Scripture: Jeremiah 18:1-6; 2 Corinthians 4:16-18; Romans 12:1-2; John 3:16-17
Introduction
- If you don’t believe me, take a walk downstairs God is definitely into recycling.
- Sure, we store and organize and sell all these items that we have for our yard sale.
- But where do you think all that stuff we have downstairs came from?!?! God
- In an article titled God Loves to Recycle, Christina Stolaas writes:
The rate at which humanity wastes and disregards limited resources has grown tremendously in recent decades. In our hurried lives we crave disposable items as we move through life “on the go” day to day at an increased pace. Passionate voices behind the recycle and reuse movements have presented catchy campaigns, hard data, and persuasive reasons for us to reuse, recycle, and repurpose. Amidst a culture and society so focused on reusing tangible resources, we must not miss the brilliance in the fact that the Giver and Creator of all resources, has demonstrated a model of recycling from the beginning of time.
- Yard sales and all that go with them are not my favorite things.
- In fact, you could say they make me uncomfortable.
- But lots of things that God has asked me to do have made me uncomfortable.
- And a lot about our yard sales have made some of you uncomfortable from time to time.
- But the overwhelming feeling of satisfaction and fulfillment that I see in you folks who work on these yard sales convinces me that this is something God wants to do here.
- The yard sales are not about making money, though; they are about recycling.
- And it’s not just about recycling these “treasures” downstairs; God is recycling us.
- Let’s look at three ways that God us recycling us:
- God is shaping us
- God is strengthening us
- God is encouraging us
1. God is shaping us
- Christina Stolaas goes on to write in her article:
Truly, God is in the recycling business. All throughout the Bible we see God repurpose and reuse lives who have unbelievable amounts of garbage in them. Noah was a drunk, David an adulterer, Jonah ran from God in rebellion, Paul a murderer, the list goes on and on through our Bible genealogy of hero’s of the faith. Our faith in Jesus offers us so much more then forgiveness of sins and eternity in heaven. God’s offer to every believer is new life here on earth, an exchange of the trash of your past for a repurposed future.
- God is continuously reshaping us to conform to the image of us that He has planned.
- We have been created in God’s image and that image is perfect.
- As we move through life, the world is also reshaping us to conform to its image.
- We are all like classic cars that have suffered the damage of years out in the world.
- We are full of dents; our paint has faded; sometimes the engine doesn’t start.
- Yeah, the world will wear us down, but God, is a body and fender man.
- I love to watch a bunch of different YouTube channels by people who save cars.
- You might say that I am just a little obsessed with it. Right Leslie?
- There’s Turnin’ Rust and Restored, two channels by a Christian father/son duo in Texas.
- I just saw them dig an old car out of the woods that actually had a tree growing in it.
- Then there’s Vice Grip Garage run by an entertaining feller near Nashville, TN.
- He will travel to a car that’s been sitting and hasn’t run in maybe 20 years.
- After tinkering with the car, he will get it running and drive it as much as 700-800 miles home.
- Then there’s the young family from east Tennessee that has the Sleeperdude
- They also reclaim abandoned and lost old cars amidst their menagerie of goats, pigs, cows, chickens, dogs, cats, and three young children who aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty and dig into whatever needs to be done.
- We are also being reclaimed. We are like raw clay in the hands of the potter.
- The question is: “who is the potter?” Is it God? Or is it the world?
- The world has been shaping me for 65 years.
- God has been patiently waiting to shape me for 65 years.
- Thing is, He won’t interfere. If we choose the world, He’ll back off and wait His time.
- As we are about to sing in a few minutes:
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Thou art the potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after Thy will,
While I am waiting, yielded and still.
- It’s up to us to not just sing this song but put it in our hearts.
- The world is relentless, so we have to make a choice.
- From Jeremiah 18:1-6:
Then the word of the LORD came to me. He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the LORD. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel.
2. God is strengthening us
- Paul told the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 4: verse 16:
Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
- If we will just let Him, God will work on us every day trying to rebuild and restore us.
- We are like those old rusty cars sitting out in the field – we just need work.
- Again from Christina Stolaas in her article:
Each and every one of us has baggage. We’ve hurt others. Others have hurt us. We’ve lived selfishly. We’ve been angry, hateful, jealous, bitter, prideful, lustful, and impatient. We’ve all done things we are ashamed of, and it’s easy to cringe at the thought of the garbage that is unique to our “life trashcan” being pulled out to be recycled. The enemy of our souls so easily tricks Christians into living in such a viscous shame cycle that we beg Jesus to just take our trash away!
“Dispose of it quietly…” we plead.
- God has brought people to us who have given up the baggage of excess things.
- We will then sell those things to make money that we are using to renovate our church.
- But in giving their things to us, God is connecting people with our ministry,
- Slowly but surely, He is planting a seed and strengthening the bond we have with people.
- Furthermore, He is strengthening the bond we have with our family and friends who work to make the yard sales successful.
- We tend to think of our troubles as being huge sometimes like we can’t handle it.
- But Paul tells us not to worry because our troubles are nothing compared to eternity:
For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
- God is aware that we need help and strength to get through the work he is doing with us.
- He is busily working on building us up – kind of like our workers preparing downstairs.
- And as I’m sure many of you would agree, it takes a lot of time and patience and hard work getting ready for yard sales.
- There is a lot of work going on behind the scenes that God is doing for us. Paul says:
So, we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
3. God is encouraging us
- Christina Stolaas goes on to point out:
God has a purpose and a redemptive plan, even in our screwups. I believe that one of the ways this purpose plays out most practically in our lives is when we cooperate with the way God desires to recycle our regrets, mistakes and suffering.
- So, we can either work with God or resist Him, but either way, God’s not giving up on us
- God knew that we would need help and that the world could get us down.
- God gave us the ultimate encouragement by sacrificing his Son for us.
- He gave His Son so that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
- He didn’t send his Son into the world to judge us or hold us accountable.
- He sent Him to save everyone in the world from the world.
- Last week we talked about the right way to bring people to us through properly worshipping God and letting Him attract the people.
- Paul told the Romans how to properly worship in Romans 12:1:
In view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
- Really then, it comes down to obedience as we have discussed many times.
- It’s about rejecting the will of the world in favor of seeking God’s will for us. In verse 2:
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
- God is in the Recycling Business – the business of recycling the lives of His creation.
- Christina Stolaas concludes with this:
We must cooperate in allowing Him to take our trash, expose it, break it down, remanufacture and repurpose it however He sees fit. We must be receptive and responsive to the still and quiet voice that leads us in this process. I truly believe God desires to waste nothing in our lives. Every experience, hardship and trial can be used to refine us, encourage others and give Him glory.
Friends, everyday you are given a choice. You can choose to wastefully trash your life experiences, or, you can be intentional about inviting God to recycle your trash and bring forth treasure.