2012 SINGLE SERMONS
IT TAKES A CHURCH
DR. JIM DIXON
REVELATION 3:14-22
JANUARY 29, 2012
In the year 1996, Hillary Clinton wrote a New York Times bestselling book called It Takes a Village. That title was not created by her. In fact, most scholars believe that the phrase “It takes a village” comes from the African continent, more specifically from Nigeria and from the Igbo people. They had this expression, “It takes a village to raise a child.” No one is suggesting that it doesn’t take parents to raise a child. No one is suggesting that it doesn’t take a family to raise a child. But the message is, if you live in a community, help children out. And indeed, in our nation, help children out.
Now, the Bible has a little different message. The message is, “It takes a church.” It takes a church to raise a child. Of course, moms and dads rear their children and nurture their children, but churches help. That is why whenever our babies, whenever our infants, are brought to the front of the worship center for dedication or for baptism, we ask the whole congregation if you’ll support the parents as they seek to rear the children in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord and if you’ll support each family with your prayers and with your time and with your talents and your resources. That is why we invite you, the church, to come and teach Sunday school, to join in with the ministry to children at the church. Because it takes a church, and it takes a church to serve the Great Commission. It takes a church to serve the call of the kingdom of heaven. It takes the church universal, and each church individually.
So today, we, we look at the call of Christ to take His message to the nations, and the fact that it does take a church. I want to say two things. First of all, I want to say it takes a church with passion. Now, in the New Testament, there are two different words for passion, two different Greek words. And the first word is “epithumia.” Epithumia can be used in a good sense, and can also be used in a bad sense. Now, in the bad sense, the word epithumia means lust. It means excessive desires, or it means improper desires. Lust, epithumia. But the word is also used in the Bible in a very good sense, where it simply means strong desire and a good cause, a passionate desire to serve the kingdom of God and the cause of Christ.
Now, there’s another word in the New Testament for passion, and it’s the word “pathos.” And the word pathos is often rendered by our English word passion. But the word pathos literally means “to suffer.” The word pathos refers to a cause for which you are willing to suffer. Is there any cause for which you are willing to suffer? If there is such a cause, then, with regard to that cause, you have passion. You have passion when you’re willing to suffer for a cause.
This morning I want to ask you (I know the Lord wants to ask you), to take an honest look at your heart, to look at your life, and to ask the question, is there any cause for which you are willing to suffer? And is that cause the kingdom of heaven? Is it the cause of Christ? Is it the Great Commission? Do you have passion?
We live in a world where there’s all kinds of passions. In 1830, right here in Colorado, up in the mountains, in what is now Summit County, a rendezvous camp was established. That camp was called Three Rivers. It was where the Snake and the Blue and the Ten Mile rivers came together, so that rendezvous camp was called Three Rivers. Now, in 1860, that rendezvous camp had become a town, and the town was called Three Rivers. In that town there was a young man whose name was Tom Dillon. And Dillon was a good-looking kid, and he was kind to people and very much loved by the community. There came a day late in the summer when Tom Dillon said to the folks in the town, I’m gonna head off into the mountains in search of gold. They said, don’t go by yourself. And he said, I want to go. And they said, well, it’s late in the summer. You’re into the fall. There could be a winter storm, a blizzard. Don’t do this. But he had gold fever. He had the lust for gold. So Tom Dillon took off and he never came back. To this day, no one has ever found the body of Tom Dillon. And he may have been caught in a blizzard, may have died of hypothermia, and may have been killed by an animal—maybe a mountain lion, maybe a bear that had not yet gone into hibernation. No one knows. But he never came back. And because he was beloved, the people of Three Rivers decided to change the name of their town and name it after Tom Dillon. And of course they called it Dillon. And you can go up to the mountains today and you can go to Dillon, Colorado.
Now, state historians will tell you that when you go up to Dillon, it’s not the original Dillon that was the new name of Three Rivers, because the town of Dillon has been moved four times. The original Dillon was in the area that is now under the reservoir. It’s now under Lake Dillon. Lake Dillon is also named after Tom Dillon. But when you think of this, you should remember the lust for gold. And of course, in the state of Colorado there are many mountain towns that were built on the basis of this passion for gold. That’s not just true of Dillon, that’s also true of Georgetown, and that’s true of Silver Plume, and that’s true of Idaho Springs.
