Psalm 23:5
What Do You Do When Your Cup Gets Full?
The Psalmist is describing God’s goodness to him.
1. \\#1\\ God had supplied everything he needed.
2. \\#2\\ God was leading him into the rich meadows and peaceful rivers of
life.
3. \\#3\\ God had restored the bridge of fellowship between David and God.
4. \\#4\\ God had removed the fear of death and replaced it with comfort.
5. \\#5\\ God had prepared a table of plenty, even abundance, for him
despite what his enemies might have wanted.
6. \\#6\\ David was confident that God would continue showing goodness and
mercy to him all the days of his life.
However, the one phrase that I want to focus on is in \\#5\\ - "my cup runneth
over."
The question I want to ask and answer is, "What do you do when your cup gets
full?" Let’s consider some thoughts:
I. What does David mean when he speaks of an overflowing cup?
A. David meant that God had been so good to him that he could not contain
it all.
1. What a marvelous description of the goodness of God!
2. I have said it before but it is worth saying again.
3. God has been good to us all.
B. I know that some have a hard time agreeing with that statement;
however, the truth is that most of those same people have a hard time
accepting the consequences of their decision.
1. Did you know that most of our trouble is our making?
a. Now, no doubt, some things are out of our control; but those
are mostly the short range things—lose a job, get sick, have
an accident.
b. But the long range things—not getting an education, alcohol
or drug addictions, unhappy marriage—these are the things
that we do to ourselves.
c. Some people need to quit blaming a good God for their dumb
decisions.
2. Did you know that entire nations are largely to blame for their
own conditions?
a. There are nations around the world with much of their
population starving to death.
(1) We feel compassion for these people and we want to help
them. And we should.
(2) However, while they are starving to death, some have
cows roaming around that they will not eat because they
believe it might be a dead ancestor reincarnated.
b. There are nations around the world which are oppressed by
dictators and despots.
(1) And again, we should feel compassion and try to help these
people.
(2) But many of the nations of the world did this to
themselves when they had the opportunity to turn to
Christ and refused.
(a) The war-torn continent of Africa had the gospel of
Jesus in the days of the apostles.
i. Ethiopian eunuch \\#Acts 8:27\\
ii. Of course, one man doesn’t make a movement but
the gospel was there.
(b) All of the oppressed countries of today’s Middle East
had the very FIRST opportunity to accept Jesus as
their Savior.
(c) Sadly, the largely Christ-less religions of
Catholicism and Orthodox churches swept through the
Iron Curtain countries long before there was an Iron
Curtain.
(3) Any nation which turns away from God is condemning itself
to poverty, oppression, and in justice.
C. I am not trying to condemn either people or nations.
1. I am trying to point out a truth.
2. I am trying to say that God is a God of goodness and blessing and
freedom and liberty.
3. He has offered this goodness to all, and it is time for people and
nations to quit blaming God for what they have done to themselves.
4. David, by saying that his cup was running over, picked a beautiful
term to say that God has blessed him with more goodness than he
could hold!
D. Might I suggest that God has been very good to you?
II. Having established what David meant with the phrase, let’s ask the
question, "What do you do when your cup gets full?"
A. By no means should you ever try to hinder or restrict the goodness of
God!
1. The point of this message is not in anyway to say it is bad to have
the goodness of God on your life.
2. Neither do I want to say we should try to slow down God’s goodness,
hinder it, or in any way restrict it.
3. LET THE GOODNESS OF GOD COME IN BUCKETS SO BIG THAT IT WOULD FLOOD
THE WHOLE WORLD!
4. However, while we don’t want to hold God’s goodness back, there
are some things we can do with the excess that you might not have
thought of.
5. So what do we do when our cup gets full?
B. You can let it run over!
1. That is exactly what David was doing!
a. David is saying that God’s goodness is so great that he cannot
hold it all.
b. God promises His obedient children more blessings than they can
hold.
Lu 6:38 Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and
shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the
same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.
Pr 3:9 Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine
increase:
10 So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with
new wine.
2Co 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always
having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:
c. There is nothing wrong with an overflowing cup—in fact, we all
need an overflowing cup from time-to-time.
(1) It feels good to have more of God’s goodness than you
need!
(2) God likes for His children to feel good.
d. However, there is some waste in just letting the goodness of
God spill out.
(1) I don’t let gas just run over out of the tank or milk
just run over out of the glass. It’s too valuable!
(2) We all need and want more of the goodness of God than we
can hold.
\ (3) We all need to let the goodness of God just spill over
every once in a while.
(4) BUT, when God has been as good to you for as long as He
has been to me, you begin to realize that it is just
wrong to let it keep running over in your cup alone!
e. We have an example in the Scriptures.
