On March 6, 1836 a famous battle occurred in San Antonio, Texas at a place called the Alamo. This battle was a turning point in the battle for Texas. A group of approximately 200 soldiers, farmers, and frontiersmen fought a valiant battle against an over-whelming Mexican army of approximately 3,000 soldiers lead by Santa Ana. After the collapse of the Alamo General Sam Houston lead an American/Texas force that defeated the surging Mexican army. Sam Houston’s troops rallied around the cry “Remember the Alamo.” They were challenged to fight “for” the people who died at the Alamo.
A similar thing happened in the football world. In 1920 there was a football player who played for Notre Dame by the name of George Gipp. He was called the “Gipper.” George Gipp died while playing football for Notre Dame. On his death bed the “Gipper” told his coach that at some point, when the team was a major underdog, for him to challenge the team to “win one for the gipper.” In 1928 Notre Dame faced a huge challenge in playing army. They were a major underdog. Knute Rockne, the Notre Dame coach, challenged the Notre Dame team to win “one for the Gipper.” The Notre Dame football team was inspired and challenged to win one “for” the “Gipper.”
I have just finished reading a book about the American Revolution. I was amazed at the sacrifice that many of the American patriots had to make in fighting for freedom. They were under-clothed. Some of them wore rags for shoes. Many of them suffered severe frost bite and other cold related problems because of their commitment to the American cause. They did it for freedom.
Great causes stimulate great performances. Great causes stimulate great effort. Great causes stimulate great sacrifice. I want to show you a man who made a great effort “for” Jesus Christ and His church. He was faithful to the cause. That is the focus of our month, remaining faithful. Last week we talked about remaining faithful to God. Today I want to talk about remaining faithful in our service through the church. For a text I want to look at Col. 1:24-2:5. Take special note of three verses.
In 1:24 Paul says “I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church.” Paul uses the phrase “for” twice in this verse. He refers to doing things “for” the believers and “for” the church.
“Paul begins this passage with a daring thought. He thinks of his sufferings as completing the sufferings of Jesus Christ. Jesus died to save his Church; but the Church must be upbuilt and extended; it must be kept strong and pure and true; therefore, anyone who serves the Church by widening her borders, establishing her faith, saving her from errors, is doing the work of Christ. And if such service involves suffering and sacrifice, that affliction is filling up and sharing the very suffering of Christ. To suffer in the service of Christ is not a penalty but a privilege, for it is sharing in his work.” (William Barclay commentary on Colossians)
In 1:29 Paul refers to his labor for the church. The word could be translated struggle, labor, or toil.
In 2:1 Paul says he agonized for the church. He refers to the great “conflict” he had for the church. This is the word from which we get our word agony.
In these three verses we run across the words suffering, laboring, and agonizing. Those are not pleasant concepts. In his sermon on dealing with trials, Nashville pastor Byron Yawn points out: "For most, especially American Christians, even the remotest suggestion that there could be value in our suffering is viewed as uncaring and insensitive. We have been conditioned by our culture to believe the opposite. A collective attitude that exalts comfort and views personal happiness as the end of all things has blurred our perspective. There is no place for pain in American Christianity. "Because of this distorted perception, we rarely stop to search for the ’hand of God’ in the midst of our trouble. Seeking to understand God’s purposes in our pain is all but foreign. As a result, embracing pain’s role…. is usually the farthest thing from our minds. As one so aptly put it, ’Most people count it all joy when they escape trials. James said to count it all joy in the midst of trials.’
(Source: Preaching Now Vol. 1, No. 20. Tue 9/3/2002. Contributed by SermonCentral)
In these three verses you can see that Paul remained faithful in his service to the church in spite of hardship, trial, and persecution. What was the key to his spirit of steadfastness? There are two keys. You and I should follow suit.
1. We must have a right perspective.
It’s something like what Coach John McKay of USC said to his team after they had been humiliated 51-0 by Notre Dame. McKay came into the locker room and saw a group of beaten, worn-out and thoroughly depressed young football players who were not accustomed to losing. He stood up on a bench and said, "Men, let’s keep this in perspective. There are 800 million Chinese who don’t even know this game was played." That’s what you call perspective. (SOURCE: Steve Farrar, "Family Survival in the American Jungle," 1991, Multnomah Press, p. 40.)
A good example of a right perspective is observed in the life of David when he faced Goliath. All of the other Hebrew soldiers were paralyzed by fear. The Bible tells us that when they looked at Goliath they froze. Not David! His perspective was that God plus one always makes a majority. He told Goliath, “you come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts.” What a perspective!
A. If we are going to be steadfast in our service to God through His church we must have a right perspective. A right perspective comes from a right attitude about the church.
Several years ago a churchgoer wrote a letter to the editor of the newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday. "I’ve gone for 30 years now," he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can’t remember a single one of them. So, I think I’m wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all." This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Editor" column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher: I’ve been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this: They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!"
(Contributed to Sermon Central by Dean Kennedy)
What should be our attitude toward the church?
“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her.” Eph. 5:25
Ask, how did Jesus love the church?...He died for it!
In I Cor. 12 the church is called the “body of Christ.”
Ask, what is the church?…It is the body of Christ!
