Open Your Eyes!
John 4:35
January 8, 2006
Introduction
This is not going to be your typical Sunday message from me.
Rather than the type of message where I take a passage of Scripture and walk us through it to find principles to apply, I want this to be a kind of "where do we go from here" message.
But there is a passage of Scripture that kinda gives the principle, or attitude I would like to see us adopt over the next year, and especially the next seven months.
Why the next seven months? Because over the next seven months, our fair city of Aberdeen is celebrating the anniversary of its founding.
Can anyone here tell me how many years Aberdeen has been in existence? 125!
This year, Aberdeen Wesleyan Church is also celebrating an anniversary of its founding.
Can anyone here (other than a board member) tell me how many years this church has existed in Aberdeen? 120!
More than a century of presence in this community. And if my research is correct, there has actually been a Wesleyan Church - Wesleyan Methodist Church as it was called back then - in the area since 1881. How many years is that? 125!
But I’m using the date that’s on the plate hanging on my office wall.
And I think that we have an opportunity for impact in our community and Brown County that may not come again for a long time.
So today, I want to use this time to encourage you and me to take open our eyes to the opportunities that will abound for us over the next seven months.
The city’s celebration culminates the weekend of July 28-30, and we’re planning on having our big shindig that same weekend.
We’re just starting the planning, but we’re planning a blow-out service for that Sunday.
We’re trying to partner with the city’s celebration committee to make sure that we’re plugged to what’s going on. And I get excited just thinking about what can happen between now and July.
Well, here’s the passage I want to use as a basis for our time together this morning:
John 4:35 -
"Do you not say, ’Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest."
Normally this verse is used to discuss people’s readiness to accept the good news of Jesus, because that’s really what it’s discussing.
But I want to use the concept of the harvest to illustrate some things that I think we can take advantage of while we count down to July.
I’m going to go through these four areas of "harvest" that I believe God would have us to gather.
Not each of these points will have a particular Scripture passage for it, but I think you’ll catch the overall Scriptural principles, okay?
And as we go through these, I want you to notice how each builds on the one before it, because I think that’ll help you see why I think this is so important.
First, I think God wants us to reap...
1. The harvest of widespread recognition.
This is simply just getting the name out.
You would be amazed at how often I get the question, "Where is that?" when I tell them where I pastor.
Or, "What kind of church is that?"
But maybe you wouldn’t be amazed at that, because you’ve seen it yourself.
But my question is this: after 120 years in this community, why doesn’t everybody know who we are? Why do some churches exist for a long time, yet live in relative obscurity in that very community?
I think there are a number of reasons, but let me just list three very quickly. And these aren’t necessarily specific to this church, but to a number of long-living churches in general:
* Past hurts within the church that caused the body to turn inward and focus on healing.
Every church that has been around for any amount of time goes through these things. Events happen, or people come through that just rip the place to shreds, and lots of wounded people are left to pick up the pieces and try to start over. And they move into "survival mode," where all they can do is just keep the doors open.
When that happens, we can lose the perspective that is needed to impact the greater community for Christ.
And healing needs to happen. But oftentimes, if we’re not careful, we forget that we need to heal not only our own wounds, but we need to bring healing to the community through the life-giving message of Jesus Christ.
A second reason that I think that churches aren’t better known among their communities is...
* The belief that "it’s their job to come in, not our job to go out."
I don’t think that’s very prevalent among our gang here, but it is very prevalent among some churches, even those that survive as long as ours has.
For some reason, just enough people come to keep it going, year after year.
I don’t understand it, but some churches survive this way. But they’re not very effective for Christ in the long run, in my opinion.
* The fear that if we become more known in the community that we’ll attract the "wrong" type of people.
There’s a great movie called, A Man Called Peter, based on the book of the same name. It’s about Peter Marshall, the late pastor of New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC, and also the Chaplain of the U.S. Senate in the 1940’s.
This church was vastly historic, in both age and prestige, in that eight Presidents had worshiped there, including Abraham Lincoln, whose pew was still roped off so no one could sit in it.
But it was dying off - the remaining congregation was elderly, and upper class, and afraid to reach out.
When Peter Marshall came, he began to attract a whole new set of people - young, middle-aged, and many were not in the social class of these others.
It frightened them, and they made sure that Peter was told that they were not welcome.
