Reset - Week 3 - The CORE - Pastor Mike Novotny
Reset
Week 3 - The CORE
Pastor Mike Novotny
Good morning. Happy Sunday, and welcome back to week number three. Our last week in the sermon series called “Reset”.
Way, way back in the year about 400 BC, the famous Greek physician Hypocrates discovered or proposed. What some people think was the first-ever personality test?
This is the guy after whom the Hippocratic Oath, is named. I got a brilliant mind back in ancient Greek culture and he proposed that based on the level of fluids within your body. That's what makes you distinct. From your brother or your sister. Your mother, your father, or your neighbor. If our thought that you could actually measure the level of blood or bile or phlegm and based on how much or how little you had that would explain why you Behaved like you.
Now, here we are 2400 years later and few people. Test a level of their bile or phlegm. To try to figure out their personality, but we still are infatuated. With that. Simple question, who? Who are you?
So there are so many tools and tests that many of us have had to take at work or at school or maybe even here at church How many of you have heard of the Myers-Briggs test before? It's on the version of Hypocrates theory. How about the Clifton strengths or strengths finder test? Have you taken that? It's okay to confess this in church home. If you have ever been on Facebook and taken the which Disney Princess are you?
Personality test, a lot of hands for that one. There's the disc profile, there's the Enneagram. There's the love languages test when it comes to measuring how you give and receive love. There's all these different tools that try to help us really answer this fundamental question, what makes you different than your neighbor? What makes you distinct. Who, who are you?
Yeah, we are no fools to try to figure out the answer to that question.
In fact, I've taken notes at home are here in church. I'd love for you to write down this. Great question that every wise person needs to answer who are you?
Not, who are y'all? As a collective as if all humans were the same. But who are you individually? What makes you different than your parents? Or your siblings. Your fellow Christian or the person you're raising the person you're dating, the person. You're married to.
I would propose that the wisest people think a lot about that question because the stakes are so high. There's so much misunderstanding and frustration and unrealistic expectations when you assume that everyone is just like you.
And there's so much potential and so much beauty and so much growth. When you come to recognize the differences between people and lean in, To their god-given strengths.
For example, parents are raised in two kids.
If they just assume and expect that those kids are exactly like each other and exactly like their mother and father, mom and dad are in for a very, very difficult journey.
Parents, ever had a kid and just look at your spouse and said, who is this child? Where, where did this come from? Because they don't think like, you. They don't see the world like you. They might have your nose or your eyes, or little bits of your personality. But sometimes apples fall really far from the tree. And if you're going to parent that kid well and not shove every child into the same box,
Just ask a question, who are you?
People here today are married or dating someone right now. Yeah, lots of us, I would say So you got to figure this out fast, the person you are dating. Your partner is not just a different gendered version of you.
I don't think like you, I don't see the world like you. I don't share the same strengths have the same expectations and if you're experience real unity. You have to recognize the difference and the diversity of person that you're with just just expect and impose your personality on another human or vice versa and it will backfire but figure out the opposites. And why they're really both beautiful things and maybe then opposites will attract.
In a family will be stronger than could be the never before worked places care about personality tests because they recognize this principle and sports teams. Recognize that not every athlete is the same. It is so important in every area of life to answer this really basic, but profound question: who are you?
It turns out when you grab the Bible that God is asking that question, too.
You know, in the Bible, God says that we have a lot in common We humans.
All of us came from the same Source when God spoke and he created us. We'll have the same principle problem that we've fallen short of God's expectations, we need forgiveness. We all have the same solution in Jesus the cross. The God, Who Loved the world as a collective. The Jesus who came is the Lamb of God to die for the sins of the world. All of us. But the Bible at the same time would recognize that even though we have these biggest things in common, there's a lot of things. To make us very different.
In fact, there are four famous sections of the Bible, Romans 12. 1 Corinthians 12, 1 Peter chapter 4, in Ephesians 4 where God actually digs into the differences and their importance.
He knows that if we forget about this, we're going to mess a whole bunch of stuff up. If we're not aware of how we're wired, we'll be blind to our biggest Temptations and we'll miss our greatest opportunities to bless others. He knows that the church is going to implode unless we recognize this principle that we are a part of the same body in Jesus, but We are different parts within that body.
And so today, I want to turn to one of those sections of Scriptures and help you answer this huge great question: who are you?
It is the person next to you.
