The DNA of Spiritual Life II, the Church's Genes

Or look in the overhead and Karen's going to help us with our text for today. Karen, I think I'm just going to read the first page of the text this morning to start out. Ephesians 1, this will be 17 through 19, I believe. Ephesians 1, 17 through 19. If you have your Bibles, if you don't look up here and let's read together. I believe there's great wisdom in declaring God's word. This is the NIV. If you have the Living Bible or the King James, you may want to read just a little more softly because you'll confuse the rest of us as we're declaring this. Here we go. Ready to read? I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious father, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints and his incomparably great power for us who believe. Well, that's it. We'll come back and finish the rest of that just a little bit later. I'm going to stop there because that holds the kernel of the message for this morning. Well, most of you that I've known for a while know that one of the few interests that I can still pursue in the world of sport because of my surgeries and so is what's called performance driving, either as a spectator or participant. I enjoy watching racing. In fact, for one of the weekends I was away, I went up to the NASCAR race at Watkins Glen, New York and enjoyed watching those drivers take those machines 175 miles an hour around this track. And then as a participant, I tried that on Route 19 and my own car had strange results with that. But I found that driving actually is a temperament thing. It kind of suits how God wired you up. I'm a firstborn, so I'd rather enjoy sort of that whole idea of moving things in a direction. When I looked up to drive in a dictionary, here's what it says. To guide, control or direct. That's certainly what you do with a car. When you drive a car, you guide, control and direct. When you drive a nail, what do you do? You guide, control and direct that nail into the wood, hopefully. When you drive a golf ball, what do you do? You drive, control and direct that ball into the rough or the weeds, right? But the idea is to put it in a fair way. Every one of us, friends, everyone here, every life is driven by something. That's your first blank in the outline. Every life is driven by something. I really recommend you take notes on this today because you'll never be able to really benefit unless you know specifically how this applies to you. Some of us have our lives driven, guided and directed and controlled by guilt. Some by fear. Some by worry. Some by insecurity. Some by anger. Some of you don't know this, but what drives you in life is just resentment towards someone else. Others of us, more positively, are driven by achievement. By acquisition of stuff and possessions and things and money. Others of us are driven by our past. Some are even driven to this day by our parents' approval or lack of it. In today's message, I want to look at the mission that God has established to drive your life. God has something that He wants to drive your life. To help life make sense. Proverbs 16, 4, not on your outline, but you can look it up later. It says, The Lord creates everything for His own purpose. Friends, if you're sitting here breathing today, how many of you are doing that? I love questions like that, Scott, and still some hands don't go up. It's okay. But you're breathing. You wouldn't be here. That means you're here for a purpose. You're not an accident. Even if your parents didn't plan to have you, listen, you're here because God wanted you to be here. On this earth, He has a purpose for your life. Your life is supposed to mean something. Over the years, I've discovered more and more and more that life is lived on three levels. Put these down. The first is the level of what I call survival. When I was in India this February, I saw illustrations that would boggle the imagination of how people spend their lives simply surviving, literally hand to mouth. Did you know that the average Indian worker spends 70% of the time just surviving? Food, shelter, and clothes, and hygiene. 70%. Now, in America, we have a little better than that in terms of our standard of living and so on. But many Americans, many people that you probably know, basically live directionless lives. They just exist. There's no real reason for them to get up and go to work. They just kind of do it. Punch in the clock, put in their hours, and then leave for that all-important weekend where they do whatever they do on weekends that's so important so they can get up Monday and go back to work and start the whole process over again looking forward to the next weekend. And Monday morning, a couple weeks ago, I heard the newscaster give the five-day forecast. Here's the next five days, and looking forward to next weekend. They live weekend to weekend because really life doesn't have much else to offer them. And by the way, if you find yourself fantasizing a lot about some island somewhere where you'd like to go and get away from it all, or you're watching countless hours of television, chances are you're living life at a survival level. But most of us here in this auditorium today live life a little bit higher than that. I would say most of us live in what I call the success level. That is that we've found some things that kind of make us get up and get