Today we are continuing our series called “What on
Earth am I here for?” We are having this series because this is the most
profound question that we all have to deal with. For the atheist the answer to
this question is “nothing.” For the atheist we have come from nothing and we
are going nowhere, but for the Christian it is different. For the Christian we
believe that we were created with intentionally and with purpose. Last week
that God has a unique calling for every life based on our
skills, talents, and experiences. I can’t tell you what that unique calling is,
that is between you and God, but what I can tell you is that are 5 things that
God wants each and every one of us to do. We are going to talk about the first
one today. But before we do I want to tell you a little story.
A few years back
Ruth and I were contacted by Children’s Aid and asked if we could take in a
pregnant teenaged girl … well I guess it would have been really something if we
were asked to take in a pregnant teenaged boy … Apparently this teenaged girl
was living in a group home, had no parents or any family support and they
wanted to us to take her in so that she would have a calm environment to have
her child and solid mentoring and help as she started caring for the child. We
had never done anything like this before and quite frankly Children’s Aid
hadn’t done anything like this before. The only guideline we were given was
that we couldn’t take care of the baby ourselves, this was to be mom’s job, we
could assist and show her how to do things, but mom had to take care of the
child herself.
This all sounded
good in theory but in actuality it was a massive disaster. The poor soul just
couldn’t look after the child and wasn’t tending to its needs. She wasn’t
feeding the child enough, it took her over 10 minutes to change the child
(which meant it was getting cold and cranky), and I won’t even try to describe
her using a breast milk pump. There were times at night the child would cry
until Ruth got up and went into the room. The mother was emotionally
overwhelmed and it Ruth had to take more and more control over the baby’s care.
This experiment ended when the mother started hearing voices and was afraid
that she was going to hurt the child. She was admitted to the psychiatric ward
and was diagnosed with post-partum psychosis. All this happened over a span of
2 weeks, but it seemed like forever.
That left us
with the baby. As we cared for the child we became more and more concerned. The
child seemed to be growing well but that was all it was doing. Other than
eating and sleeping he just lay there like a lump. He wouldn’t cry out for
attention or to be picked up. He wouldn’t seek to play with any objects or
toys. He wouldn’t look for anyone to pick him up. He wouldn’t even follow your
hand or an object if you waved it across his face. At the age of 4 months we
had him assess and at the age of 4 months he wasn’t doing what a 2 month old
could do. The assessor told us that she had never seen a child fail the
assessment so badly. We had a Children’s Aid supervisor leave our house in
tears after interacting with this child because of his lack of reaction to any
stimulus. We thought this child was going to have some major cognitive issues.
But then something happened.
Ruth’s father
was going to receive a special award for his service and work with local fish
hatchery. Ruth went back to Cape Breton to be part of her father’s special day. She took the child down
with her. Ruth’s sister-in-law and niece love babies and in true Cape Breton
form the child was subject to a weekend of intensive cuddling, attention, and snuggling,
and what a difference that made.
When Ruth came
back from Cape Breton she came back with a different child. It seemed like
every day he was developing or learning something new. When he was finally
adopted at the age of 8 months, the little boy who had failed the 2 month
assessment at 4 months and had a CAS supervisor leave in tears had completely
caught up to where he should have been and, we are told, is now advanced for
his age.
We asked the
specialist, who had been working with this child, about his remarkable turn
around and we were told that the turnaround happened because the child finally
learned that he was loved. He said that even in the womb a child can feel loved
… when you speak to the baby or read to the baby in its mother’s tummy the baby
can sense this and feels loved. That didn’t happen to this child and when it
was born and its needs were being neglected and not being met he learned that
he wasn’t loved. He learned that there was no need to cry out because there was
no one to see to his needs. There was no need to look for anyone because there
was no one out there who would come. He wasn’t learning or progressing because
he didn’t trust or feel safe with anyone to learn from. It took us 4 months and
a weekend of intensive cuddling for us to undo the lesson he learned in two
weeks, but when we did, he cried out because he knew we would satisfy his
needs, he looked for us because he knew he knew we were the providers of good
things, and he learned from us because he felt safe and he trusted us to teach
him things that he needed to know and that were good for him.
