandkids, a life that we never would have imagined of ourselves, but it's very different. It's very different from the day that we saw each other, and it was very external. To now, it's not based on those things anymore. I'm not saying that I'm not in love with Becky in the same sense, but there's a deeper commitment that never was there before. A way deeper commitment, and that commitment was developed over trials and situations and whatever. And Becky learned how to love me in the hard times. She's like, This is an idiot. I'll just have to love him, that's all there is to it. And so this is our commitment to each other. We're in love with each other, and so should the church. Because if our thing that we share together is the love of God, how is it possible that I could find myself enjoying the very love of God, but I can't express the love of God with people around me? Something is terribly wrong in that picture. I think I think that there are a lot of people in the pews pretending they're not really in love, and they don't even really know what the love of Jesus really is, so they can't express it to other people. But let me tell you, that's what God's called us to. That's not my words, that's his words. Notice this like-minded, having the same love, and then he goes on to say, not only from that also, but have, he says, community is a call to Christ like purpose, one accord. We are all driven by the same purpose. Can I just quickly say to you guys, what is our purpose? Why do we exist? Well, we exist ultimately, ultimately, all of us exist for the glory of God.

SPEAKER_01 11:52

You've been listening to Pastor Timothy Brown. We'll be right back with the message, but first, we'd like to share some exciting news with you. We're releasing Dr. Timothy's new book called Go After Jesus. This book is a fresh approach to discipleship and focuses on your identity in Christ as well to have for Christian growth. In Go After Jesus, Pastor Timothy paints the picture of the six identities for every follower of Christ. You are a speaker, a disciple, a friend, a fisherman, a warrior, and a lover. We're currently offering two free chapters of this book as a digital download. To get your free chapters, go to Dr. Timothy's website at drtimothybrawn.org. Now let's get back to the rest of the message with Pastor Timothy.

SPEAKER_00 12:37

But as a community, we exist beyond the glory of God. We exist fundamentally for the sole purpose of making disciples. That's what we're here for. To make disciples. And so that involves everything from coming and together to in worship to going into small groups to Sunday school, different spiritual classes that we go through for development, all these things are all part of the picture, but ultimately it's about making disciples. And so all of us have that central purpose. Are we making disciples? Are we involved in making disciples? So getting up in the morning and getting out of bed and drinking your coffee and making your way to church and then leaving here and go grab some lunch, and you could go, hey, amen. No, it's not. That's not making disciples. It's part of it, but it's not the full picture. We are all called for the simple purpose of making disciples. That means that there is a whole world of people beyond the walls of this church who need to hear the message of Christ. And that's where discipleship begins. And then we reach them and we share with them the very love of God and the very power of God and what He's done for us. And they follow us back into this place. And as the people make decisions, we support that and we help them and we pray them through and we walk through with it. And it gets dirty sometimes, but it doesn't matter because it's what we're called to do. That is our purpose. And our purpose isn't for you to find your little silo of ministry and say, you know what, this is what I like, and I don't really care what the rest of the church does. I'm gonna do what I like, and this is it. Understand, that's division, and that's the very tool Satan loves. He loves to play in that world. He's calling us to be like-minded. We are to have the same purpose. We're all driving in the same direction, we're all fulfilling God's ultimate call of making disciples. Not what I want to do. We'll talk about that in just a moment. Found this quote, and this quote says this that purpose unites, preferences divide. And how many times have we seen this in churches across history? Another quote says this. Churches move forward when hearts move together. He says also in this passage, he says, not only having the same love and of one accord, he also says of one mind. One mind. This is interesting because to have this one-mindedness means that we surrender not to each other, but we're surrendered to the voice that's calling all of us, the Lord God Himself. This is how we do this. We don't have a piano in here, but if we had a piano, I could tell you that if you have one piano over here and another piano over here, you literally can't do this. You can't tune this one, right? And then go over here and try to tune this one from that one. You can't do that. It doesn't work. They will still be out of tune. What you do is you take this one over here and you tune it with a tool called a tuning fork, right? And then once you're finished with this one and you get it in perfect tune, then you go over here to this piano using the same tool and you begin doing the same process, and you get this piano in tune with this tool. And then what happens? You've got two pianos playing, and all of a sudden it's beautiful music. What we do way too often in the body of Christ is we try to allow the tuning to happen amongst each other. I want to be like him, I want to be like her, I want to, this is the way I should be, this is the goal, this is how we and it's all based on people stuff. Folks, let's stop looking at each other as the standard. Let's look at him as our standard. And when we get in tune with him, he will bring beautiful music to the body. But there's no music when you've got one instrument out of play or out of tune, and another one in. It doesn't sound real well. But what God wants to do is he wants to take this and he wants to create an orchestra like none other so that they know you are my disciples. That's what it looks like. Then not only that, God shapes us to be people who are having humility through community. But then also verse 3 and verse 4. He develops this humility, causes us to think have humility through surrender. Look at verse 3. I'm gonna do this really, really fast. Verse 3 says, Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look for his own interests, but also for the interest of others. Now, let me get this to you really quick. Verse 3, he says, We are to surrender my need to compete. That's selfish ambition. He also says in verse 3, to surrender my need to be seen. That's conceit. Then also in verse 3, he says, for us to surrender our right to be first. Let others esteem better than self. And then verse 4 is to surrender my focus on self, but rather on the interests of others. There is a great barometer for this. I'm gonna tell you right now exactly how this is gonna play out. This is the barometer. Sunday morning comes and the clock goes off, and you're like, okay, get it ready for church. And the first thought that comes to mind is this it's been a busy week, and I'm not sure I really feel like it today. I'll catch it online. If I don't feel like it, what you just declared is this I don't care how I affect other people in the body, I'm gonna stay home. But you realize that other people in this body need you present? That means you've got to be self-sacrificing and say, I'll get out of bed and come. It's not about me, it's about the others. And just rubbing shoulders with people, saying hello, shaking a hand can really make a difference. And so just that very thing is a barometer in our head on whether or not I'm really surrendered. Am I allowing my life to be more of a sacrifice for others? Let me just give you these two quotes really fast. Augustine says this it was pride that changed angels into devils. It's humility that makes men into angels. I good. Wow. And Bonhoeff says this He says, the church is the church only when it exists for others.

