Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - God Never Said That, Part 4: It Doesn’t Matter What You Believe

Episode Date: February 28, 2015

We love offering little nuggets of advice, support, or sympathy. They come in handy when we want people to feel better. But what if the guidance you’re giving or receiving just isn’t true? What if God Never Said That? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I'm just really searching right now. I mean, my favorite professor doesn't even believe in God. And my roommate is part of this totally different religion that's actually pretty interesting to me. And then there's my boyfriend who just kind of picks and chooses from different religions. You know, I always thought I knew what I believed about God. No, I'm just not sure. Well, the good news is it doesn't really matter what you believe,

as long as you're sincere. I shouldn't even have to tell you this, but God never said that. It is so awesome to have all of you with us today at all of our life churches and our network churches. We love you all so much. Those of you on the other side of computer screens all over the world, you are not here by accident. We believe this is a divine moment where we're going to do church together, and we pray that you are very, very blessed. If you're just now joining us, we're actually in part four of a four-part message series called God Never Said That.

And what we're doing is we're looking at common sayings that so many people believe to be true, but in reality, God never said that. And today, we're going to look at one of the most relevant and culturally believed lies and actually see what the truth is about what God does say. And I want to tell you this is so relevant and so commonplace in the world today, so many people wrongly believe this. You may have heard it, you may have said it, you may even believe it, but all over the world today, people say this. It doesn't matter what you believe about God, as long as you are sincere. It doesn't matter what you believe, as long as you are sincere in your pursuit.

of God. It doesn't matter what you believe as long as you are sincere. And that, quite honestly, it kind of sounds good, doesn't it? I mean, it just kind of feels good that our God is so big and so loving that it doesn't really matter what you believe. As long as you're sincerely believing it, then chances are you'll be okay. I call this feel-good theology. It just feels good. And we see this all the time when someone maybe is talking to a friend. They're like, well, you're a good person and you're better than most people. So since you're a good person, things should be, okay, you're a good person, right? Or I see this quite often because I have done so many funerals. Someone will pass away and a loved one will say, well, he wasn't much of a religious person, but he's in a better

place now. He's in a better place looking down on us now. Grandma is in a better place. Is in a better place looking down on us now. I'll be real honest with you. There's at least three or four times every day that I don't want grandma looking down on me from heaven. And yet so many people believe this, they're looking down and they're in a better place today. It doesn't matter what you believe. All roads lead to God. Anyway, all religions are basically the same. Anyway, it doesn't matter what you believe, as long as you are sincere. In fact, years ago when I went to seminary, I actually commuted because it was quite a distance away with a couple of different people. One was a lady, and the other one was a guy, and we all had really different beliefs about God.

The lady actually believed in reincarnation and was very sincere in her beliefs. And her theory was since she loved France and she loved trees that she actually at one time was a tree in France. And that's what she believed and she stood by. And so the guy, he said, so based on what you love, that means that's what you once were. And she said, I think so. He said, well, I probably was a woman in a previous life. And so this debate would go on and on and on and on. And they kept saying, what were you? What were you? What were you?

And I was like, I was not reincarnated. And so, yes, you were. And I said, okay, let me get this straight. You were a tree in France. I've got it. I know what I was. I was a dog in France. And she didn't like that, but I said it anyway.

Well, the good news is I've matured a little bit since then, not much, but a little bit. And so we would debate often, you know, what does it matter what you believe? It is, you know, all roads the same. And the common belief in culture today is it doesn't matter what you believe as long as you are sincere. What's incredibly interesting to me in our culture today is that basic spirituality is not controversial. It's not controversial to believe in God. Watch any great sporting event at the end. People give credit to God.

Watch someone at the Grammys and they're going to, oh, I give all credit to God. If you watch somebody on a daytime talk show, they can talk all day long about spirituality and a higher power. And there's no controversy at all. When is there controversy? There's controversy when someone brings up the name of Jesus. You can talk about God. You can talk about a higher power. You can talk about spirituality and nobody wigs out.

