Today we’re entering into week three of our spiritual campaign, 40 Days of Purpose: A Show of Hands. Two weeks ago we began with the simple question, “What on Earth am I here for?” And we learned that God Himself has a plan, a purpose for each of our lives. Last week we began to explore the first of those purposes as we talked about how You Were Planned for God’s Pleasure. Our first purpose in life is worship, our first purpose is to be known and loved by God and to know and love Him back.
Today we're going to look at the second purpose, which is fellowship. Fellowship is another way of saying, “You are formed for God's family.” Now, once you understand and get started on God's first purpose for your life, God wants you to begin to focus and start practicing His second purpose for your life.
Your second purpose in life is fellowship. Now, again, this word, like the word we looked at last week, Worship, is often misunderstood. If I were to go out and ask people on the street, “What do you think of when I say the word ‘fellowship’?” Well, first I don’t think they’d say anything at all. “Fellowship” is kind of a church word, isn’t it? So what would you say fellowship is? What is the first thing you think of when you hear the word, “fellowship”?
Write this down, “Fellowship is loving God's family.” Fellowship is loving God’s family. What did we learn last week about worship? Who does worship begin with? Right—God. And like worship, fellowship also begins with God! Don’t forget that! In 1 Corinthians 1:9 the Apostle Paul is greeting the whole church in Corinth, the whole group of people, and he is telling them how they as a group will be blameless and pure on the last day, and he mentions—almost in passing—how their fellowship began. Paul says, “9 God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.”
So “fellowship” doesn’t simply mean to love people who are around you, but in the Christian sense of the word, “fellowship” means to 1) recognize that God has brought you into His family, 2) recognize that God has also brought all the other believers into His family, and 3) to show Christ-like love to those members of God’s family.
“Fellowship” implies a bond between you and me, it implies a bond between you and the person sitting in front of you in church. It even implies a bond between you and believers in far-off countries. It even (gasp!) implies a bond between you and . . . dare I say it . . . non-Lutherans!
What is that bond? Our memory verse for this week tells us. Let’s read that together. Romans 12:5 “5 So in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” In Christ we form one body. In Christ we belong to each other. The bond that ties us together, the bond that joins us in fellowship, is the fact that in Jesus Christ we are forgiven, redeemed, and transformed. In Christ we are changed from a lone wolf to running with the pack.
Now, there are tons of good, solid things we could talk about regarding fellowship. But the most basic component of Christian fellowship, the primary place where we express and experience fellowship, is the local church. It is Our Saviour. So rather than get lost on a big discussion about what fellowship means in a universal sense, we’re going to focus on the four levels of fellowship that God puts in place for the local church.
Of the four levels of fellowship, the first level is membership. Simply put, it is Choosing to belong. Now, whether you grew up in this church or you’ve visited and then decided you’d stick around, you had to make a choice to get and stay connected to Our Saviour. Ephesians 2:19 says, “19Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household.” You’re not a foreigner, but a belonger. You belong. You fit. You have a place.
The Christian life is not just a matter of believing. I’ve met too many people in my life who were convinced in their own minds that having Christ was enough. They have deceived themselves into thinking that, as long as they believed in Christ, they didn’t need to belong to a church. That’s wrong. Believers are belongers. Not because I said so, but because Christ said so.
But it’s this word “membership” that gets us all confused. I’ve thought about this a lot, and I can’t tell where in our society we use the word “membership” in a Biblical way. Most of the time, “membership” means we get something. As a matter of fact, didn’t that use to be an American Express slogan, “Membership brings benefits”? Something like that. But “member” means that I can shop at Sam’s . . . but non-members can’t. “Member” means I can get into the country club . . . but non-members can’t. “Member” means I have privilege, that I can get discounts or special services or perks . . . but that’s not a Biblical image of “membership. The Biblical image of membership isn’t getting . . . but giving. It’s one of service, of sharing.
As a matter of fact, that’s the second level of fellowship. In the first level we make a choice to belong, but in the second level we go a bit deeper. On this level, what we’ll call the friendship level, we are Learning to share.
What do we share? Everyone who has kids or been around kids knows that one of the most basic lessons kids need to learn is how to share. It’s really the same with adults. No, I’m not asking you to share your toys, but as you grow into the second level of fellowship you learn to share three things:
First, we share our experiences. Proverbs 27:17 says, “17 As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” That simply means that as we gather together we glean information and experience from one another. You become sharper as you interact with others and they share your experiences with you. Simply put, I know things you don’t and you know things I don’t. But as we share our experiences we can each gain a wealth of knowledge from the other.
Second, the Bible says we're to share our homes. We're to share our homes. The Bible says in I Peter 4:9, "open up your homes to each other." It doesn't say if they are really nice ones, open them up. It just says open them up. Why are we to share our homes? I'll tell you why – because you cannot practice fellowship in a crowd. You can only practice fellowship in a small group or one on one.
We're don’t really get much fellowship accomplished during the service, do we? It’s almost impossible to fellowship with this many people. Yes, We can worship together, we can celebrate together, we can learn together. But you're not going to walk out of here knowing me better than you do right now, and the same goes for me. But real, deep fellowship takes place in the small groups. And that's why the Bible says open up your homes to each other. That's where you really get to know people. One of the reasons we keep saying, “Go get in a small group” is because that's a Biblical principle. Christians are supposed to meet in homes.
How many of you are in a 40 Days of Purpose group? Can I see your hands? Look at that. Almost everybody. We have, what . . . over 80 people meeting in small groups this week. That’s more than we have in worship on a typical Sunday! That's fantastic, the church in action.
Let's be a little honest. How many of you would say, “The first time I ever went to a small group, I was a little nervous”? Can I see your hand? Yeah, right. Sure. Because you didn't know what was going on, you had all kinds of fears. A group I’d like to honor today, because they really moved against their fear and exhibited courage, is the hosts that opened up their homes for all of us. If you're a host, would you stand up and let us give you some appreciation right now for opening up your home? Congratulations! Thank you, guys.
Now, not only do we share our experiences in our homes, the Bible says, number three, we're to share our problems. We're not meant to face our problems alone. The Bible teaches us in Galatians 6:2 to “Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” You know when you share a joy, it is doubled; and when you share a problem, it is cut in half? The Bible says, “Weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice.” Sometimes in a small group you die of laughter and sometimes you're all shedding a tear. Why? Depends on what is going on in your group during the week. You don't have to fix everybody's problem. God hasn't told you to do that. It just says share them. This means lend a listening ear. You don't have to fix. In fact, a lot of times, trying to fix a problem doesn't help. It’s just sitting there and going, “Boy I feel for you,” “Been there,” “I understand,” “That's tough.” You know, and it is just sharing sympathy and experience.
Now, you're never going to go to this second level of fellowship until you get into a small group. That's why the Bible says this in Hebrews 10:25, “Let us not give up the habit of meeting together. Instead, let us encourage one another.” The primary purpose of a group is to encourage each other. And it says, “Don't give up the habit." I hope you'll never give up this habit some of you are starting for the first time this 40 days, because you're always going to need encouragement. Even after the 40 Days campaign, you can keep meeting together. Come to me, and I’ll get you some resources to keep your group going.
The third level of fellowship is Partnership. Partnership is doing my part. Partnership is realizing that I’ve got a contribution to make; that the family of God needs you. Listen, God did not bring you to Our Saviour to sit and soak in some spiritual spa. That's not why you're here. He brought you here to serve. He wants to make a difference through your life.
One of the things I always try to emphasize around our house is that everyone has to share the load. If you’re part of the family, that means you’ve got work to do around the house. My job is to tell everyone else what to do!
But even if you don’t have a big family at home, remember that you are part of a family—you’re part of God’s family. And in God’s family you have work to do, you have a part to play. We serve one another. We love one another. We pray with one another. The Bible even says we have to put up with one another when we're doing all of this. That's how it works together. This is love in action. Not just in words.
You have a part to play. You have a part to play in the Body of Christ. And when we cooperate, we get more done together than we could ever get done by ourselves. There is an attitude, a heart attitude that is key to me, to you, to all of us, that we're doing it for Jesus Christ.
The fourth level of fellowship is the deepest level that we can express person to person. Rick Warren calls this level kinship, because it is loving believers like family. Treating and loving believers like they’re family. You're completely committed to them. The Bible describes the earliest group of believers in Acts 2:42, saying that they were like family to each other. In Romans 12:10 in the Bible says, "Be devoted to each other like a loving family."
Now, the word for fellowship in the Bible is the Greek word “koinonia"; you might have heard that at some time. The basic root of koinonia implies being as committed to each other as we are to Jesus Christ; that is the deepest level of fellowship. Being as committed to each other as we are to Jesus Christ.
That is family relationship. That is kinship. That is saying I’m at the level of being willing to sacrifice for you. Sure, we know John 3:16, " for God so loved the world," but we forget First John 3:16, which says, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.” This is the deepest level of fellowship; sacrificing for each other. It's the kind of love Jesus Christ had for you. He died for you.
Now, in the Bible it talks about the fellowship of suffering. And, frankly, here in America, we Christians know nothing about this kind of fellowship. But overseas, that’s a different story. Did you know that all around the world, millions of Christians each year lose their lives just for being believers? Over ten million Christians die every year, mostly in communist or Muslim countries, simply for the crime of being Christians. And so we come to this verse, and people in other places can take it literally. They are laying down their lives for each other, as brothers and sisters in the family of God.
But we are not persecuted like that here in the States, so it is hard for us to experience this deepest level of fellowship where you actually giving your life for a brother or sister in the family of God. So how do you do that? How do you get to this deepest level in America? Well, one way to do it is by standing with other believers when they are going through a crisis. When your brother or sister Christian has it rough, you’re there for them. When everybody else walks out, you walk in.
Friends, this is what life is all about, loving God and learning to love each other. If you miss this, you have missed the purpose of your life and I pity you. Because life is not about accomplishments. It is about relationships. You were put on this earth to know God and love Him, and to know His family and love them, because that's whom we're spending eternity with.
