Purpose Driven Life Sermon Three

Purpose Driven Life Sermon Four - March 14,2004

Lessons: Romans 5:1-5; Matthew27:27-42

Today is week four of our "Purpose Driven Life" series. We had one Sunday of introduction; then the we began to look at the five purposes of life-

The first was to Worship God.

The second was to have fellowship with God’s family. Today our topic is the third purpose-

Discipleship - becoming like Christ.

I) Discipleship is Sanctification

I’m going to step away from Rick Warren’s approach a bit today. First, as I read the Bible, I see things a little bit differently. I’ll use some parts of his material, but I think it can be explained more clearly by coming at it from a little different direction. Secondly, when we talk about ‘becoming like Christ’- that’s not only discipleship, it’s also a big word- ‘sanctification.’ Sanctification means to be made holy, to be re-made into the image of Jesus. Rick is used to preaching to people who have no background whatsoever in Scripture, so maybe a big word like ‘sanctification’ is one he avoids. Maybe so, but it’s a good term and it describes what he’s talking about even more clearly than ‘discipleship.’

The key thing is that God loves you so much, that he wants to work in you the nature of Christ. What is that nature like? Philip. 2:5-8:

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, [6] who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be clung to, [7] but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, [8] he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death-- even death on a cross. God wills to joyfully produce in you the same kind of loving nature Jesus had toward us, the same strength, the same hopefulness, the same faithfulness. Wow!

God has a great deal of Good News about this- this is God’s Work: Philippians 2:13 for God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. The original Greek is very, very clear, and quite amazing- Philippians 2:13 qeo.j ga,r evstin o` evnergw/n evn u`mi/n kai. to. qe,lein kai. to. evnergei/n u`pe.r th/j euvdoki,ajC """For God is working in you(s) both to do the willing and to energize you for, (towards) his good pleasure." So, God wills to work in you, to change you, to change your will, to re-make you into the person God wants us to be.

The New Testament talks about the struggle between our old, selfish, sinful nature and the new nature of Jesus himself that God is producing in us. (I gave a whole sermon on this struggle- the one with the red blinky light- July 7, 2002- copies are available today in the narthex if you wish to review it or see it online.)

God desires us to grow to be like Jesus. Ephesians 4:15 ...we are to grow up in every way ...into Christ.

This process will never be completed in us in this life, but as Jesus wins in us, as he changes us and produces his image in our lives, he’s able to use us more effectively at the same time that he’s producing his good fruit like love and peace in our lives. But it remains a battle! This battle between our old and new natures takes place in a surprising arena, in fact three surprising arenas: problems, temptation and trespasses against us. That’s what we’ll be looking at in a moment.

Before we start we need to look at one of the foundational promises of the Christian walk. Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

And you say, "All? What does that include?" Yeah, it does include "all". Does that include bad things? Painful things? Does it even include mistakes we make from sinning? Yes, it does. In all things God works for the good of those who love Him. It doesn’t say all things are good because there’s a lot of bad in the world, but in all things God uses it to make me like Christ. Let’s look at these three surprising things God uses for our good, to change us: troubles, temptations and trespasses against us.

III) Troubles, Temptations and Trespasses Against us-

A) Troubles and Temptations

The Bible never explains where all troubles come from. In fact, in NT Greek, it’s the same word! It means to ‘pass through the fire.’ Trials and temptations are the same thing- hassles- things that would destroy us or turn us away from God’s best. But the Bible never explains where all temptations come from. Sometimes, but rarely, it does say where a particular problem comes from- ‘evil men are plotting against me’ and such; but we’re not given a handy-dandy test to tell what is going on. For example- somebody dies of cancer- we always want to know why- did they do something unhealthy? Did somebody save $.02 on their cornflakes by putting chemicals into the food and cause the cancer? Was it genetic? Is this somehow an attack of evil? You can’t go to the Bible and get a diagnosis. In fact, the New Testament really avoids that.

Think of all the hassles Paul went through on his journeys- and it never says why! We can see that sometimes it was because of evil people. Sometimes it was based on his abrasive personality. Sometimes it seems that the Devil was very involved. Hassles don’t come from God, but they’re as natural to life in this broken world as sore throats and sprained ankles. Paul talks about these hassles in a surprising way:

We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; [4] perseverance, character; and character, hope. Romans 5:3-4

Rejoice in sufferings? Not because they’re fun, but because we believe that God works in them to produce his good work in us. God does not cause evil, but God is so good, and so powerful, he can work his good will even in spite of whatever bad things can get in the way. We believe that God can make good come out of even that evil.

