Living a Purpose Driven Life part 4
(Made to be More Like Jesus)
Brian A. Moon
(Based on the book Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren)
Welcome to week number four of the 40 Days of Purpose! For those of you just joining us we have come to the conclusion that a life without a purpose is no life worth living so we are exploring just what our God given purpose for living is all about.
In all there are five basic purposes that God has made us for and we have explored 2 of them so far.
The first purpose of your life is to know and love God or worship him. And the second purpose of your life is to learn to love your spiritual family or to have real fellowship with other followers of Jesus.
Tonight we will look into the third reason God made you and we will open with this verse from the Bible:
“For from the beginning God decided that those who came to him – and he knew who would – should become like his Son (Jesus)”
Romans 8:29 TLB
Underline “become like his Son” in that verse.
That is a clue to your third purpose, which is, You were made to be more like Jesus. God has given you the purpose of becoming more like his Son Jesus Christ. God wants you to be involved in a process that will last your whole life in which you are slowly but surely developing Jesus, perspective, passions, priorities, and personality. In short God wants to develop in you a Christlike character! He wants you to become a Godly man or woman!
The Bible says, “God wants us to grow up… like Christ in everything.” Ephesians 4:15 MSG
When you were a baby you did baby things… you pooped and vomited all over yourself and thought it was just fine, you always had someone there to clean you off and give you a fresh diaper. But if you were starting high school and still pooped and vomited all over yourself there would be a problem right? As we grow up physically we can begin to handle some things on our own… “Mommy wow, I’m a big kid now.”
That is what God wants from us spiritually, he wants us to grow up and learn how to do some stuff for ourselves. Also like growing up physically you don’t go from diapers to designer gowns over night, it takes time. That is why God will use your entire life to grow you up spiritually into a fully devoted follower of Jesus. This process is called “Discipleship,” the process of growing up spiritually. So how does God do this… well two things automatically jump into most people’s heads if they have grown up in and around the church, the Bible and other believers. And the “church kid” answer would be right. God uses the Bible, our ultimate standard for living and changes us by it. When we read it, study it, memorize it, and meditate on it, God changes us.
God also uses other Christians to help grow us up.
There is a lot that can be learned from each other and that is why small groups are so important like the ones we started a few weeks ago. If you are not in one write “small group” on the back of your response card and we will get you plugged in. But, God also uses more than these things to change our character he uses some unexpected things!
The Bible says, “In all things God works for the good for those who love him, who have been called according to his purposes.” Romans 8:28 NIV
In most things God works for the good??? Is that what that verse says? No it says in ALL things… Let me blow your concept of God a little here. A painful experience in your life, like for me losing a fiancé just a few months before getting married, God uses for good in my life. He uses it to make me more like Jesus. Let me blow your concept of God away even more… God even uses things you and me sinning and messing up to bring about Christlike character!
In all things God works them out for good!!! Do you believe that? I believe that there are three unexpected things that God uses to develop our character, three things that we might consider bad that God turns around and uses for good.
One time a 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?"
The first unexpected thing that God use to make us more like Jesus is:
Trouble teaches us to trust God
God often uses times of trouble to teach us to trust him more. Many times people are closest to God when they are going through some kind of trial because it forces us to trust completely in him.
The Bible says, “Trouble produces patience, and patience produces character, and character produces hope.” Romans 5:3 – 4 NCV
God never wants to hurt us, and he never uses trouble just to making us miserable, but if going through some miserable situation will make us trust him more then he is more than willing to let us go through some trouble. God may use the break up of a relationship or some financial difficulties or even some person that comes along and annoys the snot out of you to make you trust him more. God cares more about your character than he does your comfort! Why? Why would God allow us to be uncomfortable? Because you will live for what the Bible calls a blink of the eye here on earth, but you will spend forever living out the consequences both good and bad for what you did while you were alive on earth. When it seems like the whole world is against you, and you are asking yourself, “Why am I going through all this trouble?”
Remember that it is there to help make you more like Jesus by forcing you to trust in God more. All the trouble that you go through has a purpose! God is using ALL things for the good.
But here is a word of caution. Just because you go through trouble doesn’t mean you will automatically learn to trust God more. There are plenty of bitter people walking around with a big ole chip on there shoulder from all the trouble they are, or have, gone through. So how do you come out better instead of bitter? Two things…
The first key is to surround yourself with Godly friends who will encourage you and pray for you.
We all need people cheering us on when it seems like the world is crashing in on top of us. In fact this is what Jesus did when he was about to be crucified. He got his closest friends to go with him to pray and encourage him. If Jesus, God’s own Son, needed people when he went through trouble then do YOU think you can get by without other people? The best place I can think of to find these kinds of friends is right here on Sunday Nights and in our small groups. They are a must in times of trouble!
The second key to going through trouble and becoming better instead of bitter is, remember the reward!
The Bible says, “Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” 2 Corinthians 4:17 NIV
Underline “troubles are achieving for us eternal glory”
God will reward you one day for trusting him in the middle of your trouble. God will reward you for your character development! Please here me on this, I know life can be pretty rotten sometimes, and we don’t want to trust God… BUT if you will place your complete trust in him in the middle of your trouble he will reward you with far more than you can imagine one day! It will feel something like this…
(Scene from the movie Shawshank Redemption when he travels through 500 yards of sewer pipe to gain his freedom)
If you put your trust in God in troubling times he will use a bad situation to develop in you a Christlike character that he will greatly reward one day! The next unexpected thing that God uses to make us more like Jesus is:
Temptations teach us to obey God
Satan tries to tempt you with all kinds of things each day: sexual immorality, drugs, road rage, lying, cheating, and even things like laziness… But if you will remember that verse from Romans “All things God works for the good,” and that would include temptation. God does not tempt us, but God uses something that is intended for harm and makes it a help for us to become more like Jesus. Temptation is an opportunity to obey God. A lot of people think that when they are tempted, lets say like when guys are tempted to drool all over a girl for 2 hours, that it is wrong. People think temptation is a sin and they feel bad about it. BUT, being tempted is not a sin! In fact being tempted shows that you are becoming more like Jesus. If satan already had you caught in one of his traps then he would not try so hard to lure you in with some tempting bate! Being tempted is a sign that satan is scared!!! Everyone goes through temptations and all of us have similar temptations. I used the example of lusting over women before for guys… all guys struggle with lusting over all you amazingly good lookin’ girls.
We all have similar temptations and they are not a sign of weakness. But again a word of caution… just because you are being tempted does not mean you are becoming more like Jesus. Two powerful keys to overcoming temptation are thoughts and teamwork.
Where does temptation begin? It begins in our minds, in our thought life and that is where the battle will be won or lost.
The Bible says, “Fix your thoughts on what is true and good and right.” Philippians 4:8 TLB
When temptation comes a knocking, think about something else, think about something good and right.
Or as Cheryl would say when we were tempted before we got married, “Think about your mom!” Seriously though if you will take your thoughts and direct them towards God you will change the focus of your mind and you will avoid giving into temptation. Quoting Bible verses that you might have memorized is a great way to change the thought pattern when you are tempted. However, trying to resist temptation is the worst thing you can do because you are still focused on the temptation.
The other key to overcoming temptation is teamwork.
You will need a partner, a teammate to fully overcome temptation. You will need a Christian friend who can come along beside you and help keep you accountable.
The Bible says, “You’re better off to have a friend than to be all alone… If you fall, your friend can help you up.” Ecclesiastes 4:9 – 10 CEV
Two are better than one for many things and temptation is one of them! If you could overcome temptation on your own you would have, that is why we need a teammate to be there to encourage us and check up on us in love. Temptations are a chance to become more like Jesus and to learn to obey God if we depend on him to pull us through by fixing our thoughts on good things and getting a teammate. The final unexpected thing God uses to make us more like
Jesus is:
God uses trespasses to teach us to forgive
What in the world does trespasses mean? A trespass is when someone violates your space, like when you see all those signs that say no trespassing… In this case it means when someone violates you by hurting you, when someone causes you pain and suffering either physically or emotionally! By show of hands how many people have had someone intentionally hurt them either physically or emotionally? We all have been hurt before, we all have been made fun of, beat up, let down, verbally attacked, and abused in some fashion. Even though these people that are causing you pain intend this for evil once again God uses all things for the good. God can use the pain that someone else causes you and use it make you more like Jesus. Most of the time when someone hurts us our natural response is to run and knock them upside the head with a 2 x 4… Or for you ladies to spread rumors about them that they are sleeping with the principal, boss, and so on. We all have the desire to get even, but that will not lead to greater Christlikeness.
God wants to teach us how to forgive through these hurts.
The Bible says, “Forgive others, just as God forgave you because of Christ.” Ephesians 4:32
Jesus was the expert on forgiveness! And that is the way we should strive to live, we should strive to be a group that forgives others. So how do we do this? Remember what God has forgiven you for, and remember that God is in control. When we realize all the garbage that God has forgiven us for then who are we to not forgive someone else when they do something to us? God will never ask you to forgive someone more than he has already forgiven you! Also remember that God is still in control even when people try to kick your teeth in. God is still at work to make this bad into a good so don’t get in his way!
The Bible says, “Do not let wrong things win a victory over you. But win a victory over wrong things by the good things you do.” Romans 12:21 WE
People knew Jesus was very different because he could forgive others no matter what they did and people will know that we are different when we learn to forgive others no matter what they may do. So that is the third purpose of your life, to be more like Jesus. It is a life-long process but God can do it, will you partner with him tonight? The Christian life is not a sprint race; it is a marathon which takes discipline and dedication and most importantly an eye on the prize… the words of the God of all creation before us saying, “Well done my good and faithful servant.”
Prayer Time ---------
If you have heard this God stuff before, or maybe hearing it for the first time tonight, and something deep inside of you right now is saying I want to get in the race. I want to know Jesus, and I want to be forgiven.
If that is your hearts cry tonight and you have never said to God come and save me and give me a new life then cry this prayer out to God as best you know how silently between you and him:
God I realize that I was made to be like Jesus and I know I am not right now. Will you come and save me and forgive me for all my shortcoming, and mistakes, and sins. Come and give me a new life that is committed to living for your purposes. Make me free and forgiven.
If that was you then the Bible says God will give you the power to be saved and you will spend forever with him one day.
If you are one of God’s children, you are a Christian but you have not been running the race very well lately and you want God to come and re-energize you tonight to be more like Jesus then pray this prayer in your heart:
God I want to say I am sorry for not living out this purpose very well lately. I need your help to be more like Jesus. Come and teach me to trust, obey, and forgive. Thank you for helping me and for forgiving me and for loving me. Amen.
