Untitled Sermon (88)

[VIDEO: Jennifer’s Story]

INTRO: This month we are stepping up to challenges to move us forward in our relationship with the Lord and as a church!

The objective is to discover and engage in the five purposes of the church (WORSHIP, CONNECT, GROW, SERVE, & GO). We are learning how we can take big steps toward reaching our God-given potential, and we are strengthening our relationships with God and one another. We said that at the end of this series we want a transformation in our thinking about the church, not just viewing it as a place to come to, but realizing that it is a vibrant family to belong to. We want to become the church: A community of faith—powerful, inspirational, and transformational—touching our community and the world with the power of the Gospel! That is the vision we have for this series, and even after that.

In each of these sermons, I am issuing weekly challenges related to the five purposes of the church we are studying. The first week we discussed that we are wired for worship and that, according to , worship is a verb that describes an action we should do with every breath we take. Then we looked at the importance of connecting with the local church and the vital fellowship our family of believers can provide for us. And last week we talked about the third purpose of the church—spiritual growth.

Our foundational passage for this series is found in the book of Acts. So, find a Bible and open to now.

Acts 2:42–47 ESV

42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Today we are going to talk about the fourth purpose of the church and that is serving. God has called us to serve!

He has called us to serve both inside and outside these four walls.

Acts 6:1–6 ESV

1 Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. 2 And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. 3 Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” 5 And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. 6 These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.

TITLE & PRAYER (Called to Serve)

[ILLUS: One Sunday morning the pastor was trying to move his congregation from being spectators to becoming participants in the ministry of the Kingdom. He had prayed all week that the Lord would open the eyes of all of those who called the church “home.” The pastor knew that he had been given a word from the Lord and he was chomping at the bit to deliver the Word. His passion exuded from his voice as he told the congregation, "With God’s help we can see the day when this church will go from crawling to walking." The people responded enthusiastically, "Let the church walk, pastor, let the church walk." “Oh yea! The Lord has answered my prayer! They are getting it,” the pastor thought to himself as he rolled into his next sentence. "And when the church begins to walk, next the church can begin to run." And the people shouted, "Let the church run, pastor, let the church run!" The pastor was beside himself as he continued, "And finally the church can move from running and finally begin to soar. Oh, the church can soar! But of course, that’s going to take the commitment of all of us for that to happen!" The congregation grew quiet, deathly quiet, and from the back of the small church, someone mumbled, "Let the church crawl, pastor, let the church crawl."]

And so it is.

[ILLUS: Dr. Howard Hendricks from Dallas Theological Seminary, once said, “80% of the work of the Church is carried on by 20% of the people. This small band of faithful servants are the pillars of the Church who hold up the great ministry of our Lord.”]

But, why this is so? Why, when there is something that needs to be done, someone that needs to be ministered to, do we have to always ask the same people? I have racked my brain trying to figure that one out. Why do so many folks who go to church, maybe attend a Bible study now and then, and call themselves Christians but are so reluctant when it comes to the things of God, when it comes to serving the Lord, and getting involved in the ministry of the church?

I believe there are some reasons why we are where we are today. Let me share them with you.

1) SOME OF US ARE TOO IGNORANT TO SERVE. (Let me explain.)

I believe that you always see the same folks serving the local body because some of us don’t understand that we are ministers, we are called to surrender our lives to the service of our King. I am convinced that because there is a famine of biblical teaching today many Christians believe that once they come to know Christ that they can sit back and relax. They have secured a place in heaven so now they can go back to doing whatever they want to do. These folks do not read God’s Word, they don’t study God’s Word, and they don’t allow the Word of God to mold and shape them, so they are simply ignorant of God’s will for their lives.

2) SOME OF US ARE TOO BUSY TO SERVE.

There is another group of folks who call themselves Christians, but they are busy. You will find them hustling all over doing “this, that, and the other,” but you will rarely find them visiting the hospital unless it is a family member or close friend. They call themselves Christians, but because they are busy you will rarely find them volunteering their time to help someone in need. They call themselves Christians, but because they are busy you will rarely find them sharing their faith with someone else. If someone from the church accosts them, guilt’s them, or grabs them by the collar and says, “We need your help!” then they will help, but they will never call and say, “Where can I serve!”

