SERVING THE CHURCH
DR. JIM DIXON
MARK 10:41-45
MAY 17, 1992
Hieroglyphics is the term that is used with reference to the written language of the ancient Egyptians. The Egyptians used hieroglyphics for almost 3,000 years, but when they ceased to use hieroglyphics, a strange thing happened. When they quit using this ancient written language, soon all memory of its meaning was lost. Within a few hundred years, no one in the world knew the meaning of the pictures and characters used in hieroglyphics anymore. So for more than a millennium, for more than a thousand years, scientists and linguists and philologists were not able to decipher the meaning of this ancient language. Archeologists would unearth these incredible ruins, and on these ruins they would find inscribed this ancient script. Yet they could not decipher its meaning. They knew, of course, that it had meaning, but they did not understand the meaning. Therefore, for century after century, much of Egypt’s ancient history was unknown to the world.
But in the year 1799 in the Nile Delta near the town of Rosetta, not too far from the ancient city of Alexandria, one of Napoleon’s soldiers discovered a stone, a stone slab that today is called the Rosetta Stone, half-buried in mud. The stone is four feet high and about two feet wide, and it’s 11 inches thick. And inscribed on the face of that stone was a proclamation announcing the crowning of Ptolemy V Epiphanes, who came to the throne of the Ptolemaic Empire in the year 203 BC. That proclamation was inscribed on the stone in three languages. It was inscribed in Greek, which was the common language of the civilized world at the time. It was inscribed in the Demotic text, which was the common language of Egypt at that time. Then it was also inscribed in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. You see, linguists and philologists were able to compare the proclamation in Greek with the proclamation in hieroglyphics and thereby understand the meaning of the characters.
Once again, it unlocked the meaning of the ancient Egyptian language. Today, the Rosetta Stone is treasured in the British Museum in London, England. It’s been called the greatest discovery in the history of linguistics.
Now, for many people in the world, life itself is a riddle. For many people in this world, life is a riddle far greater than hieroglyphics ever were. Life is presumed to have meaning, but many people wonder what is the meaning of life? What is life really all about? There’s a lot of people, millions of people in this world, who suspect that their life is meant to have meaning, but they’re having a hard time finding meaning in their life. They’re looking for some kind of a key, some kind of Rosetta Stone that will unlock the meaning of life. The Bible tells us that that stone is Jesus Christ. Only Jesus Christ can truly give meaning to human existence. Only Jesus Christ can truly give meaning to life.
Jesus Christ said, “I’m the way, the truth, and the life.” Jesus Christ said, “I’m the light of the world.” Jesus Christ said, “I have come that you might have life and that you might have it abundantly.” The Bible says, “He who has the Son has life. He who has not the Son has not life.” Yet, how is it that so many people who claim to be Christians, so many people who have invited Jesus Christ to be the Lord of their life and have invited Christ to be their Savior from sin; how is it that so many of these people seem to be devoid of meaning in their life? How is it that so many people who claim to be Christians have such a lack of meaning and purpose in their existence?
I suspect on the basis of God’s Word that it’s because so many Christians have failed to enter into service. You see, you only really unlock the meaning of life when having received Christ you enter into the service of His kingdom. That is why Jesus Christ washed His disciples feet. He said, “I’ve given you an example. You should follow in My steps, that you should do as I have done for you.” That is why when Christ came into the world, He said He “came not to be served, but He came rather to serve and give His life.” That is why He said, “He who would be greatest among you must be the servant of all.” That is why the most common term in the Bible used to describe Christians is the word servant.
This morning at the 11 o’clock service, we’re going to be commissioning our new deacons. The word deacon comes from the word “diakonos,” which means servant. I am called a minister and the word minister means servant. I’m called to be a servant of this church. But the truth is each and every one of us are called to be servants of the church. Each and every one of us are called to be servants of Christ and of His kingdom. Life won’t really have meaning apart from Christian service. That’s why we have established Life Walk in this church.
You see, Life Walk has two purposes. The first purpose is to help you identify your gifts, those God-given aptitudes and abilities, that you might understand what they are. The second purpose of Life Walk is to give you the opportunity and to place you in a position where you can use those gifts in ministry and service of the kingdom of Christ. We can help you understand your giftedness. We can give you the opportunity to serve and we can train you for that service. There’s one quality, however, that we can give you. We cannot give you desire. We cannot give you the desire to serve. That must come from within you.
