Measuring Our Shape - Dec. 28th, 08

Date: December 28th, 2008

Speaker: Pastor Kevin Snyder

Title: "Measuring Our Shape"

Text: James 1:22 - 25

Introduction

Perhaps metaphor is a little cruel right after Christmas. We may not be eager to measure some parts of our body. But as much as we don’t like to see the results, it is a good and often necessary activity. It makes us change some bad habits.

Well today we want to try and measure ourselves against our theme for this year.

How have you been shaped by God’s heart this year?

You see, one of the great hazards to our spiritual health today is busyness. I think we often can get so busy that we lose our ability to assign value. When you are busy everything can seem so important. Times when we need to step out of the rat race of our lives, and look at it from an outside perspective and say “Is what I am doing achieving what God & I have in mind for my life?”

This year’s theme was “Shaped by God’s Heart”

We focused this year on allowing God to shape our hearts to love him, love people, learn to be like Christ, and live his mission.”

That really is the biblical mission God has for your life and my life.

Great Commandments

Love God with all your heart and love neighbour as yourself

Great Commission

Go and preach Gospel to all nations

Central call on disciples was

Come follow me and I will make you….God is the work of conforming us into the image of his son.

And so if this is the biblical mission of our life we would do well to pause periodically and reflect on how we are allowing the Holy Spirit. to shape our hearts in that way.

We would do well to do that on an individual level.

And we would do well to do that on a church level.

I mean I think about that.

When you think of all the money given & spent,
All the hours staff put in, all the volunteer hours that together you put in, all the activities, programs, groups, ministries.
All the sermons. All the teaching.
What has it accomplished?
Has your heart and my heart been shaped and moulded this year to reflect more of God’s heart?

How do we measure that?

Henry read a quote from a book the other night at our joint MLT/Deacons meeting:

“It’s hard to imagine something more difficult to gauge or measure than spiritual growth. There is a mystery to it. It is intangible. It is like the wind, which blows wherever it pleases; you hear the sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.

Yet there is only one thing I can think of more foolish than trying to gauge spiritual growth. And that is, not trying to gauge it. For that which matters to us is that which we try to keep track of.”

Next year we are going to engage a tool to measure the spiritual health of the church. Repeat using the survey for 3 years to see if everything we are doing is actually making a quantitative and qualitative difference or if we are just deceiving ourselves.

Because I think all of us in our lives want to give ourselves to things that actually make a difference.

To borrow Jesus analogy: We want to give ourselves to fruit-bearing things not just leaf-bearing things.

You’ll hear more of that in coming weeks.

But today I want us to, the best we can, to reflect on where we have been this year and assess the fruit.

Let’s begin with…

1. Loving God

What has happened in your love for God this year?

Measuring Tools

At the beginning of the year we talked about what love for God looks like?

a. Fidelity

Love for my wife shows itself in my exclusive loyalty to her. She comes before anyone else.

Well, in Scripture one of the recurring accusations against God’s people in the OT and the NT was “spiritual adultery.

James 4:4, 5 says:

4 Adulterers! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose that it is for nothing that the scripture says, “God?b? yearns jealously for the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”?

And so love for God looks like a growing loyalty to God.

Loving God shows itself in...

b. Obedience

John 14: 15, 23

23 Jesus replied, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them. 24 Anyone who doesn’t love me will not obey me.

As our love grows so does our desire to do his will and live by his word.

Loving God displays itself in

c. Sacrifice.

There is a growing willingness to give time, energy, and resources to God and his kingdom.

Luke 21: 1 – 4

While Jesus was in the Temple, he watched the rich people dropping their gifts in the collection box. 2 Then a poor widow came by and dropped in two small coins.?*?

3 “I tell you the truth,” Jesus said, “this poor widow has given more than all the rest of them. 4 For they have given a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has.”

This woman’s love for God is displayed not by the amount but by her sacrifice.

Loving God is displayed by our

d. Expression

We express verbally and tangibly our love for God in our acts of worship and service.

Chorus:

“I love you Lord

And I lift my voice

To worship you

O my soul rejoice.”

This aspect touches at our hearts, our affection. There are times when gratitude for God’s love, and grace, and mercy well up in our hearts and touches us and we express through words, and actions our gratitude and love. Our hearts are warmed and God is no longer some distant impersonal being, but a loving Father, Gentle Shepherd, Dearest Friend, and we offer from our lips and hands our expressions of praise and gratitude.

Assessment

In bulletin, have a scale. Mid point and then arrow going in opposite directions. One towards greater love, one towards lesser love.

Midpoint represents where you were say Jan 1 of this year.

