Sermon Notes
How
Can I Make a Difference in the World?
Steve W. Reeves
INTRODUCTION:
A. My young
friend’s voice was filled with worry when
he called me early one morning. “What’s wrong,”
I
asked. “We think my dad has committed
suicide. We can’t find him anywhere. His
wallet and phone are here and the police
have just found his car parked by the
bridge over the (Arkansas) river.”
1. I told him I would immediately go to his
grandmother’s house where the family was
gathering. As I drove I thought about his
dad. He was an army veteran from the
Vietnam era. Due to injuries he had
received in the military he walked with a
pronounced limp and suffered from
continual pain. He had recently been diagnosed
with leukemia and was undergoing heavy
doses of chemotherapy. I didn’t know it at
the time but I later learned that he was
deeply in debt.
2. I sat with the family all morning.
Shortly after lunch we received the official notice
that this man’s body had been found in
the river. I conducted his funeral a few days
later.
3. What haunted me then still haunts me
today. I had seen this man at church the
Sunday
before. He had worn a large cowboy hat to cover his head that was now
hairless as a result of the chemotherapy.
I told him I wanted to come by and visit
with him. He said, “that would be nice.’
Now, here it was the middle of the week and
I had not yet gone by. I will never know
if I could have made a difference or not.
B. One
of the greatest questions we face is, “How can I make a difference in the world?”
1. How can I help people who are hurting?
2. How can I encourage someone who is
discouraged?
3. What can I do to help a young person who
is struggling with their faith or someone
who is older who has lost their spouse
or who is dealing with a serious illness.
4. Is there anything I can do to help the
person who has lost their job and doesn’t
know where the next pay check is going
to come from?
5. How can I help people through the
various transitions of life?
C. In
the book of Proverbs God provides us with some very practical principles for
making a difference in the lives of
others.
I. BE DEPENDABLE
A. Proverbs 17:17 says, “A friend loves at
all times, and a brother is born for
adversity.”
1.
The word “love” in this passage is the same word used to describe the friendship
between Jonathan and David in 1
Samuel 20:17 - “He loved David as he
loved
his own soul.”
2. Jonathan was a friend who was dependable
to the extent he risked his own life to
protect his friend. Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than
this, that one lay
down his life for his friends” (John
15:13).
B. Who do people need when life falls
apart?
1. They need someone they can depend on.
a. My closest friend was one of my
club brothers from Harding. He was
diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. As he was undergoing treatment he
became very weak and sick. I
drove to Clinton, Mississippi, to spend the day
with him. When I pulled into his
driveway he was waiting for me. I was barely
out of my car when he ran and
fell into my arms in tears saying, “I knew you’d
come.”
b. Jesus told the story of a young
man who had “fair-weather” friends. In the
parable of the Prodigal Son
(Luke 15:11-32) he told of a young man who
rebelled against his father and
took his share of inheritance money and went
to a far off country. As long as
he had money he had a lot of friends – or were
they really his friends? When
the money ran out his friends ran out too.
2. They need someone who has “been
there.”
a. Someone who has endured hard times and
come through them.
b. There are people in this church
who know what hard times are like.
1.) They know what it is to
struggle with sin.
2.) They have known what it is
like to have a serious, life-threatening illness.
3.) They have dealt with family
conflict and marital problems.
4.) There are people here who
know what it’s like to have your heart broken
and to cope with
disappointment and bitterness.
c. You can make a difference in the
lives of others by being a dependable source
of love and compassion. The
church is here to be a house of redemption and
reconciliation.
3. Proverbs 19:22 says, “What is desired
in a man is steadfast love, and a poor
man is better than a liar”. The
phrase “steadfast love” comes from a Hebrew
word, “hesed” meaning radical
loyalty or covenant love. It is the same loyalty
God demonstrated to His people over and over again. This is the type of
person
we need to be. One who loves with
steadfastness and loyalty.
II. BE HONEST
A. John Boone shared a story with me this
past week about a retired baseball coach
who was speaking at a national coaches convention.
