Four Ingredients for Practical Christian Life - Edwin Bontrager

Greetings, blessings, saints gathered together to meet God. We're here

to meet God in a collective way, corporate way. We

use those words. So what does life mean? What's life

like for you? We come here from a week, I'll say,

We'll come here from activities, habits, the usual, the unusual.

And so where does worship take us? I've enjoyed the

service thus far and wish to command the worship leaders

that have been standing up here before me. Brother Superintendent,

Brother Chorister, Brother Sunday school teacher, and brother introductory pastor.

You've all contributed to my sense of God's presence here

and the personal way that God would like to touch

me and draw me and lift me. And I think

that that shall I say, collaboration is where we ought

to all be as we come together to worship. Yes,

we get from a worship experience, we should also give,

and so that reciprocal nature of participation in worship is

special to me. I've enjoyed the morning. I was excited

about the feelings of waking and seeing the dawn. I

was excited about the drive down here. I enjoy having

a steering wheel in my hands and navigating the road

it's exciting to come into a place that's dedicated to worship,

dedicated to that meeting with God that we each need

to experience each day in a personal way. And then

that personal experienced, those personal experiences with God make the

group joint experiences have particular meaning as well. Interesting to

hear a few things about your activities and your things.

Had a question that came to me just a few

minutes ago. Does the age of the speaker have anything

to do with the weight of his message? Well, that

makes a smile. But life, and so what what? What

have I learned? What have you learned in the past week,

in the past years, in the past experiences. That's that's

what God wishes to be a part of, and so

I think that's we should. We should have those kind

of reflections as we think about meeting God and having life.

Makes sense because all things do work together for good

to them who who love, who love God, they're called

that respond. I like to consider foreign ingredients for practical life,

especially Christian life. And to introduce that, I thought of

a personal experience that happened to me almost almost twenty

five years ago, almost thirty five years ago, and it

brought questions to my mind, So questions like this, what

kind of package of God ordained traits would bring him

and me fulfillment? What would strengthen human personality for the easy,

ordinary and the testing unusual categories of life? Is it

the usual it's easy? Is it the unusual? It's tests?

What could furnish safe momentum as well as steadying securitecurity

when life falters or comes to a crash? Have you

had crashes in your life? That's seems like that goes

with human experience, doesn't it? But what what can steady

me when I when life has a crash? What can

give some momentum to the positive, to the worse, to

the God focus when those kind of things happen. Those

are questions that came to me. Well. An experience in

nineteen ninety brought me to some personal consciousness and challenge

of all this what I've introduced in question, and it

included the unexpected opinions of a stranger. I had an

experience that gave me a pretty severe facial injury. Had

an angle grinder blow up in my face and it

went pretty deep, and had two surgeries about a week

and a half apart fault. Right following that, June and

I were at my surgeons for a post stop visit

typical probably probably removed some stitches. I don't remember what

all took place, but on that visit, this is a

week and a half after this trauma, June asked my doctor.

She asked him why that my pain level seemed to

be very minimal considering the severity of the trauma, the accident.

And we kind of assumed we get some kind of

a medical you know, medical terms and explanation, you know,

nerve damage, et cetera and whatnot. But as long as

I have, I'll say cognitive competence, I will not forget

what that man said to me without any hesitation. He

named off four things that he said were reasons, and

I still am intrigued with that. He said, I think

it's your faith. I think it's all the prayers. I

think it's your family, and I think it's your positive attitude.

And that really struck me. How did he come to

that conclusion? He saw me in emergency room at my worst,

he saw me in the operating room unconscious. How do

you reach that conclusion? He didn't stop and think, He

just popped it right off as soon as the question

was asked, and I thought it was a pretty accurate list,

going back to my title of four ingredients for practical

life should be practical Christian life. Thought it was a

pretty accurate list, and I thought the places in the

list of those four they were in the right order.

And so it seemed to me like that might be

a might be something to preach about as oh personal

reflection and aspiration about what means something in life, what

takes me the right direction, what stabilizes me, And perhaps

it could be a challenge to you in your life's

experiences as well. And I believe that that looking at

God's word helps us to oh, define, understand practice things

that please God and bring the personal satisfaction fulfillment. We

had no reason to believe that this man was a believer,

and so that that also was part of the surprise

of his answer that had no part of medical knowledge

or detail in it. So I've replayed that conversation various

times in my mind over the past thirty five years,

and so I asked, I've asked myself the question is

is that really? Is that really me? Is that really

what I am? With those those four things as oh,

the operating, the operating technique or principles of operation challenge.

