"The
Life-Driven Purpose"
Text: 1 Peter 2:19-25
May the love of God the
Father fill you with wonder; may the sacrifice of God the Son fill you with
thanksgiving; and may the indwelling of the Holy Spirit fill you with comfort,
faith, and hope. Amen.
Fellow Servants of our Lord
Jesus, every now and then a new fad sweeps over the Christian Church. With
alarming regularity these trends come and go, and the Christian Church nearly
always suffers, but survives. There was the Prayer of Jabez
craze, the "Name It, Claim It" movement, "What Would Jesus
Do?", the Church Growth Movement, Chick Tracts, Altar Call mania, the
Sinner's Prayer, and countless others all the way back to Jesus' day where
Gamaliel also spoke of passing trends. Today, in case you haven't heard, we
seem to be in the waning day of "the purpose driven life" movement. The
Purpose Driven Life was first a book written by Rick Warren, a Southern
Baptist who began a church in his home with one family, and who is today the
pastor of Saddleback Church in California, with a membership of tens of
thousands in four different campuses spread across Southern California.
As with all such trends,
there is obviously a germ of truth at the core of The Purpose Driven Life.
That germ of truth is that our God has placed us on this earth for a reason.
Each one of us has a calling or purpose. Unfortunately, man here once again has
gone beyond what is taught in Scripture justifying false teaching on the
basis of the numbers, reasoning that all those souls can't be all wrong.
Our
text for this morning serves both as validation and as wrecking ball for this
latest fad, for here we do indeed learn that each of us has a calling, but that
calling is not exactly what our sinful, self-serving sides want to hear. In
fact our God here teaches us that it's not all about the purpose driven life;
it's all about the life-driven purpose. Our divine, inspired text explains, and
it is found in the First Epistle of Peter, the Second Chapter:
NKJ 1
Peter 2:19-25 For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures
grief, suffering wrongfully. 20
For what credit is
it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But
when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently,
this is commendable before
God. 21 For to this you were
called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you
should follow His steps: 22
"Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth"; 23 who, when He was reviled, did
not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges
righteously; 24 who Himself
bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might
live for righteousness -- by whose stripes you were healed. 25 For you were like sheep going
astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
So far the Word of our God. What a joy and a privilege to possess these words
of timeless truth as our sure and constant guide. That our God would bless our
study of these perfect words, so we pray, Sanctify
us through your truth, O Lord. Your word is truth. Amen.
The
devil, as you know, is nothing if not clever. What does that mean, exactly? It
means that while the devil is neither omnipotent nor omniscient, he learns from
his mistakes and remembers what works. Not just in general; he knows what works
best on you. He is at
war against all that God loves, and he has absolutely nothing better to do with
the time that is left to him.
Here's
an example of how the devil operates within the confines of Christianity. As
soon as Jesus warned his followers that they would have hardship on earth if
they followed in his footsteps, Satan promptly began twisting that truth to
bring about truly horrible actions. In other words, terribly sinful and wicked
actions were carried out by so-called Christians in the name of their religion.
Think back to the days of the Crusades and the Inquisition. When those who
carried out atrocious actions were condemned by their Christian peers, or by society in general, they actually took all such
criticism as validation that they
were doing God's will. They were, after all, suffering for their actions, and
in this they took great comfort. No one ever said evil was necessarily smart.
God
the Holy Spirit countered all such nonsense with inspired words like our text
for this morning. Here he clearly drew the line between barbaric acts of
passion and true Godly service when he taught us, "For
what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it
patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you
take it patiently, this is commendable before God." What does that mean in practical terms? It means
simply that suffering is absolutely no indication of whether one is acting
rightly or wrongly. The key, again, is following Jesus, who will never steer us
off course.
Here's an example as current as yesterday's news. You
may remember the zealot, Eric Rudolph, who was convicted a couple of years ago
of a string of bombings and murders in the mid to late 90's. He bombed abortion
clinics, a gay nightclub, and one of the venues of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta,
and then deftly avoided the authorities for years in the Appalachian wilderness.
His justification for those acts of violence was that the government tolerated
abortion. That's it. In his mind, since the government failed to outlaw
abortion, which he rightly considered to be sinful, he then felt justified in
killing not only anyone who worked at an abortion clinic but anyone who worked
for the government and he did so in the name of Christ.
While we certainly agree that abortion is murder, the
Bible nowhere advocates sin as a reaction to sin, or evil in the face of evil.
Christians do not have a mandate to murder those who disagree with what the
Bible declares to be true. In fact Jesus advocated sinless obedience even to brutal and oppressive governments like
the Roman government of his day. The point is that men like Eric Rudolph have
no Biblical mandate to be smug and self-righteous about their barbaric acts. On
the contrary, our text describes all such as "being beaten for your
faults." The great Christian goal is not to correct social ills
and injustices, but to save souls.
