A Holy Life Checklist

But yes, for for nine weeks now, uh Justin's been teaching us about what Jesus wants.

And because of a a um connection with military, I want to first talk about something that I had to deal with every day when I was flying in the Navy, and that's our NATOPS manual.

Now, any of you that have any connection with Navy Layer know, and here's what it looked like in that day.

It was a book.

And it that I couldn't find one with my plane, the S3, on it, but this one's the A7, and all of them look the same.

It's it was a big book, big uh folder, binder, blue binder, and we had to know it cover to cover.

And um that was how it explained everything that we needed to do to make certain that we knew what we were doing.

Now there's some foundational stuff.

You just didn't learn this book and go off and fly.

Obviously, there was a year of flight training, then a year of advanced or a half a year of advanced flight training.

And yeah, in the squadron, I was assigned to be the NATO's training officer, so I had to make sure that the my fellow flight officers knew that forwards and backwards and knew it all the time.

Along with the NATOPs manual, however, and what I want to focus on is something that was always associated with it, and it was what comes on the slide now, it was the checklist.

And this covered any emergency you could possibly think of.

It covered the pre-flight, which was often a couple pages.

You were just going through the list.

Yes, you knew it, but especially in an emergency, the last thing you wanted to do is forget some important step in the midst of your anxiety or fears or concerns.

So there was always a checklist.

And I guess as I've been thinking about those years ago in the Navy, I thought about the NATOPS manual and the the checklist.

There was always a checklist.

But I realized there's some other checklists that we use.

My wife and I in the recur in the uh encouragement from our whole family ended up with a new car.

And here we are in our 70s driving a Tesla.

Talk about a different way to drive.

The first thing we had to learn was that everything associated with the purchase and operation of that vehicle.

Well, I think that's sideways.

Yeah.

Okay.

Uh that's what you see when you get in there if your hold head your head is sideways.

Uh there's no instrumentation whatsoever that you're looking at.

In fact, you can't even get in the car, though it's yours.

You can and you're making payments on it.

You can't even get into it without the app, which is on your phone.

And I try not to carry my phone around all the time.

I know for those of you under the age of 40, you think that's absurd.

I I'm still learning.

Gotta remember to pick up my phone, because I'll go out into the garage to get in the car and realize, oh, I don't have my phone.

I can't get in the car.

It won't open the door.

So I have to go through the checklist.

I go back in the house, I get my phone, I walk in and and and and you know, it's got a name.

Yeah, it does.

Jill decided that she'd combine Fred and Jill, and it's called Thrill.

It's not mine.

I I didn't I didn't choose that.

That was Jill.

After 50 plus years, I decided, okay, we'll go with that number.

Uh it is fun to drive, but I have to have my app.

I have to have my phone.

And as soon as I open the door, the computer screen comes up with my name on it, my music starts playing, the side mirrors all adjust, the seat all adjusts, and I sit in the vehicle.

And the car already knows that I want to reverse out of the garage.

So I tell what the navigation is, and it says, uh, touch the brake to stop to go backwards.

I went, oh, there's no shifting mechanism.

Oh, you can imagine the fun.

When when the first day we got the car, we arrive at the time we're supposed to, and we hand in one little paper, which was the title from our previous car, sign a couple documents.

It took on what about three minutes or so to sign the paperwork.

And he says, Okay, your car's right out there.

He says, You've already got the app, so you're all set.

Oh, he said, but confirm the VIN number.

I said, Where's that?

He said, on the door.

Just go on your app and just confirm that that's the one you're you're purchasing.

So I did.

And he said, If you have any questions, come on back and get me.

So I went back and got him and said, he said, Yes, sir, can I help you?

And I said, How do I adjust the seat?

And he showed me and he said, Okay, you're good to go.

And I looked at Jill, she looks at me and we go, You've got to be kidding me.

So we've been working through the checklist, going through the checklist.

But you know what I I've thought of.

We have to we deal with that all the time, don't we, in this culture?

Every time we go to the doctor, oh my goodness.

Checklist after checklist.

And we go, didn't we go through this six months ago or a year ago?

Oh, then then I had the flashback to being a parent with kids for school.

How many checklists do you go through in your mind?

Checklist going to get the kids off to school starting the first day, checklist every day to make sure they've got what they need to go, checklist to go to the store.

