In the opening pages of his autobiography, An American Life, Ronald Reagan writes, I was raised to believe that God had a plan for everyone and that seemingly random twists of fate are all a part of His plan. My mother - a small woman with auburn hair and a sense of optimism that ran as deep as the cosmos - told me that everything in life happened for a purpose. She said all things were part of God’s plan, even the most disheartening setbacks, and in the end, everything worked out for the best. If something went wrong, she said, you didn’t let it get you down: You stepped away from it, stepped over it, and moved on. Later on, she added, something good will happen and you’ll find yourself thinking - "If I hadn’t had that problem back then, then this better thing that did happen would’nt have happened to me."
After I lost the job at Montgomery Ward, I left home again in search of work. Although I didn’t know it then, I was beginning a journey that would take me a long way from Dixon and fulfill all my dreams and then some.
My mother, as usual, was right.
Ronald Reagan is right, God does have a plan, a purpose for each one of us, But it is more than unsure twists and turns, it involves God’s purpose as revealed in the Bible and God wants us to know and experience it.
The early Christians faced all kinds of choices as they struggled and wrestled with how to live out their faith. And Paul offers one such group some very important advice about how to do so. We read it in Colossians 3:1-16
Read the passage.
I first preached from this passage at the age of 22. It was the last Sunday of the 1970’s. I was heading into my final semester in college and wondering, "What it the world was I going to do after college?" Of course, I also wrestled with a deeper question, What is God’s will for my life?"
This passage began to help me see some larger and very important issues related to God’s will that had more to do with who I was than what I was going to do.
Our fourth and fifth key in seeing and hearing God more clearly in our lives has to do with our prayer life and our conduct, our behavior, and there is a link between the two - they are a part of God’s will for our lives.
After I graduated from college in 1980, things looked bleak. I did not possess a business or science degree. I had a degree in English.
After spending time working at a church campground near Terre Haute, I had previously determined to move to New Jersey and serve with a a pastor in the town of Dover about 60 minutes west of New York City. I spent a week there. Homesickness was a part of that time, but I was not successful at getting a job and the pastor was a very regimented, not rigid man, who rose early and went to bed early.
As I look back at that time, I have to wonder, what if I would had gotten a job and stayed out there? How different would life be for me?
In this passage we have just read, there are three important parts to God’s willall of which have to do with some kind or type of change.
Paul writes in the opening verses of this chapter, "Set your sights (priorities, perhaps?) on the realities of heaven. Let heaven fill your thoughts. Do not think about things down here on earth."
If we are going to know and experience God’s will in wonderful and overwhelming ways, then we need to pray that God would begin to change the way we think - about ourselves, others, and Him.
Paul wrote in Romans 12:2 ’let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is.’
Paul says the same thing to the Colossians. Our thinking influences and shapes our priorities and our choices. How’s your thinking?
The second is change of character.
In verses 5 through 9 Paul writes of our character and the changes that are expected of us if we choose to follow Jesus. The hard thing about this listing is that it is’nt hard to understand - it is really straight forward.
The list includes habits that are very common in life, attitudes that are always ready to be used when we are emotionally or social threatened in some way. Paul’s use of negatives - ’get rid of,’ ’don’t,’ ’put away,’ make " the point clear - If we are going to see and hear God clearly then these things must be let go of.
That may take some time - even a life time - but the willingness to change our behavoir and lifestyle is very important because as we read in verse 12, we are to ’be the holy people he loves,’ ’we must make allowance for others faults,’ ’forgive the person who offends you,’ ’let God’s peace have power in your heart.’
Not only must our thinking and behavior change, the way we relate to one another must change.
After Paul lists all things that the Colossian believers must get rid of and after he reminds them of what they are to become, he talks about their relationship to one another.
God’s will for us is to be a supportive community that affirm and respect and support as we gather together.
Relationships are so vital. We cannot live without them. We were created to live in a relationship with others and with God.
I do not recall the network on which the segment appeared, but I remember a part of the tag line for it, "Do we need each other?"
The segment had something to do with all of the technology that is now available - cell phones, fax machines, etc that make it easier for us to work, I think, by ourselves, cut off from a group of people.
We do need each other! We do need to belong to something to feel loved, to feel accepted where we’re at.
Pause with me for a minute. Some of you have been a part of this church all of your life. Some of you have been a part of it for maybe a decade or so. Can you remember a time when you knew that you felt at home here? That you knew that you were loved here? That this was a safe and wonderful place to be?
Most likely that sense of caring drew you in. Am I right?
We need to remember that others are looking for that same experience. They need and want to feel at home here. How can we do that better?
One of the ways is by caring, by developing relationships with them, by inviting them to be a part of our family,and by showing them as we interact with one another.
Relationships do matter. And God’s will for us is that we live in both a right relationship with Him and with one another.
Chuck Swindoll has written a marvelous book entitled, "The Mystery of God’s Will:What Does He Want For Me?"
In the introduction to this book, Swindoll writes, "In the past, I often viewed the Christian life, or even life in general, as a matter of getting from here to there . . . from Point A to Point B. I now believe that God’s will for us in this life is not some black-and-white objective equation designed to take us to an appointed destination here on earth as much as it is about the journey itself. It is not so much about our own well-thought-through ’mission’ for our lives as it is about what matters to Him in our lives.
Our human tendency is to focus solely on our calling-on where we should go, how we should get there, and what exactly we should do about it. God’s concern is the process that He is taking us through to mature us and ready us, making us more like His Son. In other words, all of us-including you-are works in process."
Two questions this morning: How much do you want to know God’s will? and What habits are keeping you from peace with God - and more clearly experiencing God’s will in your life?
We begin to see progress in both areas when we focus on prayer. Prayer is a critical part of helping us see and hear God.
DL Moody said, ’I’d rather be able to pray than be a great preacher. Jesus Christ never taught his disciples how to preach, but only how to pray.’
Prayer is aligning ourselves with God’s will for us - no matter what. Prayer is a critical way of comprehending and doing God’s will. How’s your prayer life? The Lord will help you with it.
One of the critical things about God’s will notes Swindoll is this, "If we were asked to respond yes or no to the question, all of us would say, "Yes, I want to know His will." But, doing God’s will is another matter entirely, because almost without exception it requires risk. . ."
This morning, I am asking us to do something risky.
I am asking us to set aside the next four Wednesdays as days of prayer and fasting. By fasting, I mean giving up something that is a normal part of your routine. Some of us can give up a meal. Some of us can’t.
Some of us can give up a TV show or a snack or activity and, in it’s place, pray and seek God.
I am going to be here from 12 Noon - 1pm for the next four Wednesdays and the church is going to be open for a Wednesday noon fast and prayer time. If you can make it, I ask that you be here. Those of you who would need a ride, make contact with those who could give you one.
The purpose of this time is to simply seek God. Period. No agenda. Just seeking after the Lord.
Those events in 1932 would shape Ronald Reagan’s life. The events of these days are shaping ours. Are we letting God do the shaping? I trust that it is so.
