SINGLE SERMON SERIES
SERVING THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST
DR. JIM DIXON
EPHESIANS 2:8-11
JUNE 2, 1991
In February of 1978, there was a murder trial in Manitoba, Canada. At the end of the first day, the judge was informed that one of the members of the jury was deaf and did not understand what happened. The judge dismissed the member. At the end of the second day, the judge discovered a second member of the jury did not speak English. He spoke very fluent French, but this was an English-speaking trial. Conversing with this man in French, they discovered that though he had served on the jury for two days, he didn’t even know it was a murder trial. He was also dismissed. At the end of the third day, the judge discovered that another member of the jury was both deaf and unable to speak English. At that point the judge in total frustration called for a retrial.
There are certain prerequisites to serving on a jury. Generally, you must be a citizen of the country in which the trial is taking place. You must be of a sound mind, unprejudiced and biased with respect to the subject and issues at hand. You must be able to hear and understand the dialogues that are taking place. There are prerequisites to all forms of service, whether you are serving militarily or judicially or any kind of public service. There are also prerequisites to serving the church of Jesus Christ.
This morning I would like us to discuss three prerequisites to serving the church of Jesus Christ. The first prerequisite is you must have a belief in Jesus Christ. Before you’re ready to serve the kingdom and the church of God, you must believe in Jesus Christ. John chapter three verse sixteen says, “God loved the world so much, he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.” To enter the family of God, you must believe in Jesus Christ. But perhaps you do not understand what it means to believe. I don’t think any word has been more misunderstood by the 20th century Christian church than the word believes.
Recently I read an anecdote about an imaginary dialogue that took place between the devil and some of his fallen angels. His fallen angels came up to the devil and said, “In our effort to keep people from believing what is our greatest weapon and tool?” Satan said, “What do you think?” One of the fallen angels said, “I think our greatest weapon is atheism. If we can just get people in the world to believe there is no God, then they will not believe in God.” Satan smiled a very hostile smile and said, “Yes, this has been one of our great weapons for centuries, but you know, it’s not really the best weapon. And in fact it doesn’t work on most people because most people are not willing to be atheist. And most people in their heart of hearts suspect that they’re some kind of a God somewhere.”
Another fallen angel stepped forward and said, “I think our greatest weapon is liberalism. If we can just convince people there is no hell that everybody’s going to heaven, no one’s going to bother to believe in God.” Satan smiled and said, “Yes, it’s another tool that we’ve used for centuries and millennia. It’s been particularly effective with liberal theologians. But the problem is, in the 20th century with two world wars, mounting decadence, growing hostilities and depravity, most people suspect there really is hell.”
A third angel stepped forward and said, “I think our greatest weapon, our greatest tool is procrastination. If we can just convince people in the world that they can wait, they don’t need to decide whether to believe or not that God is easy, God’s incredibly patient, and they can just wait and decide later whether or not to believe we have won.” Satan smiled and said, “Yes, procrastination is another tool that we’ve used through the centuries. It’s particularly effective with youth. It’s not so effective with older people. There’s still a greater tool and weapon.”
The fallen angels said, “Well, what’s this greater weapon? What’s this greater tool?” He said, “The greatest weapon that we have in keeping people from belief is moderation. This works with people who go to church and works with people who don’t go to church. If we can just convince them to take an easy, fit in, be normal, we’ll have the battle won. They may become nominal Christians but they won’t become true Christians and they’ll never find real true belief.”
When I first read that anecdote, I thought, no way is moderation one of Satan’s great weapons. However, when I think with respect to the subject of belief, it really is. The more I studied the meaning of the word faith and belief and the Greek word “ustuo” used in the Bible, the more I realized that this word belief is antithetical to moderation. It’s not a moderate word. It’s an active word and it’s filled with zeal. To truly believe means to make a commitment and to consecrate your life. Do you really believe in Jesus Christ? Only God knows. But this, I can tell you with all confidence, belief is more than intellectual ascent. If you really believe in Jesus Christ, then you have trusted him as your savior from sin and you’ve made a commitment of your life to his kingdom. Commitment, true belief, is a prerequisite for service. Until we’ve really made a commitment of our life to Jesus Christ and his kingdom, we’re not ready to serve his kingdom.
Ephesians chapter two, verses eight and nine tell us, “By grace, you have been saved through faith, through belief not your own doing. It’s a gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast.” The next two verses, ten and eleven say “We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, and we should walk in them. First comes faith, then comes works, first comes belief, then comes service.” The prerequisite to service is true belief.
The second prerequisite to service is love for people. Before we can serve the kingdom of God, we must believe in Jesus Christ and we must in some sense want to love people. You really can’t serve people and until in some measure you love them.