And I know that our personalities vary, and so perhaps

those four things can have a little variation depending on

one's personality. And yet I think they could fit just

about all of us in our personalities to meet God,

to live for God, to find God in life. So

I'd like to look at those four things and see

what God's word says about them. Maybe I'll say this

that I know we say that the feminine side is

they has the emotions, They are easily emotionally stirred. Well,

we men have emotions too, We have feelings, and we

may or may not express those feelings, but we have feelings.

And I remember distinctly as that experience began of trauma,

that I felt safe and from worry and anxiety from

the moment of the impact of that part of that

angle grinder disc in my face, and I was I

was conscious of that kind of feeling. And I think

that that accompanies the oh, the characteristics, the diligence in

these four things I'd like to look at. Well, first

of all, faith, what what what? What is faith? What

does faith mean? Well, I think simply, it means being

a Christian. That's where that's where we start with faith,

being a Christian belief and a personal God. God isn't

just this mystic power somewhere that yes, he's there, don't

get very close. If I need him, I'll call on him.

That's not what we're talking about with faith, but a

belief in a personal God, the God that's that's Jehovah.

And remember the names appears in Genesis after Man disobeyed

and fell from the privileges and location where he's where

he was first placed. That's when Jehovah appears. The God

who wishes to have relationship with man, the God who

wishes to have a covenant with man with humanity. That's

when we we we begin reading about Jehovah. Think about

this in his personal belief in a personal God. I

think about Thomas. We call him doubting Thomas. But Thomas

wanted to be sure of the things that he'd heard about,

and so he said, I'll believe when I see and

feel and so on. All the time came when he

had that opportunity to see and feel, Jesus said, here

I am you know, go ahead, Thomas. But we don't

know if he did. It doesn't the Bible and say

that he actually reached and touched. But Thomas became very conscious,

and he expressed himself my Lord and my God became

very personal. He was convinced. So that's the kind of

belief that goes with or describes faith. Well, faith in

the fact that God's love offered a savior. We were

so familiar with that verse of John three point sixteen,

that God so loved, or he loved so deeply a

sinful man, depraved man, that he sent Jesus sent his son,

his only son, sent the Savior. That's behind a faith

or that's the basis of faith. Well, what about faith?

Because God's mercy responded to our predicament, my predicament of

being a sinner. I was unworthy. I didn't have some

to offer and say, okay, God, I'll trade you this

for this. Wasn't there, that's nonexistent, no merit. Titus three

five says, not by works of righteousness, which we have done,

but according to his mercy, he saved us by the

washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. That's

the basis for faith, isn't it? What about God's grace.

God's grace provided a remedy Titus two eleven. For the

grace of God that brings the salvation, hath appeared to

all men and women God's grace. How about faith? That's

because my life has been changed by Jesus Christ Ephesians

five eight. For ye were sometimes darkness I was, But

now are ye light in the Lord walk as children

of light. There's a response. There's a natural outcome of

being in the light, being placed in the light. I

needed help for that, and God said, I'll help you.

My son will help you. Well about worldview worldviews? Two kingdoms,

there's two kings that are distinct. They're different. There's a

wide disparity between them. They can't be combined. Tewo Corinthian

six verses fourteen sixteen. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?

And what communion has light and darkness? And what agreement

hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are

the temple of the Living God. Separation there does that

have something to do with faith? Provides a basis. It

helps us to define what we are, who we are,

where we came from, where we're going faith. Faith is

a foundation. Faith is a basis for life. Well about

the way the Holy Spirit fits into this. The Holy

Spirit guides my life to God's specifications. He isn't just

a salt shaker pouring on too season what I want

to be, or what I've been, or what I what

I'm going to continue to be. No, he takes over.

That's his position, his responsibility. John sixteen thirteen says, howbeit,

when he the Spirit of truth, has come, he will

guide you into all truth. We were we had some

guiding into truth in the with the four worship leaders

that preceded me this morning. That was by the work

of the Holy Spirit in their hearts, in their occupying

positions to to purvey truth. I'll say that the Holy

Spirit one Peter one p. Fifteen. But as he which

hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in

all manner of conversation talking about God's specifications. God's a

holy God, He's a just God. He has the right

as sovereign to set those specifications, to set that bar,

as we would say, sometimes at a height that is

the right height for you and me in our athletic journey.

The athletic dimension of attaining faith. Faith certainly includes obedience.

My faith needs to include that yours does Hebrews eleven five.

By faith had this testimony that he pleased God? Is

that enough of an epitaph to be on your tombstone?

Would that be an appropriate one? Would that say it all?

So to speak about who you are the way you

lived faith? John fourteen twenty three. Jesus answered and said,

unto him, if a man love me, he will keep

my words. Is that a difficult attitude to come to?

