Self Assessment - Others Investment
Trey Little | 28-Feb-10
"Self Assessment--Others Investment"
This morning we continue with our journey through our study of Richard Stearns' book The Hole in Our Gospel. I hope you are reading--I hope you are enjoying your "Lent in the Living Room" groups--and I hope you are remaining open to how the Lord is or will be speaking to your heart in the midst of this Lenten season.
I pray that we will not become DEFENSIVE to the often times OFFENSIVE nature of the TRUTH. In other words, I pray we will be humbled as we hear the voice of the Lord calling us to join with Him in the things that matter to Him.
Having said this, let us once again turn to God's word for direction.
Turn with me to Luke 4: 14-21 (pg. 1018 in your pew Bibles).
The other day I read of a man who stood at a busy street corner and asked those who came by: "Who are you?" Hundreds of people came by that day and every single one of them answered him by saying what he or she did. "Who are you? I am a teacher. I am a lawyer. I am a homemaker. I am a rancher. I am an accountant. I am an oilman. I am a pastor" (From a devotional on 2/23/10 by Jim Denison).
I wonder, what would you have told the man?
My hunch is, most of us would have answered in a similar fashion. Most of us define ourselves--or our purpose in life--by what we "do"--at least from a professional perspective. But what if we stopped for a moment and explored the man's question a bit more? What if we allowed ourselves to go a little deeper into the discernment of "Who we are?"
Richard Stearns did! For years he answered the "Who are you?" question by saying: "I am the CEO of Lenox--America's finest tableware company." But then--seemingly out of nowhere--Stearns found himself in a tussle of sorts with the Lord and His purpose for Stearns. Stearns writes: "You see, in 1974, at the age of twenty-three, in my graduate school dormitory, I knelt down beside my bed and dedicated my life to Christ. While at the time I knew very little about the implications of that decision, I knew this: nothing would ever be quite the same again, because I had made a promise to follow Christ--no matter what" (pg. 8).
During this Lenten season--and really any season if you get right down to it--I think it is imperative that we pause to reflect on the significance of dedicating one's life to Jesus Christ. I think it would behoove us to consistently do a "self-assessment" if you will--and explore if our promise to follow Jesus Christ had any bearing on "Who we are." Are things "business as usual?" Are things "the same?" Or--is there a "no matter what" component within our profession?
One of the things I love about Jesus--and there are many--is the fact that He knew who He was and He knew His purpose. At the beginning of His ministry He defined His purpose in a few words. He had just spent 40 days in the desert where He was "tempted by the devil." 40 days of no food and constant tempting by the adversary--that doesn't really sound like a sabbatical, does it? But in the midst of the desert experience Jesus was able to focus on what God wanted Him to do with His life. And then, "in the power of the Spirit" Jesus began teaching. He went to Nazareth and went into the synagogue and stood up in front of all the people who had gathered--unrolled the scroll--the scroll of the prophet Isaiah--and He proclaimed to the people His purpose: "Who are you? He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. To proclaim freedom for the prisoners. To proclaim recovery of sight for the blind. To release the oppressed. And to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
That was it--then He rolled up the scroll--gave it back to the attendant and sat down! Jesus spoke with confidence. Jesus knew who He was and what His purpose was. He could have said many different things--but instead He chose to focus His life on the things that mattered to God. His self assessment revealed that His life's purpose was to invest in others--self assessment--others investment! And over the course of three short years, He literally changed the course of human history forever.
If you are reading "The Hole in Our Gospel" then you have probably already read the testimony of how Stearns' self assessment led to him investing in others. One particular piece of his testimony that really stuck with me came in the form of a question he was asked by a man--interesting how we keep coming back to a question of a man--anyway, Rob Stevenson asked this question. Stevenson was a recruiter hired by World Vision's board to help find their next president--and as you can probably figure out by now, that led him to Rich Stearns. He had called Stearns and asked him if he was "interested" in the job. Stearns said, "No." Actually, he said, "Me?" I laughed uncomfortably. "I don't think so. I am not qualified, not interested, and not really available."
Isn't it funny how we all have the same tendency when it comes to responding to God's redefining purpose in our lives--we laugh, we deny, we think we can't do it, and we become incredibly committed to whatever it is we are already doing. But I find equally humorous our tendency to respond to other challenging opportunities with great determination, enthusiasm, commitment and availability.
But God is persistent--isn't He? He keeps knocking. He keeps placing us in situations where we are forced to assess our lives and whether or not our perceived purpose truly matches His divine purpose.
