IN COMMUNITY
SERVICE AND VOLUNTEERING
DR. JIM DIXON
AUGUST 11, 2013
MATTHEW 9:35-38
When I was a kid, our family worshiped at Glendale Presbyterian Church in Glendale, California. In my earliest years, we actually were members at Hollywood Presbyterian Church in Hollywood, California. But when I was around five, our family moved to La Cañada Flintridge and we began to go to Glendale Presbyterian Church in Glendale, California. And through the years, I heard many sermons and more than a few jokes. I mean, those were the years when usually when preachers preached, they had to tell a joke, so I heard a lot of them. One of my favorites was a joke about a farm and fried chicken. I liked it because I loved the whole culture of the farm. My family would go back to Missouri many summers and we’d visit our relatives on the farm. My grandfather had a farm. My aunt and uncle had a farm. All my cousins lived on the farm. So we’d go to Missouri between the Lake of the Ozarks, north of Springfield, and we’d go to the farm there and had lots of fried chicken.
Well, this joke I heard probably for the first time when I was about eight years old, so this joke is at least 60 years old. But the joke is about a new pastor that came to this church in a farming community. And a member of the congregation thought, well, I want to get to know the new pastor. I’ll have him out to the farm. And my wife and I will have some fried chicken for him.
Now, this pastor was a big guy. He was just big and he was kind of known for a voracious appetite. So they thought, well, we better have plenty of chicken. And so they fried up two chickens. So the pastor came out that night and they said a word of prayer and they began to eat and they began to talk. And sure enough, the pastor ate some chicken, ate some more, ate some more, and pretty soon both chickens were completely gone. And about that time, as the pastor ate both chickens the rooster crowed outside and it was just really loud. And the pastor said, wow, that sure is a proud rooster you got there. And the farmer laughed and said, well, he ought to be proud. Two of his kids just entered the ministry.
So in any event, I know that when I entered the ministry, when God led me to enter the ministry, it did please my parents. My mom and my dad I think were proud of that. And when my brothers entered the ministry—my brother Greg and my brother Gary—my parents were proud of them as well. And I think a lot of parents have some appreciation for a son or a daughter that enters the ministry. But I hope you understand that, from a biblical perspective, if you’re a Christian, you’re called to be a minister. If you’re a Christian, you’ve been called into the ministry. If you’re a follower of Jesus Christ, if you’ve accepted Him as Lord and Savior, then He has called you into the ministry. Every Christian is meant to be a minister.
The word minister comes from the Latin. It means “to serve.” The Greek word for a minister is
“diakonos,” and it also means “to serve.” And as Christians, we’re called to serve His church. We’re called to serve His kingdom. And so the church of Jesus Christ, in every generation throughout Christian history, has called its members into ministry and service recruitment. The church has always been involved in recruitment, and I have, through the course of my 31 years at Cherry Hills Community Church, again and again invited you—begged you—to enter into service, to enter into ministry.
And you’re thinking, well, we’re going to get a new guy now. And you are. And he’s going to do the same thing. He’s going to do the same thing because this charge is upon the church of Jesus Christ, that we would enter into the service of His church and kingdom—that we would be ministers. So we’re involved in recruitment.
I know many of you have heard of Thomas Nast. Thomas Nast was perhaps the greatest, best-known cartoonist in the history of our country. It was Thomas Nast who created the image of Santa Claus and it was Thomas Nast who created the image of the Republican Party as elephants and the Democratic Party as donkeys. That imagery is all Thomas Nast. It was also Thomas Nast that created the image of Uncle Sam. And you’ve seen Uncle Sam, with his top hat and with his pinstripe suit. That image was created by Thomas Nast.
