WHAT IS GOD CALLING US TO DO PART:4

WHAT IS GOD CALLING US TO DO PART:4

 

 

Today we are continuing on with our series: What On Earth Am I Here For? 

 

Over the past few weeks we have been tackling the question “Why am I here? What is my life to be about? Is there something I was meant to do? Is there is something I was meant to be? Is there something I was meant to accomplish right here on this earth?”

 

The answer is yes to all of those. God has placed a unique calling on your life. When we first started this series I told you a bit about my own life history and story because it is by examining our own history, our own past, our own life story that we can see God acting and working in our lives and it is by reviewing our story that we can hear the voice of God calling to us.

 

But just because we all have a unique calling, what God is calling me to do is not necessarily what God is calling you to do, there are some thing our calls have in common. We’ve looked at these first three so far.  We looked at God’s first calling in your life – you’re called to be loved. The first thing God want s you to do is do nothing God wants you to receive something … his love. God made you to love you.  The second calling is you’re called to belong – to belong to his family, the body of Christ, the family of God.  Last week we looked at your third calling – you’re called to become.  God wants you to grow up, He wants you to mature, He wants you to become more like Him.

 

This week we’re going to look at the fourth calling on your life and it is, You Are Called to Bless.  You’re called to bless other people.

 

How do you do that?  You bless other people when you serve them.  It may be physical assistance.  It may be financial assistance.  It may be emotional support.  It could be relational support.  It could be practical support.  There are a thousand different ways that you can serve the people around you.

 

When you serve others, the Bible says, you actually bless them.

 

The fourth purpose of my life is God shaped me to serve him.

 

Ephesians 2:10 says “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do!”  Take a look at this. We are God’s workmanship.  You are God’s masterpiece.  You are God’s work of art.  You are unique.  There’s nobody like you in the world.  And you were created in Christ Jesus to do good works. 

 

That good works is called your service.  It’s called your ministry.  It’s called your blessing.  It is the way you help other people and contribute to this world.  You weren’t made to just take up space, breathe, live a self- centered life and die.  God put you here to make a contribution with your life.  That is called your ministry. 

 

Another word for blessing, another word for service is ministry.  The word “servant” and the word “minister” are the same word in the Bible.  The word service and ministry are the same words.  The fact is we’re all ministers. 

You might be asking “What is God calling me to do? Is God calling me to be a nurse? Is God calling me to be a mother? Is God calling me to be a janitor?” What I can tell you is that your job is not your calling. I did a number of different jobs even though God called me to ministry.  At one point I mowed lawns. At one point I was a painter. I worked as a lifeguard. I worked as a Santa Clause. I worked in a lumberyard. I worked in a library. I taught at college. I was a lawyer and today I am a minister. My job has changed many, many times.  But my calling never has. Sometimes my career matched my calling very closely and sometimes it didn’t. You see, my calling was from God and my career was just how I was making a living at that point.  A career makes a living, a calling makes a life.  You have a calling that is unique to your life.

Again you might ask the question “What is God calling me to do?” As a Christian God calls us to do 2 things – to help others and to honour God. The two greatest Commandments. So whether you’re a truck driver or an attorney or a janitor or a hospice worker or a homemaker or a teacher or a deal maker or a stockbroker or an accountant or a farmer, it doesn’t matter what you are.  If you are a Christian you are called to help others and to honor God.

The Bible says it like this in Colossians 3:17, “Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” 

 

So it says whatever you do, it can be a ministry, it can be a blessing if you honor God and you help others.  Whatever you do, you do it in the name of the Lord Jesus.  I can take out the garbage as a ministry.  I can change a dirty diaper as a ministry.  I can clean the living room, I can make a deal, I can help somebody across the street.  Everything in your life can become a ministry if you do it to help others and to honor God … if you have the right motivation. 

 

The fact is, the calling to salvation and the calling to service are the same.  So when you became a believer, when you stepped across the line, you weren’t just called to be saved.  You were called to serve.  You’re saved to serve.  To make a difference with your life.  Every member is a minister and everybody has a ministry.

 

And let me tell you this, when you change your life focus from it’s all about me to thinking about how to help or serve other people in my life, things will start to happen that will transform your life.

 

How will serving others transform my life?  

 

1. The first thing that happens is, serving others unselfishly will create joy in my life.

 

It creates enormous, massive amounts of joy in my life.  Most people are looking for happiness in all the wrong places.  You don’t find happiness in pleasure, power, possessions, position, prestige, all of these different things that we typically look for.  Popularity.  Success doesn’t bring satisfaction. Look at Michael Jackson. Look at Judy Garland.  Sex doesn’t bring satisfaction.  Salary doesn’t bring satisfaction.  Status doesn’t bring satisfaction.  Those are all temporary.  For permanent ongoing joy it comes not through sex, status, salary.  It comes through service.  By giving my life away.  God wired us that when you give your life away that’s when the joy flows into your heart.  Why?  Because he wants you to be like him.

 

Most people don’t know the two secrets of joy but I’m going to give them to you right now.

 

Number one, the first secret of joy is get the focus off myself.  The more you focus on you, the more miserable you’re going to be.  It’s not by accident that the word “miser” and “miserable” come from the same root word.  You’ve got to shift your focus from inward focus – it’s all about me – to outward focus – it’s all about God and serving others. 

