Growing Closer to God Pt 34

When I was in bible college I as taught when writing sermons when you are ready to conclude you sum up all that you have said in one sentence. Well this morning I am going to throw that out the window.

IF you remember nothing remember this:

You may be in a point in your life where your struggles far out weigh your successes and you may be seeking God for a place of pampering and of refuge. However, God has placed you in a place of service instead of a place of being served to teach you that you may feel weak He is your only point of strength.

For some this mornings verse will be a bummer. For the wise it will be a storehouse of treasure because if ever there were an equation, a laid out plan, to living a blessed life it is contained in

Romans 15:1–7 ESV

We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.

Things I learned While Wearing an Apron!

Paul is telling the Roman church that they should be serving those who are weaker in faith than they are. In the culture of that time it was unheard of for an older person to serve the younger. They understood respect. In those days 16 year old kids didn’t sit at the table waiting for food their mothers cooked. They cooked the food, prepared the meal, or were working the farm.

However, in a the Kingdom of God everything is turned upside down. The bible tells us the first will be last, those want to be served must serve. Paul is telling us that we aren’t to inflict our knowledge on others. That we aren’t supposed to overburden those who are weak in faith with the same guidelines we ourselves follow. In my life I hold myself to a fairly strict standard, but I cannot enforce that standard of living on every Christian because the more I know the more I am held accountable too.

Luke 12:47–48 ESV

And that servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.

Now it doesn’t state that those who don’t know get away scott free. As my children grow they begin to learn that certain words aren’t to be said. They usually learn this by saying something they heard someone else say first. The first time they state it they get corrected. Now if they continue to repeat the word knowing it is bad the consequences escalate. Why? Because I can’t ground them for something they didn’t know.

In the courts accidental murder is tried differently than contemplated murder. Why? Anyone can get distracted and run someone over. It takes someone really screwed up to plan out how they want to kill someone and then execute it.

On the other hand. I could flood my children with all of the bad information that will take years for them to learn and then tell them it’s bad this isn’t what is to be done. However, I don’t believe this is an acceptable parenting style either because I want my kids to remain as innocent as they can be for as along as they can be. If I fill my kids with evil knowledge in hopes that they stay away from evil the bible gives me the outcome

Matthew 15:18 ESV

But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.

The reality is what I fill my kids mind with will come out in their words and their behaviors; even if my intention is good.

So what is the bible saying--

That we are never to seek a place to be served, but always strive to serve others.

Paul even pulls out the Jesus card.

Romans 15:3 ESV

For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.”

Christ served so why shouldn’t you, but I want to take it deeper because there is a wealth of understanding that I learned while wearing an apron.

You cannot be distracted by your problems when helping others in their own.

There is no better distraction than a fire that isn’t yours. I noticed through helping people that when my house is on fire so to speak I pay attention to the emotions and almost become immoveable because of what I am loosing. I tend to get to a place where I give up all hope. I don’t see a point in rebuilding. I just want to lay down and die.

However, when someone else’s house is burning my mind fires in 10 different directions on how to get the fire out and get that person to the point where they can begin to rebuild.

Why the difference?

Other people’s fires (problems) remove the emotion and a bird’s eye view gives more information than a street level view.

It is easier to see the solution to someone else’s problem.

But God also put inside each of us this thing called the unconscious mind. Meaning there are parts of your brain that think when your brain isn’t thinking.

Practical application: I will often stumble onto the solution to my problem while solving someone else’s issue.

If I am dwelling on my own issues all I focus on is the problem, but helping other people makes me intentionally be

solution focused instead of problem driven.

Many of us are problem driven. In fact we don’t know how to operate when things are going well because we are busy looking for the next fire to spring up.

Focusing on the apron, on serving, allows me to enjoy the moment. As people we often get so distrated by the coming season in life that we don’t take time to enjoy our current season of life.

Trace Adkins came out with a country sonf called You’re Gunna Miss This. In the song its all about a person pushing toward the next phase of life and missing the current pleasures. Yes life is hard. Yes you might not be in the perfect situation. But if you focus on all the negative you will miss all the positive God is doing.

The second lessoned learned while wearing an apron is

You Never Know What’s Behind Door Number Two

God’s word says the first will be last, the lessor will be greater and I cannot think of a better picture of this than Lot and Abraham. When we get to Genesis chapter 13 Lot and Abraham get themselves into a bind. You see God had blessed the both of them to the extent that there wasn’t enough room for their blessing. So an argument began. Abraham being a one of the best servant leaders I know of said let’s not argue “the neighbors are watching” and what kind of testimony would that be—Christians arguing.

