It Takes All of Us Steve Walker

Transcription

1 Series: Nehemiah October 9, 2016 It Takes All of Us Steve Walker If you're newer to Canyon Hills, we're going through Nehemiah verse by verse on Sunday mornings. That's what we do. To put it in a little bit of context in biblical history, or just in redemptive history, what Nehemiah writes about in this book basically took place about 400 years before Jesus. That gives you a little bit of reference there. Once again, when we come to Nehemiah, we find that the Jewish people are under the heavy hand of God's judgment. God is judging them for their blatant rebellion, unfaithfulness, and idolatry. All throughout Scripture, from beginning to end, we see this thread of God's love. He loves his people so much that he just will not let us go off and destroy our lives and the lives of those we love. He won't let us destroy his name or his reputation, and so God, in his loving way, disciplines us. For this season in the Jewish life, God sends the Assyrians, a pagan nation, to exact his discipline. They come into Jerusalem and the Judea area and they burn the city. They burn the temple. They destroy and burn the walls into a pile of rubble all the way to the ground. Then they take all of God's people, the people of Judah and Jerusalem, and they scatter them amongst their surrounding enemies. They're all just taken out. They're captured. They're in captivity, but God promised them, "If you'll return, if you'll repent and turn from your wicked ways, I will forgive you and I will bring you back to your land." Over 70 years of captivity take place, and God's discipline accomplishes its work. They abandon their adultery. They repent and they begin to live faithful lives in obedience to God. So under the sovereign hand of God, God allows the Jews to slowly return back to Jerusalem. For 25 years, under the leadership of Ezra and Zerubbabel, God starts to open the doors for the Jewish people to, little by little, migrate back to Jerusalem in order to rebuild their lives and to rebuild their city, the city of God. Enter Nehemiah. Some 800 miles away, Nehemiah is minding his own business. He's living in the king's palace. He's completely safe. He had it made. He was working for the king. Until that Canyon Hills Community Church 1

2 fateful night when there was a knock at the door. Nehemiah opens the door in Nehemiah, chapter 1. His brother is standing there with some friends, and they had just returned from the long trip back from Jerusalem. They had gone over there to do some recon to find out what's happening after 25 years of the migration back. Sure enough, they share with Nehemiah the horrible news that the walls around the city, even after all these years, are still in complete ruins, leaving them vulnerable to attack and humiliation. Right there, we see in verse 4 of chapter 1, Nehemiah begins this season of deep grief, sorrow, prayer, and fasting, and God begins to speak to his heart, calling him to leave his job and go to Jerusalem himself to help rebuild approximately 2,000 linear feet of wall and to actually restore God's name and reputation to the people of God and the land of God. It's a monumental task, humanly impossible. After several of God's interventions, as we saw last week, in chapter 2, Nehemiah decides it's time to go. We left him, at the end of chapter 2, arriving in Jerusalem, meeting with the leaders, and determining, "Let's build." So here we go. Chapter 3. If you read ahead, you happen to know chapter 3 is 32 verses of names. It's just a long list of names. These are the names of the people who were in the city, ready to build the wall, ready to take on this impossible task. When I was studying this book over the summer in great detail, I was very tempted to fly over this chapter really quickly so we could get to chapter 4, because it really starts to get exciting in chapter 4. I decided, "Well, before I make that decision, I'm just going to start reading it." So I read it and read it again, and I went to some commentaries, some people I love and respect who might have written about the book of Nehemiah. There was very little space given to chapter 3. In fact, most pastors just skipped over it. Most commentaries had very little to say. Yet I couldn't get myself to walk away from it and jump over into chapter 4, because embedded in this chapter, I believe, in this part of the story is one main idea that I think we need to get today. This is how I want to word it. I think the main idea of chapter 3 is whenever God assigns his people a God-sized mission, it's an assignment that takes all of us. It's not just some of us. What I get out of this chapter, if I were to reduce it down to five words, I would say, "We are always better together." That's the message in chapter 3, and I felt like it was too valuable, no matter where you are in your Christian life, no matter how old or young you are, this is a message that we desperately need in today's church. Make no mistake about it, the church has been given one of those assignments, one of those God-sized missions. You remember, right after the resurrection and before his ascension, Jesus is meeting with his disciples and he says, "Listen. I want you to do something. I've completed my work on the cross, and now I want you to take it forward. I want you to go into all the world and make believers. I want you to make disciples, followers of me, and I want you to baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and I want you to teach them to obey everything I command." Canyon Hills Community Church 2

