Setting Goals
October 6, 2019 • Proverbs 16:1–9
Audio Transcript:
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Heavenly Father, we thank you that are a god who loves us so much that you gave your son, Jesus Christ, for us.
Jesus, we thank you that you were the most goal oriented person who has ever lived. You came with the goal to save us, to transform us, to redeem us from our sins. We thank you for your substitutionary atonement on the cross in our place, bearing the wrath of god for the wickedness and the sin that each one of us commits, sins of omission, sins of commission. We thank you for that, Jesus. We thank you for the gospel, that by grace through faith, your righteousness is transferred to us. We thank you for that.
We thank you Holy Spirit, that you have come and you empower us when we ask for strength, when we ask for a filling, you come and you lead, you guide, you infuse us with wisdom and love. We pray that you continue to do that.
Continue to build your church, Jesus. This is your church, not ours. Continue to use us as well to build your kingdom. Today, remind us that you have a purpose for us, that you have goals for us. The primary goal is to live for the glory of God, and show us how that can practically work itself out in our lives today as we turn our attention to the holy scriptures. We pray all this in Christ's name. Amen.
We're in a sermon series that we're calling Tough and Tender: Developing Resilience For Life. Why this sermon series? First of all, because we are weak. In and of ourselves, we are weak. In particular when it comes to spiritual life. Holy scripture talks about spiritual life as a fight, fight that good fight of faith. We can't do that in and of ourselves, by our own strength or resources. We need strength from the Lord. That's number one.
The second reason why we chose to do this series is because we live in a culture that has, it's grown weak. It's a weak sauce culture. Back in the day, when life was hard, like, before indoor plumbing and electricity, the philosophy of the day was stoicism. The philosophy of the day today is what I affectionately call snowicism.
We melt under the so-called pressures of life. I can't even. Just even coming in a space like this, where it's like, "What's the WiFi password?" We're not telling you. No WiFi. The only invisible force that we connect with us God. That's why we're here.
That's why we're doing the sermon series, to develop this resilience for life that we need because we live in a broken world as broken people. We need the strength of God.
Week one, we talked about the lion-lamb paradox, that Jesus Christ is both the Lion of Judah and the Lamb of God. When we worship him, we become more like him, both tough and tender simultaneously.
The second week we talked about taking responsibility for ourselves, our lives, our calling. Because we will give an account to God for absolutely everything.
Last week, we talked about speaking and receiving truth in love.
Today we're talking about goals. In a very important way, our lives are the sum of the decisions we make. Are you living by design, or are you living by default? Holy scripture says be careful. Pay attention to what you have received, what you have heard, lest we drift away, lest we coast through life.
The question before us today is should Christians set goals? The answer is yes, but. We are to set goals with a lion-like confidence, set them and pursue them, and simultaneously with a lamb-like humility, because we are not ultimately in control. We are responsible to do everything we possibly can to attain the goals that God has for us, and simultaneously we trust God to do the impossible.
To focus our attention, today we'll look at Proverbs 16:1-9. Would you look at the text with me?
"The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirit. Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established. The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble. Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord; be assured, he will not go unpunished. By steadfast love and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for, and by the fear of the Lord one turns away from evil. When a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues with injustice. The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps."
This is the reading of God's holy and infallible authoritative word. May he write these eternal truths upon our hearts. Four points to frame our time together. First we'll look at the lion-lamb paradox of goals. Then we'll look at pursuing goals like a lion. Then pursuing goals like a lamb. And finally, pursuing lion-lamb goals.
Number one, the lion-lamb paradox of goals. Life is paradoxical. It's not dualistic, but it is paradoxical. There are tensions in life and tensions in faith, not to be ironed out, but be embraced. Was Jesus Christ fully man or fully God? Yes. Are the holy scriptures written by people, or was it written by the Holy Spirit? Yes. Is the Church of God comprised of people, or is it the body of Christ? Yes. There are tensions. Is God in control, or are we responsible? Is God sovereign, or do we have jobs to do? Yes.
