How To Change The World
Genesis 24:1-9 Matthew 5:38-48 Test Genesis 24:9-20
We are continuing our series, “Moving Things To The Next Level”. We have looked at “How to Kill a Church”, “How to Heal The Church”, “Look At How To Build A Church” and today we are going to look at how to change the world. You see our lives are to be focused ultimately not inward to the church but outwardly toward the world. You see God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Jesus will not perish but have everlasting life. Our goal as a church has to end with reaching people for Jesus Christ in this world.
So how do we go about changing the world. It begins with us recognizing that we are significant in this world. We are significant not because of our education, our money, our background or our family, but because God has chosen to use us. What makes us valuable to God is our uniqueness. Now if you had a mint model T Ford back in 1935, it would not have been worth a whole lot because there were a lot of mint model T 1935 fords in 1935. But if you had that same car today, it would be worth a lot of money, because very few of them exist. The fewer there are of certain coins, certain paintings by certain artists, or certain pieces of jewelry, the more valuable they are. Why? Because there are not going to be any more of them made.
Not only are you unique, there has never been anyone else like you and there will not be one to follow. But that alone will not make you change the world. The decision of how you choose to use your uniqueness in your talents, in your relationships, and in your actions is going to make all the difference in the world. You can be the kind of person that does just enough to get by, and in the process miss all kinds of opportunities, or you can decide to give your best wherever you are, and have all kind of opportunities fall into your pathway.
Nobody knows when a simple decision is a decision that will change the world. How many of you know not giving your best has caused you to lose out on some things in life. You kept your world from becoming what it could have been. We are ready to grow in Christ, when we make up our minds to change this world by becoming and “and then some kind of a believer.” An a then some person is a person who does what’s asked of him or her, and then does something above that on their own. You ask the person to vacumn the living room, she does it, and then straightens the furniture on her own. You ask the person to change your oil, he does it but on his own he checks your transmission fluid level, your antifreeze level, and your tire pressure on his own. That’s an above and beyond and a then some kind of person.
In our New Testament reading, Jesus is telling us, do not settle just being an average kind of a person. Change this world for me, by shocking others by being an “and then some kind of a believer.” When was the last time you amazed someone by going above and beyond what was expected. God gives us the opportunity more often than we think God does.
We find a woman in the Scriptures who was willing to do what was asked and then some and in doing so, found the greatest of blessings for her life. The story is found in Genesis 24. We saw in our Scripture reading that Abraham wanted to get a wife for his son. Abraham was the first Jew called out by God, and God had promised to make him a great nation. Abraham waited a long time to have a son. He sent his servant to go and find a wife for his son Isaac from the land Abraham had come from.
Now the servant did not know he was on a mission to change the world. He could have taken a short cut, grabbed a young lady and said how would you like to go marry a good looking rich man. He could have paid her to say that she was from his people and nobody would have known the difference. But if he had of, he would have been changing the world, because there would not have been a Jacob and Esau. There would not have been the 12 tribes of Israel. There would not have been a David and a Jesus in his lineage. God was using this man to change the world and he didn’t even know it. Some of the most significant changes you have in this world, you won’t know they’re taking place
Genesis 24:10 Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and left, taking with him all kinds of good things from his master. He set out for Aram Naharaim and made his way to the town of Nahor. He had the camels kneel down near the well outside the town; it was toward evening, the time the women go out to draw water.
Then he prayed, "O LORD, God of my master Abraham, give me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water.
May it be that when I say to a girl, ’Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,’ and she says, ’Drink, and I’ll water your camels too’--let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master."
Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, who was the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor. The girl was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had ever lain with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar and came up again. The servant hurried to meet her and said, "Please give me a little water from your jar." "Drink, my lord," she said, and quickly lowered the jar to her hands and gave him a drink. After she had given him a drink, she said, "I’ll draw water for your camels too, until they have finished drinking." So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, ran back to the well to draw more water, and drew enough for all his camels.
Let’s look again at verse 19, it says After she had given him a drink, she said, "I’ll draw water for your camels too, until they have finished drinking." The first thing I want you to notice about Rebekah is that she was willing to go above and beyond what was expected. She was an “ and then some kind of a person”. She was going to change people’s world for the better.
You may say, big deal, I would have given the man a drink and gave his camels some water. But you see for you, it would be a matter of simply turning on a faucet. She had to get her water out of a well. Understand that a camel will drink between 20 and 30 gallons of water each. Eliezer had started out with 10 camels.
