|
|
UNIT TWO
LOOKING TO GOD
GOD'S PLANS VERSUS OUR PLANS
I would like to share with you the 'Laws of the Toddler'
1. If I like it, it's mine.
2. If it's in my hand, it's mine.
3. If I can take it from you, it's mine.
4. If I had it a little while ago, it's mine.
5. If it's mine, it must never appear to be yours in any way.
6. If I'm doing or building something, all the pieces are mine.
7. If it looks just like mine, it's mine.
8. If I think it's mine, it's mine.
It's interesting isn't it, that as we listen to those definitions, many of us have a knowing snicker, because the definitions are so true to what we have seen in many toddlers. But I wonder if our snickers might turn into a frown when we realize that many Christians behave that way when it comes to our relationship with God. We come to a choice between what He wants and what we want - especially when these two realities do not meet. What will be the choice? Will we complain when we don't get our own way?
Basically, we come to the choice of being self-centred or God-centred.
How would you define a self-centred person?
How would you define a God-centred person?
In the following situations, I want you to tell me which you think is a self-centred action and which is a God-centred action.
Now, having wisdom isn't such a bad thing, so was her action selfish or God centred? Why?
Which one's were self-centred, and which were God-centred?
Last week I shared a little of the Lord's leading us up here to the north. I shared some of the things that seemed good in our previous church and location, which with common sense, was crazy to leave. But, our focus had to be on God and trust Him for the provisions of what lay ahead as we obeyed His call - all of which have been answered only 6 months down the track.
You see, the important thing of living a God-centred life is that we must focus our lives on God's purposes not our own plans. We must seek to see things from God's perspective rather than from our own distorted human perspective.. When God starts to do something in the world, He takes the initiative to come and talk to somebody. This is the incredible thing about God, even though He can easily achieve His work on His own, by His awesome divine reasons, He has chosen to involve people in accomplishing His work - people like you and me.
In each of the following five situations tell me what God was about to do.
In Genesis 6:11-14 what was God about to do when He came to Noah and asked him to build an ark?
Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. So God said to Noah, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out.
What was God about to do at Sodom and Gomorrah when He came to Abraham in Genesis 18:16-21
Acts 9:1-16
Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"
"Who are you, Lord?" Saul asked.
"I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," he replied. "Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do."
The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.
In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, "Ananias!"
"Yes, Lord," he answered.
The Lord told him, "Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight."
"Lord," Ananias answered, "I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name."
But the Lord said to Ananias, "Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name."
What was God about to do when He came to Saul (later Paul) on the road to Damascus? (Use him to take the gospel into the world).
The point of this is that the focus is upon what God was about to do. We don't sit down and dream what we want to do for God and then call God in to help us accomplish whatever we have dreamed up. The pattern in Scripture is that we submit ourselves to God and then we:
In this we are submitting ourselves to God's plans, and not trying to force upon the Lord our plans. In other words, our focus needs to be on following God's ways.
What happens to people when they follow their own ways?
Let's listen to the following passage, Psalm 81:10-12
I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it. "But my people would not listen to me; Israel would not submit to me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices.
What had God already done for Israel?
What had He promised His people?
That's right, but the people would not listen to Him or submit to Him and so the Lord gave them over to their stubborn hearts. In other words, they lived by the consequences of their own sin.
I don’t know how many times I have heard people blaming God saying, "God, if you were so real, you would get me out of this mess." It seems that we like to act like to toddler I spoke about as we commenced this morning, but when we suffer by the consequences of our own actions and sins, we then turn it back on God. Some of the attitudes we have are, "God, why didn't you stop me!" "God, you are so harsh!" "God, if you were really loving you would take away this trouble!" But as we think or say these things, we are still living our lives self-centredly.
Look at the change that comes about in verses 13 and 14 of Psalm 81
"If my people would but listen to me, if Israel would follow my ways, how quickly would I subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes!
Compare this to 2 Chron. 7:14 where god says to the Israelites:
"…if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."
That is God's desire, but it can only come about by a change in our heart to become God-centred, not self-centred. So, we adjust our lives to God so He can do through us what He wants to do. God is not our servant to make adjustments to our plans. We are His servants, and we adjust our lives to what He is about to do. If we will not submit, God will let us follow our own devices. But, in following these we will never experience what God is waiting and wanting to do on our behalf or through us for others.
The beautiful thing about God's love for us though is that He takes the initiative and speaks to His people.
