(The outline of this sermon and some of the content has been adapted from Rick Warren’s Forty Days of Purpose material).
I recently read this scripture from Isaiah and was struck at how this passage contained the entire message of the Bible in just a few words. More than that, it is the whole story of God’s passionate and relentless pursuit of his creation, and the apathetic and rebellious response of those God is calling. God has prepared a feast. He is calling us to enjoy this feast, which is all of God’s best. The feast is the feast of life. The table is spread with all the delights which God has planned and desired to give to his creation. It is a life of goodness and fulfillment. Nothing is lacking. And the best part is that it is free. Even if we have no money, we can come and be satisfied in the richest of fare. It is as though we have been foraging in the waste containers in back allies, because we thought we did not deserve to come to God’s table, but he is telling us that all the time we have been feeding on garbage, we could have been enjoying his food. He welcomes us, but does not force us. It is not a forced feast; we are free to go where we please, but we have used our freedom to go in every direction but his. We will eat at any garbage dump rather than come to God’s table. The problem is that what we are eating never satisfies us, and it has cost us a great deal. In spite of that, we keep going where we want to go and doing what we want to do, even when it is destroying us.
You have to ask yourself, “Why are we doing this? What is it in the human condition that makes us run from God instead of running to him? What is it that makes us live in rebellion even when it is tearing us apart?” The only answer I know is that we are afraid of surrendering to God and losing the control of our lives. We are afraid that even though we are sick of the garbage we have been eating, which is not satisfying us, that coming to God will deprive us even more. We have greater confidence in our ability to meet our needs than we have in God. We are confident in our own ability to meet our needs, because we know we are determined to do it. We are not so sure that God will meet our needs in the way we want them met, or on the timetable we have for getting them met. The bottom line is that we do not trust God’s love for us or his methods.
Jesus used a similar image to that of Isaiah’s. He said, “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ But they all alike began to make excuses” (Luke 14:16-18). Each one had an excuse, but they were as lame as ours. In another place, Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come” (Matthew 22:2-3). Can you imagine it? God is reaching out in love, and we all have excuses why we cannot come to the banquet. God is calling us to the greatest love we have ever known, and we don’t want to come. He is offering life in its fullness, but we are too busy running our own lives to receive what God has for us. At the end of the parable, Jesus said, “For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14). The question is: “Will you be one of the chosen?”
I heard of a pastor who was asked about the spiritual condition of the people in his church. He replied, “Many are thawed, but a few are frozen.”
I remember trying to help our daughters tie their shoes when they were young. They had not learned to tie their shoes, but they were still sure that they could do it. I would try to tie their shoes, and they would push my hands away saying, “I want to do it myself!” They would end up in tears of frustration because they couldn’t do it, but that did not necessarily mean that they were ready for me to receive the help I wanted to give. I had to wait until they were completely done trying before I could help them. The more they tried to do it, the longer it took for me to help them. Their efforts to do it themselves actually got in the way and delayed what I wanted to do for them. It is the same in our relationship with God. We wonder why God his delaying his help, but it is because he has to wait until we are willing to stop our futile efforts and let him work.
The Bible warns us: “So be careful how you live, not as fools but as those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity for doing good in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but try to understand what the Lord wants you to do” (Ephesians 5:15-17, NLT).
Our life’s purpose can never be discovered apart from God, but only in the context of a living relationship with God. There are three important questions we need to ask as we enter this journey of finding meaningful purpose for our lives. The first is this: What does God want? And the answer is: My whole life. It amazes me that people think that the only thing that is important is “getting saved.” That is, they want to be forgiven and know they are going to heaven, but they have no real interest in living for God, growing in the fatih or getting to know him in a real way. They want heaven, but they don’t want obedience. They want Jesus as their Savior, but they do not want him as Lord. If that is they way it is then we would all just wait until we are so old that we can’t do anything wrong anymore, or repent on our death beds. I am here to tell you that it does not work that way. You can’t live like hell and expect to go to heaven. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that you can be 50% Christian. God does not want 50% of you, or 70%, or even 90%, he wants all of you. In fact, he will not take anything but 100%. I am distressed that we sometimes talk of the Christian life as though it comes in two stages. First, we are born again, and then (if we so choose) another time comes when we can make a total dedication. Nothing could be further from the truth. If you come to God holding something back you might as well not come, because the Christian life is all or nothing. Someone has said, “If Christ is not Lord of all, he will not be Lord at all.”
I was on the internet and ran across a “Get out of hell free” card. Sin all you want as long as you have this card, but don’t die without it. That is the way some people see the Christian faith. But the Bible says, “Do not let any part of your body become a tool of wickedness, to be used for sinning. Instead, give yourselves completely to God since you have been given new life. And use your whole body as a tool to do what is right for the glory of God” (Romans 6:13). C. S. Lewis once said, “The only thing Christianity cannot be is moderately important.” Rick Warren responds to his statement by saying, “If it’s really true, then it deserves everything you’ve got. If it’s not true, you shouldn’t be here right now. The only thing Christianity cannot be is moderately important. It’s either all, or nothing. It’s either true, and that should determine the rest of your life, or you should just chuck it and go do whatever you want to do.”
