You Didn’t Just Sign Up for a Ticket to Heaven // Daniel Batarseh

If you have your Bibles, if you could flip to Romans chapter 12 with me.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

Romans chapter 12.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

We'll be in verses 1 and 2 of Romans chapter 12.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

Romans 12 reads, I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

You may be seated.

This week we're continuing our series through the Patriarchs, but we're picking up with our friend Joshua, who is the man who took over command of Israel after Moses.

He'll be in Joshua this morning.

But I want to begin by telling you guys a story from a few years back now.

I used to coach eighth grade baseball in Upper Arlington, and it was a riot.

There is a guy on this team, and in practice, this dude was one of the best hitters we had, no question.

He was really strong and significantly stronger than his peers, and he had a unique ability to see the ball, which in eighth grade was quite impressive, if I'm honest.

So when our first few games roll around, we started to notice something off about this guy.

Every time he got up to the plate, it seems like he couldn't hit water if he fell out of a boat.

It was one of those things, I was like, what happened?

It's like in practice, I see this and this potential and this opportunity, but in games, he would fall apart.

So before one of our games, I pulled him aside and we sat down on the bench together, and I asked him, What goes through your minds when you're at the plate?

And with tears in his eyes, he tells me, I'm thinking about the car ride home if I don't get a hit.

And he would later describe to me that his mom would yell at him if he didn't perform well in the game.

So I was like, I have an idea.

This game, why don't you think about literally anything else?

I don't know, like that baseball's fun, or that like you like the color of your bat, literally anything else.

So he gets up to the plate, and you can tell he's like a little focused, he grabs the bat the bat a little extra tighter, and he gets up there and he cranks a line drive to right center field, he gets a single, and I kid you not, when he got to first base, he broke down crying and laughing in my arms.

And I was like, this is great, but you've got to lead off.

Like, we're still in the middle of a game here.

But what I learned in this moment is that this kid was so stuck in his thinking that it completely changed his enjoyment and ability to perform in the game.

And this morning, we're gonna see how transforming who we are is a key to living the full life in God.

That God actually wants us to change.

We've been tracing a single story throughout this series in the Patriarchs, a story that God creates, that humanity rebels, and that God doesn't abandon his people, but he actually moves towards them in the midst of their rebellion.

We've seen this through the Ark, through Abraham, through Isaac, through Jacob, through Moses, and this week we're picking up with Joshua, the man who took command from Moses.

And the central idea for this morning is that God's invitation isn't simply to lead like Joshua, it's to be transformed like Joshua was transformed.

Joshua led the people of Israel, which was millions of people, but the image here is that it wasn't about how he led, but it was about how he was transformed leading up to it.

Let's pray.

Father, I ask that this morning is one where you open our eyes to see the truth in your word.

I pray that your scripture becomes life to us, that your breath is on this as we read it, and it nourishes the deepest parts of our soul.

That we don't just read this as a good book, Lord, but I pray that this morning these words be life for us.

They strengthen us and build us, they encourage us and sharpen us.

So, Holy Spirit, I pray that your word comes to life and that your presence is with us in Jesus' name.

Amen.

How are you guys doing today?

It's a good Sunday, we enjoying the weather.

I certainly am.

I've been getting my tanning on.

I'm totally kidding.

But I've been thinking recently that one of the things that has drawn me most to Jesus has been this idea that he doesn't leave me where I am.

And not in the sense of him coming close to comfort me, but in the sense that he actually changes me.

I don't know about you guys, but the Danny before Jesus is not the Danny I want to be after Jesus.

And if I'm being really honest, the Danny that I am right now, I don't want to be my whole life.

And it's one of those things where I realize that not only did Jesus die for me, but he gave me an opportunity to change.

That after I gave my life with him, he made a way so that the broken stuff in my life that just happens to linger around, he's actually made a way that I can change.

It's one of my favorite things that I've gotten to enjoy.

