Honor Your Limits
-
Honor: Honoring Your Limits
Romans 12:3-5 (NLT) - Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.
Job 14:5 (NKJV) - Since his days are determined, the number of his months is with You; You have appointed his limits, so that he cannot pass.
Honor (Kavod) - “To be heavy, to give weight to.”
Point 1: HUMILITY opens me up to the POSSIBILITY of what can only be found in COMMUNITY
Romans 12:3a (NLT) - Don’t think you are better than you really are.
Pride Convinces Me I Don’t Need Help from Others.
Point 2: HONESTY acknowledges my CAPACITY and God given ABILITY so I can live with CLARITY
Romans 12:3b (NLT) - Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.
An honest evaluation of your life will save you from a lot of frustration in your life.
2 Corinthians 10:12-13 (NKJV) - For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise. We, however, will not boast beyond measure, but within the limits of the sphere which God appointed us—a sphere which especially includes you.
Honesty about my capacity and ability helps me to live with clarity among my community.
Point 3: Honoring the LIMITS in my life, exposes me to God’s limitless GIFTS for my life
Romans 12:6a (NLT) - In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well.
Honoring my limits eliminates the lie that I must do all things well.
Romans 12:6-8 (NLT) - So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.
Point 4: When I HONOR my limits, I take the limits OFF my community
Romans 12:9-10 (NLT) - Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection,and take delight in honoring each other.
Romans 12:13 (NLT) - When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality
Romans 12:16 (NLT) - Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all!
Romans 12:17-18 (NLT) - Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.
-
The notes of my message are in the YouVersion.
We call it the Bible app.
You can go there, download it, go to Events, Real Life Church Sacramento, and all my notes are there to encourage and strengthen you during the week.
You can share those, put them on Instagram, make them your own, do your own Bible study.
There's also a five-day devotional there that we've prepared so you can apply what you've learned today.
How many know we've gotta be not only hearers but doers of the word?
And so those are there to encourage you
in your walk with God.
We're kicking off a new series called Honor.
Everybody say honor.
Honor.
And we're gonna look at Romans 12, verses three to five.
But before we get there, there's a very familiar verse that we all read or we all know, and it's Romans 12.
We read this and we tend to stop, but it says this, Paul says this about being a living sacrifice.
He says, "'I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, "'by the mercies of God.'"
to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
How many of you guys like to worship?
Do not be conformed to the world.
How many know if we keep our worship right, we won't conform to the world?
but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing you may discern what is the will of God.
So my worship helps me or prevents me from conforming to the world and helps me discover the will of God for my life, which is his good and acceptable and perfect will.
Romans 12, as it goes on, reminds us that honoring our God-given limits and celebrating the gifts of others, it's not weakness, it's worship.
And Paul is calling us in this chapter to be living sacrifices.
How many of you, God has your surrender?
He has your yes, right?
That's a living sacrifice.
You're fully surrendered to God, not by striving beyond our limits, but by embracing the unique way that God has made each and every one of us.
How many know we are not meant to do everything?
We're not meant to be everything for everyone.
Instead, God has designed us to need each other.
In the body of Christ, each person is gifted differently.
And when we honor our own limits and we celebrate the strengths that God has placed in others, we reflect true worship and build a stronger, more beautiful community.
Look around you for just a moment.
How do you know God is building a beautiful community among us?
Romans 12, three to five says this.
Because of the privilege and authority that God has given me, I give each of you this warning.
So he goes from telling us how to worship and how to be a living sacrifice, how to discover the will of God to a warning.
And he says this, don't think you are better than you really are.
How do you know if we worship ourselves, come on, that's not going to be a good thing.
Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith that God has given us.
Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ's body.
We are many parts of one body and we all belong to each other.
How many are thankful that you don't have every gift?
But together we have everything we need.
Yes.
We've all experienced our own limits, our limitations as human beings, as men and women.
In my early 40s, I officially announced my retirement from church softball.
What I discovered, especially during the night games, something happened when I went from 30 to 40 during the night.
Now I was a decent baseball player, softball player, I could catch, but at night, somehow in my 40s, I lost my depth perception.
So what would be a normal routine pop fly would end up going over my head and end up a triple for the other team.
How many know they stick that guy, come on, in right field?
Secondly, I discovered in my 40s, when I hit what would normally be a triple in my 30s, in my 40s, it became a double.
The problem was when I would hit the ball in my 40s, my mind would say, that's a triple.
