Faithfulness: God’s and Ours

Transcript
Copy with timestamps
Copy with no timestamps
Download with timestamps
Download with no timestamps
0/0

0:13If you look in the middle of verse 11, you can see my aim for you this morning, namely that you may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you and you in him. Some sermons rightly aim at pointing out changes we ought to make and a lot of us have changes we ought to make, but this sermon is aimed at reminding us to not give up and hang in there and keep on keeping on. Let's pray. Father, use the mere instrument of a mouth, my mouth. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight.

1:11Oh Lord, our rock and our redeemer for the sake of Christ and this people. Amen. Let us not grow weary in doing good for in due season, we'll reap if we do not give up. Galatians six, nine. Now our text that you had read by Ryan a moment ago shows us how to live the Christian life. There are so many challenges as you know to living the Christian life and there may be some in this room who are facing some setbacks and delays and are thinking about throwing in the towel and backing off and walking away from the Christian life. Others of you, thanks be to God, maybe cruising along quite nicely. Thank you very much. And in either case, whether the struggles are great or not so much, how can we persevere in living the Christian life?

2:03Well my desire for this message is to encourage you in doing something that is not very different from the world in some ways and yet profoundly different in other ways from what the world's getting ready to do this very night or maybe in the morning by tonight or tomorrow morning. Many people make resolutions for the new year and resolutions can be a good thing. Ushering in desirable, even overdue changes. And you can elbow the person next to you if you'd like on that. Everyone in the world could benefit from some good resolutions, me included. Meanwhile, our text will show us a crucial difference between the resolutions made by the world and the resolve of the believer.

2:58As we all know, much of life is commonplace with its daily grind. Not spectacular. I've worn out another pen, another razor, another set of tires. I've done another load of socks. It's time to shower again. Take out the trash again. Pay taxes again. I remember thinking as a Ladd third grade, any third graders here? Any third graders there? There? Okay. I remember as a third grader thinking this seems an awful lot like second grade kinda boring and fourth grade, any fourth graders here? Yeah, fourth grade seems an awful lot. Like third grade, more of the same and fifth grade. Any fifth graders here, Uhhuh seems like a do over of fourth grade tedious.

3:59And I thought back then if I'm growing up as the adults tell me that I am, some of you think I had them fooled. If I'm growing up as the adults tell me I am, it sure seems like it's happening in slow motion and perhaps you have similar kinds of thoughts about your own life. Didn't we rake these same leaves last year? That diaper seems pretty much like the last one.

4:30Didn't I overlook my spouse's same flaw yesterday seven times? What's the point this morning I'm gonna help you see and resolve and become. See the point resolve to do good and become like Jesus when we do something once and then we do it again and then again. Such repetition can produce something that's called fatigue or what the Bible calls weary in. Well-doing, it's also called losing heart. You wanna quit? So let's look at our text. Paul prays that they may be made Worthy. Now you north church people with theological antenna are thinking, wait a minute, wait a minute. Don't we make our boast in God alone?

5:32What is this worthy talk? What is meant by that is this some kind of self-justifying works righteousness. The answer is no. Worthy does not mean intrinsically deserving, but it does mean transformed to become suited or fitted or appropriate for glory like a dirty window is cleaned to enable us to see through it to the object of glory. Recently Vicki looked out the window and she said, look at that full moon. Wow. When she said, look out that window, she wasn't saying, look at the window though windows are glorious. There was a day when houses didn't have 'em. Windows are a good thing, but they're meant to let us see something beyond the window that's glorious.

6:30And that's what this worthiness is in this verse. Something fitted and for us, an essential part of becoming fitted is being what Jesus called born again, trusting Jesus Christ alone for the forgiveness of your sins and the fulfillment of all God's promises to you, including eternal life. People who are born again are like branches of a vine that steadily grow to produce the fruit of the vine. Their glory reflects glory upon the vine, which is giving them the life to produce that fruit. Well in our text, God does two things. Do you see them? God will make you worthy and help you fulfill every resolve for good and work of faith by his power.

