GAURD RAILS: DON'T BLOW UP YOUR LIFE | Renew Your Mind | Ben Anderson

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Well, good morning, everyone, and welcome to Redeemer. If we haven't had a chance to meet yet, my name is Ben Anderson, and I'm one of the pastors here, and so great to spend some time with you this morning. Hey, just uh a few quick things before we step into our sermon today. Uh, first of all, I just want to spend some time to welcome our first-time guests. I know how hard it is to walk into a new church with new people and a new pastor, and so thank you so much for giving us a chance, and I hope that you feel right at home. One of the things I hope that you do is swing by our welcome desk because we'd love to get to know your name and your story as you get to know us a little bit better in this process. Speaking of getting to know people better, you know, one of the things that I hope that all of us do is during that coffee time, during that donut time, don't just use it to caffeinate yourself and get some food. Try to meet somebody new. And so if you aren't in the process of doing this typically, get out of your comfort zone just a little bit. Find somebody you haven't met before and just share your name with them and to begin to build those friendships. Even if that means walking up to that person that they introduced themselves to you two months ago and you forgot their name, it's okay, we all do it. Reintroduce yourself. I'm sure they'd love to get to meet you for the second time. Well, one other thing that I want to bring to your attention is last month was March, and you remember we talked a lot about this, the Minnesota Food Share March campaign, which is where churches around the Twin Cities area and all Minnesota, we come together and we donate food to our local food shelves to restock them to supply uh people in need. And so I want to celebrate something with you this morning. Uh over the course of the month, you probably saw those the food pile up, pile up, pile up, and pile up, and we were able to drop off over twelve hundred pounds of food. And so thank you so much for all those who were a part of that. That was definitely worth celebrating. And it goes actually even above and beyond that because some people didn't have time to grab their canned goods, so they just dropped off money. And so we had another $800 that we were able to send so that we can also supply even more food. So thank you so much for all of you who stepped into that level of generosity. Well, this morning you might be noticing my voice isn't quite the way it should be. I've been fighting a cold, and so if you are first-time guest and you're thinking, I can't handle this voice much longer. You only have to deal with it for one week. I guarantee you I'll be back to normal next week. If you want to, go back, go do an old podcast. You can you can test this. I don't normally sound like this. But today we're gonna start a new series that I'm really excited for. It's called Guardrails with the subtitle of Don't Blow Up Your Life. You know, the reality is when we wake up in the morning, nobody in this room thought, you know what I want to do today? I want to destroy my life. You know, I want to ruin my reputation, I wanna mess up my marriage, I want to lose my financial security. None of us wake up thinking that. Because it doesn't happen in one big movement, does it? It happens with little choices along the way, and all of a sudden we find ourselves in a place that we never thought we would find ourselves. It happens slowly. We drift, we veer, we go off course, and all of a sudden we are off the road where there's no guardrails, and we are in the ditch thinking, how did that happen so quickly? The other day I was listening to a podcast from a guy who leads a prison ministry, which means he is the best of us, right? A guy who would spend his life leaning into people that most of us wouldn't give a second chance. Most of us would think, well, these people are a waste of time. Look at all the choices they've made, the bad choices. But as I listened to that podcast about this guy pouring his life to help rehabilitate these people, he said something that really caught my attention. He said, I look at these people with compassion because as I hear their stories, I realize how quickly my story could become like their story. Because it only takes one choice that leads to the second choice, that leads to the third choice, and all of a sudden you find yourself in a place that you never thought you would be. You see, I believe that's absolutely true. It's so quick to end up in a place that we never thought we would be. And that's what this series is all about. How do we protect ourselves from that? How do we protect our future? How do we put up guardrails to make sure that we don't end up in a location that we never thought we would be? Now, a little warning about the series. It's gonna be five weeks long, and every week is going to build on the previous week. Which means, if you can, lean in for all five weeks. Or if you have a trip already planned or something going on, I totally get that. Make sure that you watch the previous sermon while you're gone or listen to it on the podcast, because every one of these weeks will help you build those guardrails in your life. Well, today we're going to jump into the book of Romans and find this biblical truth to protect our lives. This was a section of scripture written by the Apostle Paul, and this is how he begins. Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship. Have you ever been to uh a night of worship before, or maybe like a hymn sing, or maybe just a worship concert put on in a big venue like U.S. Bank Stadium? Have you ever had one of those moments you you walk into maybe a sanctuary, has the beautiful old school stained glass windows, and there you open up a hymnal and you're reminded of all those classical hymns when grandma took you to church, you have them memorized. It's surprising that you still remember the words and the tune. The piano plays and the organ plays, and you're just having this wonderful time of worship. In fact, maybe even take a moment, you pause, and you look up at the cross and remember Christ's sacrifice for you. Or maybe it's uh more modern space. You walk in, it's almost pitch black, someone with a flashlight leads you to a seat, there's a full band up there, and the music is amazing. It's all your favorite worship hits that you hear on the radio that you play on Spotify, and you're just soaking it in. In fact, you can't even help it. You're not even a hand raiser, but both hands are in the air. I mean, you are just fully immersed in this worship experience. Between the songs, they they're stopping to read scripture or praying or sharing stories, and in the end, you feel like I just never want this moment to end. Last week I got an opportunity to be invited into one of those experiences. I had a friend who shot me a text and he said, Hey, I have some free tickets to the third day concert at the Target Center. Do you want to go? Now, that's my favorite type of concert, which is a free concert. And so I wrote back to him. Not to be honest, I don't know anything about Third Day. In my mind, I was 100% convinced this is the band that sings, I can only imagine. So I wrote back. I wrote back trying to be funny. I was like, I can only imagine how great this concert is gonna be. A day later, he finally responds, I don't know what you're talking about. So I I Googled the band, realized they don't sing, I can only imagine. That's mercy me. But I did see they're a big deal. I mean, they have sold seven million albums. They've had 28 chart-topping hits. I mean, it's a big, big deal. If you can pack out Target Center, which is normally reserved for the crazy fans of the Timberwolves like myself, I mean, that's a big, big deal. It was a powerful night of worship. At least that's what I was told, because I got sick and couldn't even go. Oh, you guys are so nice. You could have just like laughed at me for you know dealing with that, but I deserved it anyways. Didn't you know who the band was. But is this what worship is? Is worship just simply singing? Is worship going to an experience? Is worship being in what we call a worship service, something like this? Well, this is what Paul says. He says that worship is actually to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship. You see, worship as defined in the Bible is a whole other thing. It's not just music or an experience, it is every part of your life offered to God. That means it's your hobbies, it's your family, it's your spouse, it's that trip, it's your money, it's your cabin. It's every single thing that's a part of your story is to be used to worship God. Now, to be honest, when I say those things, I understand what you're probably thinking, the same thing I'm thinking. Man, that feels like a lot. That feels like too much. But what does Paul say? He says, Why do we do this? He says, in light of God's mercy. What's God's mercy? Well, Jesus Christ came to the earth, got into the muck and grime of the earthly existence, the sin and the mess-ups and the screw-ups and the sickness, all that stuff. He came here, lived the perfect life, died on the cross for your sins and my sins, rose from the dead, proven that he had power over death and the grave, and everything that he said was true. And what did he say was true? That if you believe in me, if you have a relationship with me, if you trust in me, you can have eternal life. I mean, that's an unbelievable free gift that every one of us has access to. See, Christ wants to protect your eternity, but it gets so much better than that. He wants to protect your life as well with his biblical truth. Here's a way to hold on to it. God's guardrails are a gift. Now, I don't know about you, but have you ever uh gotten an unexpected great gift before? I mean, something that was just perfect. They knew you so well, or they knew that you would never buy this yourself, and so they said, I'm gonna buy it for you because I know you you will never. You would never splurge on yourself like this. Well, a few years ago, I had an amazing experience. I had a lady from the church, and she came up to me and she said, I want to send you and your wife on a cruise. I'm gonna cover the cruise, cover the flight, I'm gonna cover the whole thing. Of course, we were blown away. This is one of those things that we never would have done for ourselves because we would have felt too guilty spending our money that way. We would have felt too guilty leaving the kids behind. But she wanted to create an opportunity for us to leave work, to get away from the kids, even