A Ministry for All
Sunday June 10, 2007 AM
Rudy Meoli was an average baseball player at best. With a measly career batting average of just over .200, Rudy was definitely not known for his ability at the plate, and with 27 fielding errors during the 1973 season, he certainly was not someone you would refer to as a “model shortstop”. There are many reasons why you have never heard of Rudy Meoli, but there’s just one reason I mention him. Despite of all of his errors and his evident lack of performance on the diamond, Rudy played a major role in baseball history.
Our story shifts to May 15th, 1973. Rudy was playing his best, but just wasn’t playing well that season. Rudy and his teammates were facing a team that would go on that season to finish second in their division…no simple task itself. Facing a good team would mean that Rudy would really have to be on top of his game to not let his team down.
Rudy had played an ok game so far, but the eighth inning would prove to be Rudy’s finest hour. His team was up 3-0 in the bottom of the eighth inning when Rudy and his teammates took the field. Their fairly young pitcher had pitched an outstanding game thus far, and in fact a no-hitter was in the works. The home team called in a veteran pinch hitter by the name of Gail Hopkins to face the young pitcher and that inning. Gail was a seasoned veteran and was in his next to last year when he faced this tough pitcher, so he was certainly qualified for the encounter. The pitcher wound up and threw his pitch toward home plate when Hopkins swings hitting a looping liner into shallow left field. Rudy Meoli turned his back toward home plate as he ran after the ball, and in that split second Rudy Meoli helped create baseball history. You see Rudy managed to pull off a tremendous over the shoulder catch to keep Hopkins from reaching base. What Meoli managed to do that day was what he was supposed to do everyday…make the play, get the out, and go on with the game…but the story doesn’t stop there.
That was as close as the Kansas City Royals came that day to having a hit against the California Angels and their young pitcher, Nolan Ryan. You see Rudy Meoli’s over the shoulder catch in the 8th inning that day sealed Nolan Ryan’s very first Major League No-hitter. Ryan went on to play an outstanding career which included 6 more no-hitters along the way bringing the total to 7, a baseball record that nobody has yet to challenge, 5714 strikeouts, again nobody has come close to that either, and at the time had played the longest of anyone in baseball, appearing in uniform for 27 major league seasons, another record that still stands today.
And if it hadn’t been for Rudy Meoli would Nolan Ryan have ended with the successful career he did?
· Often times in life we find ourselves in situations where we affect peoples lives drastically. We may not know it at the time, and we may never know how our actions have affected others. Sometimes those life-changing events occur because ordinary people did ordinary things. People simply using the talents that God has given them, no matter how extraordinary or ordinary they may be. As Christians, we are all called to help spread the gospel of Christ.
· In Matthew 25:14-30, Jesus tells us the parable of the talents. I’m not going to go into great detail with this story because it’s one that most of us are familiar with. But just to recap – before his trip, a man entrusts a different amount of talents, or a sum of money, to each of his three servants according to their abilities. When he returns from his trip he finds his servants. Two of the servants used the talents they were given wisely and returned a profit for their master, which pleased him greatly. The third servant simply buried the talent he was given in the ground so as not to lose it. This servant was cast out.
· The moral of this story is God wants us to use what he has given us to create a profit for him. Now the profit I’m speaking of has nothing to do with sums of money, but rather souls. You may say that we Christians are supposed to be in the soul saving business. God has given us all talents, and as the parable says He has given us those talents according to our abilities.
· Now some people argue that they either have no talent what-so-ever. In Arkansas there is a factory that makes toys for disadvantaged children. This factory employs mentally and physically handicapped people. The idea behind this is to give these people a job who would normally be incapable of working because their disabilities. These people are given jobs such as buttoning a dolls jacket before it’s packaged, placing a label on a box of a certain toy. The owners of this factory have overlooked all the things that their disabled employees can’t do, and have simply taken the time to find something that they CAN do so they to can help have a positive impact on the community around them.
