Note: This message draws heavily on the outline and ideas in Rick Warren’s sermon of the same name, in the Purpose Driven Life series.
This morning, we continue our series of messages on "The Purpose Driven Life". We began by establishing that God made us for a reason, every one of us. No one here this morning was a mistake or an accident. Now, other people might think of you in that way. One of the most painful and emotionally devastating experiences we can have is to be rejected as worthless by someone close to us – a parent, a son or a daughter, a husband or wife. Perhaps you know what that’s like. And perhaps there have even been times in your life when you’ve been tempted to believe that lie, times when you’ve wondered if your life really was meaningless and valueless. But it’s not. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. You have great worth in God’s sight. He made you, and He made you for a purpose. He has a good, and wise, and loving plan for your life.
"For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him." – Colossians 1:16, NIV
Now, because God made us, the meaning of life begins and ends with Him. Since God made us, only He can tell us what we were made for. Our purpose in life revolves around Him. It’s not about us. It’s not about our needs, our wants, our satisfaction, our success. It’s about God. Now, that doesn’t mean our welfare has no importance to God. On the contrary, we are incredibly precious to Him. He loves us more deeply than we can possibly imagine. He paid the greatest price for us that could ever be paid; giving His Son’s life in exchange for ours; sending Jesus Christ to die on the cross in payment for our sins. But it’s crucial that we understand one thing: the way in which we come to enjoy all the good things God has for us is not by putting ourselves and our needs first, but instead by seeking to follow God and fulfill His purposes. As Jesus promised us:
"If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for me, you will find true life." – Matthew 16:25, NLT
Our goal, then, during this series is to understand why God brought us into existence; to uncover His purposes for our lives so that we can embrace them and live them out. Then we will find the meaning, and the purpose, and the fulfillment that He intends for us to have.
Two weeks ago, we learned that the first purpose for our lives is to give God pleasure through worship, continually offering up to Him all that we have and all that we are. We were made to love God by giving him our attention, and our affections, and our actions.
"So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life – your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life – and place it before God as an offering." – Romans 12:1, Msg
That’s what worship is. Taking our lives and presenting them to God, daily, as an offering.
Last week, we saw that the second purpose for our lives is fellowship, learning to love God’s family.
"His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure." – Ephesians 1:5, NLT
God’s purpose from the very beginning has been to create a family. God’s reason for bringing you to faith was not only to bring you into relationship with Himself; but also to bring you into relationship with other believers. That’s what He’s doing now, through the church. He’s building a family, which you and I and everyone who trusts in Christ is a part of. And the way in which we cooperate in this process is to make a commitment to a local church body, and then begin to share our lives with one another – share our resources, share our homes, share our struggles and our burdens, our joys and our sorrows. We have to take the initiative in reaching out to one another; we have to take risks in opening up to one another, and we have to take pleasure in serving one another. That’s what it means to be members of a body.
Today, we examine the third purpose for which God made us, and that is to become like Christ. The word for this process is "discipleship."
"From the very beginning God decided that those who came to Him - and He knew who would - should become like His Son . . ." – Romans 8:29, LB
From the very beginning, long before the world was even created, God’s purpose has been to make you like His Son. His goal, right now, is to transform you; to take you from wherever you are, and bring you through a lifelong process of change that will result in you becoming more and more like Jesus Christ. What does that mean? Not that you will become a little god yourself, with all the attributes of divinity, such as omniscience, and omnipresence, and omnipotence. You will never become all-knowing or all-powerful, like God is. No, you will not become a god, but you will become godly. You will become like God in his character – sharing his values; learning to think the way he thinks, and act the way he acts. And if you want to see how God thinks and acts, all you have to do is look at Christ. Read the accounts of his life in the gospels. Because the Bible tells us that Christ is God and fully reveals God.
"To see me is to see the Father." – John 14:9, Msg
"The Son reflects God’s glory, and everything about him represents God exactly." – Hebrews 1:3, NLT
Again, if you want to know what God is changing you into; if you want an advance look at the end result of this process of discipleship, then study the life of Christ. He is our model. Look at what he loved and hated; watch how he treated people; observe how he responded in different types of situations. As incredible as it may seem; God’s purpose is for your life to look like that.
Let’s look at another verse, and then we’ll go on to how God is making these changes in our lives.
". . . as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him and reflect his glory even more." – 2 Corinthians 3:18, NLT
Look at those words, "more and more". I have three children. My goal is for them to become mature, responsible adults. And that’s a multi-year process. Believe me, it’s a process. On the one hand, I’m pleased with where they all are. I’m proud of them. I’m proud of what they’re becoming. But on the other hand, I have no illusions that the job is complete. My wife and I have years of work ahead of us, teaching them by word and by example, disciplining them, answering their questions, shaping their characters. And that’s how God works in our lives. He loves us as we are, but he doesn’t leave us as we are. He is continually at work in our lives to make us "more and more" like Christ.
Well, how does he do that? What does the process of discipleship look like? What can we expect from God in this journey of faith? And what do we need to do to cooperate with Him?
