Dakota Community Church
September 17, 2006
100% Sunday
Creation by God
Coming to terms with the way God made us.
Two weeks ago when Pastor Chris preached I thought it was maybe the best message I have ever heard him preach. What made it so powerful? It was genuine. It was honest, he became vulnerable as he shared the powerful lessons he had learned during the last two years.
I hear these kinds of comments often. The church is real, genuine; we aren’t trying to hide the glitches and warts. The pastors are not trying to put on a perfect façade, they’re real.
I think that this is one of the powerful things the Spirit is saying to the church today.
“Be yourself, get real, this act isn’t fooling the world and it certainly is not fooling Me.”
Quote:
“We need to go inward deeply, in order to go outward authentically.” – Rob Bell
As we embark on a new Church year I think this is what God is calling us to as individuals and as a congregation. We need to get real with ourselves, to accept who and how God has made us to be, to work on those things that are ours to work on, and to go out with a genuine faith to offer.
I want to preface this by saying that there is no perfect pastor or church. Every fellowship of believers has problems, disputes and personality clashes. Every church has functional strengths and weaknesses.
Even the disciples did not get along perfectly and Jesus was their pastor, walking with them almost 24/7.
Mark 9:33-34
They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, "What were you arguing about on the road?" But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest.
Read John 20:1-9
So what hope do we have then? What can we do to stop the comparing and squabbling and focus on our own issues and growth with God?
Side by side is the account of the most monumental event in human history, and the petty squabble between John and Peter.
"the disciple Jesus loved" - "the faster disciple" - "the one who believed"
What can we say about the way God made us then?
1. God is unconcerned with the way the world does it.
We might as well just get used to the idea that God in not checking the worldly standards of beauty, or etiquette before assigning us our lot in life to ensure comfort and acceptance everywhere we go.
Read all - I Samuel 8 then notice verses 7 and 19
And the LORD told him: "Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.
I Samuel 8:19
But the people refused to listen to Samuel. "No!" they said. "We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles."
Was there ever a King who went out before his people to fight their battles the way God went out before these people?
Notice also that getting what we want results in our downfall!
I’ve noticed that when I preach or even when I am in conversation with someone I will often say, “I don’t know if anyone feels this way.” Or “Do you think it is normal to struggle with such and such.”
I am longing to find acceptance in order to validate my thoughts and feelings.
Question:
Are you frustrated because God doesn’t seem to care that you are living the life you wanted for yourself?
I challenge you to forget the life you want for yourself, begin to really search out the life God has for you.
2. You cannot be whom God created you to be, if you are trying to be somebody else.
II Corinthians 10:12
When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise.
John 21:18-23
Jesus said, "Feed my sheep. I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go." Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, "Follow me!"
Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, "Lord, who is going to betray you?") When Peter saw him, he asked, "Lord, what about him?"
Jesus answered, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me." Because of this, the rumor spread among the brothers that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say that he would not die; he only said, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?"
Jesus has just lead Peter through an emotional healing. In Bible College we had an entire course on this passage and the ramifications of what Jesus is doing for Peter here.
The Lord begins to talk about Peters calling and ultimate destiny in the ministry ending with his death as a martyr.
What does Peter do in this intensely personal, spiritual moment?
He turns to look at John and asks,
“What about Him?”
What does Jesus say?
“What is that to you?”
You and I will never find success as long as we are trying to be something that we are not.
We need to sing our own song; it’s the only one we really believe!
Illustration
In the movie “Walk the Line” about the early years of Johnny Cash’s career there is a scene where Johnny gets an audition but the record executive is not buying it. He tells Cash he is a fraud. Then Johnny plays his own song and the rest is history.
Show the clip!
3. Lining up with God’s plan does not mean doing nothing.
Job 5:2
Resentment kills a fool, and envy slays the simple.
The fool and the simple in ancient Hebrew culture were those who never stop to reflect. Those who never question why they behave the way they do those who never seek to change.
The ones who never question the destructive patterns in their lives are the simple.
When you keep on envying and resenting what others have without working through why that is – you are a fool and it will destroy you.
Guys have you ever been all ready to head out to some function with your wife and she looks at you by the front door and asks, “Is that what you’re wearing?”
Many women (and some men) feel differently about themselves based on how everyone else looks.
What are we to do then? Enter His rest. Be ourselves.
Hebrews 4:9-11
There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.
Make every effort to rest? Which is it?
Philippians 2:12-13
Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
This message adapted in part from a sermon by Rob Bell entitled "What is that to you?" available for download here: http://www.mhbcmi.org/listen/index.php
PowerPoint available on request dcormie@mts.net
