Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
INTRODUCTION
Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.
Ephesians 5:18 (NIV)
I remember the first time I was introduced to a restaurant called the Mandarin. Now those who know me given a choice of where to eat when dining out my top choice will nearly always involve the words “Chinese” and “Buffet”. Those who have eaten at the Mandarin know that it is a king among buffet restaurants and has a smorgasbord of Chinese food. Needless to say I really enjoyed eating there. There was really good food and you could just pile it on. You could go back to your table with all the various delicacies just hanging off the plates. Overflowing in food. It made me want to go back for more – over and over again!
I wonder. Do people see you as a source of good stuff? Do people see you as someone who overflows with good stuff in your life…spilling over to others? And do they come back to you over and over for more? Do they know that you will do something or say something that will encourage them, that will challenge them, that will help them become better people?
Or is it true that some people run the other way when they see you coming – because you suck the life out of others with constant demands, criticism, and whining?
There’s a young teenager out there who’s about ready to cave into sexual temptation. Her friends are telling her that it’s fun. She wants to keep her boyfriend and he’s putting the pressure on. She’s wondering, “Is there someone I can go to? Someone who won’t condemn me for being tempted? Someone who will give me some good stuff? Someone I can go back to over and over for help?” She can’t think of anyone in her world.
There’s a young man who’s confused about the direction to go in life. He’s been cramming 4 years of college into 6 ½ years. Why? When he was a kid, he stood at the free throw line when his team was down by one and he missed the shot. Ever since, he’s wondered, “Do I have what it takes to be a winner?” So, he’s stalled in life. He’s wondering, “Is there someone I can go to? Someone who won’t condemn me for procrastinating? Someone who will give me some good stuff? Someone I can go back to over and over for help?” He can’t think of anyone in his world.
There’s a single mother who’s sitting at her table one evening overwhelmed by the responsibilities of looking after her 2 children and working 30 hours a week at a part-time job that barely pays the bills. Her lawn needs cut, she’s got a leak in the roof, and a laundry room full of dirty laundry. As the tears trickle down her cheeks she wonders, “Is there someone I can go to? Someone who won’t just talk about small stuff but someone who will genuinely care for me? Someone who will give me some good stuff? Someone I can go back to over and over for help?” She can’t think of anyone in her word.
There’s a mid-aged guy driving home one night and his thoughts are drifting to the pressures he’s been facing lately at work. Add that the pressures of fatherhood, the threat of looming layoffs at work, the stack of bills waiting for him to go through when he gets home, and the restlessness he’s been feeling for the last year as he compares what he is doing with what he wants to do and some days he feels like he’s going to explode! Sometimes he does…and his family pays the price…and all the guilt rushes in. He wonder’s as he turns on the road to his house if there’s anyone who would understand where he’s at? He’s got some other guy friends he sees now and then – but talk never goes past the latest sports scores and the weather. Is there anyone he could call up for a heart to heart talk? He can’t think of anyone…
To help make this message more meaningful to you, think of at least one person who needs you to overflow for them. Who’s counting on you being a source of life for them?
Overflow can only happen when there’s something flowing into you first, and good stuff will only overflow out of you when there’s good stuff flowing into you. I want to talk today about overflowing with the life of Jesus Christ.
Let me just give a couple of quick points about how this happens. What is it going to take to have Christ overflow in our lives?
I remember watching a TV show called ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (a real tear jerker) where families are picked to receive a free home renovation that often includes demolition of the old house. Families that appear on the show record an application video and say, “We hope you pick us!” Of course the producers of the show can’t pick everyone and only a select few become the recipients of a brand new home.
However when it comes to our lives, the possibility for a makeover isn’t limited to a select few – God can pick ANYONE and from EVERYONE. It is possible that every single person in this room today can experience the makeover of God in their lives but sadly only a few actually apply for this privilege. There’s a certain type of person God picks.
…But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. (Isaiah 66:1-2, ESV)
Look – to show regard to, to pay attention to. (NIV – says “I will esteem”)
“Lord, pick me for a makeover – Why? Because I want your overflow in my life…
Scripture teaches us that God will “look” at me when I…
1. …am humble.
Proud people pretend to have it all together. Humble people know they don’t. They admit it!
2. …am contrite.
The word means extreme sorrow for sin. There’s no blame-shifting going on. I am sorry about what I have done to create my relationship problems. I don’t blame you. I am sorry about my part.
3. …tremble at His word.
We expose ourselves to God’s voice – to the Bible. We know it is God who is speaking. We dare not “do” when God says “don’t”. We dare not “don’t” when God says “do”
Bottom line? God is looking for brokenness. God picks the broken people all the time, every time. Why? So He can display His glory – His strength, protection, reward, forgiveness, and renewal.
Our problem is that we want to act like we’re unbroken. We’ll say, “I’m not that bad!”
God knows better. And deep in our hearts, we know better, too. God is waiting for us to see ourselves as we really are – to admit our brokenness. That’s when He looks at us – that’s when He picks us for an Extreme Makeover.
Now, with that in mind, I want to shift our thinking to ask another kind of question: not “What it’s going to take to have God pick me for a makeover?” but “What’s it going to take for me to experience an overflow?” It’s important to understand that before overflow can happen a makeover has to happen because really, overflow is proof that an extreme makeover has really taken place.
Why is it that most of us are living lives that just trickle? Not much Jesus is really flowing out of us to others. Is it because God is stingy?
Do a little study on the word “overflow” in the Bible and you’ll come to the conclusion that God is not stingy.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Psalms 23:5 (NIV)
“Proclaim further: This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘My towns will again overflow with prosperity, and the LORD will again comfort Zion and choose Jerusalem.’”
