God For The Christian

INTRODUCTION:

So we’re doing a series called God for the Rest of Us. And in this series we’ve talked about the fact that God is for people who are far from Him. That there’s nothing you’ve ever done or could ever do that puts you out of the reach of God’s grace. It doesn’t matter why you walked away from him, where you’ve gone, or what you’ve done, God is still for you. He loves you and is inviting you into a relationship with him. You may be someone who is far from God and maybe you didn’t know that. And you need to know that. God loves you and is for you. You need to know that.

Or you may be a Christian, someone who is in relationship with God, but you never really understood that God is for everyone. And you need to know that. Because it means you should be for everyone. And you should be all about helping everyone know the God who is for them.

GOD IS FOR CHRISTIANS

But I want to tell you today is that God is also for Christians. For people who have already said yes to that relationship, who have said yes to living a life of faith. Now that may seem obvious to you, but I want to really dig into it. What does it mean that God is for Christians? If you’re a Christian, what does that mean for your life? I want to look at this through the lens of one of Jesus’ most famous followers, Peter. You may know the story, Peter was one of first people to put his faith in Jesus and decide to follow him.

Matthew 4:18-22, ““While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him **. And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.”

So at this point Peter becomes a follower of Jesus. But what did that mean for him? God was for him before he put his faith in Jesus. Now God was for him as a follower of Jesus. But what did it mean for Peter that God was for him.

FREED FROM A MEANINGLESS LIFE-GET OUT OF THE RUT

In Canada there are two seasons: Winter and July. It’s very cold and it snows a lot. And, as you can imagine, when July rolls around and things finally begin to thaw out there’s a great amount of water, and that’s terrible for the dirt roads they have in some of the towns. ** And people drive down those dirt roads and they create these ruts all the way down the road. And soon after that, it freezes again. And it’s so bad that in one town they’ve put up a sign. It says: “Chose your ruts carefully, because you’ll be in them for the next twenty years.” Does that describe your life? Once upon a time you dreamed of … but now your life has become this boring, monotonous rut.

This rut of getting up, going to work, coming home, eat dinner, watch TV for three hours, go to sleep. Get up, go to work, come home, eat dinner, watch TV for three hours, go to sleep. It’s infuriating in it’s monotony. Until finally you break down, Dad comes home, tired and frustrated; he yells at Mom. Mom yells at older brother. Older brother yells at younger sister. Younger sister kicks the dog. Dog bites the cat. Cat scratches the baby. Baby bites the head off the Barbie doll. You know, wouldn’t it be easier if Dad just came in, bit the head off the Barbie doll, and saved all those in-between steps?

It’s so easy to get stuck in the rut of a meaningless life. But I’ll tell you what, when Peter and Andrew and James and John said yes to follow Jesus, it was the best decision they ever made, and it freed them from living a meaningless life.

I mean can you picture, say Peter, the night before at the local pub, remember Peter was a ruff fisherman, when one of his buddies said, “Hey Pete. How ya doin’?”

“Great, great. I’m doin’ great. Can’t complain.”

Buddy says, “Oh really, good. That’s nice. So then, whatcha doin’ tomorrow?”

Peter’s like, “What are you kiddin’ me? I’m doin’ tomorrow what I do everyday. I’m fishin’.”

“Oh, what are ya doin’ the next day?”

“You lookin’ for a knuckle sandwich there?!? You know I’m fishin’ the next day.”

“Oh, well, whatcha doin’ the day after that?”

“Okay pal, that’s it, let’s take this outside, I’m gonna bust your lip open!”

So the next morning Peter gets up and falls into his routine, puts on the same old clothes, drinks the same bad coffee, eats the same bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios (I don’t know what they ate for breakfast back then!) and sets off to go fishin’.

