Pastor Dan Eddy
John 1: 35-38
2 Chronicles 1:7-12 Galatians 5:19-26
What do you want
from Jesus?
I. Introduction – Desires – My desire for
a girlfriend
The summer of
1988 was great for me. It was the first time in my life that I had a serious
girlfriend. Her name was Jan. Before her, the most I’d ever dated a woman was
three, maybe four times.
We met through a
Christian singles group in
She was
fulfilling my desire…to have a girlfriend. Well about a year and a half into our
dating relationship, hints were being dropped from friends and family: “When are you guys going to get married?”
Sheer panic came
over me: “Get married!! We’re not even
engaged!!”
One of my good
friends said, “Then why are you two
still dating?”
I had never
thought that maybe Jan’s desire was to find a husband, while I was just happy having
a girlfriend. My desire was being fulfilled while hers was not.
We broke up
shortly thereafter. She married someone within five years. I, on the other
hand, had almost 9 years of utterly disastrous dating.
I learned that
desires in life can be good but we can often seek them to our determinant.
In this morning’s
Gospel reading Jesus asked a question of Andrew and the Apostle John. They were
John the Baptist’s Disciples, and when he announced Jesus as the “Lamb of God” they began to follow
Christ. So, Jesus turned around and asked, “What
do you want?” In others, “What are
you seeking from me?”
What are your
desires in life? A stronger marriage, better grades, more income, less stress
in your life, more time for yourself and family.
Desires come from
not being satisfied with the status quo. What Andrew and John were desiring
from life was more than they were receiving, and they were expecting Jesus to
fill the void.
What do you want from Jesus? Our Bible texts for this morning help us
answer that question in such a way so that our desires in life match Christ’s.
(Put up graphic #1) Whatever your desires
in life…you get what you want from Jesus when you surrender yourself to Him and
are captured by Christ, and that involves three things.
II. First, identifying your desires and whether
you are fulfilling them in godly ways.
Desires in and of
themselves are not necessarily bad. The problem may come in how you want them fulfilled.
Desiring to date someone is good as long
as one is not violating the Sixth Commandment on adultery. Wanting more income
for your family is admirable as long as you’re not bearing false witness
against your co-worker to get that promotion, or stealing time away from your
family or congregation to get it. Wanting better grades at school to get into college
or obtain a scholarship is a noble cause as long as you don’t cheat to get
there, or stealing time away from your family and congregation.
Our desires
become dangerous when our lives begin looking like the smelly bad fruit
described in Galatians 5: jealousy, selfish ambition, envy, idolatry…where the god you worship is YOU. When your desires become all about you,
that’s when they become corrupt.
Back
to Jan and me for a moment. What I failed to see in our relationship was she
wanted more than a boyfriend, and it was selfish on my part to not see that and
end our relationship sooner. She was mature and ready for marriage; I was not.
And one of the
worst things you can do in identifying and fulfilling your desires is to play
the comparison game….the coveting
conspiracy. It’s when you see your neighbor has a bigger house and you
despise your own. It’s when it appears your friends have more money and you
begin to loathe your income. It’s anytime you think God has blessed someone
else in life more than you. That when seeking to fulfill desires in a godly way
turns to fulfilling your desires at virtually any cost, maybe even at the cost of your eternal life.
If you’re going
to compare your desires with anyone…compare them to God’s desires for you.
Hebrews 4:12 (NIV): “For the word of God
is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even
to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and
attitudes of the heart.”
And when we see
that our desires are not good, or that we are not fulfilling them in godly
ways, let God’s Word draw the sin out of you by confessing it in your prayers
and on your lips. Remember Jesus suffered on the cross to death to destroy the
everlasting condemning effects of your desires being fulfilled in ungodly ways.
Let His Spirit assure you of His everlasting forgiveness so that your desires
match His and He can help you fulfill them in godly ways.
And how exactly
do we do that? How do we know what the Lord’s desires are for your lives today?
Well that brings us to point #2.
III. Second, seeking the Lord’s desires
through asking Him for Wisdom
Here’s where our
Old Testament text from 2 Chronicles 2 is priceless. 16-year-old Solomon has
just been crowned
But Solomon was
humbled by the throne he inherited and the enormous tasks ahead of him. He
could have asked for more weapons, chariots, warriors on the one hand to
increase the security of his kingdom. On the other hand, he could have asked
for more land, more wealth, and more luxuries in life. After all, he inherited
the richest, most powerful kingdom in the world at that time. And he could have
asked the Lord to wipe every enemy from the face of the earth. God was playing
the genie in the bottle so Solomon could have asked for anything.