These four things: membership, friendship, partnership, and kinship—they express our Christian fellowship to one another and they witness it to the world.
Sunday, January 29, 2006
Sunday, January 22, 2006
You Were Planned For God's Pleasure
Mike Royco, a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, once reported this true story. A man named Bill Mallory traveled to India to discover the purpose of life. But he didn’t find the answer there. So after returning, he noticed a sign at Chevron gas station that simply said, “As you travel, ask us.” So every time he pulled into a Chevron station, he would look to the sign and say, “I’m a traveler. I’d like to ask you a question. What is the purpose life?” These were the answers he got. The first guy said, “Sorry. I’m new here.” The second guy said, “I don’t remember anything in the manual about that.” Another guy said, “I’m not much for church myself, sir.” One guy gave him a leering look and a wink, whatever that meant. However, most people just gave him a blank stare, cleaned his windshield; but he kept asking at all the Chevron stations.
One day Mallory got a phone call from Chevron Customer Relations. He said, “We understand you’ve been asking our dealer questions and getting unsatisfactory answers.” The man suggested that he write out his question and send it to Chevron Corporate with a self-addressed stamped envelope. So Bill Mallory took a piece of paper, wrote, “What is the purpose of life?” and sent it to Chevron Gas Company. A couple of weeks later, the envelope was returned. The only thing in it? An application for a credit card!
How about you? Did you find your purpose this week? Well, unless your small group jumped ahead, you shouldn’t have . . . just yet, anyway. We’re on day 7 of 40 Days of Purpose: A Show of Hands, and today we’re going to talk about the first purpose. God has five purposes for our lives, and today we get to talk about the first one: You Were Planned for God’s Pleasure . . . and that’s called worship.
What is worship? I looked it up in the dictionary last night, and Webster’s says that our word “worship” comes from a word meaning “worth-ship.” In other words, giving something worth. Is that right? Is that good enough? That we give worth to God through worship? No, that’s not really good enough to say that. God is already all-powerful, all-knowing, eternal, etc., etc., . . . He doesn’t need us to give worth to Him. So there’s got to be more than just that.
Webster’s goes on to define “worship” this way: “a prayer, church service, or other rite showing reverence or devotion for a deity; religious homage or veneration.” Okay, that’s not bad. Simple, but not bad. Then it says, “unbounded admiration; intense love; extreme devotion.” Heeeeyyyyyy . . . that’s sounding pretty good. Is that what “worship” means? I think we’re getting close with that one . . . maybe closer than we know.
In the Gospel reading from today a teacher of the Law came to Jesus with a serious question. He came to Jesus, and he asked, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” Jesus’ answer is also our memory verse for the week, so let’s read it together—either from your memory verse keychain or the banner for today, we read: Mark 12:30 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”
Love the Lord you God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength; that phrase sums up worship. If you can do that, then you have worshipped. Well no—not really. There’s one thing—one very important thing—that needs to be added to that first.
I don’t want to give the impression that this first purpose—the purpose of worship—somehow begins with us. True worship does not begin with us. Like everything else in our lives, true worship begins with God.
1 John 4:15-19 says, “16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 17 In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 19 We love because he first loved us.”
Where does love come from? Right—from God. The love we give to one another, even the love we give to God, that all comes from God. He gives us love through Jesus Christ. Love that we don’t even deserve, love that we can’t understand . . . and yet He gives it to us. Why? Because loving you pleases God. Let me say that again: loving you pleases God.
This is why one of the great Lutheran theologians said, “We cannot offer anything to God unless we have first been reconciled and reborn. The greatest possible comfort comes from this doctrine that the highest worship in the Gospel is the desire to receive forgiveness of sins, grace, and righteousness”
The highest worship in the Gospel is the desire to receive forgiveness of sins. Where do we receive this forgiveness? Look around . . . see any hints here today? Sure! Through the sacraments! Through the Lord’s Supper! Through the Means of Grace—through the Word and the Sacraments—God makes His grace in Jesus Christ available to us. This is so absolutely central to our faith and life, everything else revolves around it. Every aspect of worship we’re going to talk about today—they’re all centered around God’s gifts of grace to us in Word and Sacrament. Our whole worship life revolves around what God first gives us.
That leads us to our first point. Worship is my response to God’s love. Worship is just the way I react, I respond, to God when He loves me. That’s what worship is. His gives His love to us, and then we worship Him back. God always takes the initiative; He always makes the first move. He creates us. He saves us. He forgives us. He blesses us. He protects us. He does all these things and then because of all these things, we worship.
Second; Worship is giving back to God. He gives to us, and we give back to Him. And whenever you give back to God, whenever you offer anything to God, that’s called worship. And that brings pleasure to God. It brings enjoyment to God. When your kids are grateful to you, as a parent, that brings pleasure to you. When we’re grateful to our Heavenly Father, that brings pleasure to Him. Now, the question is, What am I supposed to offer? I mean, what do you give a God who has everything? I mean, He made the world. He made you. He made the universe. What do you give Him?
I’ll tell you what you give Him…you give Him your love. You give Him your love. He gives it to you, and you give it back. He tell us in our memory verse—remember it? Let’s say it again together: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.”
I want to point out that God wants me to love Him three ways: First, God wants me to love Him thoughtfully. It says, “love Him with your mind.” Thoughtfully. In other words, He wants you to think it through, to not just do it without thinking. He wants you to worship Him thoughtfully, know and love Him thoughtfully. Second, God wants me to love him passionately. He says, “with all your heart and all your soul.” God says, “I want you to love Me passionately, because I passionately love you.” And Third, He says, I want you to love me practically. Practically. “love Me with all your strength”, with your abilities.
You see, the truth is that even though God created the entire world and the universe and He created you, there are three things God does not have unless you give them to Him. He doesn’t have your attention unless you give it to Him. That’s loving God with your mind. He doesn’t have your affection, unless you give it to Him. That’s loving God with your heart and your soul. And God doesn’t have your ability, unless you give it to Him. That’s loving God with your strength.
Like we said before, everything in our lives begins with God. He has given us all those things. You have the ability to give attention. You have affections. You have strengths and abilities because God gave them to you. And whenever you take the things God has given to you and you give them back to God, that, friends, is the heart of worship.
At one time, Liz Curtis Higgs was one of the best-known disc jockeys in America, and she lived quite a wild life. In fact, Howard Stern was the a.m. show, and Liz Curtis Higgs was the p.m. show. And one day Howard Stern said to Liz, “You know, you need to get clean up your act.” Now, that really says something if Howard Stern is saying it, okay? I mean, that’s pretty wild.
And because Liz Curtis Higgs had been burned by so many men and her heart had been broken so many times by these men, she became a militant feminist. And I underscore, militant feminist. But she had a Christian girlfriend who kept inviting her to church. Week after week this would go on, so one day after a long, long time, Liz finally said, “Okay, I will go to church one time and ONE TIME ONLY.” And wouldn’t you know it, that week the pastor just happened to be teaching on the Bible verse that says “Wives submit yourselves to your husbands.” Now, that’s not exactly a good verse to start with a militant feminist, okay? And Liz got pretty uptight. Angry.
But she continued to listen and she actually heard the second part of the verse, which nobody ever talks about. You see, the second part of the verse says “and husbands - you sacrifice yourself; you give yourself for your wives just as Jesus Christ sacrificed Himself for the church and died for her.” People don’t ever hear that second part, okay? Who is asked to give their life up? The husband or the wife? The husband. Okay? The husband. Well, when Liz heard that part, she leaned over to her friend and said with a little cynicism, “well, shoot, I’d gladly give myself to any man if I knew he would die for me.” And her friend leaned over and said, “Liz, there is man who loved you enough to die for you. His name is Jesus Christ. That’s how much He loves you.” And it was not long after that that Liz dropped her guard, surrendered her life to God in love, and received the gift of God in Jesus Christ. Today she is a well-known Christian author and speaker.
I know what some of you are thinking, you’re saying, “This thing about loving God. You know, I just don’t love God enough.” That’s not your problem. You say, “I don’t love God enough.” That is not your problem! Your problem is you don’t realize how much God loves you. That’s your problem. If you really knew how much God loves and cares about every detail of your life, you’d throw yourself at Him, and go “Oh, how could I not love a God like that?” You just don’t know how much He loves you.
Worship is always a response. We love God because He first loved us. And when you understand how much He loves you, How He loved you enough to even come to earth and die on a cross for you, then you simply stand before Him and say “Thank you, Lord, for everything You have done for me, everything You have given me. Even though I could never repay You for all that you’ve done, I want to give You back as much as I can . . . because You first loved me.”
And that is the heart of worship.
One day Mallory got a phone call from Chevron Customer Relations. He said, “We understand you’ve been asking our dealer questions and getting unsatisfactory answers.” The man suggested that he write out his question and send it to Chevron Corporate with a self-addressed stamped envelope. So Bill Mallory took a piece of paper, wrote, “What is the purpose of life?” and sent it to Chevron Gas Company. A couple of weeks later, the envelope was returned. The only thing in it? An application for a credit card!
How about you? Did you find your purpose this week? Well, unless your small group jumped ahead, you shouldn’t have . . . just yet, anyway. We’re on day 7 of 40 Days of Purpose: A Show of Hands, and today we’re going to talk about the first purpose. God has five purposes for our lives, and today we get to talk about the first one: You Were Planned for God’s Pleasure . . . and that’s called worship.
What is worship? I looked it up in the dictionary last night, and Webster’s says that our word “worship” comes from a word meaning “worth-ship.” In other words, giving something worth. Is that right? Is that good enough? That we give worth to God through worship? No, that’s not really good enough to say that. God is already all-powerful, all-knowing, eternal, etc., etc., . . . He doesn’t need us to give worth to Him. So there’s got to be more than just that.
Webster’s goes on to define “worship” this way: “a prayer, church service, or other rite showing reverence or devotion for a deity; religious homage or veneration.” Okay, that’s not bad. Simple, but not bad. Then it says, “unbounded admiration; intense love; extreme devotion.” Heeeeyyyyyy . . . that’s sounding pretty good. Is that what “worship” means? I think we’re getting close with that one . . . maybe closer than we know.