But later that morning, out on the lake, Jesus comes by. Now Peter had seen Jesus before, he had heard Him speak, he had witnessed His character and Peter from the very first time he had come into contact with Jesus Peter knew that there was no one like Him. No way. He figured there never was, and probably never would be. And Jesus walked up that day, looked out to the boat, Peter looked in, wondering why Jesus would stop, and then he heard Jesus speak those words that would change his life forever, “Come, follow me.” Those words took his breath away. Could Jesus really want me to become a follower of his?” Well, Peter wasn’t taking any chances, so he just followed. He left everything there.

And you can picture when Peter got home that night, because we know from the Bible that he was a married man. Can you imagine what Mrs. Peter said? “You did what? Where did you leave your nets? Wait! Where’s the boat?” She probably thought he was crazy, but Peter wasn’t crazy, in fact, it was the most intelligent choice he had ever made. The best thing he had ever done. Because that day he started following Jesus, and that day he was freed from living a meaningless life.

And you can read through the biographies of Jesus life, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, where Peter is one of the main characters, and you can read through the history book of the early church, the book of Acts in the New Testament, and what you will find is that Peter’s life became an amazing adventure.

And you can even picture him running into his old buddy on the street one night. Buddy says, “Heya Pete. Long time. How ya doin’?”

“I am doing great. Thank you for asking.”

Buddy says, “Oh really, good. That’s nice. So then, whatcha doin’ tomorrow?”

“Actually, tomorrow we have planned to heal some sick people, give ‘em back full health.”

Buddy’s a bit confused. “Oh, what are ya doin’ the next day?”

“The next day? Oh, we’re gonna feed this entire community till they’re totally full, with just a couple loaves of bread and a few fish.”

Buddy’s definitely confused. “Oh, whatcha doin’ the day after that?”

“Well, the day after that, we’re going into Samaria and we’re just gonna completely tear down some of the racial walls that have been up for so long and keeping people separate based on something so dumb as the color of their skin.”

“Oh, well, what are ya doin’ the next day?”

Peter’s like, “Wait, let me look at my calendar on my iPhone. Oh, the next day Jesus is gonna raise his friend Lazarus from the dead. Dude, that is gonna rock! Oh, did I tell you that I walked on water? I did, for real. And I’ve cast out demons. And you should have seen this time when Jesus healed this leper. And guess what? I don’t really understand why, but Jesus has chosen me to be the leader of His church sometime in the future. Can you believe that? That is so cool! Oh, and guess what else …”

Think about it, these four fishermen became the leaders of a worldwide revolution 2000 years ago, and we’re still talking about them today! By the way, can you name any other Galilean fisherman from the 1st century? No! But we know about these guys. People still name their kids after them! You know anyone named Peter? Andrew? James? John? God made their lives into something incredible, something we still talk about today. See when Peter chose to follow Jesus, it freed him from a meaningless life.

And if you have said yes to follow Jesus, God is for you, and it means that you’ve been freed from living a meaningless life. You’re freed up to dream big, to risk, to live an adventure. To live God’s adventure for your life.

Part of God being for you is that he’s for you living the life he has for you. Following Jesus means you live the way he lived, you do what he did, your passionate about what he’s passionate about, and his mission becomes your mission.

That’s why when Jesus called Peter and the other three guys he said, “Follow me and I will send you out to fish for people.” Because Jesus is all about people. He’s all about helping people who are far from God come close to God. And when we follow him, now we’re all about people. We’re all about helping people who are far from God come close to God. And that is an adventure. In fact, it’s an adventure that can inject excitement into even the most boring parts of life.

Like … washing dishes. A boring chore. But if you use the time while you’re washing dishes to pray for people, and you believe God answers prayer, well, when you’re washing dishes, you’re changing the world! Or getting your hair cut. A boring activity. But if you go into it looking for chances to share God’s love with the person who’s cutting your hair, that’s an adventure filled with meaning.

And when you realize God is for you and you decide to follow Jesus, you are freed from a meaningless life.

FREED TO FAIL

You’re also freed to fail. And that is huge. Because I think you could argue that we’re not fully living if we’re living with a fear of failure.

