Selfless - Grateful in the Grind: Week 4 with Pastor Craig Groeschel

[Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] hey it's a great honor to have all of you with us today at every single Life Church across the country all of our open network churches we are so thankful for you and all over the world on the other side of computer screens at Church online you're a part of our family and we absolutely believe that you're not here by accident welcome today we're actually in part for the message series called self less if you weren't here in previous weeks we actually talked week number one about being bold in spirit week number two we talked about being faithful in service last week we talked about being extravagant in generosity and today I want to talk about a phrase that may sound a bit odd to you at first but I think it might actually sink in we're gonna talk about being grateful in the grind grateful in the grind let me introduce this idea to you and I'm guessing that a lot of you may be able to relate on one level or another for so much of my life I've lived under the illusion that there's something around the corner something out there that's coming that really really matters and it matters more than what I'm doing right now there's something around the corner that's going to make the difference it's that thing that I desire it's the event that I'm looking for it's that whatever that's something that's gonna bring meaning and fulfillment and give me that significant moment that I've been looking for snot here it's somewhere out there I'll give you an example of kind of how the story has played out in my life and I can almost guess for sure that many of you have a similar version of your own story let's talk about the category of ministry for me when I was 22 years of age I went to work for First United Methodist Church I was so so so so so excited but I was in full-time ministry and I was in seminary full-time and commuting and dai-hee because it was so hard and in my mind I consistently said when I get out of seminary then real life is going to start then when I got out of seminary I had another when then and my new one was well when I get to start my own church and do things my own way then life is gonna be really amazing then we started Life Church and my next one was when I get a staff member somebody else that could help someone else that cares then it'll be amazing then it was when we get out of this dumpy little building and get into a real building that we can meet in seven days a week then it's gonna be amazing take the category of family when I finally meet the girl that I'm gonna marry then life is going to start but I meet Amy when we finally get married oh dear God thank you Jesus hallelujah thank you Lord then life is going to start well when we have our first baby that's when our family is going to be amazing when our first baby gets out of diapers Finn is gonna be incredible now they're growing up you win they're in college then we get win there Alan of college we'll eat again you know all these different things what wins them and I found myself whatever season I was in wishing the current season away waiting for the next one to come one day just around the corner there'll be that something that achievement that accomplishment that friendship that possession that vacation there'll be that something that fills the emptiness on the inside but around every corner there was just another challenge another goal another vision another dream or another perceived prize I've lived long enough now to kind of look back and to see a real weakness in my own life and what I've noticed is for so much of my life I've been pursuing what I want my dreams my passions my goals and whatever it is that I did there's got to be something else out there that's better than what I have right now and what does culture do culture totally and completely feeds into this mindset right what does every commercial every advertisement everything you see on social media it all just kind of says gratify yourself indulge your yourself get whatever you want you deserve it treat yourself right the problem is Jesus said if you want to follow me you don't treat yourself but he said you deny yourself that's what he said he said if you want to be my disciple you don't indulge yourself you deny yourself then he said you take up your cross a metaphor a picture to say you're actually dying to your own fleshly desires so you can live by my spirit and then he said then you follow me you don't treat yourself jesus said you deny yourself there's a verse that I want to use kind of as an anchor verse for our message today it's from the Apostle Paul and we're gonna talk a lot about the Apostle Paul today he says this in 1st Corinthians 10 verse 31 he says whatever you do also that aloud he said whatever you do say it aloud all of our churches whatever you do what did he say he said do it all for the glory of God whatever you do whether you're doing laundry you're picking up your kids from their events your running errands for your boss you're doing something that isn't that big of a deal whatever you do you do it for the glory of God when I look at so much of my life if I'm really honest whatever I do is mostly for me I want to do what makes me happy I want to do what makes me feel good I want to do what fulfills my dreams I want to do what fulfills my wants and desires I want to do what I want to do I want to