We
are a little over half way through our 40 Days of Purpose Campaign.
We
began this campaign a few weeks ago by asking the most important question on
earth: What
on earth am I here for?
So
far, we have looked at 2 of the 5 answers to this question. Our first reason
for being here; our first purpose in life is: Worship: we were planned for God’s pleasure.
The second
purpose of life is Fellowship: we were formed for God’s family.
Worship is
loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and fellowship is
loving our neighbour as our self.
This week, we
are going to examine our 3rd purpose in this life. I want to warn you now; this is where things
get intense. The reading gets intense, the message is intense. This is where
the dial gets turned up. But don’t let that scare youà it takes work to
become like Christ.
The Bible says: “…God knew his
people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son…” (Romans 8:29a, NLT2)
From the
beginning of time, it has been God’s plan for you and me to become like Jesus
Christ.
God doesn’t want
you to be a god; He wants you to be godly.
He wants to
develop your character; He wants to develop your actions. He wants to develop
your thoughts, He wants to develop how you respond to people; in short, God
wants to completely make over your life.
ILLUSTRATION—Chances are pretty good that
you have seen one of the “extreme makeover” television shows that were on a
while back.
In case you
missed the series, the basic premise is that everything, from people to houses,
were transformed from something ugly into something beautiful.
This
is what God wants to do with your life. He wants to take what is ugly and
transform you into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. So the third purpose of
our life is: Discipleship—we
were created to become like Jesus Christ.
The Bible says in Romans 8:28: “…we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (NIV)
Paul
is quick to remind us that God will use whatever He wants to transform us into
the people that He desires us to be. God will use good things and God will use not
so good things.
“All things” means “all things”. God will use
everything in our life to make us like Jesus Christ.
“Author and
speaker Elisabeth Elliott says nothing is a waste with God. He takes
everything, even the slightest detail, and works it all together for our good.”
(Stanley, 2010, Oct. 8)
God uses all things to make us like Jesus Christ.
I would like to
look at 3 of those “all things” that God will use to make us like Jesus.
#1 God uses
troubles to teach us to trust Him.
We read in
Romans 5: “…troubles
produce patience.4 And patience produces character, and character
produces hope.” (Romans 5:3-4, NCV)
The Bible reminds
us that God uses troubles to forge our character. He uses the hard times of our
life to transform us into the likeness of His Son.
Mark chapter 14
tells us of the most troubling time in the life of Jesus. It was the night
before He was to be crucified for the sins of humanity; the night before our
darkest hour, so He asked His small group to journey with Him into the Garden.
“They went to a
place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, "Sit here while
I pray."
33 He took Peter,
James and John along with him, and he began to be
deeply distressed and troubled.
34 "My soul is
overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death," he said to them.
"Stay here and keep watch." (Mark
14:32-34, NIV)
Jesus was in a
world of hurt.
His time had
come and as He was facing His darkest hour, He told His disciples: “…My soul is
crushed with grief to the point of death...”
(Mk. 14:34a, NLT2)
Jesus was under
intense pressure and He wanted His disciples to watch and pray while He went to
talk with God.
Jesus prayed for
two things. First, He prayed for a way out: “Abba, Father," he said, "everything
is possible for you. Take this cup from me.” (Mark 14:36a, NIV)
Jesus asked for
the trouble He was experiencing to be taken away from Him.
This leads me to
believe that it’s all right for me to ask God to take the trouble that I may be
experiencing away… but don’t stop there, because Jesus didn’t stop there.
Notice the
second thing He prayed for: “…Yet not what I will, but what you will."
(Mark 14:36a, NIV)
Jesus was more
concerned with God’s will being carried out in His life than He was about His
personal comfort. Jesus wanted God’s will to be done.
Here’s what we
need to learn from Jesus: God
wants us to trust Him in our times of trouble. God wants us to look to Him in
our times of trouble.
You see, it’s
easy to trust God when everything is going good, but the real test is: do we trust God when life sucks?
Will we look to God in
times of trouble?
ILLUSTRATION-The story is told that
Alexander the Great had a favourite doctor who always went with him into
battle.
This
doctor had another doctor who was envious of him, who wanted to get his
position.
One day, the
envious doctor wrote to Alexander and told him that his personal physician was
going to poison him; that the next morning when he took his wine, there would
be death in the bottle.
The
emperor read the note to himself, and the next morning when his doctor handed
him the wine glass, he took it, held it in his hand, and read the letter out
loud.
Before
his doctor could deny the accusation, Alexander drank all the wine in his cup.
Alexander
the Great showed he trusted his physician with all his heart.
There was not a shadow of distrust between
them. Is that the way you treat God? (Reed, 1996, 297-298)
The
Bible says: “For
our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for
us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last
forever!
18 So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we
fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon
be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” (2 Cor. 4:17-18, NLT2)
Do
we look at the troubles in our life of do we look to God? Do we trust God to do
the right thing?
Jesus trusted God,
and if we’re going to be like Him, we must work on trusting God in times of
trouble.
This
takes time, it isn’t something that will come overnight, but as we rely less on
ourselves and more on His power, we can begin to trust in Him.
#2- God uses temptation
to teach us to Obey.
