THE PASTOR’S POINTS
sermon ministry of
CEDAR LODGE BAPTIST CHURCH
Thomasville, NC
a Fellowship of Faith, Family and Friendships
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February 1, 2004
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Amos was the prophet who preached against the “good ‘ol boy” religious system. I preached a sermon one time entitled, A Good ‘ol Boy Amongst Samaritan Yankees. Amos was from the southern kingdom of Judah, and he went north and preached to the fat cats; there were those who ‘had’ and were ‘getting’; those who ‘had not’ could simply fly a kite for their needs.
23“BUT YOU ARE A CHOSE N PEOPLE, A ROYAL PRIESTHOOD,
A HOLY NATION, A PECULIAR PEOPLE…1 Peter 2:9 (KJV)
A “peculiar” people, belonging to God really describes who we are, and what we’re trying to understand this evening. Peculiar people are different than the world; they are different that what the world expects. …judgment begins at the house of God. 1Peter 4:17 (KJV)
Judgment begins here…not “out there”. We tend to think that because we serve God that judgment is for those other people who are outside…not like us. Let’s face it, folks, some of us can be quite disobedient to God, even though we are in the house of God. We can be like that with our attitudes and actions.
This is background, then for the message tonight; we are supposed to be a peculiar people, a different people. I alluded earlier to the fact that the game [Superbowl] is already on – has been for 16 minutes – it takes 18 hours to play one quarter of football. I appreciate your being here tonight. We are supposed to be different from the world that values football games over worship. You are here, so tonight I’m “preaching to the choir”.
Because you are dedicated to serving our Lord I want to share with you tonight some things about our ministries, individually and together. Every single Christian believer has a ministry.
There is a lot of belief in the world today that the church is impotent, cannot do anything worthwhile. Because of that I want us to take a good, hard look at the picture of a focused ministry of the individuals who make-up the church body – the collective ministry of individual ministries.
How can I recognize what my ministry is? How can I see what the focus should be for the way God wants me to minister? What is my ministry gift? Psalms 126:5-6 will give us, very succinctly, six characteristics of a focused individual ministry.
They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. Psalm 126:5-6 (KJV)
We sing “Bringing In the Sheaves”. This little two-verse couplet gives us, I believe an accurate picture of a focused ministry.
I. A Focused Ministry Will Be Specific.
It won’t just be that we say “I just want to love everybody”. That’s not specific, is it? A focused ministry is identifiable; it is something specific enough so that we can look and see where broken people and broken places are put back together. Because broken places and broken people are not general; they’re not just everybody, they’re individuals. How many of you have had a really tough time in your life? The fact is we are all – at some time in life – broken people.
Our text says that we plant seed. There are many different kinds of seed, but each kind is specific. You plant a seed in the ground and it comes up according to the specific kind of seed you planted. You don’t apply specific “seeds” (ministry) to general ideas or needs. Broken people are specific. If you are going to be involved in a ministry of any kind, it must focus on specific needs.
Don’t settle for, “Well, I’m just going to be the very best Christian I can be.” That may be a good place to start, but it is a terrible place to stop. If you don’t identify a specific area in which you’re going to involve yourself, you will get involved in such generalizations that there will never be anything to measure your progress in the kingdom; we become “Jack of all Trades, master of none”.
II. A Focused Ministry Will Be Significant.
Human needs met in some way must be significant. Notice again in the text how it says we bear precious seed. The ministry “seed” must be significant enough so there is“preciousness” about it.
Meeting human needs that are significant always costs – and it should. The text indicates that the sower goes forth and bears the seed, but he also weeps over it. Do you weep over insignificant things, or precious? There was a lot of weeping on Kendall Mill Road last night. I saw it with my own eyes. There was, to be sure, an alternating between weeping and joy; weeping because we lost a good man in Ed Suggs, joy over the prospect of the reunion.
