Name one Miss America winner
Name three Academy Award winners
Name the five wealthiest people in the world
Name five Heisman Trophy Winners
Name five winners of the Nobel Prize
Name five World Series winners
As you reflect on these questions you quickly realize that very few people would know the answer to even one of them. But let me ask you a different set of questions. Try these on for size…
Who are the most influential people in your world?
1. List the one teacher who helped you through school
2. Name three friends who stood with you through a difficult time
3. Name five people who taught you something worthwhile
4. Think of five people who have made you feel appreciated
5. Think of five people you enjoy spending time with
6. Name five heroes whose stories have inspired you
The people who have made a difference in your life are not the ones with the most credentials, the most money or the most awards. It’s not the ones who are the most beautiful or who are jet setters.
They are the ones that care. They are the ones who have been involved in your life.
Today I want to continue our conversation about those servant leaders that God has called out of the church to be an influence on the world. The passage of scripture we’ll look at again today is part of a letter from Paul to the people of Ephesus. This is what he says:
Servant Leaders
It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Ephesians 4:11-13
God has called some to be Servant Leaders
Everything we need to understand how God designed the church to accomplish the task he gave us – that is the seeking and the saving of the lost. This is the work and purpose of the church.
Apostles - Sent with a message
Prophets - Forth tellers the truth
Evangelists - Bearers of good news
Pastors and Teachers- Shepherds and disciplers of those who have decided to follow Jesus
It’s all about the message of Jesus isn’t it. An Evangelist is simply a servant leader who effectively tells the story of Jesus. In the NT we find that there were those who were called evangelists. Men like Stephen, Phillip, and Apollos all spread the word about Jesus to everyone they could.
Today, we think of Billy Graham and television evangelists. But there are many others who are faithfully carrying on with the calling of God. They don’t write books. They aren’t on TV. They don’t have huge crowds gather in enormous arenas to hear them speak. They simply and dependably serve God by serving God’s people.
One of these solid, dependable servant leaders was a man named Timothy, who just happened to be the pastor of the church in Ephesus. Here Paul writes to the church. In the letters to Timothy he has more specific guidance. In 2 Timothy 4 Paul counsels Timothy with this powerful challenge. Paul writes…
The Work of an Evangelist
Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.
For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
2 Timothy 4:2-5
This is a description of what God has called me to do and to be.
My name is not Timothy. My name is Rick.
The year is not 60 AD. The year is 2007 AD.
My church is not in Ephesus. It’s in Okemos.
But here the differences end.
My calling is identical.
My challenges are no different.
My work is exactly the same.
The Work of an Evangelist
…go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you...
Jesus – Matthew 28:19-20
For me this is intensely personal. This is not something I have been called to do… like a job or as a professional. This is something I have been called to do… like breathing and moving. This is what I am.
I am a preacher. It’s an old fashioned word. For some it feels worn out and maybe even a little shabby. The fabric of the word is faded and the stitches in the seams have loosened. But for me the word preacher is a good and strong word. It may be old but it is well made and durable. Some words are made to be discarded like a cardboard box while others are made to be as long lasting as the hand made walnut china cabinet in your great grandmother’s dining room.
I am a preacher and for me this is very personal. But it is not just about me. It’s about you too. God has called all of us to the work of the ministry – not just the servant leaders of the church.
Let me take time this morning to personalize this message for all of us today. We are the Meridian Christian Church. We have been meeting together for 15 years now. First we gathered at the outer six theaters at the Meridian Mall. About 11 years ago we started meeting here in the Chippewa Middle School. In those 15 years we have done a great deal of work in the community, in our families and we have grown ourselves.
Today, we stand at the very edge of a radical new opportunity to preach the word of God to our community. Today, we have launched the construction of a building that will be dedicated to on purpose. It will be used for worship. It will be used for teaching. And, it will be used for evangelism. God has prepared us for this moment. It is time for us to prepare for a new chapter in the history of this church.
It’s time to become an evangelistic church. It’s time to help more people find the way home. To do that we will need to be very intentional in our activities. Let me outline four critical tasks that you can do to help make this happen.
Pray to the Lord of the Harvest
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.”
Matthew 9:37
Pray for workers. Jesus said that the fields “are white for harvest” and that “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. All around us are literally hundreds and thousands of people who are ready right now to hear about Jesus. They are looking for someone who cares about them. Pray that God will bring them to us – pray that we will be the workers who are looking for the lost people.
I was talking to one of our more recent visitors. They told me that they had visited another church and while they were there not one person talked to them. They came, they sang, they listened, they left… and no one cared. Folks, that’s just plain wrong. Let that never be said of Meridian Christian Church. But that’s up to you – isn’t it!
Pray for me. While good men and women work to see that our building is completed I am going to be focused on doing the work of an evangelist. While Don, Tom, and Jamie watching over the project, organizing the work and seeing to the bills I’m going to focused on preaching the word of God and telling the people in our community about the wonderful news of Jesus. Pray that others will rise up to help me to reach out to our community. Pray that the baptismal waters will be stirred weekly as people are obedient to the lord.
Pray for those who need to hear the message. Each one must be convicted of his sin by the Holy Spirit. Prayer is the most important thing we can do in this regard because the people who need to hear the gospel are blinded by the glare of the bright and glitzy stuff in the world.
