I am the Church – Part 2

Don’t Waste Your Life – January 13, 2019

 

Introduction

          Last week, we started 2019 with a new sermon series which we are continuing today. The series is titled, “I am the Church.” It begins with the premise that the church is people, not a building. Church is not something you do, it is something you are. With that being the case, this morning I want to offer you challenge: Don’t waste your life!

 We’re going to approach this challenge by looking at three questions:

• What does God want me to do?
• What does it take?
• Why should I do it?

Paul wrote to the Ephesians, 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) The opposite of careful is careless.  God says don’t be careless about your life.  Don’t just breeze through life.  Don’t just drift through life.  Don’t just go through life saying, “I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing.”  Be thoughtful.  Be wise.  Know what God wants you to do.  It says, “Make the most of every opportunity.”  And then it says, “Try to understand what the Lord wants you to do.”  How many of us would say, “I’d like to know what the Lord wants me to do with my life?” 

 Great! Starting next Sunday, we’re going to take forty days taking an in-depth look at what the Lord wants us to do with our lives. We spend a lot of time reading, praying, thinking, and talking about the five purposes that He put us on this planet to fulfill. To help us do that, each family will receive a copy the newest edition of Rick Warren’s book, The Purpose Driven Life. It’s going to be quite a journey!

           As way of disclaimer, much of this remainder of this series is adapted from Rick’s original “Purpose Driven Life” sermon series from 2002.

 Now, let’s prepare for this journey by thinking about these three questions.

 What does God want from me?

 In a nutshell, He wants this: my whole life.  Not part of it.  He wants all of it.  In Romans 6:13 we read, “Give yourselves completely to God since you’ve been given new life.  Use your whole body as a tool to do what is right for the glory of God.”  God doesn’t want ten percent of our lives.  He doesn’t want fifty percent of our lives.  He doesn’t want ninety-nine percent of our lives.  He wants it all!

 Some people think life is like a pie. You’ve got your

• career life
• social life
• marriage life
• sex life
• retirement life
• spiritual life—that’s God’s a piece of the pie

 But that’s not right! God says, “I want the whole pie.”

 God isn’t shy about this.  He’s clear about what He expects. 

 CS. Lewis once said, “Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance, the only thing it cannot be is moderately important.”[1] If it’s true – if this book is really true – it deserves your entire life. If it’s not true we ought to pack up and go home right now.  The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.  It’s either your whole life or if it’s not true you ought to just chuck the whole thing and go do whatever you want to do. 

 In Matthew 6:24 we read, “No one can serve two masters.  He will either hate the one and love the other or he will be devoted to one and despise the other.  You cannot serve both God and money.”  It doesn’t say you should not.  It says you cannot.  It is an impossibility.  You cannot have two number one priorities in your life. 

 There are a lot of things that can push God out of first place.

• Money
• Work
• Entertainment
• Relationships
• Sports
• Hobbies
• Planning for retirement
• Travel
• School
• Even your family can push God out of first place in your life.

 This is the issue, the big question: what’s going to be number one in your life? 

• Is the number one goal of your life to build your career?
• Is the number one goal of your life to raise your family?
• Is the number one goal of your life to maintain your health?
• Is the number one goal in your life to work toward retirement?

 There’s nothing wrong with these things.  They’re all good.  God blesses them.  God approves of them.  He just says they better not be number one in your life.  Anything besides God that is number one in your life is called an idol…and Scripture has plenty to say about the destructive nature of idols including Paul writing to the Colossians that idolatry must be put to death in our lives (Colossians 3:5) and Peter warning that idolatry needs to stay in our past and not pollute our lives in Christ (1 Peter 4:3).

 One day Jesus was said to a guy, “Follow Me.”  The man said, “Ok.  I will follow you.  But Lord, let me first go do some other things.”  Think about that phrase, “Lord, let me first,” that’s a contradiction.  We can’t call Jesus “Lord” and then say, “Me first.”  Who’s going to be first in my life, me or God?  …  God or somebody else?  “Lord, me first,” is a contradiction.  We can’t say that.  And yet we do it all the time. 

 Where are you saying, “Me first” to God?  You can be Christian and still be saying, “Lord, me first…  Lord, I’ll live for You but let me first finish my schooling...  God, I’m going to really do what You want me to do, but let me first get married... God, I’m going to really get involved in ministry but let me first get the kids raised...  Let me first achieve financial independence…  Let me first build up my nest egg...  God, I will live for You but let me first build my career.…”  When you say, “Me first,” God’s not number one in your life.  You’re first.

