How Can God Use Me?

HOW CAN GOD USE ME?
1 Samuel 17

Have you ever asked "How can God use me?" That question will have different answers for different people.

Jack Lewis is an intellectual giant among preachers. He has two Ph.D.s, one from Harvard and one from Hebrew Union. When he was young he listened to a sermon about one of the prophets. The preacher talked about how the prophet may not have had much to offer, but he was willing to give God what he had - himself. And then God could use that however he wanted.

Jack said, "I listened to that preacher. His lesson wasn’t particularly outstanding in its development, but it emphasized something I needed to hear then. God could use any man who was willing to be used. I determined to do what I could with my life in service to God."

Years later Jack had his two Ph.D.s and began teaching at a Christian school. Today he can boast that he has trained as many preachers, missionaries and Bible professors as any other teacher in his church’s fellowship, all because he asked, "How can God use me?"

One night in the mid 1990s Jack would stand outside of the mansion at the graduate school that housed the faculty offices. Fifty years of his research and work was in the building. In the middle of the night fire billowed out of the broken windows. Jack stood there with his wife Annie Mae and said, "There goes a whole life’s work up in flames." Annie Mae said, "That’s not your life’s work, Jack, books and papers and notes. Your life’s work is out in the field preaching the gospel." And they were. Thousands of guys. All because Jack asked, "How can God use me?"

God’s answer to that question for you may be different. I have friends who serve as missionaries in Africa, Brazil, Europe, Asia, the Unites States and Canada. The serve in those places because they asked, "How can God use me?"

I have friends who are firemen and emergency personnel. I have friends who are school teachers, nurses, doctors, mechanics. I have friends who are construction workers and big game guides. They faithfully serve God in ways he makes available to them. The question they ask is, "How can God use me?" The answer to that question may differ for us individually. But let’s make sure we asked the question. And let’s listen to God’s answer.

A young boy once asked, "How can God use me?" I don’t know if he actually asked the question out loud, verbally. But it was in his heart. And God answered his question.

"Be a servant to your brothers. Help them out."

"My brothers? You have to be kidding? God, when I asked, ‘How can you use me?,’ I wasn’t asking to be a servant boy. Don’t you have anything else for me to do?"

God must have said, "He who is faithful in little will be faithful in much. I want to see how you handle the little chores. Do as I say. Serve your brothers."

"Ok, Lord, I will serve. What shall I do?"

"Take some food to your brothers and their boss."

No service in the name of Jesus Christ is really "small service." We use that term: "serving God in the ‘small things.’" But the small things are often big things. A $1.00 bolt that gets left out
of an airplane can cause millions in damages, not to mention loss of life. What is the real value of a $1.00 bolt on an airplane if it is carrying our family members?

In Matt. 25 we see a glimpse into the heart of God regarding the "small things" we do in his name. (Verse.34-40) The small things become big things when done in the name of Jesus.

How can God use me?

"Ok, Father, I’ll take the food to my brothers." This young man was about to learn that faithfulness in the small things opens doors of opportunities to the big things.

Jesse knew he was sending his son into a war scene. But did he think his son would be in the war? I doubt it. What kind of a father would let his son go off into a war unprepared? Untrained? (1 Samuel 17:17-19)

But God knew. God knew it was a war scene. And God let David go. What kind of a God is he? A God who can see things we can not. God knew there were two battles being waged that day in the valley of Elah.

One battle was being waged by Goliath, a big hunk of a man. Nine feet tall, armor weighing 125 to 200 pounds. His shield was larger than a man. Everyday Goliath would come out and taunt and challenge the armies of God. (17:8-11) Everyday his insolence and bravado sent chills into the hearts of Saul and his men.

This was David’s first battle scene so far as we know. And it was a big one. All the soldiers knew that. None of them would take up Goliath’s challenge. They cowered in fear.

And then David said, "I’ll go fight him."

"You? You’re only a boy, a delivery boy. You do good with bread and cheese. But that guy out there is not a sandwich. He is a soldier. A big one. He’d break you in half with his bare hands."

