Every Member Serving

Every Member Serving I Corinthians 12:1-7 INTRODUCTION: In one of his books, Max Lucado tells the story of a conversation (imaginary, of course) between a content canary in a cage and an inquisitive lark on the window sill. “What is your purpose?” asked the lark. “My purpose is to eat seed,” said the canary. “What for?” asked the lark. “So I can be strong,” replied the canary. “What for?” asked the lark again. “So I can sing,” said the canary. “What for?” the lark asked yet again. “So I can get more seed,” answered the canary. “So you eat in order to get strong so you can sing so you can get more seed so you can eat?” questioned the lark. “That’s about it,” the canary replied. To which the lark said, “There is more to you than that. If you’ll follow me I’ll help you find it, but you have to leave your cage.” When Jesus calls us to follow him, it is the call to a life that is beyond the cage of our individual existence. It is the call to experience a life that full and free. It is a life in which we discover our meaning and purpose. And we discover that the life we have been given in the Lord Jesus is so much greater than living for ourselves – eating so we can be strong, so we can sing so we can get more seed – that never-ending cycle of existing, but not really living. We have been looking at the ideal of an Every Member Church the last several Sundays in terms of the five purposes of the church. As a reminder, we have said that an every member church is church the way it ought to be. It’s an ideal, or a standard, we ought to strive for in which every member is involved, instructed, included, and invested in the mission and vision of the church. So far, we have looked at every member coming – that’s worship. And last week, we looked at every member growing – that’s discipleship. This morning, we’re going to look at every member serving – that’s ministry. I think we all agree and understand that ministry is a major part of what the church is all about and serving is a significant part of what it means to be a Christ follower. Since the Lord Jesus set this example of servanthood for us, I want us to consider three characteristics of an every member church where every member serves: I. In an every member church, everyone has a heart like Jesus. What we’re talking about is a mindset, or a heart-attitude that was the motivating force of everything he did. Listen to what Paul wrote to the church at Philippi: You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. (Philippians 2:5-7 NLT) This is one of the most profound truths about Jesus’ first coming, that he not only humbled himself, giving up his divine, heavenly status and equality as God to become a human being, which, do I need to tell you is a bit of a step down. But not only that, he went so for as to come as a servant – a slave, if you will, the lowliest of the low. Remember what we talked about last week about discipleship and Jesus’ call to follow him? The first thing he says is “denying the self.” That’s exactly what Paul is describing about Jesus’ coming. He gave up his divine privileges and his rights. That’s humility. Anytime we’re thinking about our privileges and rights as Christians, you can be sure our hearts aren’t in tune with the heart of Jesus. When say or think, “I’ve been a member of this church for 40 years,” for example, our mindset is privilege. Or, when we say or think, “I pay my tithes every week,” we are exerting our rights. In other words, we’re not thinking like a servant. And this is the mindset Jesus exemplified to his disciples. And maybe the next example of this was in John 13 where Jesus took a towel and a basin of water and went around the room and washed his disciple’s feet – the work of a slave. Look at this: READ JOHN 13:12-17. Perhaps he did this because earlier two of his disciples attempted to lobby him for places of honor in the Kingdom, and a quarrel broke out among the disciples. What happened? Their minds weren’t right. Their attitude was a worldly mindset. They were thinking like people in the natural world. So he tells them they can’t think like the world. He says: But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many. The Gospels also give us a window into the heart of Jesus, and we quickly learn that everything he did was motivated by the same love that sent him into the world. We see a heart moved by compassion for those whose lives were broken physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Matthew 9:36: When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Matthew 14:14: Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick. To have a heart like Jesus is to have compassion on others, and to have compassion is to love others enough to do something to help them in their need. That’s one of the lessons of the Parable of the Good Samaritan, right? The priest and Levite – church leaders – went by the beaten man without doing anything. But in the story, Jesus says this about the Samaritan: Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins, telling him, “Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.” (Luke 10:33-35 NLT) What was different about the Samaritan? He had compassion in his heart, and he did something. He served the man because he was motivated by love. He had compassion in his heart. II. In an every member church, every member will their spiritual gift or gifts. So as we mature in faith, and the Lord changes our hearts to become more and more like his heart, and he gives us the right motivation to serve, along with opportunities to minister in his name, he also gives us certain abilities that the Scripture describes as spiritual gifts. These aren’t natural talents or physical abilities. These are Spiritendowed abilities that every Christian is given to function collectively in the work of the church. One of the main passages about spiritual gifts is I Corinthians 12. This is one of the passages where the church is compared to the human body with different parts of the body performing different tasks or functions. READ I CORINTHIANS 12:1-12. Now I know that this isn’t new to most of you, and many of you have recognized your spiritual gift or gifts, and you’re putting them to work in various ways. But I remember many years ago when I was the pastor of Berkeley Baptist Church, and I was teaching a discipleship class on spiritual gifts, and a wonderful lady named Jessie Mackey discovered her spiritual gift. Jessie was probably in her 70’s at the time and had been a Christian since her childhood. But she got away from church as an adult and was never discipled. In fact, she had never heard of spiritual gifts. As I was going through the individual gifts, she would say, “I know I don’t have that one,” and on and on it went. Finally, she said, “Well, I guess the Lord forgot to give me one.” And I said, “Jessie, tell me something you’re really good at, something that you enjoy doing, something that gives you a lot of joy.” She thought a minute and said, “Well, my family tells me I’m a good cook. And everybody loves my biscuits. But the thing I enjoy the most is cooking a meal and carrying it to our sick folks. That means a lot to me, to be able to do that.” And I said to her, “You know what that sounds like to me? That sounds like the gift of mercy to me. What do you think?” And with that Jessie started to cry tears of joy and said, “The Lord didn’t forget me after all!” III. In an every member church, every member has a hand in moving the church toward fulfilling its vision and mission. Let me show you a picture of a church. (Insert slide) And you say, “That’s not a church. It’s a boat. Actually, it’s an ancient Roman warship called a Liburna. And you see those oars sticking out of each side? That’s how the warship was powered, especially when there wasn’t any wind. Inside these ship’s hull, below deck, were between 50 to 80 men known as huperetes, which means under-rowers. The reason I bring this up is because this is one of the words used in the NT for servant. You remember when Paul and Barnabas set out on their first missionary journey, they took a young man with them named John Mark to be their huperetes – their under-rower, their servant, their helper. And Paul used this same word in I Corinthians 4:1. He said, “So look at Apollos and me as mere servants (huperetes) of Christ who have been put in charge of explaining God’s mysteries.” Every one of us has been given an oar, a job, a responsibility, a ministry, a calling from the Lord. Think about that liburna. Let’s say it one of the larger warships with 80 under-rowers. What would happen if one under-rower decided not to row? Probably would make a huge difference. But what would happen if 40 under-rowers sat there and let the other 40 do the rowing? What would happen if 60 of them looked at their oars and asked, “What’s this thing for?” leaving just 20 guys doing the work of 80? You might as well not count on that warship to engage the enemy in battle, or get very far at sea, or be able to accomplish its mission. RESPONSE: Duck Hunting story There is no limit to what we can accomplish as a church if every one of us would pick up a paddle and do our part. Like a lot of churches, there are too many of us sitting in the back of the boat yelling at the others to paddle harder. What’s God saying to you this morning, and how are you going to respond?