WHAT
IS GOD’S WILL FOR MY LIFE (PART 1): WHOSE AM I?
Introduction
Today,
we want to begin a new sermon series entitled, “What is God’s Will For My
Life?” I feel confident in
assuming that each one of us have found ourselves asking that question at some
point in our lives. Of course,
there are different situations in which we can find ourselves asking that
question. Someone may ask that
question when they are graduating high school and looking at different
colleges. Another may ask that
question when they are dating someone and want to discern if it is God’s will
to marry him or her. Still another
may ask that question when exploring a new job opportunity. When we want to be faithful to being in
the perfect will of God, we take that question seriously. How do
we know God’s will for our lives?
Whose
Am I?
The solution to
our problem is to ask the right questions
at the right time. When we are
seeking to figure out what we are supposed to do with our lives, there are
three questions that we need to ask in the right order. There are actually three parts to the
calling of God on your life. The
best way to understand these three parts to God’s calling on your life is to
ask these three questions.
Usually, when we
want to know God’s will, begin with this question: What am I supposed to do?
This is a very important question.
This is the one that is on everyone’s mind, but this is the last
question that we should be asking, not the first. This is actually the third part of God’s calling on our
lives. So, we are going to answer
that question in the third sermon of this series, two weeks from now.
The second
question that we need to ask is, “Who am
I?” This is the second part of
God’s calling on your life. I like
how Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges explain this question:
[This question] deals with your
life purpose. Why did the Lord put you on this earth? What does he want to do
through you? Scripture teaches that true success [and I would add living an
extraordinary life] is the fulfillment of the life mission God planned for
you. Your success in life depends
on your relationship with Christ and what level of control you will let Him have
in your life. Are you willing to
surrender all to Him and to live as he would have you live, rather than how you
want to live?[1]
When you are
asking the question, “Who am I?” you are asking who God has created you to be
and do. You are being real about
your strengths and your weaknesses.
Part of discovering who you are, your strengths and weaknesses, is that
you are acknowledging that there are some things that God has created you to do
and some things that you are not
created to do. For example, I just
was not created to be an accountant.
I am also not created to be a brain-surgeon. I don’t have the patience to do that. That’s not saying that something is
wrong with me. It is discovering
what God has not created me to do and being honest about it and “being cool
with that.” Since this is the
second most important question, we will begin to answer that question next
week.
Unfortunately,
many teachings on God’s calling stops there. They end with “who you are.” Unfortunately, the end result of ending there is that it can
make God’s calling very human-centered instead of God-centered.
Therefore, there
is a more important question that we need to answer before we can truly
understand who we are and what we are supposed to do in our lives. You have to begin by answering this
question honestly and with extreme humility. The most fundamental and important question that you need to
ask and answer when seeking God’s will for you life is…
“Whose Am I?”
Who do you belong
to? In other words, who is really
your God? When you ask that
question, you are “dealing with the primary authority and audience for your
life. In other words, whom are you
trying to please?”[2] You cannot discover God’s will for your
life if you do not know him, seek him, his will, obey him, and worship him
only. “If you live your life that
is not designed to please God or give Him control, your perspective will be
inward and focused on self. If you
live your life to please God and put him in charge, your perspective will be
outward and characterized by God-given confidence that will lead your life.”[3] Today, we are going to focus on that
question: “Whose am I?” and what that looks like in our lives.
How do we know whose we are? How do we know who our God
really is? There are three simple
ways to determine whose you are – who has control over your life?
Where is Your Hope?
The first way to
know whose you are is to answer the question, “Where is your hope?” There are two ways that we can define
“hope.” The first is that we hope
for something but there is a sense of uncertainty. We say things like, “I hope I get this job,” or “I hope the
Giants win the Super Bowl tonight,” but there is a sense of uncertainty. The other way that we can define “hope”
is a confident expectation in something. I love how theologian Jurgen Moltmann
defines hope: Our hope is a confident expectation in Jesus Christ.