In the Gospel reading from today a teacher of the Law came to Jesus with a serious question. He came to Jesus, and he asked, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” Jesus’ answer is also our memory verse for the week, so let’s read it together—either from your memory verse keychain or the banner for today, we read: Mark 12:30 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”
Love the Lord you God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength; that phrase sums up worship. If you can do that, then you have worshipped. Well no—not really. There’s one thing—one very important thing—that needs to be added to that first.
I don’t want to give the impression that this first purpose—the purpose of worship—somehow begins with us. True worship does not begin with us. Like everything else in our lives, true worship begins with God.
1 John 4:15-19 says, “16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 17 In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 19 We love because he first loved us.”
Where does love come from? Right—from God. The love we give to one another, even the love we give to God, that all comes from God. He gives us love through Jesus Christ. Love that we don’t even deserve, love that we can’t understand . . . and yet He gives it to us. Why? Because loving you pleases God. Let me say that again: loving you pleases God.
This is why one of the great Lutheran theologians said, “We cannot offer anything to God unless we have first been reconciled and reborn. The greatest possible comfort comes from this doctrine that the highest worship in the Gospel is the desire to receive forgiveness of sins, grace, and righteousness”
The highest worship in the Gospel is the desire to receive forgiveness of sins. Where do we receive this forgiveness? Look around . . . see any hints here today? Sure! Through the sacraments! Through the Lord’s Supper! Through the Means of Grace—through the Word and the Sacraments—God makes His grace in Jesus Christ available to us. This is so absolutely central to our faith and life, everything else revolves around it. Every aspect of worship we’re going to talk about today—they’re all centered around God’s gifts of grace to us in Word and Sacrament. Our whole worship life revolves around what God first gives us.
That leads us to our first point. Worship is my response to God’s love. Worship is just the way I react, I respond, to God when He loves me. That’s what worship is. His gives His love to us, and then we worship Him back. God always takes the initiative; He always makes the first move. He creates us. He saves us. He forgives us. He blesses us. He protects us. He does all these things and then because of all these things, we worship.
Second; Worship is giving back to God. He gives to us, and we give back to Him. And whenever you give back to God, whenever you offer anything to God, that’s called worship. And that brings pleasure to God. It brings enjoyment to God. When your kids are grateful to you, as a parent, that brings pleasure to you. When we’re grateful to our Heavenly Father, that brings pleasure to Him. Now, the question is, What am I supposed to offer? I mean, what do you give a God who has everything? I mean, He made the world. He made you. He made the universe. What do you give Him?
I’ll tell you what you give Him…you give Him your love. You give Him your love. He gives it to you, and you give it back. He tell us in our memory verse—remember it? Let’s say it again together: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.”
I want to point out that God wants me to love Him three ways: First, God wants me to love Him thoughtfully. It says, “love Him with your mind.” Thoughtfully. In other words, He wants you to think it through, to not just do it without thinking. He wants you to worship Him thoughtfully, know and love Him thoughtfully. Second, God wants me to love him passionately. He says, “with all your heart and all your soul.” God says, “I want you to love Me passionately, because I passionately love you.” And Third, He says, I want you to love me practically. Practically. “love Me with all your strength”, with your abilities.
You see, the truth is that even though God created the entire world and the universe and He created you, there are three things God does not have unless you give them to Him. He doesn’t have your attention unless you give it to Him. That’s loving God with your mind. He doesn’t have your affection, unless you give it to Him. That’s loving God with your heart and your soul. And God doesn’t have your ability, unless you give it to Him. That’s loving God with your strength.
Like we said before, everything in our lives begins with God. He has given us all those things. You have the ability to give attention. You have affections. You have strengths and abilities because God gave them to you. And whenever you take the things God has given to you and you give them back to God, that, friends, is the heart of worship.
At one time, Liz Curtis Higgs was one of the best-known disc jockeys in America, and she lived quite a wild life. In fact, Howard Stern was the a.m. show, and Liz Curtis Higgs was the p.m. show. And one day Howard Stern said to Liz, “You know, you need to get clean up your act.” Now, that really says something if Howard Stern is saying it, okay? I mean, that’s pretty wild.
And because Liz Curtis Higgs had been burned by so many men and her heart had been broken so many times by these men, she became a militant feminist. And I underscore, militant feminist. But she had a Christian girlfriend who kept inviting her to church. Week after week this would go on, so one day after a long, long time, Liz finally said, “Okay, I will go to church one time and ONE TIME ONLY.” And wouldn’t you know it, that week the pastor just happened to be teaching on the Bible verse that says “Wives submit yourselves to your husbands.” Now, that’s not exactly a good verse to start with a militant feminist, okay? And Liz got pretty uptight. Angry.
But she continued to listen and she actually heard the second part of the verse, which nobody ever talks about. You see, the second part of the verse says “and husbands - you sacrifice yourself; you give yourself for your wives just as Jesus Christ sacrificed Himself for the church and died for her.” People don’t ever hear that second part, okay? Who is asked to give their life up? The husband or the wife? The husband. Okay? The husband. Well, when Liz heard that part, she leaned over to her friend and said with a little cynicism, “well, shoot, I’d gladly give myself to any man if I knew he would die for me.” And her friend leaned over and said, “Liz, there is man who loved you enough to die for you. His name is Jesus Christ. That’s how much He loves you.” And it was not long after that that Liz dropped her guard, surrendered her life to God in love, and received the gift of God in Jesus Christ. Today she is a well-known Christian author and speaker.
I know what some of you are thinking, you’re saying, “This thing about loving God. You know, I just don’t love God enough.” That’s not your problem. You say, “I don’t love God enough.” That is not your problem! Your problem is you don’t realize how much God loves you. That’s your problem. If you really knew how much God loves and cares about every detail of your life, you’d throw yourself at Him, and go “Oh, how could I not love a God like that?” You just don’t know how much He loves you.
Worship is always a response. We love God because He first loved us. And when you understand how much He loves you, How He loved you enough to even come to earth and die on a cross for you, then you simply stand before Him and say “Thank you, Lord, for everything You have done for me, everything You have given me. Even though I could never repay You for all that you’ve done, I want to give You back as much as I can . . . because You first loved me.”
And that is the heart of worship.
Sunday, January 15, 2006
What On Earth Am I Here For?
Welcome to the first Sunday of 40 Days of Purpose: A Show of Hands! Over the next 40 days we’re going to be talking about one thing and one thing only: How to identify and live out God’s purpose for our lives.
The focus of the sermon today is captured by today’s banner. You see there are three hands, they’re kind of joined together . . . but there are question marks on them. It’s as though these hands are saying, “What do I do now? What’s my purpose? What on Earth am I here for?” Well, I suppose you’d expect a preacher to give you that answer from the Scriptures, so let’s take a look at what the Bible has to say about that . . .
Ecclesiastes 1:1-11 (selected verses) “The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem: 2 "Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless." 3 What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun? 8 All things are wearisome, more than one can say. 11 There is no remembrance of men of old, and even those who are yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow.”
That’s a pretty bleak picture of life, isn’t it? And that’s in the Bible! In Ecclesiastes, the Teacher writes over and over again that everything in life is meaningless! There is nothing new under the sun! Is that true? Is that it? Is that all there is to life? Just a treadmill that we run on, going round and round and round but never getting anywhere?
One of the most horrifying questions I can think of that a person would ask at the end of their life would ask would be, “Is that all? Is that all there is?” And yet we know people or hear of people or are people who wake up every day wondering, “Is that all there is? Is that all I’m going to get out of life? Just another day of work?” I used to work with guys whose philosophy of life was living for the weekend. Every week they’d just kind of slide on by, barely earning their paycheck, until Friday came and they’d take every cent they could possibly afford and blow it at the bars or the casinos, living it up until they had to come back to work on Monday. Those guys had not true sense of meaning or purpose, so they tried to fill themselves up by living for the weekend.
People are hungry for meaning in life. I did a little informal survey the other day. I was at the checkout line in the grocery store when this magazine caught my attention. The big cover story is “How to be (and stay) happy: 3 researched-tested secrets to change your life.” And I thought, “Well, isn’t that interesting . . . here’s an article for people who are interested in being more fulfilled in life. Sounds like finding your purpose.” And then I saw another magazine with a featured article on “Tips that make you SO HAPPY!” And I realized that was two magazines with articles about finding meaning, about finding purpose, in your life. And so I put my stuff down, told the cashier I’d be right back, and I headed over to the magazine rack. And you know what I found? Rack after rack of magazines, each of which—no matter whether it was for guns or quilting—each of which had some article telling you how to be better, to get more, to look nicer, to be healthier, to give your life more meaning. Men—Have Your Best Year! Women—Start The Year Off Right!
Is this a something new? Hardly. These articles are in every magazine, every month. Every month they’ll tell you a new way to be fulfilled, to live a life that is satisfying, a life that has learned its purpose and follows it. But if those articles are in there every month . . . what are they really telling us?
See . . . I don’t want to be like that. I have actual answers I can give you. Stick with me, and over the next 40 days we will learn about not just one, but five purposes for our lives that God Himself has planned for us.
(read together) Ephesians 2:10 says, “10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” So what is His will for your life? What is His plan?
His plan includes 5 purposes for your life, and we will learn what they are in the weeks ahead. But for now let me just tell you that there are 5 purposes, but they can be summed up in four words: Salvation, Redemption, Vocation, and Connection.
Now let’s take first things first. God’s primary plan for you, His absolute will for your life, His biggest purpose for you, is your salvation. In the very first sentence of the very first chapter of Purpose Driven Life, what does Rick Warren say? Right . . . “It’s not about you.” And that’s true, if we are speaking from our point of view. I am not to be the focus of me. But from God’s point of view? It’s all about you. God is crazy about you. He loves you with a passion that can’t be matched. It began at the beginning of time, with the Triune God saying to Himself, Genesis 1:26 “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness.” When God made you, He fashioned you after Himself, causing you to be a reflection of Him, and He set mankind over everything on earth, the very pinnacle of His creation! It’s as though He wanted to make sure that everything could see what He was most proud of. It means that your picture is on God’s refrigerator.
