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Your Labor Is Not In Vain
(Never Useless)
Have any of you been watching America’s Got Talent this summer? (slide) If you
have, then you are familiar with 14-year-old Benjamin Yonattan from Michigan who is
legally blind and has been inspiring audiences with his dancing abilities. Perhaps you
have seen him dance before with the Young People’s Ballet Theater located in Flint,
Michigan, or in Grand Rapids with the Grand Rapids Ballet Junior Company. In January
of 2013, Benjamin was diagnosed at the University of Michigan hospital with Retinal
Dystrophy, which means genetically over time he will lose his vision completely. (slide)
Benjamin has lost all of his side vision and now has a 4-degree field of view, similar to
you and I looking through a straw. Which makes you wonder how in the world he can
dance if he can’t see the entire stage. A dancer relies on their sight to spot their
location, partners, distances, heights, etc. And for a season of time, Benjamin lost his
ability to leap or spin because he could not spot-see when dancing. So, working with
dance coaches from the University of Michigan and Western Michigan University, he
had to learn to feel his body instead of rely on his sight. You’ll notice in the images on
the screen Benjamin is wearing Google Glass, which helps him to visualize some of his
surroundings as shapes. Listen (slide) to Benjamin’s message of courage to anyone
who has felt like giving up before because of the obstacles they faced: “Don’t let
anyone tell you that you’re different, that you can’t do what you want to do. You can.
Follow your dreams, no matter what.” How do you like that for a motto for life from a 14year-old who is legally blind and sees life through a 4-degree field of view? Pretty good
don’t you think?
Or here’s a challenge that perhaps you and I can relate to a little more than
retinal dystrophy. Sometimes in life (slide), I think all of us feel like the dieter who has
lost 2000 pounds. We've lost the same 20lbs, 100 times over and over, yo-yoing up
and down and we feel like giving up. Our toil, our work, our labor seems to be in vain;
accompanied with great discouragement. And the idea of trying one more time seems
absolutely ridiculous when common sense tells us to accept defeat and throw in the
towel of surrender. Ever felt like that before? (slide blank)
Well, if discouragement and failure have ever knocked on your door, especially in
the arena of Christian service. I want you to sit up and pay attention. Because God's
Word for today may be exactly what you need to hear. I am hoping to convince you, at
least as far as your work unto the Lord - your labor, your service, is not in vain, because
to God it counts a great deal!
Hear what the Apostle Paul had to say to the Christian believers in Corinth as he
was trying to encourage them it will be worth it all one day, so never give up.
1 Corinthians 15:58
Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of
the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. (NRSV)
(slide) He struck out 1330 times, a record in futility unapproached by any other
player in the history of baseball. But that isn't what we remember about Babe Ruth.
We recall his 714 home runs.
(slide) At Fort Necessity during the French and Indian War, a young American
officer surrendered to the enemy. But George Washington is never thought of as the
man who surrendered to the French.
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(slide) One of the failingest men who ever lived was always trying experiments
which were unsuccessful. Yet we never think of Thomas Edison as a failure.
During his hundreds of experiments trying to find a light filament which would
prove practical, one of Edison's assistants became very discouraged and said, "We
have been working a long time and haven't discovered anything yet!" But Edison
responded, "Oh yes we have. We have discovered what won't work!" (slide blank)
Edison was one of those individuals who learned early on that life is not always a
festival like Home Town Days or a generous portion of chicken at a men’s barbecue in
September. Nor is success in life as the world measures success always a guarantee
is it? Yet those who have gained wisdom from their failures like Edison have
discovered that failure can be a guidepost which leads to success. If you want to
succeed in life, you had better make lots of room for failure. For the people who
succeed are the ones willing to run the risk of failure. The battle cry of success
becomes determination, with often perspiration more than inspiration getting the job
done.
Take a baseball player for instance. We admire someone who has a batting
average of .300 or more. Yet that means, 70% of the time, the batter never gets a hit.
Now how would you like to have an employee who can only give you results 30% of the
time and on top of that, you give them a big salary? Do you think they would be with
your company for long? Absolutely not. (Unless of course their job is predicting the
weather in Michigan which we know always changes.)
But does that stop a baseball player from trying? No! Even knowing in advance,
the odds and percentages are stacked against them, they are determined anyway to
swing, and to keep on swinging until they make contact.
Sometimes I think we feel the odds and percentages are stacked against us
when it comes to doing the work of the Lord. We put our hearts into some program, or
we accomplish a difficult task, or we try to get others motivated to get involved in some
event at church. And then we look at the small return and we get discouraged. But
don't lost heart, it isn't always that way. Sometimes victory pops up when you least
expect it.
