How many people here are procrastinators here this morning?
OK. Now to be fair, there are different types of procrastinators.
Some people have personalities that just don’t really get worked up about much of anything. They aren’t self-motivators, but they also aren’t easily alarmed in stressful situations.
Then, there are those on the opposite end of the spectrum. They get really super worked up and anxious about needing to do something that they actually end up spending more time and energy being emotionally overwhelmed about needing to do something than they would be if they just did it.
Then, there’s a really interesting category of people. They are ones who are intentional about procrastinating. They are very creative at getting out of doing things. Maybe it’s getting out of work at a job, a chore at home, attending social events, doing projects at school or even skipping work or school altogether. They spend more time and effort avoiding doing things than it would take to just get them done.
Whatever type of procrastinator you might be, take a moment to relax and get rid of any anxiety because today, we are learning a bit about Kingdom work.
We’re starting a new series on God’s will starting with the topic of work. Regardless of our abilities or resources or anything else, God has got some work for us to do!
Don’t worry, though. Jesus said that His yoke is easy and His burden is light and He brings rest to our souls.
Doing God’s Kingdom work shouldn’t stress us out. As we’ll see, what God calls us to do, He wants to actually do through us. The work that He asks us to do, we were purposefully created to do. The work that He calls us to will bless us and can bring us joy and fulfillment in life.
To start, there are several interesting paradoxes that begin for us when we choose to receive Jesus’ salvation.
We were spiritually dead, but we are born again and given a new life. The more that we die to our old selves, the more that we become alive as our new self. We symbolized this reality just a few weeks ago through water baptism.
Twice, Jesus said:
Whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.
(Matthew 10:39, Matthew 16:25)
We receive the Holy Spirit who begins to do a work transforming us into a new creation from the inside out.
At the same time, through discipleship, we start to learn how to make outward choices that are in agreement with God’s word, ways, and unique purposes for our lives.
God is doing a work inside our lives and we are revealing that work by what we choose to do outwardly with our lives.
We are not saved by doing good works, but our salvation motivates us to do good works.
Paul goes over these paradoxes here:
Ephesians 2:1-10
1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.
4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
We are saved by God’s grace, not by our works.
We are saved to do good works; gifted and empowered by His grace.
We don’t do good to earn God’s grace, we do good from the empowering source of God’s free gift of grace.
People wouldn’t typically buy a couple hundred thousand dollars’ worth of building supplies, have it delivered to their property, and then decide to become a carpenter and build a house.
People wouldn’t typically go on a shopping spree at Hobby Lobby and then decide to learn how to sew and paint and sculpt and draw and crochet.
Those who try that method usually end up finding that those supplies just sit around unused and they never do get around to learning that craft or trade.
However, that’s exactly what God chose to do!
Genesis 2:4-5
4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. 5 Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground
From the very beginning, it is true that God prepares in advance good works for us to do. God creates the work, then creates the worker.
Genesis 2:7-8
7 Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. 8 Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed.
God creates the work, then purposes and places the worker.
Think about that for a moment. Think about the huge amount of trust that God has in people. He uniquely and purposefully creates us, then places us at the place and time of His choosing, and then gives us a lifetime of opportunities to do what we were created to do.
He gives us free will to either fulfill His will and His purposes or to go our own way, which is what we call sin. Which do we choose to do with our lives? God has more faith in us than we often have in Him!
Work is not the result of sin, opposition to work is the curse of sin. Thorns and thistles and painful, sweaty toil was the curse of sin. Stripped screws and snapped off bolts. Productive work was the blessing of life before sin and productive harvests are the blessing of our salvation!
Matthew 9:35-38
35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
The work has been prepared in advance FOR us! We were born for such a time as this! We were created and formed and purposed and gifted for the work at hand. We have some good news to share! Healing and deliverance and hope and peace and joy and freedom and restoration and every good and perfect thing is ours!