moving. We're more achievement-oriented. We enjoy some of the pleasures of life. We have some goals. We have a home, a car, whatever, a hobby or two. We enjoy the pleasures of life like going to Baskin Robbins or Brewster's on a hot summer night. Things like that. But interestingly, millions of Americans these days are discovering something that living life at the level of simple success isn't all that fulfilling. In fact, I've heard more and more highly successful people in the world's eyes say, you know what, I kind of got there and found that it wasn't what I thought it would be. I've had Bible studies with professional athletes who've told me, you know, I've kind of made it in my field, but it hasn't answered my deepest questions. I know some businessmen, a couple right now, that are selling their businesses in order to find more time. Even though they've been very successful in business, they haven't found what really makes life satisfying, and they want to give more of their time to that. And just a word to some of you, and I know there are some of you here who look at that successful person out there and say, you know, I'm a Christian, I've got that part of my life covered, but if I just had their wealth, their stuff, then life would really fit together. And I just want to maybe cast a little word of warning out your way. Watch out for that, because you want to know something, true fulfillment only comes really in the Lord Jesus. Be very careful about the lie that says, if you had stuff and God, you'd really be happier. Jesus said, I came that they might have life, and have it more abundantly than any other way. But the third level that God wants to take us to, that all of us are destined for, is the level of significance. Write it down. Significance. That's when you know why you're here, that you have a purpose, that life matters on a day-to-day basis. You know why on earth you were put here on earth, and the reason is always eternal. Often God uses the very gifts and abilities that we've worked so hard to refine for the pursuit of success in life and achievement, and He hones those to use for His glory. Think of the Apostle Paul. How many know what Paul was before he became a great Christian apostle? What was he? Yeah, he was a great Christian hater and Jewish scholar. He was a Pharisee and a scribe and a teacher, and he gave his life to studying the Scriptures and trying to understand God, and he was a student and widely respected. Ahead of his time, it was said. And then God took that wisdom, you see, and honed it for Paul's destiny in the Kingdom of God. Well, friends, likewise, God wants to take some of you here today and use your abilities to bring glory to His name. I'm noticing, I think I see Gloria Karnot here. Her beautiful gifts in art, she used all through her life in different ways, but God's helped her to use her artistic gifts to bring glory to His name by things such as these banners and things that we oftentimes enjoy here at North Way. You see, in order to do that, to move from success to significance, it takes a personal paradigm shift. It takes a jolt in our understanding of what is happening in our life. Or as one author, an acquaintance of mine by the name of Bob Buford wrote, a reordering of our personal myth. What does that mean? Our myth is if we just keep being successful enough, sometimes somehow God will use us to affect other lives instead of realizing that God wants to use you right where you are to bring glory to Him. I want to give you quickly, and this is going to go very quickly, five great benefits to discovering your mission, letter D, as part of your life. If you know what your mission is, here's five reasons why you ought to follow God's plan and discover what it is. Number one, you'll reduce frustration. If you know God's plan, if you know what the mission is that God's put you for, you're going to reduce the frustration that so many of us live in. Friends, life is so full, isn't it? I mean, we are bombarded with choices. We're in an era that's called choice overload. I stopped at Denny's a couple of weeks ago for breakfast. And I brought the menu in just to attest to that. And I asked for, I ordered a Grand Slam. A Grand Slam. Now, how many of you have seen the ads, get the Grand Slam $2.99 anytime, whatever it is? And the waitress said, well, what kind of Grand Slam, sir? I said, well, just the Grand Slam. She said, well, sir. And she started to read. She said, we have a French Slam, four thick French toast halves, we have a Super Slam, we have a Sunshine Slam, we have a Sausage Lover Slam, a Canadian Slam, a Cinnamon Swirl Slam, a Country Slam, a Farmer Slam, a Scram Slam, and an Oxymoron of all time, a Fit, Fair, Healthy Slim Slam. Right there, I'm reading it out of the menu. So what was basically, I mean, it used to be with the Slam, it was, you know, you had two choices, take it or leave it. Now I have 12 choices, 12 slams. I'll take the Fit, Fair, Healthy Slim Slam. I mean, give me a, you should see it's piled on with like, it's dripping with fat and cholesterol, but it's healthy. I mean, it's typical of life. You know, there are 200 magazines that will go on the stands this year for the first time. This week in your grocery store, 200 new products this week. I mean, we are on choice over life. And if you don't have a driving purpose and mission in your life, you