December 28, 2003

Service Theme – "Our God Cares about Us"

Ezekiel 11:18-21

Reboot Your Life for the New Year

  1. Introduction
    1. Illustration – I have a computer at home. It’s a Pentium 2 that I got about five years ago, which means that some folks would consider it to be slow and obsolete. But for the most part it’s able to do what I want it to do. There is, however, a problem with my computer. It runs on Windows 98. Now I don’t know how much you know about computers or software, but Windows 98 is not known to be the most stable operating system Microsoft has ever invented. What that means is that often, for no reason, it will freeze up and I will have to restart, or reboot, it. That’s frustrating for me, but even more so for certain members of my family who don’t save their work very often. Probably the most frustrating thing is that I have the solution to the problem – I own an upgrade copy of Windows XP, the most up-to-date and stable version they’ve come out with. The only thing wrong is that my copy of Windows XP is stored away in a box somewhere, and I can’t remember where it is. You see, I’ve upgraded the memory and the modem on my computer, and downloaded new drivers for my software. I’ve done all the prep work, but until I install XP on my computer it does me no good at all.
    2. Context – Why am I sharing my computer woes with you? Because we are all in a similar position as my computer. God is waiting with a significant upgrade ready to install in us, but we tend to think merely doing some of the prep work is enough. Ezekiel 11:18-21 will help us understand the dilemma we’re in.
  1. Scripture Passage
    1. Ezekiel 11:18-21 (from the New Living) – (NEW SLIDE)"When the people return to their homeland, they will remove every trace of their detestable idol worship. 19 And I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit within them. (NEW SLIDE) I will take away their hearts of stone and give them tender hearts instead, 20 so they will obey my laws and regulations. Then they will truly be my people, and I will be their God. 21 But as for those who long for idols, I will repay them fully for their sins, says the Sovereign Lord."
  1. Rebooting Our Hearts
    1. God removed the Israelites from their land because of their gross idolatry. They literally worshipped any and every idol that came along. And at the same time, they were continuing their temple worship in Jerusalem. In other words, they were trying to make sure all their bases were covered. They didn’t want to take a chance of offending demons, so instead they sinned so terribly against the true God that He had to remove them from His presence and destroy their land. They did some of the prep work that needed to be done in order to truly worship God, but neither completed it nor installed His upgrades.
    2. We find ourselves in the same position as those Israelites. We’ve done some of the prep work, but we haven’t removed all of the idols from our lives. You may be thinking just as I did, "I don’t worship idols! That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard!" But we fail to remember that anyone or anything that gives us comfort and strength in place of God is an idol. (NEW SLIDE) Anything we turn to for guidance or direction or in order for our needs to be met is an idol if it’s not the true and living God. Yes, God does use people to meet our needs, and He does use our jobs and friendships and other things to meet our needs, but the question is: do we rely on those things or the God who provides them? When my car broke down a couple of weeks ago, I knew that Randy or John could probably fix it, but I was concerned about the extent of the problem. So I prayed for the problem to reveal itself, for wisdom for whoever was going to work on it, and also that it wasn't something expensive. Then I called John, who in turn called Randy. Randy and I discovered it was the battery, and thirty bucks later the Geo was running again. Did I trust in John or Randy’s ability to help me? Yes, but I trusted more in the God who made them to give us wisdom and guidance and to help them fix the car. Do you understand the point I’m trying to make?
    3. (NEW SLIDE) The first step for us this morning in rebooting our lives is to do a gut check. I know this is tough, but it’s something we’ve got to do on a regular basis. I’ve got to constantly ask myself, "Is there anything that has taken the place of God in any part of my heart and life, no matter how small that part may be? Is there any corner of my heart I have denied God access to? Is there any part of my life I have been refusing to change?" God is calling us homeward to the fullness of life He wants to give to us by the power of the Holy Spirit. But, as verse eighteen says, we have to "remove every trace of our detestable idol worship." If we don’t God can’t install His upgrade in our hearts and lives. We’ll keep spinning our wheels until we eventually spin away from our God for all eternity! We’ve got to get rid of our idols if we’re going to finish the prep work for God’s upgrade.
    4. (NEW SLIDE) The second step we’ve got to take to reboot our lives is to recognize and realize what God’s upgrade really is. Verses nineteen and twenty - And I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit within them. I will take away their hearts of stone and give them tender hearts instead, 20 so they will obey my laws and regulations. Then they will truly be my people, and I will be their God. (NEW SLIDE) The upgrade He wants to install in our hearts will do several things. First, God will wipe the sinful part of our hard drives clean. No longer will the fight between giving in to sin and living by the power of the Spirit be one that seems so hopeless. (NEW SLIDE) God will take the duplicity, the tendency to chase after both idols and God, out of our hearts and fill us with His Spirit. Instead of a spirit that longs to worship idols and chase after sin, we will receive the infilling of the Holy Spirit that will enable us to chase after God and His holiness. (NEW SLIDE) Our hard hearts will be removed and replaced with softened ones that are alive with the Spirit and able to love and follow God wholeheartedly. Then we will be able to obey God in ways we’ve only dreamed about! That’s quite an upgrade! We will be God’s people, ones who reflect His character and holiness, and He will truly be our only God. I know this is hard for us to believe and receive, but we only struggle with this because we haven’t finished our prep work. We haven’t taken the hard look, done that tough gut check, gotten rid of all of our idols. It is so hard to get rid of them, because while we know they are bad they are still all we know. We hate them, but they are comfortable, and we don’t know what life will be like if we get rid of them and allow God to change our hearts and lives. God’s upgrade is a wonderful and beautiful one, but it’s also hard for us to accept. But recognizing and realizing what the upgrade is, is a step in the right direction. It’s a step toward accepting the upgrade.
