“The Purpose Driven Church” – Evangelism – Acts 20:22-24

As we live and grow older it is common and normal to think about death and dying. Some folks don’t ever want to think about such things but I think we should think about it. I believe it’s healthy to contemplate how we should die as well as how we should live and the impact our lives have on others as we do both.

 

There was an elderly man at home, upstairs, dying in bed. He smelled the aroma of his favorite chocolate chip cookies baking. He wanted one last cookie before he died. He stumbled down the stairs and crawled into the kitchen where his wife was busy baking cookies. With his last remaining strength he crawled to the table and was just barely able to lift his withered arm to the cookie sheet. As he grasped a warm, moist chocolate chip cookie, his favorite kind, his wife suddenly whacked his hand with a spatula.
“Stop that! Those are for the funeral."

 

Leaving this world may not be a particularly nice thought for you. But if you had a choice, how would you want to leave this world? You would probably want your family with you, to love you, and comfort you as best they could. It sure would be nice to leave with a chocolate chip cookie on your breath if you ask me. I don’t want to go with broccoli being the last thing I ate, know what I mean?

 

Most people, though, try to save all of their lives just so they can enjoy their retirement and not have to worry about how and where they are going to spend their last years. There are some beautiful retirement apartments in downtown Ft. Worth where, if you will just give them a million dollars, they will do everything for you. You never have to worry about mowing the grass or cleaning house or even cooking. It’s all included in that one easy payment of a million bucks.

 

The questions are how do you want to live and how do you want to die? Can you imagine the manager of those apartments approaching the apostle Paul with that opportunity? Paul listens to the guy’s spiel and cocks his head to one side and says, “You mean to tell me that all I will be responsible for is getting myself dressed and figuring out what TV show to watch? What kind of life is that and what kind of death is that?”

 

See, Paul knew that there was more to this life than being comfortable. He knew that with great responsibility comes great reward. He knew that from whom much was given, much was required. He knew that how you die is a reflection of how you lived and he devoted himself to living and dying as much like Jesus as possible.

 

Too often I find myself inadvertently thinking of Paul as a superman. When you think of all that he went through and yet all that he did, it’s hard to believe that he was human just like us. But Paul had sin, fears, doubts and defeats just like we do and maybe more. Yet he made the decision to live out God’s purpose for his life in spite of those things. I have heard that the definition of courage is being scared but saddling up anyway.

 

I want us to look at a time when Paul was courageous in a beautiful passage in the New Testament book of Acts. Acts is just after the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and just before Romans. If you use the Bible in the back of the pew in front of you it is probably on page 788. Acts 20:22-24. The setting for this is later in Paul’s life after he had been a missionary for a long time and had started lots of churches all over Europe, Asia and the Middle East. You might think he would be planning for retirement or at least slowing down and figuring out how he would spend his last years as comfortable as possible.

 

But instead he calls a bunch of his friends together and gives them a goodbye speech. These are people from the church he started in Ephesus; people that loved him and didn’t want to see him go; people that gladly would have given him a place to stay and a salary to live out his life with them there. But Paul knew that wasn’t God’s will or His purpose for Paul’s life. So, let’s read what Paul tells them in Acts 20:22-24.

 

“And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. ²³ I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. ²⁴ However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.”

 

Brian Amerman, do you trust me? Can you conceive of a scenario in which I would knowingly hurt you or do anything negative to you or do anything that was not in your best interest? (I sure hope he says no.) Hold out your hands. (Tie his hands with wire ties and lead him to the front.)

 

When Paul says in verse 22 that he is “compelled by the Spirit”, the word “compelled” actually means to be bound either physically or legally or some other way. It has the idea of being bound in marriage or bound by contract or even chains. Some of you identify with the marriage and chains thought more than others. J What Paul was saying is that he really had no choice.

 

Oh, he had a choice but if he wanted to fulfill his purpose in life and continue to have that abundant life that Jesus had promised; and if he wanted to continue to have the joy and peace that comes from having a close relationship with God through His Son Jesus, then he had no choice but to go to Jerusalem. He was compelled to go like a bride is compelled to go with her husband.

 

Paul is being compelled to go to Jerusalem to do basically 2 things and those 2 things are also what we are compelled to do as well. He was compelled to go and he was compelled to bring. Jesus said in John 15:16, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might GO and bear fruit—fruit that will last.” If we are going to live a full and abundant life; if we are going to have peace and joy; if we are going to have a relationship with Jesus; and if we are going to live a purpose driven life then we too will go.

