We are in a series we are calling “Created to be God’s Masterpiece.” This comes from Ephesians 2:10 of the NLT, “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”
This means you are God’s Masterpiece, his work of art. Specifically he is referring to the change God has made in our life through Jesus Christ. He has created you special. But even before that we have been God’s workmanship. Consider this passage from Psalm 139
13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
From the moment you were born to the time you put your faith in Christ God has been forming and shaping you. God has created you with a unique S.H.A.P.E . The “S” stands for Spiritual gifts. The “H” stands for Heart or passion. The “A” for Abilities or natural skills. The “P” stands for Personality. The “E” stands for Experiences, these might be good or bad events in our life. God has fashioned you the way you are for a purpose, to do good things he has planned for you long ago, another way of saying this is you are God’s workmanship to serve Him.
Last week we began to explore our unique SHAPE by discovering our spiritual gifts and abilities. First, God has given each of us natural abilities. There are some things we are better at than others. Some are better at music, others at math and science, others at building, the list goes on endlessly. Included in your natural ability is the potential to grow and learn certain skills. We are not necessarily born with these skills but as we apply ourselves and learn and grow we become better in certain areas. On top of our abilities God has also given each Christian believer special abilities called spiritual gifts. There is a list of some of the gifts in 1 Corinthian 12. Again God gives us these gifts and abilities for the purpose of serving God by serving others.
NLT 1 Corinthians 12:7 A spiritual gift is given to each of us as a means of helping the entire church.
NIV 1 Peter 4:10 Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.
The best way to discover our abilities and gifts is to begin serving wherever we feel God is leading us to serve.
This week we are looking at the second letter in the S.H.A.P.E. acronym, “H” which stands for heart. I believe God has also given us a specific heartbeat, a passion, or hearts desire.
Illustration:
In the late 1970’s at the age of 29 a self-made millionaire named Millard Fuller faced a crisis. Though his marketing firm continued to be successful, his marriage, health, and integrity suffered. This crisis caused him to decide, should I continue forward with my successful business at the expense of marriage, health, and morals, or do I need to reevaluate my life and make a change. He decided to renew his commitment to Christ and to his wife, Linda. Shortly afterward they sold everything they had and gave the money to the poor. In the Bible Jesus encountered a young wealthy man who followed God’s commands completely but Jesus said to him, “there is one thing you lack, go and sell all you have and give it to the poor and follow me (Lk. 18:22).” That young man couldn’t do it, but this young man, Millard Fuller, did. He and his wife joined a Koinania Farm (Koinania is the Greek word for fellowship in the Bible) and in this new community they sought practical ways of living out Christ’s teaching and helping people. During this time, Millard along with Koininia founder Clarence Jordan got together and decided their hearts desire was to help all people have affordable housing around the globe. They came up with a plan and they went to Zaire, Africa (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) and put their idea to the test. They would build homes with mostly volunteer labor and sell the homes to people with no interest loans (based on Exodus 22:25 where God commanded not to charge interest on money loaned to the needy). They put the money they received from these loans into a revolving fund which would enable them to build even more homes, so the cycle could repeat. It was a success, and in 1976 Millard and his wife Linda returned back to the U.S. with this model to start a non-profit Christian ministry. Can anyone guess what that organization is called today? It is Habitat for Humanity.
God gave Millard and his wife Linda a passion to help every person have affordable housing. You could find similar stories for all major Christian organizations like Habitat such as; Worldvision, Compassion International, Samaritan’s Purse, or Salvation Army. They all began with an individual(s) who had a God given passion to help and serve others. I believe God places a passion or a hearts desire within each of us to serve Him. Author Tom Patterson in his book, Living the Life You Were Meant to Live, defines what heart is:
“Heart refers to empathy, attraction, or “draw” towards a group of people, a field of expertise, or a particular type of service.”
A passion is something you feel strongly about which fires you up and gets you going. It excites you, it drives you because our heart is the source of all our motivations. It is the combination our “desires, hopes, interests, ambition, dreams, and affections.” Why do you do what you do? It is either out of necessity (get a job because you need to make money), out of obedience (because God said so), or out of inner desire.
In the Bible we discover many people with a passion. In the OT we read about Moses who had a passion. His passion was to see his people, the Hebrews, released from slavery and abuse. You will remember that Moses, a Hebrew, was raised by the Egyptian Pharaoh’s daughter, in Pharaoh’s royal court. On one occasion Moses was out watching his people, the Hebrews, as they labored as slaves to the Egyptians and he witnessed an Egyptian beating one of the Hebrew slaves. So Moses felt he had to do something, unfortunately he took action and killed the Egyptian. I believe Moses’ heart was in the right place but he exercised his passion in the wrong way. It wasn’t until forty years later God spoke to Moses out of a burning bush and called him to do what I believe was already on his heart, to lead the people of Israel out of slavery. Like Moses, God gives us a hearts desire to do something, to accomplish God’s purposes, but also like Moses we come up with several excellent excuses not to fulfill our God given role.
