“The Team”
February 3, 2008
“The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!" When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, "What do you want?"
They said, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?" "Come," he replied, "and you will see."
So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour. Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the Messiah" (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas" (which, when translated, is Peter). The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, "Follow me."
Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." "Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?" Nathanael asked.
"Come and see," said Philip. When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, "Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false."
"How do you know me?" Nathanael asked.
Jesus answered, "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you." Then Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel."
Jesus said, "You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that." He then added, "I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man." John 1:35-51 (NIV)
I like this entry in John’s book. It shows the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry and it reveals the end results. In the beginning, He is selecting His board of directors for His ministry. Some might call them the first church board of the First Church of the Nazarene. Some good ol’ Baptist’s came over to help, too. One was Andrew, and like all good Baptist, he was evangelistic. He went and got his brother to join up. But it is interesting to me who Jesus surrounded Himself with. There were those who were already committed – like John and Simon, who they called the Zealot. There were Philip and Nathanael, who Jesus went out of His way and hunted down. Jesus sought Philip out to be on His team – and then Philip went hunting for his friend Nathanael. When he found him he declared that they had found the Messiah – the one Moses wrote about. Apparently Nate was a seeker, as Philip was. Nate’s question revealed that he was familiar with the Scripture. He asked, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” He knew the prophecies well enough to know that the Messiah was to come out of Bethlehem – not Nazareth.
Later Jesus selected Peter, who became such a pillar in the church. He selected Matthew, who was a despised and not respected tax collector. There was Judas, who apparently was still pretty shallow. But Jesus didn’t just say, “eenie mennie, minie, moe”. Jesus prayed about it first. Check this Scripture out.
“One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles: Simon (whom he named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.” Luke 6:12-16 (NIV)
Jesus prayed about who He wanted to be leaders in the Kingdom. These men were very different from each other – as evidenced by their bickering and arguing at first. Some were scholars. Some were religious. Some were fishermen. Some were spiritually mature and some very immature. One was just a kid. I guess he was to represent the youth and see things from a youthful perspective. But they had two things in common. They were devoted to God and they were willing to follow Jesus. Later they formed such a belief in the deity of Jesus, that He was the Messiah, that they all died for Him (with one exception).
These were the twelve who represented many others who followed Jesus. Multitudes followed Jesus everywhere He went. Almost every time He preached, He had thousands of listeners. Most of them came for selfish reasons. They came for what they could get out of it. But they came. The sick; the lame; the helpless; the lost; and all who came to Jesus were healed in some way.
Many of that first Church were very shallow. When the going got tough – they got going! John 6:66 records that many of them turned back and no longer followed Jesus. But some did. Some were faithful. They were still pretty weak and shallow. The Holy Spirit had not come yet to give power and direction and encouragement. And when the crisis came – Jesus being arrested and crucified – even the strongest deserted Him. Peter denied he even knew Jesus. Everyone else ran and hid. They weren’t very much support – even in prayer. But they had potential – and with these common folks, filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus was able to build an eternal Kingdom that is still growing today. With these fault-filled people, Jesus was able to minister to the needy, proclaim truth, give hope, give direction, heal the sick – and so much more.
We have made the apostles into super-saints. We have made them almost as perfect as Jesus. But they weren’t. They were very much like you and me. And the crowd they ministered to was rough and smelly and sinful.
We humans like to clean things up a bit. We like to ‘Christianize” the people. The kids are all shiny faced. The adults are all mature and spiritual. Love permeates everything. No pushing or shoving. Everyone cooperating. But that wasn’t reality. There were dirty, smelly shepherds in that group. There were deceitful, conniving hypocrites in that crowd. There were evil, demon possessed people in that crowd. There were people who needed the Lord in that crowd. And God was able to take some imperfect men and women and minister to these people and change the world through them.
Our church is a little bit like that first church. We have a little bit of everything on any given Sunday. And we are thankful. We are blessed by each imperfect, problem filled person who comes to us. We have the words of eternal life. We have the Living Water that we thirst for. We have the Bread of Life we hunger for. Our board is just as imperfect as that first board. None of us are perfect. But “such as we have – we give”.
