Justin's last sermon...

 Ok-so this is hopefully NOT Justin's last sermon ever, but it is his last as our Family Life Pastor at SMC. Sadly this message wasn't captured in any other way but by this manuscript. This is a good sermon and a solid Word from the Lord for all of us. Thanks Justin for faithfully preaching one more time for us...  -tm

What Do You Want? – John 1:35-39 - 2.19.23

While in a pastor huddle recently, a pastor there gave a devotional challenging us with some of the thoughts I will be challenging you with today

I want to start first by asking you a couple of questions and you can feel free to shout out your answer

What is the most important question you have ever asked someone?

All of those are very important questions

The one that immediately came to my mind was, “Will you marry me?”

I knew what the answer would be, but it was still a very important question and super nervous

But I think even more important than that is this question, “Will you forgive me?”

This has eternal significance when we ask Jesus this question

And the awesome thing is we already know the answer

We know this will be the answer every time we ask it

And it’s a resounding YES

So the next question I have for you is: What is the most important question someone else has ever asked you?

I had a harder time thinking of this one, but what came to my mind was “How are you really doing?”

Some of my teens can attest to that question

So when you sit down with someone, they typically ask you, how are you doing?

I usually answer with some surface answers, maybe half-truths

Then, after that is out of the way, I had someone ask me how I was really doing

That took me back and I had to think and be vulnerable now

What that person meant by that is how were me and Jesus really doing, how is life really going?

This gets to the heart of the most important relationship anyone can have and while there are some points of struggle with it, it’s a great conversation to have

Another one that came to my mind is how can I help?

This is such a selfless question to ask and one that shows care and love toward another person

We are asked questions and we ask questions all the time

And so did Jesus

WE

I want us to take a look at some of the questions Jesus asked and specifically the first recorded question Jesus asked in the Gospel of John

According to Martin Copenhaver, author of Jesus is the Question, Jesus asks 307 questions in the Gospels, he is asked 183 questions and he only answers 3 of them

So to say that Jesus is a great answer giver is simply not what the Gospels reflect

To say that he is a master question asker is much more accurate

He asks questions like:

Who do you say that I am?

Where are you staying?

Do you love me?

Do you want to get well?

Where is your faith?

Why have you forsaken me?

And the all-important question, do you have anything to eat?

But I want to focus on the first question we see Jesus asking in the Gospel of John

What do you want?

Other versions of the Bible you may read it as what are you looking for? What are you seeking?

If we look at that word in the Greek language, we find that it can be translated to see in order to find, to strive after, to crave, and in other places in the Bible for this Greek word, we see the word desire being used

What do you want can come across as a question like someone is bothering Jesus

But it is meant as one of genuine interest and deep introspective searching

What do you desire?

GOD

Turn with me in your Bibles to John chapter 1, verse 35

This passage is just following the introduction John gives us about the Word of God being flesh and dwelling among us

Also, John the Baptist has already pointed to Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, he baptized Jesus and Jesus had spent 40 days in the wilderness being tempted by Satan

We pick up the story in verse 35

There are a couple of significant things I would like to point out in this passage

The two disciples were followers of John, but at his announcement of Jesus, the two immediately followed Jesus

This is exactly what John was preparing people for

He was telling others about Jesus and making the way for him

And with that purpose in mind, he had to have been so happy that his disciples believed him and transitioned to following Jesus at John’s word

As Jesus was going along, he notices them following and asks a question

This is the first question he asks as he starts his ministry

He asks, what do you want?

I can’t say that I would have expected that to be the first recorded question Jesus asks at the start of his ministry

I can’t say I would have expected Jesus to ask any questions at the beginning of his ministry

He has the plan and he should lay it out, right?

Big WRONG

If we know anything about Jesus, we know he is interested in people first and foremost

With that in mind, why wouldn’t his first question be one in which he hears from others?

But it is one that cuts deep and gets to the heart of their being

What do you DESIRE?

Before we talk about the disciple’s answer, what is yours?

What do you desire?

I bet your mind is going a million miles a minute

But I really feel this lines up with the heart of Jesus

Ask, seek, knock

He will give you the desires of your heart

Jesus wants to know what you desire

Out of all the things that the disciples could have said, they asked this question

Rabi, where are you staying?

They acknowledged that he is someone they can follow and learn from

And they also indicated by that question that they have so many more questions, but we just want to be with you for as long as we can

And did you catch what Jesus said, I would imagine with a smile on his face

“Come and see”

What a wonderful invitation into Jesus’ life

He wasn’t forcing anyone to come with him, but invited them to come, if they really wanted to spend time with him

And they took him up on that offer

They spent the whole day with him

What do you think they talked about?

Scripture doesn’t really say, but my hunch is it wasn’t about Jesus’ agenda

You remember what his first question was, right?

What do you desire?