And David said again, "Let me go. I’ll fight him." When he tried on the armor he said, "I can’t wear that stuff."

With the blessing of the commander David ran down to the stream. He looked into the
clear water for the stones he wanted. He picked out some smooth ones, put them into his bag and went after the bear of a man.

Goliath wasn’t impressed. (V.41-44) And David wasn’t impressed with Goliath. He ran at him with his sling, threw the rock and knocked the giant to the ground. David won.

He started out delivering cheese and he ended up delivering Israel.
He started out tightening $1.00 bolts and ended up flying the plane.

And it all started with an attitude of heart: "God, how can you use me?"

I told you there were two battlefields that day. One was in the valley of Elah. A valley where men pitched tents, cooked over open fires, sharpened swords, tested their bow strings, and laid awake at night worrying about the next day. A battle where men hurled insults and challenges to each other. A battle where men dreamed of killing.

The other battlefield that day was pretty much ignored by most people. It still is today. It was the battlefield of heart.

This battle was really fought and won in someplace other than the valley of Elah. For David it began sometime before. In 1 Sam. 16:12 God told Samuel, "I pick the boy David." Then, the Spirit of the Lord came upon David IN POWER (16:13).

Fighting a giant was really nothing to David. The spirit of God reigned in his heart. Fields of battle are much easier to win after you’ve won the battle of the heart. That is why David could say to Goliath, "I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty" (17:45). And, "This day the Lord will hand you over to me." This wasn’t really David’s battle - it was God’s.

And this explains why Saul wouldn’t fight Goliath. 1 Sam. 16:14 says the spirit of Lord departed from Saul and an evil spirit took his place. Saul lost the great battle, the battle of the heart. So Goliath really was a giant to him.

On that day many years ago there were two battles. One between armies. One in the hearts of men. In a sense, Golaith doesn’t even matter in the story. He was only filler. The real story was about a young boy who asked, "God, how can you use me?"

What do you think God’s answer to you will be when you ask that question?

Warren Baldwin

Appreciation Day

APPRECIATION DAY

Our congregation has hosted several appreciation days for groups in our community. An Appreciation Day can be a great experience for a church and the community. You might want to consider hosting one. Below are some questions and answers you might have.

How do we host an Appreciation Day?

You simply select a group from the community to invite to a service and have a meal afterward in their honor. For example, churches I have served in Florida, Wyoming and Kansas have all had Appreciation Days. Groups we have invited have been the Law Enforcement agencies, Emergency Medical Service, Fire Department and schools. Every person in the organization or agency is invited along with their families. For example, if you invite a police department, then the officers, jailers and dispatchers and all of their families are invited.

What is the benefit of doing this?

It is healthy for churches to be concerned about how the community perceives them. Since we are the light of Christ, it is important that the community recognizes His light in us. That light shines by our care, concern and ministry in the community. An Appreciation Day is one way to let our light shine.

An Appreciation Day provides an opportunity to overcome some of the negative impressions that a community might have for a church, and to actually develop positive impressions. Visitors from the town that might not ever associate with a particular body of Christians are invited for a service, are given sincere expressions of thanks, and are treated to a meal.

Does it work?

Yes! Communities often identify their churches by the fights and splits that have occurred within them over the years. They don’t soon forget when the preacher and a deacon got into a shouting (or even shoving) match in the very building where they claim to preach truth and love!
Fellowship with community members in worship and with an enjoyable meal afterwards can soften some of the harsh and painful memories people harbor. Long term friendships often develop.

Can we get new members from hosting an Appreciation Day?

Not often, but sometimes. The real purpose is not to "recruit" new church members. It is to show sincere appreciation to involved members of your community with no strings attached.

What are some of the exact steps in hosting an Appreciation Day?

1) Decide what group in your community you want to recognize.If there has been a terrible accident in your community, that might be a good time to recognize the EMS.

2) Talk personally to the leaders of the groups you want to honor.Speak to the Sheriff, Chief of Police, Head of the EMS, principal of a school, etc. Let them know you appreciate their work and service and want to honor them.