Abraham states: well since God truly chose me and I let you follow along and reap the benefits of my blessing I’ll pick the better of the two lands because honestly you wouldn’t have what you gained if it weren’t for me and my relationship with God.

No- He tells Lot Pick the land you want and I’ll go the other direction.

Lot being a stingy booger takes the better of the two lands, but what seemed like a blessing turned into a curse. The curse could have been Abraham’s. If Abraham took the first approach he would have went into the many temptations of Sodom and Gomorra. Instead Abraham likely worked harder than lot to maintain his flock because the land wasn’t as rich or well watered.

However, through serving His weaker cousin Lot-Abraham had an Amazing in counter with whom many theologians believe to be Jesus and got to keep his blessings. While Lot had to leave everything and run for his life only to lose, not only his possession, but his wife in the escape.

I find that many people will argue and fight for what they believe is rightfully theirs only to be burdened by the very thing they fought for. However, adversely if they would have given their right up like Paul says to do in then it would have freed up room in your life for an increased blessing.

Lastly What wearing an Apron taught me is this:

Serving makes you tired.

Now traditionally this is seen as a negative thing. However being tired is a good thing. I have never enjoyed the pleasure of sleep than when I hit my bed having no more energy to give.

The same is true in the Spiriual sense. If I come to God when I am already full I feel no affect. When I come to him half empty—I get half filled,

BUT when I come to God empty He fills me up!

Romans 15:4 ESV

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

If we are honest when would you say you find the most encouragement in scripture? It’s usually when you are so empty you have nothing left to give. When you have so completely poured yourself out that only God can fill you.

This type of filling only comes when God’s people push through tired to reach exhausted. If I give you blessings when you are blessed you may be thankful, but if I give you blessings when you are empty you soul will be lifted up.

This happened to my wife and I recently. Friday we woke up freezing. Our oil gage is broken in our tank so we don’t know when we will run out of oil. but we try our best to stay on top of it. However, this time it slipped passed us. When we woke up it was maybe 20 degrees in our house. My wife called off work. The school I worked for canceled. So we packed up the kids and the dogs and headed to the church. I began to rack my brain, pray and beg for relief. Yet I couldn’t come up with anything.

The church had gotten behind on some of it’s paperwork stuff. I was too discouraged to write my sermon and too distracted to take a Business law test so I decided to get some of this mindless boring work done. While I was doing that Beth was calling Liheap and trying to get oil. We had a balance on our oil bill so ACE wouldn’t deliver even with liheap. So Beth gave me the bad news and I kept working. Mostly, not worrying about serving, but wanting to be distracted so I didn’t fall into a pit of discouragement. While working a Pastor Friend of mine messaged me out of the blue. I thought to myself it was odd, because if it were any other day I would regail the person with amazing stories of the food pantry, but today I gave him my tails of woe. Some time went by and I get another message. He paid my past due bill and got 150 gallons of oil delivered that day. Feeling blessed we waited at the church a but longer hoping giving the oil guy time to get to the house. Then I get another message: God blessed us with a Kerosene heater from another person to put in the basement because the fridged temperature froze the pipes. We run home, I prime the furnace, put bags of pellets in the stove and we run off to do errands. We come home set up the heater and find at 8 oclock that a pipe had burst, I call a friend who i knew would have the part i needed to fix the leak. I fix it and we hit bed. The next morning I wake up to our kitchen flooding. More pipes burst. Long story short—Both the kitchen faucet and the bathroom faucet are broken. There are 3 places that need to be repaired due to pipe leaks and I am broke. I come up with the only plan that made sense. Nicholson lumber—I hold an account there. I will charge what I need and pray I find money. I would love to state that I held the faith, but I didn’t. I felt like a failure. I should work more, get a 4th job. Press harder do more because that’s the person I am. At this point if I am honest again I would state that I was past prayer and into survival mode. There comes a point in my time when I hit a place where I am so over whelmed I get so focused that my brain shuts off. I am in this zone and my kid runs in: Dad there’s a women at the door. First thought: great what now? I run to the door—it isn’t a women it’s my friend bearing a check that God laid on his heart to give with a note that says: Jesus loves you. It isn’t only enough to fix my current issue, but contains enough to fix other issues I was stressed about.

The moral of my story: I could get 4 jobs. I could go back to make 70-80k a year in sales. But that isn’t what God called me too, He called me to serve and when you serve to the point that you have nothing left to give God always finds a way to take care of even your smallest needs.

Matthew 6:

Matthew 6:26–34 ESV

Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Seek first the Kingdom of God.

What does this apron have to do with God’s kingdom? Those who refuse to wear it…will never see it. Jesus’ last act of freedom before he was imprionsed was to bear the apron of service and wash the disciples feet.