3) SOME OF US ARE JUST TOO LAZY TO SERVE.

A portion of the Body of Christ is simply lazy or apathetic. They don’t want to be bothered. They don’t want their routine, their schedule, their preferences and free time interrupted by something as trivial as serving God. This is the saddest lot of those who frequent the church and know Christ as Lord of their life because they have no idea how they are missing out on the richest blessings of the Savior … serving Him by serving His people.

[ILLUS: The great preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon once wrote.

“In all our churches there is a very large proportion of idle people. I hope they are saved; the Lord knows whether they are or not, but whatever else they are saved from, certainly they are not saved from laziness … Some Christians seem to think that they are "a thing of beauty and a joy forever" to the church, and that they have nothing to do in it for the common good … No, No, when their conscience is awakened one day, they shall have poignant regrets that they have neglected so many glorious opportunities of bringing crowns to Christ. (Charles H. Spurgeon, The Master’s Profession—The Disciple’s Pursuit. April 21st, 1870)]

Those who are slouching towards the Kingdom have no idea what they are missing by neglecting the ministry provided by the Lord through His Church.

“Serving the Lord” is not a responsibility reserved for a few, especially for ministers, but it is a privilege and a call that goes out to each and every person who calls Jesus Savior and Lord. So let’s begin. Are you ready? If you are say, “Lord, use me!”

Like our day today, the day of the Apostles in Jerusalem was rich with opportunities to serve the Lord and proclaim His Truth in the neighborhood. In , Peter and the other apostles were put in jail for preaching the Good News. An angel of the Lord freed them from prison and they picked up where they had left off. When they were brought before the Sanhedrin they were chastised and threatened. They wanted them to stop their teaching. Peter said, “We must obey God rather than men.” This only infuriated the religious leaders more. Peter and the others left the presence of the Sanhedrin and began to teach again. When the Sanhedrin heard about it they had them brought back in and they wanted to kill them, but Gamaliel persuaded them to only flog the apostles. After the beating was over, Peter and the apostles left, and we read in …

Acts 5:41–42 ESV

41 Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. 42 And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.

They were rejoicing that the Lord would count them worthy of suffering for His name! The atmosphere was thick with opportunities to minister in society and the followers of Jesus were seizing the moment. This sets up our Scripture for our sermon tonight found in .

Acts 6:1–6 ESV

1 Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. 2 And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. 3 Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” 5 And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. 6 These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.

First, we see that …

First, we see that … I) SERVING MEANS MEETING NEEDS

I) SERVING MEANS MEETING NEEDS

The Church was growing. There were many demands being placed on the shoulders of Peter and the other leaders. There was grumbling going on among the believers who felt that their people were getting slighted. What do you do? Instead of working a 40-hour week, should Peter and the apostles work an 80-hour week? Should they stop studying so much so that they can spend the bulk of their time visiting hospitals and serving communion? Probably many of the folks in the pews would have said, “Absolutely!” Something different took place in Jerusalem.

They delegated ministry. The Church was moving from a crawl and beginning to soar and they didn’t even know it! What was the result of this delegation of work? Take a look at v. 7.

Acts 6:7 ESV

7 And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.

The Body was functioning and the Church began to grow! The lost were being found, the broken were being healed, the isolated were being brought in, the sick were being visited, the imprisoned were no longer forgotten, and God was glorified as His people went to work!

Are these servants of God who were chosen to carry out the work of the Lord a select few folks? Are they spotless saints who are worthy of serving the King? Are they men and women of leisure who had nothing else to do? Hardly. They were folks just like me and you. Simon Peter, who was the early leader of the Church and suggested the choosing of the seven, denied that he even knew Jesus! What a hypocrite! What a coward! God can even use a Simon Peter! Stephen’s ministry was short as he was stoned to death for his faith by the end of . Longevity is not the measure of a successful ministry, but faithfulness is! Five of the men who were chosen and named in are never mentioned again in Scripture. They are nameless servants who simply did what God had called them to do … FAITHFULLY.

