Pastor Malachi Maillot | Be the Blessing | November 29th, 2020

Well, welcome to our KCC online service.

Thank you so much for tuning in once again.

I know that these days and uh these times are kind of difficult for many of us, but my prayer and my hope today is that this message would be just an encouragement for you today.

Um that it would help uh lift your eyes in this season.

I know that it's really easy to get focused on what's right in front of us and and what's happening directly in front of us, and our perspective is kind of shifted on issues, and um, it's not to say that we should be completely not aware of what's happening, but uh I just pray that this morning that I would be able to help your eyes shift to to Jesus.

And uh when we look upon Jesus, uh we can really focus on the one who's gonna help us through it all.

Um, you know, he's he's the one who sees it from the end, the beginning, the beginning from the end.

And uh, you know, he has our our future in his hands, and I think that um this time more than than any uh is the time that we need to just trust and focus on on him.

And uh and I just want to continue our our series on be the blessing.

Over the last few weeks, Pastor Brody's been leading us through this series on on what that means, what it means to be a blessing, uh, especially in a time where it feels like everything is limited.

Um we feel like we're limited not only by our own standards, uh, but by what's going on in our world.

Um but uh and I want to talk about this idea of having open hands, having open hands.

And in John uh chapter 3, verse 22 to 30 is where I want to start this today.

Um in verse 22 it says this, and I'm just gonna jump right in.

It says, After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside where he spent some time with them and baptized.

Now John was also baptizing at Anon near Salem because there was plenty of water and there were people coming out to being baptized.

And this was before John was put in prison.

An argument developed between some of John's disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing.

They came to John and said to him, Rabbi, that man who is with you is now on the other side of the Jordan, the one that you testified about, but look, he is now baptizing, and everyone is going with him.

And so we have this kind of interesting situation, and we have John the Baptist, all right.

So this is what we're this is the kind of our focal point character today.

Uh, we have John the Baptist who is in the middle uh of this kind of interesting world, right?

He's the kind of the front runner of faith right now.

Uh there was this essentially a movement around what he was doing and around his ministry.

He was the spark of life for what seemed to be, you know, hundreds of years of silence and and nothing really happening, and and he was the spark of hope uh where everything kind of felt hopeless for these Jewish people.

And and now he's basically at the point where he's handing off uh the baton.

He's he's kind of in the in the point of his ministry where he's he's kind of just handed off his baton to Jesus, right?

He's baptized Jesus, and essentially um, I like to call it the spotlight has kind of passed on to him.

And uh and we and we see that you know, even even some of John's disciples have kind of moved on and they've kind of actually started hanging out with Jesus instead of John.

And so in this passage, there's this kind of dispute that we just read.

And and John, John's disciples, they see Jesus and he's baptizing people across the street, right?

Like kind of like down the river.

And essentially they're saying, hey, like, John, what gives?

Like, he he kind of took our job, like he kind of took the spotlight, he kind of took our info, like, what's this guy doing?

Like, he's doing exactly what we're doing, but there's more people going to him.

You know, this Jesus guy is kind of like stealing our thunder.

Like, who is this guy?

Like, they didn't really fully understand who this man was.

And and John's response is kind of what I want to uh speak from today.

And it starts in verse 27, and I'll read it, and I'll and I'll I'll read it right now and then I'll explain it later.

Um, but it starts in verse 27.

It says, To this John replied.

So he's replying to his disciples that are kind of disgruntled, they're kind of frustrated, um, they're not really sure what's going on, they maybe feel a little bit like overlooked.

And and John replies to them.

He says, A person can only receive what is given them from heaven.

You yourselves can testify that I said, I am not the Messiah, but am sent ahead of him.

I am not the Messiah, but I'm sent ahead of him.

The bride belongs to the bridegroom.

The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice.

Now that sounds kind of confusing, but I'll explain it.

That joy is mine and is now complete.

