Limapela Education Project
Faith in Action
This project aims to provide quality education to children in Zambia's Copperbelt Province.
What difference will your life make in this world ? In this message, Rob Yule explains how God has shaped each one of us with a unique capacity for serving others, provided that we are available, humble and helpful. In a world crippled by selfishness and materialism, this fourth purpose of human life offers a life truly worth living in service of others. Rob preached this sermon at Greyfriars Presbyterian Church, Mt. Eden, Auckland, on 3 April 2005, just two hours after the death of Pope John Paul II, and dedicated it to his memory.
The death of an outstanding Pope and Christian leader reminds us that God wants each of our lives to make a difference in this world. I want to pay tribute to his role in the triumph of faith over atheism - the great story of the twentieth century - and to his exemplary leadership of the 2-billion-strong world Christian movement. Jesus taught us that ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ (Acts 20: 35, NIV). God wants you to leave this life as John Paul II does, a net benefactor rather than a net debtor - having put more into it than you take out.
God shaped you to serve. When you were conceived, God created you a unique person with a unique personality. He gave you a unique gene pool, wired you with a distinctive set of characteristics and motivations, and placed a special calling on your life. Therefore, as you surrender your life to God, you will discover God’s purpose for your life. As you live out God’s purpose for your life, you’ll find joy and fulfilment in using your God-given gifts and abilities to serve others.
Paul says, ‘We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do’ (Ephesians 2: 9-10, NIV). The word ‘handiwork’ doesn’t fully convey what Paul is saying about your God-given potential. The Greek word is poyema - from which we get our English word ‘poem’. Paul says that you and I are ‘God’s poem’. We are God’s ‘work of art’, God’s ‘creative project’, God’s ‘unfinished masterpiece’.
God shaped you to serve. When he made you, he had in mind a unique sphere of creativity and service for you to exercise, long before you became aware of it yourself. Discovering this purpose is one of the most exciting aspects of getting to know God.
Your God-given SHAPE consists of your...
Spiritual gifts
Heart’s desires
Abilities
Personality
Experiences
It has been said,
‘What I am is God’s gift to me.
What I do is my gift to others.’
So the Bible instructs us, ‘Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.’ (1 Peter 4: 10, NIV). Your fourth purpose in life is to serve others.
Karl Barth called Jesus ‘the man for others’. Jesus came to serve. Jesus said, ‘Even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and give his life as a ransom for many.’ (Mark 10: 45, NIV). Your fulfilment in life doesn’t come from serving yourself. It comes from serving others. Let’s explore what this means:
The key to being available is to be surrendered to God. There’s a wonderful psalm which I envisage Jesus making his own as he stepped onto the stage of history to begin his ministry:
‘You made me willing to listen and obey.
And so, I said, “I am here to do what is written
about me in the book, where it says,
‘I enjoy pleasing you. Your Law is in my heart.’”’
(Psalm 40: 7-8, CEV)
Do you enjoy pleasing God ? Are you willing to listen and obey him ? Are you reading his book, discovering his purpose for your life, cherishing his law in your heart ? God made you, so it’s very important that you are surrendered to him in order to discover the purpose of your life.
As you open yourself to God’s Holy Spirit, you are put in touch with those deepest urges and motivations that God placed in your heart when he made you. Obey these promptings, and you’ll find that they become the seed of the greatest accomplishments of your life.
Serving others should be a free decision, not a duty or a burden. Most people use their freedom to do their own thing, to serve themselves. God wants you to use your freedom to serve others. ‘My friends, you were chosen to be free. So don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do anything you want. Use it as an opportunity to serve each other with love.’ (Galatians 6: 13, CEV).
The Bible gives lots of practical advice about serving others. The basic rule is: do what is in your power to do. Proverbs says, ‘Don’t tell your neighbour to come back tomorrow if you can help today.’ (Proverbs 3: 28, CEV).
Another rule, the so-called golden rule, says: do for others what you would like others to do for you. ‘Treat others as you want them to treat you. This is what the Law and the Prophets are all about.’ (Matthew 7: 12, CEV).
The main barrier to this is selfishness. Selfishness turns our life inward, so that we become self-centred and self-absorbed. This cuts us off from God and our neighbour, and frustrates the realisation of our life’s purpose. God made us to be channels, not dams. Life is for sharing, not hoarding.
So Paul tells us, ‘Each of you should look not to your own interests, but also to the interest of others.’ (Philippians 2: 4, NIV). It’s as we look outward beyond ourselves to the needs of others that God begins to develop our sphere of service or ministry, giving us greater confidence and fulfilment as we exercise it.
The best definition of humility is having a proper estimate of your own abilities. Paul says, ‘Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of the God has given you.’ (Romans 12: 3, NIV). Humility isn’t self-deprecation, it’s having a true self-awareness and understanding of your gifts and abilities.
If we understand who we are, we won’t always be comparing ourselves with others. ‘If you think you are better than others, when you really aren’t, you are wrong. Do your own work well, and then you will have something to be proud of. But don’t compare yourself with others.’ (Galatians 6: 3-5, CEV).
The barrier to this is self - importance, having an inflated sense of our own abilities. People sense if we’re serving them for ulterior motives rather than from genuine heart-felt service. Paul warns, ‘Don’t be jealous or proud, but be humble and consider others more important than yourselves.’ (Philippians 2: 3, CEV).
The Bible is a very practical book. The book of James says, ‘My friends, what good is it to say you have faith, when you don’t do anything to show that you really do have faith ? Can that kind of faith save you ? If you know someone who doesn’t have any clothes or food, you shouldn’t just say, “I hope all goes well with you. I hope you will be warm and have plenty to eat.” What good is it to say this, unless you do something to help ?’ (James 2: 14-16, CEV).
Serving others means offering them practical help. ‘You obey the law of Christ when you offer each other a helping hand’, says Paul (Galatians 6: 2, CEV). Elsewhere he says, ‘Be honest and work hard, so you will have something to give to people in need.... Say the right thing at the right time and help others by what you say.’ (Ephesians 4: 28-29, CEV).
The chief barrier to this is criticism. A critical attitude kills stone-dead the spirit of tender-heartedness and mercy that should characterise our service of other people. Paul warns of its destructive effects. ‘All that the Law says can be summed up in the command to love others as much as you love yourself. But if you keep attacking each other like wild animals, you had better watch out or you will destroy yourselves.’ (Galatians 5: 14-15, CEV).
In his beautiful little book Thoughts About the Holy Spirit (p. 7), New Zealand poet James K. Baxter contrasts two kinds of forest: pine trees and broad-leafs. The pine trees are tall, proud and stately, but nothing grows under them except a few toadstools. By contrast, as in the New Zealand bush, broad-leafs spread out in an untidy manner and drop lots of leaves and rotting twigs. But among the litter on the forest floor many young plants and saplings spring up.
Some churches are like pine trees: proud and pharisaic, with a critical attitude where very little can grow. A compassionate, caring church is much less tidy, like a forest of broad-leafs. But there is life there: new initiatives spring up and people are cared for and nurtured.
Rob Yule, 3 April 2005
© 2005, Greyfriars Presbyterian Church
