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I
get tired of people who get out their big cookie cutter and
get out their dough of what Christians are supposed to be and
go: “K-chun, k-chun, k-chung. That’s a Christian, and if
you don’t fit into that mold, then you just aren’t saved.
Nyah.”
I
guess if you have to take a cookie cutter to the dough and cut
the Christian out of it, there is a lot of dough left over
after you cut the cookie out. Well, if God didn’t want all
that dough in the Christian, then why did he make all the
dough in the first place? And if you have to use your cookie
cutter to cut out what a Christian looks like, that means you
think God doesn’t know how much is enough. And I’m not the
one to say that.
That’s
why I love the Lord. He sent his Son to be a personal Savior
who knows about me and knows about my personality and is
willing to love me like I am—which is a good thing! “The
people whom I shaped for myself, will declare my praise.”
Napoleon
pointed to a map of China and said: “There lies a sleeping
giant. If it ever wakes up, it will be unstoppable.” Billy
Graham told Eddie Fox, who is the head of evangelism for World
Methodism, that he believes the Methodist Church is a
“slumbering giant.” Today I want to call on each of us to
realize that we are a part of a giant plan, a giant
commitment, and a giant movement of God’s Spirit through
which God wants to change the world. In other words, God wants
to change the world through you. You are shaped for
significance.
Through
his polls, Gallup says that 50% of all church members across
the U.S. have no interest in serving in any ministry. (Which
is sad, because by implication they have no interest in being
spiritually significant). Half the members of any church will
remain spectators. These are people who say, “I just don’t
feel led to get involved.” (Actually, they feel led, it’s
just another kind of “lead”—in the seat of their pants!)
But, based on some assumptions, I believe God is calling us to
significance.
First,
every believer is a minister. Not every believer is a pastor,
but every believer is called into ministry. Serving others
isn’t optional for Christians shaped for significance.
Second,
to be a Christian is to be like Jesus. The word Christian
means “little Christ.” Jesus said, “For
even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve,
and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45)
Third,
every ministry is important. Some ministries are visible and
some are behind the scenes, but all are equally valuable. The
most important light in my house is not the big fancy one in
our foyer, it’s the little nightlight that keeps everyone
from stubbing their toe when they get up to use the bathroom.
It’s small, but a lot more useful than the big showy one.
(Leigh says my favorite light is the one that comes on when I
open the fridge!)
Fourth,
we are all dependent on each other. When one part of the
church is struggling, we all struggle. These concepts in the
Bible focus on interdependence and mutuality. We are dependent
upon God and upon each other. When it comes to ministry, there
is none of the individualism and independence that we’re so
fond of.
Fifth,
my ministry involvement is the expression of my SHAPE. God
wants us to praise him, not just during a song in church, but
with the rest of our lives as well. God has already shaped you
for ministry. “The
people whom I shaped for myself, will declare my praise.” (Isaiah
43:21) God has already given you your shape in order to allow
you to praise him.
God
has been molding you and shaping you for significance since
you were born. In fact, God began shaping you before you were
born: “You made all
the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit them together in
my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully
complex! It is amazing to think about. Your workmanship is
marvelous – and how well I know it. You were there while I
was being formed in utter seclusion! You saw me before I was
born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to
breathe.” (Psalm 139:13-16 LB)
Look
at your shape for ministry. SHAPE is an acronym for Spiritual
gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality and Experience.
Spiritual gifts. The Bible teaches that God gives each believer
certain spiritual gifts to be used in ministry. Our church
offers inventories for you to discover your spiritual gifts.
But here’s the best way to discover what your gifts are:
start experimenting with different ministries, and then
you’ll find your gifts! Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback
Church with 18,000 active members, writes: “When I was a
teenager, I took a spiritual gift inventory and discovered the
only gift I had was martyrdom! I thought ‘Oh, great.
That’s the gift you only get to use one time.’ I could
have taken hundreds of tests and never discovered I was gifted
at preaching and teaching…It was only after I began
accepting opportunities to speak that I saw the results and
received confirmation from others.” Spiritual gifts are
always used for helping others and for building the body of
Christ (which is the church).
Heart. The Bible uses the term “heart” to represent your
passion, the center of your motivation, desires, interests and
inclinations. Your heart determines why you do what you do,
why you say what you say, and why you feel the way you do.
Your passions will lead you to act in different ways than mine. God
made us that way in order to complete his praise. God gave you
your heart. But it is your choice to use it for good or evil,
for selfish reasons or to serve God and others. First Samuel
12:20 says: “…serve the Lord with all your heart.”
Abilities. Just as God gives you spiritual gifts, God has gifted you
with natural abilities. Some have gifts with words, some with
athletics, some with music, some with numbers, some with art,
some with plants or animals or mechanics or humor. The
incredible variety of abilities reflects the richness of God
and his love for variety!
Many
people think because they can’t play an instrument or speak
in public, they don’t have any abilities to offer God or the
church. Nothing could be further from the truth! Every person
here has been given abilities that God can use in significant
ways.
Most
of the time we’re trapped, though. We feel that if only we
were in different circumstances or if only the timing was
better, or if only we had some special talent or ability, we
could be a better witness for God and serve him more
significantly.
