The Church of Eleven22 - S02E11 - Serve One Another

Episode Date: June 21, 2021

Are you using the gifts God has given you? As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: - 1 Peter 4:10

Welcome to Deepen with Pastor Joby Martin. The Church of 1122 is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. And we're praying this message helps you deepen your relationship with him. Now let's dive in. Hey, church family, welcome back to Deepen. Man, what a time together this past weekend as we walked through John chapter 6. I think we studied 71 verses. And I spent the majority of the kids.

time on the back half of what happens in John chapter 6 that Peter and actually tons of the followers and disciples had had all these unanswered questions and what do you do with doubts and unanswered questions and what do you do when God won't explain himself and we've all been there we all had these questions why God why would you do this and particularly in John chapter 6 all Jesus had to do is step in and just explain what communion is and everything makes sense but he doesn't because he don't have to explain himself. Because we don't follow God based on his explanation, right? We walk by faith.

And so Peter has this incredible statement to the question Jesus asked, you don't want to leave too, do you? And the reason he asks is because Peter probably wants to leave because it doesn't make sense in his mind. And he just says, where are we going to go? Because you're the only one that offers eternal life. Now, we spent a whole bunch of time there. But what I skipped, oh, I didn't skip it,

but what we rushed by was the miracle that led up to Jesus saying, I am the bread of life. And that miracle was the feeding of the 5,000 in John chapter 6. And so that account shows, that event shows up in a bunch of different places. And by the way, one of the things, if you've noticed, I don't call it a story because it's not a story. These aren't Bible stories. When I think of story, I think of like in a galaxy far, far away long, long ago, kind of thing. You know, that's not what this is. This isn't veggie-dales. This is an actual event.

And Jesus gathered a bunch of people on a hillside in Galilee, and they had no food. And he asked Philip, he says, in John chapter 6, lifting up his eyes then and seeing a large crowd was coming towards Jesus. Jesus says to Philip, where are we going to buy bread so that the people may eat? And he said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. Jesus knew that he was going to feed these people. He knew that he was going to do a miracle. which is what leads to the end of six, he begins to realize these people are just following me, not because they're looking for a savior,

but it's because they're looking to be satisfied just physically. Not because they're looking for the Messiah, but they're looking for a miracle. So he whittles out all the like, what we would call casual Christians. He says, unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no part with me. And people are like, well, I ain't got no part with you.

That's weird. But before he does this, I want you to see what Jesus does, there's 5,000 men. The Bible's only counting men. So most historians would say could be upwards of 15,000 people, you know, if everybody's got a kid in a date. And so he asked Phillips,

how are we going to feed these people? And he knows what he's going to do. And Philip goes straight to the practical. He's like, I don't know, man. I mean, if we had like two years wages, it wouldn't be enough to feed all these people. There's no way we can pull this off. And then if you put together the accounts

of the Gospels here, We find out that there's one little boy that just got a little bit of fish and a little bit of bread. And when you read fish here, when the fish in loaves that the little boy has, you can't think like a slot red, you know, 26 inch slot red. That still wouldn't be nearly enough to feed 5,000 people. But it's more like a sardine. And the little fish was more like a condiment to the bread. So what you would do is you would get out your bread and you get out your little salted fish.

and then you would just kind of rub it on there and it would sort of like, I don't know, it's like chapstick, it would just get on there and then when you eat the bread, it would be like fishy salted bread. Sounds delicious, does it not? Just one little boy. Basically is like, all right, this is all I've got.

But somehow he understands, honestly, what very few Americans, even church Americans, understand, that what I have, the little I have, can be used in exponentially greater ways in the hand of the master than they can in my very own hands. Somehow, this kid understood that what Jesus can do with this is way more than what I can do with this.

And in fact, I'm sure the little boy not only got enough to eat, and this is total conjecture here, but what if the little boy takes leftovers home to his house and it's more than he ever even showed up with? You see, one other thing. If you look at this account in Matthew, Matthew chapter 14, verse 19, same account, Jesus feeds the 5,000. It says this.

