Calvary Church of Naperville
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Calvary Church of Naperville
Kingdom Living In A Consumer Culture | BEYOND SUNDAY
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What if we actually came to church and put Christ first? Not not my experience of the music, not my appreciation of the message or delivery. Because very often we do have a consumer mindset, even to church itself. Welcome to Beyond Sunday. Let's dig a little bit deeper into the theology and scriptures from the weekend so you can become a more fully devoted follower of Jesus. Well, this week we continued our series on the kingdom of heaven. Have Lavanya Strong, our pastoral care director, uh here to discuss it today. Welcome, Lavanya.
SPEAKER_02Thank you. I'm glad to be here with you.
SPEAKER_01Just curious, what uh what were some of the things that stood out to you as we talked again about the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God, and what it means to live in that kingdom in our daily life?
SPEAKER_02Mm-hmm. I think the entire message, Pastor Sean, was was powerful. It really was. And I know it stirred my heart. And as you really, as you talked about this tension, right, of seeking God's kingdom and Jesus' lordship, right? And and this this tension of that was really the heart of Matthew 6. And the entire passage was what stirred my heart is that this you can't have this divided allegiance. It's impossible. Yeah. You can't you can't serve two masters.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02You can't serve God in money. Yeah. And what I thought so powerfully you put together was again the scripture. Where your treasure is, your heart will be.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So what are these deep commitments? Your deep commitments in your life is what's going to reveal who rules in your life.
SPEAKER_01Our tagline was uh, you know, what what rules your heart directs your life.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_01And only one thing can be, you know, ruling at any given moment. Any given moment. There's there's one thing we're pursuing. Um I I loved the, you know, I love that passage, first of all, you know, part of the Sermon on the Mount, and coming right on the heels of the uh Lord's Prayer, here's how you should pray. And you just think about you know that process, you know, that there's there's a father in heaven. It all begins with him. Uh and then we we brought in a parallel to James chapter four.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_01Uh, and I thought that was interesting. I'd never really seen that as clearly, you know, as when I began preparing for that message, just some of the connections there between the two. But I also think it's interesting, you know, because uh Jesus is saying you can't serve two masters. Um and and then James, you know, he he goes on and he talks about the fact that uh there that there's only one. I'm gonna find it here real quick, just so I get it right. It's in verse 12. Uh James chapter 4, verse 12. If I can find it. All right. It's this, there we go. All right, so James chapter 4, verse 12, he says this. He said, There's only one lawgiver and judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you, who are you to judge your neighbor? And we spend so many times, uh, so much time, you know, judging things in this life, judging things on a natural basis, and instead of recognizing that there's only one, there's only one who can who can rule. And that's what Jesus is saying, you know, seek first the kingdom of God, his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. But if you seek after all these things, and so James puts it in the judging conversation, but you know, even in that, it's you know, when we talk about priority or priorities, is that not judgment? Is that not this is of more value than this is? I'm making an evaluation and I'm setting things in an order. And so how do we judge? How do we determine what gets priority in our life?
SPEAKER_02And what's good, oh my goodness, priorities and priority. Right. Pastor Sean, I won't forget after your message. Um I think the culture, we we see it as a list, we see it as a sequential list. And you, I mean, it was just so good and how you brought out and how we place God number one and we say God is first. Yeah. But he says I'm situational. Yeah. I want to be in intertwined in everything that you do. And so you can't compartmentalize two through ten, right? And compartmentalize those things and they don't include me.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Because you put me one.
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_02But I'm a part of everything. I want to be a part of every decision that you make in your life.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we talked about family, we talked about, you know, what it's like for Christ to be first in our home, Christ to be first in our business. Scripture talks about a lot of these things. What does it mean for Christ to be first? I even talk about what what would it look like if Christ were actually first at our church. In our church. What if we actually came to church and put Christ first? Not not my experience of the music, not my um appreciation of the message or delivery. Um because very often we do have a consumer mindset, even to church itself.
SPEAKER_02We do, yeah. And that that's so good. We do. And we we were talking about uh, you know, in Colossians, where you know, scripture talks about and shows us that Christ should be preeminent. Yeah. So when I hear you say that, he is preeminent in our life, and that when he is preeminent, when he is first, when he's a part of every decision, our family, Paul also talks about how he wasn't just uh preeminent for the creation, yeah, but the church. Yeah, the church itself. And so you can't separate transformation from that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02When he is preeminent in your life, things begin to transform.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And you no longer see church as a um check the box. You began to see you as the church.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And everywhere you go, yeah, uh uh, you know, as a part of his kingdom and his purpose.
SPEAKER_01He he permeates our our whole life. And yeah. When we recognize that, then we we realize we're also living on kingdom purpose.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01That what we're part of is the missio day. Uh, that God is at work in the world, and part of his work in the world is the church. There was a time he worked through the prophets. There was a time that he worked through Christ physically on the earth, and now the same spirit that was in Christ is in the church. We we we even call it the body of Christ, which means we're here to establish and and to live out the rule and reign. Like as much as Jesus was submitted to the kingdom of heaven, as much as he was both empowered by and representing and actively working on behalf of the kingdom of heaven, as much as he was the presence of God in the world, now the church is. Now the church is. And of course, Paul and Colossians is such a high Christology, and and he has that same perspective. Yes. You know, that the this spirit dwelling in us is enabling us to not only live submitted to that kingdom, but to be representatives of that kingdom.
