Leveraging Our Lives

Introduction

At Corporate Chaplains there is a chaplain who is also a church planter in the Virgina Beach area. I just wanted you to know I’m not talking about myself. This chaplain/pastor is in a unique position in his life because he has been diagnosed, for the second time with cancer and this time the diagnosis is terminal. He has anywhere from 3-5 years of life left. What is his response? Depression? Anger? Does he spend his time chasing after the “good life”? Is he racking up credit card debt on experiences and trips? No.

This dear brother is leveraging his life for God’s glory. I’ve heard it said about him that he would evangelize a tree if it could get saved. He is distinctly aware that his time is short on this earth and that eternity looms before him. He will meet the Lord soon and give an account for all that he has done with the life God has given him to steward.

Today is our last Sunday in our “mission statement” series. And the last two Sundays we unpacked 9 tools that we need if we are going to accomplish the “seeing people radically transformed in Christ” part of our mission. Today we are moving onto the second part of Covenant Life’s mission statement and that is to see people “leverage their lives for God’s glory”.

Does anyone remember our mission statement? Let’s say it together. Covenant Life Church exists to see people radically transformed in Christ who leverage their lives for God’s glory.

This is why we exist as a church. We don’t exist to just hang out. Although we love each other and love to hang out. We don’t exist for a political agenda—a social movement—or to be a platform for our own ideologies. We exist to worship God in spirit and truth. And we do that by being obedient to seeing people radically transformed in Christ—and then seeing those transformed people leverage their lives for God’s glory.

So this morning we are going to ask the question: How do I leverage my life for God’s glory?

What does it look like to leverage our lives in it various parts for God’s glory? So we’re going to get into some concrete ways that we can leverage our lives, then we are going to turn to the why. Why should we do this?

First, let’s consider...

Definging Leverage

What does it mean to leverage our lives. It sounds cool. But what does it mean.

The dictionary defines leverage in a couple of ways.

“The ratio of a company’s loan capital...”

Is this what we mean by leverage? No, this doesn’t work.

“The exertion of force by means of a lever or an object used as a lever.”

Is this what we mean? In a way, you could probably word smith your way around this.

We are using our lives as a lever—to lift up a life that glorifies God.

“Use something to maximum advantage.”

This is the essence of what we are after. We want to use our lives to bring God the maximum amount of glory that we can.

If this is our goal then we have to think about all of our lives being subject to God.

Last week we talked about not taking our lives and trying to keep ministry and service to God contained within a box in our life, but rather to see that ministry, this new life in Christ, encompasses all that we are.

When we were saved from death to life in Christ—we were made new creations. We don’t hang onto any part of our death.

We don’t say—Christ I’ll give you my time on Sunday, I’ll give you some of my reading time, I might even stop watching a show here or there because it doesn’t honor you, but you can’t have blank, blank, blank.

I don’t know what the blank, blank, blank is in your life, but I know that there is some somewhere. Some area that you really struggle to give to God for one reason or another.

And because of this—that means there are areas of your life that you are not using as leverage to bring glory to God.

And we don’t want that. Let us be those who can say with Paul in 2 Timothy 4:7 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

So we want to bring maximum glory to God and in order to do that we need to think about...

Leveraging our Resources for the glory of God.

Our resources are defined by time, money, food, and stuff. If you think about your life and the resources you have they fall into one of these 4 categories. So let’s take a look at what Jesus says about...

Food

Have you ever thought about food and eating as a resource to leverage for God’s glory?

1 Corinthians 10:31 “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

Paul exhorts the Corinthians church to do all things to the glory of God—including eating and drinking.

So how can we leverage the resource of food for God’s glory?

Share Your Table with Lost Friends

Jesus was found many times eating meals with lost people.

We tend to cultivate relationships with those who are like us and that means for most people in the church they are having meals with other believers. And that is important we’re going to get to that. But we see Christ having meals regularly with people who were not like him.

