We begin by saying, Its not about us. Its about Him. We talked about two of our purposes: We were planned for a purpose. We talked about worship and what that is. Our second purpose was fellowship; we were formed for Gods family. This morning were looking at our third purpose: You were created to become like Christ. Paul speaks of that purpose in Galatians 4:19 (page 1154 of the pew Bibles) when he says, My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth, until Christ is formed in you... So, that is the goal of the Holy Spirit. He works within our life to form Christ in us. That is what God desires: that our character-our person, reflects His Son. That is the third purpose of our life that were going to be speaking on this morning. You notice he uses the word until. What does that signify to you, the word until? Until Christ is formed in you? That this thing we call discipleship is not an event; its not a program. Starting a discipleship…you dont understand discipleship. Discipleship is not contained in a program anymore than fellowship is contained in its totality in a small group. No, a small group cannot contain the totality of Koinonia. It has to go beyond a small group where you do life together. Discipleship is the whole of your Christian experience, not a program or an event. Its all of it, and it is a process. That process is discussed in Philippians 1:6 (page 1161 of pew Bibles), if youll flip over to that. Paul writes, …being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. The tense of the verb is the future active, which means God is doing it, was doing it, He is doing it now, and He will continue to do so. God will continue to work in your life to conform you to the image of His Son. Discipleship is a process. That is something God is doing. Hes using the circumstances, the people, your environment, your heredity, the things youre learning, the ways youre serving, the relationships and friendships you have, the spiritual disciplines, your spiritual gifts. All of these things in totality, God is using to form Jesus in you. That process lasts our whole life long. That process is called discipleship. God wants you to grow up and mature in Him. God doesnt want a bunch of spiritual Peter Pans running around that just choose to never grow up. There are some Christians who are just content to stay immature their whole lives. Babies are cute; we like babies. Theyre cute, and sometimes theyre messy. They drool and spit up, but theyve very dependent. They have diapers that need to be changed; they need to be spoon fed, but theyre cute. Let me tell you something: thirty year olds who are in diapers and need to be spoon fed, have pacifiers, and drool arent cute. You have to grow up. The same thing is true in the realm of the spirit. God wants you to mature. God wants you to grow up in him. You have a part to play in that. When I was a young believer, this verse ministered to me so much because I felt like I am willfully inadequate when it comes to being a disciple of Christ. I bet Gods ready to kick me out. I bet hes ready to throw in the towel and say, This guy isnt going to make it. The pastor preached on this verse when I was 18 years old. It said to me, God is not going to give up on me. Even though Im unfaithful, even though Im not always what Im supposed to be, God is going to continue to work in me. Hes not a quitter. So, that is a good promise, isnt it? Thats a wonderful promise of His Word. But that promise is based on a partnership. You may want to read Philippians 1:6 and say, Oh, all I have to do is kick back, put my hands behind my head, feet up on the footstool, and, God, do your thing. It says Youre going to work in me until the day of completion. Well, thats not Biblical. We have a part to play in our discipleship as well. Flip over one page to Philippians 2: 12-13. Paul writes, Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed-not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence-continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling… Notice he says-and this isnt going to be in your book as youre reading this week, youre going to run across a phrase: its work out not work for your salvation. If he had said work for your salvation, wed all be in trouble. How do we know when weve worked enough? How do we know when its good enough? Well, you dont have to work for your salvation because you cannot earn it. Christ bought it for you. You receive it by faith. You dont work for it. Continue to work out your salvation. He says, You dont work for a body. You work out your body. You work out because you have a body. In the same token, you dont work for your salvation; you work out your salvation. Its because you are saved that you want to be discipled. You want to grow in the image of Christ. He says you do so with fear and trembling. What does that mean? Does that mean God wants us to be afraid of Him? Does that mean we are going to lose our salvation, so we better work hard on it or were going to lose it. No. Its talking here about sober-mindedness. Its talking about how some people approach their spirituality and their own discipleship rather casually, rather flippantly, as if itll happen. Gods in charge of that. Its going to happen. Thats careless. Thats going to hurt you. That is going to cripple you, and its going to cause you to not grow in Christ as God desires you to grow in Christ. That kind of mentality is not Biblical. He says when you approach the subject of discipleship, there is a sober-mindedness to it. Youre serious about it. Go to the gym and be haphazard sometime. What kind of results are you going to get? You walk in [and someone asks], [Are] you going to work out today? I dont know. I think Im just going to stand in the weight room. Ill get big muscles. Ill get toned. Ill just stand here. It doesnt work that way, right? You have to be sober-minded. If youre going to develop into a