Two Goals for Life

Romans 12:1-8

(Shared with the people of Friendship Church, August 21, 2005)

Today, I want to ask you to consider taking two goals for your life. But first, let's pray.

Dear Lord: Send Your Holy Spirit now. Use these words as Your Word for us. In Jesus' Name. Amen

A high school friend of mine, Bill, always was the model son to his parents! Even when we were teenagers, there was never even a hint of his giving his folks problems. He always made his curfew. He never drank or did drugs. He studied hard and was even kind to everyone. The year we graduated from high school, on the night of the senior banquet, it was announced that we had named him, ‘Most Reliable,’ and for many good reasons, one of which was that in thirteen years of public school education, he never missed a single day of classes!

He was no nerd either. Bill is one of the best athletes I’ve ever known. A fantastic outfielder, any ball hit within his area code was bound to land in his glove. He ran, as they say, like a deer. He also was on the basketball team. To stay in shape during those sports’ off seasons, he ran cross country. Even today, his arms are like tree trunks.

I often wondered why Bill, a guy who was popular with our classmates and always got invited to the A-List parties, never got into trouble...why he always seemed to pay attention to his parents and actually liked them...and why he never gave them any trouble or lip. I never, ever heard a cross word pass between him and his parents.

But as I’ve observed his relationship with his mom and dad through the years and the relationships of his two sisters with them, I’ve come to realize what that was all about. Simply put: Bill was just grateful to his parents for their love, their sacrifice, and their support of him in whatever he undertook. Gratitude affected the way Bill behaved and the choices he made.

For most of the past several weeks, we’ve been looking at the first-century preacher Paul’s letter to the Christian church at Rome. This is a remarkable letter, the most mature statement of Paul's faith in Christ. It was written to a church he had never visited, but soon hoped to visit, and from whom he wanted to take a collection to support his missionary foray to Spain.

In the first eleven chapters of Romans, Paul explains the basic facts of Christian belief:

That all people are sinners separated from God. That God love all of us and decides to call us back to Him, offering forgiveness and new life to all who will turn away from sin and believe in Jesus Christ.

Three chapters of that first segment deal specifically with the spiritual status of Paul's fellow Jews and his earnest hope that non-Jewish (or Gentile) Christians would be particularly committed to reaching out to God's people with the Good News of Jesus.

Our Bible lesson for this morning begins a new segment of Romans, a section in which Paul talks about how we respond to God’s love and mercy.

In its eight verses, Paul introduces two elements that should characterize our response to the forgiveness and new life that belongs to those who follow the Savior Jesus, Who died and rose for us.

These aren’t things that God commands of us in order for Him to love us. He already loves us and all people already. But like my friend, Bill, who was grateful to his parents, gratitude for what Jesus has done for us will result in our wanting to live lives that please God.

So, Paul writes, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God [in other words, because of what Christ has done for you on the cross and from the empty tomb], to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God---what is good and acceptable and perfect...”

In gratitude and humility, Paul is saying, give yourself to God and he will begin to change the way you think and live. Some of you have experienced that and you know exactly what Paul is talking about. You won't be perfect, of course. But when you allow Christ the driver's seat in your life, you’ll no longer think of yourself first. Money, looks, pleasure, power, and all the other things we human beings so often use to measure our worth will recede in importance. You’ll be in sync with God’s plans for you, which is a good thing since He designed you in the first place and has better plans for you and me than we could ever make for ourselves.

Her name was Charlotte Elliott. She was from England and she was a bitter woman. Her health was broken and she was disabled. “If God loved me,” she told her family, “He would not have treated me this way.” On May 9, 1822, in hopes of bringing her some comfort, guidance, and encouragement, the family invited a Swiss pastor to their home for dinner.

But as they ate, Elliott “lost her temper...[and] railed against God and [her] family.” The family quickly filed out and left her alone in the room with Pastor Malan. (I have to tell you that this happens with some frequency with pastors. We end up in rooms with people others with whom family and friends no longer are able to speak.)

“You are tired of yourself, aren’t you?” Malan asked Elliott. “You are holding to your hate and anger because you have nothing else in the world to cling to. Consequently, you have become sour, bitter, and resentful.”

What, Elliott asked Malan, was the cure? “The faith you despise,” he told her.

“As they talked, [she] softened, ‘If I wanted to become a Christian and to share the peace and joy you possess...what would I do?’ ‘You would give yourself to God just as you are now, with your fightings and fears, hates and loves, pride and shame...’” Elliott could hardly believe it, but asked God to help her believe it. She surrendered to Christ that day and later claimed the words of Jesus from the Gospel of John as her special verse, “...he who comes to Me, I will by no means cast out.”

Charlotte Elliott was an invalid all her life, but she lived in a joyful relationship with Christ, nonetheless. She knew the depths of God’s mercy and grateful for it, she strove to live in response to His love.

Years after her fateful conversation with Pastor Malan, Elliott’s brother was raising money for a school for the children of poor clergy. She composed a poem, which was printed and sold to fund the effort. It sold thousands of copies. Later, the poem was put to music.

When Charlotte Elliott died and went through her things, they found more than one-thousand letters from people telling her what an inspiration and encouragement her poem-turned-into-a-song had been for them.

You may be interested in knowing what powerful words Elliott's poem contained. To give you a taste, I'll tell you that it begins this way: “Just as I am, without one plea, But that Thy blood was shed for me, And that Thou bidst me come to Thee, O Lamb of God, I come!”

The first response that God’s love in Jesus calls from us is humility, humble surrender. We lay aside our sins and our love of them, our pride, our shame, our anxieties, our fightings, and our fears and we let God love us. We put down our dukes and allow God to embrace us.

Then Paul talks about a second response to the love God gives to us through Jesus Christ. He says that all believers in Jesus are given gifts--supernatural abilities--to play their own unique roles in the life of the Church and then, through the Church, which is Christ's body in the world, represent Christ to those around us.

Find your spiritual gift from God, so that you can play the part that God designed especially for you. Figure out what you’re good at and do it for Christ and the Church.

We’re coming into the fall of the year. September 11 will bring us to our Fall Kickoff at Friendship. Jesus died and rose for you and made you a part of this congregation. This is a great time for you to volunteer for any one of a number of ministries our congregation does.

By trying your hand at lots of different ones, you’re likely to find many at which you’re not especially good or that you don’t like. You may find some at which you fail. That's okay. A prominent businessperson was once asked, "What is the secret of your success?" "That's easy," he said, "it's making good decisions." Intrigued, his interviewer asked, "How do you learn to make good decisions?" His answer? "By making bad decisions." Listen, folks, I have failed at so many things in my life that I’ve learned that failure isn’t fatal.

But, in response to God’s love in Christ, if you and I keep trying, we’ll find those things that we do well, that praise God in our special ways, and that help our congregation reach out to the world with the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Christ has died and risen for you. Because you’re thankful, humbly turn to Him and let Him love you and then, find your gifts and use them to show your thankfulness.

Take those two things--total surrender and embracing your gifts--as your life goals and no matter what happens, you’ll be living a great life, a blessed life, a life that tells God, "Thank you!"

[The true story of Charlotte Elliott is taken from Then Sings My Soul: 150 of the World's Greatest Hymn Stories by Robert J. Morgan]