just tend to, this stuff just starts bombarding you, and you begin to just sort of not know exactly where it is that you're supposed to go. And you begin to wonder, I mean, am I doing the right thing? Am I putting my life where it's supposed to be? The real problem, listen, the real problem in America today is not overwork. It's meaningless work. It was Isaiah the prophet that said this. Have it on the overhead? But I said, I have labored to no purpose. I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing. Just look at that verse for a second. How many men and women here today would say, you know what, I'm looking back at 20 years of my career, and that's what I feel like. God said, I've put you here for a purpose. I have a destiny for you. And once you begin to know it, it reduces your frustration, and begins to move you in the plan that God has ordained for you. Isaiah later came through and discovered that plan of God and talked about Isaiah 26.3. In his presence was perfect peace, as I put on that particular scripture on your outline. Second thing it'll do for you is it'll increase your motivation. When you know God's plan, your motivation will increase, your anxiety, frustration level will decrease. Friends, if you don't have a driving purpose when you get out of bed, you just lay there. You just kind of wonder, why should I get up and go through all that effort once again? And you need some motivation in life. One of the things that I think is epidemic in our youth culture today is a sense of sort of drifting along. Like, well, I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do. One of the things, when I go to the mall, I'm intrigued by watching how kids particularly just seem to revel in that whole experience of just sort of drifting, drifting, where they go hanging out. I mean, let's hang out. And I want to just say a word to parents here. Parents, if you're a young person, middle school or senior high particularly, has been to youth group in years past but hasn't been going, this fall, September 13th, there's a whole new era of youth ministry here at North Ways kicking off. I urge you to send your kid. Just encourage him to give it a try and plug into the new team that we've established here. Because you see, once you understand what your purpose is, what happens? Hope begins to rise. And hope is what drives us. Hope is stronger than memory, even failure, even difficulty and struggle. Hope rises above that and motivates us to become all that God wants us to be. I love this scripture that Steve read in Jeremiah 29, 11. I know the plans I have for you. Friends, turn to someone and say, God has plans for you. Turn to them right now and say, God has plans for you. They're plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. When you discover God's plan for your life, it gives you lasting energy. It gives you staying power. People say, you've been there a long time with that church, 17 years. You know, the average pastorate is 5 to 6 years. And I'll tell you frankly, there have been many times in the last 17 years I just said, you know, it's time to move on. And then God comes and reminds me of what I've been called to do. And he gives me a fresh energy, a fresh enthusiasm. The word enthusiasm, you know where that word comes from? The etymology of that word, enthusiasm, entheos. That's where it comes from, the Greek word, in God. In is the preposition for in, en, entheos, for enthusiasm. How do you get energy? How do you get enthusiasm? You get in God. You discover what God has ordained for you. Ephesians 3.20, I love this verse. This should be enough to propel you out of bed in the morning. Here's what it says. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us. How many of you are asking or imagining something from God right now? You're praying for something, something in God's will. Well, the Bible says God can barely get it done, right? No, he can do what? Immeasurably more than what you can ask or think. And that should be enough to drive you, to motivate you to become all that God wants you to be. Next thing you'll do if you become a person who knows God's mission for your life is that your life will be focused. My conviction level about, and I talked about this last week, about the damage of our lives being so spread out is increasing as we go along. I'm concerned about it, friends. A lot of us are trying to do too much. We're trying to do too much. And the fact of the matter is when you spread yourself too thin, nothing gets done well. And we need to discover the power of being focused and doing some things well. Look what Paul says in Philippians 3.13. But one thing I do, forgetting what is behind and turning toward what is ahead, I press on, it goes on to say, to the mark of my high calling in Christ Jesus. It doesn't matter what you were, friend. It matters where you're going. This one thing I do. I want to do it well. Focus increases power. I wanted to bring my little laser pointer right now and just kind of use it as a demo. But I thought, you know, that's a bad, bad illustration because a bunch of you will bring yours next week and point them at my head and we'll have this laser war going. But how many of you know what I'm talking about? Those little laser pointers that, the beam literally will shoot 150 feet. I could go along the wall back there with it. And I got curious