 Luke 14:16-24
¹⁶ Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. ¹⁷ At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’

¹⁸ “But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’

¹⁹ “Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’

²⁰ “Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’

²¹ “The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’

²² “‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’

²³ “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. ²⁴ I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’”

 

• The first guy used his wealth as an excuse.
• The second guy used his work as an excuse.
• And the third guy used his wife as an excuse.

 I wonder what excuses we’re using.  What excuse are you using to be a casual Christian, a part time believer?  A secret saint?  A person who says, “God, you can have part of my pie but you can’t have all of me”?  You cannot serve two masters.  You have to say either God’s number one in your life or He’s not.  And if He’s not, then don’t call yourself a Christian.  The Bible says you cannot serve two masters. 

 Here’s an amazing little secret.  When you put God first in your life He takes care of everything else.  In fact, He’s promised over and over again in the Bible.  He says, “You put Me first.  You make My will the goal of your life.  You’re going to fulfill My purposes for your life and I will bless you!  I will take care of you in ways that you do not even know about.”

 Proverbs 3:6 “In everything you do, put God first and He will direct you and crown your efforts with success.”  I don’t know anybody who doesn’t want to be successful in life.  God says, do you want to know the secret of success?  Whatever you want to be successful in, put God first in it. 

• Do you want to be a success in your marriage? Put God first in your marriage.
• Do you want to be a success in your family? Put God first in your family. 
• Do you want to be a success in your career? Put God first in your career. 
• Do you want to be a success in your education? Put God first in your education.

 God does not bless what He’s not number one in.  But He does bless in amazing ways anything that we put Him first in.  What does God want?  He wants your whole life. 

Question one was, “What does God want me to do?” Question two is…

What does it take?

 That’s an important question.  When we hear, “My whole life” that seems so big.  How do we do that?  How do we give our whole lives to God?  What does it take to do that?

 God tells us where to begin and he uses one word – discipline. 

 Proverbs 10:17 tells us that “Whoever practices discipline is on the way to life.”  There’s something about godly discipline that brings life to us.  We cannot be disciples of Jesus Christ without being disciplined. Last week, I said that being a disciple means following instead of leading. And it takes discipline to follow, especially when we don’t like the route or the destination, or any number of other things along the way.

 Paul wrote to Timothy, “Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness.”  (1 Timothy 4:7) If you don’t like the word discipline, let me give you a different word.  It means the same thing – habit.  We’re talking about developing spiritual habits. 

 In the Living Bible, 1 Timothy 4:7 says, “Spend your time and energy in the exercise of keeping spiritually fit.”  There’s another word!

• It doesn’t matter if we call it discipline.
• It doesn’t matter if we call it habits.
• It doesn’t matter if we call it spiritual exercise.
• We just need to do it.

 First, let’s consider the spiritual discipline of letting go of things that aren’t important.  We must let go of stuff.  We can’t keep adding to our schedules without taking stuff out.  We must let go of unimportant things and seemingly important things so that we have the time and energy to do the most important things.  The writer of Hebrews says, “Let us strip off every weight that slows us down especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress.” (Hebrews 12:1)

Notice there are two things that hold us back spiritually.  There are two things that keep us from becoming all God wants us to be.  There are two things that limit our progress—sins and weights. 

 We know what sins are, right? Doing things God says we shouldn’t do and not doing things he says we should do.

But what about weights?  Weights can be good things, but they still slow us down.  They can hold us back from the best.  A weight can be a relationship.  It’s good but it’s holding you back.  A weight can be a job.  It’s good but it’s holding you back.  It can be an activity, or an expectation, or a fear.  It could be a memory of your past that’s holding you back.  It could be a club you’re a part of or an activity you’re involved in. 

 In life some things are not necessarily wrong; they’re just not necessary.  To grow, sometimes you have to say no. 

 Once you get your copy of the The Purpose Driven Life, I’m asking you to commit about fifteen minutes a day to read each chapter. Sometimes, you’ll be tempted to read more than one chapter at a time, but I’m asking you read only one each day. In addition to that, I’m asking you to respond to at least one question a week (preferably in a journal). I’m also asking you to share this journey with someone so that you have support in talking and praying about what it means and what it looks like for you to be able to say, “I am the church.”

         All of this means that I’m asking for an hour or so of your time each day for 40 days.  It may sound like a lot, but what is 40 or so hours in light of the rest of your life.  What is 40 or so hours in light of discovering, understanding, and learning to fulfill God’s purpose for your life?

 You need to decide what you’re going to cut out in order to have time for these things. 

 Second, let’s consider the discipline of putting first things first. 