unknown 20:11

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 20:13

That's God developing humility in all of us when I surrender, when I'm in community, when I'm allowing him to create these realities in me, to love on me. And then in verse 5 through verse 11, and we're not even gonna have time to go there, but verse 5 through 11, he begins to give us this great, this great illustration. Jesus is our as our illustration. He's the example of us all. And he gives for us the fact that he has the mindset of surrender, he has the mindset of service, he has the mindset of obedience, and ultimately he's exalted. But let me close with this. Let me close where I started. The clay. Now, if I put this clay in another environment besides where it's at, this clay will become hard, non-plliable, non-shapable. It'll be hard, it'll break. The minute you try to use it, it'll break, it won't be of any value. Artists can't use it. There's no value. And every one of us in this room has to ask a couple questions. Has the circumstances of my life caused me to become so hardened that I can't shake it? Humility in my heart. Have I become so distant from him that I'm no longer distant? It doesn't matter what your situation is right now. And you might be thinking, you know, the world is no whatever. It is. But it's not about us. It's about him. And like I just gotta tell you, only God knows what could be released if we would just get in alignment with him. Amen? Only God knows. So the challenge simply is this: don't let pride be the marker of the day, but rather let the very hand of God begin to shape you and mold you and develop humility so that he develops and shapes an amazing thing.

SPEAKER_01 23:17

You've been listening to Truth for Transformation with Dr. Timothy Brown. We hope that this program is a blessing to you as you follow Jesus in a world that is lost in sin. We haven't been left alone in this world without a guide because we have the Word of God to give us the answers for how to navigate the fallen world. Dr. Timothy has spent years studying God's Word, and this program is one of the ways that we are able to pass that wisdom along to anyone who has ears to hear. If you would like to learn more about the Ministry of Truth for Transformation, you can give us a call at 828-684-6780. Again, that phone number is 828-684-6780. You can also visit us online at drtimothybrown.org where you'll be able to find more teachings from Dr. Timothy on every book of the Bible. While you're there, you will also find our gift tab. Our ministry wouldn't be possible without the generosity of our audience. So if you feel led to support the mission of truth for transformation, you can do so at that tab. Finally, feel free to find us on social media by searching for Dr. Timothy Brown Ministries on your favorite platforms and drop a comment to let us know where you're joining us from. It's amazing to see how God's word is being spread through social media, even in these dark times. Well, we hope you'll join us again for another edition of Truth for Transformation!