But what happened? I’ll tell you what happened: we took His great gifts to us, we took God’s love, and we broke His heart with it. We sinned against God—we disobeyed His commands—and we turned our back on Him. And because of that, because of our disobedience, there is only one punishment: We deserve the life we had chosen: a life without God, and an eternity apart from Him. That’s the punishment for sin—a life that is hell and an eternity in Hell.
But because God is so crazy about you, He made a way for you and I to be saved from the punishment we deserve. His plan was simple, but effective: He would die in our place. He would suffer the punishment we deserve. And so Jesus Christ was nailed to a cross to pay for your sins. You know this, you’ve been told it before.
But the thing we’ve got to grasp today is the Why. Why did Jesus have to die? Because to God, an eternity without you was simply not acceptable. God’s love for you is so deep, so wide, so high, so long that He would die in your place. For God, it’s all about you, because He loves you so much.
But for us, it’s all about Christ. Without Christ as the center of our theology, without Christ as the center of our church, without Christ as the center of our lives . . . if He’s not the one thing we return to again and again and again, if we rely upon anything other than Him, then we’ll miss everything we have to talk about over the next 40 Days. Without Christ, there is no purpose in life. Without Christ, life isn’t going to make sense. But in Christ we live and move and have our meaning. In Christ, God says to you, “It’s all about you.” And because of Christ, we turn back to God and say, “Lord . . . it’s all about you.”
If we have that firmly rooted in our minds—that for us it’s all about Christ: about Christ’s purposes for us, about Christ’s purposes for our church, about Christ’s purposes for Our Saviour Lutheran church in Hudson, MI—then we have a solid foundation to build upon not only for the next 40 days, but for the rest of our lives.
The next thing in God’s plan for our lives is Redemption. Now, I understand of course that “salvation” and “redemption” are often synonymous; they often mean the same thing. But I want to make a distinction between the two. See, for me, when I think of “salvation” I think of God saving me from my sin. But when I think of “redemption” I think of the way God takes my past and makes it holy, how He takes all the negative events of my life—my pains, my bad choices, the lessons I’ve learned—and He puts those to use in my new life in Christ. 1 Peter 1:18-19 says, “18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.”
How many of you have had experiences you’d rather just forget? Maybe it’s something that’s happened to you, some painful event. But maybe it’s something you brought on yourself through the choices you made. How many of you have something like that? Right, really all of us have. And now tell me, how many of you have been able to help someone else because of your bad experience? How many of you have been able to say to someone who was hurting, “I know exactly what you are going through”? See, we’ve been able to do that because Christ has redeemed our past. Christ even gives purpose to suffering.
It’s all about Christ. He saves us, He redeems us, and He places us into a Vocation. Now, I know that typically when we speak of “vocation” we have in mind the place where we go to work, what we do for a living. Vo-tech schools, things like that. But in theological terms, “vocation” implies every single station of life that you have. “Vocation” is not simply what you do for a living, but vocation is everywhere that God has placed you to interact with others.
Okay, some quick examples: Mothers—show me your hands. God has placed you in the vocation of “mother” for the benefit of your children. Fathers—same thing. How many of you have neighbors? Raise your hand. God has placed you in the vocation of “neighbor” for the benefit of your neighbors. And so wherever you go, whatever you do, whether it’s father or mother or child or an employer or employee or even if you’re a preacher . . . God has a purpose for you being where you are, He has a purpose for placing you there in that particular vocation. His purpose is for you to serve those people that He has placed you in contact with.
Salvation. Redemption. Vocation. And finally, Connection.
In the Scriptures, there is no such thing as a Lone Ranger Christian. The idea of being able to worship God in your own way, in your own time, without being connected to a local church—that idea is just as foolish as your feet saying, “I don’t like these shoes, so I’m not going to walk anywhere today.” It’s as foolish as your ear saying, “I don’t like what I’m hearing, so I’m not going to listen.” (Despite the fact that children seem to have that ability . . . it’s still kind of ridiculous.)
In some selected verses from 1 Corinthians 12:12-20, the Apostle Paul says, “12 The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body-- whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free-- and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. . . .17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.”
God’s purposes for you include you being connected to a local church. He places you there—really as one of your vocations—He places you there NOT so that you can be served in the way you’d like, but so that you can serve others. Look around the room today; I don’t care who you are, how long you’ve been here, or what you give—you have a responsibility to everyone else in this room to serve them in the way God has gifted you. It would be just as wrong for you to refuse to serve these others as it would be for me to stand up and say, “I don’t feel like preaching today, so I’m not gonna.” But because it’s not about you, and it’s all about Christ, you function best as a member of His body, performing those unique things for which God has gifted you. It’s part of Christ’s purpose for your life.
Now if you’ll notice, those four letters, when sounded out, spell “service.” I just noticed that the other day. I thought it was appropriate, because God’s purpose for our lives—it can be summed up in God’s service to us and our service to others. It’s all about Christ, what He has done for us, what He has given us, and then how we respond in love toward God and one another.
On the back of your interactive sermon sheet there’s a 40 Days of Purpose card. You may be asking, why 40 Days? Well, the Bible is very clear that God considers 40 days to be a spiritually significant time period. In fact, in the Bible, any time God wanted to prepare people for His purposes, He took 40 days. For instance:
· Noah’s life was transformed by 40 days of rain
· Moses’ life was transformed by 40 days on Mount Sinai
· The spies were transformed by 40 days in the Promise Land
· David was transformed by Goliath’s 40-day challenge
· The city of Nineveh was transformed in 40 days
· Jesus was empowered for ministry by spending 40 days in the desert
· and the disciples were transformed by 40 days with Jesus after the resurrection.
The next 40 days are going to transform your life. I’m absolutely confident of that. I want you to look at this card. Notice, follow along with me.
Believing that God created me for His purposes and that the best use of my life is to fulfill those purposes, I commit the next 40 days to better understanding of God’s five purposes for me.
· I will participate in a 40 days of Purpose small group. We’ve got over 10 of these groups now. If you’re not in one, it’s not too late. You can sign up for a group today. You can still invite an unchurched friend. It’s not too late.
· I will read each day’s chapter from the Purpose Driven Life book. I want to suggest that you schedule a daily appointment to sit down and read it. Either in the morning or at lunch or in the evening; I don’t care when you do it. I’ve got mine on my planner for 9:00 every evening. Schedule it and do it every day for the next 40 days. It will take you about 15 minutes a day.
· I will do my best to hear all 7 messages in this series, The Purpose Driven Life. What I’m going to be saying on Sundays will set up what you’re going to be studying during the week in your small groups. So what we’re talking about today, you’re going to be studying in a more detail this week.
Now, look up here. The fact is, if you added up what time it would take you to do all those things over the next 40 days – if we took the time to add it all up and even if we were real generous—it would still be less than 48 hours total. So here’s my question – is the rest of your life and is all of the rest of your eternity worth 48 hours of your time now? I would think so. I want to ask you to sign this and I want you to take it home, and I want you to put it up on your refrigerator to remind you. Some of you have the dumbest stuff on your refrigerator, so put something significant up there.
I realize that all of us here tonight are at different stages in our spiritual journey. That doesn’t matter. We’re all going to go through this journey together, no matter what stage you are in. Some of you can be called spiritual seekers, and you’re saying, “I’m not even sure I buy this, but I want to just check it out.” Congratulations, great – we’re glad to have you on the journey. Some of you are newer believers and for you I’m very excited because you’re going to get to start off right, like many of us did not. Some of you might be called spiritual stumblers. You say, “I call myself a Christian, but I’m not really very close to God. And I’ve been really, honestly, living for my plans and not God’s.” Well these 40 days are the time to come home. Some of you are strong believers, and you’re going to go deeper with God than you’ve ever gone before and you’re going to bring others along, too. Regardless of where you are in your spiritual journey, listen to this last verse. “It makes no difference who you are or where you’re from – if you want God and are ready to as He says, the door is open.” (Acts 10:35) George Herbert once said, “It’s never too late to be who you might have been.” It’s not too late.
Let’s pray: “Dear God, I realize that if it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be alive. But because you made me, you must have a purpose for me. Because you saved me, you must have a purpose for me. Because you have redeemed me, you must have a purpose for me. I admit that I focused on my plans for my life, not yours. But I want to know your purposes for me, so I commit the next 40 days of my life to learning about it. Thank you that you made me so you could love me. Thank you that you cared for me even when I didn’t know you. I want a life filled with meaning. I want to start by getting to know you better. So I’m asking you, Jesus Christ, to help me to know it’s all about you. Come into my life and help me to understand your purposes for me. I want to take the first step today. In your name I pray, Amen.”
The focus of the sermon today is captured by today’s banner. You see there are three hands, they’re kind of joined together . . . but there are question marks on them. It’s as though these hands are saying, “What do I do now? What’s my purpose? What on Earth am I here for?” Well, I suppose you’d expect a preacher to give you that answer from the Scriptures, so let’s take a look at what the Bible has to say about that . . .
Ecclesiastes 1:1-11 (selected verses) “The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem: 2 "Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless." 3 What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun? 8 All things are wearisome, more than one can say. 11 There is no remembrance of men of old, and even those who are yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow.”
That’s a pretty bleak picture of life, isn’t it? And that’s in the Bible! In Ecclesiastes, the Teacher writes over and over again that everything in life is meaningless! There is nothing new under the sun! Is that true? Is that it? Is that all there is to life? Just a treadmill that we run on, going round and round and round but never getting anywhere?
One of the most horrifying questions I can think of that a person would ask at the end of their life would ask would be, “Is that all? Is that all there is?” And yet we know people or hear of people or are people who wake up every day wondering, “Is that all there is? Is that all I’m going to get out of life? Just another day of work?” I used to work with guys whose philosophy of life was living for the weekend. Every week they’d just kind of slide on by, barely earning their paycheck, until Friday came and they’d take every cent they could possibly afford and blow it at the bars or the casinos, living it up until they had to come back to work on Monday. Those guys had not true sense of meaning or purpose, so they tried to fill themselves up by living for the weekend.