Uh in business, it's checklists.

You want a checklist, go and meet with the HR officer.

Try to get a new job.

All these checklists.

So I thought that might be a helpful way to at least consider these weeks that Justin has been walking us through what Jesus wants.

He's taken made nine separate points to help us to understand on this extraordinary chapter.

There is nothing else like it in Scripture.

It is Jesus, the Son of God, praying to his Father.

No, we don't understand any of that, of course not.

But it's it's what he's saying is important about what he's about to do when going to the cross for us.

You know, this is this is really significant stuff.

In fact, if I were asked what are the three or four most significant chapters in Scripture, I would have to include this one.

Now, there's some foundational stuff.

First, if you're gonna if we're gonna understand it, this is not for unbelievers, this is not for outsiders, this is not for uh for the naysayers and all the rest.

This is for folks who are interested and committed to this way of life, that we want to walk with Jesus.

We want to follow Jesus.

What's gone before it is for the disciples, up to three years of following him and trying to figure out who he is and what he wants us to do.

Then it had that amazing chapters 12 through 16 of John.

It's the in the upper room having the Lord's Supper, and he's just washed their feet.

They didn't understand that at all.

And he says, You call me teacher and Lord, and so I am.

So there's that foundation.

It's all the foundation in those teachings that he teaches us he is the vine, he's the vine, we're the branches.

He teaches he is the way, the truth, and the life.

That only makes sense for people who have accepted Christ.

Think about it.

He teaches us about the Holy Spirit and the need for the Holy Spirit and the blessing it will be that he for him to depart so that we can have the Holy Spirit within to guide us.

He teaches all that before we get to John 17, this final prayer, which I was taught many years ago, it really is the Lord's prayer.

What we learn in the Gospels when the disciples said, Lord, teach us to pray, and we know of as our Father who art in heaven, and so on.

And that's really the disciples' prayer.

That's the prayer we pray.

Jill and I pray it every day.

But um this is his prayer, John 17.

This is the Lord's prayer, it's his prayer to the Father about what's important in life.

It's um, if you will, for those of us who have been baptized or have made that decision or about to make that decision and a desire to live a different way of life.

John 17 is like the holy life checklist.

I I kid you not, and I've never thought about that until I was preparing this week.

When Justin told me he just wants me to wrap it all up, I went, nine weeks, wrap it up.

And and the Lord woke me up during the night and said, Natops, manual, checklist.

And I went, Oh my goodness, that's exactly what it is.

So, yes, I opened up our His Hands app.

I went through the nine weeks and I went, Oh God.

And he said, Yes.

And I said, Here's a checklist for holy living.

And he went, Yes.

Um and and and please, if if you're relatively new to the faith, I'm not talking about rules.

I'm not talking about people getting after you if you aren't following this.

I'm just uh a checklist, just like you use a checklist for anything, grocery shopping or anything.

It's just how am I doing in this check?

How am I doing in this?

Oh, not so good this week.

How am I doing in this?

Not so good this week.

Okay.

But he's provided us a holy life checklist.

Holy, the word kadosh, means set apart.

Just means no longer am I gonna look at my life with what I've learned as a kid.

No longer am I gonna believe that I can be good enough for God or that I can I have to carry around all my mistakes for the rest of my life.

No, I'm not gonna live that way anymore.

I'm not gonna live listening to the world.

I'm gonna seek to live by the Spirit.

And this is a checklist to do that.

For example, obviously one of the things that Jesus prays about in John 17 is that we need to love one another as he loves us.

And Justin, as he taught us just a few weeks ago, said we got to be real careful about that, don't we?

Because we choose to love, and then we get disappointed when people don't live up to our standard.

Remember that?

Nod your head or say, Yeah, we remember, Fred, that sermon wasn't that just a few weeks ago.

And and that we have to accept people where they are.

We love them where they are.

Boy, that's hard, isn't it?

Because in this culture, most of our initial thoughts are negative.

Guy cuts us off on the in the road and we have some words to say.

Or we want to speed up so they can't get in front of us.

Yeah, and to give all that up and say, no, I'm going to love.

Maybe that person has a need.

Just saying.

Does that make sense?

And our family and all the rest of it, instead of them having to live up to our expectation, whether they're our kids, our spouses, our parents, whatever, that we love them where they are.

And we come alongside.

That was one of them.