Is that a surrender or commitment that's too hard to

make for me? For you? Looking at life, looking back

at life, looking presently at life. Faith Faith also means

priorities of eternal value. Philippians three fourteen. Paul said, I

pressed toward the mark for the prize of the high

calling of God in Jesus. And so yes, we looked

down at life. We looked down at the road we're on.

But we must look up. There's a there's a prize

up there that we're aiming at, that we're putting effort into.

Where we're we're heading towards that. Hey, let's go on. Well,

Yet this I say to summarize faith. Faith should be unmistakable,

unshakable and obvious anchor and foundation to our lives. That's

that was first on the list of what this doctor

said he connected with. I guess my feelings about the

experience I'd had. Physical feelings was what the question was about.

Certainly goes went deeper than that, all right. Number two prayer,

he said, it's it's all the prayers. Now. I don't know.

I don't know how he came to that conclusion. I

don't know what he saw, but that's what he said.

So what did prayer mean to that doctoral? I don't

know for sure, don't know what it meant. Did it

mean I'm in a jam I need some outside help?

Does it mean that I need to get something that

I can't get by myself? So does it mean I'm

stuck here? If you'll help me well and I promise

to do better in my life? Probably familiar with those

kinds of philosophies or promises that get made sometimes for

those who aren't as well acquainted with God as they

ought to be. I don't know what his concept was,

but I thought about five different examples of prayer in

the Bible. Four of them are Jesus and one is Paul,

and I'd like to just refer briefly to those and

then summarize it in one word for each. But in

Jesus had what we call model prayer. We call it

the Lord's prayer. It was a model prayer occurs there

Matthew six, verses nine to twelve. But what was that?

What did that prayer include? Well, it started out with

an acknowledgment of God, our Father, which are in heaven.

Goes on to a resignation desire for God's plan. I'd

like your will to be done in earth just like

it is in heaven. What a standard, what a comparison.

That prayer also included some requests, a request for food,

request for forgiveness, and request for victory. I can relate

to that. I need all three of those things, and

sometimes I need them every day, all three of them. Jesus.

Jesus gave that model or that example, it's okay to

ask a heavenly father for that. And then he also

closed with I'll say a rest in God's attributes. You know,

Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory.

That's something to rest in. Write another prayer prayer at

Lazarus Grave, and that occurs in Johnny eleven, verses forty

one and forty two, or read parts of each of

those verses. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father,

I thank THEE that thou hast heard me, and I

knew that thou hearest me always now to me, I'll

make that practical and think if I was writing to

someone with the kind of oh ideas that I think

Jesus had there, I would say I would probably write

something like this, It's good to hear from you. I

always enjoy hearing from you, and I'm comfortable being with you.

Seem to me that's what Jesus was saying as he

communicated with his father. Write another prayer, Jesus prayer in

Gysemine that occurs at least one I'd like to refer

to as in Luke two forty two, where Jesus said, Father,

if thou be willing remove this cup from me, nevertheless,

not my will, but thine be done. That prayer was

prayed in the anguish of a major crisis, the anguish

of a major crisis, and it was humanly dreaded. We

talk about Jesus being fully man and fully God and

I think both show up here in this prayer. Can

can you can you take this away? Can can can

can you relieve me from this distress, this trauma, this situation,

this experience that goes so deep. And then he goes

on to show his divinity, knowing this whole plan, the

whole picture of how this event fit into God's design

from nature, God's plan from nature that carried on all

through the Old Testament and culminated in the New Testament

with the New Covenant with a new high priest that

was an eternal one. And then he said, I'm willing,

I'm willing that will be done. What a prayer. Another

prayer was Jesus prayer on the Cross in Luke twenty

three thirty four. Then said, Jesus, Father, forgive them, for

they know what they do. His life is ebbing away,

he's losing, he's drawing near to the end of consciousness

there as he dies. And yet in those moments, Jesus

took away the barriers for reconciliation between offending man and

a just God, a just requiring God. Jesus took away

the barriers for reconciliation, and he also proved it by

a conversation with his dying neighbor. Dying neighborhood acknowledged that

we're getting what we deserved, we offended, and now we're

paying the ultimate price. Jesus can invade that forgiveness, removing

the barriers. What a prayer, what a savior? Finally, then

number five prayer, and that's prayers Paul to believers. In

Ephesian six eighteen and nineteen. He says praying always. This

of course follows the what we call the Christian armor,

the pieces of armor, and some explanation of what they are,

and then he goes on to say, praying always with

all prayer and supplication in the spirit, and for me

that utterance may be given unto me, that I may

open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of

the Gospel pulls prayer to believers, the frequent exercise of

connection to God for all of life's conditions, all of

life's conditions, for the objective of faithfulness to be God's representing.