And then he says in verse 30, He must become greater and I must become less.

He must become greater and I must become less.

And the title of this message uh today is called Open Hands.

And uh I just want to pray before we be we jump in.

So, Father God, I just thank you so much for this morning.

I thank you so much for this ability to still uh meet with our community, even though it's online.

Uh, God, all the things in the world that are happening seem chaotic, but God, we know that your your plan is at work and that you have us in your hand.

And this morning we just pray that we would focus on you and we would focus on the word, God, that you would just soften our hearts this morning and today, wherever you're watching, whenever you're watching, um, and just help us to focus on you and and listen and and and grow deeper and deeper in relationship with you today.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Well, I was thinking about this the other day, and uh, and I don't remember I don't know if you remember um when you were a kid, uh someone actually going out of their way and teaching you to be selfish.

Right?

Maybe it's like this is kind of a wild idea, but like your parents going to you and saying, hey, stop sharing.

Stop sharing with your sister, stop, stop sharing with your brother, or you know, look out for your own interests, and they constantly tell you, hey, don't look out for others.

It it never happened, right?

Like I think everyone could probably look back at their childhood, hopefully, and and know that you know their parents never actually went out of their way to teach them how to be selfish.

And and my point is we were literally, you know, we were born into this world selfish, right?

There's this funny little saying, I kind of twisted it, but you know, I didn't choose a selfish life, but the selfish life chose me, right?

Where we we we are constantly thinking about ourselves first.

And if and if you can remember this, like the first words, I'm sure that no one really remembers this, but I'm sure your parents would say, you know, the first words out of your mouth, other than daddy or mama, um, was like no, or mine, or like you didn't want to go a different way, right?

And and these selfish tendencies are actually, you know, the ones that we were born with are completely the opposite of what we're taught, right?

We we hopefully were taught to share, like to be selfless, to help others, to treat others nicely, to treat others um better than yourself, to look out not only for your own interests, but the interests of others, to to live uh with open hands instead of closed.

But but like I said, like our natur we're naturally drawn to this idea of like living our lives with closed hands, right?

That's how I like to explain it, like selfish, like inward thinking.

To be closed-handed is to uh protect what you have, right?

To protect what you built, to uh, you know, it's mine, I earned it, like no one takes this away from me.

I want to keep it safe, I want to hold on to it.

Uh to be closed-handed is to never, you know, let go of something, keep it safe from change, keep it safe from people trying to take it or or or change it on you.

You know, I worked for this, I'm not letting and letting them have it.

And it's so easy, I think, to have this mindset because it's how we were born, right?

From the very start, we were born with this inside of our hearts.

But I believe we were called to be different, obviously.

And and and in John 3, we look at this example of John the Baptist, right?

And I think that he, out of anyone, had full rights to be kind of closed-handed and and maybe suspicious and and to protect, you know, essentially what he he built.

Like he wasn't he wasn't a joke, he wasn't just some random, he was chosen by God, right?

He spent his entire lifetime.

The Bible says he spent his lifetime preparing for this brief time of ministry.

And and you know, John the Baptist, he was like the he was the first real prophet in Israel for like four centuries, right?

For hundreds of years.

He was the first, like I I like to say that he's like the spark of hope that came out of this like kind of drought.

And uh in all the eyes of the land, like everyone was looking at him, like from king to peasant, multitudes of people came to hear him speak.

Um, because when he spoke, like God moved and people repented, people were baptized, like he was legit.

Like John the Baptist wasn't a joke, he had influence, he he was changing a culture.

Okay, so if you get that idea in your head, like like it's not some small thing, like he was changing a culture, and all eyes were on John.

Actually, some people uh went so far to even, you know, they thought that he was, you know, technically Jesus, like he was the Messiah.

And and constantly people he had to he had to dress that, that he wasn't the Messiah, that he was just standing in the place preparing the way for the true Messiah.

