August 3, 2003

Service Theme – "Our God Works through Us"

Jeremiah 1:11-14

The Faith-Focused Life: Figuring out and Acting on What God Wants Us to Do

  1. Introduction
    1. Illustration – Pastor Andy Stanley, in his book The Next Generation Leader, made this very profound statement: "What do I believe is impossible to do in my field… but if it could be done would fundamentally change my business?"
    2. Context – Let me paraphrase that just a little bit: "What do I believe is impossible to do in my life and in my church… but if it could be done would fundamentally change my life and my church?"
  1. Scripture Passage
    1. (NEW SLIDE) Jeremiah 1:11 (from the New Living) – Then the Lord said to me, "Look, Jeremiah! What do you see?" And I replied, "I see a branch from an almond tree." [12] And the Lord said, "That’s right, and it means that I am watching, and I will surely carry out my threats of punishment." [13] Then the Lord spoke to me again and asked, "What do you see now?" And I replied, "I see a pot of boiling water, tipping from the north." [14] "Yes," the Lord said, "for terror from the north will boil out on the people of this land."
    2. (NEW SLIDE) 2 Peter 1:20-21 (from the New Living) – Above all, you must understand that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophets themselves [21] or because they wanted to prophesy. It was the Holy Spirit who moved the prophets to speak from God.
  1. You Become Your Picture
    1. I’ve talked before about how much we tend to live up or down to the level of our own expectations. There’s a simple principle here that Pastor Michael Slaughter, who I got ideas for this sermon from, put very well: you become your picture. In other words, whatever it is you envision for yourself is what you become. The problem is that most of the time what we envision is based on what WE want to do and be and not what GOD wants us to do and be. Let’s look at the Jeremiah passage to see how becoming what God wants us to be and doing what God wants us to do works.
    2. God shows Jeremiah a branch from an almond tree and then comments about watching, as the NIV puts it, "to see that my word is fulfilled." What word? A word of destruction as punishment for the sins of Israel. Now we’re not going to go into the whole theology of sin and punishment right now, but we’ve got to see how the almond branch and God watching are connected. I didn’t understand it until I looked at the notes in my study Bible. This is what it says: "The Hebrew for watching sounds like the Hebrew for almond tree… Just as the almond tree blooms first in the year (and therefore "wakes up" early – the Hebrew word for "watching" means to be wakeful), so the Lord is ever watchful to make sure that his word is fulfilled." One of the literary twists that the Old Testament features is the use of puns, and God only uses them when He wants to emphasize something. So it’s a very strong picture that God gives to Jeremiah of what He is going to do. But what does that have to do with a faith-focused life?
    3. The next vision God gives Jeremiah is even easier to understand – a boiling pot tipping from the north representing the Assyrians coming down to destroy Israel for her sins. Once again, what does that have to do with a faith-focused life?
    4. This is the connection: God gave Jeremiah a clear picture of not only what was going to happen, but also of what He wanted Jeremiah to do. There was no fuzziness, no doubt, no illusion. (NEW SLIDE) Jeremiah got a very clear picture of what it was God wanted him to do. And you and I need to get focused on a very clear picture of what God wants us to do. We already have a picture – our mission and vision statements. We have the assurance that God gave them to us as we met and prayed and sought His face. At some point we may need to tweak the wording a little bit, but the concepts of what God wants us to achieve are there. As our passage in 2 Peter tells us, God is very good as communicating to us through the Holy Spirit what He wants us to do.
    5. So what do we do about it? What do we as individuals do about the picture God has given us as a church? Or, to put it maybe more specifically, (NEW SLIDE) what does God want each one of us as individuals to do about the clear picture He has given us?
    6. First, we need to recognize that God is not about methods – He is about transforming people to become like Him. God does use the methods that will most effectively accomplish His will, but He’s not hung up on them. Each one of us has a specific combination of talents and gifts that is unique to each of us. Basically, that means that God needs all of us to do our part of the picture. Remember that we become our picture, so if we aren’t accomplishing what God wants us to we’re focusing on the wrong picture. We’re limiting God by what we want to do and how involved we’ve decided we want to be. I know that we all have lives outside of church, and that’s good, but we also have to realize that we can accomplish much more as the unified body of Christ than we can by ourselves. So God needs all of us if we’re going to see ourselves and our friends and neighbors and co-workers transformed for Jesus Christ.
    7. (NEW SLIDE) Second, we’ve got to remember that faith is all about taking risks and being innovative, trying new methods and programs to get the good news of Jesus Christ out. There are many times when faith doesn’t make sense, doesn’t seem logical or realistic. As Michael Slaughter puts it, we cannot do ministry based purely on logical choices – that is walking by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:7 says, "We live by faith, not by sight." Is living by faith as a church just a pipe dream for us or is that true reality? Can we truly live by faith and not by sight if we keep clutching onto the handrail and refusing to be led blind down the stairs? I know sometimes that’s what He is calling us to do, but I’m not too comfortable with that concept and I know you aren’t either. So if we’re going to break free from that as a church, we’ve got to become students of new ways of doing things. We need to study what other churches are doing. We need to brainstorm and try just about any and everything that is legal, moral, and ethical to reach people for Jesus. We may even need to bite the bullet and bring in a consultant to help us know how to achieve God’s vision for us. We’ve got to always be looking for new ways of achieving what God wants us to do. Faith is courage. Let’s commit to being courageous for God and His vision for our church and for our lives. Remember my paraphrase of Andy Stanley’s question: (NEW SLIDE) "What do I believe is impossible to do in my life and in my church… but if it could be done would fundamentally change my life and my church?" When we answer that question, and go after the answer, then we’re being faith-focused.