As you reflect on your year, which direction have you moved?

Love for God

What has happened in your heart this year? When you think back to the shape of your heart at the beginning of this year, has it been shaped in one of those ways?

1. Is there greater commitment and loyalty to God or have the things of this world grown in importance and you have less and less time for God?

Do you desire to do what God wants more in your life rather than just doing life your way?
Has God got more of your time, resources, and energy than in the past? Has he moved up the priority scale?
Has worship become more important in your life? Do you find yourself longing to spend more time with God?
Do you feel a greater desire to get involved in some way to express your heart for god and his kingdom?

2. What decisions, events have you made this year that has impacted your scale, either positively or negatively?

Personally – decision to get more serious about doing some spiritual retreats, and also decision to get more into his Word, a willingness to risk more.

How has God been shaping your heart in terms of

2. LOVING PEOPLE

John 15:12

12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

Loving God and loving people are direct variables. They go together.

1 John 4:20 – “If anyone says, “I love God, yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.”

And yet sometimes I see people on the right side of that drawing. They claim to love God and be growing in that arena, and yet their love for people seems to proportionately decrease. They become more intolerant, more judgemental, more distant.

When the love of God shapes our hearts our love for people will grow in 4 ways to be more godlike.

a. Length (Hesed)

Often God’s love for man is referred to in the Old Testament as “hesed”.

It is “loving kindness”, “patience”, “faithfulness”
It is love that suffers long. It doesn’t give up on people, even though they don’t seem to be changing.
It is love that doesn’t stop loving the prodigals, but faithfully holds out kindness and grace.

b. Depth - compassion

When I spoke about this I called it “shaky guts” love. The word compassion connotes that. We feel it. We are moved in our gut by the hurt, tragedy, plight of people. We want to look away but we can’t. We feel compelled to do something.

This is the love that moves us to go into the broken places like Jesus. This is the love that gives that cup of cold water, feeds the hungry, visits the prisoner, clothes the naked. This is the love of soup Kitchens, and shoeboxes, and sponsored children, Christ Birthday Offerings, and mission trips to Mexico. It’s incarnational love that moves into the stables and messy places of life to display God’s love and truth.

c. Width

As God shapes our hearts our love for people grows wider.

Matt. 5: 43 – 48

43 “You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’?*? and hate your enemy. 44 But I say, love your enemies!?*? Pray for those who persecute you! 45 In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. 46 If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. 47 If you are kind only to your friends,?*? how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. 48 But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.

This is the love that causes us to “walk across the room”.
The love that befriends the new person, accepts the broken, eats with sinners, and acts kindly to those who treat us badly.
This is what I called “gutsy love”. It asks: “Who do you have to have guts to love?” You see, Jesus was reviled by the religious establishment by who he had the guts to love and hang around with.

Divine love is broader than just our friends, our circle of comfort….it moves us to walk across rooms.

d. Height - agape

When I think of height I think of greater selflessness. It is the love that serves and gives where there is nothing in return. It is God’s agape love. Love that has nothing to be gained. This is the love that leads to sacrifice… to forgiveness. This is the love that causes us to marvel at Jesus.

Romans 5:6 – 8

When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. 7 Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners

Assessment

What has happened in your love for people this year? Has your heart been stretched in some direction or has it shrunk?

Mark over the lines the directions in which you feel you have grown. Which direction has seen the most growth?

Can you think of 1 example of something you did that you wouldn’t have done before?

Loving People

Height

Selfless

Depth

(Compassion)

3. Learn to Be Like Christ

In this message I challenged us to think of our picture of Jesus. Pastor Mike did that again a few weeks ago asking: What is your view of God?”

I made the point that the first thing that needs to grow if we are going to become more Christ-like is our mental picture of Jesus.

Does our picture of Jesus envision how he would be in our workplace?
I said to men: Does our picture of Jesus envision him as a real man?
Does our picture of Jesus envision him in our family as a parent, spouse?
Does it picture Jesus living in our neighbourhood?
Or do we only have a picture of Jesus as confined to church?

As we increasingly get a picture of Jesus in the various arenas of our life we begin to see him shape us in those arenas. His influence begins to find its way into the many facets of our lives.

i.e.

House – rooms depict the many arenas of our lives.

Have we invited Jesus into an increasing number of rooms in our lives…or have we limited his influence increasingly to one room…church?

Series on Revelation stretched our vision of Jesus. We saw perhaps with new eyes the power of prayer, the Lordship of Christ, the end of evil, the reality of our spiritual battle, the final victory of Christ.

