You Were Created to Be God's Tool

Created to be God’s Tool

Inspired by Rick Warren's "Purpose Driven Life"

What’s My Mission?
We’ve talked a lot about what God created you to be, and all of our talk has been preparing us for action. We were created to be God’s joy, His family and His Likeness, but all of that fails to put us on task. We are called by God to join Him in his mission. We are called to act and accept an important assignment. When I was a kid, I used to watch mission impossible all the time. It was one of my very favorite shows. I used to love all the gadgets, but I also used to love the very first part of the show, because that was when Mr. Phelps would get his assignment on a small tape that would self destruct after the assignment was described. The tape always started the same way. “Mr. Phelps, your mission, should you choose to accept it….” And then the assignment was described. I love that part because it seemed to imply that there was a choice here. The assignment was in some way optional.

In many ways, our Christian life is very similar. God is holding out our assignment and he has clearly defined it in scripture. Yet the choice is ours. Do we join the adventure or simply watch from the sidelines? And what exactly is the mission? What are we called to do? What is our assignment? We are called to SERVE GOD! And how do we do that? We’ll talk about that today, but first let’s see what He tells us in scripture.

You Were Created to Serve God
First we’ve got to realize that we were created for service! We were given inherent tools to be used to serve our Lord and it is the very reason why we were created. My grandfather was a carpenter and he built his own sawhorses. They were simply functional tools that had absolutely no purpose except to prop up some project he was working on. And when they were too broken down to serve him, he would simply break them into firewood. Well, God is so much kinder toward us than that, but we too were created for service!

Jeremiah 1:5
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you;

Before your mom even thought about having you, God designed you for what? For a special WORK!!!! She might even have considered you to be an accident, but God had already designed you to serve!

You Were Saved to Serve God
But not only was the original plan for you to serve God, but he actually set you apart for salvation so that you could do this work. My grandfather had several kinds of saws, and many of them were simply trash saws that he would use to accomplish quick disposable jobs. If the saw broke, it was really no big deal! But he had one special saw for over 50 years. It was set apart, true and straight and strong. He saved this saw to cut the projects that were really important to him. You were set apart by God for a very similar reason.

2 Timothy 1:9
God, who has saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity

We have been saved and set aside for a special purpose, we are his prized tool. His favorite tool, his precious tool.

You Are Called to Serve God
Beyond that, God is calling you to serve him. Haven’t you felt that tug on your heart? Haven’t you wanted to experience God in a deeper way? Well that desire comes from God. It is his voice calling you to something more. Sometimes we think that missionaries and nuns and mother Teresa are the only ones who are called by God to serve. We have to realize that God calls ALL of us to this kind of service.

Romans 7:4
Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit for God.

You are part of the “body of Christ” we call the “Church”! Recently my back has been giving me a ton of problems, and it wasn’t long before my leg also started to hurt because I was favoring one side over the other! One injury and weakness leads to another! All of us are part of this body and when some of us aren’t working, it isn’t long before other things are broken as well. We all need to serve and do our part if our family here is going to be healthy. That’s why we design in opportunities for all of you to serve.

You Are Commanded to Serve God
God knows that we sometimes need a kick in the butt. Sometimes, even though we may understand that service is a necessary part of the Christian life, we still may not act and serve as we should! So he has taken the time to DEMAND it!

Matthew 20:26-28
"It is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

Most of the time when we think of service in our culture, we are really thinking of SERVE US! We are surrounded by people who serve us almost invisibly. Waiters and Waitresses, Postal workers, Garbage collectors, the server at Starbucks. Let’s face it, we are usually the person being served. Think about it for a minute. Today you will be served by any number of people in our community. How many will YOU serve? Especially if you are not working today. There is a very good chance you will go through the entire day without serving AT ALL!

Remember that we are not to confuse God’s Desire for us to serve, with his desire for us to be saved. Remember that we can do NOTHING to save ourselves or earn our way to heaven. That is VERY clear in God’s Word. We can do NOTHING to earn our way INTO heaven, but Scripture does say that we will be rewarded based on what we do here on this planet. Your life will be very different once you step out and realize that you are called to serve and live a life of significance

I really don’t believe there will be gates in heaven, but if there were, God would certainly be standing there with two important questions for you, because these two questions are critically important. First, he is going to want to know what you did with his son. Did you accept him as Lord and Savior. That is the question that determines your salvation. Next he is going to ask you who you brought with you into the kingdom. That question could really be re-phrased. He is going to want to know what you did with the gifts and talents he gave you. Did you use them to grow the Kingdom? This question has nothing to do with your salvation, but it has everything to do with your reward!

