Sermon for Sunday September 10th, 2006

 LEARNING TO DO GOD’S WILL by Kenneth Squires

Matthew 6:9-6:11

Reverence for Our Heavenly Father
“‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Requests for Our Needs
11Give us today our daily bread. 12Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’ (Matthew 6:9b – 13 NIV)

39Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” (Matthew 26:39)

45for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.
(Luke 23-NIV)

Learning God’s Will Starts With His Word
What do you think is the most valuable item in the world? Is it the Hope Diamond? The Mona Lisa? How about King Tut’s Tomb? How about the new Freedom Towers in Manhattan? Offer these options to someone at death’s door and you immediately discover a plummeting value. The world’s treasures go down in the tank of value.

I suggest the most valuable item on the planet costs less than $100, but many of them sit on thrift store shelves and sell for pennies of their value. They are given as gifts, yet never opened. At key crossroads of a person’s life they are introduced as aid, help, and even salvation, but for many they offer little coarse correction. Americans treat them casually while those in places like China risk their very lives to get their hands on one. The Gideons give them away. During the Inauguration, the President lays his hand on it as he takes an oath to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.” The children’s version includes pictures. Students of the Word often buy one that comes with extensive study notes. They are read at funerals then placed in the casket with grandma or passed on to loved ones.

It was written in Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic. It is our foundation for faith and absolute authority. It is historically reliable. Where did it come from? It was written over a period of 1600 years by over 40 authors from three continents, different cultures, and different walks of life.

The answer? The most valuable item in the world is the Bible.

Bill Gates’ billions can’t touch it, Hitler couldn’t destroy it, Nero couldn’t burn it, and the Kamer Rouge couldn’t change it. It is inerrant and infallible in its original writings. Nothing will change you more over the next five years than the trials you go through and the scriptures that you read, meditate on, and memorize.

God’s word is spiritual nourishment that you must take in daily to fulfill God’s plan and purpose for your life. The Bible is called milk, solid food, and sweet desert. This is your daily four-course meal to help you grow and have spiritual strength to defeat the devil and resist temptation.

1 Peter 2:2:
Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, (NIV)*

2You must crave pure spiritual milk so that you can grow into the fullness of your salvation. (NLT)*

2Like newborn babies you should crave (thirst for, earnestly desire) the pure (unadulterated) spiritual milk, that by it you may be nurtured and grow unto [completed] salvation, (Amplified)*

The Bible is more than a book of information and interpretation; it is a book that:
generates life
creates faith
produces change
frightens the devil
causes miracles
heals hurts
builds character
transforms circumstances
imparts joy
overcomes adversity
defeats temptation
infuses hope
releases power
cleanses our mind
brings things into being
guarantees our future forever.

We cannot live without it. Never take it for granted. Get more of it in you through every means.

One of the great resources God offers His children along with His word is prayer. God loves it when we have fellowship with Him and lean on Him in our hour of need. If I were truly honest with myself I’d have to confess I do it less than I should. Who doesn’t struggle to make prayer more a priority in their life? To our embarrassment, God even exposes this struggle:
1. We don’t pray as we should. (James 4:2b)
2. Instead of prayer, we are prone to anxiety, stress, and worry. (Philippians 4:6-7)
3. Our prayers are filled with the wrong motives (James 4:3)
4. Our fast-paced life is the enemy of private devotion in prayer. (Matthew 6:6)

When you come to faith in Jesus Christ you learn that a part of the package is learning to do God’s will. The highest calling of mankind is to find out what God is doing and become a part of it. Sounds easy - difficult to pull off. No person in all of scripture walked closer with God and introduced to his people God’s will more than Moses. Moses was the first UPS driver for the Lord; he came down from Mt. Sinai and delivered the Ten Commandments to God’s people. For years to come, Moses would show the people how to have fellowship with God. Doing God’s will was the norm for Moses, and it can be for you also.

Doing God’s Will Involves
1. Make doing God’s will your highest aim in life.
“‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven…. (Matthew 6:9-10 - NIV)

Make that commitment today. Above all else, make sure your heart is devoted to God’s will. The discovery of God’s will leads to enjoying God’s pleasure. Have you realized that the Christian life is about surrender, not conformity? Many who come to Jesus think that the first thing they need to do is conform to the status quo of the group. Dress like others. Say the same things. Make sure their prayers sound spiritual. In trying to fit in, they miss God’s purpose - its not conformity, but surrender.

A rural village was located in an area inhabited by parrots. One day a falcon landed on a windowsill. The owner of the house caught it. The villagers had never seen such a bird. They decided to trim back its feathers. They cut its talons. The beak was the next to go; it was filed down so that the falcon looked like a parrot.1 We should look alike in our efforts to be like Jesus, but we should allow for unique gifting and talents to develop in accordance with God’s plan, not our preferences.

Each person gives his or her life over to something. You surrender to a schedule, pleasure, other people’s expectations, past failures - each of us surrenders to something. Do you realize that God wants all of your life? Not a fraction but a whole life. E. Stanley Jones says, “If you don’t surrender to Christ, you’ll surrender to chaos.”2

You were created by God to give all your affections and allegiance over to Him. If you hold anything back, you end up sending it off to lesser unions. This sending off of your affections and allegiance is called “surrender.” If God doesn’t get all of you, then you will surrender partially or completely to something or someone else.