And recently I've learned that my willingness to change and my action in changing is actually worship to God.

And Joshua, according to historical timelines, had taken one of the most significant transformations of the people of Israel.

If you track the timelines of Joshua, you would see that he began his journey as a slave in Egypt.

He was with all of the people of Israel in slavery with no voice, no life, no identity, and no purpose, just stuck.

And then later on we see that he actually ended up leading the free people of Israel.

It's one of the most significant transformations you can see of someone.

Stuck, enslaved, and voiceless to empowered, identity-driven, and has the loudest voice of a generation.

It's a significant transformation.

And it's one that we are going to learn from this morning.

So we're going to begin with the first scripture that mentions Joshua in the Bible, and it's going to be our first point this morning in Exodus 17, verses 8.

Exodus 17:8

And that is the point, if you like to take note.

It's just that scripture reference.

It says in 17 8.

So Moses said to Joshua, choose for us men and go out and fight with Amalek.

Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.

So Joshua did as Moses told him, and he fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and her went on the top of the hill.

Super profound, right?

Not really.

You may read that on first glance, and you're like, what's so significant about this scripture?

But this is the first mention of Joshua in the Bible, and I think there's something in here for each of us to carry as we walk in our journey of being changed into the image and likeness of God.

This was a little bit after the Israelites had been set free from captivity in Egypt and were in the wilderness.

And Joshua, again, big future ahead of him.

He doesn't know it yet, but we do.

This is unique because this very, very simple truth is that Moses didn't have to compel Joshua to act.

Joshua was already in action when Moses found him.

It seems very simple, but if you look closely at the language in Scripture, Moses didn't spend his time telling Joshua he needed to start doing something.

He simply noticed that Joshua was acting and entrusted him with responsibility.

It's an image of activity, not passivity.

And the thing for us to consider with this is our own lives and our transformation with God.

Are we often found in action or in passivity?

Joshua, he was found in action.

He was found putting his hands to the plow and serving his people.

It wasn't an image of sitting around and waiting, it was an image of action.

And for us, it's so easy to feel like we're in action if the people around us are.

But the question I have for you, quite simply, are you in action?

When it comes to the kingdom of God coming to earth and your life being changed, would you be found sitting and waiting or engaging in activity?

One of the primary reasons that the Holy Spirit came on Pentecost, as it says in Acts 8, was to bring power so that we could be witnesses to Christ.

And in the Danny translation, it's He came so that we would do something.

He gave us power.

Why?

To do something.

And if we're found not doing anything, then we're not engaging with the very reason the Holy Spirit came.

We're hoping for the benefits of life in God without the action that he invites us into.

This was not a mistake that Joshua made.

And as Joshua was in action serving, how can you get in on the action and serve to advance the kingdom of God?

That might look like serving on a Sunday.

If you're a part of this community, I think you should really consider about serving.

It is one of the most basic ways to show a community that you're with them.

And if you want 614 to be your home when you attend here, that is not being a part of this community, just showing up.

Being a part of a community is when you contribute to the community.

Have you got your hands in?

Have you gotten your hands a little dirty?

Have you stacked a few chairs or mopped the floor?

Additionally, outside of Sunday mornings, are you in a group with people?

Are you connected in such a way where your heart is open to others?

Do you care for the poor?

Do you invite your neighbors over for a meal?

Things that are talked about in this word for Christians to do, not out of obligation, but because Jesus has a genuine desire for the kingdom to come to earth and he chose to use you.

Joshua was found in action.

Will you be as well?

Point two.

You with me?

This is all in love.

Exodus 32.

Exodus 32, verse 16.

Exodus 32:16

Exodus 32, 16 reads, The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God engraved on the tablets, speaking of the Ten Commandments.

And it says, When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they had shouted, he said to Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp.

But he said, It is not the sound of shouting for victory, or the sound of the cry of defeat, but the sound of singing that I hear.