If she was going to fill up his camels, we’re talking anywhere from and hour and a half to 2 hours to fill up these animals.
This lady has committed herself for almost two hours to a perfect stranger who did far more than he had asked of her. Now at best, some of us might have said hello to the man. A few of us might have offered him a drink of water. Even fewer of us would have told him he could borrow our bucket to get some water for his camels if he wanted to, but I’m afraid to say how many of us would have committed ourselves in this fashion. It is usually not our goal to do the most of what we can, and get nothing for it. We have been trained to do the least that’s expected of us, and get the maximum benefit possible. And still think we are changing the world.
Too many people want as much of heaven as possible while giving as little to the church as they can get away with and keep their name on the rolls. In other words they want a maximum return for a minimum effort. How many of you know that you can’t write a check for the maximum amount if all you do is put in minimal deposit.
Rebekkah thought all she was doing was volunteering to help a stranger out. She was actually changing the world by putting herself into God’s plan for her life. We may be begging God for a job, and God says first show me you’ll volunteer to work for me for nothing. Then see what I will do.
Rebekkah’s volunteering is going to lead to her becoming a very prosperous young woman in many ways. This one act is going to lead to more wealth than she could have imagined. Suppose she had said, “Excuse me, I know you didn’t ask me to do what I think you asked me to do.” If she had of had that attitude, then we would not be sitting in church today.
When Jesus talked about going the second mile, the people knew exactly what he meant. At the time he said walk the second mile, the Jews were under Roman authority. They didn’t have jeeps to ride around in back then, and sometimes the Roman soldiers gear would get heavy. They could force any person to carry it for a mile. You see under Roman authority, the Jewish person had to walk the first mile and carry that load. There was no arguing and fussing or whining about it.
That’s just the way life was. You were under their authority and they owned you for a mile. It did not matter that already had plans for the day. They’ve been yelling at you to keep up, and calling you all kind of names while you’re walking with this load.
So imagine there you are carrying this load for this person you are simply thanking God for the opportunity to serve. Now you know that once you get to the end of the mile, the person could not make you go a second mile. You would drop down his bags, and say Solider, my mile is up and I’ll be leaving now. As a joke he might say, aw come on don’t you want to go another mile. Jesus was teaching, shock the daylights out of him and offer to go the second mile and mean it.
You see for the first mile, he owned you and you had no other choice but to do what was asked. But in the second mile, you own yourself and you’re in control of how you’re going to let Jesus shine in you. Jesus is saying the difference between the Christian and the non Christian is that the Christian goes above and beyond in walking the second mile, and does the little extra that causes the person that is over them to say, "Wait a minute. They don’t have to do this. They don’t need to do this, Why are they doing this?" When you do what’s asked, “and then some”, it’s the “and then some” that catches the person’s attention. It’s a way of changing the world.
Living the Spirit filled life does not mean you’re out their walking on Lake Erie, or that you’re like the song, in right, up right, out right down right happy all the time. The Spirit filled life gives ordinary people power to do extraordinary things. It provides ordinary people with power to do ordinary things in an extraordinary way. Rebekkah received power to do some extraordinary hard work.
She said,’"I’ll draw water for your camels too, until they have finished drinking." God’s spirit will help you to do things just a little bit better and a little bit longer. Did you know that about 80 percent of being successful is just showing up faithfully every time you’re supposed to show up.
How should the And then Some principle work in our lives.
1. The first thing is that we are not to live our lives by the measuring rod. If we are living a life that is always measuring, we’re missing what God told us to do. Let me see he gave me a gift, I’ll give him one. They forgot my birthday, I’ll forget theirs. She didn’t help me when I was down and out, I’m not going to help her. If you do exactly what you’re supposed to do and nothing more, you have not demonstrated that Jesus is in you. If Jesus had of only done what He should have done, he would have never made it to the cross. A Christian is called to do more that is expected of him or her.
2. The second thing is, we cannot walk the second mile, until we’ve walked the first. So many people want to do great things for God, without ever getting around to doing little things for God. Humble yourself to just talk to the person who is lost and show some interest in the person before you hit them with the gospel and get them speaking in tongues. Love the people around you on your job, before asking God to move you to another job. Treat the other youth who are being laughed at and made fun of at school with respect and show them you care about them. Be bold enough to sit with them sometimes at lunch. If you do, you will change the world. Don’t just go through the grocery store line. Speak to the clerk. In six months you can give her a church business card, and she’ll know why you have been so pleasant all these months.