We go forth weeping, meaning we go for significant human reasons. Have you ever wept for someone’s need? Have you ever wept for someone’s soul, a lost person who just seems to stay out of reach of the Savior and His gospel? I wept over a man’s soul one time early in our ministry. He came to Elizabeth and me in our first church out of seminary. John was not a nice man. He started attending our church. He was a rough, ex-military man; look up the definition of bad attitude and language in the dictionary – you’ll find John’s picture there. John was a drunk, mean and foul; he beat his wife, an all-around bad guy! I wept because I never really could reach John.
He made a profession of faith, and was baptized; we all thought it was genuine, but the man was as mean as they come, a serpent in sheep’s clothing. And I wept over him. A few weeks after he joined our church he returned to his old ways. During one of his drunken tirades Elizabeth and I had to hide his wife from him. The man carried a 44-caliber revolver; the last words he ever said to me were, “I’m going to make a minister out of you.” I told him that wasn’t his job, only Jesus could work with the likes of me.
Several weeks later John made the headlines. He committed suicide publicly, in front of a K-Mart store. I don’t know what happened to his soul; I am not equipped to look inside one’s heart – only Jesus can do that. But I wept again for John; I wept for the precious seed I shared with him. I also wept for the many other John’s who are out there – people in the kind of anguish that only a lost soul can know. There is a significant ministry out there for each of us…precious seed needs to be sown.
In 2nd Samuel 24 it tells us that King David needed a place for an altar God had instructed him to build for worship. He went to a citizen and tried to buy a field…the man said, “here, take it, use it, my king, it is yours”. David looked the man in the eye and said, “I will not offer something to the Lord which costs me nothing. Often it is easy to settle for getting involved in a ministry which costs us nothing. That kind of ministry will never be significant!
III. A Focused Ministry Is Singled-Out by God.
Becoming involved in a ministry is something that God ought to pick-out for you. There should be something super-natural about the way you are brought to it. This is because we seek God’s leading, and we should wait upon that leading. How do you do that? Your pastor is a resource, but he should not pick-out your calling. You have dear friends and Christian brothers and sisters in your Sunday School class who can be sounding boards. But, friend, there is nothing more appropriate when seeking His face, His leading than getting alone with Him, on your face before Him and asking the Lord to reveal Himself.
Many people imagine God is playing some heavenly version of hide-and-seek; God is not doing that. He is not only willing to be found by you – that is His one desire – to lead you to a place of ministry and relationship with Him.
As much as He singles-out a ministry, it will be useless unless there is obedience to the call. Notice the text says, “He that goeth forth…”! Settling in prayer that God has called you to something is only a contractual agreement; performance of that agreement is what counts! Many people say, “Well, God is going to lead me into a ministry some day – I just wish I knew exactly which ministry.” Folks, I know people who could have grown a twenty-foot beard while waiting and singing that one note! Seek God, hear His voice and get involved.
Getting involved is a simple as starting. How? Fix a plate of beans and take it to the Suggs house tomorrow for after the funeral. You say, “Well God hasn’t revealed himself to me that I should be involved in a ministry of benevolence.” Friend, if you’re not willing to be involved on the simplest measure of ministry, He will never reveal Himself for larger things.
I knew a man at seminary over 20 years ago who, when it was getting close to graduation, told me he was not going to even talk with a church that averaged less than 1,000 in worship. (He may still be there).
Jesus put on a towel like a household slave and washed feet. You can cook beans! When it comes to finding God’s will for your personal ministry involvement, start with the first significant (or even menial) need you hear about. God will lead you from there. Go forth with that seed, brother!
IV. A Focused Ministry is Self-Chosen
How contradictory here…does God lead you to it, or do you choose it? It is like our salvation. God leads us, draws us to the need and the Savior who meets that need. On the other hand, He won’t do it for us unless we take the first step of repentance and believe, confessing our sins. There is always a point – in salvation or ministry – where God will stop unless we yield and begin to follow. God calls; only we can surrender!
