Being Possible (Your Potential In Christ)
Notes
Transcript
BEING POSSIBLE (Your Potential in Christ)
Romans 8:29-37
Most of you are probably familiar with the Toy Story franchise. If you have small children or grandchildren, it is almost inescapable.
In the most recent installment, Toy Story 4, the character Bonnie loses all her art supplies on her first day of kindergarten, so Woody helps her out by recovering several items from a trash can, including a plastic spork and a couple of popsicle sticks. From these items, Bonnie creates a new friend, Forky, who later comes to life, like the other toys in the story.
Forky’s experience is different from the others, because he wasn’t factory made — he was pieced together from spare parts and held together by Elmer’s glue. It creates something of an existential crisis for him; he thinks he belongs in a garbage can, not in a little girl’s toy collection. Woody — Tom Hanks — takes it on himself to prevent Forky from throwing himself away.
Toy Story movies are popular because they often address themes that adults can relate too, as well. Such as this one. Who am I? Am I trash? Or am I a treasure? Why am I here? These are questions that no doubt every one asks at one time or another. These are also questions that find their answer in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
We’re in week two of a series called REAL ID. The focus of this series is to discover who you are in Christ. Last week we discovered that we are no longer fugitives from justice, or fugitives from the past, that we have been made into a new creation, and have been made right with God through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. You are now God’s friend, God’s ambassador, God’s very own.
Today we’ll explore this idea a little further, specifically your potential in Christ — who he made you to be.
There’s an old story that’s been told a million times, but it fits this message so I’ll make it a million and one.
A teacher asked her class of elementary aged students, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” The answers were typical: I want to be a firefighter, a police officer, a professional athlete, a doctor, and so on.
One boy, however, gave this answer: “I want to be possible.”
The teacher asked, “What do you mean?”
He said, “Every time I get in trouble, my mother tells me I’m impossible. When I grow up, I want to be possible.”
The good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ, is that we can all be possible. We may be, by nature, quite impossible much of the time. We may feel more at home in a waste paper basket than on a shelf filled with prized possessions … but you can be made possible. This is who you are in Jesus Christ.
I have a sneaking suspicion that we all know this. We all know that we have been forgiven by the mercy of Jesus Christ, we have been made new, and we now have unlimited potential to fully become all that he created us to be. We know this up here, between our ears, because we’ve heard it and heard it and heard it, time and time and time again. We know it, but for some of us, these truths haven’t yet fully made their way into our day-to-day life experience. For some of us, it’s still hit and miss whether or not we live up to our potential or spend the day being impossible.
So today I want offer three daily reminders — actually, three moment-by-moment reminders — that will help rise above the limitations of who you think you are, so that you can begin to reach for who God made you to be. These are three truths that you need to remind yourself of every day, as many times throughout the day as necessary, because they will help you focus on your real ID — who God says you are.
We have these moments of “identity crisis” at different times — and they happen all throughout the day: When we’re faced with temptation, when we have the opportunity to minister to someone, or to bless someone, when we make conversation with our friends, family, and co-workers, when we feel the Holy Spirit is prompting us to give, or to go somewhere, or to do something. During these moments — and they happen all throughout the day — we have to decide who we will be. Will we respond like trash, or will we respond like treasure? That’s the question, and these three reminders will help you navigate to the correct answer.
With each decision, with each opportunity for obedience, remind yourself, first of all…
1. I was made for this moment.
Pastor Kirbyjon Caldwell once said, “There are two great moments in a person's life: the moment you were born and the moment you realize why you were born.”
I suppose we can all easily imagine how this would apply to life’s most epic moments and life’s greatest battles — you know, the stuff movies are made of.
Like the story of Esther. She was an orphaned Jewish girl during the time of the Babylonian captivity. Jews, of course, were the ones being held captive and forced into slavery.
One day she was spotted by the Persian king Ahasuerus, and he was so captivated by her beauty that he made her his wife, and she took up residence in the royal palace.
A few years later, one of the king’s top advisors was plotting to have all of the Jews in the kingdom killed, so Esther’s cousin, Mordecai reached out to her and asked if she would try to persuade the king to put a stop to this persecution. Esther hedged a little bit; in ancient Persia it wasn’t the queen’s place wife to make such a request. In fact, it was risky to do so.
But Mordecai persisted, and told Esther it was in her best interests to at least try. And then he said…
“And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14)
“For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?”
Esther did the right thing, she approached the king, and he listened to her, and the sinister plot was foiled. It’s a great story.
I especially love Mordecai’s statement. He was saying, in effect, “Maybe this is the moment for which you have been created.”
We can imagine how these words apply to a major life-defining moment. But I want to you to realize that these words also apply to dozens of micro-moments throughout the day: the opportunity to do right, the opportunity to offer encouragement, the opportunity to worship, or study, or pray, or spend our time productively. As you encounter each of these “mini-moments” you can honestly say, “For this moment, I was made … I was made to worship. I was made to serve. I was made to give. I was made to encourage. I was made to be obedient…”
In the book of Romans, Paul said…
29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
This is who you were made to be: to be Christlike. To be imitators of God [Ephesians 5:2], to “walk in the same way in which he walked.” (1 John 2:6 ESV)
I’m saying that minute-by-minute throughout the day you have the opportunity to say: This is not a throw-away moment. For this reason I was born … for such a time as this … to do what’s right and to do what’s best.
