Does God Really Want Me, Mess and All?

What You’ll Learn

• Find out why your life isn’t an accident, even when it feels like a mess
• Quiet the “I’m not good enough” voice by seeing how God actually sees you
• Learn to rest in God’s love on the days you feel you don’t deserve it

Introduction

Ever wonder if your life is a string of random events, or if you’ve messed up too much for God to want anything to do with you? You’re not the only one. These are honest answers from Pastor [First Name] Hutton of Faith Community Lutheran Church in Las Vegas. The main idea is simple: you were wanted long before you ever showed up.

Am I here by accident, or does my life actually have a purpose?

You are not an accident. Pastor Hutton started this message with the greeting the Apostle Paul used to open his letter to the Ephesians: “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 1:2). Paul calls himself “an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God” (Ephesians 1:1). That phrase, by the will of God, changes everything. Grace and peace aren’t yours because of how you walked in today or how you feel. They don’t depend on what happened last week or what’s coming next. They don’t depend on you at all. They’re a promise rooted in God’s will, not yours. So your life has a purpose. In Pastor Hutton’s words, God has a purpose, and it’s playing out day by day, whether you see it or not.

How do you know when God is leading you somewhere new?

Pastor Hutton knows this one from experience. His family was comfortable in Nebraska. They loved their church, their schools, and their friends, and he coached soccer. He looked for every reason to say no to moving to Las Vegas. One of his daughters was his “no girl” the whole way. But God kept moving the barriers out of the way. The Sunday before their interview trip, that same daughter asked, “Dad, how do you know if you hear God’s voice?” She said God had told her they were moving to Vegas. After the visit, his wife and all three daughters agreed. His no girl, now a yes girl, looked him in the eye and said, “If we don’t follow the voice of the Lord, it won’t go well for us.” Paul was an apostle “by the will of God” (Ephesians 1:1). Often the biggest thing standing in the way of God’s will is our own.

Can God change someone who seems too far gone?

Paul, who wrote Ephesians, wasn’t always called Paul. His name used to be Saul. He was a “Pharisee of Pharisees,” a strict religious rule-keeper. He had legalism down so well that he persecuted the early church. When Stephen became the first Christian to be killed for his faith, Saul was there holding the coats and approving of it. Trying harder wasn’t going to fix him. He was trying hard in the wrong direction. He was spiritually blind, and God had to wake him up. His life was turned upside down, and over time he grew into the grace and peace he later wrote about. That’s why he could call himself an apostle “by the will of God” (Ephesians 1:1). If God could reach Saul, nobody is too far gone, and that includes you.

Did God really know me before I was born?

Yes. Ephesians 1:4 says, “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.” Think about that. While God was making the sun, the moon, and the stars, and the platypus, the elephant, and the hippopotamus, he was thinking about you. Before you were a twinkle in your parents’ eyes, God had already designed you and known you. He knew the messes that were coming. He knew about the pain, the heartache, and the struggle. He still decided you were valuable and worth it. He designed you, he chose you, he loves you, and he planned to make you holy. You are made just right for today, tomorrow, and the day after.

How can God see me as blameless when I know everything I’ve done wrong?

A lot of us carry thoughts like “I’m not worthy,” “I’m not good enough,” or “I deserve all the pain.” But God chose us “to be holy and blameless in his sight” (Ephesians 1:4). When God looks at you, he doesn’t see junk or a string of messes. He sees you dressed in a robe of righteousness, washed in the blood of the Lamb (a name the Bible uses for Jesus). Paul goes on: “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace” (Ephesians 1:7). God knew what he was doing when he sent his Son, Jesus, so you could be forgiven. And it doesn’t stop there. “In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 1:5). You get to be a son or daughter of the King.

Do I need to have my life together before I come to church?

No. Pastor Hutton was honest about this. We all have thoughts that don’t line up with God’s will. We say things and then wonder, “Did I just say that?” We act in ways that don’t look like Jesus, even toward the people closest to us. But our community doesn’t need people who have it all figured out. It needs people who know the real wrestle of life: people who have messed up, and people who’ve had life happen to them and get messy. Our city is messy. The person checking you out at the store this week might be having a terrible day. The driver who just cut you off needs the love of Jesus. So do you, and so do we. Grace and peace come “from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 1:2), not from having it all together.

Does God actually love me, or just put up with me?

God loves you, and it isn’t a distant kind of love. Jesus said, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you” (John 15:9). The Father loved the Son enough to send him into the world, and Jesus humbled himself to the point of dying on a cross. God didn’t leave him dead. He rose. That same love is for you. It isn’t some vague, faraway love. It’s friendship. Jesus says, “Instead, I have called you friends” (John 15:15). You’re not just a servant. You’re family. As Pastor Hutton put it, Jesus wants to invite you over for the barbecue. He wants to hang out with you. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

What if I don’t feel like I deserve God’s love?

The excuses might already be piling up: “I don’t deserve it.” “Do you know what I did this week?” “It’s too good for me.” If we’re honest, our own will gets in the way of God’s grace and peace. Here’s the good news: it doesn’t depend on you. Jesus said, “You did not choose me, but I chose you” (John 15:16). We make messes. We don’t do what God calls us to do. We fall down and we hurt people. But it isn’t based on what we choose. It’s based on what God chooses, and Jesus has said, “I choose you.” He made that choice before the foundation of the world. He chooses us in baptism, and he invites us to a precious meal (the Lord’s Supper) where we receive life. By the will of God, grace, peace, joy, and hope are yours.

Why does God care about every human life?

Pastor Hutton connected this message to a question he thinks Christians need to take seriously. If God chose each person before the creation of the world (Ephesians 1:4), does every life matter? Does it matter in the womb? Does it matter when someone is old and frail, close to the tomb? His answer was yes. And if every life matters, we have to live that out, including voting our values. He encouraged people to learn about the questions on Nevada’s ballot, because some of them, as he put it, are attacking life, specifically life in the womb. Standing up for people who can’t stand up for themselves is the love of Jesus. We don’t do it because we chose to. We do it because God chose us, and he loves them too.

Key Scripture

“For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.”
Ephesians 1:4 (NIV)

Before anything existed, God already had you in mind and decided he wanted you. Being “holy and blameless” isn’t something you earn by getting your life together. It’s how God chooses to see you because of Jesus.