Tell a story of when you did help someone in need.
[Romans 12:9-11] Don’t just pretend that you love others. Really love them.
(What do people answer when asked, “How are you doing?” When we ask the question do we really care?) Hate what is wrong. Stand on the side of the good. {10} Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. (Do we really do this?) {11} Never be lazy in your work, (Are we lazy?) but serve the Lord enthusiastically.
Karl Menninger was one of the most famous psychiatrists in the 1930’s. He worked for almost 70 years. He wrote several books and received several honors. I believe he was a devout Christian.
Years ago, Dr. Karl Menninger of the Menninger Clinic was asked, "If someone felt a nervous breakdown coming on, what would you suggest that he do?"
"If you feel a nervous breakdown coming on, I would urge you to find somebody else with a problem -- a serious one -- and get involved with that individual, helping him solve his problem." In helping him to solve his problem, then in reality your own problem is going to disappear. You’re no longer thinking internally. You’re no longer letting things gnaw at your stomach. You’re no longer getting disturbed about yourself because you’re not thinking about yourself. You’re thinking about others. I don’t know what your objective in life might be, but this is something each one of us can do.
I’ve seen this too. If you are tied down with problems, stop looking internally, look externally, and help someone in need!
“To feel sorry for the needy is not the mark of a Christian--to help them is.”
[Galatians 5:13-15] For you, dear friends, have been called to live in freedom--not freedom to satisfy your sinful nature, but freedom to serve one another in love. {14} For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." ([Matthew 22:36-40] The great Commandment. We’ve all heard this before, but have we really applied it?) {15} But if instead of showing love among yourselves you are always biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another. (We often say that we are loving when in fact we are biting and devouring one another.)
Do not wait for extraordinary circumstances to do good actions; try to use ordinary situations. ~Johann Paul Friedrich Richter (1763-1825)
Have you ever raced someone to the checkout line. It’s like playing shopping cart "Chicken!"
“It’s amazing how selfish we can be at times!”
VIDEO: “Extreme Days.”
I used the scene where they are fighting over the campsite and used it to illustrate how selfish we can be thinking of ourselves as better than others. It is a really funny clip, it is done like a cheesy Martial Arts film.
[1 Timothy 6:18-19] Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and should give generously to those in need, always being ready to share with others whatever God has given them. {19} By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of real life.
Do you want REAL LIFE? Do you want a treasure that will last forever?
This is why we have small groups.
How would our world be different if we really loved others as much as we love ourselves?
[1 Corinthians 10:24] Don’t think only of your own good. Think of other Christians and what is best for them.
I don’t know whether I’m allowed to quote Buddha, but I guess I will. He once said that if one person conquers in battle a thousand times a thousand and another conquers himself, he who conquers himself is the greatest of all conquerors.
Love is balanced by self-control. Because love is self-giving, and self-giving and self-control are complementary, the one to the other. How can we give ourselves in love until we’ve learned to control ourselves? Our self has to be mastered before it can be offered in the service of others.
Jesus loved others. He wasn’t afraid to touch them.
[Luke 5:12-13] In one of the villages, Jesus met a man with an advanced case of leprosy. When the man saw Jesus, he fell to the ground, face down in the dust, begging to be healed. "Lord," he said, "if you want to, you can make me well again." {13} Jesus reached out and touched the man. "I want to," he said. "Be healed!" And instantly the leprosy disappeared.
Other religious leaders wouldn’t touch him because it would make them ceremonially unclean. Jesus didn’t care!
[Luke 4:40-41] As the sun went down that evening, people throughout the village brought sick family members to Jesus. No matter what their diseases were, the touch of his hand healed every one. {41} Some were possessed by demons; and the demons came out at his command, shouting, "You are the Son of God." But because they knew he was the Messiah, he stopped them and told them to be silent.
Don’t forget the woman with the hemorrhage that touched Him and He healed her, the blind men He touched and gave sight, Peter’s mother-in-law He touched and healed her fever, the man that got his ear cut off, several crippled people, and countless others He healed and He touched them.
I think that the reason we sometimes don’t go out of our way to care for others is that we are selfish.