And and you know, you think about this this context, you know, the people of God were oppressed at this time, and so John was this, he was this light at the end of the tunnel for them.

And then you think, you know, it's not just about John, it's you know, you have the disciples that are with him, like they were a part of this exciting ministry, they were a part of this exciting movement, like it was really, really cool.

Like they were a part of like the the cool kids club, if you want to call it that, and they were they were like seeing all these things happen.

I'm sure they were seeing people getting healed, and and there was just like this change and shift in the atmosphere, and these disciples got to be a part of it.

But then all of a sudden, it wasn't like there was any lead up time.

It was like all of a sudden the spotlight shifts, right?

The influence shifts.

And on top of that, you know, John, what happens to John after this, uh, you know, after he essentially hands off this baton of ministry, he gets arrested and then he gets killed.

He gets beheaded.

Like, what a way to go, right?

Like after giving his life, literally giving his life to serve the kingdom, um, like he gets killed, and it's and it almost puts a damper on the situation in some ways.

Like, you know, I you know, you could look at this story and be like, God, how is that fair?

Like, like, why did a bad thing happen to such a good person?

And and why do bad things or good things happen to to bad people, right?

And and it's and it's not fair when we when we look at it, but I think what what John realized, and I think that his whole response to this whole situation, um, even his response to his disciples, what John realized, and I think what what we sometimes forget and what we should be reminded of daily, is, and he he realizes so deeply in his heart that this world is not our home.

And uh, you know, this world is not our home, and it might feel like it, and we obviously we have lives, and but our our life and in in um in comparison to eternity and what God has for us is like this blip on the radar, right?

But John realized that his his earthly his his his time on earth was was not the reward.

There was no reward on earth that could compare to what God had for him.

My my reward isn't a job promotion, my reward isn't the fancy house, my reward isn't the the the white picket fence, my reward isn't the amazing wife that I have, the reward isn't the paycheck, the reward isn't the thousands of people that that show up, or you know, my reward is something completely different.

My reward is in heaven, my reward is the kingdom of God.

And I think if we're you know all honest in this moment, you know, we we can all say I'm selfish, like we are constantly battling this idea and this this idea of being closed-handed.

And so I want to ask the question, you know, like even I have to ask this question like how do I move myself into a place where John was, in that mindset where John was?

How do I become more open-handed, especially in a in a culture right now, um, in a in a world right now where everything is kind of just chaotic, it's it's unpredictable, it's kind of scary, and we're trying to just you know bunker down in a sense, and we're just trying to protect you know what we have.

We don't want to lose out on our freedom, we don't want to lose out on you know our jobs, and but how do I become more open-handed in such a crazy culture?

How do I become more selfless?

How do I become like like John was?

How do I how do I respond like John did?

How do I get to a place where where John said, less of me and more of him, right?

Less of me and more of him.

How do I start living that life?

And I have a few thoughts this morning.

I have three thoughts.

Um, and the first one is this less of me.

Less of me.

Really rememberable.

John's response is so much different than I think mine would have been.

You know, I I really want to be like John, but sometimes I'm not.

And uh, and his disciples, you have to look at the situation, like I explained it, like they came from a place of excitement to almost disappointment.

And and they're disheartened, they're discouraged, um, maybe even mad, maybe even like worn out.

Like I spent all this time investing, and all of a sudden, like our boss kind of you know gets the kick and and the influence change, right?

And in verse 29, it says he, this is just as John's response, he who has the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice.

Therefore, this joy of mine is fulfilled, which is to say, which John is saying in this, I'm just glad I got to play a part.

I'm just glad I got to play a part.

I think that we should, we need to rejoice and we need to realize that um this is just, we're just playing a part.

We're not we're not the the main character in the story.

We just get to play a part and and we should be rejoicing because God picked us to play such an important part.

And if we can get ourselves to to a place where our joy comes from building his kingdom and not our own.

I'm gonna say that again.

