From The Ground Up III, The Seven Secrets Of Greatness

There's something, though, that is happening in our church, and if you are new to us, I think you'll sense it if you've been around a while. People have been commenting, well, this is different, and this is new, and this is exciting, and there's a fresh order and a fresh direction that God is giving, and it is doing one thing. It's increasing the level of unity. And in Psalm 133, the Bible says, brothers dwell together in unity, there, he says, I command the blessing. And I got to tell you, folks, I want to be a place where God's commanding blessing, don't you? I want to be where God's saying, bless that group of people. Am I the only one? You want to be there, too, don't you? I don't want to be fighting against him. I want to be moving with him. And just by way of review, for those of you who are guests with us today, we're in our third message in this series on From the Ground Up, how God is cultivating his church. Week one, we talked about getting connected. In fact, we used the logo. A lot of folks said, what does that tree stand for? And for a lot of years, I wasn't able to tell them, because I didn't know. But now, it's all figured out. There's sort of the enlarged version of the logo with the five key words of the purposes of the church. And week one, we talked about connected. And we talked about how you have to get your roots down into the soil of becoming a member of God's family. And there are so many people who don't even take that step, who choose to flit around and try this church for a while and that church for a while, and in the end, really never draw nourishment to go on and do what the second part is on the tree, and that's to grow. As Pastor Dave talked last week about the trunk, drawing life up through it, so that you can grow and mature and become more Christ-like. And that takes us on to this morning's focus, and that is that you begin to bear fruit. You grow leaves, and soon fruit begins to be born in your life as you learn to serve. And we're going to talk about that in detail today. Next week, we're going to talk about reaching out as those leaves begin to blow and move outward and the fruit gets taken out and beyond. And then finally, how it all fits together in glory to God as we learn to worship Him. So that's what we're talking about. And you see, if that's true in the church, then it's also true in your life. And when it's true in your life, you're in for some great surprises. Now, we have some classes or seminars that we are providing for you to help coordinate with each of these. And I don't know if that's... there we go. Thank you. That's the slide I was looking for. There you can see that the purposes are presented once a month according to each of those five different categories. 101 is discovering membership. That's taking place right now. We have 85 people taking the new members class right now this month. The next one will start October the 8th. So they're learning how to be connected. Also, starting next month will be 201, which is discovering growth. Pastor Dave will be leading. And you'll learn ways in which you can grow in the things of God. 301, Discovering Service, I'll be talking about. That starts in the 1st of January. So we're offering these courses for you. And one last thing, for those of you who've been around a while and you know some of what's going on, I want to encourage you, however, because this new paradigm is so important to us, we're encouraging all of our leaders and all of our long-term North Way attenders and members to consider coming on one Wednesday night. That's the 11th of October for what we're calling our turbo version of the 101. That's a one night. I think there's an insert in your notes. It's sort of a gold colored insert. One night for about, I think it's 90 minutes or so. You can get the condensed version of the 101 course if you've been around here for a while. I want to strongly encourage you to be there. I'll be there along with a lot of our leaders just to be sure we're on the same page as we move forward. Let's pray together as we look at God's Word. Father, thank you today for this time to share your Word. I thank you for the evidence of life that we have seen up here today, that you are filling this place with life, new life, little ones that we can care for, Lord, but also new life in spiritual terms. Many people that are babies in their walk with you. I thank you for the excitement of growing together and your purposes today. Help us in the name of Jesus. I'm going to talk about greatness today. Who comes to mind when you think of a great person? Oh, he's a great person. She's a great person. Most of us are deeply impacted about our general perception of greatness by the media. I don't want to digress too much here, but we're in the middle of the Olympics and would you agree with me that by and large the media tends to portray performers and athletes as great people? When in fact, when you really peel it all down, they maybe have accomplished great things. That doesn't necessarily correspond to their character. And then we're also in the heat of the political battle for this this next season. And boy, we're hearing all kinds of things about character there and so on. Greatness is defined in lots of different ways, but I have to tell you this, God says my definition of greatness is very different than