Experiencing God VIII: Adjusting Your Life To God
Sermon Review
27 May 2001
James 2:14-26

Obeying God has a number of stages. Last week we looked at one – turning point decision-making which sometimes precipitates something of a crisis requiring the need for faith to safely resolve. We discovered that God has deliberately organised the Christian life to require the use of faith, and that without faith it is not possible to do the things that please him, or experience the power and presence of God in our lives. We concluded with the fact that using the faith we have will be more telling than lamenting what we do not have, and using Scripture as nourishment is far more effective for stimulating our faith, than stubbornly using Scriptural truth as a club to bludgeon our will into submission. As the Psalmist puts it so aptly, ‘Give me understanding and I will keep your law and obey it with all my heart’ 119:34. ‘Zeal without knowledge’ is not wise Prov.19:2; Rom.10:2 Unthinking and uncomprehending obedience is fanaticism which complicates and petrifies the Christian faith.

Faith in aspects of the nature, character, purposes, ways, and promises of God which we use to help us make the right decisions – make the right responses to God, needs to continue to operate as we move into the next stage of obedience - complimenting our beliefs with action. James makes clear that faith without complimentary action is not really faith at all…

James 2:20 -22 ‘You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.’

Decision-making has to be carried out or applied. The first step in doing this is to adjust your life so that you can obey.

To obey God we will need to adjust our lives appropriately

We cannot continue life as usual or stay where we are, and go with God at the same time eg.

• Noah – had to change his life to build an ark
• Abram – had to pack up and travel so as to be the father of a new nation
• Moses & David – had to give up shepherding in order to obey God
• Jonah – had to leave home & wrestle with a major prejudice to obey God
• Peter, Andrew, James & John – had to leave behind a fishing business
• Matthew – had to leave employment as a tax collector
• Saul – had to let go deeply held beliefs and change his life totally to obey God

Across the board, it is easy to see that often enormous changes and adjustments had to be made by many in order to do what God wanted. Some had to leave family and country, others had to change preferences, drop prejudices, change life goals, alter their ideals, forego personal desires, and embrace new directions in so many ways.

It is at moments like these that the words of Jesus begin to be relevant – ‘Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple’ Lk.14:33. If you want to be a disciple of Jesus, a follower, then you have no choice. Over your life time you will have to make major adjustments in your life to follow God. In most of these instances, our tendency is to want to skip the adjustment phase and go from believing to obedience. However, often, in order to obey, we have to first make adjustments in our lives so that we can obey! It is at this point that another struggle of faith may occur. Saying we will obey needs to be followed up with practical steps so we can obey.

Adjustments in our lives prepares us for obedience eg. moving first requires packing up. If we don’t make them, we will not be able to obey God, to our own hurt. Consider the contrast between Elisha and the rich young Ruler IKings.19:15-21; Luke 18:18-27. The order is faith, adjustments, obedience.

Possible Areas Of Adjustment

Asking what kind of ongoing adjustments you or I, or this church will need to keep making in order to obey God and do the things that he asks of us is like asking how long is a piece of string! Such a list could include adjustments in our circumstances eg. job, home, finances, premises; in our relationships within our families, between church members, between friends or colleagues, peers, workmates etc.; it could mean adjusting our thinking eg. prejudices, negativity, perfectionism, cynicism etc.; or altering our commitments to church, family, bosses, our plans, traditions etc.; and alterations most certainly in our actions eg. praying, giving, helping, arguing etc.; and modifications in our beliefs about God, ourself, the Christian life etc.

Often, adjustments will need to be made in many of these areas at the same time. However, rather than trying to catalogue or categorise areas, the most important task is to identify what we need to change so as to carry out what God is asking anyone or all of us to do. Sometimes changes will be required in areas we have never considered before, or been open to in the past. More often than not, those areas or things we have often thought that are hands off to God, that we either have decided we will never do, or never change - they are the very things which need to be surrendered for scrutiny. God may or may not require you or I to do that very thing we have identified, but He will continue to work on us until we are willing to let him be Lord over all in our lives. Anytime that you or I have drawn a line and said hands off to God, we will never know if he wants that area changed, how, or what benefits can flow on to us and others if God did want some changes there.

One thing is for sure, until we allow him to be Lord of all, we will find God distant and uninvolved in many areas that we know need attention. God will show us what changes he wants by the Holy Spirit through prayer, scriptures, church body and ministries, and circumstances. Identifying them is not the real problem, the real issue is being willing to do something about them..

