Loving God with All Your Strength (Part 2)
Various Scriptures
January 31, 2010
NOTE: THE ME/WE/GOD/YOU/WE FORMAT IS FROM ANDY STANLEY'S BOOK, "COMMUNICATING FOR A CHANGE."
Me: Last week was one of those messages that I really struggled with as I was preparing it, because I just didn’t want to say some of the stuff that needed to be said.
Preaching is one of those things that unless you’re really called by God to do it and other godly people around you can see that that’s what God has called you to do, you shouldn’t do it.
Most pastors and preachers will tell you that preaching is hard work. And not necessarily because we have to study and all that stuff, but also because sometimes we have to say stuff that we know is going to get people upset, or at least has the potential to.
The Bible says that sometimes pastor have to rebuke and correct.
The sad thing is that some preachers really like doing that. They love just shouting and screaming at their congregations about all the stuff they might be doing wrong.
I hate doing that stuff.
I have to get in your grill sometimes – and I don’t enjoy it. If it looks like I do, then I’m sorry – but really I don’t.
At the same time, I don’t want to have to stand before God and say, “You know what, God, I just didn’t want people to get mad or upset at what I had to say, even though You’re the One who told me to say it, and it was in Your Word.”
And so as I was going through those six reasons, and especially the fourth and fifth ones, I was quaking in my shoes.
When I was talking about how if you’re withholding service in the church because you don’t agree with the vision and direction of the church, then you should leave that church, I was trembling.
And it could be that some of you walking out the door last Sunday thought of a seventh reason for not serving here: Pastor Brian!
I think today we’re going to working in a more positive vein, but there will also be some stuff that’s going to be a bit uncomfortable because it’s going to challenge some people’s ideas of what the church is all about.
We: How many of you here today, after you gave your life to Jesus, thought, “I wonder how I can just be totally useless for Christ and His Kingdom?” Probably nobody here.
But I’m willing to bet that many of you, on coming to know Jesus as your Lord and Savior wanted to serve Him somehow.
You probably didn’t know what or how, but you thought there might be something you can for Jesus, and if you got connected to a church, you may have tried something there.
But for many folks, you were never told that God has given you some special equipment to serve Him in accordance to the personality and temperament He gave you.
And so in a lot of churches, they were put into whatever open slot was available, even if it was something they were totally unfit and unsuited for.
And if that happens too often, people give up on serving, and we don’t want that.
So how can we become people who serve Christ joyfully and effectively?
That’s what I want us to focus on today.
God: The great thing about all this is that God has given us direction in the Bible.
God hasn’t left us in the dark about how we can serve Him effectively and with joy, and in a moment we’re going to start looking at some Scripture to help us find that out.
We’re not the only ones who have wondered and struggled with this whole deal. And God, being the all-wise and all-knowing God that He is, knew we’d struggle with it so He addressed it in His Word as He dealt with it with His servants back in Bible times.
But before we get into today’s message I want to just once again look at the passage of Scripture we’re using as the foundation for these messages, and it’s found in Mark 12:30.
This is Jesus’ response to a question about what Jesus thought was the greatest commandment.
And Jesus said this –
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”
We spent the first week of this series talking about the fact that we love God with all our heart and soul by loving Him passionately – loving in a way that tells Him that He’s the most important thing in our lives – even over the Minnesota Vikings and the Twins.
The second week we looked at the idea that God wants us to love Him with all our minds and that was loving God rationally – that God gave us brains and expects us to use them to not only know what we believe, but why we believe, and also to just be people who don’t swallow everything that comes down the pike or even from my mouth, but to get into the Scriptures for themselves.
Last week I said that we love God with our strengths by using the gifts, talents, and abilities He’s given us in service primarily through the local church.
And the point I wanted to make last week was that if you want to love God as you should, “sideline service” is not an option.
I talked about the fact that we serve God first of all because God created us to do good works for Him, according to Ephesians 2:10 (put on screen).
Then I discussed the fact that we serve God because it reflects the heart and attitude of Christ, who came not to be served, but to serve (put Mark 10:45 on screen).
And then we looked at six reasons some people won’t serve in their local church. If you missed last week, it’s up on the website, and you can listen to it there or download it to listen later, and you download the note-taking guide also.
Here’s the point I want to drive home today:
God has uniquely gifted you for joyful and effective service in His Kingdom.
God has given you a personality and gifting set that is unique to you, and which gives you great opportunity for awesome, effective, and joyful service to His Kingdom through the church.
We’re going to look at two things today: how God has gifted you for service, and how a church is impacted when people are using the equipment God has given them.
First let’s look now at just how God has uniquely gifted you for joyful and effective service in His Kingdom, and He’s done that in two main ways.
The first thing God has given us for joyful and effective service in His Kingdom is…
> Spiritual gifts.
This is the main category of the Holy Spirit’s equipping.
Scripture has three lists of what are called spiritual gifts – things that are given by the Holy Spirit at His discretion for the sake of helping us serve in the Kingdom through the Church.
The gifts are varied and they are meant to help the different parts of the Body of Christ and the local church work together, just like the various parts of our human bodies work together.
I’m just going to read through these very quickly, and we’re not going to examine each of these gifts one by one.
If you want to learn more about these things, come and visit with me and I’ll help you with that, and then on the other side of your note-taking guide I’ve got something you can use to help you apply what I’m talking about today.
The first list is in Romans 12:6-8 –
6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. 7 If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8 if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.
The second list is in 1 Corinthians 12:7-10 –
7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.
And then the third list is in Ephesians 4:11 –
11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers…
You might want to keep your finger there because we’re coming back to that passage in a bit.
Those are all things that the Holy Spirit divvies out for joyful and effective service to Christ and His Kingdom.
Something to keep in mind here: the Spirit decides who gets what gift for what purpose.
Look at 1 Corinthians 12:11 –
11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.
I mention this because I don’t want you to fall into the trap that I’ve seen a number of people fall into, and that is to think, “Man, I wish I had that gift. I could really be something if I had that gift. God, why can’t I have that gift?”
And they start begging God for a certain gift like a spoiled child begs for candy at the grocery store after mom and dad already said no.
You need to trust the fact that the Holy Spirit knows what He’s doing when He gave you those spiritual gifts.
And by the way – who begs for a gift anyway? Isn’t the idea of a gift that someone gives it to you out of their love for you? You don’t ask and beg for a gift. That’s just wrong.
So one way God equips us to serve joyfully and effectively is through spiritual gifts.
The second way God equips you for joyful and effective service to Christ and His Kingdom:
> Talents.
Here is where I categorize things like musical abilities, carpentry skills, artistic stuff, and all sorts of stuff like that.
Scripture tells us that at times God has gifted certain people to do certain things like singing, playing instruments, and even sewing.
Why don’t I call those spiritual gifts? They’re from God, right?
Yeah, I think so. But I don’t call them spiritual gifts because Scripture doesn’t. I don’t know why. You can discuss that with God when you see Him in heaven, okay?
But let me tell you something that I think is true, and maybe this will help you see the difference.
You might have a roomful of people made up of individuals who couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket to save their lives.
But if they love Jesus and are followers of Him, every single one of them will have one or more spiritual gift to make them effective for the Kingdom.
Please don’t think I’m down on talents. I’m big on them. I hope you’ve got some. And I hope you’ll use them for the Kingdom.
And again, if you want to learn more about how God has equipped you in these ways, come see me.
For the rest of this portion of the message I want to talk about the impact we should have in the church when we use our gifts and talents.
The main impact is that the church should grow. And it should grow in two ways:
1. In spiritual maturity.
Ephesians 4:11-13 –
11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
By the way, did you notice what the job of the pastor is? To help you serve Christ and His church.
You know what we call that? Ministry. It’s not my job to do the ministry of the church. It’s your job. My job is to equip you to do that.
That’s where a lot of churches have driven off the road. They expect the pastor to do all the work of ministry as well as a lot of things that have nothing to do with ministry, biblically speaking.
If we had time I’d take you to a story in the book of Acts where a ministry need came up and you know what the church leaders said, “You take care of it. Find people that God has equipped to take care of that need and do it. We need to take care of the stuff God has told us to take care of, and this isn’t it.”
Check it out in Acts chapter 6.
But here’s my point with this passage: one of the reasons for the gifts of the Spirit, especially those gifts used in leadership in the church, is to help the people in the church become mature believers in Christ – people who love Jesus, live for Him, and grow in their knowledge and service for Him.
And that happens as we do the works of service God has prepared for us to do.
Folks, I believe that if a church will be intentional about exercising the gifts God has given them, then the spiritual maturity level of that church will raise and raise and raise.
And yet it will always be ready to help someone brand new to Jesus as well.
One the things that I believe God has laid on my heart for this church is to lay some foundations so that people can be made mature in Christ in service, in knowledge, and in faith.
We’ve started than in earnest in terms of our childrens ministries and into the youth.
But I want this church to be a fellowship where grown-ups can become mature believers of Jesus.
By the way, I’m talking about spiritual maturity, not chronological maturity.
You can be old in years and still be an immature baby when it comes to Jesus.
You can have grown up in church your whole life and done all the stuff of going to Sunday School, Sunday services, and whatever and still be immature in Christ.
My 9-year-old daughter is more mature in Christ than many people who would claim to be believers for decades.
So how is maturity measured? Lots of answers to that, but let me just say that one way is your willingness to serve.
If you can serve Christ and His church selflessly, wanting Him to glorified and His Kingdom to advance and grow, that’s a sign of spiritual maturity.
That means offering your services to the church to help us be disciples and make disciples here and around the world.
Here’s the second way a church should grow when people use their gifts. The church should grow…
2. In numbers.
I know what you’re thinking. “Here he goes again about telling other people about Jesus and how we’re supposed to be involved in that.”
Deal with it. Besides I’m only telling you what Jesus said, and if you don’t like that, you can take it up with Him, okay?
Let me ask you – what are the gifts of apostleship and evangelism all about?
It’s for the gospel to be spread as much and as far as possible and for churches to be established for worship and service to Christ and His Kingdom.
