How to Give God What He Wants the Most, Part 1

Today on Living on the Edge with Chippengrim, what do you give the person that has everything?

Every time that comes up on my Christmas list or birthday list, I get stumped.

But here's a bigger one.

How do you give God what He wants the most?

Have you ever thought of that?

You're going to learn exactly what He wants and how to give it to Him.

That's today.

What is the creator of the universe truly want from you?

It's a question that haunts every honest seeker.

Well, today on Living on the Edge, Chippengrim answers it head on.

Through gripping stories of treasure hunters and priceless discoveries, He reveals a pattern

Jesus used to shake people awake to spiritual reality.

You'll discover why God's invitation to total commitment isn't about losing your life,

it's about finally finding it.

This teaching challenges our deepest assumptions about what matters and exposes the plastic

pearls we desperately clutch while missing the real treasure.

Well, here's Chippengrim with today's message, how to give God what He wants the most.

If I ask you kind of over a cup of coffee, where did your spiritual journey really begin

as an adult?

What would you tell me?

Where were you?

What were the circumstances?

For me, it was the night I graduated from high school.

After being with some friends at a party, I realized that was a workaholic.

I had academic success.

My dream of a basketball scholarship was in hand.

I was all-leagant baseball.

I had a really pretty girlfriend, and I sat alone and empty and just wondering, what

in the world am I here for?

My little formula of successful make-you-happy didn't pan out.

I remember that night sitting on my bed, looking out my bedroom window, it was a very

starry night, I remember, and I started asking the real questions that adults ask.

Why am I here?

Is there a God?

What's my purpose in life?

Is there more to life than just setting goals and achieving Him?

And that night, although I had a lot of childhood prayers of, you know, get me out of this jam

and please help so and so, and I prayed what I think was my first adult prayer.

And I remember looking at the stars and I said, God, if you exist, reveal yourself to

me in a way I can understand.

And then I figure everybody wants something, and I remember praying, God, what do you want

from me?

If you exist, what do you really want from me?

And that's going to be the question we're going to ask an answer today on our journey toward

true spirituality.

How do we give God what He wants the most?

We're going to walk through this journey and this journey is going to take us to a point

of a very, very important decision.

And so I want to introduce you to a book that I read.

It was by a Yale Law professor called Risk Reason and the decision-making process.

And it's a series of true stories that are case studies and they read the case study

then they get in small groups and they talk about, okay, what were the risks involved

in making this decision?

What reasons did people make this decision?

And what would you do?

And so they sort of peel it out, give a case study, let the groups talk a little bit,

and then give them more information.

So let me actually, I've got a couple case studies here because here's the deal.

The goal is to teach them to make skillful wise decisions.

And we're going to be talking about a very, very important decision and there was just

some great insight about making great decisions.

So case study number one, they're brief but they're kind of fun.

A 32-year-old engineer named John loves to go to estate sales to look for antique furniture

and other potentially valuable items.

One weekend he goes to an estate sale in the southern part of the United States.

All the items in this particular house are being sold together for a single price.

Visitors are welcome to make a bid and John learns that the winning bid will be about $95,000.

The house is old and disrepair, probably built during the Civil War period.

John, a self-confessed geek and history buff, recognizes a collection of rifles that seem

to be from that time frame.

He then goes downstairs to a damp basement using a small pocket flashlight, finds an old

roller top desk, and going through the desk he discovers a false drawer.

And in the false drawer is a small leather pouch that contains 22 very rare pure gold coins

mined by the Confederate army during the Civil War.

They could be worth millions of dollars, he believes.

John has to make a decision.

What should he do?

He has $10,000 in savings, if he can sell his car, his house, and everything he owns.

He believes he can come up with the $95,000 in make the winning bid.

What would you do?

Students at Harvard's Business School and MIT and other universities discuss this.

So face value, what would you do?

Think about that.

Case study number two.

Sheila, a 20-something college art teacher at a community college, was traveling in Europe

over the summer.