For example, you see this tension in scripture. When it comes to making plans for our lives, Luke 14:28. The words of Jesus, "For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down, count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?" There, Jesus is saying, if you are going to build something, you should sit down and think about not just the end product, but how you're going to get the resources you'll need. So you've got to plan.
Then Matthew 6:34 also says, "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself, sufficient for the day as its own trouble." Are we to plan for tomorrow, or are we not to be anxious about tomorrow? Yes. Plan, but plan in a way that's not anxiety riddled. Plan in a way that you were completely relying on God. It's a paradoxical tension. We make plans and we know that the outcome is ultimately up to the Lord.
You see this in Proverbs 16:1. The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. We're absolutely free to plan in our hearts, but everything is determined at the same time.
Proverbs 16:3. Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established by whom? By the Lord. Which is clarified in verse nine, "The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps."
Your plans are yours. We are to make plans. No one's forcing you. But the actual result of those plans, what will be accomplished, is totally controlled, totally set, totally planned, fixed, both at the same time. It's not deterministic, it's not fatalistic. It's not just destiny, whatever happens to me, God's already sovereign, I don't have to do anything. We are responsible. It's completely up to the Lord.
This is absolutely incredible, that God is absolutely sovereign, and he gives us freedom to make decisions that actually have real life implications, real eternal implications. On the one hand, praise God for his control.
Some of the most important decisions in your life you make as a teenager. Some of the most important decisions of your life you make in high school, you make in your early 20s. Decisions that impact the rest of your life. If I look back to my early 20s, I had plans for my life. Of those plans, I was probably wrong about 90% of them. In terms of career, in terms of relationships, in term of finances, 90%.
But God guides. I look back, I see the Lord guide there, guide there, guide there, guide there. And I'm so thankful to God, because even today, as we make decisions, if I was wrong about 90% back then, well, what's the percentage today? 50? I don't know. I have no idea.
We make plans, and we give them to the Lord. God relates your choices partially to your destiny, but he is the one who sets everything. God is sovereign, we are responsible. You are responsible, and yet, you can relax. I live my life like an Arminian and I sleep like a Calvinist. I do everything I possibly can. But I give it up to the Lord. God's in control.
How can I make sure that the Lord establishes my plans in a way that is beneficial to me? In a way where I am blessed? We want the Lord to bless us. We want God's best for our lives.
Well, the first step, the first step is you need to be reconciled with Christ. That's the ultimate goal. That we all have fallen short of the glory of God. We have all made plans and made decisions that didn't even have God in the equation. We need to be redeemed from that.
I'll just show you here from Proverbs 16:4-7, about in the context of making plans and fulfilling. Verse four says, "The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble." How does that sit with you? Whenever I read a passage, I'm like, I don't want to be in that category. God gives us verses like this to awaken us from the spiritual stupor, to make us ask ourselves, are we in that category of wicked?
Scripture says if you are not in Christ, you're in that category. How do you get in Christ? You accept his atonement for your sin, for your pride, for yourself, for your goal making, life planning apart from him.
This is verse five. "Everyone who is arrogant in heart," that's the pride, I'm in control of my life. "Everyone is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord; be assured, he will not go unpunished."
I love that the next verse is connected to this idea, "By steadfast love and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for." This right here, this is a prophecy of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Who's the only one who was completely faithful? The only one who was completely steadfast in love? The only one who could atone for our iniquities? Jesus Christ. By faith in Christ, through repentance, our sin is transferred to Christ on the cross. His righteousness is transferred to us. This is how salvation happens. This is how transformation happens. Iniquity is atoned for.
The first step in thinking about any life goals from a biblical perspective is, goal number one, where do I stand before God? Am I righteous before God, through the righteousness of Christ, or am I wicked? I don't want to be the wicked. Christ paid for my sin on the cross. I want to be in him. I want to be covered in his righteousness. Once you're in, God has plans for you, to bless you, to keep you and protect you, plans for you to glorify him with every ounce of your being.