And of course, there really was an Uncle Sam. Did you know that there really was an Uncle Sam? He died on July 31st, 1854, and he is buried in the Oakwood Cemetery outside of Troy, New York, not too far from Albany. So you can go today to the Oakwood Cemetery outside of Troy, New York, and you can see the grave of Uncle Sam. Uncle Sam owned a meat packing business along with his brother Ebenezer. But Samuel Wilson, who was called Uncle Sam, was the CEO. He ran the company. Everybody called him Uncle Sam. He provided all the meat for the US military forces in the war of 1812. So when the meat would come it was always stamped us. And the running joke in the military was, “Does that stand for United States or Uncle Sam?” And because of that association, eventually Uncle Sam became a name for the United States government.
Thomas Nass gave us this image of him, the real Samuel Wilson, the real uncle Sam did have a goatee and his hair did flow out over his ears, although not quite like the cartoonist has portrayed him. But I mean, you can look back over our nation’s history and you’ve seen the posters and you’ve seen movies that portray the posters. They shows Uncle Sam, the United States government, recruiting you. “We need you.” And it’s an honorable thing to volunteer and to serve your country. And we in this church, through the years, have honored those who have served in the United States military forces, those men and women who have offered their lives in the service of our country.
To serve our government in any way is an honorable thing. And yet, there’s a more important recruitment. I hope you understand that the kingdom of God is a greater cause than the United States of America. Nations come and go, and they are finite. The kingdom of God is infinite, and it is the greatest cause. It will always thrive.
And there’s a greater war. The kingdom of God is engaged in a greater war. It’s a battle between light and darkness, angelic and demonic powers. The very souls of men, women, and children are at stake. So we recruit you. That’s why Jesus calls His people to be ministers—every one of us—and to enter the ministry. Because Eternity itself is at stake. So when you go into a Sunday school class, when we recruit you for that, so much is at stake. When you sing in the choir, so much is at stake. When you mentor an inner city child, so much is at stake.
So we have these passages in the Bible where Jesus tries to make it clear to us that we’re called into ministry. And then we have our passage of scripture today in Matthew chapter nine. “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray, therefore, for the Lord of the harvest to send out more laborers into His harvest.” You notice that Jesus said it’s His harvest. I served for eight and a half years out at Faith Presbyterian Church in Aurora, my first eight and a half years in the ministry. Looking back, how valuable they were to me and in my life. So those eight and a half years, I served out at Faith Presbyterian Church in Aurora. The senior pastor was Dean Wolf, and he was my boss. And I learned so much from him. Christ used him to teach me many things. One thing I often remember Dean saying was, “Jim, people don’t care about your successes. They want to know about your failures.” What really relates to people and helps people is not your successes, but failures. Fortunately, in my life I have plenty of failures.
But it’s true. I think in terms of the ministry in the Word of God, often it’s our failures that God uses to transform us, inform us, and transform others. Another thing I remember Dean said again and again and again was, “The harvest is the Lord’s.” This meant so much to Dean because he would have ministry situations where it looked like nothing happens. And then he’d have ministry situations where it looked like, wow, a lot of good stuff happened. And he would just say, hey, the harvest is the Lord’s. I do the best I can. I plant. I water. But the harvest is the Lord’s.
Dean started out at Silver Lake Presbyterian Church in California, a church of 600, and it shrunk. He did the best he could. He planted, he watered, and the church lost 200 people, one third of its congregation. He came to Faith Presbyterian Church in Aurora. It was also 600 people, but it boomed. It went to 2,500 and then over 4,000 members. The harvest is the Lord’s. He did the same thing at both places. The harvest is the Lord’s. He went then to Hemet, California, in his final years of ministry and had a congregation of a hundred. Everybody was really old. I remember Dean was talking to me and he laughed and he said, “Billy Graham couldn’t grow this church. But the harvest is the Lord’s.”
So Barbara and I were out in California recently, and Dean is getting very old. We dropped by his house in Rancho Bernardo to see Dean and Arlene. He’s 89 years old now, but still in love with Jesus. And I thank God for God’s mercy and grace in Dean’s life and in mine. But I’ll tell you, the harvest is the Lord’s. And that’s why in this passage when Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out more labors into His harvest,” It’s his.