Yet he didn’t. He
asked God for wisdom. Not worldly wisdom that looks and sounds good on the
surface, but is shallow underneath. No, he was seeking the Lord’s Wisdom. You see Solomon didn’t want God to do this all for him, but wanted the Lord to
work through him…a very wise thing.
You see our
desires change in life, as we age, as we mature, as circumstances in life are
altered. So rather than be the spoiled brat and say, “Give me, give me, give me,” Solomon wanted God inside his heart
guiding him. Because the Lord knows us better than we know ourselves, including
our weaknesses. God knows what we will face before we face it. Therefore,
because He loves you and cares for you…God will guide you in wisdom to His
desires for your lives and how we are to act as His children.
From the tree of
humility comes the good fruit spawned by the Holy Spirit in our hearts…”love, joy,
peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and
self-control.” These are
godly expressions of the faith in Christ, planted at our baptism.
Often when we
live these expressions of faith, it shows how mature we are in the Lord. But
often God has to discipline and test us in order to bring these good smelling
fruits out of us. That’s why obstacles may exist in obtaining your desires in
life. The tests to your faith are there to see if you will really appreciate
what you truly want in life.
Sometimes we have
to learn from our mistakes. After I broke up with Jan, I had 9 years of utterly
disastrous dating. I should write a book about it sometime. Through those years, the Lord was showing me
that I was seeking the wrong things, the wrong characteristics in a wife. I was
looking at the shallow and being shallow. Once humbled by my experiences, the
Lord opened my eyes to see to look for someone better. And her name is Berta. But it took years of
interacting with God’s Word, praying persistently, and then looking to God’s
desires for me through living everyday life.
Compare your
desires with God’s, do they match?
Remember what the
Holy Spirit told Solomon to say about Wisdom in Proverbs 8. Wisdom
speaks: “I was appointed from eternity,
from the beginning, before the world began.” “I was there when he set the heavens in place.” “Then I was the craftsman at his
side.”
So what may seem a little confusing in Proverbs is made abundantly clear
if we let God’s Word interpret itself. 1 Corinthians 1:30 (ESV): “…you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us
wisdom from God…”
Solomon was
seeking Christ to fulfill His desires, and we are no different today. Except we
know Christ as Jesus, the one who fulfilled all of God’s desires for us by
living the perfect life, being His servant on earth, dying on the cross to
redeem us from our sins, and giving us faith in Him by Word and Sacraments, so
that He can be a personal, loving and wise God to help you realize your desires.
Our Lord and
Savior hasn’t just promised to fulfill our eternal desires, but has completed
many of them for us today. And that brings us to the last point:
IV. Lastly, acknowledging and thanking the
Lord when your desires have been met and living true contentment in Christ
If we don’t take
an assessment of our life and see where the Lord has fulfilled our desires than
we can never really live in true contentment. And life becomes unsatisfying as
we can never experience true moments of peace. And if we can never experience
contentment, giving praise to Christ, then fulfilling our desires will result
in alcoholism, sexually immorality, excessive gambling, greed, jealousy,
back-biting, gossiping, hatred…the bad fruit of Galatians 5.
Years ago, I had
a poster hanging in my room and it said,
“Contentment is more than a kingdom.” And of all things in the poster was a
picture of a European, Dutch windmill like this one. (Bring out windmill). And first, when someone gave me the poster I
thought what an odd thing to associate with a kingdom…“a windmill?” But I got a sense of peace looking at that poster,
because the blades on the windmill reminded me of Christ on the cross.
Our desires always
begin and end with Him: your baptism; His supper. He’s not the genie God in a bottle, but a Savior
we have faith in who in fulfilling His desires for our lives is making us more
than a believer…He is making us His disciples. That’s what ended up happening
to Andrew and John as they continued to follow Jesus to become two of the 12 Apostles.
For me the latest
chapter in acknowledging and thanking the Lord for fulfilling life’s desires is
when I think of Berta and our 10 years of marriage. I am not a perfect husband
and we have not had a perfect marriage, but I wouldn’t have traded the last 10
years for anything or to be with anyone else. That’s contentment. And although
we have lived in four different homes in three different cities, the Lord has
given me Berta to help further mature my faith and make me a better disciple of
Jesus.
In case you
hadn’t noticed…our desires are not all about us. In His book, 8 Questions God Can’t Answer,
(Hold up book) author John Busacker
quotes evangelist Bill Hybels on desires: “The
less mature believe that God is for their plans and agenda. Jesus’ followers
have given up their lives and plans in complete surrender to Him. It is no
longer about them.”
Then Busacker
added we know this when our desires are supported by God’s Word and confirmed
by other believers in Christ. We quench our desires when we truly pursue His.
What do you want
from Jesus? In this morning adult Bible class you will have a chance to explore
this for yourself and hopefully begin to live a life of greater contentment and
security in the Lord. Amen.