Psalm 37:23, "The steps of the man are established by the Lord when he delights in his way." I want to be a person, when the Lord looks at my life, he delights in my way, because I am in Christ, abiding in Christ by grace through faith. That's point number one.
If you're not a Christian, the way that you get right with God is just in prayer, asking God, "God, forgive me. Forgive me for living in such a way where I haven't even thought about incorporating you in my plans. Living in such a way where basically God doesn't exist, I've ignored God, been absolutely indifferent to him. Grace through faith. That's point one.
Point two is pursue goals like a lion. Once you're in the Lord, once you're walking with God, God does give us goals to achieve for his glory, for our joy. This has to do with spiritual goals, but also really practical goals. We are to be a productive people for the glory of God. If you aim at nothing, you will hit it with amazing consistency. It's just common sense. If you want your life to be productive, you've got to set goals.
The common sense part, I think some Christians lose the common sense part, because we begin to over-spiritualize everything. Like, you get up in the morning, you're like, "Holy Spirit, should I brush your teeth," yes, it's common sense. "Should I go to my job?" Yeah, go to your job. You got bills to pay. The Holy Spirit does guide, but God also gives us an intellect and free will to make decisions. The Holy Spirit leads, but not only spontaneously.
I think by over-spiritualizing, we often, we use that as an excuse to cover our laziness. Laziness is a sin. Slothfulness is a sin. In the Parable of the Talents, Matthew says to the lazy, the lazy servant, the one who didn't do anything within the talent, he said, "You wicked and slothful servant." It's a sin.
Proverbs 6:6-11, talking about setting goals and productivity. "Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer, gathers her food in harvest. How long will you lie there, O sluggard? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to eat, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man."
Talking of the person who doesn't have goals, in particular during windows of opportunity. In the summer, the ant prepares for the winter, it's a window of opportunity. We need to plan ahead. A failure to plan ahead leads to poverty in all senses of that word. For some of you, you've got to ask yourself the question, is laziness, slothfulness keeping me from setting goals that God would have for me?
Proverbs 26:13-16, "The sluggard says, There is a lion in the road! There's a lion in the streets!" Excuse. I want to stay in bed, I want to keep sleeping. There's too much risk out there. If I set goals, I might not attain them. There might be some kind of risk.
Verse 14, "AS a door turns on its hinges, so does a sluggard in his bed." Lion out there, I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to keep sleeping.
"The sluggard buries his hand in the disk, and wears himself out to bring it back to his mouth." You see this progression, where it's like, excuses out there. I'm going to sleep. Oh, I'm hungry. He takes a dish and literally too lazy to feed himself. It's literally the Uber Eats of Proverbs. It's a business opportunity. I'm too lazy to walk down the street to get food.
"The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can answer sensibly." We have to recognize that there is this simple proclivity in Christians, the flesh that doesn't want to work. Sometimes that's the reason why we don't set goals. Perhaps though it's a lack of vision that keeps you from setting new goals.
Perhaps you've achieved everything you've set your mind to, and now you're like, "What's next?" I don't know. I've been in seasons like this. Okay, you get the degree. Now, what's next? Okay, I've got to set new goals. Sometimes it's a season of suffering. This pain came out of nowhere, and I'm trying to get through life. I can't imagine doing anything more than just getting through.
One example of this is Job 6:11. "What is my strength, that I should wait? What is my end, that I should be patient?" What is my end? He's saying, I have nothing to live for. I don't have a good goal to carry me through.
If we go to the Lord in that season, one of the things the Lord might say to us is, your goal in this season of suffering is to not waste the suffering, to continue glorifying God through the pain despite the pain.
That right there communicates volumes to an unbelieving world. The unbelieving world, it makes sense to them that you worship God because he gives you good things. It doesn't make sense to the world that, hey, even in your suffering, your greatest thing is God.
