Welcome to week 2 of Occupy. We’re taking the first few weeks of 2012 to talk about occupying something that matters. It is about doing something to make a difference.
But I was thinking this week and if I think about it, there’s a problem with this whole idea of occupying something that matters. That is, when you look at what you can do and compare that to all of the problems and tragedies and difficulties and disasters that are going on in our world, it can be overwhelming. I mean, what can you do, what can I do, that’s really going to make a difference?
That’s why last week we said that it starts inside of us. If we want to occupy something that matters then it start with occupying me. And the way we occupy me is getting rid of those things in our lives that hinder and distract and entangle us and investing our time in things like Bible reading and being in a community of friends in a Hub Group. Our habits will determine the influence of our lives. It starts with us.
But then where do you go? What do we do in light of all of the stuff that needs to be done? In light of high unemployment, broken families, modern day slavery, war, disasters, poverty, AIDS, famine, abuse, orphans, and the countless other injustices that plague the world we live in, what do you do? It’s overwhelming, isn’t it? So what do you do?
A couple of months ago, Josh and I went to a conference in Atlanta and heard Andy Stanley answer this question, and it was so profound that I had to share with you what he taught us.
The answer comes from the book of Galatians in the Bible. In this letter that Paul wrote to the Christians living in Galatia we find some instruction about what to do. And there are just a couple of sentences that I want us to look at.
Galatians 6:9-10
9 Let us not become weary in doing good,
I love what he says here to start us off because if you’re like me then you can become weary of doing good. In this context here, doing good, is broad. Paul means doing good morally, ethically, socially, just doing good in whatever context you find yourself in.
He says, “don’t become weary in doing good,” which is what we need to hear, because sometimes we just get tired of being good, or doing good. We get tired of being generous. We get tired of serving other people. We get tired of caring and paying attention. We get tired of trying.
It makes me think of my kids. Usually when they go stay with their grandparents they are so good that they just come home and crash. They are tired from doing and being good.
Paul is saying, “I understand the weariness that comes with caring. I understand the weariness that comes from carrying other people’s burdens. I understand the weariness that comes by being overwhelmed with all of the problems that we hear about on a daily basis.” But he says, don’t become weary in doing good. Another way to think about it is: don’t disengage and check-out. Don’t say, “well, I can’t do anything about it so I’m not even going to look. I can’t solve it all so I don’t even want to know about it.” Paul says, don’t do that. Stay engaged and stay involved because, look at the rest of the verse.
9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
That is, if we press on and do what we can do, then, in time, there will be a reward for the good we are doing. Then he goes on to say:
10 Therefore, as we have opportunity,
The little Greek word translated opportunity could also be translated as time, so “as you have time:”
10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
See, Paul knows that we are busy and that we have limited time and limited opportunity. Paul knows that we don’t have time to do everything. So, as you consider the time that you have. As you consider the opportunity that you have. As you consider the pace of your life, as you consider the life stage that you’re in, as you have opportunity, as you have time, as God gives you opportunity, or as God gives you time, do good for other people, especially those who are a part of the household of faith.
Throughout the Bible we are taught, and the apostle Paul says it so clearly here, that in spite of the fact that there are problems that we can’t fully solve. In spite of that fact that we may never fix all of the world’s problems. In spite of all of that, you and I are responsible to do what we can for someone, somewhere.
With the time we have and the opportunities we have, we can’t shut our eyes to the needs of others. We can’t let the magnitude of the problems around us cause us to shut down. We can’t allow any of that to cause us to miss the opportunity to do something for someone.
Basically you can boil down what Paul is saying here to one phrase:
Do for one what you wish you could do for everyone.
Say that out loud with me.
One of the reasons that I love this phrase is that is flies in the face of something that all of us heard when we were children. And when you heard this as a child it made you mad.
You know what I’m talking about, right? You’d go to your teacher and say, “I’d like to do ____________.” They would say back, “If I let you do that then I’d have to let everybody do it.”
You ask someone else for something and they say, “If I let you have one, then I have to give everybody one.”
And throughout our childhood people used this ridiculous phrase, “If I do for one, then I have to do for everyone.”