The Major Adjustment

Willingness to pay the price of following God’s will is the major adjustment we must make. Unfortunately, when we say that God is Lord and that He can interrupt us anytime He wants, we generally don’t expect him to do it. We expect him to affirm everything we are doing and never ask us to change anything we have planned, or are doing currently. Yet we are faced with a Bible full of people who were asked by God to change so many things in their lives, which in turn were often difficult for them, and painful for others as well eg. Moses difficult task of confronting the Pharaoh brought increased pain and hardship, and ultimately wilderness wanderings for 40 years Ex.5:1-21;Num.14:32-35. Jesus obedience brought sorrow and grief to his mother eg. John.19:17-37. Paul’s difficult experience in obediently preaching the gospel in Thessalonica hurt Jason Acts.17:1-9 etc. What on earth makes us think that we either are not being asked by God to change in ways that are inconvenient and difficult for us and others as well? Or that God wants us to change in ways that are not inconvenient and difficult for ourselves and others?

I believe such thinking really flows out of denial constructed to protect ourselves from the pain of change and obedience. Somehow we deliberately foster a belief that we are special and exceptional and therefore will be treated differently by God. The real truth is that obedience will often be costly to ourselves and to those around us, and that is one of the reasons that Jesus said to ‘count the cost’ before making peace with him Lk.14:28-33.

Sometimes we and others have to pay a high price adjusting our lives and obeying God; more often than not though, it is only minor short term discomforts. However, never think that God might not call either you or this church into a costly adventure of faith. This is why becoming a Christian is about receiving Christ not only as Saviour, but as Lord Rom.10:9,10. In the big or the small sacrifices or the large or small changes being asked of us, we are supposed to say before being asked, "Lord, whatever you may ask of me today or in the future, my answer is ‘YES’!" Anything less leads to dubious commitment and consequently suspect and dissatisfying outcomes in our walk with God.

The way through

• Dependency – total dependence on God to do that which we are not capable of doing by ourselves, is the path that we must tread. Those God-sized things God wants of us are intended to be accomplished by dependence on him John.15:5. Looking to him to help opens up the opportunity for the ‘clay to get out of the way’ and the ‘surpassing power and presence of God’ to be revealed and experienced 2Cor.3:1-3, 4:7-11. Getting about making adjustments and changing our life so that we can be obedient, brings with it the power and presence of God in our lives in wonderful ways. It is He who makes the difference! 1Cor.15:10. This dependency makes us very aware that it is not religious routines, be they prayer, Bible reading, church attendance, or giving, that enable us to make changes and obey him – they are simply means that God uses to make a difference Himself in our lives! That is why we must never simply copy programmes and strategies and methods that are working elsewhere, here in this church. ‘It’ or ‘them’ never make the changes; it is God who makes the difference. We must not leave behind relationship and depend on other things to do God’s work. Dependency on him helps us adjust our lives his way, in his time, and leads to obedience that brings blessing. Good books, successful methods, creative programs, and the success of others cannot take place of relationship. Apart from him you and I can do nothing. If a program or method is used, let God be the one to direct us into it. When we make changes, we need to remember to look to God for His guidance. Ps.5:3, 37:34; Isa.40:31. We always need to keep uppermost in our minds that we are not simply being asked to surrender to a truth, but to a person. One who knows best and has our welfare at heart!

• Prayer – often in times of adjustment you will need to pray more deeply than usual. You will need to be willing to deliberately enter into earnest sustained prayer eg. Luke.4:1,2, 5:15,6:12,1322:39-46. To pray with a passion to know him, his purposes, and his ways. While doing this, keep watching your circumstances and asking God to help interpret them. Share with other believers, be reading the Scriptures etc. As you wait on the Lord, be active in asking, seeking, and knocking Matt.7:7-8. As you wait for guidance or seek strength to make appropriate adjustments, keep doing those things you know you can do now. Ultimately God will show you how to make the adjustments you need to make. . Dependency and earnest prayer will mean that He will do more in your life and through your life in days and weeks than you or I could ever accomplish in years of labour. Prayer and dependence is worth effort.

Conclusion

Obedience to God involves not only making the right decisions, but making adjustments in one’s life so that ultimately those decisions to obey God are worked out in reality. Making those adjustments and obeying exacts a cost on others and us. This is part of Lordship. Dependency on God and prayer makes all the difference. They enable us to do those things asked of us, and allows God to look after the consequences in other people’s lives affected by our decision. If we use the faith that we have in the decision-making stage, then we must continue to use it to help us carry out the following stage of adjustment. Anything less is not faith. Anything less means we will not please God; anything less means that we will not be able to please God; anything less means that we will not experience God nor His will for our lives.

If God has been speaking to you since the beginning of this series, or over the last few weeks, or even this morning, and you know where you need to change, then make the decision and start adjusting your life today so that you can obey. You won’t regret it. As we begin considering the options of ministries to be involved in as a church, seek God for guidance, and then let us move on together to the necessary decision-making changes to implement that guidance. We must use the faith that we have to decide, and adjust, on the basis of what he wants, and not on what we think is too ‘God-sized’ for us. As a church we need to be embracing the God-sized just as deliberately as we are called to do as individuals.

Blessings

 

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