Today's Sermon, What Fills My Cup?

Scripture: Matthew 12:34-37; Ephesians 3:16-19; Colossians 1:9-10

Good morning, Strangers Rest. Jesus said in Matthew 12:34-37, “(34) Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. (35) A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. (36) But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the Day of Judgment. (37) For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Since I have been here I have had the opportunity to get to know some of you more than others. One such person that I have grown to know is Sis. Norma Dickinson. I began getting to know her when I visited her in the hospital. It was during those visits that I learned more about her faith, her love for Christ and her joy. No matter how bad she felt, when we sat there talking she would at some point start smiling and laughing – even when she was in pain. Once when she was in the emergency room she asked me to leave because her laughter was increasing her pain. I am mentioning this because all of us have heard Sis. Norma says, “I am so full!” When she says this she is often a little emotional as she tries to contain what is trying to spill out from her. We heard her say this as recently as last Sunday when she introduced the guest speaker. “I am so full…” I asked Sis. Norma what she meant when she made the statement because I wanted to be certain before I spoke about it in this message. She told me that when she says this she is so incredibly happy – happy to the point of wanting to shout. When she says “I am so full” she is saying she is filled and overflowing with happiness – with joy. The title of my message this morning is “What Fills My Cup?” For the purposes of this message, when you hear me say cup please understand that I am talking about my heart. Now I will not be speaking to what is filling your cup - I will be talking about what sometimes fills my cup versus what God desires for it to be filled with. This will become clearer in a moment.

A few weeks ago, my wife sent a text message to the family that burned within my heart. You know how you can read something and then the Holy Spirit begins to show you how that message is for you? Well, that is what I experienced when I read that text message. As I said, the message you are going to hear this morning is not about you, but it is my conversation with God about what fills me. I do not want any of you to leave here today thinking I was talking about you. Now if some of what I say applies to you then that is between you and God and I recommend you address it with Him. But today, for what it is worth, it is all about me. Let me start by reading the message credited to “Barbara O’Neill Health Tricks” to you.

“You are holding a cup of coffee when someone comes along and bumps into you or shake your arm, making you spill your coffee everywhere. Why did you spill the coffee? “Because someone bumped into me!!!” Wrong answer. You spilled the coffee because there was coffee in your cup. Had there been tea in the cup, you would have spilled tea. Whatever is inside the cup is what will spill out. Therefore, when life comes along and shakes you (which will happen), whatever is inside you will come out. It is easy to fake it, until you are rattled. So, we have to ask ourselves… “What’s in my cup?” When life gets tough, what spills over? Joy, gratitude, peace, and humility? Anger bitterness, victim mentality and quitting tendencies? Life provides the cup; YOU choose how to fill it. Today, let’s work towards filling our cups with gratitude, forgiveness, joy, words of affirmation, resilience, positivity; and kindness, gentleness and love for others.”  

As I read this message, I began to look at myself. I thought about things I have experienced throughout my life and how I responded to those situations. I reflected on my growth through the years but then I hit the wall. You see that wall represented areas where my current responses continue to not always be what they should be based on what is filling my cup. In truth, my responses represent exactly what fills my cup and therein lays the problem. Strangers Rest, when some of you bumped into me and what filled my cup spilled out on you, I apologize if what came out of my cup caused you any pain. When I look at my cup, I realize that it continues to be filled with some things that should have been poured out before I got here. Remember what I read from Matthew chapter twelve? Jesus said in verse thirty-four, “(34) …. For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” Our hearts are our cups and just like that cup from the illustration, when we are bumped or shaken, whatever is within our hearts will come pouring out. Jesus said what is residing in our hearts will come out and I am a living testimony that this is true.

What fills my cup can change on a daily or even a momentary basis. If on Sunday my cup is filled with frustration, when you bump into me, what is going to spill out? Frustration! If on Monday my cup is filled with anger because I am still frustrated from Sunday, when someone bumps into me on Monday, what will come spilling out? Anger! Do you see the point? Whatever is filling my cup on a given day or in each moment is what will spill out when I am bumped or shaken. And heaven forbids if I should be bumped or shaken when my cup is filled with anger, frustration, and tiredness at the same time. That, my friends, is a disaster waiting to happen. Since I have been here, many of you have bumped into me when my cup was filled with good things so what spilled out was positive. But some of you bumped into me when my cup was filled with frustration and what spilled out was not so positive. And one of you bumps and shakes me daily and you get it all. For those of you who have bumped into me when my cup was filled with something other than the goodness of God, and for the one who has bumped and shaken me for 40+ years and is still here, I thank God for the grace you have shown me – including when you told me where I fell short. I thank you for caring enough to be transparent, honest, and desiring God’s best for me. And for the love of my life, who has bumped into me at my absolute worst, thank you for the patience, love, improvement seminars and 44 years of grace. What you have sown has not been in vain.

