How can I make the most of the rest of my life? - Alpha Course 10
Video of the complete Livestream where Sharon asks, “How can I make the most of the rest of my life?”
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Talk: How can I make the most of the rest of my life?
We only get one life, even though we might wish for more. The author DH Lawrence said this,
“If only we could live two lives: the first in which to make one's mistakes, and the second in which to profit by them.”
- D. H. Lawrence
Over the past few weeks, we've been looking at different aspects of the Christian faith. I know that some of you are already Christ-followers, and others may have made that decision due to hearing the talks we've done while others are still exploring the faith. So what does it mean to give our lives over to God? What next? How do we make the best of the rest of our lives? That's what this talk is about.
Paul, who wrote many books in the Bible, describes how we can make the best of our lives. In the first 11 chapters of the book of Romans, he describes what God has done for us. And then, in chapter 12, he says this,
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
I'm going to look at three points from this passage.
#1 - Break with the past
The first point is this, to break with the past, we're called to be different. Paul says, do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, or as JB Phillips translated it,
"Don't let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould."
- J.B. Phillips
When he says the world, he's talking about the world that is hostile to God. Sometimes this is a challenge because there's pressure to conform. You may feel pressure to fit in different areas of life, maybe at home, work, or social life. At work, perhaps the pressure is to be sceptical of faith or to lie to make things look better than they are. What are some of the pressures that you find in life?
A young police officer was doing his final exams at Hendon police college. The first three questions in the paper were relatively easy. And then he got to question four. Question four went like this,
You're on patrol in outer London when a gas explosion occurs in a gas main in a nearby street. On investigation, you find that a large hole has been blown in the footpath, and there's an overturned van lying nearby. Inside the van, there's a strong smell of alcohol. Both occupants, a man and a woman, are injured. You recognise the woman as the wife of your divisional inspector who is present away in the United States. A passing motorist stops to offer assistance, and you realise he's a man who's wanted for armed robbery. Suddenly, another man runs out of a nearby house, shouting that his wife is expecting a baby, and the explosion's shock has made the birth imminent. Another man is crying for help, having been blown into the adjacent canal by the blast and cannot swim. Bearing in mind the provisions of the Mental Health Act, describe, in a few words, what actions you would take.
The officer thought for a moment, picked up his pen and wrote; I'll take off my uniform and mingle with the crowd.
The temptation for people who've decided to become Christ-followers is to take off our Christian uniform, if you like, and mingle with the crowd, to do what everyone else is doing. Sometimes that seems so much easier, but we're called to be distinctive. And we're called to be more like a chrysalis than a chameleon. A chrysalis turns into a beautiful butterfly. A chameleon changes colour according to the background it's on.
Different, not weird!
Now, we're called to be different, but we're not called to be weird. Maybe, you know some odd Christians. We're not called to wear strange clothes or speak in a weird language. We're called to fulfil our potential, to be the version of ourselves that God has created us to be. Jesus was the person who fully achieved this. He was the most fully integrated human being ever. So Paul says, break with the past and then make a new start, be transformed. As the GNBUK translation puts it,
“Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind.”
I don't know about you, but sometimes I think we fear change. And we talked a bit about that a few weeks ago. Maybe a friend of yours has decided to follow Jesus, and you've seen positive changes, and you think, wow, their life is beautiful. But at the same time, you think, well, I'm not sure if I want to do that. What would it mean to make that change? God's not going to ask us to leave behind good stuff. God loves us. He wants the best for our lives. He only asks us to leave behind the rubbish in our lives.
Years ago, I worked as an occupational therapist in the local hospital. An occupational therapist helps people have as much independence as possible after accidents, physical or mental illness, or learning difficulties. That might involve teaching people new ways of doing things, providing practice to increase strength and ability, or providing equipment or adaptations to the home. Now I remember one patient I saw, and she was a homeless lady, someone who had come in off the street. And I can't remember why she ended up in hospital. But I remember she was offered a lot of support to get her off the road and start a new life in a good home.
I don't remember most of my patients, but I remember her. And the reason I remember her is that she refused the help. And I remember thinking she must be a bit crazy to turn that down. She wanted to go back on the street because that's what she knew. And that gave her a kind of sense of security in a way. She couldn't move to a new and better life because she didn't want to give up the old one.
Jesus offers life in all its fullness, and people say, but I don't want to leave behind, basically, the rubbish in their lives. Letting go of what we know can feel very unsettling and a bit scary. But unless we leave behind the rubbish, we can't enjoy all the treasures God has for us. Life in all its fullness doesn't mean a life free from problems. And it doesn't mean that everything goes the way we want it to, far from it. But it is a great life. In Romans 12, Paul sets out some of the treasures that God has for us.