what yours might probably be. None of the things that you seem to think are so important are going to last very long at all. And in fact, I was astonished when Pittsburgh Magazine at the end of 1999 did their new millennium issue. They looked at the past 100 years, the top leaders, the great people of our city. And did you know that in the last hundred years, they couldn't find one, to my recollection, who was not a business person, artist, musician, or athlete. There wasn't one person in spiritual leadership or non-profit leadership that list of a hundred leaders. I was quite astonished by that. What does that say about us? And we're so caught up with achievement and acquisition and so on, and you know, what we can own, what we can control. Bill Gates has perhaps personified that in our generation more than about any other person. He owns a pretty good chunk of the world right now. He made a comment about spirituality within the last year. He said this, Just in terms of allocation of time resources, religion is not very efficient. There's a lot more I could be doing on a Sunday morning. So in response to that, Garrison Keillor wrote a rather interesting little reply in Time Magazine just this last year. Here's what he said. Bill Gates was the richest man in America, and after he gained a good deal of the world, God sent him an email. Beloved Bill, I saw how you allocated your time resources last Sunday morning, and I was not impressed. Riding a stationary bike, watching guys on the men's channel talk about triglycerides and PSA counts. Three words of advice, Bill. Love thy neighbor. Ever hear what happened to the rich man who stiff-armed the beggar Lazarus, Bill? I caused the general protection fault, and he's been offline for centuries. Anything you'd like to talk about, I'm here, your creator, God. Bill Gates rather typed out a reply. Dear God, wow, omniscience, cool. But how do I know that you're omnipotent, too? Signed, Gates. The moment he clicked on send, the entire Microsoft campus in Redmond, Washington went dark, and the darkness was very great. The air-conditioning shut into a halt. He heard his employees screaming and wailing over lost data. His office was filled with creeping things and birds of the air and beads of sweat dripped from his nose. Acrid smells drifted in. The website began burning after a multitude of hits by Hittites. And he heard the clatter of hooves, a herd of crazed swine trotted down the hall, little pink eyes aglow, pagers clipped to their ears. On his way out, he touched his nose and found a boil. A leper lay in the lobby, begging alms. And when Bill Gates dropped in a nickel, the power went back on. Back in his office, a message was on his screen. Beloved Bill, that was only the screensaver. There's more where that came from. Obey my commandments, or a virus could come to pass that would bring the information age to a shattering halt. I did a flood once, and behold, I can do viruses, too. Once men tried to reach heaven by building a tower, and I made their formats incompatible. I could do this again, or I can do love and redemption. I am, after all, God. P.S. Your move. Your move, Bill. See, God says what will last, what will really count in the end, is service. Look at the first verse on the top of your outline. If you're new to us, we use these little outlines that are in our notes to help us follow along in the scripture. Take it out and look at it. The first verse is this. Whoever wants to become great must be a servant to others. Circle the words great and servant, because they're in the same verse. Could Jesus make it any more plain than that? Matthew 20, 26. Interestingly, I might add right now that those of you who are involved in any kind of relational management in business have discovered that, functionally speaking, the world is buying into this concept. They have discovered that great companies serve their customers, great managers serve their employees, great salespeople serve their customers, and so on. It's just an interesting thing. They're picking up on it now and claiming that they've discovered this new principle that Jesus articulated 2,000 years ago. But overall in the culture, it's very hard to associate that being a servant will cause you to rise to greatness. In fact, the way up is really by going down. It just doesn't compute. When Mother Teresa was asked, just a while before she passed away, she was asked to summarize the Christian life in two words in an interview, and she didn't say prayer and Bible reading. She didn't say meditating and fasting. She didn't say sacraments and worship. She said, give and serve. That's the Christian life in two words. And after all, she's on safe ground because that's what Jesus said in Mark 10, 45. The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. He came to serve and to give. And I don't know, friends, how many of us really comprehend how important that is. You know, there's nothing in me that naturally wants to do that. How about you? How many of you with your kids grew up, your kids were just saying, Mom and Dad, can I clean the table off tonight? Mom, can I help serve you by taking out the trash? Dad, can I serve you by washing the car and cutting the grass? It just, it isn't in us. I mean, how many of your kids had like an emotional meltdown when you asked them just to clean their plate off, you know? It's just not in, we're not