3 I remember that, and I'm thinking if I was sitting there with the disciples that day There are 12 of them. Maybe there are a few extras hanging out that day. If Jesus said that, I think I would have kind of went, "Uh, um, is this all of us, right here? The whole world? You want us to go to the whole world and make disciples, right? We don't even have Facebook yet! How are we going to do that?" I think I would have looked around, saying, "Uh, that seems a little over-the-top, Jesus. I mean, the whole world?" Of course, you know the rest of the conversation. Jesus says, "Lo, I will be with you always. I will be with you." Nehemiah may be thousands of years removed from us, but what he's going through and what's happening in this book is exactly what we need to hear today. If your Bibles are open to Nehemiah 3, let's go ahead and stand for the reading of his Word. We're going to just start right at the beginning, verse 1. "Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brothers the priests, and they built the Sheep Gate. They consecrated it and set its doors. They consecrated it as far as the Tower of the Hundred, as far as the Tower of Hananel. And next to him the men of Jericho built. And next to them Zaccur the son of Imri built. The sons of Hassenaah built the Fish Gate. They laid its beams and set its doors, its bolts, and its bars. And next to them Meremoth the son of Uriah, son of Hakkoz repaired. And next to them Meshullam the son of Berechiah, son of Meshezabel repaired. And next to them Zadok the son of Baana repaired. And next to them the Tekoites repaired, but their nobles would not stoop to serve their Lord. Joiada the son of Paseah and Meshullam the son of Besodeiah repaired the Gate of Yeshanah. They laid its beams and set its doors, its bolts, and its bars." Are you getting the picture? Please tell me you're getting the picture, because I am going to spare you from reading any more. And all the people said, "Amen." Yet I do want to show you one more verse, verse 12. "Next to him Shallum the son of Hallohesh, ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, repaired, he and his daughters." Father in heaven, we know every word is inspired and we just pray that right now, God, through the power of your Holy Spirit, you would teach us and help us to see ourselves in the story of your redemption and forgiveness. Help us, God, to learn. Help us, God, to change today if you deem that we need to repent, not be more confused, or grow in our understanding. Whatever the case, God, in the power of your Spirit, use your sharp Word to prepare us to be more like Christ and to follow him more faithfully. God, we lay in your lap, we hand to you, all of our joys, worries, doubts, fears, and even our anger Whatever it is that is weighing our hearts down, we hand it to you, God, and we pray you would hold them and minister to us now as we open our hearts to your Word. In Christ's name, amen. Canyon Hills Community Church 3

4 Again, the point of chapter 3 is that when God assigns his people a God-sized mission, it takes every single one of us. 1. It takes godly leaders who are willing to get dirty. Leaders of God's work are not exempt from the blood, sweat, and tears of hands-on ministry. The mission of the church (I believe this with all my heart) will never happen without leaders who serve. Verse 1, right off the top of the chapter, says, "Then Eliashib the high priest rose up " That is really significant, church. This is the first syllable in the book where the work of rebuilding the wall begins. This is it. This is the start of 52 days of miraculous intensity. This is it: the first syllable off the pen of Nehemiah is "Then Eliashib the high priest rose up " He was the Jewish version of the pope. He had 70 priests under him. He was the only one allowed, in the whole nation of Israel, all of God's people, to go behind the curtain in the Holy of Holies one a year on behalf of the people so the people would not be judged and killed for their sin. He was called to go, on behalf of the people, behind the curtain with an atonement, a sacrifice of blood, to be poured out on the mercy seat of God. He was that guy. His hat was bigger than everyone else's hat. His robes were ornate and incredibly decorated with gems, stones, and gold threads. This guy was the man, and the first sentence in the story is him rising up. He rolled up his sleeves. He tucks in his robe and he gets knee-deep in the rubble and the ashes. That's Eliashib. I think it's important for us to acknowledge this. God's leaders don't point and say, "Go that way." God's leaders always link arms and say, "Follow me. Come with me." You see, the work of rebuilding this wall was an impossible undertaking, but part of the miracle was going to be the unlikely and uncommon involvement of the clergy together with the people. Now fast-forward to the New Testament church and we have Jesus, our Great High Priest, robed with righteousness, who has gone through the heavens (Hebrews, chapter 4). Here's what Jesus says. "For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." That's the Son of God. "I've come to serve." In John 13:15, after a shocking and mind-blowing scene with Jesus washing the filthy feet of his reluctant disciples, he says to them, "For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you." Jesus is saying, "Follow my example." In Matthew, chapter 23, Jesus says, "The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted." In the great incarnation passage, Philippians, chapter 2, we see of Jesus, " though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped [a thing to hang onto], but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant " It is in light of the humility and servanthood example of Jesus Christ that all church leaders stand in judgment. I believe the application of Eliashib, all the way back in the Old Testament, in Nehemiah, chapter 3, cuts across the whole board of church leadership today in our modern day. Let's just Canyon Hills Community Church 4

