Give More
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We are in our third week of the Advent Conspiracy
First week talked about Worshipping God more fully
Last week Ch. Ritter talked about spending less, while creating more margin in your life to make room in your life to give back
This week we are going to pick up where CH. Ritter left off, and talk about what it looks to give more of you to a world that is in need of the hope of Christ
Like most people, I have dreams, plans, and desires I am wanting to accomplish
We all have bucklist of sorts
There are things that I would like to see and do before I leave this base
There are experiences and places I want to see, to go to, to experiece before I leave this place
My Bucket list
Yosemite
Israel
sky dive
travel across Europe
Alaska
eat a bunch of different type of food from those places
My bucket List is filled with places and food
Buck list are great, but do our buck list have a spiritual component to them
As I build margins in my life, how much of that margin is dedicated to mission of God?
As I look through this season, am I building margins in my life to get more or give more?
About 10 years ago I began to look at my life, and started to consider and asked this question, HOW AM I CONTRIBUTING TO THE MISSION OF GOD
The Mission of God by Christopher Wright- In which Wright argues that God is reclaiming his world, and we has his creation who are made in the image of God play a crucial role within that mission
He writes,
This morning I want to take us to a portion of the Scripture that takes us really close to the final weeks of Christ ministry’]
Set the stage:
Chapter 19 Jesus declared to the disciples that they would sit on 12 thrones and judge the 12 tribes of Israel
At the end of that section Christ declares those who were first to receive the word will be last, and those who are last to receive will be the first
Illustrates this through the parable of the workers in the vineyard
Ends in the same way, the first shall be last, the last shall be first
20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him.
21 “What is it you want?” he asked.
She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.”
22 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?”
“We can,” they answered.
23 Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.”
24 When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. 25 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
The concept of greatness in the scriptures, begins with humility
Chapter 19 Jesus declared to the disciples that they would sit on 12 thrones and judge the 12 tribes of Israel
At the end of that section Christ declares those who were first to receive the word will be last, and those who are last to receive will be the first
Illustrates this through the parable of the workers in the vineyard
Ends in the same way, the first shall be last, the last shall be first
He is truly great who has great charity. He is truly great who is little in his own eyes and makes nothing of the highest honor. He is truly wise who looks upon all earthly things as folly that he may gain Christ. He who does God’s will and renounces his own is truly very learned. Thomas A Kempis
Elliot Ritzema and Rebecca Brant, eds., 300 Quotations for Preachers from the Medieval Church, Pastorum Series (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2013).
Christ illustrated perfectly
The son of God, perfect greatness, models it through service to one another
From the moment that Christ began his ministry, he began to serve, he began to give more of himself, in order for others to see God clearly
As believers in Christ, we are called to give in the same way
Giving equals sacrifice
God likes a cheerful giver, in that, God looks at the heart
Godly giving, finds fulfillment in the act of service, knowing we are a participating in the work of God in and through others
In this passage, we are given a glimpse into the hearts of the sons of Zebedee, not only theirs, but all twelve disciples.
From their perspective they were securing up their spot in the line of the twelve thrones
They had lost sight of what the mission of God was
It wasnt about just ruling and judging
It was much more than that
It was about serving
It was about giving more than just your resources, it was about giving more of yourself
Notice what Christ said to the twelve concerning their positions within the church,
26 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,
26 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave,
25 But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 26 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave,
The call to Christ
Our adoption into the king of kings family, was not one of royalty, but one of service
And not just service, but humility of service
placing ourselves voluntarily into slavery
a free slave could voluntarily place himself back into slavery, and he would be marked as such, with a small hole place in his ear to show the world that he has made the choice to stay as a slave
Various cultures have practiced this marking of a body to indicated who you belong to
A person entering into becoming a bondslave would have their ear pierce, marking and showing that they were freely entering and becoming obedient to following their said master
Paul, understanding the practice in , commonly uses the word bondslave of himself
Paul voluntarily dedicated his life to the obedience of Christ and to the service of Christ
Paul ends the book of Galatians his great treaties on justification with this last statement,
17 From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.
Galatians 6:
SO when Christ calls us to servanthood, he is calling us to give of ourselves, because that is what Christ did for us
He did not just come to be served, he came to serve, to seek and save the lost
The creator of the universe, steps down into our present world, and begins to serve the very creation he created
His singular focus was to introduce the heart of God through his every interaction with his creation
And the give himself to that Creation for the purpose of redeeming it back to God
God is in the redeeming business
As I think back through the gospel Christ brought physical and spiritual redemption back to their lives
Women at the Well
The man who was possessed and was set free
The man who was lame, he was able to walk
The man who was born blind, could now see, and desired to worship God
In every instance Christ gave of himself, and in many cases, his giving on himself but him danger
However the cost of danger and self sacrifice provided an opportunity for another to be blessed and see the heart of the Father
Christ mission was that, to reveal the Father, and provide a way back to him, through the giving of himself.
When I think of the Christmas season, I am reminded of this fact, that we are to be people who are not seeking for ourselves, but that we are looking for opportunities to give of ourselves to so others might encounter the Christmas story
Give more of ourselves
We are becoming conduits of redemption
THrough our acts of giving more, not just through monetary means, but giving of ourselves, we bring redemption, the peace of Christ, to all who we come into contact with
We enter into the Christmas Story, and we become the bearers of light to a very dark world that is looking for hope
When we create these Margins in our lives by giving more of us, we are creating space for God to write his redemptive story in our margins, for others to read.
It is the white space where things are written, that my eye turns to first, and then to the text to which it points
Are we drawing people to see the white spaces in our lives, so we can point them to the one who wrote in those margins.