Above and Beyond
Genesis 24:1-9 Matthew 5:38-48 Test Genesis 24:9-20
Sometimes in order to obtain things that are truly worth having, we have to go above and beyond the call of duty. We’re often touched when someone does something extra special for us or simply go out of their way on our behalf when there’s nothing in it for them. I can recall as a kid about 11 years old on a snowy evening heading toward Ga. for Christmas. I was asleep in the back of the station wagon and somebody crashed into the back of us. We were hundreds of miles from home, but there was a family who saw the accident. There were about 10 of us in the car. They took us to their home and put us up for the night until we got the car repaired. They fed us and sent us on our way. We never saw them again. That was almost thirty years ago, but I remember that act of kindness which was above and beyond the call of the moment.
Sometimes we miss out on great blessings that could have been ours simply because we didn’t take that extra moment to go above and beyond what was called for at the time.
Pastor Toby has shared her story, how she was about to have to leave college because she simply did not have the money to continue. Yet her last act at the school was to do something small, yet it was above and beyond what she had to do. She saw a man looking as though he was lost.
In her own friendly way she offered to help him, and to escort him to the place where he was going. She did not know that man from anyone else but she went above and beyond. That man was so touched by her willingness to go out of her way for him, that the moment he found out she was leaving school because of money, he offered to pay all of her expenses at this private college for the next two years. The interesting thing is that she was not out looking for help, she was simply being the witness that Jesus wanted her to be in going above and beyond what was required.
We find a woman in the Scriptures who was willing to go above and beyond what was required, and in doing so, found the greatest of blessings for her life. The story is found in Genesis 24. We saw in our Scripture reading that Abraham wanted to get a wife for his son. Abraham was the first Jew called out by God, and God had promised to make him a great nation. Abraham waited a long time to have a son. Back then, the parents were responsible for choosing a mate for their children.
Genesis 24:10 Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and left, taking with him all kinds of good things from his master. He set out for Aram Naharaim and made his way to the town of Nahor. He had the camels kneel down near the well outside the town; it was toward evening, the time the women go out to draw water. Then he prayed, "O LORD, God of my master Abraham, give me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water.
May it be that when I say to a girl, ’Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,’ and she says, ’Drink, and I’ll water your camels too’--let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master."
Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, who was the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor. The girl was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had ever lain with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar and came up again. The servant hurried to meet her and said, "Please give me a little water from your jar." "Drink, my lord," she said, and quickly lowered the jar to her hands and gave him a drink. After she had given him a drink, she said, "I’ll draw water for your camels too, until they have finished drinking." So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, ran back to the well to draw more water, and drew enough for all his camels.
Let’s look again at verse 19, it says After she had given him a drink, she said, "I’ll draw water for your camels too, until they have finished drinking." The first thing I want you to notice about Rebekah is that she was willing to go above and beyond what was expected. You may say, big deal, I would have given the man a drink and gave his camels some water. But you see for you, it would be a matter of simply turning on a faucet. She had to get her water out of a well. Understand that a camel will drink between 20 and 30 gallons of water each. Eliezer had started out with 10 camels.
If she was going to fill up his camels, we’re talking anywhere from and hour and a half to 2 hours to fill up these animals. This lady has committed herself for almost two hours to a perfect stranger who did far more than he had asked of her. Now at best, some of us might have said hello to the man. A few of us might have offered him a drink of water. Even fewer of us would have told him he could borrow our bucket to get some water for his camels if he wanted to, but I’m afraid to say how many of us would have committed ourselves in this fashion. It is usually not our goal to do the most of what we can, and get nothing for it. We have been trained to do the least that’s expected of us, and get the maximum benefit possible.
We will even get upset when others are going above what we think is the minimum. "Well who do she think she is coming in here working so hard trying to make us look bad." "Why does he think he’s all that by doing that extra stuff." "She’s just trying to kiss up to the boss." "They think they own the church and try to do everything." The kingdom of God and life always has place for a person who is willing to go Above and Beyond what’s asked. Too many people want as much of heaven as possible while giving as little to the church as they can get away with and keep their name on the rolls. In other words they want a maximum return for a minimum effort. How many of you know that you can’t write a check for the maximum amount if all you do is put in minimal deposit.