3. Extra blessings come from extra effort. When you and I put in the extra effort, we receive extra blessings. In a marriage relationship, if every husband and every wife were willing to walk the second mile or do what’s expected and then some, they can have a loving relationship.
A good marriage is one when the spouse does what he or she is supposed to and then some. A good student is a person who does what the requirements are in the class and then some. A good member is one who does what he or she is supposed to and then some. A good parent or child is one who does what he or she is supposed to and then some. Each time they do, they are changing the world.
What’s a good Christian? It’s not the one with the big cross, or the nice button, or the one playing the Christian station. It’s the one that does what he or she is suppose to do and then some.
Rebekkah had no idea, the simple statement, "I’ll draw water for your camels too, until they have finished drinking", would change her life forever. She didn’t know it would lead to a husband who was a man of faith and wealthy besides. She didn’t know she was going to be one of the great, great, great grandmothers of Jesus Christ.
Do you remember Jesus said that at the judgment he would say to some of the saints, Thank you for clothing me, thank you for feeding me, and thank you for giving me food. But the saints will respond, when did we ever do such things for you. We never saw you.
Jesus will reply whenever you did it for the least of these, you did it for me. When we do things above and beyond, that’s when we’re doing things for Jesus Christ. We do what needs to be done with a right motive, not to get something back. When you stand before Jesus Christ, are you going to be glad knowing that you were an and then some kind of person in life. God will show you all the ways in which your desire to give your best changed this world and impacted people’s lives.
Don’t despise the little jobs that you have you to do. Every evening, Rebekah went down to the well and did the very same thing; drew the water out of the well and took it back to her family. What a boring, menial task. But don’t despise it. God may have something coming your way down there.
Don’t wait for the big moments in life to decide you will go above and beyond and become an and then some kind of a person. I meet people all the time, who if they ever won a million dollars they’d give it all or half to the church. My friends if you’re not a tither now, there is no way you’re going to become an and then some giver simply because you got a lot of money all at once. The reality is we learned from the parables, the more money we have, the harder it becomes to give it away or to give it to the work of the Lord.
Some of us have spent a lifetime working and never could tithe. We told ourselves we could not afford to give God a dollar out out of $10 even though God made us to be in the top 15% of the wealthiest people in the world. We live at lifestyles 80% of the world would consider dream living. Now that we’ve retired we’re saying we can’t tithe now because we are on a fixed income. My friends I’m telling you when you know God and are tithing, God is the one who fixes your income, not the Social Security office. You don’t know where God might send you some money from. To tithe is always a choice to live at a certain level to be a blessing to the kingdom of God.
When the camels finished drinking, Eliezer the servant, took out a gold nose ring, and two gold bracelets of the highest quality to give to Rebekah. Later that day he gives her more gold, silver jewelry, and clothing. He gave expensive gifts to her mother and to her brother. Now if must of us, if we had seen what she was going to get before hand, we would have also offered to pour the water for the camels. But we don’t always see in advance what God has for us at the close of the day.
When God opens the door for you to make a difference, go ahead and make the difference.
You can finish reading this chapter and see what a difference Rebekah’s willingness to do above and beyond made in her life. She wouldn’t have thought of finding a husband at that old well in a thousand years, but she did. Those of you who are praying for a mate, God knows how to answer your prayer. Be faithful where you are so that you don’t miss out when God sends a servant looking for you.
Today we share in communion. Communion reminds us that Jesus was an “and then some”kind of a person. He gave above what was required of him in laying down his life for us, and he went beyond reasoning in loving us, because the bible says, while we were still sinners he died for us. Jesus didn’t wait for us to get our act together to start to love us. No he loved us so that He could put our act together in the way it was needed. God is looking for people who are willing to go Above and Beyond for Him. If you’re willing to become an Above and Beyond person this morning I ask that you raise your hand that I might pray for you
How To Change The World Outline
Genesis 24:1-9 Matthew 5:38-48 Test Genesis 24:9-20
We are continuing our series, “Moving Things To The Next Level”. We have looked at “How to Kill a Church”, “How to Heal The Church”, “Look At How To Build A Church” and today we are going to look at how to change the world. You see our lives are to be focused ultimately not inward to the church but outwardly toward the world. You see God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Jesus will not perish but have everlasting life. Our goal as a church has to end with reaching people for Jesus Christ in this world.