 

And of course right now you are all thinking that I am talking about going on a mission trip…and you wouldn’t be wrong. In fact, I am talking about going on a mission trip; maybe even a trip to India in early 2016 or a trip to Nicaragua in 2015 or a trip to Haiti. A closer option would be Michigan next year or to some of the prisons with the biker church or even to the county jail in Decatur.

 

That kind of thinking is all through the New Testament. The Great Commission in Matthew 28 says go and make disciples of all nations. Acts 1:8 says, “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Mark 16:15 says, “He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” Leaving your country, state or city was a common command for followers of Jesus 2000 years ago and it hasn’t changed.

 

But there is also the command to go to our neighbors. In Matthew 10:7 Jesus sends the disciples out to the local towns and villages and even the houses around them and tells them, “As you go, proclaim this message.” We will get to “What message?” here in a minute but the first thing you have to do is go. And the good thing about this is that you are already going. You are!

 

Where are you going? You are going to work, to school, to the grocery store, library, car wash, wherever. The secret is to go intentionally. I’m not saying that you otherwise go on accident. I’m saying that wherever you go, go with the intention of sharing Jesus with the people you have contact with. John the Baptist, Jesus, the disciples, Paul and so many others went about their daily lives not living to work or living to play but living as if everyone they met needed to hear the life-changing story of God’s grace…because they did need to hear it.

 

D.L. Moody! If we all knew the life story of the old evangelist D.L. Moody who lived in the 1800’s we would probably all rush out of here right now to go witness to somebody just at the mention of his name. Moody made it a practice to talk to at least one person every day about Jesus. He was going to witness to some lost person every day of his life. He saw a man on the street one time, stopped to talk to him and said, “Excuse me sir, do you mind if I ask if you are a Christian?” The man said, “That’s none of your business!” Moody said, “I’m sorry to offend you but it actually is my business.” To that the other man replied, “Oh, you must be D.L. Moody!”

 

I love that story! Moody was just going, just doing what he was supposed to be doing and minding his own business but his real business…was fulfilling his purpose for his life. His real business, and ours, is intentionally going about our business telling others…what? What was it that Moody was telling them? It was the same thing that Paul was telling them and it leads to the other aspect of evangelism. We are called to go but we are also called to bring.

 

Look back at our passage in Acts 20. Paul says he is compelled by the Spirit to go and then the last phrase tells us something very important. He says he is going to complete the task of testifying to God’s grace. Notice that the task is not to bring people to church. He is not bringing judgment. He is not bringing doctrine or some deep theology. He is bringing the people his own testimony of God’s grace.

 

Now there are several different styles of witnessing or evangelism. They can all work. It really just depends on what you are most comfortable with. There is the confrontational style like John the Baptist, Peter or Steven. “Repent and be baptized!” Short and not-so-sweet.

 

There is the intellectual style like Paul could do and did in Acts 17where he debated the philosophers. You really have to know your stuff to do that.

 

You could be relationalabout it. In Mark 5 Jesus told the demon-possessed man He had just healed to go home and tell his family what had happened. That style is great but just make sure you don’t JUST live it out. At some point you have to speak it.

 

Invitational? (John 4) The Samaritan woman at the well begged the people of the city to come and hear Jesus for themselves.

 

Serving? (Acts 9) Dorcas impacted her city by doing deeds of kindness which we saw last week is actually part of our purpose as people and as a church.

 

But my favorite way of evangelizing is testimonial. In John 9 Jesus heals a blind man and the Pharisees grill him about who healed him. He said he didn’t know anything about Jesus except this one thing. “I was blind but now I see.” And that is what Paul is encouraging us to do with his words in Acts 20. We may not be able to quote a lot of scripture or explain predestination or know what all of the symbolic sevens in Revelation stand for but we can tell about God’s grace in our lives. And nobody can dispute that.

 

What that means in my life is that I accepted Jesus into my life to be my Lord and Savior when I was seven years old. I didn’t understand everything about it and still don’t. I lived serving the Lord that way for a long time but, as some do, I drifted away in my late teens. While I was away from the Lord I suffered the consequences of disobedience and lost my joy and my peace. But as 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” And while my life today is far from perfect (I mean I still have to put up with Trey on Sunday nights!) God has blessed me so generously to be here doing what He has called me to do that it makes me want to tell everybody about God’s grace.

 

And when I give that testimony to people they can’t argue about that. What are they going to say, “You don’t have joy and peace”? No because that is my testimony. They don’t have to know my church history or my family history. In fact, those are really just distractions. The only time Paul ever mentions his history is to say that he considered all that to be rubbish compared to knowing Jesus.

 

Let me give you some practical advice on how to bring this up in conversation. I would love to say I thought of this but, once again, Paul said it in 1 Corinthians 9: “To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. ²¹ To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. ²² To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. ²³ I do all this for the sake of the gospel that I may share in its blessings.”

