Spirituality For the Rest of Us
2 Peter 3:18, “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Intro: Why should following Jesus Christ be so “hard”?
If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard someone tell me:
“Oh, Pastor Paul, it’s so haaarrrrdddd…”
“Pastor, you don’t understand, it’s haaarrrddd!!!”
“I can’t do that, it’s just too haaarrrrddd!”
Why should being a genuine Jesus Christ follower be hard?
The reality is that being a Christ Follower isn’t the hard part, the hard part is LIFE!
Life is what’s hard. Jesus said it himself, “He causes the sun to rise on good people and on evil people, and he sends rain to those who do right and to those who do wrong.” (Matthew 5:45,NCV) Sometimes life is great, other times is nothing but… “haaarrrrdddd!!!”
Life is hard, knowing Jesus Christ makes it better! In fact, knowing Jesus Christ, having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is the only thing that ultimately makes the life make sense; it’s the only way we are assured of “winning” even with life is “haaarrrdddd!!!”
John 1:16 tells us, “We have all benefited from the rich blessings he [Jesus] brought us-one gracious blessing after another.” (NLT)
Being a Christ Follower isn’t hard – so why do we seem to make it sound so hard?
The basis of being a Christ Follower is pretty simple: “Follow Me” (we saw that last week). Jesus said it this way: “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” (John 14:15).
There it is as simply put as possible: love me…keep my commands. Obey me!
That simple; yet for some of us, probably all of us, that simple description of following Christ sounds like someone telling us how to climb Yosemite’s Half Doom. How do you get to the top of the mountain? Start climbing!
Sounds simple…but it’s so haaarrrddd!!!
Part of the problem is that God made each of us differently and because of that each of us are going to follow Christ differently!
Let me say that again, each of us are going to follow Christ differently. Not one of us in this room this morning are going to have the same walk with Jesus as anyone else in this room or in this world for that matter. We’re each different.
One of our struggles in following Christ is that we tend to get our ideas of follow Christ from each other rather than Jesus Himself.
Near the end of His time on Earth, Jesus was taking a walk with Peter, one of His closest followers. You can read the entire account in the last verses of the Gospel of John in the New Testament. Near the end of Jesus’ walk and talk with Peter, Jesus made this statement:
“I tell you the truth, when you were younger, you tied your own belt and went where you wanted. But when you are old, you will put out your hands and someone else will tie you and take you where you don’t want to go.” (Jesus said this to show how Peter would die to give glory to God.) Then Jesus said to Peter, “Follow me!” (John 21:18-22)
Jesus told Peter that he would die serving God and that it wasn’t necessarily going to be easy, if fact it was going to get haaarrrddd!!!
Peter’s response is much like ours:
Peter turned and saw that the follower Jesus loved was walking behind them…When Peter saw him behind them, he asked Jesus, “Lord, what about him?” (John 21:20-21)
While Jesus was talking to Peter, Peter turned around and looked at another Christ Follower and wanted to compare his life with the other guy’s walk with God.
Jesus’ answer is very direct: “If I want him to live until I come back, that is not your business. You follow me.” (John 21:22)
“What’s that to you? Mind your own business!”
What’s that to you? Follow me!
God created each of us differently and His plan and our SHAPE is different from anyone else in this world. You are uniquely made for a unique purpose – and God wants it that way.
We make following Christ hard when we assume we have to be just like some other Christ follower.
ANOTHER WAY WE MAKE IT SO HAAARRRDDD!!! IS BY CONFUSING THE TOOLS WITH THE RULES.
Get that point: We confuse the TOOLS with the RULES.
God’s greatest desire for each of us is for us to have a growing, intimate relationship with Him. That relationship will then effect every other relationship we have in this life.
The Bible is our “Rule Book” and our “Tool Book”.
There are some very specific “rules” in the Bible. The Bible is very clear on some things we are to do (how we live) and some things we are to avoid (the sins that can hurt us and others).
There are also a great group of “tools” taught in the Bible. The tools are the way we get to know God and how we the way He’s designed us to live.
Our problem is that we confuse the TOOLS with the RULES.
Here’s what I mean: take the “tools” of Bible reading and prayer. Reading your Bible and praying are powerful tools to get to know God and how we should live.
Psalm 119:77 says, “Surround me with your tender mercies so I may live, for your instructions are my delight.” In other words, I delight in reading God’s Word, it shows me how merciful God is!