about what drives that little laser pointer. There must be some little nuclear reactor. It's got to be that strong of a beam. And I untwisted the thing. It's a little AAA battery. Two AAA, I mean, just little batteries. Now, if I took a regular light bulb and hooked up a little AAA battery to it up here, it would be very dim. You would barely, I mean, you'd be able to see it, but not much. Very dim. But you take that little AAA battery and put it into a laser-constructed kind of beam and it'll shoot 150 feet right on the wall. Why? Because it's focused. And I just have one question for you. Is your life just sort of dissipating out there like this? Or is it focused right on the mark? That's the kind of life that will change other lives. Lives that are focused. It's not that everything that we're doing is evil. Don't misunderstand me here. Many of us are doing very good things. It's not like I'm saying, you know, give up drug dealing and turn to God and do something. Most of you aren't enrolled in some kind of international terrorism course and you need to give that up in order to get in with God. Our lives are full of good things. But yet the good can keep us from God's best. And we can have a clear miss on God's will when that happens. Some of us have so many irons in the fire, we're putting the fire out in our lives when you become focused. Number four, if you find God's mission, number four, you're going to attract cooperation from others. When you know where you're going, other people want to come along. They want to help make it happen. People are looking for other people with purpose in their lives. How do I know that? You're an example. There are over 2,000 people in this church now, 2,000 adults in this church. When we started 17 years ago, there were nine couples. And you saw nine couples who knew where they wanted to go and you said, you know what? I want to go there too. And some of you have come and brought your gifts and brought your visions and other people have joined into your visions, whether it be for, you know, the crisis pregnancy centers or the marriage menders or the youth outreaches or the missions thing. People say, I want to be part of a vision. I want to go forward with what's happening. Listen, the people who make the greatest impact in our lives are not those who are the most wealthy or necessarily the smartest. Even though they like to think they are, I've discovered this in my life. The people who most impact me are the ones with number one, a compelling sense of purpose on the overhead and number two, a convincing passion. Do we have that? Compelling sense of purpose and a convincing passion. That's not on your outline, but you might want to write that down. If you know what your purpose is and you're passionate about it, listen, conviction rules the world. You show me someone who has conviction about what they believe and are compelled to go in a specific purposeful direction, they will draw people to them, whether it be for good or evil. And God has designed for you to be one of those people. And I just pray that as we move into the fall that you will see God has made you a person of influence amongst your neighbors and co-workers and friends, that you can multiply the life of God just by being a person of purpose and of passion. The fifth and final thing that will happen in you if you know God's purpose for your life is this. You will be preparing for that day of evaluation. You know what astonishes me when I talk to people? I had a conversation with a person at the health club yesterday. Most people do not have any sense that there's anything really beyond this life. Do you know that? They live... I heard a series of interviews of people saying, what's the purpose of life? Most people say this. The purpose of life is to be as happy as you can be, have the most fun that you can without hurting anybody else. That's the most common answer given. Have as much happiness as you can without hurting anybody else. And then when it's over, it's over. And I'm here to tell you, friends, listen, when this life is over, it's not over. This life is really the warm-up for the big show. And a lot of people don't get it. They're not living with an eye toward eternity. They don't understand how to say for eternity, how to prepare for eternity, and they're not going to be ready for eternity. And I want to say to those of you who are sitting here with your arms folded right now looking at me, say, well, look, I'm a Christian. I know I'm going to heaven. Well, friend, God bless you. You know, I'm glad you know that. But the Bible also says that there is such a thing called the judgment seat of Christ. You can look it up in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 7. It's called the behemoth seat of Christ, 5, 7 through 10. And before the Lord, every one of us will stand and give an account for our lives. You will say to God, Lord, thank you for bringing me into your presence. Thank you for redeeming me as a gift through Christ and the salvation I've received. Lord, here's what I did with my one and only life. And I'm here to say today that I believe that there are a lot of Christians on that day, they're going to look at God and say, wow, I didn't know. But really, you did know. You just didn't do. You didn't act. Because it takes what? It takes revelation. It takes revelation. Say