Purpose vs Pressure
Mark • Sermon • Submitted
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· 85 viewsIn the face of pressure, Jesus prays and stays focused on his purpose
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Intro-
Boy eats a slug because of peer pressure. Turns out it had a parasite that ended up putting him in a coma, paralyzing the young man for years and eventually killed him.
I think that’s a good metaphor for Kingdom Culture. As we follow King Jesus we are going to encounter pressures on us to do things that seem innocent, seem like nothings wrong, but actually have a deadly parasite that will eat away at our ability to live for God’s Kingdom. Actually paralyze us from living out our Kingdom purpose…put us in a coma, complete unaware of what is really happening to us.
I want us to think of these two words. Pressure and Purpose. Do you live your life according to pressure or according to purpose? To have a kingdom culture, we must live our life according to purpose.
In the passage we are going to look at today, we are going to see that Jesus is going to come under some pressure that is going to threaten his sense of purpose. We are going to see how he responds to that pressure and the lesson that leaves us of how to live by purpose not by pressure.
(slide) 35 And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. 36 And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, 37 and they found him and said to him, “Everyone is looking for you.” 38 And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” 39 And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.
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The need for prayer (the problem of pressure) And as we will see these crowds become demanding. Jesus is healing all their sick… its understandable demand. So he gets away to pray…When he gets away to pray, notice that the disciples come looking for him… everyone is looking for you. It’s a demanding kind of looking. The way you look for you 4 year old who is playing hide and seek right when you are supposed to be leaving. In other words, pressure is mounting. This creates a crisis: Will he give into pressure or live out his true purpose? Bridge to our world: We all have to face this same crisisLiving according to pressure means being controlled by what others want you to do. It’s living out of fear of man. Do you have a sure rudder for your life? Do you know why you are? Do you know what you are on earth for?Do you feel like you are tossed by the winds of man’s opinions? When Jesus announced good news, he said the Kingdom of God is here. Another way to say that is you can live for God’s purpose now. Not man’s. Not something made up. But something heavenly. Something trustworthy. Something eternal, something divine. The call to repent and believe the good news is an offer to live out of who God has called you to be. He gives you a divine purpose that is exactly in line with how he as created you. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (). Now you may argue that you don’t need to know King Jesus to have purpose. You don’t need divine purpose… I can come up with my own purpose. In 1981 clash of titans the slogan was full-fill his destiny. In the 2010 remake he had to create his own destiny. The idea that man can create his own purpose in life. Ok true enough… people find purpose apart from God, but I don’t think they can find purpose apart from crushing pressure. Because without God, your purpose becomes your God, and it’s fulfillment means your whole worth is at stake in its accomplishment. Think of what that does to you. Think of what that turns you into. Give and example!!!! That’s what Jesus offers us.Only the Gospel of Jesus Christ gives you a purpose while freeing you from crushing pressure. How does it do that? By calling you not to a purpose to a person who gives you a purpose. (slide) “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” The call is to Jesus, he gives you your purpose and equips you to live it outHere’s why that is good news: Purpose does not love you. Purpose does not speak to you. Purpose does not die for you and forgive you. Purpose does not hear the deepest longings and pains of your heart. Purpose does not comfort you in the midst of your worst fears. Only a person does that. The Gospel is God’s declaration that you belong and are loved by your creator. He died so that you could be forgiven. He was resurrected so that his authority was shown to be the only one that matters, who cares what the world thinks, the Son of God reigns in Heaven. Don’t you know you need a person before you need a purpose? But no man will do, only the Son of Man, the True Man, the Son of God, So instead of living for a purpose, we live for a person who gives us a purposeTransition: What we see is Jesus radically living out his heavenly purpose free from pressure. But we actually get a picture of how he accomplishes this… The answer is he prays. The bible says what’s true of us, we are loved, we have divine purpose, Jesus’s authority is our authority…but that is only true conceptually, we have to make it true experientially. In other words, head knowledge has to become heart knowledge. Positional truth must become existentially true in our lives. That’s prayer. (slide) “Prayer is not a necessity of faith, it is faith itself in action”The our father as an example If you are not praying, you are not experiencing the truth of the Gospel in your life. You are full of head knowledge but you are still driven my worldly forces. Jesus perfectly knows who he was, yet in the face of pressure he prayed to God. He he had to get his purpose straight in his heart, he did that through prayer. So how does Prayer help us experience the truth of the Gospel in our lives?