7:26And since these are things that God does, we see in our text that Paul asks God, that is he prays that God would enable them to fulfill every resolve for good. So we should ask what is resolve to resolve is to will something to determine, to commit, to dedicate yourself and your resources to an objective. And it's good to have resolves God approves of having resolves. However, as you know, resolves are tested by adversity prompting us to want to give up on our resolutions and our promises. On the other hand, resolve passes the test by demonstrating sincere, relentless perseverance. The Bible calls it single-mindedness, using words like steadfast and trustworthy.

8:26When you keep on keeping on in the face of adversity, you all know the parable of the oyster who receives an irritation or an aggravation and for up, for up to four years produces the pearl, produces put an exclamation mark after the word produces. It's not just putting up with it for four years, it's making something valuable out of it. That's what God is doing with the adversity that comes against the resolutions that we make. Now the text also talks about a work of faith. What is that? It's an action that depends on Jesus to give the power to carry it out, to fulfill the resolve. You see it in the text. Every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power.

9:24Oswald Chambers said, our vows and resolutions end in failure because we have no power to carry them out. That's why so many New Year's resolutions fail. Work of faith explains what resolve for good is works of faith. Go beyond just good intentions to actual action to follow through. In other words, resolve for good. And every work of faith are one thing, not two things. If you didn't carry out the act, you didn't have the resolve.

10:17And the way we know you have the resolve is if you carry out the act by faith. And when we do act in faith, there's no room for self-assured bragging because our resolves for good won't be fulfilled unless God enables. That's the power that we see in that verse. And this is one crucial difference between the resolutions made by the world tonight and tomorrow morning. And those made in faith works of faith are produced by means of God's grace through God's power and for God's glory. And when you make a resolution, you resolve and you need some enabling grace. How much grace does God provide? Answer enough.

11:15Two Corinthians nine, eight, God is able to make all grace abound to you so that having all sufficiency that that means having enough, having all sufficiency in all things at all times. You may abound in every good work there will never be a shortage of grace. So here's the glory principle that you're no doubt familiar with. The giver gets the glory that is the giver of the enabling grace that helps you fulfill your resolve for good. The giver of that grace, that enabling grace, that power gets the credit, deserves the glory for it. So then the problem, the riddle, why does verse 12 say you will be glorified?

12:14'cause that's what it says. Do you see it there So that the name verse 12 of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you and you in him, he gets glory and you get glory. Whoa. What's going on there? Well this God gets glory as the giver of the grace and we are glorified as the receiver of such grace, such enablement, such strength in Christ. It's like this. All of you ladies assume that you go to a top-notch hairstylist for a new dew, okay? And you come away with something really spectacular, something really classy, something really sharp. Okay, well the stylist would get glory for being so skillful and you would get glory for reflecting that skill in your appearance.

13:19We can imagine people might say wow to both the stylist and to you, they did a good job, you get a good look. That's what's happening here with every resolve for good and every work of faith, he gets glory for having giving given the grace and the power to transform you and you get glory for looking so good, for looking so Christlike, I don't think I'm abusing the text.

13:54God gets glory by supplying the enabling grace and you get glory by receiving that grace and fulfilling every resolve for good. Listen, as I read to you a couple of texts about your glory in Christ, Romans eight 16, the spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. Two Corinthians three 18 and we all with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.

14:45He gets glory and you get glory. And how do we live by? How do we live the Christian life? It's by fulfilling every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, thereby glorifying Jesus who provides the power and living this way also glorifies you works of faith look good on you. So we see in verse 11, all this resolve and work of faith is enabled by God's power. And we see in verse 12, it's all enabled by or according to God's grace. So we might summarize these two verses. This way, God's grace grants power which enables faith which produces resolve expressed in works. Let me say that again. God's grace grants power which enables faith which produces resolve expressed in works.

15:53This is echoed in one Peter four 11, whoever speaks as one who speaks oracles of God and whoever serves as one who serves by the strength that God supplies in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, he gives the strength you live it out. He gets glory. Now I wanna invite you to observe the steady faithfulness of the following Biblical characters who persevere, persevered through faith, by faith through long periods of seemingly mundane leaf raking, diaper changing seasons and activities that were not spectacular. Noah having never seen rain, he invested decades building an arc hammer, blow after callous producing hammer, blow beam after beam plank after plank, covering it inside and out.