That’s even true here in the city of Denver. In 1858, gold was discovered in Cherry Creek, and it was passion for gold, gold fever, gold lust, that established the city of Denver and the city of Auraria. So, we live in a world like that. Even today, you can go to the tech center, and you can go to the downtown sky rises, and there’s still gold fever. It takes a different form, but there’s still this passion for wealth. And it’s all over America, all over the world.
There are many passions. But you see, the Bible says if you’re a follower of Jesus Christ, if you’re truly a Christian, then you are to have a different passion. Your passion should be unique in the world, unique on the Earth. Your passion should be for Christ and His cause, and for, indeed, the cause of the Kingdom of heaven. So it was in the Sermon on the Mount that Jesus made His famous statement, “Seek first My kingdom.” The word seek is “zeteo.” And it’s a word of passion. Zeteo means strive; strive with all your heart; desire earnestly; make every effort for the kingdom of God. And he said, “Seek first.” It’s not just zeteo, but also the word “first,” the word “primos.” So it means “foremost, above all else.” So what Jesus is saying is, “If you’re a follower of Mine, if you’re a Christian, your first and foremost desire is the cause of heaven on earth, the cause of Christ.” So I ask you to just take that honest look today in your hearts and in your minds. Ask yourself, do I have that? Is that my highest passion? Is that my first desire? Do I earnestly desire this? Do I strive for this? Or am I just like the rest of the world? Be honest in your self-assessments. How am I living out my days and how am I living out my life?
Now, there is a well-known story that I think is one of the most amazing in Christian history. It concerns the Polo family, particularly Niccolo and Maffeo Polo, and of course also Marco Polo. I know many of you, when you think of Marco Polo, think of swimming pools. You think of a game you play in swimming pools. But of course, Niccolo was the father of Marco Polo and Maffeo Polo was his uncle. The year was 1268 when they made their famous journey from west to east, to the Far East, to China. That story is still told all over the world, and students study this in the classrooms of America. Of course, they went and they arrived in the Royal Court of Kublai Khan. They became friends with Kublai Khan, and they shared stories of their different worlds. And in the course of sharing their lives, Niccolo and Maffeo Polo told Kublai Khan about Jesus Christ. They told Kublai Khan in 1268 about the cross, and they told him about the crucifixion. They told him how Jesus died for our sins in substitutionary atonement, that He took the sin of the world upon Himself. And the Kublai Khan was fascinated.
Then they went on to tell him about the resurrection—how death could not hold Christ, and how Christ rose from the dead in power and glory, and how He is the hope of the world, and that one day he will come again. Kublai Khan was amazed, and Kublai Khan was touched, and he said to Niccolo and Maffeo Polo, “Listen, go back to your country, and when you go back to Italy, tell them that we need missionaries. Bring a hundred missionaries here to China, to my royal court. I want to be baptized, I want my royal court to be baptized, and I want your missionaries to tell this story, to evangelize my people.” What an amazing opportunity.
So Niccolo and and Maffeo Polo did return to Italy and they told about this request. They gave this request to the ecclesiastical authorities, to the church leaders, and the church did nothing. At least, they did nothing immediately. Three years later, in 1271, Niccolo and Maffeo Polo went back to China with Marco Polo, who was 17 years old at the time. So in 1271, Niccolo, Maffeo, and Marco went back to China, but without the missionaries. It wasn’t until the year 1304 that the church in Italy sent three missionaries to China. It was too little, too late.
But can you imagine how the course of history would’ve changed if 100 missionaries had immediately gone forth from the church of Jesus Christ to the royal court in China? It would’ve changed the globe. It would’ve changed the course of history. But the church did nothing. And the truth is that at many times in history the flame has almost winked out. The light has not burned brightly. The passion has been lost. And many times, in the church of Jesus Christ, opportunities have been lost.
In the first century, the second century, and the third century, there was great passion for the cause of Christ, for the Great Commission, and for the gospel itself. The church shook the foundations of the world. Here we are in the 21st century, and the story of Niccolo and Maffeo Polo, that’s taking place all the time in your neighborhood, in your workplace, and with your friends. Opportunities are constantly being lost. Opportunities are constantly being lost in every part of the world because the church of Jesus Christ doesn’t have the passion. We don’t “seek first and foremost.” We’re not willing to suffer for this cause.
