Why We Do What We Do
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· 10 viewsThis sermon will be an overview of why as mankind we do what we do.
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Opening:
Opening:
Who here has ever had a thought that afterwards they wondered where did that come from? And I don’t mean just an off colored thought, I mean one of those dark thoughts where you find yourself asking God for forgiveness that you even had it. Who has had those types of thoughts happen more than you’d like to admit? Who here has ever had a fight with their spouse or other family members? Or a disagreement with a friend, a neighbor, a co-worker? Have you always been satisfied by how you handled those situations? Have you ever responded in such a way that later you felt bad about what you said or how you acted? This morning we are going to talk about why we do what we do.
What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
Why do we do what we do? Since my start of seminary this has been a question that my professors have posed to me and my fellow classmates. For those that do not know Faith Bible Seminary is known for it’s role in furthering the training and education of Biblical Counselors. It is this question that biblical counseling seeks to answer for the individuals involved in counseling. I am going to start by giving you the answer to this question, then showing you how it works out in Scripture, then how the world attempts to answer it, and finally how to align to God.
Answers:
Answers:
Why do we do what we do
Because we think what we think
Because we believe what we believe
Based in what we truly worship
Scriptural Evidence:
Scriptural Evidence:
I want to first turn our attention to the book of Ezekiel where we see how this process takes place.
Then certain of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me. And the word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their hearts, and set the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces. Should I indeed let myself be consulted by them?
Idols pull a person away from God, in the American culture the most common idols are pleasure, praise, power, and possessions
The heart refers to the inner man, the place where the deepest held convictions are at
Iniquity = sin
Consulted = Inquired
What Ezekiel is describing for us here is that mankind runs after things other than God and they become the focus of our worship. They settle into the place of our deepest convictions and that is what we run after. This is sin, this is idolatry and adultery to the Lord. These idols become stumbling blocks for us and hinder us from inquiring of God.
I want us to turn now and look at an example from the NT.
Mark chapter 6 is an interesting chapter when looking at what Jesus is wanting the disciples to learn. The chapter starts out with Jesus being rejected in his hometown and him marveling at the people’s unbelief. From there Mark moves to tell the reader about the disciples being sent out in pairs.
And he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belts— but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics. And he said to them, “Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there. And if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.” So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent. And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.
Mark then moves to interject the story of the death of John the Baptist. I believe he does this to reminder the reader about the character and faithfulness of John the Baptist. Mark gives us a glimpse of this by what he recorded in chapter 1 from John the Baptist.
And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.
Mark now transitions back to the story of the disciples being sent out.
The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught.
This leads into the story of the feeding of 5,000. See Jesus was trying to get to a place of quite to have time with the disciples for rest, but when they arrived where they were going there was a huge crowd.
When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.
Mark records that Jesus saw this crowd and had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd.
We then read this dialogue between Jesus and the disciples.
And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said to him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?”
I want you to get an idea of where the disciples’ hearts are at. They had just come off this great mission where they cast out demons and healed the sick, they were looking forward to quite time with Jesus and the others and then this crowd shows up. Jesus has compassion on the crowd while the disciples want them sent away. A comment is made about buying 200 denarii worth of food for the group. A denarius was one day worth of work’s compensation. 200 of them would be equivalent to $16,000 worth of food today on the low end. Following this we read Mark’s account of Jesus walking on the water. This is a well-known story in the church and the other Gospels go into greater detail, yet Mark shares that Jesus did this to teach the disciples a lesson.
And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them, but when they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost, and cried out, for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” And he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.
The disciples could not understand what was going on with the feeding of the 5,000 so Jesus got their attention. How often do we come home from a day of work, even a day where we feel as though we accomplished something and it was a great day at work, to not want to look after those in our care. We just want some quiet, we just want to eat, we just want to get a hot shower, we just want to watch TV, we just want some time to ourselves. We just want, pleasure, praise, respect, love.
In and of themselves there is nothing wrong with these things, the problem comes when we want them to the point of sinning to get them.
What was it that James 4 :1 said?
What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?
When we come home and we speak harshly to our spouse, or our kids. Or when we are physically present but mentally absent through either a book or electronic device. When we are more concerned with what we deserve then with serving those that have been given to us we have put stumbling blocks in our way.
What the World has to Say
What the World has to Say
Why do we do what we do? This is the question we are trying to answer. This question is not isolated to Christianity alone. This is a question that society has answers for as well. Even though they look to answer this how society answers this and how the Bible answers this comes for two different roots.
At the root of the biblical answer is exaltation of God.
At the root of society’s answer is man’s happiness.
So how has secular society presented this? When I was in Jr. Sr. high the message that was presented to us, was that to achieve happiness we needed to be confident in ourselves.
We needed to build our self-esteem.
When we questioned how do you do that, the response became follow your heart.
When asked what it meant to follow your heart, society has now responded with live your truth.
Truth has now become subjective and as long as the individual is doing what makes them happy, they should feel complete.
Except, following the heart is not all that it is cracked up to be.
For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.
The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?
When a man’s folly brings his way to ruin,
his heart rages against the Lord.
Hear, my son, and be wise,
and direct your heart in the way.
See our heart is not to lead us, we are to lead our heart.
