SERMON: WRITE YOUR RIGHTEOUS STORY

8 June 2014

I.  Introduction

            -- turn in Bibles to Luke 1:1-4

Luke 1:1-4 (NIV)

1 Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us,

2 just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word.

3 Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus,

4 so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.

            -- I just finished reading a book called "Younger Next Year" -- and while it is mostly a book about fitness for people in the last third of their life, the authors made an important point in there that I wanted to pass on today

            -- they basically said that our lives today would be vastly improved if we would begin to approach life like a child again -- physically -- mentally -- and emotionally

            -- their point was that we get too caught up in being an adult and we get so stressed in life that we forget how to play and how to be active and how to focus on what's truly important and how we miss the everyday miracles of life because we're not taking time to look at life through the eyes of a child any more

            -- in order to be younger next year, we need to take time to just enjoy life as we used to

            -- well, with that thought in mind, I wanted to pass on a list I got off the internet called "Important Things I've Learned From Kids"

-- It's more fun to color outside the lines.

-- If you're gonna draw on the wall, do it behind the couch.

-- Ask "Why?" until you understand.

-- Even if you've been fishing for 3 hours and haven't gotten anything except poison ivy and a sunburn, you're still better off than the worm.

-- Make up the rules as you go along.

-- If the horse you're drawing looks more like a dog, make it a dog.

-- If you want a kitten, start out asking for a horse.

-- You can't ask to start over just because you're losing the game

-- and, finally, everyone's got a story, you just have to ask

            -- those are some important things we all need to remember -- and apply -- in our lives -- especially that last one -- "everyone's got a story, you just have to ask"

            -- I was actually reading a post from Donald Miller, one of my favorite authors, this past week and he basically said exactly the same thing -- Miller has been promoting this idea of approaching your life as a grand story for some time now -- it started when they were making a movie out of his autobiographical book, "Blue Like Jazz," and he had to step back and see his life from a different perspective -- as a story that was being played out on the big screen and not just the day-to-day life that we all see it as

            -- helping write the script for the movie and learning about the need for conflict and trouble in our lives and how this helps us grow and helps a story's protagonist move along to get what they are seeking changed the way Miller looks at life

            -- he started this company called "Storyline" and he helps people do the same with their lives -- the concept is when you begin to realize your life is a story, you begin to see the bigger picture of your life and the direction God is moving you and you can make the necessary adjustments to align your life with God's grand story of you -- you can change your story to make it better¹

            -- it's kind of like the Christian song, "Write Your Story," from Francesca Battistelli -- in that song she says, "I'm an empty page -- I'm an open book -- Write your story on my heart -- Come on and make Your mark" -- and that's the same point Miller is making -- the same point the kids were making in that list I shared with you

            -- everyone has a story, all you have to do is ask -- all you have to do is make them aware of it -- and so Miller has been going around intentionally asking people their story and helping them see the story of their life from a different perspective so they can see God's role in this story

            -- well, since reading Miller's book, "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years," I've really gotten enamored with this idea of living life like a story -- and I've tried to impress this on others -- I was talking with someone just last week about a crisis they were in that is totally encompassing their lives -- and they were wondering how they would ever make it through

            -- and I reminded them that God was writing their story at this very moment -- and this crisis wasn't the end -- it was only a chapter -- or maybe even just a paragraph -- a moment in time -- a moment in the story that was necessary to grow them and to change them and to make them stronger so they would move on to the better things which God had for them in the end

            -- and just realizing that their story was more than the crisis seemed to help -- it seemed to give them hope for the future

            -- everyone has a story, you just need to make them aware of it

           

            -- and while Donald Miller and Francesca Battistelli may be the latest to promote this idea of God writing the story of our lives, they certainly weren't the first -- what is the Bible but the story of God written in the lives of every day people -- people like you and me?

            -- what is the Bible but the stories of people who take a moment to say, "Hey, let me tell you who God is. -- Let me tell you what God has been doing in my life?"

            -- Luke does the same thing in his gospel -- he tells us who God is and what God has done in his life -- but I am willing to bet you're like me -- you never stopped to look at these first four verses to his gospel -- you just pushed on to the meat of the story -- to the good stuff

            -- but these first four verses are important, because they remind us of something we really need to remember -- everyone has a story -- and that includes you and me -- here in this introduction to his gospel Luke begins by reminding us of this fact

            -- he's writing to a friend of his -- Theophilus -- who was perhaps a benefactor or someone who was assisting Luke in his work in some way

            -- more than likely Theophilus wasn't his real name -- if you were to break down the etymology -- the meaning of the word "Theophilus," you'd see it comes from two Latin roots -- philus meaning "loving" or "drawn to" -- and Theo -- "related to God" -- so the break down of Theophilus' name really means, "one who loves God" or "one who is drawn to God" -- so this was probably not his real name or it may have been the name he assumed when he became a Christian as many people back then did change their names when they changed their lives and became followers of Jesus

