The Wonder Of His Love VI, The Wonder Of His Purpose

Chapter 12, read today's text and get right into this message for this morning. And if you've missed the last couple Sundays and did not pick up your directory and your calendar, there's just a few left out there at the Information Center in these packets, pick those up and get up to speed with us. Luke 12, please. Verse 13. It's called the parable of the rich fool. Someone in the crowd said to him, Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. Even then, people were fighting about money. Jesus replied, Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you? Then he said to them, Watch out. Be on your guard against all kinds of greed. For a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. And he told them this parable. The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. And he thought to himself, What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops. Then he said, This is what I'll do. I'll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. And there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I'll say to myself, You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy. Eat, drink, and be merry. The Bible doesn't say, God helps those who help themselves. It does say, Eat, drink, and be merry. If you want to be a rich fool. But God said to them, You fool this very night. To him rather, You fool this very night. Your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you've prepared for yourself? And this is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself. But is not rich toward God. Well, this is the time of the year when many of us take stock of our lives. We do a little self-examination and see if we can institute some change in the new year. I trust you're going to do that. It's an excellent time to do it if you can find the time to do it. Am I amongst those who have discovered that life seems to be on an ever accelerating pace of things to do? Or is it just me? I mean, no matter what I seem to do to try to slow things down. I've got so many things in my basket. I don't ever seem to have time to do everything that I feel I need to do. It's becoming time that is our most valuable possession in the 90s. Some are calling it the currency of the 90s. The dominant indication of what we really value is where we invest our time. Citicorp became the number one lender in America when it cut in half the number of days that it took for a loan to be processed. Get it faster, get it here. Remember Denny's a couple of years ago instituted the 10-minute lunch deal? And they come out to your table and put this little timer on and guarantee you get your lunch in 10 minutes or less? They only did that for about six months and they lost a ton of money. They got a lot of business but couldn't meet the expectations. Domino's. We all know Domino's promises. They became the number one pizza seller in America by promising to deliver you a steaming hot pizza in 30 minutes. In fact the CEO of Domino's says we don't sell pizza, we sell delivery. And if you've ever tasted one, you may know that that's probably true. USA Today said a Detroit hospital picked up on the Domino's idea a while back and guaranteed that emergency room patients would be seen within 20 minutes of admission or their treatment was free. Amazingly, Doctors Hospital is cashing in on this since it began. Business is up 30%. The mortality rate is up 110% but just a bit of a compromise there, that's all. But we are in a hurry just about all the time, are we not? Will it be any different in 1997? Will it be any slower? Will we find the time to hear from God? In 1967, a special Senate subcommittee received expert testimony from authorities on our national network saying that labor-saving technology was going to change the way Americans lived. In fact, they said within the next 20 years, people would be working only 32 weeks a year or on average, they would be working 22 hours a week or on average, they would retire at age 42. Why? Because we'd be saving all this time with all this help. They said the number one challenge we would face with regard to time would be what to do with all the extra time we had left over. I just want to ask, how many of you have found that's true with your life? What should I do with all my leftover time? If anything, we seem to have less time despite whatever labor-saving devices that we have. Will we ever find the time to slow down enough to hear what God would say about what really matters in our lives? It's interesting, during that same period, the mid-60s, a whole new kind of restaurant was developed. A restaurant that was based not on the quality of food or the kind of food or even the price of food but restaurants that were noted only by the speed with which they delivered the food. We coined a phrase for them. We called them fast food restaurants. Not good food, not cheap food, but fast food. But even fast food restaurants weren't fast enough. I mean, you still had to park your car and walk in and order and wait in line and then sit down and eat and walk back out. So we created the drive-through so families could drive through and get their food and eat in vans, as God intended them. Our world just keeps moving faster and faster and faster. Pay at the pump, express mail, express checkout lines, which is an oxymoron, by the way. But all of this