You Were Created for This
Notes
Transcript
This is the last week in our “Move Out” series. But, that doesn’t mean we quit thinking about moving out into our community.
Our call to move out into the community never ends. We are called to build safe, loving relationships with the compassionate grace of Jesus.
The emphasis of the message might change to other topics, but we are always called to share Jesus.
By now you should know Luke 10:2 is the key verse for this series.
2 Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.
Our community is the field God wants us to harvest. There are many, many people who need Jesus. There’s no end to the number of people who need Jesus.
But, there aren’t many laborers. We need more Christians getting into the harvest. We need more Christians building safe, loving relationships with the compassionate grace of Jesus.
We have discussed four action steps that are necessary for our success. Prayer, preparation, places, and people. We’ve focused on how relationships undergird these four steps the last six weeks.
For the grand finale we’re going to focus on something else. Us!
To do that we’re going look at Jeremiah 1:4-10. Let’s see what a passage from 2700 years ago has to tell us.
4 Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
6 Then said I, Ah, Lord God! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.
7 But the Lord said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.
8 Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord.
9 Then the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.
10 See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.
Those are the words God spoke to Jeremiah 2700 years ago. But they are still relevant to us today. Let’s unpack these verses and see what God is saying to us.
Let’s start in verses four and five.
4 Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
God tells us His plan from His perspective. This is the story of Jeremiah, one of Israel’s greatest profits. He was the profit of a nation much like ours.
For decades and even centuries, the people of Israel had turned away from God. But God was going to give them one more chance. That last chance was Jeremiah.
The Hebrew word translated “came” in “the word of the Lord came to me.” It is literally a title of God focused on presence, relationship, care, and concern. It suggests self-existent power that manifests itself and transforms what it touches.
Does that bring anything to mind for you? Does that sound like anything under our current NT covenant? A self-existent power that manifests itself and transforms what it touches?
Okay I’ve went down that rabbit hole far enough. That’s what Jeremiah was created to do. Before he was born, God knew who he was going to be. Before the foundation of the world, God had a plan for Jeremiah.
Before Jeremiah was a thought in his mother or father’s mind, God had set Jeremiah apart. He was born to be a prophet. He was born to speak God’s truth to the nations.
Notice it says nations not nation or My chosen people. God’s word and God’s sovereignty extends to all nations.
Why? Because we are all created by God in His image. We cannot find or define ourselves until we find Him. I cannot ultimately know who I am until I know whose I am.
Jeremiah was touched and transformed by the word of God. The presence of God. The relationship with God.
He wasn’t always happy about who God created Him to be. He says, in chapter Twenty verse Fourteen:
14 Cursed be the day wherein I was born: Let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed.
Have you ever felt that way? Have trials and tribulations forced you to your knees? Have you ever asked, why me God?
But we must trust in God. Listen if we try to logistically understand God’s sovereignty we will lose our minds. Conversely if we try to dismiss God’s sovereignty we lose eternal life.
What God creates us to be is not a mistake. It’s not something to be cursed. It’s a gift from God. What we chose to do with that is either a rejection of that gift or a service to God with that gift.
We are today’s Jeremiah. No, I don’t mean we are all created to be prophets. We are all called to be God’s ambassadors in our society. Much the same way Jeremiah was called to be God’s ambassador in his society.
Just ask yourselves:
Why were you born where you were born?
Why were you born when you were born?
Was it a fluke?
Was it just by chance?
No, you were created for this. You were created for this time. And you were created for this place.
God knew us before we were in the womb. God knew us before we were a gleam in our mommy and daddy’s eyes. God knew what we would be.
And God saved us. God has set us apart to speak His truth. To represent Him. Right here, right now. We were created for this.
God has ordained us to be His ambassadors. God has touched us. God has sealed us with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit does and will transform us.
And God has modeled for us our ambassadorship. He wants relationship built on love, care, concern, and full of grace.
That call never ends. As long as we are still here God has a plan for us. Our age is not a factor. Look at verses six and seven.
6 Then said I, Ah, Lord God! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.
7 But the Lord said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.
If you have ever experienced mysterium tremendum a theological term that describes the awe-inspiring presence of God. A presence so wondrously impressive that it’s a mystery beyond comprehension.
But it’s also a presence that leaves you shaking and full of humility. The presence is so overwhelming that it brings you to the realization of your created nature. How powerless you are before your creator.
Can any of us blame Jeremiah for feeling inadequate? Don’t we all? He starts making excuses.
I’m sure nobody here has ever made any excuses.
Jeremiah says, Lord I’m not old enough. I haven’t lived long enough to know what I’m supposed to say. I don’t have the life experience.” He protested. I’m too young. My age is going to be a huge factor.
God said, “that excuse doesn’t fly with me. If I call somebody, I will make sure they can do it. You just go where I tell you. Age doesn’t matter. If you’ll obey me I’ll use you.”
God doesn’t care about your age. He created you for this. If He created you for this, He’ll make sure you can do what He calls you to do.
Some of you might think you’re too old. But you’re still here. Before God created you He knew the number of your days. He still has a plan for you right now.
Some of us have no age excuse. We are just avoiding our reason for being. Age is not a factor.
Our fear is not a factor. in verse eight God addressed Jeremiah’s fear.