People are hungry for meaning in life. I did a little informal survey the other day. I was at the checkout line in the grocery store when this magazine caught my attention. The big cover story is “How to be (and stay) happy: 3 researched-tested secrets to change your life.” And I thought, “Well, isn’t that interesting . . . here’s an article for people who are interested in being more fulfilled in life. Sounds like finding your purpose.” And then I saw another magazine with a featured article on “Tips that make you SO HAPPY!” And I realized that was two magazines with articles about finding meaning, about finding purpose, in your life. And so I put my stuff down, told the cashier I’d be right back, and I headed over to the magazine rack. And you know what I found? Rack after rack of magazines, each of which—no matter whether it was for guns or quilting—each of which had some article telling you how to be better, to get more, to look nicer, to be healthier, to give your life more meaning. Men—Have Your Best Year! Women—Start The Year Off Right!
Is this a something new? Hardly. These articles are in every magazine, every month. Every month they’ll tell you a new way to be fulfilled, to live a life that is satisfying, a life that has learned its purpose and follows it. But if those articles are in there every month . . . what are they really telling us?
See . . . I don’t want to be like that. I have actual answers I can give you. Stick with me, and over the next 40 days we will learn about not just one, but five purposes for our lives that God Himself has planned for us.
(read together) Ephesians 2:10 says, “10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” So what is His will for your life? What is His plan?
His plan includes 5 purposes for your life, and we will learn what they are in the weeks ahead. But for now let me just tell you that there are 5 purposes, but they can be summed up in four words: Salvation, Redemption, Vocation, and Connection.
Now let’s take first things first. God’s primary plan for you, His absolute will for your life, His biggest purpose for you, is your salvation. In the very first sentence of the very first chapter of Purpose Driven Life, what does Rick Warren say? Right . . . “It’s not about you.” And that’s true, if we are speaking from our point of view. I am not to be the focus of me. But from God’s point of view? It’s all about you. God is crazy about you. He loves you with a passion that can’t be matched. It began at the beginning of time, with the Triune God saying to Himself, Genesis 1:26 “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness.” When God made you, He fashioned you after Himself, causing you to be a reflection of Him, and He set mankind over everything on earth, the very pinnacle of His creation! It’s as though He wanted to make sure that everything could see what He was most proud of. It means that your picture is on God’s refrigerator.
But what happened? I’ll tell you what happened: we took His great gifts to us, we took God’s love, and we broke His heart with it. We sinned against God—we disobeyed His commands—and we turned our back on Him. And because of that, because of our disobedience, there is only one punishment: We deserve the life we had chosen: a life without God, and an eternity apart from Him. That’s the punishment for sin—a life that is hell and an eternity in Hell.
But because God is so crazy about you, He made a way for you and I to be saved from the punishment we deserve. His plan was simple, but effective: He would die in our place. He would suffer the punishment we deserve. And so Jesus Christ was nailed to a cross to pay for your sins. You know this, you’ve been told it before.
But the thing we’ve got to grasp today is the Why. Why did Jesus have to die? Because to God, an eternity without you was simply not acceptable. God’s love for you is so deep, so wide, so high, so long that He would die in your place. For God, it’s all about you, because He loves you so much.
But for us, it’s all about Christ. Without Christ as the center of our theology, without Christ as the center of our church, without Christ as the center of our lives . . . if He’s not the one thing we return to again and again and again, if we rely upon anything other than Him, then we’ll miss everything we have to talk about over the next 40 Days. Without Christ, there is no purpose in life. Without Christ, life isn’t going to make sense. But in Christ we live and move and have our meaning. In Christ, God says to you, “It’s all about you.” And because of Christ, we turn back to God and say, “Lord . . . it’s all about you.”
If we have that firmly rooted in our minds—that for us it’s all about Christ: about Christ’s purposes for us, about Christ’s purposes for our church, about Christ’s purposes for Our Saviour Lutheran church in Hudson, MI—then we have a solid foundation to build upon not only for the next 40 days, but for the rest of our lives.
The next thing in God’s plan for our lives is Redemption. Now, I understand of course that “salvation” and “redemption” are often synonymous; they often mean the same thing. But I want to make a distinction between the two. See, for me, when I think of “salvation” I think of God saving me from my sin. But when I think of “redemption” I think of the way God takes my past and makes it holy, how He takes all the negative events of my life—my pains, my bad choices, the lessons I’ve learned—and He puts those to use in my new life in Christ. 1 Peter 1:18-19 says, “18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.”
How many of you have had experiences you’d rather just forget? Maybe it’s something that’s happened to you, some painful event. But maybe it’s something you brought on yourself through the choices you made. How many of you have something like that? Right, really all of us have. And now tell me, how many of you have been able to help someone else because of your bad experience? How many of you have been able to say to someone who was hurting, “I know exactly what you are going through”? See, we’ve been able to do that because Christ has redeemed our past. Christ even gives purpose to suffering.
It’s all about Christ. He saves us, He redeems us, and He places us into a Vocation. Now, I know that typically when we speak of “vocation” we have in mind the place where we go to work, what we do for a living. Vo-tech schools, things like that. But in theological terms, “vocation” implies every single station of life that you have. “Vocation” is not simply what you do for a living, but vocation is everywhere that God has placed you to interact with others.
Okay, some quick examples: Mothers—show me your hands. God has placed you in the vocation of “mother” for the benefit of your children. Fathers—same thing. How many of you have neighbors? Raise your hand. God has placed you in the vocation of “neighbor” for the benefit of your neighbors. And so wherever you go, whatever you do, whether it’s father or mother or child or an employer or employee or even if you’re a preacher . . . God has a purpose for you being where you are, He has a purpose for placing you there in that particular vocation. His purpose is for you to serve those people that He has placed you in contact with.
Salvation. Redemption. Vocation. And finally, Connection.
In the Scriptures, there is no such thing as a Lone Ranger Christian. The idea of being able to worship God in your own way, in your own time, without being connected to a local church—that idea is just as foolish as your feet saying, “I don’t like these shoes, so I’m not going to walk anywhere today.” It’s as foolish as your ear saying, “I don’t like what I’m hearing, so I’m not going to listen.” (Despite the fact that children seem to have that ability . . . it’s still kind of ridiculous.)
In some selected verses from 1 Corinthians 12:12-20, the Apostle Paul says, “12 The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body-- whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free-- and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. . . .17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.”
God’s purposes for you include you being connected to a local church. He places you there—really as one of your vocations—He places you there NOT so that you can be served in the way you’d like, but so that you can serve others. Look around the room today; I don’t care who you are, how long you’ve been here, or what you give—you have a responsibility to everyone else in this room to serve them in the way God has gifted you. It would be just as wrong for you to refuse to serve these others as it would be for me to stand up and say, “I don’t feel like preaching today, so I’m not gonna.” But because it’s not about you, and it’s all about Christ, you function best as a member of His body, performing those unique things for which God has gifted you. It’s part of Christ’s purpose for your life.
Now if you’ll notice, those four letters, when sounded out, spell “service.” I just noticed that the other day. I thought it was appropriate, because God’s purpose for our lives—it can be summed up in God’s service to us and our service to others. It’s all about Christ, what He has done for us, what He has given us, and then how we respond in love toward God and one another.
On the back of your interactive sermon sheet there’s a 40 Days of Purpose card. You may be asking, why 40 Days? Well, the Bible is very clear that God considers 40 days to be a spiritually significant time period. In fact, in the Bible, any time God wanted to prepare people for His purposes, He took 40 days. For instance:
· Noah’s life was transformed by 40 days of rain
· Moses’ life was transformed by 40 days on Mount Sinai
· The spies were transformed by 40 days in the Promise Land
· David was transformed by Goliath’s 40-day challenge
· The city of Nineveh was transformed in 40 days
· Jesus was empowered for ministry by spending 40 days in the desert
· and the disciples were transformed by 40 days with Jesus after the resurrection.
The next 40 days are going to transform your life. I’m absolutely confident of that. I want you to look at this card. Notice, follow along with me.
Believing that God created me for His purposes and that the best use of my life is to fulfill those purposes, I commit the next 40 days to better understanding of God’s five purposes for me.
· I will participate in a 40 days of Purpose small group. We’ve got over 10 of these groups now. If you’re not in one, it’s not too late. You can sign up for a group today. You can still invite an unchurched friend. It’s not too late.
· I will read each day’s chapter from the Purpose Driven Life book. I want to suggest that you schedule a daily appointment to sit down and read it. Either in the morning or at lunch or in the evening; I don’t care when you do it. I’ve got mine on my planner for 9:00 every evening. Schedule it and do it every day for the next 40 days. It will take you about 15 minutes a day.
· I will do my best to hear all 7 messages in this series, The Purpose Driven Life. What I’m going to be saying on Sundays will set up what you’re going to be studying during the week in your small groups. So what we’re talking about today, you’re going to be studying in a more detail this week.
Now, look up here. The fact is, if you added up what time it would take you to do all those things over the next 40 days – if we took the time to add it all up and even if we were real generous—it would still be less than 48 hours total. So here’s my question – is the rest of your life and is all of the rest of your eternity worth 48 hours of your time now? I would think so. I want to ask you to sign this and I want you to take it home, and I want you to put it up on your refrigerator to remind you. Some of you have the dumbest stuff on your refrigerator, so put something significant up there.
