Allen Jackson - Back from the Dead - Part 2
Maybe we could describe it this way. I think it’s the difference in a transaction and a transformation. The transaction is an exchange. I’m going to give you something in exchange for something I want. You know how to make a purchase. We do it that way or we sign a membership card and we get access to something if we’ll exchange some resources for that. And we’ve had kind of a transactional approach to faith. Okay, what do I need to do to get the outcome I want? I want that outcome, so tell me what I need to do. And then we say we can’t earn it and we can’t work for it, but then we say, «Well, tell me what I need to do,» particularly men.
It was like, I learned how to trout fish, I read three books and I went to Orvis and I bought these six things and I made two trips and so I know how to trout fish. Teach me how to be a Christian. I’ll read two books. What the Bible talks to us is about transformational faith. There’s a change that comes, a change to how we think, a change to how we act. What’s the motivation for that? We come to the realization that we’re dead. That we have no awareness of the kingdom of God, that it doesn’t mean anything to us. It isn’t valuable to us. It doesn’t appeal to us. It’s not intriguing to us. It isn’t something we would sacrifice for, it isn’t something we would invest in. It’s just, I mean there are people that believe in that, but we don’t believe in that and we don’t particularly respect the people that do believe in that. It’s dead to us.
And then somehow, inexplicably, God made us alive in Christ. And we realize there is something to that, it’s legitimate. But we’re not so transformed that we don’t still have the appeal to that old way of life. That’s why we’re told we have to put off that old self, and put on a new self. We’ve got to grapple with that. We gotta engage that. We can’t just excuse and say, «Oh, I believe in grace». I believe in grace too, but I don’t believe in the practice of sin. You can’t practice sin and go to heaven. You can’t be proud of it. A new kind of life, transformed life.
You know, we’ve got this imagination of a transaction. I’m gonna confess Jesus is Lord, I get forgiveness, a clean slate, and I can just get on with my life. It’s got a power to help me get what I want. I got more tools than the ungodly have. That’s not it. Transformation is an entirely new being, it’s a new orientation, new goals, new objectives, new purposes. Think of our friends in scripture, Peter. We follow him through the Gospels and he looks a lot like us. He’s shooting his mouth off, he’s arguing about who’s the greatest, he’s putting down the other ones. They come to arrest Jesus and he’s trying to cut off somebody’s head, right?
But he has an interaction with the resurrected Jesus and new birth comes to Peter and he’s not the same man. He’s not worried about his fishing business anymore. He’s become what Jesus said he would become. He’s a fisherman of a whole different stripe. He has a whole different worldview. Peter, the fisherman, the rural, uneducated, unsophisticated, kind of blundering, bull his way through every circumstance, becomes a powerful voice of leadership in an emerging initiative that says Jesus of Nazareth was the Jewish Messiah. And he didn’t care who knows. He’s completely different. He has a whole new kind of life. His shadow falling on people brings life to them. That wasn’t happening when he was fishing.
And he’s not the only one. Saul of Tarsus, he becomes the apostle Paul, but he gets a whole new kind of life, he gets new friends, a new agenda. His old friends don’t want to be around him anymore. He thinks a different way. He talks a different way. He behaves a different way. Do you see the difference? He didn’t have a transaction. He had a transformation. We’re back from the dead again. We haven’t had enough enthusiasm around this. We haven’t had enough excitement, we haven’t had enough joy in it. Serving Jesus is not burdensome, yielding to God is not intrusive. Surrendering my time is not an unfair exchange. I’ve been given life. It’s all his. I was dead. I had no hope. I had no life, I had no future.
In fact, the only thing in my future was an appointment with the wrath of God. And he gave me life. So I will gladly give him my day. I will give him my attention. I will give him my… I understand I have to learn to think differently, because I’m very well versed, I’m steeped, in that other way of thinking. I think we’ve been given the wrong framework of understanding. We should begin with the awareness that we’re back from the dead. It changes everything. It’s not my life anymore. The life I live, the Bible says, I live by the faith of the Son of God. Paul said, «Whatever was to my gain, I consider it loss, but there’s a passing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord».