busyness begins to creep into our minds and our soul and our spirits. And it begins to fuzzy the communication that God wants to send to our hearts. And I know that I'm not the only one. Sometimes I think I am. I'm infected with this disease that I call hurry sickness. Sometimes I've heard it called rush, being a rushaholic, and I don't mean the radio announcer, but always rushing around. And then I'm reminded, well, maybe I'm not the only one. And I just want to have a moment here to see if I am or not. And, in fact, it might be a time, if you're one of those people that's always in a hurry, you might want to just confess it and clear the decks for 96 and open to 97 along with me. But here, take a little test, all right? Let's just see how many people here are really always in a hurry and it's bothering you. I'm going to ask you to put your hand up in just a minute to... No, not yet. Put it up in just a minute, okay? Now, there's a good example, see? Give me time to get the whole story out, all right? You have hurry sickness if you do any of the following. For example, when you're traveling on Route 19 or McKnight Road and you come up to a stoplight and there are two cars, one in each lane in front of you, as you're approaching the intersection, do you analyze in your mind which car you think is probably going to pull out faster? I mean, do you look at the model and the make and, you know, oh, it's a van with seven kids in it, no way I'm getting behind that one, you know? Do you do that? Then you probably have hurry sickness. Or how about if you're in a grocery line or Farmore or Kmart or whatever, you know? And, you know, you step up to the line and you, as you do, you're calibrating how many carts and the size of the baskets and the amount of stuff that's in them and, you know, how adept is the checkout person? Are they good or are they real slow? And if you really got this sickness, you know, you kind of stay in both lines, just kind of hoping to get, you know? Do you ever do that? And if they have a bagger, oh, that helps, you know, getting that one. And if you're really sick, if you got this disease really bad, you'll look where you would have been if you'd gotten in the other line, huh? Is that you? And you kind of watch and you think. And if that person gets through the line before you do, because you would have been there, you get really depressed, you know? You lost, you know? Okay, if you have that. Now, let me just see. How many people have hurry sickness to some degree? I feel better. What's going to change in 97? More faster? Quicker? Hurrier? I don't know. But if we're to hear the voice of God for our lives, friends, we need to make time. I mean, what drives us anyhow? I mean, what's driving us to stay, you know, at such a pace anyhow? Well, I think it's the same thing that maybe drove this man in Luke chapter 12. Is it the dream of maximized potential or the thrill of competition or the fear of just surviving? I don't know. But there's two great myths that undergird all of this in our culture. One is this. This is the first blank in your outline. When things settle down, I'll find time for the important things. When things settle down, I'll make some time to really figure out life and what it's about. And friends, can I tell you what I've discovered about things? They never do settle down. In fact, you'll have to make time to hear. You'll have to go out of your way to eliminate hurry. You've got to be ruthless about making time because it won't just fall into your lap. You know, Jesus lived a full life, a fruitful life. He had many things going on. Many people were after his time. But we never once read that Jesus hurried. The Bible never says he hurried off to Capernaum or he hurried up to the temple for prayer. You know, I go 70 miles an hour to get to prayer meeting on time. Jesus never did that kind of thing. He had time. The second myth is equally devastating. And that's the myth that drives us, that makes us think if we just did a little bit more, we'll have enough and then we'll be able to slow down. More will be enough. More stuff, more material things perhaps, but also, you know, more friendships, more relationships, more activities, even more ministry. And we're always afraid, you know, that it just isn't going to be enough. We don't have enough. We need to take a little different attitude. I saw a Peanuts cartoon a while back where Snoopy was, you know, laying on his doghouse roof like he does once in a while looking up at the stars. It was on Thanksgiving Day. It was dinnertime and he had his little bowl of dog food next to the house. And he's outside and you can see Charlie Brown eating his big turkey dinner in the house. And Snoopy's looking up and you can tell he says, well, it could be worse. I could have been born a turkey. And I want you to remember those words in 1997. They may not be scriptural exactly, but I want you to say them with me. It could be worse. Friends, it could be worse. It could be a lot worse. And so when you begin to feel frustration mounting up about some things in your life, about what you don't have, remember, it could be worse. For example, when you head out into the parking lot to get in your car, you're going to be tempted to compare yours to the guy two stalls down who has that new luxury model you just always wished you could have. And you're going to just put your