So you go into the field, whether you’re going into a Sunday school class, mentoring a child, singing in the choir, working with a youth group, or ushering at the door, whatever you do, you enter the field of labor and the harvest is the Lord’s. We have no way for us to know what God might do, but we’re just faithful to minister. We’re called into the ministry, and this is what Christ wants us to understand.
Now, a parallel passage to Matthew nine—at least semi-parallel—is Luke chapter 10. In Luke chapter 10, Jesus repeats the words, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray, therefore, for the Lord of the harvest to send out more laborers into His harvest.” But in Matthew chapter nine, it’s in the context of sending out the 12. In Luke chapter 10, it’s in the context of sending out the 70. So in both cases, Jesus said the same things to the two groups, to the 12 and to the 70, as he sent them forth.
Luke 10 is one of my favorite chapters in the whole Bible. There are so many just really cool things in Luke chapter 10. And one is the “woe” section, where Jesus pronounced, “Woe, woe unto you, Chorazin, woe unto you, Bethsaida, woe unto you, Capernaum.” He really pronounced judgment upon these cities, because He had done many mighty works in their midst and they did not believe. Jesus said, “If the mighty works done in your cities had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would’ve repented. On the day of judgment, it’ll go better for Tyre and Sidon than it will for you.”
And of course you’re sitting there thinking, well, how mighty works did Jesus do in Chorazin? Start flipping through your Bible, and what do you find? Nothing. I mean, there’s nothing in there about any of the mighty works he Did in Chorazin because Jesus did so many things that this is just a summary. Jesus did so many things and said so many things, we just don’t have all the information here. But if you look at Luke chapter 10, you see a lot of (at least for me) fascinating stuff. You see Him sending out the 70 and you realize that Jesus ministered to a lot of groups. I mean, He didn’t just hang out with the 12. Jesus had a band of women that followed Him, and they were so core, critical, to His ministry. And through their labor, they supported the ministry. And Jesus had a ministry to that band of women.
And then of course there were the 12, and they were the most famous of all. But then there were the 70. And Jesus built into the 70 before He sent them out two-by-two. And many Bible scholars have acknowledged that Jesus at times seems to have a special appreciation for numerical symbolism, particularly as it relates to Israel. And then Jesus takes that numerical symbolism and applies it to His church—the New Israel, the kingdom of heaven. So it probably isn’t coincidence that He built His church on 12, because this is like Israel—the 12 sons of Jacob, the 12 tribes upon which Israel was formed.
So Jesus chose 12. But why 70? I mean, if you’re looking for any numerical symbolism here, why 70? Why did Jesus pick 70? And maybe he picked 72, because if you look at the early manuscripts, if you look at the early codex, it’s split right down the middle. Half of the early manuscripts say 72, and half of the early manuscripts say 70. So we don’t know whether He chose 72 or whether He chose 70. But what would the symbolism be? There were 70 members of the Sanhedrin, the leading council of the Jews who were both supposed to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah.
Moses chose 70. You go back and look in the Book of Numbers, chapter 11, Moses chose 70 elders to lead Israel. Or maybe he chose 72, because two elders stayed in the camp. And now the argument is, was there 70 or was there 72 chosen to lead? But my favorite link of the possibilities is in Genesis chapter 10. In Genesis 10, you see 70 people groups, 70 nations, sent forth to cover the earth. And when you look in the Septuagint, which is a Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, it says 72. So were there 72 nations or 70 nations? But they were sent forth to cover the earth. And I like to think of the 70 that are sent forth as being charged to go to the whole world—to every nation, every people group, every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. So Jesus sends us forth and He sends us beginning in our Jerusalem and then to Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth. So we begin right here in Highlands Ranch. This is our Jerusalem, and we’re sent, we’re called into the ministry. This is what Jesus does again and again.
