Questions for Lent #1: What is Your Goal?
[Preached February 17, 2008; Based on John 1: 35-42]
Words of Meditation – “You must have a long-range vision to keep you from being frustrated by short-range failures.” (Charles Noble)
Consider two sets of questions:
These
questions help us to examine the direction of our lives and our priorities –
what we think will make us happy, what we are willing to trade our lives for. We
only have a certain number of years, days, and hours, but we don’t know how
many. Whatever we do with the time we are given is what we exchange our life
for. Are you on the path that leads to where you really want to go?
[View: I Was Here (1:56)] Will anyone remember us? What will our legacy be? I know what you’re thinking, “Pastor Steve is in his mid-life crisis again.” Mid-life? Well, I guess so – if I live to be a hundred! These are questions we all face, so: What is your goal?
When I was a boy, I thought I wanted to be a professional baseball player. In college, I thought God was calling me to be a missionary. Have I merely settled for being a pastor? Not hardly! Serving Christ as a pastor is a truly remarkable place to be – and I would challenge our children and youth to pray about serving Christ as a pastor (both boys and girls) – you’ll never be bored; life will never be mundane because every day and every week are different. Though each day is different, my goal is the same: I will live for Christ and listen to God’s Spirit throughout this entire day! I will respond to God’s Spirit with every thought, word, and deed. Do I reach my goal? Some days I do... others I don’t.
John the Baptist was a preacher. The day prior to our passage, John also saw Jesus and called him, “the Lamb of God,” but added, “...who takes away the sins of the world!” He furthermore said, "I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, 'The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.' I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.” (John 1: 32-34)
John’s purpose was to prepare the way for the Messiah – it was what he was living for... he knew his goal and there’s little doubt that his disciples knew his goal! So, on back-to-back days, he told his disciples, "Look, the Lamb of God!" The second time (our passage), two of the disciples decided to follow Jesus.
Do you ever get the impression that there was some magical trance that came upon people when they were around Jesus? There’s no question that Jesus was unique and there has never been anyone like him, but he was fully human, so I don’t believe that there were any magical trances. Jesus built relationships the old fashioned way, moment-by-moment.
So, when John the Baptist on the second day in a row said, "Look, the Lamb of God!" – John’s disciples paid attention. It wasn’t as though Jesus had a halo around his head; it’s just that their respected teacher, John the Baptist, clearly identified him as the Messiah. John did his job!
To Jewish disciples of that day, the sacrificial system was a way of life. The term, “Lamb of God” would clearly indicate God’s sacrifice.
When the two disciples began following Jesus, he asked them: "What do you want?" This was more than a “Can I help you with something?” It was more like, "What are you looking for – down deep, what do you really want?” What is your goal?
This was
the first of some twenty questions Jesus asks in the Gospel of John. Maxie
Dunnam inspired me with a series of sermons on Jesus’ questions in John’s
Gospel, so over the next two months, on the Sundays I’m in the pulpit, we will
focus on one of Jesus' probing questions each week. We're not going to look at
all twenty questions, but what better way to move through Lent and into Easter?
This will be a season of spiritual assessment and re-visioning our lives.
Jesus probed the curiosity of those two disciples who followed him. He forced them to focus their thinking and so we too begin today with Jesus’ question for them: What are you looking for? I guarantee you this: What you are looking for tells the story of who you are.
There was a Nancy cartoon in which Nancy is out in the snow waiting for her
friend Sluggo to come by. She's up to no good because as she waits behind a
tree, she gets a snowball ready, and she says, "Here he comes...I can't
wait to see the look on Sluggo's face when I cream him with this snowball... I
can see it now, the dazed look on his face, the snow all over his head."
She loses herself in laughter as she hides behind the tree: "I can't stand
it, I can't stand it. This is going to be great." But while she is
hidden behind the tree, so proud about her sneak attack, Sluggo passes by and
she doesn't even know it. When she overcomes her delight with herself and looks
out from behind the tree, Sluggo is nowhere to be found. She concludes by
saying, "The trouble with my life is that the realities never quite live
up to the expectations."
