Untitled Sermon (11)

For most of you, you probably know that I’ve had an interest in woodworking. One of my favorite hobbies in the warmer weather is being able to work on wood projects outside: building furniture, making repairs, finding inspiration online. I just really enjoy the creativity and freedom behind working with wood to mold and craft something that I’ve imagined in my head. One of my favorite things to work with when woodworking is pallet wood. There are multiple reason for this, and although many professional carpenters avoid working with pallet wood, I love it because for one, it’s typically free; two, it's a great look for modern, rustic themes and projects; and three, but probably the most important to me, is the redemption it offers. The ability to take a pallet of wood that has dirt, chips and pieces broken off, falling apart, and turn it into something beautiful just feels so rewarding (show a few examples of projects made from pallet wood).

I find most of my inspiration though from a carpenter in the Bible. I think most of you know Him, because He kind of plays an important role in Scripture, but for those who don’t, I’m referring to Jesus. I have a feeling He has the same outlook for woodworking that I do in the sense of the redemption found within what most of everyone would consider useless or worthless. But Jesus might have a more vital outlook than I do, in regards to what He finds redemption and potential in. While I’m speaking more in terms of carpentry, Jesus had more of a primary focus on people.

We know Scripture and the Gospel to hold the emphasis on re-establishing our relationship with God. The problem that the Israelites faced in Scripture was the misconception that they had to follow all of these laws in order to have right-standing with God. But ultimately, because of humanity’s sinful nature, it was inevitable that they would fall away from God and find influence under the pagan nations, adapting their traditions and worshipping false gods. In Israel’s attempt to correct this cycle they faced, they held strictly to the Jewish law so much so that they went to the other extreme, and instead of building a relationship with God as He originally intended for them to have, they became legalistic, and thought that their works would save them. Jesus came to correct both extremes and show that what humanity was forgetting was a love for God and a relationship with Him. Jesus saw broken people and found value that they were made in His image and therefore He loved them when no one else would, dying for us on a cross and taking our sins with Him if we believe in Him. That’s the summary of the Gospel we know.

I want to, however, dive deeper and challenge us. As followers of Christ, I want to challenge you to really evaluate your relationship with Jesus. Where would you say you stand with Him? We still struggle with the misconception that we either only have to say that we believe in Him and that’s that, we live this life until we die and get to go to heaven, or we face the struggle of still trying everything we can to “earn” the salvation we receive from believing, which will most likely result in failure and shame for not living up to the expectation we set for ourselves. But how should we truly view this life we walk with Christ? Believe it or not, there is a balance to both extremes that is truly the life God calls us to. Our relationship with God should always be growing, but often if we are bouncing on one extreme or the other, we may not see that growth, and either we become ignorant to it and ignorant to God, or we find ourselves feeling ashamed of who we are and naturally feel like we drift away from God. Why is this acknowledgement important though? Why can’t we just live the life we do after professing Christ is Lord and that’s that? Truth be told though–because we don’t realize we are truly missing out on the amazing life God has for us because we believe we are satisfied on the surface. Our relationship with Christ is so much more than a title or profession. It’s supposed to be a lifestyle, a heart change, a new way of living, being born again. But some of us might struggle with finding ourselves actually living this new lifestyle, and the thing is, you shouldn’t feel pressure that you have to live it out or you’re not saved, because that’s work-based salvation. The truth behind it is this: If we believe that Jesus loved us so much that He died on the cross for us, forgiving our past entirely and giving us a clean slate to live in a relationship with Him, then our hearts will open to the Spirit to work in us and help lead us to live that life.

All of this is fundamental to understanding the process that our relationship with God looks like, and how we can identify it in our own lives. In 2nd Corinthians 5:14b-17, Paul says:

Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.

So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

I want to illustrate for us what the process of going from the old life into the new looks like. I want to show you what our relationship with God looks like and why the process of growth is so important. We’re not called to living like we always have with the title of being a Christian that believes in Jesus, we’re called to holy living.

Illustration: Carved from the world

I wasn’t just going on a rant when I began this message talking about wood. As you can see here, I have with me a thing of pallet wood. I want you to look at your life, and find how you can identify with this wood. That may seem confusing, but let me elaborate. Let’s say that we were once this piece of wood. Stuck within the world, appearing no different than it, nailed to it in fact. This is the life, or lack of life, that we had or have before Christ. We’re essentially part of the world, and therefore, spiritually, we are dead. When the Gospel is present to us, it’s a moment where God sees you within the world and decides to pick you out from it. God sees you within this world and to the world, you’re nothing more than a part of the worthless board that’s used for firewood, thrown away, trash, or simply for products to be placed on, used. But God sees you in this pallet, and what He sees, humanity cannot. So He chooses you out from the rest of the board. Now just because God chooses you doesn’t mean He forces you to be His, because if He did so out of force, love wouldn’t be present. When we hear the Gospel, we hear of God’s immense love for us, and we have the choice to let the Good News impact us and thus grow in love for Jesus because of His first love for us. But we could also choose to reject it, because God won’t force you to accept it, He wants you to choose Him back out of love. So say we choose to believe the Gospel and accept Jesus into our hearts. From this, God pries you out from the world, it will feel liberating, completely new, and we’ll feel like we're on top of the world. And for good reason, we’ve been born again in Christ! We have now begun the process of becoming set apart for God. But this is where many Christians believe their relationship with God is capped. Many fall under the impression that this is all there is to it, but God has so much more in-store for us, than this. God will prompt and call us to grow deeper with Him, but we stop here instead and believe we don’t need anything more, and we may end up falling back into the world blindly if we're not careful.

