[The thoughts in this sermon has been taken from Max Lucado's book Outlive Your Life.]
You were made to make a different. We are not here to just make a living.
• If we are called to be disciples of Christ, we are called to make a difference with our lives. Max Lucado shared this story in his book OUTLIVE YOUR LIFE.
[Explorers were sailing through uncharted waters.] The strong winds blow the ship off course, and when they do, the sailors spot uncharted islands. They see half a dozen small islands rising out of the blue sea waters. The captain orders the men to drop anchor and goes ashore.
On the first island he sees nothing but sadness. Underfed children. Tribes in conflict. No farming or food development, no treatment for the sick, and no schools. Just simple, needy people.
The second and following islands reveal more of the same. The captain sighs at what he sees. “This is no life for these people.” But what can he do?
Then he steps onto the last and largest island. The people are healthy and well fed. Irrigation systems nourish their fields, and roads connect the villages. The children have bright eyes and strong bodies. The captain asks the chief for an explanation. How has this island moved so far ahead of the others?
The chief, who is smaller than the captain, gives a quick response: “Father Benjamin. He educated us in everything from agriculture to health. He built schools and clinics and dug wells.”
The captain asks, “Can you take me to see him?”
The chief nods and signals for two tribesmen to join him. They guide the captain over a jungle ridge to a simple, expansive medical clinic. It is equipped with clean beds and staffed with trained caretakers. They show the captain the shelves of medicine and introduce him to the staff.
The captain, though impressed, sees nothing of Father Benjamin. He repeats his request. “I would like to see Father Benjamin. Can you take me to where he lives?”
The three natives look puzzled. They confer among themselves.
After several minutes the chief invites, “Follow us to the other side of the island.” They walk along the shoreline until they reach a series of fishponds. Canals connect the ponds to the ocean. As the tide rises, fish pass from the ocean into the ponds. The islanders then lower canal gates and trap the fish for harvest.
Again the captain is amazed. He meets fishermen and workers, gatekeepers and net casters. But he sees nothing of Father Benjamin. He wonders if he is making himself clear. “I don’t see Father Benjamin. Please take me to where he lives.”
The trio talks alone again. After some discussion the chief offers, “Let’s go up the mountain.” They lead the captain up a steep, narrow path. After many twists and turns the path deposits them in front of a grass-roofed chapel.
The voice of the chief is soft and earnest. “He has taught us about God.”
He escorts the captain inside and shows him the altar, a large wooden cross, several rows of benches, and a Bible.
“Is this where Father Benjamin lives?” the captain asks. The men nod and smile.
“May I talk to him?”
Their faces grow suddenly serious. “Oh, that would be impossible.”
“Why?” “He died many years ago.”
The bewildered captain stares at the men. “I asked to see him, and you showed me a clinic, some fish farms, and this chapel. You said nothing of his death.”
“You didn’t ask about his death,” the chief explains. “You asked to see where he lives. We showed you.”
Taken from Max Lucado’s “Finding Father Benjamin: A Fable” in Outlive Your Life, 2010.
He may have passed on but his works remained.
• Outlive your life, don’t just spend it. Rev 14:13 the angels say,
Then I heard a voice from heaven say,
"Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on."
"Yes," says the Spirit, "they will rest from their labour, for their deeds will follow them."
• Some things we do last beyond the grave. We need to invest in these.
We’ve all been given a life. You’ve been given your life. No one else has your version.
• You’ll never bump into yourself on the sidewalk. You’ll never meet anyone who has your exact blend of features, loves and longings.
• Your life will never be lived by anyone else. You’re not a jacket in the storeroom that can be recycled after you are gone. You are one of a kind.
Not everyone is as excited about that as we do. But we must because we know we are made by God and saved by Christ. We have the touch of the Master’s hand.
• Some live and die and never ask why but not us. I hope!
• We know better, from the Scriptures. It’s not enough for you to just do well. You want your life to matter. We do not want to just spend life, we want to invest life.
• If it matters to God, it matters to us.
We want to live in such a way that God will be pleased, and the world will be glad we did.
• Can you? Can I? Can God use us that way? The answer is YES.
• Jesus started only with 12. And we are now living proof that it works.
• It is God’s will. It is the Lord’s plan that we change the world by making disciples of all nations.
• It is His CALL, so it cannot be a dream but a reality to be realised. It is something waiting to happen, if we do what He says.
When Jesus left, the Bible says there were 120 people gathered in a room (Acts 1:15).
• Not 120 thousands, but just 120 people (just about the size of KTCC)! Imagine this, our church is the only church in this nation, in the entire world!
• Among them were fishermen, tax-collectors, ordinary folks like you and me.
• They had nothing except this – a fire in the belly to tell the world about Jesus. Nothing more.
• Did they set out to change the world? Not really. But it happened.
Thanks to Luke, we know how they fared. He recorded their stories in the book of Acts. We see the ACTS OF GOD through them.
• We see the opening of doors into prisons, palaces, Roman courts, into unreached lands. We see the breaking down of walls, between the Jews and Gentiles, male and female, landowner and workers, masters and slaves.