            -- he tells his friend Theophilus he thought it would be a good idea to write down this account of the things that had been fulfilled "among us" in order to help Theophilus know with certainty the truth of what he had been taught and believed

            -- there's a couple important points in these verses I want you to see and I want you to think about

            -- first, Luke says he wanted to write an orderly account of these things of these things which happened to us -- in other words, Luke is telling us in the introduction to this gospel that he has a story -- he has a story that he wants us to hear -- it's a story that he not only heard from others, but that he was an eyewitness to -- a story that he saw with his eyes -- that he looked upon -- that he touched with his hands -- a story that happened to him

            -- second, this story of Luke is not just an ordinary story -- it's the story of faith -- it's the story of Luke's faith -- the story of salvation -- Luke wants to tell us how God came to earth in the form of a man so that we could have fellowship with him -- so that we would know Him in a real and personal way -- so that we would have someone we could follow -- someone we could imitate and emulate in our actions -- someone who would go to the cross for us and pay the price for our sins so we could experience life with God forever

            -- third, this story of Luke was written with a purpose in mind -- he wrote this story for Theophilus, so Theophilus would know beyond the shadow of a doubt that what he had been told -- that what he believed -- was true -- Luke wrote this down and said, "This happened -- I know the people it happened to -- I was part of this story -- I was there and I can tell you it's true -- and because I was there and because I am telling you it's true, you can trust in it -- you can believe it -- you can have faith in it"

            -- so what does this mean to us? -- what are we supposed to get from Luke's introduction to this gospel? -- what is the take-home message for today?

            -- first, we need to remember and really take hold of the fact that everyone has a story -- that's the most important thing of all -- we have to remember we are in the midst of a story -- it will change the way you live

            -- let me give you an example -- my loving family, sitting right over there, thinks I have lost my mind because I told them Tuesday was a special day and we were going to go out and celebrate it -- you see, on Tuesday I will have been alive for 17,500 days

            -- now normally, we don't celebrate random, generic days -- we celebrate bigger milestones -- birthdays -- anniversaries -- holidays -- but the point I am trying to make with this celebration of my 17,500th day is this -- if everyone has a story -- if our lives are a story that is being written every day, then every day we need to wake up and say, "What chapter am I going to write today? -- What will the story of my life say about this new day when I look back on it at the end of my life? -- What can I do today to make my life meaningful?"

            -- remembering you have a story and that every day you are writing a story reminds you to live each day to the fullest and to make each day count, even your 17,500th day on earth

            -- second, as we just noted, Luke's story was not just an ordinary story, but it was the story of faith -- as Christians, our stories are not just ordinary stories either -- in the King James translation of 1 Peter 2:9, the Apostle Peter writes that we are a peculiar people -- and I really like that phrase -- we are nothing if we are not peculiar

            -- the stories that we are writing are not just the stories of going to work and going to school and going out to eat and play trivia on Thursdays -- no, the stories we are writing are stories of faith -- stories of our interaction with Jesus and with those around us -- stories of how our faith intersects with this world and the people of this world and changes it in ways great and small

            -- when you remember you have a story and that it is a peculiar story -- the story of faith that you are writing -- then you can begin to revolve each part of your life around Jesus -- as Whitney Hopler points out, it helps us discover the purpose of our life and empowers us to fulfill it²

            -- in addition to waking up each morning and saying, "Today is a new day -- what story am I going to write today?" -- you need to also ask, "What is Jesus going to do through me today? -- where is He going to send me? -- what does He want me to do? -- who will He put in my path? -- what life will I interact with today?"

            -- as Luke says, we all have a story -- a story of faith -- that we write every day -- we just need to remember it

            -- third, finally, we need to remember not only do we have a story -- not only is the story we are writing a story of faith -- but our story needs to be written with purpose

            -- I've been reading a lot lately about passion and about purpose and about finding your true path in this crazy world today -- and while most of what I have been reading is secular literature, the main point remains true -- we need to identify our passion -- we need to identify our purpose -- if we are going to live meaningful and happy and successful lives

            -- we spend too much time focusing our energy and our resources on things that really don't matter -- and this keeps us drained emotionally and physically and spiritually -- I have a friend at work who is so frustrated with his job and with the difficulties of his job that it's affecting his physical health and his emotional state -- he can't sleep -- he gets up in the middle of the night and works -- he's short with everybody around him -- and his doctor says his health has drastically declined over the last couple of years

