It's Not About Us

Good afternoon to everyone. It's great to see you all here. I've been traveling for a few weeks in a row, so a pleasure. And for those who are online, whether part of our local church family or all around the country and world, we love you. Happy Sabbath! The history of mankind has been a history of following the example that was set by Adam and Eve. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve chose their own way over God's way. They selected to find meaning apart from God. And you could argue that is the human default setting that we've all followed ever since.

We live in a very me-centric world. We think that everything must revolve around us, that we must prioritize our happiness and our wants and our needs and our pleasures. Me! Up until 450 years ago, everybody believed the universe, the planets, the stars, the suns, all revolved around the earth. And the very idea that we weren't the center of the universe was just heresy, mind-blowing. We're born and we're bred to think that we have this inherent right to be our own person, to make our own rules, to pursue our own dreams.

And through that, not strictly because of that, every human has lived and has been sin and self-driven, except for Jesus Christ. The thing that we have to realize is that that's our default setting. It's our first and beginning, it's our default setting. And then we play it through in our life and how we make our decisions.

So we start to find meaning by comparing ourselves with others. And the sad part is we get so deep into this mentality that we find it even harder to conceive of anything else. And I think when we challenge that, we find areas that, especially in our Christian journey, we fit that too much into our life. Because that notion of individuality even extends into church. Our notion to church, a consumer mentality to church. People shop for churches, like they shop for a new car, like they shop for a new pair of shoes.

We look around, we compare the different models, we compare the costs, and we finally settle on a model based on how it fits and meets our needs. How could it be otherwise? You know, it's all about me. So what's wrong with that concept? The whole process assumes church is about us. It exists to meet our needs, or our wants, or our desires. And if you play that forward, then worship becomes about our fulfillment rather than worshiping God. It's like we treat the Bible, and we treat Christian doctrine like this huge smorgasbord. After all, we've all been to buffets.

Do you ever eat everything in a buffet? Of course not! Especially if it's a good large buffet. You're going around and you're picking the parts that interest you the most. Well, sometimes we treat the Bible. We treat our life in this way. Like we should be able to take what we like, and we should just be able to leave the rest.

It's all about me. It's what I am willing to accept. You may be familiar with the book Rick Warren wrote that became a classic, and it was called The Purpose Driven Life. The book starts this way. It's not about you. The purpose of your life is far greater than your own personal fulfillment, your peace of mind, and your happiness. Now, Warren's book became very, very popular for many reasons, but I would argue in part it's because that basic premise grabs our attention because it's against our default setting.

This default, me-centered setting defines most lives, but God wants to change our setting. And that's why He says He monitors our hearts. He monitors our plans. He looks at our behaviors because they ultimately show our motivations. A classic example, of course, is the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, where the Pharisee was praying and he said to God, I'm glad I'm not like that sinner over there. Until our human default setting changes, is overcome, faith can't exist.

Faith can't exist. And we will just wallow in distractions. We'll wallow in meaninglessness. Turn to John 6, verses 5 through 7. John 6, 5 through 7. So what does God do to help us get past this? We're about to read this classic example where Jesus and His disciples are among 5,000 men, not counting women and children, who are getting more and more hungry. John 6, verse 5. Then Jesus lifted up his eyes and, seeing a great multitude coming toward him, He said to Philip, Where shall we buy bread that they may eat?

But this he said to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, 200 denarii worth of bread. Now, I mean, let's be real. That sounds like wah, wah, wah. Over eight months wages for a day laborer. Does that help? So let's start over. Philip responded, over eight months wages for a day laborer is not sufficient for them that even one of them may have a little.

See, we see again and again in Scripture where God has His people face what feels like the impossible. Build this custom designed boat that's a quarter of the length of a football field and half that in width. Make it four stories tall. You're going to live in it for almost a year.

And by the way, you're going to have every unmanageable kind of animal come in and you have to feed them and take care of them. Sounds kind of impossible, but that's what Noah did. You need to move to a new land where you'll be a stranger. Your wife, who's been unable to have children and has already passed her childbearing years, will eventually have a child at 90 and you're going to have offsprings in the millions.

That sounds impossible, but that's what God promised Abraham. Although you're a virgin, you will give birth to a son and he will be the son of God. Sounds impossible, but Mary believed that divine message. You can think throughout the Bible. You can think of Moses and Gideon and Daniel and Elijah and Esther. Just go on and on and on. Why does God do that? See, God teaches all of us that salvation only works when we accept that nothing else can be done on our part. It's when we say, God, I can't do it on my own.