And Psalm 119:11 says, “I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”
Reading God’s Word is a great tool to get to know God.
Psalm 119:147 also says, “I rise early, before the sun is up; I cry out for help and put my hope in your words.”
Now the Psalmist is talking about getting up early and beginning his day in prayer.
Prayer is a powerful tool to get to know God.
But here’s the problem: Bible reading and prayer are powerful tools, but using either Bible reading or
Prayer to measure how well you actually KNOW God or are really obeying Him – that never works!
I’ve met lots of Christ Followers who told me they prayed a lot and could show me, (they could even quote to me) all the Bible that they had read – but those same Christ Followers weren’t doing a very good job of following Christ. They were living pretty disobediently according to some of the actually “rules” found in the Bible.
They were talking the “tools” and using the tools so show how much the “measured up” to God.
Jesus made it a lot simpler: Love Me. Obey Me. That equals follow me!
We often confuse RELIGION with RELATIONSHIP don’t we?
RELIGION is all about rules and rituals. Religion is about using rules and rituals as a means of either manipulating God or attempting to earn His favors.
It’s easy to tell if you are starting to get “religious”: you will constantly be checking to see if you “measure up” by how much you think God is doing for you the way you want Him to do it. You will spend your time looking to see if God is “favoring” you over others.
RELATIONSHIP is different. Different is a good way to describe our relationship with God. For each of us it will be at least a little different.
Let me use by children as an example. I have four children, each of them is incredibly different that the other three. As a result of those differences, my relationship to each one of them is different. I’m the same, but they are different. Consequently when I relate to one of them, it’s not the same as with the others. It’s not that one is more important or better, just different.
Our God is the same way. He’s God. He never changes. Malachi 3:6 emphatically states: “I the LORD do not change.” God doesn’t change, but each of us are different and our relationship with God will be different that anyone else we attempt to compare ourselves to!
Listen. The most important think in knowing God and please God is not the particular approach you or I take to being “spiritual”, it’s not our “style” that matters to God, what matters to God is our fruit!
What matters to God is the fruit, the result, of our relationship to Him.
That’s why Galatians 5 tells us, “the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” (vs.22-23)
The results, the fruit, of a relationship with Jesus Christ is love, joy, peace, kindness… all of those things you been trying to do on your own, all of those attitudes and actions that you’ve been trying to live out by the force of your own will – the only way to actually get that kind of results – those “fruit of God’s Spirit” is by a committed, growing relationship with Jesus Christ.
What matters to God is the fruit, the results of our relationship to OTHERS as well.
You see, the fruit OF THE SPIRIT are the attitudes of the SPIRIT, but the fruit of a CHRIST FOLLOWER is another Christ Follower. The result of our relationship to Jesus Christ is His fruit growing inside us – and His fruit growing inside us will effect every other relationship in our lives! We’ll see others attracted to Jesus Christ because of how we grow in Jesus.
We confuse RELATIONSHIP with RELIGION.
We take all of the tools for getting to know God: prayer, Bible reading, church, serving others, giving – all of those powerful tools that we need to cultivate in our lives – we should use the tools not measure ourselves by the tools!
Let me make an observation before we go on…
Following other Christ Follower’s examples is not all bad. In fact, most of what we learn about the Christian life we learn from other believers. We listen and learn from others. I learned how to pray by listening to others pray. I learned how to share my faith by listening to others share their faith in Jesus. I’ve learned a lot from spiritual mentors. I’ve just had to be careful not to assume that everything that works for one person is going to fit perfectly in me. I’ve learned and then I’ve made it fit how God made me.
Additionally, don’t use rules and an excuse not to use the tools. All of the “spiritual disciplines” (prayer, Bible reading, witnessing, serving, giving, resting, etc.) are important valuable tools that can and should be used to help us grow in our relationship with Jesus Christ, however, don’t force it. Read your Bible the way it really works for you. If you have a hard time having a quality prayer time in the morning – try another time – but remember to make prayer a part of your walk with God.
The emphasis should always be to love God, get to know Him a little better every day and then watch Him grow His fruit in your life. Cooperate with God!
That’s what following God, obeying God is all about - cooperating with Him. Which brings us to the real question of the day: How do we grow?
How does God grow us into deeper relationship with Him.
If no two of us are going to grow the same way or in the same time, how does God grow us.
Here’s the bottom line answer: God works in us on a NEED TO KNOW and NEED TO GROW basis!