So I think Paul was really praying there that I'm

asking for help to be faithful, to do what I'm

supposed to be doing, do what I ought to do

for you, God, where I am right now, in this situation,

in this place, under these conditions. All right, I'd like

to put I'd like to give just five words or

short captions to these. The first prayer Jesus model prayer.

That's contact. What did prayer mean to my doctor? I

don't know. To me prayer means and my other things contact.

I approach God, I want to I want to enter

his presence. I want to sense his audience. The second

prayer at Lazarus Grave prayer's relationship, comfortable relationship. I can

pray to God anytime, I can meet God anywhere. And

sometimes I may be kneeling in prayer. Sometimes I may

be standing in prayer. Sometimes I might be stuck in

some kind of physical position in praying. And I've also

prayed while I was driving my car with my eyes

wide open. Relationship. Well, then the third one of the

prayer in Gisemine prayers surrender. If you have had those

crashes in life, if you've had those experiences where your

mortality was right out this close to you, right in

front of your nose, or other things so serious that

you are against, and it comes to that place of

where I need to say to God It's okay God,

however you want to have this come out, it's okay

with me. I'll let you be in control. I'll let

you decide. It's not always easy to do that. Say

that surrender prayer. Surrender. Then we think about jesus prayer

on the Cross that included his general forgiveness and then

his particular forgiveness. Prayer is a path to reconciliation. Do

you need that? Sometimes I do make a mistake, act stupid,

be a jerk, veer off course, need to be reconciled,

need to get back again, I need to recover. There's

a way to do that prayer. And finally, then Paul's

prayer to believers, I think prayer's maintenance prayers means it's

a good thing to do it, just to take care.

I say sometimes that I'm glad that I'm glad that

we have a midweek service, because sometimes I get so

much dust on me from the world's contact or influence it.

If I had to wait a whole week to get

it washed off again, it'd be pretty thick. I'm thankful

for that midweek meeting to keep that dust washed off

that I've accumulated. Maintenance stay close, stay connected. All right,

Let's go on to number three. Family. Doctor said that family,

and my family was important. Well, my family was around me,

they came in, my father was there in the emergency

room for a while, and my wife and children were

at my room several times in the several days that

I was in the hospital. So in this case, I'll

interpret the term family loosely to go beyond biological connections

to spiritual connections. The people that are close around me,

that are connected either spiritually or biologically to me. And

Paul referred to that in Ephesians two twenty two. By inspiration,

he said, in whom ye also are builded together for

an habitation of God through the spirit. So together we're

a place where God can dwell. So together we minister

reciprocally different directions as we see it's needed, because we're connected,

we feel, we see, we we interact with one another.

Matthew nine. And he stretched forth his hand toward his

disciples and said, behold, my mother and my brethren. So

he went beyond the biological connections to the spiritual connections.

So the family of God that we have in especially

in a local body like this one, it means something

to us. We have that connection, that care, that consciousness,

that affection, that consideration that we see one another. Yes,

I know we in a local body. We know each

other pretty well. And sometimes we say, well, yeah, he's

that way because of or she's yeah, she reflects such

and such. Well, we well have some of those things

that we might call idiosyncrasies or whatever we want to

call it. But can we recognize that we are all

encumbered like that? Can we see beyond that to reach

to each other? I think so. The individuals who furnish comfort,

encouragement and value me in spite of my faults, and

who left me from discouragement to joy, who helped me

look objectively beyond the present, and who share willingly in

my experiences, those are my family, Paul said in Phileman seven,

For we have great joy and consolation in my love

because the bowels of the saints are refreshed by thee brother. Yeah,

we were refreshed when there's a meal brought or a

meal offered. Yeah, that's that's special. But what about what

about your spiritual vowels? What about what you are inside,

where your heart is, what your heart experiences, what your

heart goes through will you reach to a sister or

a brother whose heart is hurt, whose heart is faltering?

And if you're on the other side of the stick,

will you allow someone else to touch your heart? Will

you allow someone else to go ahead and reach way

inside there and encourage and lift and speak to what

you are, where you are, how you are. Family, We're

talking about what does family mean? Well, in the trauma

that I referred to my own experience, why my biological

family was around me and my spiritual family was around me.

The day that I came home from the hospital, which

was on a Sunday, over thirty people I think thirty

seven people stopped to see me, and I just loved it. Well,

I'm a social person, I'm a people person. I enjoyed

that companionship, the closeness, the connections. I enjoyed that it

meant something to me. It lifted me. Family. So God's

people in relationship furnish love, furnished strength, first, furnished support,

and furnish wisdom. Do you ever need some help to think,

think right, to think better, to think more thoroughly? I do.

