RISE UP AND SHINE
OPPORTUNITY
DR. JIM DIXON
SEPTEMBER 29, 1991
JOHN 4:35-36; REVELATION 3:7
There’s an old story often told about four passengers in a railroad car. Sometimes this story is set in World War II when it was fairly common for military people and civilians to travel together on trains. In this particular car, there were four people. One was a general, one was a young lieutenant, another was a beautiful young woman, and then the young woman’s mother—these four.
As the train was racing along, it came to a tunnel. As the train entered the tunnel, this passenger car became very dark. There were no lights in the car, and it was completely dark. Suddenly, there was the sound of a kiss and the sound of a face being flapped. Now, there were different perspectives in these four people.
The beautiful young woman thought, “I can’t believe that young lieutenant actually kissed me. That was really entirely inappropriate. But I kind of wish my mom hadn’t slapped him.” The mother was thinking, “Apparently that young lieutenant kissed my daughter, and I’m just glad she had the spunk to slap him for it.” Then the general was thinking, “That young lieutenant must have kissed that beautiful young woman; and, somehow, that woman must have thought I did it, so she slapped me.” Then the lieutenant was thinking, “It’s not often you get a chance to kiss a beautiful young woman and slap a general at the same time.”
This morning, I want us to examine the subject of opportunity and making the most of the opportunities that are set before us. The Lord Jesus Christ said to the church at Philadelphia, “Behold, I set before you an open door.” He said to the church at Philadelphia, “Behold, I set before you an opportunity.” We live in a world where a lot of people never take advantage of the opportunities that are placed before them, and sometimes they never get that opportunity again.
I’m reminded of a story, a true story that took place 40 years ago in 1951 just outside the city of Los Angeles. Two men, one named Walter, the other named Art, were driving in their car. They were driving outside of LA. They drove out into the country, and they drove for 25 miles. Then they turned off the main road and went through a grove of trees and beyond the grove of trees into a vast expanse of uninhabited land.
There, Walter stopped the car, and he asked Art to get out. He said, “Art, this is where it’s going to happen. This is where my dream is going to be fulfilled. That great project I told you about . . . I’m going to build it here. People are going to come from all over Los Angeles and beyond. Families are going to come, moms and dads, children . . . they’re going to come. And Art, you’re not going to believe it. It’s going to be great. I want you to get in on the ground floor of this opportunity.”
“Art, I have just enough money to fulfill the dream and build the project; but the land all around this project is going to become incredibly valuable. I want you to take advantage of that opportunity. In fact, Art, I really believe the land all around this project I’m going to build is going to increase in value in the next five years, 100 fold. Art, there’s going to be hotels, and there’s going to be restaurants and convention centers. This is a tremendous opportunity.”
Art looked out on that vast expanse of uninhabited land, and he saw horses grazing, and he saw some broken-down old shacks. Art thought to himself, “Walter has flipped.” He said, “There is absolutely no way that people are going to drive 25 miles out into the middle of nowhere for this dream of his.” So, Art politely refused.
You know the story. You know what happened. Four years later, Walt opened up Disneyland in 1955. That was his dream. That was his project. And his friend Art Linkletter, never took advantage of that incredible opportunity. Art Linkletter later said, “That was an opportunity that only comes along once in a lifetime.” He said, “I never took advantage of it, and I’ll never have that opportunity again.”
Now, you see, that’s true in the world. It’s true in the world in which we live. It’s also true in the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Sometimes, He sets before us opportunities that only come along once in a lifetime. And if we do not take advantage of that opportunity set before us, that opportunity will never come again. Church history is filled with missed opportunities.
In the year 1265, Kublai Khan ruled China. Now Kublai Khan not only ruled China, but he also ruled most of India and the greater portion of the Asian continent. He was one of the most powerful men on the face of the Earth. In that same year, 1265, two Italian men named Niccolò and Maffeo Polo, the father and the uncle of Marco Polo, ventured from Italy to China. They made that long journey through Eastern Europe and through the Asian continent. They came to China, and they came to the Great Khan.
There they met with Kublai Khan. They were immediately overwhelmed by his incomprehensible wealth. They knew they had nothing of a material nature that they could offer him, but they decided they would offer him what they had in the way of spiritual things. Niccolò and Maffeo Polo told Kublai Khan about Jesus Christ. They told him about the death of Christ, the crucifixion of Christ, how Jesus Christ offers atonement and forgiveness of sin. They told him about the resurrection of Jesus Christ, how Jesus Christ is the hope of the world, and how He offers eternal life to all who believe in His name.
The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God moved on the heart and the mind of Kublai Khan, and even secular historians admit that Kublai Khan was about to accept Jesus Christ. Kublai Khan said, “You know,” he said, “I want all of my leaders, all of my officials, and all of my officers to become Christians. I would like all of our people to be Christians. I’d like us to be a Christian kingdom.” He said, “I’d like you two men to go back to your country and get a hundred missionaries and bring them back to China and share this message of Jesus Christ with all of our people.”
