How can I know God’s will for me? How do I break free from the pattern of this world? | Romans 12:1-2, 10:1-4
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How can I know God’s will for me? How do I break free from the pattern of this world? | Romans 12:1-
Series: N/A
Title: “How can I know God’s will for me?” “How do I break free from the pattern of this world?”
Scripture: Romans 12:1-2 (Main); 10:1-4
(Main commentary helps listed at the end)
Bottom line: We break free from the pattern of this world when we surrender to Jesus’ transforming words, ways and works of life.
Intro/Opening story:
Some people worship college football. They even have shrines, statues, scripture and monuments.
College football playoff and realignment changes.
We’re not going to let the things we cannot control affect the things we can control. We’re going to do what we do. -Dabo Swinney
Change is disruptive to the degree in which we find our identity in the world. But this is the way or the pattern of this world in which we live.
But we can break free from that.
Bottom line: We break free from the pattern of this world when we surrender to Jesus’ transforming words, ways and works of life.
What do I want you to know today?
How to know God’s will for me? Or better asked…
How to break free from the pattern of this world. We do that by surrendering to Jesus’ transforming words, ways and works of life.
Why? Because by breaking free you can live without the fears of losing control, failure, rejection, and suffering. This is because of the transforming work Jesus did for you and me on the cross. (Because of his mercy)
Indian Chief story
Jordan Peterson video clip 1: (whole clip 2 min 40 sec) Here JP reveals his genuine struggle to believe as he wrestles with what he thinks and what he’s personally experienced in life.
JP clip 2: (1: 0:00-2:04) Here we see in the same interview how damaging it can be to us and others when our professed faith doesn’t line up with our actual faith. (What I’ve referred to as “The gap” between what we say we believe (the head) and what we actually believe and is played out in our lives (heart).
Ex. I say I am not afraid to die because I know scripture teaches to live is Christ and to die is gain. But then I won’t fly in a plane because ultimately I am afraid of crashing and dying.
We say we believe that the Bible is God’s word but do we really? We don’t read it, study it, listen to it, memorize it, or meditate on it like we really believe that, do we? So do we really believe it’s the very words of God to us? Do we really believe Paul when he writes that it’s “God-breathed?”
My 9 month old grandson can’t feed himself yet, not to mention someone else. But as a Christian one day, he will learn how to feed others the word of God instead of demanding to be bottle fed the milk.
What do I want you to do?
To intentionally offer your life sacrificially and be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
168 hrs/week - 56 hrs of sleep = 112 waking hrs
I want you to re-evaluate how you’re spending these hours.
And we need to take in not trash but truth, not garbage but goodness, not waste but word to renew our minds.
Why? Because this leads to a life where you will discern God’s good, pleasing and perfect will for your life empowering you to worship God through serving your neighbors where you live, work, learn and play.
How?
Our August Discipleship Training happens 6:30 Eastern Monday nights.
Practically, I hope this will cause you to want to start intentionally and prayerfully making disciples weekly.
Who should you share this with this week?
Pray and invite them to join you.
Samson and faith vs discipleship
Samson is an example of someone who knew a little about God’s word (it was rare in those days) and showed what you could do with a little faith. (Moves lions and Philistines, not to mention mountains)
But he also showed you how dangerous just a little faith could be. It can result in great things and it can do great harm. Great faith that is not disciplined by God’s word is inconsistent full of ups and downs like a rollercoaster. Better is the gradually consistent up and to the right growth curve that faithful discipline yields.
God’s word = knowledge
“Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.”
Romans 10:1-4 NIV
God’s word. We either
Forget it,
Ignore it,
Learn it but disobey it,
Can’t understand it, or
Don’t have access to it.
According to Paul here, we can be zealously (enthusiastic) but totally miss the mark (low character) and be lost, hopeless and ineffective for anything that pleases God.
“Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.”
Romans 10:1-4 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/rom.10.1-4.NIV
Think about our target of what a maturing disciple of Jesus Christ looks like.