I'm glad that I've got some thinkers in my local

body that I fellowship with Habitually, I've got some thinkers

there that I can I can tap in and I

can I can feel good about what they say, what

they offer to me. Family. Let's go on to number

four positive attitude again. I know that personalities differ, but

it's unhealthy to have my cup usually just half full.

We're half empty. The comparisons there of just expression. And

I acknowledge that there's some times when I don't have

a positive attitude, but I usually do. I usually do.

I'm thankful for that. I'm thankful to I was raised

by two people that looked at the bright side, that

found good in the difficulties, and I'm happy to have inherited.

That doesn't mean that I don't ever experience hard things.

But again, what does the Bible say that helps me

to go beyond what might be my personal tendency to

be able to develop and display a general positive attitude

about life. Well, one thing that I thought of was

that Jesus intervened in my behalf for me John ten ten,

Jesus said, I am come that they might have life,

and that they might have it more abundantly above average,

extra full. Running over Jesus intervened so that I could

have that no matter what my experience is, no matter

what I'm going through, positive attitude. How about the privileged

status that believers have, that we all have? What does

the Bible say and Ephesians Ephesians two, six, ten and

thirteen we read, and has raised us up together and

made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ. For

we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, under good

works which God hath before ordained that we should walk

in them. But now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes

were far off or made not any boy of the

blood of Christ. Is that something to be positive about?

I think so. I think so positive attitude. I think

that God's promises that benefit me or benefit the outcome

of my life's experiences are something to be positive about.

Some one hundred and nineteen, verse sixty seven, David said,

before I was afflicted, I went astray. But now have

I kept thy word? Can you look at what would

be called afflictions with that kind of an attitude? Before

I had this hard times, well, I was kind of

mixed up. I couldn't stay on the road quite right. Well,

I think about some very difficult times in my life.

That was the times that God chose to teach me

in a way that I would remember better. Roman's eight

twenty eight. Familiar with that one. We know that all

things work together for good to them that love God,

to them who are the cold, according to His purpose,

his purpose. I'd like to have some purposes. I'd like

to I have some aspirations. I've had things that I

wished for in my life, especially when I was younger.

You know, I'd like to do this, or I'd like

to have that God's love, God's call, and what he

offers as objectives. I believe if I'm submitted to that,

then I can see how the hard times mixed with

the good times are good by God's evaluation definition Hebrews

twelve eleven. Now no chastening for the present seems to

be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward he yieldeth the peaceable

fruit of righteousness under them which are exercised thereby. I

always wish that it didn't take so long to get

to the afterward part. That stretch in there where I

wasn't sure why, where I couldn't figure out just what

was the purpose of all this. I wish that would

I could get to the afterward where it'd be peaceful. Well,

we can't. We can't always decide how long these periods

of time are in the chastening and the understanding and

the afterword. But God has it in mine. Can I

let him? Can I let him be in charge to

stay positive? John fifteen to two. Every branch that bear

a fruit, he purchased it that it may bring forth

more fruit. Had a professional come and prune an apple

tree for me earlier. I wanted to see. I wanted

to see just how he would do it, and he could.

At a glance he'd say, well, this is a fruit bud,

this is the leaf bud. And he was all the

time snipping this way, and he had all that in mind.

He could tell at a glance, how like God, or

how God is even very superior to that, to see

where the fruit buds are in my life, the possibilities

of fruit, the opportunities for fruit as compared to the

opportunities to I'll just say, look good, positive attitude. God

gave us free will and power of choice to stay positive.

Matthew nine twenty nine then touched he their eyes, saying,

according to your faith be it unto you is my

faith and your faith such that what I really want

is what God wants, and that God extends that God

supplies that challenge and Philippians four to eleven. The apostle

Paul's testimony, I think, towards the end of his life,

he says, I have learned in whatsoever state I am

therewith to be content. I think the expression of or

description of a positive attitude. Are you content? Have you

learned that? Have you learned contentment through all these experiences

of life? And I'll say a correct interpretation of life's

experiences To have a positive attitude through all that takes

a while lifetime. I think to get onto that with Paul,

you know, he had things to look back at that

he was thankful for. He had also things to look

back at that he wished desperately wouldn't have been the

way they were. He said, I've learned, I've learned something

through all that. Well, God bless you in your approach

to life and your endeavor to have these ingredients for

practical the practical expression, practical evidence of life that God

can bless. So embrace and practice those ingredients for life

that will fill you, that will involve you, that will

satisfy you spiritually and please God.