INTRO.- ILL.- Here is what some call “The Property Laws of a Toddler.”
1. If I like it, it’s mine.
2. If it’s in my hand, it’s mine.
3. If I can take it from you, it’s mine.
4. If I had it a little while ago, it’s mine.
5. If it’s mine, it must never appear to be yours in any way.
6. If I’m doing or building something, all the pieces are mine.
7. If it looks just like mine, it’s mine.
8. If I saw it first, it’s mine.
9. If you are playing with something and you put it down, it automatically becomes mine.
10. If it’s broken, it’s yours.
Self often rules. We live in a very selfish society where most people are only interested in themselves and it’s not just toddlers!
ILL.- And now, the end is near;
And so I face the final curtain.
My friend, I’ll say it clear,
I’ll state my case, of which I’m certain.
I’ve lived a life that’s full.
I’ve traveled each and every highway;
But more, much more than this,
I did it my way.
Many people live by the Frank Sinatra theme, “I DID IT MY WAY.” Or the Burger King rule, “HAVE IT YOUR WAY.” Most people want it their way. They want everything in life their way.
The Lord Jesus, however, lived a different kind of life. He came to seek and to save the lost. His interest was people. His life centered on people. He went about doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil. Jesus blessed the little children, soothed the hearts of hurting people, taught people about right living and the true and living God.
In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus may well have faced His greatest struggle in life. Do I submit to the will of God, my Heavenly Father, or do I do my own thing? Or do I take the easy way out? We know that Jesus prayed, “Father let this cup pass from me, nevertheless not my will, but thy will be done.”
Jesus’ normal human nature said, “Please don’t let me go through this suffering on the cross. I can’t do it. But He was open to His Father’s will. ‘Nevertheless, not my will, but thy will be done.’”
The greatest thing that any of us can do in life is to say, “God, not what I want, but what you want.” Not my will, but thy will be done. It’s somewhat easy to say those words, but hard to do. It’s hard to submit or surrender. Self often rules.
God’s purpose should be our most important pursuit in life. Above all, more than anything, we all should seek God’s purpose for our lives.
PROP.- Once again, I want to consider some more areas of life where God’s purpose needs to be fulfilled.
I. GOD PURPOSE IN OUR CHURCH
ILL.- The southerner was in New York on business. His first Sunday in town he decided he should go to church. As the preacher began preaching, the southerner got caught up in the sermon and said “Amen” a few times.
The preacher was not accustomed to hearing any “amens,” so he became somewhat flustered while preaching. A deacon noticed the minister’s discomfort. He walked over to the stranger and said, “You’re upsetting the minister. You’ll have to be quiet.” The southerner nodded his consent.
A few minutes later, however, the southerner was again caught up in the sermon and said, “Amen.” The deacon came back to him and said, “I told you to be quiet.” “I can’t help it,” said the southerner. “I got religion.” The deacon replied, “WELL, SHUT UP ANYWAY. YOU DIDN’T GET IT HERE.”
Why are we here in church? Are we here to get some “religion”?
I think our worship is two-fold: we are here to worship the Lord or love Him and love one another.
Heb. 10:22 “Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith…” This drawing near to God can be anywhere and it should be also be in the church. We should draw near to Him in worship, love and adoration.
Heb. 10:24 “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” Church should also be a time of loving one another and encouraging one another in the faith.
At the same time, when we come together we should be reminded that we don’t exist entirely for ourselves. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. If Jesus was interested in lost people, so must we be! We don’t have “church” just for the sake of church itself. Church should be a reminder that there are lost people in our world and community and we must consider how to reach out to them.
The Great Commission is still the Great Commission. It’s not a “good suggestion.”
Matt. 28:19 “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them..."
Last Sunday I shared the thought that we are not reaching out to lost people. We are not winning unbelievers to Christ; we are merely shifting the Christian population around. How can we turn the tide?
Some believe the way to do it is by what they call “servant evangelism.” We must demonstrate loving service, but also lasting service.
ILL.- Here’s one example by Stephen R. Clark from OUTREACH magazine. It was Tuesday night in Mobile, Ala., and the evening’s destination was Provident Hospital. The agenda that night: Distribute gift bags to patients and their families in the emergency room.
In two hours, the small group from local church Deeper Life Fellowship (deeperlifefellowship.com) had blanketed the area with their free gifts—complete with enclosed cards that read, “We hope this small gift brings some light into your day. It’s a simple way of showing you God’s love in a practical way, no strings attached. Let us know if we can be of any more help.”