If you’re a Christian, this isn’t an option. If you’re a follower of Jesus Christ, you’re called into the ministry. And so we begin right here in our Jerusalem. We begin in our home church. This call is upon us, and the choice is yours. The choice is yours. Even though Jesus doesn’t give us an option, still, the question is, are we going to obey? And so you look at passages like John four and Jesus again mentioned that the fields are white. He talks about the rewards that will be given to both the sower and the reaper and the joy that is promised for both the sower and the reaper. But again, we’re all called into the ministry. You come to John 15 and Jesus said, “You have not chosen Me, but I’ve chosen you and have I appointed you. I’ve appointed you to go and bear fruit, that your fruit should remain forever.” And so this is the call that’s upon us.
So you come into the ministry volunteer fair today, and you go out into the atrium and it’s for you. Jesus is talking to you. So when you look around in the atrium and you see all these ministry opportunities, remember that He’s called you into ministry. And if this church is going to be a strong community, and if we’re going to serve the kingdom of heaven, then it’s going to take all of us. It’s going to take all of us.
I shared last week that the future of this church, Cherry Hills Community Church, in many ways is tied to you. The harvest is the Lord’s, but we must enter the field. We must enter the field, and of course I said last week that we have a wonderful new senior pastor who’s coming. I could not be more excited. I feel like God has so anointed this; His hand is upon this. We could not be getting a person more right for us. And this person’s going to be my pastor.
So I’m looking to the future. I’ve said many times, the future’s bright, but remember, if the future’s bright, you have to be part of that. That’s why we have this volunteer fair. And you have a role and you’ve been called into the ministry and it’s really critical. So we come to communion. And for us as Protestants, we have two sacraments, communion and baptism. In the Catholic and Orthodox world, communion and baptism are also sacraments, but they have a greater number of sacraments. But what does it mean to say this is a sacrament? What does that mean? When you come to the table and you partake of the bread and the cup, you call that a sacrament. What does it mean? Does that mean it’s sacred? And yes, etymologically, there’s a common root for “sacred” and “sacrament.” So it’s holy. This is holy. This has been set apart by God for God, instituted by God, regulated by His commandments, and given through His Son. It’s all of that.
You think, well, when I come to the table, for me it’s a time of gratitude in Thanksgiving. And yes, that’s true. This is the Eucharist, from the Greek “eucharisteo.” This is a time of gratitude and thanksgiving. We thank Him for His bloodshed and His body broken and for the forgiveness of our sins and the mercy of the cross and the eternal life, the promise of heaven, the security of our souls. We thank Him.
But understand, as you come to this table, it is a sacrament. And that doesn’t just mean that it’s holy. That really involves a vow. Because it’s a sacrament, there’s a vow involved. Understand the word sacrament comes from the Latin word “sacramentum.” And what was the sacramentum” In the Roman world it was the vow that every soldier in the Roman legions had to take. If you’re in the Roman Legion, you only got there because you took the sacramentum—you took the sacred oath, you took the vow. And so when you joined the legion, you pledged yourself to emperor and empire unto death. You pledged your life to the emperor and the empire unto death. The sacred vow.
I know every time I come to this table, I take the vow again. I reaffirm my vows. I take that sacred oath to king and kingdom, to Christ and church. So you come to the table and you take the bread and the cup and you know it’s holy and you have gratitude in your hearts. But you recommit, you reaffirm your vow.
If you’re just sitting in the church freeloading, I don’t know what that could possibly mean to you. To come to this table and take the sacred oath and walk away… You’re called into the ministry. Yes, we’re saved by grace through faith, but we’re called by that gospel that saved us by grace through faith and brought us into His kingdom. We’ve been called to serve the gospel.
So we make a pledge to the king and the kingdom, and we reaffirm it today. What a day this could be. We have the volunteer fair. There are so many chances, so many opportunities, for you to enter the ministry and to serve Jesus Christ. Let’s look to the Lord with a word of prayer.