Whatever You Do

Transcript

Rob McFarlane 0:58

The title of my sermon today is Whatever You Do. And today we're going to look at this phrase, whatever you do, used four times in the New Testament. So number one, do everything for God's glory. In First Corinthians chapter 10, verse 31, reading from the English Standard Version of the Bible, it says, So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all for the glory of God. As followers of Jesus, our lives should bring him glory. Whatever we do should bring him glory. First Peter chapter 4 teaches us that we each have a gift and we should use our gift or gifts for God's glory. It says in 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 11, in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. I heard a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in a sermon that he preached entitled The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life. He talks about the importance of striving for excellence. Listen to this quote. When I was in Montgomery, Alabama, I went to a shoe shop quite often known as the Gordon Shoe Shop. And there was a fellow in there that used to shine my shoes. And it was just an experience to witness this fellow shining my shoes. He would get that rag, you know, and he would bring music out of it. And I said to myself, this fellow has a PhD in shoe shining. What I'm saying to you this morning, my friends, even if it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, go out and sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures. Sweep streets like Handel and Beethoven composed music. Sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the host of heaven and earth will have to pause and say, Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his street well. If you can't be a pine at the top of a hill, he continued, be a scrub in the valley, but be the best little scrub on the side of the hill. Be a bush if you can't be a tree. And if you can't be a highway, just be a trail. If you can't be the sun, be a star. It isn't by the size that you win or fail. Be the best of whatever you are. I love a little poem that I've heard before. Good, better, best. Never let it rest until your good is better, and your better is best. Now remember, if you do something good, it might be good enough for you. And in that sense, you're representing yourself. Perhaps doing it better is representing your family or the church family that you are a part of. But if you do it best, you're doing it for Jesus Christ. Let's let everything we do be done in a way that brings him honor and glory. Good, better, best, never let it rest until your good is better, and your better is best. This reminds me of Romans chapter 12, verse 1 in the message translation. And it says, Here is what I want you to do. God helping you. Take your everyday, ordinary life, your sleeping, eating, going to work, and walking around life, and place it before God as an offering. So we've seen number one, whatever you do in everything, let your life bring glory to God. Number two, do everything as a representative of Jesus Christ. Let's look at Colossians chapter 3, verse 17. Again, reading from the English Standard Version, it says, And whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. We've been called ambassadors for Christ. And I like the way that the Amplified Bible puts 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 20, it says, Do everything as a representative of Jesus or as Christ's personal representatives. I think it's important that we recognize whatever we do, we're doing something that we need to represent Jesus. Just recently, Jill and I had a visit to South Africa, and we had a few days where we took a little holiday and we went to a hotel close to a game reserve, and we went on a few game drives or safaris to observe the animals. And when we paid our hotel bill at the end of our stay, I went down to the reception to pay the hotel bill. They presented me with a bill that was far less than I had originally anticipated. I'd worked out what we had eaten and uh and the different game drives we had been on and what that should have cost. And when they presented the bill to me, it was far less. Now I had a choice right there. I could pretend that that was my bill and pay it and leave the hotel. But it was a test. I stopped and said, excuse me, I think that you've made a few mistakes. Could you please check? I think that you haven't billed me for everything that I did. And they added up the bill, and it came to something like four times the price of what they were planning to charge me. You see, I had a choice. I could have just paid what was presented and left. And perhaps one day someone would watch me on a video like today and then say, Well, that person's meant to be a Christian, but they knew that they should have paid that bill. And later on in the day we caught up with what was owed, and somebody else would probably pay the price. Well, I want to tell you today, let's pass the test. Let's make sure that whatever we do, we do as representatives of Jesus. You might go into the town and you might be rude to a server or a barista or somebody at the bank or at the filling station, and then later on that week they might come to church and see you at church. Have you been a good representative of Jesus as you are when you raise your hands in worship? And as you are when you're in the marketplace. Let's let everything we do be a representation of Jesus Christ. Let's live as ambassadors for Christ. So, number two, we've seen do everything as a representative of Jesus Christ. Now later in that same chapter, Colossians