Behold . Looking In

I'm just going to talk a little bit about Inside Out.

Who's seen, actually not, hands up if you've not seen Inside Out 1.

So you're like, what on earth have I walked into today?

Well, as the name suggests, Inside Out is the movie, and that's a really

strong title for a movie, because life is actually lived inside out.

What's happening in your, I love that quote, that life is

20 percent what happens to you, but 80 percent what happens Inu.

Inu.

And so once we learn about Riley, as a little girl, she's overall, she's a

happy girl, and um, she turns 11 and Joy, her internal emotion, who's now

caricatized internally for her, is she's like, what else could happen?

Actually, lots.

Her family moves to San Francisco, uh, she's lost her home, her previous

home in Minnesota, her friends, her school, her hockey team, and uh, because

Dad's basically got, uh, And, uh, And she's lost, the place where she's

lost all, or she's had all her happy memories, she's not there anymore.

So she's plopped down in this very small house with no yard, school that

no one knows her, or no one likes her.

She's very embarrassed at her new school.

And the emotions take over the control panel.

Everyone say control panel.

The control panel looks a little bit like this, okay?

This is the control panel of Riley's internal structure.

This is her internal world, and these emotions are kind of ruling and reigning,

and Joy kind of takes it upon herself to be the balancing act between the other

four emotions, sadness, anger, disgust, and fear, in order from left to right.

And so the question that comes to mind when I'm thinking about this

is who is at your control panel?

Who is it that's calling the shots in your world?

Whose voice is the loudest in your world, on your inside?

Is your internal world ruled by emotions?

Does anger rule your decisions?

Does fear rule your decisions?

Does sadness or maybe just the need to be happy?

However, it doesn't mean that emotions we experience are

wrong when we think this way.

Because God's made us with emotions.

Do you know what I mean?

Like we're emotional beings.

God made us that way.

So our emotions are real, but But we've got to be careful because emotions

aren't always right in how they lead us.

But they always are present.

And so care must be taken whether we're going to allow our emotions to lead us.

And if we do, human beings have this tendency, and what the Bible calls,

humans can tend to be led by the flesh, when emotions are actually ruling and

reigning and leading your decisions.

And so Romans chapter 8 verses 5 and 6 says this, Those who live according

Romans 8:5

to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires, but those who

live in accordance with the spirit, everyone say spirit, spirit, have their

minds set on what the spirit desires.

The mind governed by the flesh is death, no good.

But the mind governed by the spirit, don't miss this, is what?

Life and peace.

What does God want for you?

He wants life and peace.

Everyone say life and peace.

You've got to get this on the interior of your heart.

What is God's desire for you?

Human beings are designed by God to experience life and peace.

That's how you were designed to be.

That's how you were designed to exist.

Life and peace, experiencing that.

God himself needs to be seated at the control panel of your interior world.

Sitting at the seat, governing, ruling, reigning.

When he's at the governing seat, I tell you, and not ourselves, not our emotions,

the Bible describes that as having a mind that's governed by the Spirit.

So you can inter we can replace God being at the control panel with The

Spirit of God being at the trouble.

So the Spirit of God and God Himself, you cannot separate them.

They're the same.

So when you're led by the Spirit, the Spirit of God, God Himself is

at the control panel of your life.

So what does it look like when you have a mind governed by the Spirit?

Well, I'm glad you asked.

It begins by experiencing the love of God revealed in Jesus work on the cross.

This is where it begins.

Because if we want to get God on the interior, we've got to go

with his plans and his purposes.

And his plans and purposes is the sacrifice of his only son, Jesus, to give

us forgiveness, to cleanse us so that we and God can be reunited one forever.

There's this powerful scene in the movie and O'Reilly's got this imaginary

friend whose name is Bing Bong.

Great name, love it.

And the scene is so moving because Bing Bong has been forgotten.

Riley has forgotten Bing Bong.

Bing Bong is now just this distant memory, long gone.

And Bing Bong and the character Joy, okay, they get lost.

And they fall down the pit where every memory, every situation, that Riley has

experiences into the pit of forgetfulness.