I realize that all of us here tonight are at different stages in our spiritual journey. That doesn’t matter. We’re all going to go through this journey together, no matter what stage you are in. Some of you can be called spiritual seekers, and you’re saying, “I’m not even sure I buy this, but I want to just check it out.” Congratulations, great – we’re glad to have you on the journey. Some of you are newer believers and for you I’m very excited because you’re going to get to start off right, like many of us did not. Some of you might be called spiritual stumblers. You say, “I call myself a Christian, but I’m not really very close to God. And I’ve been really, honestly, living for my plans and not God’s.” Well these 40 days are the time to come home. Some of you are strong believers, and you’re going to go deeper with God than you’ve ever gone before and you’re going to bring others along, too. Regardless of where you are in your spiritual journey, listen to this last verse. “It makes no difference who you are or where you’re from – if you want God and are ready to as He says, the door is open.” (Acts 10:35) George Herbert once said, “It’s never too late to be who you might have been.” It’s not too late.
Let’s pray: “Dear God, I realize that if it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be alive. But because you made me, you must have a purpose for me. Because you saved me, you must have a purpose for me. Because you have redeemed me, you must have a purpose for me. I admit that I focused on my plans for my life, not yours. But I want to know your purposes for me, so I commit the next 40 days of my life to learning about it. Thank you that you made me so you could love me. Thank you that you cared for me even when I didn’t know you. I want a life filled with meaning. I want to start by getting to know you better. So I’m asking you, Jesus Christ, to help me to know it’s all about you. Come into my life and help me to understand your purposes for me. I want to take the first step today. In your name I pray, Amen.”
Sunday, January 08, 2006
Bruised reeds, smoldering wicks . . . and opened eyes
Bruised reeds and smoldering wicks
Picture three candles in your mind. Three candles, each of which is unique. And for the sake of argument, let’s say that these three candles are coming to present themselves before the king of the land. The first candle is impressive. Tall and broad, it approaches the king with confidence, saying to itself, “Surely the king will accept me. I am tall and will burn very long. My flame is tall and strong and can light up even great halls all by itself. The king would be very foolish to choose one of these lesser candles over me.”
The second candle lacks the physical splendor of the first candle. It is not particularly tall nor particularly broad, but it’s light casts a warm, soft glow and it’s flame produces a gentle, perfumed fragrance. This candle, too, approaches the king, saying to itself, “Surely the king will accept me. With me he may give atmosphere to special royal dinners. My flame can perfume the queen’s chambers. The king would be quite unwise not to choose such a special candle as myself.”
As far as candles go, the third candle is a sad looking specimen. It is not physically attractive like the first candle. It lacks the perfumed fragrance of the second candle. Its flame sputters and threatens to blow out with the slightest wind. Hesitating, it approaches the king with humility, saying to itself, “I have nothing to offer such a great king as this. I see no reason to give why he would choose such a small, simple candle as myself.”
Which candle do you choose? Why?
Ah, but which candle does the king choose?
If the king in our little parable is Christ, the one He chooses is the third candle. Now, how can I know that? Well, the Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1:26-31, “26 Brothers—and sisters—think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.”
God often chooses the things the world thinks are weak to show His power. He chooses and uses—He appoints and anoints if you will—those things that the world really has very little use for. Think about that: who does the world make a fuss over? The rich and beautiful Hollywood stars, the powerful politicians, the multi-millionaires with money to burn. They’re the ones who routinely make the news. But God chooses the lesser known paths to walk, He chooses the simple, the humble, the weak and the broken. These are the things that are special to Him, these are the things that to Him are precious jewels.
A bruised reed He will not break and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out. This is true whether the candle is an adult or a child, it is true whether the candle is a person . . . or even a church. The Apostle Paul continues, “30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God-- that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."”
Show of hands, opened eyes
The name of the spiritual campaign we are beginning this week—not today, but starting with the big kick-off celebration on Saturday—is Forty Days of Purpose: A Show of Hands. “Show of hands” is a pretty common expression; it means to stand up and be counted, to raise a hand and show support. But whose hands are we talking about?
Whose hands? Our hands.
In Matthew 12:10-21 Matthew tells us this story about a man’s hand, “10 And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"- so that they might accuse him.
11 He said to them, "Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out?
12 Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath."
13 Then he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other.
14 But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.
15 Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all
16 and ordered them not to make him known.
17 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah:
18 "Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.
19 He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets;
20 a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory;
21 and in his name the Gentiles will hope."
Now, while it may be true that some of our hands are withered physically, it is true for all of us that our hands are withered spiritually. A withered hand is ineffective, it doesn’t fulfill it’s purpose. A withered hand needs healing, it needs a Savior to come and cure it.
A lot of people get spiritually withered hands by not using them properly. They say, “Well, I’ll serve God in my spare time”. It’s like I have this pie – I have my social life, and I have my career life, and I have my sex life, you know I have my family life and over here my retirement life and over here I have my spiritual life - as if your spiritual life is one part of the pie. See, that’s wrong. God’s the whole pie. He wants the whole pie to be under His rule. He doesn’t want you to stick Him in a box say, “You know God, I’ll give you 10% of my life”. He wants it all. He wants your best. He wants your hands to work full time for Him. He wants all of you.
But these same withered hands, these hands that so often refuse to be in the service of Christ, these hands that so often do their own thing, those are the same hands that Christ sees fit to put to use for His purposes. It’s not because our hands are the strongest or the most rugged, it’s not because our hands are the daintiest or most beautiful. We are not chosen by what we can do or what we can offer, but we are chosen by what Christ wishes to do through us.
At my home church back in Omaha we used to sing a song that went like this: “Holy hands. He’s given us holy hands. He works through these hands, and so these hands are holy.” And it’s true! Christ makes our hands holy, He makes our lives holy not through what our hands do but through what His hands have done.
Whose hands? Jesus’ hands.
Jesus had a ministry here on earth. God gave Him a purpose for His work. Speaking centuries before Jesus was born, God says of Christ in the book of Isaiah, “6 I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, 7 to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.”
Picture that event for a minute. Can you imagine the Father taking Jesus’ hands and speaking this prophecy over Him? Can you see the Father taking Jesus’ hands, holding them, and looking lovingly at those hands that would do so much for the lost sheep like you and like me?
See, if we want to talk about having a Show of Hands at all, then the hands we need to look to first aren’t our own. The hands we look to are Christ’s . . . and those hands tell a story.
Have you ever seen that picture of a little girl? She’s looking up at Jesus, and He’s reaching down to her in love, but she looks a bit troubled. The one question in her eyes is, “What happened to your hands?” Those hands tell a story.
On Easter Sunday two disappointed disciples were walking along the road to Emmaus and mourning the loss of their teacher. Jesus came and walked with them, but they didn’t recognize Him. He began to show them all the Scriptures said about the Messiah, but they still didn’t recognize Him until it came time for a meal, and as He broke the bread and blessed it and gave it to them, they knew by what those hands were doing who sat with them. Their eyes were opened, because those hands tell a story.
A man named John Newton at one time earned his living by selling fellow human beings into slavery. Though he treated people like cattle, Christ’s hands got a hold of him. He went on to write the words, “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see.” John Newton’s eyes were opened when Christ forgave him, because those hands tell a story.
And the list goes on and on. The names of the greatest sinners in the world, like Saul the persecutor of the faith, like serial killer Ted Bundy, and prideful, angry, and arrogant Troy Neujahr are saved from their sins by Christ’s hands, they have their eyes opened, and they are put to work in His kingdom. And I am here to tell you today that, beginning next week, if you will look to Christ’s hands for forty days you will join the ranks of people whose lives have been changed for all eternity by the loving, gracious, and nail-pierced hands of a Savior who loves you too much to let you live a life without purpose. Those hands tell a story, and the story is how he opens the eyes of those who were once spiritually blind.
When Christ’s hands go to work, they give purpose to the one they are working on. Forty Days of Purpose: A Show of Hands is a spiritual campaign designed to help us live out Christ’s purposes for us on earth. In the book that we’ll all be reading together, The Purpose Driven Life, Pastor Rick Warren has this to say about living a life with purpose: (Reading from Purpose Driven Life, chapter three)
“What drives your life?
Everyone’s life is driven by something. Most dictionaries define the verb drive as “to guide, to control, or to direct.” Whether you are driving a car, a nail, or a golf ball, you are guiding, controlling, and directing it at that moment. What is the driving force in your life?
Many people are driven by guild. They spend their entire lives running from regrets and hiding their shame. Guilt-driven people are manipulated by memories. The allow their past to control their future. They often unconsciously punish themselves by sabotaging their own success.
Many people are driven by resentment and anger. They hold on to hurts and never get over them. Instead of releasing their pain through forgiveness, they rehearse it over and over in their minds. Some resentment-driven people “clam up” and internalize their anger, while others “blow up” and explode it onto others. Both responses are unhealthy and unhelpful.
Many people are driven by fear. Their fears may be a result of a traumatic experience, unrealistic expectations, growing up in a high-control home, or even genetic predisposition. Regardless of the cause, fear-driven people often miss great opportunities because they’re afraid to venture out. Instead they play it safe, avoiding risks and trying to maintain the status quo.
Many people are driven by materialism. Their desire to acquire becomes the whole goal of their lives. This drive to always want more is based upon the misconceptions that having more will make me more happy, more important, and more secure, but all three ideas are untrue. Possessions only provide temporary happiness. Because things do not change, we eventually become bored with them and then want newer, bigger, better versions.
Many people are driven by the need for approval. They allow the expectations of parents or spouses or children or teachers or friends to control their lives. Many adults are still trying to earn the approval of unpleasable parents. Others are driven by peer pressure, always worried by what others might think. Unfortunately, those who follow the crowd usually get lost in it.
There are other forces that can drive you life but all lead to the same dead end: unused potential, unnecessary stress, and an unfulfilled life.
This forty-day journey will show you how to live a purpose-driven life—a life guided, controlled, and directed by God’s purposes. Nothing matters more than knowing God’s purposes for your life, and nothing can compensate for not knowing them—not success, wealth, fame, or pleasure. Without a purpose, life is nothing without meaning, activity without direction, and events without reason. Without a purpose, life is trivial, petty, and pointless.”
These hands are unclean and tainted with sin. These eyes are blind and fail to see the true spiritual value of things. But in and through Christ’s nail-scarred hands you and I are given clean hands and our blind eyes are opened. Beginning next week we’ll have an opportunity to use those new eyes and to hear of God’s purposes for our hands. To maximize your benefit for this campaign, I want to ask you one thing. I want to ask you to not do something.
