Naylor
Community Christian Church
Naylor, Georgia
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Luke 1:1-4
Luke
1:1 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 With this in mind, since I
myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided
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.
-- a few years ago, I read a book
called "Younger Next Year" – it’s basically a book about recovering
your life and finding fitness in the last third of your life – and while the
authors give lots of practical tips about getting back into shape and striving
to have your best health ever as you move on in your later years, I think the
best advice they gave was this
-- they said that the reason so many
older adults are in poor health and can’t walk or get around like they used to
is because they forgot who they truly are and they’ve accepted the lie from the
world that when you get older, your health must decline
-- that’s simply not true, the authors said –
instead of living life like that, they recommend we start living like we feel
on the inside – and recapture our younger selves that are hidden deep within
-- their point is that because we get too caught up
in being an adult and living like the world tells us to live that we get overly
stressed about life – and this is the reason so many older adults face health
issues later in life
-- the authors say that we have forgotten how to
play and how to be active and how to focus on what's truly important – we need
to learn to look at life through the eyes of a child and start living more
childlike if we want to be truly healthy
-- and, if you think about it, what they are saying
makes sense -- no one really feels old on the inside – even now that I’m over
60, I don’t feel like I’m an adult – when a crisis happens, I still look for an
adult to take charge – I still feel like I’m a child or teenager or young adult
on the inside – and I think we all do – we’re young people trapped in an older
body
-- so, the authors of this book say, if you’ll start
living life like you feel on the inside – physically – mentally – and
emotionally – your health and your life will improve – you will literally
become younger next year – and you’ll begin to enjoy life as we used to when we
were younger in body, mind, and spirit
-- well, with that thought in mind,
I wanted to share with you a few quotes from kids that I got off the internet –
these are great reminders of what we have forgotten as we have gotten older and
how we need to start living again if we are going to live the full and abundant
lives that Jesus is calling us to – these quotes are from a post entitled,
“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
II. The Story of Our Lives
-- 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"
-- Donald Miller, the author of the
autobiographical book about his faith -- “Blue Like Jazz” – has really leaned
into this idea that everyone’s got a story – it became very real to him when
they were making a movie from his book
-- he said that whole experience of seeing his life
turned into a movie caused him to step back and see his life from a different
perspective – not only as he experienced it, but as others around him
experienced it, too – and it helped him see how his life truly was a story that
was being written by Someone greater than him
-- looking back at his life like this, Miller was
able to see how the trials and tribulations that he had experienced were
necessary in his life – how conflict makes a story better because conflict
forces the protagonist to grow and mature and change into a better version of
themselves
-- when you’re in the midst of your story, he wrote,
you can’t always see this – but when you look back and review your life and see
the story that God is writing, you can see how His hand has been on your life
the whole time and how He has molded and shaped you into the person He wants
you to be
-- this experience of seeing his
life turned into a movie impacted Miller so much that he started a company called
"Storyline," where he helps people through the process of doing the
same thing with their lives as what happened to him during the movie-making
process
-- 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 – and when you reach that point, you can change your
story to make it better1
-- in her song, “Write Your Story,”
Francesca Battistelli says the same thing – she sings, "I'm an empty page
-- I'm an open book -- Write your story on my heart -- Come on and make Your
mark"
-- that's the same process Miller is calling people
to – to begin to see their lives as part of a story that God is writing, and
for them to reach out to God and invite Him to help their stories become ever
better
-- well, since reading Miller's book
on this subject -- "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
III. The Story of the Bible
-- 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 everyday 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 and let
me tell you what God has been doing in my life?"
-- we have seen the truth of this
over the last several weeks as we have been going through the Book of Acts
together – for the Book of Acts is simply the story of how God sent the Holy
Spirit to the new church of Christ, so that they might be empowered to go forth
and share the good news of Jesus in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends
of the earth
-- and we see the truth of this in
the opening to the Gospel of Luke – look back with me at Luke 1:1 again
Luke
1:1 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 With this in mind, since I
myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided
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.
-- in these first four verses in
this gospel, Luke is basically telling his friend Theophilus, “Have I got a
story for you!”
-- and he goes on to share with
Theophilus the greatest story ever written – the story of Jesus – and how God
sent Him to earth to show us the way – to reconcile us with the Father – to
offer up His very own body and blood on the cross as payment for our sin – and
then how He was resurrected on the third day in proof of His victory over sin
and death
-- but, Luke says, the story is even greater than
that because we are all in this story – just knowing Jesus changed lives – just
being around Jesus made everyone better – and following Jesus is the greatest
adventure in the world
-- “Listen to this story, Theophilus, because you’re
going to want to be part of this, too!”