And who's the son that you're raising or the woman that you're married to? The pastor, who's pastoring, you. The person in your life group. Grab God's word, dig into one very powerful verse and see if we can answer that question with God's help. Who are you?
So I just want to tackle one verse today. It's from the book of Ephesians chapter 4, verse 16.
First Century, Christian wrote these words.
He said, from him, It's from Jesus Christ. The whole body that's referenced to all Christians, the whole body joined and held together by every supporting ligament grows. And builds itself up in love. As each part does its work.
Now, it's kind of a complex sentence. There's a lot of little clauses and phrases and a bunch of commas. So let me underline the really big idea. The main Idea of this verse, it's where Paul says the whole body. It's all of us.
Grows.
So there's really a section about spiritual growth. How do you get stronger in your faith in Jesus? Did you know? And this is just like, Some pastor, trying to hype you up with positive spirituality. Did you know that God actually wants this year to be your best spiritual year ever?
Y'all believe that that God. He doesn't just want the status quo. He doesn't want your faith to dip. Like God is working crazy hard to make this the best spiritual year that you've ever had.
Like those over regrets the shame the guilt he wants you to get past it faster than ever before those old Temptations that just seem to know your name. He wants you to fight them. And have more victory over them than ever before. He wants more love, more joy, more peace, more spiritual fruit. God wants the whole church to grow. So Paul's talking about here, it's not talking about numerical Church growth. We've got to fill the seats and add services and build buildings knowing context, he's talking about spiritual maturity. In Jesus, resisting the bad. Leading into the good God wants that for you.
But what I find so, so fascinating is that the Apostle Paul can't just say that and end the verse the body grows period.
Instead at the end of the verse and in the very middle of the verse and at the very start of the verse he adds all these little clauses to help you and help me understand. How does that happen?
How do we grow as Christians? How do we turn the corner against Temptations? How do we fight sin and find our peace in Jesus? I'm going to show you three things. In this one verse as Paul explains how that happens.
The first thing I want to share with you is actually right at the end. I'll underline it for you. Paul says the whole body grows as each part, does its work.
So notice how he's moving from like the community, the collective, the whole body to something very personal. And individual as each. Individual part. Each one of us does its singular work.
So, in Christianity, there's not just collective work. Let's love our neighbor as ourself. Let's love God with our whole heart. There's actually individual work. That God has given you and not the person next to you to do.
Now, we recognize that when it comes to our physical body,
Right, there's different parts of your one body but we don't expect all the parts to do all the work. Um, you probably don't type work emails with your eyeballs.
And you don't make Tik-Tok videos with your elbows.
I'll give you a court if you try and send me a video. No, I mean, you know, the thumbs are for this and the fingers are for that and the eyes are for that. You don't expect all the parts to do all the work. You recognize the strengths and you leverage that part for what it was made to do.
And so in the same way, the Apostle Paul is saying God has not given you the same work to do as me.
And so essential to figure out what's my part?
And what's the work?
What am I supposed to do? When I step into the room that maybe my brother or sister or spouse or Pastor can't do.
It's really getting back to this big question, who, who are you? Singular, question, mark.
If you're not sure of the answer to that question, I can't blame you. I was thinking the other day, I probably went 30 years of my life pretty clueless about the part and the work that God had given me to do.
Um, you know, I was pretty talented by nature at certain things, but whenever I would do it or someone would compliment me, I'd say things like, oh, it's nothing.
Which is not true.
Whenever I consistently like fall short of something like I was out of my lane, I would just think. Well, next time I'll do better. Next time, I'll try harder.
Instead of recognizing that I was an elbow or a foot or an eye that I was a part, I tried to just defer the compliments and ignored the weaknesses. Instead of believing what Paul's teaching in this verse God had given me a part. But now I look back on life and the evidence. Is so evident.
Some of you are not going to be shocked when I was a kid going to school. I talked all the time.
I was a kid who would raise his hand before the teacher had asked a question. I just had a lot to say about I remember my high school Spanish teacher once said, Mike, even when you're not talking, your mouth is open.
Because the words come out that much faster if you're just ready and ready to go like it was easy for me to learn. I took 21 credits, every semester in college and barely had any homework. I was just a sponge for learning and reading and studying and then like squeezing that sponge out in words and tests and now what a shock. I mean the best thing that I bring to the ministry is research of the word of God, bingeing books, and squeezing it out into writing and preaching and teaching it was there the whole time. I just didn't see it. I said, oh, anyone could do this, but that wasn't true. God had given me a part and I missed it for so long.
