Living for the Sake of Others: Kingdom Truths with Dr. Paul McDonald

Coming around to you is a handout. I love handouts. I can’t hardly speak without a handout. I love them more than you do. So if you don’t like the handout, it’s really more about me than it is you, OK? So it helps keep me on track and make sure I stay within my time. Thanks, Pastor Tom, for the opportunity to share. This week, one of our pastors was laid to rest, 61 years old. I’m 61. And he was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. And about four weeks later, we buried him. And when I saw him in the hospital a couple of times, his name is Tim Ashby over on the west side is where he pastored, Cameron, Missouri. He just kept saying to me, Pastor, I just want to get out of here so I can get back in the pulpit. I just want to preach. I want to love on my people. I don’t like being out of the pulpit. It’s just fire in my bones. And I loved his tenacity to get back to it. He says, I’m not so concerned about my physical being as much as I am. I want to be obedient to Jesus. I want to remind the people of who he is. And I want to preach to them. And I was so blessed by that determination. And so while I returned home, I started thinking about scriptures and even some things to share at his memorial. And I was captivated by the words I found in 2 Peter that I, of course, read before, and I’m sure you have as well. And I was struck by Peter’s ambition as he got older, what he wanted to do, and what was a priority for him. And so I’ve titled this Living for the Sake of Others. I’m going to read this first page, and then we’ll talk through the back page. It’s from 2 Peter chapter 1. It says, therefore, I, Peter, will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them and have been established in the truth which is present with you. So he says, I make it my ambition to remind you of the things I’ve already told you. I consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly dwelling, to stir up by way of reminder, knowing that the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent, as also our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. And I will also be diligent that at any time after my death, you will be able to call these things to mind. And when I read that, I thought, I think I’m reading something that Tim Ashby would write. Tim is saying, I just want to remind my congregation about the ways of God and the works of God. And I want to spend all my days on this earth making sure that my life counts for investing in someone. Now, Peter, we don’t know exactly how he knew the time of his departure. Have you ever known someone that knew when God was going to take them? My grandfather knew. I saw him a week before his passing. And he said, Paul, and he prayed over me that day. And he said, Paul, I want to pray over you, because the Lord told me I’m going home on Monday. And I said, oh, Grandpa, you’re not going home on Monday. God’s not through with you yet. He said, Paul, I want to lay hands on you and pray for you, because I’m going home on Monday. He went home on Monday. Now, not everybody gets that information, gets that memo. Some of us might like that. Of course, if we had it, we’d probably act like rebels until the day before. And then we’d repent and get righteous, right, if we knew when we were going home. But let me read to you what I wrote here as I journaled some thoughts here. We don’t know what signal Peter received from the Lord telling him his earthly life would be ending soon. But as Peter faced his mortality head on, he chose to keep telling people what he had been telling them. He wanted to be sure that at any time after his death, his friends and followers would easily recall those kingdom truths. Peter was an eyewitness on the Mount of Transformation. He wasn’t making up stories about Jesus. He heard God directly. Peter’s profound convictions gave him a special burden to pass along to another generation the deeper truths that he had lived. God hadn’t granted him immunity to death, like us all. But Peter didn’t use his remaining time just to do all the things he’d never had time for because he was so busy with ministry. He chose to finish his life just as he lived it for others. Likely, his living situation changed, as did his mobility, his strength, and even his health. But this letter from Peter is proof that his waning years were still filled with ministry to others. And it’s staggering to realize that his legacy choice, the decision he made for how to live while dying, has been impacting people like me and like you for centuries. I want to be like that. I am not one of those guys who need to die in the pulpit when he’s preaching. By the way, in Fairbanks, we had a guy who was teaching Wednesday night service, and he dropped dead. That’s a little bit of a PTSD moment. I can assure you when that happens, I tried reviving and could not. It was an awful, awful thing. But it happens. But I’m not one of those guys that feels like I need to die in the pulpit. And I have no inkling of my imminent death, praise the Lord. Well, to die is gain, right? But I have no inkling of that time. But I say again, Lord, keep using me for the sake of others as long as I can be helpful. So then it got me thinking this morning, what are some things that I want to keep reminding people of? And in particular, I started thinking about, and we’re on the backside here, what do I want to remind my grandkids of? What is it that I want them to remember? How can I captivate this moment in their young lives to remind them about eternal truths? And as I get older, I want to keep my hand to that reminding plow and keep reminding them of what’s true of the kingdom and what’s true of the Lord. Well, I thought of two things. Number one, that God intervenes in the lives of people. And number two, God is a God of truth. I want to remind them that God intervenes in the lives of people. Matthew 6 has told us to pray, Lord, let your kingdom come. Let your will be done. Lord, as it is in heaven, so let it be in this earthly dimension as well. Lord, let the in-breaking of the heavenly dimension break into this dimension. Let the authority of heaven override the jurisdiction of earth. Lord, where they’re sick, let the health of heaven be