Below is the sermon from today. You might recognize some of it and other parts were Holy Spirit infused. On days like today it is a tremendous thing when the Spirit moves and speaks. I hope you were blessed during worship today and had an experience with God!
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Introduction
Today we are continuing our preaching series on an oft-passed over piece of Scripture called the Prayer of Jabez. Last week we began with the phrase, “Oh, that you would bless me” as we looked at the appropriateness of asking God to bless us and what we are truly asking for in that endeavor. Today we are going to take the next passage, “that you would enlarge my territory” as we unpack the strength that is required for this type of petition.
I Want to Help!
I am a computer junkie. And I am a computer game junkie as well. I do not have time to indulge that part of my life anymore but it was very important for me to get back in that arena a few years ago. It had been many years since I had actually played any games on the computer but an opportunity arose for me play a bit with a guy I knew and his unchurched brother-in-law. The three of us began this weekly appointment to gather at my friend's house and we would play for hours. In the beginning the brother-in-law did not speak to me other than the usual hello and good-bye. But one week he look over at me and asked “Did God like computer games?” I had a feeling that this guy wanted to know more than just if God liked video games. It took several weeks but he knew this guy that was going to be a pastor was someone he could talk with. He felt a connection with me that he felt he could talk about God, wanted to talk about God.
I had asked God to give me an opening to talk about God. I was hoping for a chasm, but a crack would do. That is what we find Jabez doing in this second part of his petition to God as he asks God to enlarge his territory.
Understanding Jabez
With Jabez's father not listed in the genealogy found in I Chronicles 4 we can reasonably assume that his father had acted in way detrimental to his family. We can also reasonably assume that those indiscretions had brought heartache and poverty to Jabez's family. Jabez did not want to live his life with a sense of drudgery and dread. When Jabez cried out to God "enlarge my territory" he was looking at his present circumstance and concluding, "Surely I was born for more than this." (1) He wanted to begin "living large for God." (2) In biblical language we might say he wanted to live in "kairos" time--a time filled with the lively purposes of God, as opposed to "chronos"--time which simply watches the hands of the clock go round.
Jabez wanted more!
Am I Asking for More Land?
So Jabez asked God to enlarge his territory. So when we are asking for God to enlarge our territory are we asking for more land? Should we expect God to give us 1 acre rather than the 1/8 of an acre we already own? I do not think so
I think are better things we can focus on. Have you ever heard the phrase “sphere of influence”? All of us have one. It is those people that we can reach that no one else can. For instance, my sphere of influence includes those people that are between their mid-20's to 40's, married with young kids, that grew up in Florida, believe in God, and love sports. If someone falls into any of those categories I had an understanding that will help me connect with. I will have an easier time relating to what they are going through or feeling or dealing with. Now this is not to say I cannot interact with, enjoy, and help people that do not fall into my sphere, it just means it is not as natural for me. All of you have a group of people that it feels more natural for you to interact within. That is your sphere of influence. I encourage you to work on identifying your sphere if you do not know it. Because when you can identify it, then you can perceive it and work within it with greater ease.
Ok, I Asked, Now What?
Understanding that we all have a sphere of influence, what are we supposed to do with it?When we ask God to enlarge our territory I believe we are asking God to give us more responsibility, more opportunities for ministry, more of a role in bringing about the Kingdom of God. I believe that we are asking God to equip us and show us how to work within our sphere of influence.
This is the part where some people get nervous. Others may get down right obstinate. And some of us get scared. If people want to talk to me about sports, great! If people want to talk to me about computers and electronics, I can hold my own. If people want to talk to me about my faith, now the heart is racing. What am I going to say? How can articulate what it is I believe in my heart with words from my brain? What if I say the wrong thing and send them away from God, rather than too God? Dr. Robert Gray, a professor at Asbury Theological Seminary was once asked what is the one thing he is scared of most in this world. He said, “to ever find out that I was a stumbling block for another person coming to know Jesus Christ”. It was not death, it was not illness, it was not physical pain. It was ever knowing that he had done something to take someone away from Christ rather than to Christ. Folks, I believe that is a fear we can all relate with. Most of the time I think all of us would love to share our faith, but that fear of messing up, not having the right words, and doing more harm than good keeps creeping into our minds.
If you hear nothing else this morning, please hear this. If you are faithful to God, allow God to use you and guide you, that will not happen. If you ask God to enlarge your territory, if you ask God to give you more responsibility within your sphere, God will make sure you are equipped for the task. God will use you, work through you, and give you the words to say. I am not making this up, Jesus did it in Scripture. (Expound on passage where God gave peter and john the words to say). God will not abandon you when you do God's work. God will equip you, God will bless you, God will enlarge your territory.
Conclusion
God will use all sorts of events, “chance” meetings, or settings to enlarge our territories and give us an opportunity to impact people within our sphere of influence. Remember I had you that I had not played video games in several years? During our third get together is when he asked me the question about God and video games. As we played this man began to tell me that he never really understood church. He did not understand what all of the fuss was about to hear someone talk about stuff in a book that was written thousands of years ago and then ask you to pay them for it when those plate came around. I was given the opportunity to talk about what God meant to me, what Jesus had done for me, and how the Holy Spirit helps me on a daily basis. I got to talk about the fellowship I have with other believers and about those opportunities I had been a part of where God's love was realized and shown right before my eyes. I believe God put that past hobby of mine to use with my friend and his brother-in-law. When we began to set up these playing opportunities I had asked God to help me connect with these two young men. The one guy was my friend, but we were new friends and had only met a few months prior. We actually got to know each other through our wives. I had asked God to enlarge my territory, to give me more responsibility, to give me an opportunity to lead another person into a relationship with our Creator. I asked, God answered. Video games had provided that crack for me to reach him, for him to trust me, and for those seeds of God's love to be planted.
As we close out our time today I want to share a poem with you,
My life shall touch a dozen lives before this day is done;
Leave countless marks for good or ill, ere sets the evening sun.
This is the wish I always wish, the prayer I always pray:
Lord, may my life help other lives it touches by the way.
All of you have a sphere of influence, all you have the ability to influence another person for God, all of you have territory that God is waiting to enlarge. I encourage you to ask for more territory, to ask for more responsibility, to ask to put in the path of someone who needs you. God has a plan, God wants you to be involved. All you have to do is ask.
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