WHAT MUST I DO?
Philippians 4:13
Big Idea: Whatever God’s Word says you MUST do, God knows you CAN do!
INTRO:
So I am having my daily devotions – just minding my own business in private worship when I stumbled upon Matthew 19:16, “Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, ‘Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?’”
As I read it my routine devotions changed. God stepped in and took me places I was not anticipating. At first glance this simple verse just appears as the basic question that all men must ask of God if they wish to be saved. It is asked and answered more than once in the New Testament and many of us have asked that same question. But there was one simple word that stuck with me for days to come afterwards … “must.”
Sentences with “must” have a simple impersonal verb (dei). It is a tiny word but it has huge significance. It makes all the other words connected into an urgent need or expectation … even a demand. It can also be translated “It is necessary” or “It is binding” or “It is obligatory” or “It is required” or “ought” or “shall.”
It was in this that I sensed God telling me something. “Ken, think on this … there are things in my Word that I tell God’s people they ‘must’ do. THEY MUST DO! These are pretty important, Ken, you might want to explore them a bit.”
It took me on a personal journey and now a journey for us as a people.
In the weeks to come we are going to work our way through the New Testament and consider the things that God’s Word says we “MUST” do. But, in the midst of it all, I want you to see a very powerful and guaranteed promise.
• This promise applies every time.
• This promise has no exceptions.
• This promise is very very simple.
• This promise is so radical it changes everything.
Here it is.
Wait for it.
“Whatever God’s Word says I MUST do, God knows I CAN do!”
Not in your own strength mind you – in His! God not only gives you His expectations but His Spirit also gives you His grace to accomplish the task. When God gives you a command – He also gives you a promise. God’s word says “I can do all this through him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13).
Jesus said, “Without me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)
By the time this adventure is over that is one thing that I pray His Spirit drills into you. “Whatever God’s Word says I MUST do, God knows I CAN do!”
Please understand, this was first of all a lesson God had to “re-teach” me. For that last few months I have been in a rather “dark” place. I know it is a “spiritual winter” and that God is doing something deep and life changing; but it is also very difficult and, at times, lonely. When God takes you through the winter season you always seem to go “alone” don’t you?
Well, to make a long story short, about 2 months ago I came to a particularly solemn moment; I was feeling the enormous weight of my calling. I was seeing rather clearly the shepherding responsibilities that were placed upon me and were entirely out of my ability and control. Let’s face it, you cannot make another person (much less a congregation) love God more, obey more, serve each other more, or love their neighbor more. It’s like pushing a rope.
I was driving down Lawrence Avenue praying a simple prayer, “God I cannot do this! I cannot do this!” It was then that God’s Spirit drove this truth home to me. It was as if God said, “Think about the study you have been doing on ‘must?’ There is a truth that you are missing and the same truth applies to the calling I gave you. If you miss this truth, Ken, then any obedience you bring to me is brought in the flesh. That truth is ‘Whatever I tell you you MUST do, I know you CAN do!’”
That moment, on Lawrence Avenue, I felt set free! I felt empowered once again to serve Him faithfully. I am still in a spiritual “winter season” and my Father has had to remind me of that truth even recently, but the truth has indeed changed everything.
Listen, the enemy knows that defeat is all but certain when you begin to think that defeat is all but certain. That is why the enemy whispers in your ear. That is why he tells you lies all the time.
There is a little poem that says:
If you think you’re beaten, you are.
If you think you dare not, you don’t.
If you think you can’t, it’s almost certain you won’t.
If you think you’ll lose, you’ve lost.
When it comes to spiritual matters this is so very true. Proverbs 23: 7 says, “For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he....”
But God’s Word has another truth which counter-acts that truth!
• “I can do all this through him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13).
• Earlier in Philippians Paul says, “Being Confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6)
• Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for He who comes to God must believe that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
Say this with me, “Whatever God’s Word says I MUST do, God knows I CAN do!”
When the Bible says,
• “You must be born again” you can say “I can be born again.”
• “You must worship God in spirit and truth” you can say “I can worship God in spirit and truth.”
• “You must repent” you can say “I can repent.”
• “You must love one another” you can say “We can love one another.”
• “You must hold one another accountable for sin” you can say “We can hold one another another accountable for sin.”
