I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles
to Romans 8:28-30
28 And we know that in all things
God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to
his purpose. 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. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also
justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
-- I want to begin this morning by
telling you the true story of William Borden -- Borden was born in the late
1800's as the heir to the Borden Dairy Company -- he was a multi-millionaire --
an Ivy League graduate -- he studied at both Yale and Princeton -- and everyone
knew what Borden’s future held -- being the well-educated heir to the Borden
Dairy Company, his whole life was mapped out before him -- he would finish up
his graduate studies and return home to run the family business -- he would get
married and have children and live life as a wealthy and highly respected
member of the community
-- but while he was in college, something
extraordinary happened to William Borden that changed everything -- he became a
Christian -- actually, more than just an ordinary Christian -- Borden became a true
follower of Jesus -- and it changed the direction of his life
-- having seen the spiritual and
physical needs of others while traveling abroad, Borden sensed a stirring in
his soul and he wrote to his parents that he wanted to spend his life as a
missionary to an unreached Muslim people group in the Middle East -- in doing
so, he walked away from millions of dollars -- he walked away from his family
business and the life that had been planned out for him since childhood -- and he
walked into the calling that God had given him
-- even while he was still at school
preparing for his new life, Borden started a prayer ministry at Yale University
that eventually had over 1000 students participating daily -- he began working
with the homeless and hurting in the streets of New Haven -- and founded the
Yale Hope Mission in an effort to rehabilitate alcoholics and other addicts
-- upon graduation, he went to Egypt
to learn the Arabic language -- but, while he was there, he came down with
spinal meningitis and died -- Borden never made it to his destination, the
Muslim mission field
-- many would say Borden ruined his
life -- that by walking away from his fortune and family to follow the call of
God he had made a mistake -- he didn’t even make it to the mission field --
what a waste, they thought
-- but what is better? -- a life
ruined by money and prestige and worldly admiration or a life that touched
thousands of shattered men and women in New Haven -- a life that brought
healing to alcoholics and addicts -- and a life that continues to inspire new
generations of Christians today
-- despite his critics -- despite
the opinion of his family -- Borden never wavered from the moment he heard his
Savior call -- he gave everything he had to fulfill the call God had given
-- in the back of his Bible, Borden
had written these three lines: No
Reserves -- No Retreats -- No Regrets1
-- those are the words of a true
follower of Christ -- someone who knows their calling -- who understands their
purpose -- and gives all they are and all they have to follow Jesus where He
leads
II. Scripture Lesson (Romans 8:28-30)
-- this morning, I want us to look
at what it means to live lives of purpose and meaning like Borden -- lives sold
out for the Kingdom of God
-- ever since the pandemic hit, this
theme has just come up time and time again -- I’ve seen it in my devotions --
I’ve heard it in sermons on the radio -- I’ve seen it in the papers and in the
media as people struggle to find meaning in the midst of all that we are going
through
-- more than anything, this pandemic
we have been living through has caused us to consider what is truly important
in our lives -- and the same is true for our individual churches, as well
-- I met with a group of pastors
this week, and we discussed how the pandemic had affected our churches -- before
the pandemic, all of our churches were basically doing the same thing -- we
would gather for worship on Sundays -- have a midweek Bible study or service --
and we had all kinds of programs and projects going on, from Vacation Bible
School to revivals to covered dish dinners to Sunday Schools to shoeboxes at
Christmas -- all of our churches were busy doing religious things
-- but then the pandemic hit -- and we
made the decision to not meet together in corporate worship to avoid
potentially infecting others -- everything we had been doing -- everything we
had planned to do -- just stopped and was put on hold
-- and now, as we are starting to
come together again for worship, we see the churches struggling with the
decision of what to add back -- we see the churches looking at all that we had
been doing and asking the question, what is truly important? -- what is it that
we need to add back at this time?