 We have a good example of this in the Bible.  The Bible tells us that Jesus had two friends who were sisters – Mary and Martha.  They invited Jesus over for dinner.  As soon as Jesus came to the house Mary sat down at his feet and just started paying attention to Him.  Martha was in the back room worrying.

• Is the house was clean?
• Is the food ready?
• Will everything be just right?
• And she got a little upset with Mary.

 Luke describes it this way: Martha was distracted by her many tasks.” (Luke 10:40).

 Can you identify with that?  Are you ever distracted by your many tasks?  Think of it this way.  Jesus was at Martha’s house and she was working in the kitchen!  She came out to Jesus and said, “‘Lord, don’t You care that my sister has left me to do all the work myself?  Tell her to come help me.’  But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha.  You’re worried and distracted by many things.  But there is need of only one thing and Mary has chosen the better part.” 

Jesus said, “If I ever come to your house and you have a choice between spending time with Me or doing the dishes, there’s no question what the priority should be.  You should spend time with Me.  You can wash the dishes later.  If I come to your house let’s spend time together.  Let’s build our relationship.

 Mary chose the better part. It’s a choice.  We must learn to choose between good things in life and better things in life.  I hope you’re going to do that during this series.  I hope you’re going to make time for better things.

 I know you’re saying, “I just can’t get it all done!” You’re right.  You can’t.  But God doesn’t expect you to do it all.  The face is that there are a lot of things that really don’t have to be done.  We’re not used to hearing that, or thinking it, but it’s true. God doesn’t expect you to do it all.  And not all of it is worth doing.  You need to learn what matters and what doesn’t matter.  Because not everything in life is of equal value.

 How do we do this?  The best use of our lives is to invest them in something that’s going to outlast us.  If we start going through our to do list and ask, “How much is this going to matter ten years from now?”  A lot of it is going to fall by the wayside.  If we ask, “How much of this is going to last for eternity?”  A lot more isn’t going to matter. 

I’m not saying we shouldn’t do these other things.  I’m saying that we need to do first things first.  That’s the discipline.  That’s the habit. That’s the exercise. If nothing else gets done, at least do the most important thing.  And that’s time with God.  Then all the other things will be in perspective. 

 Some of you are thinking, “I’m just not a very disciplined person.”  Some of you are sitting there a little smug!  “I am disciplined!”  Good for you. 

If you’re not a disciplined person what do you need?  You need to ask God to help you.  He will give you the help and the power. 

 Paul wrote to the Philippians, “God is always at work in you to make you willing and able to obey His own purpose.” (Philippians 2:13)

Did you catch that?  God is always at work in you to make you willing and able to obey His own purpose. You don’t have to do it all on your own.  God will help you. 

 What does God want?  He wants you.  He wants your whole life.  What does it take?  It takes discipline.  It takes habits.  It takes doing some spiritual exercises.

Question one was, “What does God want me to do?” Question two was, “What does it take?” Question three is…

 Why should I do it?

Why should I put forth the effort?  There are many benefits we could spend hours on.  Benefits both here and now and for eternity.  But even if there were no more benefits than the salvation you’ve already received it would still be worth it to give your whole life to God for one reason: the cross. 

 Jesus gave His life completely for us and He wants our lives completely in return.  When He gave Himself completely for us it settled our eternal destiny – home in heaven.  If God never did another single thing for us, we still owe Him our entire lives because of the cross.  Without the cross we would be hopeless and damned with no future.  But because of what Jesus did on the cross, we have freedom, we have hope, we have security, we have an eternal destiny and we owe God our entire lives. 

 Prayer:

       Father, we already know that You’re going to do amazing things in our midst when we begin journey.  Lives are going to be changed, families are going to be saved, friendships will be made, miracles will happen.  We thank You in advance.  We also thank You for what’s already happening in the hearts of our people.  But most of all, thank You for the cross.  We do this all for Jesus’ sake.

       Now I want you to pray something like this: “God, I don’t want to be a fence-sitter any more.  I don’t want to be casual a Christian, a part-time believer, a lukewarm servant.  I want to give You my whole life because You deserve it.  I want to give You every part of me.  The good, the bad and the ugly.  Past present and future.  I need Your help in developing the habits, the disciplines, the exercises needed to grow spiritually.  Help me to let go of things that don’t really matter and put You first in my life.  Help me know what to cut out so I’ll have time for what’s most important.  Thank you for giving Your life for me.  I want to be part of what You’re going to do here.  In Your name I pray.  Amen.” 

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[1] C.S. Lewis, “Christian Apologetics” from God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics