Everybody is Somebody in Gods Kingdom
Scripture Text
Romans 5:4 NIV
we [c] also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because Gods love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
Sermon
Everybody is Somebody in Gods Kingdom
Today I wish to build you up. Together we will look at David and how he was almost overlooked as a possible candidate for kingship. He was not his fathers first choice in fact it would seem he wasnt even on the list of possible choices.
If you are someone who has been waiting for your ship to come in or for your opportunity to shine then this message is for you. If you feel that opportunity has passed you by or that your skills or talents have been overlooked or unappreciated then I want to encourage you to stay the course and run the race in an honorable way just as St. Paul has describes for us in
1 Corinthians 9:24.
24Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.
Do you remember being a child in grade school and having to compete in field day activities? If you were like me this was a day that you wished you could have avoided. It was not that I disliked competing it was that all the rewards for competing went to just a few, the winners.
Now Im not crying about being a looser its just that I felt my effort was equal to or greater than the winners. But the fact remained that no matter how hard I tried at a particular event I was destined to be counted with the losers and not the winners. For whatever reason, I did not have the strength, or the speed or the stamina or the skill to win at these kinds of events.
What I did posses was a desire to win and a desire to compete even though I knew in my heart that it just was not going to happen. In life not all of us will win at certain events. We may not win the heart of the young woman or young man we fall hopelessly in love with. We may not get into the university program or career path we had hoped. We may not get the promotion or job opportunity we thought was best for us. No, for some reason things do not work out the way we plan or the way we think they should.
Nevertheless we must press on through one disappointment after another, through one set back after another and through one heart ache after another. But, why? What purpose does all this disappointment and grief serve?
Romans 5:4 NIV
we [c] also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because Gods love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
There is a lyric in the song I sang that speaks volumes to my heart.
Ray Boltz the writer of this song said it best when he said ... Things like chance and circumstance, they dont really matter my Father holds tomorrow in His hand.
So much of our self worth seems to be drawn from what others think of us. We seek our parents approval and sometimes our siblings respect. We are evaluated from the moment we are born. The doctor measures us and weighs us and then measures us against a medical standard that determines if we are Grade A or a Grade B baby.
Our relatives then compare us to each side of the family. Our features are compared and evaluated, our eye color, hair color and even our smile.
When we get to day care or nursery school we are again evaluated based on our ability to go potty on our own and whether we can speak or not. Then its off to school and report cards and exams and on and on it goes until we are turned out by society to become someone who either meets or fails to meet a predetermined expectation.
Well friends, thats what the world expects to accomplish in us by its influence over us and its desire to mold us into the person it believes we should be.
Further more the world or society demands that we accept what it has made of us and that we should be grateful to be what and who we are and that we should never aspire to overreach our station in life because the world loves a winner and if your not a winner you need to get out of the way or just stay on the sidelines. Thankfully our God does not see us that way.
I want to be clear when I say we need standards, we can not have some people speeding down the highway and others poking along. We can not have different standards of weights and measures or some would have much and others little. We need to be tested on our knowledge and education. We need to aspire to high goals and objectives in order to be motivated to do our best.
But that is where I make my point. We need to do our personal best even if it does not meet the worlds standard for a personal best. The world tells us only the rich, only the strong only the beautiful qualify as the best. The world has a standard for excellence that flys in the face of Gods standard of excellence.
The world does not pay much attention to those of us who finish second or third or fourth or fiftieth. The world will vote you off the island, you will not receive a rose, it will have you publicly fired, and ridicule as you leave even though you gave it your personal best.
I want you to know and realize that you are not here to meet the worlds standard for excellence but you are here to meet Gods standard of excellence. When God sets a standard he does not judge us as the world does,
The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." Verse 7 Samuel Chp.16.
Well there you have it. God is not looking at your Christian life by what you appear to be. All the runners in a race look like runners, they are all dressed appropriately for the event. All the Christians in a church look like Christians they are all dressed for the event.
Samuel thought the biggest, the strongest, the wisest might be chosen but God was not looking at the outward appearance. Sometimes we in Christian living think we do not amount to much in Gods Kingdom. We do not hold a high church office we are not trained as theologians.
Maybe you are the church janitor, or usher or Sunday school teacher. This may be your station or position or maybe you have no official position. Maybe all you do is pray every now and again for your church or your family. Maybe you contribute to missions or church suppers.
God is not looking at what position you hold in Christian service but he is looking at your heart as you serve in that capacity. Is your heart truly in it for God no matter what your station in life? Do you not realize that while you may feel you are an obscure, insignificant servant in some remote little backwater town God is mindful of you and your service for God sees and knows your heart?
I know what is like to go unnoticed or unheard. I know what it is like to have your heart set on something only to have it crushed. You all know these things too. But in all this hard learning, know that God loves you and has his eye on you just as he had his eye on a little shepherd boy who spent a lot of his time singing songs he made up while tending his flock in the field.
Those same songs are now a part of our bible.
These are words from the heart of a young boy who had his heart set upon loving his God. Each Sunday when I call the children forward for Sunday devotion I cant help but feel that is the most important part of what I do in ministry.
The hearts of these little ones are often open and ready to love God and to receive his love. How we need to model their example. I see the absolute joy on their faces, the readiness and anticipation of what is to be shared.
Things like chance and circumstance they dont really matter our Father holds tomorrow in his hands.
What will they become? God only knows.
Will you help them to become men and women of character? Will you help them run the race and prepare for life? Will you share from your struggles and disappointments and from your achievements? Or have you become tired of the race you are running?
Have you exhausted all hope of winning?
Do not be concerned about what position you finish but run as if you want to finish first for in that kind of effort you will be a winner no matter what place you end up. For you will have put your heart into it. Our Father is looking at our hearts he is seeking hearts that will serve him with a desire to run for the finish line even if it means your not the first across it.
37 Jesus replied: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. [c] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. [d] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
Hang you hopes for your life on Jesus words and trust your heart to him today. Give over whatever it may be that holds you back, disappointment, resentment, heart ache or sin and let Jesus have your, heart, your soul, and your mind then see how he will enable you to run like the wind and to finish the race at the place where he wants you.
Let us pray.
