My Scripture
Today is from Luke 17:1-11
I would like to begin today by asking you a question. Are
you living or existing? You see there is a difference. The vast majority of
people on earth today are simply existing. They are waking up in the morning,
going to work or school, keeping house, whatever the case may be. They are
going about their business but they have no real sense of purpose in their
lives. Their happiness and fulfilment in life depends largely on their circumstances
or their achievements. If they were completely honest with themselves they
would have to admit that inside they are empty. That is existing. Christ came
however that we might have life and have it more abundant. If we are going to
experience this kind of real life we must look to Jesus the source of life.
In John 17 Jesus is at the end of his life. He is facing the
cross. He uttered these words either on his way to Gethsemene or in the upper
room. This chapter is known as the High Priestly prayer of Jesus. I asked the question, "are you living or just
existing?" The answer to that question can be determined by three
questions based on our text. The first
question is:
I. ARE
YOU LIVING WITH A DEPENDENCE ON THE FATHER
As Jesus entered his hour of trial the bible says, "He
lifted up his eyes to Heaven and said, "Father". Jesus didn't look at
his outward circumstances and try to figure a way out. He didn't even look
inward for answers, even though he was the Son of God. He looked upward to
Heaven, to the one He knew as His Father.
Jesus lived with complete dependence, not on his own person, or his own
humanity, but complete trust and dependence on the Father. One of the most eye opening verses I have
ever read is John 5:30. There Jesus says, "I can of myself do
nothing". Every person Jesus ever healed when he was on the earth, every
sermon he ever preached, every temptation he ever overcame, he did it not by
trusting in who he was as the Son of God, but by depending on the Fathers
strength and guidance.
If Jesus who is God's Son could "Of himself do nothing" how much more can we of ourselves do
nothing". The problem with many Christians today and churches is that we
are depending primarily on our own natural abilities, our reasoning abilities,
our talents, our education, our financial resources to accomplish God's work.
And we of ourselves are doing nothing. We are simply existing by and large
completely in the natural. But when we live with this dependence upon God that
Jesus lived with, the natural begins to give way to the supernatural and God
begins to work. I read all of the texts
where the bible says Jesus "lifted up his eyes". One time he lifted
up his eyes to God and he stuck his fingers in a deaf man’s ears and the man
received his hearing. On another occasion he lifted up his eyes in dependence
upon God and thanked God and called Lazarus forth from the grave. On another
occasion he lifted up his eyes to God and took two small fishes and five loaves
and fed thousands of people. The life
that is lived in dependence upon God experiences the supernatural power of God.
Can you say this about your life. I'm not asking if you have healed anyone
lately or turned water into wine. I am asking if you can look at your life and
say God gave me victory over this temptation, Only God could have done it, God
had his hand upon me and touched the lives of others and I know it was God that
did it. Can we say this about our church?