She had even started a small collection on her limited salary, and while in a small village

in southern France, well off the beaten path, Sheila went to an auction where the locals

had all donated family art to be sold to help finance the construction of a much needed

school.

One painting topped the list and was said to be a rare, but highly valued copy of Picasso's

work.

She was deemed as a non-original because the signature at the bottom was different from

all of his other works.

Sheila, however, wrote her master's thesis on Picasso and was aware that in the first year

of his work, he did not sign his name, but only put his initials there.

She looked and studied the painting carefully and came to the conclusion that she actually

was in the presence of a priceless piece of art.

She was believed there were only two or three of these paintings in existence anywhere

in the world.

If this were so, Sheila was standing before something worth a very great deal of money.

The 25,000 asking price was a joke with regard to what it was worth, but it was a bigger

joke with her income.

What Sheila would have to do would sell her Volkswagen Jetta, sell her entire art collection,

and withdraw her entire savings of $600.

What should Sheila do?

What would you tell her?

Now I want to give you three principles that flow out of these case studies.

Here's where the meat is for you and me.

In every big decision, and I mean big, important life-altering decisions especially, the number

one thing you need is just write this word down, truth, truth.

The issue here is the validity of the find.

If the coins are legit, if they're true, if it's a Picasso, if it's true, and for you,

when you're trying to figure out what you should do with your life and the relationships

that you're in, you need to first and foremost say, what's true?

And after truth and knowledge, the last thing, just write the word faith.

These are the three keys to making great decisions.

It's true.

Do you have the inside knowledge?

And then faith is literally the courage to pull the trigger.

There's a great deal of people that never have the faith or the courage to pull the trigger

and act on what they absolutely believe is true.

And so they don't make good decisions or they make no decisions which is really a decision

of itself.

Turn the page, if you will, because these two remind me of a case study by Jesus that

teaches us also about risk, reason, and the decision-making process.

When Jesus is teaching this, it's out of Matthew chapter 13, verses 44 and 45, because

the kingdom of heaven, in other words, following me and how life works with me as the king of

your life, is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found, then he hid again,

and from joy over it, he goes and sells all that he has, and he buys that field.

So look at verse 45, again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls

and upon finding one pearl of great value, of exquisite value, of over-the-top priceless

value is the idea.

He went and sold all the pearls that he had, and he bought it.

So if you have a pen, pull it out, let's go up to verse 44, I want you to see something.

Jesus isn't talking about money and treasure, he's making a very profound spiritual point

and principle about decision-making.

And what he's saying is this, he's saying there's certain things that we can see, and certain

things we can't see, and the kingdom of God in following me is akin to, and this would

be in their day, it would make sense, because this actually could happen in their day.

They didn't have 401ks, and so you would take your treasure and you would hide it, dig

it someplace on your land, and the goal is you would tell your relatives, your sons or

daughters where it is, but sometimes people, you know, they aren't ready quite to hear

it, and they die before they tell anyone.

And so the people realize that this story is really plausible.

And so he says, here's a man who is in a field, maybe he's walking with a stick, and he

hears something and he opens it up, and there's a little chest, and there's a fortune in it,

and he covers it back up, and he is just exhilarated with what he's just found.

So he recklessly, with abandon, sells everything he has, that's not worth very much, to get

something that's worth a whole lot.

Same picture with the pearl.

Here's the thesis.

Jesus is saying, when you understand who he is, and how life really works, and what really,

really matters now, and forever.

When you get the treasure of what it is to have relationship with him, and the plan that

he has for you on this earth, you would with reckless abandon and joy forsake all else

to get that.

Put another way his thesis is, total commitment is the channel through which God's biggest

and best blessings flow.

You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram, we're halfway through today's

message, so don't go anywhere just yet.

Today's insightful lesson comes from our series called God's Dream for Your Life.

Want to dig deeper into these truths?

Well, the full series is ready for you online at livingontheedge.org.

You'll discover extra teaching content, downloadable materials, and discussion guides to take

you further.

Find it all at livingontheedge.org.

Now let's rejoin Chip with today's message.

He realized that, I mean, total commitment, he sold all that he had, motive, joy.

