Created For Significance pt 3
Created For Significance • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 1 viewWhat matters to God? What would God say to us if we asked, "What is important to you? What do you care about, God?" Does what matters to God, matter to you? God scours the world, looking for two kinds of people... And He wants to talk to us about who they are...
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What matters to you, God?
What matters to you, God?
“What do You really care about? What’s really important to You?”
Have you ever asked those questions of God? Have you ever wondered how God would answer?
What’s really important to God? Does the answer interest you? Or… Do you just want God to know what’s important to you?
You see… I believe that is what God wants to talk to us about this morning…
Let’s Pray: “Father, we come to you today, with hearts that are open… Lord, we recognize that we have been selfish… and unconcerned about what matters to you. Many of us have been so absorbed in our own lives… in our struggles, that we haven’t even thought to ask You…
So today, we ask your forgiveness… Forgive us for being distracted, for working and serving without ever asking what matters to You… Help us today to hear Your voice… Father speak to our hearts… reveal to us what matters most to You. So that we may learn to seek that as well.”
Alright… Let’s talk about what really matters to God!
If you study the Bible for any amount of time, you will find that God is only interested in 2 kinds of people.
From cover to cover, the story of God pictures God in search mode… looking all over the world… BUT… He’s not “window shopping”… God is not strolling around just looking to see what’s there… God is on a mission!
God is intensely searching the world! He’s intent on finding and working with 2 kinds of people… AND… EVERYONE of us in this room can fit into one of these two categories!
Curious yet?!?!
My hope is that as we talk about this today, you will be able to do two things: 1. diagnose which category you are in right now! 2. identify which one you WANT to be in!
I. The Fully Committed
What does that mean? What does it mean to be “fully committed”?
The CotN defines it as “entire sanctification” … John Wesley defined it as “Heart Purity”…
Being “fully committed” to God is what makes us Holy…
John 3:16 (NIV)
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes [whoever puts their complete and total trust] in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
We could say “For God so loved the world… that whoever is ‘Fully Committed’ to Him…”
Amen?
BUT… What does that look like?
In the OT, we are told the story of a well-intentioned king of Israel… His name is Asa. Asa came under attack from the neighbor to his north…
Now, Asa was a seasoned king, and he trusted in God… He had been to war many times, and here’s what he’d do… He’d arrange his troops strategically, and then… before doing anything else… he’d pray for God to fight for them…
And God always did! Asa never lost a battle!
9 Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men and three hundred chariots, and came as far as Mareshah.
10 Asa went out to meet him, and they drew up their lines of battle in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah.
2 Chronicles 14:11 (NIV)
11 Then Asa called to the Lord his God and said, “Lord, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, Lord our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this vast army. Lord, you are our God; do not let mere mortals prevail against you.”
Here’s what happened:
12 So the Lord defeated the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled.
That’s Asa’s background… God fought for Asa!
Now… Several years later, King Asa is older and more established when the king from the north attacks again… But…this time… Asa is reluctant to go into battle… He has a lot more to lose now…
So, this time… instead of going to battle, he pays the king of Syria to attack his rival… Asa risks nothing!
He didn’t take any steps himself… He didn’t send troops… He didn’t invest anything in any way!
He lets someone else do the fighting for him… He let’s someone else do the work…
He thought to himself, “I’ve done my time… I’ve done enough… Someone else needs to do the work… I gave money, that’s enough!”
Let me tell you… God is watching closely!
Asa took the comfortable way out… He thought he could just throw some money at it and it would be ok… That that was enough… That someone else could do the work…
But look what happened:
7 At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him: “Because you relied on the king of Aram and not on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand.
8 Were not the Cushites and Libyans a mighty army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen? Yet when you relied on the Lord, he delivered them into your hand.
9 For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war.”
Do you see what happened there?
Asa had the chance to do good… to express his Faith… To PROVE that he was STILL fully committed to God.
BUT… He didn’t!!!
I can almost hear God saying: “O’ Asa! I have been searching for someone who I can use… Someone who would do my bidding… Who would Trust Me… and be committed to saving My people from their enemy. BUT… you ducked! You chumped out! Asa, what a fool you’ve been!”
God wants to use people in this world… to strengthen them and to use them to impact the lives of others…
But Asa missed out!
God is on an all-out search for two kinds of people…
The first is the kind He can use — Fully Committed people.
Is that you? Are you fully committed to God?