But problems
happen in our lives when we have misplaced hope. There are many things in which we can put our hope that will
cause us to forget whose we are and lead to a meaningless and unfulfilled life.
We can mistakenly put our hope in ourselves. We hope in our natural abilities and talents. The problem is that we are fallible and
tend to err. We also can err by
placing our hope in reason. We can
think our way to joy, happiness, and fulfillment. The problem is that our reason is limited. We can only reason by what we see,
touch, hear, feel, and taste. We also can make the mistake of placing our hope
in science. Certainly, science has
produced many jobs and innovation has helped us in many ways, but science can
be and is constantly corrupted and used for evil instead of for good. Another misplaced hope is in fame and
money. But, both are fleeting. They disappear just as fast as they
appear. The Bible teaches that the
love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Another misplaced hope is in
our government. Certainly,
government is an institution created by God, but it is limited by man and can
also be corrupted and used for evil.
What does it mean to place our hope in Jesus Christ. First, it is a confident trust that he
is the King of Kings and Lord of Lord. He
is Lord of all and he is reigning right now.
Second, it is a
confident expectation that he is returning to this earth to judge the living
and the dead. In the Bible, it is
called the “Day of the Lord.”
Jesus will come back one day and establish his present reign
forever.
When our hope is
in Jesus Christ, it will affect how we live our lives. The first way that hope in Jesus Christ
should impact our lives is the proclamation of the message that Jesus Christ is
Lord and that he was raised from the dead. As people whose hope is in Jesus Christ, we are called to be
ambassadors of the King until he comes.
Peter says in 1 Peter 3:15, “Always be prepared to give an answer to
everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and
respect.” When the Apostles were
sent out two by two and in the Acts of the Apostles, they went out and preached
a message of hope! The hope of Jesus
Christ should impact our message to the world around us – “There is hope!”
The second way
that hope in Jesus Christ should impact our lives is in holiness. There is a common definition of
holiness – being set apart for a purpose.
Christians are set apart, not for common use, but for a special
use. Holiness implies something
that is pure and that is used for people to draw near to God. The Apostle Peter says, “Therefore,
since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude,
because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. As a result, he does not live the rest
of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God” (1
Peter 4:1-2). He also says in 2
Peter 3:10 – 14:
But the day of the Lord will come
like a thief. The heavens will
disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth
and everything in it will be laid bare.
Since everything will be destroyed in this ay, what kind of people ought
you to be? You ought to live holy
and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its
coming. That day will bring about
the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are
looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of
righteousness. So the, dear
friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found
spotless, blameless and at peace with him.
The writer of
Hebrews says in Hebrews 12.14, “Make every effort to live in peace with all men
and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.”
When our hope is
in Jesus, we are looking for that day.
When our hope is in Jesus Christ, we are planning for that day. When our hope is in Jesus Christ, we
are living for that day. We order
our lives around the day of our salvation and we prepare ourselves for that
day. That’s how we know whose we
are! Our confidence is in the
present reign and promised return of Jesus Christ.
Am I Walking By Faith and Not By
Sight?
The second way in
which you know whose you are is to answer the question, “Am I walking by faith
and not by sight?” What is
faith? The Bible defines faith
this way: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for; the conviction of
things not seen.” In other words, faith
is hope in action. The writer of
Hebrews doesn’t try to abstractly define faith with some ivory-tower
theology. He shows what faith is
by what people in the Bible did. The Bible teaches to walk by faith. It is something that we do. It is not just something that we say we
believe. It is a lifestyle of
obedience to Jesus Christ and his commandments.
How do we know how
to do that? In God’s Word, the
Holy Bible, Paul says in 2 Timothy
3:14-17
But as for you, continue in what
you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom
you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which
are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is
useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness so
that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
I like to think of
faith like this – faith is learning to live under the Lordship of Jesus
Christ. It is a confident trust in
Jesus Christ and his will for our life.