This year, what I am looking for in a board member is someone who passionately loves the Lord. I’m looking for someone who is willing to sacrifice themselves for the mission of the Master. I am looking for someone who is willing to leave the comfort zone and enter the battle zone. I don’t expect them to be perfect – but I hope they are willing. I don’t expect them to be faultless – but I hope they will be faithful. I don’t expect them to be without failure – but I hope they will be fruitful.
Let me share some goals we have for the coming year. First, that we will make disciples. Jesus said,
"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore 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. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Matthew 28:18-20
Jesus has the authority of heaven and earth. And He is giving us that authority. He is passing the baton on to us to go and make disciples. But we aren’t on our own. He promises to be with us to the very end.
Last year we baptized four. To me, baptism is one of the high points of the year because people are responding to Christ and making a public commitment to Him. This year, I think we can double that. I think eight would be great in 2008 – don’t you? And I want to encourage you, if you have never been baptized, or would like to renew your vows to the Lord, let me know. I think we can even have warm water this time.
Baptism is a measure of our effectiveness and so is our attendance in church and Sunday School. Last year, at District Assembly, some of the delegates felt like we could reach 40 in church. Our goal was to average 40. That was double of what we had that year. We didn’t meet that goal – but we grew by almost 50%. We had some Sundays where we reached 40 and 50 in attendance without people coming in from other churches. That’s pretty good. The church board thinks we can average 50 in two years – as we allow the Lord to work through us and as we truly accomplish out mission of “Bringing Christ to the Community”
Another goal we have is to “teach Christlikeness”. Jesus said,
“…teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Matthew 28:19
We can’t just go bring people to church or even bring them to Jesus. That would be irresponsible to make spiritual children and then abandon them. We need to plan on teaching them. We are blessed to have three great teachers in our church. Bob has years of experience and his knowledge of the Bible is second to none – anywhere. We are blessed to have him teaching our Sunday night bible Studies. Charlene has brought fresh zeal and passion to our church this year. I appreciate her leading our mid-week service. That enables me to do some to things that are important. Julie is one of the most gifted people I know in teaching children. She has such a positive and fun way of teaching the old, old truths of the Bible. The kids love her and soak up the Word. (pass out Awards)
Beyond that, this year I would like to see at least two or three more small groups started. We have a number of families that aren’t able to come to the Church on Wednesday night or Sunday Evenings. I would like to see something started to minister to them. You know, Jesus didn’t say to build a church and they will come. He said, “GO – and make disciples.” Jesus went looking for people were they were – and we have to do the same. We need to bring Christ to the community – not bring the community to us. If we can do that – we will accomplish one of our purposes for being here.
The third goal I have for our church is to fulfill our motto of “Every Member a Minister!” The bible says,
”Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.” Romans 12:4-8
In our church, every member or attender is appreciated and needed. In some churches you can come in late and sit in the back and do that for months without anyone knowing your name. You can’t do that here. And I think that’s good. I don’t think God is pleased with a lack of commitment or a lack of involvement. He wants you to contribute in some way. Jesus said,
"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
"Then the King will say to those on his right, ’Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
"Then the righteous will answer him, ’Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ "The King will reply, ’I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
"Then he will say to those on his left, ’Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
"They also will answer, ’Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
"He will reply, ’I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life." Matthew 25:31-46
Jesus lives vicariously through us. If you want to bless Jesus, bless the one next to you. If you want to do a kindness to Jesus – do it to your neighbor. The opportunity is there. But you have to get involved. The enemy of your soul has all sorts of tricks to keep you from being committed or involved or willing. We talked a little bit about that last week. You have to choose to be involved. If you don’t know what to do – pray about it. If we lack a certain ministry in our church – talk to me about starting one. If you don’t know where to start or what to do – just give something a try. Be involved. Every member needs to have his own ministry.
I want to conclude by telling you what a joy it is to be your pastor. Thank you for this privilege. As long as I am able, and God is willing, I will do my best to lead you down the paths of righteousness. Pray for me. Pray for this church. Together, with you, me and the Holy Spirit, nothing will be impossible to us.
Lord Jesus,
I pray you would bless this church. Help me to be involved. Help me to find my ministry. Use me to honor you and bring you glory. Bear much fruit through me.
Help us, Jesus, as we select a new board and elect officers today. Guide us. Help us to find just the right people to help us effectively do your will.
In Jesus Name
