Monday, May 28, 2018

May 28, 2018 - Get The Bat Off Your Shoulder!


Contemplative Memorial Day! Seems a bit strange to wish a Happy day when we are commemorating those that have lost their lives to purchase our freedom… on any of the Armed Forces days we celebrate and recognize those that serve… realizing that “all gave some…”; yet today is the day to remember that “some gave all!”



I’m gonna try to quickly share from a message I preached yesterday as we dissected the word “serve.”

The root of the word goes back to the idea of being a slave. It denotes one that places others as more important than self… and in the case of our fallen heroes, to place an ideal as more important than self.



Without going through the entire message, I brought out the fact that in the church we tend to gauge our service by our smartphone calendars… or by paycheck percentages. We typically view our “service” as being whatever is formally announced in the bulletin and our giving by if we met our 10% goal. We feel good about our programs and faithfulness to the offering plate… yet when we are faced in our daily lives with people in need we tend to take an “I gave at the office” mentality. We live in a culture where we typically view church as something we go to instead of something we go do…



I believe the Scriptures call us to more than the typical… believe they call believers to an “all-in” mentality. Here are some of the Scriptures I used to remind us of what/who we are called to be:



Matthew 20:26Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. 27 And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave— 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”



Deuteronomy 15: 10 You shall surely give to him, and your heart should not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing the Lord your God will bless you in all your works and in all to which you put your hand. 11 For the poor will never cease from the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and your needy, in your land.’



I almost hate to use my typical sports references as they pale in comparison to the memory of our fallen heroes. But in the sports world, I believe it always important to get the bat off one’s shoulder. I remember as a little kid being taught to make sure I was swinging at anything close… to never strike out looking! I want us to be taking our swings… here are a few quotes:



“Well done is better than well said!” Ben Franklin



“But denunciatory rhetoric is so much easier and cheaper than good works and proves a popular temptation. Yet is it far better to light the candle than to curse the darkness.William Lonsdale Watkinson 1907



“When I am gone let it be said, ‘He died in church service, not in a church service!’” Todd ‘Coach B’ Burden



Let’s get the bat off our shoulders and Go MAD (Make A Difference)!!!




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