Another name that is mentioned in is Phillip. Phillip was chosen for the task of waiting tables for Grecian widows. Not quite an earth shattering, world changing ministry huh? Don’t let that get back to Philip. As Philip served those Grecian widows he served them as if they were Jesus Himself! Philip couldn’t believe that he had been chosen to serve! Philip was honored to serve His Lord by serving His people. Philip was found faithfully serving the Lord and God chose to expand his ministry. Later Philip was called by God to be an evangelist. He preached the Good News in Samaria and many other nearby cities in . Philip also sowed the first seeds of the Gospel in Africa as he shared the Gospel with a Gentile Ethiopian eunuch who was in charge of the treasury of Queen Candace.

We also see that … II) SERVING BRINGS IMPRESSIVE RESULTS

II) SERVING BRINGS IMPRESSIVE ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Those are impressive results. I’m amazed at how God took a young man who was willing to simply wait on tables and use him to sow the seeds of the Gospel in distant lands, but the most impressive thing of all has nothing to do with Samaria or Africa, it is found in .

Acts 21:7–9 ESV

7 When we had finished the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais, and we greeted the brothers and stayed with them for one day. 8 On the next day we departed and came to Caesarea, and we entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him. 9 He had four unmarried daughters, who prophesied.

The Apostle Paul is now the driving force of the movement of the spread of the Gospel. Paul is on the road. He is traveling. When he arrives in Caesarea he stays at the house of Philip. Twenty years after Philip received his call to wait on tables he is still faithfully serving the Lord! Notice that Paul refers to Philip as “one of the seven.” He was still just one of the seven who waited tables, but his service to the Lord had impacted nations and his own home. His daughters were now preaching the Gospel, the Gospel that they had watched their daddy share so many times throughout their life!

You see, waiting on tables, serving in Children’s Church, folding clothes for the BGMC yard sail, serving as a deacon or teacher, as a greeter or van driver, visiting hospitals, filling up carts for a teacher at the teacher store, or serving in the church in any capacity is not menial labor, it is not a “well-they-need-somebody-to-do-it” kind of effort – it is a high calling! The call to SERVE is a HIGH CALLING!

It is amazing how God is glorified, how lives are changed, and the Church grows when ordinary men and women are gripped by a sense that what they are doing is for the King of Glory. Let me give you and example of what happened in New Guinea.

[ILLUS: A missionary returning home after many years of service was asked, "Tell me what you found when you arrived in New Guinea." "Found? I found something that looked more hopeless than if I had been sent into a jungle of tigers." "What do you mean?" "Why, the people seemed utterly devoid of moral sense. If a mother was carrying her little baby and the baby began to cry, she would throw it into the ditch and let it die. If a man saw his father break his leg, he would leave him by the roadside to suffer by himself. They had no compassion whatever. They didn’t even know what the word meant." "Well, what did you do for them?" "I thought it best to show them my faith by my works! When I saw a baby crying, I picked it up and consoled it. When I saw a man with a broken leg, I sought to mend it. When I found people distressed and hungry, I took them in, comforted them, and fed them. Finally they inquired, ’What does this mean? Why are you doing this for us?’ Then I had my chance, and I preached the gospel!" "Did you succeed?" "My friend," said the missionary, "when I returned home on furlough, I left a church!"]

That missionary was a servant. He was a man who had surrendered his life to Jesus as Lord and Savior and was living a life of selfless devotion to the King. What the Church needs, what Open Heart Assembly needs is men, women, boys, and girls who are surrendered to the King! Who see their call from God as the highest calling in all of life. People who see working on a committee, serving as a deacon or elder, or volunteering in one of the many ministry opportunities as the privilege that it is when it is done in service to the Lord.