I want to be honest with you. I’m concerned about you. I’m concerned about the people in our church. You can’t keep adding things to your schedule. Most of our lives are way too over crowded. We’ve got way too much going on in our lives. And still we’re getting ready, next week in 40 Days, to add three new habits to our schedules.
Next week I’m asking you to add daily devotional reading of about 15 minutes a day, which will help you understand God’s purposes of your life; a weekly meeting in a small group for six weeks that will help you understand God’s purpose for your life; and a weekly verse to memorize which will help you understand God’s purpose for your life. As we go into this, I’m telling you right now; you need to decide right now what you’re going to cut out before you start 40 Days of Purpose. You can put so many irons in the fire you put out the fire. If you burn the candles at both ends, you are not as bright as you think you are. Christ won’t snuff out your flame, but you sure might burn it out on your own.
Your life’s already overcrowded, but not everything in your life is of equal value. There are some things that are more important than others. Forty Days is so important that it’s worth setting some other things aside. The church as a whole is limiting its calendar during this spiritual campaign. So I’m asking you to ask yourself, “What am I going to stop doing?” What are you going to set aside to make room for Christ’s work through Forty Days?
Show me your hands. God has given you holy hands. Christ works through those hands, and so they are holy. During Forty Days of Purpose: A Show of Hands, you’ll be able to learn about His purposes for those holy hands. The hands that love others. The hands that serve Him. The hands that were made clean by the One whose hands were pierced for yours. May our hands always work to tell His story.
Picture three candles in your mind. Three candles, each of which is unique. And for the sake of argument, let’s say that these three candles are coming to present themselves before the king of the land. The first candle is impressive. Tall and broad, it approaches the king with confidence, saying to itself, “Surely the king will accept me. I am tall and will burn very long. My flame is tall and strong and can light up even great halls all by itself. The king would be very foolish to choose one of these lesser candles over me.”
The second candle lacks the physical splendor of the first candle. It is not particularly tall nor particularly broad, but it’s light casts a warm, soft glow and it’s flame produces a gentle, perfumed fragrance. This candle, too, approaches the king, saying to itself, “Surely the king will accept me. With me he may give atmosphere to special royal dinners. My flame can perfume the queen’s chambers. The king would be quite unwise not to choose such a special candle as myself.”
As far as candles go, the third candle is a sad looking specimen. It is not physically attractive like the first candle. It lacks the perfumed fragrance of the second candle. Its flame sputters and threatens to blow out with the slightest wind. Hesitating, it approaches the king with humility, saying to itself, “I have nothing to offer such a great king as this. I see no reason to give why he would choose such a small, simple candle as myself.”
Which candle do you choose? Why?
Ah, but which candle does the king choose?
If the king in our little parable is Christ, the one He chooses is the third candle. Now, how can I know that? Well, the Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1:26-31, “26 Brothers—and sisters—think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.”
God often chooses the things the world thinks are weak to show His power. He chooses and uses—He appoints and anoints if you will—those things that the world really has very little use for. Think about that: who does the world make a fuss over? The rich and beautiful Hollywood stars, the powerful politicians, the multi-millionaires with money to burn. They’re the ones who routinely make the news. But God chooses the lesser known paths to walk, He chooses the simple, the humble, the weak and the broken. These are the things that are special to Him, these are the things that to Him are precious jewels.
A bruised reed He will not break and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out. This is true whether the candle is an adult or a child, it is true whether the candle is a person . . . or even a church. The Apostle Paul continues, “30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God-- that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."”
Show of hands, opened eyes
The name of the spiritual campaign we are beginning this week—not today, but starting with the big kick-off celebration on Saturday—is Forty Days of Purpose: A Show of Hands. “Show of hands” is a pretty common expression; it means to stand up and be counted, to raise a hand and show support. But whose hands are we talking about?
Whose hands? Our hands.
In Matthew 12:10-21 Matthew tells us this story about a man’s hand, “10 And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"- so that they might accuse him.
11 He said to them, "Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out?
12 Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath."
13 Then he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other.
14 But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.
15 Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all
16 and ordered them not to make him known.
17 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah:
18 "Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.
19 He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets;
20 a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory;
21 and in his name the Gentiles will hope."
Now, while it may be true that some of our hands are withered physically, it is true for all of us that our hands are withered spiritually. A withered hand is ineffective, it doesn’t fulfill it’s purpose. A withered hand needs healing, it needs a Savior to come and cure it.
A lot of people get spiritually withered hands by not using them properly. They say, “Well, I’ll serve God in my spare time”. It’s like I have this pie – I have my social life, and I have my career life, and I have my sex life, you know I have my family life and over here my retirement life and over here I have my spiritual life - as if your spiritual life is one part of the pie. See, that’s wrong. God’s the whole pie. He wants the whole pie to be under His rule. He doesn’t want you to stick Him in a box say, “You know God, I’ll give you 10% of my life”. He wants it all. He wants your best. He wants your hands to work full time for Him. He wants all of you.
But these same withered hands, these hands that so often refuse to be in the service of Christ, these hands that so often do their own thing, those are the same hands that Christ sees fit to put to use for His purposes. It’s not because our hands are the strongest or the most rugged, it’s not because our hands are the daintiest or most beautiful. We are not chosen by what we can do or what we can offer, but we are chosen by what Christ wishes to do through us.
At my home church back in Omaha we used to sing a song that went like this: “Holy hands. He’s given us holy hands. He works through these hands, and so these hands are holy.” And it’s true! Christ makes our hands holy, He makes our lives holy not through what our hands do but through what His hands have done.
Whose hands? Jesus’ hands.
Jesus had a ministry here on earth. God gave Him a purpose for His work. Speaking centuries before Jesus was born, God says of Christ in the book of Isaiah, “6 I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, 7 to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.”
Picture that event for a minute. Can you imagine the Father taking Jesus’ hands and speaking this prophecy over Him? Can you see the Father taking Jesus’ hands, holding them, and looking lovingly at those hands that would do so much for the lost sheep like you and like me?
See, if we want to talk about having a Show of Hands at all, then the hands we need to look to first aren’t our own. The hands we look to are Christ’s . . . and those hands tell a story.
Have you ever seen that picture of a little girl? She’s looking up at Jesus, and He’s reaching down to her in love, but she looks a bit troubled. The one question in her eyes is, “What happened to your hands?” Those hands tell a story.
On Easter Sunday two disappointed disciples were walking along the road to Emmaus and mourning the loss of their teacher. Jesus came and walked with them, but they didn’t recognize Him. He began to show them all the Scriptures said about the Messiah, but they still didn’t recognize Him until it came time for a meal, and as He broke the bread and blessed it and gave it to them, they knew by what those hands were doing who sat with them. Their eyes were opened, because those hands tell a story.
A man named John Newton at one time earned his living by selling fellow human beings into slavery. Though he treated people like cattle, Christ’s hands got a hold of him. He went on to write the words, “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see.” John Newton’s eyes were opened when Christ forgave him, because those hands tell a story.
And the list goes on and on. The names of the greatest sinners in the world, like Saul the persecutor of the faith, like serial killer Ted Bundy, and prideful, angry, and arrogant Troy Neujahr are saved from their sins by Christ’s hands, they have their eyes opened, and they are put to work in His kingdom. And I am here to tell you today that, beginning next week, if you will look to Christ’s hands for forty days you will join the ranks of people whose lives have been changed for all eternity by the loving, gracious, and nail-pierced hands of a Savior who loves you too much to let you live a life without purpose. Those hands tell a story, and the story is how he opens the eyes of those who were once spiritually blind.
When Christ’s hands go to work, they give purpose to the one they are working on. Forty Days of Purpose: A Show of Hands is a spiritual campaign designed to help us live out Christ’s purposes for us on earth. In the book that we’ll all be reading together, The Purpose Driven Life, Pastor Rick Warren has this to say about living a life with purpose: (Reading from Purpose Driven Life, chapter three)
“What drives your life?
Everyone’s life is driven by something. Most dictionaries define the verb drive as “to guide, to control, or to direct.” Whether you are driving a car, a nail, or a golf ball, you are guiding, controlling, and directing it at that moment. What is the driving force in your life?
Many people are driven by guild. They spend their entire lives running from regrets and hiding their shame. Guilt-driven people are manipulated by memories. The allow their past to control their future. They often unconsciously punish themselves by sabotaging their own success.
Many people are driven by resentment and anger. They hold on to hurts and never get over them. Instead of releasing their pain through forgiveness, they rehearse it over and over in their minds. Some resentment-driven people “clam up” and internalize their anger, while others “blow up” and explode it onto others. Both responses are unhealthy and unhelpful.
Many people are driven by fear. Their fears may be a result of a traumatic experience, unrealistic expectations, growing up in a high-control home, or even genetic predisposition. Regardless of the cause, fear-driven people often miss great opportunities because they’re afraid to venture out. Instead they play it safe, avoiding risks and trying to maintain the status quo.
Many people are driven by materialism. Their desire to acquire becomes the whole goal of their lives. This drive to always want more is based upon the misconceptions that having more will make me more happy, more important, and more secure, but all three ideas are untrue. Possessions only provide temporary happiness. Because things do not change, we eventually become bored with them and then want newer, bigger, better versions.
Many people are driven by the need for approval. They allow the expectations of parents or spouses or children or teachers or friends to control their lives. Many adults are still trying to earn the approval of unpleasable parents. Others are driven by peer pressure, always worried by what others might think. Unfortunately, those who follow the crowd usually get lost in it.
There are other forces that can drive you life but all lead to the same dead end: unused potential, unnecessary stress, and an unfulfilled life.
This forty-day journey will show you how to live a purpose-driven life—a life guided, controlled, and directed by God’s purposes. Nothing matters more than knowing God’s purposes for your life, and nothing can compensate for not knowing them—not success, wealth, fame, or pleasure. Without a purpose, life is nothing without meaning, activity without direction, and events without reason. Without a purpose, life is trivial, petty, and pointless.”