Incredibly profound, right?

Yeah, not really.

On face value.

So easy to read these scriptures and move on of what is actually in there.

I don't know, I'll move on.

But there is something so beautiful in here.

Over the last few weeks, we've covered the story of Moses.

And there was a time when Moses went up to get the Ten Commandments from the Lord.

And when he came back, he found that the people of Israel had built a golden calf and worshiped with it.

It's a ridiculous transition of being set free from slavery and then going back to Egyptian worship.

But what's fascinating about this text is this text shows us that there were two people in all of Israel who didn't worship the calf.

Moses and Joshua.

Joshua was the only other one written in Scripture that was shown to not be there when all of Israel had rebelled against God to worship with a golden calf.

Fascinating, isn't it?

So, what is it that we can pull out of this for our lives?

It's a question that I wrestled with over this week.

And where I got to see the difference in Joshua versus everyone else is that his positioning protected him against the influences of others.

Where he was waiting on Moses, serving Moses, caring for Moses, it led him to a place where he was on a mountain waiting for Moses to hear from God.

Not only did that draw him close to God, but it protected him from the influences around him.

It protected him from having his image of God contorted to match everyone else.

Where you position yourself determines what you're exposed to.

And proximity to God isn't just spiritually enriching, it's protective, leaving you less exposed to being corrupt by the world.

And each of us, we have the same invitation all of the time.

Are we going to position ourselves in such a way that the corruption of the world doesn't change who we are?

Every single day, all of us are exposed to microdosing of sinful worldly culture.

Every day.

And that's the world that we live in.

We're just being dosed little by little by little by little.

Whether it's through scrolling, every single reel we see teaches us something.

Every single song we listen to teaches us something.

Every single movie we watch, it teaches us something.

And it's telling something to us, whether we realize it or not.

It's just a micro-dosing.

Every moment that over a long time is going to completely change who we are.

Are we aware of the influences around us and how they're affecting us?

Joshua was positioned in such a way that the influence around him was protected from being made into the world.

And we as people who want to be like Christ have to be aware of what we're consuming, have to be aware of what's on our calendar.

We have to be aware of what we allow to enter our eyes and our ears.

Because what it's doing, whether we choose to realize it or not, is changing us.

And it could be for the good if we have really good influences.

But oftentimes, due to the nature of the world we live in, it's not so good.

And it makes us into people that you and I don't want to be.

Exodus 331.

Exodus 331.

It says, Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.

When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.

The tent of meeting is where Moses would speak to God face to face.

And at this point in Joshua's journey, he had become Moses' aide or personal assistant or right hand man, whatever language you want to use.

So reading this story, it's like, wow, like Joshua is in the tent.

But the truth is, Joshua very well could have been expected to be there because he was Moses' right-hand man.

He went everywhere with Moses.

So the fact that Joshua was in the presence of God and in the tent, it's cool, but it isn't what we have to extract from this tent.

Moses was the very thing that could have made Joshua feel obligated to be in God's presence.

But the most revealing part of Joshua is that when Moses left the tent, when his obligation left the tent, Joshua stayed.

Not because he had to, but because he chose to.

He simply wouldn't leave.

In all of Scripture, this is one of the single most revealing verses about the character that Joshua had.

His action revealed his heart, and his heart revealed that he was there with God because he wanted to be.

I don't know if you guys have ever felt obligated to come to church, or if you've served here, if you've ever felt obligated to hit accept for the Planning Center invite to serve that week, or if you've read your Bible plan that morning because you had to get through the three chapters, or if you've prayed because it's the right Christian thing to do.

All of those, whether we want to put the label on it or not, are some forms of obligation.

Some form of I do this because I want this outcome, or I do this because I'm asked to, or I do this because I should.

But what we see here is what happens when the obligation is removed.

What happens when you don't have to wake up early to be with Jesus?

What happens when you're not serving and you had a full weekend and want to skip church that week?