And I missed the part that I wasn't.
I think back at my life really complex situations where you're trying to hold two things intention at the like some of you are good at the tension, my brain could just not function.
I struggled, I remember when I got my license as a Christian trying to figure out how fast God allowed me to drive.
Does the word limit mean limit my brain? Just wanted to black-and-white answer and like, well I think limit means limit and then my seminary professors say well it's you know the spirit of the speed limit. It's not the exact law. You could talk to cops, they're breaking the speed limit. They don't pull you just that ah I didn't know what to do with that.
There's so much in my life that was like that. What kind of shows can a Christian watch? I just wanted black and white, really simple answers instead of Principles to wrestle with.
And all these years later, I just realized, wow, when it comes to nuance, like layers of tension, like complex, marital counseling with lots of emotions. That's, I'm just, I want to be, but I'm not that. I have to defer to other pastors and counselors who have that gift, right? My whole life, there's been evidence of what I am and what I'm not, but it's only been in recent years that I've realized, oh, maybe it would make sense if I did the work that God of hired me to do.
So enough about me.
Let me ask you.
Who are you?
As you think back on your life story. Stuff you've succeeded at doing. Well, been complemented for.
But any patterns and themes that you notice,
You think of the frustration, the stuff like you just put off and put off and put off the stuff where you just felt out of your lane. And got more criticism than compliments. If you figured out what part. In the body, God made you to be.
I mean, if not and if you're taking notes, I wish I had 20 minutes to talk about this. I probably have two. So let me give you just a quick next step of things to do. Number one, you got to figure out your part. I think that's what the tests are for.
All right, they're not trying to squeeze you into a box. You're trying to ask yourself questions to reveal like, what excites you and what drains you what comes naturally to you. And what's really difficult for you to take the test, Number two, compare yourself to people.
And that's terrible advice. But you're never going to know if this is above average unless you compare yourself to your brother, your mother, your pastor.
You know, some of you would say I never want to do public speaking. And I would say, that's weird. I want to speak in public every second of every day.
Right. Some of you'd say, oh, I love just working behind the scenes and serving and listening to people and I think, oh, wow, that sounds terrible. Do you compare yourself to other people? You say? Oh, okay, okay, not everyone is like this but I'm like this. You notice patterns and you'll start to figure out your place. Number three, try to lean into your strengths as much as you can.
Yeah. What, at home? What, at work, really? Fits that lane. If you're an eye spend, as much time seeing as you can. And, as little time hearing as possible, it's not always gonna fit. I think deeply about how that would work. Number four, don't miss this one. Realize the shadow side of your strength.
Often, it's not your weakness that leads you into the most temptation but your strength turned up a bit too high.
The person is very analytical with problems. If they're turned up, too high, can kind of be a Critic. Of everyone else's idea the person who enjoys speaking in public often misses the Biblical verse to be quick to listen. And so to speak the person who's organized has an amazing gift but they can be rigid and imposed their self-made. Plans on everyone else in the family. The person who's adaptable can be irresponsible figure out who you are and realize just like a good radio station if you turn that up too high. It's kind of annoying to everyone in the car.
Figure out the strength. And the shadow side of it.
And then finally pray to God that you could use it.
I don't know what God has wired you to do but I do know this. We don't ask Offensive linemen to punt.
We don't ask the skinny punters. To line up in front of that 327-pound beefcake and do their best. We put people In the right world, we recognize the power of the parts. And today, God is saying to you. This whole body is going to grow as each part as me. And it's you to Individual work.
And recently a woman from our church emitted to me that she didn't think for the longest time that she actually had a part.
She thought back in her life story and realized she was never the best at the the big things. We think that she's never super athletic. Starting point guard on the basketball team. She wasn't super musical playing a guitar. Are singing into the microphone. She wasn't the student body president with, like the CEO kind of leadership skills. She wasn't about Victorian, given the class speech because of her 4.0 GPA. And she just thought if I can't do this and this and this the obvious stuff I must not have a part.
But then she came to realize.
That sometimes the most important parts in the body are the ones you never think about.
When she told me that story, I actually thought of the second thing. I'm going to share it with you today. It's right in the middle of this amazing verse. Look at what Paul says.
He said the whole body, comma, joined and held together by every supporting ligament. Comma.
Grows.