Anyway, back to Stearns' testimony. As his conversation continued with Stevenson--after attempting to close the door that God was seemingly opening for Rich Stearns to walk through--the question that changed everything came. He writes, "My mind was totally closed. This was not going to happen. I almost said, 'I'll pray about it, but the answer is no.' But then just as I was about to excuse myself, he (Stevenson) added, 'Let me ask you a different question...' And then it came. 'Are you willing to be open to God's will for your life?'" He went on to say, "God was asking me that day to choose. He was challenging me to decide what kind of disciple I was willing to be. What was the most important thing in my life? He wanted to know. Was it my career, my financial security, my family, my stuff? Or was I committed to following Him regardless of the cost--no matter what?" (pg. 34)
For Stearns--the question: "Are you willing to be open to God's will for your life?" and the events that followed, led him on a new pathway of discovery. What he discovered, among other things, is that: "The real journey of faith requires that our choices, our actions, and everything else in our lives be surrendered to God's will rather than our own" (pg. 84).
Friends, "Who are you? Who are we?"
May we be people who passionately tell others about the saving grace of Jesus Christ--that through faith in Him we no longer have to a live a life of defeat but instead we live in victory--that is GOOD NEWS. May we be people who are just--reaching out to the poor in spirit as well as those who are poor in resources. When we do this we embody the mission of our Lord and Savior. May we be a people who compassionately release others from debts that weigh them down--in other words--together may we forever proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. May we be people who remember that we too were once blind but now we see.
Here is the point--our works are not what saves us--only faith in Jesus Christ can do that. But our works are an overflow of our experience of God's love and His blessings. Our works are done by the power of the Holy Spirit at work in us. The problem is that we have seemingly become a reservoir of God's love and blessings. We receive His love daily; we receive His blessings daily and yet, we hold on to them.
This morning I want to encourage you to take a self assessment. Who are you? Are you a reservoir--just holding on to everything you have been given. Or, are you a river--flowing endlessly with blessings for others. Willing to go wherever, in order to keep flowing--even if that means making a turn here or there?
Let me close with this: Mother Teresa once said, "I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world."
Friends, we are just the "pencils."
Will your SELF ASSESSMENT--lead to OTHERS INVESTMENT?
Are you willing to be open to God's will for your life?
AMEN.
This morning we continue with our journey through our study of Richard Stearns' book The Hole in Our Gospel. I hope you are reading--I hope you are enjoying your "Lent in the Living Room" groups--and I hope you are remaining open to how the Lord is or will be speaking to your heart in the midst of this Lenten season.
I pray that we will not become DEFENSIVE to the often times OFFENSIVE nature of the TRUTH. In other words, I pray we will be humbled as we hear the voice of the Lord calling us to join with Him in the things that matter to Him.
Having said this, let us once again turn to God's word for direction.
Turn with me to Luke 4: 14-21 (pg. 1018 in your pew Bibles).
The other day I read of a man who stood at a busy street corner and asked those who came by: "Who are you?" Hundreds of people came by that day and every single one of them answered him by saying what he or she did. "Who are you? I am a teacher. I am a lawyer. I am a homemaker. I am a rancher. I am an accountant. I am an oilman. I am a pastor" (From a devotional on 2/23/10 by Jim Denison).
I wonder, what would you have told the man?
My hunch is, most of us would have answered in a similar fashion. Most of us define ourselves--or our purpose in life--by what we "do"--at least from a professional perspective. But what if we stopped for a moment and explored the man's question a bit more? What if we allowed ourselves to go a little deeper into the discernment of "Who we are?"
Richard Stearns did! For years he answered the "Who are you?" question by saying: "I am the CEO of Lenox--America's finest tableware company." But then--seemingly out of nowhere--Stearns found himself in a tussle of sorts with the Lord and His purpose for Stearns. Stearns writes: "You see, in 1974, at the age of twenty-three, in my graduate school dormitory, I knelt down beside my bed and dedicated my life to Christ. While at the time I knew very little about the implications of that decision, I knew this: nothing would ever be quite the same again, because I had made a promise to follow Christ--no matter what" (pg. 8).
During this Lenten season--and really any season if you get right down to it--I think it is imperative that we pause to reflect on the significance of dedicating one's life to Jesus Christ. I think it would behoove us to consistently do a "self-assessment" if you will--and explore if our promise to follow Jesus Christ had any bearing on "Who we are." Are things "business as usual?" Are things "the same?" Or--is there a "no matter what" component within our profession?