If we can get ourselves to a place where our joy comes from building his kingdom and not our own.

Not what we did, not what I did, but the point where we point to what Jesus has done.

And now, John John the Baptist was was constantly pointing to Jesus because he had to, because people were constantly coming up to him and saying, and mistaking him for being the Messiah and the one who was going to change everything, the one who was gonna overthrow the Roman government, right?

And in all four Gospels, he was constantly pointing out to the one coming after him, the one he's making a way for.

And and he he even says this you know, the one who whose sandals he's not even worthy of wearing.

And so he was constantly pointing to Jesus, even through the influence he was given, the essentially the power he was given, right?

He was pointing to the one who was coming, the he was pointing to Jesus.

And then he says this the statement that I think that echoes through uh Christianity is this really, really mind-blowing big statement.

He must increase and I must decrease.

What a fun statement.

He must increase and I must decrease.

What does that mean?

You know, like if there was ever a perfect description of what Christian Christianity and the Christian life is supposed to be, it's that.

I must decrease and he must increase.

You know what that means is my life is not my own.

You know, my my desire, my my wants, my thoughts must decrease.

My opinion on things.

Sometimes it has to decrease.

Even what I think my right to something is has to decrease because it has to fall under his authority in his way, right?

And I I have to make room in my life.

I have to make way for Christ.

Um, the only person who can get in the way of God working in you is you.

The only person who can get in the way is you, right?

The less of you there is, and not to say that, you know, you're not supposed to have personality, God made us uh, you know, all different and he made us for a reason.

We're not just purposeless, we're not just like empty shells, but the less of your opinion, the less of your uh preference, the more God can have a way, and the more God can start to shape you, the more of God, the more of his character can shine through you.

And I think I want that in my life because you know I've seen how selfish I can be.

I've seen the worst sides of when I just let my, you know, my my rule and my you know my will be the dominant force in my life making the decisions.

Like I know what that's like, I know what it's like to be down that road.

So more of God in my life, the better.

The second point is this um faithful with little, faithful with much.

Luke 16, 10 says this.

It says, Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much.

And whoever is dishonest with very little will be dishonest with much.

And what I mean to say is um what what I what the point is is that every single person has something.

Every single person has a gift, every single person has a calling, every every single person has something to give.

Right?

And and and my question is, what are you what are you doing with it?

Right?

And and whether that's you know, what are you doing with it?

Are you are you closing your hands down on it because you don't want to lose it?

Right?

Are you are you closed-handed when when you know God's giving you something or even like resources or something something, and you're just closing your hands on it because you're scared to lose it.

But did you know that when we open our hands, we're not essentially gonna lose that thing, right?

Like it's it's you know, when we open our hands, it's not only just about letting something go or releasing something, it's also equally about in the posture of receiving, right?

When we when we open our hands and we we let God kind of like flow, essentially, we're actually opening ourselves up, not just to let something go or or release something, and that might be scary for some of us, but we're actually setting us up ourselves up for to receive something from God.

And I and I and I think that when we receive something from God, he has something so much better in mind for us than what he's given us.

Like he just wants us to he wants to see if we can be faithful with that little thing.

We're just open-handed with it, God.

Like, whatever you want to do, I'm I'm I'm willing, I'm ready.

And it might look like I'm giving something away that doesn't make sense.

Like, why would you give that away?

Like, why would you give that car away?

Why would you give that money away?

Why would you give that opportunity up?

Because I'm open and and and I'm feeling like God's saying, hey, just open your hands on this.

And and he's gonna return something even better.

He might even put a better opportunity in your hands.

So what are you doing with that little bit, that little bit that God's giving you, right?

Or are you, you know, are you dissatisfied with what it is?

Maybe God's, you know, you know God's giving you something, but it's like it's not like the most glamorous thing.

It's not the most glamorous gift, like it's not the most uh, you know, glorious opportunity, right?