I want you to take over my life that God can bring about lasting change. But as long as we hold on to parts of that me-centric default setting, we don't become what God knows we can become. An incident took place off the coast in Newfoundland between the US Navy and some Canadian officials. So the captain of a US Navy vessel was informed that he was on a collision course with the Canadians.

And so he radioed a message telling the Canadians to a vertical collision by turning 15 degrees north. To which the Canadians responded back to the ship, divert turn 15 degrees south. That didn't go across real well. So the response from the captain who was getting angrier said, this is the USS Missouri, the largest warship in the US Navy, ordering you to divert.

The answer that came back was, well, this is a Canadian lighthouse. Your call. The title of today's message is the word Rick Warren started his book with, It's Not About You. It's Not About You. Can you picture Philip and the other disciples discussing among themselves how they were going to feed 5,000 to 8,000 people, however many people were there. Jesus just needs to stop teaching. He needs to let them go and find their own food. That's the only solution.

Right? That would be the rationale we'd have. We certainly can't feed them. It's impossible. Jesus is confronting our can-do culture with the impossible for a reason. To bring us to our needs so we cry out, I can't do it.

Even using all the resources I have. Now, in this example, the disciples did bring all the resources to Jesus. Five loaves, a few fish, and that, my friends, is the example that God wants us to follow. When we cry out, I can't, God is waiting for us to get to that point and to give our all so that He can say, okay, it's my turn now. But the world doesn't approach things that way, and it never will. When the world faces the impossible, what happens?

It either redefines success, I can't do it well enough, it dismisses it as unimportant, I can't do it, but yeah, it doesn't matter. It excuses it by looking at others, I can't do it, but y'all can either. It settles on laziness, I can't do it, so why bother? I'll just do my own thing. It falsely appeals to the strengths of humanity, I can't do it, but we together can.

Or it gives up in despair. It says, I can't do it, so it's all just hopeless. Life's hopeless. The world won't bring it to Jesus, but we as Christians, when faced with the impossible, must entrust to God. That's why He places the impossible in front of us. What are you facing right now? Turn to 2 Chronicles 7 and verse 14. 2 Chronicles 7 and verse 14. The answer to life's meaning is not within us. It can only be found in our relationship with God.

And I contend to you today that God wants to take over in our life, but we have to let Him. That's where we cause the problems, and it goes back to our default setting. 2 Chronicles 7 and verse 14. If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sins, and will heal their land. Right? That famous verse, the entire Bible, teaches a basic point. It's not about you. It's not about me. Turn to Jeremiah 9 verses 23 through 24.

Jeremiah 9, 23 through 24. And you'll see this concept getting expounded upon. So I'm saying it. What is the it that's not about us? The it is our life. The it is our priorities. Jeremiah 9 verse 23. Thus says the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches.

So it's not wisdom, might, or riches. But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I, God, am the Lord, exercising loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I have delight, says the Lord. Our number one priority in life must be to understand and to know God.

After all, that's why we exist. I loved the theme of your song, glory. We exist for his glory.

All creation exists to glorify God because it's not about us, it's about God. One of the hilarious moments in golf history was when a Scotsman came and tried to teach the sport to President Ulysses S. Grant. And so he carefully got the golf ball and he placed it on a tee.

And he made this massive swing through dirt and junk and all directions, got it all over the president. The golf ball just sat on that little tee. He tried over and over. And then calmly and quietly, the president responded, well, there seems to be a fair amount of exercise in this game, but I failed to see the purpose of the ball. Sometimes our golf games have done that. So how does that funny story connect to the lesson of it's not about us?

Our purpose in life is to glorify God. It's the standard by which we're to measure everything that happens in our life. Otherwise, we're getting a lot of exercise like that Scotsman, but accomplishing nothing. Turn to Ephesians 1, verses 3-8. Ephesians 1, verses 3-8.

Most religions over time have been about how people can perform rituals or ceremonies, but with very me-centric focuses of what they're trying to achieve. It's to capture the God's attention. It's to earn their favor. Christianity turns religion on ahead because our salvation was God's idea.

He sought us. He reached down to us. He sacrificed himself to enable it. Let's read the opening of Ephesians, starting in verse 3.