17:02With pitch this this last Thanksgiving, I spent two days helping my son-in-law paint my daughter's kitchen. And I must admit, after just two days I was ready to quit painting. And this is the truth, as I fell asleep on that first night, fell falling asleep, images of a paintbrush pushing paint into cracks and crevices filled my mind. I was ready to be done painting. Noah persevered. You know the arc was a big boat to get that thing, get all the cracks and crevices covered with pitch. Through Noah's steady faithfulness for decades, God was working and get this. For seven months he bobbed around on the water with no known destination.

18:00Where are we going? God was making him worthy of his calling and fulfilling every resolve for good and work of faith. That's where he was going. Joseph. He watched sheep until he was 17 and he was kidnapped, sold into slavery, framed, held a prisoner for 13 more years until he interpreted some dreams of cellmates in prison and the Pharaoh appointed him Secretary of agriculture and then for 14 more years he managed ordinary grain harvests and storage. So at that point he's 44 years old and his resume includes sheep, prison And grain in the midst of his imprisonment. Listen to Genesis 39 21, but the Lord was with him north church, the Lord is with you.

19:16And listen to Joseph's summary two chapters later, he said, God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction. God was making him worthy of his calling and fulfilling his resolve for good in every work of faith. Ruth recently widowed, she promises to her mother-in-law quote, where you go, I will go and where you lodge I will lodge your people shall be my people and your God, my God and where you die I will die and there will I be buried and may the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you. What an open-ended promise. A resolve.

20:09And for her it meant gleaning scraps of leftovers in the barley fields gleaning until evening and then beating out a half bushel or so of grain and then lugging it off to town where her mother-in-law lived. It's exhausting, it's laborious, monotonous. She had no idea that in the process she would become the great-grandmother of King David. She didn't know there would be a king David. In her steady faithfulness, God was making her worthy of his calling and fulfilling her resolve for good and every work of faith. Abigail the Bible says she was married to a man who was harsh and badly behaved, a worthless man that no one can speak to him.

21:03I just realized I've not been faithful to take this thing out of the way here. So I don't know if that's bothering the video people or not, but nobody could speak to her husband. And unfortunately some of you know how unspeakably difficult this is in an attempt to save her nasty husband's life. She loaded donkeys. Now are you sensing the sounds and the smells and the feel of this mundane task? She loaded donkeys with enough food to feed David's 600 men. Are you weary of fixing dinner?

21:42Her efforts brought blessing upon her and her entire household and in the process God was making her worthy of his calling and fulfilling her every resolve for good and every work of faith. Anna a prophetess, she was a virgin until she married. She was married seven years and then her husband died and then she remained a widow until she's 84. She did not depart from the temple worshiping and fasting and praying night and day, day and night, day after day, night after night until she's 84. How seemingly mundane until to fulfill the law. Mary and Joseph brought the infant Jesus to her and she saw the messiah.

22:40Merry Christmas. Anna. What was God up to in her mundane life for decades on end, God was making her worthy of his calling and fulfilling every resolve for good and every work of faith. Andrew, James and John, ordinary fishermen, daily casting nets, cleaning fish, fish, very ordinary chores. Simon also called Peter and though I don't know his precise age, he was old enough to have an ailing mother-in-law. In earthly terms, how glorious is that? Not so much Matthew. He routinely sat at a tax booth, not what most of us would consider a thrill. A minute Paul made and repaired tents for a living, constant repairs, tents constantly wearing out, but it's honorable work.

23:46Even Jesus, he's a carpenter. He started his public ministry as you know, around the age of 30. But what was he doing before that? Well listen to Mark six. He went away from there and came to his hometown and his disciples followed him. And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue. And many who heard him were astonished saying, where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works Done by his hands is not this the carpenter, The son of Mary, the brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon until he is 30, he's busy being a carpenter and a son and a brother.

