God Needs More Of You

God Needs More of You

Text: Matthew 9:35-38

35 Jesus traveled through all the cities and villages of that area, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And wherever he went, he healed people of every sort of disease and illness.

36 He felt great pity for the crowds that came, because their problems were so great and they didn’t know where to go for help. They were like sheep without a shepherd.

37 He said to his disciples, "The harvest is so great, but the workers are so few.

38 So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send out more workers for his fields."

Subject: God Needs More of You

There is a story of a drill sergeant who was putting his troops through some rigorous training exercises. "Lie on your backs," he barked. "Raise up your legs. Now move them as if you’re riding a bicycle.” At this last command, there was one soldier who held his legs motionless, "What’s your problem?" asked the drill sergeant. "I’m coasting downhill," answered the man.

The sad reality of the church is that after just a few rigorous exercises it looks to sit back and coast downhill. When we finish one big project, we don’t want to continue and move on to the next project, full steam ahead. Instead, we want to sit back, relax, and coast down hill. When we are successful with one endeavor, we want to bask in the ambiance of that success instead of moving toward the next successful venture that GOD has in place for us. And what happens is we get tangled up in the waves of a sea of complacency.

There was a time in our not too distant past that when you drove up to any service station for gas and you would not have to get out of your car for anything. Someone would come to your car; they would fill you up with gas, check your oil, clean your windshields, and take your money and give you your change. This was called full service. You sat there complacent, doing nothing, while someone else did all the work. But today, when you get to the gas station, you have to pump your own gas. You have to check your own oil. You have to wash your own windshields. And what that has done is caused drives to come up from complacency and into action. Likewise, on this Sunday morning, Father’s Day 2006, I want to call you back into full-service action, because God needs more of you.

The job of the church, my brothers and sisters, is not to impact the church, but to impact the world. Our job is to go outside the church and make a difference in our communities. It’s like a huddle in a football game. 90,000 people at an Auburn Game do not pay in excess of $30 per ticket to watch the Tigers stand around in a huddle. Can you imagine going to Jordan-Hare Stadium for the Auburn-Alabama Football game and for 2 ½ hours you watched 11 Tigers and 11 Tidesmen stand around in a circle and talk? That’s not what you paid for!! 90,000 people pay $30+ per ticket to see what difference the huddle makes. They want to know if the play that was called in private is going to work in public.

The challenge for the church is not what we do when we call our Sunday morning huddle. The challenge for the church is not what we decide to do when we call our huddle in board meeting or church conference. But the challenge for the church is what we do after we break our huddle. So, I want to show you this morning that God needs more of you individually, collectively, and numerically.

First of all, God needs more of you individually. Every one in this church is different. Everyone has different skills, different likes, and different dislikes. Everyone in this church has a purpose that is designed by God just for them. Even our Lord and Savior Jesus had a purpose and a mission. He had an individual mission because God needed Him to work individually. His mission could be fulfilled by nobody but Him. In order for Him to fulfill His mission, He had to take responsibility for His own actions and make Himself accountable to God. That’s why we hear Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, “not my will, but thine will be done.” He was telling God that it’s not about me, but it’s all about you.

Individually, Jesus had to endure suffering and hardship. Individually, Jesus had to place the weight of the world upon His shoulders. Individually, Jesus had to travel from place to place, healing the sick and raising the dead. Individually, Jesus had to cause miracles to happen so that people would believe in Him and believe in God. Individually, Jesus had to challenge the religious scholars who were all about themselves and not about the people or God’s business.