When the old coach stood to
speak he had a home plate hanging around
his neck. He spoke for several minutes
before he made any reference to it. He
asked that group, “In little league how wide
is home plate?” The answer was seventeen
inches. He then asked, the same about
Babe Ruth league, high school, college,
minor league and major league baseball.
In
each instance the answer was the same, “seventeen inches.” The coach then
talked about how we expect the pitcher
to throw the ball over home plate. If he
cannot do it we do not widen the plate.
He said, “life is like that. You never
accomplish anything by changing the
rules or compromising standards. He was
advocating honesty and integrity.
B. A person who makes a difference in the
world is one who is honest. When you
need a new heart, you don’t need a pharmacist
to give you pain medication that
masks the problem; you need a surgeon to
cut you open and deal with the problem.
It may not be comfortable but it is a
wound that is worth it.
1. “Whoever conceals his transgressions
will not prosper, but he who confesses
and forsakes them will obtain mercy”
(Proverbs. 28:13).
2. So often we do not share our
struggles with temptation and sin because of fear.
We are afraid people will not accept
us if they know what we are really like.
We’re afraid that people won’t like
us or be friends with us if they know our
Problems.
3 The people who make a difference in
the lives of others are those who are
honest. Proverbs 27:17 – “Iron
sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another”
4. Honesty is the key to making a
difference in the lives of others. It is not
maintaining the “status quo” or
possessing a false image. Transparent, heartfelt
honesty is the key.
III. BE TRUSTWORTHY
A. Are you the type of person people can share
a confidence with and know it will go
no further?
1. Three preachers met regularly for
lunch. They decided it would be a good
thing to talk about their
temptations and confess their sins to each other. The first
one admitted to being tempted by
greed. The second one admitted to being
tempted by wine. The third one spoke
up and said, “I hate to tell you but I’m an
incurable gossip.”
2. Proverbs 16:28 says, “A dishonest man
spreads strife, and a whisperer
separates close friends.”
3. 1 Timothy 5:13 warns against those
who are idle, who go around from house to
house being gossips and busybodies.
No one needs a friend like that and you do
not need to be that type of person.
B. All of us need a friendship like Andy
and Barney. In spite of all of Barney’s
bravado, all of his missteps and foul ups
Andy never lost faith in his deputy. He
would go out of the way to keep Barney
from being embarrassed or to make him
look good. That’s a good description of
a trustworthy friend.
IV BE CONSIDERATE
A. If we are not careful we can be some of
the most inconsiderate people in the
world.
1. Howard Norton tells of going into a
restaurant in Oklahoma City and asking the
waitress, “What is your hardest
day?” She said, “That’s easy. It’s the Sunday
after church crowd. I don’t know if
it is because of the sermon but they are the
sourest bunch all week and they are
the worst tippers.”
2. I do not think we mean to be this
way. We are not heartless but sometimes we
are thoughtless. We do not think of others
with the consideration we should.
B. I recall a prayer in this pulpit by our
late brother Wyatt Jones in which he prayed
for the clerk at the grocery store who
was a single mom supporting a child. He
prayed for the waitress at the
restaurant struggling to make ends meet for her
family. He prayed that we might treat
people with greater consideration and
friendship.
CONCLUSION:
A.
James Taylor had some good theology when he asked, “When you’re down and
troubled and you need a helping hand, and
nothing is going your way. Close your
eyes and think of me and soon I will be
there, to brighten, even your darkest night.
You just call out my name, and you know
where ever I am I'll come running to see
you again. Winter, spring, summer, or fall,
all you have to do is call and I'll be there.
You've got a friend.”
B. In
a few weeks some of you will graduate and move to other locations where
you will begin jobs. Some are getting
married. Some are expecting children. Some of
you will be entering college in the fall.
Wherever you go there are people who need
you to make a difference in their life.
C. You
may be in need of someone who can make a difference in your life. There are
people here who would like to walk with
you. People who are willing to stand by your
side and listen to your story. We have
qualified people who can help with a number of
different problems. We have people who care
and a Savior who will strengthen you
when you’re down and troubled and need a
helping hand. We invite you to come to
Him today.
