A Walk that is Worthy
Part 6
Looking through the Windshield not the rear view mirror
Text : Eph 2:1-7
Intro:
This morning I would like to continue on with our series entitled a walk that is worthy. Specifically this morning I would like to bring you a message entitled… "Looking through the Windshield not the rear view mirror”
I would like to come once again from the second chapter of Ephesians. Of all scripture this is probably one of my favorite passages. I like it because it speaks of where I was and where I am going.
I don’t have to be terrified on this road of life, because I have a Benevolent and merciful Father who is looking out for me.
Illus:
There was a man the side of the road hitch hiking on a very dark night in the middle of a storm. It was late at night and no cars were passing. The storm was so strong he could hardly see a few feet ahead of him. Suddenly, he saw a car coming towards him and stop. Without further thought, he got in the back seat of the car, closes the door and, when he turns to thank the driver for stopping for him, he realizes there’s nobody behind the wheel. The car starts slowly down the road again. The guy looks at the road ahead and sees a curve coming his way. Scared, he closes his eyes and starts to pray for his life. Just before the car reaches the curve, a hand appears thru the window and turns the steering wheel. The guy, paralyzed with fear, watches how the hand appears every time they come to a curve in the road. Gathering his strength, he leaps from the car and runs to the nearest town. Wet and in shock, he goes to a cafe and asks for a cup of stiff coffee. He quickly drinks his coffee and starts telling everybody about the horrible experience he’s just been thru. A silence envelopes the cafe when the man begins to weep like a baby out of sheer fright from the experience he has been through. About half an hour later, two guys walk into the same cafe and one says to the other, "Look Bob, there’s that guy who got in the car when we were pushing it down the road"
There are those who go through life fearful of what is to come. I read a very profound statement the other day that said… “Let your future be the mold that shapes you, not your past. You will be much better prepared for what is ahead.
In our text we see two pictures one of our past, one of our future. V1 says…”you were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live”
Now everyone of us here this morning have different histories. We have all been through different experiences that mold and shape us. But the one thing that every single one of us has in common is the fact that we came into this world as a sinner condemned by not what we did but by who we are. We were sinners by nature, and because of that we needed salvation.
The other picture that is painted in this text is the future. Vv6,7 And God raised us up and seated us in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Something amazing happens between verse 3 and verse 6. In the first verse we are caught in the course of this world with no hope of redemption, and in verse 6 we find ourselves spending eternity in heaven with God.
The change occurs in verse 4…
“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions”
I like how the new King James Version puts it…
“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ”
What a powerful statement…but God.
God is the one who changed our course. As we stand on the threshold of another year many of us will evaluate what has taken place in our lives, and what we want to do with our future. Evaluation is good, dealing with reality in our lives in not a bad thing, it helps us
to make the midcourse adjustments that are necessary.
But we need to make sure that our past does not limit us in what God has for us ahead.
God can take what looks like desperate situations and turn them into heavenly experiences.
BUT GOD…the two most pivotal words in our lives.
This is not the first time they are used together.
1) Joseph and His brothers Gen 50:20, Acts 7:9,10
2) Ps 73:25-28
3) Luke 16:14-15
4) Acts 13:29-31
5) Romans 5:6-8
God is in the business of changing the course of our lives. There is nothing that you have experienced in your life that is greater than God’s power to change.
There is no sin that you have stepped into that is greater than his mercy. There is no disease that you have encountered that is greater than his ability.
There is no scar that you have received that is greater than His love.
So many times in our evaluation process of our lives we look at what we have been through and say there is no hope for me. I want to encourage you this morning that you do have a future, and that future rests in Christ and Christ alone. We do not live as the evolutions suggest merely by chance. God specializes in changing the course of our lives…PTL for that.
Speaking of evolutionists some once wrote…
"Once I was a tadpole, beginning to begin; then I was a frog, with my tail tucked in. Then I was a monkey in a Banyan tree. Now, I am a professor with a Ph.D.”
We don’t live our lives by chance, if we are believers we must live our lives by faith. In this evaluation period that we are now in, many of us will take our best shot at making some resolutions.
Illus: Someone once said…”I made 6 resolutions last year and I kept them all Year long. They are in an envelope on the top of my file cabinet.”
As we look at this coming year, and make our plans for change and set our goals for growth, lets include God in the process. I want to end with the quote that I gave you earlier by Henry Blackaby…
“Let your future be the mold that shapes you, not your past. You will be much better prepared for what is ahead.”
The title of my message was Looking through the windshield not the rear view mirror. This means as we evaluate our lives we must keep God in the mix. To do this we must honestly and openly ask two questions:
1) God show me what you see
2) God show me what I need to do to plan for the future.
As we do this we allow God to shape us into what He has.
Conclusion
God’s grace is meant for us.
He specializes in changing the course of peoples lives.