 

In other words, Paul found something in common with everybody. He found some commonality that would bring him closer to the other person which would allow for him to tell that person of what God had done in his life. If you try I know you can find something in common with almost everybody you come in contact with. And all it takes is one little thing.

 

Oh, you like chocolate? I love chocolate too. God is so good to allow us little things like chocolate to brighten our day and show us He loves us. Aren’t the changing colors of fall beautiful? Oh, yes, isn’t God creative the way He made the world with so many colors? See. It doesn’t have to be a big thing.

 

And maybe the other person just changes the subject but it just might allow for you to talk more about God’s grace and then into your testimony and then to how Romans says we are all sinners and that the wages of sin is death but John 3:16 says that God loves everybody and gave His own Son so we could live forever with Him. Boom. Gospel. You are a raging evangelist. You’re living out your purpose as a follower of Jesus.

 

Evangelism is just going and bringing. Go…to the grocery store or work or the Bridgeport football game or Nicaragua. Bring…the good news of God’s grace! You can do that. Oh, sure, people are going to reject you and make fun of you and ignore you. But that’s God’s thing to work on with them. You just do what you are supposed to do and you will have joy and peace in this life plus the rewards in Heaven reserved for those who live out their purpose.

But you can’t live out your purpose; you can’t have lasting peace; you can’t have eternal life in Heaven with Jesus when you die if you don’t accept Him to be Lord and Savior while you live. You have no testimony to share with others and you will never be content or live that full and abundant life Jesus promises without doing that. And I would love to tell you more about what that means right now if you would just come ask.

 

You don’t have to be good enough. You don’t have to clean up your life before you do. Again, that’s God’s thing to work on with you. You don’t even have to understand everything. I sure didn’t. Just understand that you are a sinner in need of forgiveness. Jesus came and died on the cross to pay the price for that sin so you could be forgiven. All you have to do is accept it. Accept the free gift of God’s amazing grace.

 

“The Purpose Driven Church” – Ministry – Philippians 2:1-11

How many Elvis Presley fans do we have here today? It’s ok. I would have to raise my hand as well. I like a lot of his songs. I have said before here that I think credit should be given where it is due and I believe that the 3 greatest musical performers of modern history are Garth Brooks, Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley. You have every right to disagree but as far as musical talent goes, those guys are tops. I admit to having a little Garth on my mp3; and I have some Elvis on there. No Michael, but I still respect his ability to perform.

But Elvis has always fascinated me. Called the King of Rock n Roll, he had 40 top 10 hits and is the best-selling solo artist in the history of recorded music. He sold more than 250 million records and starred in 33 films. Whether that is your style of music or not you have to give him credit for being able to perform. Some people might even say that was his God-given purpose for being here. But Elvis himself would disagree with you.

I read a quote about Elvis from his wife Priscilla Presley after his death and when I read it I knew it was appropriate for the sermon series we are going through. She said, “Elvis never came to terms with who he was meant to be or what his purpose in life was. He thought he was here for a reason –maybe to preach, or to save, or to serve & care for people. That agonizing desire was always in him, and he knew he wasn’t fulfilling it.” (Quoted by Rick Warren)

“He thought he was here for a reason and he knew he wasn’t fulfilling it.” Tragic words. He had everything a man could possibly want. He had zillions of dollars, millions of fans, people all over who would do anything for him and yet he was unfulfilled. He was not living out his purpose. Isn’t that amazing? What’s the difference in his situation and Robin Williams, though? Or any number of other wealthy, high-profile, well-loved celebrities who have ended their own lives or cut them short by drinking or drugs?

Satan wants you dead. And if God won’t allow him to kill you he would love to get you involved in anything that is not your purpose in life because he knows that sooner or later it will kill you. He knows that your search for meaning through drugs, alcohol, fame, stuff, power, entertainment or even religion if done outside of biblical truth…will kill you. Proverbs says there is a way that seems right to a man but in the end leads to death.

God, though, has a plan for your life and a purpose for your life and when you follow that plan and purpose it leads to great contentment. In Philippians 4:11 Paul says, “I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.” Paul knew what his purpose was and he lived it out. Was he comfortable? Probably not very often. Was he happy? Probably sometimes but not always. Was he joyful? Always. Was he wealthy? Nope. Famous? Infamous, maybe, while he lived.

In John 10:10 Jesus said He came to give us an abundant life. Paul is the poster boy for an abundant life, right? He had some stories to tell! He was never bored. He was never boring. You talk about the most interesting man in the world. Paul had that title! He had that title because he lived his purpose. Do you want everything that the world and Satan has to give and in the end it leads to an unfulfilling life and then eternal agonizing death or do you want an abundant life with joy and peace here and with eternal life in Heaven with Jesus; a life filled with God’s rewards there and here?