Zechariah 1:17 (NIV)
11 I have told you this so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your cup of joy will overflow!
John 15:11 (Living)
And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
2 Corinthians 9:8 (NIV)
May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.
1 Thessalonians 3:12 (NIV)
God doesn’t want to give us just a little of his blessing, just a little of his life. He wants us to overflow with love and joy and peace – and all good things that will encourage the lives of others – and point the way to Him!
Question: Is that your experience? Really? Some of us have to admit that when a child or a friend or a co-worker is struggling, we’d be the last person they would pick to go to. Why? Because there’s very little overflow of good stuff in us.
In preparing for this message I’ve had to ask myself: “What pours out of me when difficulties and troubles and irritations collide with my life?” Is it joy and peace and kindness? Is it the fruit of the Spirit? Is what flows out of me something that gives life to others?
That’s what Jesus wants for us. That’s why He came.
Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”
John 7:38 (NIV)
Think of it! Rivers of living water flowing out of our hearts. It’s an attractive image. I want that to be true for me and I’m sure you do, too! I want an overflow in my life. I want to offer refreshment to my wife, to my children, and to the people I have contact with every day.
Another question: If Jesus had promised rivers of living water to all who come to Him and drink, then why are there so many “followers of Christ” and so little overflow? The beginning of the answer to that question is found in Matthew 12:
You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.
Matthew 12:34 (NIV)
And what’s in the heart?
20 He went on: “What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean.’ 21 For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.’”
Mark 7:20-23 (NIV)
What blocks the overflow of Jesus in our lives? What makes us overflow with all the bad stuff? What keeps us from overflowing in joy and peace and kindness into the lives of others?
Let’s work through this process carefully this morning. Three prayers for a life that overflows good stuff:
1. Father, search me.
Our problems are so severe, so deeply imbedded that they can’t be wiped out without an extreme makeover. And this is a kind of revival that will never come until we ask God to search us and show us our sin.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalms 139:23-24 (NIV)
“God, open up a searchlight in my soul. You know me so, show me the dirt, the junk, the sinful motives, attitudes, thoughts. Reveal it to me so I can confess it to You!”
Too many times, we want God to show that other guy his sins or to show that other girl her sins (always the “other” person). But we’ve got to say, “God, show me!”
To overflow, let’s pray… “Father, search me.”
2. Jesus, wash me.
Once I see how dirty my soul is, I won’t be able to take it. It won’t be OK with me. It can’t be business as usual.
2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Psalm 51:2,7 (NIV)
Let me describe the people who are washed. They have a great awareness of our sin. They have a conscience that is deeply wounded. They have a great fear of God – a holy reverence of Him. They have a strong desire to stop sinning – to live holy lives. They have a willingness to make restitution where necessary – to right the wrongs they’ve done. They love what God loves and hate what God hates. They desire more than anything His smile. They dread more than anything His frown.
Is that you? Is that me? When we get there, we will confess and be cleansed.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9 (NIV)
When you come clean with Christ, He cleans your cup. When your cup is clean, you are honoring God and feeling good inside.
To overflow, let’s pray… “Jesus, wash me.”
3. Spirit, fill me.
When you’re empty, you need to be filled with something. Why not with God?
Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.
Ephesians 5:18 (NIV)
So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
Galatians 5:16 (NIV)
How can I be filled with the Spirit – the living water of Jesus so that there is overflow in my life? It takes time alone with God. Prayer. Bible intake. Being in a community group to hang out with the sold out. Obedience.
And know this: eventually, an Extreme Makeover – produces an overflowing life of indescribable joy. It’s the kind of joy people in heaven know. It’s a form of heaven on earth.
Overflowing lives will mean that we share our faith. And many come to faith. The community is transformed. The light shines bright. The city is seen on the hill.
In Wales in 1904, the life of God began to overflow. It’s called the Welsh revival. Interesting fact: Many policemen during the Welsh revival lost their jobs. Why? There was so little for them to do!
God is saying that when you are filled with the Spirit, something changes deep within you. This internal change is so radical and so extensive that you become more and more like Jesus. You become a spring of living water. Streams of life-giving, living water flow from you, bringing hope and help to others. This would do wonders for marriages, for parent/child relationships, for love within the church family.
What pours into you, pours out of you. The promise is not only that we will be satisfied but that we will be satisfying. In being filled with the Spirit, we become not merely receptacles but rivers. A draining person transforms into a refreshing person!
To overflow, let’s pray…
Spirit, fill me.
CONCLUSION
A truth to take home: I can overflow with the life of Jesus to others.
Our problem is that we don’t want to pay the price to have an overflow. Overflow – revival – is always preceded by earnest, fervent prayer, by soul searching, by on-fire teaching that calls people to repentance. Christian leaders are made fun of. Followers of Christ are called fanatics. And all this is just too much for most of us in our comfortable Canadian lifestyles to endure.
A verse to remember:
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13 (NIV)
A question to consider:
How will I remind myself to ask God many times each day this coming week to search me, cleanse me, and fill me?
That teenage girl who’s being tempted is still out there. Will you be that overflowing person for her? That young man who is afraid to pick a career is still out there. Will you be that overflowing person for Him? That single mom who is overwhelmed by everything is still out there. Will you be that overflowing person for her? That middle-aged guy looking for genuine friendship is still out there – will you be that overflowing person for him? Others are out there. They are waiting. Waiting on you to be a person who will overflow with the life of Jesus for them.
When people come to the diner of your life – when they get a taste of your life, will they find you full of good stuff for them – overflowing with the life of Jesus? And will they come back over and over for more because you are giving them love and joy and kindness and tenderness and toughness and truth – you are giving them Jesus?
This is why our mission here at HPC is so important , we want to, “let the light of God shine so powerfully in our lives that people can’t help but want to join us in becoming fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ!”