"Share your Story"(Luke 15:11-24)

Luke 15:11-24

 

God is blessing us to be a blessing to others. To bless others, we can use B.L.E.S.S..

 

·         Begin with prayer

·         Listen with care

·         Eat together

·         Serve with love

·         Share your story

 

These days more and more people are becoming depressed and anxious. Many church members have stopped coming to church and just watch online services. Church is being shifted to the side when really our relationship with God needs to be in the center.

 

Begin with prayer

OEM church members are being encouraged to reach out to those that God puts on their hearts. After we identify those people that God wants us to be involved with, we can pray for them. Jesus led a prayerful life and started his day with prayer and constantly prayed for others.

 

Listen with care

Jesus asked many questions and listened intently to what people were experiencing and thinking. Jesus listened and this allowed people to feel valuable and heard. We can do the same by taking the time to listen. Too often we want to give advice or our opinions, but it is so important to really listen to what people have to say to make a genuine connection with that person.

 

Eat together

We can also be a blessing to eat together. Zacchaeus ate with Jesus, and this brought about the occasion for Zacchaeus to share his thoughts, feelings and dreams with Jesus. During this meal, he realized how much he needs to follow Jesus as his savior. We don't need to convert person, but we can bless people with our time of fellowship. God can use us to encourage others.

 

Serve with love

Committing time and resources to serving people seems hard, but If we are prayerful and intentional, it is not difficult to be a blessing. Jesus taught us this through example and He relied on God to supply His needs to serve others with love.

 

Share your story

The story of the prodigal son gives a framework to share your story. The prodigal son cannot wait for his inheritance and asks his father to pretend the father is dead. The prodigal son squanders his wealth and later comes to his senses and returns to the father. The father accepts the son and later has to correct the older son.

 

To share our story, it is good to look at three chapters in our life. We need to look at our lives before Christ, when we accepted Christ and our life after accepting Christ. It will follow this pattern.

 

1.       I was lost.

2.       I was found.

3.       I have grown.

  

We need to think about how we are lost. Going back to the prodigal son story, we can see ourselves as one of the two lost sons.  One son wastes his life because he wants things and rejects God. The other son does everything God tells them, but he is focused on the rules and how good he is. Both are lost, but in different ways. If we do not know we are lost, how can we find the right path?  Knowing that you are lost and need to be saved is the first step to salvation. We must also tell people how we were lost, so they can understand what God has done in our lives and saved us because we are special. The shepherd went out to find the one sheep even though the 99 sheep were protected. This applies to us and others who are lost.

 

The father saw that the son was returning before the son saw the father coming. For every step the son took, the father took ten. Our God is one that embraces us, who runs to us who waits for us to make the first step to return to them. This is the God that we serve. This is the God who blesses us when we are found with robes and rings.

 

Why does God put the robe of honor on you? Because Jesus was stripped naked, so that we may be honored. Why does God put a ring on our fingers? Because Jesus called out, "my God" and not, "my father" so we could have an inheritance from God. Being found brings a blessing of grace that we do not deserve.

 

God will use you to share the good news. Therefore, God blesses you in Jesus Christ so that we can bless others.

 

So, let us pray for two people and share our blessings with them. We will find that we will become more generous and find more surprises if we commit to to blessing others.

"Slave of God"( Romans 6:22)

 Romans 6:22

 As Christians, we want to serve God. We can serve God wherever we as long as we do our work with the intention of doing our best for the glory of God. It is not to say that our jobs define us. In fact, the Bible describes us in many ways. We are sometimes called children of God, brides of Christ and even slaves of God.

 

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.

Romans 6:22 ESV

 

In our world, no one wants to be a slave, yet we are called to be slaves of God. To be a slave is a very humble thing, and humility is a quality that God respects whereas pride is an attribute which God despises. We see this through out the Bible. For example, King Saul was a great king chosen by God, but when Saul tried to be the high priest also, God removed him from the throne. King David was humble and admitted his mistakes and understood everything has been given to him by God. Paul was also humble and understood that he was saved by grace.