But the moment you talk about Jesus, that's when things get really, really interesting. And what's fascinating to me is this, that almost no one debates the existence of Jesus. In fact, even his detractors aren't going to try to tell you that he did not live. They're going to acknowledge all day long that Jesus was a very real person. What's also interesting to me is that people love his teaching. I don't know anybody who doesn't like his teaching. Help the poor. Love others.

be generous, forgive those who hurt you. I mean, his teaching is phenomenal. Even if you hate Christianity, it's virtually impossible to hate the teaching of Jesus. So his detractors don't debate his existence. It's really hard to question the power and beauty of his teaching. So why is it that everybody gets so upset? The answer falls basically in the exclusive claim of Jesus.

It's the exclusive claim of Jesus that gets everybody rattled and been out of shape. In fact, it's very direct in scripture in John 14.6. When Thomas, one of the disciples, didn't know where he was going, he asked Jesus, hey, how do we know where we're going? And Jesus answered him and said, I am the what? Somebody help me out. He said, I am the way, and I am the what? I am the truth and I am the life.

And then Jesus said, no one comes to the Father. Help me out. Except through me. Boom, there it is. Did you see it right there? That sets Jesus apart from all other world religions. It's the exclusive claim that he is the way to the Father. I'm the way, the truth in the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me. And that sets Christianity apart in a massive way. So what I want to do is just talk very, very openly about world religions. And we have to acknowledge, we have to acknowledge, no matter what you believe, there may be truth, some truth, there may be beauty, some beauty, in many different world religions. Can we acknowledge that? If you look at all different world religions, there can be some truth,

and there can be some beauty in all of them, but they are not the same. and we have to acknowledge that. There may be truth and beauty in all of them, but they are not the same. And to give you just a real brief overview, I'll give you some high points of a few of the major world beliefs. Buddhism, for example, has no God. Buddhism has no final type of existence.

What a Buddhist would believe in is countless rebirths. We're reborn, reborn, reborn, reborn. And eventually we want to end that cycle of rebirths. Hinduism, though, is very, very different. Hinduism has an impersonal God that is approached through deities or statues or idols. Okay, very, very different. Buddhism and Hinduism, they do not offer the forgiveness of sins or supernatural help. Only karma.

In other words, if you do bad things, then bad things are likely to happen to you. If you flip me off, I might follow you. Karma, okay? If you do good things, good things might happen. And so that's the basics of these beliefs. If you take a Muslim, Muslim worships Allah, a personal God. There are no secondary gods, and there's a total ban on idols, unlike other religions. You're standing, if you're a Muslim with God, Allah, depends on your religious devotion and your works.

Take New Age, which is popular in a lot of parts of the world. New Age beliefs have no personal God. They're going to believe most often in a higher consciousness and wanting to be maybe one with a cosmos or one with the universe. Take Christianity. Christianity has a personal God exposed to us through the love of God's son, Jesus. He offers the forgiveness of sins and is not based on religious everything. but it's based on God's goodness. So, we have to acknowledge, although there may be truth and beauty in all different religions,

they are not the same. So when someone says it doesn't matter what you believe, as long as you are sincere, an objective person has to look at this and say, number one, God never said that. And number two, I don't think this is right at all. So what I want to do today is very simple, and we're going to acknowledge as I get into this that, yes, I am a follower of Jesus. So if you want to say I'm biased, we'll start there. But what I want to do is I want to look at this just a little bit objectively. And what I want to do is just ask you no matter what you believe.

No matter what you believe, I'll respect what you believe and ask you to respect what I believe. I'm simply going to ask you to consider Jesus. just to consider Jesus. And please, please, please hear me. I'm not asking you to consider our church, okay? Not at all. I'm not asking you to consider a Christian denomination. I'm not even asking you to consider Christianity,

because I'm going to argue that Jesus didn't come to start a religion. But Jesus actually came to reveal the love of God to those who needed a savior. So I'm not going to ask you to consider Christianity. And I'm certainly not going to ask you to consider the behavior of those who call themselves Christians. Because if I can just be real honest, you can meet two different Christians,

and one of them are like, wow, that person is loving and genuine and full of grace, and I actually think that if Christianity's right, that person's a good representative. Then you can look at another one and say, that's a narrow-minded, egotistical, hateful, judgmental, bigoted person, and then you turn on Christian television

and you wonder why everybody has bad hair. Okay? So I'm not, I'm not asking to consider Christianity the religion. I'm not asking to consider the behavior of people who call themselves Christians. I'm not even asking you to consider what I'm gonna say or who I am, because the reality is, some of you hate my guts

and I can live with that. Some of you like me too much, okay? And the reality is if you got to know me better, I would let you down and I would fail you because I'm very, very imperfect. All I'm asking you to do is just consider Jesus. Consider Jesus. Consider Jesus, and then you decide what you think is actually true about faith and eternal life.