You know what happened? Most of you know what happened. In 1269, Niccolò and Maffeo Polo returned to Italy. They told the church officials, “We need missionaries for China. It’s an incredible opportunity. It’s an open door.” Those church officials just didn’t believe it. They offered them two token missionaries. In the year 1271, Niccolò and Maffeo Polo and the 17-year-old Marco Polo took those two missionaries with them towards China. As they ventured towards China and they were about halfway, the two missionaries grew weary of the journey and went back to Italy. It was 30 years before any missionaries went to China. By that time, Kublai Khan was dead, and it was too little too late. An opportunity never taken advantage of. The door was shut.
Only God knows what would’ve happened. What if the church of Jesus Christ had been faithful in that hour? Only God knows what would’ve happened. Maybe there wouldn’t be communism in China today. Maybe Tiananmen Square would never have happened. Maybe the Church of Jesus Christ wouldn’t be suffering underground in China today. Maybe the face of the Asian continent would be different today if the church of Jesus Christ had been faithful in that hour.
Sometimes, God says, “I sat before you an open door.” That’s what God said. That’s what our Lord Jesus Christ said to the Church of Philadelphia. “Behold, I set before you an open door.” The church of Philadelphia had been used by the Greek empire to colonize, to spread Greek culture throughout the region of Phrygia and Asia Minor. Now, Jesus Christ was addressing the church and the city of Philadelphia, and Jesus Christ was saying, “I want to use you to evangelize Phrygia in the region of Asia Minor. I want you to take My gospel to all the people that surround your church. It’s an open door.”
In Acts 14, the apostle Paul says that God has given him an open door. An “open door”—those are Paul’s words—an open door to take the gospel to the Gentile nations. Then again, in 1 Corinthians 16 and again in 2 Corinthians 2, the Apostle Paul writes, “God has given us an open door in this hour—an open door, an opportunity to take the gospel to certain nations.”
It’s always been that way in church history. There are times when God offers the church a special opportunity, when God offers the church an open door. We believe here at Cherry Hills Community Church that God has set before us an open door, a special opportunity to be everything that God wants Cherry Hills Community Church to be. We have an opportunity to have the kind of children’s ministry God wants us to have, the kind of adult education God wants us to have, to have the type of worship, the kind of community that God wants us to have. We have an opportunity to reach the people in the city of Denver as God wants us to, to be the church He wants us to be. “Behold, I set before you an open door.”
The elder board, our session, has seen a glimpse of what God wants us to be. Our staff has seen a glimpse of what God wants us to be. We believe Jesus Christ wants each of you to see a glimpse of what God wants us to be. Imagine for a second, a new church site that we’ve built. On Sunday morning, you’re going to church, and you don’t even have to worry. I mean, you know that you can get into that parking lot with no problem at all, even if you’re going at 9:30. You know it, and you know that the people you’ve invited can get in even if they’re going at 9:30.
Our situation is so crazy here that even in our 11AM service (which is our smallest service), sometimes there’s a parking problem because of the mass of people leaving at 9:30 and because we’ve got hundreds of singles downstairs and their cars are out in the lot. We have a situation now where the parking is more than problematic. But imagine a situation where you don’t have to think about it. You know you’re going to be able to take your car and drive to the church and park and get in and get out.
Imagine a situation where you know you’re going to be able to place your children in classrooms that have a great learning environment and ample square footage per child—a place where you know those kids can learn and experience the love of Jesus Christ and be taught in the Scriptures. Imagine going to church knowing you can just hang out. I mean, you don’t have to go for an hour and then run home. You can go, and you can hang out. You can be part of as much as you want to be part of.
Imagine coming to church and knowing you can go to adult education classes, knowing that there are classrooms for adults. Imagine there are electives being offered, and Bob is not only teaching on Wednesday night, but Bob is teaching on Sunday morning. You can go to Bob’s class, and you can go to worship service, and you can do it all on Sunday morning. And between the hours, you can have coffee, and you can fellowship with other people. We can have a sense of community, and we can be the church. We can be what God wants CHCC to be.
Imagine people who live in Denver and South Denver who really are clueless regarding the true gospel of Jesus Christ. They don’t even know the claims of Christ, and they don’t even know what Jesus Christ offers. They only know they’re struggling. They only know their life doesn’t seem to have meaning, and it doesn’t seem to have purpose. But imagine when they hear about Cherry Hill’s Community Church. They’ll have the opportunity to go, and they’ll have parking. They won’t be told, you’ve got to go to a shuttle lot when they’ve never even been to our church before. They’ll be able to just go in, and they’ll be able to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.
We’re told that in the upcoming years, perhaps as many as 90,000 people are going to be moving into the Highlands Ranch area. We’re also told that most of Denver can reach the site we’ve picked within a half hour. Jesus Christ says, “Lift up your eyes and see, the fields are already white for harvest.”