In our series on the Holy Spirit we saw how this becoming more like Christ can be more than just an impossible wish but we can experience life-change, power over sin and greater wind in our sails, because of the Holy Spirit And that becoming like Christ is a journey of emptying our cup of ourselves, and inviting the Holy Spirit to fill us with himself, and to walk increasingly saying “yes” to him.

Assessment

Has the influence of Jesus grown more expansive in the rooms of our lives?
Have you emptied your cup and allowed the Holy Spirit to infill you more this year?
Are you finding yourself saying “yes” more often to the Holy Spirit and the Word?

Draw a line on the cup as to how many arenas of your life are you allowing Jesus to extend his influence (allowing Holy Spirit to fill)? Circle arena where greatest growth needed.

Learn to Be Like Christ

4. Live His Mission

As Jesus increasingly shapes our hearts we find ourselves going more where Jesus would go. We find ourselves more in the marketplace. In those 3rd places where people gather. In the places where you find broken and hurting people.

We find ourselves becoming “ding-a-lings’ and “hosers”

Remember BELL series

Acronym Bell

Bless – How can I bless someone this week?

Enter – How can I enter and touch the life of someone who isn’t a Christ-follower this week?

Listen – How has God been prompting me this week?

Learn – What have I learned of Jesus that I need to reflect on, talk about, and put into practise?

We talked about being hoses through which we become conduits through which God can bless others.

And we were challenged this year to become “Walk across the room” kind of people. To listen to the prompting of the spirit, take courage to step out of comfort zone, to make room in our sponge for one more, and to reach out our hand in friendship.

Assessment

In what direction are you moving in terms of living out his mission? Have you been more conscious and active in walking across the room? Entering 3rd places? Seeking to bless people?

Shrinking Involvement

Growing Involvement

Conclusion

As you look at those self-assessment pictures, how do you feel?

My guess is that most of you feel like I did when I would do a project on my house. I would in mind know what I wanted it to look like….but sometimes the reality wasn’t as good.

But I want you to look at the directions….was there growth.

Christian– discouraged with his speed of growth….touring cave & heard person talk about how these took millions of years…

“God of stalagmites & stalactites….and Gerald I have you on the drip program.”

Maybe you feel that way.

But as we move into a new year I think it would be wise to grasp a vital Scriptural truth that is critical to your growth. One thing that has influenced our growth rate this year, and will influence your growth rate next year.

James 1: 22 – 25

22 But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. 23 For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. 24 You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. 25 But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.

Our growth depends on a key action: applying.

The key thing to making sure whether all the money, effort, time, programs….all comes down to rest on one key thing:

What we do with the word?
How we apply it?

There are many Christians who are stuck in elementary school in terms of their Christian life….not because they don’t hear the word….They hear it.

But the seed never makes it out of the lobby. By the time they have got to their car it is forgotten.

The thing that makes all the difference in the world as to whether you see growth or stagnation in your spiritual life has to do with a little discipline of applying the word to an arena of your life.

The key question is not:

“What did I get out of it?”

But rather;

“What do I need to apply?”

And I conclude today with Jesus’ words about the value of that little discipline of applying his word to our lives.

Matthew 6: 24 - 27

24 “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. 25 Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. 26 But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. 27 When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”

What we do shows in the times of storm. It doesn’t necessarily show here on a Sunday morning….can all look pretty “spiritual”. Where it shows is when we are tested at work, at home, when we are tempted when no one is looking, in our ethical practises, when life hits us sideways.

It is in those times our foundation is revealed.

And so as you finish 2008 be thankful for the work of God in your heart this year.

And as you go into 2009 be resolved to be a doer and applier of God’s word not just a listener.

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b Gk He

The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. Nashville : Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989, S. Jas 4:4-5

Tyndale House Publishers: Holy Bible: New Living Translation. 2nd ed. Wheaton, Ill. : Tyndale House Publishers, 2004, S. Jn 14:23-24

* Greek two lepta [the smallest of Jewish coins].

The Holy Bible: New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S. Jn 15:12

* Lev 19:18.

* Some manuscripts add Bless those who curse you. Do good to those who hate you. Compare Luke 6:27-28.

* Greek your brothers.

Tyndale House Publishers: Holy Bible: New Living Translation. 2nd ed. Wheaton, Ill. : Tyndale House Publishers, 2004, S. Ro 5:6-8

Tyndale House Publishers: Holy Bible: New Living Translation. 2nd ed. Wheaton, Ill. : Tyndale House Publishers, 2004, S. Jas 1:22-25

Tyndale House Publishers: Holy Bible: New Living Translation. 2nd ed. Wheaton, Ill. : Tyndale House Publishers, 2004, S. Mt 7:24-27