Sermons

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A God That Is MORE: Part 1 — Maker

“I see that in every way you are very religious.  For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.  Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.”  Acts 17:22b-23

This article begins a four-part series based on a sermon I preached at the Deer Run Church of Christ.  As Paul arrives in Athens, he finds himself in the midst of people that he describes as “very religious”.  They are constantly worshipping a variety of objects and gods.  In the practice of their worship, they set up an idol to an “UNKNOWN GOD” — perhaps so that they would not inadvertently ignore a god who could become angry with them.  It is within this context that Paul presents the case for “A God That Is MORE”!

What do you worship?  I know, the “church answer” for Christians is, “Of course, I worship God!”  But really . . . look beyond the proper answer and consider the things and/or people in your life that you give honor to . . . perhaps sometimes more honor than you give to God.  I live in a culture that surrounds me with many objects of worship — each calling out in its own way for me to give it my time, energy, treasure, emotion, and worship.  My guess is that you live in a culture much like that as well. 

So, what makes God MORE than all the other objects of worship calling out for you and I to come bow down to them?  Paul begins his explanation with the fact that God is Maker:  “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.  And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.”  Acts 17:24-25

God is set apart above all things because He is the maker of all things!  As a believer in the Biblical account of creation, it is easy to regard God as the creator of the heavens and earth and everything in it.  It is in the day-to-day living that it sometimes gets hard to remember that God is not only the maker of the world, He is the maker of me! 

As maker, God pays attention to the details.  This isn’t some assembly line manufacturing process, this is God knitting us together.  It is us being “God’s handiwork”.   God is MORE because He is Maker . . . a craftsman who has designed, supplied, and made us in His image.  A Maker who through His Spirit and the power of His Son can restore us to that image regardless of what we have done to His creation.  A Maker who understands what makes us tick because He has put that “ticker” within us.  A Maker who deserves our worship as He gives “life and breath and everything else”.

I pray that as you consider A God That Is MORE, that your worship of Him increases as you acknowledge Him as Maker of heaven and earth . . . and as Maker of you!

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A Worker Sent By God

I had the privilege of preaching tonight in our church’s study, “A View From The Top: What Does God Say?”.  This week’s topic is focused on the subject, “God Says I Am A Worker”. 

As I thought about this idea in preparation for tonight’s sermon, I kept thinking about the words of Jesus that “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.  Pray, therefore, to the Lord of the harvest that He would send forth workers into His harvest field.”  It is interesting to see the response to this request of Jesus.  When Jesus makes this statement at the end of Matthew 9, He is addressing His disciples.  I have to assume that since Jesus was asking, that they did as instructed and prayed that the “Lord of the harvest would send forth workers into His harvest field.” 

So, what happens?  To those that were asked to pray, Jesus says, “You’re it!”  The next chapter begins with Jesus sending out the twelve into the countryside and villages proclaiming the Kingdom of God, healing the sick, and casting out demons.  The scene is repeated in Luke 10 with a larger group.  Luke 9 records the sending out of the twelve that Matthew wrote about and then Luke 10 begins with Jesus appointing seventy-two others and telling them to ask the Lord of the harvest to send forth workers.  The exact same response . . . Jesus says, “You’re it!”  The seventy-two are then sent out in pairs to be the workers in the harvest field that they had just been instructed to ask for.

When God says that I am a worker, He says that I am a sent worker.  I looked at this tonight, using SENT as an acronym for the kind of worker God has called His followers to be.

First, a worker sent by God is surrendered.  John 9 opens with the disciples of Jesus asking Him a question about who was at fault for a man’s blindness.  The response of Jesus is that no one is to blame, this man was blind for the purpose of bringing glory to God.  He then makes this statement in John 9:4:  “As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me.  Night is coming, when no one can work.”  Did you catch that?  It wasn’t just Jesus who needed to be about the work of His Father.  Jesus addressed His followers and said, “We must do the work of him who sent me.”  To do the work of our Father means that our will must be surrendered to Him.  As a worker sent by God my plans, my desires, my logic, my comfort, my will must be surrendered so that my work is done in a way that brings glory to God.