Ephesians 2:10 says we were “created in Christ Jesus to do good works.” That is one of the purposes of our lives. Do you remember any of the others we have looked at so far in this series as we go through the book “The Purpose Driven Life”? Worship, fellowship and discipleship are the others. Today we look at the purpose of our lives that is serving or of ministry. We were created to do good works.

Now, how many good works do we have to do before we get our ticket to Heaven? How long do we have to do nice things? How much worship, fellowship or discipleship do we have to do before God looks down and says, “Well done, my good and faithful servant. Enter into my rest.”? Dumb questions, right? We are not talking about how to get to Heaven.

We know that the only way to get to Heaven is by repenting of our sins and asking Jesus to be Lord and Savior of our lives and to change us to become more like Him. But when we do that, we submit to His will and purposes for our lives and while His will for everyone’s life is different, His purposes for us are basically the same. Today’s focus is on the purpose of ministry. Even Elvis knew his purpose was to minister and serve and when he didn’t fulfill that purpose he didn’t fulfill his life.

So, who should be our model for ministry? Elvis? Garth? Michael? I’m sure they have all done good things in this life but it’s not them. And while Paul is the poster boy for living out his purpose, it’s not even him either. Who did Paul learn from? He learned from Jesus. We learned last week that anyone who devotes their life to learning from Jesus is a disciple. So, let’s all be disciples and turn to Paul’s book of Philippians chapter 2, verses 1-11 and let’s learn from Jesus as well.

I mentioned Paul had joy and in no other book is that more evident than Philippians. He talks about joy a lot here. “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say rejoice!” he says in chapter 4. And he writes all of this…while in prison. And while he sometimes said that we should emulate him, he was always ultimately pointing to Jesus. Let’s read Philippians 2:1-11.

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, ² then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. ³ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, ⁴not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. ⁵ In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

⁶ Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
⁷ rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
⁸ And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross! ⁹ Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
¹¹ and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Most commentators think Paul was quoting a hymn popular in the first church starting in verse 6. That may be why most versions choose to make it look a little differently. But wherever it comes from it is perfect for following the purpose of discipleship we looked at last week. With discipleship, we learn from Jesus as we live our lives. We have a relationship with Him and make the choice to continue learning from Him as we live.

Paul is saying at the beginning here that if we really do have that relationship; if we really do have fellowship with Him and are learning from Him then we will be like Paul because that is what Paul had. And if we are like-minded with Paul we will do as Paul did and emulate Jesus.

Paul ends this focus starting in verse 6 by describing how Jesus did what He did and His motivation for doing it. It says that Jesus made Himself to be a servant in human form and was obedient to the Father even to the point of dying. We will look deeper at this passage tonight and I will have lots of questions for you starting about 6 pm tonight. But this morning I want us to see more about how Jesus served. How did He minister? How did He live out His purpose?

How many of you believe that God has given you some sort of talent or ability or gift? Maybe you’re not the world’s greatest at it but you have the ability to serve God in some way. The Bible, and Paul specifically teaches that we all have God-given gifts. Do you know why? 1 Peter 4:10 says “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others.” Some people want to serve God but they don’t really want to serve people. That’s not their gift, they think. But that’s not possible. God gave those gifts to us so we would serve other people and Jesus modeled that.

An elderly widow, restricted in her activities, was eager to serve Christ. After praying about this, she realized that she could bring blessing to others by playing the piano. The next day she placed this small ad in the Oakland Tribune: "Pianist will play hymns by phone daily for those who are sick and despondent--the service is free." The notice included the number to dial. When people called, she would ask, "What hymn would you like to hear?" Within a few months her playing had brought cheer to several hundred people. Many of them freely poured out their hearts to her, and she was able to help and encourage them. (Source Unknown.)

God has given all of us some gift or ability or talent. And while others may have that same ability and may even do it better, we have the unique opportunity to minister to those people God has given us to minister to. There are 4 things that we need to look at in the life of Jesus that made Him such a good minister or servant. The first thing I want us to see is that He was available. Do you know what the #1 killer of ministry is? It is busyness.

I heard a fascinating quote about ministers the other day, and you know, we are all ministers. I don’t know who said it but it went something like this. You should use the phrase “busy minister” in the same way you say “adulterous spouse” or “embezzling employee”. What do you think about that? It’s pretty severe but I think it’s true. Again, Satan wants us to think that busyness is next to godliness. But remember Satan is a liar and he wants you dead.