hand on the doorknob and think about it, be tempted to think, I wish I had that. But instead you're going to say, with passion. It could be worse. When you get out of your car and you walk up to your apartment or your townhouse or your house or whatever, and you know, you're, you know, things are kind of falling apart just a bit. And it's not the way you want to be. You're going to be tempted to complain and murmur. But instead, when you put your hand on the knob, you're going to say, with passion. Tomorrow morning, when you wake up and roll over and look at your spouse, you're going to, no, no, you're not going to say anything. Don't do that. Before you drive yourself into oblivion, keeping up the rat race. Let's look at how we might slow down just a little bit and listen to what God says our purpose for living is all about. He has everything under control. Friends, I've never been more convinced of that. And I don't need to fill every waking moment with efforts to make my way if God is working on my behalf. In fact, I can make time to discover his purpose for me and move in the stream of his blessing and his anointing. So the question then for this morning is, how do I discover his purpose? And there are really just two options. One is what we'll call basically speculation. And millions of Americans are going to go into college campuses and Borders bookstores and the New Age section and around coffee machines and water coolers all around the world and speculate as to the purpose of life. And why am I here? What's life about? And the only problem with building your life in speculation is nobody really knows if you're right or not. Isn't that true? I mean, in the end, you may think crystals are the meaning of life. Or maybe it's the environment is what life's all about. Or maybe it's, you know, whatever sign you were born under. And who's to say that you're wrong? If you're just speculating, your guess is as good as mine. But I want to submit to you a better way of discovering God's purpose is knowing what this book says. The most trusted authority of all time is right here in my hands and can be in yours as well. And I want to submit to you not speculation, but revelation is what we need to build our lives upon. Some of you are newer to all this understanding of what Christ is about. But this book contains the answers to the secrets of life. And God, you'll discover something no matter how long you've been a Christian, keeps mining treasures from this book. You don't read it once and put it on the shelf and say, well, I've read that. Every year you read it again and again and again and discover new things about God. So I want to commend to you the Bible to be the source of revelation, the source of purpose for your life. And if you don't have a plan in mind, can I suggest one for you? You know, every year people say, well, how do you read through the Bible? And, you know, I'm not disciplined enough just to sit down and read X number of chapters every night. So I use this little thing called the Victory Bible Plan. And I've held one up every year. And I say to people, this is what I use. And it just tells you a chapter or two in the Old Testament and Psalms and Proverbs and one in the New Testament every day. And these are available on the Information Center and the bookstore. I recommend these. Put it in your Bible. And then if you wake up and say, well, what should I read today? God, you don't just fall open to something. I mean, you know exactly where you are and you just keep right on reading. And if you miss a day, you don't heap guilt on yourself. You just pick it up. Friends, get a plan. Discover God's purpose for your life. Read the Word. I want to say it strongly in this service. Read this Word. Get in the Bible. Be here when we gather to teach the Word on Sundays and Wednesdays and in your cell groups if at all possible. Because that's where you're going to find your purpose. Let me just highlight these four things. These are four general purposes everyone needs to discover. It won't take long. Number one. Everyone here in the room needs to answer these questions. Here's the first one. What will be the center of my life? Another way of asking this, who or what, when it's all said and done, will you live for? That's the starting point. What will be the center of my life? And can I just issue a word of caution to those of you who are believers in this service? Some of you are just seeking. You're not sure if you're a Christian or not. But a lot of us would say the majority are Christians. And we'd say, well, yeah, of course. It's Christ who's at the center of my life. But, you know, I'm not always sure that we live that way. I made an acquaintance a few years ago down in Dallas, Texas. The man's name is Bob Buford. Bob is a very successful cable TV operator. His family owned a business, and he piloted that business into a multimillion-dollar company. And Bob had the money to retire and do whatever he pleased when he was 40 years old. So he was kind of wondering what to do with his life. And he would have called himself a Christian by our definition. He had received Jesus Christ personally into his life. But he wasn't sure what to do. And so he made an investment and went and spent a day with a man by the name of Mike Comming. Some of you may know that name, K-A-M-I, who consults with many of the major corporate