· Other’s will simply say, “ Well what I’m good at won’t help the Lord any.”
· Dr. Flavil Yeakley, a long time professor of Bible at Harding University, tells the true story of a family who was moving to Beaumont, TX on a Saturday afternoon. The husband was driving a U-Haul truck and the wife was driving the family station loaded full of children and boxes from their previous house. The wife was following the husband when all of a sudden her brakes went out on her car. Well she managed to wheel the car through the church of Christ parking lot there and just before she could manage to get the car stopped, it slowly made it’s way through one of the church’s flowerbeds and bumped into the exterior wall of the church. Well the preacher who happened to be inside obviously heard a noise and went out to investigate. About this time the husband had managed to make his way back through traffic to the church himself. The wife apologized to the preacher, but the preacher insisted that there was absolutely nothing to worry about…you see one of the members of the church had been blessed with the gift of being an excellent gardener and used his talents around the church, and the problem could easily be fixed. The preacher also called another member of the congregation who happened to be blessed with the gift of automotive repair. That member showed up on the spot and repaired the problem with the cars breaks in no time, with no charge to the family. Well the family got back on the road with their newly repaired car and when they pulled up to their new home, there stood the youth group ready to help them carry boxes and move into their house. As soon as they left the home, some of the older ladies of the congregation showed up with a meal they had prepared especially for these newcomers to town. Now where do you think this family attended church the following morning?
God calls ordinary people to do ordinary things for his kingdom all the time.
We often think of ministry as being a solo venture. You hire a preacher and it’s his job to minister to the congregation. But we often forget that ministry is to be done with others. We forget that Moses was given a community of elders to help lead the people of Israel. Countless times in the book of Exodus, Moses summons the Israelite elders to help him minister to the people.
We forget that Jesus began his ministry by gathering Andrew and Simon Peter, and the rest of the disciples.
· Matthew 4:18-19
The Calling of the First Disciples
· 18As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men."
· Now just how much more ordinary can you get. Here’s two guys minding their own business, in a boat, fishing, and at that very moment they are selected by the Son of God to help spread the gospel message. You just never know when opportunity will come knocking!
We also overlook the fact that Paul and the other early missionaries almost always traveled in twos when they went to share the gospel. (Acts 12:25 talks about Barnabas and Paul finishing their mission. Let’s not forget the author, Luke, who often talks about Paul’s journeys by saying “we went” or “we did”. Acts 16:11-12 “11From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day on to Neapolis. 12From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.
· 13On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. 14One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. 15When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. "If you consider me a believer in the Lord," she said, "come and stay at my house." And she persuaded us.” We often forget that Paul wasn’t alone.
· How can we teach nonbelievers that the Christian faith is about community when we’re often alone in our ministry? How can we ask people to break out of their cliques and befriend Christians when they see us often isolated from other Christians ourselves? How can we ask them to open up and share their life experiences with one another when they notice that we don’t have a peer group of our own that shares our faith and life struggles?
· A ministry done with others is a ministry done in the presence of God. Jesus tells us in Matthew 18:20 that, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them”. Jesus reminds us that if we’re to reveal the reality of God, we must be grounded in relationship. When we minister together, Jesus assures us that he is there – present and moving among us. How can we teach others about the nearness of God when we ourselves are not near to God’s children.
We can all serve, and should all serve in whatever way we can. Whether it’s converting thousands to Christ through preaching dynamic sermons, or whether it’s replacing burned out light bulbs in the church building so those sermons can be preached – we all have a place to serve in God’s kingdom.
Maybe you haven’t been serving God with your life. Maybe you haven’t been seeking a way to use the talents God has given you. If that’s where you are in your life we can help. The elders and teachers and members of this congregation would be happy to help you find a place and a way to serve God. Or maybe you are here this morning because someone in this congregation has used their talents to serve you. Perhaps you have never taken that first step toward a meaningful and Godly life. Peter tells us what we must do to achieve salvation - 38Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
What a wonderful gift and promise that is.