And so what I want to do is just look at kind of three aspects of Jesus today. If you're taking notes, first I'm going to ask you to consider the ministry of Jesus. Just consider the ministry of Jesus. And I want to look at Mark chapter 2, verses 16 and 17, which summarizes why Jesus came. First of all, we see in verse 16 that when the teachers of the law who were the Pharisees, these were the religious leaders of the day. When they saw Jesus eating with sinners and tax collectors, notice who was eating with? Help me out.

He was eating with sinners and tax collectors. They asked his disciples, why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners? No really righteous person would eat with that kind of person. They're too dirty, they're too filthy, they're full of sin on hearing this. What did Jesus do? He said to them, and I love this with all my heart. He said, it's not the healthy who need a doctor, but who needs a doctor? It's the sick.

He said, I have not come to call the righteous, but who did he come for? He came for sinners. He came for people like you and people like me who can't seem to get it right. Think about Jesus. To those whom others despised, he loved, and he loved, and he. accepted to those that religion rejected, Jesus loved and reached out to. When a woman was caught in adultery and all of the religious people said, stone her to death. The law says she deserves death. Jesus looked at them and said, hey, whichever one of you has never sinned, you throw the first stone.

Then he looked at this broken woman and he said, go your way and sin no more. You are forgiven and you've got new life. Consider the ministry of Jesus who he was and what he did. Jesus opened blind eyes. He healed death ears. He caused the mute to speak. Jesus touched lepers, those who no one would get near and he healed them. Jesus turned water to wine, which is still a problem for my Baptist friends even today.

Jesus multiplied the loaves and the fishes to feed 5,000 men and thousands perhaps of women and children. He walked on water. Jesus raised the dead. And here's what's crazy. His critics didn't question the validity of his miracles. They just wanted him to stop. Stop. Stop. Don't do that.

Don't do this. They actually saw the miracles and just wanted him to stop. Consider the ministry of Jesus. In fact, the reality is, some of you, you are a miracle of the ministry of Jesus. You are a miracle of the ministry of Jesus. I was on a plane this week traveling with my daughter, Mandy, and one of the members of our church just came up to me and said on January the 4th, he had multiple strokes. The doctor said that he would never, ever, ever, under any stark. circumstances, be healed or be recovered. On January 24th, God touched him in a supernatural way,

and he was significantly healed. No sign whatsoever anywhere in his body of any symptom of a stroke. A miracle, and the doctors looked on and said, we've never seen anything like this. A miracle of the ministry of Jesus. One of my favorite families in this church all the way from the very beginning. One guy used to be a drug dealer, his wife used to be a drug dealer. His wife used to be a a stripper. And now this homeschool family who's adopted and fostered kids, they're missionaries in another part of the world. That is a miracle beyond miracle of miracles of miracles that God could take someone who was so low, so far down and transform. I know one guy who had multiple affairs on his wife couldn't be honest. Not only did his wife forgive him, which is a miracle, but Jesus

forgave him and he's transformed. And now he's a full-time counselor helping other people heal in their marriages, one of the best marriage counselors around. That is a miracle that only Jesus Christ could do. Consider the ministry and the power and the miracles of the one who didn't come for the righteous, but came for the sinners. The one who didn't come for the healthy but came for the sick. I'm going to tell you right now, I'm a miracle from the power of Jesus. I am undoubtedly a miracle because of Jesus. In fact, if you go back to before I was a Christian in college, all I know to how to, all I knew how to do was lie. I was living a lie. I cheated all the time. I could not stop drinking. Couldn't stop. In fact, there was one night just before I went out. I beer bonged six

beers, which I often did as a warm-up. Then I drank, you can kind of laugh, but it's not real funny. Then I drank a bottle of Seagram 7. Then I went out to party. Okay. All I remember was I was out of control, so my friends brought me home. And I remember thinking, the night's not over. You can't keep me at home. And so I ran across campus just looking for the girl's dorm. I figured if there's anywhere to go when you're drunk, it's the girl's dorm. And I was running across campus thinking, wow, I cannot feel my legs. That's the last thing I remember.