Earlier this week I was taking a jog on the Highline Canal and I still managed to get into some dog trouble. I understand that on the Highline Canal, the leash law is not always going to be followed by people. Most dogs that run loose on the Highline really aren’t a problem. They go around sniffing plants and occasionally when they do notice you they’re friendly and not a problem. Every once in a while, you’ll find a dog that really is a problem. It seems to happen to me about once a year and it happened to me earlier this week. As I was running on the highline canal just north of DeKoevend Park I looked ahead of me and a black dog was running straight towards me. This dog looked like a Doberman and its eyes were focused on me. It looked like an advertisement for one of those horror movies about demon possessed animals. I can see the owner of the dog about 20 yards behind the dog holding the leash in his hand and running after the dog.
I know I’m in big trouble when I hear the dog’s name, Killer. The guy running behind the dog is yelling, “No Killer! Stop!” So I stopped and my heart was pounding. By the grace of God, Killer stops, and the owner comes running up and grabs the dog and holds on to him with all of his strength so I can go by. The dog is just flaring its teeth at me. I could see the absolute manic rage of the animal. This dog did not like people. It might like a few people, like its owner, but it doesn’t like most people. There are some dogs like that; and strangely enough there are some people like that too. If you don’t like people, you’re not ready to serve the kingdom of Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “By this, all men will know you are my disciples. If you love one another.”
We live in a self-centered world and generation. Paul Powell, who was Secretary of State in Illinois had diverse responsibilities. One of his responsibilities was to determine who would get special license plates. For instance, thousands of people had requested the license plate “number1” and it was his responsibility to determine who received it. He made the decision to give the license plate to himself because regardless, thousands of people were going to be hurt and offended.
I would say it is typical of human nature to make one’s self number one. All of us have times in our life where we decide to be number one. However, we’re really not ready to serve until we’ve come to the conclusion that at least some of the time, we’re going to need to take a back seat. We can’t serve until we reach the point where we’re willing to make Jesus Christ number one. We can’t serve until we are willing to set the needs of other people even above our own needs.
Do you remember how Narcissus, the Greek character, stood over a pool of water and saw his own reflection and was carried away and fell in love with himself? As he looked at his own image, he loved it so much that he couldn’t leave the pool and he starved to death. We live in a world where narcissism is rampant. People are preoccupied with themselves. Our generation has been called the “me” generation.
In order to serve, God tells us we need to have an outward focus. We need to begin to focus on the needs of other people rather than our needs alone. Love for people enables us to begin to focus outside of ourselves. We are called to exercise and manifest a very special kind of love. It’s what the Bible calls agape love and it’s a choice. It’s at the very heart of the gospel and agape love is the kind of love that you and I are called to exhibit and manifest.
Love is a choice and at the same time there are other kinds of love that you can’t choose. They’re feelings. Eros love is when you fall into romantic love and it’s not something you can always choose. And philia love, friendship love is something you don’t always choose, it just happens naturally. Storges love, family love is something you can’t help but love the members of your family.
Agape love is the highest love. It’s biblical love. It’s the love of God. It’s the love we’re called to and a choice. You can choose to seek to bless another person. You can choose to seek to meet the needs of another person. They might be your enemy, but you can choose to love them with agape love. agape love isn’t seated in the emotions and the feelings but rather seated in the will. You can make a choice to bless somebody and seek their best. If you’ve reached a point in your life as a Christian, where you choose to love, bless and meet the needs of people you are ready to serve. It is a choice that’s not always easy. We all have times we choose not to love. In our better moments, we choose to love.
The last two weeks, Barb and I hosted both sets of parents who came from out of town to visit. I must confess, I don’t like hiking the way my dad likes it. He enjoys vertical hikes. If the hike doesn’t gain a thousand feet over a mile, he’s not interested. My dad is 77 years old and lives in California. One day before he came to visit we were talking on the phone and he said, “The problem is when I go on these hikes in the mountains, I really shouldn’t do it alone because of my age. I’m in good shape, but something could happen and I would be alone.” I said, “You have friends in California that are willing to hike with you, right?” As the day went on, I began to think about my response to him and prayed about it. I felt convicted and like the Lord wanted me to choose to do this with my dad and for my dad. I called my dad later that night and I said, “Dad, I was looking at my schedule and thinking how I was going to fit the hike in. Wednesday afternoon, I can go on a hike with you and I’d love to do that.”
My dad was so excited. He picked a vertical hike and when he came we went to the town of Morrison and went to Falcon Park where there are switchbacks for about three miles up. My son Drew went with us and it was beautiful. As we got up to the top, there was a trail called Dreamers Walk. It was flat and a true dream. The trail was on a ridge where we could look down at the city of Denver or turn around and see snowcapped mountain peaks in the West, meadows and valleys. There was also a 1911 western white house that was halfway built. The cornerstone of that house was dedicated to the President of the United States. The sky was beautiful. My dad was raptured and so happy saying, Son it is so great to have you here with me and Drew, it’s so great to have you with me. It just makes my day.” You know, I felt so glad and happy, that I decided to go with him. I enjoyed it and it was wonderful
I think what God would say to each of us today is choose to serve another person. Choose to bless another person and you’ll be blessed. Cherry Hills Community Church we’re family. In Christ we’re brothers and sisters. When we accepted Jesus Christ, the same spirit came into each one of us, the Holy Spirit. We have the same Lord, the same kingdom, the same purpose and the same destiny forever. We’ve been given this privilege to choose to serve each other. It’s a prerequisite to service that we would be the type of people who choose to love.
