In this message, originally preached by Pastor Steven Furtick in 2016 he asks a question, “What really matters?” It’s an important question, because what really matters to you determines the direction you go in life. And let’s face it, shifts happen all the time in our lives making it difficult to maintain focus and hope.
Everybody say, “Shift happens!”
When he does it– I want to walk you through it, it picks up in verse 18.
The Bible has put in these verses for us,
but originally there weren’t verses breaking
up the different letters.
It’s just there so we can find it.
But sometimes it jumps in at a weird place,
and I think that happens in verse 18.
Paul says, “But what does it matter?”
That’s a phrase you should use as well.
“What does it matter?”
Y’all pray for me that I would get better
at that, because I take little things really
seriously.
Holly laughed when I made that point.
That’s a good sign.
He says, “You know what matters?
The important thing, the priority, is that
in every way, whether from false motives or
true, Christ is preached.
That’s what mattes to me.
So everything that serves that purpose is
fine with me, whether I like it or not in
the moment.
That’s what matters to me.”
What matters to you?
Because what matters to you will determine
the direction you point your life in.
What matters to you?
That’s your destination.
Paul says, “What matters to me is that Christ
is preached, and that’s happening, so whatever
they’re saying about me, that’s fine.”
“The important thing is that in every way,
whether from false motives or true, Christ
is preached.
And because of this I rejoice.”
This next phrase to me should be a different
verse.
They put it right in the same verse.
When Paul makes his next statement, he goes
into a completely different mode.
He goes in a different zone.
What I want to show you is the next skill
Paul teaches us.
This is not the skill of interpretation.
This is the skill of anticipation.
He shifts and he says, “Now that I’ve given
you my interpretation of what has happened,
let me give you my anticipation of what will
happen.”
On one level, Paul says, “I don’t know.
They might kill me.
I might live.
I’m not sure about that part.”
I want you to notice the frame of mind and
the state of consciousness Paul engages over
these 10 verses, starting with 18b, where
he said, “Yes, and I will continue to rejoice.”
He uses the word will.
He’s shifting now.
“I’ve spent enough time talking to you about
what happened.
That’s over.
Can’t control it.
Can’t do anything about it.
I’ve acknowledged it.
I’ve interpreted it.
That’s that.
Now I’m moving forward.
Now I want to tell you what will happen.”
I want us to do an exercise on every campus.
This is for those of you at Butler High School,
our Matthews Campus, temporarily homeless.
This is for our Uptown location.
This is for Weddington.
This is for University City.
This is for Lake Norman.
This is even for those in Raleigh, North Carolina,
and Toronto, Canada, who had record attendance
last weekend.
I want all of you, whether you’re good at
math or not, to count with me the number of
times the word will is used in these 10 verses
that start in verse 18.
There’s the first one.
You already got it, so put your hand up.
It’s one.
He said, “I will continue to rejoice.”
Next verse.
“For I know…”
He’s confident about this.
“…that through your prayers and God’s provision
of the Spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened
to me will turn out for my deliverance.
I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no
way be ashamed but will have sufficient courage
so that now as always Christ will be exalted
in my body, whether by life or by death.”
I don’t know what, but I know why.
“For to me, to live is Christ and to die is
gain.
If I am to go on living in the body, this
will mean fruitful labor for me.
Yet what shall I choose?
I do not know!
I’m torn between the two: I desire to depart
and be with Christ…”
“I wouldn’t have to put up with anything anymore.
It would be a lot better if I was in heaven.”
“But it’s more necessary that I remain in
the body for you.
Convinced of this, I know that I will remain,
and I will continue with all of you for your
progress…”
Maybe sometimes our life is meant to be more
about somebody else’s progress than our own.
Let’s keep counting.
I just wanted to point that out, because I
was talking about progress, and I wanted you
to know sometimes it’s not all about you.
“So that through my being with you again your
boasting in Christ Jesus will abound on account
of me.
Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a
manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.
Then, whether I come and see you or only hear
about you in my absence, I will know that
you stand firm in one Spirit.”
Now only about three of you counted with me
through the whole time, but if you counted
10, you counted right.
Ten verses and 10 times.
He doesn’t say has; he says will.
He doesn’t say maybe; he says will.
Why?
Because he has an eager expectation.
Did you see it in verse 20?
This is what we need.
He said, “I eagerly expect and hope.”
I was interested to learn that in Greek eagerly
expect and hope are not verbs but nouns, and
they’re joined together by the word kai in
Greek, which means and.
They have within them the idea…
This is where I really need you to focus,
because I flunked Greek in college, and then
I took it again in seminary, and I passed
with a C-plus.
I’m only telling you that for full disclosure
to let you know that I don’t typically walk
around my house quoting Greek, but when I
saw this in the text it was worth bringing
out, because when Paul says, “I eagerly expect,”
he uses a word (here’s what’s crazy) that
has never been used before.
He made up his own word to describe the kind
of hope you have to have to survive in a situation
where there seems to be no way out.
Paul said, “This is the kind of hope that
there is no vocabulary for.”
Paul had to take three words and put them
together to make a new word to describe the
kind of hope that can make you look at your
kid on drugs and your husband acting crazy
and your money low and your emotions a wreck
and say, “I still have an expectation, and
I still have a hope.”
He looks through his vocabulary, and he goes,
“I can’t even think of how to tell you how
I feel about it right now.
There’s no word, so I’m going to make one
up.”
He makes up this word.
I’m going to give it to you right now, and
you’re going to use it this week.
The word in Greek is made up of three words.
Let’s say it together on the count of three.
One, two, three!
“Apokaradokia.”
All right, we’re going to need some remedial
classes.
Apo kara dokia.
Apokara.
Apokaradokia.
Apo means to turn away with concentration,
ignoring other interests.
