Series: Experiencing the Spirit
Theme: The Body of Christ needs to learn to experience the Spirit in their everyday lives so that they grow spiritually. We can learn to experience true spirituality as we see the Spirit at work in our daily lives and activities.
As we learn to recognize the Spirit and embrace His Spirit spiritual growth will take place in our lives.
Over the last few weeks we have been learning how to experience the Spirit in various dimensions of our life. The intent or focus of this series is to encourage all of us to be intentional about our spiritual growth.
According to researchers America possess the world’s largest infrastructure for implementing spiritual growth and assisting people in their spiritual development. This nation has about 450,000 churches according to Answers.com. There are 1,000’s of para-church organizations in the USA as well. We have an estimated 3,000 Christian Schools in this country with this number dwindling every year. We have seemingly unlimited Christian products, resources, and even experts in this country. We have 100’s of Christian radio stations and TV stations in the USA. We have more Bibles than you can imagine in this country with close to a 100 translations and versions of the Bible available today. We have more than we need to grow spiritually in this country, yet “Spiritual Maturity” is highlighted as the number one problem among Christians today by the Barna Research group in a 2009 study.
Many Christians cannot define or have a very hard time defining what Christian Spiritual Maturity is or even looks like. Yet, many will say that they want to grow into spiritually mature Christians.
We have learned the importance of the Bible in our spiritual growth.
We have discovered how we need recognize and experience the Spirit even at work.
We experienced the Spirit through prayer, praise and worship a few weeks ago as God’s Presence showed up in that service.
We stressed the necessity of listening to wisdom from above to experience the Spirit in our decision making process of life.
Last week we talked about the importance of working through the process of conflict so that we grow spiritually through the difficult dimensions of life. We also made the choice to forgive someone who had hurt us which opens the door to experience the Spirit.
Sermon: Experiencing the Spirit through Service
Thesis: The Lord desires us to use our gifts in service to Him and when we do that we will experience His Spirit in the midst of our serving.
Romans 12: 3-8
3For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.
4Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function,
5so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
6We 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.
7If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach;
8if 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.
Introduction:
Definition of Service from: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/service
a. Assistance; help: was of great service to him during his illness.
b. An act of assistance or benefit; a favor: My friend did me a service in fixing the door.
c. Active devotion to God, as through good works or prayer.
d. A religious rite.
e. The serving of food or the manner in which it is served.
As we see in our definitions service is a outward act of devotion for good which assists or benefits another person.
How would we rate our society or culture today in America on “service” or as we just discovered active devotion to God through the means of serving and assisting others? Would we get a 1 being poor or a 10 being excellent.
Here is how Max Lucado rates us as a society: “Call us a fast society, an efficient society, but don’t call us a personal society. Our society is set up for isolation. We wear ear buds when we exercise. We communicate via e-mail and text messages. We enter and exit our house with gates and garage door openers. Our mantra: ‘I leave you alone. You leave me alone.” (Out live your life, page 54).
Do you agree with assessment of our society today?
Here is another evaluation of our society from a writer named Amy:
Illustration: Lost sense of community
Amy Stated, I inherited an old trunk that sat in my grandma’s basement. It had belonged to the generation before, who had used it to bring their possessions across the sea from Sweden. It sits in my dining room. It smells a little musty, but I treasure it as a link to my heritage.
I was thrilled to receive the trunk, but even happier when I opened it and saw my bonus surprise. The bottom was lined with pages of a newspaper from May 14, 1912. I framed these pages and hung them on a wall in my house. Whenever I look at them, I find something amusing. They’re full of advertisements for remedies to cure everything from kidney trouble to headaches, dandruff, and excessive perspiration. They contain news stories that remind me of the fleeting nature of some of the things that seem newsworthy today. They also remind me that some things never change. But page 7, the Society page, makes me a little sad.
The Society page contains updates about the travels of Mrs. Northrup, Mr. Graham, the Brooks family, and others. It tells who has out-of-town guests. It provides announcements for bridge parties and an upcoming cooking club get-together. It gives tips for hosting a perfect dinner party or afternoon tea.
Big deal, I know. So Colonel and Mrs. William Allaire had a bridge party—what’s so sad about that? It’s not the bridge parties that make me sad; it’s my feeling that we have lost something these turn-of-the-century folks had. They actually cared to read about these things in their city newspaper.