wired that way. We have to learn how to give and discern. We can claim, listen, some of us sitting here listening to me now claim the right beliefs. Your doctrine is pretty much in order. You know what you believe about God, and you're wondering what we think we believe that's different than you, and frankly, probably not very much. But the question God is asking, not what you understand, not what you believe. He's asking, what is your character like? Because he's measuring how we're doing in becoming Christ-like. Are we becoming like Jesus? The essence of being like Jesus is becoming a servant. He states that in the end, look at the next verse, many who seem to be important now will be the least important then. That's gonna be an interesting time, isn't it? Don't you want to be there to watch that happen? And the people that looked important really aren't very important, and the ones that were kind of obscure, maybe behind the scenes, they suddenly are given great reward. As we continue in this series, I'm going to challenge, especially those of you who've been around a while, nod if you've been around a while. Just nod. If you've been around a while, nod. Okay, or go like this. I've been around a while. All right. I'm specifically talking to you, if you're a guest today, or if you're here for your family, bear with us on this, because this is really a message that's designed to challenge our people here, because they're great people, but like all of us, we need to be reminded about what matters the most to God. And I want to challenge you to take an honest look at where you are. I had to do this when I prepared it. I had to take an honest look, because everything within me as your pastor is committed to helping you on the day that you stand before God be able to say, Lord, I sought to please you with my life, not just my beliefs. And everything within me is your pastor. And I can say for all the pastors and all the elders, our heart is to be able to present you to God and say, here they are, Lord, servants of yours, people who gave and served, who became Christ-like. That's what we live for. That's our passion. That's what we want you to be able to say before God when you stand before him. So, let's take a look at these, and they're gonna go very quickly. You see seven things here. Someone's thinking, man, he usually has three points and it takes an hour. This can go very quickly. And by the way, in the end, I'm gonna give you an opportunity to respond to this, because James 1.22 says, don't be just a hearer of the word, but be a doer of it. And so afterwards, you're gonna have an opportunity to kind of mingle in the foyer and connect a little bit, and maybe put some legs to this message for your life. So, let's look at this. The first important principle as to why you should give your life in service to others. The first is this, I was created and redeemed for service. I was created and redeemed for service. Look at Ephesians 2.10, one of my favorite verses in the New Testament. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works. That's service, that's ministry, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Somewhere, somewhere in the universe, there's a book with your name on it, and there are works in there that God has already prepared for you to do. There are things that he has in mind for you. And the only question remaining is, are you gonna find them? Are you gonna give yourself to the will of God in such a way that you're gonna move in the purposes of God for your life? This is very important. And by the way, notice, we don't do the good works in order to be accepted by God. We were created and redeemed, then we do the good works. And a lot of folks get that backwards. A lot of folks do the good works hoping to be saved, hoping to be redeemed by God. That's not the way it is. That will lead you only to frustration. I had one of my typical conversations this week with somebody who, and there's a lot of people it seems these days, who are pretty irritated with Christians when they confront the claims of Christ, and he says, I am the way, the truth, the life. And they say, what makes you think your way is right and everyone else is wrong? And I first of all said, well, it's not me that said that, so don't get too, you know, kicked at me. I'm just repeating what Jesus said. And then they'll say something like, I'm a pretty good person after all. I mean, I've done some things that maybe I'm not that proud of, and they'll use words like that, but basically I'm a good person. I can't imagine God sending me to hell. I couldn't worship a God like that anyhow. And then I respond, you know, God isn't sending you to hell. You are choosing whether or not you will receive God's provision for your life. And I say to them, heaven isn't for good people, by the way. It's not a matter of, you know, does your good deeds outweigh your bad. Heaven is for perfect people. They said, well, come on, then who's going to get in? I said, well, nobody in their merit, because none of us are perfect. How many of you would just nod for your spouse and say, my spouse is not perfect? Would you hear that? Okay. Some people say to me in that same conversation, in fact, this person said, well, you know, I'm a lot better now than I was a few years ago. I've really cleaned up my act a lot. And I said, well, that's great. But you know what? It's too