-- there are a couple important
points in these opening verses to the gospel of Luke I want you to see and I
want you to think about
-- first, Luke says here he wanted
to write an orderly account 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 -- and 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 – I’ve
shared with you that I retired from my civilian job with the Air Force this
week – but retirement doesn’t mean that my story is over – it simply means that
I’m beginning a new chapter
-- and thinking about my life as a story causes me
to wake up and consider, “What chapter is God leading me to write today? – What
adventure will today hold that I can record so that others might see how God
led me during this time? -- 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 every day count
-- 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 or watch TV or whatever -- 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 – stories like those we have been
reading about in the Book of Acts
-- 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 had a friend
at work a few years ago who was so frustrated with his job and with the
difficulties of his job that it affected his physical health and his emotional
state -- he couldn’t sleep -- he got up in the middle of the night to do work –
he became short-tempered with everybody around him – eventually, his doctor told
him that his health had drastically declined over the last couple of years
-- I talked with him about this at
the time -- 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 was so worried about back
then, no one even remembers right now – all those major pressing issues just
went away
-- which begs the question – why do we waste all our
time and energy focusing on things that don't matter while the important things
are neglected?
-- when you remember that each day
you are writing a story of faith and that Christ is intimately involved in that
story, you start focusing on the important things – when you start to write
Christ into your life 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 begin looking for Him in our daily lives
-- we begin seeking Him out and finding out where He is working so that we
might 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 bottom-line 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
-- this is something that we have
seen lived out for us in the life of the Apostle Paul
-- flip over to Acts 28:30-31
Acts
28:30 For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and
welcomed all who came to see him. 31 He proclaimed the kingdom of God and
taught about the Lord Jesus Christ—with all boldness and without hindrance!
-- after more than 20 years of
ministry – three missionary journeys – multiple storms and shipwrecks and
dangers – trouble with Jews and Gentiles – the Apostle Paul has finally made
his way to Rome, which was his heart’s destination all along
-- it didn’t happen like he expected
– God added a few twists to Paul’s story to keep things interesting – but Paul
has made it
-- for two whole years, Paul lived
in Rome in a rented house waiting for his day before Caesar – not in
anticipation of his final vindication before the court of Rome – but in
anticipation of the opportunity to share his story of faith and the good news
of Jesus with the leader of the Roman Empire
-- and even while he waited, Paul
continued to write his story – proclaiming the kingdom of God and the good news
of the Lord Jesus Christ with boldness and without hindrance to everyone who
came to visit him
-- and there the Book of Acts ends –
but the story continues – it continues on in Acts 29 – which is the chapter
that God is writing with us – the chapter of our faith and our ministry and how
He is continuing to use His people and His church to share the good news of
Jesus with this world today
-- Acts 29 is being written every
day – in your life and mine – and in the lives of all our brothers and sisters
in the faith across this world
-- remember the story that is being
written – remember your part in this story – and every day, when you get up,
ask God to help you write a good story that day
IV. Closing
-- let’s bring this study to a close
– since we’ve been studying the stories of faith written for us in the Book of
Acts for several weeks and because we’re not all aware that we are part of a
great story that God is writing in our own lives – I asked Donna to close today
with the hymn, “Blessed Assurance”
-- in this hymn, Fanny Crosby really
brought out the idea of the story of faith that we are all living as God works
in us and through us to record the stories of our lives
-- Fanny Crosby is, without a doubt,
the most celebrated hymn writer of all time – she wrote over 9,000 hymns – most
of them inspired by her own life experiences with God – the stories of faith
that God was writing on her heart
-- but what makes this
accomplishment so much more noteworthy is the fact that Fanny Crosby was blind
from the time she was 6 weeks old until her death -- but even though her
eyesight was taken from her, she never got bitter -- she never got angry at God
for her condition – because 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 her stories 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
-- that
is the whole reason we have been studying the Book of Acts these last few weeks
– not so we could just learn more about the Bible – but so that we could join the
saints in writing the story of faith in our own lives – following their example
as we seek to go forth and tell the story of how Jesus touched our lives and
changed us by His grace
--
so, as we close, let us remember the story of Acts -- and let us remember that
the story that was started in the Book of Acts continues on in us today
--
let us leave here and write new stories of faith as we strive to be faithful
messengers for God in the world today – proclaiming the kingdom of God and
teaching everyone about the Lord Jesus Christ, just as the Apostle Paul did in
his final days
--
let's pray
-------------------------------------------------------
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]