But Peter could not turn them away, and he would not. The church belonged to Christ, he felt, and Christ was calling to whomever would respond, regardless of their social status.
Within a short span of time, the church was overflowing with people - people eager for something real about their Christianity. Not the stale sort they were used to, but a real, vibrant faith in the Jesus of the Bible, who hung out with fishermen and tax collectors, yet could dine with the movers and shakers in the society.
I think that of these three reasons why a church doesn’t impact its community more, this one of being afraid of the "wrong" type of people is the least reflective of this church.
In our Welcome packs that we give to our guests, there’s a green card that asks people three questions. The first question is this: What did you notice first?
And in almost every single card we’ve gotten over the last couple of years since we started that, it’s mentioned how friendly this church is.
I’ve said before that probably every church thinks it’s friendly. But they’re usually only friendly to the people who are already there, not to guests.
Not this church. The people in this church go out of their way to say hello and get to know our guests. I’m proud of you for that!
Those are some reasons that I think some long-surviving churches aren’t very well-known in their community.
You know what fascinates me, though? It’s the fact that while churches are closing left and right in different parts of America, this church has gutted it out for 120 years. This says something about the people who make up this church, and about the fact that I think God still has something he wants to accomplish through us.
However, we need to remember that survival does not give us the right to rest on our laurels. In fact, I think we need to kick it up a notch or two.
And that’s why I’m so excited about the opportunities we’re getting to get our name out more. We need to get more recognition.
Ever since I got here I’ve been looking for ways to get our name out more, and for free whenever possible!
But gaining recognition needs to be done in such a way that we gain something else I believe God wants us to get, and that is...
2. The harvest of a good reputation.
Proverbs 22:1 -
A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.
People have reputations. Corporations and businesses have reputations. And churches can have reputations.
When I mention this church, I wait for unspoken responses, because that’s a better indicator in my mind than someone’s words.
You know your church has a bad reputation when you mention the name and people start to laugh in your face. Or when they begin to get physically ill in your presence.
One thing I’ve had a hard time gauging in our community is just what kind of a reputation this church has.
Apparently we don’t have a reputation of being a bunch of trouble-makers, or of being a bunch of backward hypocrites. At least not to my knowledge.
So I think that we have a golden opportunity to shape our own reputation.
And a good way to do that is to take opportunities to show that we love our city, are glad to be part of its history, and anticipate being a vital part of it from now on.
We’ve taking one of those opportunities by recently joining the Chamber of Commerce.
This gives some recognition, and also gives us opportunities to be involved in our community on a couple other levels - economically and socially.
And it gives us the opportunity to get our name out more by allowing us to put information about the church in every new resident pack that goes out from the Chamber. That will help us with harvest number one - more widespread recognition.
By the way, the next Chamber function is at Lager’s Inn (a bar!). The young lady that signed us up wasn’t sure we’d want to go to that one, but I thought, "What a great place to meet people who need Jesus! And they’re inviting us!" So I said, "You serve Coke at that thing, right?" "Yes." "Then I’m there!" It’s this Thursday, and I’d love your prayers that I would be able to develop some relationships with people who wouldn’t normally come to our church!
We hold a blood drive every year, because it’s a good thing to do, and I want this church to gain a reputation of doing and promoting things that are good for the community.
We house an inter-denominational Christian high school because we want people to see that we’re committed to seeing young kids get an opportunity for a Christian education if they want it.
Even our Youth group is garnering good will for the church by visiting the nursing home every month and interacting with the residents.
This is all good stuff, and builds good will. And good will = good reputation.
My invitation to you is to look for opportunities for us to foster some good will in the community.
Now don’t get me wrong here. I’m not saying that we do good things merely for the sake of reputation. We do good things because we’re commanded to by Scripture.
But as we seek to touch the lives of our community, it brings a harvest of a good reputation.
And I don’t know about you, but I think it would be great if this church had a reputation of being involved for the greater good of the community rather than just keeping to ourselves. What do you think?
Well, the harvest of widespread recognition and the harvest of a good reputation can also bring about...
3. The harvest of a greater impact for Christ.
Folks, why does the Church exist? Is it because it’s just a nice thing to have around?
More specifically, why does this church exist? Is it just because we think there should be a Wesleyan church in Aberdeen?