Nine days later, Deeper Life Fellowship Pastor Mark Wyatt answered a phone call. The voice on the other end informed him that her husband had received one of the ER bags.
A series of questions followed:
• Did you mean it when you said you want to help?” she asked Wyatt.
• Absolutely,” he replied.
• What kind of help do you give?” she said.
• We give spiritual help and any other kind we can. What kind of help do you need?”
That night, Wyatt visited the caller and her husband to discover that the family of five was Iraqi refugees and Muslims with no friends or family in America. While they did have some definite material needs, they were mostly hungry for relationship. The couple asked numerous questions about Christianity and the church, and at the end of the night, Wyatt invited the family to visit his church. The following Sunday, Ahmed, Salma and their three children, Sera, Hanin and Ebrahim, showed up at Deeper Life. A few weeks later, they asked to see the “JESUS Film.”
“A couple of our families in the church are reaching out to them on a consistent basis, fixing their cars, keeping their kids for sleepovers, basically loving them in any way possible,” Wyatt says. And it all began with a simple free gift and a card.
I read with more interest about this “servant evangelism” business. It’s the emphasis of not “come-and-see”, but “go-and-do.” And “go-and-do” is definitely what Jesus did. Because Christ went and did, people came to see and hear what He had to say. And the same principle applies to the church today. What Jesus did in His body, we must do as His body today!
Steve Sjogren, pastor of the Vineyard Community Church in Cincinnati, OH, (6,500 members) defines it this way: “It’s doing small things with great kindness to unexpectedly interrupt a person’s day with the love of God.”
Here is what some churches are doing: washing car windows, handing out Cokes in a park or parking lot, mowing lawns, and many other types of small services. The only thing that can be attached is a “connection” card that simply states the purpose of the service or gift, offers a phone number to call if anything else is needed, and may include the name and address of the church.
How does washing windows for someone without telling them about Christ actually lead to salvation? It is the idea of showing loving concern with the hope to draw them somehow or at some time to church and to Christ.
It is only one method to show people that Christians care about others. It is not the only method; it is just one method of reaching out. And it is better than doing nothing.
Many Christians think we need to do even more to reach the lost. For example, some say that serving in as a Hospice worker has much more impact than handing out Cokes for Jesus. I would say this is true. We need to look for ways to make an even greater impact in our community for Christ.
For example, our own Billie Van Horn and Etola Burris have served as “pink ladies” for many years at St. Bernard’s Hospital. This is a great way to demonstrate the love of Christ. But we all need to demonstrate the love of Christ as best we can, everywhere we can and every day: at work, on the street, in the mall, etc. GOD’S PURPOSE FOR US AS HIS CHURCH IS TO REACH OUT TO THE LOST! We do not exist just for ourselves!
II. GOD’S PURPOSE IN OUR SINFUL WORLD
Before God destroyed the world with the great flood here is what He thought about it.
Gen. 6:5-8 “The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. So the LORD said, ‘I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth-men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air-for I am grieved that I have made them.’ But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD .”
At that time, man’s thoughts were only evil all the time. Many people believe that today is no different. I don’t know. Only God knows for sure how evil man has become. MANKIND IS EVIL. NO DOUBT ABOUT IT.
Gay marriages. Catholic priests who molest, use and abuse children. Sexual molestation, rape, stealing, etc. Kobe Bryant. Martha Stewart. Michael Jackson.
ILL.- Comedian/Actress Rosie O’Donnell married her longtime girlfriend Kelli Carpenter, taking what she called a proud stand for gay civil rights in the city where more than 4,000 other same-sex couples have tied the knot since Feb. 12.
ILL.- (CBS/AP) A panel of prominent Roman Catholics rebuked U.S. bishops for failing to stop widespread clerical sex abuse over the last half-century, calling the leaders’ performance "shameful to the church."
One report is the first church-sanctioned tally of abuse cases: It found there have been 10,667 abuse claims over those 52 years. More than 80 percent of the alleged victims were male and over half said they were between ages 11 and 14 when they were assaulted.
About 4 percent of all American priests who served during the years studied — 4,392 of the 109,694 priests and others under vows to the church — were accused of abuse.
Brothers and sisters, the stories of our sinful world abound. People do sin and some do it in a very bad way. Why? Because the devil is alive and well on planet earth! The devil is behind all sin and evil but God wants to clean house on him and clean up people!
As much as God hates evil, He also loves people! And as much as we hate what is going on in the world we must love people!