Okay, what’s next then? If there is more to it, where do we go from here? Well, when we choose to pursue Christ after being saved, we go through the process that we call sanctification. The process of becoming holy as God has called us to. Being holy is becoming more and more of a reflection of Christ. So after we have been pried from the world, God will begin to work in our hearts and minds. Keep in mind that we are still dirty and worn out from the world, but that’s where God comes in to clean us up. Through the relationship you now begin to build with Christ, His Spirit will begin to reveal things in your life that may need to go. Things that need to be surrendered to Him. These could be sinful habits, priorities we’ve placed before God, idols, addictions, careers, friendships, etc. God will begin to point these things out to you, and impress on you to give them over to Him, where He may cut them out of your life, wash it clean, or bless it as you give it over to Him. This is called consecration. We’re essentially consecrating things in our lives to God that may be hindering us from living the life He’s called us to. These things won’t always be sinful, but maybe something we trust more than God, or don’t entrust it to God in fear of what will happen if we don’t control it. This process typically isn’t fun, and often can be painful, because it’s tearing away at the life we’ve known so that we can live to the fullness of God. Sometimes He’ll prompt you to cut something out of your life, or sand it off, or chisel it away. It’ll hurt, it’ll cause worry, and it will be scary at times. But what we know of God is that He’s always faithful to sustain us where we struggle. Sometimes God won’t take away things in our lives that we wish He would, not because God is evil and wants us to suffer, but rather He teaches us to rely on Him for strength in our weakness. In 2nd Corinthians 12:7b-10, Paul says:

So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.

8 Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. 9 Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. 10 That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Sometimes we need these imperfections because they become testimonies for us to share with others; to testify the work and power God has done in our lives where we fall short. It teaches us to rely on God and not forget who has brought us where we are.

Through this process of cutting away, molding, mending, carving, sanding, and shaping us; we find ourselves looking more and more different from the world. As we continuously grow in Christ, there may be a point that He brings back the things that we had laid in His hands, and He blesses us with them. All of this process of growing more and more is for a purpose. Not just for us to deal with hardships, but to show us how to truly enjoy this life as God intended. The life God has for us is so much better than what the world could ever offer, and we don’t realize it until we open ourselves up to what God wants to do in our lives. He’s shaping us, cleaning us up, and crafting us until we ultimately become a reflection of the image of Christ. That’s our purpose. To live this life with God, growing into becoming more and more of His likeness, so that when others see us, when others talk to us, when others are around us; all they see, hear and feel will be a reflection of Christ. They will see, hear, and feel Jesus through us.

The life God has called us to isn’t a life of limitations and boundaries because God just wants us to never do anything we enjoy ever again. It’s the opposite in fact. The life God calls us to is the most liberating, free, and joyful life we could experience. We learn that living through Christ allows us to experience joy no matter where we are, mountains or valleys. We naturally find a love for any and everyone. We find ourselves with more patience, more peace, more wisdom, more love, and more Christ in our lives. We don’t need temporary satisfactions from the world that ultimately hold us captive to them, but find everlasting satisfaction in Christ, that leaves us with no shame or regret. I can testify that this life is worth living far more than anything the world will ever be able to offer. And I’m not the only one. Look at the martyrs for Christ who gave their BECAUSE they found that living for Jesus was the only real life they could have, the world wasn’t appeasing to them anymore, and it won’t be appeasing to us as we grow in our faith with Christ. He naturally changes our desires and fulfills our every need so that we lack nothing. When you read Acts, you see these disciples and apostles who were filled with the Holy Spirit, and that changed their lives so much that they were willing to die for Christ. Where the world was rapidly trying to kill off any following of Jesus, they actually prospered and multiplied, because people saw that those who were living for Christ were truly changed, and it encouraged them to find that joy they experienced. That’s not out of coincidence, that’s God’s hand on His people. Redeeming everyone who comes to Him.

I said I love working with pallet wood because of the redemption in it, and this is why. I can look at a pallet that others would say looks like scraps or trash, and see deeper than they can, I see the potential it holds, the hidden value that needs to be brought into the light and shown off. That’s how Jesus sees us. Where we may appear worthless or useless in the world, Jesus sees deeper into the value and beauty we have hidden underneath our brokenness, and He simply wants to pull it out and clean you up.