Stalled out

Stalled out week 3 • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

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This Sunday concludes our stalled-out sermon series. Our focus has been simple: use your gifts for the kingdom of God. Last week we established 3 preventative measures to keep the church from stalling out. They were: A church that uses their gifts, a church that encourages creativity in their gifts, and the church that moves with urgency will not stall-out. The common core of all these points is the practicing of one’s spiritual gifts. We covered this last week in 1 Peter where the Apostle Peter writes that we are to use our gifts to serve one another as good stewards. Stewardship is an important theme in the Bible. We are to be good stewards of our gifts. Paul brings home this point by writing to Timothy saying, “Fulfill your ministry.” Our prayer moving forward must be, “LORD what is my ministry?” This is an important prayer because Spiritual Gifts are unique. They are unique in that they are meant for other people. Michael Horton expresses it this way, “These are gifts, not that the person who has them needs, these are gifts that other people need in the body of Christ. [Therefore] what has God given me, [is] not for my own enjoyment, my own pleasure, but [the gift] God [has] given me [is] for someone else and for the… Body of Christ.” With this in mind we begin to understand what Paul was writing in 1 Corinthians 12:14-24

1 Corinthians 12:14–24 ESV

For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it,

1 Corinthians 12:14–24 ESV

Because our gifts are not for ourselves, we can in no way say we do not need one another. It also removes our ability to say, “Well, I guess I’m not needed.” It takes both of those from us, why, because if we are not using our gifts, then we are not ministering to one another. We are not caring for one another. This is when people feel neglected, lost in the crowd, and this is also when people feel stagnant. Your gifts are meant for someone else, and when we use our gifts we are building up and edifying the Body of Christ.

How do we prevent ourselves from stalling out? This brings us to our first prevention today: THE AVERAGE AGE OF YOUR TEAM IS CREEPING UP.

This does not mean that as one gets older, they need to phase out. This is simply stating that the average age is going up. There is in no way a pushing out of service going on. What the focus here is, our desire to be able to minister to all generations. We just spoke about this, how can younger people say to the older, “I have no need of you?” Or vice versa. In order for our church to minister across the board we need all parties represented. The church that serves together will not stall. This goes back to stewardship. Genesis 1:26-28

Genesis 1:26–28 ESV

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

We are all called to work, to serve. There is no room for us to come, sit back, and then leave. From day 6 to be specific, we as human beings were created by God and commanded to be stewards of what He has given us. But it does not end with stewardship. There is something that can get in the way of our stewardship: Control.

Dr John Gerstner, a professor of church history, told a story of a young American woman in the 1930’s who when she was just 15 or 16 at a Christian conference gave her life to Christ and made a decision to to give her life to missionary service in Asia. Missionary agencies warned her of how dangerous it was for missionaries in Asia, and told her she would need to do training and also be married. So she sat down at the end of high school and said to God, ‘I take my hands off my life - I don’t care about comfort or safety, I’m giving myself to missionary service, I just need a husband’. And so she went to Bible college, did the training, but at the end of college there were no husband prospects. Went through graduate school, still no prospects. The night before she graduated she sat down in her dorm room angry with God. And it was then in that moment she realized that she wasn’t miserable because she had taken her hands off her life, she was miserable because she never actually took her hands off her life. She had developed an idea of a noble and heroic life and told God this is how you’ve got to do it. “I was using God, not serving God”. That night for the first time she took her hands off her life.

One of the ways we can misuse stewardship, is when we keep our hands in control when we need to let go. There are steps we need to take. There are things we need to do. But like this young girl, when we create for ourselves a call upon our lives and the “ministry God has called us to,” we miss out on what He has truly called us for. This is why our prayer is so important, “LORD, what is my ministry?” In that prayer we acknowledge we were created to be stewards of His gifting’s. We know that these gifts are not for us, they are for someone else. But I think we will forget how we begin our prayers, “LORD.” When we pray, “LORD, what is my ministry” we are not just praying for what we are called to be stewards of. We are making known He is the catalyst to it all. Because even using your gifts where He has not called will be fruitless. This young woman had a heart and passion for Asia. She wanted to go and spread the Gospel. She was willing to face the extreme and intense persecution over there. Around this time thousands of missionaries were killed. She was willing to face that. But that was not where God was calling. She committed nearly a third of her life in pursuit of this and it was that night in her dorm she realized, “I never let go of the control on my life.” We pray again, “LORD, what is my ministry?” I know that on paper we can conclude, “This is where God is calling me.” If that were the case why didn’t God sent Paul, a pharisee, to go and minister to the Jews rather than Peter a fisherman. On paper Paul was better suited. Instead God sent Peter, a Jewish fisherman to go and preach to the Jews and pharisee’s and God sent Paul, a former pharisee to go preach to gentiles. You know what? God was right! God does not always function by the stats on the paper, because this is for His Glory, not ours. Paul had the gift to preach and teach and so God sent him to do that, but not where we thought he should go.