What happens when you haven't spent time with community but you're really busy, so it's okay?

What is revealed in our heart when the obligation of life in God is removed?

How often do we find ourselves waking up early in the morning?

Not because we have to, but because we want to?

Or how often do we get through our Bible plan and just keep going?

Or how often is God ministering to us and we just decide to stay?

What's happening in this text is that every reason that Joshua felt obliged to be in God's presence was removed.

And he stayed there.

Not because he had to, not because he was expected to, but he genuinely desired to be in God's presence.

If I'm honest, I've been at the church now for on staff here full-time for four years.

I have a lot of obligation when it comes to being in God's presence.

When it comes to teaching, when it comes to sitting with people, when it comes to praying for the ministry or what God is doing, I have every excuse under the sun at times to be in God's presence because I have to.

There's just stuff to do.

But the times where I feel most rich in God are often the ones where I'm with him simply because I want to be.

Not because I'm preaching that week, not because I'm praying for a meeting I have with someone, not because there's a decision about the future that we're praying into, not because there's something to discern, not because there's an issue that needs interceded for, but simply because I want to be there, with no agenda but to sit there and enjoy him.

Those moments are so precious to me.

And those are moments that God has for all of us, where the obligation to be in his presence is removed and the purity of our hearts can be revealed.

Because sometimes when the obligation is removed, we just don't want to.

And there's no shame in that, but it is revealing.

And it teaches us something about who we are in the life that we've been building.

When there's no obligation, do we still choose Christ?

Joshua displayed a purity of heart.

Next, we see not a reason that Joshua was pure in heart, and not a reason that he was transformed, but it's a clear fruit of his transformation.

Something is revealed in Numbers 13 and 14 that teaches us about the journey that Joshua had gone on and how it made him different from everyone else.

In Numbers 13 and 14, you see Moses commission twelve spies to go into the land of Canaan, which God had promised to those people.

And Moses commissioned these 12 spies and he said, Hey, I want you to go into this land, I want you to decide if it's good fruit, if there's good land, and if the men there are strong, in the sense of, can we take them in battle?

So the 12 spies go in, they do their scouting, they do their report cards, I don't know what they did.

But they come back, and ten of the men came back with a report something like this The land is beautiful, the grapes and the fruit is wonderful, it is flowing with life.

But the men are giants, and compared to them, we are like small grasshoppers, and if we go into that land, our families will become their prey, is what they said.

Quite interesting, hey?

Joshua and Caleb come, and in Numbers 14 5, we see a little bit of the interaction that we had with Joshua and Caleb, and no need to turn.

I'm just gonna read it for us.

In Numbers 14 5, it says, Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before the assembly of the congregation of all the people of Israel.

And Joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jephanah, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes and said to all the congregation of the people of Israel The land which we pass through to spy it out is an exceedingly good land.

If the Lord Delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey.

Only do not rebel against the Lord, and do not fear the people of the land, for they are bred for us, their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us.

Do not fear them.

Then all the congregation said to stone them with stones.

I don't know what else they'd stone them with.

But the glory of all the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all the people of Israel.

The fruit of Joshua's formation is that he was able to take the same scenario that everyone else took, but he was able to see it with the eyes of God.

The ten men went in there, the land is good, but the men will conquer us.

Joshua and Caleb going, The land is good and God will provide for us.

In the midst of the same scenario, Joshua and Caleb had a different sight than everyone else did.

They were able to see with the way the Lord would provide.

Their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us.

Do not fear them.

Has anybody ever wrestled with fear of man or fear of people or influences?

If you didn't raise your hands, you should come up here next week.

It's something that we all wrestle with.

Because we live in a world where it's so easy to look at those around us and experience fear.

But the fruit of Joshua's life and the fruit of Caleb's life was a life that saw with God's perspective.

That yes, the men are big and strong, but the Lord will provide.