We forfeit God's power when we substitute dependence upon Him with
dependence upon ourselves, other people, or other resources. One of the Popes
invited a theologian to the Vatican. Sitting among all the treasures of the
church the Pope said, "the church can no longer say silver and gold have I
none". To that the theologian replied sadly, "yes but neither can she
say in the name of Jesus of Nazereth rise and walk." We must take our eyes off of the natural, off
of that which can be seen, and lift our eyes in faith to Heaven. Jesus lived
with a dependence upon the Father. The second question we might ask to
ascertain whether or not we are Living is:
II. DO
YOU LIVE WITH A SENSE OF DIVINE DESTINY
Jesus said, "the hour is come". This is an
interesting phrase that Jesus uses in this gospel. At the beginning of his
ministry at a wedding feast his mother wanted him to show himself as the
Messiah and he said, "my hour has not yet come". On another occasion
his brothers urged him to go to the feast of tabernacles if he was really who
he thought he was and show himself as Messiah. He said then, "my time is
not yet come." What was Jesus' time, his hour? It was his hour to be
glorified and to glorify God. What Mary and Jesus' brothers didn't know was
that Jesus would be glorified and would glorify God through a bloody cross and
the resurrection. But Jesus knew. He knew that he had come for the purpose of
dying for the sins of the world. He had a sense of purpose of destiny, and
everything that he did and said led to that moment, that hour. And now the hour
had come. Jesus' life was one of direction, and purpose, and divine
destiny. One of the most miserable ways
to live is to live aimlessly without real an ultimate purpose, not really
knowing ultimately why we are here. One of the greatest things that happened to
me when God really began to move in my life in my early twenties was that all
of a sudden I began to have purpose in my life. Before this my life was just
about getting a good job, trying to achieve, to feel good about myself….just
existing…drifting. God wants all of us
to live with a sense of divine destiny. Why are you here? Why are you a member
of Midway United Methodist Church? Because you like the children's
program…ok…that is good. Because your family belongs here, ok…that is great. But God has a greater
purpose for you in the body of Christ. He wants to use you. He has a spot for
you in His body. He has given you a gift, a divine ability to carry out the
purpose that He has for your life.
I've talked to many people who don't believe they have a
spiritual gift, but that’s not what the bible says. "Each one has been
given a manifestation of the Spirit". I believe that if a person will
honestly ask God to show him or her what His purpose is for him or her in the
body of Christ, and how He's gifted them, He will be faithful to reveal that gift
to them. It may require you to step out in faith and try something you've never
done before. It may stretch you, it may
cause you to risk failure. But God will be faithful. He will show you. The
truth is, He is more interested in revealing your purpose in His body than you
and I are in knowing it. I'll never
forget my first preaching experience as a lay speaker. I dreaded it. It was
terrifying. When I got up and began to speak I knew. I felt I was born for it.
I wanted to stay there, to live in that experience. God confirmed to me what
his plan was for my life and he will for you as well…even if you don't already
know.
Jesus lived with a sense of divine destiny. Do you? The
third and final question we might ask to determine whether or not we are really
living is:
III.
ARE YOU LIVING WITH A DESIRE TO GLORIFY GOD
As he faced the cross Jesus prayed, "glorify Your Son
that Your Son also may glorify You." Jesus' overarching desire in life and
in death was to glorify the Father. The word glory has two primary meanings
that are interrelated. First it refers to a manifestation of God's presence.
Second, it means to give praise or honor. Jesus experienced both. In his life
he revealed the presence of God. He was the image of the unseen God. When
people saw him they saw the Father. But his desire was that through the glory
the Father gave to Him, He might use it to bring praise and honor to the
Father. Even in death he sought the glory of the Father, or shall I say
especially through death. I watched a
film once about a missionary family in China during the Boxer rebellion in
1900. In the Boxer rebellion a group of native Chinese began to murder
Christians. This woman wrote a letter telling about how terrifying her family’s
life had become. They never knew when the banging on the door would come and
they would be taken out and murdered. She prayed that they would only take her
daughter first so she wouldn't have to witness the killing of her parents. At
the end of the letter she wrote. I only ask that God's will be done and no
matter what happens that he be glorified.
The desire to glorify God can be costly but it is very liberating. The
opposite of the desire to glorify God is selfishness. The selfish life is a
miserable life. Things won’t always go our way, circumstances of life will
assuredly change, people don't always treat us as we think we should be treated
and this make us miserable if we are primarily living for self. But you know….when we can honestly say, "Lord
no matter what happens to me, whether I live or die, whether I am treated
fairly or unfairly, whether I endure affliction or comfort, Lord you be
glorified in it", when this is our desire we are free of the misery of
selfishness. This is what Jesus means
when he says, "Whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever
loses his life for my sake will find it."
Conclusion. Are you living or existing? Are you living with
a dependence on the Father? Are you Living with a Sense of destiny? Are you
living with a desire to glorify the Lord?
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