God's Plan for my Life - ALLOWING CHRIST TO BE OUR LORD

GOD'S PURPOSE FOR MY LIFE Message 3
ALLOWING CHRIST TO BE OUR LORD

Philippians 2:5-8
by Cooper P Abrams III

INTRODUCTION:          I think it is easy for us to understand that we are God's Creation. Science continues to study us and have learned a great deal about the human body and how some things work. However, what is known is minuscule in comparison with what medical science does not know about us. It can observe what the various parts of our body does, but they do not understand how it does it. The most basic question that cannot be answered is "What is life? What makes us alive." If a person dies say from an accident and some organ is damaged, the organ can be surgically repaired, but life does not return. Man cannot put life into a body once it has left. The reason is simple. God is life and He created us and our life comes from Him. Life did not come by chance as the evolutionists tell us. Inert matter does not produce life....man is alive because God gave him life.

         God put us here for a reason and has given us life for a purpose. If we follow that purpose we will live a satisfying and abundant life and when we died we go to heaven where God is and exist there with Him for all eternity. We know this because he has revealed to us who He is, what is His plans and who we are and what we are to do.
         Adam, the first man, sinned against God. He did not fulfill the purpose which he was made. You see God made man in His image, giving man emotion, intelligence and will. Adam used his will and choose to disobey God and thus brought sin into the world and we as his decedents are all born sinners. A sinner can only produce what he is...thus Adam's sons and daughters were born sinners like their father and mother....Adam produced sinners.
         However, God in His mercy and grace, offered man redemption and forgiveness from sin. Man was a sinner unable to save himself and therefore only God Himself could make atonement for sin, so God came to the earth, incarnate in man, and on Calvary's Cross died for the sins of all the world.
         For a man to receive forgiveness of sin, he must accept God's pardon for sin. He does that by simply believing what God has said, and in faith places his trust in God. That simply means he starts from that time on to live as God would have him to live. He begins to fulfill his purpose for being on the earth.

2. At the moment a person is saved the Bible says he is "born again". He receives the indwelling of the Spirit of God, who's purpose is to give the believer the ability to live for Christ, to live a righteous and pure life.
3. After one is saved, if he was truly saved, it is normal that he begins to growth spiritually. He learns how to live his life God has purposed for him.
4. How then does this work? The process begins when a person recognizes that our ultimate purpose is to glorify Christ our Lord. That gives us the purpose, the reason to do what God has said.

         When we believe and put our trust in the Lord, we fulfill our purpose for being created. It is like a person who makes something. When the thing is finished and it does what it was created to do, that reflects on its creator. It is satisfying to know that what you made accomplishes what you intended it to do.
         God then is pleased then when a person accept that he is God's creation and seeks to fulfill his purpose on earth. In us He is glorified.
5. This means we WILL to do as God instructs us, because we know He knows best and that will be best for us.
6. Part of the process is making Christ the Lord of ones life.

I. IN ORDER TO GROW SPIRITUALLY A BELIEVER MUST MAKE CHRIST THE LORD OF HIS LIFE.

A. We can choose and exercise our will to let God direct us or not.
ILLUS: In 1868, J.W. Powell, took a group of men down the Colorado to explore the Grand Canyon. About 3/4 of the way through the canyon, the trip began to get hard. They had lost food and supplies and one of their boats. Three of the men began to question Powell's leadership and left the party supposing to walk across land to St. George. They were never seen again!
Powell was the one with the knowledge and vision. He knew much more than did they, yet they chose to following their reasoning and rejected Powell's sound advise. Powell was in a sense the "lord" of the exposition, which means the "one who has the power, the master, or ruler." They died because they thought themselves more capable than he was and it was a fatal mistake.
God has given us the Bible, His written word to instruct us, yet many reject God in their lives. Some know what the should be doing, but for many reasons ignore it. Some just reject God and refuse to accept that He is their Creator and thereby the reject the purpose God has for them. God is a gracious and just God and will not violate a man's will. He will not force us to believe or make us accept Him and His purpose for our lives.
B. It is a fatal mistake for a man to reject Christ and waste his life and spend an eternity in hell...especially when you understand it does not have to be this way.
C. The greatest sin (which is rebellion) is to reject Christ and refuse to trust Him and receive Him as Savior.