Sincere Love
Firstly, there's sincere love. What is sincere love? The word he uses here is "anupokritos". It means unhypocritical. Anupukritos was the mask they put on in a Greek play. And in life, we can put on masks. If we're uncomfortable with who we are or don't feel like we fit in certain situations, we can put on a show and say, well, this is who I want to be. But the trouble with this is, nobody ever sees us. They just see the masks. And then when two people who've got these masks are meeting, that's all it is. It's a meeting of masks. It's all about image but not reality.
It can still be difficult when you know God loves you as you are, but it is easier to drop the mask and be yourself. You can be authentic. You can be real. That's what it means to be a human being, being loved by God. That's what God wants for our lives. And when that happens, you get a real connection happening.
We often think that we'll impress people with our strength, but it's usually through the vulnerabilities we connect. And when we drop the mask, we get these fantastic relationships beginning to form.
Enthusiasm or Zeal
And then Paul says that another treasure is enthusiasm in our relationship with God. He writes, never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour serving the Lord. In other words, don't just have a one-off experience of God. It is meant to last for a lifetime. Some people will have dramatic and incredible experiences of God and decide to follow him because of that. And others don't have these theatrical experiences but choose to follow him because they're convinced of the truth of his existence and love. Do you know what? It doesn't matter which of those categories you're in. What matters is the long term. Where will you be in your relationship with God in 10 years? That's what matters, not your initial experience.
It's a bit like a honeymoon in a marriage. You can have a great honeymoon, but you might have a terrible marriage. Or you can have a terrible honeymoon, and you might have a great marriage. I often read about celebrities who have these amazing lavish wedding ceremonies and go to the best honeymoon destinations, only to have their marriage fall apart in a few years, or even a few months or weeks.
My grandparents got married just as the Second World War was about to end. They wore borrowed clothes for their wedding and ate ration food. But their marriage lasted for over 70 years until my granddad died. Our relationship with God is meant to be like a fantastic marriage where it gets better and better with time. That's what matters, the long term.
And God loves this. You know he wants the best for us. Broken relationships cause so much damage. And all around us in society, we see broken hearts. Maybe your heart's broken right now. People whose lives are hurt and messed up, God doesn't want that. He loves us. He doesn't want anyone to get hurt.
Paul doesn't condemn us for our failings in his writings. The society he was writing to was very immoral. And there's no sense of condemnation here at all. He just says, don't do this any longer. He doesn't say you are terrible people for doing this in the past. He says, don't conform any longer to the pattern of this world. God forgives us. We can always make a new start. And today can be a fresh start for you if you want it!
Radical Love
And then, in here, you see some other beautiful things about love. Jesus teaching about love is so radical in a good way. He says, love your enemy. And Paul expounds this by saying, don't take revenge, bless those who curse you. Love your enemies. If they're hungry, feed them. If they're thirsty, give them something to drink. To be a Christian is radical. It's not just, oh, I'm going to be a bit nicer. It is all about amazing love, love for God, love for other people, and even our enemies.
These are some of God's treasures in store when we leave behind the rubbish.
#2 - Present your bodies as a living sacrifice
The second thing I want to highlight from the passage that we read is this, present your bodies as a living sacrifice. That means everything that we have, including our time. Our time is our most valuable possession. We can get more money, but we can't get more time.
Set your priorities right
I heard of an advertisement in an East African newspaper. And this is a genuine advert. It was a Kenyan farmer who was looking for a wife. And he advertised in the personal columns of the East African standard. And this is the advert he put in.
"Farmer seeks lady with a tractor, with view to companionship and possible marriage. Please send picture of tractor."
It's easy to get our priorities wrong. But when we experience God's love and a relationship with him, our priorities change.
Pray and seek God everyday
I would encourage you to put God first, make a commitment today, to say every day I'm going to spend a few minutes praying and reading the Bible and connecting with God. Praying is just talking to God and listening to him. We talked about that a few weeks ago. That will transform our relationship with God because all relationships are based on communication.
Have Godly fellowship
We also need other people. We can't do this on our own. Make meeting up with other people who want to follow God a priority. I make CROWD church and our midweek group a priority every week because I need other people to encourage me in my faith, and they need me. It's a time to come together with a group of amazing people to worship God, discuss the Bible and pray for one another. That is how we keep our relationship with God and prioritise it.
Be ambitious but prioritise
How about ambitions? To present ourselves as a living sacrifice means to give God our aspirations. Should a Christian be ambitious? Jesus' answer is yes. He commands us to be ambitious. He says, Seek first the kingdom of God, and all the other stuff that you seek after will be yours. But what he's saying is, don't make the secondary things your primary ambition.
Supposing you make loads of money, you get to Heaven, and you say to God, here I am. And God says, well, what have you done with your life? Well, I've made loads of money. And God says, oh, wow, that's going to be so helpful here. We can play Monopoly with that. Do you get my point?