leaders in America, Coca-Cola and IBM and so on. And when he sat down with him, here's what he said. He announced that we could not put together an honest plan for my life until I identified the mainspring. He said, I've been listening to you for a couple of hours, and I'm going to ask you what's in the box. What's the driving motivation of your heart? For you, it's either money or Jesus Christ. If you can tell me which one it is, I can tell you the strategic planning implications of that choice. If you can't tell me, you're going to oscillate between these two values and be confused. No one had ever put such a significant question to me so directly, Buford says. And after a few minutes, which seemed like hours, I said, well, if it has to be one or the other, see, it hadn't been. But if it has to be, I'll put Jesus Christ in the box. It was an act of faith, and it was a daunting challenge to me, and it changed my life forever. You see, friends, we may call ourselves Christians, but it isn't God's definition just to say, well, I believe in Jesus up here. As I said on Christmas Eve, it has to do with what's at the center of your being. What's the driving motivation in your daily walk? Is it honoring God through Jesus Christ? Or is it just kind of balancing all of life so that you can, as the man in Luke 12, accumulate more and acquire more and have more security? What's at the center of your life? And I can tell you from Scripture, and you know this already, the second blank's there. God said that He made you to know and love Him. That's what He wants you to do, to know and love Him. Look at those Scriptures. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the next one, Philippians 3, as we just sang, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. So who's at the center? And if you're not sure who's at the center and you want to investigate more, can I commend you to a small group at North Way in the New Year? Just see one of the pastoral team or fill out a communicator and put it in one of the baskets in the back on your way out. We're going to have small groups that will help you discover how to put Christ in the center of your life. Establish a disciplined time with the Lord each day. Put Him in the center. Number two. Second major question we all have to ask is, What will be the character of my life? The answer to this question, what I'm going to be, is far more important than, hey, what do you do? And yet that's the question we tend to want to answer. Well, this is what I do. What kind of person are you becoming in this life? Not what kind of person were you. God knows and I know and we can't change what we were, but we can certainly change what we are and what we're going to be. This life you see is really a test, isn't it? I mean, it's preparation for eternity and that's really the major focus of this life. I like to call it, life is God's SAT. Our spiritual attitude test. Because it will determine very clearly where you're going to spend eternity. You're going to live 70 or 80 or 90 years in the earth, but you're going to live billions and billions and billions of years in eternity. And it's going to either be with God or apart from Him. This is preschool. That's life. That's what it's all about. None of us take our careers into heaven, only our character. God will not be impressed if you roll out this huge portfolio on the day of judgment. He won't be awed by the number of titles beside your name. He's going to want to know about your character. He's going to want to know, are you like my son? Look at that next scripture. God says, He made me to become like Christ. Look at that next blank. He made me to become like Christ. From the very beginning, God decided that those who came to Him should become like His Son. Circle, become like His Son. That's the image that we're to be molded after. Philippians 2.5. Have this attitude in you that was in Christ Jesus. That was our reading for this morning in the Victory Plan. And what kind of character did Jesus have? Friends, I don't know about you, but when I read the Gospels, I see spiritual integrity. I see Jesus doing and saying the same thing all the time, consistently. I see a serving heart at work. I see an obedient spirit to the will of the Father. I see sacrifice. I see humility. I see exalting the Father. Galatians 5 lists nine fruits of the Spirit. Some call these the primary character qualities of life. Can we put those up, please, Nancy? Look at these nine and read the verse out loud with me, would you please? But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. And I'll leave that up for just a second. Look at that list up in the overhead, please. In your mind, circle the one or two of those that you say, well, you know, if I did an examination right now, these one or two would be most critical for me to improve upon in the year ahead. I got a lot of joy, but I don't have a whole lot of patience. Or I have a lot of kindness, but I'm kind of lacking in self-control. Got it? Now, whatever it is, write it on the margin of your notes. Well, this is the one or two that I would really like to see changed in 1997. All right? Because if you're not specific, can I tell you something? You won't change. I promise you, if you pray a prayer, oh God, make me a better person in 97, you have already lost the battle. But if you pray a prayer, Lord, increase my