SERMONIC THEME INTRODUCTION
Opening Statement: From time to time we have missionaries in our home. When these times come, the Nelson’s have a decision to make. Either we are going to clean the house and welcome them with excellence or we can just leave it as it is – and that is a frightening thought – and hope for the best in offering an explanation as to why our home is not presentable. Think for a moment. Imagine you’re a missionary and that you come to my home. There’s 2-week-old laundry in the floor. There are dishes with dried spaghetti left on the coffee table. There’s a strange odor coming from the dining room rug that reeks of sour milk. There’s dirt on the floor, jelly covered fingerprints on the refrigerator, and the bathroom hasn’t been cleaned for a week. The bed is unmade. The sheets are dirty. The carpet is stained. And, you can hardly walk through the hallway. How would you feel about coming to my home? Would you think, “Wow, these Nelson’s really pursue excellence. They are winners.” No, you wouldn’t think that at all. You would be more than happy to get out of the place.
Well, needless to say, we don’t approach our hospitality that way. It’s shoddy and speaks of irresponsibility and laziness. The whole Nelson family now knows what a houseguest means at least one day prior to their coming. It’s “Clean up the Nelson House Day” and my kids just love it (how I wish that were true!). But I usually lead the charge and I resort to tactics and methods that I cannot share with you here, to stimulate my workers to get the job done. Why? Because when we clean up our place and remove those distractions and unsightly things from our guests, we serve them with excellence and create a positive place for a great visit to happen.
In fact, just recently, we had Roy and Ethel Nelson in our home. I can’t tell you how many times they said, “Thank you. This is excellent. This is marvelous. Wonderful. A miracle.” To prepare for their coming, we swept the floors, cleaned the leather, dusted the furniture, and hid the dirty clothes. Donnette made stuffed peppers, which Ethel loved because she was raised on a farm. After dinner, we went to Batesville via the slow back roads for ice cream. When we got home, I oriented them to where things were in the rest room and in their bedroom and they crashed for the night. After the service, we took them out to eat and recommended the Ruben sandwich, another one of their favorites, and they so enjoyed it. We finally got them off for their home, and we are just thinking, “Whew, I’m glad that’s over.” Well, about 10 PM on Sunday night, I get a call from Roy. He said, “Joey, I just can’t get over it. It’s a miracle. I just can’t believe it. You all are so nice. Thank you for a wonderful weekend.” Now, I’m not sure about what they have experienced in other people’s home, but I’m thinking, “Man, they must have had some pretty rough experiences.” I’m also thinking, “How could we do anything less than excellence while they are a guest in our home?”
Application: We must demonstrate our love for people by leading and serving them with excellence. I’d like to make an application here to the church. You see, each weekend, we have guest in our church and our regulars who come expecting excellence. We can offer nothing less because it glorifies God. It removes hindrances so they can focus on what is important. This makes a notable impact.
Explanation: I want to underscore the word “excellence” in this message. All of us should strive for excellence in what we do in our personal and church lives. We certainly would not want to create an environment where people waited until they did something only when they could do it perfectly. That kind of professionalism and elitism is not glorifying to God.
Quotation: Charles Swindoll helps us here: “Excellence is a difficult concept to communicate because it can easily be misread as neurotic perfectionism or snooty sophistication. But it is neither. On the contrary, it is the stuff of which greatness is made. It is the difference between just getting by and soaring – that which sets apart the significant from the superficial, the lasting from the temporary.”
Transition: There is nothing wrong with…
Title: Leading and Serving with Excellence – The Core Value of Leadership Excellence
Transition: We must demonstrate our love for people by leading and serving them with excellence. Mediocrity is fast becoming the by-word of our times. Must we wait for someone else to establish our standard or to set our pace? Jesus strove for excellence. Paul was a man of excellence. We should be people of excellence.
SERMON
Opening: According to the Department of Labor web site, Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country. I want to say “Thank You” to those people who work hard on their jobs, provide for their families, and who make America what it is.
Transition: Also, on this Labor Day weekend, I think it is appropriate to challenge each of us on the theme of…
Title: Leading and Serving with Excellence – The Core Value of Leadership Excellence
Key Word: I want to hang my thoughts today on TWO POINTS. First, I want to talk to you about Leading and Serving with Excellence. Second, I want to emphasize my responsibility as Pastor-Teacher to insure that things are done with Excellence.
OUTLINE
Leading and Serving with Excellence
Observation: Regardless of how big or small a church may be; it must have qualified leadership – not perfect leaders, but willing leaders who can offer a service of excellence by creating positive change in a godly way.
Quotation: After clarifying issues of Christian liberty, Paul wrote to the Corinthians and told them point blank: “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God (10:31).” There’s going to be differences of opinion on how to lead one’s life as a believer, but in the final analysis, does it glorify Jesus Christ?
Exposition: Paul is teaching that excellence in Christian living and work, when expressed with humility and authenticity, glorifies God and inspires people. When we do all we can within our God-given resources to pursue our tasks at hand with excellence in mind, that moves people toward the majesty and beauty, and order of God. Of course, Paul was not talking about elitism or professionalism to the point that this is what we seek rather than the end result of life change for the Savior. But I am talking about doing what we do in such a way that God is glorified, people are inspired, and the New Community is an attractive, inviting place to be.
Application: Some applications will help here.
1. The Bible teaching in this place should be excellent to the degree that the teacher is trained and equipped. In teaching the Bible and guiding people to a Biblical lifestyle, it’s so important to have a well-prepared, articulate, and clear presentation of God’s truth. Helping people to understand and apply God’s word is not an easy task, but it’s a worthy, needed task and deserves our best effort. Paul said in Galatians 1:24, “They praise God because of me.” The Lord had changed Paul and was using him to preach the word. This brought glory to God.