3) Follow your personal visit with a letter from the church office. Every police and sheriff’s department I have ever invited to an Appreciation Day provided us with personal addresses of the officers to send them letters. Stress that family members are invited. Also, if an officer is on duty that morning and can’t attend the service, stress that he can stop by during the potluck and have lunch, even if he has to take it with him.

4) You can follow the church letter with a handwritten one from a group within the church, such as the ladies group. This letter does two things. One, it reinforces your invitation. Two, it involves more folks from the church, allowing them to feel some ownership in the project.

5) Encourage the church members to make their usual amount of food plus plenty of extras!

6) Preach a sermon that morning on a topic that will resonate with your visitors: Respect for authority (Romans 13), appreciation, gratitude, service, etc.

7) Allow your visitors to be the first in the serving line.

8) Encourage your members to mix and mingle with the guests during the meal.

9) You may or may not do personal recognitions of the guests. I typically have chosen not to so as to not embarrass anyone.

Do people actually come to these Appreciation days?

Yes!!!

How many?

We’ve had as few as 5 and as many as 55. In Cody, WY we actually had a couple of times where we had more visitors than we had members on an Appreciation Day!

Any closing suggestions?

Just this: an Appreciation Day is not an occasion to "recruit" new members. It is a day to open yourself up to serve others simply for the joy of service. Many of your visitors will already be members of other churches and are not interested in leaving where they are. The purpose of an Appreciation Day is to show appreciation and develop relationships. God is free to do what he wants to with that in his time.

If your congregation hosts an Appreciation Day, please revisit this blog and leave a comment on how it went.

Thanks!

Warren Baldwin

UP IN THE DUMPS

UP IN THE DUMPS

Story of guy who has hard luck (in file). Can you blame this guy for being "down in the dumps?"

Feeling down in the dumps generally means we
1) Have had a bad turn of events. Even a string of them.
2) We have internalized those bad events and we feel bad inside.
3) We make ourselves the center of everything. Focus on ‘self.’
4) We engage in self-pity. This can lead to feeling mildly depressed if it lingers.

Does this sound familiar to anyone?

These same feelings can happen if we feel "up in the dumps." Ok, I coined that term. I am referring to when things go tremendously well for us. Ironically people can have the same negative emotions as when everything goes bad! Maybe they fear the good things will end and worry about something bad happening. If they have a negative disposition they can’t feel good even when things are fine!

Elijah might relate to this. This great prophet faced 450 prophets of Baal and beat them. He purged Israel of the leadership of an immoral cult. Any preacher would have been pleased! But with success, even good and spiritual success, comes attacks. Elijah’s attack came from the queen who threatened to kill him.

Elijah was afraid of Jezebel’s revenge and he fled. 1 Kings 19:3. Eventually, Elijah found his way to a cave and tried to hide. 1 Kings 19 gives some insight into Elijah’s emotions.

Woe is Me

1) Elijah cried out, "I have had enough." 1 Kings 19:4
Enough of what? Perhaps having to deal with a wicked king and his wife. Maybe having to deal with the false teachers and false religion of Baal. He may have been tired of dealing with his own countrymen for turning from God to paganism. I think he was just tired of ministry.

"I can’t take anymore!" We all have a threshold of pain that we can tolerate. We can only take so much criticism, annoyance and disappointment. Eventually we will burst. Elijah was at that point.

If you are ready to cry out, "I can’t take anymore!" remember two things. 1) Yes you can. Most of us can take at least a little more. If nothing else, we can often decide to calm down and get away for a bit. That’s actually the second point. 2) Take a break. Step back. Rest. Most of us quit to soon: our marriages, our friendships, our jobs. Take a break, yes, but hold on and hang in there! Aren’t we glad Jesus didn’t cry out, "I’ve had enough!" Someone else may be hanging on our faithfulness.

2) Next Elijah cried, "Take my life!" (19:4)
Does he really believe his life is not worth living? He has just experienced a great spiritual victory, and now he is giving up?

