How Have You Sacrificed Lately?
Now, I still crave to draw near to the heart of God and His will…
but sacrificing my time, security, comfort, and routine generates a greater grapple
of the heart.
Our soldiers know better than anyone the likeness of
Christ. We may define Christianity as love. That feels good, but we often fail to
recognize the accompanying disclaimer: love in action requires
sacrifice.
Hopefully, our soldiers influence you not to just reflect and appreciate this weekend, but
inspire you to claim how God may be asking you to sacrifice.
Occasionally, as youth leader, I write articles for our church newsletter, and
this month, “coincidentally,” the idea of sacrifice in my newsletter article parallels
my reflections this Memorial Day weekend.
.....
Answering the call
to sacrificial love
When I first attended a small group here, I clearly remember
a study on the book of James. I remember
it so clearly because we never focused on much as Lutherans – and it oozed with
practical points. How had I missed this
gem?
Luther probably de-emphasized James due to the times he was
living in – one wrought with unethical church leaders touting works as the road
to heaven. Today, we know confidently
that our good works cannot save us, but admit that genuine relationship with
Jesus moves us to care for those He loves deeply.
Like our children and youth.
Consider Ephesians 2:10, “For we are God’s handiwork, created
in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Do we grasp what it means if we deny the call to good
works?
It basically means that we mess up
God’s plans… and we have no idea the ramifications.
When three of us from Zion attended the Orange Conference
last month, Andy Stanley’s message was a highlight. He challenged us with the question “What
breaks your heart?” in the context of the story of Nehemiah. Andy framed the idea this
way:
“You have no idea what or who hangs
in the balance of your decision to embrace the burden God has put in your
heart.”
Like Pastor referenced in his
recent sermon, what if Mother Teresa had decided to stay in Albania
and just pray for the poor?
What’s the burden God has put in your heart?
Have you asked him?
Why aren’t you
doing anything about it?
What can you do
about it?
What happens if
you don’t do anything about it?
If there’s anything I’ve learned in my Christian walk over
the last year or so, it’s that being a Christian requires sacrifice. These sacrifices are often not rewarded on
this earth; but, how beautiful when we do see the reward in the life of a child
or youth.
How do I know Christianity requires sacrifice?
Our ultimate role model: “For even
the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as
a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45.
Andy Stanley also asked us “What is
the next generation worth to you?” If we
reflect on that question, that should help us consider how much we are willing
to sacrifice.
I’m calling us to some real soul-searching. Burnt out?
Let’s cut back, but engage those issues that are most important. What are our priorities? Or maybe a better question: what is Jesus’
priority for you?
I don’t intend to guilt trip you; I just see needs being
unmet, and you’ll be fulfilled by meeting them.
I know there are seasons of life when we are better equipped
to serve than others. So if you can’t
completely solve what’s breaking your heart, what can you do to make progress
towards it? If you can’t serve
the children and youth, how can you serve their parents? (I have information for periodic Married
People’s ministry activities. Supporting
marriages supports children.)
You know foster children break my heart, but we just don’t
seem to be in a season of life to make hosting them completely feasible. So, we sought some God-inspired creativity,
and are sacrificing for these children by hosting a Farm Camp for them this
summer.
If you can’t do it all, what can you do? Be realistic, but be relentless. Make sure the type of serving you’re doing is
the type of serving God would have you do.
Serving Youth
(Some ideas for
serving Youth… you could skip ahead to the last couple of paragraphs if your call to sacrifice is in
another area)
For a long time, the Youth have needed you. An effective ministry cannot be done with one
person for a variety of reasons.
Different students
will connect with different personality types.
Your friend’s favorite teacher in school was probably different than
yours, and there’s good reason for that.
Moreover, as one
veteran youth leader would often say, “Even Jesus only had twelve
disciples.” If we want to see growth, we
have to have more “disciplers.” A pastor
and children or youth leader can only directly disciple to a few effectively. We need you.
We each possess a
variety of gifts, but we have ALL been called to discipleship. Your job is to chat with God and figure out how
you can do that. Pray. Ask him to give you a name, an action, a
vision.
The Youth need regular, caring influences on Sunday
nights. You don’t have to volunteer for
every Sunday night (or you could), but take a series of three or four weeks or
a rotation. Perhaps, you’ll volunteer to
do games each week so someone else only has to worry about the lesson. Bring snacks and chat for the first fifteen
minutes of Youth Group.
Do they need the snacks? No. Do
they need to see their church is invested in their ministry? Yes.
Plus, I need the feedback of folks
invested in the ministry. The more of
you familiar with our Youth Ministry, the more God-inspired vision can
influence the ministry for the better.
A member proposed that each Adult Sunday School class host
one or two activities for the Youth during the year. What passion could you share with the
Youth? Invite them fishing, swimming, to
work at the food bank, teach them to cook something and take a meal to the
foster home or snacks to our shut-ins.
Our skeet shot/frog gig was quite popular last year. Investing in them piques their interest. Just let them live life beside you once in a
while.
Please pray for our Youth ministry, and all of the
discipleship happening in our church. I
know you love them. I know you support them. I know how incredibly difficult it is to find
more time to give, especially if you’re working full time, have sick family
members, or any of the many other curve balls life throws our way.
But like the poor widow in Mark 12, find something to give. Close to the end of Andy Stanley’s message,
he asked, again, those thought-provoking questions:
What would you like people to line
up at the end of your life and thank you for?
What breaks your
heart?
Who or what hangs
in the balance if you refuse?
What is the next
generation worth to you?
…..
How have you sacrificed for another lately?
Inspirations in this
writing taken from Andy Stanley, the Orange Conference, Relevant Magazine, and
God-Almighty. J
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