Up and to the right is fruitfulness (high character and high competency).
Low and to the right is dangerous (low character and high competency).
Samson was very competent when it came to wreaking havoc against the oppressors of God’s people (Philistines). He could kill them at a very high rate. But he was inconsistent. His character rarely reflected Christ and his calling to be a
“Nazarite of God from the womb until the day of his death” (Judges 13:7).
He had a bad temper, bad attitude, and bad ways with other women, to name a few. Was he raised in the word? Not much. He was raised a Nazarite. But he seemed to fight the few words from God he did know. As a result, he didn’t walk in it.
This made him able to do great things for the Lord (high competency) but fail miserably in the character department. (#dangerous)
As a result, he hurt many innocent people as well as himself. As a result, unlike most of the previous judges, his reign did not end in peace for Israel.
Samson
full of faith
Lacking in knowledge (word) and discipline (unfaithful, ignorant, or both)
Resisting his calling until the very end
Heb 11:6 impossible to please God without faith
But you can have faith and fail often without consistency (God is consistent in his character: who we follow)
“I the Lord do not change” Malachi 3:6
Why do I share this with you?
At least 2 reasons.
One, because some of you don’t think your faith can do anything. Samson grew up in a time when the word of God was rare. He was ignorant of a lot of it. He disobeyed some and was inconsistent in other. As a result, his character didn’t reflect God’s character. This hurt his witness, his family, his mission field, and his future.
Two, because some of you know you have faith but you try to ride that faith without discipline. You think I’ll just obey what I know but I don’t really want to waste time reading or listening to God and his word. I know enough. And you use that mindset to justify your sinful imperfections instead of inviting God in to evaluate and sanctify your life through his Spirit and his word.
Both of these are why the church isn’t making a greater difference in our world today.
We lack a disciplined life that bears the fruit of faithfulness.
We lack a faithful life that lacks the fruit of discipline and self-control.
Preparation
We prepare physically for hurricanes first so that we’ll be able to survive if we lose power and water for 2-3 weeks. But, hopefully, we also prepare with others in mind (extended family, church family, and neighbors). We want to be able to share practically with those who don’t prepare for whatever reason to show them the love of Christ.
We prepare for an uncertain future in our nation as well. Some of that is physical (food, water, meds, survival packs, guns, ammo, propane tanks, gummy bears, etc.). And we prepare to share some of that as well.
But even more importantly than those things, we prepare our hearts, minds, souls and strength. This starts and ends with the disciplined pursuit of God and his words of wisdom, life and truth. We pursue these things for:
ourselves
Our family
Our Oikos (extended family)
Our church family
Our neighbors where we live, work, and play
As a church, you could make the argument we should be doing a lot of things to prepare for the cataclysmic changes coming our way. And per the “5 Capitals”, we should be preparing ourselves:
Financially (emergency fund, saving)
Intellectually (informed, educated, trained)
Physically (health, diet, exercise),
Relationally (important conversations; preparing family for your death, etc.)
But most importantly, we must prepare ourselves:
Spiritually, so that we can lead others to walk in gospel peace in the midst of unprecedented change and chaos. If we live in light of eternity, we will not be overwhelmed or live in despair over our circumstances. We will see our circumstances as opportunities and “Be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks us the reason for the hope that we have in Christ.” (1 Peter 3:15)
Are we loving ourselves, our families, our church so we can together love our neighbors well? If you aren’t preparing now for this, you won’t ever do that well.
For 5 Mondays in August, 6-8 pm, we are going to equip you to prepare in this last category in particular. Our training will be how to make disciples who make disciples in small settings—ideally in your home, workplace, online, or favorite hangout.
The point is, you can be prepared financially, intellectually, physically, and relationally and yet still not be ready to give to others an answer for the reason for the hope that you have in Christ.
I call on every person able to sit around a table here or online to join us.
