Pastor Elwin Ahu
April 13, 2008 - W0815

Tonight I am going to talk about a defining moment in your life. It’s about the role you play and the race you run in God’s plan. You have to make a decision on this. You have to respond to God. You have to make the choice about the role you play in His plan. How many believe God has the best plans for us? Good, but if we believe that then the next step is that we have to choose our role in those plans because …

·        WITHOUT DEFINING YOUR ROLE, LIFE IS MEANINGLESS AND UNFULFILLING.

As the Bible says, “What benefit do people get from all the effort which they expend on earth? … All this monotony is tiresome; no one can bear to describe it.” (Eccl. 1:3, 8 TEV)

Without purpose or role, we develop a monotonous lifestyle. We have the laundry to do several times a week.  We fight traffic going to work and then again coming home. We get stuck in a monotonous lifestyle.  When we get stuck in monotonous lifestyles, we start to make wrong decision…like the three guys who were in construction and working on a tall skyscraper:

The Hawaiian guy had fish and poi everyday. The Japanese guy had sushi everyday. The Portagee had Portuguese sausage, eggs and rice everyday. They all threatened to jump off the building if they got the same thing again. Sure enough, all three got the same lunch the very next day. All three jumped off the building. At the funerals, each wife cried her heart out saying, “If I had only known, I wouldn’t have given him that!” Except the Portagee’s wife, she said, “Hey, no look at me. He packs his own lunch!”

So do not get stuck in a monotonous lifestyle! Do not make the wrong decision! Make good decisions and choose your role in God’s plan.

Not knowing your role in God’s plans is frustrating and unfulfilling. You have to choose the role you are going to play. The Bible is full of examples of deciding on one’s role. David chose to lead Israel, Noah chose to save man by building the Ark and then there’s Esther. It is a story of a choice, deception, and redemption which took place in 5^th century B.C. Persia. King Xerxes of Persia was such a party animal that he threw a party for 10,000 to 15,000 people that lasted for 6 months. When it was over, he threw another smaller party that lasted another one week. On the last day of the party, he summoned his wife, the Queen, to parade herself in front of his friends. She refused to lower herself in that manner and it angered Xerxes so he passed a law saying that all wives must obey their husbands. This resulted in the Queen being kicked out of Persia. Subsequently, in order to find a new queen, the King held what was essentially a beauty pageant.  Beautiful Esther, who secretly was a Jew, was entered and thereby became queen.

Esther knew she needed to keep her true identity (ethnicity) a secret. Haman, Xerxes 2^nd in command, ordered everyone to bow down before him but Mordecai, Esther’s adoptive father, refused. For revenge, Haman conspired to have Xerxes order all Jews to be killed. Mordecai pleaded with Queen Esther to talk to the King and get the order reversed; however, in order to do that, Esther would have to put herself at risk. Esther was faced with a big decision, a defining moment.  In order to appeal to the King, she would have to break a few commands (e.g., approach the King without being summoned) and therefore jeopardize her standing and life as a queen (remember Xerxes first wife?). But Mordecai prompts her, “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?” (Esth. 4:14)

As Esther did, you too have an opportunity to play a role in God’s plan.

1.     IT’S YOUR CHOICE WHETHER YOU WILL ACCEPT OR FORFEIT YOUR GOD-GIVEN ROLE.

In the movie, Dead Poet’s Society, the character played by Robin Williams always told his students to “carpe diem” or “seize the day”. He stressed making the most of every opportunity and every moment. Mordecai was telling Esther to make the most of her opportunity. You were put in the position you are for a purpose. If you do not seize the moment, it will pass you and someone else will. No one can thwart the plans of God but we can forfeit being a part of that plan. Each of us is actually two individuals; one that says “I can” or one that says “I can’t”; “I will” or “I won’t”; “I am” or “I am not”. We choose which guy shows up when God calls on us. If we do not step up, someone else will.

I have counseled husbands that were tired of their marriages and thought that they could handle divorce. I have counseled them to step up to the plate and live up to their responsibilities as husbands and fathers, or in other words to choose the role that God has set for them. But when they refused and did divorce, I have noticed that they often become jealous because their ex-wives remarry a Christian man who replaces them too well. These ex-husbands should have fulfilled their responsibilities when they had the chance.

God will call us sometime in our lives, and we will reap what we have sown. So we must accept our role, or forfeit the opportunity.

But what if we have already made the wrong decision? Then we should remember that it is never too late for God. We have to understand the sovereignty of God. He has you exactly where you need to be at the moment. Stop second guessing your position in life. God has already factored your mistakes into His plan, and He still loves you. It is not too late to change. Remember …

·        WHAT ROLE YOU CHOOSE FOR THE REMAINDER MATTERS MOST.     

What counts most is what we do with the remainder of our lives. If we recognize our role now, then we must choose it.

Esther made her choice and said, “Go, assemble all the Jews who are found in Susa, and fast for me; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maidens also will fast in the same way…” (Esth. 4:16)

She took the risk so you too must ...