[Philippians 2:3-4] Don’t be selfish; don’t live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself. {4} Don’t think only about your own affairs, but be interested in others, too, and what they are doing.
Tell a story of when you didn’t help someone in need.
We need to be willing to make sacrifices to touch people.
[2 Corinthians 8:1-5] Now I want to tell you, dear friends, what God in his kindness has done for the churches in Macedonia. {2} Though they have been going through much trouble and hard times, their wonderful joy and deep poverty have overflowed in rich generosity. {3} For I can testify that they gave not only what they could afford but far more. And they did it of their own free will. {4} They begged us again and again for the gracious privilege of sharing in the gift for the Christians in Jerusalem. {5} Best of all, they went beyond our highest hopes, for their first action was to dedicate themselves to the Lord and to us for whatever directions God might give them.
First they dedicated themselves to Christ and to the apostles, and then they sacrificed and helped however they could, even though they were in poverty!
Winston Churchill said, "We make a living by what we get. We make a LIFE by what we GIVE." What have you given away to a friend lately?
[Hebrews 13:16] Don’t forget to do good and to share what you have with those in need, for such sacrifices are very pleasing to God.
My piece of bread only belongs to me when I know that everyone else has a share and that no one starves while I eat. ~Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910)
Baylor University is a fine institution in Beaumont, Texas. The Christian who gave the money for building that school later lost all his property. Men of the world asked him, "Don’t you wish you had the money back that you put into that school?" He replied, "Not at all. It is all that I have saved. If I had kept that money, I would have lost it too. I am thankful that I gave that building when I did."
Often the things that we give are the only things that last.
What are you willing to give up to help someone else?
VIDEO: “Schindler’s List.”
The scene near the end where Schindler sees the people that he has helped, but wished that he did more. He looks at his car and wishes that he sold it to free 10 more people. He takes a pin off his shirt and wishes that he used it to save 1 more.
This man gave his fortunes to help others…did he regret it? No he wished he could have given more!
What can you give up to help others? TV. Money. Time. Sleep. When we do things do we think about what is best for others or for ourselves?
Sacrifice shows up not only in the big obvious things, but in the little things.
Some blessings of generosity?
[Psalms 112:5-9] All goes well for those who are generous, who lend freely and conduct their business fairly. {6} Such people will not be overcome by evil circumstances. Those who are righteous will be long remembered. {7} They do not fear bad news; they confidently trust the LORD to care for them. {8} They are confident and fearless and can face their foes triumphantly. {9} They give generously to those in need. Their good deeds will never be forgotten. They will have influence and honor.
Are you stingy? Stingy is really selfishness.
[Proverbs 11:24-25] It is possible to give freely and become more wealthy, but those who are stingy will lose everything. {25} The generous prosper and are satisfied; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.
In this world it is not what we take up but what we give up that makes us rich.
~Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887)
We try to foster the idea that everybody should be willing to do everybody else’s job. We actually require that our officers spend one day every quarter out in the field filling someone else’s position.
-- Herb Kelleher, President and CEO, Southwest Airlines
The Story of the Sheep & The Goats. Hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, sick, and prison.
[1 John 3:16-19] We know what real love is because Christ gave up his life for us. And so we also ought to give up our lives for our Christian friends. {17} But if one of you has enough money to live well, and sees a brother or sister in need and refuses to help--how can God’s love be in that person? {18} Dear children, let us stop just saying we love each other; let us really show it by our actions. {19} It is by our actions that we know we are living in the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before the Lord,
Frightened by the clamor of thunder in the night, a little child cried out. Holding her securely in his arms, her father explained that she needn’t fear. God would take care of her because He loved her greatly.
"I know God will take care of me and love me," she replied. "But right now, Daddy, I want someone with skin on to love me."
We are to be God’s love, with skin on!
[Matthew 25:40] And the King will tell them, ’I assure you, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’
The reason we are here is to reach people. That’s why we have ministries. Ministries to reach the world with the Gospel.
This world is dying for someone to reach out an care. Someone to help point the way to Jesus, the one that would touch the untouchable…and make them new.
