LifePoint Church

Following Jesus on the path towards spiritual health sometimes leads us up mountaintops. Here, God’s presence is a tangible experience, and activities like prayer, scripture reading, and worship are fulfilling. However, as we continue to follow Jesus, we will inevitably be confronted with His crucifixion on the hill called Cavalry. This may seem like a place that leads to spiritual death, not life. Yet, as we follow Jesus up this hill, we will uncover a level of spiritual health we can’t find anywhere else.

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Spiritual health is impossible apart from discipleship. We can hardly say that, as Christians, we are spiritually healthy if we are not following the way of Jesus. The question is how do we follow Jesus in a healthy way? It is very easy for discipleship to become about “Do’s” and “Don’ts” and a list of rules. These things look like discipleship but fail to produce real-life and joy within us. This week we’ll look at some of what Jesus had to say about how to follow Him well.

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Getting to know God ranks high on the list of life’s most meaningful quests. God has revealed Himself to us. He is knowable. And we can grow to know Him in deeper and deeper ways. But our knowledge of God is always connected to the knowledge of ourselves. As we get to know God, we get to know ourselves. It’s impossible to learn about God in a vacuum. We naturally see ourselves more profoundly as we journey to discover more about God.

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We live in an age of information overload, and the amount of information increases every day. Yet the most important information ever written is contained in one book–the Bible. The words in the Bible, God’s words, give us life–spiritual life, eternal life. Jesus said, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” To be spiritually healthy, we require the nourishment that comes from God’s Word.

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When opportunities arise and we are thrust into the spotlight, we have a choice to make. We can choose to camouflage our convictions to match our surrounding culture, or we can stand true to the people God calls us to be. Today’s sermon will awaken us to the reality that God may be leading us into these so-called opportunities. We’ll learn they may not always be a positive experience and could even lead us into danger. As we discover the fire of obedience we will ponder the potential challenges we could face and ways to remain obedient in spite of them.

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One-third of our lives are spent at work. When you consider errands, chores, hobbies, or raising children, the percentage of our lives we spend working can be significantly higher than 30 percent. Considering how much time we spend working, is there a connection between our work and our spiritual health? This week, we’ll discuss how work is more than something we do to pass the time here on earth, it’s one of the ways we live with God as His image-bearers.

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To be spiritually healthy is to be thriving in your desire to pursue Jesus and walking in the strength of the Holy Spirit. But spiritual health is tricky. We might be so obsessed with looking good outwardly that we fail to pay attention to what’s going on inside us. No wonder Jesus addressed the outwardly religious of His day with a scathing indictment. “Hypocrites,” He said. It’s not enough to just play the part outwardly. Spiritual health works from the inside out.

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Finding the will of God is both a mystery and an adventure. Certainly, we would be short-sighted if we didn’t curiously and diligently pursue the path God wants us to walk. If Jesus is our Lord, it makes sense for us to do what He wants us to do. Can we know what He wants us to do? If so, how specific can we expect His direction to be? And how much freedom has God given us to make decisions that have consequences for good or bad?

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Saying that Jesus is Lord, implies surrendering to His will over ours. No matter how you frame it, surrender is frightening. When we surrender, we are vulnerable. When we surrender someone else determines our path and can take us where we do not want to go. Jesus gives us no guarantee that, if we surrender our lives to Him, we’ll only be led to pleasant places. In fact, He promises us just the opposite, following Him will lead to trouble and hardship. The Bible is filled with examples of men and women who were led into places of pain and difficulty – places they did not want to go. Yet, Jesus also promises that following Him is the way of abundant life. How can life be abundant if we are led where we do not want to go?

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Temptation is real. And so is the danger of making sinful choices that displease the Lord of our lives. Fortunately for our sakes, others before us have made unfortunate choices that we can learn from. While the Bible is filled with examples of success, it is just as often filled with examples of failure. Pay attention, God says. Be alert to that which causes you to fall and draws you away from living faithfully for Him.

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