Live your best life now…
You only live once…
God wants me to be healthy, wealthy, and prosperous…

A. W. Tozer wrote a century ago, “The idea that this world is a playground instead of a battle ground has now been accepted in practice by the vast majority of Christians.” Not much has changed in a hundred years.

What is the difference of seeing the world as a playground instead of a battle ground? If this world is a playground, it’s supposed to be fun! It’s supposed to be for my best life now. That means no pain, no suffering, no tears, no diseases. If this is the playground, then I ought to have health, wealth, and prosperity.

And the amazing thing is that there are versions of Christianity that have swallowed this wholesale. The only problem is for anyone that’s been alive for a chunk of time, pain, suffering, tears, diseases, death seems to be the hand life deals us on a regular basis. So, Christians who have bought into the playground life are convinced something must be wrong with them and their faith when things aren’t a playground.

The reason why the playground metaphor is a lie is because of what God tells us in his word.

God says, “For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers , against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).

The consequence of being at war is that Jesus told his disciples, “You will be hated by all because of my name” (Matthew 10:22), and “They will hand you over to be tortured and will put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of my name” (Matthew 24:9).

Because we are at war, God tells us, “Share in suffering like a good soldier of Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 2:3). The Apostle Paul reminds us, “For he has graciously granted to you the privilege not only of believing in christ, but of suffering for him as well” (Philippians 1:29).

Live your best now…
You only live once…
God wants me to be healthy, wealthy, and prosperous…

Because so many have bought into the view that this world is our playground, when things get hard, when we suffer, when we are persecuted for our faith, many are distraught and many quit.

Suffering in a world that crucified our Lord is part of the program. God tells us, “For this you have been called, because christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps” (1 Peter 2:21).

But when we see the world as a battleground where the spiritual forces are at war, we gain an entirely different perspective re hardship, suffering, and persecution.

Tune in tomorrow for more.

I sometimes get asked why we don’t do more “practical” sermons or thematic sermons.

“Why don’t you guys preach on how to be a God-honoring family, or how to have a God-honoring marriage, or how to handle finances in a God-honoring way? That would be so practical. Plus, that’s what a lot of the other churches are doing.”

That’s a good observation.

It is true that at the Little Church we do not preach topical sermons. We always preach expository sermons. What does expository sermons mean? And how is it different than topical sermons?

Another great question.

Expository literally means explaining in a clear way. Expository sermons take a book of the bible and go through verse by verse explaining what the text means.

H. B. Charles Jr described the difference between expository preaching and topical sermons like this: “Ultimately, there are only two ways to preach; by exposition or by imposition. Either your preaching explains the God-intended meaning of the text or it sinfully imposes human speculation onto the text.”

There are two postures preachers can take in approaching the text they are going to preach.

First, they can stand under the authority of scripture and ask, “God, what do you want to communicate to your church through this text?”

Or, they can stand over the text as if they are the authority and know what needs to be communicated and declare, “This is what I want to say about Godly marriages. Now what texts in the Bible can I use to support what I want to preach.”

Did you notice the difference in the posture of the preacher in relation to the bible? There is a huge difference between these two perspectives.

I don’t ever want to put myself over God and God’s word. That is not my place. That is never the place of any preacher. The preacher’s role is to explain what God wants communicated to his church. And when preaching verse by verse through the Bible, it covers Godly marriages, Godly families, Godly sexual ethic, Godly use of money, etc.

The Little Church is committed to preaching God’s word. We do that by asking God every week what God wants to communicate to his church.

Lastly, did you know that our sermons are planned out at least a year out? We currently know what we are going to preach until the end of 2027.

Some people have wondered, but doesn’t planning out sermons like this so far into the future not allow for responding to current affairs as they happen?

Well. If you have been around the Little Church any chunk of time, it is uncanny how the texts that had been planned months and years ahead is exactly the text we needed to hear with the current affairs of the day. This hasn’t happened just once. But almost every single time there has been a major current affair, the text for that week is dealing with it.

And, every time that happens, we all remark – God is amazing! How did God know?!?!

So, why does the Little Church preach expository sermons? Because there is no other way to faithfully proclaim what God wants to communicate through his word.

One of my aunts has struggled with her mental health for most of her life. With the current regiment of meds and care, she is better than she has been in years. Recently, my family had lunch with her and her family at a restaurant. When the food was being served, my aunt remarked, “How come my serving is so small compared to everyone else?”

I thought that comment was quite odd since they gave her, what I thought was, a huge portion. And, if it was not a “huge” it certainly was not any smaller than any of the other dishes that the kitchen had prepared. But, I am telling you, her serving was HUGE!!!

Here’s the thing: because she was convinced that her portion was smaller than everyone else’s portion, that was her reality. As far as she was concerned, she had been cheated. This is part of the mental health thing I mentioned earlier. Because this is the lens she sees her world, every interaction is viewed suspiciously.

A couple of things to note:

• A misunderstanding believed to be true is true for my aunt. It doesn’t matter if it is not objectively true. Her perception is her reality and her truth.
• The lens we use to view the world impacts how we see and understand the world.

The million dollar question for us is: what lens are we using to see the world?

God commands Christians, “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

• Give thanks – this is written in the imperative. This is not a suggestion. This is a command. God commands all Christians to give thank in all circumstances.
• Second, God tells Christians that this is God’s will for every single Christ-follower. This is God’s will. You don’t have to think about, guess, wonder about what God’s will for you is. God tells us straight out – this is my will for every single Christ-follower
• Third, God tells Christians that we are to give thanks in “all” circumstances. That’ a pretty all-encompassing word. Not in the good situations. Not when the Mariners win. All. All circumstances.

The lens Christ-follower are to put on is the lens of thanksgiving.

Now here’s the best part: when we put on the lens of thanksgiving, we begin seeing everything around us through the lens of gratitude. And there really is so much for every one of us to be grateful for. Putting on the lens of gratitude will change your life.

Don’t take my word for it. God says so! So, put it on. Put on the lens of gratitude.