Or… Are you holding back… not risking anything… taking the “comfortable” route… thinking “someone else needs to do it”?
God, forgive us for being this way… Forgive us for holding back… For waiting for someone else to do the work… Forgive us for taking the “comfortable route”… For thinking that we can just throw money at it and not have to do the work ourselves.
Father, we don’t want to live like this… We don’t know what to do, but we KNOW You can change us! Father, pour out Your Love in our lives… Surround us with Your Holy Presence… Fill us with Your Holy Spirit… Speak Your Word into our lives today… Change us into willing, faithful people who You can use. Amen
I told you there were 2 kinds of people God is looking for, right?!
The second is the kind of people are the ones found in Luke 15.
These are the people who also explain WHY God is searching for Fully Committed people.
Look at Luke 15.
Luke 15 records three stories, or parables, told by Jesus — the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son…
There is something interesting here… Jesus normally tells a parable, then takes time to explain what it means… BUT… in Luke 15, He doesn’t! He fires these three parables in “rapid fire” style, one after the other, with no pause… and no explanation given!
WHY?!?!
Because He wants to make a point.
Let’s look at it…
1 Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him.
2 And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
3 So he told them this parable:
4 “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it?
5 When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices.
6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’
7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
8 “Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?
9 When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’
10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
11 Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons.
This is such an exciting chapter! The Pharisees see Jesus with “sinners and tax collectors”… they start mumbling, grumbling, and criticizing…
Jesus responds by telling them about a lost sheep, lost coin, and a wayward son…
They are all interconnected… We don’t have time to unpack them today, but… If you’ll follow me today, I think you will find some things that may open your eyes to these two categories of people, and to what matters to God.
Look at how the story of the lost sheep begins (4)
4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?
This should be translated, “Which of you, being shepherds…?” Because that is what He infers with His language…
Remember who Jesus is talking to… this was a group of devoutly religious leaders, upper-class Orthodox Jews… and Jesus insults them!
In their minds… In their day… being a shepherd was a lowly trade. Shepherds were lower-class citizens… Which makes it even more interesting that shepherds were the first to hear the news of Jesus’s birth!
Jesus knew how these men thought shepherds … So, He chooses to tell them a story about a shepherd… Not only that, He asks them a question about doing something they would never do. “Which of you, being a shepherd… ?”
They knew the answer before He finished the question! “None of us would do whatever you’re asking, none of us would ever be a shepherd! If we had sheep, we’d hire a shepherd to take care of them for us!”
Look at verse 4 again:
4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?
Do you see what He did?!
While they’re thinking about what a despicable trade shepherding is, Jesus tells them about a shepherd that loves his sheep!
But look at what else He says: “The shepherd is the one who lost the sheep! The shepherd is responsible!”
Verse 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them?”
Not only does Jesus call them shepherds, but then He adds insult to injury and says “and you lost a sheep!”
This is important!
In Middle Eastern culture, “saving face” is every thing! You never do anything to shame yourself, or your family… If you were describing a sheep being lost, you would never say
“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one ...”
To save face, you’d say “suppose one of them wandered off.”
One pastor likens it to speaking in Spanish. (so, if he is wrong, you can tell me later!)
He states: “In Spanish, if I’m eating dinner and I accidentally bump my plate so that it falls on the floor and breaks, what do I say? “Se rompio.” “It broke itself.” A Spanish speaker never says, “I broke the plate,” unless he is specifically wanting to indict himself and point a finger at his own idiocy.
In English, we’d say, “I broke the plate.” But in Spanish, we’d say, “The plate broke itself.” Same in most Middle Eastern languages.
You would not say, “I lost the sheep.” You’s say, “The sheep got lost.”
BUT… Jesus says, “the shepherd loses one of them.”
Do you see it? This is a shepherd that no Pharisee would ever want to imitate in any way!
But… this shepherd loves His sheep.
I’m gonna ask you a few questions rather quickly… I need you to follow me… don’t close your Bibles…
In Jesus’s story, how many sheep does the shepherd have? On hundred…
What happens to them? One wanders off… One gets lost…
What does the shepherd do? He leaves the other ninety-nine in open country! He doesn’t bring them back to town… He doesn’t corral them for the night… He leaves them in potential danger to go and find the one that’s lost!
He risks them ALL for the sake of ONE!!!!
When he finds the sheep, what does he do? Puts it on his shoulders and brings it home…
What does he say to his friends? “Rejoice with me.”
Why? Because he’s happy. So happy, he throws a party to celebrate!
Now, look at the second parable… Luke 15:8-10
8 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?
9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’
10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Who’s the star of this parable? A woman…
Who’s Jesus talking to as He tells this parable? Men. Pharisaic men.
How did Pharisaic men feel about women? They were third-class citizens.
What does the woman have that’s of value to her? Ten coins.
How many sheep did the shepherd have? One hundred.
How many coins did the woman have? Ten.
Jesus is reducing the proportions.
Coins were very rare in their agrarian culture… Trade was carried out by barter… Cash would be used only in emergencies… Only to buy things you couldn’t get any other way.
Some scholars believe that these coins were the woman’s dowry, her “bride-price”… in other words, her worth!
But… she has lost one… so she panics… she cancels all her plans and scours the house until she finds it!
What does she do when she finds it? She throws a party.
Why?!? Because she’s happy.
NOW… Jesus tells a third story… The story of a father who has two sons…
Notice the progression: one hundred sheep, ten coins, two sons. He’s lowering the proportions.... He’s focusing their attention…
One of the two sons gets lost, but eventually turns up again… When he does, the father doesn’t wait for him… he runs to him!
NOW… No self-respecting Middle Eastern landowner would do that! Because to run meant you had to lift your robe… and lifting your robe exposes your ankles… and exposing your ankles was… well… undignified…
He would lose face… The wealthy do not run… they pay someone else to run for them!
For the third time, we have a hero that no Pharisee would want to identify with…
When the son is found, what does the father do? He throws the mother of all parties!
WHY??? Because he’s happy!
10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
We are going to address the story of the prodigal son in more detail next week, but for now, there are four things to note in these parables:
In each of these stories, the plot line involves something lost. A sheep is lost, a coin is lost, a son has wandered away from home…
In each of these stories, what is lost really matters to the hero. Isn’t that true? The shepherd is so concerned about the loss of one sheep, that he risks the other ninety-nine to find it… The woman is so distraught that she cancels all her plans and tears her house apart to find the coin… The father is so broken-hearted that his son has wandered that he endures scorn and shame to run to him… In each case, what is lost matters so much to the one who lost it that it warrants an all-out search…
In each of these stories, when what was lost is found, the hero is so happy, he or she throws a party, and invites EVERYONE to celebrate with them!
In each of these stories, the hero is someone who wouldn’t really be admired by most religious leaders. The shepherd was a second-class citizen… The woman was a third-class citizen… The father… potentially admirable… until he does the unthinkable… he lifts his robes in order to run and save his son from humiliation and shame… No Pharisee could admire a man like that!
Put those four things together and what do you have?
You have Jesus… standing in front of a group of long-standing religious types, who think they have it all figured out… who think they know what really matters to God… They’ve read… They’ve memorized 2 Chronicles 16:9… They see themselves as “fully committed”… So… obviously they (and only they) matter to God.
When they see Jesus talking to the “outcasts” of society, they become angry… They believe that he is diminishing God’s name and dignity by associating with such lowlife people!
Jesus is so frustrated by their thinking that He tells them not one, not two, but three parables back-to-back…
It’s as if He’s saying to them, and to us, “Your perception of who matters to God and who doesn’t is so far off.... I’m going to clear up this concept once and for all, so you’ll never have to wonder again what matters to God!”
He tells them: “Lost things matter to people you don’t admire.”
God longs for and searches for two kinds of people:
The Fully Committed.
Those who are lost.
The fully committed are not proud, self-conscious, religious types who think that the most important thing is their religious life (i.e. themselves and their works)
Jesus is saying, “The lost matter to God.”
The “Fully Committed” are those who understand that…
Look at 2 Chron 16:9 again:
9 For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war.”
God is looking for people who are willing to join the search!
— Only the fully committed reach out to the lost…
— Only the fully committed serve long hours at the church, ensuring that it is a place that welcomes the lost… and serves the lost…
— Only the fully committed pray diligently for their friends, co-workers, neighbors, community…
— Only the fully committed alter their spending habits so they can bring the full tithe and fund the ministries that reach the lost…
— Only the fully committed pray for eyes to see as God sees, thinking first about others and second about themselves…
— Only the fully committed give willingly of their time… their lives… their talents… and their weaknesses…
The “Fully Committed” don’t just do one or two of these things… They do them all, because… It’s not about us, it’s about THEM!!!