B. A right perspective comes from a right attitude about service and sacrifice. Service and sacrifice should not be seen as a loss but as an honor and privilege. (vs. 23, 25)
Elmer Towns tells about a member of a motorcycle gang who experienced a dramatic conversion to Jesus Christ. The first Sunday he did the only thing he knew he should do and so he went to church. Nobody in the church knew him and he walked down to the second aisle and sat in the seat. And the people stared because he looked the part; big burly, bearded, long hair, black jacket, tattoos. It came announcement time and the minister got up and made an appeal for nursery workers. He said, “We need someone to work in the nursery.” But no one would volunteer. He asked a second time, “We really need someone to go be with our kids.” But no one would volunteer. And the cyclist prayed, “Lord, I want to do what you want me to do and if you want me to go work in nursery just have the preacher ask a third time.” And a third time the preacher said, “Please we need someone to work in the nursery.” And the cyclist raised his hand, nodded his head and started toward the nursery. Immediately 50 mothers volunteered to work in the nursery.
(Contributed to Sermon Central by Brian Matherlee)
2. We must understand our mission. Paul’s mission was to make and develop disciples for Jesus Christ. In 1:25 he refers to his call to the ministry. In 1:27 he refers to “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Paul said his goal was to “present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.” (1:28)
Paul agonized over this responsibility. In 2:1 Paul refers to his “struggle.” This is the Greek word “agon” from which we get our word agony. Paul agonized for the believers. Paul desired that people receive four things.
• He knew believers needed “encouragement.” (vs. 2)
• He knew believers needed loving support. (vs. 2)
• He knew believers needed “assurance.” (vs. 2)
• He knew believers needed comprehension. (vs. 2)
Sometimes churches lose sight of their mission.
"There is an old story about a lighthouse keeper who worked on a rocky stretch of coastline. Once a month he would receive a new supply of oil to keep the light burning so that ships could safely sail near the rocky coast. One night, though, a woman from a nearby village came and begged him for some oil to keep her family warm. Another time a father asked for oil to use in his lamp. Another man needed to lubricate a wheel. Since all the requests seemed legitimate, the lighthouse keeper tried to please everyone and grant the requests of all. Toward the end of the month, he ran out of oil. One night the light went out. As a result several ships were wrecked and countless lives were lost, on night. When the authorities investigated, the man was very apologetic. He told them he was trying to be helpful with the oil. Their reply to his excuses, however, was simple and to the point: "You were given oil for one purpose, and one purpose only - to keep that light burning!" A church faces a similar commission. There is no end to the demands placed on a church’s time and resources. As a result, the foundational mission of a church must remain supreme."
(SOURCE: James Emory White, Rethinking the Church (Baker Books, 1997), 27-28. Contributed by Joel Smith)
We must have the right purpose. We must have the right mission. In 1976 Steve Jobs founded Apple Computers. In the early days of Apple Steve Jobs realized he needed an experienced executive to provide leadership to this new company. He went after John Sculley, who was CEO of Pepsi-Cola.
Steve Jobs wined and dined John Sculley in an effort to get him away from Pepsi Cola. He realized he had an uphill battle in luring him away from Pepsis Cola so he took a strategic step. He took John Sculley to the top of an apartment building overlooking Central Park in New York City and made a high pressured sale to hire him for Apple Computers. At a point of exasperation Steve Jobs looked at John Sculley and said “Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water, or do you want a chance to change the world?”
John Sculley later wrote a book and shared this story. He said that question knocked the wind out of him. Eventually it prompted him to leave PepsiCo and join Apple Computers. (P. 216 in Becoming A Contagious Christian)
Let me remind you of the mission statement of Faith Baptist Church. “The mission of Faith Baptist Church is to grow obedient disciples of Christ.” This mission involves two aspects.
1. It involves leading people to faith in Jesus Christ.
2. It involves leading people to become obedient followers of Christ.
Let me explain how we go about doing this. Our process is outlined using the three words LOVE, LEAD, and LAUNCH.
As I worked with our vision team we tried to identify the strengths of Faith Baptist so that we can build on them. The first strength we identified was LOVE. Everything starts here.
“We will LOVE Jesus and share His love with the people of Baldwin county.” I use a simple strategy to keep me focused as I seek to lead Faith.
N= Relational networks- Our primary evangelism method is relationships. Every one of us has networks of friends, family, neighbors, and acquaintances. It has been discovered that 85-90 percent of people who attend church attend because a friend or acquaintance brought them.
E= Events- We encourage you to use events as you seek to evangelize your friends. There are many events: worship services, Sunday school socials, dinner theatres, fall festival, VBS, and so on.
T= Sunday school teams= The third part of the strategy is our Sunday school teams.
The second part of our discipleship process is identified by the word LEAD. We seek to lead believers to maturity in Christ. We facilitate this process as we teach five disciplines of the spiritual life. They are:
Magnification- We teach believers to worship.
Membership- We teach believers what it means to participate in the body of Christ.
Maturity- We teach believers the spiritual disciplines that will help a believer mature in Christ.
Ministry- We help believers discover a place of ministry.
Mission- We help believers be on mission in our world as they share their faith and participate in ministry and mission activities.
The third part of our discipleship process is to LAUNCH believers to be on mission. We want to equip believers to share their faith with others. We want to equip believers to participate in God’s plan for world evangelization.
When you have the right perspective and when you understand God’s purpose it will encourage you to do things “for God and for His church.”
