PDL #13 – Shape (3).
i. It grows stagnant.
ii. We need that Journey Out.
iii. We must learn how to become people who live with an outward focus.
i. Everyone wants to lead, but no one wants to be a servant.
ii. In our society, we want to be generals, ceo’s and presidents.
iii. Jesus didn’t call himself a “servant-leader” He called himself a servant.
iv. And while knowing our abilities and gifts is important, what is more important is our heart. We must have a servant’s heart.
1. Without a servant’s heart, you will be tempted to use your God-given gifts, abilities and desires for your own gain rather than for meeting someone else’s needs.
2. I believe that God often tests our hearts by asking us (giving us opportunities) to serve in areas that we are not specifically gifted for.
a. If you see someone fall into a ditch, do you say, “I don’t have the gift of service or mercy” and refuse to help?
b. If there is a need to meet in the church, do you say, “I don’t have the gift to meet that need.”
3. Our PRIMARY ministry is driven by what we are learning in this SHAPE study (Primary Ministry: Ongoing ministry – determined by our SHAPE);
4. Our SECONDARY ministry is whatever God calls us to do to meet an immediate need. (Secondary Ministry: Immediate needs – regardless of gifting)
a. There is no special talent required to stack chairs, vacuum the church or help out on a church clean up day.
b. Anyone can be a servant.
c. What is required is not ability, but rather character.
v. How does a servant act?
1. If there is a need to meet, and they have other plans, or meeting the need is inconvenient, they drop what they are doing and minister to that person.
2. They have an attitude of availability.
3. They give up the “right” to control their schedule.
4. The give God permission to interrupt them whenever He needs to.
vi. Excellence vs. Good enough
1. It doesn’t have to be perfect for God to use it.
2. It is better to have 100 people involved in ministry, serving with their heart, rather than 10 people running the show who are experts serving with just their minds.
vii. Great opportunities disguise themselves in small things.
1. Your opportunity to reach into someone’s life will come as a direct result of serving them.
2. It is why we went door to door handing out batteries for smoke detectors last week, and why we asked people if they had prayer needs we could pray for.
a. It is why we didn’t go door to door handing out tracts or flyers from our church.
b. Our goal was to serve not to be served.
c. And we saw God at work.
3. Did you know that the simple act of ministering service to a neighbor (like mowing their yard, cooking a meal, shoveling their walk, plowing their drive) can be highly effective in breaking down barriers to belief in Jesus Christ?
4. Are you watching to see what God wants you to do?
i. The brain can store 100 trillion facts.
ii. Your mind can handle 15,000 decisions a second
iii. Your nose (if it works) can smell up to 10,000 different odors.
iv. Your touch can detect an item 1/25,000th of an inch think.
i. Your DNA can be combined in so many unique ways, that the number is 10 to the 2.4 trillionth power. That means it is statistically impossible for anyone to ever be just like you.
ii. God made
1. introverts and extroverts
2. people who like routine and people who love variety
3. people who are thinkers and people who are feelers
4. people who work best alone and people who work best on a team.
iii. “God works through different people in different ways, but it is the same God who achieves his purpose through them all.” (1 Cor 12:6)
1. Another thing that must be emphasized is that there is no right or wrong personality, temperament, ability, or gifting for doing God’s work.
i. It is like a woodworker who finds out it is easier to work with the grain of the wood instead of against it.
ii. When you minister, you will find fulfillment and results when you minister in a manner that is consistent with the way God has made you and the way you have grown.
1. If you try to minister outside of your gifting, abilities, etc. you will find frustration, discomfort, and a lot less than the best results.
2. But when you minister according to how God has made you, you will find not only satisfaction, but those you minister to will experience it as well.
3. Imagine a person who can’t administer, who has the gift of encouragement, is a team player, who loves working with people, but can’t stand forms, facts and figures, being asked to organize the sign ups for VBS! Sign ups would be a disaster!
a. But put that same person on a team that follows up on the visitors to VBS and watch them go!
iii. God didn’t make you to IMITATE someone else. It would be foolish for me to try to pretend I am Billy Graham, and try to imitate his motions, his words, his speech flow and try to preach to thousands!
1. God made me unique, and I have to learn to operate within that unique gifting.
i. Is the divine empowerment to produce supernatural results from obedience to God’s call.
ii. Answers the question of how shall I serve.
1. Gift – teaching, therefore teach.
2. Gift – encouraging, therefore, encourage.
3. Gift – mercy, therefore be sensitive.
i. It is what you get life from doing.
ii. It answers the question of where I shall serve.
1. You love children? Serve with children.
2. You love watching adults grow? Serve adults.
3. You love cooking? Then minister in that arena.
i. Great arm for throwing a baseball. Great eye-hand coordination. Musical ability.
i. Can often answer the who shall I serve (with).
ii. You are introverted? Then work in small groups.
iii. You are extroverted? Then work in crowds.
iv. You are playful? Then minister in that arena.
v. You are serious? Then minister best in situations that require it.
vi. You are organized? Then let God use you where you can be used.
i. God wastes none of them.
ii. If you are a recovering alcoholic, then help other alcoholics.
iii. If you have struggled through something, help others as they struggle.
iv. Don’t cover your scars and your failures, they are useful in helping others. To hide them is to deny someone else the power of victory.
v. Our experiences can help us to boast in our weaknesses.
i. Taking tests isn’t the best tool. They are too standardized to adapt to your uniqueness.
ii. Take a long, honest look at what you are good at and what you aren’t.
iii. Make a list
iv. Ask others for their candid opinion. (tell them you are looking for the truth, not a compliment)
v. Your spiritual gifts and natural abilities will be confirmed by others.
vi. If you think you are gifted as a teacher but no one agrees with you, you might question that conclusion you made about yourself.
vii. If you think that you are gifted as a leader but noone follows, then you ought to doubt that conclusion.
viii. Also, as you grow more and more mature, you will find that you can do many things well. This may be a function of your maturity more than your gifting.
ix. The best way to discover your gifts and abilities is to Experiment by serving in different areas. (My teaching was uncovered by others recognition).
x. Many books get the discovery process backward.