2. GOD TAKES THE INTIATIVE AND SPEAKS TO HIS PEOPLE
You know, God doesn’t wait to see what we want to do for Him - if He did that, then for some of us He would be waiting a long time. In saying this though, after He has taken the initiative to come to us, He does wait until we respond to Him by adjusting ourselves to Him and making ourselves available to Him.
Blackaby and King relay this story in the book Experiencing God. They say, "George Mueller was a pastor in England during the nineteenth century. He was concerned that God's people had become very discouraged. They no longer looked for God to do anything unusual. They no longer trusted God to answer prayers. They had so little faith.
God began to lead George to pray. George's prayers were for God to lead him to a work that could only be explained by the people as an act of God. George wanted the people to learn that their God was a faithful, prayer-answering God. He came upon the verse in Psalm 81:10 that we read today. "Open wide your mouth and I will fill it." God began to lead him in a walk of faith that became an outstanding testimony to all who hear of his story.
When George felt led of God to do some work, he prayed for resources needed and told no one the need. He wanted all to know that God had provided for the need only in answer to prayer and faith. During his ministry in Bristol, George started the Scriptural Knowledge Institute for distribution of Scripture and for religious education. He also began an orphanage. By the time of his death, George Mueller had been used by God to build four orphan houses that cared for 2,000 children at a time. Over 10,000 children had been provided for through the orphanages. He distributed over eight million dollars that had been given to him in answer to prayer. When he died at 93, his worldly possessions were valued at $800.
How did he know and do the will of God?
Listen to this statement from George Mueller himself.
"I never remember…a period…that I ever sincerely and patiently sought to know the will of God by the teaching of the Holy Spirit, through the instrumentality of the Word of God, but I have been always directed rightly. But if honesty of heart and uprightness before God were lacking, or if I did not patiently wait upon God for instruction, or if I preferred the counsel of my fellow men to the declarations of the Word of the living God, I made great mistakes."
So what helped George Mueller know God's will - three things:
He also knew the things that led him to making mistakes, which were:
So how do we know that the Lord will speak to us, and how do we know when He speaks to us?
Listen to what Jesus says in the following passages.
John 14:26
But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
John 16:13-14
But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.
So, God makes known to us Himself, His thoughts, and what He will do. By the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives He guides us, teaches us, encourages us, and admonishes us. Admonish means to warn, advise, caution, exhort, and counsel. This is why in Ephesians 5:18 we are told to be filled with the Holy Spirit, which actually means be continuously filled with the Holy Spirit. This way we know that the Lord speaks to us and guides us into all truth - His truth.
Also John 10 gives us an idea as to how we know when God speaks.
But before we look at that passage, let's remind ourselves of the four ways through which God speaks, and if you need a clue it is point (d) on the back cover of your workbooks.
And so when He speaks, what does He reveal? (Himself, His purposes, and His ways).
We looked at these last week and learned that when God chose to speak to an individual in the Bible, the person knew it was God, and they knew what God was saying. How and why? Well, John 10 gives us an idea.
John 10:2-4
The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. 3The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.
John 10:14
"I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me--
You see, the key to knowing God's voice is through a love relationship with him. There is no formula about knowing God's voice simply because knowing His voice comes as the result of an intimate and loving relationship[ with Him. God doesn't want us following formulas to achieve His end. He just wants that loving and intimate relationship with you and me. He wants us to depend on Him alone. So hearing God has nothing to do with a method or formula, but has everything to do with a relationship.
So ultimately, what we come down to, is the issue of who is truly Lord of our lives
There are people who would not interrupt a fishing trip or football game for anything. In our minds we say we want to serve God, but the truth of this is played out in our actions. Often what is in our mind is not really in our heart.
You might be saying, "I wish I could experience God working through me the way that He is through Paul or Janet. But you see, every time god comes to Paul or Janet they adjust their lives to God and they obey Him. When Paul or Janet are faithful in the little assignments, God has given them more important assignments.
If you are not willing to be faithful in a little, God cannot give you a larger assignment. The smaller assignments of God are always used of God to develop character. God always develops character to match His assignment, just look at what He did through Abraham's life. If you want to be used by God for great things, then you need to be faithful to Him in the small things. To achieve this, we therefore need to be looking to God, listening to His voice, seeing where He is at work, adjust our lives to what He wants, and above all - remember that we are His servants, He is not our servant to bend t o our will.
This sermon has been created and adapted from the book 'Experiencing God' by H.T.Blackaby and C.V.King by Pastor Scott Douglas for teaching in the Burdekin Baptist Church on 25th April, 1999.