River of Life Church VA
Sunday - December 8, 2024 - "The Work"
  • I Speak Jesus
  • That's The Power
  • What A Beautiful Name
  • How Great Is Our God

      • John 4.31-34NKJV

      • John 4.35NKJV

      • 1 Corinthians 2.6-7NKJV

      • 1 Corinthians 2.8-9NKJV

      • 1 Corinthians 2.10-11NKJV

      • 1 Corinthians 2.12NKJV

      • John 6.26-27NKJV

      • John 6.28-29NKJV

      • Hebrews 4.9-10NKJV

      • John 15.1-3NKJV

      • John 15.4NKJV

      • John 15.5-6NKJV

      • John 15.7-8NKJV

      • 1 Corinthians 10.31NKJV

      • Colossians 3.17NKJV

      • John 15.9-11NKJV

      • Romans 10.9-11NKJV

      • Romans 10.12-13NKJV

      • Isaiah 1.19NKJV

      • Philippians 2.8NKJV

  • The Work

    John 4:31–35 NKJV
    31 In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” 32 But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.” 33 Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!
    I remember the day my life was forever changed. I had been forgiven for all of my sins. I had been given a new nature in Christ. I surrendered everything I had to God. And I remember wanting to serve Him for my whole life. I had no idea what that would look like. But I searched for it. I found it. It was everywhere. The will of God was found in my doing all for the glory of God (cf. Colossians 3.17, 1 Corinthians 10.31). And I could do that wherever and whenever I was.
    I want to talk to you about how you can know the will of God, and do the works of faith that correspond to His will.
    Jesus was sustained by the will of God and was driven to finish His work. Pleasing God was what nourished Him. It was His necessary food. And if we are going to follow in His footsteps, as His disciples, we must discover how to fuel our lives will the will of God and allow it to give us the same sense of purpose and meaningful life that it gave to Jesus.
    There is great work to do. Jesus said that the fields are white for harvest. There are a multitude of people who God is calling to join Him in fellowship.
    Like Jesus, we need to be about our Father's business (Luke 2.49). This is the heart of doing God’s will. The will of God is not limited to the specific things we often associate it with. It is greater and more incredible than we allow for it to be.
    There is joy, inexpressible joy full of glory that we can expect to experience as we walk in the will of God and do the works that are well pleasing to Him (cf. 1 Peter 1.8). But before we can experience that joy fully, we have to learn what is the will God so that we are able to do it.

    More Than We Ask Think or Imagine

    God is working in us powerfully. He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think (Ephesians 3.20). This is why it is a problem to have a limited view of God and His will for our life.
    When we limit the will of God to something specific we are ensuring that we will not fulfill it. What does that mean?
    Limiting the will of God to a specific career, job, or ministry is an incorrect way of approaching it. What happens if you have an injury, etc. and can no longer do that job? What about people with disabilities or who have kids or whatever? Can they not do the will of God?
    It’s possible to have any job, career, or even ministry without God. And we can definitely do work that does not please God or bring glory to His name.
    Illustration: OF “Model”. There is news that a woman who is a “model” on the Only Fans site made $43 million this year. Following that news she said that she is both a Christian and a virgin.
    On top of that, if we believe that God’s calling on our lives is limited to a specific job or career or ministry then we will wait until we know what that is. We will turn down things that God is inviting us into because it doesn’t fit our vision or meet our expectation. And therefore we stay stuck. Waiting. And the consequence is that we are not nourished and strengthened by the will of God. We lose out on the energy and excitement that comes with knowing our purpose and walking in it.
    God doesn’t withhold His will and our calling from us. But without Him we can not know it.
    1 Corinthians 2:6–12 NKJV
    6 However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, 8 which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” 10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
    The mystery of God's will requires revelation. And revelation requires relationship. Without that, anything we can do can be accomplished without God and therefore depriving Him of the glory due His name.
    Doing the will of God and finishing His work sustained and nourished Jesus. We can learn from Him what it means to do God’s will and join Him in the work of God.
    It is for this purpose we were created (Ephesians 2.10). We have been brought near to God by the blood of Jesus so that we can know Him and receive revelation about the good things that have been freely given to us by Him (Ephesians 2.13).