get away from our dogs for a moment, and go on this cruise. And so as the day got closer, we were so excited. I mean, we had our flights planned, we had our clothes packed, we had people to watch the kids, right? Everything was set up. And it was right during that season when all of a sudden the news came on and said, by the way, there's a virus traveling around the world, right? It was right during COVID, and we watched our crews get canceled. It was a bad day. But then, as the months went on, my wife brought some really good news. She said, I'm pregnant, which was our third child. Now, some of you guys know how this story plays out. That child uh died unfortunately due to pregnancy complications, which of course was very bad news. But one thing they don't tell you when that happens to you is that all the hospital bills that you have already amassed from that pregnancy, they don't just go away. You still have to pay them. Which means now you're suffering from the loss of your child, and now all these bills are showing up in the mail, you're setting up payment plans, and this could go on for years. That monthly reminder that you've experienced loss, and now you're paying the bill, and you don't even get to celebrate the life. Well, when the cruise got canceled, that money ultimately got sent back to us. And that hospital bill that we owed was the same amount as what that cruise was going to cost. And we're able to use that money to pay off that bill so we didn't have that monthly reminder that you have lost a son. That great gift became an even better gift. So, how do we respond to that lady who gave us this amazing gift, far better than she expected it to be, a gift to us as a family? Do we ignore her? Do we not pay attention to her? No, every year when we send our New Year's letter, guess who's the first person who gets their letter mailed out? It is this lady who gave us this amazing gift. As we think about that, how much better is God's gift that He gave to each and every one of us? Plus, what does Paul say about our response to this gift? The response to God's mercy. He says we should live our life as a living sacrifice. And I love how he writes this. It's not a sacrifice where we die and it's horrible for us. No, it's actually a living sacrifice. Not only are we living it, but it brings life to who we are, brings life to our being. This is where the next section of the passage goes. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. This past week I was watching the news. I've been kind of fascinated, maybe you have been too, about the Artemis II mission, where NASA sent out four astronauts into space. They traveled around the moon. It was the furthest distance any humans have been from the planet Earth. They splashed down a couple days ago, and I just thought this was so interesting. I mean, I grew up in the 80s and 90s when NASA was really doing a lot, and so I had the toys. You know, I was just really intrigued by this. It kind of felt like my childhood. And so my seven-year-old son, he walks over as I'm watching this, and he watches it, and he looks over at me and he goes, That's not real. I'm like, What's not real? He's like, that's not real, that's AI. I said, NASA? Like the flight? He's like, yeah, it's AI, it's not real. I said, Who told you that? He said, Well, I was at school and I was with my friends, and they told me there's a dome around the earth, we can never escape from it, and and no astronauts had ever been in space. Now, I made him watch all two hours of the splashdown with me. And then we even sat down and watched Space Camp, this horrible movie from the 80s about kids getting shot off into space and coming back. Because I wanted him to love this and know this. But in all humility, the reality is maybe he's right, maybe I'm wrong. It doesn't really matter. But what did pique my interest? It was just as a strong reminder how fast that we can believe a lie and how deceptive this world is. I mean, it gets harder and harder by the day. You've experienced this, you watch online and you're wondering, is that true? Is that false? We don't really know. Life is so hard right now, but truly, this is nothing new. In fact, as we look into the writer of the book of Romans, the Apostle Paul, when we first meet him, he's bought into a pretty significant lie, hasn't he? He believed that all the claims of Christ and all the stories that these apostles were telling, that they were lies. In fact, he was so convinced of it that he decided he was going to eradicate the people who believed in this lie and were telling in his mind what was a lie that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, that he was the Son of God. And so we find Paul walking on this road to persecute more Christians, to stop this message, and he's making his way down this road to Damascus, and what happens? Jesus speaks to him from heaven and says, Paul, what are you doing? You're persecuting me. And in that moment, Paul knew that he had wholeheartedly bought into a lie, and now he was encountered with the truth. And this changed everything for him. It changed how he thought, it changed how he lived, it changed how he taught, and it changed how he wrote. Paul went on to write most of the New Testament in light of the truth that was revealed to him. In fact, if you think about the Bible, every single book