1. They say, discover your gifting and then you will know what area you are to serve in.
2. It works the opposite. Start serving and experimenting and see what gifts God has put in you as you see Him work through you.
i. We will be doing this tonight in our shepherd groups meeting in homes.
ii. What do you really enjoy the most?
iii. When do you feel really alive?
iv. What are you doing when you lose track of time?
v. Do you like serving on a team or alone?
vi. Are you extroverted or introverted.
vii. Are you a thinker or a feeler?
viii. What do you enjoy most, competing or cooperating?
1. These tell you thing about yourself.
i. God loves to use weakness to display His glory.
1. The bible is full of stories and people who are weak in themselves and yet God uses them to do extraordinary things.
2. Your weaknesses are not a barrier to your dreams but rather a doorway.
3. Paul said, “I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may work through me. Since I know it is all for Christ’s good, I am quite content with my weaknesses.” 2 Cor. 12:9-10
4. Hudson Taylor said, “All God’s giants were weak people.”
5. Gideon was a man of low self-esteem and insecurities, but God called him a “mighty man of valor.”
6. Abraham’s weakness was fear, and twice he claimed his wife was his sister to save his own life. But God calls him the “father of those who have faith.”
7. Impulsive, weak willed Peter became a “rock.”
8. Read Hebrews 11 if you are feeling weak and find out that God has an incredible plan for your life.
ii. I have had insecurities concerning my ability to counsel people (because I lacked the life experience necessary at the time) I thought that I wouldn’t ever be a senior pastor.
1. The truth was that I had a lot to learn.
2. Experience would shape me for the job.
3. It meant that an area of my life had to grow in order to facilitate that.
4. It also meant that I have to listen to the Holy Spirit very carefully when counseling and not rely upon my own ability or knowledge.
iii. I also recall taking a test in seminary that said my personality traits were not suitable for pasturing. I almost choked!
1. It was true, I didn’t have a real nurturing, interpersonal personality – but I found out over the years, that many pastors I admired didn’t either.
2. They learned to minister in their strengths and to raise up people who could do what they could not do and rely upon God to work through their weaknesses.
3. I hope I can do the same.
4. We all need to recognize our limitations and work within them.
a. We had at one church, 3 people who God raised up to start a special children’s ministry for bible memorization. One was great at organization. The other was a leader and knew how to motivate others. The other was a incredible servant, who knew how to get things done. Apart, none of them could have done the ministry. But together they turned the world upside down and ministered to over 100 children each week. ]
b. It is like a quote I read, “Christians are like snowflakes, frail by themselves, but they can stop traffic if they stick together”
5. Recognize you weakness and strengths.
a. Your shape determines your specialty.
b. Your weaknesses will point to where God’s power will be displayed.
i. Satan will try to steal the joy of serving God through two temptations.
1. to compare yourself to others.
2. to conform your ministry to the expectations of others.
ii. Don’t do it! Compare yourself only to Jesus, and conform it to God’s expectations.
1. to compare – you will either be proud (because you find yourself better than lots of others) or discouraged (because you will see others better than you.)
2. to conform – no one can hear God for you. You are responsible for how you serve him. Paul had to deal with critics who misunderstood his ministry. He refused to be distracted by them.
iii. Exercise:
1. If you don’t exercise your muscles, they grow weak.
a. If you don’t use your gifts and abilities, you lose them.
b. Your gifts will be enlarged through practice.
c. If you have gifts but don’t use them to serve others, you will face a pretty good cross examination someday.
i. If you serve to alleviate guilt, to avoid punishment, to somehow appease God, then my next reading might apply to you.
ii. God desires that we learn to serve out of joy, not obligation.
iii. Real Servants look at ministry as an opportunity not an obligation.
i. Matthew 25: 31 31 "But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. 32 "All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; 33 and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. 34 "Then the King will say to those on His right, `Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 `For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.' 37 "Then the righteous will answer Him, `Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? 38 `And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39 `When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' (they don’t realize they have done anything at all, they simply lived a life of service) 40 "The King will answer and say to them, `Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.' 41 "Then He will also say to those on His left, `Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; 43 I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.' 44 "Then they themselves also will answer, `Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?' 45 (they think that they have fulfilled the law by doing good works) "Then He will answer them, `Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' 46 (in other words, they lived by the letter of the law, they were fulfilling an obligation) "These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
ii. The sheep didn’t realize they were doing anything. Their lives were lives of gratitude and service to others, because they had been saved by grace, they lived by grace and overflowed that in ministry to others.
iii. The goats figured that if they could do enough works (they were probably even counting what they had done) that they would have a ticket into heaven. Service was an act of the mind not of the heart.
i. As we look at the gifting God has given you and how He has made you, let these principles of servant-hood sink in.
ii. Fix your eyes on Jesus. Learn to listen to His Spirit. And give Him permission to use you. Don’t keep score of your deeds of service. If you do, then the glory is yours. If you look at Jesus, then the glory is His.
iii. Let’s pray.