One of the things I love about Jesus--and there are many--is the fact that He knew who He was and He knew His purpose. At the beginning of His ministry He defined His purpose in a few words. He had just spent 40 days in the desert where He was "tempted by the devil." 40 days of no food and constant tempting by the adversary--that doesn't really sound like a sabbatical, does it? But in the midst of the desert experience Jesus was able to focus on what God wanted Him to do with His life. And then, "in the power of the Spirit" Jesus began teaching. He went to Nazareth and went into the synagogue and stood up in front of all the people who had gathered--unrolled the scroll--the scroll of the prophet Isaiah--and He proclaimed to the people His purpose: "Who are you? He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. To proclaim freedom for the prisoners. To proclaim recovery of sight for the blind. To release the oppressed. And to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
That was it--then He rolled up the scroll--gave it back to the attendant and sat down! Jesus spoke with confidence. Jesus knew who He was and what His purpose was. He could have said many different things--but instead He chose to focus His life on the things that mattered to God. His self assessment revealed that His life's purpose was to invest in others--self assessment--others investment! And over the course of three short years, He literally changed the course of human history forever.
If you are reading "The Hole in Our Gospel" then you have probably already read the testimony of how Stearns' self assessment led to him investing in others. One particular piece of his testimony that really stuck with me came in the form of a question he was asked by a man--interesting how we keep coming back to a question of a man--anyway, Rob Stevenson asked this question. Stevenson was a recruiter hired by World Vision's board to help find their next president--and as you can probably figure out by now, that led him to Rich Stearns. He had called Stearns and asked him if he was "interested" in the job. Stearns said, "No." Actually, he said, "Me?" I laughed uncomfortably. "I don't think so. I am not qualified, not interested, and not really available."
Isn't it funny how we all have the same tendency when it comes to responding to God's redefining purpose in our lives--we laugh, we deny, we think we can't do it, and we become incredibly committed to whatever it is we are already doing. But I find equally humorous our tendency to respond to other challenging opportunities with great determination, enthusiasm, commitment and availability.
But God is persistent--isn't He? He keeps knocking. He keeps placing us in situations where we are forced to assess our lives and whether or not our perceived purpose truly matches His divine purpose.
Anyway, back to Stearns' testimony. As his conversation continued with Stevenson--after attempting to close the door that God was seemingly opening for Rich Stearns to walk through--the question that changed everything came. He writes, "My mind was totally closed. This was not going to happen. I almost said, 'I'll pray about it, but the answer is no.' But then just as I was about to excuse myself, he (Stevenson) added, 'Let me ask you a different question...' And then it came. 'Are you willing to be open to God's will for your life?'" He went on to say, "God was asking me that day to choose. He was challenging me to decide what kind of disciple I was willing to be. What was the most important thing in my life? He wanted to know. Was it my career, my financial security, my family, my stuff? Or was I committed to following Him regardless of the cost--no matter what?" (pg. 34)
For Stearns--the question: "Are you willing to be open to God's will for your life?" and the events that followed, led him on a new pathway of discovery. What he discovered, among other things, is that: "The real journey of faith requires that our choices, our actions, and everything else in our lives be surrendered to God's will rather than our own" (pg. 84).
Friends, "Who are you? Who are we?"
May we be people who passionately tell others about the saving grace of Jesus Christ--that through faith in Him we no longer have to a live a life of defeat but instead we live in victory--that is GOOD NEWS. May we be people who are just--reaching out to the poor in spirit as well as those who are poor in resources. When we do this we embody the mission of our Lord and Savior. May we be a people who compassionately release others from debts that weigh them down--in other words--together may we forever proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. May we be people who remember that we too were once blind but now we see.
Here is the point--our works are not what saves us--only faith in Jesus Christ can do that. But our works are an overflow of our experience of God's love and His blessings. Our works are done by the power of the Holy Spirit at work in us. The problem is that we have seemingly become a reservoir of God's love and blessings. We receive His love daily; we receive His blessings daily and yet, we hold on to them.
This morning I want to encourage you to take a self assessment. Who are you? Are you a reservoir--just holding on to everything you have been given. Or, are you a river--flowing endlessly with blessings for others. Willing to go wherever, in order to keep flowing--even if that means making a turn here or there?
Let me close with this: Mother Teresa once said, "I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world."
Friends, we are just the "pencils."
Will your SELF ASSESSMENT--lead to OTHERS INVESTMENT?
Are you willing to be open to God's will for your life?
AMEN.