Look at the words here. He has chosen us. He has predestined us to the praise of himself. He has made us acceptable, redeemed us, forgiven us. It's about God.

The Lamb was slain, and with His blood He purchased us, regardless of language, regardless of nation, regardless of background. And He made us to be kings and to be priests, to serve and reign with Him. Our life's purpose is about God and the Kingdom, and the glory that He has invited us to share with Him. It's not about you, and it's not about me. But that means two things. First, of course, none of us can boast about our standing with God because we didn't earn it.

But secondly, there is no life more fulfilling than if we decide to live a God-centered life, not me-centered. Life with purpose is a rich life. Purposeless life is just making time.

Many people make time for 70 years, 80 years, 50 years. God has amazing plans for you and I, for our glory, and for His glory, if we are His conduit. But it's a different way of looking at the world. When you view the world through that lens, when you view the universe that way, suddenly what would be in the history books would be vastly different than what we read a lot of.

Because the true lasting highlights in human history have come when people allow themselves to be tools for God's will. The same is true in our life. Our highlights, true lasting highlights, aren't from what we achieve personally. They are how we contribute to God. We give God glory in how we say things, sure, but even more so in our life and how we live.

And so, a different way to think of that word glory. When we do also the glory of God, it's equivalent to us deciding to have all of our actions honor Him as our Creator, as our Redeemer. It's not about what we do, but God getting the glory. Okay, so why do we struggle so much with this as humans? A lot of reasons. We'll review through a number of them.

But turn first to Luke 14, verses 12 through 21. Luke 14, 12 through 21. We're going to get some initial clues here from this well-known parable from Jesus that we may not look to for the clues.

Luke 14, 12 starts, then He also said to him who invited Him, When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed because they cannot repay you, for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just. Now let's proceed to the parable, verse 16. A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, and he sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, Come, for all things are now ready. So let's set this up again. In this situation, we have this well-to-do, generous man who was throwing this lavish and lovely dinner and invites different acquaintances. He starts by inviting his friends and those he knows. But the friends and the acquaintances and the nation God initially called all prioritized their own things and didn't come. It's more than a parable. It's a story of history.

Because our great God the Father has called and bid us to come to him and to fellowship at this luxurious table filled with blessings beyond our comprehension. Let's continue the parable.

But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, I have bought a piece of ground and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused. Still another said, I have married a wife. Therefore I cannot come. So that servant came and reported these things to his master. So in the scripture, this generous man's friends replied, sorry, gotta go work on my stuff. Sorry, gotta see how my animals are doing. Sorry, got a new wife. Gotta be with her, you know. What do we say in our day and age and with what God presents to us? Sorry, boss, kind of busy right now. Can I take a rain check? I know you say you're going to forgive me. See you next week? Do we do that? It's very dangerous to take God for granted, but we all do it. We put other things as a higher priority over God's Church, over His Word, over living in service to Him.

Jesus doesn't exclude people He has called from genuinely following Him. However, many, many people exclude themselves because they place higher priorities on their own interests.

We put this puny, little lives of ours ahead of God. And if we don't change that, then God one day will declare to us, none of you shall join my eternal supper of blessings.

It's not about us. Another tendency that can kill our fellowship with God is to have a that's not my gift, or I can't do that believer mentality. We've all been there.

Believers like that can really hinder God working in the life of a church. Instead of looking to Christ and saying, where and what would you have me do, we begin to make demands on Christ. We attempt to convince God to let us do what we want to do. It's like we negotiate with Christ and we're like, all right, God, here's where I think I can best serve. And here's the way I think you should be doing things. How ridiculous does that sound?

But it's what we do. We do it every day. And we're often more affected by what we deem to be important than the eternal implications of what Jesus is trying to do to change our lives.

We're me-centric. We may not go around life and say it's all about me, but man, we live it that way a lot of the time. I'm very, very glad that we serve a kind and a patient and a gracious and a forgiving Father, because He could get angry. He could laugh at us. But instead, He loves us and He continues to push us in the right direction. Now, sometimes when He's doing that, His correction can seem harsh. It can seem difficult. But the most important thing is that God always knows what's best for us. It makes sense when we look at it that it's about God. It doesn't make sense when it's about us. I think another thing that happens, the challenges sometimes start in how we view change, because everybody views change differently. Some are so scared of the concept that they resist change with phenomenal passion. But change, it's an ever-present part of life, right? We constantly experience change. Look at where you're at right now. Most people in here have a cell phone. You didn't have that 20 years ago. You go home, you can watch hundreds of stations. You have all sorts of luxuries that were not even thought available 20 years ago. What is my point? The point is that change is not the enemy. Our attitude of I can't is. When we say I can't, we're telling Jesus I won't, because we're missing where the source of strength is. When believers take this attitude of I can't, we run into this dangerous situation where we find ourselves going through the motions of service, but we're not actually doing what Christ has called us to do.