peace in the year ahead. Help me to calm down. God will begin to do that in your life. If you say, Lord, increase my patience, God will begin to do that in your life. And how will He do it? How will God change your character? Will He just pour that out? Okay, here's a fresh dose of patience, and He just pours it out. How does He do it? No, He puts you in the very circumstance that's the opposite of that. All right? That's how He does it. So if you ask for patience, get ready to get in the line that always takes the longest. Get ready to be in the situation where the person never picks up the phone until the 40th ring or whatever it is. Patience. That's how He does it. Why? Because Jesus, the Bible says, also learned obedience through the things that He suffered. He learned by being in those circumstances, and that's how you learn. Was Jesus lonely? Yes, He was from time to time. Was He rejected? Yes, He was from time to time. Do you think your life's just going to cruise along because you... No, God will put you in circumstances where you'll have to grow by learning to trust Him. That's how we grow character in our lives. A lot of folks don't understand that. A lot of people want to grow in love. How many want to be more loving in 97? That's one of my... I want to be. But He's not going to do that by surrounding me by a whole bunch of wonderful people. He's going to surround me with people who just kind of, you know, grind off my rough edges a little bit. That's the way God works. Number three, what will be the contribution of my life? As you look into the new year, what is going to be the thing that you're going to give of yourself that will make a difference in the kingdom of God? You know, as an observation, in this culture, from the get-go, and if I sat around your Christmas gift exchanges, how many of our little ones, even the little infants that we had, start right out of the womb getting bombarded with stuff? And how many of you notice by the time they're 3 or 4 or 5, all Christmas is about to them is what they're going to get? Huh? Do you notice that? Not too many 5-year-olds are saying, Oh, I can't wait to give my best presents. It's not until people get to be grandparents that they're finally, Oh, this is really what it's about. Everything in life is oriented early on around getting. And we're taught to acquire, we're taught to be like this guy that just keeps building bigger barns and becoming more and more acquisition-oriented. Well, the Bible would paint a different picture. The Bible would say that life really has to do with learning to give. It's when you learn to give that you learn to live. We spend so much of our life trying to get that we don't learn how to live life by learning to give. Can I ask you, I want to challenge you in the year ahead, ask God to show you what contribution you could make, to someone else becoming what God would want them to be. And you know what, friends? This is where a lot of people swing back and say, I can't do anything up here, or I can't do anything. You have no idea what may seem like an insignificant contribution might change the course of someone's life. There was an usher that helped two young men, two teenage boys were looking for a way to get into a meeting, and this usher saw them peeking around trying to get in, there was no seats. They were just about to leave. The usher went and got them and said, boys, come with me. And he wiggled them down and set up two chairs in the front row of this tent meeting. The two boys stayed, and both of them responded at the end of that service and gave their lives to Christ. You may not know the first name, Grady Wilson, but you'll know the second one, Billy Graham. They both came to Christ in one service where an usher made the effort to get them a seat so they could hear the message that was being preached. You know, I just have to think, this past Christmas Eve, it may have been that person, that one of our ushers got a chair or helped to make some space standing in the back so they could hear that cantata and then listen to the message on John 3.16, and maybe that night there was a life change. And it wouldn't have happened if someone hadn't reached out to them. It wouldn't have happened if someone hadn't helped them to get into the building and get a parking spot and all the rest. We need contributions, big and small. And I also want to say, this is a year that some of you need to make a big contribution of your energies, of your resources, of your time. This is the year that some of you need to finally get moving in what God's called you to do, to start a new ministry venture, to turn down a promotion in the world so you might receive one in the eyes of God perhaps, to invest significant dollars in a ministry or a mission. Maybe it's nothing to do with this church, but God's been putting it in your ear. Make an investment. Make a difference. Maybe it's give meaningful amounts of time to a needy person or family to help. Look at 1 Peter 4.10. God has given each of you some special abilities. Be sure to use them to help each other, passing on to others God's many kinds of blessings. Friends, what do you love to do? Start to do that for the kingdom of God. Just a little word of caution. Can I say this as well? Just because you love to do something doesn't mean you're necessarily gifted at it. And you need to hear others help