I remember in late February of 1987, the Bishop moved us from a church in
Saginaw to Utica to fill a much needed role. We had a baby six weeks old, plus two
other little boys. We arrived during the wet, cold and gray season of Lent, and hit the
ground running. With all of our busyness, unpacking, and transition to a new area, we
really didn't know anyone that closely at the church.
So when the fall came around, Lisa and I were determined we were going to do
something socially with the church members. So we initiated the idea of a road
rally/scavenger hunt and fifty people attended. This in turn inspired a Christmas
progressive dinner with Christmas caroling at St. Joseph Hospital. And as we walked
the many floors and corridors singing to the patients just a few days before Christmas, it
was not surprising to see scores of people tearing up, with most of them being our 50+
carolers who were shaking hands with the patients and their families. Well, this simple
idea inspired more ideas, which eventually brought us around full circle to a second
road rally.
All of this was initiated and put into motion by a single idea. We didn't know if the
idea would work, but we were willing to take the risk. Our philosophy was then and still
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is now - we would rather try and fail, than fail to try. Because if we fail to try, we'll never
know what might be.
What is the point in all of this? Some things we try will work beautifully - others
will flop miserably. That’s life isn’t it? But we must not give up or stop trying! If failure
happens to land on our doorstep today, then we will regroup and rest for tomorrow.
Because with the hope of new tomorrow we can begin again.
A point we must consider is Paul's encouragement to the church at Corinth. Paul
tells them to continue to work diligently at the Lord's work. Be steadfast like a rock, like
a tree firmly planted with roots way down deep. Be stubborn like mule and don't move.
Be persistent at what you're trying. Finish well. Press on. (slide) It's like being a
postage stamp. It secures success through its ability to stick to one thing till it gets
there.
Be like that. Why? Because [1] it is our calling from God as Christian servants,
and [2] because there is a reward down the road. (slide blank) Unfortunately for us
today, we can't see the reward to motivate us can we? We are so use to immediate
gratification that is concrete, hands on, visible to our eyes and perceptive to our touch,
that it is difficult for us to continue on for something we can't hold or reach out and touch
like heaven. We’re familiar with tangibles - not intangibles.
We're use to people going to work, making parts, filling quotas, and the reward is
a paycheck every two weeks. When GM, Chrysler, or Ford employees complete their
day at the assembly plant, they see a finished product. When farmers work the fields
they see the crops growing steadily. When you paint your house or varnish an antique
end table, you see progress immediately stroke by brush stroke. When you persuade
your teenager to mow the lawn during the hot summer, you see progression row-by-row
as you sit on the front porch sipping lemonade.
(slide) But what about a tulip bulb? You plant a bulb in the fall, and you believe
months later in the spring a shoot will grow out. You must wait before you see any
tangible proof of life coming out of the ground.
Or, how about a fruit tree? It may take five years of nurturing before you finally
see fruit grow and you begin to reap the rewards of your efforts. And that's not
guaranteed.
I remember one year buying my parents two blueberry bushes because they
loved gardening and they loved the reward of eating things they grew. Well of the two
bushes we planted, one bit the dust and the second grew a total of 12 berries. Wasn’t a
very big pie that year.
What about when we preach or teach, when we get involved with Christian
education and Vacation Bible School and afterschool activities? Are we having a
measurable impact? Do we see change? Do we see growth? Are we making a
difference? I sure hope so! But it's not as tangible or as clearly evident like screwing a
nut onto a bolt. (slide blank)
I remember I was at a Board meeting one time at Bay Shore Camp and a young
man came up to me and told me I was his dean years ago at camp that had changed
his life and he wanted to thank me. He had become a Board member himself and met
his wife at camp. Well, how do you think that made me feel? Pretty encouraged don’t
you think? But what if he had never told me, or what if I had never met him serving on
the same board, would I know how God had impacted his life years earlier? No. At
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least not on this side of heaven. I think most of the time in life we don’t get the luxury of
knowing how we impacted others, if we made a difference or not in their lives.
But I want to encourage you to press on no matter what, because God as the
master designer and engineer knows how all our efforts will fall into place and produce
the desired result that God wants. God can see how the puzzle is coming together as
the pieces intertwine.
You see the work we do for the kingdom of heaven is beyond the tulip bulb and
the fruit tree and our preaching and teaching. What we do now definitely counts, the
Word of God says so - we just won't know how much until we get to heaven and we see
if Bill and Susan put into practice what we tried to convey.