That right there might be the fresh goal that we need, the new vision that we need. I'm going to glorify God despite the suffering. If you're discouraged, maybe you need to take that to the Lord and say, "Lord, what would you have for me in this season?"
Proverbs 21:5, "The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes into poverty."
Proverbs 11:27, "Whoever diligently seeks good," whoever sets good goals is another translation, says, "will be honored, but evil comes to him who searches for it." Perhaps you're not setting goals, just goals in general, because there's a lack of faith. "This isn't possible for me, I can't attain that."
The scripture says all things are possible for the one who believes. Because what are goals? Goals are statements of faith. Lord, if you don't show up, if you don't give me power, I can't attain this.
Some of you perhaps, you live so comfortably you don't even need faith. If that's the case, you need new goals. Because without faith, it's impossible to please God. We need to set goals.
Is fear keeping you from setting goals? I'll give you one example. Psalm 3, King David has just lost his kingdom to his son Absalom, and he's sitting down and he's crying out to the Lord, "What do I do? I've lost everything I've worked for."
Psalm 3:1, "O Lord, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me; many are saying of my soul, There is no salvation for him in God." He's gotten to this place where he's like, people around him are saying, "Why are you a Christian? Why are you a follower of God. He's not providing for you." People are attacking his identity. There is no salvation for him.
As they're attacking his identity, he's reminded of his true identity. That's verse three. "But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head."
What's he doing right here? Commentaries say the reason why he's reminding himself, that's what he's doing, he's reminding himself that his glory is not in his kingdom. That his salvation is not in his kingdom. This identity isn't in his kingdom. His protection, security isn't in his kingdom. It's in God.
"You, O Lord, are a shield about me." His identity is secure in God. Meaning, that's his greatest asset. His greatest asset is that he is saved, he has salvation from the Lord. He has God. He is protected by the shield of God. God is his glory.
So, the point is, he's reminding himself, I've lost everything, but I have everything. There's no real risk to his most real assets. The greatest asset that he has is his relationship with the Lord. Things can come, things can go. There's nothing to fear. That informs our understanding of risk, of volatility. No matter what happens, the Lord is with me.
He continues in verse four, "I cried aloud to the Lord, he answered me from the holy hill. I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the Lord sustained me. I will be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around. Arise, O Lord! Save me, O my God! For you strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked. Salvation belongs to the Lord; your blessing be on your people."
Perhaps sin is keeping you from pursuing godly goals, goals that God would have for you. This is Proverbs 28:1, "The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as lions." What sin does, is it causes fear.
You see this correlation between wickedness and fear here in general. The correlation of wickedness and fear, and righteousness and boldness. He's talking about boldness in terms of justice.
If you are in Christ, you are covered by the righteousness of Christ, you're ensconced, enveloped of the presence of God. If there is sin in your life, habitual sin, unrepented sin, take it to the Lord. Repent of that sin. Perhaps it's that sin that's pulling you away.
Nothing so ennobles, nothing so fortifies a person as being in the Lord, abiding in Christ, for the person committed to Christ. Lord, no matter what, I know I'm weak, I know I'm a sinner, but I'm believing in Christ, I'm repenting of sin. You're in Christ, and you're clothed in the assurance that God is with you.
Pursue goals like a lion. But pursue goals also like a lamb. Meaning, the goals that we set, lion-like goals, are to be set humbly under the guidance of the Good Shepherd. What are the goals that the Good Shepherd has for me? It's goals set in accordance with God's will, under his leadership, in submission to him.
We get an example of this in Philippians 3:12-14. Saint Paul is saying, I've got one goal. My goal is to be faithful to Christ, I'm going to be faithful to the end. I'm going to pursue this on a daily basis, because I want everything in my life, every single ounce of my energy yielded to Christ.
He says, "Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own." He said, my ultimate goal is to be faithful to Christ. I don't have any righteousness of my own. Christ is my righteousness. But because Christ is my righteousness, I want to be righteous, so I'm going to do everything I can to do that.