And is that something we can say, check, check?

Or um that we're to seek the Lord, that we're to be kept by God so he protects us from the evil one.

And we just decide, as Jesus said, abide in me and I in you.

That was another one of the nine.

And I went, okay, am I trying to be kept in the Lord's presence?

So I'm not being swayed by all the stuff out there.

Hmm.

But there's a few of them that as I was praying through it this week, I'm going, oh yeah, these are these are really deep dive stuff.

These are these are points that I want on my on my checklist.

I want to, for example, uh last week, level one uh relationship.

Anyone remember that?

Because remember, we don't come here for information.

You can get information online.

We're here in the community of the spirit with brothers and sisters, not for information, but for transformation.

So, what what did Jesus say in John 17?

Oh, great.

Just lost the page.

I'll only be a few minutes.

Hold on.

When Jesus has spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come.

Glorify your son, that the son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.

And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

Do you remember what Justin challenged us about last week?

It was that if we're not careful, we get satisfied with such surface stuff.

I mean, to be honest, Jill and I really like to come into a beautiful church.

We do.

We love coming here and having the warm hospitality we get.

We love seeing dear friends and being introduced to new people.

We love that.

And yet we can't stop there.

And and we love the worship of our team.

They're an amazing team.

If you traveled, you know, this team is extraordinary.

And they're not performers, they're worshipers.

And most of us can tell the difference, right?

And but we can't stop there.

And yes, Justin is a remarkable speaker.

Yeah, of course he is.

But we can't stop there.

Jesus says that they might know you, Father.

That's what life should be about.

So we heard that message just last week.

How you doing?

Has it changed the way you try to uh face not only coming to worship, but your day-to-day?

When you first get up in the morning, is your first thing to race into all the lists, the checklists of all the things?

Or is it to pause for however long you take and get connected that you might seek him and know him level one?

So, what would you put next to that for the for you this week?

And by the way, I'm not asking because that that's up to you and this Holy Spirit.

So do you put a check going, yeah, this week I'm yeah, I'm I'm seeking the holy life, uh, I'm seeking to know God, check.

But there's some a whole lot of else in John 17, isn't there?

He also said that we are to live for his glory.

That's why Jesus came to earth.

He wants us to live for the glory of God.

This is what he said in in chapter 17, verses 10 and 22.

He said, All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.

Then he went on and said, The glory that you have given me, I have given to them that they may be one even as we are one.

So now on the checklist, there's a second one I want to suggest that we use together, and I use as well.

Am I living for the glory of God?

Or do I continue to slip and seeking praise of others?

Do I want a boss, a friend, in my case now Justin, or someone on the staff to think I'm wonderful?

Is that why I'm doing anything?

Or that I do something at the house and I'm waiting for Jill to thank me?

Really?

Or am I really doing it for God?

That probably ought to be a question we ask ourselves fairly regularly.

I found I have to ask myself not only each day, but kind of throughout the day.

Are you with me?

And one of the ways that Jill and I found to do it is just to take that time and give thanks.

The way I do it specifically is every morning I get up first, and after getting the dog and cat set, I sit down, get out my journal, and I just journal a short paragraph and I give thanks for the previous day and give it up to God.

One more time.

Like mine this morning, it was giving thanks for an amazing dinner that Jill and I enjoyed with Mary and Kim yesterday.

And I gave thanks for my good friend Jeff coming and just having an afternoon with me.

And I gave thanks for the project I'm working on for Christmas.

And Lord, thank you, thank you, thank you.

It's all for you, Lord.

Ultimately, it's all for you.

And then when Jill comes down and we we we pray, we we pray for our own day coming up and for the family and for y'all and for yes, for the staff by name.

But you all do that, don't you?

Now speak up.

You all pray for the church every day, don't you?

Yes, yes.

If you don't, put that on your checklist.

But uh, if we're living for the glory of God, then we need to pray for those who are leaders, whether they're in our country, yes, or whether they're in our church.

Praying for our leaders, lifting them up so that they can experience and live for the glory of God.

So they can find themselves not only in the light, but being the light.

But yeah, we we don't, Jill and I don't for a moment think that we do that naturally.

So, glory of God.

Are you living for the glory of God?

That's John 17.

That's what Jesus wants for us.

How's the week on?

Check but there's another one.

Justin challenged us that to live not of this world.

