Sermon Central
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What's The Point?
Contributed by Jason Cole on Mar 12, 2007 (message contributor)
Summary: Do you ever get tired or discouraged? Do you ever wonder what’s the point? Do you ever get tired of people rejecting your message? They aren’t rejecting you they are rejecting God. This message answers three common statements of discouragment and enco
b. God sees all we do
We must realize that God sees all that we do both good and bad. I want to encourage you that though nobody may ever give you recognition here God sees your faithfulness. God sees and knows how much money and times you sacrifice and that will not come back void. God sees all that you do and you can be encouraged to know that you will be repaid and rewarded for what you have done. We do not need to seek praise from men, but we store up treasures in Heaven.
Be encouraged in this that you will be paid back for all that you have done in this life. You may be upset and feel that you deserve more, but a time will come when you will be able to say that it was well worth the time and effort of serving the Lord. Though man may not see all you do, God sees all and will reward you for all that you do.
III. I’m not being effective
Do you ever feel like you are not very effective? Do you ever feel that all your work for the Lord is in vain or that you not making any progress? I do sometimes. Its hard sometimes when you put a lot of effort into something and it seems to have no effect. Its hard when you try really hard to reach somebody, but you never seem to get your message across. Have you ever been there? I believe that there are a lot of people in the church feel that they are not effective. Let me first encourage you that effectiveness is not number based. Sure numbers are important and its important to reach as many people as possible, but we are called to be faithful not successful. We are called to try our best to reach people. Only so much of our success is up to us. There comes a time when other people have to choose for themselves. I know that its frustrating when you invest time in someone and you see no progress. I know it’s hard when you prepare diligently for a class and few show up or few seem to grasp the message.
God is the one who causes things to grow, so basically we are nothing. We are his servants. We do not have the right to get upset when we do not feel we are being used or being effective. I do believe that we should always strive to better ourselves and find better ways to reach people, but we cannot exclude their part and God’s part in the process. We are called to work diligently, and countless times the call comes to us to work hard and to strive to serve God with the best of our ability.
God’s Word never comes back void. Sometimes we may not feel like we have accomplished anything, but if you are faithful in sharing your faith you’ve done your job. You have planted your seeds. I know its frustrating when you never see the fruits of your labor, but you must trust His Word convicts. God gives the increase.
We measure success on a different standard than God does though. Remember Noah preached for 120 years and all he could do was reach his family, yet Jonah could preach one sermon and 120,00 would repent. Was Jonah more faithful to God? Was Jonah a better preacher? Probably not, the difference was in the hearts of the hearers. Both preachers were successful, because people we spared from God’s judgment and they did their jobs. In our eyes Jesus wasn’t all that effective either. In 3 years of ministry he only had 12 converts and one betrayed him. I wonder if Paul ever felt ineffective. I know that may seem strange because numerically Paul was successful. Paul and Silas were traveling along and Paul had a vision of a man from Macedonia begging him to come help them. They soon tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit would not let them enter. From there Paul went down to Philippi. We know there he converted a woman named Lydia and then ended up in jail. He must have been discouraged, but it was in prison he reached the jailer and his family too. Isaiah was called to preach to a people that would be never hearing or understanding. Many of the prophets were unsuccessful as far as numbers were concerned. We cannot forget that our job is to plant the seeds, and in the end individuals have to choose by their own free will to accept it or reject it. Effectiveness is not measured on number.