August 13, 2023
I’m so excited about today’s message! Each person here today is valuable. You’re valuable to God. Called, chosen, capable and valuable! I want to talk to you about how you are valuable to God’s work!
Why are you valuable? First, just because you are you. You are God’s child, he loves you, and you’re valuable to Him! Jesus told a parable about a shepherd who had 100 sheep, and one of the sheep wandered away. The shepherd loved that sheep so much, he left the 99 to go after the one. That little sheep was just 1% of the sheep the shepherd owned. But he meant everything to him. There’s a happy ending, he finds his lost sheep! You are valuable first because God loves you. He’ll run after you if you’re lost. You are very valuable to God!
The Second reason you are valuable is because you have a purpose. You were created to make a difference for God in this world. The reason it can be difficult to believe God has a purpose for you, is because when we look at the church, and we look at what everybody else in the church does, we often feel like we’re not really good enough or talented enough or spiritual enough or smart enough to make a difference. We look at others and see how incredible they are, they can quote Scripture, and they pray in a way that you just know God is in heaven saying, “Now THAT was a good prayer!”
So, we can feel insecure, that we don’t know enough, we make mistakes. We believe this lie that if I weren’t here in church, it wouldn’t really matter that much. If I wasn’t doing my little part, it wouldn’t make that big of a difference.
But I want you to see that you are valuable to God’s work. God has given you gifts, passions and talents. You are valuable to God and to God’s people.
The Apostle Paul wrote a letter to the Corinthians to teach them that not just a few Christians are spiritually valuable. All of them are! Basically, he is telling the Corinthians, we’re not here to impress, we’re here to bless. Here to bless! You don’t need to impress God. He’s already crazy about you, before you do anything. But he does hope you will bless Him and bless other people.
Paul teaches the people in the church at Corinth that they are valuable by talking about how the church is like the human body. The body has many parts: ear, eye, nose, mouth, a hand, a knee, and so on. All these different parts make up one body: one human body.
Paul has a name for a group of Jesus believers. Is it followers? Disciples? Church? Paul has another name for a group of believers. He says they’re the body of Christ. On your own you’re a Christian, or a follower. But when you gather together with other Spirit-filled, word-of-God empowered believers, you take on a new identity: You are Christ’s body. You are his hands when you serve people in Jesus’ name. You are his feet when you take the gospel message out to the world in what you do and say. You are his mouth when you lift up and encourage others. You are his heart when you express God’s love to people who are hurting or who feel far from God. You are a valuable part of the Body of Christ! Anytime you get a thought that you’re not important or not good enough, just say, “No, God loves me, he created me, his Spirit lives in me, I am a valuable part of the Body of Christ!”
Paul knew that some people might feel, “I’m not important. What I do doesn’t matter much. If I weren’t here, it really wouldn’t make that much difference.” That’s why he wrote in 1 Corinthians 12:15, “Now if the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason stop being part of the body.” Paul continues, “And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason stop being part of the body.” Every part matters. Then he says, “If the whole body were an eye,” just stop and imagine that. A human body that is just an eye. If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Paul’s being funny. He says, “Well if the whole body were an ear…” Stop and think about THAT! All ear! How would you smell something?
If you’re the ear, you might get jealous of the eye. Have you ever looked longingly into someone’s eyes? Has someone ever looked longingly into your ear? No. THAT would be weird. Is there a movie called, for your ears only? No. But for your eyes only is a movie. An ear could get jealous! But there’s no reason! Every body part is important! Whatever part we play in the church, we are important! We’re not here to impress, we’re here to bless!
I remember some servants who I felt so blessed by. I was in Chicago and going to seminary. I was supposed to visit some churches and choose one to do some work/learning at. I lived on the south side of Chicago. This was a church on the north side, so it was a distance away. I was running late, and I felt bad that I would walk in late. I came in the outer door, and I got close to the door to the sanctuary. That door had a window, and someone peered through and saw me. He was an older man. He opened the door for me, gave me a bulletin, and a piece of hard candy. That really lifted me up! Someone was glad I was here, even looking for me! It made me feel really welcome. I stopped worrying about being late. I felt blessed!
I think of another servant. I went to a retreat at a retreat center run by nuns. One nun, well in her 90s, would man the toaster. She had limited mobility. But she took very seriously toasting your bread for you. She wanted to help, and she did it with love. She made me feel really blessed!
When you serve, you bless others! You might serve keeping the building safe and in good repair, or blessing people with a good experience in this space. You might serve children’s Sunday school, blessing children by letting them know God’s love. Whatever way you serve, you’re blessing God and others.
My challenge for you today is to take that bulletin insert. Think
about, what is God moving you to do to bless others? How can you serve? If you plan to just continue how you are serving: that is awesome! You are important! Are you willing to step out and try something? Please write it down on the bulletin insert and put it in the offering plate today. If you want you can pray about it this week and bring the insert next week.
You’re valuable! You’re important! You are part of the body of Christ, and this body of Christ needs you! You don’t need a professional degree in Christian education to teach children’s Sunday school. You don’t need to impress. You just need to bless. You don’t need to be able to pronounce all the names and all the place in the Bible to read the Scriptures in worship. You don’t need to impress; you just need to bless. With everything in me, I will do my part, and with everything in you, you do your part in the Body of Christ. And people will say, wow, the church of Jesus is blessing us! Our community is better because of the church. We don’t need to impress. God just asks us to bless, in his name. Amen.
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