And as I was rounding second, my legs would say, where are you going?
There was one time there was two outs.
I was trying to be a hero.
I hit, my mind said, that's a triple.
I rounded second.
I said, I got this.
I got halfway.
My leg said, no, you don't.
I looked down and instead of seeing nice padded dirt where I could slide and be safe, the dirt was cracked.
There was no dirt.
I went in hard, sprained my wrist, got all scratched up, was called out.
Come on, the entire team was mad at me because we lost the game and I went from hero to zero.
That day I would begin to acknowledge my physical limits and recognize it was time to find another hobby.
We all experience limits every day, speed limits.
How many like to honor the speed limit?
We have time limits that help us manage our productivity.
We have screen time limits.
If you guys remember our digital fast where we got off our phones, there are spending limits that encourage wise stewardship.
There are mental and emotional limits why we have breaks at work.
There are moral limits that give us an internal sense of right and wrong, and we have relational limits.
Some call them boundaries, which help keep our relationships, the expectations appropriate, and they protect our well-being and create mutual respect.
In Job chapter 14, verse five, we see him expressing his pain.
How many know sometimes limits can be painful?
He's expressing his pain to God about the brevity of life.
Look at verse five.
He says this, since his days, talking about man, since his days are determined, the number of his months is with you, talking about God, and God, you have appointed his limits.
So here's Job saying, God, you have given us limits so that he cannot pass.
You see, when I honor the limits that God has set for me, I am submitted to a greater authority.
And when I submit to a greater authority, how many know we can experience safety?
We can experience security.
We can experience God's protection in our life, health, sober-mindedness, humility, and community.
When we honor our limits, we also honor God.
The word honor, I gave you the definition at the series at the beginning of the year, but it's the word kavod.
It means to be heavy or to give weight to.
Honor means assigning someone value, respect, or significance in your life.
The Bible actually assigns people to honor in our lives so we don't have to guess about it.
Honor, in other words, is an assignment from the Lord, not an option from the Lord.
The Bible tells us to honor our parents.
It's one of the 10 commandments.
It tells us to honor the older generations.
It tells us to honor our authorities.
It tells us to honor spiritual leaders.
It tells us to honor one another.
Honor, it's important to know, is a divine principle that reflects God's divine order in our relationship, our relationship with God.
How many know we honored God in worship today?
We honored him.
We honor our relationship with others and we honor relationship or the view of ourselves.
In the context of this message today, honoring our limits
in life helps us to maximize the gifts in people that God has placed in our lives, whether it be at work, whether it be in our neighborhood, or whether it be here at church, or in a small group.
Without honor in your life, relationships suffer, communities weaken, and divine blessings can be hindered.
With honor, however, relationships can flourish.
Communities are strengthened and divine blessings are released.
This week, I was asked to open up in prayer for the State of Natomas address, and I was able to pray for our business leaders, our community leaders, our civic leaders.
Now, I might not always see eye to eye, but how do you know I can honor them by praying for them?
And we flourish because of that.
We're strengthened because of that.
And I believe it releases God's blessing.
When I fail to honor the God-given limitations in my life, it often leads to the frustrations I have in life.
At work, anybody ever been frustrated at work before?
Come on, frustrated in your home, frustrated in the church.
In other words, when I try to handle things on my own, when I try to carry the weight of heavy burdens all by myself, when I'm trying to walk through a hard season, anybody ever walk through a hard season?
Amen.
and I'm trying to get through it alone, oftentimes what happens is I'm confronted by my limitations.
And when I'm confronted by my limitations, I have a choice.
How many of you guys like choices?
And here's your choice.
Are you going to choose to be frustrated by your limitations or will you be motivated to look outside of yourself to others and plug yourself into community or small groups so other people can add to your life, come on, and take you beyond your limits?
How many know, how many know, listen, we were not meant to do life alone.
Leads me to my first point today.
Humility opens me up to the possibility of what can only be found in community.
You're gonna hear this time and time again.
We're encouraging you.
to move from the crowd to community.
Don't just settle for the Sunday crowd.
Plug in to community.
Why?
Because when we humble ourselves, how many know sometimes we've got to humble ourselves?
It opens me up to the possibility of what can only be found in community.
Verse three of Romans 12 says, don't think you're better than you really are.
Everybody say, uh-oh.
Uh-oh.
Other translation, the Amplified says it this way, I warn everyone among you not to estimate and think of himself more highly than he ought, not to have an exaggerated opinion of his own importance.