SPEAKER_02Everywhere we go.
SPEAKER_01Everywhere we go, in everything we do. If I'm here, it's for you, not me. It's for you. I'm not here just to become a better version of me. Yeah. Which I think sometimes we approach the Christian life.
SPEAKER_02Yes, that's how we approach the Christian life.
SPEAKER_01Like I'm just here to grow, grow, grow, grow. No, you're here to go, go, go.
SPEAKER_02Go, go, go.
SPEAKER_01The reason you're here is redemptive purpose. Yeah. You're an ambassador of the king. I wonder what that realization. Let's talk a little bit about that. What might that realization that we are not just here for ourselves, but we're about our father's business.
SPEAKER_02We're about his business.
SPEAKER_01How might that transform how we put him first in our home, our families, our career, yeah, every aspect. What are some what are some things that we could talk about that of how that might look?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And and and you ended um your sermon in this conversation of what if, and you said, what if? What if we had this um uh we saw ourselves being sent on mission? Everything changes. Yeah, every interaction we have changes, right? Um, I think some of the small things that we focus on in the culture uh won't be as big of a deal anymore.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I think if we knew we were on a mission, we may not be offended as much. There you go. Because I'm on a mission. I'm gonna stay focused. Yeah. Um you know, I think some of the things in our our display of the fruit of the spirit. If we were on a mission, less of the works of the flesh and more of the fruit of the spirit.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02So much, right? In who we are and who we can be in the world.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and and James even talks about that, that the striving among you, the the works of the flesh, you know, come from the things that you you want for yourself and don't have. But he says if we just submit that to God, resist, you know, all that all that goes away. And and then when you humble yourself, Christ will lift you up.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And when I think about that idea that living in the kingdom is not only living for God and living from God, uh, but it's living as his chosen, beloved, uh, you know, child. Christianity is not a democracy, it's a kingdom. We talked about it last week on the on the podcast. But but if the kingdom of heaven were first, yeah, if that were my my first thought in the morning, my my first aim, my my one priority in in everything I did, then I live out this Christian life differently. And and in every arena, I'm even mentioned ministry. Might we might we not do church differently?
SPEAKER_02There was a there was a piece in your sermon that I would love to, you know, for you to to talk about a little bit more that that really stirred my heart. Um you mentioned how the lie to believe that God's not good enough. Yeah. And I I think that's an important conversation, Pastor Sean, because it's fundamentally undermines our relationship for answer prayer and thinking that God's not good enough.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, uh it's interesting that uh he addresses as people of little faith. Yeah. You know, if don't you know that the God who takes care of the grass and takes care of the birds, he can take care of you. Um and sometimes I think we know that in the back of our head. We have this mental agreement with the principles that are in scripture, but we don't have a heart alignment that's just grounded in a confidence that God is who he says he is. And at the end of the day, at the end of the day, no one comes to God unless they believe that he is and he's a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. Seek first the kingdom, and then the anxiety for all this other stuff can go away. Now that doesn't mean things are gonna go the way I want.
SPEAKER_02Correct.
SPEAKER_01Doesn't mean there won't be pain or difficulty, but it does mean that whatever happens in this life, I don't fear the one who can destroy the body, but only the one is, you know, who can destroy both body and soul in hell. To James's point, there's only one judge. And if that judge is my loving father, who sent his one and only son to redeem me, yes, to cover my sin, my error, my missteps, to receive me holy and adopt me as a son and now make me an heir, like the prodigal son, put the ring on the finger and the robe on my back. If if that's the kind of judge that I'm facing, then I don't fear. I don't fear, I don't worry. And so if I have a need, what do I say, Abba? Father, he can and he will.
SPEAKER_02And he will.
SPEAKER_01I think that's the I think that's the bigger conviction that faith requires is that not only can God, but God will. And when I operate in that kind of a conviction, now I have the kind of faith that Jesus had. He knew the Father. He completely in fact one time when he's you know praying for Lazarus, he says, I pray this. I know you hear me, but I'm praying, thank you for hearing me, so everybody else will know you.
SPEAKER_02But knowing that you hear me, right?
SPEAKER_01So he's literally living on mission. Yeah, he's living in total trust. He knows the will of the father. He is here to be about his father's business, and that's what kingdom living is. We we are in relationship with the Father. We know his will, we trust his heart, we know his will, and we're about his work in everything that we encounter.
SPEAKER_02Mm-hmm. So good.
SPEAKER_01Thank you for joining us today.
SPEAKER_02I'm glad to be here. Thank you.
SPEAKER_01Closing thoughts on what it looks like to live in the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you know that what if? What if we're prayed up? What if we have a mindset of being sent on mission? And what if we don't see the Lord as positional but transformative? What if?
SPEAKER_01What if? Mm-hmm. Great question. Yeah. Thanks for joining us.
SPEAKER_00Hey, thanks so much for joining us today. We do this to help you grow in your faith journey. And if you ever have any questions, see the link below, fill out the QR code, and we'll get back to you soon. And if you like this content and want to see more, feel free to follow, like, and share. But most of all, we want to encourage you to take the word of God and apply it to your week beyond Sunday. We can't wait to see you back soon.