(1) \\#2Kings 6:24\\ Syria began a siege of Israel’s capital,
Samaria.
(2) \\#2Kings 6:25\ This lead to an extreme famine.
(3) \\#2Kings 7:1\\ Elisha prophesies that the famine will
end by the next day.
(4) \\#2Kings 7:3-11\\ It took these men a little while to
realize it, but they finally understood that to keep all
the blessing of God for yourself, is just not right.
f. So what else can you do when your cup gets full? There is a
second option.
C. You can share God’s goodness with someone else!
1. You don’t have to let it all run out and spill.
a. Let some do that.
b. But take some of it and give it to another.
2. How do I do that? Well, it depends on what it is that you have too
much of.
a. Has your salvation cup run over?
(1) Are just so impressed with what God did for you when He
saved you that you can’t hold it in?
(2) Witness and give some of it to another.
(3) By taking the over-flow of your salvation and sharing it
with another lost soul, you give to that soul the same
opportunity for a full and over-flowing cup that you
have.
(4) Do you understand that witnessing is nothing more than a
directed over-flow of salvation?
(a) It is the believer saying that I am so pleased with
my salvation that I cannot hold all of it!
(b) I am so excited about forgiveness, mercy, salvation,
and heaven that I cannot hold it all!
(5) Do you know what a football fanatic is?
(a) It is an Alabama or Auburn supporter who is so
excited about their football team that they cannot
hold it all!
(b) They think that their team and school is so great,
so wonderful, so glorious, that they just have to
wear funny colors, wear goofy hats, and make
statements of loyalty that would never hold up in
a court of law!
(c) And they don’t even care if the people that are
around them want to hear all of that or not!
(6) Friend, let your salvation cup run over and spill the
excess on someone who needs Jesus!
b. Has your prosperity cup run over?
(1) Has God just blessed you with more than you can
righteously spend?
(2) Instead of letting the prosperity cup run over, give some
of your prosperity to others!
(3) I’m not talking here about giving so that you will get in
return (although that is a teaching of Scripture).
(4) I’m talking about directing the over-flow of your cup
simply because it is a waste to just let it flow over
and be lost.
(a) I am afraid that many of God’s American children may
have to stand before God and give an account of
just wasting God’s blessings!
(b) Some (most) are so blessed, that even after giving a
tithe and an offering, they have more than they know
what to do with.
(c) Our small kids today have toys that cost $3 and $400.
(d) Some buy dresses and shoes that they will wear maybe
three or four times for $4 to $600.
(e) Men will spend $1,000 to $1,500 just for a place to
have a hobby.
(f) And then we all grumble when we have to spend #3.50
for a gallon of gas.
(5) I am not here to condemn you. I am one of you. I am
here to say that I think our prosperity cup is over-
flowing!
(a) Some missionaries could use what you and I call
MISCELLANEOUS MONEY to stay on the mission field.
(b) The MAD MONEY that some use annually on a hobby
might have built our new building by now.
(c) What we spend in soft drinks might feed a starving
child in a third world country.
(6) I am not saying don’t enjoy life.
(7) I am not saying don’t let your prosperity cup run over
every once in a while.
(8) I am saying that you might consider directing some of
the over-flow instead of just letting it run out on
the ground.
c. Has your blessing cup run over?
(1) Has God filled you with so many good THINGS, THINGS that
you can’t bank or count, that you just can’t hold it all?
(a) Not all blessings are financial.
(b) Indeed, the best blessings are not financial.
(c) Things like friends, family, stable income, a healthy
family, a comfortable lifestyle, a revived spirit.
(2) Pass them along to others with praise.
(3) It is amazing how many Christians get excited about every-
thing but Jesus.
(a) Now, if that is your nature all of the time—if you
are low-keyed and naturally unemotional—that is
fine.
(b) But if you are a red-blooded, dyed-in-the-wool, ADHD,
can’t keep your mouth closed about anything else,
loud-mouth, why is it that you never seem to have
any praise for the Lord.
(c) Is it because you don’t think God has been good to
you? Check the bank! You will find that He has!
(4) You are letting your blessing cup over-flow!
(5) Why not direct the over-flow in such a way that God
receives the glory?
What do you do when your cup gets full? There is nothing wrong with letting it
over-flow, at least not for awhile. We all need the over-flowing goodness of
God in our lives. But we have so much to be thankful for.
Almost weekly, I receive emails requesting prayer, and sometimes help, for people
that have less spiritually than we do. Yesterday alone, I received a request from
Pakistan and India. God has been good to the Green Pond Baptist Church.
Why not direct a little of the over-flow to others?!
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