The third and final prerequisite to service is that we need to have certain skills and gifts for ministry. Each and every one of you have giftings, talents, and abilities as believers in Jesus Christ. You have spiritual endowments and gifts meant to be used for the service of the kingdom of Christ. Gifts that are meant to be cultivated, developed, and used in ministry.
Some of you may have heard of Florence Foster Jenkins, who has been called the worst singer in the history of the world. There probably are worst singers, but they sing privately in their home. Florence Foster Jenkins, specialized in opera. She would stand in front of audiences and butcher songs. People would come because they didn’t believe anybody could sing so bad and wanted to hear it. It was written of her that she had been liberated from the shackles of melody. She began her career in the year 1904 and she continued for 40 years. She resigned from the opera in the year 1944. In October she sang in Carnegie Hall, New York, and it was announced as her last performance. Carnegie Hall was packed. Everybody wanted to hear her squeak just one more time. At first they were disappointed because she hit the first three notes correctly. After it was said she was as far out tune as was humanly possible. I think when one looks at individuals like Florence Foster Jenkins or even Roseanne Barr they may be thinking to themselves that they shouldn’t sing publicly in front of audiences like they have unless they are gifted. A prerequisite to service is that you need to have the abilities and talent.
What God wants each of you to know is that you do have talents and abilities. In Christ you have gifts meant to be developed, cultivated, and used for the furtherance of the kingdom of God in this world. Gifts meant blessing others and his church. It’s hard to believe what God can do through a gifted person willing to serve.
One of my favorite stories concerns Howard Hendricks, professor and chairman of the Christian Education Department at Dallas Theological Seminary. Howard Hendricks grew up in the city of Philadelphia in a very poor home. It was not a Christian home and Howard Hendricks didn’t believe in anything. On Sunday mornings he just hung out playing with other kids in an impoverished neighborhood. One Sunday morning he was sitting on the sidewalk in this poor section of Philadelphia shooting marbles with some of his friends and suddenly a man named Walt came up to them. Walt looked at Howard and invited him to go to Sunday school. Howard said no and thought to himself, can you believe this guy thinking we’re going to want to go to Sunday school? Walt said, “Well, can I shoot marbles with you?” Walt looked at some of his buddies and they kind of smiled and they thought, they said, sure and they were going to really teach this guy how to shoot marbles. Well as it turned out, Walt was incredibly gifted at shooting marbles and he just cleaned these guys out. When they were done shooting marbles, Howard and his friends were impressed and had a different view of Walt.
They began to hang out with Walt and after a while Walt invited all the boys to come to church with him. As it turns out, about a month earlier, Walt had gone to the Baptist church and asked if he could teach a Sunday school class. The superintendent said, we don’t need any more Sunday school teachers right now. Walt said, “What if I go out and recruit my own class?” The superintendent said, “Well if you recruit your own class, that’s fine.” He went out and he recruited those 13 boys in the streets of Philadelphia, one of which was Howard. Walt began to hang out with them and the boys began to talk with him about school, grades, girls, the Bible and faith in Jesus Christ. Walt took the boys’ sledding in the wintertime on the snowy hills of sixth Street in Philadelphia. In the summers he took them boating on the Delaware River in Philadelphia. He took them to the local park and to the amusement park at Willow Grove. Walt didn’t have any discipline problems with the boys. He wore size 14 shoes and was big. He had all 13 boys in his class and all 13 of them accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. 11 of the 13, went into full-time vocational gospel ministry, including Howard Hendricks, who is now professor and chairman of the Christian Education Department of Dallas Theological Seminary.
I don’t know how you feel when you hear a story like that. In one sense, you ought to feel the wonderment of lives transformed by the grace of God and what can happen when you teach a Sunday school class. On the other hand, you might be thinking, I don’t think I could do what Walt did and teach kids. I don’t wear size 14 shoes. I don’t know how to shoot marbles or teach kids. The last thing in the world I’d want to do is take someone else’s kids to the park, boating or sledding. God uses gifts and each of you has giftings. You have talents and abilities that God wants to use. You might not be able to teach Sunday school, but my guess is God has gifted hundreds of you to do that because this church needs those kinds of gifts. But all of you have gifts, talents, and abilities. And God wants you to use them. He wants you to cultivate them, develop them, and use them, and employ them in the service of the Kingdom of Christ and in this church. Let’s close with a word of prayer.