So fascinating to me. Paul wants to say the body grows, but he can't make that simple statement without putting these two commas and telling us right in the middle. That's not going to happen unless the body.”Is joined and held together by every supporting ligament.” To here in church today, who's watching at home? Put your hands up nice and high. If you're jacked up right now to learn lots about ligaments,
Yes, thank you.
I never knew about ligaments. Until I use my researching brain to dig deep. Did you know how much your ligaments matter and how little you think about your ligaments?
Human body. If my research is correct, has just under 80 separate organs, your eyes, your ears, your stomach, your heart, the body has just over 200 bones, the long femur, the cranium, your pelvic bone, but your body has over. 900 ligaments. If I gave you nine minutes.
Could you name nine of them?
Five of them.
Maybe she tore one or two of them back in the day, like, Maybe you've heard of the ACL or the MCL, but these 900 ligaments are almost all invisible and almost always overlooked and yet, just like this passage says, they are the very things that hold the whole body together.
That support it so that it can actually.
Girl.
I'll put your pens on for just a second. Put your hands right here on either side of your knee.
Your hands right now are next to the longest bone in the human body, the femur. 17 inches on average right next to these long bones when your biggest muscles is right here, your quad, your glute is actually the biggest muscle in the human body. But all of these big things that they don't stick together and do this right now.
This doesn't happen. Without lots, and lots of. Yeah, of ligaments.
You probably don't think about that. Have you ever watched an NFL playoff game?
Saw some like beefcake running back bust through the line and say, dang look at the ligaments on that guy.
So I mean we call it that's quadzilla like we get distracted by the by the big parts of the body. But did you know that 30 of NFL injuries are knee injuries. Mostly related to the ligaments, if the ligaments don't work and hold things together, these big bodies and all their impressive parts. Fall apart.
And I want to say this, to those of you who have never been the star of the show,
Never been the name that gets recognized.
Have quietly wished that you could do what he does or she does those of you who felt like you could walk away and the church went miss you for a single second. If you've ever, like not been the person, Who gets attention and feels important?
I'm going to tell you what, the Apostle Paul says today that the whole body only grows.
When it's supported and joined and held together by many ligaments.
Man, I'm coming to see that you can have a lot of big talented people in the room.
But if you don't have ligaments people who are a little bit more flexible stretch outside of their comfort zone. Who has those soft social skills like empathy, patience and compassion?
Man, those big personalities will blow things up very quickly.
It takes the quiet woman who's praying for her extroverted Pastor.
That keeps a church strong.
It takes that guy who after the meeting works a little bit harder, going office to office to to keep people from annoying each other too much. That a little thing becomes a big thing.
It takes that person who cares very, very deeply about us. Living in harmony who goes the extra mile so that we can communicate and not miss each other or talk. Past each other.
You don't get Employee of the Year award for doing quiet, things behind the scenes, but you might be the employee that holds the whole company together.
And Paul knows. Just like, they're way more ligaments than bones in the body. They're probably way more people in every church in this church. But it was a little quiet faithful things keep us strong.
Because people won't say your name, or hand you some plaque? With your last name engraved on it, let me just say, based on this passage in the word of God that you matter in this church.
That if we could duplicate a thousand of me, the church. Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. Now we need all kinds of people, with all kinds of personalities, some who stand up front, some who will never be in front.
And all of us together are the way that God grows His church. So next time you stand in front of the mirror and ask yourself this. Great question. Who am I? I want a whole bunch of you to smile and say I'm a ligament. Yes. Yes.
Am I never knowing my name? But by the grace of God, he's wired me with this kind of flexible adaptable, peace-loving personality. That's holding my church together, less visible for sure.
Less important.
Not a chance.
That brings us to the last thing I want to share with you today.
I saved the most important for the last point of this message is actually where the Apostle Paul started this first. Did you see those two little words?
For the ligaments. Before each part, before the whole body, grows the Apostle Paul said, from Him, from Jesus.
Before we get to the the church, the body, before with Jesus.
And the more I thought about that the more beautiful I realized his logic was.
Yeah, I spent a lot of the last 10 years digging deeply into my part and the part of people around me, I've tried to understand myself and lean into my strengths. I've worked on that with fellow pastors with my wife, thought about it with my children and what I've realized is you can make incredible gains and have incredible blessings with that good work.
But it still falls short.
It still doesn't always work out. We still miss each other in so many ways.