But a lot of us do live with a fear of failure. And I think the reason we’re so afraid to fail is because we think if we fail, we won’t matter. And we want to matter.

Many of us grew up with a fear of failure because we were taught by someone, for some maybe it was our parents that our worth depended on our performance. If we got good grades, we were good boys and girls. If we got bad grades we were bad boys and girls. If we did well in sports we were accepted and approved of. If we did badly we weren’t accepted and approved of. And we quickly learned, and had it repeatedly enforced, that how much we were worth was directly proportional to how well we performed in life. And that made us scared to fail, didn’t it? Because what would it mean for us if we failed? Maybe you have a fear of failure.

But all of that changes when you’re loved with an unconditional love, and that’s exactly the kind of love God loves us with. God doesn’t love us based on our performance. God loves us when we’re at our worst. In fact, the Bible tells us that God chose to do the very worst thing for him, which was to have his Son die, for us, when we were at our very worst. **Romans 5:6-8, ““For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Now Christians tend to understand that. They should. They understand this idea of grace; that God offered us the opposite of what we deserved. We deserved punishment for our sins, and separation from God because we chose to rebel against him. But because of his love, God gave us the opposite of what we deserve – Jesus died to take the punishment we deserve so he could take all our sins on himself, and to bring us into a relationship with God. They understand that it’s the opposite of what they deserved, it’s by grace.

But it’s interesting, a lot of people when they become Christians, think that somehow it switches. We become Christians by grace, despite our performance, but then once we become Christians it’s all based on our performance. We couldn’t earn our salvation, but once we receive it we need to start earning things from God.

But no, that’s not what the Bible says. The Bible says that as Christians, God continues to love us with unconditional love, still applies not based on our performance, and that He is still for us. **Romans 5:9-10, ““Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.”

I think it took Peter awhile to understand this. I mentioned that when Jesus was arrested and put on trial, when he needed Peter the most, Peter denied even knowing Jesus. Three times he denies knowing Jesus. And he must have been ashamed of that.

Then Jesus raises from the dead. And Peter know that. But in John, chapter 21 we find Peter, after the resurrection, and he’s fishing. Why is he fishing? Well, he’s gone back to his old life. Jesus told him to leave the boat and become a fisher of men, but Peter failed Jesus, thinks he’s no longer worthy, and so he’s back in the boat as a fisherman.

Well, Jesus shows up. And Peter and the other guys all join up with Jesus and they eat a meal together. And look at what the Bible says happens next. John 21:15-17, ““When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” **He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.”

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What exactly is Jesus saying to Peter here? Basically, I think he’s saying, “Peter, we all know you performed poorly. We all know you failed. We all know that you didn’t show me that you love me more than these other guys like you claimed. But you know what Peter? I love you. And that’s what matters. I love you. And I’m here to tell you that you have value, and that you have worth, and that you have importance, and it has nothing to do with how you perform. So Peter, don’t worry about your failures, go feed my sheep. Tell people that I love them in the same way that I have unconditionally loved you. That’s my message. Go tell them. And now you can tell them in a way that you would never have been able to tell them had you succeeded. But now that you’ve failed, and I love you anyway, you tell people that’s the same way I love them.”

But what Jesus does here for Peter is what He would do for you and me. Jesus applies the greatest healing force in the universe: the unconditional love of God. I mean, if Jesus wanted to love someone conditionally, Peter was a great candidate, because his performance was so bad! But that’s not how Jesus loved Peter. No. He loved Peter unconditionally. And that unconditional love redeemed and repaired Peter’s broken life. He loved Peter with a love that restored worth and dignity to Peter right when he thought he was an outcast for good. And it completely changed Peter. It let him know he was freed from to fail. And the Peter we see later in the Bible, who lives a courageous, risk taking adventure, who becomes the leader of the church, is a Peter who never would have existed if it weren’t his experiencing the unconditional love of Jesus.