I don't know what we're going to call it. Christian plotting. We find ourselves doing Christian busywork, but getting nothing done for the kingdom because we don't want to change since our attitude says I can't.

In Matthew 28, Jesus sold his disciples, go, make disciples and baptize in my name.

Other parts of the scriptures, he said go, preach the gospel. Go be a witness. Follow me. What's the first name of the book after the gospels? It's the acts of the apostles. It is not the learning curve of the apostles. Jesus called them to go and they went.

James tells us in his letter that we are to be doers of the word and not merely hearers. We're all supposed to get in the game. We're supposed to be a tool to God and not rely on our own strength.

There has to be action that's involved in our calling. Jesus and his believers followed that. The disciples actively did. They did amazing things after his death through his strength. The same is true with us. God will be there. He will support us when we're serving him and putting him first. But living that type of submission, living that type of submissive faith without being in control, right? That's one of the most difficult things for us as humans because it requires complete trust. It requires taking your hands off the wheel. No, it's not about me. That's vulnerability to God.

Satan is this very strong adversary and very conniving and calculating. One of his jobs, you can say his one job, is to stop and disrupt God using us for his kingdom.

He does that. He's one. So his desire is to stop us from hearing and listening to God's direction and convince us not to submit to God's spirit because life should be about us.

And one of the more subtle ways he does that is to have believers believe they're not able to serve because of either a lack of qualifications or because the way things are being done just isn't right.

Satan fills our heads and our ears with things like, hey, I know God wants to use me, but I'm just not ready. I need another class. Or, can you believe that they're doing things this way? Insert the head roll. I just can't serve if this is the way we're going to do it. See, the believer that's focused on, I can't, will be disobedient to Christ in his calling. Turn to Exodus 3, and let's review God leading a very famous Bible leader through this lesson, realizing it's not about what we can do. It's about God working through us. And what we're going to read is the story of Moses when Moses is being called. Exodus 3, starting in verse 1. Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the back of the desert and came to order him to be the king of the desert. And came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of the bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. Then Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight. Why the bush does not burn. So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, here I am. Then he said, Do not draw near this place, take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. Let's continue in verse 9. Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppressed them. Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. All right, so we now get to Moses and all of his excuses, all of God's responses that happened along the way. Moses' first excuse was that he was not worthy. God, I'm not worthy. Verse 11. But Moses said to God, Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? So here Moses is counting himself as being unworthy, unequal to the task. You ever been there? Man, I face that all the time. That's the voice in the back of my head.

When this happens, we're doing the math all wrong, because it's not about us.

Moses was thinking God wanted courage, when actually what he wanted was faith and obedience.

Different formula.

God answered in verse 12 by saying, I will be with you.

And you know, that same lesson echoes to us, and it echoes throughout the Bible. Remember the 5,000 men plus all the ladies and the disciples there? They were hungry, and Philip saying it would take over eight months' wages to feed them just a very little?

They were visibly moved by the impossible task that was put before them.

And Jesus saying, you do it. But all they had was those five loaves. Those two fish.

That was this real-life lesson of, without me, you can do nothing.

Right?

God knows that we're powerless.

We don't. That's the problem.

He wants us to give what we have into his hands so that he can work.

We have to let him. It's not about us. And that's why, in Matthew 19.26, in the case of the rich man and entering the kingdom, where Jesus said, with men, this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible.

Richness was just one of the challenges with everything. With God, it's possible. With us, it's not.

The next excuse used by Moses and us is he had no message.

Verse 13.

Then Moses said to God, Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, The God of your father has sent me to you, and they say to me, What is his name?

What should I say to them?

So God tells Moses in verse 14, You tell them, I am that I am sent you.

So God is saying, Go before them, and tell them, He who spoke the world into existence, He sent me.

He who existed forever. All powerful.

That's the one who's supporting me.