One pastor confesses: “The hard part about this story for me was that I thought I was fully committed. I wanted to be. I had invested three years of my life in seminary because I wanted to serve God fully. The problem was that I thought serving Him meant serving His already-saved sheep.”
Is that us?
Are we just serving the “already-saved sheep”? Or worse… thinking we can pay someone else to do it?!
That same pastor tells the story of a day when he stood in line at the grocery store… waiting to pay for his groceries… His mind began to wander… so he started looking around…
He noticed that there were about five people in his line… five in the line next to his… and each of the ten or so other lines… As he stood there, he began to think, “How many of those people standing in line had no clue what it meant that Christ had died for their sins?”
He figured that out of the whole, it was reasonable that forty to fifty of them were completely lost and didn’t even no it!
He thought, “But I do! I know it! And I could help them. Who will if I don’t?”
I want you to hear his last thought:
“How will I ever look God in the face on the day I go to heaven if I don’t help them? How could I ever hope to say to Him, ‘I followed You fully,’ if I didn’t pray for them, befriend them, and help a local church to reach them?”
He goes on to confess that while he stood there looking around at those people, he thought, “I’m so far off. I thought I was fully committed, and I thought only people like me matter to God.”
Is that us? Are we the ones standing in the grocery store line thinking the only people that matter are those like us? Those that we are already serving? Are we blind to the lost?!
I don’t want to be like that! I want to see the lost saved! I want to see people all over this community find Christ!
(a few weeks ago, I confessed to a brother that I have been discouraged, not because of my works, but because I feel like I am failing God… )
I want so much for all of you to have that same fire!!!
I pray that as we work through this series, you’ll make some decisions about which spiritual camp you want to be in… and what part you are willing to play for God.
I hope that you’ll make the decision to invest your life with God, because it is the only life you have!
I hope that you’ll decide to build relationships with your neighbors and co-workers… praying for them and looking for opportunities to share Christ and invite them to church.
I hope you’ll decide to help us make your church a place where people are welcome… where they can grow and experience the Love of Christ… and that you will make a difference in their lives by using the gifts and talents God has given you...
I hope you’ll decide to manage your money in such careful ways that you can move toward the full tithe, so that we can touch more lost people…
I hope that you’ll see God for the shepherd, the woman, and father that He really is.
Will you do those things?
There are two categories of Christians in our world today: The Casual and the Committed.
Which category are you in?
Which category do you want to be in?
There are two categories of Lost in the world today: The lost who are looking, and the Lost who don’t know they’re lost!
Some are in the Church… Some of them have been for a long time… They’re just as lost as the Pharisees, but they don’t know it? They think they are ok!
Which are you?
Have you been thinking that you’re fully committed, but realizing that you’re really lost?
Here’s how I want to close today…
I want to give you a chance to respond… to register a decision or two with God…
Would you bow your heads with me?
Father, as we begin this prayer, I know Your Spirit is here, I thank you for Your presence… I believe that You have been speaking to many of us here today… How many of you want to say to God this morning, “I want to be a fully committed follower starting right here today”? Would you raise your hand? [Pray for them]
(with every head bowed and every eye closed)
How many of you are willing to say, “I will commit myself to praying, “God, I don’t ask you for much today. I just ask that you’s give me a heart for lost people.” every morning for the rest of the year? [Pray for them]
(with every head bowed and every eye closed)
How many of you are willing to say, “I’m a seeker today, I want to be found. I want to accept God’s invitation to be His son or daughter, I believe that Christ paid the price for my sins, and I want to commit my life to Him”? [Pray for them]
And now Father, Hear my prayer… Make us a church of the fully committed… Make us a place where the lost can be found… Make us a place that’s not just average, where not just 15% of us do the work, but make us a church where 100% of us do 100% of the work…
Make us a church that places more importance on “pooling” our resources… and bringing our whole tithe… to reach the lost… then on worldly things and activities…
Father make us a church that truly “sees” the Harvest… But doesn’t stop there… Make us a church that “sees” and does… Build in us an urgency, Father, to see people saved!
In Jesus name, amen!
— If you prayed with me today… If your desire is to be a “fully committed” follower of Christ… would you join me for the next 30 days in praying this prayer every morning?
“God, I don’t ask for much today. I just ask that you give me a heart for the lost.”
[prayer cards]