5 begin with the obvious. I think, first and foremost, all of us pastor and elder types must see ourselves in this story, we who are tasked with guiding, guarding, and growing the flock of God. While you need to hear me say I thank God that I serve in a time and culture where washing your feet serves more as a metaphor than it does an explicit command, praise God, I do see in this passage that we must be willing to come near to those whose lives and circumstances can get stinky sometimes. In fact, as elders and pastors of God's flock, we need to smell like sheep, really. I don't say this for any other reason but to encourage you, but this is why, when we see passages like this, it encourages your leadership. It's why all of us pastors and elders are in Life Groups with you. It's why we go on Global Encounter Trips with you in some really stinky parts of the world to take the gospel. It's why many of our elders, elders' wives, pastors' wives, and pastors are serving in places like the children's ministry or youth ministry or all over the landscape of the gospel ministry here at Canyon Hills. We leaders had better get this. It's right there. Yet what about other leaders in the church? What about Life Group leaders? What if Jesus was a Life Group leader? Oh, he was, wasn't he? Didn't he have 12 men in his Life Group? I think as we try to follow his example as Life Group leaders, Jesus would say to link arms with real people who have real trials, real temptations, real tribulation, and sometimes even real tragedy. Jesus is saying that as leaders in God's work, we must serve, love, exhort, be patient with, and even rebuke those in our care. Life Group leaders, you're in this story. What about family leaders? What if Jesus had a family? He has brothers and sisters, right? He has spiritual children, right? I wonder if an application of Nehemiah 3 might apply to moms and dads who are responsible for servant leadership of your children, not demanding obedience and respect without servanthood, but linking arms with your children, not just barking out orders. Moms and dads, you're in this story. What about if you're a leader at work? Maybe you're a boss, supervisor, employer, or something. What if Jesus were a boss? He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, the last we checked, right? What would Jesus say? How would this apply? I think Jesus would say, whoever is under your care and supervision, your godly leadership will mean helping, serving, and leading them to do their jobs well, not just pointing and saying, "Go do that or else " What about leadership in marriage? Yes, bosses and supervisors, you're in the story, but so are husbands and wives, I believe. What if Jesus were a spouse? He is the husband of his bride, the church, right? I think Jesus would, in light of his example, call us to follow him by laying down our lives for our spouses. I think for men, in particular, he would remind us, "You are to love, cherish, respect, serve, and forgive your wife." The impossible task of going into all the world to make more and better disciples of Jesus is only possible when godly leaders like us, like Eliashib, are willing to roll up their sleeves and do the Canyon Hills Community Church 5