We're to preach. We're to exemplify the faith in Christ and his sacrifice.

Let's go ahead and now proceed to Exodus 4 and verse 1. And we'll see the next excuse, where Moses said, I have no authority.

That's not me.

Exodus 4 verse 1. Then Moses answered and said, But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice. Suppose they say, The Lord has not appeared to you.

So God responded, What is that in your hand? And he said, A rod. He said, Cast it on the ground. So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses fled from it.

Interesting irony is Moses fled from the serpent in the same way he was trying to flee away from the calling that God was giving him. Because Moses was afraid of both of them.

But when God spoke to him to pick up the serpent, he did, and it didn't harm him. And that was in a sense a training and preparing him to say, No matter what's in front of you, I will help you to be able to deliver the children of Israel. Or in our lives, whatever's in front of us, when we're asked by God to overcome what feels like the impossible, it's not about us. He will help us.

And that's why Paul said in Philippians 4 and verse 13, I can do all things.

Doesn't stop there.

Through Christ who strengthens me.

It's not about us.

And I'll read that section that I mentioned or referenced earlier at the end of Matthew. You know it well, so you don't have to turn there. But Matthew 28, 18 through 20, it says, All authority has been given to me in heaven and earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to deserve all things that I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the ages. He's with us now.

Moses excuses continue.

Our excuses continue. So let's see what he claimed next. Verse 10, Exodus 4, 10. He said, I have no skill for the job. I am not a man of words. I just don't have the ability.

Exodus 4, 10. Then Moses said to the Lord, Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent.

Either before nor since you have spoken to your servants. But I am slow of speech and slow of tongue. And obviously that irked God, who responded, Who made man's tongue?

Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind, have not I the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.

So Moses is using not being good enough. He doesn't have the speaking skills. This is an excuse for whatever God is calling him to do.

God knows our weaknesses. He knows our strengths.

And He will help us. You see Him say, Isn't Aaron your brother? I know He speaks well. God can provide whatever is needed.

Moses' final excuse is in verse 13, and I'd argue it's the one that we use most often.

He admits having no inclination for the work.

Translated, it's not what I want to do.

Verse 13, But He said, Oh, my Lord, please, send by the hands of whomever else, whomever else you may send.

So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses. And verse 15 finishes, And I will be with your mouth and with Aaron's mouth, and I will teach you what you shall do.

When we say we have no inclination for a task, we forget Philippians 2.13, For it is God who works in you, both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

But we do this all the time. It's the story of our lives.

Just as God told Moses that he will be with him, God will be and is with you and I.

He's made promises, the same He gave to the disciples.

He's given us His Spirit.

How can we complain we aren't able? That's the point of this sermon.

God has given us the endowment of His Spirit to help us realize we're not able.

But God is.

It's a perspective thing.

All we have to do is to keep our eyes on Him. We have to seek Him.

And He promises to lead us.

When God speaks to us about working for Him, He's simply asking for our obedience to His will.

Not our building the muscles so we're strong enough for the task being given.

We're missing the mark at that point. He wants us to have faith in Him. He wants us to have trust in His power.

And to follow Him.

With man, nothing apart from the physical is possible. With God, all things are possible.

If we surrender to Him. Okay, let me get now to a little bit of meddling. So I'm just going to put the warning. I'm meddling.

You remember the excuse that Jeremiah gave. Jeremiah claimed that he was too young.

Over my time in the church, I have heard many, many people say, I am too old for that.

I've done my time. It's time for someone else to take over.

I'm sorry, but where in Scripture does it say there's a retirement age for serving and being used by God?

Caleb. He claimed victory and led Israel when he was 80.

Moses was 80 when he started going to do his part. Age isn't a factor to God. We may not have the strength to do everything we used to, but God wants to make you lift a car at the age of 100. He could do it.

See, with God, all things are possible. Without Him, we can do nothing.

All of our excuses are humanly rational. But it's missing the point.

If God has called us to serve, He's going to equip us to serve wherever and however He wants us to serve.

It's not about us.

So the question is not, will God call me to serve? It is, where is God calling me to serve? And then, am I willing to serve where God is calling me?

That's harder. Are we going to be the I-can't-believer who finds excuses, who tries to reason with God? Or are we willing and submissive as a believer who fully commits to wherever God wants us to go?

And when faced with the impossible, the lesson is entrusted to God, entrusted to Jesus. Pray, I can't, Jesus, but you can.