It says, then Jesus broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowd. So, I know the Bible says Jesus feeds 5,000. But who actually fed the 5,000? For sure, it was the power of Jesus. No body, no person, no disciple has the miracle working power like Jesus does. So for sure, the power came through Jesus. The miracle came through Jesus. But the actual feeding, it happened in the hands of the disciples.

Think about this for a second. Imagine there's a crowd of 5,000 people behind me. And imagine you're Jesus, just for a second. And you are looking at me and you bless the food, you bless the bread, and then you hand it to me, and then you say to me, all right, you hand out the bread. And I'm thinking, to all these people, I got enough bread for like, one for me and one for you. And so the Bible does not specifically say when the miracle happened, but apparently, apparently, it had to happen as the disciples are handing out the bread.

I mean, at what point did it occur to them? You think they went to the first guy? And they're like, all right, here's a little bit. I got enough for six more guys. Here's a little bit. Here's a little bit. And here's a little bit. And here's a little bit.

And then at some point, in some point, in each small step of obedience, in each small step of obedience, in each small step of obedience, there is an abundance that God has. And at some point, they begin to realize, I don't think this is running out. And then the Bible says that when it's all said and done, there are 12 baskets of leftovers.

12, like 12 tribes of Israel, 12 baskets left over. And so, do you know what this means? This means that not only does God do incredible works in us, but he does incredible works through us and to us, which leads us to our one another. in 1 peter chapter 4 verse 10 the bible says each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve one another each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve one another hey i got some really good news

congratulations you're gifted i've talked to you before about gifted class you know where the teacher would come in and take all the smart kids out and they would do some kind of special thing and leave the rest of us behind guess what the good news is if you're in the family of God. If you know Jesus, you have at least one spiritual gift and no Christian has all the spiritual gifts. And we are supposed to use the gifts that God has given us, and he uses us all together in the body to serve one another. So Peter says this in 1st Peter 4, verse 7, the end of all things is at hand. So what Peter is saying is, you need to pay attention. This is incredibly urgent. Jesus could come back at any second. The end of all things is at hand.

be self-controlled, not ruled by our appetites. Be sober-minded, not ruled by our emotion. For the sake of your prayers, above all, keep loving one another earnestly since love covers a multitude of sins. And now he's going to tell us how we should love one another. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. We talked about that weeks ago. And then here's our verse.

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace. Did you know that the gift you have been given was not earned? It's a gift. God gave it to you. And then he gives some examples. Whoever speaks as one who speaks oracles of God. That's a gift that God gave to me,

to be able to open his word and to teach. Now, that doesn't mean that when we get here to church, all of us should try to be the preacher. That wouldn't work out too good. But whoever has the gift of speaking should speak the oracles of God, whoever serves as one who serves by the strength that God supplies. In order that in everything, God may be glorified through Jesus Christ to Him belong glory and dominion forever and ever again. Okay, let me ask you this. What gift has God given you? What does He put in your hands?

Because it's got to be something, because if you say that God hasn't given me anything, then you're not telling the truth or either the Bible's not telling the truth. I'm going to go with you or not telling the truth. Has he giving you time? Maybe you have time to serve. And maybe a part of what you should do is you should look at what God is placed in your hands and you should, as you have received that gift, you should use it to serve one another. Maybe you should come here to church and you should serve in the offices during the week. Maybe God has given you the gift of a smile and you have the ability to hold a door open.

And maybe you should use that gift to serve here at the church. You know, years ago, there's a guy in our church. Honestly, he's kind of famous. He is. He's a Newark-time best-selling author, and I'm not going to tell you his name, but it rhymes with Charles Martin. And he comes to me, and he goes, man, what can I do in the church? And I'm just going to tell you, he's a theological juggernaut. I mean, he's a beast, man. He knows his Bible. He's got some significant spiritual gifts. He's a prayer warrior. He has been a part of people experiencing healing in Jesus' name. He's been around the world, preaching the gospel. He's got, he's a, he's a, he's a,

unbelievably talented author, all these kinds of things. And he comes to me, and he's not an arrogant, prideful guy whatsoever, but he comes to me and he goes, what could I do for the church? And honestly, I think he was saying, like, you know, is there a specific role that I can play based on my gifts and talents, you know? And I said, yeah, man, we need somebody to take the trash out. It's just the first thing that came to mind. Literally the next Sunday I saw this guy.

who has literally walked down red carpets in Hollywood for movies that he wrote from his books. And the next week I leave in the church, and there's this guy throwing trash into the trash can from our church. Actually, he still does it today. So let me ask you this, what is God giving you? What does He put in your hands? Maybe it's some kind of talent. Maybe you love kids. Maybe you should serve in our kids ministry.