If somebody had of seen Rebekah doing all that she was doing, I guarantee you that she would have been criticized. Saints, when you go above and beyond, people are going to criticize you, but go above and beyond anyways, because that’s where the Spirit of God is calling you to be. Everywhere you go, you’re showing somebody Jesus Christ. Is the Jesus you show, sloppy, lazy, just doing enough to get by? Or is the Jesus you’re showing to the world, one who is willing to give His best to those He encounters.
Jesus put it like this, if you are faithful in small things, you can be trusted with much. You may not think your behavior on the job or at school has anything to do with your walk in Christ. The reality is, God has you where he has you because that’s where He needs you to be to reach somebody that’s lost. Somebody is watching you and what they see in you is going to determine not only their future, but it may influence your own.
We think of the Pharisees as the bad people in the New Testament, but that’s not an accurate picture. Most Pharisees were very good people. How many of us can say as the Pharisee did, in Luke 18, ’God, I thank you that I am not like other men--robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ The problem with the Pharisees was they thought their good deeds alone would get them into heaven and they had plenty of righteous deeds. Now today we may say, I know I’m not living up to what I should be doing but as long as the lord knows my heart, I’ll be okay.
Jesus didn’t say anything about just having a heart that wanted to do something right. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught that our righteousness should go above and beyond that of the Pharisees. The Pharisees were the all time score keepers. They would just do exactly what was required, nothing more and nothing less. If the law said forgive 7 times, buddy you were okay with the Pharisees until you did them on the 8th time. Jesus said, look if your righteousness is not above and beyond the Pharisees, you won’t even enter the kingdom of heaven.
Do you remember some of the tough sayings of Jesus in which we think Jesus was kidding. He gave the illustrations that if somebody struck one cheek turn the other, if someone asked for you your coat give the inner coat as will if needed, and if someone asked you to go one mile go with him two. When Jesus talked about going the second mile, the people knew exactly what he meant. At the time he said walk the second mile, the Jews were under Roman authority.
They didn’t have jeeps to ride around in back then, and sometimes the Roman soldiers gear would get heavy. If I were a Roman soldier, I could come by anybody’s house, take my spear and tap John on the shoulder. That tap would tell John that I’m going to ask something of him and that he has no option but to give. I might ask him for his coat. He’d have to take it off and give it to me. I might look at him and say, John, "I’ve got a lot to carry. Walk a mile with me and carry some of my baggage.
Now John would have no choice. You see under Roman authority, the Jewish person had to walk the first mile. There was no arguing and fussing or whining about it. That’s just the way life was. You were under their authority and they owned you for a mile. Now I’m sure there was as much love between the Jewish person carrying that load for that Roman, as there is between you and the local grand duke wizard of the KKK.
So imagine there you are carrying this load for this person you are simply thanking God for the opportunity to serve. Now you know that once you get to the end of the mile, the person could not make you go a second mile. You would lay down his bags, and say Mr. KKK, my mile is up and I’ll be leaving now. As a joke he might say, aw come on don’t you want to go another mile. Jesus was teaching, shock the daylights out of him and offer to go the second mile and mean it.
You see for the first mile, he owned you and you had no other choice but to do what was asked. But in the second mile, you own yourself and you’re in control of how you’re going to let Jesus shine in you. Jesus is saying the difference between the Christian and the non Christian is that the Christian goes above and beyond in walking the second mile, and does the little extra that causes the person that is over them to say, "Wait a minute. They don’t have to do this. They don’t need to do this, Why are they doing this?"
Now if as Christians we operated under the Above & Beyond principle, each time somebody needed to hire someone, they’d be asking the question, "Are You A Christian?" They would look from Christians because they knew they could count on Christians to go the extra mile to make up the difference. You talk about being a witness for Christ. You want to know what a silent witness is.
