A Season of Preparation

Main Idea

In order to have success, we need to set four pillars as our foundation: alignment, identity, the word of God, and team.

Introduction

New Series - Your Kingdom Come

Today’s sermon: A Season of Preparation

It’s about this time in Jesus’ life just before he begins his public ministry and it’s found in Matthew chapters 3 and 4.

How many of you have made a New Years Resolution last week? Or maybe less dramatically, how many of you have set some goals for your life for 2023?

So how is it going so far? I read about a pastor who tweeted on January 6 that he was already 5 days behind in trying to read through the Bible this year. The problem of New Year’s resolutions and sometimes of setting goals that many of us give up on them after a week or two.

So what does it take for us to succeed in achieving our goals, or starting something new, or renewing something that is a bit broken? Just like Jesus did in his season of preparation, we need to establish a strong foundation for our lives and our goals and I believe that in Matthew 3 and 4, Jesus models Four foundational pillars we need in order to succeed.

1. Alignment

Matthew 3:7–10 NLT

7 But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to watch him baptize, he denounced them. “You brood of snakes!” he exclaimed. “Who warned you to flee the coming wrath? 8 Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. 9 Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’ That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones. 10 Even now the ax of God’s judgment is poised, ready to sever the roots of the trees. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.

Repentance is the pathway to alignment

Repentance means examining yourself for how you are misaligned and then making the changes needed to realign yourself.

Two ways we need to pursue alignment:

1) Alignment with God -

Proverbs 3:5–6 NLT

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. 6 Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.

2) Alignment with yourself

Proverbs 20:23 NLT

23 The Lord detests double standards; he is not pleased by dishonest scales.

God calls every one of us to live a life of integrity (where you live out what you say you believe) and a life that is in alignment with the person, teaching and actions of Jesus. But because of the constant pressure upon us to veer from that, we need to practice the discipline of repentance because repentance is the pathway to alignment.

If you want to experience success in whatever you are endeavouring this year - whether it’s a new habit, a new job, or a renewal in a relationship - begin by pursuing alignment.

2. IDENTITY

My identity - through various experiences of bullying and rejection in my childhood from peers, I have always, and still struggle today to really believe that someone might actually like me. That struggle manifests itself throughout my life in a variety of ways, none of which are good.

So, therefore, I have to counter that belief with the truth of who God says I am. If your identity isn’t rooted in what God says about you, your foundation is weak and unstable. But God, in his deep love for us, tell us who we are and that truth sets us free.

Matthew 3:16–17 NLT

16 After his baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.”

How many miracles had Jesus done to that point? None. How many people had Jesus healed? None. How much teaching had he done at that point? None. Before Jesus did anything, God spoke to him about his identity.

When our identity is rooted in who God says we are, then when circumstances change or problems arise, we have a perspective that helps us endure whatever it is.

If your identity is in your work, who are you if they let you go? If your identity is in a friend or your spouse or partner, what happens when they aren’t there, or if they leave? If it’s in your kids, who are you when they move out on their own?

One of the foundational pieces of our life in Christ is continually embracing who God says we are, because the messages out in the world want to tell you something different. And in case you didn’t know, or you’ve forgotten, or you just need to hear it, what God says of Jesus, he says of you:

You are his dearly loved child, and you bring God great joy. Not by all the things you do or don’t do for him, but simply by existing.

Whatever it is you want to start, or renew, or strengthen, ensure that it’s built on the foundational pillar of your GOD-given identity, not on who anyone or anything else says you are.

3. WORD OF GOD

Throughout our lives, we all face temptations. Sometimes we are tempted to do evil, sometimes we are tempted to ignore evil. Sometimes we are tempted to take shortcuts and some times we are tempted to find our security and our significance in things other than God. Sometimes we are tempted to do an overt sin, other times we are tempted to not do the right thing. For all of us, temptation is everywhere. The Apostle Peter reminds us to...

1 Peter 5:8 NLT

8 Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.