It may or may not be true that hard work never killed anyone but busyness has killed a lot of ministry. So many times in the Bible when Jesus does some amazing thing it is when He was on His way to do something else. In Matthew 20 it says that Jesus was leaving Jericho when two blind men asked Jesus to have mercy on them. So Jesus stopped. It says in verse 34 “Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.”

In Luke 8 Jesus is on His way to heal Jairus’s daughter and is almost being crushed by so many people around Him when a woman touches the hem of His robe and it says that Jesus stopped and it says in verse 48, Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”

Eric Hoffer said, “The feeling of being hurried is not usually the result of living a full life and having no time. It is, on the contrary, born of a vague fear that we are wasting our life. When we do not do the one thing we ought to do, we have no time for anything else--we are the busiest people in the world.” Bits & Pieces, May 1990, p.1

Do you sometimes feel that all you do is rush, rush, rush? It’s not supposed to be that way. Have you ever said you were too busy to go on that mission trip; too busy to serve at the church; too busy to help somebody who needed it? You don’t do yourself nor anyone else any favor by not being available.

Everybody in the world, at one time or another just needs somebody to stopand be there for them. In fact, people are desperate to know that Jesus stops for them; that Jesus is there for them; that Jesus cares enough to stop and minister to them. And they see that through you as a disciple of Jesus who takes time to stop and minister to them. But you can’t do that if you are not available.

After being available, we see that Jesus was also grateful. We have Thanksgiving coming right up and you might think that being grateful is more appropriate for the sermon series we have coming in November. How does being grateful make you a more effective minister? Well, let’s see when Jesus was grateful.

In John 11:41Jesus is about to raise Lazarus from the dead but He stops and takes time to pray, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.” Have you ever prayed that prayer? Most of us have. Most of us realize how ridiculous it seems that the Creator and Sustainer of the universe would stop and take time to hear our prayers. But the Bible is full of passages telling us that God does hear our prayers. And that should make us grateful.

Paul said in 1 Timothy 1:12, “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service.” Thank you, Lord, for hearing me. Thank you, Lord, for giving me strength. Thank you Lord for sending Jesus to model thankfulness to me and through whom I have the strength to do all things!

Psalm 100:2 says, “Serve the Lord with gladness! ^rCome into his presence with singing.” We serve God with grateful hearts because He loved us and saved us. That ought to make you a serving force to be reckoned with. When you realize what you are saved from and what you are saved to then you should be grateful and that gratefulness makes you a powerful servant just like Jesus.

Jesus was available and He was grateful. He was also faithful in His service. What does it mean to be faithful? Jesus gives us a great definition, used of Himself in John 17:4 where He prays to the Father,“I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.” What a perfect description of being faithful! Bringing glory to God by finishing the work He has given us to do.

Oswald Chambers said, “God wants to use us as He used His own Son.” But there is a problem with being faithful. See, the way to be faithful is to be consistent, to be always there, always doing your job; one that can be counted on at all times. This is somebody you can not only set your watch by but also your calendar. You know what I mean? This is somebody who never stops doing what they are supposed to be doing until they die.

And so the problem with being faithful is that most of the time you don’t get credit for it until you are dead. If somebody is faithful except for the last few years of their life, is that person really faithful? If a man is faithful to his wife most of the time, is he faithful? If your refrigerator works great except for those times every now and then when it quits, is it a faithful appliance?

In the fall of 1777, General George Washington and his ragtag assembly of men retreated to Valley Forge, PA to establish winter headquarters. It was a dark time for the revolution. Many died of starvation or cold, never more than half of the force was in any shape to battle at one time. Many deserted the cause, because the stress and suffering was too great. But thousands others remained faithful. They stayed in there, despite frozen bodies, starvation, sickness and bone-biting coldness, because they had a goal and a purpose for being there - that was more important to them than personal comfort or even safety.

So, the problem with faithfulness is that you rarely get the credit you deserve and if it wasn’t difficult then you would never hear the words from God, “Well done my good and FAITHFUL servant.” But Jesus proved Himself to be faithful and He is our model for that as well as for being available and grateful.

There is one more way that we can serve like Jesus served and that is to serve generously. And do you want an example of Jesus being generous? Well, you can just open up to almost any page of the Bible and see it. From Genesis 1, where God says, “Let us make man in our image” all the way to the cross where He so generously gave His life as the ultimate sacrifice for sin.

Jesus proved Himself to be available, grateful, faithful and very generous. And so now this is the point in the sermon where every smart preacher on the planet explains how you can be like Jesus and give your money to the church. And they wouldn’t be wrong to say it. Jesus was very generous and the church is His bride and is only sustained by your generosity. And maybe I’m not smart but I already know you to be generous. I know it is your generosity to this church that keeps the bills paid and the lights on and gives us the ability to do any kind of outreach.