You know, we have this warning from Revelation chapter three, starting with verse 14, the passage of scripture for today, where Jesus spoke to the church at Laodicea, and Jesus introduced Himself as The Amen, which means the Truth, and the Faithful and True Witness, and the Archon, the Founder of God’s creation, and the Ruler of God’s creation. So this was a powerful introduction. And Jesus said to the church at Laodicea, “I know your works. You are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot, but because you are lukewarm you make Me sick.” That’s what Jesus said to the church at Laodicea: “Because you are lukewarm, you make Me sick.” He literally said, “I would spew you out of my mouth. You make Me sick. I want to throw up.” That’s literally the meaning of the Greek.
“Because you are lukewarm.” “You have lost your passion.”
This verse in Revelation three, which is so famous, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock,” is so misused. It’s been misused for centuries. You may have attended meetings, gone to churches, and heard messages where a pastor uses this for salvation. They may have said, “You may have never accepted Christ, but He stands at the door and He knocks to you on your heart. If you’ll open the door, He’ll come in and save you.” And of course, that’s true. I mean, Christ does stand at the door and He wants to come in and save your soul if you’ve never accepted Him. He longs to do that. But that’s not what this passage is about. That’s not what Revelation chapter three is about. Jesus is talking to the church. He’s talking to Christians. He’s not seeking to save them. He’s seeking to come in that He might relight the flame, that He might rekindle the passion. So He says to the church at Laodicea, “You are lukewarm. Repent. I stand at the door and knock.”
The Greek is present continuous. It doesn’t mean that He’s knocking once. It means He is just continually knocking. “Behold, I’d stand at the door and I keep on knocking. Open the door. Let Me come in and light the flame. Let Me come in and rekindle the passion.” If you partake in this honest assessment this morning, you may need to say a little prayer today and ask Jesus to come in the door to your heart and light the flame and rekindle the passion, maybe a passion you’ve never had, that we might be the church of Jesus Christ on this earth. So it takes a church with passion.
Now, it also takes a church with compassion, and that’s our second and final teaching. It takes a church with compassion. Again, in the Bible there are a number of Greek words for compassion. And if you’ve attended this church for any number of years, you should be able to give me this teaching. You should be able to give me this teaching because I’ve had a number of times where I’ve dealt with these words for compassion.
There’s the word “sumpathos” in the New Testament from which we get the English word sympathy. And sumpathos literally means “to suffer with.” It means to feel what another person feels. The church of Jesus Christ has to be willing to suffer with people. The church of Jesus Christ has to feel what other people feel. Sumpathos. This is a biblical word for compassion, but there’s a deeper word, as we have seen.
The deeper word is eusplanchnos. Eusplanchnos notes refers to being moved, inwardly moved, to action. So compassion isn’t simply feeling what somebody else is feeling. You’re moved to action. You actually do something about it. You don’t just feel what they feel, but you’re willing to do something about it. So the deeper word for compassion is eusplanchnos, but there’s still a deeper word.
In fact, I want to say that the word eusplanchnos is used by Jesus in the story of the Good Samaritan. When the Good Samaritan sees the wounded Jew by the side of the road and is moved to action, that is what Jesus is saying when He uses this word. He feels what the wounded Jewish person feels, and then he has moved to action.
Then this third word, the deepest word, is the word “eleos,” which means you’re moved to action—you feel for another person and you’re moved to action—even if they’re your enemy and even if you don’t like them or if they don’t like you. Even if they don’t, in your opinion, really deserve it, you’re move to help them. You’re moved to action. So, in fact, this word eleos, which is sometimes translated “compassion” and sometimes translated “mercy,” is used to sum up the story of the Good Samaritan. It’s a story of really loving your enemy, because the Jews in the Samaritans hated each other.
So this call is upon the church of Christ. We’re called to go forth into the world and into our neighborhoods, but over all the earth. And we’re to do this with passion and we’re to do this with compassion. And of course, everything is tied to this. It takes a church with compassion.
I know all of you have heard of Charlie Chaplin. Charlie Chaplin died in 1977, at the age of 88, and Charlie Chaplin was the greatest comedian and the greatest actor of the so-called Silent Era. And Charlie Chaplin was the founder of United Artists Motion Pictures. he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. He was very controversial in his worldview and in his politics. He was very controversial in his socioeconomic views and very controversial in terms of religion and theology. But everyone would agree with this: he had a pretty good sense of humor. Charlie Chaplin had a pretty good sense of humor.