And I know what you thought when they said that, because I thought the same thing. When they said: “If I let you go, then I have to let everybody go.” And what did you think? “No you don’t. You can just let me go. And here’s the deal: You don’t tell anybody and I won’t tell anybody. Who’s going to know?”
I mean, where in the world did we come up with the idea that if you let me go then everybody has to go, or if you give me one then you have to give everybody one. Where did that come from? I mean, I don’t see anybody standing here with a gun to your head. Just let me go. Make me the exception. You don’t have to do for everyone what you want to do for the one. Just do it for the one, right?
But we run into a problem here because so many of us bring this whole idea, that if we’re going to do for one we’ve got to do for everyone, into how we view the world with all of its problems and we end up doing nothing. We miss this powerful idea, that your responsibility, and my responsibility is to do for one what we wish we could do for everyone.
And I know that so many of us have been so overwhelmed by so much for so long that we have come to the conclusion that I’m not going to do for anyone because I can’t do for everyone. But if you’re a Christian, you can’t do that because you and I have a responsibility. We are not to become weary in doing good, but as we have opportunity we need to do good to who we can do good to. We need to do for one what we wish we could do for everyone.
Now I know that some of you are pushing back at this whole idea because you think, “Well, that’s not fair.” If you are thinking that let me give you the advice I give my kids: Don’t worry about fair. Life’s not fair. God’s not fair. Momma wasn’t fair. Daddy’s not fair. Forget fair. Fair ended in the garden of Eden.
It’s not about being fair. It’s about doing the right thing. And if you try and be fair then you end up doing nothing because you can’t do it for everyone.
Do for one what you wish you could do for everyone.
My prayer for you this year is that sometime this year God will nudge you. You’re going to see that one single mom, you’re going to see that one struggling family, you’re going to see that one group of kids, you’re going to see that one guy in your office, you’re going to see that one children’s home, you’re going to see that one individual or group, and God’s going to nudge you and say, “That’s your one. Now I want you to do for that one what you wish you could do for everyone.”
And don’t use the excuse that since I can’t do it for everybody I’m going to do it for nobody. Do for one what you wish you could do for everyone.
I want to give you three tips to remember when you feel that nudge that will help with this.
1. Go deep rather than wide.
Our tendency is go wide not deep, and the reason we do that is because it’s just easier. We say, “I’m going to give you $5 and you $10 and I’m going to pray with you once and I’m going pray with you once and I’m going to pray with you once.” And I’m going to feel good but I’m not going to make that much of a difference. To do for one what you wish you could do for everyone means that you have to go deep, rather than wide.
In other words, if you have a passion for the poor don’t just have a general concern for the poor. Find a person or two who is in utter poverty and go deep with them.
2. Go long-term rather than short-term.
In other words, this is a big time commitment. In terms of making a difference requires time. It can’t be hit and run. That’s why we’ve partnered with Alex’s House Orphanage because we know that over time we will make a greater impact. To do for one what you wish you could do for everyone go long term rather than short term.
3. Go time, not just money.
It’s easy to give money. But making a real difference means you need to give more than just money. You need to give time. That’s why we aren’t just sending money to Haiti, but we are taking trips there. And, we are going a to be inviting each of you to give some of your time and go with us to Haiti sometime.
See, as overwhelmed as we are with things we can’t do anything about we need to remember that our responsibility is to do for one what we wish we could do for everyone. To go deep not wide. To go long-term rather than short-term. And to go time, not just money.
So here’s what i want you to do: I want you to be on the lookout for the one, and be looking for that nudge. This year I want you to pay attention. This year, I don’t want you be overwhelmed. This year I want you to look for the one because your responsibility is to do for the one what you wish you could do for everyone.
As followers of Jesus we can’t run and hide. We can’t be overwhelmed. We can’t become weary at doing good. We need to use our time and opportunities, as God nudges us this year, to do for one what you wish you could do for everyone.
And here’s what I think: If everybody did that, it might change the whole world. If everybody did for one what we wish we could do for everyone, then we might change the world. But here’s what I know for certain: If you do for one what you wish you could do for everyone then you will certainly change somebody’s world, and I’m pretty sure it will change your world as well.
So here’s the commitment that I want you to make. Commit to being sensitive to the nudge and do for one what you wish you could do for everyone.
