Step Three - Pursuing Your Purpose
The final step I want to focus on in overcoming sinful habits is your purpose. Each of our lives has been created by God for a purpose. As long as we are living outside of that purpose, there will be emptiness and a desire to crowd our lives with pleasures and sin because we are searching for more. Our goal is not to get to heaven, but to love God and stand before Him on that great Day having completed our purpose in life. Our purpose is not a single act, but a lifelong journey that will never end. The Bible calls it a race of endurance. Many will start the race, but few will endure until the end. Let me reiterate that our lives are founded upon the relationship we have with Jesus Christ. That will never change. We will always struggle to find a balance so that we can cultivate our relationship with Christ. Everyone struggles to maintain that balance. Those who successfully keep the relationship with God as a top priority will be successful. Even in ministry, we can get out of balance. When ministry is so important that we don’t have time for God, we are not serving God.
God does not call you to succeed. He does not call you to accomplish anything. God calls you into a love relationship with Him and out of that relationship He produces the fruit of your labors. Busyness is the enemy of our relationship with God. When we get too busy, it is time to step back even if we have to let some important things slip. Nothing is more important than keeping your focus on the relationship you have with God. If works - even good works and deeds - stand in the way of our relationship with God, then they are not of God. We must remember that we don’t do anything for God, He works through us. God doesn’t accept the works of our hands, but the work He produces through us. This goes all the way back to the beginning. In Genesis, Cain was a gardener and presented his best works to God and it was rejected. Abel gave back to God the best of his cattle as a sacrifice. Abel gave to God the best of what God blessed and gave to him and God honored his sacrifice. The same is true today. Look at what Jesus said in John 15:
4 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
5 "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
It is not what you produce, it is what He produces. It all centers around an abiding, continuous relationship with God. Notice what Jesus says in verse 5, “he who abides in Me and I in him, bears much fruit”. Can someone do good works without God? Of course they can, but they are serving only their own self-interest. God only honors what God produces. Keep this in mind as we move on into finding our purpose. It is not what you do; it is your relationship with God. Success is God’s business. Obedience and faithfulness belongs to you and I.
Drawing the Line
Job 31:1-4
1 “I have made a covenant with my eyes; Why then should I look upon a young woman?
2 For what is the allotment of God from above, And the inheritance of the Almighty from on high?
3 Is it not destruction for the wicked, And disaster for the workers of iniquity?”
4 Does He not see my ways, And count all my steps?
This is an important principle in overcoming. This covenant is something I make and reaffirm over and over again. This is an act of drawing the line so that I don’t fall into sin. The Bible says that if we lust after a woman, we have already committed adultery in our heart. The line of sin is - don’t commit adultery in our heart or in our actions. A wise man will draw a line that is not at the point of adultery, but well before it will become a temptation. If I commit to never allow my eyes to gaze at a beautiful woman, then I will never get to the point of lust. If I stumble over my commitment, I still have a lot of recovery room before I fall into sin. If I put my toes on the line of sin, I have no recovery room.
It is vital to draw the line well behind the lines of sin in our areas of weakness. I am not tempted to steal cars, so I don’t need to draw the line at looking at a car. I look at the command, ’You shall not steal’ and I know what is expected. However, because of my background with lust, I know that ’You shall not commit adultery’ is not a sufficient boundary for me. I must draw the line at looking. When I allow myself to look, I begin to feel the desire for more. It is important to draw the line at the first compromise. If I can’t resist a compromise, I will never stand against the temptation to sin.
Let me stop for a moment and address a question that I often hear. “Is it wrong to lust after your wife?” This can’t possibly be a sin. What is lust? Jesus said it is an act of adultery in the sight of God. It is impossible for man commit adultery with his own wife. In the confines of marriage is the only place where sexual gratification is considered to be holy by God. The Bible says that marriage is good if the bed is undefiled. The bed is defiled by sexual immorality - which is sex outside of marriage. Don’t let anyone tell you that sex is only for procreation. Sex is a gift from God. It is only sinful when it is taken outside of God’s design of marriage. It is wrong to humiliate or degrade our spouse, but other than that, sex is holy in a marriage covenant.
The Carrot Principle
Temptation is like a carrot. Satan tosses the carrot out and we see it. That is almost always our moment of final decision. I either turn away from temptation and pursue my relationship with God, or I turn from God and pursue the carrot. If we are honest with ourselves, we will see that when I decide to ’investigate’ the carrot of our temptation, we have already determined in our heart to go for it. All I need now is self-justification. I feel too guilty to dive headlong into sin, but I can easily justify ’just looking’ at an attractive women. I take baby steps so that I can justify my actions and not feel immediate guilt. When I get close enough to sin so that it is only a small step, I feel more justified in my actions. Both avenues are the same, but one makes self-deception a little easier. The battle is won or lost at the first compromise. If I am not willing to resist a small compromise, I surely won’t be able to bring to momentum of my desire to a halt.