So What Is My Assignment?
Understand that you are here for a reason, and nothing else you do will ever satisfy you. You were created and saved and called and commanded to join God in His Mission here on earth. You are here to serve those around you so that they can come to know God. All service should point back to God. We are called to serve so that we can be an example to the world, a light, and so that they lost will someday see and know God for themselves. So if all of us are called to be engaged in the work of God, even if we are not professional fulltime pastors and missionaries, how are we supposed to do that? What are we capable of? What abilities do we have that can be used by God?

Well it all starts by looking at your own life carefully and beginning to examine the things that light your fire, the things you are interested in, the things you are passionate about. Then we can do our best to see how God has already equipped us to serve him.

SHAPE
God will use our passion to help direct us toward the work of building his kingdom, but it is only a small part of what he has already given us to serve Him! A simple way to look at your own life and understand what you have to offer is to remember the simple word, “shape’! Each letter represents something that God has already given you to use in building the Kingdom and serving Him.

piritual Gifts
First, recognize the fact that God has given you specific gifts which are particularly designed for ministry and to bless the church and help grow the kingdom. These are called Spiritual Gifts, and all of us have been given something. Look at what Paul says about Spiritual Gifts:

Ephesians 4:7
But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift.

1 Corinthians 12:11
But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.

1 Corinthians 12:7
But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

So what are we talking about here? Well, Paul says that these gifts include, “the message of wisdom”, the “message of knowledge”, “faith”, the “gift of healing”, “miraculous powers”, “prophecy”, the ability to “distinguish between spirits”, “speaking in different kinds of tongues”, and “the interpretation of tongues”. But it’s safe to say that anything that has a specific role in blessing the church or building the Kingdom is a spiritual gift. The ability to lead worship, for example.

eart
But in addition to Spiritual Gifts, God also gives us something else that helps us to serve him. He calls it “heart”. Look at what God says about heart:

Proverbs 27:19
As in water face reflects face, So the heart of man reflects man.

So what is ‘heart’? it is what you are interested in, what motivates you, what gets you up in the morning, what makes you excited and energized, and it’s different for everyone. It is as individual and specific as you own fingerprint or eyescan or voiceprint. It belongs to you and may not be shared by anyone else in quite the same way. We’ve already talked about this a bit, because ‘heart’ is all about passion! And God gave you the gift of passion, not so you can chase love or sex, but so that you could direct it toward your relationship with HIM! Throughout Scripture, god is calling us to give Him our heart

Romans 1:9 / Ephesians 6:6
“Serve the Lord with all your heart”

bilities
But if you still wondering what God has given you to serve Him, just take a look at some of your natural abilities. These we not given to you by NATURE, they were given to you by God! Look at what He says:

Romans 12:6
And since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let each exercise them accordingly

1 Corinthians 10:31
Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Sometimes we take some of our inherent God given ability for granted and we can’t seem to figure out how we can use it for God. Well last weekend when we were in Mexico, we met a missionary who told us that he would like to have us come back and play a soccer tournament with the local community as an outreach to those who have never heard the Gospel! Even your athletic ability has been given to you to be used in ministry to reach a lost world and grow the Kingdom of God!

ersonality
Beyond our abilities, God has also shaped us with a specific personality and he will use our peculiarities, our weaknesses and our strengths to serve Him as well! Look at what He says about this:

1 Corinthians 12:6
And there are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons.

God uses all of us, in spite of our differences! He used the prophet Jeremiah, and he was a very melancholy kind of guy! He used Peter, and he was an impetuous, impulsive kind of guy! He used Paul, and he was an analytical, logical theologian! He even used Thomas, who was a doubter and a tester! No matter who you are, and what you may think of your personality, God has given it to you to help you find the perfect role in serving Him and growing the Kingdom!

xperiences
Finally, let’s add the last piece to this puzzle as we try to understand what God has already given us to help us serve Him. In addition to the Spiritual Gifts, and Heart and Abilities and Personality, God has given us experiences! God has given us the journey of life to help prepare us for service! I can certainly see that in my own life. So many experiences were given to me in Law Enforcement that really made no sense at all until I realized that God gave them to me so that I could help someone else later on down the road. Even the worst of time have been given to us so that we can serve others. Look at what He says in Scripture:

2 Corinthians 1:4
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort; 4 who comforts us in all our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

All of these things have been given to us by God. Our Spiritual Gifts, Our Heart, our Abilities, our Personalities and our Experiences! They were given to us so that even when we are out and about in our everyday lives, we can touch a lost world for Jesus Christ. You know, you don’t have to go on a ministry event to be involved in ministry. It can happen every day, even when you are at school or work. God simply wants us to use all that we are to serve Him and join Him on His Mission to serve and reach a lost world for Jesus Christ!

God wants you to know that every experience, ability and personal characteristic was given to you to share the love of God

Help Me Get Started
We know that the Christian walk is a process. First you start by changing your heart and your life, then you reach out to friends and bring them to Jesus as well, and finally you reach out to a lost world and share the joy of the Gospel. You begin by changing who you are, and end up changing the world for Jesus Christ!