You might be
wondering why I am telling you this story. The reason is that this is the
number one thing that God is calling you to do … to be loved. God is calling
you to receive His love.
The first purpose,
the first reason you were created is to be loved by God. God made you to love you. Let that sink in a
little bit. The first thing God is
calling you to do is not to serve Him. The first thing God is calling you to do
is not to trust Him. The first thing God is calling you to do is not to obey Him
or even to love Him. The first thing God is calling you to do is let Him love you.
God didn’t create you in the first place to do something. He created you in the first place to receive something. If you understand this revolutionary truth it’s
going to transform your life. That my
number-one purpose in life is not to do something for God; it’s to receive
something from God. To receive His
love. You were made to be the
receptacle, a receiver, a benefactor of God’s love. Let that sink in!
The
number-one calling in your life is not to a role, it’s not to a responsibility,
it’s not to a bunch of rules, it’s not to regulations, it’s not to ritual, it’s
not to religion. It’s to a relationship.
What kind of relationship does God want you to have
with him? Does God want you to be his
slave? No. Does God want you to be his servant? No.
Does God want you to be his soldier and fight his battles for right and
wrong in the world? No. Does God want you to be his worker? No.
Does God want you to be his employee?
No. Does God want you to be his
minion? No.
God wants you to be his son or his daughter. He wants you in his family. Romans 1, “Dear friends in Rome, [this is Paul
writing] God loves you dearly, and he has
called [There’s that word called again.] you to be his very own people.”
My friends, when you understand that our number-one calling
is not to do something for God; it’s to receive something from God … his love …
that will transform your life. How will it do that? How will understanding that
there’s no moment that you’re not loved unconditionally, deeply, and eternally
by God transform your life? Let me give you some ways …
- You
will feel accepted rather than ashamed.
And that will change your life. I told you a bit of my personal story last
week. My mother abandoned me when I was about 13. She took the cat but didn’t
take me. My father didn’t want me and when I did spend some time at his house
his wife treated me pretty shabbily. I felt unloved and unwanted. I felt like
my life was nothing but a burden on others. I felt ashamed and that my life was
worth nothing. Growing up I kept people at a distance because I felt if they
knew the real me they would reject me and walk out of my life like my parents
did. I never pursued relationships with women because, again, I felt that I was
unlovable and I didn’t want to be a burden to anyone else and I didn’t want to
be rejected anymore. It wasn’t until a Good Friday service when God spoke to me
and said “JD you have gone through your entire life thinking that no one loved
you, but I love you. I love so much that I died for you.” And my friends, Jesus
Christ is saying the exact same thing to you today.
A lot of people go through life carrying the burden of
other people’s words or actions. They carry the burden of being told they
weren’t good enough. They bear the scars of not being loved enough. I have
known men and women who have lived in abusive relationships because they didn’t
think that they deserved any better. And if you are one of those people let me
tell you right here and now that you are loved and that you deserve better.
Other people carry the burden of past mistakes. They
feel ashamed. They feel guilty. They feel under condemnation. They feel judged. They feel criticized. They think, “look of what I have done … look
at the mess I have made of things.” They think God is going to turn His back on
me just like everyone else has … and I wouldn’t blame him.
But listen to what the Bible says in 1 John 3 says: “When
our hearts make us feel guilty, we can still have peace before God. God is
greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.” The Lord knows you and He loves you and He
accepts you completely, totally, and unconditionally. In fact God loves us even
more than we love ourselves … He is greater than our heart. What did Jesus say “I have come not to condemn
but to save.” My friends, that is the
kind of love that can cut through shame and enable us to reclaim our lives. That
is the kind of love that will transform your life.
- I am
bold in bringing my needs to God.
I’m bold in my prayers. Why?