And he challenged us that because that's what Jesus said in this extraordinary chapter 17.

He said in verse 14, I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of this world.

Those of you who know me know that previously I was of the world.

I was committed to impressing people, I was committed to my uh bank account and how much money I was making.

I was committed to getting ahead in my profession and trying to impress anybody and everybody.

Paying attention to the news, having an opinion on everything.

But that isn't how we live anymore.

We are not of this world.

We are not trapped by our former life.

We are not trapped by our sins or our guilt or our shame.

That's gone.

If anyone is in Christ, you're a new creation.

The old is gone.

You understand that, don't you?

So all the values of this world and being anxious about the news, what a waste of time.

Now, should you be informed?

Of course.

Do we have to be concerned about things of this world at some level?

Of course we do.

We have to eat, we have to feed our family, we have to pay bills, we have to plan, we have to, you know, yes, we have to rest, we have to do all that stuff of this world.

We still live in the world, but the values of the world don't define us anymore.

Because, as some of you that are in classes or otherwise, as I try to say a lot, we are no longer defined by the circumstances of our lives.

Let this sink in a little bit.

We are no longer defined by the circumstances we find ourselves in.

Whether it's a shortfall of income or poor health or the loss of a loved one, or the burdens and responsibilities we have on a day-to-day basis, they don't define us anymore.

We're defined by a loving God who proves it every day as we just consider the cross, consider resurrection in the presence of the Holy Spirit, as we get into his word, as we pray, as we fellowship with other believers, as we worship.

We're not out of this world.

Does that make sense?

So that's John 17.

Justin spent an entire week on that one topic.

Are you not of this world this week?

Check.

You see, it's what we do all the time.

We live by checklists.

Here's a checklist that Jesus seems to give us in his very last prayer before he goes to the cross for us.

He says, They're not, uh Father, I don't want them to, I want them to know that they are not of this world.

Okay.

Check.

But then there's what he says in chapter 17, verse 23.

I in them and you are in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved me even as you loved me.

Wow.

And yeah, Justin pointed this out that we don't live for ourselves anymore.

We live for each other.

We're all in this together.

As Paul writes, bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Or as he describes the gifts of the Spirit in Corinthians, he says that the gifts are given for the common good.

The only reason you've been blessed is so you'll bless somebody else.

And it doesn't matter whether it's a financial or an ability or an education you've had, an experience you've got, which gives testimony and gives strength to that.

It doesn't matter whether you're surrounded by a loving family or you're living life pretty much alone at this point.

You're living in the community, your brothers and sisters.

That's a game changer.

That changes everything.

When you're burdened, you seek somebody to pray for you and you go to the Lord.

When you see someone burdens, you go alongside them.

And pray for them.

Or take them to lunch or take them to breakfast or have a coffee together.

That we're all in this together.

And it's not just, oh, are you a member of his hands?

Oh, you're not, so I don't have to pay attention to you.

It's not that at all.

Around the world, we have brothers and sisters who are in need.

And we're part of their lives as well.

I remember a breakthrough I had uh a few years ago when I was actually getting a salary, and I found myself saying, Thank you, Lord, that I can yes pay our bills, but that Joe and I can now give more away.

Thank you.

That this paycheck results in greater blessings.

Do you see what I mean?

It's a mindset.

Paul says in Romans, be transformed by the renewal of your mind.

Start looking at yourself differently.

You're part of a family.

The greatest human movement that the planet has ever seen.

It's called Followers of Jesus.

I sat here just last week and was brought nearly to tears when we heard the story of Vahid.

There was a video that Justin shared about a Muslim that had been born in Iran and just wanted a relationship with a true God and he didn't understand it, and the Quran didn't make much sense.

And he prayed, Lord, you haven't even lived among us.

How could you possibly know what we have to deal with?

And wasn't it a woman in Turkey who shared with him the gospel?

And he came to realize, oh, there is a God who loves me and has a purpose for my life.

And he's now formed a ministry called Reaching the Nations, and He's equipping people around the world.

And we're part of that.

And I'm sitting there realizing that just the week before, we had had our donor appreciation event for India.

And a lot of you pray for us and that work and support that ministry.

And so I was still thinking of all that.

And then I started thinking about Warren and the Siemens Project.

And I started thinking about all the never alone food boxes that are distributed through this church.