    Doing the Work

    Jesus presents us with simple truth that when we apply we will find ourselves doing the will and work of God.

    We Need to Believe

    John 6:26–29 NKJV
    26 Jesus answered them and said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. 27 Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.” 28 Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”
    This conversation takes place after the miraculous feeding of the 5,000. The people were seeking Jesus because He blessed them. He turns the conversation to something greater. He said don’t work for food that perishes but for the food that endures to everlasting life.
    They understood that He was talking about living for a greater purpose, so they asked Him about doing the works of God. His answer, believe in Jesus, whom God sent.
    Doing the will of God begins with, and is sustained by, faith in Jesus.
    Hebrews 4:9–10 NKJV
    9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. 10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.
    Illustration: Flywheel. We start pushing and pushing until the flywheel builds momentum. Eventually, it will gain enough momentum that it will spin on its own, no longer needing the push.
    We stop our works and enter into the works of God. We stop striving and pushing and start trusting and believing.

    We Need to Abide

    John 15:1–4 NKJV
    1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
    Living in the will of God and doing the works of God is impossible for us to do apart from Christ. We must learn to abide in Him.
    The word translated abide—ménō—means “to stay in a place,” “to remain,” and “to continue.” It can carry the idea of being at home.
    Illustration: Branch. A branch disconnected from the tree does not receive the life-giving sap so that it can produce fruit. A branch disconnected from the tree can not sustain life. Unless it is grafted back in quickly it will wither and die.
    To do the will of God and have a fruitful and meaningful life we must abide. This can not be overstated. We must make Jesus our home. The home of our soul. The home of our thoughts. Our default. No matter where we wander, what we do, we must always and often return to our Center.
    The priority of our lives must be to stay meaningfully connected to Jesus. To be at home in His presence. To rest and remain in Him. This is a daily pursuit.

    We Need to Bear Fruit

    John 15:5–8 NKJV
    5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
    The result of our walking in the will of God and doing the works is that God is glorified. This is the goal of every Christian.
    This is why our purpose and the will of God is not limited to simply a job or career or some type of ministry that we would choose. Doing the will of God is doing anything that would bring Him glory.
    1 Corinthians 10:31 NKJV
    Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
    Fruit happens when we abide in Him. And when His words abide in us.
    Then, we pray and our prayers become a means of God’s grace in the world. His answers result in our fruitfulness.
    Abiding in Him, His word in us, our prayers and obedience and thanksgiving resulting in God receiving the glory, honor, and praise. This is what it means to do the will of God. This is what the works of God look like in our lives.
    If you want to do the will of God, and be sustained and nourished by it then here is the way:
    Colossians 3:17 NKJV
    And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

    Conclusion

    Doing the will of God and completing the work that He has given for us will lead to a life full of purpose and blessing. And it is even more than that.
    John 15:9–11 NKJV
    9 “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. 11 “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.
    To do the will of God, we need to believe, abide, and bear fruit.
    When we do these things we reveal our love to our God and Father. And in turn, we receive the joy of the Lord. We will have joy that is full, complete and inexpressible and full of glory (1 Peter 1.8). This joy strengthens and empowers us to live a full and meaningful life (Nehemiah 8.10).

      • John 4:31–35NKJV

      • 1 Corinthians 2:6–12NKJV

      • John 6:26–29NKJV

      • Hebrews 4:9–10NKJV

      • John 15:1–4NKJV

      • John 15:5–8NKJV

      • 1 Corinthians 10:31NKJV

      • Colossians 3:17NKJV

      • John 15:9–11NKJV

River of Life Church VA
mason@rolchurchva.com
(703) 221-2674
https://www.rolchurchva.com
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