justlivingfully

My first sermon EVER!!

• By Kim A.
• 28 May, 2014
• 6 Comments

The week before Mother’s day I was asked to share a message with the church.  I agreed and I later found out that my mom had been here last year and shared the message last mother’s day (good thing I said ‘yes!’ I have to carry on the tradition).  It makes me think of something God spoke about us being here in Fiji and giving us the opportunity to be a part of the family legacy.  Very cool indeed!  Here is my sermon.  In church it was translated into Hindi (I’ll spare you the translation!!) and thought for today.  It is on dependence, full dependence on the true living God and it is a work that God is speaking to me about daily right now as we serve in Fiji!

We began with remembering our sisters who have gone missing in Nigeria.

On April 14, 2014 almost 300 young girls ages 12-15 were kidnapped in Nigeria, Africa.  There are 276 girls still missing.  Young women, the future  of Nigeria, sisters, daughters.  There are mother’s who are waiting for the return of their children and today we remember them and we pray for their release. (followed by moment of silence and all church praying together aloud…such a beautiful sound of different languages to One God!)

I would like to continue by reading in the book of Philippians.

Phil 2:1-7

Philippians 2

The Message (MSG)

He Took on the Status of a Slave

2 ^1-4 If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.

^5-8 Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process.

I think this passage relates so well to mother’s and women.  It’s part of what marriage and motherhood has taught me.  The agreeing and loving that comes from 2 very different backgrounds and 2 very strong opinions in a marriage relationship.  There is no sweet talking a demanding 3 year old.  There is no being obsessed with my own advantage with little sleep and many mouths to feed.  All of these are true, but I want to talk about 2 things in this scripture that God has been speaking to me for the last 2 weeks that I believe are for the entire congregation.

The first is deep-spirited friends.  What is a deep-spirited friend? Ones who speak to my very soul.  I pray that this church will be one of deep-spirited friendship.  Where people can come and find belonging that no other place has to offer.  Where we pray for and with each other and where the words that speak over each other and about one another have power and bring life to a deep part within us.  That is where I want to be.  That is the kind of friend that every man and woman and child is seeking.  I always pray that the church will be a place like that.  Where we leave connected to our Saviour and brothers and sisters.  We help carrying their burdens, thoughts and concerns but have our own burdens shared among many.  I love that Jesus spoke so much about relationship and how important it is!  It is the very essence His beloved Bride, the church.

The second and main thing God has been speaking to me is the part about being a servant or slave.

What does it mean to be a slave?

You make no decisions of your own, you only do what your master says, you are dependent, you may not know the big picture of what is happening, but you obedient in your tasks.  This does not sound attractive or fun.  What is the point of this?  Why would our God and Saviour ask this of us?  What does it tell us about Him and His character?

de·pend·ence /dɪˈpɛn dəns/ Show Spelled [dih-pen-duh ns] noun

1. the state of relying on or needing someone or something for aid, support, or the like.

2.reliance; confidence; trust: Her complete reliability earned her our dependence.

3.an object of reliance or trust.

Think of a newborn baby.  Think about their total dependence on their parents.  For food, for clothing and warmth, for shelter.  Even small children.  They need to be taught, they need to be loved.  They are totally and completely reliant on their care givers to love and live and grow.  I believe that Christ modelled this with His father.

The key word here is trust.  The place of a servant is a place where trust is built or broken.  It’s where you get to see the true heart motives of the Master.  Can He trust you?  Can you trust Him?  This dependence is about hearing His heartbeat and knowing Him so well that we know what He is thinking.

He was dependent on Mary, dependent on Joseph and their extended families.  He was dependent on God, his loving Heavenly Father.  There were many sticky situations He found himself in and He always did what His father said.  Relying only on what He said as He grew in wisdom and stature…trusting fully in the plans of His Heavenly father.

There is such good news in this.  Jesus death made it so that we are not only slaves to a cause or a being…. It is how Jesus lived as a servant and how he has asked us to model Him, but he has also called us friend.  I love that once again he focuses on our relationships with one another and loving each other but goes a step further.

John 15:15

I’ve told you these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your joy, and your joy wholly mature. This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends. You are my friends when you do the things I command you. I’m no longer calling you servants because servants don’t understand what their master is thinking and planning. No, I’ve named you friends because I’ve let you in on everything I’ve heard from the Father.

“I’ve let you in on everything I’ve heard from the Father”.  We need to be in a place where we hear Him, know Him and trust Him in every area of our life.  Where our total dependence is on this Creator of the Universe, Lover of our souls, and Gracious Father. He has called you each by name, Find Him, seek after Him with all you are, leave no stone unturned, press into Him and love Him with all you are worth, because He is worth it all.

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