And Jesus faced that enemy in Matthew four:

Matthew 4:1–11 NLT

1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. 2 For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry. 3 During that time the devil came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” 5 Then the devil took him to the holy city, Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, 6 and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say, ‘He will order his angels to protect you. And they will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’ ” 7 Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’” 8 Next the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 “I will give it all to you,” he said, “if you will kneel down and worship me.” 10 “Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’” 11 Then the devil went away, and angels came and took care of Jesus.

Now there are two things there I want you to notice. First the devil attacked Jesus’ identity (If you’re the Son of God), which is why its so important that we cement in our hearts and minds with who God says we are. The second thing to notice is that Jesus uses the word of God as his defence ("The scriptures say”).

The Bible is more than just a collection of old letters, histories and poetry. Amongst all literature ever created, it is unique in that because it originates from God, God uses it in a special way to transform us and empower us.

We are part of the most biblically illiterate generation since the advent of the common person reading. We have a tool that is given by God to help us grow, and most of us ignore it. It’s like trying to use your head to drive a nail into a board, instead of using the hammer that is beside you. Use the tool that God gives you.

Psalm 119:11 NLT

11 I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

Jesus didn’t just read the Bible to the devil, he quoted it because he knew it. He had implanted it within him because he knew that temptation was going to come at him and in his season of preparation, he immersed himself in the word. So should it be with us.

And the beauty of the word, is that it strengthens the other foundational pillars I’ve mentioned. How do we get aligned to God? We obey the word. How do we discover our God-given identity? Its found in the word. So whatever it is you want to do this year, make sure that you have the Word of God as one of the foundations in your life, in your relationships, in your parenting and in the way you work. Get into the word and get the word into you.

4. Team

To highlight its annual picnic one year, a company rented two racing boats and challenged a rival company to a race. The rival company accepted. On the day of the picnic, everyone was excited to see the race. The boats lined up, and the starter shot his pistol in the air and the boats took off. To the consternation of the host company, the rival team immediately took the lead and never gave it up. They won by 11 lengths. The management of the host company was embarrassed by how bad their team had done and promptly appointed a committee to place responsibility for the failure and make recommendations to improve their team's chances in a rematch the next year. The committee appointed several task forces to study various aspects of the race. They met for three months and issued a preliminary report. In essence, the report said that the rival crew had been unfair.

"They had eight people rowing and one person steering and shouting out the beat," the report said. "We had one person rowing and eight people shouting out instructions ." The chairman of the board thanked the committee and sent it away to study the matter further and make recommendations for the rematch. Four months later the committee came back with a recommendation: "Our guy has to row faster."

It’s easier to succeed if you have a team working with you. Humankind was not designed to do life alone. We were created to function in community; we are made to be part of a team. And Jesus knew that. That’s why, prior to the start of his ministry, he gathered a team around him.

Matthew 4:18–22 NLT

18 One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers—Simon, also called Peter, and Andrew—throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living. 19 Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!” 20 And they left their nets at once and followed him. 21 A little farther up the shore he saw two other brothers, James and John, sitting in a boat with their father, Zebedee, repairing their nets. And he called them to come, too. 22 They immediately followed him, leaving the boat and their father behind.

Jesus wanted his ministry to outlast his time on earth and so to do that, he gathered a team of people around him to support him. We call that team, “The disciples” and because Jesus had the foresight to gather them, what he started has lasted for two thousand years and has a global reach.

When you involve a team into your endeavour, it stretches your probability of success to 65%. Moreover, when you create a specific accountability appointment with a person or a team you are committed to, your odds increase to a 95% chance of success.

Whether you want to improve a relationship, grow or thrive in your business, start a Bible reading plan or get involved in a ministry, or anything else, if you develop a team around you, whether that team is one other person, or a small group of close friends, your chance for success improves dramatically.

Conclusion (alignment, identity, the word of God, and teamwork)

Just prior to the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, he was in a season of preparation. And in that season, he ensured that life and ministry would be built on the pillars of alignment, identity, the word of God, and teamwork.

As we begin moving through 2023, my hope and prayer for you is that you too would build those four pillars in your life and through them, you would see how God wants to both work in you, and through you, this year.

Pray.