If we as Christians were willing to go the second mile on our jobs or at school, or at home, our bosses, our teachers, and our family members would be wanting to come to church to find out what is making you behave in such a manner. They’d come not to hear the preacher, but because they would see people so different from the lazy, just get by attitude that is everywhere in the world today. Unfortunately Christians have made employers not want to hire Christians. Instead of going above and beyond, we’re sneaking out early with others believing God that we won’t get caught. We’re taking extra long lunch breaks so that we can witness to our friends.
Remember, for that first eight hours, we belong to our employer. If we want to be a witness on our jobs for Christ, lets give a maximum effort. If we’re not going to give maximum effort on our job or at school, do everybody a favor and don’t let them know you’re a Christian. They are going to assume that all Christians are just like you. The next Christian coming behind you may not even get a shot at the job, because they don’t want any more of them.
Living the Spirit filled life does not mean you’re out their walking on Lake Erie, or that you’re like the song, in right, up right, out right down right happy all the time. The Spirit filled life gives ordinary people power to do extraordinary things. It provides ordinary people with power to do ordinary things in an extraordinary way. Rachel received power to do some extraordinary hard work.
She said,’"I’ll draw water for your camels too, until they have finished drinking." God’s spirit will help you to do things just a little bit better and a little bit longer. Did you know that about 80 percent of being successful is just showing up faithfully everytime you’re supposed to show up.
How should the Above and Beyond principle work in our lives.
1. The first thing is that we are not to live our lives by the measuring rod. If we are living a life that is always measuring, we’re missing what God told us to do. Let me see he gave me a gift, I’ll give him one. They forgot my birthday, I’ll forget theirs. She didn’t help me when I was down and out, I’m not going to help her. He loaned me five dollars, I’ll loan him five dollars. 50 50, you do your half and I’ll do mine. If you do exactly what you’re supposed to do and nothing more, you have not demonstrated that Jesus is in you. If Jesus had of only done what He should have done, he would have never made it to the cross. A Christian is called to do more that is expected of him or her.
2. The second thing is, we cannot walk the second mile, until we’ve walked the first. So many people want to do great things for God, without ever getting around to doing little things for God. It amazes me how with all the trash we see left in the pews or out on the lawn, how few people will ever stoop over and pick it up. We have to do a thorough job with what we have before we can do an excellent job or an extra job with that which we will be given.
If we haven’t done a great job where we are, we can’t do a great job where we think we may be going. People deceive themselves when they say if I was in that class, or if I had that job, or if I was in that position, I would really do my very best. No you wouldn’t. The problem isn’t in the job or the place, its in us. We haven’t handled the first mile well. We can’t go above and beyond, because we’ve never reached the minimum level.
3. Extra blessings come from extra effort. When you and I put in the extra effort, we receive extra blessings. In a marriage relationship, if every husband and every wife were willing to walk the second mile or do above and beyond for their spouse, and not just what’s required of expected of them, just because we want to and we love them, divorce lawyers would see a huge decrease in their business.
Marriages fall apart not when we want to do something extra for our spouse; They fall apart when we sit around waiting for our spouse to do something extra for us. When we start listing our rights and responsibilities, and say, "Well that’s your job and its not required of me. I don’t have to do this", then the relationship is in trouble. Having our rights is killing us.
A good marriage is one when the spouse does what he or she is supposed to and then some. A good student is a person who does what the requirements are in the class and then some. A good member is one who does what he or she is supposed to and then some. A good parent or child is one who does what he or she is supposed to and then some. What’s a good Christian? It’s not the one with the big cross, or the nice button, or the one playing the Christian station. It’s the one that does what he or she is suppose to do and then some.
Saints, what would happen if we became Above and Beyond type people. I guarantee you that we will receive more from life, from others, and from God than we would ever think possible. Because Rebekah went above and beyond what was expected of her, she received more than she had expected. She had no idea, the simple statement, "I’ll draw water for your camels too, until they have finished drinking", would change her life forever. She didn’t know it would lead to a husband who was a man of faith and wealthy besides. She didn’t know she was going to be one of the great, great, great grandmothers of Jesus Christ.