• God stamps His power to change lives in a firm and undeniable way.
That generation has passed, but God remains.
• Here we are in the 21st Century, the modern-day version of the Jerusalem church.
• God is doing the same work today, just with a different group of people.
• Someone says this generation church is the wealthiest generation of Christians ever. I believe so. We are more IT-savvy, educated and experienced than the generations before. We have the most advanced technology of all time. We can travel around the world in 24 hours or send a message in a millisecond.
• Can we do something for God? Why not? Max Lucado says we have this “one-of-a-kind lifetime and once-in-history opportunity”. We must invest into this generation.
Max Lucado shared this in Outlive Your Life:
A few years back, three questions rocked my world. They came from different people in the span of a month.
Question 1: Had you been a German Christian during World War II, would you have taken a stand against Hitler?
Question 2: Had you lived in the South during the civil rights conflict, would you have taken a stand against racism?
Question 3: When your grandchildren discover you lived during a day in which 1.75 billion people were poor and 1 billion were hungry, how will they judge your response?
I didn’t mind the first two questions. They were hypothetical. I’d like to think I would have taken a stand against Hitler and fought against racism. But those days are gone, and those choices were not mine.
But the third question has kept me awake at night. I do live today; so do you. We are given a choice… an opportunity to make a big difference during a difficult time.
There are some things that only YOU can do, at this place, in this time.
• God has so planned for us to be born in this generation for this purpose.
• The first church in Jerusalem did what they need to do and God did what He had planned all along to do. And we are enjoying their fruit today.
We have now arrived at the threshold of 2011. We will continue what they have started. We will do what we need to do this generation, and God will do His part.
• We must BELIEVE it enough, that God still do great things through ordinary people.
• That God wants to do His work through you and me today.
D. L. Moody, while reflecting on the raising of Lazarus, had this to say:
TAKE AWAY THE STONE by D. L. Moody
Outside the tomb of Lazarus Jesus asked His disciples to "take away the stone." (John 11:39) Before the act of raising the dead could be performed, the disciples had their part to do.
Christ could have removed the stone with a word. It would have been very easy for Him to have commanded it to roll away, and it would have obeyed His voice, just like the dead Lazarus did when He called him back to life.
But the Lord would have His children learn this lesson: that they have something to do towards raising the spiritually dead. The disciples had not only to take away the stone, but after Christ had raised Lazarus they had to "loose and let him go."
It is a question if any man on the face of the earth has ever been converted, without God using some human instrument, in some way. God could easily convert men without us; but that is not His way.
Your role in this generation is critical. Your participation in ES is vital.
• Nothing is going to happen apart from our participation.
• Acts 13:36 - For when David had served God's purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his fathers and his body decayed.
• One is remember forever, the other is transient. One dwells, the other decay.
• Here’s a salute to a great life. His works outlives the grave, His deeds outlasts the final breath. One is eternal, the other
He did what He had to do in his time, so must we.
• Max Lucado: “Live in such a way that your death is just the beginning of your life.”
• You leave an impact, an influence in the world that goes beyond your grave.
Matthew Henry:
It is one of the highest honours of our nature that we can make the present affect the future for good; that by our conduct on the earth we can lay the foundation for happiness million of ages hence.
In no other respect does man appear so dignified as in this; nowhere do we so clearly see the grandeur of the soul as in the fact, that what we do today may determine our happiness in that future period, when all the affairs of this world, which cannot now be numbered, shall have rolled by.
It is then a glorious thing to live, and will be a glorious thing to die.
How can you outlive your life while you're still here?
(1) INVEST don’t just spend your life
Invest in people’s lives. We got to touch lives, because that is eternal.
• We can be working hard, doing many good things. We need to pause and think if what you are doing has significance.
• C. S. Lewis: “That which is not eternal, is eternally useless.”
RELATIONSHIP is one main area of focus for ES next year. We are going to make time (after each service) to share and encourage one another, and pray for each other.
• The Lord does not want us to be church attenders or church members, but ministers. We’ve got to make a difference in people’s lives.
• We are not here to consume but contribute, Rick Warren says. The more we contribute, the more we grow, the more lives will be transformed.
There are many other areas you can be involved in. Think of what you can do to make a difference in ES, in the lives of everyone here. Think INVESTMENT, not maintenance!
(2) BELIEVE that God can use YOU (Not somebody else)
Don’t feel small or that you are too insignificant to make any contributions.
• Don’t let your life drifts in this sea of life without direction or any purpose.
• That is not God’s design. If God says you are a part of this Body, then it is incomplete and ineffective without your contribution.
• The moment you are born you have an influence. You can make an impact, if you choose to believe it, because everyone has an influence.
• “Don’t Waste Your Life” – that’s the title to John Piper’s book.
God empowers those who serve, the same way He did with the first 12 and then the next 120 at the Upper Room.
• When God calls, He enables. God doesn't call only the qualified; He qualifies the called.
• Be an influence for God. Start by being an active part of this ES.
• Let’s pray and work hard, and trust God for a different new year!