manifested. Lord, where they need deliverance, let the delivering power of heaven break through this earth, and may they experience that. Lord, where they need heavenly provision, may they experience that. I want my children to understand that God intervenes. He’s a God of suddenlies. He’s a God of the miraculous. He’s the God of intervention. Romans 15, Paul says, I preach the gospel, but the gospel is accompanied by the power of signs and wonders in the power of the Spirit, so that from Jerusalem and around about as far as Iconium, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. So Paul preached, but he also experienced the in-breaking of the kingdom of God. He knew the words of God, but he also knew the works of God and the power of God. And by the way, these were signs and wonders. What do signs do? Signs point you in a direction. These signs were there to point people to Jesus. So I want all the signs and the miraculous that happened in the lives of my family members, and I’m reminding them that God is a God of intervention, that all of those miraculous things serve to point them to Jesus. Secondly, God is a God of truth. I want my grandchildren to know how life works. I want them to understand that truth is a grid that is superimposed upon their life, and there are patterns, there are instructions, there are ways of God that they are not only supposed to expect the intervention of God, but they are to embrace the ways of God. Now, as a pastor, I have had lots of people come say, pastor, we don’t have anybody. Would you pray for us? And I’m like, I’m ready to pray any time you want me to pray. Come right on up here to the altar. Anybody want prayer? Because I know there can be demonic hindrances to the provision of God. I’ve seen it. I realize that. But by and large, the reason people are struggling financially, by and large, is because they have not embraced the ways of God. So they were just looking for the pastor, pray for me this week, so that the check will be in the mailbox. But I really don’t have any intention in developing a life that follows the patterns and the instructions of God. And both are important, because God is not fragmented. God is whole. And so just as the miraculous comes into our lives, at the same time, we must embrace his ways. Now, the word cosmos means arrangement. You’ve probably heard the word cosmetology, right? It’s this idea of arrangement. If you put face paint on, the arrangement is different. I like to think of truth as an arrangement. My wife decorates, but I hang things. So my wife says, I want it hung there. I want that love seat there. And by the way, she has carte blanche privilege to change her mind every two days, right? Like, no, I didn’t want it there. I said I wanted it there, and now I don’t want it there. So I’m just the hired hand that says, OK, dear, I’ll move the couch back over there. So she arranges what the house looks like. I just hang things. Truth is an arrangement. It’s a decor. And so we are to decorate our lives with the cosmology or the arrangement of God’s truth. And we’re really not free to say, you know, Lord, I really would like that picture over there. No, the Lord is the one who sets up the arrangement. We’re the ones who hang it on the hook of our providential soul, right? We’re the ones who say, OK, Lord, we will embrace your way. So truth becomes that grid that gets superimposed. I need to know not only his signs and wonders, but I also want my children to understand his truth and his ways. Psalm 25, make me know your ways, Lord, and teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation. For you, I wait all day long. There’s the intervention. I wait for you, Lord, but at the same time, Lord, I’m wanting you to make known your ways to me. In other words, tell me the design of my life, right? And the more that we long to learn his ways, I think the more we begin to walk in what’s called a righteous life, which has this idea of a prosperity that comes into our life. Because rarely do miracles solve the day-to-day issues of life. Rarely do miracles. Now, do we believe in them? Yes, I want to pray every time. Maybe somebody comes to me and says, I’m sick. I need God’s intervention. I’m right there. I don’t say, well, don’t tell me more. Let me see if you’re worthy or not, and then I’ll pray for you. Are you kidding? None of us are worthy. Of course we want that. But I understand that that miracle that God does for them, whether it’s a healing, whether it’s a provision, whether it’s a deliverance, that that miracle rarely solves the day-to-day issues of life. You can pray as a pastor or a leader in this church for people that have marriage problems all day long at the altar, and then they go home and they act like selfish pigs. The selfishness is the issue. You’re not needing to deliver them from something. You can’t get delivered from yourself. I’d love that. Wouldn’t that self be gone? That’s me. And I’m the one who’s saying hurtful things to Cindy. I’m the one who’s not cooperative. I need God to help me with this thing called sanctification by embracing his ways to follow the ways of love in 1 Corinthians 13. So miracles rarely solve the day-to-day issues of life. Now, Matthew chapter 11 is a verse that sometimes, have you ever go into bathrooms and there’ll be a verse on the wall? Always cracks me up, the different verses we have. And it’s always interesting, the placement of the placard on the wall as well. It’s either there or there. And it’s kind of funny. But I’ve noticed that sometimes with this one, they stop at part A. Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. I always think that’s sort of a funny one in the bathroom. But come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And it stops there. It’s like ellipses, the three dots, dot, dot, dot. And I’m thinking, why do you cut that off? Why do you cut off verse 29? Well, it’s because there’s not room on the placard. That’s why. They’re not diametrically opposed to the verse. There’s just not room on the 3 by 3 picture frame or whatever. But the reality is you should not separate 29 from 28. Come to me, all you who are weary. I’m coming to you, Lord. I’m weary. I need you. I need your intervention. I need your rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. For I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your soul. The resting is directly connected to the yoking. You know what a yoke is? Any farmers in here? I was talking to a few farmers. Thankfully, we didn’t have to do much yoking. Yeah, it’s a horse collar. Yoke yourself up with God. Why do you yoke yourself? Why do they yoke the young oxen with the old oxen? The old goat with the young one, right? Why did they do that? So the young one could learn how to do it. People want to know the deliverance of God, but they don’t want to get yoked. Friends, you’ve got to get yoked. They are a combined package. God intervenes. He’s the God of the miraculous. We pray for that. But once we receive the miraculous intervention of God, there has to be that willful decision to say, Lord, now I’m going to learn of you and get yoked up with you. Matthew 22, I leave you with this. Jesus said to them, this is the religious leaders. He says, you are mistaken, not understanding the ways of God, nor the power of God. Both are important in our journey with Jesus. Please, let’s not have a Christianity that’s void of power. There are people that have different things. Islam has plenty of rules, plenty of regulations, but they don’t have a God who intervenes in the affairs of their lives. We do. It starts there. Without his intervention, you didn’t find God. Remember those bumper stickers, I found it? You didn’t find nothing. God found you. And he miraculously saved you and brought you out of the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of his beloved son. But once we’re in the kingdom of his beloved son, then that’s when we say, Lord, I want to follow your instructions, your patterns, your ways. I want to yoke up with you. I want to be a disciple. Because if you want your finances to improve, what do we do? Yes, deliver us, Lord, from the attack. Because I think the enemy can actually be a hindrance to the flow of finances. There have been times Cindy and I have been at each other a little bit, kind of, rawr, rawr. Now, we don’t do a lot of yelling in our house. I’m not that type of personality. But I’m pretty good at passive aggressive behavior. Any of you good at that? I don’t do any yelling, but she knows when I’m upset, right? But sometimes we just kind of look at each other and we go, why are we upset with each other? We haven’t done anything. She couldn’t pinpoint anything. And we’ll just take each other’s hand and we’ll just say, Lord, we just rebuke the plans of the enemy against our marriage. Our marriage is the reflection of your life with our life. And we just come against it. Because I think the enemy can actually attack our marriage as leaders, as the children of God. But I also know I need to be diligent that when I’m acting selfish, that I go to her and say, honey, that was selfish. I was short with you. I shouldn’t have been short with you. I ask you to forgive me. I’ve asked the Lord to forgive me. I’m asking the Holy Spirit to convict me. Guys, have you ever said something? And this is maturity in marriage. When you’re first married, you just go, bleh. You just say it, right? It just comes out. And then as you grow in the Lord, it’s kind of like it’s coming out, but you’re catching it. But it’s too late, because two or three of the words have already been out, right? And you can’t rewind that tape. You cannot rewind that tape. But as I mature, it’s like the Lord is showing me that I have an opportunity not to say it. I can stop it, because it’s the maturity that he gives me that I can stop it. And then I can say words of blessing instead, OK? So let’s be people who understand the power of God and who also embrace the ways of God. Amen? Father, make this true of us. Lord, keep us on the path of reminding not only ourselves of the fact that you intervene and the fact of your truth. But Lord, let us be people who remind others around us. Even as we age, Lord, there are so many wonderful, mature, spiritually gifted people in this congregation. Lord, I pray that as they age, they will not forget, like Peter, that their task is to remind others of who you are and of the truth that you have proclaimed that we can embrace. Lord, I bless you, and I thank you, and I bless these dear people. Keep them close to your heart, Lord, and may your ways ever be superimposed upon their hearts. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Praise the Lord. That’s such a good word. And it fits right well with what we’ve been going through on Sundays in Proverbs. We believe in the power of God, but we also need the patterns. We need the patterns of the Lord working in our life, his ways, his truth. And I love the Matthew passage, take my yoke. His yoke is his teaching, and so Lord, help us to take the yoke of Jesus and begin to live under submitted to his ways. We’ll begin to see better outcomes, outcomes that glorify God, and you’ll enjoy it. I love that idea that the greatest goal in life is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. And there is something beautiful about aligning our lives with the ways of God. Marriage, finances, parenting, work, co-worker relationships, all of these areas of our life don’t have to be endlessly frustrating. We can align ourselves with the ways of the Lord, and we can see him at work in our lives, and we give him the glory, and we get to enjoy what God is doing in our lives. So I want to pray again and thank you for coming, and then I’ll have a few words about the work day. And we don’t need to include that on the video, but you can include the prayer. Lord Jesus, thank you again for your miraculous power. Lord, thank you that as the kingdom comes on earth as it is in heaven, Lord, there are miraculous moments, moments where you break into our lives, Lord, giving us faith, setting us free, transforming us, works of healing, oh God, in people’s lives. We’re so grateful. But Lord, we’re also thankful for the daily ways you help us to align our lives with your truth in your kingdom. Lord, let it be said of this church, of our homes, of our lives, that we are yoked with Jesus, and we’re walking in the footsteps of our Lord. In Jesus’ name, amen. Amen. Thank you again, Pastor Paul. Appreciate that so much. Some of that’s going to show up in my sermon on Sunday, I’m sure.