By his own testimony, one day he was traveling in Europe and he came into a village. He came into a town and he was stunned to see that they were having a Charlie Chaplin lookalike contest. So he thinks to himself, this is too good to be true. He thought, I have to enter this contest. Of course, nobody knew that he was the real Charlie Chaplain, and so he enters the contest and he takes third place. Apparently in this little village there were two guys that looked more like Charlie Chaplin than Charlie Chaplin.
But I would ask you this: who are you trying to look like? Is there anybody that you want to look like? Maybe it’s not physical. Maybe you’re not trying to look like them physically. Maybe it has to do with their heart. Maybe it has to do with their character. Maybe it has to do with their personality. Is there anybody that you want to emulate? I would submit to you that if you call yourself a follower of Jesus Christ, why, it’s Christ that you should seek to emulate. The very name Christian means that you are seeking Christlikeness, that you are seeking to be like Jesus.
I promise you, if you really want to be like Jesus, you can’t do it unless you have compassion. Unless your heart is broken by the things that break His heart, unless you feel what people feel, and unless you’re move to action, unless you even are willing to love those who don’t love you, you can’t be like Jesus. So it takes a church with passion for the truth of the gospel, but it also takes a church with compassion and with much love. Where you don’t see this, the church fails.
Just this last week, I’ve been doing some research in books and on the web (and Barb has as well) on the Cluny Abbey in France. The Cluny Abbey is (I don’t know whether you’re aware of this) visited by more than a million tourists every year in Cluny, France, which is in Southeast France. All that’s there now is pretty much ruins. I mean, you can see the picture up on the screen, but what you’re looking at (I know that doesn’t look like ruins) is the Cluny Church, the Abbey Church of St. Peter and St. Paul. But the south transept is all that remains of the original building, and the south transept with the two towers was just a fraction of this massive church, which was the largest church in the world.
Now, the Abbey building is what you see attached to that south transept. It was built later, and it is now a museum and a hotel and a library. The church at Cluny is dead. But you can go behind and look at the vast ruins of what was the largest church in the world.
They started to build it in 1088. It took them 160 years. So they were building the church in the 11th century, the 12th century, and the 13th century. Now, this is Cluny three. There was a Cluny one and a Cluny two that were smaller churches built in the ninth century, but this is Cluny three. And this church was so huge that you’d walk into the cathedral and it was two football fields in length. And as you go around the building complex, you’d find 22 different chapels throughout the building, some of them huge. There were all kinds of facilities for the Benedictine order, because the Cluny church was the world headquarters of the Benedictine order. In the Middle Ages, the Benedictine order had 1,100 monasteries around the world. But the world headquarters was at Cluny. And of course, in the Middle Ages, the Benedictine order had 10,000 monks. The worship services in the cathedral were packed. And there were 300 pastors at the zenith of the ministry in Cluny to serve this vast congregation. And they sang Gregorian chants and prayers and the proclamation of the Word of God filled the cathedral.
Some of the monks and nuns were cloistered, and some of the monks were uncloistered. And the cloistered devoted their lives to prayer, that the power of the kingdom of heaven might go over the earth. So the cloistered monks all prayed for the power of heaven, for the power of Christ, to go forth and attend the love and truth of the gospel. Then the uncloistered monks left the church and went into the world. They went into the world all over the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ, and with ministries of compassion for the poor and the oppressed and the hurting.
The power, for centuries, was unbelievable. But the passion and the compassion began to die out. They began to lose the fire, and the church began to die out. And by the time of the French Revolution, when the Cluny Church building was destroyed, the church was already dead. It was already a hollow shell. The church was already dead, because it had lost its passion and compassion.
Now, you can look at this church, Cherry Hills Community Church. In just two months, we’re 30 years old. What’s our future? What will this church be until Christ comes back? I cannot answer that, but I tell you it has more to do with you than it does with me. This church belongs to Jesus Christ. The real test is, are you gonna be faithful to Christ? I’ve sought to be faithful in my hour. Some of you come up to me and you say, well, Jim, you’re getting older. And I’m like, wow, I never thought about that. I know I’m getting older. I’m 66, and I’m hoping to serve Christ here in a senior pastor, full-time capacity for four more years until I’m 70. I’m, I’m hoping to do that. But you know, it’s not about me. What are you gonna be doing in four years, and what is your part going to be in the ministry of Cherry Hills Community Church?
