Sermon Cloud

Living with Urgency

John 9:4-5

Intro: Discovery Earth.  Years trying to get approval to catch snow leopards on film in the dangerous mountains of Afghanistan/Pakistan.  Spent months setting up cameras and weeks sitting waiting for the shot.  Jubilation over snow leopard footage!  People devote their lives to that.  Live for it with urgency and passion.  What are you devoting your life to?  What are you passionately living for with a sense of urgency?

Proposition: We live in a lost and dying world.  It’s time to check to see if we are living with the passion and urgency Christ has called us to.  Such urgency will lead us to reach out to those around us and honor Christ with our lives.

In John 9, Jesus is in the midst of healing a blind man and while doing this miracle He teaches His disciples a few lessons about the need to live with urgency.  Let me be real up front – when Jesus talks about discipleship – He steps on some toes.  So I hope you’re ready.

I.                Get to work – that’s what you’ve been sent to do. (4)

Jesus said, “We must work the works of Him who sent Me.”

-First thing you need to know is that you have been sent – just as Christ was sent.

John’s telling of the Great Commission: Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." John 20:21

So many people don’t do much ministry.  “I don’t feel called to that.”  I’ll just live my life.  Don’t worry right now about being called – know that if you are a Christ follower then you have been sent.

I heard a conference speaker to Baptist pastors said, “The biblical model of church is a pastor who leads and a people who do the ministry.  Too many Baptist churches are filled with people who want to lead who expect the pastor to do the ministry.”

11 And He Himself gave some to be… pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Ephesians 4:11-12

My job as your pastor is to equip you for doing the work of ministry which build up this body.  Amen?

Yet, why do I hear: Why didn’t pastor go see so and so.  Why didn’t pastor talk to that person.  Why didn’t pastor go help such and such.  And then last Tuesday night 3 people showed up for SS. Outreach out of couples II.  And every time I’ve gone with couples I to do SS outreach there is 2-5 people there out of that class.  Why is that? 

Now there are people in this church that do great works of ministry.  A ton of you.  Probably more than most churches.  But what is our main task?  What have you been sent to do?  All of us – what is the main task Christ has given us?  (Let them answer).  The Great Commission.  You have been sent by God to make disciples of all peoples.  Everyone of us!

“Fruitfulness only comes when we align our plans with His plans and we do His work.” – Geoff Hammond

There is a lot of work in a church that must get done besides making disciples.  But all of us – no matter what else we do in the church – must be about making disciples – that is the work we have been sent to do.

I’m so excited to see many of you involved in disciple making.  Where do we see it?  AWANA, VBS, men and women’s ministry, Sunday School, RAs, and youth.  How well are we doing in those area?  The real test is growth.  Are we growing?   How do we know we are growing?  The Great Commission says one way to know is by numbers of Baptisms.  We are hurting in that area and it breaks my heart.  How many baptisms did we have this year from AWANA, VBS, Men and Women’s ministry, SS, RAs, and youth? 

God only snow plows where he wants you to drive.  So why do you get mad when you get stuck?  Honestly, I feel like we have gotten stuck as a church.  We’ve gotten really good at stuff that isn’t a priority.  We’ve gotten really busy with stuff that doesn’t matter.  We have forgotten what we have been sent for.

Ex. Wall-E.  Clean up earth and then go back and work it.  Consumed with entertainment and pleasure, not engaging in any relationships.  It’s us.  Wall-E is focused on two things: Service and love.

II.             Sow – the time is short. (4)

We must never forget that the work of sowing must be done now because “the night is coming when no one can work.”

We just finished a series called the End is Near.  We know Christ could come at anytime.  We know life may end at anytime.  You only have one time around.  In a poof it will be over. Ex. Shopping sprees with 1 cart.  We treat life that way.

5 You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man's life is but a breath. 6 Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro: He bustles about, but only in vain; he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it. Ps. 39:5-6

15 Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk--not as unwise people but as wise-- 16 making the most of the time, because the days are evil. Ephesians 5:15-16

What do we sow?  Two major kinds of seed: The Gospel and Money.

5 Quick reminders of God’s principles of sowing:

1. We must sow to reap. (John 4:37)

One sows and another reaps.

Recent Lifeway Survey: Only two ways most people say they are willing to hear information about Jesus.  63% would hear it in a “personal conversation with a family member” and 56% are willing to hear from a friend or neighbor from the church.

Ed Stetzer, head of Lifeway research said, “People have lost that mission impulse that Christians are supposed to have...[but] the unbelievers next door still need a simple, personal invitation to talk, to be in community, and to church.”

2. We reap where others have sown. (John 4:38)

I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.

3. We will reap what we sow. (Galatians 6:7, 9)

7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows…9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

4. Those that sow in tears will reap in joy. (Psalm 126:5-6)

5 Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. 6 He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him.

5. We must sow together for harvest. (John 4:38)

I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.

NAMB has a $130 million budget.  About $58 million of that usually comes from Annie Armstrong.  Our goal: $2000.

Pretty big budget and giving?

Last year Americans spent $41 billion on their pets.

First day of release of Grand Theft Auto IV - $310 million.

III.    Shine – especially when surrounded by darkness. (5)

Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.”  But guess who else has been given the task to be the light of the world.

14 "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16

There is no doubting we live in a world of darkness.  That means we live in a world of doubters and scoffers.  Know that living with urgency will lead to people standing against you.  This happened to Jesus in John 9.  He healed a man and then the Pharisees got mad because Jesus healed on the Sabbath.  But the blind man came to know Christ.  Was it worth the junk to shine?

Some will believe and some will reject.  Your job is not to convince – but to shine in the face of darkness.  It is no easy task, but it is what you were called to do.

Ex. Police officers at night.  Me on the roadside compared to criminals.  Some crave the light while others run from it.  Your job is to shine.

14 Do everything without complaining or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe. Philippians 2:14-15

Conclusion: Russian antelope.  They butt heads to show they are the alpa male.  They do it so much that they forget to eat and prepare for winter.  Most of them end up starving to death.

What are you doing with your time.  Butting heads?  Or are you preparing now while it is daytime?  For night is coming when no one can work.