chapter 3, we see that role reversed. It says in Colossians 3, verse 23 and 24, whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward, for you are serving the Lord Christ. We see number three, we should do everything as if we were doing it for Jesus. Sometimes we should represent Jesus, other times we should act as if we're doing it for Jesus Christ. Now Jesus taught a very challenging parable in Matthew 25, where he says, If you didn't do it for the least of these of my brothers, you didn't do it for me. And it's important for us to recognize what we do, we're doing for Jesus. Mother Teresa, who is gone to be with the Lord and is uh led the Sisters of Charity in Calcutta, India, was known to encourage the sisters in that order of nuns. Let each sister see Jesus Christ in the person of the poor. The more repugnant the work or the person, the greater the answer must be to her faith and love in ministering to the Lord, our Lord Jesus, in this distressing disguise. How many times have we seen Jesus Christ in a distressing disguise? Have we ministered to him in a way that we would be pleased that we're doing it for Jesus? She continued in speaking to someone and said, I see Christ in every person I touch, because he has said I was hungry, thirsty, naked, sick. It's as simple as that. Every time I give someone a piece of bread, I give it to him. I think it's important that we look for opportunities to treat other people as we would Jesus Christ. There are times in my life where I honestly believe, as I look back, I've encountered Jesus Christ in a distressing disguise. For example, once when we were setting up for our Sunday meeting, a man arrived at the door and he was bleeding from his head, he he smelt of alcohol, he uh he said he was lost and disorientated and he was cold. I took off my jacket and I gave it to him to keep him warm, and I made sure that I could find a way for him to get back home. I never saw that jacket again, and I've never had contact with that man again, but I honestly believe as I look back, perhaps he was Jesus Christ in a distressing disguise. How many times have we encountered people where we could be generous or we could be kind or we could show love to, and uh perhaps it was Jesus Christ in a distressing disguise? Recently, when we went to South Africa, we went into a supermarket and a man before me was uh was dressed in rags, he was not clean, and um and he was trying to buy himself just a small something for lunch. And he was as he was counting out his coins, I felt the Holy Spirit speak to me and say, You buy him his lunch. And I went up and I said to the the person who was uh behind the till, I'm buying this gentleman's lunch today. And I bought him his lunch and then I also gave him something to drink. He said to me outside, Thank you so much. I'll never forget you. You know, perhaps he was Jesus Christ in a distressing disguise. Let's look for opportunities to treat others as Jesus Christ in a distressing disguise. Let's treat other people with love and respect as if they were Jesus Christ. Now let me just also say that in the context of that verse in Colossians chapter 3, he's talking about how we should work with our employers. And you know, we should work as if we were doing it for Jesus. Let our work become an act of worship. Don't do it for the eyes of men, but do it for Jesus Christ, because we know that promotion doesn't come from the north or the south or the east or the west, it says in Psalm 75, but promotion comes from the Lord. Number four, my final point: do everything for others as you would like them to do for you. This has become known as the golden rule, and it was actually Jesus Christ who said this that we've adopted in our culture as the golden rule. Treat others as you would like to be treated yourself. Matthew chapter 7, verse 12, in the New Living Translation says, Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that's taught in the law and the prophets. The golden rule: treat others as you would like to be treated yourself. Now it's interesting, in Luke chapter 6, we read this same thought recorded, where we should treat others as we would like to be treated ourselves. And then a little later in that same chapter, we read about the principle of sowing and reaping or giving and receiving. And I believe that the way we treat others is sowing seed into how we will be treated ourselves. As we pray today, I want to encourage you to ask the Holy Spirit to show you what he wants you to do as a result of what you've heard in today's sermon. Let's bow our heads and let's pray together. Father God, thank you that whatever we do, we can bring you glory. Help our lives, whatever our station, to bring you glory. Help us to do it not just good, not just better, but best for you to represent you. Help us to be good ambassadors for Christ and our contact with others to represent you well. Help us also to recognize that sometimes we're doing something for others in a distressing disguise, but it's actually you, Jesus Christ, that we are serving. Lord, we want to be generous to others who are hurting, who are confused, who are going through a difficult time in Jesus' name. And Lord, we ask that you would help us to live by the golden rule, to treat others as we would like to be treated ourselves. We ask you to give us opportunities this week to pay it forward, to be generous to others, to honor others, to be kind to others, to sow good seed in Jesus' precious name. Holy Spirit, speak to us now and show us what you want us to do as a result of what we've heard in today's sermon. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.