To get access to this group experience, you’ll either show up here in person or RSVP with us at info@gracetoday.net. We’ll contact you for access to the online group chats.
It’s not enough to believe without knowledge of the truth. You need to believe the truth. But further you need to discipline yourself to walk in that truth in faithful obedience rooted in that truth…the word of God.
We will begin training you with tools that will empower and equip you to more consistently believe and live in a manner worthy of the gospel to which you’ve been called…and to lead others to do the same.
Matthew and Luke 4
Jesus demonstrated this kind of living right after his baptism where his identity was solidified in his mind and heart by his father. And right before his public ministry began. He showed that knowing who you are in reference to the Father makes all the difference when you face the enemies of flesh, world, and Satan.
Jesus demonstrated in his testing in the wilderness under extremely harsh conditions
financially (he had nothing with him),
Intellectually (mentally challenging),
physically (he was exposed to the elements with no food or water),
Relationally (emotionally and without any others to support him), and
Spiritually.
His deliverance came from his disciplined confidence and faith in the words of his Father (“this is my son in whom I am well-pleased; listen to him”) and our Father. He quoted scripture from memory, with understanding, and with faith to respond to the attacks Satan unleashed on him. We can too if we prepare like he did.
Psalm 85:10 SOAP 7/16/21
In this Psalm, the Psalmist calls for the Lord to “restore us again” as he’s done in the past. He recalls this from the past (1-3) and prays for restoration (4-7). In 8-13, he acknowledges that the fruit of this is to trust and obey i.e. faithful and righteous living.
This is what we need to do:
recall,
pray, and
trust and
obey.
This verse stuck out because it closely connects love and faithfulness. Love is the ultimate character trait.
God is love (1 John 4). Faithfulness is the measure of that trait. It requires faith.
But, not just faith once in a while (e.g. Samson) but consistent, disciplined faith. This reveals true freedom (thx Jocko) and love because it’s a demonstration of that love through the disciplined reorientation (wagon wheel) of your whole life around what matters most: love. Love for God—love for people.
Application Could include this prayer.
Prayer: Lord, I repent of my inconsistent love nad undisciplined way of life. I repent of my unfaithfulness to you that trickles down from a lack of love for you and others. Cleanse me and fill me with your Holy Spirit that I may walk fully and faithfully with you and your people. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.
Fear is the opposite of love. Fear is a powerful motivator and often leads us to prioritize self over others. (The opposite of agapé love)
People use fear to manipulate others to do what they want them to do. We see this in our government at times. We see it at work. We see it in how terrorists work. We see this in family.
“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”
We can see this in the base idols if ambition, approval and appetites:
Ambition—
When we worship this idol, we fear failure.
Our identity is wrapped up in success, power and control.
We try to take control of our lives to the extreme. God is able. God is great.
Approval—
When we worship this idol, we fear rejection.
Our identity is wrapped up in what people think about us.
We end up trying to prove ourselves. God loves us just as we are. God is gracious.
Appetites—
When we worship this idol, we fear suffering.
Our identity is wrapped up in comfort and security.
We end up indulging our fleshly desires to the extreme. God satisfies our deepest needs and desires. He is more than enough. God is good.
Because God is glorious, we don’t have to be afraid for he is with us. We can forsake pursuing these little gods and walk in awe and worship of the living God; the one true God!
Look at how Jesus handles the flesh, the wilderness, and the enemy who tempts him with these powerful but unsatisfying idols in Matthew 4 and Luke 4.
From The Rise & Fall of Movements pp. 183-184: Vision of faithfulness vs discipline of faithfulness
(Vision vs execution)
Discipleship bullseye
Lord does not change he is consistent in his character, immutable and perfect in all his ways.
As his followers we are called to walk in that same way of consistent character. This is the pinnacle of Christ likeness: high character and high competency equals fruitfulness.
We must pursue consistency in fruitfulness by disciplining ourselves and remembering who we are through the word, the Holy Spirit, and the mission.