As Christ followers we tend develop our relationship with God during what can be called Need to GROW or a
Need to KNOW times in our lives.
NEED TO GROW
We go through life when all of the sudden LIFE HITS US IN THE FACE. We’re not expecting it, life just happens. Life happens and growth kicks in. And since life is never the same for any two of us – we learn it a little differently than the next person.
ILL: I think back to the first couple of years Terrie and I were married. Both of us lived pretty sheltered lives. We had both dealt with illness, both of us had mothers who suffered from major physical problems, but we were well ourselves. But in the first few years of our marriage we faced the death of a father, the birth and death of our first born son. We were sued by a family member. We changed career paths, and moved twice. And that’s on top of just getting adjusted to being married. Through all of those “hits” in our lives both of us had to learn how to really reach out to God and trust Him.
We needed to grow and we weren’t going to grow much without getting into God’s Word and making it real by applying it to the situations we were facing.
Everyone one of you (us) here today are facing issues in our lives were we need to grow and the way we’re going to grow is by reaching out to God and His Word and practically applying it’s truths to our lives.
That’s need to grow!
You may be here struggling with your marriage – and you need to grow.
You may be struggling with an addiction – and you need to grow.
It’s the reason God allows us to go through the stuff of this life – the haaarrrddd!!!! stuff, because it’s during the hard times that we grow!
“Brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything.” (James 1:2-4)
We mature in our relationship with Jesus Christ when we need to grow.
Other times we simply NEED TO KNOW!
There are times when the primary thing we need is knowledge! We need to KNOW SOMETHING before we can actually DO SOMETHING.
There will be times when you need to know what the Bible says about a specific topic in order to make the next step in your walk with God.
ILL: A group of us are getting ready to go to the WEEKEND TO REMEMBER in a few weeks. We’re going because we want to learn more about the topic of marriage and home building. We need some information in order to take the next step in our marriages.
There will be other times when what you need is a Godly or eternal perspective on things.
I don’t know about you, but there have been a few times in my life when I’ve really struggled with letting go of my stuff. I’ve really struggled with hanging on to things. It’s at those times when I’ve had to go to God’s Word and gain an eternal perspective on what is really important and lasting.
There may be times when you just need a better understanding of Biblical teaching.
When Nathaniel died I really needed to understand more about heaven.
When I struggled with feelings of inadequacy I really needed to understand more about God’s love.
When I wrestled with some marriage stuff with Terrie I needed to understand more about forgiveness and mercy.
God has this way of bringing us to points in our lives where we need exact answers from His Word and the good news is – they are right there to be found!
Here’s the really cool part! It’s at those crisis moments when God’s Word really sticks! I mean, I listen to the preacher, I read the great book on some aspect of the Christian life, watch another Christ follower go through a tough issue – all of those things are really beneficial to me, but…get this…when I’m facing a NEED TO GROW or NEED TO KNOW moment – it really sticks!
Suddenly God’s Word and all of the talks I hear on Sunday are no longer just nice words and THEORY – they start to mean something in my life. They become applicable – I can really begin to apply them and they work!
(OBJECT LESSON)
Let me close by showing you something.
See this seed. It’s a plant seed. This seed contains an incredible amount of potential. Inside it is just about everything necessary to begin a plant that could produce shade, and beauty and nourishment and probably more. But right now it’s just a seed and it will stay a seed with all of that potential until something happens to it.
Do you know what’s got to happen to it? Right.
It’s got to get a little wet and uncomfortable.
It’s probably going to get a little dirty or messy in the process.
Someone is going to push it into some dirty and it’s going to get dark and smelly and hot!
(Did you ever stop to think what all those seeds must be thinking?)
But…once it goes through that process – eventually it’s going to break free and begin to grow into a beautiful plant and produce beautiful fruit. In the PROCESS it will need some help…someone is going to have to provide what it needs to become all that it was designed to be.
Water…fertilizer…sun…warmth…
You and I…we’re a lot like that see – or that young plant – we need to grow and we need to know. God is good and gracious enough to provide the opportunities and resources we need.
Spirituality for the rest of us simply means we let God do the growing. We simply relax and enjoy our relationship with God. We seek to spend time with Him and include God in our lives. No rush, no pushing or pulling, we simply cooperate with where God takes us.
To listen to an audio presentation of the talk visit churchforfamily.com/sermons