person thats fit, youre going to have to do something about that. Thats what hes talking about here: approach your spirituality seriously. Recognize you have a part to play. You have a responsibility in what God is doing in your life. Verse 13 says, For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose. Its not about you. Whose good purpose? His good purpose. Hes working in you for His good purpose. Its not about you. Notice something interesting: sometimes people get hung up in certain theological circles about free will and sovereignty issues. Do you see that sovereignty and free will exist in perfect harmony in these two verses? Do you put verse 12-13 in juxtaposition? One is talking about mans free will, and the other is talking about Gods total sovereignty, and guess what? They coexist. They get along. Paul had no problem with it. God is sovereign, and man is free. I did a little detective work for you, free of charge. I decided I was going to investigate the word work in Verse 12. I knew I wouldnt be content with investigating Verse 12. I wanted it investigated in Verse 13 [as well]. What if the word work in Verse 13 is a different word from the word work in Verse 12? I was just curious because I didnt know. I dont have the Greek New Testament memorized. I dont know what every single word is, right? So I thought, What is this word? I looked it up in Verse 13, and guess what? It was a different word for work. I dont know if that gets you excited, but if youre a pastor, that gets you really excited. I just found a clue! I just found something! Its like a detective when he finds a clue, and he gets all excited. Hes gathering evidence. I think Im starting to figure this out! Whats this other word work here? Well, the first word work had to do with performing a task, going through directives, accomplishing a mission, and youre carrying out a task. It has to do with you fulfilling your purpose. You do what God has called you to do. You work on the commands God has given you to work on. You do your part. Thats the first word work. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Its work to love when you dont want to love, to forgive when you dont want to forgive, to speak out when you dont want to speak out, to not quit when you want to quit. Thats work. Work out your salvation. Do what God has called you to do and be. Put elbow grease into it. You have a part to play. The second word for work in Verse 13 was used exclusively for what God does. That word meant to work within for a purpose. I looked up every incidence of these two words in the Bible, and it was very clear that that meaning was different, to work within something for a purpose. Ill give you a couple of illustrations of this working hand in hand. Lets say you have a stain in your bathtub, and you cant get it out. Youre scrubbing, and youre trying what they say on the commercials. Nothing is working, so you call Grandma. You say, Hey, Grandma, I have a stain in my bathtub. How do I get it out? Grandma says, You just buy… You say, Okay, I will, so you go to the store, buy this product, and you put it on. You notice that the stain starts to dissolve. You start seeing some bubbles. You start to work at it; you put your elbow into it. Pretty soon, you look at the rag, and that stain is coming up. Youre getting all excited. You put more on there, and you start scrubbing away. Next thing you know, that stain comes out. Now, the first word work is in Verse 12. Thats what you do. Thats the elbow grease, I have to get this stain out of here. I have to put some effort into it, some sweat and hard work. When youre watching that product work on that stain, and it starts to dissolve, what do you usually say when that happens? You look at it, and you go, Its working! Its working! Its happening! Thats the word work that God does. Its working within for a desired purpose, a desired result. Its breaking down that stain so it can be clean. You need both because you cant get that stain out of yourself. There are sins in your soul that-I dont care how much you work-youre never going to remove them. If you just sat and worked on your own strength and might, you will never remove that stain no matter how hard you try. You need the Holy Spirit. Its not simply a matter of Holy Spirit, remove that stain from my life. Ill just watch Oprah while you do that. Ill just watch the ballgame today while you work that stain out of my life, Lord. It doesnt work that way either, folks. You see, I do my part, and God does His part. I work out; God works within. Ill give you another illustration. Im taking a class now called Power Pump. I had to have my arm twisted a little bit to do it because I thought it sounded like it was for women. I didnt want to be dancing around with weights going four more and three more, that kind of thing. Im not doing that. I was told, No, its not just going to be just for men or women. Its light weights, high rep. There is music, but youre not dancing to it. I said I would give it a shot. It was work. Some of you women work muscles that we guys didnt even know we had. They had me doing something where I had a band, and I was lying on my side doing this. I didnt know I had muscles up and down here. Boy was I sore the next day. Women were just flying with that thing. The guys were like, Ahhhhhh! It was terrible-and embarrassing. You work out everything; you work out your chest, your back, and your legs; everything gets worked out during the course of that hour, which seems like it lasts a long time. A couple of my friends from the church are in it too, and were kind of teasing each other as we work out. Were stretching-which is another thing most guys dont do-and Ive started noticing some results. Its like Im a little bit more flexible. Im starting to feel some muscles that werent toned and now are. They are making a difference when Im walking, going up steps, or playing basketball. Im