I want to pause for a minute and go back to the cup. Most mornings, with few exceptions, I drink coffee with my breakfast. Although I have a collection of coffee cups to choose from, most mornings I go to my favorite cup. Even if that cup is dirty and I have others that are clean, instead of using a clean one, I get the dirty cup (yes I wash it first) and use it. Why? Because it is my favorite cup! It fits my hand, and I know exactly how much coffee, Splenda packets and creamer it will hold to make the perfect cup of coffee. With my favorite cup I am on automatic; I know what will fill it and I can make my coffee without thinking. Here is my point: what should fill me as a child of God should be automatic – it should always be there. And what is so good about this is, God wants what fills me to spill out because when it does He can use it. Likewise, I have someone else waiting in the shadows when that other stuff spills out of me so he can use it and that is the problem. Even when we face inconvenient or tough situations, our response should be automatic because of what fills us. But it is not that easy. Remember the example I gave about how what fills my cup can change on a daily or momentary basis? I am ashamed to say that I have had moments when I did not recognize what filled my cup in a specific situation and that is never a good place to be. Again, just as the writer said, in life I can use my natural cups to hold several types of beverages and/or soups and whatever is in that cup will spill if I am bumped or shaken while holding it and the same applies to what fills my heart.

Strangers Rest, spiritually, when I am bumped or shaken what comes out of me should be reflective of what God has placed within me and for that to happen, I must allow God to work within me to fill my cup (my heart) with something much different than what I started out with and have become accustomed to. My cup has been filled with what the natural would call vegetable soup. You know, vegetable soup contains several types of vegetables. Well, my spiritual cup has been filled with a spiritual vegetable soup containing anger, bitterness, love, hurt, jealousy, envy, regret, lust, and every other emotion present in this world. And like I said earlier, depending on what is filling my cup on a given day or moment, if you bump into me that is what is going to spill out. If anger is at the top - that is what is spilling out. If jealousy or envy fills the cup then that is what is spilling out. What I am filled with is what will come spilling out when I am bumped or shaken.

So, I had to reassess what filled my cup. Even though there is a lot of good in my cup, there are still some lingering things that need to be removed. So, I asked God to empty and refill my cup. I am not totally filled yet and the reason that I know this is because if I were totally filled the other things would be pushed out. So, as I continue to grow in Christ, the things previously in my heart are being replaced. I want to share with you some of the things I am being filled with so that if you bump into me moving forward what spills out will not be based totally on what fills me in that moment. In other words, until my heart is totally filled with the goodness of God, I can manage the other “stuff” so that while some of it might still be there, I know I do not have to let it spill out when I am bumped or shaken. The first thing to fill my cup is the fullness of God that comes through love.

Ephesians 3:16-19 tells me,  “(16) That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, (17) that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, (18) may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height, (19) to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” Paul prayed this prayer for the believers in Ephesus and I made it personal to me. I pray that God replaces my weakness with might through His Spirit as Christ dwells in my heart. Then, being rooted and grounded in love, I am filled with all the fullness of God. When I am filled with the fullness of God, if you bump into me or shake me what spills from my cup will not be the anger, disgust, or revengeful types of spillages that might have been normal in the past, but love, forgiveness, and mercy. This filling is not automatic and there are things I need to learn. Therefore, the next thing that I need in my cup is knowledge.

Paul wrote to the Colossians, “(9) For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; (10) that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.” (Colossians 1:9-10) I want to be filled first with knowledge so that I have understanding. Webster’s dictionary defines knowledge as “the fact or condition of knowing something with familiarity gained through experience or association.” I want to have knowledge of God that comes from my experience and relationship with Him – not from what I have heard from others. With my familiarity with Him, I begin to develop wisdom (insight into God’s purposes) and spiritual understanding – understanding spiritual things. When I begin to understand spiritual things, I cease to evaluate every situation and person based on the natural – my flesh. When I am bumped or shaken, what spills out will be spiritual discernment as I am able to evaluate the bump or the shake from a spiritual perspective and recognize that I “….do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12) Next I need to some faith to fill my cup. Faith follows knowledge if the knowledge is based on the word of God.

