Have you got what it takes?

This is a short talk that I did at our Farewell Breakfast to celebrate with some of our graduating students.  As is my style of late – here are my notes but really I mostly free-styled it.

Introduction: Have you got what it takes to make it…?

This is a question many of you are asking yourself right now about your career, dreams, ambitions…

I want us to think about this question from a slightly different angle; Have you got what it takes to make it as a Christian in this new stage in life?

Many have gone before you and many have found out that they “did not have what it takes”.

I want to suggest 3 questions that will reveal if you “have what it takes”

1. Who is the King of your dreams?

v33 “the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God”

You cannot even begin to know what God is doing, or planning or what he is giving.

He is God you are not!

v33 “How unsearchable his judgements and his paths beyond tracing out”

This comes at the end of a section in Romans where Paul is trying to explain and work out just what God is doing in the story of salvation.  What is God’s plan with regard to the Jews and the Gentiles.

I cannot fathom it – it is beyond me.  “To him be the glory” v36

This is true on a broad salvation-history of the world context.  But I think it is legitimate today to apply this on a more personal level.

Now many of you are on the verge of achieving/ or at least beginning in earnest the chase for your dreams… with all my heart I wish all your dreams to come true.

What I want to ask a difficult question today?  What happens when your dreams do not come true?  What happens when your plans do not work out?  When your plans are not God’s plans?

Will you still follow God when he does not play according to your rules?  When he does not work for your happiness?  When you do not get that job?  That car? That girl?  When tragedy strikes you down?

Most of us feel like God wants us to be happy.  He wants us to achieve our dreams.  And probably at some level we believe God owes it to us – after all is that not what God does.

v34 “Who has ever known the mind of the Lord?”

I would like to tell God what I think…

“Or who has been his counsellor?”

We love to play the Lord’s counsellor…

v35 “Who has ever given to God,

that God should repay him?’

God does not owe you a thing!  Get that straight now – no job, no dream, no house, no car, no family, no wife, no husband, no easy life…

As you embark on a new adventure in your life – know this God is most concerned about his glory not yours.  And your greatest joy and satisfaction will not be found in the pursuit of your glory but in the pursuit of His!

v36 “For from him and through him and to him are ALL THINGS. To him be the glory forever! Amen.”

2. Are you on mission with God?

What is God calling you to do now in this next stage of your life?

Give your life: “offer your bodies as living sacrifices” v1.  God does not want your church attendance, your morals, your Bible reading, your tithe, – he wants ALL of YOU!

Change your life: “Do not be conformed any longer to the pattern of this world” v2

a) Reject the lie – IT’S A LIE! Stop listening to the lies of the world – they will not make you happy or satisfied.

Have you ever drank salt water when you are thirsty?

b) Renew your minds “but be transformed by the renewing of your minds” v2  Study, meditate, read his word about his world.  And do it in community – small groups, close friend, bigger group (Sunday meeting).  Only as you fill your mind with His Word will you be able discern and stop listening to the lie.

Spot the counterfeit…

Then you will know God’s will for your life – glorify him, worship him with all you are, wherever you are (missional living). “this is your spiritual act of worship” v1

What does this spiritual act of worship look like?

a) Missional living wherever you are… job, money, car, house,

b) If you have been impacted by this ministry: Consider giving back to the Student Y to help other experience this ministry.

Actually in one sense it is irrelevant where you give – just be Kingdom minded with your money. Give wherever you think the Kingdom is going to benefit most.

3. Are you Cross-focused?

What is our motivation for doing any of this?

12v1 “in view of God’s mercy”

Your entire framework and view of life must be shaped by the cross.  By who you are because of the cross, because of what God has done.  If you are simply a church attender or do-gooder then you will go the way of many others before you… away from Christ.

You are a grace-bought son or daughter of the most High God because of the cross of Jesus.

~ by John on October 19, 2008.