It's into the pit of, it's forgotten.

It's gone.

And this moment, there's this rescue mission that Bing Bong and Joy are

traveling and they're trying to escape the pit by flying in their cart up to the top.

Does anyone know the scene I'm talking about?

It's such a powerful moment, because they try once, they try

twice, and then they're, both of them are in the cart, right?

The cart's pretty heavy.

And Bing Bong believes and realizes that, man, I can't actually get there.

And so he sacrifices himself in order that joy reach the place of actually

re establishing life and joy and peace.

And there's this wonderful sacrificial picture.

And that's, yeah, that's where I've been crying most of the time.

Be able to, you know, because this is the gospel picture.

That Jesus sacrificed himself in order that we would be

elevated to life and peace.

And actually, Jesus is not, no, he's not an imaginary friend.

He's a real friend.

He's so real, in fact, he's alive.

Could you even perceive that Jesus, right now, is flesh and blood?

Where is he?

Mystery, man.

But I tell you, he's real.

He's a real friend.

His name is Jesus.

May we never grow familiar with the reality of the gospel and take

for granted the life and peace that Jesus has purchased for us.

John 17 3, Now this is eternal life, that they know you, the one and true God.

And Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

The life and peace we live is the reality of the light of the

kingdom living inside of us.

Because when you have life and peace, guess what's happening?

Man, there's the light of God living inside of you.

And so I'm gonna ask the band to come up right now and

we're gonna sing a great song.

Megan's gonna lead us with some actions as well.

So everyone stand up.

The prayers of their church family are going with them during that time as well.

All right.

So as Adam said, we are in our.

series, On Behold, which is all about looking and perceiving and gazing.

And so we have looked backwards.

We have looked up and today we are looking in, and this is our key passage

for the thought for this morning from Psalm 85, verse eight to nine.

I will listen to what God, the Lord says.

He promises peace to his people, his faithful servants.

But let them not turn to folly.

Surely his salvation is near those who fear him that his

glory may dwell in our land.

So just a little bit of a recap or if you just jumping into this series

for the first time this morning.

The purpose of this series really is to help us to honor and leverage the

natural rhythms and momentum that happens around this time of year.

Rhythms of reflection and reset to help us to perceive a godly

vision for this year ahead.

And so we see well, don't we, when we don't just look in one

direction, but when we have a broad perspective, we think about driving.

We drive well, don't we, when we're not just focused on what's ahead.

Or on our phone, heaven forbid.

Um, we drive well when we have an awareness of what's behind us

in the traffic, what's around us.

That is when we are positioned to drive well.

And same in this thing called life, and a life of following Jesus.

So we don't just look up.

We don't just look back, we don't just look in, we don't just look ahead.

If we only fix our gaze in one direction, well, we don't live wisely

and we don't live well, and we don't live with a godly vision for the

life that we are being called into.

So Ephesians 5.

15 in the King James Version says, See then that you walk circumspectly.

Not as fools, but as wise.

Circumspectly, from circumference, to walk in a way where you have an awareness.

Awareness of, I guess, a, a all around perspective.

A full perspective.

Circumspect.

So using Psalm 85 to help us reflect.

We are looking back, we're looking up, we're looking in and we're looking ahead

so that we would see well and we would be positioned well with a wisdom and

a perspective that will lead us into this year in a way that honours God,

in a way that is hopefully fruitful.

And so just quickly, the context of Psalm 85.

So this particular psalm is generally thought to have been written after

Israel's return from exile to Babylon.

And the people, the Israelites, they're back in their homeland but they've still

got significant challenges going on.

So there's economic hardships.

There's the struggles with the temple.

Think Ezra and Nehemiah.

They want it rebuilt, but there's a lot of challenges going on there.

And so the psalmist is speaking from a collective perspective.

He's expressing gratitude for God's past mercies and God's restoration in

the past, but he's also seeking help for the now and for the what is ahead.

And so let's just quickly review Psalm 85 for a moment.

So this is the looking back part of the Psalm.

You, Lord, you showed us favor before you've restored the fortunes of Jacob.