-- and that process has revealed our
true purpose and reason for being -- if you’ll notice, the things we added back
first were the most basic elements of our faith -- the reading and
interpretation of God’s word -- the prayers of the saints -- the worship of God
in song -- and the remembrance of Jesus’ death and resurrection through the
sacrament of Holy Communion
-- which makes us wonder if the rest
of the stuff we were doing was truly needed, or if it was just religious busy
work
-- we’ve seen this in our individual
lives, as well -- as we’ve been forced to define our relationship with Christ
apart from a church setting, we’ve discovered that some of us were only fans of
Jesus and not true followers
-- as Kyle Idleman put it in his
book, “Not a Fan,” a fan is someone who likes Jesus -- they admire Jesus --
they are grateful for what Jesus has done -- they'll come to church -- they'll
come to Bible studies -- they'll even put one of those little Jesus fish on the
back of their car -- but that's about it
-- but a fan is really someone who
just adds Jesus to their life -- they keep their plans and their dreams and
their lives just like they were -- all they’ve done is add just one more thing
-- Jesus -- no biggie -- they're still going to get to heaven -- they're still
going to enjoy eternal life -- and they won't have to worry about having
anything ruined here on earth
-- a follower, on the other hand, is
committed -- they don't just like Jesus -- they don't just admire Jesus -- they
follow Jesus -- they want to be like Jesus
-- if they see Jesus do something,
then they want to do it, too -- if they hear Jesus say something, then they
want to tell someone else
-- they put their whole lives on
hold for Him -- they let Him call the shots -- they let Him tell them what to
do and where to go and who to be -- it doesn't matter what they had planned out
-- they let Jesus change them and change their lives because they trust Him to
bring about a better life in the end -- to give their lives meaning and purpose
-- the question before us this morning
is who do we want to be? -- do we want to be fans or followers? -- do we want
our churches to be busy doing religious stuff or focused on fulfilling our
purpose and calling?
-- these verses from Romans tell us
the path God would have us choose -- He would have us be followers and not just
fans -- in our lives and in our churches
-- look back at verse 28
28 And we know that in all things
God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to
his purpose.
-- this is a verse that we turn to
when times are bad -- when we’re looking for hope in the midst of a storm -- it
promises us that God is going to bring good out of whatever trial or trouble we
are currently in -- that in all things, God will work for our good
-- there’s a couple of things in
there I want to call your attention to
-- first, notice that this promise
is only given for “those who love Him” -- for believers -- for followers of
Jesus
-- in all things -- both good and
bad -- God will work in the lives of those who trust in Him -- who are sold out
to Him -- to change their lives for the better -- that doesn’t necessarily mean
our physical lives or our material lives -- our health and our wealth --
although it might -- but it does mean that God will always work in our lives
and will use every situation and everything that happens to us to shape us and mold
us in our spiritual lives to conform us to the image of His Son
-- next, notice that “those who love
Him” -- the sold-out followers of Christ -- have been called according to His
purpose -- what does that mean?
-- that means that we have a reason
for being -- God calls us out of the world to be His own and He gives us a
mission -- He gives our lives meaning and purpose -- in other words, when God
calls us to salvation, He calls us to work for Him in His kingdom
-- we’re not just called to be fans
who come to church on Sundays for one hour a week and then go home -- no, we’re
called to be followers, who follow Christ into the mission field and do His
will every single day -- as it says in Ephesians 2:10, “we are God’s
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in
advance for us to do”
-- verse 29
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.
-- there’s two words in here we need
to consider: foreknew and predestined -- and, as you look at them, you can see
they’re referring to two separate things
-- there are some denominations that
teach predestination in light of salvation -- they say that God has chosen some
people to be saved -- the elect -- and has chosen others to not be saved -- in
other words, some people were predestined for salvation while others were
predestined for condemnation
-- but that is not how Methodists or
how I understand salvation -- 2 Peter 3:9 says that God is patient, that He
does not want anyone to perish, but for all to come to repentance -- God loves
all of us -- and He sent Jesus to die for all of us -- so that all of us might
repent of our sins and believe in Jesus and come to salvation through Him --
that is the gospel message that I see in the Bible
-- but not everyone will be saved --
some people harden their hearts and turn away from the truth of God’s word and
the offer of salvation -- we know that -- and God knows that -- that is why it
says here that God foreknew those who would love Him -- from the very
beginning, God knew which individuals would put their faith and trust in Jesus
for the forgiveness of sins and which ones would not -- there is a big
difference between God foreknowing who will be saved and God predetermining who
will be saved -- this verse makes that clear
-- so, for those God foreknew would
love Him -- for those who would receive Jesus as their Savior -- these
followers of Jesus were predestined -- not for salvation -- but to be conformed
in the likeness of His Son
-- what does it mean to be conformed
in the likeness of His Son? -- to be like Jesus -- to live holy and blameless
lives -- to follow Jesus and to imitate Him in all ways -- to be holy as He is
holy -- to be like Him in attitude and behavior
-- and it’s important for us to know
that in regards to our purpose and meaning as Christian -- we see that in verse
30
30
And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified;
those he justified, he also glorified.
