|
Life Worth Leading 1 Pastor Sue Briner Numbers 13:25-33
The Power of Purpose John 17:1-5
September 9, 2007
Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ
A life worth leading.
That’s the theme of our sermon series
And our congregational-wide study.
It’s based on Scripture,
And on Lutheran Pastor Eric Burtness’ book
“A Life Worth Leading”.
The title is from Paul’s words to the people of God at Ephesus. (Eph. 4:1)
He tells them:
“I, therefore, the prisoner in the Lord,
Beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling
To which you have been called…”
This series is part of how we listen
To where God is calling us
To get more deeply involved in
His mission to bless and save the world.
So we are going to focus for the next 8 weeks on
Learning more about who we are as people who are claimed, gifted
And called by God to lead lives that are worth living –
Lives that have purpose.
Our children also have the opportunity in their Sunday school classes,
To grow in the love of Christ,
So that they can go into the world
And live lives worth leading.
I encourage you to make it a priority
To come to worship this next 8 weeks,
AND to be involved in Sunday school
Or a midweek growth group.
It is a great gift you will give to yourself and to your family.
Now, the topic for this week is the power of purpose.
Author James White believes
That people tend to live their lives at one of three levels –
Survival, success or significance.
I would change that slightly to say
There are 4 different levels we might operate in:
– Survival, subsistence,
Success and significance.
The first level, survival,
Has far too many people in it.
For them, each day is a struggle to survive
Because they live with chronic hunger and poverty.
And they are folks for whom we as Christians
Are called to share our bounty with,
And to advocate for,
So that they can get beyond “survival” mode.
Jesus speaks to this in Matthew’s gospel;
When he tells us that as we feed the hungry and clothe the naked,
We are caring for Christ himself.
We’ll talk more about this call in the coming weeks.
Now the second level I would call “subsistence.”
This is when we have all the basics to survive,
But we tend to run on autopilot.
We get up every morning,
Go to school or work,
Come home, watch TV,
Visit friends, go to bed,
Wake up the next morning
And do the same things all over again.
In this mode, life consists of the accumulation of days,
You live one day, then the next,
You go to work, you get old, and you die.
Pretty simple, but also pretty unremarkable,
And pretty unfulfilling.
I confess that I have times in my life
When I get stuck on “autopilot,”
Just “getting through” life.
Maybe you do too.
But that’s not how Christians understand life, as something to just “get through”.
Jesus tells us in John’s gospel (John 10:10) –
I have come that you may have life,
And have it abundantly!
That sounds like a lot more than just subsistence living.
Or listen to the words from Jeremiah: (Jer. 29:11)
“For surely I know the plans I have for you,
says the Lord; plans for your welfare and not for harm;
to give you a future with hope…”
God has great plans for you.
You may not know it, but God knows it!
Now sometimes, we confuse abundant life with the third level of living: Success
In this level, we think abundant life means an abundance of possessions –
A big car, a big house, expensive toys and so on.
That’s what we refer to in our culture
As “living the good life,” right?
The problem with focusing on success is that
We can NEVER have enough to be truly satisfied.
It’s sort of like trying to satisfy our hunger cravings with junk food –
We may have a sugar high for a while,
But our body can’t survive forever on it.
The abundant life Jesus is referring to is a different kind of life.
Jesus also refers to it as eternal life.
This is the free gift we receive in our baptism.
But we often think of it as simply a future reward,
Which we don’t get to cash in on until after we die.
But let’s turn to today’s gospel reading.
This is part of Jesus’ final prayer to His Father
Before He is arrested and crucified.
Jesus prays for himself,
That He will be able to complete His mission,
And then he prays for his disciples and for the world.
Let’s read together v. 3:
And this is eternal life, that they may know you,
The only true God,
And Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
Eternal life involves knowing God in Jesus Christ –
Having a deep, abiding relationship with Him.
As we get to know Him, we discover His purpose for our lives.
God doesn’t want us to wait until after we die to get to know Him –
He wants a relationship with us right now,
And throughout our earthly lives.
Now, God already knows usintimately –
Listen to Psalm 139:
O LORD, you have searched me and known me.
You search out my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways.
For it was you who formed my inward parts;
You knit me together in my mother's womb.
God knew us before we were born,
Because He created us.
And He deeply and desperately wants us to know Him,
And to know of His love and care for us.
He wanted us to know Him so much that He sent His son to earth
So that through Him,
We might know the heart and mind of God more fully.
He deeply and desperately wants us to know
Of His purpose for our lives,
A purpose that carries us far beyond simply subsisting,
And brings us so much more than the empty promises of success.
God wants us to know Him, and through knowing Him
To lead lives of significance and purpose.
Now, what stops us from receiving and living
The abundant life God wants for each one of us?
Pastor Eric refers to it as the “Grasshopper Complex.”
He gets it from today’s lesson from Numbers.
In this reading the people of Israel
Are camped out close to the promised land.
You’ll recall from the book of Exodus,
That God used Moses to rescue His people from slavery in Egypt.
And You know the miraculous story of the plagues,
The Passover, the parting of the sea,
And God’s providing food, water and direction
For God’s people as they headed toward
The land that the Lord had promised them.
So by this time God’s people had seen all kinds of miracles and wonders –
They had experienced God’s incredible care of them,
And his activity in their lives,
And now here they are,
Ready to take possession of this land.
And God tells Moses to send a few men
To spy out what kind of land it is,
And what kind of people live in it.
And in today’s reading the spies have just come back from their investigation
And they report to the people that
“This is indeed a land of milk and honey,
And look at the size of the wonderful fruit there!
It’s everything God promised us!”
But then, beginning at verse 28,
Comes that terrible word that negates all that God promises: “Yet”
It’s like its cousin, the word “But”.
“YET the people in the land are strong,
And their cities are fortified!”
And there’s the problem right there –
We humans tend to live by “buts” and “yets.”
In uttering those words, the spies forget their mission.
They were just supposed to look at the land God promised them
It was going to be theirs.
But instead of focusing on the potential that God asked them to look at,
The focused on the problems they thought they were going to face.
They took their eyes off God and said “we can’t do it.”
They were so full of fear they made up an unfavorable report
About a land that devours its inhabitants,
And has giants that make the Israelites look like grasshoppers.
When things looked bad, what did they focus on?
Fear, not faith.
They said, God, this challenge is not only too big for us,
We know it’s too big for you too.
We don’t believe you will do what you promised.
Think of that in your own life,
And in our life together as the people of God.
There are things that God is calling us to do, and to be,
But how often do we let fear replace faith,
And rob us of the blessings God intends for us?
Christ came so that we could have abundant life.
He wants us to have a life filled with joy and purpose and significance.
Do you believe Him?
Do you trust Him to do this for you?
Let’s pray together.
Our heavenly Father,
Thank you for loving us so deeply.
Thank you for saving us.
Thank you for giving us purpose in our lives.
Help us to grow in our love toward you
And in an understanding of what you call us to do
As your beloved children.
Help us let go of our fears
So that we can trust and follow you more fully.
Fill us at your table of grace
So we can be strengthened to live lives that are worth leading.
In Christ’s name we pray.
Amen. |
Worship