Sunday Notes – The Measure You Have – June 12, 2022

Reachcommunity - June 12, 2022

Announcements:

Men’s Night
Next weekend Refreshing Weekend with Anna Donahue

Introduction:

Having ears to hear.

Mark 4:23-25 (ESV) 23 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” 24 And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear:

Pay attention to what you hear.

Let us not be forgetful hearers.

Ela… we are often times better talkers than we are listeners.
More concerned with getting our thoughts and opinions out there than hearing what people or the Lord is saying to us.
Hearing happens when sound waves are compressed and rarefaction in the air, then enters your outer ear, then your ear drum, vibrating three bones and finally being interpreted by your brain. Jesus is not abut that!
Ears to hear… meaning the interpretation of your brain are then being heard and received by your heart that then creates convictions and standards for living.

The Measure You Have

Romans 12:1-3 (ESV) 1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. 3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

It all begins with the measure of faith God has given for salvation and assigned for your life.

The measure of faith for salvation I view it as a sort of equal amount of faith given to each person to be able to call out and believe in Jesus.

The measure of faith for the God assignment in your life I view more as a moving measurement scale depending on how it is used.

According to how you use the measure given it will be measured back to you.

There are three areas that this phrase is directly used:

Jesus applied it to our hearing.

Mark 4:23-25 (ESV) 23 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” 24 And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you.

Also, to our giving.

Luke 6:38 (ESV) 38 give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

But it also applies to areas of Judgment.

Matthew 7:1-2 (ESV) 1 “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.

According to the measure you use it.

How you hear, how you give, how you judge others will all be measured back to us with the same measure we dished it out.

The Parable of the Ten Minas (talents)

This parable demonstrates what happens with what the Lord has given if not used.

Luke 19:20-22 (ESV) 20 Then another came, saying, ‘Lord, here is your mina, which I kept laid away in a handkerchief; 21 for I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man. You take what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.’ 22 He said to him, I will condemn you with your own words, you wicked servant! You knew that I was a severe man, taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow?

Luke 19:23-26 (ESV) 23 Why then did you not put my money in the bank, and at my coming I might have collected it with interest?’ 24 And he said to those who stood by, ‘Take the mina from him, and give it to the one who has the ten minas.’ 25 And they said to him, ‘Lord, he has ten minas!’ 26 ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

Wait Lord, doesn’t the others already have enough.

Being faithful with what the Lord has given you…

Luke 16:10 “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.

It always starts with little.

Zechariah 4:10 For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice, and shall see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel.

Despise not the day of starting and/or restarting.

Ela… Zerubbabel was used by the Lord to rebuild the House of God after the Babylonians destroyed it. The only probable was that he did not have the same resources or circumstances that Solomon had when the 1st Temple was built. So he could have said we cannot make this like the first one so let’s not do it at all. Or let’s us take what we have available to us and let’s build for the glory of God.

Ezra 3:12 But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy,

Zerubbabel used the measure he had.

Then more will be given.

Mark 4: 25 For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

No one has a problem with the *gives* part…

But the *takes away* is something that we can struggle with.

Job’s famous statement:

Job 1:21-22 (NET) 21 He said, “Naked I came from my motherʼs womb, and naked I will return there. The LORD gives, and the LORD takes away. May the name of the LORD be blessed!” 22 In all this Job did not sin, nor did he charge God with moral impropriety.

The Lord gives and the Lord takes away.

So what is the key.

Having Everything While Possessing Nothing

Ela… Abraham and Isaac.

Genesis 22:1-2 (NKJV) 1 Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

Now Abraham was a wealthy man.

Gen. 13:2 Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold.

But nothing was a valuable as the precious promised son.

Abraham viewed all that he had as being from the Lord.
“I only wanted to remove him from the temple of your heart so that I might reign there unchallenged.” Tozer

Abraham was both an example of having all the blessings of the Lord in his life while still being willing to turn over that which was most precious to him.

Willing to turn over the precious things in life to the Lord.

After the Issac experience the words my mine likely never had the same meaning to Abraham.

Possessing the blessings of the Lord in our life without the blessings of the Lord possessing us.

You can have as much as the Lord gives but it is to be used to provide, care, for generosity,

Everything we commit to the Lord is safe.

Nothing is really safe unless we commit it to the Lord.

Using the measure you have been given with open hands.

Not allowing the things of this world grab a hold of our hearts.

Positioning ourselves and our lives to withstand any storm that comes our way.

Bigger is not always better.

Luke 12:16-21 (ESV) 16 And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ 20 But God said to him, Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

Build build build said the rich man.

Ela… one of the effects that covid has had on our society is the realization of the over building that has happened over the years.…. Many offices building being sold, large church facilities closing down,

We have to reinterpret the season of plenty in our life.

Conclusion: Our gifts and talents should be turned over to the Lord in our heart for His use.

Luke 9:23-24 (ESV) 23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

One by one we are all brought to the testing place and may in that moment not even know we are there.

The cost of discipleship.