Stage One: The Plan

Opening

Stage One: The Plan

BIG IDEA: We have a responsibility to be conformed to the likeness of Christ. We must have a plan in that regard.

SCRIPTURE: (1) ; ;

(2) ; ;

(3)

OPENING:

Discuss the fact that you had to renovate your house in order to make room for big changes: Sami came to live with you, Linda moved in for a year.

Define “renovate”:

1. to make fresh or sound again, as though new; clean up, replace worn and broken parts in, repair, etc.

2 to refresh; revive

This series is going to draw some spiritual parallels to my experiences with renovating my house. If you’ve ever done something like this, you’ll hopefully see the same parallels.

Teaching

POINT 1: The first thing you need is a plan.

The first thing that we did when we decided to do this was to take a look at the room and figure out what we could do with it.

We looked, we measured, we imagined, we talked, we measured some more.

Have you ever done that from a personal standpoint? Have you ever dreamed about who you would be when you grew up, and what you would do?

Have you ever done that from a spiritual standpoint? Have you ever seen someone or read about someone you wanted to be like in your Christian walk?

We know that God has, and has always had, an ongoing plan for history—the direction that He is taking everything in:

Psalm 33:11 CSB

11 The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart from generation to generation.

Psalm 33:10–11 CSB

10 The Lord frustrates the counsel of the nations; he thwarts the plans of the peoples. 11 The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart from generation to generation.

Isaiah 25:1 CSB

1 Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you. I will praise your name, for you have accomplished wonders, plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.

We also know that a more specific part of that plan for history was to provide a means of salvation by faith to those who would believe: the gospel of Jesus Christ:

Galatians 4:4–5 CSB

4 When the time came to completion, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

gal 4:4

We also see in Scripture that God has very specific plans for very specific situations:

Spiritually, God already has a plan for us:

Jeremiah 4:28 CSB

28 Because of this, the earth will mourn; the skies above will grow dark. I have spoken; I have planned, and I will not relent or turn back from it.

Jeremiah 29:11 CSB

11 For I know the plans I have for you”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

And we also know that God is going to wrap up everything in exactly the way He intends, because He said so when He gave the apocalypse to John:

Spiritually, God already has a plan for us:

Revelation 1:1 CSB

1 The revelation of Jesus Christ that God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,

But the fact that God has a plan doesn’t remove our responsibility for being renovated. There’s a both/and picture to our lives being changed by God, not a either/or. God moves by His Spirit within us to head toward Him, and we respond to that movement by surrendering, submitting, and obeying.

·

John 3:21 CSB

21 But anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God.”

Proverbs 14:22 CSB

22 Don’t those who plan evil go astray? But those who plan good find loyalty and faithfulness.

· But the fact that God has a plan doesn’t remove our responsibility for being renovated.

Psalm 119:4–6 CSB

4 You have commanded that your precepts be diligently kept. 5 If only my ways were committed to keeping your statutes! 6 Then I would not be ashamed when I think about all your commands.

·

We must be actively involved in being renovated. Yes, God COULD just zap us and be done with it, but would that show the world how much He loves us, and how much we love Him as a result? Would that make Him look supremely glorious, or would it make Him look like a tyrant, wielding power that no one can oppose?

·

· We must be actively involved in being renovated. Yes, God COULD just zap us and be done with it, but would that show how much we love Him to the world? Would that make Him look supremely glorious, or would it make Him look like a tyrant, wielding power that no one can oppose?

There’s a reason that we need a plan.

POINT 2: The plan points to the final result.

Having a plan gave us something to work towards.

Without the plan, we would have been unsure about what we were doing and why we were doing it. We would have aimlessly done this, that, and the other thing without being sure if the room would work. The plan allowed us to really visualize the final result.

In our Christian lives, there is a final result that we should be striving for: to be like Christ.

·

Romans 8:28–29 CSB

28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

· Now, we always talk about having “quiet times” and being in “church” and things like that, and those things help, but so often we look at doing those things as the goal: what we’re striving for.

One thing that sometimes happens when we start thinking in terms like this is that things like reading our Bible or praying or serving can stop being a means, and instead become the ends themselves. Let me give you an example. We might decide that in order to help us grow to be more like Christ, we want to read through the whole Bible in a year. Nothing wrong with that, and in fact, it’s a great discipline. But when we reach the point that we are reading for reading’s sake, and not to grow in our knowledge and faith in the Gospel, that reading the Bible in the year becomes the plan itself, not a tool for fulfilling the plan of being conformed to the likeness of Christ. Does this make sense?

No! Those things are just tools that we can use to get there. They must be a part of the plan, not the plan itself.

The goal is to be like Christ: to not waste our lives, but to live a life that is honoring to God in all that we do.