1 Corinthians 3:5-9
5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe – as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. 9 For we are co-workers in God’s service
The best part is that as we faithfully do our part, God faithfully does His part to bless the work of our hands and to make things grow! God does the work as we step out in faith following His lead.
Take a moment and think about all of the miracles found throughout the Bible.
Think of all of the modern miracles that you’ve heard testimony about.
How many of those miracles occurred without God working through someone?
How many of those miracles occurred without a an act of faith by someone?
Very few if any!
Many things that God calls us to do may seem like small and insignificant acts. We may not see them as that big of a deal. They may seem irrelevant and meaningless. However, if God leads us to do it, it is the absolute most important thing that we can ever choose to do!
How about something as simple as lifting up our hands?
We naturally throw them up in celebration of a touchdown and, well, we throw them up in frustration at an interception pass. However, in church, for Jesus, why is it even a question? Something as small as lifting up our hands could release our victory!
Exodus 17:10-15
10 So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. 11 As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. 12 When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up – one on one side, one on the other – so that his hands remained steady till sunset. 13 So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.
14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered and make sure that Joshua hears it, because I will completely blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven.” 15 Moses built an altar and called it The Lord is my Banner.
Think about everything that was happening here. Joshua is out there on the battle field with sword in hand along with the Israeli military. They have no idea that whether they are winning or losing is being decided by Moses lifting or lowering his hands. God literally said, “Oh by the way, make sure that Joshua hears about this one!”
Oh, and what was happening in the spiritual realms to sway the outcome of the battle being directed by Moses? Joshua wasn’t fighting alone!
Then, just back up just a few verses. Here, the Israelites are wandering back and forth throughout the waterless Desert of Sin. Maybe some of us can relate there…
The people and the animals are parched. They get upset with Moses. We always have to blame someone, right? After all, it truly is the Lord leading Moses who is leading the people who area all together wandering in the desert.
The blame game begins and the people bring their complaints against Moses. What does Moses do?
Exodus 17:4-7
4 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.”
5 The Lord answered Moses, “Go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the place Massah (testing) and Meribah (quarreling) because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
Moses simply obeyed what the Lord called him to do. You could take a thousand sticks and go around striking every rock throughout a desert and water won’t come gushing out; not even a single drop. This only happened because God was responding to the faith of Moses revealed through his obedient act.
God stood unseen before Moses by the rock. As Moses obeyed the Lord, the Lord brought enough water out of that rock to quench the thirst of a nation of people and their livestock. Moses’ work was to obey God by faith and the Lord’s work was to bring forth the water to fulfill a promise.
1 Corinthians 10:3-4
3 They all ate the same spiritual food 4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.
In Acts 8, the Holy Spirit told Philip to go take a walk. He was to walk down the desert road from Jerusalem to Gaza. We never hear of those towns in the news these days, do we?
Then, the Spirit told him to go hang out by a chariot. It placed him in the right place at the right time to overhear a guy reading from Isaiah. Yeah, he apparently read out loud to himself.
See, so often we get caught up in the big picture of what God’s will is for our lives. In reality, it is all of the small steps that lead us to big things. The small things are the big things!
Taking a walk and hanging out by a vehicle as lead by the Holy Spirit. These little things resulted in a very important international leader in charge of all of wealth of the queen of Ethiopia being saved and water baptized and the teleportation of Philip.
The same thing can happen with you and I. Common and ordinary people doing simple and ordinary things. However, when they are done in obedience to the Spirit’s lead, they can have supernatural and miraculous results.
The smallest act of kindness done to express God’s unconditional love could be the work done to reach and save and transform someone’s life! It may just be plowing or planting a seed or watering spiritually, but God is at work unseen growing a harvest!
It may be chasing a toddler around the house to wipe their runny nose and playing that annoying song one more time for the thousandth time. However, you are training up and caring for someone who will make a tremendous impact on the world! We may not feel like we’re doing anything that significant, but every act of service is tremendous!