late. Because if you have one single blemish, that's going to keep you from heaven. You see, God in the end will have justice. All sin will be atoned for and accounted for. And you know, it's something none of us want to think about. But justice comes, doesn't it? Once, a very long time ago, I got pulled over by a police officer. Very long time ago. And I was in a hurry to get somewhere. And you know, when you're in a hurry, how they take their time. They just like, you know, like they're ordering out or something. They just, they finally come over. And he rolled the window down. He said, now, sir, do you know why I pulled you over? I hate that, you know? Because then I have to decide, am I going to add lying to my transgressions already? Because, of course, I know why he pulled me over. I like what Jim Carrey said. Did you see the movie Liar, Liar? He said when the cop pulled him over, the cop knocked on the window and when he rolled the window down, he said, do you know why I pulled you over? He said, well, it depends. He said, it depends on what? He said, it depends on how long you've been following me. And then he said, well, what do you mean? He said, well, you know, a while back, I went through a red light. I've been through two stop signs. I was tailgating. I almost hit a pedestrian. I went the wrong way on one-way street. I was speeding and weaving. The officer said, is that it? And he opens his glove compartment. All these parking tickets fell on the ground. I said, that's it. And the truth of the matter is, dear ones, God has been following you a long, long time. And so we'll need to face that and to receive God's provision for our violations. The Bible says that Jesus went to Calvary. He suffered on the cross for our sin and it is only by his redeeming blood that we are saved. If you're here today, maybe you just came out of curiosity. Maybe you saw the sign. You saw the cars. Maybe you're here as a guest today. I just need to encourage you to consider Jesus and what he did for you personally. I challenge you to intellectually search and not just dismiss what you think you know about him without honestly investigating the evidence. It's a crucial thing and you'll find that he is a wonderful Savior for all who will come to him. Notice the next verse. It is God who has saved us and chose us for his holy work. 2nd Timothy 1.9. Now once you've done that, you begin to discover who you are. Once you've received that forgiveness, God begins to fashion and shape you. And he has a purpose for you, something he's designed for you to do. I went down into the garage the other day looking for some things and I had to get back in the closet. And so I got a flashlight. Ever done this down in your garage? Especially if it's in the garage. Got the flashlight out, went to the closet, went like this. You ever do that? Have you ever done that? And what happens? It's dead. It's like fire. Opened it up. Not only was it dead, but it was dripping. I mean there was like corroded batteries. That one was so bad I threw it out. You see, when something isn't used, it deteriorates. It's true of anything. And the same is true with your life. When your life isn't used according to God's purpose, it begins to deteriorate. You lose the capacity to function in the way God created and designed you. So I want to encourage you today you were created and redeemed for service. Number two, you've been called by God for service. We tend to think of this idea of God's call as the special thing that he does for pastors, priests, nuns, missionaries, and martyrs. The call of God. We envision someone walking along the road, you know, and down comes the lightning bolt in their call. I've never met anybody like that. In fact, I'm going to tell you this. If you belong to Christ, you have been called into a ministry. Look at the next verse. God in his grace chose me even before I was born and called me to serve him. There's a call in your life. Every one of you who are part of God's family are a minister. I want you to get that into your head. I want you to turn to someone right now and say you're a minister. Go ahead and turn. I'm going to watch it. Tell them you're a minister. Even if you're a little one, even if you're a senior, you're a minister. A minister is a servant. Next time you get on a business flight somewhere, gentlemen, ladies, I'm going to ask you what you do, say, I'm a minister. That'll get a great conversation going. All of us have been called. Number three, I've been gifted for service. First Peter 4.10. God has given each of you some specific abilities. Be sure to use them to make a lot of money. Is that what it says? Be sure to use them to secure a fat retirement. Be sure to use them to build a great inheritance to give your kids. Does it say any of that? No. Be sure to use them to what? To help each other. That's another way of saying be sure to use them to serve in ministry. I got to tell you, this is an incredibly gifted church. You see some of the people up here with musical and drama gifts and those kind of things, but outside of this, there are so many gifted people. Gifted with helps and the ability to come alongside and encourage. Gifted with teaching abilities. Gifted with the words of knowledge and prophecy. Gifted with the ability to administer things and give leadership. I sat in yesterday with our small group leaders training and there are several