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\\ Today we look at the third purpose that God put you on this planet for, and we find it in Romans 8:29 and many other verses.
Look there on your outline,
/“For from the very beginning God decided that those who came to Him – and He knew who would – should become like His Son”.
/
/ /
Now God’s plan has always been to make you like Jesus Christ.
His plan from the very beginning has been to make human beings like Himself.
God doesn’t want you to become a god – there are religions that believe this; He wants you to /become godly/.
He wants you to develop His character, the way He thinks, the way He acts, the way He feels, His values, His moral character.
God wants to make you like Himself, and that’s God’s third plan for putting you on this planet, to make you like Jesus.
Look at the next verse, Ephesians 4:15.
Read it with me aloud:
/“God wants us to grow up…like Christ in everything”.
/
/ /
/Now what does it mean to grow up?
It means to be like Christ./
God’s will for you is that you grow up.
You know, babies are cute, but if babies stay babies, it’s tragic.
God wants us to mature and develop, and what does spiritual maturity look like?
Just take a long look at Jesus Christ.
Now unfortunately, a lot of people grow older but never grow up.
/My third purpose in life is to become like Christ/.
God put you on this planet to become like Jesus.
He gave us a model of what He wants us to grow up like.
Colossians 1:15 in the Message says,
/We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen.
We look at this Son and see God’s original purpose in everything created.*[1]*
/
When we look at the life of Christ we see the model, the example for us to emulate.
The process of being made over is called “discipleship”, and it takes an entire lifetime.
It is a job that God is committed to bringing to completion but it will take a lifetime on planet earth and more.
We will never be completely like Christ until we see Him face to face.
So what is involved in the process of discipleship?
There are some things that are given.
The Word of God is indispensable in the process as are the people of God.
The Word is “powerful” in the life of the Christian.
It cuts through pretense and speaks to the deeper parts of our being.
/"For the word of God is living and active.
Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight.
Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account."
(Hebrews 4:12-13, NIV) *[2]* /
And God uses people.
Some we love and some we work to love.
All are a part of the process.
There are things that God uses that we would never imagine and we are going to look at three of those today.
Look at Romans 8:28 with me.
/“In most things, God works for the good.”
/Oh, I read it wrong.
/“In all things God works for the good for those who love Him, who have been called according to His purposes.”
/
/ /
There is nothing that life can throw at you that He cannot use to create the likeness of Christ in you.
And life has some difficult things to throw at us by times.
Often, the very things that are most difficult carry the greatest potential of transformation if we will receive them as a part of the process.
This morning we want to consider three unlikely tools that God uses to shape us and they are all there in the life of Christ.
ð /He had trouble in the garden./
ð /He had temptation in the desert/
ð /He had trespasses on the cross./
Like Christ we will encounter these same sorts of situations.
They don’t automatically produce the likeness of Christ in us.
Our hearts must be open and ready to receive God’s “working” in us.
1.
/God uses trouble to teach us to trust Him/.
God uses trouble to teach us to trust Him.
Now in the Bible this word “trouble” is often called “trials”, and “trials” are /situations designed by God to draw us closer to Him./
This is a difficult concept for us to accept.
There are those who just can’t imagine that God would not protect us from adversity.
They would imagine that God would step in to prevent anything unpleasant from occurring in our lives.
They’re not designed to hurt us; they’re designed to help us.
It seems as though Christlikeness is developed within us in an atmosphere that is opposed to it’s development.
Almost an opposite, hostile environment.
It is not without its risks.
The very environment that can raise the Spirit of Christ to prominence within us can also bring discouragement.
Every negative consequence carries the potential of the blessing.
Why is it so difficult for the character of Christ to be produced in us?
Because it is absolutely unnatural.
The Bible speaks of the “natural man”.
*"/These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned./"
(1 Corinthians 2:13-14, NKJV) *[3]* *
So it takes natural means to produce an unnatural response.
God wants to build character in you.
How does He do it?
Look at the first verse, Romans 5:3-4
/“…trouble produces patience, and patience produces character, and character produces hope”./
/Now get this, God is far more interested in your life, in what you are, than in what you do./
God is always more interested in what you are, your character, than He is in what you do, your career.
Why?
He is first and foremost more interested in doing something “/in you/” than he is in doing something “/through you”/.
Of all the difficult situations that Jesus faced there is one that stands apart because we can see the heart of Christ deeply disturbed and troubled.
Following the Last Supper, he took his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, a garden . . .
actually a grove of olive trees, and under the stress of carrying the weight of the world, He asked His disciples to stay with Him while He prayed.
And notice what it says there.
/“They came to a garden called Gethsemane and Jesus said to His disciples, ‘Sit here while I pray’.”/
(Mark 14:32).
At other points he stole away by himself but this final evening he asked his disciples to wait for him while he prayed.
At other times he admonished his disciples,
"/ “Do not let your hearts be troubled.
Trust in God; trust also in me./" (John 14:1, NIV) *[4]*
This time he was troubled and he reached out for his disciples just as he encouraged his disciples to reach out for him.
Who would you call in the pinch, in the crisis?
Everyone ought to have a small group of Christian friends to lean on in these times.
That’s what fellowship is all about.
Nobody is supposed to go through the troubles of life alone.
Even Jesus needed friends.
He says, “If you guys would just hang out with me while I go pray here.”
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