Again from the text – “He that goeth forth, bearing precious seed.” Imagine the picture of the sower. He has gotten to the field just before dawn, loins girded-up, seed pouch slung over his shoulders. Our sower reaches into the pouch and discovers he has no seed. He isn’t going to be much of an asset in the field that day! Unless you pick up the seed you’ll have nothing to sow.
Self-chosen means picking up the seed to bear. If, for instance, God has laid it upon your heart to be a soul winner, you are drawn to sharing your faith with others, it would be a good idea to pick up some seed. Put some tracts in your pocket, mark some passages in your New Testament and practice your testimony.
Pick up the seed and go forth! And when you do, you will find that your response will be joy. That is always the product of finding the center of God’s will for your life. The times I have taken a deep breath and said “Yes” to the Lord, because He had revealed His will for my life and ministry are the times of greatest joy.
V. A Focused Ministry is Strengthened.
The text says they which sow in tears shall reap in joy. Sowing and reaping is a process. Jesus talked about a sower who spread the seed; some fell on good ground, some on the hard or weedy ground. A sower who never learns to recognize good soil, or never tries to get better with his sowing technique will be less valuable to the owner of the farm. The ministry to which you’re called demands (because of its’ significance) that you train and become strengthened.
Your local church family ought to affirm the ministry gift and calling also. Too often ministries get started and then fizzle because the person fails to be accountable to the local body. There is little room in the body of Christ for “Lone Rangers” who, in a headstrong way, do “ministry” because they want to…or simply because they like it. Accountability is part of Christ’s plan. Lone Ranger endeavors may accomplish something, but ministries full of folks who are accountable to each other have that pyramid of strength built by the Holy Spirit. It’s a focus we cannot afford to miss.
VI. A Focused Ministry Serves a Purpose.
L. B. Thomasson was the pastor of our home church in Crystal River, Florida. L. B. used to refer to the cosmic church. That was a popular term in the 60’s and 70’s. It means the whole body of believers of all time.
The relevance or determining litmus test of any part of ministry (if it is indeed genuine ministry) is that it must draw people into the cosmic body of believers, blood-bought followers, members of the family of God.
Jesus said His ministry (the cross) would draw all men to Him. Our ministries, individually and collectively are to do that, point men to the cross. That is our job description; that is the purpose of ministry. Allow me to put some meat on the bones of that statement with an illustration.
Suppose your specific ministry is outreach – and the ministry in particular to which God has drawn you is newcomers. You have surrendered to that ministry, telling God, “Yes, Lord – I’ll do that. I’ll make it my business to meet the newcomers in this community.” The church has affirmed you in this ministry and strengthened you – maybe given you $500 of a budget to use in reaching newcomers. You have been strengthened by training; perhaps you took an outreach class at the Association, and the pastor has taken you out to knock on some new homeowner’s doors to help you get started. And you’ve located the different sources to help you identify places where newcomers are to be found.
Imagine for a moment that someone new who has moved into our community has opened the door to you. You do your part, having prayed that God would bless your efforts, you got up, and picked up your precious seed and you go forth, caring deeply (weeping) for that new homeowner. After sharing a brief greeting, you share an invitation to come to worship Sunday. A few words of witness, and a handshake later you’re on your way home.
All that week you pray – “Lord, bless that seed, nurture it, and help it along.” Sunday morning comes and you’re standing outside the building waiting for that precious seed to return. You told her you would wait outside for she and her two kids; you would show them to the Sunday School rooms. Just before class time their car pulls in. You show them around, introduce them. Then you sit with them in the worship service. And when the invitation is given your new friend turns towards you and says, “I’d really like to go, but what do you say when you get down there?” You say, “I’ll go with you if you like.” In a few seconds you and your new sister in Christ, along with her oldest daughter are standing at the front of the church. There are “east to west grins” on everyone’s faces. You have gone forth, weeping, bearing precious seed – and you have come again to the house of God…and you are standing next to the newest sheaves. Sow in tears, reap in joy! That’s what peculiar people do!
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*Transcribed as preached 2/1/2004