We can read plenty of gossip in the newspaper any day, but this seems different. These aren’t stories about movie stars, sports stars, criminals, famous addicts, or people who are famous for no particular reason. These were people they actually knew, people they wanted to keep track of. They belonged to a community …
Perhaps community life has become a lost element of our society, its formation a lost art. Where are the bridge parties, ice cream socials, dinner parties, barn dances, and block parties hosted by people who actually live on the block, rather than sponsored by Pepsi?
I used to think it was weird to see silver serving sets, complete sets of beautiful china, ice buckets, crystal glasses, and other entertainment accessories in the homes of people who had been around for a while. It seemed like a waste…but something about it actually makes sense to me. It suggests that people valued hospitality and community and saw those special occasions as worthy of something extra.
As Americans in the 21st century, we tend to undervalue the sacred nature of community. We’re all about the family and the rugged individual, the lone hero. We are a lonely people. I wonder if we realize how desperately this loneliness eats at our souls.
Condensed from Gifted for Leadership, a Christianity Today International blog, © 2007 Christianity Today International. For more articles like this, visit Gifted for Leadership. Amy Simpson, "The Society Page," Gifted for Leadership Blog (7-27-07)
Reference the Newspaper in Grygla and in Amery. I loved reading and hearing about the personal stories of the people of the towns. At first when I moved there I did not understand this dimension of community.
Why do we have a sense of loneliness today? Bill Hybels explains it this way:
Quote: Bill Hybels “Descending into Greatness”
It is a “me-first” mind -set. This mind-set says indulge yourself, fulfill your desires, satiate your appetites, pursue pleasure, take off all restraints. As much as we might want to pretend that this value system died in the eighties, let’s be honest: it is alive and still thriving .
With this mind-set comes an elusive promise: If you seek first your own good and satisfy your own desires, then you will be happy. In print, on television, and in the movies, over and over we hear the lie. The road to contentment, satisfaction, fulfillment, and true joy is marked with a street sign flashing “Me First.”… People are pathologically self-centered and ignore the needs of others.
The “me-first” mind-set is controlling many lives, even the lives of those who call themselves followers of Christ (page 11).
I guess it’s my turn to evaluate our society, and our community:
We see this mind-set which I call the “I syndrome”. It has affected every aspect of society. It has caused the break-up of the family unit, it has caused the corruption of government officials. It has caused crime rates to soar. It has caused businesses to become greedy. It has caused the rise of white- collar crime. It has caused wars and murders. It has been instrumental in splitting up families. It has been responsible for destroying relationships. It has caused parents to walk away from their families. It has caused churches to split apart. It has damaged the witness of the Gospel to a lost world. It has caused the exploitation of women and even children through porno. It is leading this nation into destruction, chaos and anarchy. It’s the primary reason for the current state of many of society’s problems. You see this mind-set on the highways and especially at intersections with four stop signs. You see it while waiting in line. And once again you see it playing over and over-spreading like a plague across the landscape. It is devouring families, individuals, communities and many churches.
Sad fact is this mind-set has been accepted by millions. It’s not a new mind-set disease it’s been around for thousands of years. Jesus was confronted with it over and over and he rebuked self-centeredness and pushed otherness!
T.S. – Is there hope for our society? Can we really change our society? The Bible tells me we can of we choose to be like Christ. When the Body of Christ is committed and intentional about serving others rather than serving ourselves we will see that it will make a difference. We will also discover the Spirit as we serve and it’s the Spirit which brings freedom to a community or even a nation.
I. “Each member belongs to all the others” so “Use your God given gifts to serve each other.”
a. We all belong to each other – God designed us this way! We are designed to be involved in community – this is why God created the church!
i. Have you ever pondered this Biblical truth?
1. God made us and designed us to be a community, a family which serves each other.
2. This is God’s purpose and plan for each of us here.
a. To serve one another.
b. To use our gifts for the Kingdom of God
c. To be hospitable
i. Max Lucado notes, “Hospitality opens the door to uncommon community. It’s no accident that hospitality and hospital come from the same Latin word, for they both lead to the same result: healing. When you open your door to someone, you are sending this message. ‘You matter to me and to God.’ You may think you are saying, ‘Come over for a visit.’ But what your guest hears is, ‘I’m worth the effort.” (Outlive Your Life, page 56, 57).
ii. Do you know of people who need the message that we care about them, that we consider them worthy of our time and our efforts.