 

When you do that, that is a counter-culture move because everything in our society says it’s all about you.  Every advertisement says it’s all about you.  At McDonald’s We do it all for you.  Have it your way at Burger King.  You’re number one.  You’re the best. 

But when you begin to give your life away, the more you give your life away to help others guess what?  The more joy flows into your life. 

 

A good example of this is the Apostle Paul.  Philippians 2:17 says “My life is being poured out as a part of the sacrifice and service [there’s those words] I offer to God for your faith.  Yet, [ in spite of this sacrifice and service] I am filled with joy, and I share that joy with all of you.” 

 

As you may know, Ruth and I take in foster children and I can tell you that it is a lot of work. You have to deal with behavioural issues, lack of structure, medical issues, different eating patterns and likes and dislikes, and sometimes they have been abuse. Raising your own children is hard enough without adding all these things on top … yet when we hear them say a new word, or start to walk, or hear them laugh, or start to trusts you or even start acting like little kids again … that is the greatest thing in the world … no amount of money will can replace those moments of joy. 

 

I’ll be real blunt with you.  1 Peter 4:10 says this: “God has given each of you some special abilities; be sure to use them…” to make a ton of money!  Sorry!  I misread that.  “God has given each of you some special abilities; be sure to use them to help each other, passing on to others God’s many kinds of blessing.”

 

We’re blessed to be a blessing.  God blesses you so you can bless other people.  We’re blessed to be a blessing.  And how do we bless others?  We bless others by using our skills, by using our time, our talents.  Whatever we’ve got.  When we use it to help other people in service you bless other people.

Serving others unselfishly will create not only joy in my life…

 

2. Serving others unselfishly will make my life meaningful.

That’s the first big surprise that most people don’t know.  Meaning does not come from money.  We think if I just get more money then my life will have more meaning.  No it will not.  Money has many good uses.  It can make life easier.  It can give you opportunities.  It can open doors.  It can save you time.  But money cannot give you meaning.  No amount of money will ever give your life meaning. 

 

Meaning comes from ministry.  From giving your life away.

 

Jesus said it like this, Mark 8:35 “If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it.  But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will find true life!”  See that. True life comes from giving my life away.

 

Knowing this, what should be my attitude toward service?  1 Corinthians 15:58 says this “Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your work in the Lord is never wasted.” 
 

Notice a couple words in that verse.  It says always give yourself fully.  That word fully in Greek literally means “not half-hearted.”  You’re all in.  You’re jumping in.  You’re going in the deep end.  “Give yourself fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your work in the Lord is never wasted.”  That word “wasted” means “empty."  It mean useless.  It means without purpose.

 

Everything you do for Christ has a purpose.  It may seem insignificant and maybe no one else seems to know about it but it’s important.  The Bible says that even if you give a cup of cold water in God’s name, in Jesus’ name, that you get rewarded for that in eternity.

 

That brings me to the third reason.  What will happen if I use my life to serve and bless others?  If I switch the focus from it’s all about me and switch the focus to how many people can I serve?  How can I honor God by helping others?  It creates joy in my life, it makes my life meaningful and…

 

3. It will leave a legacy.

You will leave a mark.  Actually you’ll leave two legacies.  One on earth and one in eternity. 

When you begin to serve, what it does is it gives you a reputation.  The Bible says this in Proverbs 10:7 “Good people will be remembered as a blessing.”

 

Let me ask you: What are you going to be remembered for?  If you were to die tomorrow would people say, that person was a real blessing!  They really lived for other people.  They served.  They were sharing.  They were generous.  They were kind.  They were always thinking about other people. 

Or would they think, they were pretty self-centered. Would they say “Well he was pretty smart and made a lot of money, but that was about it.” Would they say you didn’t really care about anybody else. 

 

What do you want to be known for?  Good people will be remembered as a blessing.

 

The truth is everybody wants their life to count.  Deep down inside of you, you want your life to have significance.  You want your life to have meaning.  You want your life to have purpose.  You want to do something great with your life.  Everybody wants that.  And there’s nothing wrong with that – to do something great with your life.  You ought to want to do something great with your life. 

Here’s how Jesus said you become great.  Mathew 20:26 “If you want to be great, you must be the servant of all the others.” 

 

The more you serve the greater you’re going to be.  The more you serve the more influence you’ll have.  Mother Teresa went to the poorest of the poor, the most outcast of the outcasts in Calcutta, India to people who were on the street and dying.  Nobody has less influence than them.  And she began to take the dying into her home and she cared for them.  And she began to serve those who everybody was trampling over.  As she went to the least influential people in life, God gave her enormous influence around the world so she could walk into the Congress and everybody would listen.  She could walk into the United Nations and everybody would listen.

If you want to be great you learn to be the servant of all. 

The Bible says this in Hebrews 6:10 “God is fair; he will not forget the work you did and the love you showed for him by helping his people. And he will remember that you are still helping them.” 

 

In fact, Jesus makes this promise in John 12:26 “My Father will honor anyone who serves me.” 

My friends, God has called us to be a blessing to others … and when we answer this call … when spend our lives thinking about others instead of ourselves … the rewards we will receive will be a blessing to us in this life and the next.