Yet, when it comes to understanding why we do what we do, how many of us turn to God for the answer? We are quick to turn to personality tests, but not to God. We are quick to learn what our letters, number, or color is, but are we quick to let God expose the darkness within us? I have a theory on why we are so quick to run to these other things. See man wants to know about themselves. They want to understand why they do what they do. But we do not want to hear that we are wrong. We want to understand but we do not want to be wrong.
What is it that personality tests give us? Understanding and justification.
Once we think we understand why we do what we do, we then feel justified in how we act.
I will use myself as an example. A few months back I took a personality test. The results labeled me as an INFJ-T or a Turbulent Advocate. The advocate trait has a deep sense of idealism and integrity and wants to stand up for what is right. They can communicate with great passion and conviction and at other time keep the peace and not challenge others. Adding the modifier trait of turbulent, indicates that there tends to be a more negative outlook to life. They can become over involved in the problems of others and over exaggerate the impact of something that bothers them. Self-criticism can be extremely harsh, and they can sink into brooding and become miserably mired in worry and regret. These are some of the definitions of these traits from 16personalities.com.
There is much about this that really does describe how I am. But now I have a choice. I can take this information, claim it as my truth and act as if I am justified when I have a bad attitude due to a negative outlook and unnecessary worry. And since this is my truth, I can demand that those around me respect that be understanding. Or I can look at God’s word and let that impact my life and live by how God commands me. It is not going to be easy, but that is what Jesus meant by deny himself and take up his cross.
And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
Michael Green presents that what take up his cross means here is to submit to the rule against which he was formerly in rebellion. This is based in the custom that Rome had of having those sentenced to crucifixion for rebellion carried their cross to show that they were now under submission of the rule of Rome.
When you take up your cross to follow Jesus you are saying “Lord I admit that I have operated in rebellion to you. I have lived for my own glory and my own exaltation. Lord forgive me as I submit to your rule over my life.
How to Align to God
How to Align to God
You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
James 4:3-4 says that it is because of wrong motives and our passions that we have become enemies of God.
How is it we correct this? After Paul instructs us on what the fruit of the Spirit is he states
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
It is by life in the Spirit that we can overcome the fleshly desires.
So how do we live by the Spirit? Paul’s list in Gal 5:22-23 gives us a start by listing out for us the fruit of the Spirit.
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
John tells us in his first letter that we are to walk in the light. That if we confess our sin he is faithful to forgive us.
And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
John ends this letter with the exhortation that we are in Christ and need to keep ourselves from idols.
In considering these things there are two questions that comes to my mind.
First, how do I go about leaning about the things that have captured my heart, even good things like family, or work, or my spouse, and replaced the sport that only God should have?
Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!
This works as a great prayer to have God inspect your heart and let you know what is going on in it.
The second question I find myself asking is how to operate towards others.
From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.
We regard no one according to the flesh.
Every human is a spiritual being with an eternal destination. We have been commissioned to take the good news to the world. When we look at others, we need to either rejoice if they are a brother or sister in Christ, or if they are not a believer our heart should break for them.
Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
When communicating to others it should be in such a way that grace is present and it builds the person up.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
In using God’s word to do this it should be in a fashion that the person we are talking with is growing in being equipped for the work God has for them.
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
To reflect on what might going on in our heart is a not an easy thing. But I want to encourage you today that you are not alone. You are not alone in your struggles, and you are not alone in the process to bring you into alignment with God. Paul tells the church in Ephesus that it is Jesus that is making the church spotless, without wrinkle or blemish. Yes, sometimes to get a wrinkle out of a shirt it needs to be pressed by a hot iron. But you are not alone. If God is working on your heart and you need to talk i am more than happy to talk with you. Part of our struggle I believe is from the fact that it is hard to accept what it is that Jesus is offering. I talked earlier about how we run to personality tests to justify why we do what we do. Family, you don’t need that. If Jesus is your Lord and Savior, you are justified. When you are cleansed by his blood you are not only seen as not guilty, but as innocent.
Brothers and sisters, I know it is hard. I know sometimes we wished Jesus would just walk in and tell us what to do. Just this past week I had a conversation with my son Josh about this. I told Josh about an incident I had had from the week prior where I woke up about an hour and a half before I normally get up. I was just all of a sudden wide a awake and I sensed Jesus telling me to come spend some time with him. See I have been working through a situation that has caused much worry, stress, and fear lately. And you know that whole turbulent trait I have wasn’t making it any better. I sat down at the table with my coffee and a Bible and was like okay Lord what do you want to say to me. He led me into the Psalms where again and again I read about sovereignty. After reading through a handful of Psalms I flipped towards the back of the Bible and landed in 2 Tim 1. My life verse is 2 Tim 1:7.
for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
From here I read onto chapter two where Paul instructs Timothy about pleasing his commanding officer. God had answered my prayer about speaking to me and showing what he wanted me to do. Brothers and sisters what I want you to understand is that when it comes to sorting through understanding why we do what we do and wanting to come into alignment with God, regular reading of his word is the best tool. Couple that with time in prayer to listen to what God is saying does wonders for the soul. I want you to know though, that when your heart is hurting, and you feel broken, like you cannot go on, go to God. He is faithful and he will show you what it is you need.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
Amen