Maybe you like teenagers, or at least can endure them for an hour and a half a week. Maybe you walked through some stuff when you were a teenager, when you were a student, and if you would have had somebody then, like you are now, there would have been a whole lot of pain that you could have avoided? And let me ask you, what are you going to do with that? Maybe you would volunteer in our student ministry. Maybe what God has given you is a desire for the nations, and you need to sell it all and be one of our hundred missionaries to the very ends of the earth.

I mean, what is it? Maybe it's some resources. Maybe God's put money in your hands. He's put money in all of our hands. Let's be honest. And instead of thinking more is mine, maybe every time you get more, you begin to look at it and think,

I bet the Lord could do more with this than I can. I mean, how many pairs of pants and shoes do I need? Maybe I could just live a life of extravagant generosity. You see, because once again, this little boy takes the fishes and the loaves, and he hands it to Jesus. Now, let me just be honest with you. I don't know if you were here like,

that was like three or four weeks ago or something, when I read that, it was right after our beach baptism weekend. And I read that email from that really sweet lady who was super nervous about being baptized and she had been shunned by her church because of her marital status. And there was a young man that was getting baptized.

And I don't know that he would say he had a whole lot of time, talent, and treasure. But what he did have is time, to sit down next to this lady that was scared to death on the bus going to the beach baptism and just talk with her a while. And what he did have is a family that was there to watch him get baptized and be baptized with him.

And so they surrounded this lady. And what they did have is time to wait to when the baptism was over to receive this lady coming out of the water and love her. And her response, I've never felt more loved in my life. You see, here's the thing.

This little boy had no idea what hung in the balance. This little boy that gave up his fishes and lows. And these 12 disciples that what Jesus put in their hands turned around and by one step of obedience did with it what he said to do, they had no idea what hung in the balance. Hey, listen, when you serve in our kids ministry and our student ministry, when you show up to be on the welcome team to help people park, when you sign up to go on a mission trip and just go serve some people that you've never met before, you have no idea what hangs in the balance. I mean, the reason I sit here today is because there was an old football coach.

He wasn't that old when he did it, but it was a long time ago. He was in a deacons meeting at First Baptist Church, Dillon, South Carolina. And there was a little rundown associational Baptist camp that needed some repair and leadership. And Coach Bulley raised his hand and said, I'll do it. And for six weeks, every summer, he would go and live at camp. He invited me to that camp. I met Jesus. Long story short, now we all sit here together at the church of 1122

because this man decided to serve one another. He took the gift that he had given, which was he could blow a whistle and yell at kids, and he poured into us, and he had no idea that all of this hung in the balance. So what has God put in your hand? What has God put in your hand? And as you have received that gift,

use it to serve one another as a good steward of God's very grace. That's great. Father in heaven, I thank you for the words of Jesus. That after he washed his disciples' feet, he told us, I have set for you an example, and that we would be blessed if we followed that example. Lord, I pray that we would be good stewards of every gift that you've given us, every relationship, of our influence, of our, the, the,

the talents that come from you, of our spiritual gifts that you supernaturally implanted in each one of us. God, as Jesus' followers, I pray that we would also be dirty footwashers just like he was, that there would be no job too small for us. And God, we thank you that you're at work. And God, we have no idea what hangs in the balance. That you could use one small act of obedience on our behalf to begin a revival. for your glory. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for joining us for Deepen with Pastor Jobi Martin.

If you're looking for additional resources to help you further deepen your relationship with Jesus Christ, visit co-e22.com slash resources. We're praying this message you heard today helps you experience God in a unique and fresh way. And as always, be free.