Or, you know, you don't get seen, you're kind of in the background of things and you're you're kind of tired of that.

Or um, but I think that everyone's given a little bit, and whatever it is, you know, we gotta be open-handed because it's not about me, it's not about what I get to do.

And and John, John modeled this, it's about opening the door for that next person, right?

And if maybe this morning you're you're wondering, man, I don't know what God's given me.

And I think that um, you know, maybe this is maybe this is too like uh one-worded, but I know that everyone's given the opportunity to serve, right?

If you don't know what God's giving you, everyone, like we all have this opportunity to serve.

We all have that time.

We're all called to be servants.

If you don't know what to give, like give some of your time, give some energy.

Or, you know, ask that question, how can I help?

And it's not just about it's not just about church, it's not just about um serving in church, it's it's where you're living right now.

Like, what what influence is God giving you in your sphere of work?

What influence is God giving you in your family in the in a group of friends?

Like um be that person to to ask, like, how can I help?

How can I serve?

You know, when when the pastor needs, like, this is obviously different for right now.

We don't really have anybody in the building, but you know, when we come back, like we need some chairs set up.

Hey, I got that, right?

Hey, I need someone to help me clean the bathroom or stay late.

I got that.

Like, I need someone to you know wrap presents and and and drop off presents for kids who need it.

Like, I got that, right?

We all have something different.

To give and and maybe it's maybe it's not even like serving, and and maybe maybe God's giving you uh a moment to rest.

Maybe that's what he's giving you right now is a time to rest, or maybe he's giving you an idea and he wants you to to propel it forward.

Maybe he's giving you an opportunity and he wants you to run right now.

And it could be the opposite, where you know, like I said, resting, like are you taking that gift, that that moment to rest?

Or are you getting so flustered with with what's going on in the world that you're not actually taking the time to do with do the best what God's giving you, right?

To do the best with what God's giving you.

And uh, you know, our life here on earth should be always looking for that opportunity to be to be really focused on, you know, what what has God given me?

To ask yourself that question, what is God giving me right now?

And and maybe you just have to take a moment this morning and and today, wherever you're watching, that that moment, just to just to ask that question to yourself, like what is God, what has God given me in this moment?

Whether that be in your family, in your your home life, your your friend groups, your your workspace, or in the church.

Michael Phelps said this, and I know this is kind of an older quote, but he's he said, what you do in the dark, what you do in the unseen gets brought to the light.

When you when you let's just take serving for example, when you simply serve just to serve and you you don't serve to get recognition, or you don't work to get recognition, um, you just work because you want to give your all to that moment and you want to give everything to what God has given you in that opportunity.

When you when you do something not just to be seen, God will bring that into the light.

Like he sees the character of that and he wants to bring that into the light.

And the best promotion doesn't come from man, it comes from from God, right?

And this is what it means to to seek first the kingdom, and all these other things will be added unto you to to put that opportunity first and and and to put your your all into those moments and those opportunities.

My third thought, and my closing thought is this, and I want to point back to the most important example of open-handed living is is Jesus.

Jesus knows how it feels.

And and and going back to John, John passes off the baton essentially to Jesus.

It wasn't necessarily just the spotlight, it wasn't just influence, it wasn't just a position, it wasn't just popularity, it wasn't just everyone knows me, it was a calling, right?

It was an opportunity.

And and and Jesus knew what was on the end of the ministry that he was given.

Jesus knew was at the end, what was at what at the end uh of what he was given, right?

Even though uh he knew the pain he would have to endure, even though he knew that he would be betrayed by his closest friends, Jesus went through it.

And just as John had pointed to Jesus, Jesus did the exact same for his father.

He was constantly pointing to the father, and he was always about the will of his father.

And he he wasn't about the recognition.

Like he was constantly, and Jesus above like above anyone else could have like he was walking on water, like he was incredible.

Like he did some amazing things.

He healed the sick, he he walked into the place of the lepers and he healed them.