gratify myself and Jesus says that you deny yourself whatever you do to really have meaning in life you do it for the glory of God and here's what I'm beginning to recognize this truth that the prize isn't out there somewhere the prize isn't what you accomplish occasionally the prize is in what you do daily when you do it for the glory of God let me say this again because I really want it to sink in the prize isn't what you accomplish occasionally I got the raise I got the thing the prize isn't it what you accomplish occasionally the prize is in what you do daily when you do it for the glory of God so what I want to ask you three questions and I'll tell you in advance that these questions are going to become statements that are going to drive everything that we talked about in our message today what if what if what if what if what if the work is the reward what if the prize is in the process what if you can be grateful in the grind what if whatever you do you can find meaning and fulfillment and divine satisfaction when you do it all for the glory of God I want to show you a text that's it's very personal to me by again the Apostle Paul first Corinthians 15 starting in verse 9 this is what Paul says he's kind of being transparent and maybe a little bit vulnerable he says I'm the least of the Apostles and I don't even deserve to be called an apostle because I persecuted the Church of God in other words before I was a Jesus follower I was really really bad I hated Christians so much I even killed them he says but everybody say but he said but by the grace of God I am what I am and His grace to me was not without effect but this is my story by the grace of God I am what I am because His grace to me was not without effect for many of you that's your story you weren't good you weren't faithful you weren't always righteous but by the grace of God you are now what you are not because you're good but because he was good now you are becoming who he wants you to be because his grace for you was not without effect the sad thing is there are some of you that are here today that His grace has been without effect because it hasn't yet touched your heart you haven't yet been changed by it and the good news is you are in the right place at the right time to be available to the work of God and maybe your story might become a but by the grace of God I am now Who I am Paul goes on to say this and I love what he says he says no I worked harder than all of them I am only what I am by the grace of God and I worked harder than any of the rest of them yet not i but the grace of god that was with me what did you just I wasn't any good but the grace of God transformed me and because of who Jesus is and because of what he did I worked hard I worked harder than the rest of them but it wasn't me doing the work it was the grace of God through me doing what God called me to do I worked harder than all of them that verse ministers to me on so many different levels what I like about it is I don't think Paul was bragging I don't think he was complaining I think he was just stating the truth matter of fact by the grace of God I just worked hard I've been so transformed by Jesus because of who he was of what he did I just got to work whatever I did I was doing it for his glory I worked harder than all of them I can't even begin to imagine the depths of the sacrifices that the Apostle Paul would have made in fact I would give anything if I could go back in time and be there with him and like sit down just bro - bro okay by a by a firepit you know he's drinking wine I'm drinking water cuz I don't think why but you know he's got a couple of glasses and we're just chatting as like unpacked that for me man tell me what you mean by that you know just just not a guy you know following Jesus to follow Jesus what do you mean you worked hard and I can imagine him saying like well okay you know I'm not bragging but you know while other people went to bed I probably stayed up a little later praying and strategizing I got up a little earlier and got into the office you know you really to do things right for God when most desired comfort I realized that following Jesus was not going to be comfortable you know I was beaten I had to go on shipwrecked well you just move on when Tom was bitten by a poisonous snake I didn't like that shut that thing off you know and he just kind of tells the story while others took a shortcut I always tried to do the right thing I can just I can just see it I memorized so much of God's Word I hid it in my home I let it renew my mind I focused on his word if he wasn't being really humble he could say and I wrote a lot of the New Testament but I'm just saying I just I did that as well I could imagine him saying you know what when I was in prison I kept on working I served Jesus even when I was in prison I will win the cities they didn't have a single Christian we managed to start churches and cities without a single Christian we'd lead someone to Christ and someone else we'd raise up leaders and we just we didn't have a lot of resources we just got the job done I worked harder than everyone else I think if you can look at this kind of objectively and step back what you would find is you would probably say Paul was not wishing his current season away wherever he was he was all there whatever he did he was doing for the glory of God when he was in prison he didn't say one day when I'm finally out of prison then