There’s another truth to remember in living out your full potential.
2. I have all the help I need.
Do you know what it’s like to be in business, and be short on staff? To not have the manpower you need to get the job done? Or to not have the knowledge or skills you need to get the job done? Or to not have leaders in place who are able to delegate job to one person and another job to another?
Everyone who has ever had a job undoubtedly has a story or two to tell along these lines. If you have ever had a job which you were ill-equipped to do, you know how frustrating it can be.
Years ago my friend Allen told me about the day his boss handed him $20 and a set of keys and told him to go wash his car. Allen was thrilled, for two reasons. One, here’s a chance to impress his boss. Two, he gets to drive a Mercedes, which was quite a step up from the Ford Escort he drove at that time
The car was parked out back, behind the office. Allen went there, unlocked the door, sat down, and put the key in the ignition. And then he panicked, because on the floorboard, where he expected to find two pedals, he found three. It was a stick shift. My friend had never operated a manual transmission, and had no idea how to do it.
He knew that if he went back inside the office, he would certainly be ridiculed, and his boss would probably never again give him special recognition.
So what did Allen do? He put the car in neutral and rolled it down the street to the car wash. Luckily, it was nearby.
In life, there are many who find themselves in Allen’s position. They know what they’re supposed to do, but they don’t know how to do it. They don’t have the skill, the gifts, the talent, the knowledge, the ability. The power.
Shortly before Jesus died, he told his disciples that he would not leave them alone, that he would send an advocate — the Holy Spirit — and he would be their teacher, their guide, and their constant companion.
Jesus’ promise is true for us today. When you rely on him, he helps you. He strengthens you. He speaks to you. He leads you. And he empowers you to do what God is calling you to do.
Paul said…
11 … if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
He’s saying this in the context of living according to the flesh and living according to the Spirit. And he’s saying, in effect, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead now resides in you, in the presence of the Holy Spirit. The power that was at work in Jesus’ life is intended to be at work in your life, as well.
We may feel, at times, like we’re impossible, and we’ll never get it right, we’ll never learn obedience, we’ll never overcome sin, we’ll never live up to our potential … and Paul reminds that all these things are possible through the Holy Spirit, whom God has given us.
Paul said…
For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. (Philippians 2:13)
You don’t have to go through life feeling understaffed and ill-equipped. You have the help you need. The Holy Spirit is with you always.
Here’s the third truth to remember to help you fulfill your potential.
3. I can do this.
Because you have all the help you need, you can be sure that you can do anything God calls you to do.
This is why Paul said...
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. (Philippians 4:13 KJV)
He’s saying no matter what I have to face: trials, tribulations, adversity, prosperity, success or failure, I know that God will give me the strength — the power — to do what he would have me do.
This is also true of the temptation to sin. In the book of 1 Corinthians, Paul writes…
No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:13)
Paul is saying that when it comes to winning the battle against sin, you can do it. You have the help you need, you have the power of God within you, and you can do it.
In Romans 8, after talking about the challenges and difficulties of life, Paul says…
37 In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
More than conquerors. What a label to hang on to. This is your potential. This is who God made you to be.
You can overcome sin. You can be holy. You can live a meaningful life. You can make a difference. You can thrive at work. You can be fulfilled in your marriage and family relationships.
You can. And not just in a squeak by and barely make the grade sort of way. You are more than a conqueror.
Whenever I hear this phrase I think of the University of Tennessee Volunteers football team, in 1938-39. In ‘38 they went 11-0, won the SEC, beat Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl, and won the National Championship. The following year they went 10-0 — undefeated, united, and un-scored-upon. They didn’t give up a touchdown in the regular season. Every game ended in a shut-out. That’s not just winning. That’s not just conquering. That’s more than conquering.
It’s not that we won’t have some battles and close-calls in life. Of course, we will. But our victory is assured. You can be sure that in every situation you have the strength it takes to do what God is leading you to do.
“I can do this” is a promise that every believer can claim.
CONCLUSION
Many Christians are blinded to their potential because they don’t recognize their true identity.
Like the character in Toy Story, Forky. He saw himself as nothing more than a throw-away, not even fit for the recycling bin. But his creator, Bonnie, saw him differently. To him, he was trash. To her, he was a treasure. Her favorite of all of her favorite toys. She saw in him a potential that he just didn’t see himself.
Let’s not make the same mistake.
God sees you, not as trash, but as a treasure. He doesn’t see you as ready to be cast aside. He sees you as ready to rise to your full potential.
He created you to be like Jesus … to walk as Jesus walked … And then he gave you the capacity to do it. All the help you need, when you need it. All the power it takes to live a holy life. Day after day, moment by moment.
You may think you're impossible. But God says, "You're not. I want to make you possible."
It was for this that you were created — that in each moment you can experience the fullness of your potential in Christ..