Destination RESToration Restored to our Original Purpose

True restoration is the act of bringing something back to its original purpose.

So, what is our original, God created, and ordained purpose? 

            To walk with God

            To commune with God

            To worship God

            To glorify God

            To be image bearers

How do we get back to that original purpose?

Sometimes there must be demolition.

If you watch “Fixer Upper” you know that Chip’s favorite day is demolition day. Sometimes there are roots clogging the pipes or cracking the foundation. Sometimes there is rot deep down that must be dug out and destroyed. It is out with the old and in with the new.

2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV ^“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” … And Ecclesiastes 3:11 tells us that “He make everything beautiful in his time.”

I have a table that my TV equipment sits on. It is an old cherry wood drop leaf table that a fellow teacher had in her classroom. When she retired, it had layers of paint and glue. It had scratches and stains. 

The legs were cut to a level where the kids could sit on the floor around the table. And according to the principal who was cleaning out the classroom, the table had seen its better days, served its purpose and was ready for the dumpster. 

As it was being carted to its sure death, I redeemed it. I tested the surface to see how much work, what kind of sandpaper and how much toxic chemicals it would need to be restored. I started with an extra course sandpaper in order to remove the top layer of debris and years of elementary school crafts and creations, maybe even some bubble gum. And worked until I could see the emerging beauty beneath the crud. 

Pause, if you will, with me for a little shopping trip. You might not think that a trip to the hardware store could be a spiritual journey, but I invite you to take a little excursion with me and see what you think. 

If you go into your local hardware, you will see three main levels of sandpaper, but if you go online, you can choose from hundreds of sandpaper options, each with an intended purpose.

The most course sandpaper is “40” grit. Its purpose is to remove layers of stuff and chunks of yuck that have built up over the years of use and abuse. 

You can choose anything from 80-180 grit that is to prepare the surface for becoming beautiful again. And the finest grit sandpaper 220-320 grit (some even as fine as 1500), is labeled finish. It is for smoothing out and making wood grain and the original beauty of the wood come to life. 

Sometimes the sandpaper isn’t enough to remove all the yuck and you need to use something a little more toxic to dissolve the buildup. One of my favorites for this is called Krud Kutter. You might need to use something like this to get way down into the nooks and crannies. Sometimes, it even needs to be an even harsher chemical, a chisel or hard wire brush to remove the old buildup of gunk. 

Generally, between sanding phases, you must clean away the debris that is left on your project and the surrounding areas. If you don’t, you are likely to reintroduce some of the old crud and yuck into your finished project. After you clean, your project needs to rest. 

Occasionally you don’t need to disassemble a piece to restore it, but often the legs need to be removed, the hinges taken off, oiled or replaced. You can get away without doing all that on some projects, but others, need the complete overhaul. I have been lazy on some of these projects, thinking oh nobody will notice the crooked legs, drippy paint, or sticky residue lurking under the table. And they might look okay on the surface… but… I know… 

It is kind of like when we go to church, and we are relieved because the preacher didn’t preach about the sin we have buried deep within or even the one we are dealing with currently. We think, oh good, I don’t have to deal with that now… but we will have to deal with it eventually. It is probably better to clean out the gunk of our hearts and the roots of bitterness deep down in our souls before we start adding layers of “stuff” onto the surface of our lives. We may look like we have it all together and know how to do the “Christian” life, but are our hearts, our lives, our temples really in need of a good makeover?

Jesus has already done the prep work for us. He did the impossible work of removing the crud from our hearts through His sacrifice on the cross. He prepares us for His good works and has finished the work by sealing our hearts with the promise of the Holy Spirit.

Are you starting to see how a trip through Lowes can be a spiritual experience? (and if you are wondering, yes, it is tough to be me who can’t even go into the hardware store without having a sermon preached to me in my head and heart).

We are going to talk about a few different types of restoration over the next several weeks

RESTORATION TO OUR ORIGINAL PURPOSE

What is our original purpose?

Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over, all the wild animals on the earth…So God created human beings in his own image. Genesis 1
 

Our original purpose was to be image bearers of Christ and to be caretakers of the Earth and walk and commune with God… in a perfect world. But we know that with one bite of the forbidden fruit, that perfect home was demolished, needing constant restoration ever since. 

Fortunately, we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us ANEW in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Ephesians 2:10

I like to think that everything we are doing now is in preparation for what is to come, and Heaven is what is to come. 

Our Destination is true and complete restoration, life eternal with Jesus Christ.

“Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.” I Corinthians 13:12(NLT)

So, we wait for that day. But in the meantime, there is work to be done, and honestly, I don’t want to live with an old, damaged, ugly, useless spirit. I don’t want to be a fixer upper, I want to be the Restored. So how do we get there? 

Restoration through Salvation:

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins… Romans 3:23-25 NLT

We know that all of us have sinned. We have all been guilty of damaging our “temples,” our lives, leaving them in a state of disrepair and in need of restoration. God sent his son to be the Master Builder of our lives. He didn’t come to earth to fix up houses which were not flawed, but He came to repair the lives, the souls, and the homes of the broken. And He does not expect us to do the work ourselves. 

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”Ephesians 2:8-10 NKJV

We are saved by God’s grace once, we spend the rest of our lives being sanctified and prepared for our eternal home. 

Have you been distracted from your original design and purpose? What can you do today to move from the demolition stage to being restored? Call unto Him and He will show you great and mighty things.

Feel free to share your thoughts here and come back next week as we discuss restoring our hearts in communion with God.