A
woman named Charlotte Elliott felt that way. As a young person
in England, she was known as “carefree Charlotte.” She was
a portrait artist and writer of humorous verse. At age 30,
however, she contracted a disease that left her an invalid for
life. She became very depressed until a well-known Swiss
evangelist, Dr. Caesar Malan, visited her. Sensing her
spiritual distress, he exclaimed: “Charlotte, you must come
just as you are—a sinner—to the Lamb of God who takes away
the sin of the world!” She placed her whole trust in
Jesus’ sacrifice for her, and she experienced inner peace
and joy in spite of her physical affliction.
She
became a hymn writer and wrote over 140 hymns, including
“Just As I Am,” a hymn that some would say has influenced
more people for Christ than any hymn ever written or perhaps
any sermon ever preached! Sick and in bed her whole life,
Charlotte had felt useless to do anything except express her
feelings of devotion to God, yet look how the Spirit of God
moved her to significance!
Personality. It’s obvious that God does not use a cookie cutter to
create people. God loves variety. He made introverts and
extroverts. People who love routine, and people who love
variety. People who are thinkers and people who are feelers.
For you Myers-Briggs types, God made ESTPs, INFJs, even
TGIFers! We can tell in the Bible that Peter was a sanguine,
Paul was probably choleric, Jeremiah was a melancholic. God is
so intentional and intricate in his design that even your
personality is shaped in such a way to glorify God. There are
no right or wrong temperaments for ministry. This is why
mimicking someone else’s ministry will never work—you
don’t have their personality. Find your niche. Take the
initiative to find a ministry consistent with your
personality.
Experiences. God never wastes an experience. Romans 8:28 reminds us,
“We know that in all
things God works for the good of those who love him, who have
been called according to his purpose.” There are several
areas of experience that are yours alone: your educational
experiences, your vocational experiences, your spiritual
experiences, your ministry experiences, and your painful
experiences. Remember, especially with your painful
experiences, that God never wastes an experience. Don’t
resent or reject your experience. Don’t belittle it. Your
greatest hurt may be your greatest ministry. Even the sin
you’re most ashamed of may be used by God in a significant
way.
Because
your shape was sovereignly determined by God for his purpose,
you should accept it. Paul
writes to the Romans: “What
right have you, a human being, to cross-examine God? The pot
has no right to say to the potter: Why did you make me this
shape? Surely a potter can do what he likes with the clay?”
(Romans 9:20-21 JB) “The people whom I shaped for myself,
will declare my praise.”
To
find significance, you’ve got to know your shape.
Maybe
you’ve been doing nothing but “keeping” your faith.
Maybe you’ve been trying to follow God peripherally. Or
maybe you have been trying to do what you think God wants you
to do. Maybe you’ve blown it. Maybe you think you have to be
someone else before God will use you. I believe God is saying
to some of us: “I’ve called you.
I didn’t call your imitation of Bill Ritter. I didn’t call
your imitation of Matt Hook. I didn’t call your imitation of
Billy Graham, or Chris Hall, or Sue Ives or anybody else. I
called you. If you
want to be the kind of Christian I want you to be, then
you’re going to be you, and you’re going to be you for me. You’re going to bloom
where you’re planted. You’re going to do what you
can do for me.” And I love the Lord for that.
And
think of this: no one else is as well shaped to reach people
in your community than you are.
You’re already there! So quit waiting for God to
bring someone in from the outside to reach your family and
friends to share Christ. God has shaped you, and those people
who need God already know you!
To
find significance, you’ve got to be committed to the right
thing.
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You may be fully committed to your sport. You may be
fully committed to your club.
You may be fully committed to your hobby. And those
activities ask for your full commitment. And you want
significance. You want your life to count. And your life may
be so full from those commitments that you can’t even hear
what I’m about to say. But
God is asking for your full commitment. God has shaped you for
significance. God wants to give your life meaning. Don’t
look for your significance somewhere else! Be committed to the
right thing! Nothing satisfies compared to the greatness of
knowing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and living your life
for him.
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Jesus said, “Any
of you who does not give up everything cannot be my
disciple.” (Luke 14:33)
To
find significance, you’ve got to take risks.
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The problem with big churches is the amount of talent
that is able to hide. It’s time to stop hiding your talent
under a bushel! Take a risk.
-
When the Israelites went into the Promised Land, they
had to cross the Jordan River.
God promised he would guide them through. The water
didn’t part for the priests carrying the ark until they took
their first step into the river. To find significance, take
risks doing something for Jesus Christ!
To
find significance, you’ve got to be faithful in the small
things.
-
If you’re building a bridge, you have to know how to
handle each brick.
-
A puzzle is solved when the first piece is laid on the
table.
-
Jesus said, “Because
you have been faithful with a few things, I will put you in
charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master.”
(Matthew 25:23)
So…what
are you going to do? Many churches are filled with people who
are doing nothing with their faith except “keeping it.”
Remember God’s plan. He has shaped you to declare his
praise. So, declare his praise! Find a ministry to be involved
in. Take the initiative to make a phone call to the church.
Find out where volunteers are needed. Try VBS. Try youth
counseling. Do a Bible study. Help with set up or tear down
for SNA. Be a greeter. Help with sound. Think about how you
are shaped for significance. The giant is waking up!
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