Other people might make their ambition to be top of their profession. For example, someone might say, I want to be governor of the Bank of England. So you get to Heaven, God says, what did you do with your life? You say, well, I was the governor of the Bank of England. And God says, oh, well, we haven't had one of those before. What point Am I trying to make? Those are great as secondary ambitions if your primary ambition is the kingdom of God.
If you say I want to make lots of money because I know that I can help eradicate disease or help the poor through the money, I can make a difference in this world. Brilliant ambition. Suppose you want to be governor of the Bank of England because that's a prominent position in our society. That's a place where you can make a difference in people's lives, a difference in community and God's kingdom? Brilliant ambition. Go for it. But don't make it your primary purpose.
Money is such a blessing, or it can be. I encourage you to be the most generous giver. It's so liberating. Jesus said it's much more blessed to give than to receive. If you want to be blessed, give lots. Become the most generous person, you know.
Our bodies, a living sacrifice!
Our Ears
How are our ears? What do we listen to? Do we just listen to rubbish, gossip or stuff like that? Or do we listen to stuff that builds us up and encourages us?
Our Eyes
We can use our eyes to look in lust and jealousy, or we can use them to look at people and say, that's a person God loves, and I'm going to love that person. I want to bring blessing to that person.
Our Mouths
The Bible says the tongue is so powerful. It's small, but it's potent. With this little thing, we can curse someone. We can wreck someone's life with our tongue, but we can also bless people. Let's be determined to use our words to build people up.
Do you realise that you can encourage someone and make a massive difference to that person's day? Encouragement is like verbal sunshine. I love that phrase! It doesn't cost anything, but it warms people's hearts. It changes lives. And we can bring blessing every single day to people's lives with this little instrument.
Our Hands
Do we use our hands to take or to serve?
Our sexuality
For our gratification or the good and pleasure of our marriage partner?
Paul says, present your bodies as a living sacrifice. The extraordinary paradox is this. We think that if we do that, we'll lose our freedom, but actually, it's the way to find our freedom. St. Augustine says this about serving God,
“His service is perfect freedom.”
- St. Augustine
So Paul says, present your bodies as a living sacrifice. That means that there'll be a cost. There's a cost in sacrifice. Jesus didn't come to make our life easy. He came to make it great. So there'll be lots of challenges. So firstly, we turn away from the rubbish in our lives and secondly, we make God and His kingdom our main priority. That brings us to the third point.
#3 - Know God’s good & perfect will for your life
Let’s start with a story. I heard of a wealthy English Baron called Baron Fitzgerald, who had only one son. Now, this son tragically died at a very young age. The Baron was devastated. So he decided to invest his life in paintings and collected valuable paintings by the masters. And when he died, his will called for there to be an auction. People from all over the world came to bid on the paintings because they were so valuable. But he laid down detailed instructions about what was to happen in his will.
And he said, at the auction, the first painting he wanted to be sold was the painting titled “My beloved son”. And this was a painting from way before he got interested in art. It wasn't very well done, and it wasn't really of any value except for sentimental value. Only one person bid on it. It was someone who'd worked for the family, knew the son, and loved the son. He bid for it and got it for a minimal sum. And then the second clause in the will said this, whoever buys my son gets everything. The auction is over!
And that's what Paul is saying, God says, whoever has my son has everything. If God was prepared to give his only son for us because He loves us so much, will he not provide us with everything else as well?
Paul says He wants you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice so that you can prove what's God's will for your life. God's will for your life is good. That is to say, God has good things for you to do in life, and it's pleasing, it will please you, and it's perfect. You can't do better than God. There's no point saying, well, I can do it without God. We're not meant to do it without God. God calls us to a relationship, a partnership. We go through life with him. And that's what makes it so exciting.
You have great things ahead of you in your life. God loves you. He wants to pour His love into your heart by the Holy Spirit. He wants to give you this love for other people, for the world. Love for your enemy. That's what the Holy Spirit does. He gives us His love. And He has a great purpose for your life that is good. It's pleasing. It's perfect. And he wants you to make a difference with your life.
So firstly, let's turn away from the rubbish in our lives. Secondly, let's make God and His kingdom our main priority. And thirdly, let's allow the Holy Spirit to guide us into living His way because it's the best way to live!
CONVERSATION STREET
Questions we ask this week
Conversation Street is part of our live stream, where the hosts (in this case, Matt) chat through Sharon’s talk and answer questions that were sent in through the live stream. You can watch the conversation in the video, it starts at 47 min 39 seconds into the live stream, or you can go straight there by clicking the button below. This week’s questions and topics of conversation are:
How can you recognise & deal with self-sabotaging behaviours?
Where do you need to be ambitious? And where are you ambitious?
If you feel God has promised something for your life, how long should you hold on before you totally give up?
How does procrastination and lack of self-worth affect us?
What is the paradox of choice? How does it affect our priorities?