It's not saying no, the men are weak.

No, the men were giants.

They're from the Amalekites, which were big people.

But the Lord will provide.

If we reflect on Joshua's life, we see that his calendar, in a sense, reflected who he wanted to be.

He was on the mountain.

He was in the tent.

Those are calendar items in modern day language.

His calendar reflected who he wanted to be.

And when it mattered, what came out of him was a purity in his ability to see God.

It's in the same way you don't train an athlete to play well in the middle of a game.

You train in practice.

Joshua's life trained him and changed him.

And that's the difference between Christian maturity versus simply trying to be good.

One is a changed lifestyle, and the other is a momentary effort.

Joshua gave us an image of a changed lifestyle.

One of the challenging things, though, about being transformed to know God and be like him is that God, in many ways, gives us a choice if we want to pursue him in that way.

If we want to seek him in a way that changes who we are.

A few weeks ago, I was in Florida and I was on a dolphin boat.

Highly recommend.

A lot of dolphins.

And my sister-in-law, she felt from the Lord that she had a word of knowledge for one of the crewmates.

So she felt that the crewmate had an injury in his body and she wanted to go share it.

She goes up to him, she shares it.

He did have that injury.

She got to pray with him.

Really cool time.

But at the end of this time, we were debriefing, for lack of better terms.

And she mentioned that when the Lord prompted that for her, she almost asked back, Do I really need to do that?

And the Lord, so gently and so kindly said, No, you don't.

And in that moment, she realized that the Lord wasn't forcing her to act, but he was inviting her into more.

And when she realized that she wasn't being forced to obey, but being invited into more, it almost felt like an easy decision.

More of God or not.

And in the same way, when it comes to being made into the image of God, each of us have that kind of choice.

We're not being forced or pressured or pushed, but it's an invitation.

Do you want to be like God?

Do you want to know the full life?

Do you want to worship Him?

Do you want to honor Him?

And that's an invitation that each and every one of us, each and every day, have to make for ourselves.

If you've been following Jesus for any length of time, you will have quickly found out that it's not all sunshine and rainbows.

It isn't perfect.

We're not perfect.

It's messy at times.

We don't know how to be perfect.

And if you do, you're wrong.

And there are so many things about this life in Jesus that it seems like we have more questions than answers.

But the invitation remains the same.

That in the midst of difficulty, in the midst of uncertainty, in the midst of situational difficulty, are we willing to seek more of Christ?

It's just a picture of God's hand out to us.

He's right there and waiting.

But we have to do the difficult thing and act.

We have to do the difficult thing and obey.

That if we're in sin, we actually have to change.

We have to stop.

And if we're rejecting God and not seeking his presence, then why would we expect to have the benefits of his presence?

He's not forcing these things upon us, but he's inviting us to join him so that we can be changed.

For those of you that have already given your life to Jesus, whether someone told you this or not, and whether you realize it, this kind of change is what you signed up for.

You didn't just sign up for a ticket to heaven and that's it.

If you did, I deeply apologize.

That's not it.

This life in God is a journey and sometimes it's a trek.

Because everything in the world, the kingdom of darkness, is attacking the kingdom of heaven at every given moment.

The enemy doesn't take days off to give us a break just to coast.

But we have to engage in such a way where we're saying, God, I'm going to fight for you.

I'm going to fight to know you, to bless you, and love you.

You've given everything for me.

Lord, help me to give everything to you.

In Romans 12, verse 1, it says that being a living sacrifice is our spiritual worship.

Romans 12:1

And it's a very confusing translation.

What it literally means is our rational worship.

The literal definition means, if you take it in its context, it's saying if you look at what God did, the only rational response is to give him everything.

Laying our life down for God, weighed up against his sacrifice, is the only logical answer.

If you actually see God rightly, to not see God rightly and still try to do this life is just pure exhaustion.

It's fatigue, it's burnout, it's bitterness, it's anger, it's self-consumption, and it's not the life that God has for you and I.