affirm some of your choices in that respect. You know what I mean there. All right. What's the final thing? Well, what will be, number four, the core message? What will be the core message of my life? Well, the answer is that God made you to tell others about Him. God made me to tell others about Him. Look what Paul writes. Life is worth nothing unless I use it for doing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus. The work of telling others the good news about God's mighty... Can you say that? Can you say that? Can you say life is worth nothing unless I use it for doing the work assigned me? You know what I think the problem is with many, many believers today is life's worth a lot of other things, whether or not they tell anybody. That wasn't the case with Paul. Now, we're all called to share that general good news. And I want to say, I want to commend this group of people. Those of you who reached out and brought folks the last few weeks, the different things we've been doing, the marriage seminar and Christmas Eve and the Fall Festival. Isn't it rewarding to see somebody's face light up? To see the light go on in their mind and in their heart? That there's going to be a difference there. I wanted you to hear a testimony today. We didn't have... We couldn't pull it together and we'll have to do it another time. But there are ones amongst us who are really gifted at bringing another one along. And then, in this testimony, the one that was brought along has brought another one along. And you're seeing generations of people bringing others along to Christ. Can I say, in 1997, let's all ask God to use us to bring someone else along. Just one person along. It's so easy to do if you're available to God. He'll use you. But also, there's many of us who have a unique passion. If I say the word abortion, some of us get real defensive, but some of us get really fired up. I mean, we've really got to do something about this. If I say the word missions, some of you can't wait to get involved in a short-term mission or get overseas. When I say kids' ministry, I mean, some of you, when you saw those babies lining up here, you just started to... Oh, you started to oogle inside. Oh, I wish I could hold one. I wish... You can hold all you want. Just go right back in the nursery there and squeeze and hold all you want to. We need you. Some of you may be prayer ministry or worship ministry or caring for the elderly or serving an inner-city mission. But find your passion and do it. We need each other to champion this message. May I say that's one reason we need to hear each other's voice now and then. That's why you're going to hear other people bringing the message from the pulpit, because you need to hear other voices. So God's message takes shape in your heart. One last thing. May God bathe all of that in love. You know, this week, as I was reading in the victory plan, 1 Corinthians 13 came along. The Bible says there, if I give my life to be burned, if I give all my possessions away, if I can prophesy and tell you things that are going to happen in the future, like, you know, who's going to win the game today? Or something really important, like, you know, when will the world end? Or whatever. If I can do all that but have not love, it profits me nothing. So my highest prayer is that, Jesus, you'd reduce me to love in 1997. And then for each of you, that you'd make a point of dealing with Christ at the center. Christ's character being built in your life. Whatever contribution you're to bring to the kingdom of God, that you do it with all of your heart. And that core message, that good news, would just come out of you naturally, daily. And God will have his way with each one of us in the year ahead. Let's stand and thank him for that. Nancy, if you'll put up all four of those for just a moment. Let's pray. Father, I want to thank you right now for your presence here today, in this place. I thank you, Father, for what you have been doing in this church. You know, just before we move on, I want to stay in this attitude of prayer. In the first service, we responded in one way. In this service, I believe the Lord wants us to do something different. I believe that God has been touching a number of us today. And the thing that he's touching us about is who's at the center of our lives. And when I shared that point earlier, you were honestly thinking, well, you know, if I examine my heart, it's not God at the center. It's something else. Friend, I want to ask you today, are you ready to come and say to God that, Lord, I need you in my life. I need you to be in the center of my life. I need Jesus Christ, your Son, to be my redemption, my salvation, the forgiver of my pride and independence and sin. If you do, if you want to ask God, friend, here's the exciting thing. If you simply pray an honest prayer, the Lord says, I'll hear that prayer and I'll come in and take my place in the center of your life. Heads are bowed, please. Let's pray that prayer. If you desire to know Christ personally and put him in the center of your life and see your life around his purpose, pray this with me. Heavenly Father, just say the words where you are. Heavenly Father, I need you in my life today. Jesus Christ, I invite you to be the center of my life. Please forgive my sin and make me a brand new person. Help me to live for you, God. In your name I pray. P