First, and fundamentally, we need to understand that everything we go through is a part of this process. God uses all kinds of experiences, all kinds of people, and all kinds of situations to shape and mold our character. Pleasant and unpleasant. Expected and unexpected. Easy and wrenchingly difficult. Enjoyable and painful. But all are chosen by God to accomplish His good purpose in our lives. And that purpose is to glorify Himself by making us like Christ.
"In all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose." – Romans 8:28, NIV
In "all" things. Not just in most things. Not just in the things you have control over. Not just in the things whose benefits you can see and understand. But in "all" things, God is working for our good, to accomplish His purpose in our lives. Now, that doesn’t mean all things are good in themselves. There are bad things, and bad people, in this world. But God uses all things for good in our lives, including even our mistakes and our sins, and the mistakes and sins of others.
This morning, I’m going to give you three specific things God uses in our lives to make us like Christ. First, he uses our troubles. God uses troubles in our lives to teach us to trust Him. Another word for these are "trials;" experiences that God brings into our lives to test and strengthen our faith. They’re not designed to hurt us; they’re designed to help us grow. Why is this necessary? Because trusting God in the midst of peaceful, pleasant circumstances takes no faith at all. Anybody can love God, and follow God, and praise God, when everything’s coming up roses. It’s only as our faith is stretched, through suffering, that it can deepen and mature. Trials reveal the true condition of our faith; they expose our strengths and weaknesses. But even more important, trials serve to build up our faith, as we respond to them in obedience, by the power God gives us. Listen to what the Bible teaches:
". . . troubles produce patience. And patience produces character, and character produces hope." – Romans 5:3-4, NCV
"Dear 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, NLT
Now, I want to make clear that trials do not automatically produce Christlikeness and spiritual maturity. They only have this effect if we respond to them in faith, by continuing to trust and obey God. Otherwise, instead of making us better, they just make us bitter. We all know people whose trials have made them hard, and angry, and resentful. If we don’t respond in faith, that will be the result in our lives as well. We have to trust God in the midst of our trials in order for them to have the beneficial effects that God intends.
Fundamentally, we need to realize that God’s goal for our lives is not comfort or pleasure. I realize that fully absorbing this fact may require an adjustment in our expectations. Now, there is a place where we will experience nothing but pleasure, and happiness, and comfort; where we will be free from all pain and sorrow. But that place is heaven, not here. It’s in the life to come, not this life.
"He will remove all of their sorrows, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. For the old world and its evils are gone forever." – Revelation 21:4, NLT
One of the greatest mistakes Christians make is expecting this world to be heaven. But it’s not. It’s a place of preparation for heaven. And if we expect this sinful world, full of sinful people, to be heaven, then we are going to be greatly disappointed. Life is not going to make sense. And we are going to make a lot of wrong and foolish choices, because instead of accepting difficulty and pain and struggle as a normal part of our lives, we will be using all the means at our disposal to rid our lives of anything unpleasant. And this will inevitably lead us away from God. Because here God is, bringing trials into our life to accomplish his purposes, but instead of accepting those trials, and responding to them in faith, and learning from them, and growing closer to God as a result, we’re running away from our trials, and thus running away from God. This world is not heaven. It’s the place where God prepares us for heaven. And unless you grasp that truth, you cannot experience lasting peace and joy in this life.
Remember that our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, had many trials in his life. He was not free of suffering by any means. He was mocked and ridiculed. Abandoned by his family and closest friends. And finally, cruelly tortured and left to die on a wooden cross. The prophet Isaiah says that, "He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering." (Isaiah 53:3, NIV). Think of that – even Christ, who was without sin – even He had to experience suffering so that God could carry out His divine purposes in Him.
". . . even though Jesus was God’s Son, he had to learn from experience what it was like to obey, when obeying meant suffering." – Hebrews 5:9, LB
It should not surprise us, then, that like our Master, we would need to suffer also, so that God can carry out His purposes in our lives.
[Testimonies - how God has used trouble in your life to deepen your faith and draw you closer to Himself]
As a word of encouragement, as you’re going through trials, remember this promise:
"Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all." – 2 Corinthians 4:17, NIV
What you’re going through now won’t last forever. Even if it continues to the end of your life, it’s only a matter of a few years. But what God has prepared for us will last an eternity; millions of billions of lifetimes. And it will be far greater and more wonderful than anything we can imagine. I promise – no matter what you’re going through now, when that glorious day comes, you will say, "It was all worth it. All the suffering, all the disappointment, all the pain, all the sorrow. It was worth it."
The second thing God uses to make us like Christ is temptation. Now, God doesn’t tempt us to do evil. That’s the work of the devil, not the work of God. As James teaches,
". . . no one who wants to do wrong should ever say, ’God is tempting me’". God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else either." – James 1:13,
Temptation doesn’t come from God. But since God is sovereign over all things, he uses the temptations that Satan brings into our lives to shape our character. Satan brings temptations into our life hoping to trip us up. God allows those same temptations into our life to provide an opportunity for us to obey Him and grow in faith. Why is that necessary? Because that’s how character is developed – through making choices. We can only learn to obey God by making the right choices in situations where we are tempted to disobey. Every time we say "no" to temptation, we grow stronger in faith and closer to God. Every time we respond in faith, looking to God for the strength to resist, we become a little more like Christ. No matter how long you live, you’ll never be free of temptation. But over time, you can develop habits of obedience and holiness that will help you to obey. And every time you make the right choice, you strengthen those habits.