You've forgiven the inequity of your people, you've covered their sins,

you've set aside your wrath, and you've turned from your fierce anger.

These are the things that you have done before.

So remember a couple of weeks ago we're encouraged us all to look back

over 2024 and ask that question, what has the Lord done for me?

And to really stop and to think about it and to ask him to give you eyes

to see the ways that he worked in and through you in that past year.

And then, And the psalmist looks us up, so he makes this

request to God for restoration.

Restore us God our Saviour and put away your displeasure towards us.

Will you be angry with us forever?

Will you prolong your anger through all generations?

Will you not revive us again that your people may rejoice in you?

Show us your unfailing love, Lord, and grant us your salvation.

Now this bit here, It's a really interesting part of the psalm and some of

us might feel a little bit uncomfortable with what the psalmist is talking about

here and talking about the anger of God.

But what the psalmist reminds us of here is that, yeah, God does get angry and he

does discipline those he loves because there is consequence to disobedience,

but his anger is not like our anger.

It is always in love.

It is always with restoration as the goal.

The psalmist reminds us here that we can trust in God's love

and compassion and mercy and his willingness to save and restore.

We can trust him.

Remember, his anger is not like our anger.

It's not about retribution and vengeance and frustration.

It is always about redemption and restoration.

And then we look in, which we have already read these verses and we're

going to spend a little bit of time.

Um, pondering just one or two lines in there and then the final part of

this verse to look ahead and that's what Adam will tackle next week.

Love and faithfulness meet together.

Righteousness and peace kiss each other.

Faithfulness springs forth from the earth and righteousness looks down from heaven.

The Lord will lead us.

indeed give what is good.

For those who are set up to receive it, to perceive it, to understand, for

those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, this coming year, the Lord

will indeed give what is good to you.

That is his very nature.

And our land will yield its harvest.

Righteousness goes before him and prepares the way for his life.

Alright, so from our passage for this morning, these few verses, these couple

of verses, verses eight to nine, the psalmist wants to know the peace of God.

We learn that from these couple of verses here.

So he prays that the people won't turn to folly, but let them not turn back.

We all want to know, we all want to live in the peace of God, in God's shalom, in

a place of wholeness and abundant life.

But the only way God's peace is known at a truly experiential level is by

willing, being willing to see the places where we are living in folly.

And then to turn from that folly to God and to His way.

To live circumspectly is to live with a healthy degree of self awareness, And the

humility to live a well examined life.

Andrea read this morning, um, this passage from Psalm 139.

Um, have we got it there?

Yep.

Thanks Don.

Search me God and know my heart.

Test me, know my anxious thoughts.

See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way of everlasting.

This is a wise way to live.

To be asking God, where is folly in my life?

What in my life do I need to turn from?

And the message puts it this way.

Investigate my life, O God.

Find out everything about me.

Cross examine and test me.

Get a clear picture of what I'm about.

See for yourself whether I've done anything wrong.

Then guide me on the road to eternal life.

To live wisely is to live.

with that posture in mind.

So the second half of the verse, let them not turn back to folly.

It captures the heart of repentance.

That's what we're talking about here.

And so the word folly in this context refers to a life characterized by sin

and disobedience, spiritual complacency, a life lived independent of God.

And so in the Old Testament, folly so often contrasted with wisdom.

You'll see that throughout the book of Proverbs, where wisdom involves

living according to God's instruction and ways, and folly represents

rebellion and disregard for his ways.

So to know God's peace, to know his salvation, his restoration, his reviving,

his glory in our lives and in our land requires turning from folly to wisdom.

So if folly is our sin, our disobedience, our out of alignment

with God's good, life giving ways, then we need to be willing to look at

it, to turn from it, to repent of it.

So the psalmist has looked back and remembered what God has done.

He's looked up and he's submitted his request to God and now he

submits himself when he says, I will listen to what the Lord says.

What is God saying to you, perhaps, about your folly?

I know folly is not a word that we regularly use in our vernacular, but

it's actually, it's a really helpful word when it comes to thinking about

the areas of disobedience in our lives, the areas of sin in our life.

To truly see them as folly.

