“Let’s Get Engaged”
Part 1 – Assuming the Position
VIDEO – MeChurch (Available at SermonSpice.com)
The Passion Process. We have covered the first two steps in the Passion Process until you should know them like you know your hand! We are determined to Encounter God and become Equipped. Illustrated by Hands Up and Hands Open. Now we examine the last aspect or step in this process. We have come to the conclusion that a person reveals how mature they are as a disciple and how far along they are in their walk with Christ not by how much they worship or by how much they know how to do. We are convinced that a person’s spiritual condition is actually revealed by how Engaged they are in winning and impacting their culture. It is imperative that we get our Hands Out! Bounce off the walls all you want in here. Study the tenants of faith until your head swells to hot air balloon size. But at the end of the day what really matters is whether or not you are willing to leave the confines of the stadium seats and get on the field and go to war. Anything less than that makes the rest nothing more than exercises in emotionalism and intellectualism. Without actual involvement in our community and our culture we become nothing more than another self-help seminar and institution of learning. We must become engaged.
TEXT:
Numbers 16:42-48
42And it came to pass, when the congregation was gathered against Moses and against Aaron, that they looked toward the tabernacle of the congregation: and, behold, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the LORD appeared. 43And Moses and Aaron came before the tabernacle of the congregation. 44And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 45Get you up from among this congregation, that I may consume them as in a moment. And they fell upon their faces. 46And Moses said unto Aaron, take a censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and put on incense, and go quickly unto the congregation, and make an atonement for them: for there is wrath gone out from the LORD; the plague is begun. 47And Aaron took as Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of the congregation; and, behold, the plague was begun among the people: and he put on incense, and made an atonement for the people. 48And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed.
Romans 6:11
11From now on, think of it this way: Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God. That’s what Jesus did.
I. Introduction
If you have ever played any sports at all you know that being in the right position is absolutely crucial to the success of the efforts individually and as a team. Ask any basketball coach if it is important for the point guard to fall back on defense to prevent a fast break for the other team and he will tell you that being in the right position is paramount. Ask a football coach how important it is for a defensive end to stay home to prevent an end around or reverse and he will tell you that position is everything.
The same can be said in war. Ask a general if it is important for a company of men to be where they are supposed to be during an offensive and he will explain that if they aren’t there defeat is almost certain.
I want to talk to you about assuming the position. There is a position that is absolutely essential for each of us to fill in order for us to have any impact or effect at all on our community.
II. Framework
But before we can talk about that position we must first establish a couple of facts based on Scripture:
1. We are alive.
According to the Word of God there are two types of individuals on the earth today. There are those who are alive and there are those who are dead. Look at your neighbor and see which type they are. Go ahead and put your hand under their nose to see if they are still breathing. There are those who are alive because of their relationship with Christ and there are those who are dead due to their sins. There is no middle ground. You can’t be half way alive and half way dead. It is black and white, cut and dry. If you are in the room this morning and you have accepted Christ into your heart as your personal savior then you are alive. If you are in the room and you have never made that commitment you are dead. I know you are breathing and moving, but just as sure as I am standing here you are dead. Just because you attend church doesn’t make you alive any more than standing in a garage makes you a corvette. The only method or path that brings you to life is an encounter with Christ in which you place Him as Lord and savior of your life. So as we walk throughout our day, as we go into Wal-Mart, or rub shoulders with people at Starbucks, or interact with the folks around us at the bank we must understand that we are coming into contact with some folks who are alive and some who are dead. It is our job to figure out who is who so that we can get into position.
2. The second fact that we must establish is that there is a plague out there that is killing people.
That plague is called sin. Satan’s supreme cause and desire is to kill, steal, and destroy and like it or not he is very good at what he does. This isn’t a hard sell for me. You know there is a plague out there. You see the carnage and the fall out. All you have to do is pick up a paper or watch the TV and you see the plague.
When you see people openly celebrating their homosexuality as an alternative lifestyle instead of the perversion that it is . . . there is a plague.
When you see men who rape children and video tape it for their pleasure . . . there is a plague.
When you see young people so tormented by pain and depression that they walk into schools and randomly shoot people . . . There is a plague.
When you find out that a middle school school board deems that is appropriate to hand out birth control pills to 6th graders . . . there is a plague.
When a president can blur the lines of what is sex and isn’t sex so that an entire generation walks blindly into promiscuity. . . there is a plague.
When the homeless stand on every corner . . . there is a plague.
When the hospital rooms are filled with disease and sickness . . . there is a plague.
When churches condone all acts of immorality and lead their congregations into addictions and destroy their testimony . . . there is a plague.
There is a plague in the world we live in. It is spreading. It is claiming lives. It is causing casualties. It is a fact. We cannot ignore it. We cannot deny it.
And that is where we come in. Passion requires action!
III. The Position
There is a position that we must take up. There is a position that we must fill in order for us to do something about the plague that we see. However, our problem is that we want results without requirements. Notice if you will that before Moses and Aaron could do anything about the plague they first had to fall on their faces before God and receive an anointing! Before we can assume our position we must first become supernaturally empowered to do so. Our problem is that we want the results without meeting the requirements. So we come to church and sleep through worship and sleep through the Word and then we want to go out and win the world. It won’t happen. We read about how Peter won 3,000 in one moment and we think we can do the same. The problem is that he prayed for 3 days, preached for 3 minutes and then won 3,000 while we can barely pray 3 minutes, we preach for 3 days and we sit in wonder that we win no one. Before we can go to war (and this is a war) we must first stop and get armed. We need the anointing of the Holy Spirit on our life. We need the power of God on our life. We need to spend the necessary time in the altars becoming prepared for the battle. That is why all the head knowledge won’t get it done. You must also have an encounter with a supernatural God in order to be able to supernaturally impact this culture.