Paul likewise had a passion or zeal, which is the religious word for passion. Before he was known as Paul he was Saul and what was he doing? He was persecuting the church because he thought he was serving God, and doing him a favor (Phil. 3:6). It wasn’t until the resurrected Jesus appeared to Paul that he was transformed, and his passion, his zeal was for proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world.
Which brings up a good point, just because we have a passion or hearts desire doesn’t mean it is from God. Paul thought his passion for persecuting Christians was honoring God. It was not. His desire was working against God’s desire, until he was changed by Jesus Christ.
1. Having A Heart for God
The first thing we need to realize that our first heart desire needs to be for God through Jesus Christ. The verse for our series, Eph. 2:10, reminds us we are God’s Masterpiece, he has created us anew in Christ Jesus. Our heart must be for God first, to please him. What we find is that the closer we get to God, the more our heart resonates with his heart. He’s like the pacemaker for our heart. He gets us in beat with himself. As our heart beats like God’s, he places his passion upon us. Notice in the story of Habitat Founder Millard Fuller his passion to help bring affordable housing to those who couldn’t normally afford it didn’t begin until after he had recommitted his life to Christ and began to seek God’s ways. Before that his passion was to make his company succeed, to make money.
Our heartbeat needs to originate from God. If our first hearts desire is not for God, and his will there is a danger that our hearts desire will come from our own selfish desires, and not from God, because our selfish desires continually battle against God’s desire for us.
If you were to ask Homer Simpson what his passion is it would probably be beer. We’re not talking about just any passion or desire, but a passion or desire God has placed on your heart. Just because you have a passion for something doesn’t necessarily mean it comes from God’s heart. To zero in on where your passion is coming from you or God, ask yourself, will this passion meet your need or someone else’s?
There is also a second danger. God may give us a passion for something, but if we are not close to God this passion can become a means to feed our own selfish desire, instead of using that passion to help others. In other words it will distract us away from God, and we will use this passion in the wrong way, for our personal fulfillment rather than for God’s glory.
Illustration
I was reading an article in Newsweek this week about the show “American Idol.” I assume most of you familiar with the show. Amateur singers try out for the show and through a process of elimination the three colorful judges with the help of the American viewers choose one American Idol. The article mentioned how several people now have tried out for the show multiple times at auditions around the country. One gentleman had tried out for the show eleven times without being chosen. These people are traveling around the country from audition to audition trying to get on the show. The conclusion of the article was that these people weren’t looking to share their gift of music, they were looking for fame. In fact the article was titled, “Fame Junkies” (Newsweek, Jan. 22, 2007, 61-2). They took their God-given passion and hearts desire for music, and they turned it from something God gave them to share with others to a desire of receiving fame, glory, and recognition for themselves. God can give us a heart desire but if we don’t put God first and serve him we can turn it around and use it for our own selfish gain rather than to help others. My first encouragement is to draw close to God, commit yourself to serving him no matter what the cost.
2. How To Discover Your God Given Passion
How do you discover your God given passion or heart’s desire? I have a few questions you can ask yourself:
a. Who or what do I care about?
Is there a particular group of people or issue which touches your heart?
Do you care about a particular age group: children, youth, elderly, or a particular people group like unbelievers, or an ethnic group like African Americans or Hispanics. Are you concerned about an issue like hunger/poverty, homelessness, drug/alcohol abuse, the environment, abortion, cancer, HIV/AIDS, abuse, at risk children, .
b. What motivates me to take action?
What makes you think, “I’ve got to do something about this?” What do you observe around you or in the world which burns in your heart to take action?
c. What needs are you drawn to in the church, the community, or the world?
Are they spiritual needs? Such as people who need Christ or perhaps people who need to grow in Christ?
Are they physical needs? Are you drawn to people who are without food, shelter, clothing, or those suffering from pain and disease such as cancer, AIDS.
Are they people with emotional needs? Perhaps people who have been abused, experienced grief or divorce,
The cool things is when you combine your passion with serving God, it isn’t work it is play, it is enjoyment.
Col. 3:23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
My closing advice comes from the words of John Eldridge in his book, Wild at Heart – Field Manual:
“So, if you had permission to do what you really want to do, what would you do? Just start making a list of all the things you deeply desire to do with your life, great and small. And remember – ‘Don’t ask yourself, How?’ How? Is never the right question; How? Is a faithless question. How? Is God’s department. He is asking you what? What is written on your heart? What makes you come alive? If you could do what you’ve always wanted to do, what would it be?”
What has God placed on your heart to do? What’s stopping you from doing it?