And then I found out the next day after over-sleeping practice, back in my fraternity room, that someone from another fraternity found me, passed out with my head hanging over the curb of a major street, and three guys picked me back up and brought me back in. then drunk again the next night because that's what I did. I remember coming back to my fraternity room turning on the jam box. If you don't know what a jam box is, bless you, you're under 30. And I turned on the jam box and someone had evidently changed the radio station to a Christian radio station that I didn't know existed. And I heard the sweetest woman's voice when I remember being drunk, lay down on the ground because the room was spinning drunk.

And she said something like, I know you're out there. and hurting right now, and I want you to know you haven't been too bad for God. He loves you. Please hear me. He loves you, and he can forgive you. I'm telling you what? Someone else may have thought that was for them, but at that moment, it was like I was the only person there and God was speaking directly to me. So I started a Bible study and started seeking Jesus. And when I became a follower of Jesus, the very same week, my big brother was out in California, smoking dope, doing stuff, and someone gave him a track. And he came back, and I said, I've got to something to tell you. I didn't even know the words to say. I said, I think like I'm religious now.

And he said, me too, me too. And so we went out to get drunk to celebrate that we were Christians because I'm telling you, that's all we knew to do. That's all we knew to do. And so when I tell you today, I am a new creation in Christ, here's what you need to understand. I'm not a better version of the old me. I am a new me, a different person. The old is gone. The new has come. consider the ministry and the power of Jesus. I also want to ask you to consider the resurrection of Jesus. To consider the resurrection of Jesus. In fact, what you need to understand is that our God loves you,

but he hates sin. He hates sin. And that's why Jesus, who was born of a virgin, He did not inherit the sin nature of an earthly father. He was without sin. And that's why he could go to the cross to become sin for us. I don't want you to miss the power of this. On the cross, when the creation was mocking him,

the creation mocking the creator, at that moment when they had done their works, beaten him where he was unrecognizable, driving stakes through his wrist and through his heels, hanging him on an instrument of torture. Jesus looks up to God and says, Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they do. Then he said, it's finished.

I did it. Into your hands, I commit my spirit. And the earth went dark. And the earth trembled. And the centurion who had carried the cross of Jesus and was not a believer, looked on and said, Surely that man was the son of God. And three days later, when the stone was rolled away, the tomb was empty.

Jesus was not there. And Christians believe that he was raised from the dead. Peter said it this way in Acts 315. You killed the author of life, but somebody helped me out. What did he say? He said, but God raised him from the dead. Now, don't miss this. Then he said, we are what?

I want everybody to say this. Peter said, but we are witnesses of this. We are what, say it again, we are witnesses of this. This is so important because there were eyewitnesses that he was dead and alive again. There were eyewitnesses of this. Now, skeptics and critics will say, well, the Roman soldiers probably stole the body.

Listen, the enemies of Christ would have loved to produce a dead body. of Jesus to prove that he had not risen. That goes out the door immediately. Some people say, well, the disciples took the body. So you're going to tell me they overpowered, trained and armed Roman soldiers. You would still have the testimony of the Roman guards who said they took it. And if you believe that, then you have to ask yourself this. Do you really expect any rational person to believe?

that 11 small town, uneducated, average men devised the most elaborate scheme in the history of the world, pulled it off, and kept it as secret, all with no personal motives and only extreme personal loss, with all but one dying for their faith because they were eyewitnesses. The tomb was empty. He was not dead. he was alive again. Somebody get excited and consider the resurrection of Jesus. What blows me away is there's only one that doubted.