He says, "Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind, straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." I've got a goal. I've got one goal. This one thing I do, I'm straining forward. I'm agonizing for it.
He had many goals, multiple goals. He said, but all of my goals are in submission to the one goal of, I want to be faithful to God, I want to glorify God with everything that I have. That goal gives you energy when you're sad. It gives you hope when you're lacking. It gives you inspiration. It gives you the power to endure. They build your character. So whatever the goal is, Lord, help me. I want to glorify you through this means.
As we're working on those goals, God's working on you, because for God, faithfulness is more important than fruitfulness. Saint Paul didn't say, "I have this one goal. I'm going to plant churches all over the Roman Empire." He said, "No, I have this one goal. I want to be faithful to the Lord. As we're faithful to the Lord, he makes us fruitful." That's number one.
Then number two, for the overly rigid goal setters, some of you are overly rigid. You've got your whole life reverse engineered. You have like a detailed business plan for your life. This is where humility comes in. I am just a little lamb following the Good Shepherd.
James 4:13-17, "Come now, you who say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit." This is to us. I'm going to go to Boston for a year, maybe two years. I'm going to get the degree. I'm going to get the experience. Then I'm out.
"Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that." You see the balance? You've still got to plan, if the Lord wills. Is this God's will? I'm recognizing, if God gives me more time. If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.
"As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin." So yeah. Goals, lion goals, but lamb-like, because it's under Christ and humility, if the Lord wills. James isn't saying, do it, but you do it in submission to the Lord.
Sometimes we have great godly goals for ministry. God sometimes stops and says, "No, that's not my will." One example of this is Acts 16:6-7. "And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia." That's fascinating. Doesn't God want the word of God spoken everywhere? It wasn't the time. It's forbidden by the Holy Spirit.
"And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them." Again, no. Good goals, I've got a better goal for you. Humbly surrender your agendas, your ambitions, your plans to God, and God, this open hand, if this is yours, but in whatever I do, I'm going to seek the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, asking for God's wisdom. And as we do, God gives it to us generously.Proverbs 16:9, "The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps."
Finally, point four, pursuing lion-lamb goals. I'm going to give you 10 really practical specific ways that we can use to think through our goal making, goal attaining. Number one, start with prayer. By the way, point four has 10 points. I don't want to scare you. 10 really practical and rapid fire...
Number one, start with prayer. Go to the Lord. Say, "Lord, I'm humbly coming to you. I have this desire in my heart, I have this goal, but I'm bringing it to you." What prayer does is, it sifts through our goals. What prayer does, it doesn't just move the hand of God, it does that, but it also shapes our heart. It moves our heart.
Will this goal honor God? Will this goal increase my faith? Will this goal make me love God more, enlarge my heart, allow me to love people more? It keeps you from planning unrealistically, irresponsibly, and it keeps you focused on the most important goals, which is to honor God, glorify God.
Hebrews 13:20-21, "Now may the God of peace who brought from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of his eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen." This is a great prayer to pray in terms of discerning goals.
Psalm 25:4-5, "Make me know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long."
Psalm 32:8, this is the response of the Lord when we pray like that. "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you."
Psalm 37:3-6, "Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday." Number one, pray.
Number two, check your heart. Check your motivations. What's motivating me in setting these goals? Are these goals motivated by love? God doesn't bless goals that are motivated by greed, by envy, by fear, by worry, by anxiety, et cetera.
He does bless goals motivated by love. 1 Corinthians 16:14, "Let all that you do be done in love." 1 Corinthians 14:1, "Pursue love." Another translation says, "Love should be your greatest goal."
Number three, categorize goals. This is really practical. You have the one goal as a Christian, to be faithful to God, glorify God. Now how does that work itself out practically? Here's the categories that you might have. This is how I think through things in terms of priorities.