Several things may be coming to bear on Elijah. He has been under a lot of stress. His spiritual reserves have been tested to the threshold. Just think about it! How many of us like having one person oppose us? Elijah has had the king, the king’s wife, and 850 false prophets opposing him. 450 of those prophets he faced in one encounter. He challenged them to a test and Elijah won, because God was with him. Then the queen threatened his death. He fled into the desert. He was tired, hungry and thirsty. In this weary, defeated stated, he fell asleep.

Have you ever been so stressed you despaired of life? So tired you didn’t want to go on? So scared you were afraid of what another day would bring? Then you know Elijah felt. "Take my life!"

Elijah’s spirit at this point was "Woe is me." But that revealed something in Elijah that we all have: a flaw. Elijah’s flaw was "Look at me."

Look at Me

God didn’t leave Elijah alone. He sent an angel to minister to him. The angel didn’t challenge Elijah or reprimand him in any way. The angel came to minister to him, even offering him food and water. Then God came to Elijah and simply asked, "What are you doing here?" (V.9). There was no challenge or reprimand. But Elijah felt compelled to offer a defense of his actions. He was saying, "Look at me! Look at all I have done!"

1) Elijah said "I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty." (19:10)
The truth is, he had been very zealous. He was preaching, confronting the king, taking on 450 false prophets. Elijah was very busy! And he felt very alone.

2) Next Elijah complained, "I am the only one left." (19:10)
When we are down in life, all we can see is our work, our good intentions, our contributions, our sacrifices. We don’t see what other people are doing and appreciate their good work. Everything is about us.

Elijah just knew he was the only faithful one left. I’m not sure if he meant he was the only faithful prophet, or the only faithful Israelite, but he was certain he stood all alone. But he was wrong. In chapter 18 of 1 Kings Elijah talked with Obadiah, another faithful prophet, who was hiding 100 faithful prophets in caves. Now, in his fear, exhaustion and self-obsession, Elijah has forgotten Obadiah and the 100.

Woe is me and Look at me. Two attitudes that are self-defeating. They do not promote faithfulness or healthy community. They are attitudes of self-pity and self-concern. And they derail us.

But God wouldn’t let Elijah remain in this state. One thing I love about this story is that God uses a flawed man to do his work. I like this story because it shows that God can use even me. God can use all of us! Are we imperfect? Flawed? Do we sometimes feel sorry for ourselves? Feel like we are alone? Feel like no one cares? Wonder how long we can go on?

Good news! That’s ok! That doesn’t mean God has given up on you. There can still be a lot of wear on your tires and steam in your engine. You just need to reconnect to God and your brothers and sisters. You need to get back into the thick of things. Get involved. That is what God did with Elijah. He said, "Hold on, Buddy," and sent him back into battle.

Hold on, Buddy

God did several things to revitalize Elijah.

1) He made him take care of himself. He fed him and let him sleep.

2) God talked with him. "What are you doing here?" (19:9) God asked. It was a question. God didn’t start out pushing Elijah. He conversed with him.

Elijah then went into his "Woe is me" mode again. "O Lord, it’s hard down here! I’ve done what’s right. I’ve been zealous for you. Plus, I’m the only faithful one you’ve got! But I’m tired!" Part of what he said was right; part was wrong. But God let him talk.

When you are down, down, down, are you tempted to withdraw from God and people? God calls us out of ourselves and says, "Talk to me. Pray."

3) God made his presence known. In this story, he made himself known in a whisper (19:12,13).
In our lives, he may makes himself known through assurance in prayer, through the counsel of a friend, through a scripture.

4 God gave Elijah an assignment. He put him to work. Elijah was to go anoint a couple of future kings (19:15-16).
When you are down, do something!

5) Finally, God said, "Remember, you are not alone. I have seven thousand in Israel who have not bowed the knee to Baal." (19:18).

What has this got to do with us?

Elijah placed himself at the center of the universe and at the center of God’s work. His attitude was "I am." Sorry, but "I am" is God’s role. God is always at the center.

Because of his self-absorbed attitude Elijah was unable to process disappointment and fear. He viewed everything from his perspective and not God’s. His question was not, "Is God doing good work here," but "Am I doing good work here?"

Elijah’s negative spirit, his depression, grew out of his self-centeredness. And here is the good news - God still worked with Elijah.

Listen, if God waited for perfect people to do his work, nothing would get done! God works with the down and out!
- with a self-absorbed and depressed prophet in 1 Kings
- with a five-time divorcee in John 4
- with a persecutor of the church in Acts
- with immature and unspiritual apostles in the gospels.
God puts his treasure in clay jars, easily broken pots. And we are those pots.

I’m thankful that ministry is for failures. Ministry is for people who look in the mirror and say, "I don’t have much to offer. Thank goodness God can use me as I am."

Today God asks us the question he asked of Elijah, "What are you doing here?"

What are we going to say?

Warren Baldwin Oct. 4, 2009

Washing Feet

"NOW THAT I HAVE WASHED YOUR FEET ..."
John 13:12-17; 1 Peter 4:7-11

Friends enjoy doing favors for each other. Friends don’t do favors just to have favors done in return. But, they do know that they will receive favors - because friends do return kind deeds. But with friends, there is never a sense of manipulation. You know what I mean by manipulation, don’t you? A manipulator is someone who does you a favor when it is convenient for them and then, in a short time, calls you back and says, "Remember when I did you that favor? Well, now I need you to return it." After a while people quit accepting that person’s favors, because they always come with a price tag.

Jesus just did a favor for his disciples in John 13. Thirteen hungry men with dirty feet are gathered for a meal. Jesus does the service of taking a towel and basin of water and getting on his hands and knees to wash their feet. He humbles himself to serve them. He does them a favor.

What is the next step? If he is like some people he would say, "Hey guys, remember the favor I did for you? Well, now I want you to do me a favor." But Jesus doesn’t resort to manipulation. He does make a demand: he does place a heavy burden of the Gospel upon them. But it is not manipulation. V.12b-16: "Do you understand what I have done for you? Now that I ... have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you." Jesus doesn’t look for any favors to be done for him. His whole focus is ... "I have served you. Now you serve others."

This is a nice saying. Whenever the story of the washing of feet is recited, this part of the story is read. "I did you a good deed, now you do others a good deed." But this is not nice saying. If we think this is nice, we don’t understand it. There is nothing pleasant about it. This is a challenge. A challenge that if we understand and accept, will push us farther than we would ever care to go on our own in ministering to other people.

"I have set you AN example ..." Jesus said. "This is ONE example of my service to others," Jesus said. And his example of service to others continues later in this story. Jesus serves until it kills him. This is not an example of doing each other nice little favors. This is a story about dying for each other. "I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you."

Remember about 20 years ago the plane that crashed landing in Washington D.C.? It was riding low and landed in the water, so not all of the passengers died on impact. It was winter time, and a number of passengers could be seen floating in the icy waters. One man couldn’t be content with just watching from the bank and waiting for boats. He jumped into the water, grabbed people, and swam to the shore with them. He managed to save the lives of several people. Finally, when he came to the bank with the last person, he sank under the water. Exhaustion and cold overtook him. He sank. He drowned. He saved the lives of several people, but he died himself. He lost his own life. "I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you."

Remember almost 8 years ago when planes crashed into the World Trade Towers? While thousands of people were rushing out of the buildings, policemen and firefighters were rushing in. They were going in to save lives. They were going to serve the needs of the people who were trapped inside. Then a horrible thing happened ... the buildings collapsed. Many of the people trapped inside and killed were ... policemen and firefighters who went inside voluntarily. They saved the lives of other people. They served people they didn’t even know. But they died themselves.

Most of us will NEVER be called upon to jump into icy waters and pull people out of the water. Most of us will NEVER be called upon to rush into burning buildings and pull people out of the fire. But all of us are still called to wash feet. To give of ourselves. To serve others. "I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you."

Warren Baldwin