men in that group and ladies as well who were giving great leadership to a core of 40 or 50 of our small group leaders. These are gifted people and if you don't know where your giftedness lies, beginning in January, class 301 will help you discover your spiritual shape and know where you're supposed to serve. I had someone come up to me after the first service and said, I hear you and I know it's true, but I just don't know what I'm supposed to do. And I'm gonna give you some other resources, but I said you got to make a point, a commitment to be part of 301 so you can know how God's designed you and gifted you for service. Number four, my church family needs my service. One of the most common things that I hear from people is they walk in a church like this and especially a larger church and they say, there's so many people here. They don't need me. I'm gonna go find someplace smaller where they really need me. I want you to know something, if you came in here and you felt something resonate and you felt, I just feel good about this place, but it's so big and I don't know if there's really any, I want you to know, hear me, you are necessary. We need you. You're an important part of what's supposed to happen. And here's the deal, this isn't the end of the line. This is just the stepping stone to where God's taking us. All of us are necessary. Look at the next verse, all of you together are the body of Christ and each one of you is a separate end, say it, necessary part of it. That's you. And you know, when something necessary doesn't function, the whole rest of the body is really hurting. I had a friend not long ago who's tear duct, and that's an invisible thing, stopped functioning and they had a real, their eye would dry out and they went to the ophthalmologist and, you know, it was something they could fix, but for several days, the, imagine the burning if you didn't have any liquid in your eye. Well, you see, when some part of the body isn't functioning, the whole rest of the body just doesn't feel indifferent about it, the whole rest of the body is hurting because of it. And you need to understand that if you're not functioning, you're hurting the rest of the body. We need you to step up and you'll find a great joy as you learn to help lift the burden of others and serve them and in turn, they'll begin to serve you. You may remember a couple weeks ago, we introduced Molly the mime. Molly's gonna come out right now and she is going to remind us, sort of in a visual way, how serving maybe begins as something you receive but develops and grows into something that you do. So let's watch as Molly comes. You'll recognize her by her nifty little vest, okay? In many ways, that's exactly how it happens. You begin by being served at first and helped by others and then you come to the place where you're able to give and to serve. And remember, every time you do, it's not just under people but it's under the Lord. And I would need to say a word to those of you who've maybe tried to serve and didn't get connected. Maybe someone didn't follow up. I need you just to forgive that offense or that disappointment and trust that we're gonna go forward together and grow and build on the lessons that we've learned. It says in God's Word, Paul writing rather, says when you serve it is as unto the Lord that you serve. So everything that you give and do is a blessing to Him. Number five, the reason we should serve is because I owe everything that I have to Christ. And you know, I wanted to talk a lot about this but I won't today. I'll come back to it perhaps another time. Look at the next verse. Because of God's great mercy to us, offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to His service. Have you ever met someone that owed their life to another person? Anyone here ever received maybe an organ transplant? Maybe you were in an accident and if someone hadn't intervened, you might have bled to death or been lost? I know people who in combat were rescued by one of their fellow soldiers and as a result a lifelong bond was built. Dear ones, how much more of a bond should be built with the God who rescued us from eternal death? You know, the reason that I was called and began to volunteer myself in years ago, the reason why I spent hours hanging out with kids and doing stuff early on wasn't because I felt obligated, wasn't because I felt guilty and I needed to do something to pay back. It was because I knew what God had done for me and I was so grateful for what He'd done. Gratitude is what compels me to serve. And if today you don't feel any sense of need to serve, then I just want to ask you, what have you received? And do you fully understand the gift that has been given? I owe everything to Christ and if you know Him, you do as well. Number six, I should serve others because service makes my life meaningful, makes my life meaningful. You know, this adventure called life is really quite something. I'm looking out, I see some grandparents here today and a lot of others. It's just interesting, we get one shot at getting life right. How many of you don't get to be 80 or 90 or whatever and then go back and do it over again? Whatever reincarnation this might tell you. This is it, one shot at life. And the choices you make now for an indefinite future, whether it be a day or a hundred more years, are going to determine your eternal destiny. What an incredible