These hands are unclean and tainted with sin. These eyes are blind and fail to see the true spiritual value of things. But in and through Christ’s nail-scarred hands you and I are given clean hands and our blind eyes are opened. Beginning next week we’ll have an opportunity to use those new eyes and to hear of God’s purposes for our hands. To maximize your benefit for this campaign, I want to ask you one thing. I want to ask you to not do something.
I want to be honest with you. I’m concerned about you. I’m concerned about the people in our church. You can’t keep adding things to your schedule. Most of our lives are way too over crowded. We’ve got way too much going on in our lives. And still we’re getting ready, next week in 40 Days, to add three new habits to our schedules.
Next week I’m asking you to add daily devotional reading of about 15 minutes a day, which will help you understand God’s purposes of your life; a weekly meeting in a small group for six weeks that will help you understand God’s purpose for your life; and a weekly verse to memorize which will help you understand God’s purpose for your life. As we go into this, I’m telling you right now; you need to decide right now what you’re going to cut out before you start 40 Days of Purpose. You can put so many irons in the fire you put out the fire. If you burn the candles at both ends, you are not as bright as you think you are. Christ won’t snuff out your flame, but you sure might burn it out on your own.
Your life’s already overcrowded, but not everything in your life is of equal value. There are some things that are more important than others. Forty Days is so important that it’s worth setting some other things aside. The church as a whole is limiting its calendar during this spiritual campaign. So I’m asking you to ask yourself, “What am I going to stop doing?” What are you going to set aside to make room for Christ’s work through Forty Days?
Show me your hands. God has given you holy hands. Christ works through those hands, and so they are holy. During Forty Days of Purpose: A Show of Hands, you’ll be able to learn about His purposes for those holy hands. The hands that love others. The hands that serve Him. The hands that were made clean by the One whose hands were pierced for yours. May our hands always work to tell His story.
Sunday, January 01, 2006
New Year's and New Leaf
Well here we go, another New Year begins. In a few days, all of the visible preparations that were made for the celebration of this Christmas and this New Year will be put away. The Christmas tree that was decorated with care a few weeks ago will now be disassembled and, depending on the sort of tree, it will be either put back in the box or taken outside and discarded. The manger scenes that were placed in their special places will be taken down and stored for another year, the strings of lights that so beautifully decorated our homes and our church will be turned off and taken down. Another holiday season is in the books. As this season passes, it reminds us of the unchangeable fact that we are now another year closer to the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, the day that all of us will stand in judgment in front of our Creator. As sure as this fact is, I wonder how many of us really take this as seriously as we should. I wonder if it might do us some good to perhaps evaluate ourselves on how we spent our God-Given gift of time this past year. Did we spend good quality time with our Lord, or did we find other ways of using it? Perhaps this will help show us how serious we are taking this coming event.
There are several questions I believe we could ask ourselves that would help us see where we stand. Question #1. Am I nearer to God now than I was at this time last year?” In the book of James, (4:8) it tells us to “Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands you sinners and purify your hearts…” We must be honest with ourselves now, or this evaluation will not be worth much. Have we been faithful enough in our hearing of God’s Word to cause our lives to be drawn closer to God’s Will? Have we taken the time to read our Bibles and study the word so we even know what God’s Will is for us?
Question #2. Have we been steadfast in worshiping and talking to God in prayer, has our degree of prayerfulness increased over this past year, have we spent enough of our valuable time in taking our problems to our Father and LAYING EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM AT HIS FEET? In Matthew, it tells us to go into our room close the door and pray to our Father who is unseen. Then the Father Who sees what is done in secret, will reward us. Have we spent adequate time in God-Pleasing worship? Have we attended services to please God or please ourselves?
Question #3. Has our relationship and love for one another increased this year? Are we any closer to one another than we were a year ago or have we grown farther apart in our fellowship and caring for each other? Over this past year, we have brought several new members into the body of Christ here at Our Saviour. I wonder if we have spent enough time with these new members to know their names, to know their families, to know what accomplishments they have made or to know what trials they have faced. In Thessalonians 4, Paul tells us that we have been taught by God to love each other and to love one another more and more.
Question #4. Have we done all that we could in spreading the word of God in the world? As Christians we have a certain responsibility toward others in the world and our neighbors, to be a positive influence on those who do not yet know God, to demonstrate a better way, to turn away from the darkness of this world and turn towards the light, so the light of Christ can be seen in our lives. Or are we like most neighbors, living next to each other but not really knowing each other?
Question #5. Have we spent enough time serving God? Each of us has very special gifts, gifts given to us by the Holy Spirit. I wonder how many of us have found our niche when it comes to serving God. Are we serving God because we want to, or because we feel we have to? Have we taken an active part in any of the ministries here at our church?
Well that concludes my little survey. If you answered these few questions with honesty, how serious do you feel you are when it comes to your preparation for the second coming of Christ? How serious are you when it comes to having a closer walk with God? If the world would end in the next minute would you feel confident that you have done all you could to prepare for the moment you see God face to face?
In Genesis 1:27 it says, “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God he created him: male and female he created them.” Sometimes I think that when sin came into this world we might have lost some of that image, and I wonder sometimes, when God and I meet face to face, when He looks past my eyes and into my heart and soul, will He see a reflection of Himself? Will there be enough there to see His Image, His Image in me? As I continue to think, I am reminded that, YES!, there is an image of God in me and it was placed there by Jesus Christ Himself, not through any worthiness on my part but by His Grace and His never-ending Love for me by dying on the cross. Christ has made that image of God in me clear again!!!
On January 14th, this congregation will be setting out on a spiritual journey, a 40 day spiritual journey that will include weekend services, Bible verses and small group studies on the book The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. In this book Mr. Warren discusses the 5 different God-Given purposes that we have been placed on this earth for. As you may know, the number 40 is often used in the Bible. Moses spent 40 days listening to God in the wilderness. Noah spent 40 days in the ark trusting God while the rains came and the floods raged. Jesus spent forty days fasting and praying. I wonder, how will you use your forty days? Time is a precious commodity that is given to us by God. It is truly like a vapor, it needs to be redeemed carefully. So if you haven’t done so already, I encourage you to become involved in this spiritual journey. Sign up for a small group study, commit to attending all the worship services during the 40 Days of Purpose, take time to find out what God’s Will is for you. Because by doing so, you will become a blessing not only to your church and your community but to God as well. For all the Glory is His. Amen.
There are several questions I believe we could ask ourselves that would help us see where we stand. Question #1. Am I nearer to God now than I was at this time last year?” In the book of James, (4:8) it tells us to “Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands you sinners and purify your hearts…” We must be honest with ourselves now, or this evaluation will not be worth much. Have we been faithful enough in our hearing of God’s Word to cause our lives to be drawn closer to God’s Will? Have we taken the time to read our Bibles and study the word so we even know what God’s Will is for us?
Question #2. Have we been steadfast in worshiping and talking to God in prayer, has our degree of prayerfulness increased over this past year, have we spent enough of our valuable time in taking our problems to our Father and LAYING EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM AT HIS FEET? In Matthew, it tells us to go into our room close the door and pray to our Father who is unseen. Then the Father Who sees what is done in secret, will reward us. Have we spent adequate time in God-Pleasing worship? Have we attended services to please God or please ourselves?
Question #3. Has our relationship and love for one another increased this year? Are we any closer to one another than we were a year ago or have we grown farther apart in our fellowship and caring for each other? Over this past year, we have brought several new members into the body of Christ here at Our Saviour. I wonder if we have spent enough time with these new members to know their names, to know their families, to know what accomplishments they have made or to know what trials they have faced. In Thessalonians 4, Paul tells us that we have been taught by God to love each other and to love one another more and more.
Question #4. Have we done all that we could in spreading the word of God in the world? As Christians we have a certain responsibility toward others in the world and our neighbors, to be a positive influence on those who do not yet know God, to demonstrate a better way, to turn away from the darkness of this world and turn towards the light, so the light of Christ can be seen in our lives. Or are we like most neighbors, living next to each other but not really knowing each other?
Question #5. Have we spent enough time serving God? Each of us has very special gifts, gifts given to us by the Holy Spirit. I wonder how many of us have found our niche when it comes to serving God. Are we serving God because we want to, or because we feel we have to? Have we taken an active part in any of the ministries here at our church?
Well that concludes my little survey. If you answered these few questions with honesty, how serious do you feel you are when it comes to your preparation for the second coming of Christ? How serious are you when it comes to having a closer walk with God? If the world would end in the next minute would you feel confident that you have done all you could to prepare for the moment you see God face to face?
In Genesis 1:27 it says, “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God he created him: male and female he created them.” Sometimes I think that when sin came into this world we might have lost some of that image, and I wonder sometimes, when God and I meet face to face, when He looks past my eyes and into my heart and soul, will He see a reflection of Himself? Will there be enough there to see His Image, His Image in me? As I continue to think, I am reminded that, YES!, there is an image of God in me and it was placed there by Jesus Christ Himself, not through any worthiness on my part but by His Grace and His never-ending Love for me by dying on the cross. Christ has made that image of God in me clear again!!!
On January 14th, this congregation will be setting out on a spiritual journey, a 40 day spiritual journey that will include weekend services, Bible verses and small group studies on the book The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. In this book Mr. Warren discusses the 5 different God-Given purposes that we have been placed on this earth for. As you may know, the number 40 is often used in the Bible. Moses spent 40 days listening to God in the wilderness. Noah spent 40 days in the ark trusting God while the rains came and the floods raged. Jesus spent forty days fasting and praying. I wonder, how will you use your forty days? Time is a precious commodity that is given to us by God. It is truly like a vapor, it needs to be redeemed carefully. So if you haven’t done so already, I encourage you to become involved in this spiritual journey. Sign up for a small group study, commit to attending all the worship services during the 40 Days of Purpose, take time to find out what God’s Will is for you. Because by doing so, you will become a blessing not only to your church and your community but to God as well. For all the Glory is His. Amen.
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