-- here we see the process of
becoming followers of Christ -- notice that before the calling, comes
predestination -- not predestined for salvation -- but predestined to be
conformed to the likeness of His Son
-- before we can serve God -- before
we can do anything for Him -- we must first be changed from natural people to
spiritual people -- we must be transformed into the likeness of Christ -- as
Craig Groeschel put it, “the who comes before the do”
-- to do meaningful things for the
kingdom, we must first become who God wants us to be -- saved and sanctified in
His name -- followers, not fans
-- then comes the calling -- and the
thing to know here is that everyone in this room has been called -- if you are
a Christian -- if you are a follower of Christ -- you have been called to
minister in the name of Jesus
-- that doesn’t mean everyone is
called to be a preacher or a pastor or a teacher -- but everyone is called to
witness to the hope we have in Christ -- as it says in Matthew 28:18-20, we are
all called to go and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything Christ
told us to do
-- that is the calling of every
Christian -- along with the Lord our God with all our heart and soul and
strength and loving our neighbor as ourselves
-- all Christians are called -- and
through living out that calling, we are justified -- in our calling, we find
our true salvation -- that’s what Philippians 2:12 means when it says we are to
work out our salvation with fear and trembling -- by living into our salvation
-- by living out what we believe and sharing it with others -- our faith is
strengthened and our lives find meaning and purpose
-- by living out our calling, we are
justified -- when we are justified, we are also glorified -- to be glorified
means we are in the process of being perfected -- of being like Jesus, inside
and out
-- this is the process of
sanctifying grace -- of becoming more and more like Jesus everyday through the
power of the Holy Spirit within us
-- as we follow Jesus -- as we give
all that we are to Him -- the Holy Spirit works within us to refine us and
remove all our impurities so that we might be pure and holy as Jesus is -- it
is then that we are truly fulfilling the purpose and calling of Christ -- it is
then we become followers and not just fans
III. Closing
-- let me close by sharing with you
the story about a family who was on vacation in Mexico -- they were playing in
the ocean when a rogue riptide swept their young son out to sea -- Immediately,
the father started to do whatever he could to help get his son back to the
shore, but he, too, was soon swept away in the tide -- He knew that in a few
minutes, both he and his son would drown -- He tried to scream, but his family
couldn't hear him.
-- even though he was a strong guy,
he was powerless in this situation -- As he was carried along by the water, he
had a single, chilling thought: My wife and my daughters are going to have to
have a double funeral.
-- Meanwhile, his cousin, who
understood something about the ocean, saw what was happening -- He had learned
that if you try to fight a riptide, you will die -- so, he walked out into the
water where he knew there was a sandbar -- he stood as close as he could get to
the father and son, and then he just lifted his hand up and said, "You
come to me. You come to me."
-- even though the shortest distance
to safety seemed to be to swim straight to the shore, it was the most dangerous
-- but, by following their cousin’s call and swimming parallel to the beach,
the father and son were able to break free of the riptide and made it to the
safety of the sandbar2
-- Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a
way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death”
-- it seems right for us to go back
to the normal way of church the normal way of living out our Christian lives --
and while following the easy path may not lead to spiritual death, it does lead
to spiritual malaise
-- we have the opportunity before us
to redefine who we are now -- as Christians and as a church -- to remember our
purpose -- to choose to hear the voice of Jesus calling us to come to Him -- to
follow Him -- to fulfill our calling
-- as we leave here today, I want to
challenge you to consider what you have been doing -- the life you have been
living -- and see if you need to make a change
-- if you’ve been living as a fan of
Jesus and not a follower, today is the day to let Christ remake you and remold
you into the person He has called you to be
-- remember, you are here for a
reason -- God knew that you were one of those who loved Him -- and He
predestined you to be conformed to the likeness of His Son -- so that you might
fulfill your purpose and be justified and glorified in His name
-- let us pray
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1[Idleman,
Kyle (2011-05-24). Not a Fan: Becoming a Completely Committed Follower of Jesus
(p. 207-209). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.]
2John
Ortberg, in the sermon The Way of Wisdom, PreachingToday.com
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