Anybody ever meet somebody that felt like they were God's gift to the world?
They didn't need, come on, they didn't need you and they didn't need anybody else.
The Orthodox Jewish Bible says you should avoid a false sense of superiority in your thinking.
Now, Paul isn't saying think less of yourself.
What he's actually saying is think accurately about yourself.
When I'm thinking accurately about myself, I start living with humility.
Anybody ever look in the mirror before?
Come on, it can be humbling.
Come on, I'm just saying, I'm 55, I'm losing hair on the back of my head.
That's humbling.
Got wrinkles.
Come on, got bags under my eye.
It's humbling.
Reminds me life is short.
And so is my hair, amen.
And when I humble myself,
This is where honoring our limits begin.
When I honor the limits that God has set in my life, it humbles me so that I can acknowledge my need for God and my need for others.
Come on, we get it mixed up here.
I need God, but I don't need anybody else.
I don't need church.
Come on, I can do church by myself.
Can I just tell you?
No, you can't.
Come on, how many know you need other people in your life?
And it's easy.
I would say it's not easy.
But listen, we fool ourselves by saying like, hey, I'm not going to be involved.
I'm not going to be engaged.
I don't need all of that.
And we stagnate in our walk with God.
Because how many know it takes people in your life to draw the things that God has for you out of your life?
In other words, it causes me to look outside of my limits to the gifts of grace that God has put around me in the form of communities in our context here as a church.
We have communities, we have small groups, and it's in these places where I find strength in others to take me beyond my limitations.
God did not call you to live frustrated.
He did not call you even, listen, to live limited.
The only way that you can limit yourself if you limit people's influence in your life.
If you fail to honor the people around you, listen, they'll carry no weight with you.
And how many know weight gives us momentum in life?
Come on, if you have somebody, listen, that will give, you'll honor their advice when it comes to your finances.
Maybe you're not good at your finances.
Statistics tell us most people aren't.
But if I have a financial advisor that knows more than me and I honor his advice in my life, how many know that weight can carry me over the hump?
It can help me save.
It can help me invest.
It can help me do all those things.
Pride, however, convinces me I don't need help from anybody else.
I don't need help from others.
Pride says, I got this.
I don't need anyone.
Humility says, I need you.
I can't do this on my own.
Pride says, I'm good.
Not Mark good, but I'm good.
Humility says, I can be better with your help.
Pride says, when I take care of this, I'm going to be just fine.
Humility says, I'm struggling to conquer this on my own.
I need to lean on my community for prayer.
I need to lean on my community for strength.
I need to lean on my community for help.
I can't do this walk all by myself.
In Exodus chapter 18, there's this exchange between Moses and his father-in-law, Jethro.
And Jethro is visiting Moses and Moses takes his father-in-law to work.
And Jethro notices that Moses is spending hours, long hours,
personally, all by himself, judging every dispute among the people.
The lines are endless and he's going from the morning all the way to the evening.
And Jethro is noticing how overwhelming and unsustainable this is.
And Jethro offers Moses some wise counsel in Exodus 18, 17 to 18.
He says, Moses' father-in-law replied this to Moses.
He said, what you are doing is not good.
You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out.
The work is too heavy for you.
I want everybody to say this.
You cannot handle it alone.
Come on, turn to your neighbor and say, you cannot.
And yet I believe the majority of believers live out their Christianity
And in Jethro's words, he says, this is not good.
Genesis 2.18 says, it is not good for man to be alone.
And God noticed it right away.
Listen, that he created a knucklehead.
and that he was gonna have to create a helpmate, come on, for him to complete him.
And all my women said?
Amen, because he who finds a wife finds a?
Because it's not good for man to be alone.
And many of us, don't look at your spouse, it's all right.
But yet many of us attempt to live out our faith outside the community of faith.
We try to do our Christian life alone instead of with others, and what happens is we allow life to wear us down.
We allow life to wear us out because we fail to honor and give weight to others' influence in our lives.
And a lot of us, we wait so long until we're in a crisis.
Come on, how many know we're not supposed to live always from crisis?
Now, if you're in crisis, yeah, find community.
But listen, community and small groups aren't just because you need help.
It's because you need to be made strong.
Because you're incomplete without other people in your life.
God never called us to live the Christian life all by ourselves.
But it's easy to think that we're doing better than we really are when we're not living or walking with humility and connected to community.