2.     BE WILLING TO TAKE THE RISK.          

It was against the law to enter the royal court room without a summons from the King so Esther was taking a risk in going to see the King without being summoned but she said, “… And thus I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish” (Esth. 4:16). Was Esther very afraid?  Actually no, I believe she was merely confirming and affirming the sovereignty of God.

It is similar to the Biblical story (Dan. 3:13-30) of Sadrach, Meshach, and Abednego – the three friends of Daniel who were thrown into the furnace because they would not worship King Nebuchadnezzar instead of God. They said that God would save them and even if He does not, they would still not bow down before false gods. Esther knew that God had a plan so that even if she herself perished, the Israelites would still be saved. So do not throw away your God-given opportunity to be a part of His plan.

Do you feel stuck in a no-win situation? Is your marriage on the rocks? Lost a job? Then answer this, “Do you believe God has a plan to rescue you?” If yes, then you have to choose your role in His plan and you have to take the risk that comes with it.

Joshua 1:5 says that no man can stand against God and that the Lord will be with you always, through any challenge. Does that mean it will be easy? No, it will be difficult. God will ask you to choose your role but sometimes that role can be difficult. But …

·        DON’T GIVE UP.

Apostle Paul was treated very harshly in his time.  He was beaten, stoned, starved and imprisoned on numerous occasions but he never abandoned his role as a disciple. Yet we find ourselves complaining about our difficulties.  Perhaps if we had the same troubles – as in being flogged or stoned – then we could complain. As Paul writes, “But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24). When you respond to God, it may not become easier but do not give up because you do not know the effect you are having on those around you.

3.     YOU WILL NEVER REALIZE THE FULL EXTENT OF THE REACH OF YOUR CHOICE.

Esther responded with great courage and the eventual result was that the evil conspirator Haman was hung and Mordecai was promoted! The celebratory days of Purim were then joyously declared. “So these days were to be remembered and celebrated throughout every generation, every family, every province and every city; and these days of Purim were not to fail from among the Jews, or their memory fade from their descendants” (Esth. 9:28).

You will never really know how the choices you make will impact others.  For Esther, not only did she save the Jews, but a holiday called Purim was born out of her actions and that holiday is still celebrated today.  A simple act like pouring perfume from an alabaster jar on Jesus’ head will be retold generation after generation each time that inspiring story is shared. Jesus’ decision to choose His role as the sacrificial lamb has affected all of mankind for all of eternity!  Again, we may never realize the effect our choices will have on the lives and futures of others but it will, so choose to be a part of God’s plan.

I may not know how the full extent of how my choice to leave the Circuit Judgeship, give myself to the Lord, and become a full time pastor (i.e., my choice of role) will affect others but I know that it is having an effect.  When I was making the decision, I was corresponding with my son Brandon about it. He wrote back that he loved me no matter what decision I made. I wrote to him again after I talked to the Chief Justice about my resignation and about how the Chief Justice related to me about the time that he himself had prayed about whether to leave the state courts to become a federal judge. The Chief Justice heard a voice telling him to remain as a state judge and wondered if that was God.  I told him I believed it was because that decision later led him to become the Chief Justice.  Brandon pointed out to me that Jesus had used my resignation talk with the Chief Justice as an opportunity for me to witness to the Chief Justice. How’s that for an unforeseen effect of my choice?

Brandon also wrote how proud he was of me for doing that and how overcome with joy he was at the power of the Lord from my story. I do not know what will happen with the rest of my life or ministry but it does not matter because I know I had an impact on my son. I hope that this effect will carry on in his life and in generations to come. In fact, I’m certain it will as he has since graduated from USC in the top 40 of his class but has taken a pastor position with our New Hope Leeward staff and he thanked me for exampling for him that it’s not all about the money.  You see, our decision and our lives are not about us but it is about the sake of others.

We do not know the full effects our decisions have on others.  We do not know how much divorce will affect our children but if we choose to instead reconcile our marriages in a Godly way, who knows…our children or maybe even our grandchildren may look back on us when they’re having marital issues and say, “Remember when Grandpa and Grandma were having those problems but they were able to work it out with God’s help…”

But you have to choose. What role will you play in God’s plan? You only have one crack at life. Make it the best run ever!

Without defining your role in God’s plan, life is meaningless and unfulfilling. It is your choice whether you will accept or forfeit your God-given role. Someone else will take your place if you forfeit but you will have lost out on an opportunity. Even if you have made mistakes in the past, what role you choose for the remainder of your life matters the most. You have to be willing to take the risk of the role though, and not give up when it gets difficult. You’ll never know the full extent of the reach of your choice on others but if it’s God’s plan, it’s good!  "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." (Prov. 3:5-6)

DISCUSSION SUGGESTIONS

1.      What would you say is your role in God’s plan?

2.      What happened when you accepted one of your roles in God’s plan?

3.      What happened when you forfeited one of your roles?

4.      What are some of the effects on others of your choices for God?

5.      What happened when you took a risk and failed?

6.      What can you do to have more courage to take on the roles God has for you?