What's his name? Do you know it? Doubting who? Doubting Thomas. And Thomas, I'm not going to believe it unless I see it. I'm not going to believe it unless I see it. And Jesus shows up and says, Thomas, stop doubting and believe. Touch my side.

Stop doubting and believe. And the only one that doubted became the great event. to India, going to India. And when they ask him to renounce his faith and his Savior Jesus, Thomas, who was a doubter, said, I will never renounce my Savior. And so they drove a spear through his body. Why would he die for his faith when he once doubted? Because he saw the risen Christ.

We are eyewitnesses of the... You killed the Savior Jesus, but God raised him from the dead. Just consider it. Don't consider Christians. Don't consider me, I'll let you down. Don't consider our church. We're imperfect. You see all the problems.

Listen, I see more than you do, okay? There are problems everywhere. Consider Jesus. Consider Jesus. Consider his ministry that he came for sinners. Consider the resurrection that eyewitnesses were willing to die because they saw Jesus raised from the dead. And then finally, I want to just ask you to consider the eternal message of Jesus.

Just consider the eternal message of Jesus. I love the way Paul summarizes it in Romans 322. And he says this. He said, we are made right with God by placing our faith where? Somebody helped me. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. Now, how are we made right with God? Don't miss this.

We are made right with God by believing, by having faith in Jesus, by putting our faith in the Son of God. This is crazy, powerful. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. How are we made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus. No matter what you've done, no matter how dark your life is. No matter if you were as bad as I were, or if you were worse, than I was. No matter how many sins you've committed, no matter how messed up your life is right now, no matter how much you've hated Christianity before, no matter how angry or bitter you are in your

heart, no matter how dark your world is right now. Anyone, anyone, anyone, anyone, anyone, anyone, who places their faith in Jesus will be made new. How are we made right with God? We're made right with God by believing in Jesus Christ, our Lord, and this is true for everyone, no matter who they are. You see, Christianity really is Christ plus nothing, nothing. Not Christ plus good works, or Christ plus baptism, or Christ plus church membership, or Christ plus giving money, it's Christ plus nothing. It's not only not Christ plus nothing, but it's also not Christ plus nothing. but it's also not Christ plus getting rid of your bad stuff

and stopping having bad thoughts and stopping doing bad things and stopping saying bad things. It's Christ plus nothing. In Christ alone, we have the hope of eternal life. In Christ alone, we are made new. In Christ alone, we are forgiven of our sins. In Christ alone, the old is gone and the new has come.

It is in Christ alone. In Christ alone, we are made real. Religion, here's the problem. It's all about us. Religion's about me. It's how I perform. It's what I do. It's am I good enough?

Is that do I get rid of the bad stuff? Religion is all about me. But I'm not talking religion. I'm talking about a relationship. Because Jesus didn't come to create a religion. He came to show us the love of God. And while religion is about me, relationship is about Jesus. It's all about Him.

It's all about religion says, if I'm good enough, God will love me. If I obey, God will accept me. Relationship says, because God loves me, he accepts me. Because he accepts me, I choose to obey. It's not in an effort to gain his love. It's in a response to his eternal love that was there all of the time. You see, God doesn't love you because of the way. what you do, God loves you because of who he is.

Love is just not what he does, but love is who he is. And there is nothing you can do to get God to love you more. And there is nothing you can do to cause God to love you less. God loves you because that's who he is. Consider the eternal message of Jesus. Religion is about me. Relationship is about Jesus. Religion is about if I'm good, he will love me.

Relationship is because he's good, he already loves me. And religion is spelled, do you want to spell it? Write it down this way. D-O. Do. It's all what you do. Relationship is spelled D-O-N-E. It is done. It is finished on the cross.

cross, Jesus said, I came to do what the father sent me to do. It's finished. You may want to add something to it, but God says it's done. You may want to try to be better, but God says it's already done. You may want to add good works to it, but God says it's already done. Two thousand years ago, God became flesh and dwelt among us. He was without sin and became sin and died on the cross it on the third day, he was raised from the dead. When you believe in him, it doesn't matter who you are, how bad you've been, what you've done. Our God says it is finished. It is done.