• “You must obey God rather than men” you can say “We can obey God rather than men.”
• “You must love your wife and respect your husband” you can say “I can love my wife and respect my husband.”
WRAP-UP
Now hear me -- this is a double-edged sword. Because it not only means God will empower you – it also means you have no excuses.
That, my friends, is the core of our doctrine of Holiness. We believe that by surrendering our lives to God and looking to His Spirit for guidance and power we can live lives of victory. Today just so happens to be “Pentecost Sunday.” It recognizes the day Jesus’ promise was fulfilled, the church was born, and the Holy Spirit came to dwell within Jesus’ followers.
That same victory and empowerment that the first Christians experienced can still be experienced today by all who yield to Him and seek to be filled by Him.
Galatians 6 says:
So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. … Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. (Galatians 6:16-25, portions)
Throughout the coming weeks you will simply be encouraged to do two things:
1. DISCOVER WHAT GOD’S WORD SAYS YOU MUST DO.
“Ichiro Suzuki protects his bats”
Japanese-born big-leaguer Ichiro Suzuki is one of the best hitters in baseball. He has led the Major Leagues in regular season hits on seven occasions.
To state the obvious, you hit a baseball with a bat. Ichiro Suzuki seems to be more aware of that obvious fact than other baseball players, because he treats his bats as if they were Stradivarius violins.
The Mizuno sports equipment company custom-makes Suzuki's bats for him by hand from Tamo wood grown on the Japanese island of Hokkaido. Suzuki doesn't throw his black bats in a canvas bag like many other ball players. Instead, he keeps eight bats in a custom-made suitcase that is shockproof and moisture-free. Inside the dehumidifying case with the bats are two bags of pellets that absorb moisture.
Suzuki cares for and respects his bats as though his life depended on them, and indeed his livelihood does depend on them.
In a much greater way, God tells us to take care of his Words, to have great respect for them. We are to honor his Words by reading them, meditating on them, memorizing them, discussing them with others, hearing them taught, believing them, and most important of all, obeying them. For God's Words are our life. {Source: David Waldstein, "For Suzuki, Respect for Bats Is Key to Hitting," N. Y. Times (9-24-12)}
2. YIELD TO THE ONE WHO GIVES YOU THE STRENGTH TO OBEY
It is time for your Pentecost experience?
You show me a failure in the Scriptures I will show you someone who did not look to God for direction and the strength to obey.
“Listen to the Whisper”
I remember a time when I heard a whisper from God while pastoring the church in Miami, Oklahoma. It was one of those whispers that you just can’t ignore but you also cannot make sense of it either.
I had just left a lunch appointment and was driving down Central Avenue on my way back to the office. I passed a home where a boy and his dad were playing Frisbee in the front yard. It was then that I heard the whisper, “Stop and tell that man that I love him.”
That seemed strange. And it was going to seem strange to that guy when a stranger pulls up, gets out of his truck and says that too. I rationalized it away and headed further down the avenue to the church. But when I got to the church I could not get out of the truck. It was as if God’s command had filled the cab and I was being forced to deal with it. I just sat there; I knew that small still vice was God’s Spirit.
I took a deep breath, decided it was time to “be a fool for Christ” and returned to find the man & his son still playing Frisbee. I pulled up to the curb, turned off the truck, got out and started walking towards the father. The Frisbee playing stopped. I was now dad and son’s center of attention. And I said, “Sir, you don’t know me but I pastor the church across from the High School and, well, God has sent me here to tell you something.”
You can imagine the stare I got.
“God wants me to tell you that He loves you. That’s all he told me to say, that he loves you.”
You would have thought I had given him the greatest news in the world (which, actually I had). This dad began to pour his heart out to me. He cried and shared the dire straits he and his son were in financially.
Well, to make a long story short, I was able to strike up a relationship with him. Our church helped him with food and other needs and … well … he discovered God really really did love him.
All because I decided that God would give me the strength to do whatever he asked me to do and I chose to obey.
Would you say it with me once more as we close? “Whatever God’s Word says I MUST do, God knows I CAN do!”
God’s blessings on you today.
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This sermon is provided by Dr. Kenneth Pell
Potsdam Church of the Nazarene
Potsdam, New York
www.potsdam-naz.org