life. What, as Pascal called it, a wager. You better know what's at stake and you better weigh out carefully the issues that are involved because you have an opportunity to make a difference with your life if you'll go according to God's plan and purpose. You know, in sports these days, they're using a term for a touchdown for a score. They're calling it taking it to the house. See that? Take it to the house. Innately, all of us want to take it to the house. We want a score. We want someone to be able to say, that life mattered. It wasn't just a flame that flickered for a while and died out. We want to take it to the house. We want to make a difference. We want to say that the world was better because we were here. Now, some people early on buy into the notion that if they give themselves for 50 years or so to their careers, that that'll score in their life. But, you know, in the end they end up with a retirement check and maybe a gold watch and a plaque. But they don't take it to the house. Others go about accumulating stuff and acquiring status and so on, but they don't get to the house either. And in the end they're not really sure why they were there. Or thrill or pleasure or status or control. On they go, but still they don't get to the house. It's not about how long you live. It's how you live that counts. It's not about duration, by the way. It's about donation. It's about us serving the Lord and taking it all the way, all the way into God's purpose. Taking it to the house with God. And I want you to know, there are people in this church, you're taking it to the house. Your life is, I mean, you're racking up points because you're obeying God and fulfilling His purpose. And I want to tell you, I've lived long enough to know, and those of you who are a lot younger just benefit from my years of experience, your fulfillment and your joy and satisfaction in life is in no way linked directly to what you acquire, achieve or control. True life comes by learning to serve and to give. And it's in moments like that, I had one family share with me the story of how they took into their house a person from another country in exchange to, and how they gave of themselves to that student for a year. And it wasn't all joy bells. A lot of times that student had some issues and some struggles and so on. But through the course of their serving and loving and giving to that child, she came to know Christ and her life was changed. And now, a couple of years later, they're still in regular correspondence, even though that student's 10,000 miles away. And one mom in the family was saying just how rewarding that was, to be able to serve and give to that gal. Really, no, there was no payback, except to see her life now devoted to Christ. Your life, you see, God wants your life not to be like this flashlight that doesn't work. Here's what God wants. God wants all of you to make a difference. He wants your life to be shining big time. I'm not going to do that. First service, I was really nasty. But I'm not going to do that. And this thing is a thousand candle pile. I'm not sure it's totally cranked up. I think it's about 80% right now. But imagine, this is you, shining in a dark world, taking it to the house, making your life count. This is what he wants. And the reason is, in the end... Sorry. Dropped down there. In the end, the Bible says, last blank, that you're going to be held accountable for your service. You're going to be held accountable for your service. Now, accountability is not a term that many of us are comfortable with. And yet, look at Romans 14, 12. Each of us will have to give a personal account to God. One day, you're going to stand before the Lord. He's going to say, well, what did you do with your life? Well, you know, God, I tried my best, but I was kind of busy. I raised a good family. And He's going to say, well, that's great. But what else did you do that wasn't self-serving? Did you give beyond what was expected of you? Did you give sacrificially to others? Did you give without expecting something in return? Well, you know, everyone has their own interpretation of what that means. No, it's pretty clear what it means. I modeled it for you, the Lord said. I showed you how a life was to be lived. I served and I gave. I loved and I sacrificed. And I call you to the same thing. Is that what you're doing? And if not, what are you going to say to the Lord in that day? Well, I gave it my best shot. I just implore you to really consider that. The really great news is, if you get this now, there's a terrific reward in the other. Look at the last verse. Jesus said, my Father will honor anyone who serves me. He's going to honor you. He's going to be the one that's going to roll out the reward. Matthew 25, in the parable of the talents, Jesus talks about, He's got kingdoms for you to rule as reward for your service. But along the way, one of the great rewards is seeing lives get changed and being part of that. And I want you to hear just two brief stories from two men that I've had the privilege, one directly and one indirectly, to help shape. The first one is going to come now is Pastor John Size. John has been a friend of mine for 18 years. When he first walked in here, he wasn't real sure how he fit or where he fit. And now he's been a member of the Pastoral Team for over 10 years and is leading Class 301 and how we serve together. John, welc