But Jesus.
And Jesus is the rock that we can always depend on.
Just a few months ago. I realized this my oldest daughter her name is Brooklyn. She's 15 and a half, she challenged her for book reading. Father to a book reading competition.
Broken said, dad. I bet you one meal a Chick-fil-A. That I can read more books than you before the end of the year.
And I said, kid, I love you. But you are so dumb. I'm a bunch of murder you. I'm going to kill you. I love reading all I do is read. Soaking knowledge and I'm super competitive. You just put those two things together. I'm gonna like nuclear bomb and dominate you in Jesus name. All right, so I start to read. It was November. I read one book and then two, and then four, and then six and eight. And then ten, I read 11 books in November. We got to December busy season for pastors but I read one, two, four, six, eight. I read 21 books in two months. I leaned into my strength. 21 books in two months. Come on now.
And I lost.
She kept reading and reading, and reading. And then on the last weekend of the year, while I was busy with church, she pulled ahead of me by 1 Book, do you know what book? She beat me with?
The Basics, The Basics. I said this isn't a book. Pastor Michael says, it's a booklet. It only has 40 pages in it but you did. And she beat me. my kid. I love her and I'm doing okay now, thanks for asking.
But I thought a lot about that story. I thought about, wow, God has given me a gift. Some of you have not read 21 books in the last 21 years. Um, God's giving me a gift and I realize my my kid has a kid. Does she can out-book me? Like I want to help her see that. That is not normal and she can bring great good and knowledge to wherever she goes. But here's what else? Also realize as hard as I worked.
I still didn't win.
And as hard as we work on our strengths, and it is worthy work. The most important answer that will help you win in life. Is not. Who am I? I'm extroverted. I'm a good reader. I'm a problem. Solver. I'm a ligament. I'm empathetic. Now, the best answer to that. Big question, is, From. Him.
Who am I?
I want you to first answer that question up by standing in front of a mirror or taking another personality test, but answer that question by standing right there and receive your identity from him.
Find your confidence and your self-worth in some talent.
And someone will outdo you in this life.
Find your self-worth from being the best parent, the smartest kid in class the best athlete on the court, the best singer on stage, and soon, you will be humbled and crushed by some finding, someone who is better. But find your ultimate worth from Him.
And you have a firm foundationn to set your feet on in this life.
From Jesus, we are children of God.
From Jesus, we have been forgiven of sins. And from Jesus, we can look in a mirror and say, who am I? I am a holy perfect. Making God, happy right in this moment son or daughter of a king.
I'm working on figuring out my part. But wherever I'm at with that work, this I know for sure that I am A child of God, I'm trying to understand people and whether we get each other or not what whether we Clash and misunderstand all that messy process is a process but this is not a process. It's been perfected that from Jesus. I am a child of God, at the end of every day, a good one, or a bad one, where I use my strengths or fall short, where people expected the right things for me or totally forgot who I was. I know this, I am a child of God, my hope and my peace. My greatest joy comes from Him.
Today, I've been trying to teach you Ephesians 4 verse 16. Long-Time church people, Bible Scholars know what comes before Ephesians chapter 4.
Ephesians chapters one. Two and three.
And you know, Paul talks about a ton in Ephesians 1 through 3.
And he gushes with one of the longest sentences in the whole Bible that from Jesus, we are chosen predestined, forgiven, saved, cleansed, righteous Paul has something to say about your part but it's not the first thing.
Who are you? The book of Ephesians would answer, you're a child of God, You're part of the family from Jesus.
And once we figure that out, once we found our identity in Christ. Now we're ready to ask this question and who am I specifically?
I got to tell you after 40 Years of following Jesus and after 10 years, of knowing my part, and life is getting more satisfying not easier.
But knowing where I fit.
Why I struggle with certain things and not others, understanding, my wife, and how she thinks how she's like me and how she's not. There are so many beautiful things from figuring out our part.
But the most beautiful thing is figuring out. From him.
So my fellow parts in this beautiful body called Christianity, what would happen this year, if you answered the great question.
What happened? If you figured out who God made you to be and leaned into everything that he intends for you, what would happen if this whole body? Supported by every ligament would do its work.
And what happened when we fall short and struggle, if we remember who we are, In Jesus. What if, and I can't wait to find out the answer to that question.
As we as members of, Christ's body, follow the one, who is our head? Jesus.
And find all the forgiveness and love we need from Him.