I heard recently that our consumption of clothing in the US has more than doubled in the last 15 years. In other words our closets are fuller because we have more articles of clothing per person. We amount of furniture we purchase per person has more than doubled in the last 15 years. We are like a deer in the headlights of a 18 wheeler loaded with flat screened TV’s and toys shipped from China.
We need to pray for people because the noise of politics, the screaming of rappers and rock stars, and the screeching of global warming doom sayers has deafened the ears of the people in our world.
We need to pray that they will hear the quiet and urgent message of hope that comes only from Jesus.
Invest in the Kingdom of God
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matthew 6:19-21
I will not apologize for talking about money today. Actually, if you have been around me any length of time you know that I enjoy teaching about money. Money is simply a measure of life. It is how we accumulate, store, and spend life. What we do with money reveals everything about us – it especially reveals what is important to us.
When God is important – tithes and offerings become a part of our lives. It is just that simple. We come to understand that giving to the church is really an investment in the work of building the kingdom of God.
God has chosen to build his kingdom on the tithes and offerings of his people. He has poured out his resources to us and asks us to love him enough to give a portion to his work as a measure of our love for him.
The miracle comes when we give because when we give as God has prospered us then God is able to multiply our contributions, just as He multiplied the fish and the loaves when He fed the five thousand, so that His work is accomplished. We have seen that in the last year. I urge you to give like you have never given before in your life. It will change your life and it will change the lives of thousands of others in our community.
Be the Message from God
You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.
You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.
In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
Matthew 5:13:16
When the church ceases being salt and light it becomes a social club for members only. Instead of serving as an agent of change and a conscience for society it becomes an isolated island – disconnected, ineffective, and irrelevant.
When the meat goes bad and begins to stink it is because there is no salt. When the darkness overwhelms the world it is because the light has become weak or is hidden under a tarp.
Flesh has no power. Darkness cannot penetrate into the deep recesses of the mind. Salt preserves and light shines. When the world is filled with rotten meat and covered with darkness the problem is – us. We have stopped being salt and light.
The role of the church is to bring a new message to a broken and hopeless world. We have real answers to real problems. The church is not a weak, creaky, and broken down anachronism of our foolishly religious ancestors. The church is the powerful, dynamic, and all consuming body of Jesus. When the church moves the world tilts under it’s weight.
This is the message of hope and light. This is message of passion and power. We must be passionate about Jesus. We must also care deeply about the people in our community.
Do small things that show the main thing – God’s love. The simple acts that are done with great love are those that will change the world.
John Bowes, chairman of the parent company of Wham-O—the maker of Frisbees—once participated in a charity effort. He sent thousands of the plastic flying discs to an orphanage in Angola, Africa. He thought the children there would enjoy playing with them.
Several months later, a representative of Bowes’ company visited the orphanage. One of the nuns thanked him for the wonderful “plates” that his company had sent them. She told him the children were eating off the Frisbees, carrying water with them, and even catching fish with them. When the representative explained how the Frisbees were intended to be used, the nun was even more delighted that the children would also be able to enjoy them as toys.
At MCC… For 15 years we’ve had a commitment to Children and Youth in ministry. We’re seeing both of these ministries develop and grow. For 10 years we’ve sponsored a clothing Drive for 10 years. For five years we’ve sponsored a Christmas Breakfast at the Okemos Big Boy. And today, 10 people have just completed training for the new Meridian Township Chaplain Services Ministry we are launching.
Tell what Jesus has Done
It’s not about what we do. It’s about what Jesus does. Salvation and life with God is not by my power, but by what Christ has done.
I heard this story recently about a Sunday School teacher who asked her class, "If I sold my house and my car, had a big garage sale and gave all my money to the church, would I get into Heaven?" "NO"! the children all answered.
"If I cleaned the church every day, mowed the yard, and kept everything neat and tidy, would I get into Heaven"? Again, the answer was "NO"!
"Well," the teacher continued, "then how can I get to Heaven?" In the back of the room, a 5 yr. old boy shouted out, "You gotta be dead"!
Well, we are all going to die – but we are not all going to stay dead! The message of hope is that Jesus has defeated death and has prepared a way for us to join him in the heavenly places.
I once heard of a unique approach by a man who had been used to lead many people to Christ. Someone asked him how it happened that so many people he talked to ended up trusting Christ. He said, “I only talk to people who are interested in spiritual things.” The inquirer said, “Well, how do you know who is interested in spiritual things?” The man said, “I ask them.” The inquirer said, “How do you ask them?” The man said, “I say, ‘Are you interested in spiritual things?’ If they say yes, we begin talking about spiritual things. If they say no, we don’t.” Using this unusual but rather obvious screening device, this man has led many, many people to Christ.
The Message…
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16
It’s really very simple. God loves you so much that – in spite of your rebellion, arrogance, and sin – he sacrificed his sons life to make a way for you to come home. That message is not only in what you say but is built on the foundation of what you are.
How are we living it in the community? We have laid a foundation for 15 years. We have established who we are. We have inculcated our programs, our ministries, our life groups, our worship services with a very simple truth – it’s about people. This simple truth is in our DNA.
Now is the time to become an evangelistic church.
Let’s start today with prayer.
Esther is going to lead us in a song of worship. If you would like to pray for someone today come down to the front and let’s pray together. Maybe you have a friend that is really hurting today. Perhaps someone you love is lost in the glare and noise of the world and needs to hear about Jesus – come and let’s pray for them. Maybe it’s you… let’s pray together…