I can get back to doing what I'm called to do no he just said whatever you do but I do it for the glory of God if there's someone chained up to me I'm gonna be a witness to that person right now give me a pen give me some paper I'm writing the Philippians a letter they could because they need it I'm just gonna do whatever I have to do when he shipped you know what he didn't say well God that me down under I pray for protection and Here I am shipwrecked again he's like you know what we didn't die so we might as well keep on going God must still be with us whatever Barnabas turned on him you go oh I can't take it anymore Christians you can't trust any of them I leave in the Sunday School class because Barnabas hurt my feelings no you know what I don't have time for this I'm not gonna get bitter we just we still have work to do because whatever I'm doing I'm doing it for the glory of God I don't know how this would apply to you but you're you're changing diapers you're making sales calls you're doing laundry you're doing something for your boss just saying in this moment at this time even though it may not be incredibly sexy from the outside I'm doing it with integrity with the purity of heart with the heart of a servant and I'm declare that this task is now for the glory of God and when you live this way suddenly you wake up when you start to realize wow maybe the work is the reward maybe the prize is in the process and in everyday life when you're grinding it out doing just normal things you can say I could be grateful I can be grateful in the middle of the grind what I want to do is show you what I call three enemies of the true reward unfortunately some of you will know these enemies as I do three enemies of the true reward the first one is what I call the pillow the seduction of comfort the pillow the seduction of comfort and I don't know how this plays out in your life but at some point it might be what you really need to be happy and comfortable is a better home and then just fill in the blanks with the type if you don't have walk-in closets its walk-in closet if it's not granite countertops its granite countertops maybe it's a gas stove maybe so three-car garage maybe has heated tiles in your bathroom whatever it is if I just had that then I'd be happy same thing with the car years ago you know what I needed I needed windows that went down when you did this because mine went down when you did this yeah Venus the sunroof finished the butt warmers didn't estate you know whatever it is if I can just have that one then I'll finally be happy well if I was just the boss if I had enough money to take life easy that's what I want enough to take life easy I hope you'll understand that God never called us too easy he called us to deny ourselves easy never changed the world and yet the pillow cries out this reduction of comfort there's also the distraction of what I call that the shiny thing the shiny thing the allure of constant distractions you know what's important but ping notification oh my gosh I wonder what she posted on Facebook and the next thing you know you're in here Netflix it just keeps on running and the next show is recommended ninety-nine percent chance that I'm going to like it this must be God's will you know you know we we over program our kids because we're so distracted we got to have Johnny in the you know the elite traveling soccer at league if he said to get a scholarship for n-c-double-a because I was only three but he's got to be you know we really got to get him involved in this and it's the shiny thing it's it's the it's the the carrot and the donkey continues to chase the carrot and you never ever ever seem to find real satisfaction because you've been fooled by the shiny thing then there is the enemy called the towel the perpetual temptation to quit to throw in the towel when the marriage gets difficult I I'm not in love anymore this isn't worth it throw in the towel trying to get our finances together trying to get out of debt oh my gosh it just broke there's another bill charge it let's go out to eat and let's go shop for a new dress you'll throw in the towel Christianity I can't tell you how many times I've heard some version of this well I tried god I went to church twice you know I read my Bible for a day you know and they were mean I didn't like it I couldn't get a parking place so forget it I'm just out of here I'm throwing in the towel you know how it is they didn't appreciate me I'm not making that much of a difference this is just too hard throw in the towel listen you can throw in the towel or you can pick up the towel and wipe the sweat off your brow and get back in the daily grind of doing whatever you do in this moment for the glory of God and suddenly you realize the work is the reward the prize is in the process I can be grateful every single day the grind tell you a little pet peeve I have graduation speeches I've given a couple and a minor difference the normal graduation speech is this follow your passion follow your passion follow your mark do whatever the heart tells you here's a problem you can gun graduates your passion doesn't always pay the bills your passion doesn't always keep the lights on the problem with passion is selfish passion is about us there's a higher call again it's not selfish passion but it's selfless purpose it's a higher calling and once you start to recognize that you're doing God's purpose what's so amazing is the