How do we go about resisting temptation? First, we need to realize that there is no such thing as an irresistible temptation. God promises that he will never permit us to be tempted beyond what we can withstand by his grace.
"But remember that the temptations that come into your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can’t stand up against it. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you will not give in to it." – 1 Corinthians 10:13, NLT
Now, God doesn’t promise that choosing to obey will be easy. It may be the hardest thing you’ve ever done. Obedience may require a terrible sacrifice. It may come at a great cost. It may bring pain and sorrow to people you love. But you always have a choice. And the harder it is to obey, the more you grow in Christlikeness by doing so. The more it costs you to obey, the greater the reward and the benefit. Let me put it this way: sometimes following Christ feels like dying. It requires us to give up things which are precious to us, things we highly value, in order to gain something even more precious, which is Christ. And the more our obedience feels like dying, the more we become like our Savior, whose obedience to the Father cost him his life.
Note also in this passage that we all share the same kinds of temptations. There is nothing truly unique about what you are going through. The specifics may differ, but the basic desires that Satan is appealing to are the same as everyone else’s. And so, don’t flatter yourself that you are some kind of special case; that your desires are especially depraved, or that you’re the only one who has ever struggled with these particular demons. You aren’t a special case. There’s nothing new under the sun. Trust me, God has seen it all before. And just like everyone else, you need to turn to God for grace and strength to obey. If you do that, he will supply what you need.
Rick Warren mentions a good practical suggestion on resisting temptation. And that is – don’t resist! By that he doesn’t mean, give in to the temptation. He means, stop struggling with it and go do something else. Get yourself out of the situation. Occupy yourself with some other activity; fill your mind with some other train of thought. Give your attention to something else. For example, if you’re standing in front of the pastry counter, struggling with the temptation to eat another doughnut, the best way to handle it isn’t to concentrate on "not eating doughnuts". It doesn’t work! It’s like trying to not think of pink elephants. Instead, just leave the store. The same holds true for other kinds of temptation. The goal isn’t to struggle valiantly. The goal is not to prove how spiritually strong you are. "Look at me! Look at what great temptation I can resist!" No, the goal is to do the right thing, and therefore, often the wisest, and the easiest, thing to do is simply abandon the field of battle. Turn off the computer. Turn off the TV. Leave the bookstore. End the conversation. Throw away the catalogue. Take a different route to work. Walk away from the argument. Whatever it takes.
What temptation have you been yielding to? The moment you begin to obey God in that area will be the moment your spiritual growth begins to take off.
Third and finally, God uses "trespasses" to make us like Christ. Trespasses are the sins that others commit against us. And God allows them into our lives so that we can learn to forgive. Of all the things we do as disciples of Christ, forgiving one another is perhaps the most difficult. It’s hard, so very hard sometimes, to just absorb the pain, to take the hurt, accept the unfair treatment without seeking revenge, or trying to even the score somehow. But that’s what Christ did, and that’s what we need to do as his followers.
In fact, learning to forgive is one of the main reasons we need to be in fellowship with one another. Yes, we need to be in fellowship so that we can support and encourage each other. But we also need to have someone to forgive! You can’t develop character in isolation. You can’t become like Christ by going off to a monastery somewhere to meditate. You have to be around people, you have to be out there where you’re going to be criticized, and attacked, and misunderstood, and disrespected, and mistreated, and all the other things that sinful people do to one another. Because that’s the only way you can learn to forgive. And so when someone in the church is unkind to you, you really should thank them. Because they’re giving you the opportunity to grow in Christlikeness.
Consider the example of Christ. He forgave even the people who nailed him to a cross. He didn’t have to. He could have come down off the cross and destroyed them all. And He would have been completely justified in doing so. But instead, he forgave them. Listen:
"People passing by shook their heads and hurled insults at Jesus . . . and the elders made fun of Him . . . Even the bandits who had been crucified with Him insulted Him in the same way." – Matthew 27:39-44, TEV
"Jesus said, ’Father, forgive these people, because they don’t know what they are doing.’"
– Luke 23:34, NLT
Did the people who murdered the Son of God deserve to be forgiven? No. Neither do you or I. But God has forgiven us, and therefore we need to forgive one another.
"Forgive others, just as God forgave you because of Christ." – Ephesians 4:32, CEV
Let me ask you, who is God calling you to forgive right now? Won’t you do that? Won’t you ask God to forgive you, first of all, for your bitterness and resentment, and then ask him to give you the power to forgive that other person? He can do that. And He will. Remember that no matter what they may have said or done, God is always in control. And so they couldn’t have done anything to you without God’s permission. God has allowed them to sin against you in order for you to have the opportunity to forgive, so that you can grow in Christlikeness. Won’t you do that now?
(For an .rtf file of this and other sermons, see www.journeychurchonline.org/messages.htm)