And I bet Jesus spent the whole day talking to those two about their desires

I asked you a couple of minutes ago what you desire

And I don’t know if that answer has changed in the time we talked over this passage of Scripture or not

But it can be such a hard question to answer

We want our children to grow up healthy and making good choices

We want to love our spouse the best we are humanly able

We want to be successful, purposeful, known, and loved

We want peace in our communities

But are those really what we desire

If we aren’t too careful, those desires can fall into us trying to make that desire happen

And that can be a recipe for unfulfillment, maybe even disaster

My mind goes to the story of Mary and Martha

Let’s read from Luke 10 verses 38-42

This example of desires is a very convicting one

We have Martha who has desires, right

She wants her guests served and taken care of

Mary has desires too

And she just wants to be with Jesus

When Martha complains to Jesus about her sister not helping, he simply says that she is doing what is better

We have two instances where Jesus affirms the desire to be with him

It would seem to me that above all desires, we would personally want to be with him

But what does that look like?

We can’t sit around the table with him or rub shoulders with him

Or can we?

Our desire to be with him looks like this service on a Sunday morning

It looks like Bible studies at a coffee shop

Because we know that Jesus and coffee are like two peas in a pod

It looks like sharing devotions around the supper table

It looks like spending personal time with him

What if our desires transitioned from things that we think we can control to the one who controls everything 

When our desire lines up with knowing and being with Jesus, everything will happen and take place in the way that God desires

Sometimes those things are different than we expect or wish, but we ultimately know its best

For me, I really thought about that question during this transition time, a lot early on

As God was continually making clear how he has gifted me for ministry, I desired to learn from him with what that meant for the way I ministered

In my time at Smithville, he has made it evidently clear that the gifts he has instilled in me are administration and leadership

I have gradually found ways within my role at Smithville that I could live out those gifts with still being faithful to the call God has placed on my life at Smithville

You have been gracious to allow me to test those gifts in many different ways by introducing many tools we use at Smithville

I am grateful for that because you have given me the platform to strengthen my gifts that God has revealed to me in my life so that I would be faithful to the call he has placed on my life in this next season

You have invested in the Kingdom in that way

But now, I want to turn to you as a church

What is it that you desire as a church?

I have been with you for 8 and ½ years now and I feel I have a good idea of your heartbeat as a church

One thing is very clear, you love people

I have seen you talk with people, come alongside people, and minister to people

I have been one of them

People are your thing

What I would challenge you with is which people?

Where we have seen very healthy growth is with the older people

You guys rally around those that are in the same age bracket and/or life situation and it is awesome to see

Where we are seeing a struggle is with the younger demographic

I want to challenge you to answer the question, what do you want?

As a church, it would make sense to me to do what Jesus wants the church to do

He has raised up leaders in this church who are passionately seeking the heart of God to answer that question

Engage them, talk with them, hear them out, and share together each other’s heartbeats

One thing that I have loved about SMC is the unity felt here, even in the midst of tough decisions

You have proved to each other that with time and conversation, unity can be found

Right now is a crucial time for SMC and God wants to be in the midst of it

Seek the heart of God and truly answer the “what do you want” question he is asking the church

I trust that God will bring unity to the answer to that question

What’s more is that sometimes the answer to that question, as we have stated before, is obvious as the disciples and Mary have shown us

But how that is lived out can be the more vital conversation

The way that is lived out could have so many different avenues

A pastor once told me this in reference to God: you may have anything on the menu, what do you want, but it has to be on the menu

What’s on the menu at SMC?

And can everyone agree on what to get?

There most likely are many things that God would be glad if SMC went after, but what is that one thing (or few) that you all, as a church, desire and can go hard after?

Maybe, for a time, it is as the disciples and Mary showed us

That we sit at the feet of Jesus and just be with him

When we make time and space for that, we are shown things that he is asking of us

And I think we ought to be open-minded and ok with some discomfort if we truly are open to what God is desiring 

God has amazing things in store for you as a church, SMC

YOU

I trust that the days ahead for you are bright and God-honoring

I encourage you to really contemplate the question, what do you want?

Jesus is just itching to hear from you and have your passions and desires align with his

When you personally answer the question, what do you want? what does it look like?

Are those answers ones that you tend to stay in control of or is it giving complete control over to God with his desires knowing that the best things will ultimately take place?

As a church, when you answer that question, is it forward-looking and open to anything?

God is interested in doing a new thing and I don’t want you to miss it

WE

When I heard this devotional given at our pastor’s huddle, I was so convicted to challenge you with that question

My desire for you as a church is that you would thrive in connecting others to the forgiveness that Jesus offers each one of us

Most of us have experienced that

My desire is that you keep the main thing the main thing and everything else as secondary

Don’t get caught up in the things Satan puts before us to trip us up

Whether they seem good or bad

I want to truly thank you for the 8 ½ years you have allowed me and my family to serve here at SMC

You have loved us, taught us, and journeyed alongside us in so many ways

We truly love you all and we will forever be grateful to have served here and built the amazing relationships we have

I look forward to seeing and hearing about how God uses SMC to further his kingdom here on Earth

Let’s pray