Blessing in personal sacrifice for the Lord

Isaiah 65:8,9. How many blessings do we throw away just because of inconvenience? How many more peanut butter sandwiches could we have gotten out of that jar? How many more hot dogs could we have covered with that almost empty ketchup bottle? How many more times could we have washed our hands with that little sliver of soap? How many more times could we have brushed our teeth by squeezing that almost empty tube? We don’t want to become misers, but we need to understand the importance of stewardship and the blessings that can flow from our faith especially when we think something is all used up. We think the blessing is having the money to buy more. But when we’re down to our last, there’s a blessing in it if we turn it over to God. This is true because we’re not depending on our ability to get more. We’re relying on our faith in God and faith activates blessings.

Everybody throws things away at different times. I throw watermelon away when it starts to taste more like water than it does melon. But I had a friend that would eat watermelon until his teeth were green. He still saw a blessing in it. Likewise, after the wine has been squeezed out of the cluster of grapes I may be ready to throw it away, but you might say, “Wait, we can get some more out of that. There’s a blessing still in it!”

 

Isaiah 65:8 is a message of encouragement because God is not through with us. Maybe we feel depressed thinking the best years of our lives are already gone. Maybe we think we’ve squeezed everything we could out of a situation and now we feel spent and useless. Aren’t you glad God doesn’t dispose of us when we think we’re done? Sometimes the pain we feel is God squeezing us because he knows there’s more inside of us. God says, “You’re my child and I still see a blessing in you. I can still do something with your life.” Saint’s, if you’re willing to keep trying, God is too. But He’s not going to force you. Nobody throws the toothpaste tube away until they first buy a new one. We just keep on squeezing and working it. Have you ever thrown the tube away, forgot to go to the store, and the next morning you’re digging through the trash looking for that old empty tube?

 

Sometimes that’s how it is spiritually. We’ll say, “I’m not squeezing that tube any more!” But if we don’t get a new tube, we just stop brushing. Now, if we stop brushing our teeth somebody is going to let us know. But if we stop brushing spiritually, stop reading our Bibles, stop praying, stop trusting God, stop giving, and stop going to church who really is going to know or care? But then we get life decay and our life becomes full of cavities. Then life becomes a series of never-ending painful root canals. God doesn’t want that for us. He’s telling us no matter how bad it seems, no matter how little we think we have left in ourselves, keep squeezing, don’t throw your life away because there’s a blessing in it if we have faith to believe.

 

In verse 9, notice that even when all the juice is gone God talks about bringing forth a seed. Your seed may be your children. Or it may be an idea or something else that you’ve started that someone else will finish. Either way, God is telling us that He can use us no matter how small, insignificant, or depleted we think we are. This is why giving up on yourself is not good because in reality it’s not just about you. You may never have major accomplishments, but God could be using you to plant major seeds that will greatly impact the kingdom.

 

The blessing is in being a good steward, walking by faith, and not wasting or despising what we have. Whether it’s food, money, time, or whatever, God blesses us with more when we’re good stewards over what we have. God is calling on us to work our blessings. But getting the most out of any blessing, squeezing it for all it’s worth, is often hard work. It’s so much easier to spend money than it is to plan to use it properly. But when we change that mentality one day we’ll have more money than we do needs.

 

I Kings 17:9-16. God tells Elijah that He has commanded a widow to take care of him. Despite God’s command the woman says I only have a little bit left and it’s only enough for me and my son. When we’re down to our last, obeying God becomes very hard because we become afraid. Elijah tells her in verse 13, however, fear not. Elijah then tells her to make him a little cake first and then fix one for her and her son. This sounds very selfish doesn’t it? What about women and children first? But then Elijah explains to her that there’s a blessing in it for her if she does things God’s way. On the surface, God’s way often looks like less for us, but we need to understand and believe that when we squeeze that there’s a blessing in it.

                                

We often look at God and the church as if they’re just another bill collector with their hand out. However, all God is trying to do is show us how to make a long-term investment. He’s trying to teach us that when we’re willing to make adjustments and honor God first, even when things are tight there’s a blessing in it that will be greater than what you had.

                              

The key to this message is when you’re down to your last whether it be spiritually, physically, emotionally, mentally or financially, if you want to get through, that’s not the time to listen to your flesh or your emotions. That’s the time to make a change from how you’ve been doing things and listen to what God is telling you to do. God says, “OK, you’re a Christian, but from the first day you got saved you’ve been doing things your way. Now that you’re scraping the bottom of the barrel, would you please try to do things my way? Trust me, there’s a blessing in it!”

