Choose Your Reward: So Many Choices
Pastor Rollan Fisher
Focus: Do what you see the Father doing and you will find your rest in Jesus.
My Plans
God’s Plans
What the Father is Doing in Christ
My Plans
My plans aren’t always God’s plans and can lead to worry, burnout and haste.
John 5:17-30 ESV
”But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”“
This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. "Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment. "I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.“
Much of the world is frazzled, harried and discontent.
How many times have we said there is not enough time in the day?
Is there not enough time to do what we want - or what God wants?
There will always be enough time, resources and energy to accomplish what God wants to do in and through your life.
Doing what God wants does not mean that it does not come without effort, sacrifice or self-denial, but it does mean that what is meant for Christ’s glory and your good is always met with God’s grace to accomplish it.
The gospel scene above comes after a significant moment when Jesus physically healed a man who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years (John 5:5-6).
Jesus asked him a significant question:
John 5:6 ESV
”When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be healed?"“
Jesus, though God in the flesh (John 1:1-14), was a Jewish man and would have known the customs - how this healing on the Sabbath would have been perceived by the religious community.
However, Jesus moved past their criticisms to demonstrate God’s compassion to the ailing man whom he loved.
Jesus saw what the Father was doing and moved on it.
Walking with God in faith and obedience is ultimately a matter of trust and submission.
It is often the case that the love of God moves at a different pace in life than which we move.
Many in the invalid’s case (John 5:1-16) were used to walking past this man at the pool who needed healing.
How likely would I have been to do the same in our modern context while plugged into the incessant dopamine hits of my cell phone?
Proverbs 19:2 ESV
”Desire without knowledge is not good, and whoever makes haste with his feet misses his way.“
*I regularly need to slow down to truly hear/perceive God, see the people God has actually placed in front of me and the opportunity that he is giving me to love them well with the gospel.
Proverbs 19:17 NIV
”Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward them for what they have done.“
“IF YOU CAN’T FEED A HUNDRED PEOPLE, THEN FEED JUST ONE.” –MOTHER TERESA
God’s Plans
We need to learn to slow down to look for Jesus in our everyday affairs to give ourselves to what God is doing.
What God is doing, he will bless.
What God is not involved in, we should not expect him to bless, but possibly resist.
This is the definition of a curse.
The Sabbath was created as a holy rhythm, amongst others, to keep us living at a proper pace with a proper focus.
When we look to God, he shows us who he is and what he is doing in Christ.
When we’ve done what we’ve seen the Father doing, we will live well satisfied and at rest.
Is God at the front and center of all of your planning?
We need to be discerning enough to know the difference between the resistance of God and the resistance of the enemy.
God will bless what has been submitted to him for his eternal purposes in Christ, even while the devil tries to resist it.
The key is to find yourself in the tailwinds of the Father, as Jesus did.
John 5:19,20
So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel.
How do I know what God is doing?
When I study God’s word, I have clear commands that are to be obeyed.
Psalm 119:9-12 ESV
”How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes!“
Psalm 119:35-39 ESV
”Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it. Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain! Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways. Confirm to your servant your promise, that you may be feared. Turn away the reproach that I dread, for your rules are good.“
Psalm 119:67,68 ESV
”Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word. You are good and do good; teach me your statutes.“
Psalm 119:71,72 ESV
”It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes. The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.“
Psalm 119:105 ESV
”Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.“
But do I seek the face of God and the application of his word by walking with God moment by moment?
Proverbs 3:5-8 ESV
”Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.“
*Though this is what Scripture instructs, when I want to maintain control of my own life, I’m not looking for what the Father is doing, so that through willful ignorance, I can ultimately do what I want.
https://m.youtube.com/shorts/0ZY-2KG4ucg
If you are so locked into your own agenda, you can miss God.
So what is God doing - what is he planning?
What the Father is Doing in Christ
The Father is always working to reconcile the world to himself in Christ to provide the peace that we so desperately need.
At the end of the day, you are obligated to nothing more than obedience to God that comes from faith in Jesus (Romans 1:7) - nothing more and nothing less.
Anything more is presumptuous and is an existence lived at the hands of another task-master.
Anything less is sin.
James 4:17
So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
Do you believe that the will of the Father is actually best for your life?
What do you feel like you’d be missing that you need to add?
God will not allow you to miss out on what is truly important.
What do you feel like God would require of you that you wish he’d take away?
God will not require anything of you that is not ultimately for his glory and your good (Romans 8).
We should believe to see the miraculous as we look to God for our daily direction.
Striving for more than God would have you do leads to fretting and can be driven by either greed or pride.
Doing less than God would have us do can be a symptom of laziness or self-centered living where we are serving our pleasures/interests rather than Christ’s.
Walking with God brings peace, stability (even in trial) and fruitfulness because God is the author of your activities and his miraculous hand of blessing can be on their outcomes.
Jesus perfectly fulfilled the law, commandments and will of God to be our example, as well as the all sufficient sacrifice at the cross for our sins, to reconcile us to God.
As we turn in repentance from self-sufficiency to faith, we will find our rest in Jesus, the Prince of Peace, as we walk in friendship with and service to our ever-loving, ever-living God.
Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher