Faithfulness - Sharolyn's Retirement
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
This morning we have a bit of a different service today as it is Sharolyn’s last Sunday as our Children’s Director here at the church
Many of you know that she is retiring. Her husband Dave, who had served on our board for a long time, just retired from his job at the end of December, so now they get to transition into a new and exciting phase of their lives together.
And while I’m excited for you, I know you will also be missed in your role here at the church.
She has been such a faithful servant for 7/8 years now, loving on and serving so many different kiddos and families including my own
So today, in honor of that, we’re going to do a quick Bible study on 3 keys to faithfulness according to the Bible, then we’re going to play a video for Sharolyn, Pastor Eric will come up and talk a bit about her service to the church, and then we’ll talk a bit about what’s next.
So let’s jump into our study
Lesson - 2 Chronicles 16:9a
Verse 9a
A little background on this verse to give us a bit of context for where we just picked up
David -> Solomon -> Rehoboam(bad king) -> Nation splits -> in Judah you have Abijah(bad king) -> Asa(good king)
After 2 bad kings who reigned for ~20 years, Asa started turning a nation around that had turned their backs on God and served false idols
God protected and delivered the nation during this time and King Asa saw God’s power on display
In 2 Chronicles 14, you can read about when he had a million man army from Ethiopia come to fight against them, but Asa trusted in God and God won the battle for them
God wanted a king who was going to be faithful to Him, faithful so he could lead God’s people after the past few kings had not
He gives Asa clear direction on this in 2 Chronicles 15:2 through the prophet Azariah
2 And he went out to meet Asa, and said to him: “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you while you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.
Asa does just that and leads the kingdom seek the Lord - for 35 years!
Awesome track record!
He has peace for his nation
But things start to change
Threats of war come to their land - Israel (country to north) starts to make preparations for war
And even through God had defeated the million man army several years prior, Asa gets scared
Fear is a strong emotion and it can cause us to do rash things and forget to trust in the Lord
So in that fear, Asa makes an alliance w/ Syria (the local powerhouse) and pays them off to protect his people
Syria goes and attacks Israel and saves Judah from the threat of war
God sends another prophet, Hanani, with a message to Asa
“Why did you rely on this other country to save you instead of Me? I saved you from a far worse threat, and yet you didn’t trust me when this attack came along”
And it’s in this situation that God reminds King Asa of what He is looking for. Let’s read that verse again
Verse 9a
God is searching for someone to work through. And the man or woman God is going to use is the one who is loyal or faithful to Him.
Think about that for a minute, God wants to use us, sinful, fallible human kind, to show His glory to the world
That is so crazy to me that God would want to accomplish His work through you and I.
Why?
Many times I don’t know
We as humans are so weak, such failures compared to God.
Why doesn’t He just use angels to do His work or do it Himself?
I think its b/c of His love for us. He loves us so much that He wants us to experience the joy of serving Him and impacting the lives of others around us
There is so much hurt and brokenness in the world
We like to turn a blind eye to it. You see that commercial on TV by Compassion International about starving kids, what do you do? Change the channel! When news about Ukraine gets too hard to swallow, or the details get too sad, we turn it off
Even more locally, we look the other way when we see needs in the church many times. We make excuses as to why we’re too busy to help, we have our own issues to deal w/, I don’t know enough to volunteer in that role
But we need to get over ourselves! We can make a difference b/c it’s not us, it’s God working on our behalf
He will show HIMSELF strong on our behalf - we aren’t showing our own strength
I’m not saying that means you’re going to open an orphanage in Africa to save children there, or to lead a ministry at the church like Sharolyn, but maybe I am.
Maybe that’s what God is calling you to do. Who knows what God has for you!?
God wants to work through us. He wants to reach the lost and to disciple His children, to serve those in need
So who is He going to do that work through? Those who are faithful to Him (“those whose heart is loyal to Him”)
The key to being used by God is faithfulness. God is looking for those who are faithful, not the uber intelligent or the dynamic or most talented. He’s looking for those who are faithful.