6 work of gospel ministry at home, in the workplace, and in the church. Yet it doesn't just take godly leaders. 2. It takes truly liberated women. I couldn't wait to talk about this. In fact, I might be a little too excited to talk about this. The most important word in this point is the word truly. I want you to underline the word truly if you're taking notes., because I'm not referring to the culture's false version of women's lib that we have today, a liberation that is basically based on the assumption that all women are suppressed and limited by the unsatisfying and unnatural cultural bias to things like (God forbid) marriage, childrearing, or homemaking. No, I'm not referring to that kind of false liberation. I'm talking about a biblical liberation that is based in the divine creation as women being created equal in the glory of the image of God. I'm talking about women divinely created to be equal: equal in the fall, equal in the need for forgiveness and a Savior, equal in redemption and sanctification, and equal in purpose, value, and mission. That is what it means to be truly liberated in this life, ladies. I want you to look at verse 12 again. "Next to him Shallum the son of Hallohesh, ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, repaired, he and his daughters." I'm reading through this chapter several times in my study, and I could have easily flown right by this. You could have as well. You might have just gone right over it. Here's how I fill in between the words there. I see the daughters of this dad, and they're looking at him, going, "Hey, what about us?" Everybody else is going outside and rolling up their sleeves, and I see his daughters saying, "We can lift and carry bricks! We could saw beams! We could hammer nails!" I see them saying to Dad, "We're not helpless! We're in!" Don't you love that? That's all right there. You just have to look behind the words there. There it is! This was incredibly uncommon, and there's no indication of any resistance or pushback by the dad, no indication of pushback by the other dads with all the sons out there working, and certainly no indication of Nehemiah resisting that the daughters are coming out to help with the work. Again, very out of the ordinary, but there it is. Don't miss it. I just started giggling in my office. I was thinking of all you dads who have a house full of girls. I was thinking of Randy Trettevik. He has four daughters. God bless him. Four daughters I was thinking of John Meikle. He has three daughters. Jack Nelson has three daughters. Ron has three girls, and I know a lot of you who have just a house full of women. Dads, you're in the story, and so are your girls. They're right there in God's redemptive history. You see, they understood that the work of God would be impossible without the women, and it's exactly the same today in the church. I realize religious history hasn't always recorded a high value of women, but I want you to hear me say something right now. Please listen to me. Neither the God of the Bible nor Jesus, God incarnate, ever calls for the devaluing or demeaning of women. Jesus liberated women. I want you to know that. I want you to believe that. I want you to embrace that in spite of what the world continually accuses Jesus and the church of. Canyon Hills Community Church 6

7 Women served alongside Jesus, the Son of God. They ministered to him. I think of the woman at the well. Jesus, who sat down and spoke to this woman who was shunned by all the women in her day, counsels her. He ministers to her. He gives her hope in spite of all the horrible choices she had made in her life up to that moment. I think of Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus, the one who died and whom Jesus raised from the dead. I think Jesus loved these two women. We see him in their home. I think they may have provided a safe place for Jesus to go to just get out of the crowd, sit down, and clear his mind. I believe he cherished them. I think of the woman caught in adultery. All the religious types dragged her to Jesus, threw her down on the ground, and were ready to have Jesus stone her, and Jesus stoops down, takes her by the hand, and lifts her up out of the condemnation, judgment, and wrath her sins did deserve. He looks at her and he says, "I'm going to give you another chance. Turn from your sin. Go and sin no more. You're forgiven." You see, women in his part of the world loved him. They loved Jesus. He liberated women. God's work and the great impossible mission of the church to go into all the world and make disciples must include God's women. For sure, let me just say as a side note, in God's divine wisdom, he has chosen not to burden the women of the church with the role of pastoring and eldering. We teach this very clearly in other venues. I will not take this time to unpack that, but you need to know that virtually every single gift of the Holy Spirit, by the Spirit's choosing, is available to women. The church is not intended to be a club for men but of godly women Life Group leaders, teachers, ministry leaders, authors, speakers, counselors, and yes, even wives and moms, all doing the high gospel work of gospel ministry in the church, in the workplace, and in the home. It takes godly leaders who are willing to get dirty. It takes godly, liberated women to accomplish the God-sized mission we have. 3. It takes all boots on the ground. God's work of the great mission of the church, folks, absolutely requires all hands on deck. It's an all-in call. For Nehemiah, it certainly was that way. We won't take the time to read all these verses, but I want you to notice in verse 1, we have the high priest and the priests. In verse 8, we have goldsmiths and people who made perfume. In verse 26, we have temple servants. In verse 28, we have priests. In verse 31, we have more goldsmiths, temple servants, and merchants. More merchants in verse 32. We have rulers in verse 12. It's all over the spectrum of God's people. In God's army, everybody is a foot soldier. Everybody has to be in active duty. There are no reserve forces in the army of God. You see, when Jesus gave the church its God-sized Great Commission of making more and better disciples, he left no one out. It was a mission to male and female, blue collar, white collar, educated, uneducated, poor, rich, the mechanic, the scientist, the engineer, the assembly line, Mariner fans, and as much as it pains some of you, even us Yankee fans are included. There are Canyon Hills Community Church 7