Do you remember Jesus said that at the judgment he would say to some of the saints, Thank you for clothing me, thank you for feeding me, and thank you for giving me food. But the saints will respond, when did we ever do such things for you. We never saw you.
Jesus will reply whenever you did it for the least of these, you did it for me. When we do things above and beyond, that’s when we’re doing things for Jesus Christ. We do what needs to be done with a right motive, not to get something back. When you stand before Jesus Christ, are you going to be glad knowing that you were an Above and Beyond person in life.
Don’t despise the little jobs that you have you to do. Every evening, Rebekah went down to the well and did the very same thing; drew the water out of the well and took it back to her family. What a boring, menial task. But don’t despise it.
Story is told of a contractor who was needed to hire a supervisor. He put out a help wanted sign. Help wanted, good potential for the future. He agreed to pay a man a decent salary for moving bricks. He told the man, move these bricks over there. When the guy finished, he told him to move them back where they were. When he finished the guy told him to move them back again. The guy quit, saying he wasn’t doing something so stupid with his time. 5 guys started and quitted the job.
Finally Dave came and took the job. He moved those bricks back and forth time and time again. They asked him Dave why don’t you quit. Dave said as long as I’m getting paid, I’ve got a job. It’s not my fault he can’t make up his mind where he wants those bricks. On the fourth day, Dave didn’t even go to see the boss on arriving, he simply got the wheelbarrow and headed for the bricks. The boss called "Dave, come in here, I want to offer you the job of supervisor. I’ve been looking for somebody that would be faithful with my orders. Too often we don’t get the positions that God wants to give us, because we despise the little things God wants us to do.
Don’t wait for the big moments in live to decide you will go above and beyond. I meet people all the time, who if they ever won a million dollars they’d give it all or half to the church. My friends if you’re not a tither now, there is no way you’re going to go Above and Beyond tithing simply because you got a lot of money all at once.
Some of us have spent a lifetime working and never could tithe. Now that we’ve retired we’re saying we can’t tithe now because we are on a fixed income. My friends I’m telling you when you know God and are tithing, God is the one who fixes your income, not the Social Security office. You don’t know where God might send you some money from.
Help people and you’ll always be a blessing. Pour your life into other and pour your life into the work of the church and you’ll always be a blessing. We use to pour some of our mission money into commercials on WJMO. Well this past week in Life-Sharing, a young woman came who said how she heard one of our 60 second spots and it changed her life. Pastor Toby said, Women, you don’t have to be in an abusive relationship, get out of it and let Christ make a difference in your life.
She said, she was in that situation with a guy, and on that commercial she made up her mind to end the relationship. Now she’s looking forward to marrying a Christian this July and have asked us to do the ceremony. That would not have been possible with the extra above and beyond that you have given of your income.
When the camels finished drinking, Eliezer the servant, took out a gold nose ring, and two gold bracelets of the highest quality to give to Rebekah. Later that day he gives her more gold, silver jewelry, and clothing. He gave expensive gifts to her mother and to her brother. Now must of us, if we had seen what she was going to get before hand, we would have also offered to pour the water for the camels. But we don’t always see in advance what God has for us at the close of the day.
When God opens the door for you to make a difference, go ahead and make the difference. You can finish reading this chapter and see what a difference Rebekah’s willingness to do above and beyond made in her life. She wouldn’t have thought of finding a husband at that old well in a thousand years, but she did. Those of you who are praying for a mate, God knows how to answer your prayer. Be faithful where you are so that you don’t miss out when God sends a servant looking for you.
Today we share in communion. Communion reminds us that Jesus was an Above and Beyond kind of a person. He gave above what was required of him in laying down his life for us, and he went beyond reasoning in loving us, because the bible says, while we were still sinners he died for us. Jesus didn’t wait for us to get our act together to start to love us. No he loved us so that He could put our act together in the way it was needed. God is looking for people who are willing to go Above and Beyond for Him. If you’re willing to become an Above and Beyond person this morning I ask that you raise your hand that I might pray for you.