Like it was just insane.

Like Jesus could have blew up, like he could have been a superstar, but but his goal wasn't influence and his goal wasn't to be popular, his goal wasn't recognition, it was to point to the father because he knew there was something greater at hand.

And he lived his life as a servant and he lived open-handed.

Open-handed.

It wasn't about his will, it was God, what's your will?

God, what's your will?

And he constantly asked that question.

Whatever the Father willed, he did it.

He lived his life to serve.

And at the end of the ministry of Jesus on earth, uh, after everything he did, after all the great miracles, after all the people he helped, and this is where I want to I want to come to that part where Jesus knows how it feels, like he put his all into it, he showed the people love.

At the end of it all, it didn't matter.

He was abandoned.

Right?

The very people that he that he healed and and and showed love towards and showed compassion towards, they put him on the cross.

Right?

The ones that he he sat with and ate with, they put him on the cross.

And his own disciples, the closest people to him, left him for dead.

Right?

He he knows what it's like to be looked over.

He knows what it's like to feel used, he knows what it's it's like to feel like, man, what are we doing?

Like, was this all for nothing?

Like all that work we put in, I just feel like it's just not you know going anywhere.

But Jesus realized something, his his reward wasn't earthly, it wasn't about influence and and being popular, right?

Jesus calling his gift.

Jesus' gift was his it was the cross.

Like how glamorous is that giving his life, being sent to earth to give his life, that was not a glamorous opportunity.

It wasn't an easy opportunity, but he knew it was for something deeper, and his hands were were open, even unto death, where you know his his hands were literally nailed open on that cross, and he took our sin so that that we could live freely.

And now he wants us to do the same where he wants us to live with open hands and and not living for position, not living for status, not living to just get what you want, not living for ourselves, but living with open hands to God, asking him, what is your will?

God, what have you given me today?

How can I be a blessing in such a limited time?

How can I how can I be a blessing when I feel like I can't walk outside and be judged?

How can I be a blessing to someone?

Uh you know, having the willingness to just drop everything in a heartbeat, having the willingness to lay down our our wants and our preference and our desire, just to follow him, and the willingness to say yes, even though it's inconvenient, even though maybe the opportunity isn't glamorous, maybe the opportunity is just like in the background and no one sees you, and you're like, why would I do that?

But just having open hands, and I want to I want to encourage you to live like that.

And I want to live like that because just as Jesus or sorry, John passed off the baton to Jesus, Jesus has passed off the baton to us.

And what are you doing with what Jesus has handed you?

Right?

Whatever that is, whatever you have in your hands, what what opportunity, what resource, what are you doing with that?

Don't close your hands to protect it because it feels like you're gonna lose it, but use it, release it, because I promise you, God has so much more.

And like I said, um, when you open your hands, you're you're putting yourself in a position to receive, and I and I can promise you that God wants to give you something even greater, faithful with little, faithful with much.

Can I pray with you?

Father God, I just thank you so much for this uh example, God, of John and Jesus, God.

I pray that today we would just focus on you, God, and and we would ask ourselves that question what is it that you've given us?

What is it in our hands?

What's that opportunity?

What's that thing that you've given us, God?

And how can we just put our all into that and God give everything back to you?

And God help us to be open-handed in in this season.

Um, God, help us to be sensitive to what you're saying to us, God.

Help us to not close our hands and be selfish and be self-centered and look inward, but God help us to look outward in such a difficult culture, God, where it's getting harder and harder.

But God, I just I just thank you that your hand is on us and that we can trust you, that you have our future in your hands.

God, that you're never gonna leave us or forsake us.

And I just thank you so much for that truth in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Well, I hope I hope that encouraged you this today and and and to live open-handed, to love one another, to live in love like Jesus.

Thank you so much for tuning in.

May the Lord bless you and keep you, give you peace and favor throughout your the rest of your week.

And I hope you have a great week.

Thank you for tuning in.