I want to tell you a true story about a man named Junípero Serra. He was born in the year 1713 on a Spanish island called Majorca. Junípero Serra was 17 years old when he entered theological seminary in the year 1730. He was 25 years old in 1738 when he was ordained in the gospel ministry. Junípero Serra loved to teach the Scriptures to Christians. He loved to see them grow in their knowledge of God’s Word. But even more than this, Junípero Serra loved to tell unbelieving people about the Lord Jesus Christ. He loved, above all else, to see people fall in love with Christ and find eternal life.
Well, in the year 1749, Junípero Serra was sent to Mexico City. Shortly thereafter, he was placed in charge of all of the Christian missionary work in the region that is now called California. It was 1769 when Junípero Serra built the first mission in that region that is now called California, the mission at San Diego. Ultimately, Junípero Serra built eight of the 21 missions in California.
Of course, this was the time when Christians were building missions on the North American continent. From 1560 to 1820, more than 100 of these missions were built in various regions of what is now called the United States of America. If you visited any of those missions that still stand, like the mission at Santa Barbara or the mission at San Gabriel or the ruins of San Capistrano . . . you know that those missions were incredible places. They were churches. And as churches, they had sanctuaries where large numbers of people could gather. But they also had classrooms for children and for adults. They had working farms. They had everything that related to community, including eating areas and eating places.
The vision of those churches built on the North American continent by Christians was that those churches would not simply be inward focused, but outward focused—that they would reach out to all the men and women that lived around them, that they would tell them about Jesus Christ, that they would bring them into the church, into community.
In this sense, those early missions on the North American continent were like the early church in the first, second, and third centuries. The early church had a vision that was not simply inward focused, but outward focused. The churches were established in those first centuries to reach out to people in the surrounding area, to tell them about Jesus Christ, and to bring them into the community of the church.
Now, something horrible has happened in the United States of America in the last two centuries. The church of Jesus Christ has lost its outward focus. It’s become inward focused. It’s become a kind of club, a club for members only. A lot of churches are built and exist simply for Christians to kind of come together and do their own thing. They’ve lost their heart for the lost. The Spirit of God needs to break our hearts again, that we may recapture that vision. I promise you that the Spirit of God in the United States of America is moving on His church to become outward focused, particularly at this time, at the close of the 20th century.
Now, there’s a lot of churches in America that care about missions, but they think missions are all overseas. They think that’s what missionaries do. It’s all overseas. God wants the church of Christ in the United States of America to realize that the mission is here. I think what happened a couple of centuries ago is this: somehow the Christian Church in America decided, “We’re a Christian nation. The work’s done. We don’t need to lead people to Christ.” The churches became clubs just for Christians only. We lost that outward focus.
I tell you the truth, there is no more pagan mission field in the world today than the United States of America. There are people out there who worship the God of materialism and worship the God of hedonism and worship the God of ascensionism and self-exaltation. Yet, millions of them know that it really doesn’t fulfill. They know their life doesn’t quite have meaning, and they know that they’re missing something. Some of them are starting to ask questions. The Spirit of God says to the church today, “Behold, I set before you an open door.” He says this to Cherry Hills Community Church, “Behold, I set before you an open door.”
We have an opportunity that many churches throughout their existence never have placed before them. It’s an opportunity to be all that Jesus Christ wants us to be. You know, I think that there’s a lot of people in our world, and I’m sure a lot of people in the Christian world as well, who have a hard time seeing what the future needs. They have a hard time seeing what God wants to do in the future, have a hard time seeing the direction that things are heading.
I’m reminded of a little letter that the governor of New York, Martin Van Buren, wrote to President Andrew Jackson on January 31, 1829. In that letter, Martin Van Buren was complaining about this new form of transportation called railroads. Martin Van Buren was very much concerned with the canals. The canals in North America had provided livelihood, work, and transportation. He thought that canals might be made obsolete by this new thing called railroads. The canals were precious to Governor Van Buren. So, he wrote this letter to President Andrew Jackson, and he said that the canals needed to remain vital and alive. He said they were one of the primary means of employment in America, and that America’s national defense was tied to the use of the canals. He believed that all of this was being threatened by this horrible monster called railroads.
Martin Van Buren writes this letter to President Jackson, and I’m just going to read a little portion of it. “Mr. President, the canal system of this country is being threatened by the spread of a new form of transportation known as railroads. The federal government must preserve the canals and thwart the growing railroads. As you well know, Mr. President, railroad carriages are pulled at the enormous speed of 15 miles per hour by engines, which, in addition to endangering life and limb of passengers, roar and snort their way through the countryside setting fire to crops, scaring the livestock, and frightening women and children. The Almighty certainly never intended that people should travel at such breakneck speed. Martin Van Buren, governor of New York.”
If Martin Van Buren were alive today, wouldn’t he be embarrassed? I mean, wouldn’t he be horribly embarrassed? You see, there’s always been people like that. People that just so much want to hold on to what they have known and what feels comfortable. So much so, that they’re absolutely blind to the opportunities that lie ahead and blind to the opportunities of the future. There are people like that in the secular world, and there are people like that in the church of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ says to us today, “Lift up your eyes and see the fields are already white for harvest. Behold, I set before you an open door.” Let’s close with a word of prayer.