I generally don't post sermons as many can run up to an hour and I am cognizant of the busyness of many who may be reading this. So, when I do post a sermon, you can be assured there is a good reason involved. I have been incredibly convicted this year regarding my relationship with Jesus Christ. I had fallen into the subtle trap of loving God more for what He could do for me than loving Him simply for who He is.
As my heart is being brought back into right standing with God, I am seeing many more examples of this in my Christian friends. Some I can talk to about it, some I can't. A few are well aware of this struggle in their lives without me having to say a word. If I could have every Christian friend of mine watch one 30-minute sermon, I think this would be it. I strongly encourage you to take the time to watch it and to think and pray about what God may have to say to you through this. Believe me...He is speaking to me and will do the same for you if you just listen.
As he started this sermon, I was thinking of a John Piper quote (from God is the Gospel) that I had recently read in Francis Chan's "Crazy Love". Lo and behold, Britt used it just a couple minutes later. Here it is:
"The critical question for our generation - and for every generation - is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ was not there?"
Britt also used another Piper quote which he didn't actually ascribe to Piper. It's a question all of us need to take time to think about: "Do I ultimately love God because He makes much of me or because by giving His Son for me I am now enabled to make much of Him?
A few memorable lines from the sermon:
We have made good things into ultimate things.
We are willing to be God-centered as long as God is man-centered.
We are willing to boast in the cross as long as the cross is the witness of our worth.
From a Driscoll sermon that I think fits well here: "And I’m amazed at how many people buckle up and eat their vitamins and drink bottled water and watch their cholesterol and don’t even think about their eternity. They’re so consumed with their life they don’t remember that they will live forever somewhere."
"If you read history you find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next." - C.S. Lewis
Remember...nothing on this earth was meant to terminate on itself...especially our lives. Everything was meant to point to and glorify the Creator. Idols and addiction come when we make creation the end all.
FYI: This is a picture of Daisy with her 8-year old brother.
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