We Are Significant
Not Because Of Money, Education, Family
God Chooses To Use Us
1935 Model T Ford
Paintings, Coins, Artists
There Will Be No More Made
We Are Unique
Nobody Else Like Us
How We Choose To Use Our Uniqueness
Just Enough to Get By
Giving It My Best Shot
We Don’t Know Which Decision Changes The World
Becoming An And Then Some Person
Vacummer--Dusts
Oil Changer—Transmission Fluid & Tire Pressure
Jesus Challenges Us To Change The World
Through Shock Treatment
Abraham Sends His Servant For A Wife Gen 24
Servant-Mission To Change The World
Servant Short Cut—No Esau/Jacob, No 12 Tribes, No Jesus
Genesis 24:10 Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and left, taking with him all kinds of good things from his master. He set out for Aram Naharaim and made his way to the town of Nahor. He had the camels kneel down near the well outside the town; it was toward evening, the time the women go out to draw water.
Then he prayed, "O LORD, God of my master Abraham, give me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water.
May it be that when I say to a girl, ’Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,’ and she says, ’Drink, and I’ll water your camels too’--let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master."
Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, who was the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor. The girl was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had ever lain with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar and came up again. The servant hurried to meet her and said, "Please give me a little water from your jar." "Drink, my lord," she said, and quickly lowered the jar to her hands and gave him a drink. After she had given him a drink, she said, "I’ll draw water for your camels too, until they have finished drinking." So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, ran back to the well to draw more water, and drew enough for all his camels.
Verse 19 After she had given Him a drink, I’ll water your camels too
Rebekkah Willing To Go Beyond What’s Expected
Camels Work 20 To 30 Gallons—Eleazer 10 Camels
1 Hour To 2 Hour to Do The Work
A Few Might Have Offered A Drink, Offered Our Bucket
Trained to the least and get the Maximum
Church—Give Just Enough To Keep Your Name On The Roll
Minimum in, but want Maximum out
Rebekkah Thought She Was Helping A Stranger
Putting Herself In God’s Plan
We May Be Begging For A Job—God Says Volunteer First
Her Volunteering Led to Wealth & Husband & Church
Jesus Talking About The Second Mile
Roman Soldiers Forced You To Go One Mile
Heavy Load—The Law Was The Law
Shock Them With The Offer To Go The Second Mile
First Mile you Had No Choice
Second Mile You Changed The Word
Living Spirit Filled Life
Walk Lake Erie—Inright, Upright, Downright Happy All The Time
Ordinary People Doing Extraordinary Things
God Gives Strength For Ordinary To Become Extraordinary
Rebekkah received power to do extraordinary hard worl
“I’ll water your camels too,
God helps you to do better a little longer
Success is 80% Showing Up
First Don’t Live By Measuring Rod
You gave me a gift I give you one
You didn’t help me
You forgot my birthday
If Jesus Had Of Done Only What He Should Have
The Second Thing Is Can’t Walk Second Mile Till You Do The First
Don’t Try Great Things For God, Without Doing Little Things For God
Humble Yourself To Listen, Before Hitting With Gospel
Love Those At The Job You Are At
Treat Youth That Are Rejected
Speak To The Clerk—Six Months Give A Business Card
Third Extra Blessing Come From Extra Effort
A Good Marriage Does Above & Beyond
A Good Student
A Good Parent, Good Child
You’re Changing The World
Good Christian---Not The Big Cross
The One Going Above & Beyond
Rebekkah Had No Idea The Impact Of Her Statement
Didn’t Know It Would Lead To Husband, To Wealth To More
Jesus Had Said Thank You For
Clothing, Feeding, Giving Food
Jesus When You Did The Least Of These
You’re Changing The World
Don’t Despise Little Things
Rebekkah Job Was Menial, Boring
Don’t Wait For Big Moments To Decide
People Who Will Give When They Hit Big
Our Reluctance To Tithe
15% of the Top, Better Than 80%
When The Camels Finished Drinking Eliezer Brought Out The Gift
Gold Jewlery To Rebekah, Her Family
If We Had Seen In Advance
God Says Make A Difference First
Rebekah Never Knew What Was In The Well
You Don’t Know What’s Around You
Today We Share Communion
Jesus Gave More Than He Should
Above & Beyond
Loved Us In Advance