I think many folks believe that gifts of hospitality and service and faith and all those are fine, but these other things like evangelism are meant for guys like Billy Graham and we don’t really need them in the church today.
But the Bible says these gifts are supposed to be active in the church. And if they are being allowed to be active, then people will come to Christ and the church will grow. And more importantly, Christ will be glorified by it.
Look at Revelation 7:9-10 –
9 After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb."
Okay – who was there? A great multitude. A multitude of what? Christians. And where is this multitude from? Every nation, every tribe, every people, and every language.
How did that happen? Did they just believe out of the blue?
It takes men and women of Christ exercising their gifts to influence other people to Christ.
Folks, churches that turn inward and refuse to do something to help people escape the fire of hell by bringing Jesus to them are in sin.
There is just no way around that.
Christ has commanded us to grow the church numerically, and I won’t apologize for doing all I can to help this church do that.
Folks, can you see why it’s so important that we serve Christ using our gifts?
Because it brings glory to Him and advances His Kingdom.
It’s us loving God with all our strength – loving Him practically with the gifts and talents He’s given us.
You: So what should we do to find out how God has uniquely gifted you for joyful and effective service in His Kingdom?
Let me very quickly give you four steps to loving God with all your strength through effective service:
See how God has gifted you.
If some of you look through these lists and something starts to resonate with you, or you want to know more about these gifts, come talk to me. I’ve got some tools that can help you learn more.
A few years ago I made that offer and one couple took me up on it. And then I dropped the ball in following up with it. I promise I won’t do that again, that’s for sure.
You can also do some searching on the internet and other places that can help you determine what your spiritual gifts.
Seek Out opportunities to serve.
Look around see if there is something you can do to help us reach people for Jesus and help them live for Him.
Look at how you’re gifted and think of ways to help us do that. Come and talk to me or one of the board members, and we’d be glad to do what we can to find a place for you to serve, even if we have to start something. As long as it helps us accomplish those five purposes on the wall over there.
Step Off the sidelines and into the game.
Remember, sideline service is not an option. And you know why it’s not an option? Because sideline service isn’t service. It’s spectatorship.
And Christianity is not a spectator sport. It’s an active deal.
Don’t be afraid to try, even if you might fail. At least step off. We’d be glad to help you along.
And you know what? You’re probably going to mess up from time to time in trying to do this, especially if you’re not used to stepping off like this.
And that’s okay. You just keep plugging along. If someone gets after you because you’re honestly trying to serve Christ, then you come talk to me and I’ll talk to them.
As I was working on this message I came up with another reason some people don’t serve in a local church: you tried once and you got hurt by people who didn’t appreciate what you were trying to do.
You were doing what you thought God was asking you to do, and all you got for it was grief.
Someone complained to you or about you behind your back (sin, by the way), and you felt that you were just better off not serving.
I don’t want that to happen to you again, so if you step off the sidelines and into service and then find yourself being unappreciated, please talk to me about that, okay?
Search for ways to develop your gifts and talents.
Everyone can use some help in using their gifts more effectively.
Read, study, talk to others. Learn.
Don’t assume that because you have a gift you’ll always know how to use it. You can always learn to do better.
You’ve probably noticed that the back of your bulletin has a little chart on it. I want you look at that very quickly.
It has each of these four steps on it, and I just want to encourage you to keep this in your Bible this week, and to pray over this and try to answer the questions there.
Fill this out as much as you can, asking God to help you figure out how He has gifted you for service.
We: Folks, can you imagine what it would be like to be part of a church where everyone’s eyes were off themselves and their comfort and on Christ and His Kingdom?
A place where the people loved God with all their heart and with all their soul and with all their mind and with all their strength.
A place where we love God like we should so we can love others like we should?
Can you imagine that?
I can. And I believe that this church can be one of those places.
I also believe we’re making progress. And with the help of God, we’ll get better at all this as we continue through this year and the following years to seek God’s face.
Folks, here’s what I want:
I want people to see in you a person who is sold out to Jesus. 110 million percent. A person who loves God with everything they are and everything they’ve got, holding nothing back.
I want them to see that because of your love for God, you are able to love them like God wants you to. Unconditionally, and with a heart for their eternal salvation.
It can happen – if you’ll let it. I can’t force you to do it.
But let me tell you something else. If you’re not willing to let God help in that, then you have a problem that you’ve got to get with God about so you can find out what’s holding you back.
Is it anger at God or the church or the pastor? Is it fear that you’ll fail or fall down? Is it a sense of entitlement that the church or God owes you something?
Whatever it is, get with God about that, because you’re missing out on the joy of effective service, and you’re missing out on the joys of solid relationships, and you’re missing out on the full and abundant life Jesus came to bring all who follow Him.
Folks, don’t let that happen to you. Ask Jesus to help you love Him as you should and to love others the way you should, so He can be honored and His Kingdom would be advanced.
Idea – Let’s get a group together from this church to help deliver or serve with Senior Meals. They need a bunch of help, and maybe it’s something we could do as a church.
If God’s laying that on your heart, come talk to me, and we’ll see if can get something going.
Let’s pray.