So work in me and lead me in your work.

Not mine. But please understand, when you do that, it is not a prayer of spiritual laziness. It is not the prayer of saying, I can't, so I'm just going to go out of the way, do my own thing, and you just do whatever you want to do, God.

That's human, me-centric, our paradigm. That's not what's being asked for here.

And I'll be honest, I wonder what I would have done if I was there with Philip and the disciples and 5,000-plus hungry people sitting in front of me. Would I be rationalizing, Jesus, do you really know what you're doing? Again, insert, head roll.

If we were sitting there, you know, I ask them to sit, they're going to expect to be fed now.

I don't want to riot. You know, what will we play through in our minds?

As a result, we have to be thinking and listening to what Jesus asks us to do.

Our prayer can't stop with Jesus, I can't.

We must then pray, I can't, but I trust you to work your way in me. I won't refuse where you lead. I will listen and follow, important next part, to be real about, though I don't understand and I don't see the outcome.

Because when we think we'll only follow, if we understand or we're seeing the outcome, who's making those decisions now? It's about me again. I am now the arbiter of what happens.

Your will be done and not mine. And along the way, we're going to have struggles. We're going to have dark times.

We're going to feel things are impossible. That's what happens.

But so often with earthly things, Jesus teaches us in ways we don't naturally want to be taught.

He teaches us contentment by not giving us more, which is what we would like, right?

You can't help somebody else with contentment by giving them more.

Rather, He teaches us that no matter how little we have, even if it's five loaves, two fishes, we have all we need if we have Him.

Perspective.

All we need, we have if we have Him.

The treasure we long for can be in all sorts of places. That all we need can be in a lot of places.

You know, don't... It's so easy to say, oh, it's a fluence.

That's secondary to so many things in life. But everybody wants something. It could be companionship. It could be health. It could be friendship. It could be influence. It could be a fluence. Could be a lot of things. But the point is, God is our priceless treasure.

And that in Him we can have true happiness. We can have contentment. Turn next to Revelation 5 and verse 13. Revelation 5 and verse 13.

So, as we go through these impossible paths of life, God is preparing us to live in the presence of God the Father.

He's preparing us to join all those who before Him have sung what it says in this verse, which is, "...to Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power forever and ever." We can read that and go, wah, wah, wah. But if you realize it's not about me, and everything we've had is achieved, you'd sing that. You'd sing that loud. The answers to life's meaning is not within us, and can be only found in our relationship with God.

So you and I are going to make plans, right? That's what we're told to do. But we have to come realize that God always has a better way.

And that's why Paul said that if there is no resurrection from the dead, we're, of all men, most miserable, right?

I'm getting old enough to realize that it's just a reality.

70 years isn't enough. 170 years isn't enough.

Those of you who've been in my house, you know that I have in the kitchen one of my favorite verses and one of Renee's. That's Jeremiah 29-11. For I know the past I have for you declares the Lord. Plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

But that's not necessarily in this life.

It's me-centric. It's about what happens during this lifetime.

That verse has a much broader application when you put it in the big picture.

The church is God's test pilot to prove what he can do anywhere, anytime, and in anyone who places their faith in him.

That's his plan. That's our eternal purpose. So what's the impossible thing that Jesus is trying to work out in each of your lives?

Because in these times, these times are not easy. They're troubled. It can have a lot of different faces to it. It could be right now we're having to face a future without worry. Worry is a huge thing that people are facing stress and anxiety over.

Maybe without being consumed with financial plans. Maybe to trust in him and not the politics and the promises of this world.

Jesus asks us to give of ourselves and our time cheerfully and freely and abundantly to support his work.

And to help the needy. He is our priceless treasure.

So many ways to look at it. Okay, so let me share now some more daunting realities to make you uncomfortable.

But it helps us understand what God has us face, why he gives us the impossible.

When faced with temptations, no matter how powerful, Jesus wants us to refuse them without regretting what we think we're missing out on.

Now hold on to that. That's not what he wants.

When faced with pain, with illness or disease, he asks us to bear it patiently. When faced with rejection or the loss of a friend or a spouse, he asks us to persevere.

When insulted or mistreated, he asks us to return kindness.

When wronged, he asks us to forgive. Okay, now so we're faced with all these things and what's our immediate reaction? It's too much! I can't do it! That's what we must remember because it's not about us.