Can you identify with Nancy? There may be a sense that reality may not live up to your expectations, but the truth is: What you're looking for tells the story of who you are. Think about it. Each of you can immediately think of a person whose life has been shaped by what they were looking for – politicians, musicians, athletes, farmers or even preachers.
Every
now and then we read dramatic stories in the newspapers of persons who, on the
surface, were poor and needy, but when they died, huge amounts of money were
found hidden away in their house. These persons horded money because they were
looking for security. They never wanted to be without. There's something
obviously wrong here when people whose drive for security turns them into
miserly people – people who rob themselves of joy today because of their fear of
tomorrow. Being a miser does not require having a lot of money.
Think about it. If success is the primary goal of your life, you're likely to
cheat yourself of quality time today. You are focused on the future. If
happiness is all you're looking for, you're in danger of being absorbed in today
so you neglect to plan for tomorrow. What you are looking for tells the story of
who you are. So,
1. If you get where you're going, will you be where you want to be?
2. If you find what you're looking for, will you need something else to make you happy?
I can say with confidence, "If you find what you are looking for and don't know Jesus, you will still need more to make you happy." Spiritual contentment and peace with God are essential to be fully satisfied in life. My contention is: There is no abundant life for now and no eternal life apart from Jesus Christ.
All reality is summed up in Jesus Christ! Paul put it this way, as expressed in The Amplified Bible: For it has pleased [the Father] that all the divine fullness (the sum total of the divine perfection, powers, and attributes) should dwell in [Christ] permanently. (Colossians 1:19) Fullness is found in Christ!
Just because Pascal said it doesn’t make it so, but I can tell you, there was a God shaped vacuum in my heart that couldn’t be filled by anything but Jesus. Jesus is totally unique! No one else has ever been like Jesus.
Alexander Maclaren, a Baptist preacher who lived a century ago and was known as "the prince of expository preachers," said this about Jesus: "He is not merely one amongst the noble band that have guided and inspired and instructed humanity, but He stands alone -- not a Teacher, but The Redeemer, "the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world." (Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture, Volume 10, page 153
That's what John announced to his disciples: "Behold the Lamb of God!" That got their attention and they followed. That’s what I tell you, “Jesus is the Lamb of God – the sacrifice for our sins.” "What do you want?" Jesus asked. And so the question comes to us, "What do you want?" What is your goal? Forgiveness? Guidance?
The disciples asked, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?" (John 1:38) to which Jesus replied: “Come and see...” Jesus was not merely a teacher who presented ivory tower lessons; Jesus wanted them and wants us to join him in what he was/is doing in our world! “Come along and see how I live!”
In other words, don’t get confused and lost thinking about what the future holds; rather, come along with me and consider life as it is now. Base your future on the reality of the present, but also face it with faith that God can do all things through Christ!
What do you think about Andrew’s response? He immediately goes to get his brother. Whether it was because he wanted to make sure Simon didn’t miss out or possibly he thought that the Messiah was the only one who could make a difference in Simon’s life – either way, he sought to connect Simon to Jesus.
Do we do
this? I mean after we make sure that we are following Jesus, do we seek to
connect others to him? Once we begin following Jesus, it is important to connect
those we love and care about to him because they have a God shaped vacuum as
well.
John the Baptist knew his purpose and therefore he recognized it when it
arrived. He knew his mission was to prepare the way for the Messiah. I’m sure he
was discouraged from time to time, but because he had a long-range vision, as
our Word of Meditation states so well, he didn’t become frustrated by
short-range failures. Can you identify?
What is God’s purpose for your life? What is your goal? Or, perhaps a bit more to the point: What is God’s goal for you? Of course it’s to be in a thriving relationship with God, but beyond that, do you think only the John the Baptists and John Wesleys and Rick Warrens of the world have specific missions? Some people think that a long-range vision is what they’re having for supper tonight.
What is your legacy? What is your goal? Will you recognize it when it comes your way?