What does that look like?
It is learning to lay down the
cares and desires of this world and walk as Jesus walked. This is the heart of what it means to
be a disciple of Jesus Christ. The
Apostle John says in 1 John 2:3, “We know that we have come to know him if we
obey his commands.” When Jesus was
leaving the earth, he gave the Apostles a command that we call the Great
Commission. He said, “Go and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them everything that I have command you.”
Loving God and Loving Your Neighbor
Here
is the third way that we know whose we are: “Do you love God with all of your
heart, soul, and mind and are you loving your neighbor as yourself?” In other words, is God Almighty the center
of your love? Is he the sole
recipient of your worship?
In the Bible, there are three parallel words in the Hebrew and Greek that are translated into English as “worship.” The first word in both the Greek and Hebrew is “devotion.” We worship God by being devoted to him through obedience. The second word in both the Greek and Hebrew that is translated into English as “worship” is reverence. The third word is “service.”
In the Bible, there are three parallel words in the Hebrew and Greek that are translated into English as “worship.” The first word in both the Greek and Hebrew is “devotion.” We worship God by being devoted to him through obedience. The second word in both the Greek and Hebrew that is translated into English as “worship” is reverence. The third word is “service.”
The
question is, “Who are you devoted to? Who do you reverence? Whom do you serve?” Who are you worshipping in your
life? You see the heart of worship
is our love for God. If you find
yourself confused about what God’s will is for you life, you need to ask
yourself, are you serving and worshipping another god besides the one true God?
If
you are serving another god, then that god will lead you into confusion. The Bible teaches that the gods of this
age are controlled by Satan. The
gods of this age are image, fame, wealth, status, and materialism. The gods of this age are sexual
immorality and exploitation. If
you are being influenced by the gods of this age, you are committing one of the
fundamental sins – idolatry. God
said, “You will have no other gods before me.” If these are the focus of your
life, you are following a dead idol that is controlled by Satan.
Did
you know that the Bible teaches us how we can know if we really love God and
worship him? The Apostle John says, “We should love one another.” John says in
1 John 3:16, “This is how we know that we love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for
our brothers.” He goes on to say
in 1 John 4, “ . . . [L]et us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God
and knows God. Whoever does not
love does not know God, because God is love.” He says, “ . . . Since God so loved us, we also ought to
love one another. No one has ever
seen God; but if we love each other, God lives in us and his love is made
complete in us. God is love.
Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.” But this statement is damning: “If
anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his
brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command:
Whoever loves God must also love his brother.”
“This
is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out
his commands. This is love for
God: to obey his commands.”
You
know that you belong to God when you love him and love his people. What this clearly implies is that you
love not only God but his church, as well. There are people that say they love Jesus but hate the
church. According to this
Scripture, it is impossible to love God and hate people in the church and hate
being a part of the Church of Jesus Christ.
Conclusion
There
are three parts to the Call:
knowing, being, doing. The first part of the call of God is God calling
you to Himself. God is calling you
to him. God is calling you to know
him, to have eternal fellowship with him, to place your confidence in him, to
worship him. God is calling you to
know him and know his will. Before
you can figure out what you are supposed to do as a career or what you need to
do in at a crossroads in your life, you must answer the call of God to be in a
relationship with him. Knowing God
and his will is foundational. Your
life is not your own. You were
bought with a price. You are
chosen by God and called to him.
I have discovered
an important truth: when you are confused about what you are supposed to do
with your life, it is God calling you back to question #1 – whose are you? When you find yourself in a state of confusion, you now have
step #1 to get the answer – in what area of my life am I not confident in
God. In what area of my life am I
not living a life of faith? What
aspect of my life am I worshipping someone or something other than God
Almighty?
Listen to what the
Psalmist says in Psalm 37:3-7:
Trust in the Lord and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
Delight yourself in the Lord and
he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him and he will do this:
He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your
cause like the noonday sun. Be
still before the Lord and wait patiently for him . . .
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