Notice
I didn’t say God causes temptation. James 1:13 says: “…remember, when you are being tempted, do not
say, “God is tempting me.” God is never tempted to do wrong, and he
never tempts anyone else.” (NLT2)
God
does not cause temptation, but He will use temptation to teach us to
obey.
Do
you know that temptation always provides us with a choice? Two choices,
actually.
We
have the choice to obey God and walk away from temptation, or we have the
choice to give in and disobey God.
Again
looking at the example of Jesus, I’d have you turn over to Matthew 4.
After Jesus was
baptized, the Bible says: “...Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be
tempted there by the devil. 2 For forty days and forty nights he
fasted and became very hungry.
3 During that time the devil came and said to him,
“If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.”
4 But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not
live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city, Jerusalem, to the
highest point of the Temple, 6 and said, “If you are the Son of God,
jump off!
For the Scriptures
say, ‘He will order his angels to protect you. And they will hold you up with
their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’”
7 Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not
test the Lord your God.’”
8 Next the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain
and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.
9 “I will give it all to you,” he said, “if you will kneel
down and worship me.”
10 “Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the
Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’” (Matthew
4:1-10, NLT2)
During His 40
day journey, Jesus was tempted.
During our
journey, we will be tempted. What we need to remember is that God can use our
temptations to teach us obedience.
Jesus teaches
us, in His experience, that every temptation is an opportunity to make the
right choice, and temptation, really is all about choices.
Temptation asks:
will I choose God, or will I choose that thing that will take me away from God?
Temptation is always a
test of what do I love the most in my life?
Obedience,
choosing to say “yes to God”, is a matter of love. Remember, Jesus said: "If you love me, you
will obey what I command.” (John
14:15, NIV)
If we say “yes”
to God and “no” to the things that will take us away from God, we will grow
closer to God; but if we give into temptation, we take a step back from God.
Know friends, if
we do give into temptation, we can come back to God. The Bible says: “If we confess our
sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from
all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9, NIV)
If we`ve messed
up, we can come back, but the Good News of Jesus Christ is that we can stand
tall in times of temptation.
God will use
temptation to make us more like Jesus Christ. So remember this truth:
``No temptation has
seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let
you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also
provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. (1 Cor. 10:13,
NIV)
God
can use temptation to make us like Jesus Christ. And if we are tempted; He will
provide a way of escape; but we’ve got to take it.
Martin
Luther once said: “You can’t keep the birds from flying over your head, but
you can keep them from building a nest in your hair.”
Resisting
temptation is not allowing birds to make their nest in your hair. It’s taking
the way of escape that God has already providedà His word, or someone in your small group.
Resisting
temptation will help you become more like Jesus Christ.
#3 God uses
wrongs to teach us to forgive.
The
final example in the life of Jesus is taken from His time on the cross.
The
Bible says: “People
passing by shook their heads and hurled insults at Jesus… and the elders made
fun of him…even the bandits who had been crucified with Him insulted Him in the
same way.” (Matthew 27:39-44, TEV)
As
Jesus hung on the cross for the sins of humanity, people ridiculed, scoffed, mocked
and rejected Him.
Peter
reminds us that: “When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate;
when he suffered, he made no threats….” (1
Peter 2:23a, NIV)
What
did Jesus do when He was nailed to a cross for our sins?
What
did Jesus do when He was rejected?
What
did Jesus do when He was laughed at?
He
forgave.
“Jesus said,
“Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing….” (Luke
23:34, NLT2)
Even
as He was on the cross, Jesus still offered forgiveness to those who rejected
Him.
In
our pursuit of Jesus, we are going to have to forgive those who wrong us. This
will not be an overnight issue, but we will have to forgive those who have
wronged us.
ILLUSTRATION- A few months ago, the Lord
confronted me with a person that I needed to forgive.
I
had been angry at this person for a very long time; they had hurt me in a big
way, and each time this person’s name was mentioned, I would be among the first
to insult, or ridicule them.
The
Lord led me to two verses in Matthew 18. “…Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord,
how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven
times?"
22 Jesus answered,
"I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
As I read these
words, the Lord confronted me and reminded me that I was to forgive this
person, even though they had hurt me deeply; even though they continue to hurt
me to this day.
I sat in my
office that day and wept. I made the choice to forgive this person for the
years of wrong that they had inflicted in my life.
Even today when
I think about what this person has done, I must make the conscious decision to
forgive.
The Bible says: “Be kind and
compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God
forgave you.” (Eph. 4:32, NIV)
If we are going
to learn to become like Jesus Christ, we are going to have to learn how to
forgive people. Forgiveness
is not excusing what’s been done; but it does free us up to live in God’s grace.
God’s third
purpose for your life is to make you like Jesus Christ. And if that’s true,
then He’s going to take you through everything that Jesus went
through.
That means He’s
going to take you through a Gethsemane, an experience of trouble where you
learn to trust His love.
He’s going to
take you through a desert, an experience of temptation, where you learn to obey
Him and do the right thing.
And He’s going
to take you to the cross, a time of wrong, were you learn to forgive.
While I don’t
know what you’re going through, I do know that God wants to help you. If you
are struggling with temptation, if you are enduring a time of trouble, or if
you have been wronged, know that you can cry out to Jesus this morning; know
that God is here and He’s ready and willing to reach out and touch your life.
He might not
take your pain and problems away, but God will use all things to make you like
Jesus Christ.
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