The devil’s goal is not to satisfy me, but to draw me away from God. Once I am in the devil’s territory, I am fighting a losing battle. The carrot is the promise of gratification. When I reach for it, it is always pulled a little farther away. Now I have to choose again; another compromise, or to turn back to God? God is no longer my focus, so I take another step, then another, and another until I am at the real temptation to sin. It would have been easy to resist at the first compromise, but now my mind is racing and my desires are carrying me by the hand. Now instead of a simple decision, I now have to stop the freight train of my desires that is racing toward temptation. I will almost never resist at this point. Now that I am driven by my desires, I am willing to let go and be carried until I hit the saturation point.
It does not have to be this way. If we exercise the wisdom God offers, we will keep our eyes on Him. If my desire is for God, then to respond to temptation I must stop and turn off course. It is easy to draw an idle mind toward temptation, but a heart and mind pursuing God is harder to sidetrack. The Bible says that satan roams like a raging lion seeking who he may devour. Satan is a caged lion and can’t come in and take you away from God; he must draw you away from God and into his territory. God will not stop you from leaving, but He will make you run many red lights on the way to your fall. I can always look back and see how many opportunities to escape that I pushed aside on my way to my fall. Always remember, where your eyes are, your heart will follow. As long as you allow yourself to look, you will continue to be drawn away. It may seem like you are unable to resist, but in reality it all boils down to an unwillingness to turn away from sin and back to God. When people are racing toward temptation, they don’t want to see the Bible or anything that reminds them of God.
Ironically, it is almost always during the times we feel strong that we fall. When I feel strong, I will begin to slip because I am no longer focused on my dependence on Christ. When I begin to have a false confidence in my own strength, I take my eyes off Christ and allow my heart to turn from Him.
Choosing Your Path
All good things are in the center of God’s will. It may seem like we are missing out, but in reality we miss out when we step outside of God’s path. God has fashioned every day you will have on this earth and it all fits within His purpose. When you step outside of His path, you miss everything God desires to give. It is OK to miss out in this world because God has the better things in store. Because we believe the deception of the world, we often are willing to sacrifice the abundant and great blessings to take hold of the things of this life. Sometimes the things we choose may not be bad, but they are short of the goodness of God. We can sacrifice the greatness of God for good or evil things in life. Either way, if we are outside of God’s design, we are missing out in this life and in our future inheritance. Look at Psalm 139:
13 For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.
17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!
18 If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand;
…
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties;
24 And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.
To me, this is one of the most incredible passages in the Bible. God fashioned me to be exactly who I am and He also fashioned every day of my life before I had a day on the earth. God planned my life with such incredible detail that the thoughts He has of me are more than the sands of the earth. How much sand is on the beach, under the ocean and across the land and deserts? If God planned my life in such detail and care, why do I have so much trouble trusting Him? He already knows my tomorrow. God sees the end from the beginning. There is nothing in this life that God hasn’t planned for. What’s more is that God uses all things for my good. Look at Romans 8:
28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Everything in this life works for our good if we are walking according to His purpose. God makes it clear that He does not force anyone to obey or walk in His purpose. However, outside of His purpose, we don’t have these promises. Only when I am following God can I have the assurance that hard times are not consequences, but are for my greater good. God designed my path and predestined my circumstances so that I will have everything I need to conform to the image of (or become like) Christ. If I step outside of God’s plan, I circumvent His blessings and the good things He has planned. Even hardship shapes us for our good unless we get angry and turn back. Those who get angry don’t really trust God. Many people turn from God because they believe He owes them an easy ride through life. Every trial is a needless waste when we abandon God. We look at our immediate circumstances, but God sees the end result. He only puts us through what we must go through. God will sacrifice a little happiness for a greater benefit. By nature, we will sacrifice everything for immediate happiness. If given the choice, most of us would never have a problem even though it would result in a fruitless life. If we can’t trust Him, we can’t inherit the greater benefit.
When we return to our sinful habits, we step outside of God’s plan. At anytime we can repent and return to God, but we can never go back and recover what has been lost. Each day outside of a relationship with God is a loss in this life and the life to come.
Pursuing Holiness
1 Peter 1:
13 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
14 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance;
15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
16 because it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy."