            -- so I told him you can't do this -- you can't keep this up -- you need to stop caring about every single thing that we do at work this much, because it just doesn't matter -- honestly, a lot of what he is so worried about today, no one will even care about five years from now -- it won't even be an issue -- so why waste all your time and energy focusing on things that don't matter while the important things are neglected? -- I told him to reevaluate his passion and his purpose -- not to stop caring, but to stop caring about the nonessentials

            -- when you remember that each day you are writing a story of faith and that Christ is intimately involved in that story from the moment you first open your eyes in the morning until you lay your head down that night, your focus shifts

            -- rather than worrying about ourselves and focusing on the nonessential part of life, our passion and our purpose shift to focus on Jesus -- we will begin to look for Him in our daily lives -- we will seek Him out and find where He is working and join Him in His redeeming work in this world today

            -- Jesus told us that every day we must die to self and pick up our cross and follow Him -- and by aligning our passion and His purpose in our lives together, we can put aside all the things of life that are hindering us in our walk with Jesus and we can "maximize our participation in His story"

            -- by focusing our passion and purpose on Christ every day, we can rest and relax in His presence -- we can rely more on Him and not ourselves -- we can focus on what's truly important and let the lesser things that worry us so much pass away

            -- the bottomline message is this -- remember that every day you are writing a story of faith and that you need to focus your time and energy and resources on what is truly important and not on the nonessentials of life

            -- let's bring this home -- we're going to close today with the song, "Blessed Assurance" -- a great hymn of the faith that really speaks to what we've been talking about today -- that everyone has a story they are writing every day

-- Fanny Crosby, the writer of this hymn, knew this -- in her lifetime, Ms. Crosby wrote over 9,000 hymns -- most of them inspired by her own life experiences with God -- by her stories of faith God was writing on her heart

-- 9,000 hymns -- and what makes this accomplishment so much more noteworthy was the fact that Ms. Crosby was blind from the time she was 6 weeks old until her death -- but she never got bitter -- she never got angry at God for her condition -- because, despite her perceived handicap, she learned to recognize God's hand in the story of her life -- she realized her life was a story of her faith -- and she recorded them in the form of hymns so they would continue to bless us today

-- one day at a Bible conference in Northfield, Massachusetts, Miss Crosby was asked by the great evangelist, D.L. Moody, to give a personal testimony -- At first she hesitated, then quietly rose and said, 'There is one hymn I have written which has never been published -- I call it my soul's poem -- Sometimes when I am troubled, I repeat it to myself, for it brings comfort to my heart.' -- She then recited this lyric to her unpublished hymn while many wept:

"Someday the silver cord will break,

and I no more as now shall sing;

but oh, the joy when I shall wake

within the palace of the King!

And I shall see Him face to face,

and tell the story--saved by grace!"³

-- Fanny Crosby's life and songs point out that everyone has a story -- a story of God's grace in their life -- a story of faith and passion and purpose -- if only they will realize it

-- let's turn over to Acts 29 and we'll end there -- Acts 29, verse 1 -- everybody there? -- what's wrong? -- oh, there's no Acts 29 in your Bible?

-- look at the end of chapter 28 then -- Acts 28:28-31

Acts 28:28-31 (NIV)

28 "Therefore I want you to know that God's salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!"

29

30 For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him.

31 Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ.

-- for twenty-eight chapters, Luke has been giving us the play-by-play action of the story of the apostles and of the church after the ascension of Christ -- he's given us every single detail of where Peter and Paul had been and what happened there and then what happened next -- even details about what ship they took and what happened as they traveled

-- but here the story just stops -- it doesn't really end -- it just stops with Paul imprisoned in a house in Rome waiting an audience with the Roman emperor Nero

-- there's no final closing words from Luke -- he doesn't tell us what happens to Paul -- we know from history Paul was beheaded by Nero, but Luke doesn't tell us that

-- Luke doesn't end this story about Peter and Paul and the Holy Spirit empowering and creating the church of Christ on earth -- or, rather, God doesn't end this story -- Why?

-- because the story is not over -- we are still living in the Book of Acts -- we are writing Acts Chapter 29 every day of our lives -- we are still writing the story of the Holy Spirit's action in our lives and how the church of Christ is still moving and working and changing this world through His power and presence

-- you are part of that story -- every day you live is part of that story -- and when we get to heaven and Acts 29 is read, what will be said about your role? -- what will be said about what you did in the great story of life?

-- everyone has a story they write every day of their life -- what story are you writing today?

-- let's pray

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1 Donald Miller, Storyline Home:  http://storylineblog.com/

2 Whitney Hopler, "How to find your place in Jesus' great story," Crosswalk.com [http://www.crosswalk.com/faith/spiritual-life/how-to-find-your-place-in-jesus-great-story.html]

3 "The Unpublished Hymn," Sermon Central Staff, [http://www.sermoncentral.com/illustrations/sermon-illustration-sermoncentral-staff-stories-comfort-68461.asp]