 

In verse 15 this woman had to decide to either preserve herself and her son or preserve the kingdom of God? She soon found out that by choosing to preserve the kingdom she was preserving herself. This woman was down to her last meal but after she obeyed, the scripture says that there was plenty of food in her house for many days. The simple lesson that we can learn from this story is if all we think about is ourselves we will run out. It doesn’t matter what it is, friends, money, happiness, if we only think about self we will run out and be miserable. Whether your barrel is full or empty, the blessing is in how you take from the barrel for someone other than yourself.

John 2:1-10. Jesus was at a wedding and they ran out of wine. The message here is two-fold. When you run out or are about to run out, call on Jesus. But when you call on Jesus please understand that He may ask you to do something that doesn’t make sense to you. When He calls, don’t hesitate to do whatever He tells you to do. The servants could have said, “Look Jesus, the Governor is out of wine. He wants more wine. So why are we filling these pots with water?” But there was a blessing in their obedience. They trusted God to provide and He did. What miracle are you waiting for God to perform in your life? What he may be asking of you might not make sense, but there’s a blessing in your obedience.

 

The governor had no idea just how profound his words were in verse 10. What we learn from his comments is that when God blesses you, what comes on the latter end is often better than what you had in the first place. It’s a shame that sometimes we have to come to the end of ourselves, sometimes things have to hit rock bottom before we really understand that God has something better for us and if we just obey Him, there’s a blessing in it

 

Mark 12:41-44. This poor woman was financially scraping the bottom of the barrel, but she gave. She was trusting God for her provision. Sometimes we can be intimidated by how much we’re giving in church in comparison to others. God is not counting the amount, He’s counting the faith. God is  impressed with our faith and obedience when we tithe and God is impressed by our faith and sacrifice when we give our last $2. But once again, why are we talking about giving God our last when the Bible instructs us to bless God with our first fruits? When we first get paid we should give God our first and our best and not our leftovers. And when things are tight and we sacrifice for the kingdom no matter how little it may seem to us, Jesus sees it, acknowledges it, and honors it. When we give by faith of our first fruits, there’s a blessing in our obedience. When we give by faith out of our lack and our last, there’s a blessing in our sacrifice.

                              

The more we think about our financial situation, the harder it is to do what is right before God. We know tithing is the right thing to do and it is so much easier when we do it without thinking about it. We all seem to run out of money. But when we don’t give the first fruit we’ll find that we get down to our last fruit a whole lot quicker. When we’re down to our last we say, yes there’s a blessing in it and it’s all for me. We don’t mean to disrespect God, but if we don’t give Him that first bite, before we know it, we’re down to the last bite and it’s hard to give that up. This woman gave all that she had. She may have given God the first bite, but she knew that there was also a blessing in giving God that last bite.

 

Genesis 18:23-33. Abraham kept on squeezing and squeezing. And God didn’t seem to be annoyed because Abraham was squeezing for a good cause. He was not squeezing for himself. He saw a blessing in others even though they were living in a city filled with sin. Abraham was trying to get everybody saved that he could. How often when we ask God for something are we trying to squeeze something for someone else’s benefit? Or are we always trying to squeeze God for something for ourselves? There’s a blessing in it when we learn to be concerned with the welfare of others. Abraham thought God would get mad at him, but he didn’t understand that it’s God’s will that none should perish. God understood that there were some good people left in Sodom and if Abraham wasn’t ready to give up then God wasn’t either.

 

It would be so easy to view this message solely from an economic standpoint, but God is more interested in you than your money. God is after your heart and if your heart is in the right place your money will follow. God is most interested in the gift and the potential that He has placed inside of you. He wants to see it squeezed out of you so that you reach your greatest potential. He doesn’t want to see you throw the rest of your life away. But you have to have faith to believe that there is still a blessing inside of you. There’s still something of value inside of you that the world has not yet seen.

 

Sometimes all we see is ruin and destruction. We give up on our hopes, our dreams, and on people. God however, is not ready to quit. God’s philosophy is that as long as there is breath, there is hope. God needs some people that are not quitters; people that will squeeze for others and squeeze for the kingdom; people who, despite how terrible a situation may be, will always find the positive in it; people who are willing to trust him when the barrel is full as well as when the barrel is almost empty. God is looking for people who are ready to obey, give of themselves, and sacrifice for the good of the kingdom. God is looking for people who understand and walk in proper stewardship whether it be in small things or large things. His message to all who would hear and obey us, a blessing is in it. AMEN.