1. John 16:9, Jesus said He sent the Holy Spirit into the world to convict men of "sin because the did not believe on me". In order words Christ is reaching out to us.
If a person believes in Jesus Christ and who He truly is, which means He is God, He should be worshipped and followed because He is our Creator.
2. John 5:23, "that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him."
Lots of folks say they believe in God and reject Christ. God says you cannot give glory and obey Him and reject His Son. Many accept false substitutes for what is real and truth.

ILLUS: In the south watermelons are a big crop. Everyone knows what a watermelon is and what it should be. As a boy I used to roam the woods and farms near our home. I would often stop by a water melon patch and enjoy a nice ripe melon. There is however, a melon called a citron. It has a seed like a water melon, grows like a melon, looks like a water melon, just when it is cut open, the flesh inside has a hard white meat, that is tastes bad. Some farmers raised them to feed their pigs. Many a young boy foraging a farmers fields was really disappointed when he found what he thought was a water melon patch was only citrons.

False teaching about what the Bible says and about God's wonderful plan often deceives people. They think they are getting the real thing, but in time will find it is untruth.
In the same light, many folks for many reasons profess to know God yet do not worship His son. Others claim to know the Son and yet, live ungodly lives. The proof of what one truly is what inside and what is inside will affect one's life..

D. Jesus Christ must be confessed as Lord.

1. There are those who say I will take Christ as my Savior, and later on I will make Him the Lord of my life.
2. It is unpopular to even preach that Jesus must be the Lord of one's life, or one is not saved. Yet, that's what biblical pastors preach. Why?
3. Romans 10:9," ... if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."
To be saved the verse says we must confess that Christ is God, and that he is our sovereign Lord.

E. This means that Christ Jesus IS in fact the Lord of every child of God.

1. The Lord rules whether we obey Him or not. One's disobedience does not effect God, but it effects us.
2. Not to admit, or submit to Christ is the greatest sin in the World.
The First Commandment says we are to worship no other God. You can not worship God and not recognize His as our sovereign Lord.
3. ILLUS: Henry Martyn, missionary to India, in late 1800's, wrote that he one day went to a pagan temple and watched the people worshiping idols. He burst into tears and in his diary wrote, he could not endure existence if Jesus was to be so dishonored.

F. The point is this: These people as sincere as they were in fact worship gods that do not exist and gods they could not help them. Yet, the wonderful news is that one can be saved and go to heaven if they will only believe and accept God's word. After belief in Jesus Christ one can then grow spiritually as accept Jesus as Lord of your life.

1. Recognizing Christ as Lord, is the beginning of salvation.
2. A person's Christian life is then built on that foundation. With that in place everything else falls into place. Without...it not does even begin. God's plan is a perfect one.
3. It is simply a matter of accepting the truth that God made us. We are his creation and He made not only our being but also the laws of the universe both spiritual and physical.

II. THE AIM OF LIVES SHOULD BE TO BRING GLORY TO THE LORD JESUS.

A. FIRST. Receiving Him as our savior, we allow Him to cloth us with His righteousness.

1. When we accept and acknowledge who He is and receive Him as our Savior God is glorified.
2. When we receive the Holy Spirit and the new nature that enables us to life for Him, God indwells us He is glorified.
3. When we make Him Lord, He is glorified in that we live a productive life living as God created us to live. His being our Lord means we know that He wants the best for us and we accept that.
4. When we obey, He is glorified. 5. When our lives are shaped by doing right He is glorified.
6. In other words...the truth of God is upheld when He is glorified in our lives.
B. "Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." ( 1 Corinthians 10:31)

1. No part of our lives is excluded from bringing glory to the Lord.
2. Eat, drink...what we put in our bodies. That would preclude, drinking, using tobacco and all non medicinal drugs.
3. Then the verse says everything thing we do. That means everything else.
4. This thing of Christ ruling in our lives is the center or our lives, is should not be viewed as something optional.
C. This means submission to Christ. What then are some principles to submit to Christ?