24:35How ordinary, regularly handling wood and nails, which would end up being the death of him. But no one is more faithful than Jesus. No one more dependable, immovable, reliable, steadfast, unflinching, upright. No one with more resolve for good and every work of faith. In fact, John records, having loved his own who were in the world, Jesus loved them to the end. It was faithfulness through decades of ordinary, mundane work, living with ordinary mundane family members followed by severe adversity, taking him to the cross to absorb God's wrath and provide mercy for sinners like me. How unwavering, what resolve isn't that one of the things that draws us to him?

25:38Don't you want to be like him this morning? Don't you want to be like him in 2024? He's here right now in this room listening to your heart's response. I'm calling this morning for humble reliance on God's grace and power to fulfill every resolve and work of faith steady as she goes, faithful in the little things. How mundane the unspectacular. Now the video booth has a picture that they're gonna show you. This is a work of art by Paul Brady. And what I want you to notice in this picture, those of you who are connoisseurs of the arts, you know that this is a sample of something called pointalism, which means um, there are no lines if you, if you look at his whiskers, those are not lines.

26:32Everything in that drawing is rendered by making dots. Thousands and thousands of little dots, black dots and gray dots. And your life becomes conformed to the image of the lion of the tribe of Judah Jesus. Not in a single flash, but little dots that take decades slowly over a lifetime. You take out the trash dot brush your teeth.do it all again tomorrow, dot read your Bible, dot recite that verse again. Pray for that loved one again.

27:29Forgive your family member. Do do it 70 times seven than did it ever feel to you when you forgave someone? Like What good was it? They didn't change it didn't cook a meal, it didn't write a symphony. Seems like it just let him off the hook. It didn't build a tower, but oh dot, in a strategic place, the grand painter is painting his image in you. The transforming work of the Holy Spirit in our sanctification is more of a mundane process than a series of dramatic thunderbolts. As Paul Tripp says, lurching from big moment to big moment, it's a daily process. Characters developed in the zillions of little moments.

28:35You cheerfully get out the vacuum cleaner. You do your homework, you floss, you pay your bills, you lead your small group, you volunteer to clean the bathroom, you shovel the snow that come, April's gonna melt anyway. You do carpentry or tent repair and God is pleased as Paul Tripp adds, none of us is writing his own story or painting his own picture.

29:14God writes our stories through mundane little moments, one.at a time. And sometimes those dots include tears or sweat and for sure some repetition. But he never throws away a chapter. He never wastes a dot. Even though our days may seem mundane and repetitive and monotonous, we're being shaped and taken somewhere glorious beyond anything we've experienced or even have the capacity to imagine. I look at that picture of that lion and I think I'm impressed with that beast looking right at me there in that picture. Alright, video booth, you can take down the slide now. I'm hoping that you all agree that our sanctification, our conformity to the likeness of Jesus is a process and not a single event to take on the character of Jesus involves countless little moments in our daily living, itty bitty increments piled up day after day after day after seemingly repetitious day.

30:20But there's never a moment, never a situation when deeply spiritual things are not happening. God is relentlessly working to produce the image of Jesus in us. Hence the title of this sermon, God's Faithfulness And Yours, God never gets bored or grows weary. His commitment to complete what he's begun in us never fades. He's always with you and will help you. And he's here right now to help us.

30:59Now I need to insert in here that I'm not arguing that we should consider all of life as drudgery, like raking leaves or whatever your chores may be. So go ahead and enjoy a great meal, have a New Year's Eve party, laugh with children, go fishing. Um, I'm in favor of all of that stuff. God is at work in those moments too, but I'm trying to help us not grow weary in well-doing when the well-doing is not fun, much less spectacular. Now one might legitimately ask, okay, if I do this, do I get anything out of it? And our our text has already says that you will be glorified. There's glory coming. It's in the mail to you and you'll be rewarded.

31:49Listen to Ephesians six, eight, knowing that whatever good anyone does, whatever good could come in the shape of a, of a dirty skillet that needs cleaning or a dirty diaper that needs changing. Whatever good anyone does this, he will receive back from the Lord whether he's a bond servant or free. In other words, there's a reward. God's paying attention even if no one else is. Stephen Lee wrote in his weekly email to us on October 27th, ordinary faithfulness is not wasted. So regarding the Christian life, Johnny Erickson us says, don't let your passion or your faith hinge on the next celestial lightning bolt or sunsplash moment of meditation.