8 no exceptions, no exclusions. It truly takes every one of us to accomplish what God saved us to accomplish here on earth. Just to press that home a little bit, just to pound on that nail a little bit, keep a mark in Nehemiah 3, but I want you to look at Ephesians 2, quickly. I want you to see this principle carried out all the way through Scripture, of course. Again, I'm probably not making a point that is a surprise to any of you, but it's certainly something the church needs to be reminded of. In Ephesians, chapter 2, let's look at verses 8 and 9. We are very familiar with 8 and 9. It says, "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." We are very in love with those two verses, right? We're saved by God's wonderful grace. We can't boast about it. We didn't earn it. We just have to believe that God has accomplished everything we need to be forgiven and made new so we can spend eternity with him in heaven, and we believe that by faith and we trust in the work of Jesus Christ on the cross and we celebrate because no one is going to be bragging their way into heaven and no one is going to be bragging once they're there. Yet we often just stop before we get to verse 10. Look at what it says. "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus " Let me just say that. "His workmanship" and "created in Christ Jesus" are synonyms for those who are saved by God's grace. That's who we are. We are his workmanship. He worked it out through the work of Jesus on the cross, through calling us and opening our hearts up to the truth, opening our blind eyes and our deaf ears to see Jesus for who he is. He grants us the gift of faith and the gift of salvation. It says, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand " What's the beforehand? Before we were saved! Before we were saved, he knew he was calling you. He knew he was going to save you, and he already had your part of the kingdom work he has called you to accomplish. There it is. " that we should walk in them." James, chapter 2 There was an argument going on amongst Christians, and some were saying, "You know, all this work stuff, all this keeping the rules and stuff. Hey, we believe. We have faith. We're saved. You know what? Let someone else do the work." Here's what James says in James, chapter 2. He says, "I can't even see your faith if you don't have any good works or any good deeds. If you want to see my faith, I'll show you my works." He's saying there's no way to prove that you are God's workmanship, created in Christ, if you don't take your part in the wonderful Great Commission. It takes all boots on the ground. In spite of all the sacrifice in chapter 32 and all the willingness, not everything was right in Nehemiah's project. Go back to Nehemiah, chapter 3, would you? Look at verse 5. Remember the big, long list of people? Well, verse 5 is interesting. "And next to them the Tekoites Canyon Hills Community Church 8

9 repaired, but their nobles would not stoop to serve their Lord." That's a sad little verse right in the middle of this amazing thing that's going on. You might have just flown right over that, but here's what it did in my heart. I think this still happens today. I think every church has its nobles. They represent those who won't stoop to serve one another, which, in essence, is equal to not stooping to serve God. When a Christian continues to not serve alongside God's people in the gospel work of God, it's exactly the same as not serving God. In fact, let me say something really radical to you right now. Not serving alongside God's people is exactly the same as not loving God. I would say there's no way to prove that any of us love God unless we're serving alongside each other in gospel ministry. Right about now, you should be saying to yourself, "He had better prove that. That sounds a little bit right up on that line. Because I'm not involved in ministry with my church family, you're telling me that literally means I don't love God?" Yes, that's what I'm telling you. Do you want me to prove it? Do you? I hope so. Turn to Hebrews, chapter 6, verse 9. The writer says, "Though we speak in this way " Meaning all the stuff he had just written up to this point. He was speaking pretty much in pretty stern terms to the people of giving evidence that they really are saved. He says, " yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things things that belong to salvation." He's writing and saying, "But about you, we are excited, optimistic, and positive that you really are who you say you are, that you're saved." Verse 10: "For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do." He says, "We're sure of better things about you, and the reason we're sure that your life is the life of a saved one is that God's not going to overlook your good work, your service, your ministry." Then he links their good work to the love they have shown his name. Then he links that to serving the saints. There is this absolute connection between the surety of our salvation, our love for God and his name, and serving our God. There it is. In James, chapter 2, verse 26, James says, basically, way more bluntly than the writer of Hebrews, " faith apart from works is dead." It's dead. There's no real tangible way to prove we are who we say we are if there's no service in our life for the glory and kingdom of God, and so, unfortunately, we still have nobles in the church today. I don't preach this message at all with a spirit of scolding. My heart in this is that Nehemiah 3 gives us good reason to pause and just look at ourselves for a minute and say, "Okay, am I in this story or not? Does this list of 32 verses of names have anything to do with me?" Yes, and it could be really exciting if you see yourself in the right way. Let me address the nobles in the church today. These are reasons for not serving that I hear. I've heard, over 32 years of being a pastor These are the ones I hear. They're not in any order, but just listen to them and see if you've heard them before, or maybe if you've said them before. Maybe you're saying them right now. Canyon Hills Community Church 9

