Open Hands

Sunday, July 12, 2015

A one-off sermon for summer. Next week we’re beginning a new sermon series called, “Living Dangerously.”

A week ago, a Minnesota park ranger showed my family and me a moose foot. Giant toes, thick leg bone. It was very impressive. Extremely useful for holding up many hundreds of pounds of moose-flesh, as well as moving around and protecting it.

A human hand is slightly more complex than that moose’s foot.

  1. Embrace. Open hands on the ends of open arms. Welcoming. No sign of malice or evil intent. Hands up and extended. “Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. 2Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. 3Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.” Hebrews 13:1-3
  2. Serve. Like a waiter. Hands and hearts open to meeting the needs of others. Is there anything we wouldn’t do to help someone else? A culture of service and volunteerism. Ephesians 6:7 “Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people” and 1 Peter 4:10-11, “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 11If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.”
  3. Invite. Beckoning hand. We can use our hands to call someone over to us, to have them join us. From our position as followers of Christ, our best invitations come after a warm, welcoming embrace and sacrificial service. “Show me you care, and then I’ll listen to you.” Inviting people to “taste and see that the Lord is good” will be most effective when they can see that goodness in us, first. The testimony of a changed life, a concerned heart, an open hand is so very powerful.
  4. Receive.Expecting hands . . . Gimme. God pours so much blessing into our lives that it’s impossible to grab it all. He is a generous God who gives to all without finding fault, a father who gives good gifts to His children. One of the sermon lines that has stuck with me for years comes from a preacher named Tommy Oaks who has preached on the blessings of giving and receiving, quoting Jesus. “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (from Acts 20:35). It is MORE blessed to give than to receive, which means it is also blessed to receive. We ought not feel guilty about what God has given to us. We ought not deprive people the opportunity to be blessed to give to us, stealing their joy and blessing.
  5. Give. Extended to share. “Do not forget to do good and to sharewithothers, for with such sacrifices God is pleased,” Hebrews 13:16. Fellowship, communicate, participate, associate. The verb has to do with a common experience—we share together, providing for each other. In Acts 4 and 5, the believers took care of one another materially, physically. No one was left behind or went without. The apostle Paul was quick to express his gratitude for gifts given to him so that he could continue in his ministry. He pours into our lives so that we can share with others. We are not the end of the line . . . we are a distribution center. It comes to us so that it goes out to others.
  6. Protect. Karate hands, defensive position. Psalm 10 says that God works to defend the fatherless and oppressed. In 8:31, Ezra recorded that “The hand of our God was on us, and he protected us from enemies and bandits along the way.” Several Old Testament passages highlight and condemn the failure of God’s people to defend and protect those who are otherwise vulnerable and defenseless. We must be concerned about those people and work to protect them. I will stop you from hurting what I care about. I will protect those who cannot protect themselves, those God has entrusted to me.
  7. Discipline. Gibbs’ hands. Correction is necessary. Solomon urged parents to discipline and correct their children so that the children would not perish (Proverbs 19:18). No one likes it, but correction and rebuke are necessary, and, as most parents understand, they are prompted by love and concern. Thoughtful discipline can bring about positive ends, meaningful, righteous lives.
  8. Praise. Uplifted, connecting hands. I lift up holy hands.I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. Psalm 63:4. Psalm 134:2, “Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the Lord.” Why raise hands in worship? It’s a way of reaching out to God or lifting Him up. It’s is a way to show the desires of your heart in a physical ay—we reach out to our Father in Heaven to be picked up, to be held, to be comforted, to receive what God has in mind for us, to show that we recognize Him as the source for everything we need.