The pursuit of holiness is a never-ending challenge. You will never be as holy as God, but you can submit and conform to His character. This entire life is a process where God shapes us so that we will be a treasure presented at the revelation of Jesus Christ. We will all stand before Him one day. It will be in victory or shame. Luke 12 tells us that when Jesus returns, He will deal with the faithful and faithless. Those who are not looking for His return and living contrary to Him will be punished, but those who are found watching, Jesus will have them sit and He will serve and honor them. It seems almost unthinkable that our Savior who we are serving would exalt us to the honor of His service.
We can’t be holy if our minds are out of control. In the passage above, we are told to gird up our minds and place our hope - not in this life - but in the grace to be brought to us when He returns. To gird up the loins of our minds means to keep our focus. We don’t let our minds wander and become conformed to the world’s thinking. We don’t accept and welcome sin, but we bring our minds under control. Self-control is one of the fruits of the Spirit. The fruits of the Spirit are attributes that become a part of our life because God’s Spirit is working within us. If we don’t have self-control, we are not submitting and under the Spirit’s control. We are told to bring every thought into captivity to be in obedience to Christ. When we are driven by our desires, we don’t have the power to bring our thought life under control. We don’t have the power to be holy. We are made holy by our intimate relationship with God, keeping our focus on the finish line, and our eyes on Christ.
Pursuing God’s Purpose
Hebrews 12:
1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.
We are saved by grace and not by our good works, but the Bible also tells us that we are saved for the purpose of good works (Ephesians 2:8-10). Running the race before us is completing the good works God has equipped us to do. I feel it is important to stress again that our good works do not produce our relationship with God, but our relationship with God will produce good works. Works don’t produce faith, but faith always produces works. A challenge for most Christians is to find out what God’s will is for their life. In scripture, it is so simple that we often miss it. God’s will is to know and love God and cultivate your relationship with Him. As we grow close to God, He will bring good works through our life. It is then that we pursue our desires. When God shapes our desire, then we are free to pursue them. Psalm 37 says:
4 Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
5 Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass.
When you delight yourself in the Lord and His relationship becomes your joy, then you have the two-fold promise of verse 4. He will give you the right kinds of desires and because your desires are good, He can bless your desires. We commit our way to Him and He will bring our purpose to light and bring it to pass. Just don’t forget that the commitment is after the relationship we delight ourselves in. Commitment is useless without a loving relationship with our Lord.
When our perspective is right, then we will have the joy of the Lord that goes beyond human understanding. Looking back to Hebrews 12:2, we see that Jesus endured the cross for the joy that was set before Him. He did not find joy in the cross. The cross was torment and suffering. Jesus found joy in what laid beyond the cross - fellowship with His creation. Our redemption was beyond the cross and for that joy He endured all suffering. We endure and overcome - not by looking at our circumstances, but by looking at the finish line. We have the joy of the Lord as our strength and we pursue our purpose by standing strong in Him, not in our strength. Sometimes we need to quit looking for God’s will and instead look to our relationship with Christ. When we have intimacy with God, our purpose will come to pass out of that relationship.
This, I believe, is the final step in recovery and living an overcoming life. If I am reaching ahead toward the finish line, the lust of the world will not have the same draw that it once did. The world is a worthless investment. It is a temptation that promises the moon and delivers the dry wind.
Remember Your Chains
One last thought that I want to mention is remembering your chains. When you forget history, you will repeat its mistakes. It is when I forget the pain of my bondage that I become more vulnerable to the deception that temptation will satisfy. The devil does not want you to look ahead to the consequences, nor does he want you to look back at your chains. He only wants to steal, kill, and destroy. Making you back into a slave to sin is the easiest way to accomplish this. When I remember the pain I once felt and the years of unsuccessfully struggling to escape my chains, the temptation loses its appeal. I struggled for years to break free from sin’s bondage. The only way I could be foolish enough to return is to forget what I escaped from.
I believe it is important to look back at where we have been. That is not the same as digging up the bones and visiting the guilt of the past. We remember our chains to remember what God has done for us, but we don’t pick up our guilt. It should be a time of encouragement and joy over our deliverance through Christ. I also look back and see the progress God has made in my life. Each time I look back, I am amazed at how far God has brought me. I see God’s hand because there is no other way all of these events could have fallen into place. Every event is like threading a moving needle. I could not have done any one of the things. I am all the more amazed when I see it all as a whole. I then look ahead at where I am going. When I look back, I see my progress and when I look ahead, I see that my journey has just begun and the finish line.
Remember your chains and pursue your relationship with God.
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This sermon can be downloaded as a Word document by following the link at http://www.exchangedlife.com/recovery/3step_recovery.htm
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