So what is our position? Our position is the same position that Moses instructed Aaron to fill. We are to stand between the living and the dead and stop the plague.
That is our role. That is our position. That is where we are supposed to be. We should be acting as a bridge between those who are alive in Christ and those who are dead in sin so that they can cross over to life. According to Ezekiel 22:30, God is searching “for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: BUT I FOUND NONE.” We are out of position. Touch 3 people and tell them “Get in position. God is looking for you.”
IV. Tendency
The problem or challenge is that we have the tendency to put all of our efforts into trying to huddle up with those who are alive and survive the plague. Moses’ instructions to Aaron were to run into the midst of the congregation. Get right in the middle of the mess. Get as close to those who are sick as possible so that you can do something about it. What we do is we continue to drive past the congregation to get to the building! I can prove that. Did you know that the average pastor can’t even name 7 unsaved friends? I am not sure I can. But before you point a condemning finger at me did you know that 99.5% of Christians will never personally win someone to Christ?
We are out of position. Our instructions are clear run to the dying not away from them. Why? Because if they die we all die. We cannot be unaffected! It affects our friends, our family, and our neighbors.
On that day 14,700 people died before someone stepped into position and did something about it. How many have died while we set in comfort huddled up with the living?
We have a tendency to think that all we have to do is get our family inside and survive. But I declare to you today that there was only one ark – that was Noah’s instructions – not ours. Now if we pull inside we all die!
So our attitude has become “Come and dine the Master calleth come and dine” and we sit inside the safety of the ark with the living waiting on the dead to come to us. They know where we are. They can find us if they really need us. When they get desperate enough they will beat our doors down. All the while we know they are starving to death for spiritual food and we have abundance and are unwilling to share.
Reminds of the woman who went to the pet store and purchased a parrot to keep her company. She took her new pet home, but returned the next day to report, “That parrot hasn’t said a word yet!” The storekeeper asked her, “Does the parrot have a mirror?” “Parrots like to be able to look at themselves in the mirror because they think it is another bird and then they begin to talk.” So the lady bought the mirror and returned home. The next day she was back, announcing the bird still wasn’t speaking. The storekeeper asked the lady, “Did you get the parrot a ladder? Parrots enjoy walking up and down a ladder. This will make the parrot happy and then it will start talking.” So she bought a ladder and returned home. Sure enough, the next day she was back with the same story – still no talk. “Does the parrot have a swing?” “Birds enjoy relaxing on a swing.” She bought the swing and went home. The next day she returned to the store to announce that the bird had died. The storekeeper with concern on his face replied, “I am so sorry to hear that. Did the bird ever say anything before it died?” “Yeah,” the lady said. “It said, ‘Don’t they sell any food down there?’”
The problem was not the quality of the food. The problem was the location of the food. The parrot died because the food never left the pet store. The parrots in the store survived, but this parrot died due to lack of nourishment.
We sit inundated by food. Books, cds, preaching, teaching, seminars, conferences, classes and yet those out there are still dying. They don’t need any more bells, whistles, mirrors and ladders. What they need is food.
We find ourselves so full of quality food that we are stuffed while they starve. So what do full people do? They snack rather than feast. They just come in and get enough to tide them over until the next meal. I just snack on God’s Word just enough to get me through till Wednesday and that’s it. I just pull out the promise card from the promise loaf and read the one verse a week to get me by. Rather than getting so full of the Word that I can’t help but go out and spread it to others.
Secondly, full people begin to complain about the way the food is cooked and served. Have you ever heard a starving man complain about the quality of the food? No way, he is just thankful for the food. Too many of us have had so much food that we have become professional food critics. We go restaurant to restaurant critiquing the food, the menu, the service, and the people serving it. It’s too hot. It’s too cold. It’s too traditional. It’s too modern. It’s too long. It’s too short. It’s too soft. It’s too loud.
It’s food! It’s good food! It’s just that we are full! We desperately need to have the revelation that the hog had. These hogs in a cartoon were assembled for feeding and as the farmer was filling their trough to the brim, one of the hogs turned to the others and asked, “Have you ever wondered why he’s being so good to us?”
God has fed us so well not so that we can remain at the trough and become picky! He has fed us so well so that we can in turn feed others. We are not called to sit, soak, and sour! Why do you think God has invested so much time, energy, buildings, messages, teachings, and blessings on us? It is so that we will be strong enough, nourished enough, and thankful enough to get into position and stand between the living and dead and stop the plague.
Hear me this morning! We can no longer celebrate the fact that the
wages of sin is death just because we have been set free from sin and just because everyone we know has been set free from sin. The fact that the wages of sin is death should stir up a spirit of urgency in our heart until we are compelled to run into the midst of those who are sick and stop their plague!
An old farmer was sitting in his back yard fishing in a tub of water. His neighbor began ridiculing him. He said, “Man, there ain’t no fish in that tub. Why are wastin’ your time like that?” The old farmers reply should send cause us to fall to our knees. He said, “I know there ain’t no fish in here, but it’s just so powerful convenient.”
I know it is convenient to hide out in here. I know it is more comfortable to hang out with those who act like, think like, and live like us. But there ain’t no fish in there.
It is time to get out of our comfort zones and stand between the living and the dead and stop the plague. Quit waiting on them to come to us. Quit relegating soul winning to the 9:30 hour on Sunday morning. They are dying daily and it is our job to reach them. We are called to take light to dark places how much more light do those who already have light need?
Prayer:
First that you would anoint us. We need supernatural power. We can’t do what we need to do without anointing. Give us your heart.
