BACKGROUND:The thoughts about God's love and protection and guidance and care led David to conclude that the Lord’s plans for His people are most precious and in fact are innumerable. They are also most relevant, for each morning when he awakened, God was still with him, extending His thoughts toward him.
I'm sure that's why he wrote in Psalms 42:1-2 (ESV) "As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?"
And that's why he cried out in Psalms 66:1-3 (ESV) "Shout for joy to God, all the earth; sing the glory of his name; give to him glorious praise! Say to God, "How awesome are your deeds!"
SO WHAT? (what will I do with what I have read today?)
Most of us feel like we fall short. Most of us feel like we are not cutting it. We see our kids and their short-comings and we take the hit. We see other moms and dads who seem to have it all together or their kids that seem to have it all together and we feel like failures. OR, maybe we see the role of fatherhood and motherhood in society and how it has been diminished and we think do we matter? I am here to tell you this morning that you do matter.
We have said that each name that God refers to himself by really speaks to a need in our life. This week we’re looking at the name Jehovah-M’Kiddish – Í am the God who sanctifies you.” How many of you know what sanctify means? “Sanctify” or “sanctification” means “to change”. Dictionary.com says this; sanctify means to set apart for sacred use – or, to make holy or purify – or, to make productive by means of change.
God is saying to all of us this today – “I want to use you. I want to really do a work through you and let my power and love shine through you.” But, God says for that to happen, I need to sanctify you. I need to change you, purify you. Some of you are putting on your running shoes, because you don’t like change – hey man change is the rule in life. If you are not changing you are dead in the water.
Others of you may be saying - doesn’t sanctification or change happen when I become a Christian? Well, yes, that’s the starting point. You allow Jesus Christ into your life and change begins – but you don’t instantly become the person God has planed for you to be. The process of sanctification takes a lifetime. The problem for some of us is that it has been years since we have allowed God to change us, mold us, purify us.
We have said that each name that God refers to himself by really speaks to a need in our life. This week we’re looking at the name Jehovah-M’Kiddish – Í am the God who sanctifies you.” How many of you know what sanctify means? “Sanctify” or “sanctification” means “to change”. Dictionary.com says this; sanctify means to set apart for sacred use – or, to make holy or purify – or, to make productive by means of change.
God is saying to all of us this today – “I want to use you. I want to really do a work through you and let my power and love shine through you.” But, God says for that to happen, I need to sanctify you. I need to change you, purify you. Some of you are putting on your running shoes, because you don’t like change – hey man change is the rule in life. If you are not changing you are dead in the water.
Others of you may be saying - doesn’t sanctification or change happen when I become a Christian? Well, yes, that’s the starting point. You allow Jesus Christ into your life and change begins – but you don’t instantly become the person God has planed for you to be. The process of sanctification takes a lifetime. The problem for some of us is that it has been years since we have allowed God to change us, mold us, purify us.
The Apostle Paul summarizes this very well. Listen to what he says about this process of change. “…But I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ Jesus saved me for and wants me to be. No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven.”
Folks, you need to get this today - God is in the change business. He wants to transform our character. How does God change us? How does the change process happen? What the Bible teaches about change – the biblical process of sanctification – is that there is a God part and there is an “our” part.
God’s part is His power. Our part is our cooperation. We cooperate in this process of change but God’s power through His Holy Spirit controls the process. It’s God’s Spirit in us that does the changing and we do the cooperating. If you miss this you miss some big stuff. Because God wants to change us and if you miss out on this process you miss out on everything God intended you to be.
Let me give you one thing to think about today – one action step, one idea, one way in which we might better cooperate with this process of sanctification.
#1. Set our sights on the final destination.
If you want to cooperate with God’s change, you set your sights on the final destination. This is basic travel etiquette. Years ago, we took a trip to Yellowstone. We had pictures of where we were going. We had the cabin, we saw the lake, we saw the buffalo's, we saw old faithful – we saw it all. We knew all about the place where we were going.
If you’re a Christian, the picture of your final destination is Jesus Christ. God wants us to acts like Jesus, to love like Jesus, to live like Jesus. That’s the final destination for all of us. That’s God’s goal for all of us.
Want a word that makes this real? A word to make clear the final destination? Try HOLINESS. Leviticus 20 says “So set yourselves apart to be holy for I the Lord am your God who makes you holy.” Be set apart – that’s what holiness is. Being set apart for God use. Saying to God – here is my life use me. I want to be yours and yours alone. I’m not going to give myself to anything but your will and your way. Folks that’s what holiness is – being set apart. God is holy and he says I want you to be like me.
Some of you when I say that holiness is the final destination or to become like Jesus is the final destination, you feel uncomfortable, intimidated. “What if I mess up?” Let me put your mind at ease - You will mess up. That’s part of the process. If you’re anything like me, you’ll mess up a lot. That’s consistent with scripture. Folks, we are typically outer world people, concerned with how we look, where we will live, what we look like. God’s internal. He cares about our heart, our character, the stuff inside of us. God’s concerned with our holiness.
2 Corinthians 3:18 summarizes the final destination “And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like Him and reflect His glory even more.” Look at your life this past week – how much did it look like Jesus? Think about your conversations – did they sound like what Jesus would have said?
There is a common misunderstanding with many people in churches today. It’s this: They want to become more religious. That’s not it – that’s not what Christianity is all about. The goals of our lives – the final destination of our lives is not to become more religious, but to become more like Jesus.
I love you guys and I love this church. Hear me as clearly as you can. Biblical knowledge, doctrinal awareness, theological understanding are all very important. They’re essential. They’re essential for you and I to have so we’re not blown back and forth by the winds of every belief. But that knowledge has to go hand in hand with the desire to submit your life to the Author of this book, to really know Him and love Him and serve him - not just to know about Him.
You want a picture of a changed life, don’t just always look at the Bible-answer person, or the person who shows up to a lot of events. If you want a picture of a changed life, you look for the person who has humbly rearranged their life and their marriage and their parenting around what’s taught.
If you want a picture of a changed life show me someone who, when no one is watching their life, choose God’s way instead of the way of sinful pleasures when no one’s watching. If you want a picture of a changed life, show me someone who manages their money and their resources the way God teaches, somebody who hungers and thirsts after knowing God so he will be translated into a genuine love for other people.
Show me someone who instead of striking out to hurt or get even or to make a point, they say nothing – they just pray. You want to know how God changes us? He changes us when we see clearly that the final destination for our lives is to become like Jesus.
I love you guys. Stay faithful. Stay the course.
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