Principles to Build Upon: Involvement
Introduction:
I heard about an elderly man who went to his doctor for a physical. The doctor checked him out thoroughly. He told the elderly fellow that he was basically in good health for his age, but also gave him some guidelines concerning his lifestyle. A few weeks go by and the doctor is at a restaurant with his wife. The same elderly man comes in with a much younger, beautiful woman. The doctor can’t believe what he’s seeing but sure enough, the old fellow is there and having a grand old time. The doctor walks over to the elderly man and his companion and says, “I thought I gave you some guidelines concerning your lifestyle. How does this fit into my instructions.” The old fellow coughs and then says, “I thought you told me to find a hot mama and be cheerful.” The doctor says, “I must not have checked your hearing well enough. I said, ‘I found a heart murmur. Be careful.”
Somewhere along the line we have missed some of the guidelines. I believe one of those guidelines that the church has missed is regarding how ministry is supposed to work. We have developed a “hireling” system in many churches. In many cases the congregation has become an audience watching the hireling do the ministry. It is a great problem that we view ministry as something that is done to us and blesses us and not something we do to others that blesses others.
Edward Everett Hale, the distinguished poet and former Chaplain of the U.S. Senate, said, : "I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. What I can do, that I ought to do. And what I ought to do, by the grace of God, I shall do."
Yes, we are only one, but I believe if we would begin to understand that each and every person who claims to be a Christian has a responsibility of involvement in kingdom work then we one by one would make a far great impact in the world.
It is my proposition this morning that one of the most important principles that we need to emphasize as the church today is the importance of every member’s involvement in the work of the church. I believe that if each member is involved in ministry and sees themselves as a minister of the church then we will accomplish far more as the church and the kingdom will advance greatly. I have to believe that the church is greatly hindered when every member is not involved.
Text: Ephesians 4:7-16
I. Every Member’s Involvement Maximizes the Church’s Effectiveness
Most people would limit their Christianity to coming to church every now and then and saving all the real work for the preacher and other church leaders. Perhaps there aren’t many that would say that exactly like that, but I am pretty sure there are some that think that way because we still have people who come to church time and time again and never get involved in any work of the church.
Do you believe the work of the church is eternally important?
Do you believe that God has gifted each individual to serve with a variety of talents and abilities?
Do you believe that each Christian has some level of responsibility in the church? I do. This morning I want to make a strong charge to the church here that we become a congregation full of people who do not just come and fill a pew every now and then, but a congregation full of people actually willing to work for the kingdom. We must understand that if each person in the church was involved in the ministry of the church we would maximize the churches potential. However, I believe many people’s unwillingness to get off the pew has handicapped the church and the results are great. Because of that fewer people will hear the gospel, less people in need will be helped, fewer people will be taught the Word of God and brought to maturity in Christ, more people will be hurting and broken and living in sin, more people will die in their sins without ever obeying the gospel. When every member is involved it allows us to do more and to do better in what we do.
A. Maximizes the Church’s Potential For Evangelism
Matthew 9:37-38
Every member’s involvement maximizes the church’s potential to reach lost people. Certainly I do not need to spend a great deal of time emphasizing the importance of the mission of reaching the lost. I believe that we are not able to reach people like we could because we sometimes get bogged down with necessary work that could be shared. It is common sense that more people working will allow us to do more things. Often times we are all struck doing necessary things, but those things keep us from being out sharing our faith.
One of the special things about the church in the first century was that everyone understood they had a duty in serving and a duty in reaching the lost, each member was active sharing their faith.
B. Maximizes the Church’s Potential For Service
In the book of Acts we see the story of the church working through different problems that they faced. One of the first problems that they had to face had to do with having enough people to serve. If you remember, one of the first ministries the church was involved with was providing some type of food to the Greek and Hebrew widows in the church. Apparently that ministry began to become overwhelming. Early on I would imagine that there was little problem finding the people to do the work, but as the church grew, so did the magnitude of that particular ministry. They were faced with a choice. They could stop that particular ministry do to a lack of volunteers or they could keep it going. If they dropped that service then they would be neglecting something they saw as important. If they continued the way they were the ones involved would be bogged down with that one ministry that little else would get accomplished. They decided that they needed to continue that ministry, but that they needed some more help. This is when we see the first case of the office of “deacon” or servants being selected for a specific task.
When we lack the number of volunteers there in reality is only a limited amount of things that the church is able to accomplish. I wonder what is the church hindered from doing because of a lack of involvement among those who claim to be members of His church.
This is a story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody. There was an important job to do and Everybody was asked to do it. Everybody was sure Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought Anybody would do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.
I do believe that God has gifted us as Christians for works of service. I believe we have different talents and abilities that we can use for the up building of the kingdom, but when a few decide not to work it is like a vital part of the body deciding not to function any longer. In turn we have people spread thin. We have a few people doing all the work and they are even doing things that they are not gifted to do. Most statistics say that in the church 20 percent of the people end up doing 80 percent of the work. Could you imagine what would happen if 100 percent of the people we doing one hundred percent of the work? We would be able to do far more, serve more people, and make more of a difference. However, I believe we have a mixed up view of what serving is. We think that if we serve communion and pass and offering plate every once and while we are accomplishing our servant duty. I might suggest that more is expected. I might suggest that we all ought to find a way to be involved in kingdom work. That might not be the same job for each person, but certainly there is a way that you can use your talents and abilities to serve others and to serve Christ.
I believe that if every member is involved then we will maximize the church’s ability to serve. Therefore, my challenge is for each person to find an outlet for their faith, a way to serve and build the kingdom.
One of the keys to advancing the gospel is for the church to be made up of individuals who consider it their task to do the work of the ministry, rather than having a congregation of people who expect a paid person to minister them.
II. Every Member’s Involvement Maximizes Spiritual Growth
The Dead Sea is so salty that it contains no fish or plant life. What accounts for this unusual condition? There are absolutely no outlets! A great volume of water pours into this area, but nothing flows out. Many inlets plus no outlets equal a dead sea.
Churches that have a majority of the congregation that match that description are like the Dead Sea. There are plenty of “inlets” but no “outlets.” To be a vibrant and effective church, we must not only “take in” all we can, but we must also “give out” in service to others! Don’t get me wrong times of taking in are vital and necessary, but I might say that it just as important to have an outlet as it is some inlet to our faith. It’s possible for large numbers of people in a certain church to attend Bible conferences, listen to Christian radio, read Christian books, study the Scriptures, and continually take in the Word as it is preached from the pulpit, and yet the congregation be lifeless and unproductive. The reason is because of a failure to serve and be involved in the ministry. We believe that being involved in serving and in the work of the kingdom that individuals grow in their faith and that is not possible to be a growing Christian and not be serving in some way.
Under the Old Testament Law, the Jews understood that there were certain things that only the priest could do. Only the priests could offer certain sacrifices and perform certain rituals. Only the Priest could cross the veil and enter into the most Holy Place.
I Peter 2:4-10