John 3:16-17 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
II Pet. 3:9 “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
God did not send Christ to condemn people to hell. He was sent to die on the cross in order to save them. God’s great desire is for ALL people to be saved in Christ. This, too, must be our desire.
We won’t change the world by condemning the world. We may not like the world and what’s happening in our world, but at the same we must demonstrate love to all people in order to woo them to Christ. This means gay people, sexual predators, the dishonest rich of the world, etc.
If Rosie O’Donnell would be willing to set down beside us and talk, we should have a listening ear in order to demonstrate loving concern. That does not mean we would buy whatever she was thinking or selling.
God’s heart is grieved. His heart is heavy for our sinful world. At the same time, He longs for His creation to be saved and live eternally with Him. This, too, must be our desire for the world.
III. GOD’S PURPOSE IN OUR HURTING WORLD
ILL.- The photographer for a national magazine was assigned to get photos of a great forest fire. Smoke at the scene hampered him and he asked his home office to hire a plane. Arrangements were made and he was told to go at once to a nearby airport, where the plane would be waiting. When he arrived at the airport, a plane was warming up near the runway. He jumped in with his equipment and yelled, "Let’s go! Let’s go!" The pilot swung the plane into the wind and they soon were in the air.
"Fly over the north side of the fire," yelled the photographer, "and make three or four low level passes."
"Why?" asked the pilot.
"Because I’m going to take pictures," cried the photographer. "I’m a photographer and photographers take pictures!"
After a pause the pilot said, "You mean you’re not the instructor?"
Brothers and sisters, we’re in trouble in a plane with no pilot or no instructor. And truthfully, this is often how we feel about life. We are flying without a pilot. At least, this is how we think.
Job 14:1 “Man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble.”
As much as we don’t like to face it or admit it, life is full of trouble. From beginning to end. At nearly every stage or age of life we have to contend with something that antagonizes us or frustrates us or infuriates us. At home, with the kids, on the job, in the world, etc.
How do we contend with our troubles, which hurt us? How do we deal with them?
ILL.- I chatted with a young man the other day who is serving our country in Iraq. He is coming home in April AND HE IS ELATED! He wrote, “I’m pretty stoked.” I didn’t even know what he meant! It meant he was excited and I don’t blame. Him. If I had been serving the last year in war-torn, hate-filled Iraq I would be happy about coming home too.
Brothers and sisters, one way to handle our troubles is by realizing that many people have it far worse than we do. When we realize this we need to stop complaining and start praising God for being as good to us as He is!
ILL.- When Robert Morrison, the first missionary to go to China, disembarked from his ship in a Chinese port, the captain sneeringly said, “So you think you are going to make an impression upon China.” Morrison quietly replied, “No, sir, but I believe God will.”
There are many things that are beyond us. We can’t handle them. One of them is some of the trouble that we’re faced with in life. God allows this to happen so we will realize our need for Him and that He alone can handle everything!
ILL.- Someone said, “Most of life’s problems are like cloverleaf exchanges on the highways. It may not seem like it at first, but there is a way out.” That way out is the Lord! God’s purpose in our hurting world is to help us!
Martin Luther once said: “I am so busy now that I find if I do not spend two or three hours each day in prayer, I cannot get through the day. If I should neglect prayer but a single day, I should lose a great deal of the fire of faith.”
If we neglect prayer, we also neglect the help from our great God!
ILL.- Preacher Dwight L. Moody once said, “The only way to keep a broken vessel full is to keep it always under the tap.”
We’re all broken vessels and we need the Lord’s filing in order to cope with life! We just need to stay under His tap!
II Cor. 4:17 “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”
Right now our troubles seem very big and they are big. We live in the “here and now.” But someday in the “there and then” we’ll look back and we’ll think, “My goodness alive! How stupid I was to fret and stew, fume and strain over those things!” HEAVEN WILL BE WORTH IT ALL AND OUTWEIGH IT ALL!
CONCLUSION--------------------------------------
ILL.- At the age of 15, John Goddard made a blueprint for his life. He set down 127 goals for himself. They included such things as “retrace the route of Marco Polo, ride in a submarine, milk a poisonous snake, take off and land on an aircraft carrier.” In 1985, by age 59, Goddard had accomplished 107 of those 127 goals, including the four just mentioned.
It’s ok to have goals in life, but the most important of all is the pursuit of God’s purpose in life! Regardless of what you aim for in life, don’t miss God’s purpose. Paul said it well in I Cor. 10:31 “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