Finally, we need to see … III) SERVING IS FOR ALL OF US

III) SERVING IS FOR ALL OF US

I want to spend the remainder of our time looking at an important word that will hopefully help us gain a better understanding and know that God has called all of us to serve Him faithfully with the gifts He has given us.

The word that I want to look at is the Greek word, “diakonos” (diakonos). The word means, “to be a servant, attendant, to minister, to provide care for, to take care of the poor and the sick, or those who administer the office of a deacon.” This is the same word that we get our English word, “deacon” from, but in actuality this service is much broader than merely an office in the church. Let’s look at the far reaching implications of this privilege of service to our King.

2 Timothy 1:16–18 ESV

16 May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains, 17 but when he arrived in Rome he searched for me earnestly and found me— 18 may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day!—and you well know all the service he rendered at Ephesus.

Onesiphorus “helped” Paul while he was in prison. What a wonderful service both to the Lord and to Paul.

Mark 15:40–41 ESV

40 There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. 41 When he was in Galilee, they followed him and ministered to him, and there were also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.

There are people today who say that women have no place in leadership in the church. They use the texts from Timothy and Titus to exclude women from leadership and we could spend plenty of time examining those texts to see if Paul was truly telling women that they could not serve as deacons, or elders, or ministers. I would hate to think where our church would be if it weren’t for the ministry of women. Amen?

These women weren’t concerned with titles; they simply wanted to use the gifts God had given them to serve their Savior! We need more men and women like these faithful servants!

CONCL: The key my friend is that we are to use whatever gift God has given us to serve Him as we serve His people. Peter wrote to the brothers and sisters of his day and said in …

1 Peter 4:7–11 ESV

7 The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. 8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: 11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

God has not given us gifts so that we can simply use them for our own benefit or allow them to lay dormant. For those of you who think that you don’t have any gifts, that God has not blessed you with any abilities, then you need to know that God has gifted every person with gifts. Why would God do this? Great question! God has given us gifts so that we might offer them back to Him so that He might use us, and the gifts He has given us to bless the lives of those around us. He has gifted us so that help those who are struggling, so that we might share the Gospel with those who do not know about the hope, mercy, and salvation of our King, and He has given us these gifts so that we might bring glory to His name as we serve Him.

The challenge this week is to seek to get involved in some kind of ministry here at Open Heart Assembly. If you see a need speak up and volunteer to meet it. There are ministries waiting to be started. There are people waiting to become part of Open Heart Assembly. All we are waiting on are servants. I want to urge you to find some time this week to get alone with God and allow Him to search your heart. Ask Him to show you how He desires to use you to bless the lives of others and to glorify His name through your service.

I have never been in a community that had more needs than this community. I have never been in a church that had more opportunities to serve than this church. Yet, with all of this available for us – so few of us are passionate about the work the Lord is doing and wants to do here at Open Heart Assembly. Is it a burden or a blessing when someone asks us to help in some way here at our church? When was the last time we called and stopped someone in the hall and said, “How can I help? What needs to be done so the church can minister more effectively?”

I am praying that the Lord will raise up men, women, boys, and girls who will have the same mindset as “the Seven” of . Folks who are committed to Christ, dedicated and devoted to the Lord’s work, willing to serve with gratitude, and looking for doors opened by the King. Is the Lord speaking to you? Are you ready to serve? Serving God is the highest calling any of us will ever receive. Let’s respond to His call tonight!

Are you ready to serve? Serving God is the highest calling any of us will ever receive. Let’s respond to His call tonight!

[ILLUS: I love the story that is told about a nurse who was volunteering in a leper colony taking care of the nasty wounds and open sores of the patients. Someone was coming through on a tour of the facility one day and said, “I wouldn’t do what you do for a million dollars.” The nurse looked up and smiled, then said, “I wouldn’t do it for a million dollars either, but I would do it for Jesus for free.”]

Before we can ever surrender our schedules to the Lord so that He might use us to bless the lives of others, we must first surrender our hearts. If you’ve never asked Jesus into your heart then let’s start right there. Give Him your heart and He will use you to build His Kingdom. Let’s serve our Lord by serving others!