Of all my goals, there's got to be spiritual underpinnings obviously. So I have spiritual goals. I need to set a plan for how much time I'm going to spend with God, quantity time, and when I set quantity time, quality time happens. I'm very regimented when it comes to how much scripture intake and times I block off to be with the Lord.
Why? Because all of my other goals have spiritual underpinnings. I have goals when it comes to worshiping God by myself, but worshiping God corporately, I have goals to attend worship services. I have a goal every single Sunday, I'm going to be at a worship services at Mosaic. Not just because I have to.
This is really important. I meet a lot of Christians who take vacations from God, from church. There's a commandment, remember the Lord, your God, and remember the Sabbath day. You take a day. I'm going to be with the Lord.
I see this in particular to the 11:15 service. No offense if you were here last week at the 9:30 service. We had one service last week, and attendance dropped by 150. You know what that communicated to me? That communicated to me there's a lot of people who just go when it's convenient.
This is the coach pep talk, Pastor Jan Bill Belichick talk. I have a commitment to the Lord. I'm going to worship God every Sunday. I have a commitment to communion groups. I'm going to be in the communion because I need Christians in my life to hold me accountable, and I need to serve other Christians as well.
Spiritual underpinnings, then the other categories I have. God is number one, serving the Lord. Number two, family. Family, church, friends, work, financial, health. Family, that's a category in my life. I have a goal for my family. I want to have a healthy family life. I want to honor God with my family.
Tanya and I have been married 13 and change, 13 years and change, praise God. I have a goal to be married until death do us part. That's our goal. That's her goal too I hope. I plan, we plan how we are going to invest in our relationship to make it.
We have four daughters. I have goals for my daughters. I want them to be ferocious women of God, godly women, to make an impact in the world for the Kingdom of God.
There's a guy in the Book of Acts, Philip, he had four daughters, and they were prophets. They would prophesy. That's my goal for my daughters. I want them to know the word of God, just walking around prophesying left and right. My youngest is the best one right now because she's so loud. I've got goals.
Church I already talked about. I've got church goals. Yes, I'm going to plan my faithfulness. I'm going to plan being faithful to God in the future. You do that through commitment.
Friends, always need godly friends. You've got to invest in some godly people who know the Lord and they know you.
Work, financial, health. Work, I have goals to work. I work a lot. I work as hard as I possibly can. If you're new to Mosaic, you think I just get up here and I ramble, that's part of the time. There's a lot of work that goes into preaching. There's a lot of work that goes into pastoring. But there's goals. I want to be the best pastor I possibly can be. I'm always thinking about leveling up. What's the next book I've got to read? What's the next conference? So have goals.
Financial, I have goals to be generous. We are to be generous people. To be generous, I need to make enough to be generous, and we're going to have a sermon on the finances in two weeks.
Health. I want to be as energetic as possible for as many days as the Lord gives me. If the Lord gives me another 40 years, I want to be as energetic as I possibly can as a 66 year old, 76 year old. Second service, 36. 76 year old. Yeah. I want to be the most energetic 76 year old I possibly can be. I'm going to keep deadlifting until I'm dead. That's my goals.
All spiritual underpinnings. This has to do with health, it has to do with taking care of yourself. Why? Because glorify God.
Number four, ASAP. As specific as possible. There it is. As specific as possible. God honors specificity. God honors specific prayers, specific goals. Saint Paul says, "This one thing I do," focuses his time, focuses his energy.
Light is powerful, but if it's diffused, it doesn't have as much power. Magnifying glass focuses light, and you can actually start a fire. You focus the light even more, you get a laser. Same thing with our time, same thing with our energy.
We live in a world of distractions. We are to be a people that don't spend our time or waste our time. We are to be a people that invest our time, invest our lives, so be specific.
Saint Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things," meaning, says no to many things. "They do it to receive a perishable wrath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly," goallessly, I have a goal, he says, I'm pursuing that goal. "I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified."