Above the word in your notes where it says total commitment, would you write the word

surrender and put a box around it?

Surrender, total commitment.

I mean, it was all or nothing in order to gain that land with the treasure inside.

Now Jesus told these two parables.

We get into their world in such a way that they would get a new set of glasses, because

when you talk to people that want to follow God about total commitment, it's like, well,

I know pastors are supposed to be totally committed and maybe missionaries, and there's always

like a 98-year-old lady who really prays like 37 hours a day, and there's only 24 hours,

and we know she's totally committed.

But I mean, for most of us, we're just regular Christians, and that sounds really scary,

and I really want to love God.

I'm glad I'm going to have it.

I'm glad Jesus forgave my sins, and I would like to be a good person.

In fact, I think I'm a little bit better person than most people, but total commitment

sounds like scary.

Like I mean, lock, stock, barrel, I mean God has to say on my time, my money, my future,

my family, and so what most of us do is we see the lens of total commitment negatively.

Here's what I want to tell you.

When Jesus taught about surrender or total commitment, it is the channel to get God's

very best in your life, but he said it's for joy.

His motivation is positive, it's wise, it's logical, it's true, it's not so much renouncing

as it is a re-evaluation, and that was Jesus' point, and that's his message to you.

Remember, this is about how to give God what he wants the most.

And I told you it involves a decision, and before our time is over together, we're going

to have a very sober and holy moment where I'm not only going to explain exactly how to

give God what he wants the most, but it revoke higher, a big step of faith, total commitment

and surrender.

And what you have to start asking is how I hang on to things in my view and what I want

versus what he can provide, which one of those am I going to trust?

Reminds me of a story I heard many years ago, and it was a story of a little girl that went

on vacation with her family.

And it was by the seashore, and they had one of those cottages that's right there, and

you walk out the door, and the sand is there, and you could walk on the beach and had a little

peer, and at the end of the peer was a fishing boat with a very old man.

He was in a very small town in New England, and the little girl, five or six years old,

cute pig tails, the whole bit, you know how they are at that age.

And she would walk down the pier and walk down, and there was an old, old fisherman who

was just known in the town as the mean one.

He was just mean.

He was old.

He was bitter.

His friends had died.

He'd had a hard life.

And so he just shot everybody out.

But there's something about a little five or six-year-old girl, you know.

Hi.

Hi.

Well, after day one, day two, day three, day four, his heart starts to melt.

And no one's ever treated him nice.

And every day, she would get shells and give him shells, and she'd sit at the end of

the pier with her feet dangling, and pretty soon he's given her a little fishing line.

And in their seven-day vacation, a bond occurred, and he realized no one in the whole world

cares about me, and I'm going to die very soon.

He was in his late 80s.

And this little girl does.

And unbeknownst to others, he had little pouch of over the years of fishing, and he found

a number of shells and pearls.

And the thing that he noticed about this little girl, she would dangle her feet over,

but she would always clutch.

She had these little plastic beads that you get, like at Walmart or Target or the CDS

pharmacy.

You know, you're on vacation.

Kids always want something.

You know, $1.99, you're all set.

And so he noticed how much she liked them, so he took his pearls and stayed up most

of the night, drilled holes in them, took a piece of fishing line, and made a necklace.

He thought, I'm going to give it to this little six-year-old girl.

And so the next day, she came to say goodbye, and the station wagon is all packed, and parents

are, you know, 100 yards away, and okay, honey, get ready, yes, you can go say goodbye.

She runs down to say goodbye, and he says, come here, honey, I have a present for you.

And she walks up to him, and they've been very close, and he says, give me those plastic

beads off your neck, and then he hung out, glistening in the sun, real pearls.

Now, the problem of being five or six years old and you're very immature, you don't know

what's worth what.

All you know is what you're comfortable with.

All you know is what feels right.

And so he took another step, and he said, here, I have these, these are real pearls.

Now, take those off so I can put them on, and the little girl stepped back, grabbed her

necklace, and ran 100 yards, jumped in the station wagon, said, I want to go, that man

tried to take my pearls.