I’m back from the dead. Are you a Christian? «Well, I don’t wanna offend anybody». You mean the dead people? You’re living your life to get applause from the dead? How’s that working for you? The only time they’ll give you applause is when you’re helping them satisfy their own selfish cravings. They’ll applaud for you when you’re providing cover for them and their ungodliness, but they’re not gonna applaud for you when you’re standing up for the truth. We’ve been working for the wrong audience. We’ve had the wrong set of agendas. We’ve been so locked out. We’ve been wearing that old carnal stuff. I think I can illustrate it. I have $100. Would you like $100? That’d be okay with you? Look at that. Sit on the front row, good things happen.
Somebody will send an email and say, «We were at home watching online and we didn’t get $100». No, you didn’t. I got another 100. You wore a pretty pink jacket. Would you like $100? Look at that. You know, salvation is a gift. We don’t earn it. We didn’t deserve it. The Bible says God chose us. It’s an expression of the sovereignty of God. We don’t like the sovereignty of God when he’s not giving us what we want, but if he gives us $100 we’re a fan. But God chose us.
So our response then when he brings life to us is to give our lives to him, to offer ourselves as living sacrifices, the Bible said. Yeah? I wonder if I gave you $100 would you be willing to give $20 to the person on your left? Would you do that? I mean, you’re still up 80, yeah? Would you do that? I mean, it’s really, you didn’t lose anything, you haven’t even got to shop yet. Yeah, that’s your husband, that’s tougher, isn’t it? Yeah, I know what that thought was: I ain’t giving him 20 bucks. See, it’s not yours. Think how we say, «It’s my time. Oh, it’s my time». No, it isn’t. God gave me breath this morning. God gave me breath this morning. There was a time I was a dead man walking, and he gave me breath. But that’s not how we… it’s my time, we get so agitated. «Waste my time».
Excuse me, stop. Sometimes I think, «Oh, people, if you knew my boss, you wouldn’t be wasting his time like this». I walk away from some encounters and think, «Oh, if you knew my boss, you’d talk to me differently. He will take offense. Don’t get him riled up». Would you give 20 to somebody behind you? Uh, no, it’s tough, isn’t it? Yeah, you know I’m coming back at you. Can you put 20 over your shoulder? Somebody will take it if you will. It’ll be a good thing for them. You’ve been blessed to be a blessing. I’m not just kidding. I mean this literally. Look at that. The love of God is flourishing in the house. Still up 60. «Hope this sermon ends. It’s time to close it down, Pastor. Let me get out of here while I’m ahead».
Do you understand how deeply this is rooted in us? How many of us have threatened God, been mad at God, angry at God because he didn’t do what we wanted? Think of our biblical heroes. Think of the characters you know. God shows up in Exodus 3 and said to Moses, «I got a job for you. I want you to go back to Egypt,» and what’s Moses say? «No, I’m good, really. I got a family, I got kids. I got my business is doing well. I’m quite happy. I tried Egypt, it didn’t work for me. I didn’t like Egypt. The climate’s not good for me. Climate in Egypt is unhealthy for me». And God said, «No, I need you to go». He said, «No, no, I’m not going».
Back and forth. Jonah, you know the Jonah story. God said, «I need you to go to Nineveh,» and Jonah said, «No, I’m good. I’m going the other way. I want a cruise». Then after a few days with some fish, it says the Word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time. Jonah had a change of heart. It wasn’t his life. God said to Abraham, «I want you to take your son, and offer him as a sacrifice». And there’s really no explanation given. It just says Abraham got everything he needed and said to Isaac, «We’ve got to make a trip,» until he tied him up and put him on an altar. It’s not our life, folks. They’re not our kids. I mean, you share some DNA with them, but if you’re not helping them grow in the Lord, if you’re working harder to teach them things more than you’re trying to teach them the kingdom of God, just exactly what kind of life are you leading? Whose applause is it we’re trying to earn? We’re back from the dead.