We see this in Matthew 9:10-13

Matthew 9:10–13 (ESV)

And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Jesus and his disciples ate with the lost. Why?

Jesus tells us. “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick…for I cam not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Your dinner table, your lunch break, your breakfast is a place where you can leverage your life for God’s glory.

People who have nothing in common have food in common. We all eat.

Invite your lost friends to your house for dinner and then just love them well. You don’t have to have hard conversations. You don’t have to share the gospel with them. Hard conversations may happen. A God given opportunity may come to share the gospel—and you should take it when you can.

My point is don’t make your guests feel like the only reason you had them over was to meet a goal of sharing the gospel. They aren’t a task.

Our text says that the sinners and tax collectors reclined with Jesus and his disciples.

Would your lost friends feel comfortable to relax with you?

You focus on building a caring relationship with the hope of gaining permission to share the gospel with them and God will provide the time.

Are you using your food as ministry?

Share Your Table with saved Friends

Acts 2:46–47 ESV

And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Glad people with generous hearts, eating together, praising God—no wonder the church was added to day by day. That sounds like a group of people I want to be around.

Our culture is extremely individual—but we were not created to live in isolation.

As much as you can—use your food to build relationship within the body of Christ.

Practice hospitality. You’re not likely to be able to eat every meal with others. Sometimes you have to get a qucik meal. Sometimes your children are possesed by the devil and you just need to eat. Sometimes it’s good to have just the family together.

But leverage your table for the glory of god.

It’s in conversation and relationship with one another that iron sharpens iron. God uses the body of Christ’ time together to sanctify us. Your meatloaf is more powerful than you thought.

This is why we have family meal at Covenant Life. It’s not just because it’s fun to eat together. But because it pleases God when we leverage food and eating as an opportunity to bring God glory.

And it’s good for the church to do this, but are you doing it at home? If not why?

What do you think the number one reason is that people don’t invite others to their homes?

We’re so worried that people are going to judge us for our home—so we keep people out. Am I wrong.

Scruffy Hospitality Quote from Rev. Jack King

Scruffy hospitality means you’re not waiting for everything in your house to be in order before you host and serve friends in your home. Scruffy hospitality means you hunger more for good conversation and serving a simple meal of what you have, not what you don’t have. Scruffy hospitality means you’re more interested in quality conversation than the impression your home or lawn makes. If we only share meals with friends when we’re excellent, we aren’t truly sharing life together.

Isn’t that a great quote?

Don’t keep your life from others. Invite people to your table and eat together.

Food for Worship

Another way that you can leverage the resource of food for God’s glory is to use food as an opportunity to give thanks to God.

Alot of people grow up “giving thanks” around the table. But dig in to this opportunity to worship.

Eating is a chance to slow down for a few minutes and thank God for his provision in your life. Use your meal time with family, with lost friends, with saved friends to give thanks.

Incorporate worship into it. Have a prayer. Pick a scripture, read it and put a question to it to discuss.

Don’t waste the table.

Food is a resource: It is not your God.

Money

Your money belongs to God. Does that statement make your hairs bristle?

He gives it to you as a resource to glorify Him. Do you think about your money as worship?

Tithe: Yes, do that.

Debt: No, don’t do that.

Money is a resource: it is not your God.

Does this mean I can’t have any fun with my money? No, not at all.

But does the expenditure of your money show that God is in control of it? Or does it show that you are in control—or out of control—and that the kingdom of God does not impact your spending and planning?

Are you using your money as leverage to glorify God?

Time

Are you leveraging your time for the glory of God?

Very similar to our money—what we spend our time on—indicates what we think is valuable.

Do you give your time to the things of God?

God has given you an incredible mind that can know him.

This is one of the promises of the New Covenant in Christ. Look at what God says in Jeremiah 31:33-34

Jeremiah 31:33–34 ESV

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

From the least to the greatest in God’s kingdom know God and can grow in that knowledge.