passion always follows purpose so instead of me being the starting point of I need to do what I want to do to be happy instead when God is the starting point whatever you do you do it for the glory of God and you start to realize in the middle of even what you may not have chosen God still has a purpose and then you recognize that you're doing what God has called you to even in this moment though it may not be your favorite thing when you're serving his purpose your passion starts to always follow purpose think about Paul for a minute the guy was passionate about something he was a regular person I don't know what it would have been maybe it was music you maybe had a guitar and he's like he's really good he's like putting his clips up on YouTube like first Justin Bieber and the Apostle Paul they're gonna discover me I know they are you know maybe it was music maybe those arts like you never get my paintings done I'm gonna sound really big you know they're gonna want them all the time you know if he was living today it's like it's like it's cars I know it is the Tesla that's what I need to be happy you know whatever it is Paul had his own passions there were things that he was excited about what he was not passionate about let me promise you was getting beaten and left for dead I promise you that was never on his ol if I could only do that I'd be so happy in life but instead of pursuing selfish self-centered passion what he did was he pursued God's purpose and suddenly he would say things like acts 20:24 I consider my life worth nothing to me no my dreams my ones my only aim is to finish the race complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me we can say this my only dream is to fill God's purpose and what is that the task of testifying to the good news of God's grace what is purpose do purpose helps us feel passionate about ordinary things something mundane something warden there starts to take on meaning whatever I do even is boring even if it feels insignificant I'm doing it for the glory of God some of you you experienced that this week when you're serving but you found joy when you're simply making someone else coffee when you're in the 2-year room holding a baby and you're praying over that two-year-old when you lead an eighth grade group of switched girls and you realize in this moment God is using me to pour spiritual life into the emerging generation when you simply open up your home and provide a life group a place for people to find spiritual connection what normally seems ordinary becomes more extraordinary because it's not just a task but it's a purpose directed by God and passion always follows purpose Paul he gives us really profound images he says he says I'm not running like someone who's running aimlessly I love that image I'm running in a direction he says I'm not boxing like like someone who's shadow boxing I'm in a real spiritual fight he says I run with purpose this is what he said I run with purpose in every single step imagine that when I wake up God today this is your day this is the day the Lord has made and whatever I do whether it seems big exciting or small and insignificant god I am choosing to find purpose in this I am doing this for your glory I'm not running like a man running aimlessly I'm running with purpose in every step I'm directed by your spirit I'm empowered by your word I'm loving people everywhere I go when I walk into the room the Spirit of God walks in the room with me I'm a climate change er I'm a people lover I lift the moods of people when I come into a dark room the light comes in with me there's nowhere I go that I don't go on purpose I go with the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwelling within me I walk in with purpose I am here as an ambassador of the Most High God the highest-ranking diplomat sent from heaven to earth to represent the goodness and a love and the grace of God this step is on purpose and this step is on purpose and my words of encouragement to you is on purpose and this gift is on purpose when I lift you up and when I love you it's on purpose because I don't do anything half-heartedly whatever I do I'm doing it for the one who changed my life you see if you knew me before you would think you're not good enough but by the grace of God I am what I am and because of what he's done in me you need to know I work hard but it's not me doing the work it's the grace of God in me that's getting it done whatever you do and I don't know who this is good to speak to but when you're driving your kids all over town you're doing it for the glory of God when you're preparing for grad school or you're fighting to hold your marriage together you're doing it on purpose with purpose in every step for the glory of God when you're crying with your spouse because you want to conceive and you cannot conceive when you're caring for your aging parents when you feel like you're called to do something more and you're stuck in a job that you don't love when you're healing from a crushing disappointment or when you're battling cancer or when you're paying down debt you're doing what you do for the glory of God recognizing his purpose in the moment and somehow passion seems to always follow purpose the prize is not when you get the promotion the prize is that when you get the fancy car the prize is that when you go to the beach or to the mountains or to the place with the big mouse that the prize isn't when your five year