What does this have to do with the life-driven purpose of our lives as indicated by the title of
this sermon? I have little doubt that Mr. Rudolph was and is thoroughly
convinced that his purpose on earth was to correct the evil of abortion in this
country, and to do so through whatever violence he deemed necessary. Our text
points us in a very different direction a direction that is actually both
shocking and disturbing to many Christians. Our text says this: "For
this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief,
suffering wrongfully.
When you do good and suffer,
if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this you
were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example,
that you should follow His steps."
Boiled down to the most simple sentence, God's Word seems
to be telling us here that we were called to suffer wrongfully for doing what
is right, just like Jesus himself.
Is that possible? Can our calling in this life really be
to suffer, like Jesus did? Is that really why we were
called into the Christian faith and what our God wants for our lives? Is that
really what our text is saying? Yes and no.
Does our God want us to follow in the footsteps of
Jesus? Our text certainly seems to say just that: "Christ also suffered for
us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps." Yet
we have to define and qualify our terms here, since the devil loves to distort
and pervert even the simplest Bible truths. In this case, Satan has
successfully misrepresented these words to indicate that Jesus didn't actually
win our salvation and forgiveness for our sins. He "left us an example"
of how we must earn our own passage. It is only when we do as Jesus did that we
can have any confidence that God the Father loves us and will accept us into
the heavenly mansions. In other words, Jesus didnt do it for us; he showed us
how to do it for ourselves.
Amazingly enough, this sort of nonsense is very
appealing to sinful mankind maybe because it gives the illusion that we too,
like Jesus, can earn our own way to heaven through our suffering here on earth.
Man's pride and man's ego are fertile soil for the devil's seeds. He plants that
sort of nonsense in our minds and it tends to grow quite well in that climate.
Our text makes short work of this spiritual rot, for there we read, "(Jesus)
Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to
sins, might live for righteousness; by whose stripes you were healed."
Note that Jesus is the one who carried our sins in his own body on the cross.
He is the one who bore the punishment that we deserved the "stripes"
by which we are now healed were laid on Jesus, not us. In this sense we cannot "follow
the Savior," since he went where only he could go. God our Savior won
forgiveness on the cross for every single sinner, including you and me, and his
payment was a "once for all" event.
Our God does
want us to follow in our Savior's footsteps, but not as little individual self-saviors.
He wants us to walk as those who have already been freed from the slavery to
sin, and liberated to walk in harmony with God's will. Again our text points
the direction for us: "'Who committed no sin, nor was deceit
found in His mouth'; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when
He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges
righteously."
The first example here, of course, is the big one
Jesus "committed no sin." Unfortunately we are so steeped
in sin we cannot even begin to imagine what these words really mean. It is
literally impossible for those who have known nothing but sin from the moment
of conception to know anything about sinlessness. That's why the gift Jesus
gave to the human race by offering his perfect
life on the cross is so special and unique. It was a gift that we cannot
even imagine, let alone provide. It was a requirement that was so far beyond
our power to provide that we stand in absolute awe whenever we are reminded of just
what he did for us.
Think of it this way. Suppose God demanded just one
thing of you before you could enter heaven, and that one thing was to grab hold
of a city bus, lift it over your head, and hold it there for ten minutes. Do that, and you get to go to heaven. Fail,
and heaven is forever closed to you. Imagine how helpless and frustrated you
would feel. No matter how rigorous your weight training, such a thing was just
not possible. The fact is God did require something just as impossible perfect
sinlessness, from cradle to grave. That was his unalterable requirement for our
salvation, and we would have a much better chance at lifting a bus than
fulfilling that one requirement.
That's when Jesus stepped in and did the impossible in
our place did what you and I could never do. He did it at great cost to
himself, but with no charge whatsoever for us. He lived a sinless life.
Our text says of our Savior Jesus that there was "no
deceit in His mouth." That is not just part of Jesus' sinlessness;
it also speaks to the purpose to which we have been called. Our purpose is to
speak the truth to a dying world, especially the truth about sin, and sin's
only cure, Jesus Christ our Savior.
In this you have I have been called to be "more
than conquerors." A conqueror kills his enemies. One who is "more
than a conqueror" brings his enemies life. Look again to Jesus,
and see there a man "who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He
suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges
righteously." There we see our example, the One we were called to
imitate.
Does our God want to see us suffer? Obviously
not. We have been called to serve and to imitate, but in so doing our God
knows that we will suffer. That's not his desire, but it is nonetheless an
inescapable fact of life in this sin-riddled world. Those who live and walk
according to the New Man that has been created in them will be persecuted by
the godless, unbelieving world.
What then, finally, is your purpose on this earth? It is
to save souls to "make disciples of all nations." Your purpose is life
eternal life for you and your neighbor. How each one of us ought to pray
daily for strength and courage to carry out our one great purpose in life with
great enthusiasm, skill, and determination. Pick any
other pursuit in life doctor, lawyer, nurse, teacher, any one at all and
imagine failing at that pursuit. The consequences of any such failure can last
only until the grave. They do not extend into eternity. Now consider failing at
the one great purpose for which God has
called you, the spreading of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the saving of human
souls. Failure there is eternal, and is therefore simply not an option. This is
our calling. This is our purpose. Acknowledge it, accept it, and order your
life accordingly. So help us God. Amen.