But I also think about how Jesus was most generous. He spent His life pouring out His life for His friends. It ended with His generous substitution of Himself for us on that cross but it also included spending day in and day out worshipping with, discipling, fellowshipping, and ministering to those who had the least; who were least likely to repay Him or give Him credit for anything.

Do you want to be generous like Jesus was generous? Then it is going to take more than just giving to the church. It is going to require you giving your time, your talent and your treasure; your whole life for somebody else. Maybe that is one person every day, a different person every day or a group of people. Your life is not your own and you will never be satisfied; you will never fulfill your purpose as long as you are thinking of yourself first.

That is how you serve like Jesus. That is how you are available, grateful, faithful and generous. Because as the book says, “It’s not about you.”

Invitation: Generously giving your life for someone else starts by telling them that you love them too much not to tell them the truth about the free gift of salvation that Jesus provided on the cross when He died to take their place. A purpose-driven life can only begin with a relationship with the Savior. Confess your sins. Repent of those sins and ask Jesus into your life to be Lord and Savior today.

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“The Purpose Driven Church” – Discipleship – Matthew 11:28-30

There is an old Chinese proverb that says, “Tell me; I'll forget. Show me; I may remember. But involve me and I'll understand.” There is also an old Redneck proverb that says, “You don't learn anything the second time you're kicked by a mule.” And some of you are nodding your head. You understand that, don’t you? There’s a lot more old rednecks in here than there are old Chinese.

It comes down to, how do people best learn things? Some people can learn just by being told. I need to see the problem before I can solve it. And I’m not good at theoretical stuff. Give me something concrete to look at or at least think about. And I never was good at math. Ok, ok, I’m just not that smart. I admit it. I don’t learn easily.

I remember in high school taking some kind of higher math. I don’t remember what it was, geometry or geology or something. And I asked the teacher why we needed to learn the square root of pi multiplied by x over z to the 4^th power, or whatever she was trying to teach. I mean we had calculators, even way back then. And unless I was going to be a teacher then how is all this going to help me?

She said it would expand our minds and help us to think. I laughed and said, “No, really. Why?” But she was serious. Well, I’m pretty sure my mind didn’t expand nor was the teacher my friend from then on. But that’s ok. And while I was not interested in learning when I was in school, I am very interested now; at least in learning certain things. I still cringe thinking about how if x +w= z then multiply the Pythagoras Theory by a train leaving the station at …

But did you know that the Bible teaches us that we should learn? In fact, Jesus said it. The first church did it. In that passage that we have been reading the last few weeks in Acts 2:42-47, it says that the first church devoted themselves to the disciples teaching. What was it that the disciples were teaching? It was what they had learned from Jesus. The disciples were teaching how to be disciples.

And that is exactly what we are supposed to do. We are supposed to learn from Jesus how to be disciples and then we are to teach what we know. Jesus said in Matthew 28:19 that we are supposed to go and make disciples. That’s the Great Commission. And what is it that Jesus wants to teach us? He wants to teach us to be just like Him. In John 14:12, Jesus says, “whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do.”

Are you ready for that? Are you prepared to become more like Jesus? Are you prepared to do what Jesus did? To react like Him and to talk like Him and to love like Him? I don’t know about you but that sounds kind of scary to me. I don’t know if I can do that. I’m not that smart, remember? It sure sounds hard.

In Matthew chapter 11, Jesus addresses this. It says that He was teaching in Galilee and He was not just talking to His 12 disciples but to all who would listen. Turn to the end of that chapter. Turn to Matthew chapter 11, verses 28-30 and let’s see what Jesus said about learning from Him.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Now, how does that sound? Sounds pretty good to all of us here today who have had busy, difficult weeks. I’m sure it sounded pretty good to the people of that day as well. Like so many people today, the average person in those days was a blue-collar worker who did manual labor from sunup to sundown. I’m quite sure what Jesus said resonated in their ears and really caught their attention.

Among the Jews a pupil who submitted himself to the instruction of a certain teacher was sometimes said to take his yoke. — (Commentary on Matthew) Originally the yoke would have been a heavy wooden harness that fit over the shoulders of an ox or oxen that would allow them to carry heavy packs or burdens. Here Jesus is saying, though, that His yoke is easy and light.

In fact, Jesus gives 3 commands here (Warren W. Wiersbe commentary) and I want to look a little closer at those commands and then much closer at one in particular. He first says to “Come”. “Come to Me.” While all the Pharisees and teachers of the Law said, “Do.”, Jesus just said come. When you come to Jesus you leave all the works and trying hard behind. It’s not about keeping all the Laws of Moses or about tradition or even about religion. It is about coming to the person of Jesus Christ and coming to Him means you trust Him.