(slide) So what is our part in 2015? Our part is to do and to respond to the
calling God has given each of us to accomplish and then we trust in the wisdom and
guidance and sovereignty of an Almighty Creator who does all things well at the proper
time.
My work today may seem fruitless to me, but it is not to God. Please hear that.
My efforts are not in vain as far as God is concerned because the Lord can use these
hands of mine to do small things over and over with consistency and dependability.
(slide blank)
Let me ask you - have you ever wished you could do something big for God
which could have a dramatic and dynamic impact upon the world where you live? I
know I have. Lord, let me win that Publisher House Sweepstakes. I’ll do great things
with it! Haven’t we all done that at least once? But here is the $5,000 -$10,000 a week
for life question – “Have you ever known anyone to win anything with Publishers let
alone the big prize?” Nobody right? Well, instead of dreaming about the big prize, I’ve
concluded that perhaps the biggest thing you and I can do, is to be consistent in the
small things we repeatedly do so well. Then as we look back over the long run, we see
how all of these small things we have done have actually become big when compiled;
similar to financial investments where the interest compounds surpassing the principal
invested.
Jesus reminds me that my service to Him is of great value. For even when I
share a simple drink of water with someone else, done in the spirit of love and kindness,
it is like doing it unto the Lord. Or when we buy blankets for $5 for small children
overseas, it is similar to buying a blanket for Jesus. Or walking in a CROP walk to raise
money for the hungry, or donating canned goods to a food pantry or children’s clothing
at a rummage sale. It’s sharing loose change for missions overseas in Estonia, fixing a
fence in Rockford, Illinois, playing an instrument in the band, or singing in the choir to lift
someone's spirits. It’s filling shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child, or serving
coffee and red punch during our fellowship time after church. It’s mowing the neighbor’s
lawn who is widowed, or shoveling someone’s sidewalk, or letting someone go ahead of
you in line, or being a camp counselor at Acorn Buddy Camp, or a zillion other things.
And the Scripture says, each time we serve, we store for ourselves treasures in
heaven which neither moth nor rust can destroy. And though at times I think it might be
fun to be a millionaire on this side of heaven so I could sponsor multiple Christian
organizations, and local charities and missions all around the world, I know because of
my Christian service, I am storing for myself riches which shall last for an eternity, and
that I’ll get a chance to spend it later. So I just keep on doing the consistent small
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things over and over. We have a responsibility as Christian shepherds to show our
flocks, our families, our employees, the wisest investment they can make, which is an
investment in the future kingdom of God.
But I believe the thing which kills and stops us dead in our tracks so many times
is a 14-lettered word (slide) named discouragement, because it dampens our spirits and
causes us to give up before anything has a chance to gel.
Do you ever watch the winter or summer Olympics that alternate every two
years? Well, here’s a few stories you may have never heard before about a few people
who had a reason to be discouraged.
In 1938, Karoly Takacs, a member of Hungary's world-champion pistol shooting
team and sergeant in the army, lost his right hand when a grenade he was holding
exploded. But Karoly did not give up. He learned to shoot
left-handed and won gold medals in the 1948 and 1952 Olympics. At age nine, Walt
Davis was totally paralyzed by polio, but he never gave up and became the Olympic
high jump champion in 1952. Shelly Mann was also paralyzed by polio when she was
five years old, but she
would not give up. She held eight different swimming records for the U.S. and won a
gold medal at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia.
Or maybe you are not aware that Woodrow Wilson could not read until he was
ten years old, but that did not stop him from pursuing his future path that led him to
become the twenty-eighth President of the United States.
(slide blank) And in a similar way we are challenged by the Apostle Paul to not
give in, to not quit no matter how discouraging the circumstances may be. For God
sees your labor and it is not in vain. God will use your availability as you commit your
means and methods unto Him!
So when the fog of discouragement rolls in and tries to block your vision and
cause you to doubt and question the path you’re on, or you are tempted to give up
because you don’t see the point, or you are just tired and you don’t see what difference
you are making, remember three things: (four slides)
1. Your calling from God as a Christian servant. This is something that God
wants you to do until you are released to do something else.
2. Your future reward in heaven from God will be worth all the effort as you will
finally see the outcome of your labors, and you will be blessed with eternal riches that
are better than even the Publisher’s House Sweepstakes. And……..
3. The promise from Scripture your work, your labor, your service is not in vain in
God's eyes. For I believe God can use all of your efforts, great or small, for the good of
the Kingdom of heaven. 1 Corinthians 15:58 –
“Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of
the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”