Who Will Go For Us?
September 14/15, 2002
Intro:
I concluded last week’s sermon with Jesus’ words from Matthew 9:37-38. “Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.’” I want to pick up from that verse and explore those ideas a little further today – what does it mean to go out into the harvest fields, what is there to do, and why would we do it?
And I want to put that in the context of our church vision statement. Over the next little while, I am going to concentrate my preaching on the different areas of our vision, hopefully bringing clarity to the word-pictures, and exploring those images and how God is leading us as a congregation in seeking to be fruitful for His Kingdom. Today I want to set the stage for that focus for this fall by taking a look at where we believe God is calling us to put our efforts as a congregation as we seek to serve and follow God.
Let me also say this at the beginning: I firmly believe that as I talk about each of these areas, as we look into the harvest fields and see what needs to be done, that the Holy Spirit is going to speak to you, and call you to serve God in one of these areas. Something in this sermon is going to grab you by the power of the Holy Spirit, if you will be open to Him, either affirming where you are serving or calling you to change and to be a part of something significant that God is doing to build His Kingdom. These things make a difference for eternity, and God has chosen to work through us as His people.
Becoming a Hospital, Greenhouse, and a Festival:
I know that the words are familiar, and that many of you know the three word-pictures that describe our vision as a church. I hope to bring clarity and focus to each of these this morning, as well as ask you to consider where God might be calling you to serve Him. It is easy for things to get mis-translated and mis-understood: for example;
• When Gerber first started selling baby food in Africa, they used the same packaging as here in the USA--with the cute baby on the label. Later they found out that in Africa companies routinely put pictures on the label of what is inside since most people can not read.
• When Coca-Cola first shipped to China, they named the product something that when pronounced sounded like "Coca-Cola." The only problem was that the characters used meant "Bite The Wax Tadpole." They later changed to a set of characters that mean "Happiness In The Mouth."
• When Pepsi started marketing its products in China a few years back, they translated their slogan, "Pepsi Brings You Back to Life" pretty literally. The slogan in Chinese really meant, "Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back from the Grave."
• Coors put its slogan, "Turn It Loose," into Spanish, where it was read as "Suffer From Diarrhea."
• The Chevy Nova never sold well in Spanish speaking countries. "No Va" means "It Does Not Go" in Spanish.
1. Becoming a Hospital:
The first word picture is perhaps the most easily mis-understood. The church as a hospital is a vision of evangelism, not a vision of caring for hurting Christians. Of course we need to care for one another, but that is included in the vision of the church as a greenhouse, not church as a hospital.
Think of it this way – in the eternal perspective, the pain and hurt we experience as Christians is non-fatal. Even in the very worst-case scenario, if we die, we are raised to new life, eternal life, with God in heaven. I reserve the vision of the church as a hospital for the cases of life-and-death, as a focus on those who do not know Jesus as their personal Lord and Saviour and thus are risking death for eternity. This is critical care, this is truly life and death.
The reason I feel it is important to clarify this is because we as the church far too easily become focused on our needs rather than the needs of the world around us. That is understandable, it is natural, and I believe it is sinful. It neglects our very reason for existence as Christians – that of being witnesses to others of how God has reached out to us in our helplessness and brought us new life.
The vision of the church as a hospital is a vision of evangelism. It comes from Jesus’ life – spent among needy people who didn’t know the touch of God. Jesus was accused of hanging around with low-lifes, of being a drunkard, or having the “wrong” friends. The accusation was true – Jesus did spend His life with those people, the “sinners.” And He did it to mediate to them the healing touch of God. It also comes from Jesus’ words: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.”
So how are we going to become a hospital? How are we going to become evangelistic as a church? Let me mention two specifics:
1. We need to pray. I have a confession to make: on Thursday morning at our staff meeting we prayed that every single one of us would have an opportunity to be a witness for Christ at some point during the day. I’d love to hear how God answered that prayer! We each know from our own experience that coming to faith in Christ is entirely a matter of God changing hearts. So the most effective thing we can do is to pray. I am looking for a group of people – it needn’t be a large group, but it needs to be a committed group – to commit to praying daily for people to come to Christ. Let me forewarn you – this will be battle-prayer. The devil doesn’t like us to pray like that, so he just might attack us and do anything to keep us from bringing people before God in prayer. But I can guarantee this – it will be exciting prayer! This will mostly be praying individually, but also once in a while as a group. As I describe this, is the Holy Spirit stirring your heart?
2. We need to do it. Over the next few weeks, my goal is to preach about evangelism so that we might be better equipped to witness to the radical, life-changing love of Christ. So I’ll have more practical applications of this in the weeks to come, but let me mention a few things very quickly. A. Build relationships with non-Christians. B. As a church, provide low-key opportunities to invite non-Christians to come to, such as the night of bowling we have planned for Oct. 25th. C. Find out what the needs are in our community, and then work to meet those needs. Both of those last two things take a lot of effort – if you have gifts of organization, or hospitality, or of wisdom, and the Holy Spirit is nudging you, please let me know and I’ll give you more details.
Let me tell you a story. There was a man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. But before beginning his work he would walk the beach. One day he noticed a young boy reaching down at the water’s edge and picking up something and very gently throwing it into the ocean. He approached the boy and called out, "Good morning! What are you doing?"
The young boy paused, looked up and replied, "I’m throwing starfish into the ocean."