Psalm 119:9–16 CSB

9 How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping your word. 10 I have sought you with all my heart; don’t let me wander from your commands. 11 I have treasured your word in my heart so that I may not sin against you. 12 Lord, may you be blessed; teach me your statutes. 13 With my lips I proclaim all the judgments from your mouth. 14 I rejoice in the way revealed by your decrees as much as in all riches. 15 I will meditate on your precepts and think about your ways. 16 I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.

·

Romans 13:14 CSB

14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and don’t make plans to gratify the desires of the flesh.

·

The ultimate goal of the plan for our lives is that we look like Christ in all things, not just in some of them.

· The ultimate goal of the plan for our lives is that we look like Christ in all things, Not just in some of them.

This creates a problem, because the final result of a renovation isn’t the same as where you start. There comes a cost in renovation.

POINT 3: Having a plan allows you to consider the cost of reaching the final result.

After we came up with our plan and measured and all of that, Wayne estimated for us how much it would cost to do this. If the dollar amount was too high, we would have changed some things, and made other adjustments.

In determining the cost, Wayne had to think about all of the things that went into the plan to reach the final result. How much wood did we need to build the two walls? What about the doors? Bathroom fixtures and lighting? Carpet or tile? How much time did we have?

As it turned out, the original plan was fine from a financial standpoint, so we decided to go with it.

If we don’t really start looking at what it will be like to be conformed to the likeness of Christ, we won’t really understand the cost.

What might happen then is that when the cost gets to be too high, we’ll bail on the whole thing, when we could have been prepared for and made that adjustment early on in the process.

·

Luke 14:28–30 CSB

28 “For which of you, wanting to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, after he has laid the foundation and cannot finish it, all the onlookers will begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This man started to build and wasn’t able to finish.’

So if someone is going to build a tower, he needs to sit down and figure out if he can finish it. Makes sense.

· So if someone is going to build a tower, he needs to sit down and figure out if he can finish it. Makes sense.

Have you ever talked really big about your ability at something, only to have to prove that you didn’t measure up to your talk? Well, that’s what Jesus is telling you to avoid here. Be wise in your planning, otherwise, you won’t be able to complete what you have planned to do.

Luke 14:31–33 CSB

31 “Or what king, going to war against another king, will not first sit down and decide if he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 If not, while the other is still far off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 In the same way, therefore, every one of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.

·

· Jesus said in verse 33: “Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.” What does this mean?

Jesus said in verse 33: “…every one of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.” What does this mean?

Here, Jesus is calling for our complete surrender to Him. That’s what has to happen for us to truly be His disciples.

Luke 14:34–35 CSB

34 “Now, salt is good, but if salt should lose its taste, how will it be made salty? 35 It isn’t fit for the soil or for the manure pile; they throw it out. Let anyone who has ears to hear listen.”

·

Discuss verses 34-35. Jesus calls us the salt of the earth in .

· Discuss verses 34-35: “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is fit neither for the soil nor the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” (Jesus calls us the salt of the earth in )

During my time in student ministry, decisions were kind of a big deal. Students would make decisions at camps, at retreats, on mission trips, etc. These decisions often involved them sharing those decisions with me or another adult. I’ve found that in the pastorate with adults, things are a little less…structured. But that doesn’t mean that we don’t call people to make decisions. It’s just that usually those decisions are not specifically told to me or to anyone other than God. Also, maybe many decisions that we make as adults are more direction-ally corrective than “life changing” like they often were in student ministry.

But there will be times: when we have an ongoing sin struggle in our lives, for example, when these decisions are crucial and ongoing. Where, even as adults, we’re going to need to make a plan to submit to God in these changes, and then follow through on the plan.

Closing

One thing to make sure that we keep clear as we close: because of what God has done in the Gospel of Christ—in Jesus dying on the cross as a substitutionary atonement for our sins, and then rising again so that just as He defeated death, we can as well—because of what God has done, we should want to submit to being conformed to the likeness of Christ out of love and gratitude to our Savior. This isn’t about getting God to love us more. It’s about responding appropriately to what He’s already done.

With that being said, having a plan is as simple as sitting down with yourself and God, and really talking with Him about what needs to change to be more like Him. Really, though, if we don’t ever read our Bibles, we will have a really hard time knowing what God’s vision is for your being conformed to Christ. God is always going to work in line with His Word. Maybe that’s where you need to start.

The point is this: take an honest evaluation. Is something getting a bunch of your attention that doesn’t bring praise back to God? Is there something sinful in your life that you are hiding from everyone, including God? Is there something inappropriate in your life that you don’t want to consider giving up for the sake of being conformed into Christ’s likeness?

How are we “watered-down” salt?

Create a plan with a goal in mind. Set yourself stages and dates by which things are supposed to be “done”. Get into a relationship where you can honestly evaluate your plan with another believer, and keep each other in check as to whether you are moving forward on your plan. Make it practical, real, and specific. Rather than “Read the Bible more,” set a real goal of “Read my Bible 4 days a week.” That’s a good start. If you need help developing a plan, let me know. I’ll be glad to help.