And Jethro, in this passage, you can look
down in verses 20 to 23, I'm not gonna take time to go there, but he basically tells Moses, you gotta get some small group leaders, you gotta break these people down into small groups, and when he does that, you can look at this in Exodus 18, 20 to 23,
Listen, they begin to experience something powerful in community.
It says this in verses 20 to 23, here are the things that happen when people step into a tighter community.
It says this, we get help carrying the load.
How many could use some help carrying the load?
It says life gets easier.
How many could use life getting a little easier?
You're able to endure the pressures.
How many would like to share some of the pressure with some other folks?
Our homes get healthier.
filled with peace.
You see, pride isolates, but honor multiplies the strength of community in my life because I've humbled myself to explore the possibility of what God has for me in community.
You guys still with me this morning?
Leads me to my second point.
Honesty acknowledges my capacity.
Anybody ever been maxed out before?
Honesty acknowledges my capacity and God-given ability so I can live with clarity.
How many know clear is kind?
Verse 3b, I'll tell you what I'm talking about.
Romans 12, verse 3, I call it B. It says, be honest and
in evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith that God has given us.
You see, honoring your limits starts with being honest about what God has entrusted to you.
What he's entrusted to you, come on, it's not exactly what he's entrusted to me.
How many know he's entrusted different things to all of us?
Listen, the important thing is this, is to be faithful with whatever God has given you to be faithful in.
An honest evaluation of your life will save you from a lot of frustration in life.
In other words, God will never call you to win the world.
He'll never call you to build a business.
He'll never call you to chase a dream while losing your family.
Come on, why losing important relationships in your life?
And yet there are many who have crashed and burned.
I'm talking about Christians and lost their families in the name of mission, in the name of work, in the name of more money because it wasn't measured.
Or let me just say it this way.
They didn't have boundaries and they didn't honor their limits.
And how many know when you push past your God-given limits, come on, it can be disaster if you're not leaning on other people.
You've got, in this next season that God is bringing us into, you have to know your measure.
Measuring yourselves, Paul says, by the faith that God has given you.
Honest faith brings clarity to my current capacity and my ability.
In other words, and this is the thing about faith, usually when we talk about faith, we're talking about bigger things.
Better, expansion, right?
More, more, everybody say more.
When we talk about faith, we're talking about grandiose dreams and all of these things.
This is not what Paul is referring to in this passage.
He's saying, listen, understand the measure of faith that God has given you right now, right here, right now.
In other words, faith doesn't always mean I need to do more of something.
Come on.
How many of you have a hard time saying no?
Come on.
You have a hard time saying no.
Come on, you're volunteering.
Come on.
You're maxed out.
You come to church, right?
You're already extended.
You're already extended to the max, and then we come and we say, thank you for your time, treasure, and talent.
We need more children workers, right?
How many of you know we gotta know our measure?
We've got to know what to say yes to and what to say no to.
Understanding the measure of my faith may mean I need to do less of something.
Has anybody ever had to trust God to do less besides me?
cut back, prune this, prune that, and see what I can do.
How many know, come on, pruning isn't always pretty, but it'll produce an abundant harvest in your life.
I just butchered a bunch of little bushes in my backyard.
Amy said, that one's gonna take three years to come back.
I said, in Jesus' name, no, it's not.
No, I didn't say that.
Part of me didn't know what I was doing because I took this thing down to the root.
This tree was, this little bush was turning into a tree and I'm like, no, you're not.
And then, and now like I went out there, I went out there yesterday and there's like little shoots coming off, little, it's going to be a nice little bush, but I had to prune it.
It also, knowing the measure of your faith also may mean that you need to do more of the right thing and less of the wrong thing.
We all have limits.
I'm not judging your limits.
Some of us, listen, all you have is a Sunday limit.
That's okay.
That's a place to start unless you've been there for 25 years.
right?
This is okay.
This is your limit.
You're mad.
That's great.
Understand the season that you're in.
What I'm trying to do today is get to challenge you.
Listen, you might come into church like this and you might need to scale back so you can do more of the right thing and less of the wrong thing.
Other, you've been like this and
And God is trying to say, hey, not this, but how about this?
How about just taking that step?
We all have limits.
Maybe your faith looks like a 9.30 on a Sunday morning.
Maybe it looks like attending a service and serving during a service.
Maybe it looks like attending, serving, and going to a small group.
Three things.
You've got to know your measure.
Right now, at this 9.30 service, my measurement is about eight by eight.
That's all I'm responsible for in this service, the message.
But how many of you know, listen,