Jesus said that as we, His disciples, donate food and drinks and clothes and visit those who are sick or in prison, we are doing it for Him. He richly rewards us for caring for the least of those among us. He takes it personally. Little things are the big things!
It isn’t so much about what we do, but who we are and why we do it.
Let’s start with who we are; our identity.
When we choose to receive Jesus’ salvation, we are adopted into the family of God. God is now our heavenly father; we are children of God. We have countless brothers and sisters as part of our spiritual family.
As a child of God, we also become heirs of God; co-heirs with Christ to whom was given all things. Jesus paid the ultimate price so that we might freely receive the full abundance of God’s Kingdom. It’s not just for our benefit, it is so that we would have a source to take from so that we might be able to pour out.
We are partakers. We receive from God’s Kingdom and then share it with others. We are filled up and poured out. All of creation is waiting for you and I!
Romans 8:19-22
19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
All of God’s creation is eagerly expecting and awaiting the liberation and freedom and glory of God by the children of God; you and I! Most people don’t realize that this is what they are longing for, but we who have experienced it know that this is what we truly need! We were born for this purpose, to experience the freedom and glory of God!
Jesus gathered together His disciples. He imparted to them authority. He then sent them out into the towns ahead of Him with these instructions:
Matthew 10:7-8
7 As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.
Just as Jesus sent out the twelve and the seventy-two, so He sends out you and I. Wherever we go, we do not go alone. Jesus gave us the great commission and ended it by promising that He would be with us to the very end of the age. We are His ambassadors; speaking and acting and representing God’s Kingdom!
Why doesn’t God just do it, Himself? With just a word, He could liberate all of creation. He could bind the devil and all of his demons and put an end to their deception and destruction. Right now, in an instant, He could make all things new and right.
To be honest, I don’t know why He doesn’t. I only know that He has chosen to purposefully entrust this task to us instead. He has equipped and empowered us to continue His work destroying the works of the devil. We are stewards of God’s Kingdom and His salvation. God has entrusted us to continue the earthly ministry that Jesus began.
Jesus said:
John 14:12
Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
Beyond who we are, we are never alone! Jesus went to the Father in order to send us the Spirit. Upon salvation, God poured out Holy Spirit within our lives.
We are temples of God, carriers of His Presence. Just by showing up, we make a difference wherever we go! It should be no wonder to us then why the devil wants to overwhelm us with fear and anxiety and keep us locked up in our homes!
Who we are is more important than what we do.
Our identity is not defined by what we do, but what we do reveals our identity!
That’s why the whole creation is eagerly waiting for the children of God to be revealed!
Who we are defines why we do what we do. We do things not just to be nice or to look like good people. We do good works to express the love of God and to manifest the Kingdom of God here on the earth. Our motive is to lead people to Christ and to bring them into an encounter with Him!
Our internal faith is revealed through our outward acts. We walk by faith, we live by faith, we act by faith. Our outward works reveals our inward faith. If we claim to have faith in God, but do not live in obedience to His word and the lead of His Spirit, then we have deceived ourselves.
James 2:14-18
14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.
Out of gratitude for all that God has graciously and merciful given us and for the sacrifice that Jesus made for us, it is a joy and an honor to obediently follow His lead and do good works to serve those around us.
Prayerfully, they will taste and see how good God truly is through those small things and they lead to big, life transformation for them!
So, what little thing is God calling you to do? If you aren’t sure, just crack open your Bible and start there. You can’t go wrong living out His word. However, stretch yourself to hear His voice.
When you wake up, ask God to speak to you and to show you something that He wants you to do that day. If a thought pops into your head, don’t assume that it is your imagination. If you get a gut feeling, go with it. (of course, if it does not contradict God’s word or character) Trust that you are God’s child hearing your Father’s voice through His Holy Spirit and do it by faith.
When we are faithful with the little things, He will begin to entrust even greater things to us!
Join us next week as we continue to learn and fulfill God’s will!