And I began running through in my mind the number of things that I'm aware of Sheila and her staff and all of us are involved in all over the place.

And even thinking ahead to this Sunday when a few of us are going to be going to attend a fundraiser for African Girls Hope Foundation, providing an education for African young women.

And I just, Lord, it's such a privilege to live for others.

To no longer live for myself.

Thank you, Jesus.

That's what he prayed for.

That our lives would be different because of what he's going to do for us in his death and resurrection.

If your life isn't filled with meaning and purpose and it just embrace a different way of life, use a different checklist.

It's not about being happy, is it?

Happiness is fleeting.

It's about something much, much deeper.

It's about a life of value and purpose.

And one that I'll raise with you.

It's that we live in his joy.

It was actually the same message that Justin challenged us about throughout Philippians, which was the previous series.

And yeah, the bow he wanted me to put on that one about the joy of the Lord.

But it's right here as well.

Listen to John 17, verse 13.

John 17:13

He says, But now I am coming to you, as he's praying to the Father.

So these things I speak in the world that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

So here's what the last one I'll give you.

And worship team, if you want to come out, please don't hesitate.

This is a good time.

Jesus joy.

Have you had Jesus joy this week?

I'm not talking about a difficult week.

We all have difficult weeks.

They come and go.

But have you been in Jesus' joy?

Check?

Jesus joy is so much more powerful than our circumstances, isn't it?

It's the recognition that someone has died for you and risen to new life and breathed his spirit in you.

That you might walk an entirely different life.

In John 17, as Jesus, as Justin has been teaching us, what Jesus prays for is this checklist.

This is how I want to live now.

This is a holy life.

It's set apart from this world.

It's about love.

It's about living with God.

It's about living for his glory.

It's not being set standard by this world.

It's living for others as we live for Jesus.

And having that deep joy that we know.

One day we're going to be home.

Not just here.

We have a couple people about to be baptized after we have communion, after we have the Lord's Supper.

And that's day one of eternity for them.

We're all involved in eternity.

We just happen to have the right skin yet.

As Paul says, we're earthen vessels, but filled with the glory of God.

My brothers and sisters, that's who you are.

Don't forget who you are.

You're the one who was worth dying for.

You're the one who has been given new life in the Spirit.

You're the one who Jesus says, Father, this is what I want for them.

I want them filled with joy.

Now, if you need this checklist, go back over this message.

I guess it'll be online sometime.

If you need to get deeper, do what I did and just open up the His Hands app and go through the nine messages that Justin had and went, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh, I haven't been good on that one this week.

Lord help me with that one.

And you're gonna find a life absolutely transformed.

Not information, transformation through the Holy Spirit and in the name of Jesus.

God bless you.

And now it's time for the meal.

The depth of the Lord's Supper is hard to even put into human words, and I think that's why the early church was devoted to this.

This is, it takes us right into the land of mystery.

This goes back way back to the Passover meal with Moses and the people who were, their homes were marked with the blood.

And the Passover meal that's followed that every year, the Seder meal.

It goes back further than when the leaders met on the mountain with God and had a fellowship meal.

It goes way back to Abraham with Melchizedek in Genesis, and Abraham offered him a tithe of everything, and Melchizedek came out with bread and wine.

I mean, this is this is the most celebrated meal on the planet because it's the proclamation that we are loved, that we belong to the Lord, that our Lord Jesus has given his life for us so we might know we are new creations.

It's that big a deal.

Now, if you don't have one of these, don't hesitate to you can get up now and get back there.

Um remember when Jesus gathered with his disciples on the last night, the same night he praised John 17.

He gathered with them, with them and took the bread and said, This is my body.

So let's open up the bread.

Father, we ask your blessing.

As we share the bread, we are reminded of your extraordinary love for us.

Lord, we want to sit at your table.

We want to feed on the food of new life that you give us in your word, in the spirit, and in the fellowship which you share.

Bless this bread as you bless us in Jesus' name.

Take the bread.

Another cup.

Do you remember what Jesus said?

He said, This is the blood of a new covenant, which is shed for you and for many, for the forgiveness of sins.

Whenever you drink it, do this in remembrance of me.

Lord Jesus, we do remember you now.

And we thank you that you're present here in the power of your spirit.

We accept your forgiveness.

Wash us and make us new to live the holy life for you.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.