Now I would like to conclude this brief message with a story, a true story concerning a woman named Gladys Aylward. Gladys Aylward was, I believe, one of the greatest Christians who ever lived. She was born in the year 1902 in London, England. She accepted Jesus as her Lord and as her Savior when she was very young. In her teenage years, she had a great desire to serve Christ, to serve His people, to serve the kingdom. She had a particular burning desire to go and serve Christ in China. When she was 19 years old, she went to the local mission board and she asked them to sponsor her as a missionary to China. They rejected her. They said she did not have the gifts. They said she did not have the aptitude. They said that she would not be able to learn the difficult Chinese language. They told her she was too weak and frail in body. She could not endure the rigors of missionary work in a place like China. But they didn’t understand her desire and the strength of her desire.
She went to work year after year as a housekeeper. She lived in virtual poverty, saving all of her money until she was 30 years old. Then she had enough money to take that trip to China. She didn’t know anybody in China. She had no connections in China. She only had desire to serve Christ there. It was October 22nd, 1932 when Gladys Aylward made her way to the Liverpool Street station in London, England. It was the beginning of a journey that would take her across the channel, take her across Europe, across Russia, and to Japan and ultimately to Yangcheng, China. There, knowing no one, she found a retired missionary. She entered into his service doing menial tasks. Under his tutelage, she actually learned the Chinese language. She mastered it. She could speak it, she could write it, she could read it. She called it one of the great miracles of God. She said it was a greater miracle than the parting of the Red Sea.
She began to go forth and share Jesus Christ with children and adults. At that time, Japan was at war with China and Russia, and she would minister to some of the injured soldiers and she would adopt the orphaned children. After a while, she had more than a hundred children that were under her care, and she reared them in the love of Christ. She taught them about Jesus Christ. She brought them up to be Christians. Her work was so successful that Japan viewed her as an enemy since she was helping their enemies, since she was helping the Chinese. At that time, in the year 1936, the Japanese had already begun to infiltrate some of the Chinese soil, and they were moving throughout China. They had actually put a bounty out upon Gladys Aylward. When they came to the region where she was ministering, in one of the most incredible moments in missionary history, she took more than a hundred of her children and she led them on a 26-day journey over the mountains to the region of Sian.
When she arrived in that new region, she was afflicted with typhoid fever. She had malnutrition, she was exhausted, but she was alive and all the children were alive. She began to minister to the children there and in the years that followed, she nurtured them into adulthood as believers, young men and women serving Christ. She adopted new children and the year went by until the year 1949, when the communists took over China and all foreigners were forced out of China, and all missionaries had to leave, and Gladys Aylward had to leave China. She established refuge centers in Hong Kong and Taipei. Ultimately at the end of her life, she returned to London, England, where she said her heart was broken over the spiritual poverty that was in Great Britain.
She never returned to China, but she never ceased to pray for her children that she’d ministered to there. Of course, the black cloud of communism swept over China. For 25 years, a quarter of a century, no one was allowed back into China. But during the Nixon administration, as foreigners were once again allowed in, the amazing discovery was made that Christianity had grown in China, even under the dark cloud of communism. There were perhaps 50 million believers in China. Part of that was because of the faithfulness of Gladys Aylward.
They made a movie out of her life, Hollywood did, called the Inn of the Sixth Happiness, starring Ingrid Bergman. But the movie couldn’t begin to reveal the passion, the desire, that she had to serve the kingdom of Jesus Christ. Now, we’ve just come through, in recent weeks, a missions conference. You know that. You know and you understand that we have missionaries all over the world faithfully serving Jesus Christ. We are committed to each and every one of these missionaries. But we want you to understand this: for us, the greatest mission is right here. For us, the greatest mission is Denver. For us, the greatest mission is the ministry of Cherry Hills Community Church. We want to serve children. We have over a thousand children we want to serve here. We want to serve the poor. We want to serve the unbelieving, and we want to serve the believing too. We want to serve the various ministries of this church, and it can’t happen without you, without your willingness to enter into ministry, your desire to serve the kingdom here.
This morning, as you leave, in the narthex, there’s a table, a Life Walk table where you can sign up for Life Walk seminars. We can help you identify your gifts and abilities, and we can refer you to service opportunities in this church and community. We pray that God has touched your heart with a desire to be of some service to His kingdom. Let’s pray before we have communion this morning.