So what are the keys to being faithful to God? I’ll give you 3 keys or principles I see in scripture
Key #1 - Faithfulness starts w/ surrender
We see that here in 2nd Chronicles with King Asa
He was called to be used by God in a great way to lead his people. But when times got tough and war was on his doorstep, he decided to take matters into his own hands and figure out how to be the best leader and protect his people
In all fairness, his intentions were good - he wanted to save his people
But his execution was poor - he trusted in himself rather than trusting in the Lord
Surrender can’t come with strings
I’ll trust you God and follow you when it’s convenient for me, or when I like the plan, or when the call matches my goals.
Faithfulness needs to be totally surrendered to God
I’m reminded of Isaiah
Isaiah in Chapter 6 of that book has a vision of God’s throne room in heaven
And God is there looking for someone that He can use to minister to His people
8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.” 9 And He said, “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’
God is calling for someone to use, and the person He uses is the one who surrenders to God - “Here I am, send me”
Do you have that heart with God? Are you seeking Him and His will? God wants to use you, but we need to surrender the lead of our heart over to Him
Key #2 - We need to be faithful now in the small things God has given us, not just when the big opportunity comes
As a Broncos fan, this is going to absolutely kill me to say this, but I thought and thought and really there is no other better example of this in the sports world, but I’m reminded of Tom Brady (groan here please)
Tom Brady, out of college, was drafted 199th overall, meaning 198 other players were picked before he was
He wasn’t the #1 draft pick that teams were desperate to get, he was a nobody from an NFL standpoint
When he joined the Patriots, they had a pretty good QB named Drew Bledsoe
Even though he started as the 4th string QB on the roster, he stayed diligent to practice the fundamentals, improve his skills, and work hard until Bledsoe went down with an injury, and the rest is history
For us as Christians, we can’t start being faithful to God in the big callings if we’re not faithful to Him in the little things God has for you now
Before God can open the door to big things, we need to be faithful to Him in the things He has given us now
Be faithful to be a good employee or boss at work according to Ephesians 6.
Be faithful to raise your children in the Lord
Be faithful to pray for others
I think of the guys in the sound booth who show up week after week after week to mix the sound and make sure worship sounds good and run slides for the church
It’s a tough ministry job b/c no one knows what you do but they know when you mess up
But they’re faithful to be here week after week
Zechariah 4:10a (NLT)
10 Do not despise these small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin
Key #3 - Don’t focus on results
This can be a hard one, b/c our education in the world tells us that results is the metric of success
But I’m going to give you 2 scenarios that I want you to compare
A missionary heads to a foreign country that is hostile (enemy of his), goes to capital city of that country, largest city in the entire world, gives one sermon and the entire city gets saved
A pastor who serves for 40 years in his home town preaching God’s Word with 0 converts, and in fact the people he preached to end up throwing him in prison
Who was used more by God?
Most people would say the guy that saved an entire city, the other guy must have been a failure
But I would say it was really the pastor
This scenario is right out of scripture
The missionary I’m talking about is Jonah, and the pastor is Jeremiah
Jonah recap
Jeremiah recap
In Jeremiah chapter 9, Jeremiah would write down what God says to him that I think tie into this idea really well
23 Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches; 24 But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the Lord.
The focus isn’t might, it isn’t riches, it isn’t glory, it’s in the Lord
Our call isn’t to produce results, remember this is God’s work, He’s going to do what He wants to do, we’re just the instrument, the tool that He is using.
Our job is just to be faithful to that call.
Wrap-up
My prayer is that each one of you would want to be used by God
And that you would start with surrendering to Him and seeking His will for you
That you would say, “Here I am, use me, send me” instead of plotting your own way
That you would be faithful in the small things God has for you now, being disciplined in your Bible reading and prayer time, serving faithfully in the capacities God has opened up to you right now
And that you wouldn’t just be focused on results or numbers (“I have 20 people now in the small group I lead!”), but you would just stay faithful to the Lord’s calling, whatever it may be
Closing
This morning we do want to recognize and celebrate someone who has been faithful to her call here at her church
But before Pastor comes up and talks more about that, we want to show a video that was put together for her.