Secondly, Jesus says to “Take”. “Take My yoke upon you.” In surrender and obedience we take His yoke, His teaching, and apply it to our lives. The word “easy” means “well-fitting”. He has just the yoke that is tailor made for our lives and needs. 1 John 5:3 echoes this and says, “In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome.”

And the third command is to “Learn.” “Learn from Me.” And how do we learn from Jesus? How do we become true disciples of His? You might not think this is true or that it is at least ironic but the way we learn and get rest for our souls as we take up His light and easy yoke is through the difficult, dark and heavy times of our lives. Think about it. You rarely learn anything beneficial when life is rosy and sweet. It is in the difficulties of life that we truly grow and become more like Jesus.

And that is one of the purposes of our lives and a purpose of our church as well. We want to become more like Jesus. Unfortunately, too often, the church has led people to believe that the purpose of the church is to be a place where you come to feel better after getting dressed up, sitting still and listening to some boring people say boring things. That is most definitely not the purpose of our lives or of the church.

Jesus said in John 10:10 that He came to give us an abundant life not a boring life. But because it is still life on this earth, the way that we learn from Jesus is by going through all the things that everybody on earth goes through. In fact, hear me now, the way that we become more like Jesus is to go through all the things that Jesus went through. And when Jesus was on earth He went through trouble, temptations and trespasses just like we all do.

But it is through those troubles, temptations and trespasses that we learn from Jesus how to respond properly. And just as life is a life-long processJ, so is becoming a disciple. Becoming a disciple, a learner of Jesus, is a life-long process because we face troubles, temptations and trespassesuntil the day we die.

Joe Scriven was a missionary from Ireland to Canada, working among the Iroquois Indians. He was joined by his fiancé who was also from Ireland. Just before the wedding, she was killed in an ice accident. Joe buried her with his own hands, and a broken heart. A year later, in a letter to his mother, he wrote the words that you can find on page 182 in your hymnal.

"What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear! What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer! Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged. Take it to the Lord in prayer."

How is that possible? How can a person who has endured so much, with so much trouble sincerely say “We should never be discouraged”? A mature Christian knows that every problem has a purpose. 1 Peter 4:12-13 says, “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.¹³ But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.” In Philippians 3, Paul said he wanted to become more like Christ, even sharing in His sufferings. These people understood that one of the purposes of our lives is to become more like Jesus; to become a disciple and we do that by going through what Jesus went through.

Vance Havner told a story about an elderly lady who was greatly disturbed by her many troubles--both real and imaginary. Finally, someone in her family tactfully told her, "Grandma, we've done all we can for you. You'll just have to trust God for the rest." A look of absolute despair spread over her face as she replied, "Oh dear, has it come to that?"

To become like Christ I must learn to trust God completely. In Luke 22, Jesus is praying in the garden. He has seen trouble but He knows His real trouble, the cross, is just hours away. How would you be praying at a time like this? “God, help get out of here. I gotta leave. God, help me catch the nearest train outta here.”

Well, Jesus prayed something pretty close to that. He said, “Take this cup from me.” But then He ended with, “yet not my will but yours be done.” Nothing wrong with praying for deliverance. We are told to pray for God’s help and mercy. And God wants good things for us. But He allows trouble to come into our lives because He is more concerned with the quality of your character than the comfort of your body.

Romans 5:3-4 says, “we glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope.” How close to that are you? How close are you from being able to honestly say you glory in your sufferings? Paul could say that because he was wise and mature and a disciple of Jesus Christ. That was one of the purposes of his life and he knew that to be like Jesus, we have to endure trouble.

And while troubles are allowed by God to help us grow, we also learn from Jesus how to respond properly when Satan brings temptation into our lives to harm us. If we respond correctly, we can learn and become more like Jesus through troublesand through temptations. John Piper says that sin "gets its power by persuading me to believe that I will be more happy if I follow it. The power of all temptation is the prospect that it will make me happier."

And here is where the rubber really meets the road. Here is where we really have to make a decision. Can you be happy while you sin? Absolutely you can. Most of us could agree with that. We have all done things wrong that make us happy for a season. So, here is your decision you have to make every single time you are tempted. Do I want to have that temporary happiness that sin brings?

Or…now I want you to go back to our main passage for the morning in Matthew 11: 29. “learn from me, and you will find rest for your souls.” Do you want temporary happiness or do you want that rest for your souls that comes from learning from Jesus and overcoming temptation? And we can all understand that sometimes that is a difficult decision to make.