That's why he puts it there because God is going to use whatever he chooses to reflect his glory. He could use a sunset. He could use all sorts of amazing things.

Or he may choose to use us struggling to be his glory. We don't know. To be his glory. We don't know.

All right, let's now continue to another important lesson. When God blesses us, he blesses us so that we bless others.

We are blessed to bless others.

Sure, part of God's blessing is about us, but it's really not about us for very long. It's about others that we have the privilege of blessing.

By becoming the vessel that refuses to believe, I can't, then we become this willing vessel that shares the love of God.

We get to see others come to know Christ as their Savior and have their lives filled in a changed way.

We once thought life was all about us, even, you know, as we were starting to go to the church. And that journey of getting baptized, you're realizing little bits of that, but boy, it hits you more with time, right? Over the course of your journey.

But now, being a mature Christian, God has exalted us to be his agent of blessing to others.

That's the meat. That's maturity. That's what it's about.

Consider that parable that we previously read about that very generous person putting on and inviting a lot of different people to this great fancy supper, right?

When the generous man sent the servant the second time to invite other people, that servant didn't whine and say, I don't know what I have to go out and get those people. I'd rather sit at the table, have someone feed me.

No, the servant was satisfied being the message carrier.

He did the work and he no doubt knew that his master was going to share the supper with him as well. But that wasn't the goal. It was helping the master.

So who are we supposed to reach out to?

That's where that parable that I started, the sermon comes in, is a thought process. The generous man reached out first to his friends and his acquaintances.

And that's fine.

But in this situation, they wouldn't come. And so he told him, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. If we only associate with our friends and our acquaintances and our well-to-do neighbors, Jesus said, that's not good enough.

The question is not, what can I do for someone such that I receive a favor back from them?

That's conditional. That's codependent.

But rather, what can I give to meet the needs of others, especially those who have no way to pay me back? And they will pay back somebody else in their own gifts, and you pay it forward.

This individualistic world convinces us that we can be lone ranger Christians, and I would argue COVID is amplified and amped that up tremendously.

But the Bible says we can no more survive as a believer apart from other believers than an ember can stay hot being outside of the fire.

God designed the church to function as a team. You remember in Ephesians, we have many, many sermons about where it talks about each part of the body being dependent, no part being singly important. No part can live and grow on its own. It's not about you. It's not about me. It's about us together as the body of Christ. That's how we all play together in this purpose.

So the whole point of the mature Christian life is not to sit down now at the master's table while we're here on earth. The central focus of a mature Christian's life is to invite others to sit down at the master's table in the future. We're being his tool to celebrate a wonderful kingdom that's in the future. That's why we're told, be salt, be a light, be an example. And since God isn't personally here like he was 2,000 years ago, to teach and to preach and to heal and to serve, he sends us to do the good works along the way, to love others, to live in righteousness.

It's not about us. It's about God blessing us so that we may be a blessing to others.

All right, let's conclude. And as we conclude, I think the point's pretty clear that it's not about you and it's not about me. Because we've all tried to live our lives with that paradigm, haven't we? And we find that it's hollow. But also, it's not about what we get out of following Jesus. All of the stories from creation to Christ's return are about God. And our life's purpose is about glorifying God. That's our purpose. So when we face the impossible, we can entrust it to God.

Face with the impossible and trust it to God. Follow Him and He will guide us. Listen to His voice.

Are we ready to stop bumping around in life? Are we ready to evaluate our lives in light of a great or purpose? You may have heard the phrase. It's used often in psychology, writings, but if we change our purpose, we change our life. And there's a lot of truth to that.

It's actually freeing when we do it spiritually. Because once we have God's purpose in our heart, we have permission to put God's will first, no matter what others think. We are not me-focused. We're not other people-focused. We're God-focused. We're God-pleasers, not people-pleasers.

We have all tried our own way, and we all know how that goes. And so God is waiting to say, it's my turn. So a couple thoughts and admonitions for you as we finish. Be willing to be used by God, not served by Him or His church.

Be willing to be called upon by God, not coddled and comforted.

Be willing to be sent out by God, not settling to sit and just listen.

Be willing to give to God all of who we are, but not to get blessings that are promised.

Yes, God promises to bless us, and He will. But we don't serve for the blessings. We serve out of obedience. We serve out of faith. We serve out of appreciation. The blessings are merely a fringe benefit to those who are obedient. It's not about us.