NR 1/13/13  DESIGN FOR LIFE

Actively involved in God’s work, not just an attendee.

    God made people to be active and involved in His world and work.  The ultimate goal is NOT to be lazy and do nothing.  Note a very interesting verse at the beginning of time.
Genesis 2:15 NIV
15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
    The first thing God did was put Adam to work.  God designed him to be active and be involved.  People have come up with the thought of restricting and inhibiting involvement in anything that takes commitment and effort.  God designed us to have some rest, but we have turned it into laziness.
    Oswald Chambers, well known Christian author:
“God who made the birds never made bird cages. It’s men who make bird cages and after a while we become cramped and can do nothing but chirp and stand on one leg.”
    I have also heard the story of gold fish that are put in a small bowl. After a while of swimming around in a small circle, they believe that’s all they can do. Then when they are put in a backyard pond with lots of room, they keep swimming in a small circle.
    One more story that I have heard in the past:
    Three frogs were sitting on a lily pad. One decided to jump off. How many were left?
    Three. He only decided to jump, but he never did.
    It’s one thing to make a decision, it’s another to actually do it. You must take a step of faith and follow through with the decision.
    God made us to step out and work for Him.  He made us to be involved.  God’s plan, His design for our lives is to work for Him.
DESIGN FOR LIFE
Philippians 2:1-11 (NIV)
1  If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with 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 purpose. 3  Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4  Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
5  Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
6  Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7  but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
8  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became 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 confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Imitate Christ
3  Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.
Motivation for service.  What is your motivation for service?  Why do you do what you do for the Lord?
Motivation - noun.  The reason or reasons behind one’s actions or behavior.
Enthusiasm.
Motive, noun.  A factor inducing a person to act in a particular way.
ORIGIN Latin motivus, from movere ‘to move’.
    I like that, some movement, some action.  Let your action not be based on selfish ambition or vain conceit.  Let God get the glory and praise for what you do.
    Thought from Fire Bible Footnote (edited), humility
In humility. One of the primary enemies of unity among Christians is the natural tendency of individuals to promote their own interests and not give way regarding their own views and opinions. Part of our sinful, rebellious nature is self-centeredness (cf. Gal 5:20, the works of the flesh), which is encouraged because the world does not usually reward humility. Yet humility is a primary part of Christian unity because it is a key quality of Jesus’ character. The Bible’s God-centered view of humanity and spiritual salvation places the highest importance on humility.
    To be humble means to be conscious of our weaknesses and inadequacies and quick to give credit to God and others for what we accomplish. It involves not thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought to, but instead having the right attitude toward ourselves, God and others.
    We must be humble because, apart from Christ, we are sinful (i.e., opposed to and separated from God, spiritually dead) and have no right to boast about anything except the greatness of the Lord. We are dependent on God for our worth, purpose and productivity; we can accomplish nothing of lasting value without God’s help and the help of others.
Micah 6:8 NIV
8 He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8 NLT
8 No, O people, the LORD has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
    The opposite of humility is pride and arrogance—an exaggerated feeling of self-importance. Pride often gloats over one’s perceived merit, superiority and accomplishments. The inevitable tendency of human nature and the world is toward pride, not humility.
1 John 2:15-17 NIV
15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does--comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.
Philippians 2
4  Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
The interests of others.
    Is what other people are interested in of any value and importance to you?  What are the needs other people have?  One good expression I have heard is: Find the hurt, and then heal it.  Discover the needs of others and then do something about it.
Question: Why is it so hard to care about the interests of others?
5  Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
    Fire Bible:  Your attitude should be the same. Christ’s attitude was what Paul has just described—one of complete selflessness, servanthood and sacrifice that puts the needs of others before himself. Now Paul begins to describe specifically how Jesus showed this attitude toward us. Paul stresses how Jesus left unequaled glory in heaven and took the humiliating position of a servant. In doing so, he obeyed God’s plan to the point of giving his own life for the greatest benefit of others.  His sacrifice gave us the only opportunity we have for freedom from spiritual death, and it provides the final gift of eternal life for those who accept his forgiveness and entrust their lives to him. As followers of Christ, we must show his humility by living unselfishly and sacrificially, caring for others’ needs and concerns and doing good to them.
7  but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
Made nothing, empty out
Made himself nothing. This phrase in Greek literally means he “emptied himself.” This does not mean that Jesus gave up his deity (i.e., his nature as fully God). It means that he voluntarily laid aside the privilege of his limitless existence as God, including his heavenly glory, position, riches, rights and the use of his attributes as God. This “emptying himself” also meant taking on human suffering, misunderstanding, mistreatment, hatred and, in the end, the curse of death on the cross.
8  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!
Obedient
Obedient even to death
    This thought is overwhelming.  He was willing to die.  He was OBEDIENT.  This means He did what He was supposed to do, responding to legitimate authority.  An important part of God’s design for our lives is to be obedient to God.  The cost is not the issue, obedience is.
    Look at what Jesus did and what is common in the church world today.
    I make no comment on anything else he said, but a philosopher named Soren Kierkagaard wrote:
    I went into church and sat on the velvet pew. I watched as the sun came shining through the stained glass windows. The minister dressed in a velvet robe opened the golden gilded Bible, marked it with a silk bookmark and said, “If any man will be my disciple, said Jesus, let him deny himself, take up his cross, sell what he has, give it to the poor, and follow me.”
Soren Kierkagaard, in “And I looked Around and Nobody was Laughing.”
    It makes you stop and think.
Famous missionary:  David Livingstone, comment on sacrifice.
    People talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa. Can that be called a sacrifice which is simply acknowledging a great debt we owe to our God, which we can never repay? Is that a sacrifice which brings its own reward in healthful activity, the consciousness of doing good, peace of mind, and a bright hope of a glorious destiny? It is emphatically no sacrifice. Rather it is a privilege. Anxiety, sickness, suffering, danger, foregoing the common conveniences of this life--these may make us pause, and cause the spirit to waver, and the soul to sink; but let this only be for a moment. All these are nothing compared with the glory which shall later be revealed in and through us. I never made a sacrifice. Of this we ought not to talk, when we remember the great sacrifice which He made who left His Father’s throne on high to give Himself for us.
David Livingstone.

    Today we have been talking about:
DESIGN FOR LIFE
Actively involved in God’s work, not just an attendee.
    God HAS a design for life and a design for your life.  We must seek it, learn it, grasp it, apply it.
LIFE APPLICATION: The Next Step
DESIGN FOR LIFE

What are the key points of this message?

How can we apply this message?