starting to see some results here. What happens is when I work out, I go through the task that my teacher tells me to do, and I do them to the best of my ability, and I do them in the right form. I work hard at them. After that, what do I do? Whats my responsibility? Eat and rest. What happens then is my muscles work within to strengthen. I dont have any control over that. I dont turn to my quadriceps and think, How am I going to make that quadriceps tone up? Ive done my part. Now, within my body, my muscle fibers begin to grow and build back up to make me stronger. I work out, and my body works within, two different kinds of work. Both are essential. If I do my part, my body is going to do its part. So it is in spirituality, in discipleship. As we engage in all the things were doing right now-were memorizing Scripture; were reading the Word or reading a book thats Scripture-based; were going to small groups; were attending weekend services; were reading the book and discussing the sermons and all were learning; what happens is when we do that and put those things into practice, the Holy Spirit then starts to produce Christ in us. Sometimes changes arent seen right away. Ive been doing this for 20 days, and I still sin… Were never going to get there, folks, but Im telling you if youll apply yourself over these 40 days, youre going to see change. Whats more, youre going to form new habits that are going to carry on for the rest of your life-long after this time of ministry is done. This passage talked about Gods sovereignty. I want to talk about another passage that talks about His sovereignty in the Book of Romans 8, if youd turn there (page 1119 of pew Bibles). This is a verse many of us are familiar with. Gods purpose is that we be conformed unto His Son. Thats a process-not an event or program; it is a partnership of us working in conjunction with the Lord in our lives. We do our part, and the Lord does His part. In Romans 8, it says God has a plan. There is a plan in His sovereignty to form Christ in us. Romans 8:28 says, And we know that in all things… Notice it doesnt say in some things or in most things-in all things. …God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to… their purpose? Whose purpose? …His purpose. Is it about you? Its not about you. Its about Him. Called according to His purpose. Does it say all things are good? No. It doesnt say all things are good. If something is evil and is bad, its evil and bad. It will always be evil and bad. Sickness-bad; death-bad; somebody steals from you-bad. If you go through a divorce-bad. Bad! If you get injured and break a bone-bad. What it says is that God will work through that situation and turn it into something good in your life to transform you more into the image of His Son. When our car breaks down, we go to a mechanic. We say, My window isnt working anymore. Can you fix it? My air conditioning isnt working anymore. Can you fix it? My muffler is loud. Can you fix it? The mechanic makes your car run the way it used to. It makes the window function. He makes the exhaust system quiet. He makes it start when it doesnt start. He fixes it so it performs the way it did before. You break something; if something goes wrong inside, you go to the doctor. He fixes it so it can perform at or close to the level it used to. He repairs it. We thank God for doctors. We thank God for mechanics, but God does something better. God does something eternal. God says, I will use those things in your life-those things that have been taken from you, those things that have been broken, those hurts and losses-and I will make you better than you were before. Thats what He promises to do. I will use them and weave them into your life better than you were before, more like Christ than you were before. Sometimes thats a hard pill to swallow. Years ago, I would say over 10 years ago, I was-and this is the truth-30 pounds lighter than I am now. Im not heavy; Im not skinny either, but Im not heavy. I was 30 pounds lighter. I was in the best shape of my life. I was playing basketball at a pretty high level. One day I got hurt. I came down on my knee; I got catapulted in the air and came down directly [on my knee] on the gym floor. I put the patella into the femur so hard, it shattered my cartilage. The doctor said it looked like Id been in a car accident. When he got in there, he said, No more sports for you. You can ride a bike. You can play golf; you can swim, but you will never be able to play basketball, volleyball, football, baseball-anything with running or jumping is done for you for the rest of your life. I said, What if I dont play as hard, as long, or as often. He laughed and said, Thats the anesthetic talking, Mr. Williams. Your athletic career is over. You have no cartilage. He drilled holes in my bone, and for four months, I laid on my back. The only time I would get up was Sunday morning to give my one sermon [while I] was sitting down in a chair with my leg up and elevated. Then Id go back to my couch for the rest of the week while that blood clot formed. I began focusing on my pain and my problem, and I was miserable. I was angry. I said, God, how can you take this away from me? This was my release. I have my friends. Its something I enjoyed doing. How could you do this to me? I was angry. Pastor Rick Warren said something in his book on Day 25. He said, When were going through problems, it is vital that you stay focused on Gods plan and not your pain or problem. Vital that you stay focused on Gods plan and not your pain or problem. I had a turning point in my recovery. I began to focus on Gods plan. I began to say, Okay, God, what are you going to teach me? If this is gone from me, Im going to accept that, but the thought of never running again bothered me, so Im going to believe you. Maybe you want to teach me some things about faith. As I looked back, I learned some tremendous things about