The last prevention for stalling out a church is, YOU’VE CHANGED THE MARKER OF SUCCESS TO MAKE YOU FEEL LIKE YOU’RE WINNING

This is where we have to be spurred and motivated as a church. This is not a time to be discouraged. We have to see things the way they are, pray about it, and keep pressing forward. That does not mean it is all about the numbers. There are numbers which really matter, for example number of baptisms. The Bible records them as well, the day of Pentecost 3000 are recorded, Cornelius' Household (Acts 10), Lydia's Household (Acts 16), The Philippian Jailer's Household (Acts 16), Crispus’ Household (Acts 18), Stephanas’ Household (1 Corinthians 1). That’s our primary mission bringing sinners to Christ and baptism is the clearest barometer we can use. There are other ways to gauge success, for example # of people in 3/3rds discipleship whether leading or attending. This is a barometer of discipleship. And this is what gets me exited, how many new visitors. I get excited because for me there is no clearer working of God than that. So many people have visited just because they googled a church and then they chose ours. Why? God was working. Its cool to be a part of that. We look at our Sunday attendance and givings. I know our church years back had a time to growth. We can look back and be discouraged or, we can see this church is capable of reaching more people and discipling more people. We cannot change the marker to make us feel better.

I was watching a video this week. A young man name Cameron Hanes, who is just a workhorse of an individual. He set out to do 4100 pull-ups in 24 hours. But he wanted to break former Navy Seal and ultra-marathon runner David Goggins record of 4030 in 17 hours. In fact this young man ended up doing 4100 pull-ups in 17 hrs and 30 minutes. When he finished, he kept thanking Goggins for setting the bar. Cameron knew he never considered doing that many pull-ups but because Goggins set the marker, he went for it. A remarkable world record.

The same is true for the church. The church is called to do great things for the kingdom of God. The marker is set and for many churches it is more appealing to keep lowering the bar. Just keep changing the goals. Now its no longer about discipleship its about how many come on Sunday. Now its no longer about how many come on Sunday its about the giving. Now its no longer about giving its about… do you see how easy it is to change the marker? Church, we have to see the marker that is set and that marker cannot change. That marker has to spur us. It has to keep us aware of what is at stake. Souls hang in the balance and we cannot change the marker because when we change the marker people die and go to hell. I know, it just got uncomfortable. Hell is uncomfortable to talk about. Spurgeon said in his sermon titled ‘The Wialing of Risca” , “If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped about their knees, imploring them to stay. If Hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go unwarned and unprayed for.” The church that never changes the marker will not stall.

This brings me to my final point in all the series and I want to summarize it with this simple statement: A thriving church is a serving church.

Romans 12:1-8

Romans 12:1–8 ESV

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

We are not going to get into the body and the parts, I think we have covered that. I want us to look at verses 1-2. Do you see the problem? “To present your bodies as a living sacrifice.” But a sacrifice does not live. Every Sacrifice was killed. Not a single sacrifice was done and then that sacrifice walked off the altar. The young girl who gave a third of her life to preparing for mission work in Asia, we find ourselves approaching God the same way. “God I will obey, if.” If you do this, this, and this. Tim Keller explains it better than I ever could, he says, “Whatever is on the other side of the ‘if’ is the real thing you are sacrificing for and it is not God.”

College football is my thing. I love it. NFL can go away with all that political stuff. Saturday's are my jam! in 2019 because we cannot count anything from 2020, the top 3 schools in attendance for the season, which included 7 homes games, had over 720,000 in attendance throughout those 7 games. In pains me to say it but, Michigan, that team up north averaged 111,459 per home game. Penn St. 105,678. Ohio St. 103,383. Tennessee had 8 homes games and they Averaged just over 87k. It is my dream to go to an Ohio State vs Michigan game at Ohio State 1 time. To be in the stands to watch the best band in the land. To watch my team beat Michigan. The be in attendance would be a bucket list moment.

But this got me thinking. This is often how we approach church. We go and we sit in the stands and we watch a few people on the field. Maybe we don’t like the starting preacher but the Worship Pastor is great. But that was never supposed to be the body of Christ. We were never meant to sit in the stands while only a few got to play. Here is what has happened, our “If” has been defined. LORD I will serve “if” and what has followed has not been met. Ill serve in that ministry if someone asks me. Why do we have to be called why cant we cal them. Leading a ministry take focus and sometimes life can kick you in the gut. I will tell you right now, Jacob has a rough month this month! The boy has a lot going on! If you’re waiting on Jacob to call you to volunteer, I am saying that is unfair to him. He has big events to plan and organize in this month alone along with planning for a youth conference in January. Call him and tell him you are ready to serve.

LORD I will serve “if.” Can we compare these two prayers? “LORD I will serve if...” Compared to, “LORD what is my ministry?” The first thing I notice is one is a statement and one is a question. One tells God how things are going to go, if said requirements are met. While the other asks and waits for answer. Church, my deepest prayer, is that every single one of you will know where you are gifted, and that you would be bold and humble enough to pray this prayer, “LORD what is my ministry.” Every single person in this room has a ministry, no matter how young and no matter how old, as Paul said to Timothy, “Fulfill your ministry.”

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