If you use any or all of this message--would you be willing to fire off a quick email to:pastorjerryvargo@juno.com? I would like to have an idea of how often my sermons are actually being preached to strengthen the Body of Christ. Thanks!
Blessed to be a Blessing!
Pastor Jerry C. Vargo
Calvary Christian Chapel
I. Introduction.
A. Before I teach today, I’d like to give a testimony and make a few opening comments.
B. This morning, I stand before you as your new pastor. I also stand before you with the same reliance on the Spirit that the Apostle Paul expressed in…
-1 Corinthians 2:1-5
C. I know the unanimous vote blessed everyone. It speaks so clearly of the unity of the Spirit and the mandate that God has given me to be your pastor. Yet, like the Apostle Paul, I come here in fear, weakness, and trembling.
D. I am painfully aware of my reliance upon Him for wisdom to lead this church.
E. I exhort you to remember verse 5.
F. Today, I want to preach a foundational message that serves as a good starting point for our time together. I want to talk just a bit about why we are so blessed by God.
G. We are blessed to be a blessing. We must understand this and it must be part of our covenant together. It is our mission and mandate as a local expression of the body of Christ.
Illustration
The human heart is a wonderful thing. It pumps blood in at one valve and then sends it out through another valve. It never stores up blood. It is constantly circulating throughout the body. It gets blood…then it gives blood. It never stores it up for use at a later date.
It receives…then gives! It receives…then gives! It receives…then gives!
The same is true with any healthy Christian or church. It first receives from God…and then it gives. The giving always starts with God…
“We love, because He first loved us.”
- 1 John 4:19
The same is true with the blessings of God. “We bless, because He first blessed us.”
Two texts that illustrate this principle of blessed to be a blessing…
Old Testament: Genesis 12:1-3
New Testament: 1 Peter 2:9
II. Body.
A. Let me draw from these two texts some principles that I believe must be a part of body life.
1. We are blessed so that we can serve as ministers of the good news.
A. Another way to say this is to say:
God has saved you to help others come to Him.
B. Every single individual who names the name of Christ has a unique, personalized, and effective way of sharing the love of Christ.
C. May God help us to be known as a Church that cares about the lost and the lonely…about the hurting and the helpless. A fellowship that cares not about skin color or economic status.
D. Think back for just a moment about the days before YOU came to Jesus Christ. We must not lose sight of our history.
E. 1 Peter 2:9 again.
F. Matthew 24:14 says: “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations, and then the end shall come.”
G. Let me say it as clear as I can:
God has called every single one of us to be involved as ministers to those whose hearts are broken and without Christ…no exceptions!
Every member a minister!
H. Jim Peterson in his book “Church Without Walls” gives some great advice concerning serving others as ministers:
1. To be a messenger of Christ is to participate in spiritual warfare.
2. Communicating Christ involves incarnation, not just information.
3. The journey to Christ is a process, not just an event.
4. We guide people to Christ through the Scriptures.
5. Witnessing among unbelievers is a team, or body, effort.
6. (Add one of my own) Our lives must produce questions.
Transition: So, God has blessed us so that we can serve as ministers of the Good news.
Secondly…
2. We are blessed so that we can be part of a covenant community of faith.
A. What we read in Genesis 12 this morning was a covenant that God made with Abraham.
B. The Bible is filled with covenants. God and Noah. God and David. David and Jonathan.
C. The interesting thing to note is that God who is holy and without sin, sent His Son to usher in a New Covenant with a sinful and unholy people.
D. A covenant is much more than a contract. A contract usually involves a certain skill and has an ending date. A covenant has no ending and it involves the whole person.
E. In the Old Testament slaughtering and cutting an animal into two halves confirmed covenants. Then the parties would pass between the slain animals to signify that if either party broke the covenant…they would end up like the slain animal.
F. The covenants were usually concluded with an oath and a common meal.
G. I say all of this to point out that membership at CCC should be more than a contract. We must covenant to be involved with our whole lives.
H. Coming to church on Sunday morning is great…but relationships must be cultivated. My hope is that we will grow closer and closer as we serve the Lord in these last days.
I. In this covenant we will all be blessed…and we will all be a blessing. This should be a place of non-judgmentalism. A place of understanding. A place of support.
Illustration
Haddon Robinson tells the story…around the turn of the century, locust swept over Nebraska, Iowa, and Kansas. In about a week’s time, they did over 5 million dollars of damage to the crops (and that was the currency of that time).
Locusts don’t have a king to get them organized. By instinct the locust knows it has to be in community with other locusts. When that occurs, they are able to topple kingdoms. The wisdom of the locust is the wisdom that tells us we must live in community.
Illustration
Another story tells of a man who visited an asylum for the criminally insane. He was surprised to find only three guards to take care of a hundred inmates. He asked one of the guards if he was afraid that the inmates would unite and overcome the guards. The guard made a very telling statement.
“Lunatics never unite.”
Transition: We are blessed to be ministers…we are blessed to live in a community of faith.
Lastly…
3. We are blessed so that we can invest our giftings to serve eternal purposes.
A. The parable of the talents in Matthew 25 clearly points out that we have been given gifts to use and that we are called upon to make wise choices with those gifts.
B. Only what we do for eternity has any real merit…and the only way to effect eternity is to be faithful with our giftings.
Illustration
For the sake of making a calculation, let’s say that eternity is only 8 million years long (although after 8 million years eternity has only begun). Now, let’s say that you are given a long life and you live to be 100 years old.
Using these numbers, your life compared to eternity would only be a fraction of a second or 1/30th of a second.
Your life would end before you could say, “ME.” Our lives are here today and gone tomorrow.
-Dr. John Mannion
C. 1/30th of a second has no meaning of its own. But if that 1/30th of a second is filled with meaning…then, and only then is it important.
D. I was thinking about this early this morning when I saw a way to illustrate this idea.
Illustration
Think about April 19th, 1995…at 9:02 AM. What happened that day? Timothy McViegh bombed the Federal building in Oklahoma. It was a horrible, cowardly thing to do…but we remember the minute…we focus on the minute…9:02 AM. That minute has meaning (in a negative way) for all of us, but especially for those who lost babies and children, husbands or wives, sons or daughters. One minute of time affected the rest of this life for the survivors.
In the same kind of way, we have been given a short minute…a fraction of a second to make a difference for eternity…let’s quit trying to use our time trying to find satisfaction in things that don’t satisfy…let’s use our gifts for eternal purposes!
E. As we get more organized, you will find me discussing this topic of giftings in more detail.
F. Suffice it to say that if we are to find meaning in life and walk in God’s will, we must accept who we are and how God has made us. Then, we must use our gifts in His service…for His honor…for His glory…for eternal purposes.
III. Conclusion.
A. We are blessed…let us set our course to…
1. Love the lost.
2. Commit to the community of faith.
3. Engage our giftings for eternal purposes.
B. This morning…I believe that God has all of you to this process of blessing.
You are blessed…to be a blessing. Your future will find its greatest fulfillment in this principle.
C. Jeremiah 29:11-13 states: “For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”
Communion
Ushers to come forward and serve you. Open communion. Hold the elements till everyone has been served. Lead us in some worship.
This cup and this bread signify the New Covenant. Make a decision today to reestablish the covenant in your heart.
Luke 22:14-20