of the Bible, this is what happens. Someone has an amazing revelation of truth to them from God directly or through the work of the Holy Spirit. It changed how they thought, changed how they lived, changed how they taught, and changed how they wrote. In fact, this is why I think the Bible is so trustworthy. Think about this. The Bible is an encapsulation of 66 independent books by approximately 40 different authors over the course of 1,500 years, written in three origin languages: Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic. Now, when you stop and think about that, you would assume that it would be a jumbled mess, that nothing would connect. But instead, what do we find in the Bible? One flowing, consistent story. It starts off with paradise lost. Adam and Eve, they bring sin into the world and paradise, this perfect relationship with each other, and this perfect relationship with God is broken. But God promises a solution. As time marches on, we are introduced to the temple, a place where God would meet with the people. There was a priesthood there that would watch over the sacrificial system. They would sacrifice animals and their sins would be forgiven. And they thought, is this the answer to our problems? Well, the answer is no, we just pointed towards the ultimate solution, which is Jesus. God in flesh, templing among us. He became the perfect sacrifice. He ascended into heaven, and now he sit as the high priest in heaven advocating on our behalf. And what did he teach once again? That if we believe in him, we can have eternal life. Which is paradise lost becomes paradise restored. And now once again, we have a perfect, forever relationship with God and those in the presence of God. It is absolutely amazing what we hold in our hands, what we have on our phones. We have God's eternal truth. Here's a way to hold on to that this morning. God's guardrails never change. They never have to adapt, they never have to change because it's 2026 and not 2010 anymore. They never change. In fact, this is actually my favorite thing about Christianity. That God's truth always stays consistent. Because I'm in my 40s at this point in time. And if you're my age or older, probably you don't have to be as old as me. You have seen how truth in the world changes. What we are told is true, ebbs and flows. I mean, think about the things that we're allowed to eat or told to eat. If you're old as me, you know that at one point in time you were told, do not eat eggs. And then you can eat the yolk, then you can eat the egg. Why? Then then you can eat the whole egg because it's a great source of protein. We were told only eat fat-free foods. And now we're told, well, you have to have healthy fats if you want to be healthy. We were told you better eat margarine because butter is going to kill you. And then we were told margarine's gonna kill you, so you better eat butter. Right? This is the way of life. Truth is constantly ebbing and flowing. And these are just silly examples. But think about the heavier matters of the world where truth ebbs and flows and changes, and we never know what to believe. That's why Paul writes this we are to conform to the patterns or the truth of this world. Why? Because it's a moving target. Because the thing that is true in 2026 won't be true in 2023 or 2036. Right? These things change all the time. That's why we are called to be renewed by God's truth. The only thing that doesn't change. So the answer is how do we the question is how do we tap into this? The answer is we have to be humble enough to accept God's truth. But think about this. We have a God who created the whole world and created how it works. And if that is the case, there is nobody more reliable to know how to navigate life than the one who created life. That means that God is going to know more about money than me or any expert that I might run into. God's going to know more about relationships than me or any expert that I might run into. God's going to know more about sexuality than me or any expert that I might read on the internet. Which means to not fall in line with our Creator doesn't make any sense. But we do it all the time. In fact, I was reflecting on my life this week, and I've come to realize that every major big regret that I've had in my life goes back to this. Just the simple idea. That I either didn't know God's truth and I tried to figure it out my own way, or I knew God's truth, and I thought, ah, that's for them, it's not for me. This doesn't apply to me. And every single time that I didn't know God's truth or live in God's truth, guess what happened? I ended up with regret. I ended up learning hard lessons. I ended up living with the scars on my soul from that moment. And what's even worse is I put scars on other people's lives because I didn't walk in the way of Christ. And all this stuff, it's so avoidable. Because after all, what do guardrails do? When life is treacherous, they protect us from going off the cliff, down the mountain, into the trees, into the lake. That's what they are there for, and God provides us amazing guardrails. Let's keep going. The second part of verse 2. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is his good, pleasing, and perfect will. Have you ever wondered this before? God, what do you want me to do? God, what is your will? God, do you want me to buy that house? Do you want me to marry that person? Do you want me to go to school? Do you want me to take that job? Do you want me to move? Should we go on vacation there? Should I buy that cabin? Should I buy that house or that car? Whatever it might be. Have you ever wondered God's will in moments like that? I'm sure you probably have. Because this is what you know. If I do it God's way, it's probably going to produce a good result. But we wrestle with, God, what is your will? You see, people have been doing this since the beginning of time. In fact, when we enter into the story of the disciples just after the ascension of Christ into heaven, they're wrestling with this. They're trying to figure out who should replace the space that was left by Judas after he hanged himself. They're looking for that twelfth disciple. And so they sit down and they're talking about qualifications. What should this person be, like, what should the qualifications be? And so they decide it should be somebody who's traveled with Jesus throughout his ministry. That it should be somebody who's been an eyewitness of the resurrection, then he'll have solid faith even during times of incredible turmoil and pain and persecution. And then they prayed. And then they cast lots, which is like a lottery system. They put the names in the hat, they pulled it out, they came out with a guy named Matthias. Now, was Matthias God's will for that 12th disciple? I don't know. He doesn't live very long. He ends up getting martyred pretty quickly. But we know Paul was, at least to be the replacement of Matthias, because what happens? Jesus meets Paul on the road to Damascus. He's very specific. This is what you are going to do. And Paul steps into that role. The Old Testament has stories like this too. One of them you might have heard of before is the story of Gideon. Gideon is trying to assess whether God is going to give them victory in a certain battle, should they proceed? And so he says, I'm going to lay out this fleece. And when the dew comes in the morning, if the fleece is wet but the ground is dry, I'll know you're with me. And that's what happens. But he's not quite confident. So he says, okay, I'm going to do it again. And this time, if the fleece is dry but the ground is wet, then I know. Then I know that you're with me. And God shows up again. But these stories are all throughout the Bible. Paul would know these stories. He was a Pharisee. He was brilliant. He had most of the Old Testament memorized. He knew these stories. But what does he tell us about understanding God's will? Does he say, cast lots? No. Does he say lay out a fleece? No. Does he say, go on a walk on the road to Damascus and Jesus will show up and tell you exactly what you're supposed to do? He doesn't do any of that. What does he say? He says, if you renew your mind, if you know God's truth, then you will be able to discern God's will. Here's a way to hold on to that this morning. God's guardrails, they'll guide you. You see, the more you know about God's truth, the more you know where you should go in life. In fact, maybe you've had some of these questions before. Maybe you said or thought, should I marry that person? Well, if you've read the Bible, you probably had this verse pop up in 2 Corinthians 6.14 says, Do not be yoked together with unbelievers, for what do righteous and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? The big question is, do we both have a faith in Jesus Christ? And the reason this is tucked in here is because anyone who's been married, you know this is true. Opposites attract, but it's the core commonalities that keep together. And what's the coreest of core commonalities that you can have? It's an aligned faith. Without that, marriage is incredibly challenging apart from that. But when you have that, it pulls you back together in the darkest of times. Or maybe you've had this thought. You walk into a store, you see that thing that you've always wanted, it's finally on sale, but you know you don't have the money for it, and you're thinking, I'll just open up the credit card that they offer every time I'm here. I'll put it on there, and when I have the money, I'll pay it off, it'll be fine. Well, maybe you have the words of Proverbs echoing in your head. The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender. All of a sudden, when that verse pops in your head, you remember, oh yeah, if I do this and I don't have the money to pay this bill, guess who's in control of me? Visa's in control of me. And then you fall into the trap that many of us fall into, which is the things you own begin owning new. Or maybe it's this question. You know, I've had a really hard week. Life has been challenging, it's been a dark place. I just need an escape. So I'm gonna go to the bar and I'm gonna drink to forget. I'm gonna buy a little weed, and I'm gonna get high because I just need an escape. I just need to get away. But this verse would echo in your mind if you're familiar with the Bible. Ephesians 5.18. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Now, what is debauchery? It's all the things that you do when you're not thinking clearly. It's the mess you find when you wake up in the morning, when you're living with regret. You see, the more you know about the Bible, the more it will be clear to you which direction that you should go. Now, if right now you're thinking, I don't know that much about the Bible, here's a little life hack. Find somebody who does. I bet you there's probably somebody near you in your life who every day they're spending time reading through the Bible, and while you're learning to do that, go to them. Ask them their question that you have, the thing that you're wrestling with, because they will be able to discern better what God's will is in that moment. You see, if you want to protect your future, it starts with humility. God, I'm gonna submit to you, even when it doesn't make sense, even when the whole world is telling me it's this way, if you're saying it's this way, I'm gonna trust that it's this way. God, I'm gonna humbly search your word every day because I want to know the direction to go to protect my life, to know your will. God, I'm gonna humbly go to somebody and say, look, I don't know my Bible as well as I should. You seem like somebody who's been reading your Bible every day for 50, 60, 70 years. What do you think about this? It starts with humility. A number of years ago, I was introduced to a couple. They had started going to the church that I was serving at, and they wanted to get married. They got assigned to me, and so I sat down with them and I said, Tell me your story. Like, who are you guys? What brought you to this point in time? Now they were older than me, they had a lot more life experience than me, but they were talking with me, which I'm sure was very interesting for them. And they told me their story. We've both been divorced multiple times, and now we met each other, and we want to get married. But we don't want to repeat the same mess that we made in those other marriages, and so we started coming to church and we started talking to you. And we're hoping that we can have a healthy marriage because the last ones were just a mess. I said, Tell me a little bit about your story, like right now, what's the situation that you're you're living in, what's going on in your life, you know, what what made you want to get together, what made you decide to get married after all that? So they told me all those things and they said, Well, one thing you should know is that we're living together. Some of his kids are with me, uh, with us, some of my kids are with us, and so we we have this situation going on. I said, Okay, if we're gonna have these types of conversations, I'll just warn you, I'm gonna tell you stuff that you probably don't want to hear. I'm gonna tell you stuff that you might not believe yet that it's true, but I'm gonna challenge you in every area. And they said, Okay. I said, Well, here's the first thing that I want you to do. If you're living together, I don't think it's a bridge too far to assume that you're probably sleeping together, and they both nodded. I said, I want you to actually stop that. I want you to wait till you're married. I know it's can't, you know, uncrack that egg, but I want you to stop. And during this moment, I want you to just put a pause on that and wait till you walk down the aisle. And I want you to use this time to not make it about you, but to make it about them. Marriage isn't about what you get, marriage is about what you can give. And when you live in that type of marriage, you're gonna live in a happy marriage that won't be problem-free, but it will work. So I'm not gonna call you on the phone, I'm not gonna send you a survey, I'm not gonna ask you ever again, but this is what I want you to commit to. If you want to commit to experiencing something different. But this is all I ask of you. When we get to the wedding day, when you walk down the aisle, when you get to me, just give me a little thumbs up if you're able to pull this off. That's all I want. And they said, Okay. So six months go by, we get to the wedding day, she gets walked down the aisle, her groom meets her at the front, they walk up to me, and she lifts her head up and tears are streaming down her face, and she just gives me one of these. And in that moment, this is what I knew. I knew their marriage, because no marriage is problem-free. But what I knew was they were in a healthier place. Because what they were saying is we are humble enough, even if it doesn't make sense to us, even if the world tells us this is silly, we are gonna do it God's way and experience the benefits. You see, if we can live in humility, if we can trust God that he knows better, we can begin to build those guardrails that will protect our future, protect our kids, protect our our marriage, protect our work, and protect our life. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for these opportunities to encounter your eternal truth. And Lord, I just love uh the richness of your word. That you have given us advice and guidance and wisdom that is true every year humanity has been around. It doesn't change, it doesn't need to change. You know the past, present, and future. You know where life goes, you know what the world is gonna say. But yeah, Lord, you pull us back to your truth. The truth that doesn't just save our souls, Lord, it protects our lives. And I hope that as we enter into this week, that we take it even more seriously, that we hold on to your truth, that we worship you with every area of our life and submit to you in everything that we do. I pray this all in Christ's mighty name. Amen.