What is God saying to you perhaps about the areas of folly in your life?

What ways, beliefs, behaviors, attitude mark your life that

scripture would actually call folly?

So just like it's folly to desire a life of health and vitality and consume a

diet of mackers and baskin and robbins It is folly to want to live a godly God

honoring abundant life knowing his peace in his presence and not embrace the

gift and a lifestyle of repentance So what might God be saying to you today?

Because we all have areas of folly in our lives Parts of our lives where despite our

desire to live well and wisely, we instead find ourselves doing the very opposite.

Where in your life might God be calling you to a place of repentance?

What folly may he be drawing your attention to, saying,

Let's talk about this.

How about you just stop for a moment and listen to me.

Listen to what I have to say about this part of your life.

Let's have a chat about this.

How about we don't bring this into the new year?

How about you and I do some work and this doesn't become a part

of your story in this new year?

Because you've got to remember the heart of God, yeah?

God doesn't point these things out in our lives because He wants to make us feel

bad, because He wants to discourage us.

He does it because He loves us and He wants us to walk in freedom and He wants

us to know His peace and His joy and the abundant life that Christ came to give us.

The abundant life that we simply cannot receive and take hold of if we're

engaged in behaviors and attitudes that the Bible would refer to as folly.

So a question that has been impressed upon me this past week or so is this

question of what are you tolerating?

What attitudes, behaviours am I tolerating in myself?

What attitudes, behaviours am I justifying or excusing that I know are folly, that

I know are not good, that I know are not right, but in some way I've accepted

them or I've turned a blind eye to them.

And now God's saying, alright.

How about we have a look at that thing?

How about we go on a journey of this?

He is so kind, yeah?

We finally ask this question to you.

What is God saying to you about an area of perhaps folly in your life?

And the voice that you hear is one of condemnation or anger.

That's not the voice of God, just so you know.

That's your own internal dialogue.

You're projecting some other understanding of the character of God.

That's not God.

God is not offended by your sin.

Thank you.

Yeah, so you're free to bring it all before him.

He knows it all anyway.

It doesn't offend him.

So let's just take a moment just to help us in this space of reflection.

Let's just use the Ten Commandments as a bit of a, a bit of a prompt.

As we ponder, as we look in, as we consider that posture of Psalm 139,

where we invite the examination of our very kind, good, patient, compassionate

God into our interior world, and ask Him to examine us and test us.

Let's just use the Word of God as a mirror, starting

with the Ten Commandments.

Where perhaps have you been tolerating the folly of idolatry?

What do you love more than the Lord?

What has the ultimate place of worship in your heart?

What in your life do you think you cannot live?

It is a folly to worship this thing, whatever it might be for you, whether

it's approval, whether it's success, achievement, family, relationships.

Lazar, one famous theologian, said the human heart is an idol factory.

Within this room there is a A ton of different things that will be worshipped.

It's the nature of our heart, we are created for worship.

And part of our brokenness is we always stumble into the folly of

worshipping things other than God.

And it is a folly because these things will never provide what

we are ultimately looking for.

So where perhaps have you been tolerating the folly of not Sabbathing?

There's an interesting one, isn't it?

Where are you living in a way that doesn't honour rhythms of work and

rest that God lays out in His Word?

It is a folly to not live according to these rhythms.

We will pay a price if we just work at 100 percent of the time, if we

don't honour the place of rest in our lives and worshipful rest before God.

We won't find life in that relentless pursuit.

Where have you been tolerating the folly of not honouring your parents?

That's a fun one in this context with the kids in.

Kids, you all hear that one?

It is a folly regardless of how your parents behave.

It is a folly to not honor them.

Because God has set an order in place in the relational world in which we occupy.

Okay?

Ten Commandments said, Thou shalt not murder.

And hopefully nobody in this room is tolerating a murderous

spree right now in their life.

But as Jesus explains in what?

The Sermon on the Mount.

He brings it back to anger in our hearts.

Where have you been tolerating the folly of harboring bitterness

and anger and resentment and unforgiveness towards others?

That is a very great folly that we fall prey to all the time, isn't it?

There is no life to be found in that place.