And the good news is that God is for Christians, Jesus offers us that same unconditional love to people who have failed often. He offers it to people like you and me who have had conditional love demean them of their worth and rob them of their self-esteem and made them afraid to take chances. Jesus will show up in our lives and will apply to us the greatest healing force in the universe, the unconditional love of God, and he will love us back to health. All we have to do is let him.

When we do, we get of the performance system and onto the grace system. We understand that God’s love doesn’t depend on us performing correctly, even once we’re Christians. God’s love depends on God, on his character and on what he did for us on the cross. And so we get to live in and appreciate his love. And that’s awesome. And that’s the right motivation for living for him. Not trying to earn something from him, which is a selfish motivation, but being grateful to him, which is a worshipful motivation. It’s like: God loves me so much that I don’t have to perform correctly, and that makes me want to perform correctly.

God loves you unconditionally and so if you fail, it’s ok. And that means freedom. We’re free to risk, to go for it.

Because God is for us we’re freed from living a meaningless life, we’re freed to fail, and also, we’re freed from the fear of death.

FREED FROM THE FEAR OF DEATH

George Bernard Shaw once wrote, “The statistics on death are quite impressive. One out of one people die.” Death is one of our greatest fears, isn’t it? I like what Woody Allen once said, “It’s not that I’m afraid to die. I just don’t want to be there when it happens.” I think that means he’s afraid to die. I think we’re all afraid to die.

But following Jesus frees us from the fear of death. Why? Because of his resurrection. Because Jesus walked out of the grave and defeated death, and promised that anyone who follows him in this life will follow him out of the grave, will defeat death, and will follow him into Heaven where they will live forever.

That’s what happened with Peter. We see him, before the resurrection, totally afraid to die. That’s why, when Jesus needed him most, he denied even knowing him. After the resurrection we see Peter taking stands for Jesus knowing his life was on the line. And eventually Peter dies, he’s killed because he’s not willing to deny Jesus again. Why? Because he was freed from the fear of death.

I heard a true story about an old Christian man who had lived life in a close relationship with God, but was about to die. His son sat next to him and asked, “Dad, how are you feeling?” The man replied, “Son, I’m like a little boy on Christmas Eve.”

You and I can face death with that same kind of confidence and joy. Why? Because following Jesus, who walked out of the grave, frees us from the fear of death.

CONCLUSION

I love the story of how Steve Jobs recruited John Sculley to join Apple when they were just starting. John Sculley had become the youngest President of Pepsi Corporation at the age 38. He masterminded the “Pepsi Generation” campaign and was on a meteoric rise in the cola company. Steve Jobs was one of the two people who founded Apple Computers. Back in the early 80’s, still in the infancy of their company, they pursued John Sculley to join them.

Jobs met with Sculley countless times, used all of his persuasive skills, but Sculley refused to leave his cushy, safe job with Pepsi for the risk of this upstart new computer company. Jobs tried to explain to him that the information technology Apple was developing would have a major influence on global culture and a huge impact going into the 21st Century. Sculley still turned him down. Finally it was there last meeting. It was Jobs’ last chance to change Sculley’s mind. He asked, “Are you going to come to Apple?” Sculley answered, “I can’t leave my job with Pepsi.” Jobs’ head dropped as he stared at the pavement. And, after a weighty, uncomfortable pause, he asked a final question, “Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want a chance to change the world?” That challenge cut to Sculley’s heart, and it changed his mind. He left Pepsi and joined Apple.

That day when Jesus approached Peter by a lake, I think that’s basically what he was asking, “Do you want to spend the rest of your life as a fisherman, or do you want a chance to change the world?”

I think he’d ask the same question of you and me. “Do you want to spend the rest of your life getting up, going to work, coming home, eating dinner, watching TV for three hours, and going to sleep, or do you want a chance to change the world?”

God is for us.** So he sent Jesus to share his love with the whole world. God is for Christians. And because he is, Jesus is calling you to follow him in his mission. Leave whatever you need to leave behind, and lets join him. Don't get in a rut follow Jesus.