10 One of the ones I hear often is, "They don't need me there." Listen. I've been a pastor for over 32 years, in several churches, and there never has been one day of ministry life that I've ever had as a pastor where that statement was ever true. The reason it can't be true is because God prepared works for you to do in the family of God before he even saved you, so there has to be something for you to do. Honestly, I think it's a cop-out. I've never been a part of a church where we had an elders meeting and said, "You guys, who's going to stand up on Sunday and tell the people, 'Stop serving! We don't need you'? Who's going to make that announcement?" Well, we've never had that agenda item. No church ever has, but that's a praise! There's a place for every person in the family of God in every church! Here's one I hear. "I'm too busy. If you only knew my schedule and the demands at work and all the things going on in my life, I'm just too busy." I want to say to you, if that is something you believe about you, there's an assumption attached to that reason, and it's this: everyone else who serves isn't busy. That's the assumption. The assumption is you're busier than everybody. The assumption is you are more important and busier than everybody else in your church; therefore, you are exempted from the joy of being fruitful and fulfilled by serving. I hear this one sometimes. "Been there, done that." It usually comes from longtime Christians, longtime church people. Sometimes there are seasons where a person has served faithfully for decades and they do need a breather. They do need a break. Maybe it's not that they're quitting, but sometimes that's the case. Yet that's not the one I'm talking about. This is the person who just says, "You know what? It's someone else's turn. I did my turn." I just want to say there are no term limits on serving God. There just aren't. There are no term limits. I've heard this one. "My family is my ministry." Yes, that's true for all of us, but we're also part of a bigger family, a spiritual family, an eternal family, God's family, the church. I think the underlying assumption under this noble's reason assumes no one else's family needs them. It assumes, honestly, that the rest of us who serve are basically orphans. We don't have families that need our attention. That's not true. There are seasons in family life that can be really demanding sometimes and we have to pull back and take care of stuff that is just really needing us. I get that, but I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the person who just says, "You know what? My main role is to my immediate family or those related to me. That's my work for the Lord." Yes, it is, but it's not to the exclusion of the work that God has prepared for you in advance to do in the body of Christ for his gospel work. We all have families, for the most part. Not every single person who serves the Lord is an orphan. Here's one I hear. "There's nothing here that fits my passion or my gifts." While it's good to be passionate and gifted to serve, it's certainly not a prerequisite, and it's certainly not an acceptable excuse. Of course, we want to all be serving in an area where we're just passionate about, but sometimes we just have to start. Canyon Hills Community Church 10

11 Sometimes we just have to plug in and say, "Where do you need me?" Then we let time and growth begin to kind of reveal where the best slot and fit is for me in this family of God to do gospel work together. But it's no excuse to just not do anything, week after week, month after month, year after year. I hear this one sometimes. "I'm not worthy. Not right now. My life is a wreck. I need time to get my act together." Again, I understand this one. The truth is, for some people sitting here who aren't serving, your greatest need above serving is Jesus. God is calling you, first and foremost, to repent, turn from your sin, put all your faith and trust in Jesus' work on the cross to save you from his coming wrath and judgment upon your sin, receive him as your Savior, and to surrender to him as your Lord. That is number one right now for some of you in this room, and I pray today is that day. Some of you don't feel worthy because you've made some really bad choices, some dumb things. You just make a mess of things. Yeah, you have to get that together, but let me let you hear me say this. If only people without problems, sin, mistakes, and sadness get to serve, nobody would serve. There would be nobody serving here if it required all of us to just have it all together, right? Well, except me. I'd probably be the only one. Right? If you know me for 15 seconds, you know that's not true. No, that's not the case. There's a place even in our brokenness and in our process of growing and repenting to be serving. Here's one. "I was not appreciated. I'm done with that. I'm so offended. I served and I served and I served, and no one thanked me." That's unfortunate, because sometimes ministry leaders are human, pastors are human, and we're ungrateful. I would ask, what if every leader, volunteer, or pastor who was ever hurt or offended quit? What if Jesus quit when we don't appreciate him as much as he deserves? Here's one. "No one has ever asked me." Well, that could be true. If you never make eye contact with anyone, it's possible they didn't ask you. If you're acting like you have leprosy, yeah, we might just kind of keep our distance, but the bottom line is when Jesus gave the wonderful Great Commission to us as a church to go out and make disciples of all the world, starting right here in our own homes and then to the world When he made that commission, when he gave us that amazing, God-sized mission, he didn't say, "Wait around until someone comes up and begs you to get involved." That's not in the Bible. I checked. Sometimes our reasons, if we're honest, are way more about selfishness than they are humility. I want to put a bow on this. I want you to just turn, lastly, to Romans, chapter 12. Let's just wrap a bow right around this. Romans 12, verse 3. Paul is writing to a church, and here's his encouragement. This is a famous chapter in the book of Romans, maybe in the whole Bible. This Canyon Hills Community Church 11