That’s the prefix.
You know Paul is good, because I could preach
a whole sermon just on his prefix, apo.
He said, “I’m in a situation right now when
if I look to my left, I see prison walls.
If I look to my right, I see prison walls.
If I look to my feet, I see a prisoner’s chains,
so I have to turn my head intentionally from
what’s over here and what’s over here.”
Sometimes you have to turn your head from
what’s here and what’s here and what’s here.
So he said, “I turn my head on purpose, ignoring
what I could be focused on.”
Kara means head.
This doesn’t require much explanation.
It literally means head.
Dokia.
It’s a company that was originally founded
in Sweden that sells ready-to-assemble home
furniture and appliances and accessories.
Dokia originally means to stretch forward.
When you put it together, you get this meaning.
I’m going to teach this to you, and we are
going to break it out on whatever situation
comes up in your life this week that tries
to break your focus or steal your faith.
You need a little bit of apokaradokia, which
means stretching the head forward.
He said, “I’m in a prison cell right now,
and I can’t move.”
I wish I was a better preacher.
If I was a better preacher, you’d get excited
about apokaradokia.
He said, “I can’t move my feet.
I can’t move my body, but I’m stretching my
head forward toward the future.
I will rejoice, because I’m stretching my
head forward.”
Here’s the problem.
With a lot of people, we have our heads so
far up our past we can’t see our future, but
God brought you to church today to get your
head out of your past and give you a little
apokaradokia faith, an eager expectation.
I’m stretching my head toward what’s next.
I’m not stuck in what was.
I’m not worried about what’s going to be.
I’m stretching my head toward Monday.
I’m stretching my head toward next year.
I’m stretching my head toward retirement.
I’m stretching my head toward fullness.
I’m stretching my head toward healing.
I’m stretching my head toward my mission.
Let’s practice.
Jump up on your feet.
This is a series called Functional Faith.
Shove your neighbor and tell them, “Stretch
your head.”
If you’re going to be fit, you have to stretch.
If you’re going to have faith, you have to
stretch.
If you don’t stretch, you might break.
So let’s stretch.
Come on.
Let’s stretch our hamstrings first of all.
I know how to stretch my hamstrings.
(That’s about as far down as I’m willing to
go in this tight suit to demonstrate it to
you.
Bad things, man.
Bad things.)
I know how to stretch my hamstrings.
I know how to stretch my back.
I know how to stretch my body, but nobody
teaches us how to stretch our head.
Apokaradokia.
There is a brighter day.
Apokaradokia.
It does make a difference.
Apokaradokia.
God is working in my situation.
Come on, say it.
Apokaradokia.
Tell the Devil what you have.
Tell him, “Devil, look at that apokaradokia!
The next time you run up on me with discouragement,
you need to know I’m turning my head and I’m
stretching my neck.
I’m about to open up a can of apokaradokia
on the Devil!”
Come on, this is better than Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
This is better than taekwondo.
This is going to teach you how to stick your
neck out.
I have good news for you.
Paul said, “It doesn’t matter if they kill
me or they let me live, because this is not
a situational interpretation.
This is not a situational anticipation.”
I feel like preaching this.
I’m done teaching now.
I’m in full-on preaching mode.
On the count of three, when I say three, I
want you to start with your head to the right.
When I say three, I want you to turn your
head.
It’s symbolic of all of the distractions that
aren’t going to distract you this week and
all of the cynicism you’re not even going
to pay any attention to this week.
I want you to turn your head.
I want you to give them an apo on three.
This is your apo.
One, two, three.
Turn it!
You missed it.
Wasn’t quick enough.
Turn your head to the left.
Come on, we have to practice.
I am your spiritual trainer.
I’m trying to teach you what to do when life
gets tough and I’m not here for you and you’re
looking to the right and you’re looking to
the left.
On the count of three, I want you to jerk
your head forward and give yourself whiplash.
One, two, three, apo!
Do it again.
Head to the right.
Are you looking at that person trying to see
what they think of you?
Looking at that situation trying to see how
it’s going to turn out?
Well, on the count of three, we have some
apo for the Devil.
On the count of three, turn your head and
shout apo.
One, two, three!
That’s the first step.
Now we need the dokia.
Now we need that thing where you stretch your
neck like a giraffe, where you look forward
to your future and smile at it, where you
look forward to problems and difficulties
and say, “I have something for you called
the Spirit of God.
For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
What’s Paul saying?
He’s saying, “Either way this turns out, I’m
coming out ahead.”
He said, “I don’t know what’s going to happen
next, but I’m headed in the right direction.”
Somebody shout!
I’m not there yet, but I’m headed in the right
direction.
I have my focus on.
I have my brave on.
I have my courage on.
I have my hope on.
I have my faith on.
Get your hands out of your pocket.
When I say three, I want you to stretch your
neck toward your future.
One, two, three.
Stretch!
You missed it.
Let’s do it on every campus.
Come on!
On the count of three, stretch your head.
Apokaradokia.
Tell the Devil, “I’m coming toward my future.”
One, two, three!
Again!
One, two, three!
One, two, three, apo!
One, two, three, kara!
One, two, three, dokia!
One, two, three!
You got it!
Clap like you got it.
Stomp like you got it.
Rejoice like you got it.
I will continue to rejoice, for to me…
I feel good about it.
To live is Christ, to die is gain, and I’m
coming out ahead.
One, two, three!
One, two, three!
That’s your new cadence this week.
You’re not going into this week thinking about
what happened when you were 13.
I have something for regret.
It’s called apokaradokia.
I turn my head from that.
If I think about that too long I get depressed.
If I think about that too long I start getting
bitter.
If I look over here I might get jealous.
If I look over there I might get discouraged.
I have to stretch my head toward my future
in faith.
I will rejoice.