1. Highlight: India and people wanting their picture taken with you.
b. Where do you belong? Where do you find value and worth and a companionship with others?
i. Chip Ingham notes:
1. In his landmark book Bowling Alone, Robert Putman makes the case that loneliness is America’s new epidemic. People are searching for a place to belong. In the 1970s, it wasn’t uncommon for someone to leave a job that paid well and go off into the woods in order to “find himself.” The issue of the existential sixties and seventies was one of identity. Who am I and why am I here? The issue of the twenty-first century appears to be “where do I belong?” Belonging is a God-given human need. We all need and want the security of belonging to a family, belonging to a group, belonging to a team, belonging with people who need us just like we need them in a healthy and productive way. The fragmentation of the family and the rapid growth in technology have made people more mobile and isolated than ever before. The aching need to belong is at an all-time high (Living on the edge age 132)
2. He also notes this: Nobody has capitalized on community like Starbucks. When they train their employees, they put great emphasis on how to provide a sense of belong to their customers. One of my daughters-in-law worked for Starbucks in Chicago while my youngest son finished college in that city. In her training, she learned that Starbucks is “third place.” The first place is home, the second place is work, and the third place is where authentic community can occur-Starbucks. She learned, “We don’t just sell coffee here, we create a place for authentic community to occur and where relationships can deepen.” And, of course when those things are happening, people sit and drink an awful lot of coffee, as is evidenced by the fifteen-thousand –plus Starbucks around the world.
ii. We also see this need to belong by the rise of Facebook, Twitter and other social networks.
1. People want to connect today because our society has become so impersonal. Many today feel the disconnectedness with family scattered all over the country, with places of work being impersonal and being no more than a number in school or at work.
a. The direction of education according to some: 40 plus in a classroom?
c. Community we need it we crave it so what are you going to do about it? What are you suppose to be doing with your life and your gifts? Using them to create a place of belonging for others:
i. We are to connect with others and we do this best by serving others and not serving ourselves.
1. The Word here in Romans tells us to not think of ourselves as better than others or in another word self-centered.
a. We need to see ourselves as God see’s us and that is with a Spirit of humility and genuine love for others.
2. The Christian is called by Jesus to be other centered not self-centered.
a. To me this is the greatest reason why we have so many immature Christians today – because they are self-centered and not other centered.
b. A person who is other centered has a more mature Christian walk than one who is self-centered.
T. S. – We all belong to one another because God created us that way, it’s in our DNA and we need to learn how to serve each other with the gifts God has given us.
II. So how can I serve another?
a. Just do what comes natural to you and yes you have to choose to do something!
i. The best way to serve is to use you God given gifts and just serve others around you.
ii. This means with your family and also plugging in here at the church or school and using the gifts God has given you.
iii. Trust me when you are using your gifts you will experience the Spirit.
b. Reference the Ark on the website:
i. See slide from website:
1. What Are We Doing?
a. Our church attendee’s have been challenged and equipped to reach out with acts of random kindness (ARK) in their communities. This isn’t a service, so we want nothing in return. Don’t expect any phone calls, donation requests, sales pitches, bible verses, conversations; nothing. It’s absolutely 100% FREE with no strings attached
2. Don’t forget to go to website and add a testimony about how you experienced the Spirit through serving someone else!
ii. You can also do (ARK) Acts of random Kindness by doing servant evangelism over this Easter season.
1. Reference all the items on the stage that they can take after service to reach out to others not a part of this Body of Christ.
a. Hand these out in your neighborhood, at stores, car dealerships, strip malls, at the train station and at events.
i. Reference the June 24, 25, 26 Orland Hills is having their 50th anniversary. I would love to have our church serve this community through servant evangelism projects.
2. Here are some ideas from Steve Sjorgren:
a. Easter is almost here! If you need some ideas for outreach, here are a few that have worked well in the past for churches:
i. Easter Baskets: These are great for both "business blasts" and "house to house." Purchase inexpensive Easter baskets (around sixty cents) and fill with candy such as wrapped small eggs and other inexpensive Easter candy. You can make a nice basket for around $2.00 including the basket. Be sure to include a connection card!
ii. Candy Giveaway: Since this is the season of candy... what a perfect giveaway. Give out candy in busy downtown areas or in front of busy stores. This is a great way to do a "giveaway." Instead of asking, "Would you like...?", say, "Happy Easter" and give them candy and a connection card. You will get very few rejections. Purchase high quality candy for greater effect. Make sure candy is prepackaged.
iii. Flower Seeds for Spring: Give out flower seeds to celebrate Spring. Some seed companies offer the option of having your church name printed on the outside of the packet. This giveaway works great downtown, in front of stores, placed on parked cards, or at Spring festivals. Staple a connection card to the seeds and give them away!
iii. You can help out at the Ester Egg hunt!
1. Stuff eggs this Wed the 13th.
2. Help set up for the event.
iv. You can help out in school with the students or with events and activities.