Number five, write it down. There's something powerful that happens when you verbalize a goal. When you get it in writing. When you get it in front of you. God speaks, but God is also a God that writes things down. God gave us commandments that he wrote with the tip of his finger, scripture tells us, so we have to verbalize our goals, and the verbalization is an act of faith.
Number six, find accountability. Goals are relational glue, and it's just easier when you have people holding you accountable.
Proverbs 12:15, "The way of the fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice."
Ecclesiastes 4:12, "And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him. A threefold cord is not quickly broken." A great example of this is the Great Commission. The Lord gives his disciples the Great Commission, go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to do everything I tell you. That unites them, and they go, they bring other people in, and it keeps them accountable.
One quick example, a study I came across, Gail Matthews, Professor Gail Matthews from Dominican University, she did this study where she wanted to gauge what impacts goal attainment or achievement more than not. She had five categories of people.
Number one were people that just thought about their goals. Here's my thoughts. Number two, people who wrote the goals down. Number three, people who wrote down action steps, so specific. Then the fourth group were action steps, and then these people found supportive friends. The fifth group did all of that, but they sent out weekly progress reports to their friends.
Obviously, the fifth group was the most effective in achieving their goals. It's common sense. Whatever your goals are, get people, get brothers and sisters, get Christians to hold you accountable.
Get in group chats. There's something about group chats, especially if you're good at memes. There's something about it, it just fires you up. Even if your friend has an Android phone, even with the green bubbles, you still love them, you still get them in there.
Number seven, celebrate on the way. We got balloons today. Celebrating Mosaic's birthday, we got balloons. You know why? There's something about balloons. We're celebrating. Back in the day, we used to do cake, but sugar is bad for you, so we cut that out. We have birthday bagels.
There's something about celebrating, and biblically speaking, there's this one example in 1 Samuel 7:12, and the passages in that context, Israel lost to the Philistines, they just got wiped out. Then Samuel pleads with God and repent. Then God gives him a victory. Then Samuel, he takes up a stone. "Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen and called its name Ebenezer."
You know that song we sing, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, and there's, here I raise my Ebenezer, and all of us sing, we're like, "What's an Ebenezer? Like, Ebenezer Scrooge?" No one has any idea, you just keep singing. It's from the Hebrew, it means, until now, the Lord has helped us. Why? Why are we doing it? God has been faithful, and that reminds me that God will be faithful today, and he will be faithful in the future.
So celebrate. How? I don't know. Think about it, pray about it. If you attain a goal, I don't know, go out to dinner. Get that really expensive steak that you've been eyeing at Whole Foods, you know, grass-fed. Birthday steak, not birthday cake.
Number eight, play the long game. This is so important. Play the long game. Set goals, not just for this year, obviously humbly. We overestimate what we can accomplish in one year, especially when you're younger, you overestimate what you can accomplish in one year, and we underestimate what we can accomplish in 10 years. Where do you want to be in 10 years? Write it out.
Ephesians 3:20-21, "Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen."
God is able to do more than our wildest imaginations for his glory and for our joy. So whatever the size of our goal is, there needs to be this X factor, that unless God shows up, unless God's power is coursing through me, unless God gives me, I can't do it. We need to start dreaming about God-sized goals.
I moved to Boston with my wife and Sophia when I was 26 years old. I had goals for 10 years. I heard this line about overestimate, and God's fulfilled it. But also, I didn't just have a 10 year plan. I also have goals like for four years. For the next 30 years.
Why? Because I was 26 at that time, so 66, I'm not going to retire, because I don't believe in that. There's no biblical word for retirement. We don't retire. We serve God until the rest of our days.
But when you start dreaming like that, what can God, God's done amazing things through Mosaic, but imagine what more he can do. Imagine the impact globally that God has in store potentially for us.
William Carey says, "Expect great things from God, and attempt great things for God." God is sovereign, we're still responsible. You've got to believe. There's this interplay where God wants us to believe, and the great faith goal is honor God.