Because I’m a son of God. I’m a
daughter of God. I’m a child of God. I’m a member of the family. So I know God loves me unconditionally. And when I pray to him I can talk to him about
anything, because I’m his son.
When your kids were little I’d bet they would come to
you for everything. They thought you had everything, knew everything, and could
afford everything. We know that’s not
true for you and me, but it is true for God.
Romans 8 says, “All
who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God! So, you should not be cowering, [like] fearful slaves. You should behave instead
like God’s very own children, adopted into his family–calling him ‘Father, dear
Father.’
The Bible says that when you come to God in prayer,
you come to him as you would come to a loving Father. You don’t come to him with some fancy
phrase. When Amy or Allison need money
they don’t go to Ruth and say “O thou most gracious progenitor and matriarch of
the Kennedy family. Thou wonderful
observer and keeper of all the family funds.” They don’t say that they say “Ma!
I need cash.” Real straight
forward. Very bold. Why can they be sold
bold? Because they know Ruth loves them, that Ruth cares about their lives, and
that Ruth will do what she can to help them along life’s pathway. This is the
kind of love God has for you.
The Bible says you can come to God saying Father … I
need some help. I messed up. I am in a bad spot. Dad, I need cash. Why can you
do that? Because God loves you, God cares about your life, and God will do what
He can to help you along life’s pathway. Do not be afraid to go to Him with
your prayers. Hebrews 4:16 “Let us then
approach the throne of grace [that means prayer] with confidence, so that we
may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Be bold in your prayer. You’re a son of God. You’re a daughter of God. You’re loved unconditionally. Jesus said you can ask anything in my
name.
The third thing that happens when I know I’m totally
loved by God…
- I gain
the courage to take risks.
When somebody believes in you, you are capable of
accomplishing things you would never be able to accomplish on your own, just
because they believe in you. It gives
you additional power. It gives you
additional energy.
When someone believes in you unconditionally the way
God does and when you experience that it releases you. You have dreams that have gone unfulfilled in
your life because you have been scared to death to go after them. What if I fail? You’re going to die with unfulfilled dreams
unless you key in to the love of God.
And you let him give you that confidence that comes from him believing
in you. I don’t care what stage of life
you are in, God loves and God believes in you.
Nine-year-old Malachi Paul was just a young little kid
who auditioned for the television show Britain’s Got Talent. Malachi Paul came out and the place was
packed. When he saw the crowd he got stage fright and he choked. He started singing and it was coming out all
bad, really bad. He got so embarrassed
at his own work, he froze on stage and just stopped and started crying. His mom was standing in the wings and she
runs out and she hugs him. He calms down and when he sings again he blows the
judges and the crowd away.
That my friends is unconditional love turning a loser into a winner. This is the kind of love that God has that will transform your life. The Lord said in Joshua 1:9 Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.
That is the kind of love that enabled a skinny kid named David to stand up to a Goliath. It is the kind of love that enabled an 80 year old shepherd to stand up to Pharaoh and say “Let my people go.” It is the kind of love that enabled a man named Joseph to marry a woman who was pregnant with someone else’s baby. It enabled a 30 year lawyer to leave his life behind and become a minister. It is the kind of love that will enable to face your fears and chase your dreams. It is the kind of love that will transform your life.
You have no idea how many times your heavenly Father has wanted to reach out and grasp you in his arms when you have felt like, I just blew it! Maybe you blew it publicly, maybe you blew it privately. But your heavenly Father says, It’s okay. We’ll start over and this time we’ll do it together. As the Bible says in Phillipians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
For some of you, God has been waiting for this moment your entire life. He’s been waiting for this moment where you, for the first time, would get a little inkling of how much He loves you. Your problem is not that you don’t love God; your problem is you don’t know how much he loves you.
My friends, God didn’t create you in the first place to do something. He created you in the first place to receive something. His love and it is His love that will transform your life. As we end our time together I leave you with Paul letter to Rome “Dear friends in Rome, God loves you dearly, and he has called you to be his very own people.”
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