Guidance Through Gifts

This is a sermon preview for the fourth week of our Standing on the Promises series. 

Visit FBCM’s Church Center Channel to view video live stream (live) or audio version of sermon (published week after).

“I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to protect us from enemies on the road, because we had told the king, ‘The gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looks to him, but his great anger is against all who forsake him.’ So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer.” 

-excerpt from Ezra 8:21-31

During Messy Camp this week, Pastor Jonathan, Brady, and I have been acting out an opening skit that helps bring the big idea each day to life. In the skit, my character, Max, makes a HUGE mess in her dad’s man cave. She is so very sorry for making the mess, and she tries really hard to clean the paint off of the walls and the carpet. But to no avail! The paint absolutely will not come off!

Max doesn’t want to ask her dad for help. She made the mess. She wants to clean it. And she told her dad that she didn’t need his help. It would be embarrassing to go back and ask her dad for help cleaning her big mess now!

In your own life, I wonder how many times you’ve struggled because you felt too embarrassed to ask for help?   

Thankfully, Max eventually comes to her senses! She asks for help, and her dad is eager to help. The mess gets clean. The man cave is restored!

Likewise, Israel finds themselves in a predicament again. The Persian King gave the Israelites additional riches to continue their rebuilding efforts. The King was sending so much gold and silver and other fine metals as an offering to God at the new temple. 

The problem: How were the riches going to make it from Persia to the new temple in Jerusalem?

Thieves were always waiting to pounce on travelers. They would violently take from the unsuspecting and the unprotected.

Knowing this, Ezra surprisingly turned down extra soldiers from Persia! And he’s not about to go back and ask for those soldiers now. How embarrassing!

Instead of trusting in the protection of the Persian Kingdom, the Israelites turned towards God. And God answered their prayer.

One of the “Four Ws” of the church is work. The work of the church happens when we act merciful towards another person, especially someone who is undeserving of our kindness or can never repay us for it. God shows us so much mercy on a daily basis, just like he mercifully protected Ezra and the caravan of riches on the way to Jerusalem. How can we not show that mercy to others? 

We can show mercy to others in many ways, and one of the most common ways is how we share our gifts and talents with the world. As my band professor used to say before our concerts, “All gifts are returned to the Gift Giver tonight.” Spiritual leaders of all kinds are important instruments God uses for his will in this important work of the church. The way Ezra convenes, coordinates, collaborates, and consecrates shows us something about our life together as a church and using our gifts for the glory of God. None of us are working on our own. We are working together for the purposes of God to show others his mercy.

As we reflect on the last year, let's be reminded of how we are each given gifts for service that helps us give thanks for what God has led us through and to lead us forward to where God still has for us to go. But let us also open our hearts to how God may be challenging us to use these gifts in a new way, along an unknown path that might even seem a little dangerous. 

Reflection Questions

1. Is it hard or easy for you to ask for help from a friend? From the church? From God?

2. How has God shown you mercy recently?

3. What gifts have you been given for the work of the church / to show others mercy?