There's A Superman In All Of Us Series

The Wonder of God

There’s a Superman in all of us.

July 25, 2004

Ephesians 4:1-16

Introduction:

Video: Superman II

Inside of each of us is a desire to be a superhuman person, capable of leaping a building with a single bound, bend steel with our bear hands, or have the ability to fly at supersonic speeds to save someone from utter destruction.

Within each of us is a superman cloaked as a Clark Kent.

I hope by the end of this morning you will begin to find the superman hidden inside you waiting to express him/her-self.

What is hidden inside is precisely what is striving to get out, to express itself; deep within each man and a woman is a superman or superwomen.

The hardest part of this morning’s message is deciding whether or not you want your superman or woman to emerge and become who God intended you to be, and to do what he intended for you to do.

Deep inside the heart of every person is a superhuman person waiting to emerge, to be become there true selves.

God made you with a purpose and a plan. He intended for you and me to use our special gift for God’s glory.

QUESTION: What is this special gift?

Before I divulge this gift God has for us, let’s first look at what keep our gift from emerging.

I need to paint a pretty dark picture of what it is that I need for us to hear and see.

Turn with me to Ephesians 4:18

They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19Having lost all sensitivity; they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more…bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.”

What keeps us from this gift is the malicious living.

We were created with a purpose and a plan designed by God before we were in our mothers womb, but that purpose has been thwarted by us because we have chosen our own desires over the desires of God.

Our purpose is to serve God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. When we harden our hearts to the things of God, and deny his gift to us, in so doing we deny God his blessing and we deny God’s blessing toward his Children.

You were made with a purpose. Everyone who sits in this room has the same purpose. That purpose can be found in your S.H.A.P.E.

YOU ARE SHAPED FOR SERVING GOD.

Rick Warren, in his book, The Purpose Driven Life speaks “about how God formed every creature on this planet with a special area of expertise. Some animals run, some hop, some swim, some burrow, and some fly. Each has a particular role to play, based on the way they were shaped by God. Warren says, “The same is true of humans. Each of us was uniquely designed or “shaped” to do certain things” (pp. 234).

Remember Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

“You are God’s handcrafted work of art. God deliberately shaped and formed you to serve him in a way that makes your ministry unique” (ppt. 235).

Not only did God shape you before your birth, he planned everyday of your life to support his shaping process.

King David said, “Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed” (Ps. 139:16).

God never wasted anything. He would not give you interests, talents, gifts, personality, and life experiences unless he intended to use them for his glory. By identifying and understanding these factors you can discover God’s will for your life” (pp. 235).

You have been SHAPED to do good things for Jesus. Rick Warren develops this idea with the acrostic SHAPE.

These five factors can help you identify your gifts of service.

Shape is defined as:

S ~ Spiritual Gifts

H ~ Heart

A ~ Abilities

P ~ Personality

E ~ Experience

Before I quickly develop the SHAPE model, let me explain the reason and purpose for your shape.

Paul is impressing upon the Ephesian people that they are to:

First, “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” (Eph 4:2)

God never made us to be a Clark Kent, He made us to be superman.

I Corinthians 13:1-3 expresses this idea. “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.”