"Why are you doing that?"
"Because the sun is up and the tide is going out," he responded. "And if I don’t throw them into the ocean they will die."
"But, young man, don’t you realize that there are miles and miles of beach, and starfish scattered all along it. You can’t possibly make a difference!"
The young boy listened politely. Then he bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it into the sea. "It made a difference for that one," he said.
I think we have a tendency to forget that people without Christ are starfish on the sand. The tide is going out, the sun is coming up, and if someone doesn’t share the love of Christ with them, they will die. The vision of the church as a hospital is a vision of walking the beaches and bringing the gift of life to people. As I relate this back to Jesus’ words in Matt. 9, here probably more than any other areas, I can truly say, “The workers are few.” If God is calling you to serve in the hospital, please obey His voice.
2. Becoming a Greenhouse:
A few moments ago, I said that caring for hurting Christians was not a part of the vision of the church as a hospital. Caring for Christians is a part of the vision of the church as a greenhouse. You see, the job of a greenhouse is to take fragile plants and make them strong and fruitful. It is to take young seedlings, or older plants that have been ravaged by the elements but still have life, and nurse them to strength. You’ve noticed that another name for a greenhouse is “nursery”; precisely for this reason. So of course we need to care for one another, and we do that in the context of the greenhouse.
The greenhouse is a vision of discipleship – a vision of Christians becoming fruitful children of God. For all of us, that begins in a fragile place, a tender place. And for many of us, the seasons of life take their toll – the winds bruise, the frost kills some of the exposed parts, the temperature freezes, and we need to return to the warmth and safety and care of the greenhouse. And if that is true for you today, then come! Enjoy the warmth of God’s home, rest in His presence, eat at His table, and be renewed and restored.
But here is the problem: it is nice in the greenhouse. It’s safe. It’s comfortable. But God didn’t design us to stay there – He sends us out into the world to bear fruit for His Kingdom in the world, not in the greenhouse! So the vision of the church as a greenhouse is a vision that results in fruitful service for God’s Kingdom in the world we live in – at work, at home, in your communities.
So how are we a greenhouse, and where are the opportunities to serve God here?
1. Our Christian Education for kids and Adult classes are greenhouse activities.
2. Small groups, the best places to care for one another especially when things are difficult, are greenhouse places. (we will highlight these next week).
3. Many of our church “programs”, including some of our youth ministry, women’s ministries, men’s breakfasts, etc., are targeted at helping people grow in their faith and their walk with Christ, and are thus “greenhouse” activities.
But we have some really significant needs here. During the summer, we ran an insert in the bulletin describing some of the places where we don’t yet know who God is calling to serve. Some of those God has answered in powerful ways, like in Youth Ministry where we have had a number of people feeling that God is calling them to get involved with teens and help them grow to fruitfulness in their faith – especially as volunteers but also I see that in presenting Sheri to the church. In others we are still waiting – for some teachers, for some coordinators, and for some leaders. Some of those are big jobs, and it is critical to the church as a greenhouse to find the people God is calling to serve Him in those areas. If, as I talk about helping children, teens, and adults grow to fruitfulness in their relationships with God, if the Holy Spirit is speaking to you about getting involved here, please respond today.
Here also the Harvest is plentiful.
3. Becoming a Festival:
The final word-picture of our church vision is that of a festival. I live in the middle of Old Strathcona, and having just come through the summer I’ve seen a thing or two about festivals. They are about joy, about celebration, about laughter and community. The church as a festival is a vision of worship – it is a vision of us as the people of God responding to Him for all that He is and all that He has done for us. I’m not too big into the festivals in Old Strathcona – the fringe, Heritage days, etc., because I’m not sure exactly what they have that is so worth celebrating. But I know what we have as Christians that is worth celebrating! We have the God of the Universe who loved us so deeply that no sacrifice was too great to bring us back into relationship with Him. We have a God who walks with us daily, empowering us to bring meaning and significance into our own lives and into the lives of others (recognizing what an amazing privilege and responsibility that is!). We have the promise of eternity, the promise of God’s presence and power in our lives daily! We have something to celebrate!!!
But living in the middle of Old Strathcona, I see another side of the festival. I see the port-a-potties being delivered and set up before. I see the streets full of garbage first thing in the morning, before the clean-up crews arrive to start the day. I see the bleachers going up, the fire hoses being installed to bring temporary water to the food trailers, the volunteers huddling in the rain under ticket booths. And I see how much work it takes, how much volunteer effort it takes, to produce the festival.
The same is true with worship – it takes committed servants to create a worship service. It takes greeters, ushers, communion servers, singers, overhead flippers. It takes people to worry about the furnace filters, to paint the building, to arrange to have windows replaced and plug-ins fixed. It takes people to give financially. The celebration is not spontaneous – it is well planned (even if it doesn’t look like it), coordinated, and takes lots of people to make it happen effectively.
Is God calling you to serve in the festival? As I describe it, is the Holy Spirit moving in you saying, “come, serve me here…” If so, please respond today.
Isaiah 6:
Read Is 6:1-8. There is a lot in this passage that I could talk about, but I only want to point out the last verse: (re-read vs 8). God is still asking that question. What is your answer?
Conclusion:
My goal today has simply been that God would speak to you about where He would like you to serve Him. I want to close with quiet prayer, allowing you to ask God to clearly show you the place where He might be calling you to service to Him.