1. We will find that make Christ Lord will involve sacrifices on our part. Serving Christ means serving Him at all costs. Paul says we are to present our bodies a living sacrifice unto God in Romans 12:1. What we sacrifice is our own faulty plans and desires, which we put aside in order to do what is better and correct.
2. Let us take Peter as an example. Peter gave a great deal of verbal assent to living for Christ but failed over and over again.
3. Peter, walked on the water, but about half way out failed. Peter, made the confession, that Jesus was the Christ the son of the Living God. Peter said he would never deny Christ, yet he did, three times as Christ said he would on the day the Lord was taken prisoner. After the crucifixion, Peter failed again and went back to fishing.

         He failed over and over again. But, because he was a child of God, Christ continued to seek Peter, that Peter might follow God's plan for his life.
         Peter, said "I've failed every test Christ has given be....I'm not cut out for this and thus I will go back to what I know...I go fishing."

         Others, saw him, looked up to him and followed. He fished all night and caught nothing. Then Jesus appeared to him, telling him three times.....go feed my sheep.

         That was God will's for Peter. Peter would never be happy or fulfilled until he did just that. Peter then returned to obeying Christ, and was greatly used of the Lord. Peter's life meant something to all who knew him and even today he is still pointing men to Christ. Few men or women in the world have had as much influence as has Peter.
         It took sacrifice on Peter's part. His life was in danger so he thought the best thing to do was to deny Christ and he did three times... He had not learned to offer...even to death his self to obey the Lord.

D. Down through history many have sacrificed their whole lives to the Lord following His will and great things have been done.

1. Missionaries have gone around the world giving themselves even unto death to follow the Lord. As a result many people have heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ and received Him as Savior. Pagan civilizations have been changed and they have given up their barbaric practices to live civilized lives.
2. Christians by the millions have died at the hands of pagans in many countries, at the hand of Protestants and Catholics alike...all for the sake of Christ.

         Some have given their all, even their lives to serve Christ. Many times their families and wives and Children were placed in peril and some died.
Hebrews 11: says "of whom the world was not worthy".
There was not price to high for them.
3. But here in America few of us are called to make such drastic sacrifices. Yet, we are called to separate ourselves from the sinful world.

A father sacrifices for his wife and children.
A mother for her husband and children.
A Christian gives time, money and prayers to his church and helps it to reach out to others for Christ.
On Sunday, He comes faithfully to worship the Lord and honor Him and show the world He believes in God.
A worker bears the scorn of others and does an honest days work knowing that this honors his Savior.
In the work place a Christian is often treated unfairly because he refuses to do dishonest or wrong things in business.
All this things are sacrifices for the Lord.
C. If you put limits on what you will do...then Christ is not the Lord of your life.

1. You have to pay the price, sometimes of being embarrassed, defamed, dishonored by the world, or settling for little security, or less of the world's material things.
2. Yet, until you get to the point you willing obey the Lord, at all costs, then you will never be truly content and grow spiritually.
3. The peace that comes from Know the Lord Jesus Christ will allude you...
4. More than that one day, at the judgment we all must answer.....why you would not obey....

         Many think by following Christ they will loose much. They think that serving Christ means not enjoying life as they want too and that they will miss out on the good things, give up possessions....yet nothing is further from the truth.
"He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he can not lose"
"Only one life twill soon be past, only what done for Christ will last".

         A good friend of mine was lead to the Lord by his cousin, Paul. Before that he had ridiculed his cousin shamelessly. But that changed when he came to know Christ as his Savior. At school, he determined he would life for the Lord. Now he was ridiculed terribly. They picked on him and even beat him up. One of the chief persecutors was a foot ball player who picked on him all the time. Later in time, in the middle of the night there came a knock at the his door. The foot ball player, driving while drinking had an accident, girl with him was in serious trouble in the hospital...he came to Jim for help. Jim's determination to live for the Lord gave him the opportunity to witness and help the football player. He sacrificed much that he would be all to win him to the Lord.
Conclusion:
1. How do you picture salvation? Belief without commitment? There is not such thing.
2. Are you willing to sacrifice your all for Christ? Embarrassment? Materially?