That changes every discussion, it changes every question, it changes every idea, it changes everything. How about sharing 20 more? I’ll go the other direction this time, okay? Yeah, here, get up, take some, couple of rows back. They need some. They look kind of… how about just coming forward with 20, okay? Come on, forward. Look at this. Whole new kind of life. Well, if nobody wants it, I’ll take it. You know, it’s only in church we would pretend that money didn’t matter to us. You can have it. For real, it’s not ours. We’re not taking it with us. I’m not saying it doesn’t matter. I’m not just saying it doesn’t have a value. I’ve had none and I’ve had a little bit. It’s better to have some. But I’m not gonna trade my obedience to the Lord away for that. I’m not gonna lie, cheat, or steal. I don’t wanna compromise my character. I don’t want it to dominate my perspective. It’s not my time. It’s not even my talent, whatever talent I have the Lord gave to me, it’s a gift.
Now it’s not easy. We’ve laughed a little bit about it, we’ve had a little bit of fun with it. But I’m not suggesting to you it’s easy. The Bible warns us, look at Hebrews 12 and verse 1, it says: «We are surrounded by this great cloud of witnesses». The chapter immediately preceding this is the hall of fame of our faithful brothers and sisters, the heroes of our faith. And we turn to chapter 12 and it says something to us now: «Since we are surrounded by this great cloud,» by this hall of fame, «let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles».
Said it’s really easy to get entangled with ungodliness because we’re in a minority position. The worldview you hold is not the one that’s most broadly shared. The messaging that cascades over your life, the programming you watch, the music you listen to, unless you’re very, very, very intentional, you are inundated with messages towards ungodliness. They calibrate normal. You’ll believe that political parties and politicians will extend liberty and freedom. They won’t; that comes from God. You’ll believe the cultural battles of the day are about politics or power or money. They’re not; they’re spiritual. We’ve arrived at this point where the absurd is celebrated in the public square. We are so spiritually dead. The influence of the church has been reduced so much that there’s not enough residual life and vitality in the culture any longer to push back on things that are absurd. For instance, your biological sex is not confusing. It really isn’t.
Now, there’s a host of things around that that can be discussed, but that is not a point of confusion, and those that are confused about it should not be celebrated as courageous. We can have compassion upon it. But it reflects the degree to which our life has been diminished that that’s made its way into our schools. Children shouldn’t be exposed to smut. That’s just not a good idea. But the life is so small, the heartbeat is so weak. We’ve been made alive, we’re back from the dead. We’ve been entangled in way too much. Look at 2 Peter 2, says that «they promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity, for a man is slave to whatever has mastered him».
You see, if you’ll talk, if you’ll give an honest presentation of what you give your discretionary time to and your discretionary resources to, I can tell what leads your life. Anybody can. Now some things we don’t really have a great deal of discretion over. We have responsibilities and assignments, that’s a part of the journey through time. But what we choose to do with what we have discretion over is the leading indicator of what matters to you. And when you get to the point that you have more discretionary time and more discretionary resources and all of those things, what you give them to is the best indicator of your passion. I know that’s uncomfortable. «We are a slave to whatever has mastered him. If we’ve escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior and we’re again entangled in it, we’re worse off than we were at the beginning».
Because we know the truth and we know the freedom that comes, but we chose to put on our carnal self and walk back into that. We considered it more beneficial. I’m not trying to argue the outcomes of that at the moment. I’m telling you it’s a pathway that’s identified as possible. We don’t wanna do that, folks. We are back from the dead. I don’t want to see how close I can get to dead again. I don’t want to see how much health I can forfeit and still say, «Wait a minute, I got a pulse».
I wanna walk into the light. I wanna live more fully in the truth. It’s not oppressive. It’s not limiting, it’s liberating. It’s transformational. Yes, it’ll make us different. It may mean in the short run you feel like you’ve forfeited something. But in the long run, it will bring the blessings of God to your life. Unfortunately, we have a lot of messaging opposite to that in the midst of the church. And I don’t have the time to unpack that in this session. We’ll do it another time. But I wanna give you an invitation this morning. If you’re here and you’d say, «You know, Pastor, I’ve listened to this and I’ve been checking the boxes all my life. I’ve been making Christian transactions». I’m not questioning your salvation. I’m really not. Some of you, if you’ve listened, you may think, you know, «That’s me».