32:40God wants our joy to rest on the simple fact that our names are written in heaven. I see some heads nodding. That's a good place for a head nod right there just to make this practical. Now, how do we not waste the mundane like tying your shoes? Two things. Number one, receive shoe tying with thanks or leaf raking or diaper changing or small group attendants. Receive it with Thanksgiving one Timothy four. For everything created by God is good and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving. So be thankful for your shoes that you have to tie and for feet to put 'em on and for fingers to tie those laces.

33:27Be thankful for everything, whatever the dot producing chore is in your life. And number two, perform it for the good of others. One Corinthians 10, Paul says, I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many that they may be saved. Be imitators of me as I am of Christ. Tie your shoes in faith that God will eventually use the tying to accomplish his purposes. Maybe you're tying shoes on beautiful feet that bring good news. So I want to encourage you as I'm encouraged when I say that I believe we have heroes living among us at the North church. Some of you will change nearly 2000 diapers in 2024 on a single child While humming.

34:35Some of you will wash that very same dish for the thousandth time in 2024. Some of you will face death, common death that we will all face sooner or later. Maybe you'll face the death of a loved one or perhaps your own terminal prognosis. You will look death right in the eye and it will not paralyze you. I have observed here in the North church this year, beautiful persons who carried on unparalleled by grief. They were grieving but unparalleled when their spouse or child or loved one died unparalleled. They continued to love to worship, to make necessary decisions as God gave strength.

35:32I've seen more than one man wipe up around the sinks in the men's room here at church, wipe up drippings that they did not make and leaving the sink area improved for the next guy, whomever that may be. Dot some of you have parked up the hill away from our parking lot, not even knowing if the spot you left vacant will be needed by somebody else. This weekend marks 40 years that Joby Morgan over here has been working at this church.

36:18I've tabulated it. She has officially performed 1.2 zillion details, Unsung not asking for the limelight, just steady, faithful, resolve work of faith. I believe that before today is out, before today is out, some of you will make a phone call that you've resolved to make and you're not gonna put it off. Some of you will clean out that junk drawer or put away your toys or write that letter or intercede for that loved one or speak the gospel with thanksgiving and in faith that Jesus will be glorified and will produce his image in you. My desire is for God to bless you, to bless you, God bless you, and as He makes you worthy of his calling and fulfills every resolve for good and every work of faith by His power so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you and you in Him according to the grace of our God and Lord Jesus Christ, let me pray.

37:49I am asking now, father, that you would give us open eyes to see what you're producing in us through our resolves for good and every work of faith that you're producing in us, the image of Jesus that will glorify him and beautify us. Be at work now strengthening these saints and converting those that don't yet believe in Jesus name. Amen.

Jump to live
Jump to live

Christ Has Come, He Will Come Again

The End Is Not Yet

Woe To Hypocrites!

Faithfulness: God’s and Ours

Surpassing Worth Of Christ

Team Member Name

Christ Has Come, He Will Come Again

The End Is Not Yet

Woe To Hypocrites!

Faithfulness: God’s and Ours

Surpassing Worth Of Christ

Connect

Subscribe to the North Update

About

Mandy Nowlin

About

Christy Roberts

About

Jackie Kang

About

Steven Lee

About

Sam Crabtree

About

Josh Bremerman

About

Jonah Kalsnes

About

Jon Hedger

About

Andrew Cagle

About

Liz Stein

About

Steve Prater

About

Joe Krekelberg

About

Beka Hemken

About

David Hanson

About

Julie Barmore

About

Tim Tomlinson

About

Steve Stein

About

Jim Jordan

About

Vince Johnson

About

Brian Hanson

About

Joshua Greever

About

Tim Johnson

About

Kurt Elting-Ballard

About

Bryan DeWire

About

Ryan Dembeck

About

Nick Brazis

About

Laurel Watkins

About

Carmen Tomaszewski

About

Missy Steward

About

Maggie Sporleder

About

Diane Soderholm

About

Ryan Soderholm

About

Lulu Robinson

About

Millie Roberts

About

Claire Olson

About

Grace Ohlendorf

About