that. It takes revelation. It takes God breaking in on your heart. I want to talk about that word revelation for just a second. Turn your outline over, please. What is a revelation? That word's been used a lot in the charismatic circles over the last 20 years. People come up to me today and say, I had a revelation from the Lord. Here's what the word means. Paul uses it in Ephesians 1.18. He says, I pray that you'd have a revelation of the heart. Now, here's what it's talking about. In Ephesians, wait just one second on that one, please, Karen. Paul writes in Ephesians 1, 1 through 14, he's saying to those Ephesians, he's saying, thank God that you've received grace, that you've opened your life to the grace of God, and you're now in Christ. And by the way, let me put a parenthesis here. Starting in two weeks, September 13th, I'm doing a 10-week series throughout the fall on grace. I've been saying for months, I don't think most of us, and certainly most of our neighbors and friends don't understand grace. I've titled this series Gravity and Grace. I'm going to talk about the things that pull us down in life and how grace, if fully understood and received, lifts us up into God's purpose. It's a great series to invite friends to because it's about the practicals of life, the gravity, the guilt, the fear, the relational breakdowns that God has made grace available to lift us up. You might just want to pray about bringing some folks beginning September 13th. But Paul writes and says, you've received the grace of salvation, but he said, but for this reason, I want to pray that you go on and have the eyes of your heart enlightened by a revelation of the Spirit of the Lord. What does he mean, eyes of my heart? Well, the heart or the soul of every human being, you see, has been darkened. You may not want to admit this, but if you're like me, I've had experiences, we have things in our lives that darken our soul. Some of you are here and you've had a darkening experience in your upbringing. You were somehow violated. Some of you are here today and you had a darkening experience in marriage. Some of you here have been darkened by circumstances and health. Some of you by career disasters. Some of you are here and your heart really has just been darkened by life. And Paul is saying, he's saying this, I pray that you would have a revelation and the eyes of your heart would be open to receive the light, the revelation of God. And that word revelation is the word in the Greek, from which we get the word photos, from which we get the word photography. And here's the picture. He's saying this, I pray that your heart, that the shutter on your heart would open up and that the light of God's plan for your life would shine on the dark negative of your heart circumstance and leave the imprint of the purpose of God on your soul. You hear what I'm saying? He's saying, let your heart shutter open up. Let the revelation of God's purpose flood you. Let's put that scripture up now. And let there be on your heart the negative of your soul, the imprint of God's purpose. Look what it says. That your hearts would be flooded with light so that you can understand the wonderful future He has promised to those He called. Isn't that a great translation? That's the New Living Translation of Ephesians 1.18. And church, I want to say here at North Way, I'm praying that your heart will be flooded with light. That you'll open up the shutter of your soul and say, God, fill my heart with your light so that I can know and understand the wonderful future that you have called me to. And that revelation will have three things. Number one, if you're going to take a few more notes. Number one, a revelation of hope. A revelation of hope. Hope in the Bible is not like, gee, I hope it happens. Good luck. Cross your fingers. Hope is a certainty. And here's what, we have hope of three things. Hope of salvation, we've already talked about. You don't need to guess today, friend, if you're going to be spending eternity with God. You can have a certain hope. Number two, hope in the second coming. Titus 2.13 calls it a blessed hope. The Lord Jesus is going to come in a day that we don't expect. He's going to come, the Bible says, as a thief in the night. Now, how many of you know thieves don't call in advance and say, hey, I'm coming tomorrow. Jesus said very plainly, when I come, you're not going to be prepared unless you're watching for me. And I don't know what you're seeing happening, but I know as Ross said in the beginning of the service, life is really going on in a very strange kind of way right now. There's all sort of instability out there, isn't there? I mean, Russia is sort of on the brink of this economic collapse. North Korea is developing nuclear capabilities. Didn't the UN inspector just quit saying, you know, we've been just totally hoodwinked by the Iranians, this whole inspection thing. And we're all real secure, and we seem pretty smug in America today. And the economy is still going good, even though, well, you know, we lost 1,400 points in the last four weeks in the stock market. Friends, I'm one who would say, you know what, I don't think it's all that secure. Maybe things will be fine for 10 years, and maybe they'll be fine for 10 days. I don't know. I just know that when Jesus comes, I want to be ready to be with Him. Because when He comes, if