GOD FULFILLING HIS PURPOSE IN OUR LIFE

Psalms 138:8 (ESV) [8] The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.

 It is important to note - “the Lord will fulfill HIS PURPOSE for me”. It is His purpose in our life that matters, not our purposes. This is what the Lord asked us to pray - “your kingdom come, your will be done”.

 The challenge of a Christian is now is to seek, and submit to, that purpose of the Lord for us.  This is why we pray.  This is why we meditate and ponder on God’s Word daily.  This is why we continually worship and submit to a God who is higher than us, higher than anyone or anything in this world.

 When God created man, He placed him in His garden, in His world.  Man was a steward in the world that God had created.  Man was created for God and His purposes.

Of course we all know that man rebelled, and chose to disobey God.

 Look how man was tempted:

Genesis 3:5-6 NIV  For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.  (6)  When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

 The serpent told Eve:

·         You will be like God, knowing good and evil.  Good and evil was meant for a holy God, not for a created being.  Their trust was supposed to be in their Creator.

·        They saw the fruit of the tree was GOOD and PLEASING, and DESIRABLE FOR GAINING WISDOM.  Instead of focusing on God, they focused on their “self”.

 Isn’t that how we live today?

We see and desire what we think is good, pleasing for us and desirable for gaining wisdom on our own.  God and His will, His sovereignty over our lives as Creator, is nowhere to be found.  We live for ourselves.

The same deception used to tempt Adam and Eve is working in the heart of man, in each of our hearts.

We, Christians, aren’t exempted.  That’s why there is still a part of our heart that believes that God exists to meet our desires, our purposes, our plans.

 From the time of Adam man has been rebelling against God and His will.  The good news is from the time of Adam God has been redeeming man from this sinful rebellious heart, bringing man back to Himself.  And all those who responded to this gracious work of God of redemption was brought back to a right relationship with Him.  Today that redemption is found as we put our faith in Jesus Christ, who paid the price for our sinfulness and rebellion, and through His death set us free and reconciled us back to Him.

 But what about Romans 8?  Doesn’t this tell us that God is for us?

Romans 8:31 NIV  What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?

 What did the apostle Paul mean when he said “if God is for us”?  Immediately we think that God is on our side, and anything that we plan or desire God will meet.

But is it really that Paul was saying?

Romans 8:28-30 NIV  And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.  (29)  For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.  (30)  And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

 The ESV sounds better -  Rom 8:28  And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

 Imagine – all things work together for good!  It sounds like God is saying that He will work all things for our good.  And, yes, that is what He is saying, but in what context?

God works all things for whose good?

·         First, to THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.  Not to those who love themselves, or their own lives.  It’s for those who love God.

·         Second, for those WHO ARE CALLED ACCORDING TO HIS PURPOSE.  

 God saves us from our rebellion, through Jesus Christ, bringing us back so He can work His purposes in our life.

 What is God’s purpose for those He has saved?

Romans 8:29-31 ESV-r  For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.  (30)  And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.  (31)  What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

 We are being conformed to the image of His Son.  That’s His purpose.  This is what classifies as "good" for those who love Him and for those called according to His purpose.

And if this means it happens through blessing, through trials, through suffering, through riches or poverty, through health or sickness, what is important is we understand that God is working in our life for His purposes.

 And this becomes what we live for - God's will, God's purposes, God's working, knowing that He loves us, and that we have been saved from our rebellion and brought back to the life He desires for us to live.

2 Corinthians 5:14-15 NIV  (14)  For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.  (15)  And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.