A Godly Purpose
(topical)
1. Spring is coming and part of spring is wildlife. Did you know that...
The color in a butterfly’s wings does not come from pigment. The color is produced prism-like by light reflected by their transparent wing scales.
Stranger yet, no moth or butterfly eats solid food (though some butterflies drink nectar); some can not even take in moisture.
The life span of most butterflies is very short, usually just enough to lay their eggs.
Many butterflies migrate from one region to another, either individually or in swarms. The greatest migration in North America occurs when companies of Monarch butterflies travel from Canada southward to Central America. When they finally roost at their destination, so many crowd the forest that entire trees appear to be covered with bright orange moving leaves!
It is a great mystery how the descendants of these Monarchs later find their way back north to their summering place. Stranger yet, their great-great-grandchildren later find their way back south to the tree of their great-great-grandparents. Their Creator designed them with truly amazing abilities!
The world’s fastest butterfly is the Monarch with a record of 17 miles per hour. 1
The brain capabilities of these small insects is mind-boggling. In a space often no bigger than a speck, their Creator designed a sophisticated brain that enables them to see, smell, taste, fly and navigate with such great precision that they can travel enormous distances and find the very tree where their great-great-great-grandmother laid an egg.
Their highly-miniaturized brains put our computers and aircraft avionics to shame. Who could make a self-propelled, self-guided airplane as small as a butterfly that could do the same things, totally independently? Traveling so many miles, landing many times, making so many accurate, in-flight navigation corrections, and doing it all with so little fuel - and then reproduce itself at the end? No one but God could make such a marvelous creature as a butterfly.”
(source: /www.christiananswers.net/kids/butterflies.html)
2. And God does miraculous things with us as well. As His children, He has caused us to be born again, much like a caterpillar turns into a butterfly. As a matter of fact, the Bible tells us to be transformed, and the Greek word used is “metamorphisis.”
The word “sanctification” means to “set apart as special.” Louis Berkhof defines it as, “that gracious and continuous operation of the Holy Spirit, by which He delivers the justified sinner from the pollution of sin, renews his whole nature in the image of God, and enables him to perform good works.” It is part of our metamorphisis.
In simpler terms, sanctification is the process of becoming MORE LIKE CHIRST in character and spiritual depth. It is allowing God to redeem not just your soul, but your LIFE.
Justification Sanctification
1. Legal standing before God 1. Your actual state in daily life
2. Fully accomplished when we believed 2. A work in progress
3. Completely God’s doing 3. We and God cooperate
4. Cannot be improved: we are “perfect” 4. Imperfect till we die
5. All Christians equally justified 5. Great variety in levels of holiness
Main Idea: Just as most children want to grow up, so Christians naturally want to mature in their Christian lives. Understanding the two elements involved in growth will give us direction when making daily choices. God wants you to grow up. Do you?
I. GOD’S Part Is Sure (Romans 5:1-5)
A. He places us in a SECURE position (1-2)
· Psychologists and counselors would experience layoffs if dads would give their children approval and compliments without barbs and criticisms like, “you did okay, but you can do better in another area.”
· We all do better when we feel accepted, and God relates to us as an accepting Father who can rejoice when we do well and separate our failures from our successes
B. He has brought us to Spiritual LIFE
When we come to know the Lord, there is a part of us that is awakened; all of a sudden God becomes real and we enter a new realm. Then we realize that God did this. He coaxed us along: (John 1:11-13)
11He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God– 13children born not of natural descent,[c] nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
C. He uses life’s HARDSHIPS to develop us (3-4)
Parnell Bailey visited an orange grove where an irrigation pump had broken down. The season was unusually dry and some of the trees were beginning to die for lack of water. The man giving the tour then took Bailey to his own orchard where irrigation was used sparingly.
"These trees could go without rain for another 2 weeks," he said. "You see, when they were young, I frequently kept water from them. This hardship caused them to send their roots deeper into the soil in search of moisture. Now mine are the deepest-rooted trees in the area. While others are being scorched by the sun, these are finding moisture at a greater depth." (Source: Sermon Central from Daily Bread)
D. The Holy Spirit RESIDES within us (5)
Philippians 2:13, “for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”
…on average, an adult’s heart beats 100,800 times in a day, and a kid’s heart can beat between 129,600 and 172,800 times a day (source: yahooligans.yahoo.com/content/ask_earl/page?d=20020902)
· We are not aware of how often our heart beats; in like manner, we are often oblivious to the working of the Holy Spirit; we may perceive His work as a thought, an insight that came out of nowhere, or a Scripture verse that floated around in our minds
E. This is often a slow, steady process
· There are times of accelerated growth…you may be experiencing such a time right now…but normally slow and steady does it…
· 2 Corinthians 3:18, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
· Of course, some people are stubborn on uncommitted, so they grow even slower…but for most of us, the pace is slow but steady…
· We all know the story of the Hare and the Tortoise
God wants you to grow up. Do you?
II. Our Attitude VARIES and Affects Our Progress
A. A PASSIVE relinquishment of control (Romans 6:13) –turn there
· I don’t think God wants us to be passive learners…it is good to ask questions, to try to think fairly and objectively…
· But we are told to yield; that means to trust God enough to let His judgments over rule yours and to choose His will over yours
· Do we every yield fully and constantly?
B. An ACTIVE pursuit of God
· We must be willing to expend effort. 2 Peter 1:5 reads, For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;”
· Hebrews 5:14, “But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”
C. Engaging in Spiritual TRAINING
“Spiritual transformation is not a matter of trying harder, but of training wisely.”
John Ortberg
1. Bible READING, STUDY, and meditation (Psalm 1:1-2)
· “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.”
2. PRAYER (I Thes. 5:17)
· “pray continually”
3. FELLOWSHIP (Hebrews 10:24-25)
· “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another–and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
4. CONFESSION of sin (I John 1:9)
· If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
5. LEARNING from SOLID church leaders (Ephesians 4:11-13)
· It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
God wants you to grow up. Do you?
CONCLUSION
1. Some of you do not want to grow, because growth means Change! And you feel safe and secure in your current routines.
2. Others of you are afraid you will fail and not stick with it…so why start?
3. Still others are thinking, “I will have to rearrange my priorities and give up so much.”
4. The secret to taking the plunge is this: being willing to be made willing…
5. You are the loser if you do not surrender….you are a winner if you yield your life and stop hanging onto your self-directed life:
Billy Graham tells the story about a little child the was playing with a very valuable vase. He put his hand into it and could not withdraw it. His father too, tried his best to get it out, to no avail. They were thinking of breaking the vase when the father said, “Now my son, make one more try. Open your hand and hold your fingers out straight as you see me doing, and then pull.” To their astonishment the little fellow said, “O no, dad, I couldn’t put my fingers out like that because if I did I would drop my dime.”
(source: sermon central)
God wants you to grow up. Do you?