Now, I hope you understand that even in four years I’m not wanting to go away. I’d like to retire from being senior pastor, but I’d like to hang around a little, maybe have an office in the basement—cause some mischief, do something. But the truth of the matter is, I want to serve Christ. But it’s really about you. It’s really about you and your commitment to this ministry. And throughout the years to come so much is at stake. The job is so huge. Jesus said that we are to take His gospel to every tribe, tongue, people, and nation, that every ethnicity—the Greek word is “ethnos”—must receive the gospel before He will come again. And of course, He’s not willing or wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
So His gospel goes forth, and of course we are the agents through which the gospel is to go forth, and we can’t lose our passion or our compassion. The Bible says there’s no other name under heaven given amongst men whereby we may be saved. If you don’t believe that Jesus saves, don’t go. But you’re not a Christian. I mean, if a Christian believes in the cross, the Christian believes in the resurrection. I mean, if you don’t think people need Christ, why did He come? Why did He need to die? Die? Why did He need to conquer sin and death if people could be saved anyway? So He said, “You shall be My witnesses, and you shall go into all the world and make disciples. “It takes passion, the willingness to suffer in a cause. And it takes lots of compassion. The job is huge. When Abraham left Ur of the Chaldees 4,000 years ago, there was only a hundred million people on the earth. And then 3,000 years ago, when David ascended the throne in Israel, there were only 120 million people on the earth. And 2,000 years ago, when Christ was born in Bethlehem, there were 140 million people on the earth. The earth’s population was growing slowly.
And of course, a thousand years ago, when Otto III ascended the throne of the Holy Roman Empire and when Leaf Erickson allegedly arrived in the region of North America, there were 275 million people on the earth, but that’s still less than the population of the United States of America. Today, we have over 300 million people just in the United States. But a thousand years ago, there were fewer people than that on the entire Earth.
500 years ago, when Christopher Columbus arrived in the New World and when Michelangelo was painting the Sistine Chapel (by the way, he completed that in 1512, exactly 500 years ago) there were 450 million people on the earth. There was not even a half billion in the entire world 500 years ago.
It wasn’t until 1850, shortly after the time gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill in California and just a little bit before gold was discovered in Cherry Creek here in Denver, that the earth reached a population of 1 billion. But the growth is now exponential. And today, as we sit here, there are 6 billion, 800 million people on the earth. That’s almost 7 billion people. And the task is huge, because we’re supposed to take Jesus and the message of the cross and the hope of the resurrection to all the world. We can’t do it without passion. We can’t do it without compassion. And nothing is worse than a lukewarm church. It makes Christ want to throw up. So here we are, and the call is before us. The potential is so great.
It was 1789 when King Louis the 16th called the Estates General to the Palace of Versailles in France. And there was the first estate, which was the clergy—300 assembled clergymen. And there was the second estate, which was the Nobles—300 assembled nobles. Then there was the third estate, which was the commoner—600 assembled commoners. And they all had power. Collectively, each of these groups had great power. A few years later, Edmund Burke stood before the House of Commons in London, England, and he looked at the assembled press and he said, “You are the fourth estate, and you have more power than all.” And of course, it’s true that the fourth estate, the press, has great power globally to shape world opinion.
But I submit to you that the church is a fifth estate and it has more power still. The church of Jesus Christ. “I will build My church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” And if only we could light the flame, if only the passion could be rekindled and the compassion re-lit, we could be like the early church and we could shake the foundation.
As we close today, it’s going to be a little time of prayer. Jesus stands at the door knocking, and perhaps He’s just continuously knocking at the door of your heart this morning, and He wants to come in and relight the flame. In your heart maybe you know that you’re lukewarm, and this is the day to say, “Jesus, I open the door. Come in and sup with me and me with You. Let me have fellowship with You. Rekindle the intimacy. Let my heart beat with Your heart. Let me seek what You seek. Give me the passion. Give me the compassion to serve you all the days of my life. Let this be the day.” Let’s look to the Lord with a word of prayer.