Somebody shout, it is done. It is done. Our God loves us so much that he finished the work on the cross. And some of you are going to say, all right, that's too good to be true. And I'm going to tell you right now, it's too good not to be true. Because no person would make up a God who would become one of us and die in our place. That's why it's called the gospel, and that's why it's good news. And Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

And no one comes to the Father except through me. our God said is done if you'll believe in Jesus it's done settled and you'll become brand new not because you're good but because our God is that good all of our churches let's pray together today Father we thank you so much that we live in a place where we get to explore and ask questions and God all day long we want to be thinking people and we want to consider what's out there And when culture says again and again, doesn't matter what you believe, as long as you're sincere, we're smart enough to recognize that there is a difference. And so God, today, I ask that your Holy Spirit would do what you do, and that it's to draw people to yourself.

As you pray at all of our different churches, I want to talk, first of all, to those of you who are followers of Jesus, as I am. And you know somebody, maybe a family member, close friend, somebody that you work with, someone you play sports with, you do hot. hobbies with could be a distant relative, but somebody that you know and love who isn't sure what they believe. And you want to simply pray today that God would reach out to them and reveal his goodness, reveal his love and believe by faith that they could receive eternal life and be transformed not by religion, but by a relationship. All of our churches, you have someone that you love and you want to reach out to today maybe just in prayer or share, faith in one way or another at all of our churches if you say yes god would you reach out

and touch this person i love expose your love to them would you lift up your hands right now just all of our churches just lift up your hands hands went up all over god i i know that it's it's often such a burden when we care for people that continue to reject you we pray god that we would reflect your love never religion never legalism never a holier than now attitude but we would reflect the love of Jesus. God, we pray that you would send other people into the lives of those that we love. And God, you would use circumstances,

whatever it takes, to bring them to a place where they look to you and consider not a religion or church membership, but they would consider Jesus. And when they seek Him, God, we know that you're going to reveal your love to them. And so we pray, God, for those that we love and you love even more,

that they would come to a personal love relationship with you changed by the love of Jesus. All of our churches, as you continue praying today, there are those of you, you're not going to be able to explain what's about to happen, and you're not even sure why it's about to happen. But there is something right now drawing you to God. And it's not that I've convinced you of anything

because there are plenty of people way smarter than I am that couldn't convince you. But for some reason, you're being drawn to God. Let me tell you what that is. That is the love of God through His Holy Spirit, reaching out to you. And you're simply doing what I ask you to do today. You've considered Jesus, who he came for. Broken sinners like me and like you. And what he did is miracles. The fact that the tomb was empty, that people were willing to die because they knew he was alive.

And a very simple message, the most beautiful message and powerful message in the history of the world, that you're not made right with God because of your good works, but you're made right with God because of the grace of Jesus. How are you made right with God when you put your faith in Jesus? And there may be those of you who grew up in the church like I did. And for the first time, you're not going to put your faith in the church, but you're going to put your faith in Jesus. Others of you, you might be wild heathens. Guess what? God loves you where you are, and he will make you brand new. when you put your faith in Jesus. All of our churches today, those of you who would say, you know, I'm not sure what's happening,

but I recognize this is for me. And right now I'm being drawn to God. And so by faith, even though I don't understand everything, and I don't know all the details, by faith today, I'm simply choosing to surrender my life to Jesus. I believe that he is who he says he is. And by faith, I give my life to him. I need his forgiveness. I need his grace.

So I give my life to Jesus. That's your prayer. Would you lift your hands high right now? All of our churches lift your hands and say, yes, I choose to follow Jesus. Those of you at church online, would you click right below me saying, I'm becoming a follower of Jesus? And as people at churches across the world are crying out to the God who loves them, would you pray now with those around you? Everybody pray aloud. Pray Heavenly Father, forgive me of all my sins. I believe Jesus came for me to day.

die for me and to rise again so I could live for you. Fill me with your spirit so I can know you, so I can serve you, so I can follow you. My life is not my own. Today I give it to you. My faith is in you. Jesus alone. You are enough. The Lord of my life and my Savior. I give you my life. In Jesus' name I pray. Would you all worship big, worship loud, welcome those born into God's family today.