Billy Graham was once asked the secret to victorious Christian living. He said there is no magic formula for such a life, then he went on to offer what he thought was one word that described it - “surrender.”3

So, what does a surrendered life look like? I’m glad you asked. Let me give you a verse that best describes the only person who ever completely surrendered His life. His name was Jesus. I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do (John 17:4b - KJV)

2. The effort to do God’s will is often filled with struggle.
39Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” (Matthew 26:39 - NIV)

I went to the Garden of Gethsemane last night (Online. http://www.bibleplaces.com/mtolives.htm). It was quiet among the olive trees. If the Romans left this special place undisturbed in their efforts to desecrate the temple, these trees could be 2000 years old. The day’s pilgrims had long returned to their hotels and were now e-mailing their pictures back home.

Across the Kidron Valley, though brightly lit, the Western Wall was home to only a few faithful Jews praying. One-by-one the shopkeepers were closing up and returning to their families that night in the Old City. I was alone. Sitting. Kneeling. Praying in the most famous garden on the planet. Two thousand years ago the Savior came through here. He paused for prayer. He chided his disciples for not staying awake. That fateful night is now recorded in the gospels. It just happened to be my assigned reading yesterday in my read-the Bible-through-in-a-year plan. What are the odds?

Two struggles unfolded as that night so long ago wore on. Would the Savior submit to God’s will? His struggle is my struggle.

“…when Jesus was pressed until there was nothing left to squeeze, what oozed out of him was not just sweat like drops of blood, but submission. Humble, obedient submission.”4
Meeting God in Holy Places, F.LaGard Smith, page 198 (out of print)

The word Gethsemane means “olive press.” No other place in Israel provides a more prophetic analogy.

So now it’s your turn to go to Gethsemane. You can’t use the excuse that you don’t like to fly. No passport? Won’t work. No time off from work? Sorry. Go to the Garden tonight - this week - sometime. Listen to the night sounds; the Mediterranean breeze as it blows up the Mt. of Olives. Go now! Don’t wait another moment. Go and answer the question: Will I surrender my life to God’s will in complete obedience to Him who did the same for ME?

As the Sin-Bearer showed us, no struggle is greater!

3. God’s will is accomplished when we commit our lives into His hands.
45for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” (Luke 23:45-46a - NIV)

It is the last step of the race.
It is the pause between the last note of a great choir number and the applause.
It is the screech of the tires of a 747 landing at Sea-Tac or DFW.

The voice that called those first disciples, “Follow me,”
The voice that declared to a leper, “I am willing to heal,”
The voice that raised a widow’s son, “Young man, I say to you, get up!”,
The voice that taught how to pray, “When you pray, say…”,
The voice that cried out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”,
The voice is now saying, “I am ready to come home.”

Finally, Jesus Christ is reunited with His father. The two are now one. A dismantled Trinity is now unified. The division that once existed is now bridged. Jesus and the Father are again one.

Jesus catches His Father’s attention and says, “Bring me home, Dad.” Bring this Son to his Father. Welcome home the Victor. Unite this Pilgrim with His home. Satan and death have been defeated, go home.5

Good-bye, Bethlehem’s babe. Thank you for walking in our shoes. The journey is over.

While the sixth saying of Jesus on the Cross was a declaration of triumph, “It is finished!”, this last one is a declaration of trust.

“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”

The word commit means, “to deposit something of great value in a safe place.” Our life is filled with all types of examples of this: a baby-sitter for your children on Friday night, a trustworthy mechanic for your SUV, the safety deposit box at the bank.

When you put your life in order through a will, there are several things in it of great value that you make sure are kept in a safe place: decisions concerning life support, distribution of your assets to family and charity, a guardian assigned for your children.

That day Jesus was surrendering the control of His life into the hands of His Father. Have you done that? Have you said to God, “You take control of my life?” Jesus shows us that all of us should be willing to release our hold on life.

Today you have already begun to make hundreds of choices, whether or not to come to church, what clothes to wear, what color should your hair be? Which service will you go to? Where will you eat after church? How to act? But in eternity we are given only two options: heaven or hell.

Summary Comments

1. Billy Graham was once asked the secret to victorious Christian living. He said there is no magic formula for such a life; then he went on to offer what he thought was one word that described it - “surrender.”3

So, what does a surrendered life look like? I’m glad you asked. Let me give you a verse that best describes the only person who ever completely surrendered His life. His name was Jesus. I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do (John 17:4b - KJV)

2. Two struggles unfolded as that night so long ago wore on. Would the Savior submit to God’s will? His struggle is my struggle.

“…when Jesus was pressed until there was nothing left to squeeze, what oozed out of him was not just sweat like drops of blood, but submission. Humble, obedient submission.”4 Meeting God in Holy Places, F. LaGard Smith, page 198 (out of print)

3. Good-bye, Bethlehem’s babe. Thank you for walking in our shoes. The journey is over.

While the sixth saying of Jesus on the Cross was a declaration of triumph, “It is finished!”, this last one is a declaration of trust.

“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”

Surprising Comments

1. A rural village was located in an area inhabited by parrots. One day a falcon landed on a windowsill. The owner of the house caught it. The villagers had never seen such a bird. They decided to trim back its feathers. They cut its talons. The beak was the next to go; it was filed down so that the falcon looked like a parrot.1 We should look alike in our efforts to be like Jesus, but we should allow for unique gifting and talents to develop in accordance with God’s plan, not our preferences.

2. E. Stanley Jones says, “If you don’t surrender to Christ, you’ll surrender to chaos.”2

3. Finally, Jesus Christ is reunited with His father. The two are now one. A dismantled Trinity is now unified. The division that once existed is now bridged. Jesus and the Father are again one.

Jesus catches His Father’s attention and says, “Bring me home, Dad.” Bring this Son to his Father. Welcome home the Victor. Unite this Pilgrim with His home. Satan and death have been defeated, go home5.