faith and patience. I learned that faith is not a passive thing; faith is an aggressive thing. Faith goes after stuff relentlessly. I learned that. Faith is not waiting for God to part the waters. Faith is God, we need these waters parted, and You know that, so Im going in the water and Im heading out. Im expecting You to part them as I go. Thats faith. I went out there with my brace, and the doctor said, You shouldnt do it, but I know youre stubborn. Im going to give you one anyway. I went out there with my brace, and the only way I could stop myself [when I was running] was to hit a wall. Thats how Id stop myself. Id feel sharp pain, and Id fall down. Id get back up. I played 15 minutes. Two weeks later, I could play for 20 minutes. Then I could play two days a week. Then I played for nine years until I had my second surgery. My second surgery took me a year and a half to rehab. I wanted to play basketball with our church team. In December, I couldnt run from here to the wall. The games were in January. I got out there with my brace, and I said, Im staying, God. I want to play, so you have to touch me. I played all season. Now, Im back up to playing three days a week. Im not very good anymore. I recognize that I occasionally can get the ball in the basket. Im not sure how much of its age, but I know a lot of it has to do with just the cartilage issue. Im out there; Im playing; Im contributing. Im working up a sweat. Im hanging out with some of my friends again. I learn that faith is something you just press on. Its aggressive. The things I learned about patience and faith, I wouldnt trade them. God took that very difficult situation, and as soon as I turned it over to Him, guess what? He used it. He used it to make my faith stronger than it ever was before. I would not trade that experience. The fourth point we want to make has to do with the fact that when we yield to the Lord, when we yield to Him, He produces in us Christ-likeness. I want you to turn in your Bibles to Matthew 26. While were turning there, were going to listen to a song by Joy Williams called Do They See Jesus in Me? (To read the lyrics, click here: http://www.christian-lyrics.net/artist/joy-williams/track/do-they-see-jesus-in-me) Christ is formed when the person yields to the Lord. When our desire and Gods will collide, who wins? Who wins? Its the mark of maturity. The spiritual Peter Pans who dont want to grow up, they win. In a mature believers life, the Lord wins. I had a birthday party this week to go to for my great niece. Right before she got ready to eat the birthday cake, ready to sing, the ice cream was out, everything was ready to go, she got an attitude and started pouting. The next thing you know, were ready to sing, and she walks away. She leaves. Wheres Brittney? my niece says. Brittneys gone. Brittney they call. Brittney is pouting. She doesnt want to come to her party. The ice cream is melting, the candles are burning, Mom makes a call and says, Lets sing and lets eat. So we sing Happy Birthday in part to the guest that is not there, and we cut the cake and we feast. Who missed out? Brittney did. We think we win by saying no to God and not yielding to God and doing our own thing. We dont win. We lose. We missed the party; we missed the blessing. Somebody else gets to enjoy what was meant for us. Our Lord Jesus, in Matthew 26-we looked at this last week in talking about relationships and friendships-He brought Peter, James and John into His inner-circle and bared His soul. He said in Verse 38 (page 985), My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with Me. Going a little farther, He fell with His face to the ground and prayed, My Father, if it possible, may this cup be taken from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will. Can you pray that prayer? If you can pray that prayer, Christ is being formed in you because thats what He looks like. Pastor Warren said that the change discipleship comes about not by imitation, but by habitation: the Holy Spirit residing in our lives, changing us. Our responsibility when our will and Gods will collide is to yield. Can you pray that prayer? Or do you say, I dont want to drink that cup! I didnt ask for that cup! Whyd you give me that cup? Im not going to drink that cup! Or do you say, Father, if it possible, let this cup pass from me, yet not my will, but Your will be done because, God, I know you work all things for good. Even though I dont understand it, I trust You, and Ill drink of the cup. What is it You want to teach me? How are you going to use this to conform me to the image of Your Son? If you can pray this prayer and say, Not my will, but Your will be done, discipleship is happening in your life. Maturity [is going on]. Youre growing. Youre getting stronger. Youre becoming like Jesus. Lets pray and then well receive communion together. Father, thank You for the purpose You have for us in Discipleship, to be formed to the image of Your Son. We thank You that that is a process that Youre working in us to this day and for the rest of our lives. We thank You that it is a partnership between us and You, that its not all You, and its not all us. We work in harmony in conjunction with Your spirit. I thank You that You have a plan in Your sovereignty. You are working all things together for good in our lives according to Your purpose. Father, I thank You that as we yield to You, You will produce Christ-likeness in us. Lord, there is a lot we have to work on. We want to start right here and right now; and I pray during this communion time, Youd speak to our hearts; [if there is] anything that is non-conforming, any area where our desire and Your will are colliding, and were winning right now-we [understand] were really losing. I pray that even here, even now-this morning, the process of yielding, the decision to yield would start right here. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.