Folks, I can tell you in my own life, I’d checked the boxes. I’d made professions of faith. I had the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I’ve been baptized in water. I didn’t want to read my Bible. I didn’t like hanging around Christians. I didn’t. You wouldn’t catch me in any Bible study. Read my own Bible. I don’t wanna go study with a bunch of knuckleheads. They ask stupid questions. I didn’t wanna be around, I was far more comfortable being with people who were more ungodly than I was with being with godly people. I didn’t wanna talk what they wanted to talk about. And so it had to be the grace of God. It wasn’t anything I did. There was no button I pushed.
The absurdity of that became clear to me. I thought, there’s something wrong with me. There’s a tremendous lack of a line between what I say and what I’m actually striving towards. And I began to talk to the Lord about it. I didn’t know what else to do. I didn’t know how to fix it. I wasn’t even sure. I’d just say, «Lord, I would rather be different. Can you help me»? And he did, he did. The greatest honor of my life is serving the Lord. I understand there’s other opportunities. I understand there’s other invitations. I have to deal with some of that in my head. My peer group gets opportunities that I didn’t get because of some choices I made. I’m okay with that. I chose to walk into the light.
Well, I wanna give you that invitation. I’m not unique. I’m certainly not special. But if you could say, «You know, I’ve been checking boxes. I’ve done all those things, but truthfully I haven’t had much passion for it, don’t pray for people. Certainly not going to work and busting out my Bible verse of the day». Now, if you’ve listened today and you say, you know, «I would rather celebrate the fact that I’m alive than try to get the applause of the dead,» I’m just gonna give you an opportunity to stand, I’m not gonna do anything beyond that. We’re all gonna stand in a moment and say a prayer, but if you would say, «That’s me, Pastor, and I wanna be different,» whichever space you are on our campus, you can stand. If you’re at home, you stand. We can see you, right? This is two-way TV. It’s really not, but God can see.
Now I want you to understand I’m not trying to soft sell this because I’m not working on commission. If you stand, what we’re, in essence, what we’re saying is I’m gonna take off that old carnal nature. I’m gonna have to take off some patterns of thinking. I’m gonna have to change some behaviors. I’m gonna have to realign some objectives. I’m gonna have a different attitude about my time. I’m gonna have to have a different attitude about my stuff. If that’s what you mean, then you remain standing. I think the Lord takes this seriously. And it’s a serious thing to make a commitment to the Lord and not keep it, wow. I brought us a proclamation. I think we can make it together.
You know, we’ve repeated a prayer together here hundreds and hundreds of times, «God, I’m a sinner and I need a Savior». But it’s not a formula, folks. You know, particularly in our faith, we’re afraid we’ll do it wrong. Are you afraid you’ll interpret a passage wrong? You’re afraid you’ll say a prayer incorrectly? And I’ve shared that prayer and people will call and say, «You know, Pastor, I want that prayer, and I can’t remember the second line». And I’m like, «Well, I’m pretty sure if you’ll just say, 'Jesus, be Lord of my life, ' he will help you get home from there».
So the language in this is a bit different. But the objective of it is very similar. It’s an attempt to say to the Lord, I wanna give you first place. That’s not a prayer you pray just when you realize you’ve been completely dead. It’s a prayer I have to pray on a regular basis. Because I face very consistent temptations that wanna put my agenda first again. No, I found that every season of your life has a reason for that. When you’re a teenager, you want, you know, this is your time.
When you’re young and you’re trying to pull your family together, you know, it’s a very self-focused time. It’s all about, when your kids are teenagers, you know, they’re only teenagers for a little while, so it’s just about us. You finally get them out of the house and now we’re free at last. Now it’s about us. You get to retirement age and now it’s my time and every season of life has a reason to be ungodly. Let’s say this prayer together. Can we do that? It’s a proclamation. It’s a declaration over our lives. You can take it away. If you’ve stood with me today, I would encourage you to say it two or three times a day this week. Let it begin to take root in you. Spirit of God will help us. Let’s say it together:
I choose life in Christ. Jesus deliver me from the kingdom of darkness. I renounce my life of sin and selfishness. I surrender myself to the Lordship of Jesus of Nazareth. The life I lead, I will live for the glory of the Kingdom of God. I yield my will, my thoughts and my entire person to the direction of the Holy Spirit. I surrender my plans, my time and my resources to the Lordship of Jesus. May Christ live more profoundly in me each day. May God be glorified, Jesus exalted and His kingdom extended through my life! Amen.