Matthew 9:27-31, this example, "As Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed him, crying aloud, Have mercy on us, Son of David. When he entered the house, the blind men came to him and said to him, Do you believe that I am able to do this?"
Why are you even asking? Why not just heal them? Well, he wants us to participate. We participate through our faith.
They say, "Yes, Lord. Then he touched their eyes saying, According to your faith be it done to you. And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them, See that no one knows about it. But they went away and spread his fame through all that district."
According to your faith, according to your faith be it done to you. We believe that God saves people. The same way that Jesus gave physical sight, we believe that God gives spiritual sight, so we believe. We follow Jesus, the ultimate goal setter. No one set goals as great as Jesus set. Jesus literally set out to change the world. I'm going to save the whole world.
It took a sacrifice, scripture says that he set his face like flint. Luke 13:32, talking about King Herod, says, "Go tell that fox, Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day, I'm going to finish my course." His goal is to accomplish the will of the Father in joint mission with the Holy Spirit.
That brings us to point nine, depend on God's spirit. By the way, I hope you noticed, they're not in order of importance, these points. The most important ones are towards the end. We started with prayer.
Holy Spirit, here's what's interesting. In the Old Testament, they had this thing, to discern God's will, they had these two stones, the Urim and Thummim.
There was also this thing of casting lots. Like, we need to figure out what God wants us to do. We're going to cast lots. Whatever it tells us, that's what we're going to... and the last time lots were cast in the Bible is Acts 1, where Judas hangs himself, and the apostles, they decide to replace Judas' place with either Joseph or Matthias. They cast lots.
What happens in Acts 2? The Holy Spirit comes. After the Holy Spirit comes, no more lots. The way that we discern what God's goals are for us, God's plan is for us, God's will for us, we rely on the Holy Spirit.
A. W. Tozer said, "God is looking for those with whom he can do the impossible. What a pity that we plan only the things that we can do by ourselves." Zechariah 4:6, "This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by my might, nor by my power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts." We won't succeed, we won't have success by our own strengths or power, but by the Spirit of God.
Then point 10, be guided by God's word. Joshua 1:8, "This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success." Another translation says, "Then you will successfully attain your goals."
Goals keep us going, in particular when it gets hard. In particular when we need to sacrifice. In particular when it hurts. We look to Jesus Christ, the founder and perfecter of our faith.
Hebrews 12:1-2, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely. Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him," that's the joy. The joy that he gets when he saves us, "for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." He endured. That goal kept him going, even when his feelings said no.
Did that ever happen? Yes. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus sees, as he's praying, he sees what he's about to endure in absorbing the wrath of God for our sins. He says this, "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will."
Jesus didn't say, I don't have peace about this. He didn't say, I don't feel like doing this. He had the goal of saving us, and he was motivated by love for us, and that compelled him to sacrifice himself, and that's what love in essence is. It's sacrifice.
We as Christians, we're deeply aware of what Christ has done for us, and that motivates us to set godly goals, to glorify him, and to fulfill the mission that he has for us.
We're deeply aware that we are not to squander the time that he has given us, and we are to do everything we possibly can. To glorify him by seeing brothers and sisters grow in the faith, and new people become brothers and sisters. Scripture says, "What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?"
At this time, we're going to transition to holy communion. We celebrate holy communion the first Sunday of every month. The way that we celebrate holy communion is through the cup and the bread. The cup symbolizes the blood of Christ that was shed for us to cleanse us from sin. The bread symbolizes the body of Christ, that was broken for us, to heal us from the inside out.
The way that we celebrate at Mosaic is the usher is going to hand out the cup and the bread. Hold on to the elements until everyone has received them. Then we'll partake together. Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for this time in the holy scriptures. We thank you for the gospel. We thank you, Lord, that though we are wicked, you choose to save us through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Jesus, we thank you that you fulfilled your mission, you fulfilled your goal. You attained it. I pray that you make us a people who live in a manner worthy of this gospel of Christ. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.