And I want to tell you about eight out of every nine Christians that really do sincerely

love God.

Being to plastic pearls and are not receiving anything close in their life experience, their

relationships, or their eternal impact, what God has chosen and destined for you to have.

Because when he says, give me you, put me first in your time, put me first in your future,

put me first in your decisions, put me first in your family, put me first in your work,

put me first in your money.

I want you to trust me wholly because I have pearls, not stuff.

And if you don't believe he's good, if you don't know the heart of the Father, then you

just stay around him long enough not to feel too guilty and some I hope you go to heaven

and you cling on to the plastic temporal non-treasure.

But when you meet the people that get more and more pearls, you realize it just weighs them

down instead of gives them life. Total commitment, surrender is the conduit, it's the channel to

which God's best and biggest blessings flow. And so what I want to do in the remainder of our time,

I want to define very specifically what total commitment looks like. We are not leading up to

some emotional moment. We're leading up to a wise decision where you're going to weigh the risk

and the logic of saying to God in a few minutes, I surrender all to you. I would sign a blank check

made out to you. I would say to you, from this day forward, I'm all in. I may be a little fearful,

but I'm all in. But in order to do that, you know what's that look like? The answer is in Romans

chapter 12, verse 1, and after 11 chapters of treasure of what God has done, of how much he loves you,

of his sovereignty, his goodness, his forgiveness, his power, his spirit living within you, his gifts,

all the plans that he has for you. In chapter 12, your response to that is therefore I urge you

brothers, sisters, fellow family members, the Apostle Paul writes, in view of God's mercy,

offer your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your spiritual act of

worship. Notice the structure, there's a command, there's a motivation, and there's a reason. I

like you, if you will, put a box around the word offer, put a box around living sacrifice,

and then put a little box around the word holy. And then I want you to put a squiggly line

under spiritual act of worship. The command is to offer your body to God. And this isn't metaphorical,

this is like your physical body, your eyes, your head, your hands, all that you are. And the word

offer here is an intense in the Greek language that's punctilier. And what that means is on a certain

day at a certain time. This passage is not explaining how to have your sins forgiven. This passage is

not explaining what it means to be in God's family. Salvation occurs at the end of chapter 3, 4,

and right in chapter 5, the work of Christ by grace. You receive the free gift by faith.

Chapter 12 is saying, how do normal Christians follow Jesus out of gratitude? And God says,

are you ready? This is what I want. I want you on a certain day at a certain time to say to me,

all I am, all I have is yours. That's what it means to offer. I will tell you that

tens of thousands of people in America and around the world do not understand the channel through

which God's best and biggest blessings flow. The power for the Christian life comes in this moment

of offering. Now it requires faith. It requires believing in an invisible treasure that you can't see,

but it's a historical living God who's walked upon the earth and died in your place and rose and

sits at the right hand of God and says to you, there's an unspeakable treasure who for joy says to you,

let me give you the best. You're listening to Living on the Edge with

Chippengrim, until return in just a moment. For over three decades now, this ministry has been

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Well now here's Chip. As we wrap up today's program, I've really introduced a very different

paradigm about what God's like. I mean surrender is not this great, huge sacrifice. It really is

the channel. It's the opportunity. It's the window through which God is going to do the biggest

and best things in you. Now what I know is that's a lot easier said than to believe. And so here's

your assignment for today and you can do it right now. I want you to ask this one question,

how do you tend to view God as kind or easy demanding and hard to please? That will tell you

why it's hard to surrender. Here's your little action step. Get a 3x5 card and write out

Romans 832. He that spared not his own son for you. How will he not with him?

Freely give you all things. If he loves you enough to give you his son, how can we not trust him

for the little stuff like our future, our cars, our money, our homes, and our locations? He wants

to help you surrender today. I'm Dave Druey. Be sure to join us tomorrow as Chip explores what

really happens when we stop holding back and finally trust God with everything. Don't miss it.

Next time on Living on the Edge.

Today's program is produced and sponsored by Living on the Edge.