Scripture
Readings and Sunday Bulletin for April 13, 2008
NKJ Acts
2:42-47 And they continued steadfastly in the
apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in
prayers. 43 Ά Then fear
came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the
apostles. 44 Now all who
believed were together, and had all things in common, 45 and sold their
possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. 46 So continuing daily with one
accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their
food with gladness and simplicity of heart, 47 praising God and having
favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who
were being saved.
NKJ John 10:1-10 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who
does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the
same is a thief and a robber. 2
"But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 "To him the doorkeeper opens,
and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them
out. 4
"And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep
follow him, for they know his voice.
5 "Yet they will by no means follow a
stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of
strangers." 6
Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He
spoke to them. 7 Ά Then
Jesus said to them again, "Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of
the sheep. 8 "All who ever
came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the
sheep did not hear them. 9 "I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find
pasture. 10
"The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.
I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more
abundantly.
NKJ 1
Peter 2:19-25 For this is
commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief,
suffering wrongfully. 20 For
what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it
patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you
take it patiently, this is commendable before God. 21 For to this you were called,
because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow
His steps: 22 "Who
committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth"; 23 who, when He was reviled, did
not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself
to Him who judges righteously; 24
who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to
sins, might live for righteousness -- by whose stripes you were healed. 25 For you were like sheep going
astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
Bismarck, ND
58501 (701) 223-4885 Cell: (701) 425-5483
Mr. Mark
Johnson, President (222-1855)
Mrs. Eileen McEnroe, Organist
Michael
Roehl, Pastor mjroehl@bis.midco.net
The Third Sunday after Easter April 13, 2008
|
The
Opening Prayer by the Pastor
The
Opening Hymn ‑#190- (Red Hymnal)
"Christ
the Lord is Risen Again"
The Order of Morning Service Red Hymnal
page 15.
The Scripture Lessons: (Printed on the bulletin
insert)
The New
Testament Lesson: (Acts
2:42-47) Last week we read how the Lord granted phenomenal success to the young
Christian Church following the Pentecost sermon of Peter. In today's lesson we
hear how God then gave this young Church a period of calm and popular favor and
rest so that the new converts might be further instructed and the Church
strengthened.
The Gospel Lesson: (John
10:1-10) Here Jesus warns us that part of our hardship on this earth will come
in the form of false teachers. It is only when we cling stubbornly to the Word
of God that we can know the true Shepherds voice as He calls to us. Jesus here
also rules out any other path to heaven. In Him alone we have Eternal Life.
The
Confession of Faith ‑
The
Nicene Creed (Red Hymnal page 22)
The
Pre‑Sermon Hymn ‑#196-
(Verses 1-4) (Red Hymnal)
"I
Am Content! My Jesus Liveth Still"
The
Sermon Text: 1 Peter 2:19-25 (Printed on the back of this bulletin)
"The Life-Driven Purpose"
"Create
In Me" (The Offertory)
Red Hymnal page 22
The Offering, followed by the Prayers
The
Pre-Communion Hymn -#312 (Verses 1 & 4) (Red Hymnal)
"Lord Jesus Christ, Thou Living Bread"
The
Preparation for Holy Communion (Red Hymnal page 24)
The
Distribution -Hymn #311
& 304- (Red Hymnal)
"Jesus Christ, Our Blessed
Savior"
The
Nunc Dimittis (Red Hymnal page 29)
The Benediction
The
Closing Hymn ‑#196-
(Verse 5) (Red Hymnal)
"I
Am Content! My Jesus Liveth Still"
Silent
Prayer
Attendance ‑
Last Sunday (50) 2008 Average (52)
This
Week at
Today -10:00 a.m. Worship Service w/
Holy Communion
-11:15 a.m. Fellowship Hour
Wednesday -6:00
p.m. Confirmation & Bible History
-7:00 p.m.
Midweek Bible Study
Next Sunday -8:45 a.m. Sunday School and Bible Class
-10:00
a.m. Worship
Service
-11:00
a.m. Fellowship
Hour
CLC
News A summary of the actions taken on our behalf by
the various CLC Boards is available for each family. Please take the time to read through the
report and bring any questions to the attention of the Pastor.
Delegate Conference and Convention Volunteers St. Paul is in need of volunteers to represent our
congregation at the Watertown Conference (May 27-29) and at the CLC Convention
in Eau Claire (June 16-20).
Immediate Need
There is an immediate and critical need for loans to the Church Extension Fund.
Several local building projects in various CLC congregations are in need of
funding, as is the ILC Academic Center. Interest at up to 4½% is currently very
competitive. Details are available from the Pastor.
Quarterly Voters' Meeting - is hereby announced for April
27, following the service.
Various Summer Outing
Information
All of the regular CLC summer outings are planned again this summer,
including the CLC Youth Camp, Black Hills Camping, TVBS, Young Adults Week,
Boundary Waters Canoeing Trip, Family Camping in Missouri, and others. Please
see the Pastor for details.