We have people who want to live with one foot in the world, and the other foot in the kingdom. They want to do the spiritual splits. Sometimes they use the excuse that they don’t know what God wants. But the Bible says, “This is what the Lord your God wants you to do: Respect the Lord and do what he has told you to do. Love him. Serve the Lord your God with your whole being” (Deuteronomy 10:12, New Century). We often try to say, “God, I’ll serve you, but first let me. . . . As soon as I get this out of the way then I will be free to serve you.” This happened to Jesus when he called people to follow him. He said to two men, “Come, follow me.” But one said, “First, let me do this.” And the other said, “First, let me do that.” But Jesus said, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). Notice that something else came first. A lot of people think they will follow Christ, but first they have to take care of business. What happens is that they never get around to following Christ, because something else comes along that must be first. Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other” (Matthew 6:24).
The Bible promises in Proverbs 3:6: “In everything you do, put God first, and he will direct you and crown your efforts with success” (Proverbs 3:6, LB). Have you been a part-time Christian? Have you been sitting on the fence, and then wondered why your life is not working? E. Stanley Jones said, “If you don’t surrender to Christ, you’ll surrender to chaos.” But you don’t have to live in chaos. God will crown your efforts with success when you surrender to his complete control and give him your whole life.
The second question we face is: What does it take? And the answer is: Discipline. One of the great misconceptions about the Christian life is that God does it all. Certainly it is true that we have nothing to offer to God which would merit our salvation. It is a work of grace, as we know. But living the Christian life demands our will and our effort. I could give you a piano, but if you are going to be able to play and enjoy the piano, it will take effort and discipline. You will have to be consistent in your effort to learn. Some of the time the piano lessons and times of practice will seem dull and difficult, but if you continue to put forth effort, you will be greatly rewarded. If your love for God is going to be more than a sentiment, then you are going to have to live a life of spiritual discipline. Discipline is hard, but what isn’t hard that is really worth doing in life?
Proverbs 10:17 says, “Whoever practices discipline, is on the way to life.” You cannot be a disciple of Jesus Christ without discipline. The word disciple comes from the word discipline. The Bible says, “Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness” (1 Timothy 4:7). Discipline is not a word we like. We associate it with going on a strict diet or depriving ourselves in some way. But the Bible says, “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:11). Discipline is one of the evidences of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Galatians 5:22-23 says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23).
Some people here are very disciplined about their physical health. They are very careful what they eat and maintain a physical regimen of exercise. You are dedicated to running or the gym. You have good discipline when it comes to your body, but not so much for your soul. The Bible says, “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come” (1 Timothy 4:8). Others are disciplined when it comes to keeping up with their career, but not very disciplined when it comes to keeping up with their spiritual life. But spiritual disciplines prepare us for living this life and fit us for the life to come.
Do you remember the story of Mary and Martha? Martha was the one who was busy in the kitchen doing much more than what was really necessary, and Mary simply sat at Jesus’ feet listening to his every word. When Martha complained about Mary, Jesus said, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:41-42). There are many of us, like Martha, who are distracted and concerned about many things that ultimately do not matter. Our lives are so full of busyness that there is no room for God. The Bible says, “All our busy rushing, ends in nothing” (Psalm 39:6, NLT). That verse ought to go on the dashboard of our cars. If you get serious and begin to clear your schedule, make the time, and develop some spiritual disciplines in these next 40 days, I guarantee that it will begin to transform your life. God is moving in our church. I hope that you will not be watching from the sidelines, but will enter fully into what God is doing.
The final question that we need to ask is: Why should I do it? And the answer is: The Cross! Jesus gave his everything for you, and he expects your everything in return. The Bible says, “For Christ’s love compels us. . . he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15). This is our reason for being. It is our motivation in living. It is our joy and encouragement as we live our days. So we say, “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will accept. When you think of what he has done for you, is this too much to ask? Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but 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” (Romans 12:1-2, NLT).
Ravi Zacharias tells the story of returning from a meeting in Belgium with his interpreter, Wilfred. He told him that he was at a conference away from home, and received an urgent call. He heard the sobbing voice of his wife on the line, informing him that their nine-month old baby had suddenly died in his crib. It was the lowest point in his life. His grief took on volcanic proportions. He rode the train home, and sat alone. Across the isle sat a man reading his Bible. Two young people sitting near began to taunt the man. One of them asked contemptuously: “If your God is so loving why does he allow little children to die? What kind of love is that?” The questions pierced Wilfred’s heart, and he found himself wanting to shout, “Yes! Answer them and me, and tell us why he lets children die.” But something happened inside him and he found himself saying, “Do you mind if I enter your conversation? I’ll tell you how much God loves you; He gave His only Son to die for you.” The young people taunted him saying that it was easy for Wilfred to say something like that since he did not know about death. Wilfred waited and then calmly said, “No. I am not distanced from the real world of pain and death. I am on this train headed for my own son’s funeral. He died just a few hours ago, and it has given the cross a whole new meaning for me. Now I know what kind of a God it is who loves me, a God who willingly gave His Son for me.”
We give our entire lives and our whole love to God because of the cross. God has come to us in the middle of our pain and struggles. He has not retreated from us, he is drawing near to us. This is the kind of God we serve. “Come near to God and he will come near to you” (James 4:8).
Rodney J. Buchanan
February 15, 2004
Mulberry St. UMC
Mt. Vernon, OH
www.MulberryUMC.org
Rod.Buchanan@MulberryUMC.org