The discovery of prayer In prayer we discover our divine purpose What is our purpose: Follow me and I will make you fishers of men Follow Jesus and bring people into God’s kingdom. That’s our mission- every Christian is called to this- general calling and purpose. But how do we fit into that. This is a particular calling- how do you find that? That’s not in the Bible…Ex: Jesus came to preach- that might not be our role exactly but our role will fit into that somehow We have to discover our meat and potatoes of what God calls us to be and do. But it needs to fit into this bigger mission that we are all called to. That is: How is your life focused on following Jesus and reaching people with the Gospel How do we discover this? Prayer (slide) He who speaks to us also hears in us, because He opens our inward ear (; ). And yet He is Another, who so fully lives in us as to give us but the more fully to ourselves. So that our prayer is a soliloquy with God, a monologue of two. 4 Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart. ().
My example of journaling and praying and time A calling should be something that excites youGets you angry Scares you - there should be true spiritual battle as a result Hurts you Drives you to prayer It can change- Mom investing in her children’s schooling and school community A tech engineer stewarding money but then a mission to stir up generosity in others [Transition] So prayer will help you discover your purpose, your mission and calling. But when we begin to move in a direction and live out of a divine purpose, Just like Jesus we can see that pressure will hijack purpose.
So in Prayer we discover how to respond rightly to pressure (slide) “Not to pray is not to discern--not to discern the things that really matter, and the powers that really rule.” Prayer is where we discern the pressure’s really driving usIn prayer we get honest about what really is driving us. Because here is the thing Pressure can hijack purpose (slide) Let’s see Jesus’s example : Here we see Jesus prays because he anticipates pressure is coming and he’ll have to make a decision. The people want him to heal their wounds- this is a good thing but is it the best thing for him to do?This is matter of discernment. It is a good thing to stay and heal. I imagine a part of him wanted to do that. But He had to get straight what was his priority and he did this in prayer with the Father. Responding in light of our purpose and not pressure often means saying no to good things. This battle has to won in prayer. Because it’s spiritual.Kingdom culture is opposed to the Kingdom of man - we have to be driven by new marching orders. We have to hear the voice of the King over the constant buzzing of the demands of this world. This hearing from God moment by moment, especially in the hard moments where the Kingdom of God get’s victory of the kingdom of man happens in prayer. Having prayed Jesus answers with clarity and conviction Time to move on to preach, that is why I came. The result is renewed focus. And renewed strength to pursue it. Then he goes like gang busters
That tells us something about who we are as a church. The Gospel needs to be heralded. There are a lot of forces that want to pull away from this work but this is the supreme work of Jesus Christ, and therefore the church There are may good things we need to do, and many good thing we will do. But we need to keep in priority what is of supreme importance - that the good news of Jesus be preached. The word here is heralded… important word. That is proclaimed with urgency, forcefulness, eagerness. This is part of Kingdom Culture…we have to hear from our King. His words need to be declared, He comes teaching with authority…it’s not optional…we are to hear and obey… not just discussed in small groups, not just in devotionals…but listened to with a posture of submissiveness. What does our King have to say to me and my life? That’s preaching. That’s what unique about church on Sunday’s. You can’t get that kind of format anywhere else. Church’s have tried, more discussion based, that’s not authority, that’s not Kingship. That’s not Kingdom Culture. Example of Ezra
Application for us
Kingdom culture is driven by purpose not pressure. This happens first when we devote ourself to the person of Jesus Christ. He is the only one that can free us from the crushing weight of pressure- the pressure from other people, and purpose apart from God becomes a crushing weight. So the command is to start to follow Jesus. Maybe, counter intuitively stop trying to live for purpose and start learning to follow Jesus. Start learning to obey him in the small things, start learning to pray, learn to repent. Experience his rock solid love for you not based on achievement. Learn to rejoice in the Gospel. Rejoice that he has called you into His Kingdom.
2. Kingdom culture inspires us to discover our our unique Kingdom calling in prayer . “Go to God with what is in you, not with what ought to be in you” - let God begin to reveal the desires of your heart and this will help you discover your purpose… your particular calling. Let the God who in you give you more to yourself.
3. Kingdom culture requires prayer to discern the pressures that threatens to Hijack our Kingdom purpose. We need to stay focused on your purpose. We do that by
Learning to hear the voice of the King in prayer when the demands of this world want to hijack the calling God has on your life.
…22Then the servant who had received two talents also came and said, ‘Master, you entrusted me with two talents. See, I have gained two more.’ 23His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master!’