Honoring God With Our Lives

Illus: A wealthy man went up to his pastor and said, “I want you and your wife to take a three-month trip to the Holy Land at my expense. When you come back I’ll have a surprise for you.” Three months later they returned home and discovered that this man had built a beautiful new sanctuary for the church. It was magnificent and no expense was spared. But the pastor noticed that there was just one pew, and it was at the very back of the church. When he asked the purpose of having only one pew in the spacious sanctuary, the wealthy man told him to wait until Sunday. When Sunday came, the early arrivals entered the church and sat in the one pew. When it was full, it automatically began to move forward. When it reached the front of the church, it came to a stop. At the same time a new pew came up at the back of the church and more people sat down. And so it continued, pews filling and moving forward until the church was full, from front to back. The pastor couldn’t believe it and exclaimed very loudly, “Marvelous! Wonderful!”

The service began, and the preacher began his sermon. He launched into his text and when 12:00 noon came, he was still going strong, with no end in sight. Suddenly a bell rang and a trap door in the floor behind the pulpit dropped open, swallowing the pastor in the middle of one of his points. The congregation responded in unison very loudly, “Marvelous! Wonderful!”

With this in mind I will try to be through by twelve O’clock if at all possible.

I WANT TO ASK YOU A QUESTION! Have you ever wondered why the Lord came and lived among us for over thirty years? If He just came to die for our sins, why didn’t He just come to earth and get it over in a matter of hours? Instead He lived among us for over thirty years! Why? Besides dying for our sin, He also wanted to teach us HOW WE ARE TO LIVE THE CHRISTIAN LIFE!

Look at our text in Matthew 26:39 again. Jesus prayed, “…nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” We can learn much by this short prayer.

There is nothing sadder than watching a person throw their life away. We see it so often!

Life is valuable and any time something is valuable, it should handled very delicately. For example:

• Today the price of gold is so valuable it is worth over eight hundred dollars an ounce. It is so valuable it is measured in ounces

• Diamonds are valuable and because they are valuable, they are measured in carats

• Today gasoline is valuable and we measure it out in gallons

But the most valuable thing on this earth is LIFE! It is so valuable it is measured out in seconds, minutes, days, weeks and years. Life is so valuable that:

• Howard Hughes would have given everything he had if he could have bought some more time to live here on earth

• Elvis Pressley would have given everything he had if he could have bought some more time to live here on earth

Life is the most valuable thing on this earth and yet there are people that waste the precious time God gives them. Life is the most valuable thing on this earth and it is sad that many are throwing their lives away.

In this short prayer, the Lord teaches us two important things. We see -

I. WE HAVE A WILL FOR OUR LIFE

Notice, in this prayer as He faced the cross, Jesus said, “Not my will…”

WHAT IS HE TEACHING US?

He is teaching us that WE HAVE A WILL FOR OUR LIFE!

The Lord lived in a human body just like every one of us here today. Everything in that human body that He lived in cried out, “DO NOT DO IT!” But He prayed, “NOT MY WILL BE DONE!”

You and I live in these mortal bodies that are created by God in such a way that we can DO AS WE PLEASE, WE HAVE A WILL OF OUR OWN.

• No one is going to make you attend church

• No one is going to make you tithe

• No one is going to make you live a godly life

• No one is going to make you use your talents for the Lord

• No one is going to make you faithfully serve the Lord

You have a WILL FOR YOUR LIFE and you can do WHATEVER YOU PLEASE!

He lived among us for over thirty years in a human body just like ours and He recognized that HE HAD A WILL when He prayed, “Not my will.”