SCRIPTURE READING: Proverbs 2:3-5
SERMON STRUCTURE: ETYMOLOGICAL
SUBJECT: DESIRE
THEME: THE MEANING OF DESIRE
Introduction:
Have you ever misplaced your keys? Have you ever had your keys and then set them in a place that you cannot remember? We say in English that you have misplaced your keys. Yes, you have lost your keys, but that is because you have set your keys in the wrong place. What happens when you misplace your keys? You can get into all kinds of problems. You get stressed out, you get frustrated, and you get angry. Because you have put your keys in the wrong place, you will have problems using the keys in the right way. You can’t open doors like you would when you had access to your keys. Just like desire, if we will miss our main desire, it leads to crave our own desire which is not the will of the Lord.
Proposition: a study of the English word “Desire” will enlighten the believers to put their motivation I Christ Jesus.
I. THE ENGLISH BIBLE WORD “DESIRE” IN 2 TIMOTHY 3:12 IS THE GREEK WORD (ETHELO) MEANING “TO DETERMINE”
The verse says “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” Determining our desire is very important in our Christian life. It will also determine who we are in the sight of God and unto others. In this passage the Greek word “desire” means in English word “to determine” and in the dictionary it means “decide, find out, influence or set limits to something”. We all have desire in our lives so we need to determine this whether it is in line with the will of the Lord.
DESIRES!!! We all have them. Sometimes they are good, and sometimes they are bad. Scripturally we could say that unfulfilled desires are the source of all of the evil that exists in our world today. James, the half-brother of Jesus said, "But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lusts or (desires), and enticed. Then when lust(desire) hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." That’s why we could categorize our desire in two ways; evil desire and Good desire, or Holy and Unholy desires.
a.) Good desires. What are some of these good desire?
Your desires will take on a new set of values in Christ; they will be good and godly! And the Lord will honor them!
(1. Desire a beautiful marriage.
(2. Desire a friend's salvation.
(3. Desire a place of worship for God's people.
(4. Desire our children's happiness and salvation.
(5. Desiring good and godly things!
These 5 examples are some of good desires that we need in our Christian lives. through these, we can determine a right desires in the eyes of the Lord. What about the evil desires?
b.) Evil desires. What are some of these evil desires that we know of?
The 10 commandments, nine of these for example deals with actions towards God and Men. These are; the first tells us that we should not worship false gods, -first deals with our heart, love the Lord your God
- the second that we should not worship God falsely,
- the third commands us not to use God's Name in vain,
- and the fourth that we should keep the Lord's Day.
- Number five, beginning the second Table of God's law, teaches us to honor our parents,
- the sixth that we should not murder,
- the seventh that we should not commit adultery,
- the eighth that we should not steal,
- and the ninth that we should not lie.
If we doesn’t have the desire to follow these law of the God, we are not going to obey those commandment. As you can notice, it is significant to determine our desire whether it is Evil or Good. God accepts the holy deeds of His children, he is against those person who keeps on doing ungodly tings in His presence. So in these passage, Desire here means “to determine” our desires. Following Jesus Christ determines that we are persecuted by the world because the enemy owns and corrupted this world that we are living.
II. THE ENGLISH BIBLE WORD “DESIRE” IN HEBREWS 11:16 IS THE GREEK WORD (OREGOMAI) MEANING “TO STRETCH ONESELF”
Hebrews 1:16 says “16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.”
As the preceding passages, it talk of heroes of faith. They are Abel, Enoch, Abraham, Noah, and Sarah. These people desired a better country, that’s why they stretch their lives to God for they know that their God gives them not just better but best country to live in. they let God used them as instruments as God redeem His people.
As an example of a person who stretched out his life in the New Testament believers to others is Apostle Paul. Why? Because his desire is Extravagant! It’s beyond what we can. He spend so much for the sake of others. He has abundant sacrifices for the work of the Lord. It’s in his heart that his desire were to get the next town to preach the word of God. Paul desired to see his friends, like Philemon, timothy, Onesimus and the believers of the churches he planted. Paul desired to minister to others ... notice we don't find many of Paul's desires in the Bible recorded as "a new chariot with air conditioning, a sea side house, a large bank account," not that these things are wrong to have or that God won’t sometimes even give these, but we need to learn the art of desiring the "BEST THINGS" first. To stretch oneself is hard if you do not have the desire from our heart.
III. THE ENGLISH BIBLE WORD “DESIRE” IN JOHN 8:44 IS THE GREEK WORD (PEIRAZO) MEANING “A LONGING”
a.) The verse says “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks [a]a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Desire means “a longing”.
A longing could be define “a persistent and strong desire, usually for somebody or something unattainable or not within immediate reach”. It’s a continual yearning of a certain thing. Desire is so normal that we might feel a measure of guilt for any desire we might have. We need not do this because God created us with the ability to have desires, and He pronounced it very good. Desire means "a strong yearning." It is your will, motivation and the strength that leads you to do something. Some desire comes from this wicked earth. It is influenced with greediness, lustful, and self-centered. All of these results success in a way that you can acquire many thing yet in a wrong way. However, some desires are destructive, and these the Bible usually calls "lusts." These desires are often shown as cravings for satisfaction of the physical appetites (for example, food, alcohol, sex, money, pleasure). Most of the people are m Paul tells Timothy, "Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart" (II Timothy 2:22).
Desire is also seen in context with power. Some have a passion to be number one, to compete, to dominate, to assert their will, and to have control. Such an attitude frequently produces envy and contention. Others passionately pursue possessions and the glory associated with owning them. Desire needs a good motivation, and it is in Christ Jesus, His Spirit is the guide of all men to succeed in life. If the devil’s desire is also our longing, then it would be our father. but it is not, we long the desire of Jesus Christ, His love is our love, his hardship is our hardship, his ministry is our ministry his father is our father. .” In Colossians 3:5 “Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” We put to death the evil desires of our lives as we continue to live our Christian lives.
IV. THE ENGLISH BIBLE WORD “DESIRE” IN ACTS 28:22 IS THE GREEK WORD (AXIOO) MEANING “TO FIT”
Act 28:22 "But we desire to hear from you what your views are; for concerning this sect, it is known to us that it is spoken against everywhere."
The Jewish people tries to fit in or to cope up with Paul’s belief according to His doctrine. They wanted to hear about his part. It looks like the people were trying to understand the situation about what they heard about Paul but didn’t receive any letter or person who told them about Paul’s belief, in order that the can make their own stand to anywhere of the community. The whole community wanted to conform well to Paul’s teaching. They couldn’t catch up to Paul, so the asked him, they desired to hear the whole story from Paul about the Gospel.
In this passage, the Greek “desire” means in English “to fit”. The People wanted to fit in to Paul’s new message for them. They looks like a jury who wanted to understand the situation and are ready to decide.
Illustration: a jury in a courtroom.
Conclusion: Therefore, having clarified the meaning of Desire, we should continually thank God for such clear understanding about desire. Christian’s desire should determine whether it is good or evil. Because God only allows holy deeds in His presence. Our Desire should stretch ourselves for the others, giving our lives as an instrument for the work of the Lord. Helping others to be able to know the Lord our Savior. Our desire is our longing to become more like our Father through the example of Jesus Christ. In every aspect of our lives from, our mind, emotion, and actions, God is our deepest longing to be glorified. Our desire also is our capability to fit in, blend in and go well with the situation. It motivates us to ask for guidance from the Lord.
As I end this sermon, I want you to hear these quotation“.