1. Be there to help kids with reading
2. Help set up for a special day.
3. Help assist teachers in the classroom.
4. Yes, we have serving opportunities for you Seniors in the School.
v. We need to remember another one of Max Lucado’s quotes from “Out Live your Life.” – “Works (service) done in God’s name long outlive our earthly lives!” (page 68).
c. You can serve through the area of Missions:
i. Here are ways to experience the Spirit in service on the Mission field:
1. Family short term missions trips
2. You can help build houses in Mexico
3. You can jump aboard short term mission projects with one of our ministries.
4. You can sponsor one of our Compassion Kids
5. You can pray for our missionaries on Wednesday night at 6pm – see Nancy Squire.
6. You can host missionaries when home on furlough.
7. You can sponsor someone who is willing to go on the mission field.
ii. Pray for our missionaries, (see slide) send them a letter of encouragement, send them Easter gifts or you can even plan on a Christmas Gift.
1. Kathy and I have personally supported missionaries above our tithe over the years and she was great at always sending Christmas gifts and stuff to them and their kids on the mission field.
iii. Christa’s Story of Guatemala
1. Her presentation is about 10 minutes
iv. Illustration: A Youth Group Witnesses a Spiritual Harvest in Afghanistan from Preaching Today
1. In his most recent book What Good Is God?, Philip Yancey writes: This is a true story from Afghanistan that took place in the early 1970s, before the Russian occupation or the Taliban regime. At the time, the government allowed a small Christian church to service internationals who worked there, though no Afghans could attend. A friend of mine named Len organized a musical team of young people to tour countries in the Middle East. With some trepidation, he also accepted an invitation to extend the trip to Afghanistan for a concert in downtown Kabul. Len made the teenagers write out exactly what they would say, subject to his approval. "This is a strict Muslim government," he warned them. "If you say the wrong thing, you could end up in prison and at the same time jeopardize every Christian who lives in this country. Memorize these words and don’t dare stray from them when you perform." The teenagers listened wide-eyed as he described the ominous consequence of a slight misstep…The night of the official concert in Kabul, almost a thousand Afghans filled the hall and spilled outside the open doors to listen. All went well until one teenager on the team put down his guitar and started improvising: "I’d like to tell you about my best friend, a man named Jesus, and the difference he has made in my life." From the side of the stage, Len motioned wildly for him to stop, drawing his finger across his neck. Ignoring him, the teenager proceeded to give a detailed account of how God had transformed his life."I was practically beside myself," Len told me. "I knew the consequences, and I sat with my head in my hands waiting for the sword to drop. Instead, the most amazing thing happened. The Minister of Cultural Affairs for Afghanistan stood and walked to the stage to respond."’We have seen many American young people come through this country,’ he said. ’Most of them come for drugs, and most look like hippies. We have not seen nor heard from young people like you. God’s love is a message my country needs. How thrilled I am to hear you! You are a prototype for the youth of Afghanistan to follow in the future. I would like to invite you to expand your tour so that you visit every college and faculty and also give this same message on Kabul Radio. I will make it happen.’"Len was dumbfounded. That night he gathered the musical group together. "Did you hear what the man said? We’re changing our tickets, of course, to lengthen our visit. And he wants you to give this same message— you’d better not change a word!" Over the next few days, the musical team held other performances. After each event Afghan young people crowded around with questions. Tell me more about this Jesus—we know of him through the Qur’an. You speak of a personal relationship with God. Can you describe it? How does your faith change you? Some asked to pray with the teenagers. Nothing like it had ever happened in Afghanistan. On the last day, after a triumphant tour, the teenagers met J. Christy Wilson, a revered figure in Afghanistan. Born of missionary parents in Iran, he … [had] spent 22 years in Afghanistan, serving as principal of a government high school and teaching English to the Crown Prince and Afghan diplomats. He also led the Community Christian Church and founded the School for the Blind in Kabul. Wilson drove the teenagers to an unusual tourist site, the only cemetery in Afghanistan where "infidels" could be buried. He walked to the first, ancient gravestone, pitted with age. "This man worked here 30 years and translated the Bible into the Afghan language," he said. "Not a single convert. And in this grave next to him lies the man who replaced him, along with his children who died here. He toiled for 25 years, and baptized the first Afghan Christian." As they strolled among the gravestones, he recounted the stories of early missionaries and their fates. At the end of the row he stopped, turned, and looked the teenagers straight in the eye. "For 30 years, one man moved rocks. That’s all he did, move rocks. Then came his replacement, who did nothing but dig furrows. There came another who planted seeds, and another who watered. And now you kids—you kids—are bringing in the harvest.""It was one of the great moments of my life," Len recalls. "I watched their faces as it suddenly dawned on these exuberant American teenagers that the amazing spiritual awakening they had witnessed was but the last step in a long line of faithful service stretching back over many decades."
a. From What Good Is God?: In Search of a Faith that Matters. By Philip Yancey, pp. 219-222. Reprinted by permission of FaithWords, a division of Hachette Book Group, New York, NY. All rights reserved.