  1. Our Role as Individuals
    1. All this stuff is great for us as a church, but what about our personal lives? There are a couple of things we need to get a grip on in order to make God’s vision happen in our own personal lives. (NEW SLIDE) First, we as individuals have to be good observers of both what God is doing and where our culture is going. Where do we see God working? What direction do we see Him leading us in? And what are the interests of the people we see every day? What do they like to do? What are their needs? You see, ministry takes place at the point where what God is doing and where culture is going connect. When we look ahead and see the direction God is leading us in individuals in and where that path is going to intersect with our culture, we can be assured that God has ministry in mind for that place.
    2. Let me give you an example. Let’s say that you see someone with a specific need, or who could be reached for Jesus in a specific way, and God places a real burden on your heart for people in situations like that. What do we do most of the time when we see people in those circumstances? We say, "Gee, I wish someone would relieve this burden by doing something about it." That’s the "walking by sight" way of dealing with things, playing it safe, being logical about it. The "walking by faith" way of dealing with things is to look at our own gifts and talents, place them in God’s hands, and begin to minister to that need ourselves. We can do that by either being the sole person meeting that need, or we can recruit others to help us while we’re seeking to meet that need. Scary, isn’t it? But that’s how God works. The passion God has given you that is fueled by the burden He has placed on your heart will bring like-minded people alongside you to minister to those people. The people who will work with you are probably just like you – feeling the burden but too scared to act and waiting for someone to have the guts to step forward. Think of the blessing. Think of the joy. And think of the souls rescued from the pit of hell, all because you walked by faith instead of sight.
    3. (NEW SLIDE) Second, we’ve all got to up our commitment to becoming more like Jesus. In Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus didn’t say, "Go and get people saved." He said, "Go and make disciples." And we cannot make someone into what we personally are not, even with the help of the Holy Spirit. Like I said before, I know we all have lives outside of church and jobs and other commitments, and that’s good. But we will not impact those people we see all the time if we’re not like Jesus. The only way to become like Jesus is to commit ourselves to discipleship and accountability. I know some of you are "anti-program" people, and not everybody likes to do everything systematically and methodically. But I also know that, for many of you, the "anti-program" thing is a cop out – it’s an excuse to play it safe. I’m not condemning you because I know I’ve done the same thing. But I’m also here to tell you that, if you do not commit to and join discipleship and accountability groups, you will never become the person Jesus wants you to be, and you will never reach all the people God has in mind for you to reach for Him. We will never live the faith-focused life if we keep playing it safe. (NEW SLIDE) If we don’t take advantage of the programs we have in our church that are working in changing people’s lives and helping them become more like Jesus, then we will never become mature enough to make a difference. What do we have going that you can become involved in? Sunday School is a bare minimum start. Discipleship Training. Accountability groups. Simulcasts. Saturday Seminars. As the saying goes, you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink. We can make all the opportunities for discipleship and accountability in the world available, but it’s ultimately up to each one of us to decide if we are passionate enough about being faith-focused to take advantage of those opportunities. We have to be good observers of what God is doing and where culture is going. We have to commit ourselves to discipleship and accountability. There’s one more truth we’ve got to get a grip on if we’re going to live the faith-focused life.
    4. (NEW SLIDE) The third, and maybe most difficult truth for some, is that wherever the Holy Spirit is, there is a spirit of risk-taking and innovation, of taking chances and trying new things. In Acts 2:17, Peter quotes this prophesy from the book of Joel: "In the last days, God said, I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams." That’s a bit uncomfortable for us conservative folks, isn’t it? But the end result is in verse 21: "And anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." God did a new thing by pouring out His Spirit on us, and the reason He did it was to bring people to a vital, saving relationship with Himself. That’s why. It was not enough for God to just do something new – He did it with a purpose in mind. God’s Spirit has been poured out on us, and if we allow Him to fill us and transform us, then we will do things that are new and uncomfortable, but there will be great joy in becoming the picture God has in mind for us. What is the picture you have in mind for yourself? Is it God’s picture for you? Does it fit into God’s picture for our church? Is it consistent with Scripture? If it is God’s picture, it will be consistent with Scripture and will fit into God’s picture for us as a church. Are we as a church and as individuals to become risk-takers and innovators by the power and under the direction of the Holy Spirit? Are we willing to observe God and our culture and then DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT? Are we willing to step up our commitment to becoming transformed disciples of Jesus Christ? The futures of our lives and our church hang in the balance.
  1. Conclusion
    1. Please bow your heads and close your eyes. What has God been saying to you this morning? Let’s spend a few minutes listening to and thinking about what God’s already been saying to us.
    2. If there is a commitment you need to make to God about anything we’ve talked about this morning, I invite you to come up to the altars and seek His face and make that commitment. Then I’ll close in prayer. If you’re making a commitment to God this morning, come to the altars now.
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