Sermon Title: You have a Part to Play
Place: Oakdale Wesleyan Church
Date: April 20, 2008
Subject: Missions – Call
Introduction
I brought to church with me this morning some everyday objects that would be around any of our homes. These are very useful and sometimes needed objects. What I would like to do is invite a few folks up here to simply do a demonstration for us this morning as to how these objects are used and I would even like them to use the objects before our very eyes. So if I could get one or two adult volunteers to help me out.
Flash Light with no bulb
Flash light with a missing battery
Lamp – with no plug in
Drill with no chuck
Screw driver handle
A remote control with no TV
Razor with no blade
So would my participants say that there is something wrong with each of these items? Are these items of much value without their missing piece? NO. So would you say that every part, even if it is a small part, is probably needed in order to make your object work like it should? YES
Thank you, you may be seated.
Every part is necessary. You know, you can build the coolest hot rod but if you forget to put the tiny oil plug in on the bottom of the oil pan the engine is going to blow and the whole car, regardless of how much money and time you spent making it, is going to be worthless. Shucks, the most expensive car on the market today is worthless without the key – or the code on some fancy cars, to get into them.
On Thursday night my sister-in-law from Huntington Indiana called needed to know my brother’s phone number. My brother Mark used to live one block over form my sister-in-laws home but last year my brother and his wife moved to Maine. They were finally able to sell their house. Well my sister-in-law was out walking in the neighborhood and happen to run into the man who bought my brother’s nice house. Now their homes are fairly new (built within the last 8 years) and they are in a pretty fancy addition. My brother’s home was really cool with a nice two-car garage with one of those fancy numeric pads on the outside so you can open the garage door from the outside with out the remote. Well the man who bought my brother’s house never received the code form the realtor for the number pad on the garage door and therefore has not been able to use this fancy feature that would make lawn work and outdoor work much easier. So here you have this fancy gizmo but it was basically worthless without that simply four digit code which he wanted to contact my brother to obtain.
There are many things in life that don’t function the way they should when they are missing a part. Now the item may still be able to have some functionality, but when they miss even the littlest part they do not function the way they should. Right now at this point in the sermon can anyone draw any conclusions about how this might also apply to the church?
Over the past 3 weeks we have been talking about the significance and importance of global missions. Dr. Piper last week talked about how our purpose and understanding of God refines or defines our mission, two weeks ago I talked about the fact that even though we may be small or an individual we can have an impact on the world, we can make a difference, and the first week in this series I talked about how we are not alone in the world, God is now with us, we have been privileged to hear about God’s love and we now have a responsibility to others locally and globally to share with them what we have learned about God and his son Jesus Christ.
This morning I want to look at one more side of missions. This study comes out of I Corinthians 12:27-31 “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophet, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? But eagerly desire the greater gifts.”
In order for the Kingdom of God to come we must all be about the work that God has given us to do because without every part doing what it should do the body of Christ can not function as it should. Now before you go and take this way off in the spiritual let me define the “what each part should do.” We are not talking about soul winning, witnessing, ministry to the children or others in the community, I am not talking about serving on the local church board. What I am talking about this morning is doing exactly what you are doing but doing it now for Christ. Let’s look at this from a different angle, what would happen if everyone of us became pastors in the church. I’m talking full time career type pastors? What would happen? Talk back
That’s right, who would pay the bills? You see, unless you do what God has called you to do and make the money from employment that God has called you to make, the church and missions can not function and do what it is suppose to do. We are all intrinsically linked together and we all need each other and must rely on each other. Another words, your job is very important kingdom work! Last week we laid to rest a man who understood that. I had another Lawrie Anderson type in West Union and his name is Gene Perry. Gene was one of our neighbors and he was the vice-chairman of our board. One day while this young pastor was getting a big head about ministry Gene corrected my thinking. Let me paraphrase what he told me and put it in to my words as to how I heard it: Pastor, I feel called by God to do plumbing and over the years my career in plumbing has enabled me to put food on not only my table but yours as well. My plumbing job has allowed me to invest in the kingdom and support missionaries around the world. Without my plumbing job you would go hungry.
You know, Gene was exactly right and I know that is a same core value that Lawrie Anderson shared as well. I have my job so that you can do your job. What would happen if everyone in the church decided they were to be foreign missionaries? Our fantasies would like to kick and think that we would have mass world revival but the truth is, the church would collapse. I think the church in general has attempted to hide this truth or at least make it a truth that is not spiritual or politically correct so while we live by this truth no one wants to out and out say it, but I want to say it this morning because it is the truth and it is God’s design. The church needs you, everyday laypeople to hold jobs, to have great careers, to make money so that we can do the work God has called us to do as pastors and missionaries. Terry Cooprider believes and teaches that God blesses us so that we can be blessings to others. God intent was not to get you a good job so that you could hoard and store away in barns but rather so that you could share that blessing with other people. You see, every part is needed in God’s kingdom for the church to be what the church should be.
This is not breath taking spiritual truth and almost seems sort of worldly or dirty that the church is talking about money and jobs. But I think it is an awesome truth. Do you believe that God has called you to work the job he has called you to and that calling is just as important as my calling to be a pastor? Look at this way, by you working that 40 hour work week and being gracious in your giving to the church you are allowing me to stand by your hospital bed as you suffer through surgery, you allow me to stand next to people facing physical trauma and their faith and beliefs are being shaken to the core, you allow me to walk with people like your through the shadow of death as you pass from this life to the next. Your job allows missionaries to take Jesus message of salvation to the far reaches of the earth as well as the soup kitchens and shelters of downtown St. Paul. By ever part doing what it is suppose to be doing, every other part is able to do what it is suppose to be doing and in so doing the body of those who call themselves Christ’s followers in a very real way can become the body of Jesus Christ.
I’ve cut the sermon a bit short this morning because when it comes to these type of issues, I think it is healthy for us to hear and learn from one another. So I ask you, what you think of this idea that you have a part to play in this thing called the body of Jesus Christ.
I would like to do one more thing before we go this morning. I would like to pass out something for everyone to take home.
(I passed out puzzle pieces and had everyone write on them: “I have a part to play”. I then asked them to place them in their home in a prominent place to remind them that they are valuable and needed in the kingdom of God and the work of the church.)