8 Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord.
God knows us intimately. So intimately that He knew Jeremiah’s fear. So He addressed it before Jeremiah could even begin to protest over fear.
God’s cutting Jeremiah off before he can even utter any words about fear.
God said, “don’t be afraid of them.” Jeremiah would face people who would try to intimidate him into silence. He would even face real danger.
Jeremiah would be asked to approach people who didn’t want to hear what he had to say. It was a scary world God was sending him into.
Does any of that sound familiar to what’s going on in our society today?
God tells Jeremiah don’t be afraid. You have no reason to fear. Because I’m with you. They’re just people. I Am God. And I created you for this, so I will bring you through it.
This is a promise from God. He will give Jeremiah a protecting presence. But, that presence is conditioned upon faithfulness to go where God sends him.
Our fear is not a factor either. God created us for this. Do you think God has invested so much into you just to let mere people sidetrack His plan?
God extends that promise to us. But, like Jeremiah that protecting presence is conditioned to us going where He calls us. Jesus said we are called into the harvest.
We have nothing to fear. They are just people. He is a sovereign God. Fear comes from a lack of faith.
Here’s where we must check our faith. Ask yourself these questions. And answer them honestly.
Do you think He can do all things?
Do you think He cares about you?
If you can answer those with a firm yes then move out with courage. Don’t let fear be a factor.
Our knowledge is not a factor. Look at verses nine and ten.
9 Then the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.
10 See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.
Back in verse six. The word Jeremiah uses for child, or in some translations young, means adolescent or teenager. He probably still lived at home and was not an adult.
Jeremiah didn’t have a lot of grown up world experience. He didn’t have the knowledge, the language skills, or spiritual understanding to speak well.
God takes care of that too. When God touched Jeremiah’s mouth He provided Jeremiah with power and authority. God promises His words are in Jeremiah’s mouth. God’s words have power and authority.
God says, “I give you power over nations and over kingdoms.” And he tells Jeremiah what he’s to do with that power.
When it says to root out, pull down, destroy, throw down, build up and plant. It is not talking about the nations and kingdoms. It is talking about the ideologies and false teachings.
Jeremiah’s ministry was so hard that he cursed the day of his birth. Because he had to tear down, uproot, and destroy false ideologies before he could build up and plant God’s truth.
No wonder Jeremiah said, uh God I’m just a child, I don’t know enough to take on this task.
We can feel the same way right? We look at our society and throw our hands up in the air. It’s useless. It’s a lost cause. I don’t even know how or where to begin.
But our level of knowledge is not a factor. Some of you know the Bible well. Some have shared Jesus with people before. Some are afraid they don’t know if they would say the right things. Because they don’t think they have all the answers.
Do you think that concerns God? He just wants our availability. If we’re available, He’ll take care of the rest.
His words are in our mouths. He provides us with power to tear down and build up. And that’s the key right?
Because we can’t do anything without Him. Jesus says in John 15:5, apart from Me you can do nothing. But with Him, He can use us for anything. Our knowledge is not a factor.
God has given us the power to change a nation.
Jeremiah was just a kid. He was scared and didn’t know what to say. He was looking at all the other religious ideologies and threw his arms in the air. He didn’t know where to begin.
Yet, this is the one God created to change nations. Through God’s presence and power Jeremiah could change nations.
God has given you and me the power to change a nation. It’s all Him. All His knowledge. All His power.
God funnels His power through you and me. By God’s power we can bring changes to our schools. By God’s power we can bring changes to our community. Change our town. Even change our nation.
In order to do that we must first tear down, root out, and destroy the false ideologies. We can’t do that through legislation. We can’t do that through any kind of force.
It happens through building safe loving relationships full of compassionate grace. We have to discover where they are, meet them there. tear down and destroy the false ideologies before we can begin to plant God’s seed.
But God promises that He will provide us with the power to tear down and destroy those ideologies. And He will provide us with the power to also build up and plant His seed.
There’s a reason those come in a specific order in verse ten. Just like planting a crop. Around here you have to pick rocks out of the field, then you have to plow the field and then pick out more rocks.
Then you have to build up the soil with the proper nutrients. Somewhere in there is picking out more rocks. Then you can plant the seeds and nurture the crop.
We do the same thing in relationships. We first have to formulate trust and influence. Discover their ideologies. Lovingly have conversations about those ideologies and gently dismantle them.
Then we have to get the proper nutrients in the soil. We have to prepare them to hear the gospel. Plant the seeds and let God’s power and authority work in their lives. When God brings them to Christ then we can harvest that crop.
This is what we were created to do. Are you willing to answer God’s call?
Are you willing to step past your fear?
Are you willing to move past any lack of knowledge?
It’s going to be difficult. It’s going to be full of trials. It might even have us cursing the day of our birth. But we can have faith and remain faithful.
Just like Jeremiah, God promises His protective presence. God promises to provide us with His power and authority.
Just like Jeremiah those promises come with a condition. We must go where God calls us. We are called into the harvest.
Are you ready to move out into the harvest?
Then make a commitment. Commit your present to reaching people for Jesus. Commit your future to reaching people for Jesus.
Trust Him and commit yourself to the harvest. We were created for this here and now. This is our purpose.