Secondly, a worker sent by God is equipped.  Ephesians 4 tells us that God called some to the work of apostles, some to the work of prophets, some to the work of evangelists, and some to the work of pastors and teachers for a purpose.  That purpose is to equip the body for works of service.  God does not expect us to do the work He calls us to unprepared.  In fact, He set up a system of leadership designed to equip every follower of Jesus for works of service.  How often do Christians find themselves unprepared as a worker sent by God because they have failed to submit to the work of the leaders that God placed in their life to equip them?  God doesn’t expect His followers to naturally accomplish all the work He calls us to.  He expects us to be equipped so that He can accomplish through us all the work He has called us to.  To effectively accomplish the works of service God has called us to, we must be equipped according to His plan.

Thirdly, a worker sent by God is needed.  Continuing in the passage from Ephesians 4, we see that “from Him [Christ] the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”  The accomplishment of the task of building the entire body of Christ as He desires requires each part to do its work.  It doesn’t matter how well we understand the function or purpose of the other parts around us, they are necessary.  Each person is needed.  Often time within church congregations, there appears to be a lack of workers when more often than not, it is simply a lack of people feeling needed.  Their part seems unimportant, so they don’t do it.  If we treated our vehicle like we often do people in a church, discarding parts that we deem unimportant, we would not have a functioning vehicle very long.  Is it any wonder why many congregations do not seem to function in a way that bears much fruit?  For the body to be what God desires for it to be each person is a worker, and each worker is needed.

Finally, a worker sent by God is transformed.  The purpose behind the equipping and each part doing its work is so that we would “all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”  I don’t know about you, but that is mind-boggling to me.  It is incredible to try to wrap my mind around God pouring the complete measure of the fullness of Christ into you or me.  It won’t happen in the flesh and dirt we live in — it simply can’t.  A transformation is required.  A worker sent by God is transformed from being flesh-led to Spirit-led.  Our entire life is changed.  Paul describes it as a transformation from being an infant to a mature adult.  We’re the same person, but we’re not.  We’ve matured and developed.  Our life no longer centers around our needs, but on trusting the one we serve.  Our work isn’t about us, but about the One we work for.  Our life is lived with a completely different motivation.  We’ve been transformed from the inside out and have become true workers sent by God.

God says that you are a worker.  Are you living as “A Worker SENT By God”?  I pray that you live life Surrendered, Equipped, Needed, and Transformed as “whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.”(Colossians 3:23)

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Chameleons

Relevant.  What, or who, is?  What, or who, isn’t?  How do you know?  Who determines that?  Is it dependent on you?  . . . or someone else?  Does it change?  . . . or is relevance a fixed commodity, able to be defined once and for all?

Last night I had the privilege of preaching at Deer Run for our Chapel Service and in preparation, God kept drawing me to this question of relevance.  In a spiritual reality, what makes a person’s life relevant?  What makes an individual Christian, a church program, or an entire church itself, relevant and what keeps any of these from being relevant?  Is it really based on me and my particular likes, desires, and needs?  That would seem a rather selfish definition of relevant, but one that we commonly use – it’s applicable to me, so it is relevant. . . . or, it is not applicable to me, so it is not relevant.  Sound familiar?  Oh, we often go to such lengths not to sound selfish.  We wouldn’t say it’s about me and what I connect with.  No, we find someone just like us and use them to help define relevance according to what suits me, eh, I mean them.

This morning as I was reflecting on last night’s message, I began thinking about chameleons and how their nature relates to relevance.  (I know, some of you are saying, “What!  Where did that come from?”)  Please hear me out.  A chameleon becomes relevant to its surroundings by taking something neutral, skin color, and changing it to fit into a variety of settings.  There are a couple of very important things to note here:

  1. It is not a matter of choosing one color that works well in one setting and sticking with it because that is the one the chameleon likes best.  There really is no relevance in that.
  2. The changes are all superficial and do nothing to diminish the fact that the chameleon is still just that – a chameleon.  The relevance is not in changing what it is, but in changing how it is seen.

 Too often, the idea of being relevant and a “chameleon” Christian gets a bad rap because we tend to hold on to the “neutral” elements of life and compromise on the core qualities of being Christ-like – all in the name of relevance.  True relevance and “chameleon” Christianity reflects great flexibility in the non-essentials while holding fast to the very things that make a Christian Christ-like.

True relevance is found when others are brought further along in their relationship with Christ because of their encounter with you and me.  If we are living a relevant Christian life, people will be bragging about Jesus Christ and not about the things we have done or said.