 

All things we have achieved is from the grace of God. We may work hard, but it is God who makes the way and allows for us to be promoted and prosperous. It is God who protects us and gives us grace. Paul was the most educated and most decorated apostle, but he understood his position in God's kingdom and the price he could never pay back for his salvation. If Paul had never encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus, he would have been lost and a hindrance to the spread of the Gospel.

 

Another man who understood humility was Albert Schweitzer. He was a missionary who practiced humility and not just talk about it. Once he was traveling by train and sat in the lowest section. When asked why he sat there, he answered that there was not a lower section to sit in. While some people doing God’s work demand some sort of immediate reward such as sitting in first class on a train, there are others who are slaves of God and live it truthfully to their Lord.

 

“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?

Luke 6:46 ESV

 

We often pray to God and call him Lord, but then make selfish requests. If we really treated God as Lord, our prayers would be asking God what He wants from us. We should seek out what God wants us to do and not request or demand what we want to do for God

 

If we want God to be our Lord, we have to be His servant. We must try to live good lives. We cannot just wait for Jesus to come back and live without a care for those around us or the coming of God’s kingdom. We are at war with the principalities of this world. We are in an army who seeks peace. If an army is made up of obedient soldiers, that army will be successful

 

Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.

1 Corinthians 4:2 ESV

 

As slaves of God, we need to be obedient and faithful. Jesus humbled himself to do the task that was put to Him. Jesus accepted that God knew better than Him. We need to also accept that. We face many moments that we must make decisions. In those moments, we must seek God, be humble, be obedient and be faithful. This is done by living our lives for the glory for God. We should pray and think about the best way to serve and glorify God. We have to live in the reality of this world, but we can still live in a way that pleases God through our humble obedience.

Why Are We Sinners?

Matthew 18:23-34

 

In Matthew 18 Jesus tells the parable about a man in serious debt who is pardoned by his master Later the man who had his debts cancelled by his master insists that another man pay him back a debt that was much smaller. The master hears about this and throws the man who had serious debt into prison. The message is that we must forgive everyone because God has forgiven us.

and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Matthew 6:12 ESV

 

In the Lord's prayer, we pray that God would forgive us like those whom we have forgiven. This forgiveness means to cancel a dept. The person who has wronged us now owes us nothing if we forgive them. Much We do not require anything from them because the debt has been removed. Much the same, when God forgives us, we are not required to pay or do anything because the debt is cancelled. Yet, some people do not see themselves in debt.

 

Because of Original Sin, we are all born under sin and are sinners. This is an important concept in Christianity and sometimes, this concept is lost in modern times. Many people these days do not see themselves as sinners and often see different sins as much more serious than others. Because they do not commit more serious sins or crimes, they do not believe they are sinners in need of forgiveness. They are good people who have earned their place in the world and all that belongs to them. Through their own merit, they owe nothing. 

 

Meritocracy is a system in which we are promoted on our merits and nothing else. The truth is that life is not fair. The people with good skills tend to have unfair advantages over others. People who have money will tend to make more money. The people who are educated usually come from homes or places with good education readily available. People born with long term health problems or are more susceptible to illness may be at an unfair advantage to those born healthy and strong. Although there are cases of people who rise above their circumstances, most of us are where we are because of hard work, a lot of luck and other people’s sacrifices.

 

The reality is that what we have is undeserved. It is by God's grace that we are here. We live because God gave us life. Our mothers had to endure much to birth us and later raise us when we could not take care of ourselves. If it were not our mothers raising us, then it was someone else who had to take care of us. Not one of us can say that they have no debts.

 

In fact, the world live in is a blessing to us. We take from the world and cannot truly pay back what we have taken. Currently the world is suffering because we have taken so much. This world was given to us by God. Our friends, family, country, history, and culture are all gifts we do not deserve but it was still given to us.

 

When non-Christians ask us why we are so concerned with sins, we can tell them that our debts have been paid. Our debts with God are something we cannot pay back. It is only through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross that we can live debt free. This is why we need to be just as forgiving as Jesus was to us.