I’ve been amazed at how the very things that almost broke me become the areas in which I’m most able to help people. Only after my father died could I understand loss and really stand by people who were grieving. Only after illness and surgery could I really understand what was going on on the other side of the rail of the hospital bed. Only where we’re wounded, only where there are holes in our armor, can we reach out and meet others in their needs. Look at the places you’re wounded- God will send you people who hurt in exactly the same place.

Really, that’s the story of the cross- Jesus reached out to us, by entering into our brokenness to meet us in the midst of that brokenness to come and save us. We can’t make ourselves good enough to merit him. He must come all the way down to my most broken point and meet me there. That’s what the cross is about. He came into the worst of human suffering to meet us where we hurt.

There are two words in English that are closely related, sympathy and empathy. God desires to give us the quality of empathy. Sympathy means to feel bad about someone hurting. Empathy means to experience the same pain; to enter into the pain and feel it inside, because you know what it’s like. Only in the places we’ve been hurt are the places we can feel empathy. Because of the incarnation and the Cross, Jesus has empathy with us. Because of our sufferings, we develop empathy for the people around us.

When we have hassles, pain or temptation, Christ is always close. God can use these things to change you, to shape you, to create his character in you. After the wounds, we’re different. The fruit is always sweetest near the bruise.

This is not to say that we always get stronger from these troubles. I think after really difficult times, we end up with scars. I think these are like minor cases of ‘traumatic stress disorder’ like the soldiers get. I won’t say hassles make you strong; in fact you may have a harder time the next time- but you will also know the next time that indeed Jesus is Lord, and he will bring you through, just like last time. Period. He is faithful. He will always stand with us and care for us. He will walk with you through this, he will protect you in the time of temptation as well.

B) Trespasses Against us

Being sinned against is another way God works his good. So many of the Psalms are the words of people who are being betrayed- they cry out to God in their pain. Jesus understood being sinned against- ìì "The people passing by (looking at Jesus on the cross) shook their heads and hurled insults at Jesus…and the elders made fun of Him…Even the bandits who had been crucified with Him insulted him in the same way." And the next verse: "Jesus said, ìí‘Father, forgive these people, because they don’t know what they are doing’".

A couple years ago, many of our members were deeply blessed and moved by a book titled, The Bait of Satan. It dealt with the bitterness we can hold inside based on the hurt others have done to us. Those wounds run very, very deep and are among the most difficult to heal. But it is exactly in those tremendously painful points that God meets us, works in us to free us and gives us empathy.

The only healing for being betrayed is to pray and relinquish that hurt, that relationship, that money- whatever it is that’s sticking in your heart. All we can do is call out to God and consciously release these pains to God and let him take them. He’s big enough, he can handle it!

ìGod will work his good out of it. He will make things right. You don’t have to have vengeance. You don’t have to lash out. He will make things right.

Do you remember Joseph was betrayed by his own family in the Bible, and his brothers took him out? They so disliked their younger brother, they sold him into slavery and then lied to their dad and said, "Oh, he was killed by a bear". They kinda define the term "dysfunctional family!" Yet God worked in all of it, and as he was taken to Egypt and went through all kinds of things - falsely accused of rape, thrown into prison…the first 40 years of Joseph’s life went down, down, down. He had no idea why things were going wrong in his life.

Yet he trusted God the whole time. He maintained a forgiving spirit. And God knew exactly where he was and had him exactly where He wanted him to be and over time raised him up to be second in command under Pharaoh. And it was his plan that saved two nations, Egypt and Israel, from starvation when the famines came. You read that story. Later the brothers come to this man, not realizing it was Joseph, and they went to ask for food to take back to their home. When Joseph reveals who he is, they are afraid he is going to kill them. And yet he says this, there on your outline, "You meant to hurt me, but God turned your evil into good to save the lives of many people, which is being done." (Genesis 50:20). God delights in that kind of turn-around!

The Good News is that God is good, God is faithful; he will not leave us - and he will make good come out of all things, even troubles, temptations and the trespasses of others. Nothing creates the work of God in our lives more powerfully than the bad things we experience. That process creates discipleship; that’s the process of sanctification. Invitation, Amen.

March 14, 2004 - Lent Three - Week Four - Purpose Driven Life

Romans 5:1-5

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, [2] through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. [3] Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; [4] perseverance, character; and character, hope. [5] And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

Matthew 27:27-42

Then the governor's soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. [28] They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, [29] and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. "Hail, king of the Jews!" they said. [30] They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. [31] After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.

[32] As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. [33] They came to a place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull). [34] There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. [35] When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. [36] And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. [37] Above his head they placed the written charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS. [38] Two robbers were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. [39] Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads [40] and saying, "You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!"

[41] In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. [42] "He saved others," they said, "but he can't save himself! He's the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.