Untitled Sermon (6)

When I was talking to some of my closest friends about doing this, they had some really good advice about what I was going to talk about. One said “just make sure you are real, don’t be a hypocrite and ENCOURAGE!!” That’s really good advice. Another said “Talk about you” Well, I don’t find myself that interesting soo….. And lastly someone said “Talk about what you know” That was good advice too….I just had to figure out what I know that would be interesting enough to talk about in church. So, let’s go over the things I know and enjoy……

As you can see, we are all decorated for Vacation Bible School and making this come to life was so much fun. Getting ready for kids to come and learn about Jesus and all the exciting people in the bible was super cool for me. I like to cook for the church because I feel like food brings people together.

I like Children’s Ministry because I like hanging out with kids. I love the way they keep it real and they are so willing to create and do things. It’s like you have the opportunity to help lay the ground work for how they see things and you learn a million things from them. Currently my best teacher is Dacy. If you get the opportunity to spend any amount of time with Dacy, I encourage you to do so! She is awesome and she sees the world and her place in it so clearly!

I also work at The Butcher’s Block. My job is to make sure everything works to provide a place where people and their families can come and have time together and visit and hang out. Fellowship if you will.

So, I guess you could say I enjoy doing for others, it brings me a lot of joy. I like organizing, coming up with things and making them come to life and I like helping people solve their problems….my motto is ït isn’t a problem, until we can’t solve it”

I tell you this little biography of myself not because I think you want to know it but because for the past few years I have been on a quest to find out what God wants me to do. Ryan is a preacher, David is one of the best worship leaders I’ve seen, Natalie is going into her candidacy…..everyone seems to have clear vision of what God wants them to do. And sometimes I feel like….”okay God, what about me? What do you want me to do?” Like when you look at a group picture of you and your friends and you think “hmmmm…everyone looks great and look at me….why do I look so fat and everyone else so thin? Why do they look so great and I don’t?” It’s weird how we do that, but we do it…. One day I was talking to my friend and mentor and we were talking about this and he asked what had I found out and I said “I don’t know….I just get up every day and serve in whatever way I can.” This leads me to what I want to talk about today. Serving Others. The reason I think this is important to discuss is because it took me a long time to realize that that is what I was called to do. That’s it….in the simplest explanation possible. But some people are hard headed, not me of course, but some people. Think about all the bible verses that say it that simply.

Philippians 2:7 ESV

7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

Mark 10:45 ESV

45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

1 Peter 4:10 ESV

10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace:

But reading it is the easy part. The hardest part is figuring out what it is you have to offer……

OBJECT LESSON HERE

We are all called to serve. Everyone of us was built to serve. If you are a fork, be a fork. If you are a spoon, be a spoon. The way I view this is this: Ryan is called to be a preacher, David is called to lead Worship, Natalie is starting her candidacy because she has been called to preach. There is a very real reason why I am the last staff member to get up here and speak. Because it is not what I was called to do. It is not how I feel I best serve others. Ryan – fork, David – knife, Leslie – spoon. We all have our own way of serving others. That’s the problem some of us have….comparing ourselves to others who serve and convincing ourselves that we fall short….and when we do this…we end up not doing anything.

The disciples worried about who was doing the most and would get to sit next to Jesus at the table. They struggled with comparison. It’s somewhat comforting that the disciples had the same problems we have today. The only good thing is we get the opportunity to see how Jesus handled it. We see that when the disciples were vying for “the greatest disciple” status, they made it obvious that they have the same questions we do “How do I measure up”. Instead of answering, Jesus offered a better question. He said “How can I empty myself and serve?”

Because at the end of the day, how we measure up isn’t important….it is how we served others. Look at it this way…..if there was a measuring cup and you filled it with all your gifts, potential and resources, there would more than likely be someone who would point to the lines and compare your cup to someone else’s. Jesus would point to the spout. He wants us to use what we have been given and pour it out to others – like He did. If we don’t take our measuring cup and use what’s inside, we waste it. And by using it, I mean pour into others. Jesus pours into us every day. Church pours into us. I myself have had countless people pour into me. If I don’t take all of what’s been poured into me and pour it out to others, I have wasted what I have been given.

In closing I just want you to remember that asking “how do I measure up?” is not the right questions. “How can I empty myself and serve?”, now that’s the ticket. I use to spend a lot of time comparing what I had to offer to the people around me, especially here at church. But over the past few years, I realize that as long as I am emptying myself out and serving others, in the best way that I can, that is all that matters. I will leave the preaching to Ryan, the singing to David and I’ll know that I am contributing the gifts that God gave me! I don’t have to worry about measuring up, I just have to keeping pouring out.