No peace.

Adultery.

Where have you been tolerating the folly of adultery?

Or as Jesus again takes it deeper in the Sermon on the Mount, the folly of lust.

What are you lusting after, be it a person or a thing or a situation?

Lust never leads to peace and abundant life.

Where have you been tolerating the folly of stealing?

Taking that which isn't yours to take.

Again, going deeper, the folly of greed.

Are you tolerating the folly of greed in your life?

Because it's socially acceptable, isn't it?

And so it's one we very easy tolerate, yeah?

But check out your spending patterns.

You know, how's your giving going?

What is that, what story do your finances tell?

Do finances tell a story of a person of generosity?

who trusts the Lord to be their provider?

Or do your finances tell a story of folly, that it's all about what you can get?

Material items, experiences, what story do your finances tell?

Again, I say these things with no guilt, shame or condemnation.

Okay, I stand here as one who is guilty of every single one of

these follies, just like you are.

But the Lord invites us into a space of repentance, doesn't he?

Not to shame us, to condemn us, but to free us, to liberate us,

that we would know the peace that he desperately wants us to know.

Where are you tolerating the folly of lying?

Where are you tolerating the folly of coveting, of envy, of comparison?

And I just Put these out there as prompts for you and see what lands.

Okay, don't walk out of this room going.

Oh my gosh I've got every single one of those

No, this is the gift of praying psalm 139 is right You don't have

to you don't have to fix them all I tell you that is one of our greatest

follies Oh my gosh, I've got this sin.

Now I've got to go fix it.

Right?

No.

Okay?

You can't fix it.

That's the whole point.

That's why Jesus had to die for it.

Okay?

So now you bring it to Him and you listen to what the Lord has

to say to you about that thing.

And you listen.

And you sit with Him.

And you see what He has to say.

Our stories in here are every single one unique.

There is no blanket prescription for these things that I have read out.

Okay, our brokennesses are unique.

Our family of origin, where we have inherited all these things.

And so it takes a God who knows us personally to be able to walk us

into freedom in these places, yeah?

And when He does, and when you journey deliverance from sin in this way, You must

come to a place of thankfulness for it.

Lord, I praise you for this in my life because this is the

thing that drove me to you.

And this is the thing that enabled me to experience your grace and

your mercy and your compassion.

One of our greatest follies is to not take our sin to the Lord and

to try and deal with it ourselves.

He is kind, he is compassionate, and he is not offended by your

brokenness and by your sinfulness.

Not at all.

He welcomes you, says, come to me.

Let us talk about this.

All right, team, how about you come on up.

Church, how about you close your eyes for a moment

and let's just take a moment to invite the Holy Spirit to come, to

test us, to know us, to reveal in us,

in God's good timing, an area of folly in our life that the Lord is

saying, come and let's talk about this.

Come and listen to me and see what I have to say.

about this.

Holy Spirit, would you come?

Would you examine our hearts?

Would you examine our interior world?

Would you lead us into a place of repentance?

Help us to have eyes to see, to not be afraid, to look at our broken

parts, the darkness that can dwell in our hearts, the fears, the

anxieties, the grasping, and the pain.

The clinging,

the giving over of ourselves to things that we know are not good

and yet somehow we are so compelled.

But you are the one who came to set the captives free.

And Lord, it doesn't matter what a single soul here this morning has done.

Your grace is sufficient.

You are so kind and you are so good.

So Lord, may this year we be so bold and willing.

To step into this posture of repentance of being so willing to lay our whole

hearts and souls bare before you, knowing that we can trust you, knowing

that your heart is only for our good.

Lord, grant us the revelation that will lead us to true repentance,

that will lead us into your gracious, liberating presence.

And that will lead us into a knowing of your peace that

surpasses all understanding.

In Jesus name.

Alright church, how about you stand?

What we're going to do now as we close the service, we're going to be

singing a song called I Surrender All.

And what I want you to think about this morning as we sing this song

together is what is your folly that you are surrendering to Him this morning?

What is it for you without guilt, shame or condemnation?

What do you yield to him and entrust to him?

Amen.