T.S. – We are encouraged to serve others so that we can experience the Spirit and those we serve can experience the Spirit. It’s God’s design for us it’s His plan for this church and for this community. I think I have expressed the importance of this as Christa has but here are some more reasons why we should serve each other and our community.
III. Why should I serve?
a. Illustration: from Preaching Today
i. I surveyed my church to see if people saw a relationship between ministering to others and spiritual growth. When asked, "To what extent has your ministry or service to others affected your spiritual growth?," 92 percent answered positively. None responded that ministry had a negative effect on their spiritual growth. Sixty-three percent indicated that service was equally significant in their spiritual growth compared to other spiritual disciplines, such as Bible study and prayer. Twenty-four percent responded that ministry or service to others had been "a more significant factor" to their spiritual growth than Bible study or prayer. Over half (58 percent) of those who were not actively ministering to others felt either "not satisfied" or "somewhat satisfied" with their level of spiritual growth. Eric Swanson What You Get from Giving (Leadership Journal, Spring 2003), p. 37
1. The survey shows what the Bible has said for centuries “Serving is good for you because it will make you happy and it will have eternal value.” The problem comes into serving when the person who serves comes with the wrong attitude.
2. Listen to what Bill Hybels has to say about this: The right motivation for Christian service is love. When we discover God loves us with an everlasting love and that we matter deeply to him, we want to serve. He has given us salvation as a free gift. He has done for us what we could never do for ourselves. He has shed the blood of His most precious Son as a sin sacrifice for undeserving souls like ourselves. When all of that comes together and clicks, an unquenchable, divine energy is infused into the spirit of the believer. There is an insatiable desire to return love to God. That love is returned to God through worship and service. It is so natural that anything short of passionate service seems unnatural. One major cause of servant drop-out is faulty motivation. Some people are motivated to serve because of guilt. They feel bad if they don’t do something, so they say yes to soothe their own guilty conscience. Others are motivated by the belief that they must earn their way into God’s favor and pave the way to heaven with their good works. There are also those who serve for the applause of people. They want others to notice their service and give them affirmation and praise. With the wrong kind of motivation, you won’t be able to keep a servant serving. With the right kind of motivation, you won’t be able to stop a servant serving. It is just about that simple (37).
b. Serving is to be done according to Scripture it’s not an option for the Christian. Nowhere in Scripture does it say serving is an option it’s modeled by Christ himself and He instructs us to serve:
i. NIV John 13:12-17: 12. When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them. 13. "You call me `Teacher’ and `Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
1. Serving is to be an intricate part of being a Christian. It’s part of our faith. It’s who we are. We are all called to be servants of God and of one another. We all are instructed to minister and serve. Don’t boo me yet!
2. Bill Hybels adds, “The theme of sacrifice runs through the entire Bible like a crimson thread. “
Conclusion:
The choice to serve is rooted in a word called commitment. Two questions could be thrown out “Who do you serve?” and “Who are you committed too?” People today say they just do not commit to anything but in reality they do:
• I see people commit to playing sports
• I see people commit to watching sports and supporting their favorite teams
• I see people commit to their jobs
• I see people commit to their cabins
• I see people commit to the pursuit of money
• I see people commit to watching their favorite TV shows
• I see people commit to themselves- to live their life their way
• I see people commit to political parties
• I see people commit to the pursuit of pleasure
• I see people commit to education
• I see people commit to certain foods
• I see people commit to going to State fair every year
• I see people commit to racing cars
• I see people commit to their hobbies
All these commitments are temporal-they have no eternal value! In other words they will not last for all eternity! But I do not see people committing to eternal things – things that matter to the lord! I suppose the statement is true “out of sight out of mind”! But all through the bible I see a theme breaking forth over and over –it’s serve the lord and make a difference for all eternity!
Matthew 4:10 states, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.”
Matthew 6:24 states, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
We need to have hearts that are ablaze and that burn with the passion for serving God and serving each other. Only then will we find fulfillment and happiness in life! Only then will we make a difference for all eternity. Only then will we experience the Spirit through service to God’s Kingdom!
