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Plainly Speaking
with Karl J. Forehand
Purpose
– Part 2
(Replicative Discipleship)
by Karl J. Forehand
*This series developed in part based on Rick Warren’s
“Purpose Driven Life”
Paul Shepherd gives some simple
rules that have great impact.
1.
Everything God creates has a purpose
2.
When purpose is ignored, there is abuse (or neglect)
3.
If you want to know the purpose of a thing – don’t ask the thing
4.
Purpose is only found in the mind of the creator
The church has several purposes:
1.
Evangelism – taking our hope to those outside
2.
Fellowship – loving the body of Christ
3.
Ministry – serving others
4.
Worship – which we looked at last week
5.
Discipleship – which we will look at this week
Romans 8:29 says, “For whom He
foreknew, He also predestined to become
conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among
many brethren;” (Rom 8:29). What does that mean? It means that God, because of his
foreknowledge knew you would be a believer.
He also pre-ordained a purpose for all believers. What is that purpose? To become conformed to the image of His
Son (to become like Jesus).
Ephesians 4:15 says, “…becoming more and more in every way like
Christ.” This is our purpose.
If we back up one verse to
Romans 8:28, we read, “And we know that God causes all things to work together
for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. What is that purpose again – it is in
verse 29, “becoming like Christ.” For
those who love God (remember worship is loving God), they are called to an
eternal purpose – they are preordained to replicate Jesus Christ. This implies not only imitation and
duplication, but also an answer to what God has done for us. It is a response to His love.
A disciple is a learner. What should we learn?
1. Learning to trust
And not only this, but we also exult in our
tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and
perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the
love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who
was given to us. (Rom. 5:3-5)
Trials bring about
perseverance. Perseverance brings
about proven character. Proven
character brings about hope. It say
that hope does not disappoint us. Why
not? Because the “love of God has
been poured out within our hearts by the Spirit of God?”
Our hope and trust is not in the
circumstances – it is the spirit of God.
Our hope is in Romans 8:28 (in spite of the circumstances, God works
through them for the good). The truth
is that God is more interested in what you are and what you become than what
you accomplish. We usually get upset,
in trials, because it interrupts our plans.
Every problem has a purpose to make you better. God won’t necessarily work the circumstance
to your preference; but He will cause it to make your better. We have to learn to trust Him.
In Mark 14:34, Jesus said, “My
soul is deeply grieved.” In verse 36,
his humanity cried out “remove this cup from me;” then almost immediately He
said, “Not what I will, but what Thou wilt.”
It IS okay to tell God “I don’t like this situation.” It is even okay to ask God “Will you take
it away – will you relieve this struggle in my life?” But, if he doesn’t we have to be willing
to say “This must be best for me – I’ll have to trust You.” We have to learn to trust God completely,
especially in the tough times.
Paul gives us some
encouragement. “Therefore we do
not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is
decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is
producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-17).
John Paton was a tribal
missionary struggling to find a way to express John 1:12 in the native
language. This verse tells us we
should “believe in” or “trust in” the Lord.
The Greek word is “pisteuo.”
There was no adequate word in the tribal language. An aid explained it by leaning back in a
chair and explaining it by “putting his full weight on the chair.” It is the way my youngest daughter hugs
me. She runs across the room, jumps
spread eagle, and lands in my arms.
She puts her full weight out and trusts me to catch her. Learning to trust is “putting our full
weight” upon the Lord.
Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us to
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own
understand. In all your ways
acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” We must be learning to trust.
2. Learning to obey
Trusting comes from our
trials. Obedience comes from our
temptations.
Temptations are not sin – they
are an enticement to sin. Jesus was
tempted right after His baptism. Adam
failed the test of temptation and all men die. Jesus passed the test and all men can be made alive. Becoming like Jesus, means daily choosing
not to sin. We are all tempted. We can’t fight temptation – we have to
decide not to sin. Jesus said, “Be
gone Satan.”
We often say “this temptation is
just too great.” We might even say,
“In my situation….” May I tell you
something about your situation if you are believer? If you are a believer, you are forgiven of your sin. You have a Savior that has triumphed over
sin. You have the Holy Spirit to
guide you. You have angelic multitudes
rooting for you. You have a simple
choice every day, every hour to obey God or obey Satan. We have to learn to simply say no – we
have to learn to obey.
3. Learning to forgive
From our trails, we learn to
trust. From our temptations we learn
to obey. We learn to forgive from our
conflicts (trespasses against us).
The trials are from God – the temptations are from Satan – the
trespasses are from other people.
God doesn’t protect us from
this. When Jesus endured the cross,
He was beaten, falsely accused, insulted and ultimately crucified. But when people trespassed against Him in
the cruelest way, He showed us what to do.
He said, “Father forgive them…” (Luke 23:24).
We often don’t know what to do
with our hurts. The other person
might not even realize they have hurt us.
So, we take the hurt and harbor it away inside. When we do, a root of bitterness begins to
grow. It is not something we desire,
but we don’t know what to do with it, so we bury it.
Hebrews 12:15 tells us, “See to
it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness
springing up causes trouble, and by it many may be defiled.” Bitterness springs up because it grows
under the surface. It causes trouble
because we don’t see the result coming.
It defiles many because it is like the seeds of a dandelion. It has deep roots, it springs up
quickly. When we try to knock out the
symptom, it gets all over everything.
But how should we deal with it?
1.
Admit your own sin. We may be
partially at fault in every conflict.
We probably sinned after the trespass against us by retaliating,
gossiping, and slander. We should
admit our own sin
2.
Recognize God’s sovereignty. God
is bigger than ANY situation. We have
to believe God is God no matter how He resolves this conflict.
3.
We MUST forgive. We have to
release the debt and transfer collection rights to God. The scape goat was the animal in the Old
Testament sacrifice that symbolically received the sins. He was driven outside of town symbolizing
God’s forgiveness of our sins. We
can’t leave the scape goat tied up outside our house. We have to truly forgive.
Forgive quickly. Forgive often. Forgive completely.
Let’s return to Romans
8:28. God causes “all things” to
“work together.” He causes trials to
work when we learn to trust. He
causes temptations to work when we obey.
He causes trespasses to work when we forgive. Are you becoming more like Christ?
Karl
J. Forehand, 2002
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