Sermon Central
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Dirty Jobs
Contributed by Ryan Akers on Aug 14, 2007 (message contributor)
Summary: There are many people who work hard so that you and i can have the luxuries that we do. We never see these people but without them we would suffer. The same can be said in the church. Many of us don’t realize that if we don’t use our gifts for God even if
Dirty Jobs
Pastor Ryan Akers
Have you ever wondered how things were made? Have you ever walked up and down the aisle while your shopping and thought, “I wonder how many people this item went through before it ended up in my shopping cart?” We don’t think about things like that. You know we are pretty spoiled in that each week we can go grocery shopping and get the items we need and know the next week we go back those items will magically be right back there.
We can work on a car or on our home and when we need something we just head to the closest Auto Zone or Home Depot and pick up what we need. Its an awesome convenience that we have. To get whatever we want whenever we want it. But we don’t think about how it got to us.
Idea, engineers, testers, quality control, packaging, shipping, warehouse operations, marketing, truck drivers, stockers, on and on. The idea passes through hundreds before it reaches us. But without those people behind the scenes we wouldn’t have the items at hand like we do.
Hundreds of people who you and I will never know who work in specialized areas are making a product for you and I, who they have never met, to enjoy. They don’t ask for recognition or celebrity status. They do it because its their job. At the same time we don’t care how its made as long as its there on the shelf when we want it. The only time we get upset is when the item we want is out of stock then we start blaming the behind the scenes people. Store, truckers, manufacturer. “Why are they lazy?” “Why are they shipping them quicker?”
Dirty Jobs- (Video I made working on a pig farm to give a real life example of someone who works hard that we never see so we can have a luxury like bacon- you can view my video at www.youtube.com Just type in the search box "dirty jobs-pigs" its 5:55 long.
What I did was just a small part of what goes into the process of giving us bacon, pork chops, and other good things to eat. We don’t think about the Charlie’s who work full time jobs, have families and yet give extra time so we can enjoy a luxury.
The work placed is filled with millions of people like Charlie. People who are gifted to do what they do so we can enjoy what we have. Everyone of them specialize in an area that they are passionate about. When they take the areas they are passionate and gifted in and combine them with others then you form a team that works together for an amazing product.
God had this same thought in mind for us as the church. We are to function as one body moving in concert. Each person is gifted and talented alone but together they create a body that is an unstoppable force in doing God’s ministry.
God- Church in Corinth is going through major issues. Division, arguments, lawsuits and immorality. There was great confusion about marriage, the Lord’s Supper, giving and spiritual gifts. This letter written by Paul was designed to address all these issues. Paul is making a plea for the church at Corinth and for us today to learn to use our uniqueness to work in harmony for God’s Kingdom not against each other.
12– one body has members forming different functions the members of the church need to perform different functions. When one part of the body hurts then the whole body will hurt. (If you have a sprained ankle you move slower- it doesn’t matter that the rest of you is okay. If one part hurts the whole body suffers.)
13- Holy Spirit puts us into the body of Christ. Holy Spirit gives us our spiritual gifts (different from natural abilities which we are born with). We are to function in that body and to use that gift. We may be the big toe with unseen but important ministry but we are all to function. And because we have different gifts we will respond differently.
Pot Luck Example- suppose someone dropped a plate full of dessert on the floor in the Family Life Center. This is how people with different gifts would respond.
• Gift of prophecy “That’s what happens when you’re not careful.”
• Gift of service “Oh, let me help you clean it up.”
• Gift of teaching “The reason that it fell was because it was too heavy on one side.”
• Gift of exhortation “Next time, maybe you should let someone else carry it.”
• Gift of giving “Here, you can have my dessert.”
• Gift of mercy “Don’t feel too bad. It could have happened to anyone.”