dreams all come true or when you get discovered or when you finally make the big bucks the prize is now the prize is here this is the day that the Lord has made and because of the grace of God I will rejoice and I will be glad in it you see life isn't about me it's not about indulging myself now about treating myself it's about denying myself and when I deny myself guess what happens week number one I become more bold in spirit because we speak boldly about what we believe deeply and because the grace of Jesus has so transformed me I cannot contain his this and people are amazed by my boldness I also become faithful in service because serving is not something that I do a servant is Who I am I am a servant of the Most High God and when I serve others I am serving Christ I'm not trying to be the goat of this world I'm trying to be great by serving so that one day when I stand before Jesus he will say well done my good and faithful servant when I am self less I become extravagant in generosity I give without holding back because we truly believe as followers of Jesus that it is more blessed to give than it is to receive therefore we lead the way with irrational generosity and when I recognize that I have been transformed by the grace of God and for his glory then whatever I do is not for me but it's all for the glory of God as I run with purpose and every single step and as I serve Him faithfully in his purpose the passion follows because I'm not doing it for me and I'm doing it all for him and then one day I wake up in the middle of the mundane and the middle of the normal and I say God I have experienced you here and I am full of your goodness and overflowing with your joy because I've discovered that the work is the reward it's a joy to serve you and to sacrifice for your kingdom the prize is in the process you are with me your Spirit is guiding me and strengthen me and I am grateful in the grind finding joy in all things rejoicing always God because your Spirit dwells within me and you're working in all things to bring about God so therefore God because I am selfless denying myself I can be grateful in the grind and whatever I do I will do it for your glory because of who you are and what you've done for me all of our churches let's take a moment and pray together father we thank you so much that I know your spirit is speaking to people today in a way that will be powerful God and I hope life-changing and all of the different churches as you reflect today in prayer I wonder how many of you would say okay I am totally there with you Craig I've wished away so much of my life hoping for the next season and failed to embrace the goodness of God in the moment I want to do everything I do god help me to do it for your glory if you can relate to that and you want it would you lift your hands right now all of our different churches Oh God thank you so much that you're speaking to so many people right now father I pray that you would give us a sense of purpose knowing that even though we may be doing something that seems like preparation for a future season this moment matters when we do it for you God give us a sense of purpose help us to see joy and find fulfillment in serving and even doing the little things God when we connect it to you whatever we do wherever we are God whoever we're helping even when we're struggling god help us to serve you faithfully being faithful in the small things you could trust us with even more god help us to recognize that the work can be the reward that the prize is in the process that we can be grateful in the middle of the grind God because you are with us but by the grace of God we are what we are and because your grace was not without effect god help us to serve you faithfully all that we do but not ask god but your grace working through us that help us that whatever we do we would do it God for your glory as you keep praying today at all of our different churches some of you you're gonna recognize just like I did years ago that life is all about you now when I look at my life that's I look back I recognizes all about my dreams what I wanted if there was anything to do with God it was only what God could do for me I came to recognize that Jesus who he was what he means he is the sinless son of God he was self left in every single way that while we were still sinning Christ was obedient even to death on the cross he died in our place the sinless one for us who are guilty on the third day God raised him from the dead why so that he would defeat death hell and the power of the grave so that anyone and this includes you who calls on the name of Jesus the names is above every name when you call on the name of Jesus you would be saved every sin you've ever committed forgiven by God transformed in a moment by the Grace and the goodness of God up to now His grace may have been without effect but in this moment you're gonna say I've been transformed forgiven made completely new not because you're good but because he's good but by the grace of God you're about to be transformed all of our churches those who say yes I need His grace I need his forgiveness life is not about me I turned from my sins I turned toward him I'd give my life to him that's your prayer lift your hands high right now

Channel: Life.Church

Views: 23,523

Keywords: Craig, Groeschel, lifechurch

Id: KozfdDmDBp0

Length: 34min 27sec (2067 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 30 2018