12 is what he says. "For by the grace given to me " He's writing them a letter. "I say to everyone among you, don't think of yourself more highly than you ought. Don't think like that, but think with sober judgment according to the measure of faith God has assigned or given you. "For as in one [human] 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." In fact, the better translation there, I believe, when he says " are one body in Christ " is that all the members belong to one another. That's what it says at the end of verse 5. We belong to each other! "Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them " Use them! What an amazing thought in one of the most amazing chapters in the Bible! Paul says, "If we're going to do this thing, it's going to take all of us. Don't think so highly of yourself that somehow you don't have to be a part." I would say this to you. This is where my heart is, today. Something is going on at Canyon Hills that's hard to put a description on. For about the last six months to a year, we have been talking often amongst ourselves in our staff meetings. There's something happening. The expectation of God's power and presence in our ministry, in our influence, in the gospel, both here and around the world, is really There's something going on here. There's an energy, and I don't mean that in some New Age way, but there is a sense that there is something happening here in people's lives that is unique, and there are lots of you who are part of it. Yet there are some of you who, week after week, sit, soak, and go home. I want to say to you that God has more for you than that. I would say to you that the Christians who are bored the most are always those who aren't doing anything. In fact, let me reword that. The most boring Christians are those who don't do anything, because honestly, it's just always all about you. God says, "I saved you and I have something for your life that will bring you fulfillment and fruitfulness that can't be compared to anything else you're pursuing." Don't walk away from that. Become a part of what God has saved you for, the good works he has prepared in advance. There is a place in God's God-sized impossible mission for you, and you need to get involved. I'm not going to sit here and tell you what to do. We're not going to chase you around. We're not going to have you sign a card and say, "Call me." No. I pray God's Spirit has spoken to you and you have sensed, "This is missing in my life." I pray that you will call the church in the next few days and say, "I'm not sure where, but if you can tell me one or two places where there are needs " Which would take about half a second on the phone. We'll give you the name and number of the ministry leaders, pastors, or departments, and then you call and say, "What do I have to do? What do you want me to do?" I would say that for some of you, there's an easy step right now, today. This is not a cheesy commercial, by the way, but it's true. Some of you still have that FIT card in your bulletin, and Canyon Hills Community Church 12

13 the easiest response in your life might be, "Okay. I'm hearing you, God. I'm hearing you, Steve. I'm hearing you in the Word." Check a box, drop it by, and that's the first step to open the front door for you to say, "Okay, I'm getting off the schneid. No more excuses. Let's do something." You're not committing to it for the rest of eternity. You're just saying, "I'm not doing anything. I want to do something. Let's start." We're going to say, "Okay. You'll never regret it." There's the message. There's chapter 3. You didn't know any of that was in there, did you? Every one of us is in chapter 3. I pray you'll respond the way God's Spirit would move you. Let's pray. God in heaven, I just thank you that there's this overarching arc through all of the Bible that is your call. You're calling us to impossible things that are doomed to failure unless you intervene. We praise you that you intervened in our hearts and souls. You saved us. We praise you, God, that you just didn't save us to sit and wait, but you saved us to serve and sacrifice. God, I praise you that the highest calling in our lives is to serve you and to serve each other. I pray that it would be the most glaring evidence that we love you. I pray, God, for those in this room who are feeling the sense that your Spirit is whispering to their hearts. I pray that, today, they will respond in the way you want them to respond. I pray it would be exciting for them, that they would start to feel and be fulfilled and fruitful in their salvation. I pray this in Christ's name, amen. If you want to talk to someone about surrendering your heart and life to Jesus, there are people here who would love to have that conversation with you before you go home. If we can pray with you about anything else going on in your life, we would love to do that as well. All right? We'll see you next Sunday. Canyon Hills Community Church 13