We live in an age of limitless entertainment. Entertainment is money—trillions of dollars are made world wide in advertising dollars—and where there is money there is a plan to keep making more money.

So now we have addictive entertainment designed to suck us in on our T.V., computer, watch, phone, tablet, speakers, refrigerators, everywhere.

Do you have a plan for your time? Or do you work your job and then just float through the rest of the day.

You would be surprised how much reading and learning you can do? Or watching and learning you can do by dedicating time to the task of growing in your knowledge of God.

And here is the thing you don’t have to be an academic to do this—the holy Spirit will equip you to pursue God.

I’m not saying never watch a T.V. show again or don’t watch movies or scroll on your phone.

But have a plan for your time. Pick a good book on God, on theology, on Christian life and practice and commit to reading it for 20 minutes a day. You’ll be surprised at how fast you can get through a book.

Start with the Bible. If you don’t have enough time to read the Bible you are too busy. There are no legitimate excuses for not reading your word. There is only disobedience.

Do you leverage your time for the glory of God?

Now, food, money, and time cover a lot of our lives. And there is more that we could talk about, but the goal of this sermon isn’t to list every way that we can leverage our lives for God’s glory. The goal is...

Goal: Mindset Shift

The goal of this sermon is not to lay out every way that you can leverage your life.

But rather we need a mindset shift—that sees all of our life as an opportunity to bring glory to God.

Culture is not taught—it’s caught.

We want people to join our church and leverage their lives for God’s glory.

We want them to join this church and see people living their lives for God.

Alot of times new believers will join a church with zeal and passion and fire and then what happens.?

They catch the culture of the church and it cools them off. Let us be a church that leverages our lives, amen?

But there is another presssing question here that I want to get to this morning before we end our sermon time.

Why Leverage Our Lives

I think a practical question at this point of the sermon is why do this. Why spend our lives bringing every area of our lives into submission to God—why put so much effort into leveraging everything in our lives for God’s glory?

Two main Reasons:

God is worthy of the worship. You don’t earn your salvation and you can’t pay God back for it. But we live our lives as a sacrifice of praise to the one who has saved us.

God has done a miraculous work in your life. 1 Peter 2:9 “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

We proclaim the excelencies of God and bring him glory when we understand that we and all we have are his. We are a people for his own possession. And if you are saved you know that this is a glorious thing.

At the beginning of the sermon I mentioned the CCA chaplain/church planter who is pouring his life out for God’s kingdom. He knows the end is coming. And if you talked with him—you wouldn’t find that he is leveraging his life for God’s glory because he wants to appease God before he meets him.

Christ’ death for you cannot be improved upon. You cannot make it better. God is maximally pleased with you in Christ.

No, he does this because he knows that his time is short and he only has a little while to make his life count in the grand scheme of eternity.

What he does for Christ in this age will echo praise and worship to God throughout all eternity. It will bring God glory for all time.

And he only get’s one shot at it.

Friends, we are in the exact same boat as our brother in Virginia Beach. We don’t know when our time on earth will end.

We live our lives like we do—like we have all the time in the world. But we don’t.

If we are going to bring glory to God—if we are going to finish well—then we must chase hard after Christ.

Friends, we must dwell in him. We’ve talked about the what and the why, now let’s get to the how.

I’m not calling you to pull up your socks and get the work done.

Is the gospel: Work hard in Jesus and be transformed?

No, it is Jesus worked on your behalf and transformed you. If we want to be those who leverage our lives for God’s glory we must dwell in the one whom we love. We must cultivate that love. We must spend time with our God in his word. We must believe what God says in his word.

About who he is. Who we are. And what our purpose is. Transformation happens by resting in Christ.

Conclusion

Our mission is to see people radically transformed in Christ who leverage their lives for God’s glory.

Friends, will we live our lives seeking to leverage them for God’s glory? Will you take steps of faithfulness toward submitting all of life to God for His glory?

Let us pray.

Discussion Question: What’s hard about leveraging your life for God’s glory?