you're not ready, it's going to be too late. And we have a blessed hope, His second coming. And there's a third hope that's listed in Scripture. There's a hope of His calling. And that's what we're focusing on today. The calling that God has led in your life. And may I say in all thankfulness today, as certain as I am as your pastor that I've been called to be a pastor teacher to this body of Christ, and you have graciously affirmed that over the last 17 years. Listen, as certain as I am about that, so am certain that God has a call for Greg, and He has a call for Ron, and He has a call for Kathy, and He has a call for Gene, and He has a call for you, and for you, and for you, and for you. There's a call in your life. The only question in my mind is, do you know it? Have you found God's purpose? Or are you living life just kind of day to day? The Lord is so certain, He went ahead and called you a saint. Now how many of you grew up in a tradition where being a saint was something like, whoa, that was something really big? Well, if you grew up Catholic, you're certainly saints. I mean, wow, that's huge. I mean, even Mother Teresa is a debatable saint from what I understand, which I can't figure that out, but that's the way it's going. So for you to be a saint was unthinkable. I never considered myself much of a saint, but right here in Ephesians 1, we're called saints several times. The Lord Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, inspiring Paul said, you're a saint. A saint is a set apart one, a sanctified one, a one pleasing to God. Turn to someone right now and introduce yourself as saint and say your first name. I'm saint. Go ahead. Tell them that. I'm saint. Go ahead. Turn to someone. I'm saint. Now, I have to chuckle. We've done that a few times here over the years, and people get real, they get real kind of like, oh, I can't say it. I'm Saint Scott. You know, it just doesn't... See my friend Bernie Burns there, that's Saint Bernard. Right? Is that right? I was at a pastor's conference some years ago. Jack Heifer was leading and a couple of guys were gathered around and one of the pastors' names was Peter, the other one was Tom, and they did this little exercise and one pastor turned and said, well, I'm Saint Peter and I guard the pearly gates. Another pastor turned and looked and he said, hmm, I'm Saint Thomas and I doubt that. It's always funny. It's kind of cute. But the Bible calls us saints. If just that... Listen, hello? If just that revelation comes in and imprints itself on your soul today, you'll be... God sees you. No, Pastor Jay, God doesn't see me as a saint. You don't know the stuff I looked at this week. You don't know what I thought this week. You don't know the stuff I thought about someone else this week. My friend, God doesn't look at all that. If you're in Christ, He sees Jesus' record over your heart. Incredible, but true. That's what He thinks of you. So much so that that's the inheritance, Roman numeral 2, that you are to Him. God wants you to have a revelation of His inheritance. He loves you, the church, His people, as much as a new man loves his bride, according to Ephesians 5, 21 through 30. That's what God wants you to see. You are treasured and valued in His sight. And God wants us as a church family, He wants us to spread this message everywhere we go, that God loves people and has a plan for them. And I just want to say, sort of again parenthetically here right now, in the season ahead, we are focusing the efforts and energies of this church to get that word out, particularly to the younger generation, to those in their 20s and teens and even the children amongst us. In fact, we as a team felt so strongly about this, we have reworded our mission statement. And with Karen's help here, I'm going to put this up. Our new mission statement is a revision. The vision statement is a change. Not change, but you will notice next week that this new mission statement will appear in the notes. Here's what it says. To reach and empower the next generations for Christ as we discover and engage our gifts through authentic relationships and small groups. We are going to pour all of our best energies and resources into winning young people to Christ. And I'll tell you why. I'm convinced because of this one fact that this is where we're to go. Did you know that 85% of all people who come to Christ do so before the age of 21? 85%. If you're here today and you gave your life to Christ when you were an adult, I want to say you should particularly be thanking God because you are the exception to the rule. And so we're going to invest our energies in Kairos Ministry, in Senior High Ministry, in Junior High Ministry, in all of our children. You're going to see changes. If you'll take your notes in there, you'll see a full page of staff that because of your faithful giving, we are now releasing into the next generation of ministry. It's right there. And you're going to see things for families. If you know a family moving into your neighborhood, invite them to this church because there's going to be something for their family right here. Now you say, Jay, if I'm a baby boomer like I am, are we going to forget? No, we've got great things for you. As Scott said earlier, we have some exciting things happening for all ages. But friends, we're going to focus on this next generation because we w