 

 

"Offerings"(2 Corinthians 8:12-13)

 2 Corinthians 8:12-13

Christians are familiar with putting money in the offering box. We say that we are giving this money to God, but the reality is that God does not need our money or resources. If anyone who needs money, it is us. It is hard to live without money in our world.

God created all things and money is par of that creation. Although God may not have created money directly, through us, money was created. We were created in God’s image to carry on His purposes and to continue to create. Like all things created, money is not bad.

'This is the written account of Adam’s family line. When God created mankind, he made them in the likeness of God. '

Genesis 5:1

 Like all things in our world, money in itself is not bad but can be used in wrong ways. There are many accounts of evil people who donated their money to causes that have helped save the lives of many. Money coming from a good person or bad person also does not make money evil. So, we all need money and use money, but how do we make an offering to God? Paul talks about offerings suing three different words.

 I. Koinonia

Koinonia is one word Paul uses. There is no direct translation of this word into English but looking at three different English translations may give us some better understanding of the word’s meaning. The NLT version from Romans 15:26 reads, “offering for the poor among the believers,” whereas the NIV version is “make a contribution for the poor among the Lord’s people,” and the NSVR uses, “share their resources with the poor among the saints.” These different translations show us that the offering is not always money, but it can include resources. Koinonia also is about making a relationship with others in an intimate bond of support.

 'For you see, the believers in Macedonia and Achaia have eagerly taken up an offering for the poor among the believers in Jerusalem. 'Romans 15:26 NLT

 ‘For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.” For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the Lord’s people in Jerusalem. ' Romans 15:26 NIV

 'for Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to share their resources with the poor among the saints at Jerusalem. ' Romans 15:26 NSVR

 II. Diakoneo

 Another Greek word Paul uses is diakoneo. This is the practice of serving one another. It is to show our willingness or eagerness to do God’s work and glorify God. These offerings or donations are to serve others while glorifying God.

 'What is more, he was chosen by the churches to accompany us as we carry the offering, which we administer in order to honor the Lord himself and to show our eagerness to help. We want to avoid any criticism of the way we administer this liberal gift. '  2 Corinthians 8:19-20 NIV

 'He was appointed by the churches to accompany us as we take the offering to Jerusalem —a service that glorifies the Lord and shows our eagerness to help. We are traveling together to guard against any criticism for the way we are handling this generous gift. ' 2 Corinthians 8:19-20 NLT

 'and not only that, but he has also been appointed by the churches to travel with us while we are administering this generous undertaking for the glory of the Lord himself and to show our goodwill. We intend that no one should blame us about this generous gift that we are administering, ' 2 Corinthians 8:19-20 NSVR

 This service is not charity. Charity is when we have more or are in a better position to help others less fortunate than us. Also, the expectation of charity is to be rewarded. Serving is the practice of helping others because we must as our duty. We are not expecting a reward, but rather we do this because we know this is what is required of us. Jesus addresses in Matthew.

 ' “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. ' Matthew 6:2 NIV

 III. Charites

 The third word Pal uses is charites which means privilege or in some versions grace. Paul shows us that offering is a privilege or grace that we can show other people who are God is.

 'they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people. '  

2 Corinthians 8:4 NIV

 Whenever we give an offering to the church, it goes to one of other brothers or sisters in Christ. The money in the offering box is just money, but when it is used to serve God be supporting one of our brothers or sisters, it then becomes an offering. The people who respond to the grace of God and are willing to give make an offering otherwise it is just money going into a box or envelope.

 'For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have. Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. '

 2 Corinthians 8:12-13 NIV

The willingness needs grace and an understanding that we are sinners who have been saved through Jesus’ sacrifice. Our gifts are acceptable by what one has and not what is beyond our means. It is not about the amount, but what our situation allows. Some give as much as they can because they expect to get some gain, but this is wrong thinking. We should give to create equality. We need to remember that we are all brothers and sisters, and we all need to support one another. We also need to accept help from one another.

 God has given us a great gift and we can respond to that great gift through grace and give offerings for God to help his people, who are our brothers and sisters, as needed.