I talked to a lady a while back who had made some bad choices in her life as we all have. But she was in a particularly bad circumstance due to these decisions. And as I talked to her about a relationship with Jesus, I told her how we can have peace and joy in this life through Jesus. And I asked her if that was something she would like. And I’ll never forget the look in her eyes as she said, “I’d give anything for peace!”

Satan makes sin look so enticing. And just like he did to Jesus, he knows just when and how to tempt you. In Luke chapter 4 Jesus had been fasting for 40 days in the desert. He was tired and weak and very hungry. And what did Satan tempt Him with? Was it a new car? Did Satan tempt Jesus with sex, drugs and rock n roll? No. He tempted Him with what He wanted, needed and deserved. He tempted Him with food.

Jesus knew that the food would give Him temporary happiness but He knew that it would also bring a barrier between Him and the Father. And that it would steal His joy and His peace and all the blessings that a relationship with God brings. And it is the same with us. We have talked about the purpose of the church. This is the very purpose of Satan. He wants to steal your joy and peace and put a barrier between you and God. That tickles him pink.

In Hebrews 11 it says that Moses “chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. ²⁶ He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.”

That means that Moses knew that there was even more to this life than the peace and joy that we have here on earth with a relationship with Jesus. There are also rewards for not giving in to temptation. And some of them are in this life but it is really talking about in the life to come. There will be rewards in Heaven; eternal rewards; rewards that we can’t even imagine. And those rewards are given to those who are like Jesus; to those who have chosen eternal blessings over temporary happiness.

So, if you want to be a disciple and learn from Jesus, then we do that as we live this life and endure the trouble, the temptations and also the trespasses that life brings just like it did for Jesus. And while God uses trouble in our lives to grow us and Satan uses temptation in our lives to harm us. Trespasses come from other people in our lives that intend to hurt us.

And what do you think God wants us to learn from people who want to hurt us? Forgiveness. Just before Jesus died on the cross in Luke 24, one of the last things He said was, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." What does the Lord’s Prayer say? “And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us.”

And I know. I know. I know what some of you are thinking. “Oh no! He’s talking about forgiveness again. I hate it when he talks about forgiveness because it is so hard to do. Do I really have to forgive people even when they have really done me wrong; when they have really tried to hurt me and they have done it on purpose?”

Well, my answer is no. No, you don’t have to forgive people. But don’t call yourself a disciple if you don’t. If you want to be a learner of Jesus; a follower of Jesus; a disciple of Jesus; a friend of Jesus; a servant of Jesus then you better learn from Jesus how to forgive. You will never live out your purpose as human nor will we live out our purpose as a church until we learn to forgive.

Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross, was reminded one day of a vicious deed that someone had done to her years before. But she acted as if she had never even heard of the incident. "Don't you remember it?" her friend asked. "No," came Barton's reply, "I distinctly remember forgetting it." Luis Palau, Experiencing God's Forgiveness, Multnomah Press, 1985.

And we hear stories like that and think, “Oh, sure. But she didn’t go through what I went through. She wasn’t treated like I was treated. I can’t just forgive. It’s not that easy.” Well, nobody said it would be easy but that’s why we are not disciples of Clara Barton. We are not disciples of Billy Graham or John the Baptist or even Paul. But if you want to be a disciple of Jesus then you will make the choice to give up your right to be mad and you will forgive. And that’s not Todd talking. That’s what God says.

Colossians 3:13 says, “Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” And that is why we are disciples of Jesus. We learn from Him how to forgive because we have seen it firsthand. We forgive because we have been forgiven. And if our purpose as a person and as a church is to make disciples then how will we teach others to forgive if we don’t learn to forgive?

This is a nasty, mean and unforgiving world. It is full of people who start trouble, give in to every temptation and never forgive a trespass. And it is a hard world for them. There’s no peace and no joy. There’s no forgiveness from them or for them. No wonder they act like they do. But Jesus says, “my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

But first you have to “come”. Come to Jesus. He told His first disciples simply, “Follow me.” They didn’t understand everything. They didn’t know what all “Follow me” entailed. But they stopped everything they were doing and followed Him; becoming His disciples as they learned from Him in their lives. And their lives weren’t always easy after that. On the contrary, there was difficulties and hardships on every side.

But they had peace and joy in this life and the guarantee of eternal life with God in Heaven as well. How much would you give for peace today? How much would you give to find rest for your soul? I will give you the same invitation that Jesus gave those disciples. Come today and accept Jesus into your life to be Lord and Savior and Teacher.

Romans 10:9 says, “If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Today is the day of salvation. Come.