    5. (NEW SLIDE) The third step in rebooting our lives is to actually allow God to install the upgrade. I have some software on my computer called Norton Antivirus. It’s like a self-defense mechanism for my computer. Sometimes it doesn’t like the software I’m installing because it thinks it is a virus that will destroy my computer. So I have two choices – I can either turn off the antivirus software, or I can override it and install my new software anyway. But there’s a difference between God and me in this analogy – while I will override Norton anytime I want to change my computer, God will not override our wills in order to install His upgrade. He won’t force it on us. He won’t delete our wills so that He can do what He wants. If we want to receive God’s upgrade, to be filled to overflowing with His Spirit and given a new heart, we have to lower our defenses. We have to override our defense mechanisms. That is also difficult, but it all comes down to a decision of the will. We can choose to drop our defense and override those pervasive defense mechanisms, and keep choosing to do it whenever they crop up during the installation. You see, God does the installing, and He knows which parts go where, so He knows exactly what we need and that’s what He will give us. The problem is that those places that need cleaning and an upgrade are often those places where our defense mechanisms are the strongest. (NEW SLIDE) We have to fight our selfishness, our pride, our will, our independence, and choose to keep fighting, to allow God to install His upgrade. He does the rest if we are willing to do our part. What we get in return is more than worth the effort and the risk! We get new hearts and the infilling of His Spirit!
    6. There is another problem with my computer. It’s this: if I don’t install the upgrade eventually there will be so many software glitches it will stop working. Duane and Pam had a problem with their computers that they couldn’t solve until they installed Windows XP, and then those computers worked fine (well, until another software glitch came up, but at least it wasn’t the operating system!). That’s what I’ve got to do with my computer, and that’s what all of us have to do with our hearts and lives. Look at verse twenty-one – "But as for those who long for idols, I will repay them fully for their sins, says the Sovereign Lord." If we don’t reboot our lives and allow God to install His upgrade, many of us will follow our idols to the point that we lose our relationship with God, and He will have no choice but to punish us for our sins. The only thing that stands between God’s punishment and us is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and if we allow our idols to remain we will worship them and they will lead us away from the true God. Then there will be nothing to stand between God’s punishment and us for our sins. God doesn’t want that to happen! He wants us to ditch those idols that are slowly killing us off spiritually and receive His life through the infilling of His Spirit. (NEW SLIDE) Ezekiel 18:23 says, "Do you think, asks the Sovereign Lord, that I like to see wicked people die? Of course not! I only want them to turn from their wicked ways and live." Satan wants us to die spiritually for all eternity and wallow in our sins for our entire lives here on earth, and our sinful natures are more than happy to oblige him! God gives us this warning not to threaten us, but to show us how much is at stake. Will we choose to do the prep work and allow God to reboot our lives for the new year and for all eternity, or will we choose to worship idols? The choice is up to each one of us.
    7. Illustration – Missionary Jim Elliott, who gave his life trying to reach a South American tribe for Jesus, wrote, (NEW SLIDE) "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." That, folks, is what God is trying to say to us this morning. Our idols will burn in eternal fire, but our God, and the work He wants to do in our hearts, will remain forever. What will we choose? Let’s choose life! Let’s choose to allow God to reboot our lives so they will be transformed!
  1. Conclusion
    1. Please bow your heads and close your eyes. What idols are you hanging on to? All of us, myself included, hang onto them with a death grip at various times in our lives. And very often we aren’t even aware of them until God brings them to the front of our hearts and minds. What idols are you hanging onto? What prep work do you need to do in order to receive the upgrade God has for your heart and life? What is keeping you from asking Him to give you a new heart and fill you to overflowing with His Spirit?
    2. Oftentimes when you install new software on a computer you have to restart the computer in order for that software to work. God is offering us the chance to restart our lives with His upgrade installed. Now comes the tough part. Making the choice to finish the prep work right here and now and receiving His gift of a new heart and the infilling of His Spirit. If you are willing to make that choice right now, I invite you to come up to the altars and take care of business with God. I don’t know why, but when you do something physically as a sign of submission to His will, it enables Him to work more powerfully. So if you’ve got some business to take care of with God, if you want that upgrade, come forward to the altars and pray.
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