Paul wrote, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17) We know that we need faith to please God as Paul said in Hebrews 11:6 and it only comes by hearing, understanding, and believing God’s word. Faith allows me to believe in something that I have absolutely no proof that it exists or that it will come to be. It allows me to understand that there is a spiritual realm that is more alive and active than the natural realm that I exist in and that it is in the spiritual realm where the things that affect this world originate. So, by faith, I choose to believe that what I see in the natural is not all that there is – there is much more available for me to access. Paul wrote to the Galatians, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20) This natural life that I am living is lived by faith – believing that what might be today does not necessarily have to be tomorrow. With my cup filled with faith, when I am bumped or shaken, what spills out will be words of encouragement, looking ahead and not just on what is today. I am now being filled with love, knowledge, and faith so I can freely add joy and peace.

Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome, “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13) The world around us is ever changing and not necessarily for the better. When we look at things that are happening, many people go to a dark place and lose hope. They lose their peace, which begins to erode their joy. What is so important about this is that joy is not based on things that happen to us, but on the One who lives within us. So, when our joy starts slipping away, we can begin to lose hope in the One who saved us. I want God to fill my cup with joy and peace as I continue to believe His word. When this happens, when I am bumped or shaken, what spills out will be hope. Hope for tomorrow; hope for the situation; hope for my everlasting union with Christ. Then I need my cup filled with His Spirit because when that happens I have power.

Paul wrote to the Church in Ephesus, “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit.”  (Ephesians 5:18) Jesus had promised the disciples before He left them “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) I have work to do on this earth for Jesus and I cannot get that work done being weak, timid, and afraid. I must walk in the power that God has filled me with through His Spirit that dwells within me. A Christian who understands who they are in Christ and are willing to allow the Holy Spirit to operate within them will have power. They will find themselves doing things that they never thought they would do. They will find themselves speaking for Jesus in ways that they never would before. Remember how the disciples deserted Jesus and were in hiding until Jesus appeared to them? They were renewed after seeing Him alive, but they did not really change until after they were filled with the Holy Spirit. When that happened, they received power and never looked back or went into hiding again. This is the power that should be filling our cups. Remember the counsel that Paul gave to Timothy when he told him, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” (Second Timothy 1:7) When I am filled with God’s Spirit and when I am bumped or shaken, what spills out will be power. The power to address my situations as God would want them to be addressed even if I must stand alone. When I can do this, my cup will automatically be filled with the fruits of righteousness.

Paul wrote to the church in Philippi, “(9) And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, (10) that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, (11) being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” (Philippians 1:9-11) Paul wrote that as love abounds more in knowledge and discernment, we will be filled with fruits of righteousness. The righteousness that he speaks of is that which the heart produces. The fruits, or results, will be seen in how we live daily as demonstrated in our honesty, truthfulness, charity, kindness, meekness, and goodness. Remember when I mentioned earlier that I wanted my cup filled with the Spirit and from that comes power? Well, there are other results (fruits) that comes from my being filled with the Spirit and Paul lists them in Galatians 5:22-23 which says, “(22) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, (23) gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” If my cup is filled with the fruits of righteousness then when I am bumped or shaken, what spills out will be love, joy, peace, patience, kindness and the like which all exemplifies the righteousness that exists within me. This is what gets hidden when I allow those other ungodly things to spill forth.

Strangers Rest as I close this morning, I want you to know that God is constantly filling me. Every time I am willing to remove something from my cup that should not be there, He is filling it with what should be there. It is a constant battle on my part because sometimes when I am bumped or shaken, I can easily walk by faith and love spills out. But there are other times when I am bumped or shaken what spills out is what has been a part of me from the beginning – habits and responses that are so ingrained that its takes everything within me to keep them from spilling out. I have made, and honestly, I will make more mistakes, but I promise you that God is filling me and what is currently in my cup is not what was in it last year, last month or even yesterday. I desire to be an open vessel and allow God to fill me. My cup is being filled by my God, my Father.

Ninety-nine years ago, a group of people came together to start this Church. Their hearts were filled with determination, faith, and a love for Jesus Christ. When you read the Church’s history you see that even through the dark days they stood together. Not one person in this sanctuary was here when this Church was started ninety-nine years ago – not one. However, this Church still exists because of what filled them. Now, ninety-nine years from now, should the Lord delay His coming; none of us present today will be here. However, because of what is in our hearts we can ensure that this Church will still be here. Churches die when people leave and there is no growth. Hate separates; love draws. I want my cup filled with the goodness of God so that when I am bumped that spill out. When that spills out, whoever is on the receiving end of that spillage will be blessed. That will draw people. Imagine who will come when all of us begin to spill out the goodness of God when we are bumped or shaken. So Strangers Rest, what fills your cup?

Until next time, “The Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance on you and give you peace.”  (Numbers 6:24-26)