No! The reason AWC was founded and the reason it exists today is to reach people with the life-giving and life-changing message of Jesus Christ.
And here’s some really good news: there are lots of people out there who are just waiting for us to bring it to them!
John 4:35 -
"Do you not say, ’Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest."
No, that’s not a mistake! I’m quoting our foundation verse again for this point.
Folks, the job is not done! There are people out there who still need Jesus.
And working on ways to harvest widespread recognition and harvest a good reputation will go a long way to helping us earn a hearing with those people.
But for us to have the kind of real impact that lasts and continues to grow, we need to first of all...
* Recognize the readiness of people.
You know what I think? I think people are ready to see a church that’s really serious about helping their community on all levels by giving them a solid spiritual foundation built on a love for the Word of God and applying its principles in everyday living.
That’s not a pipe dream for me. It’s what I’ve been working toward for this church since the day I first stepped up here almost 5 1/2 years ago.
I believe that God can revolutionize a society when the people of God get serious about living for him in every area of life.
But we have to recognize the readiness of the people. Then, we need to...
* Do the work of reaping.
In other words, we need to get into the game. We need to get involved. As individuals and as a church.
I’m not just talking about evangelism here. I’m talking about taking the opportunities God lays in our lap to make a difference for him in our community.
To not take advantage of those opportunities is just like leaving the wheat in the fields because we don’t think it’s important enough to mess with.
That would be silly enough in agriculture, but it’s downright wrong if we do that in regards to the kingdom.
If we take advantage of the harvest of a greater impact for Christ, then we will also reap...
4. The harvest of greater glory for God.
John 15:8 -
"This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples."
Folks, this is the ultimate end of everything we try to do as a church. The goal of our worship services is to honor and glorify God - in the singing, the praying, and the preaching, which is meant to help you glorify God in your daily living for him.
We do things like join the Chamber of Commerce because it gives us the opportunity to glorify God among other people by showing them what Jesus looks like outside of these walls.
And one day, everything will come together in one unimaginable time when the Father will be glorified for ever and ever and ever and ever.
But in the meantime, we want to reap a harvest of glory for the Father here on earth. How do we do that?
God is glorified when the people of God are doing the work of God: representing Him to a needy world.
Conclusion
Well, I hope you can tell that I’m a bit excited about what I think God has in store for us this year, if we’ll only take the opportunities.
I think that in terms of community recognition, this year will be one of our best opportunities in a long time, maybe ever again.
And if we take advantage of it, we can reap the harvests of recognition, reputation, fruit for Christ, and glory for God.
But it takes more than my enthusiasm. It takes more than the excitement of the church board. It takes you.
It takes you - allowing yourself to be moved by God to take advantage of these opportunities.
It takes you - deciding that the goal of bringing glory to God will move to the top of your agenda for living.
It takes you - living for Christ on a daily basis, through the power of the Holy Spirit using the Word of God to transform you into an accurate and beautiful reflection of Christ for the world.
Because you see, without that, without our people being sold-out for Christ on an individual basis, our efforts on a church-wide scale are worthless.
Remember that stuff about reputation? And I said that I find it hard to get a handle on the reputation this church has?
Let me tell you what I would like our reputation to be: I’d like us to have a reputation of being a church made up of people who are really serious about living for Jesus - so serious that it shows in everything they do.
I’d like someday for people, when they talk to someone who is part of this church family and they ask them where they go to church, that person will say, "Aberdeen Wesleyan." And they’ll say, "That figures. I could tell that your faith actually means something to you - it’s not the plastic Christianity I see so much of. I really oughtta check that out sometime."
Or when someone is talking about Aberdeen, the person says, "Hey, that’s where that one church is - that Wesleyan church. I hear really good things about that church."
Folks, that kind of reputation brings a harvest of fruit for Christ, and a harvest of glory for God.
But it takes you - being sold out to Christ.
The events in the city this year aren’t the end-all. They’re just a tool that God can use for us to move on to becoming a church like I just described.
"Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God." William Carey
We’re going to attempt great things for God this year. And in doing so, we’re going to expect great things from God.
So what about you?
Are you content with where the church is, in regard to these four areas? I hope not.
So as we close, let me just invite you to jump on board with us, as we work, in anticipation of what God is going to do in us and through us, for His glory.
Let’s pray.