No one is forced to do the Christian life, but we are invited to leave the old ways of self-worship and contorted defaults to die as we take hold of God and let him change us.

Joshua was in the midst of a generation where everyone around him was contorted.

Did you know that there were only two people of the entire generation of Israel that actually was entered into the promised land that was in slavery?

Two people of millions of people, two of them got to enter the promised land.

Only the children got to go.

It was Joshua and Caleb.

They were the only two people in all of the generation that were found pure in heart.

Everyone else let the influence and pressure of Egypt change them in such a way that they just kept turning from God.

I want to be like Joshua and Caleb.

Because like that, there's more of God on the other side of it.

And again, I don't know about you guys, but the world that I am seeing right now, I am completely disinterested in being like it.

He was already on the baseball field, but when he changed his thinking, his experience of the baseball field completely changed.

And in the same way, for those of us who are walking with Jesus, we're already on the field.

But I believe that God wants to change the way that we think so that our experience of him, our experience of walking with God will change.

Because on the other side of us being willing to change is a greater understanding of God, a greater understanding of joy, a greater understanding of purpose, a greater understanding of identity, a greater witness to those around us.

There's enough broken people around me that I can't help but want to be a witness.

They're dying and they're in pain and they're hurting, and God placed me there to love them.

That makes me want to change.

It makes me want to be someone who can love and care in such a way that's different than the world.

Because if I look like the world, they're not going to see anything different.

Why would they follow Jesus?

If he still leaves you to pain and bitterness and dirt, but Jesus is inviting us to be different.

It's the kingdom of God versus the kingdom of darkness.

The kingdom of God always wins if you invite him in.

And I believe for us who are already walking with the Lord, there is a new way of thinking that we need to take on.

A way of thinking like Joshua, where we prioritize God's presence, where we sit and we stay in God's presence until he changes us.

Do we ever do that?

Do we ever find ourselves in such need of God that we just stay?

I wonder if Joshua knew that if he didn't stay in that tent, that he would be just like everyone else.

It doesn't say that, but I wonder sometimes.

What motivated him to stay?

And I wonder if he just saw the rebellion of all the other people of God around him.

But that doesn't have to be you and I.

As a body of believers in all of the wonderful churches and communities in this city, what a cool image would it be if the Church of Columbus and the church of the world decided, let's just do what this says.

I'm going to invite us to stand.

And the prayer ministry team can come forward as well.

If you've never given your life to Jesus, if you've never started the journey with Christ, I'm going to invite you to come forward to pray with the prayer ministry team because it's a decision that is costly.

Changing is never comfortable.

The Bible defines the Holy Spirit.

One of his names is the comforter.

To live a life not in need of the comforter is to live a life not in need of God.

If we've built comfort all around us, then we're essentially saying, I don't need you, Lord.

But that isn't the invitation he has for us this morning.

And that's not the life he's called this church to live.

He called us to be a people who love the lost, who contend for community and purity before Christ, and at the end of the day, who genuinely desire to be different.

Father, we thank you that not only did you send your son to die for us, but you sent the Holy Spirit to dwell within us, to motivate us, stir us, and compel us to be people of action.

And Lord, sometimes maybe that action is staying in your presence.

And Lord, sometimes that action is taking courage and preaching the good news of Jesus to our neighbors.

But God, whatever it be, will you invite us in a personal way to be different?

To take note of the influences around us, the people, the media, the thoughts in our mind.

Lord, whatever influences are in our life, Lord, I pray that you help us to see you in the midst of it.

God, I ask that your presence even now is in this place.

Holy Spirit, I pray that as we worship you through song, that we begin again to give you ourselves.

We return again to an undignified worship.

A worship that is free.

A worship full of joy and life.

That we can celebrate because we are free people.

We are a free people.

Now, God, I pray that you help us to take hold of that freedom.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.