Quotation: When we clearly present the Word in our classes and small groups, behind our lecterns and pulpits, Paul teaches us that something unique happens. People actually grow up in their faith. He told the Ephesians that when you teach with excellence, “Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching…Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ (Ephesians 4:14-16).”
2. If you lead in or have part in worship as a musician or singer, it is your responsibility and privilege to come into worship each week with a ready heart and a well-prepared head to lead New Community toward the Savior. Worship should be done with excellence.
Quotation: In talking about public worship services, Paul told the Corinthian church that, “Everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way (1 Corinthians 14:40).” I love it when our soloists knock us out with a wonderful job on their songs. It’s “fitting.” Or, our musicians inspire us with their music. Or, when all the components tie together in a worship service in such a way that a high impact is made.
3. If you are a deacon, you are a leader and it is your privilege and responsibility to lead the way in spiritual growth and in ministry. Deacons don’t have the liberty to have bad attitudes or “lord it over” other members. In fact, deacons lead the way in service. They are lay ministers who address the needs of the New Community and who contribute to the spiritual life of SCC.
4. If you are a Sunday school teacher or an AWANA leader or junior worship leader, it is your privilege and responsibility to be ready each week to share a lesson that will impact a scholar with Biblical truth. It’s important to be ready each Sunday for this meaningful event.
5. If you guide a ministry or labor in a ministry, it is critical that you improve that ministry and take it further than it has ever gone before.
6. If you are a Christian, then excellence in integrity and morality as well as ethics and scholarship is honoring to the Savior. Excellence in physical fitness and spiritual fervor glorify the Savior. Excellence in relationships and craftsmanship is God-exalting stuff.
Clarification: Allow me to clarify why striving for excellence is important. First, it’s important because Paul said we should strive for God-glorifying excellence in whatever we do. Second, doing things in excellence is important because we have individuals who have decided that coming to church on Sunday is a wise investment of their time, so we must insure that is in fact the case. Third, there are new people who have been coming through our doors. We must give attention to detail and strive for excellence because they are worth our best efforts. Fourth, when we do a good job at whatever we are doing whether here or somewhere else, people see our good works and wonder why we do it. It’s a great evangelism opportunity.
The Pastor-Teacher as Leader of Excellence
Background: Peter’s exhortation to elders captures and articulates a kind of practical tension between leading and serving which everyone in ministry experiences. Peter wrote…
Text: 1 Peter 5:1-3 “1 To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder, a witness of Christ’s sufferings and one who also will share in the glory to be revealed: 2 Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers--not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; 3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.
Exposition: While many things could be said regarding these verses, two components exist within this “Servant-Leader” equation. We see the exercise of oversight, and we see the example of servitude.
1. Exercise of Oversight: I am responsible for the levels of excellence that we demonstrate here. Make my job easier by doing a great job. Do you know who does this on a regular basis? John and Debbie Whitehair with the AWANA ministry. While they regularly check in with me, they lead it. It makes my job as Overseer much easier.
2. Example of Servitude: I must model excellence in service.
Explanation: One of the things that I had drilled into my thinking while in seminary was the fact that the pastor or any spiritual leader must be a godly Servant-Leader who serves and leads with excellence and distinction. While there is certainly a measure of authority that comes with the leadership role in the local church that should be respected and followed, the spiritual leaders of a local congregation must never cease to model a servant-spirit. Jesus makes it clear that we are not to “lord it over” others (Matthew 20:25). Rather, leaders are to define vision and service with excellence that reflects the leading of the Holy Spirit and God’s will as expressed through the New Community.
Application: So today, from the “oversight” side of things, I’m standing before the New Community and calling you to excellence at church, at school, at places of employment. I’m also calling you to “serve” others by doing an excellent job for them. Be an example of excellence. I’m calling you to look at your areas of service and give it the time that it deserves. Ask yourself the question, “How can I make this better and produce positive, God-glorifying change?”
CONCLUSION
Illustration: Just before Roy Nelson left, he said, “Joey, if you don’t mind, I’d like to come back some time, not to preach or anything like that, just to hang out with you for a few days.” I thought, “Oh, man, I was way too nice.”
Application: When you pursue excellence as a church in your ministries and worship, people leave you thinking, “Man, I want to come back and hang around people like that.”
Illustration: I remember hearing the story that Bill Hybels, Pastor of Willow Creek Community Church, told. Bill was a young Christian and one Sunday he invited his friend to come to church with him. Bill attended a very traditional, out-of-touch kind of church. After the service, Bill asked his friend how he liked it, and Bill’s friend replied: “Bill, I love you to death and love being with you, but why would you want to hang out with people like that?” This was one of the stimuli that worked on Bill’s heart to create a “seeker-sensitive” church that would really connect with people in an authentic way. Now, I’ve been to Willow Creek Community Church. I can tell you that everything they do is done with excellence. People love to come back.
Closing: I share this letter that Swindoll shares in a book written to graduates. “It lies before you now…the untrod path, the unopened door, the mountain peak, the broad blue heavens. I challenge you. Walk that path, open that door, climb the mountain heights. They sky’s the limit. Let God be your guide and hang tough – follow your dreams with determination. And when you find yourself inundated with choices, don’t be afraid. Be wise. Choose God’s way – choose excellence. My prayers are with you.” God’s blessings to you on this Labor Day.
