In Search of Company IV, Company Benefits

Luke chapter 5 is the text for this morning, beginning in verse 1. One day, as Jesus was standing by the lake of Gennesaret with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God, by the way, where the word of God is always preached, there will be crowds. Just remember that when you're waiting in line to get in and out of this place, okay? It's the word of God that draws crowds. It happened back then. He saw at the water's edge two boats left there by the fishermen who were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat, and when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out into deep water and let down the nets for a catch. Simon answered, Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything, but because you say so, I will let down the nets. When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break, so they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. They came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, Go away from me, Lord. I am a sinful man. For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken. So were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon's partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, Don't be afraid. From now on, you will catch men. So they pulled their boats up on shore and left everything and followed him. President Jimmy Carter served in the office of President of the United States from 1976 to 1980, when he was then removed by popular vote. He was the youngest outgoing president in recent memory. What he chose to do with his life has been quite fascinating. One of the most important involvements that President and former President Mrs. Carter have involved themselves in is called Habitat for Humanity. It's a Christian organization that commits itself to building homes for people who don't have them. A very fascinating article in Charisma Magazine last month, President Carter reveals why the transition from the power of being in the White House and affecting literally millions and even billions of lives around the world was no more important to him in the sense of its significance than picking up a hammer and driving a nail into a shingle on the roof of a home. When asked why would he commit himself to something as mundane or ordinary as building houses for needy people, former President said, because I just want my life to continue to make a difference. It's a way to live out my Christian faith. I was impressed by that. I would venture to say that many of you here today, if you were pressed, would say without any question that you want your life to count for something. You don't want your epitaph on your tombstone to read zero. You want it to make a difference. It's very important to most all of us that something that we're involved in will have a lasting effect on the people around us. In fact, many suicide notes that come through say things on them like, life is so meaningless. Nobody really cares if I live or die. Some of them say things like, it doesn't matter what I do, so I might as well end my life. Dear ones, some of you here today know the desperation I'm talking about. You've been there. We want our lives to make a difference. I would submit to you that that desire to make a difference is ingrained in us from God himself. It's part of the image of God that we inherit when we're created by him. You see, God is purposeful. In fact, the Bible says that for this reason, for this purpose, was the Son of God made manifest to destroy the works of the evil one. Jesus was seen for the purpose of destroying the works of the evil one, the Bible says. Interestingly, as we go on, we'll discover increasingly that the older we get, the more important it becomes to us to make a difference. When we're young, we're more intent on just pleasing ourselves. The older we get, the more we realize that that's not what life's all about. And yet somehow that seems to be in contradiction with our best energies and all the ways that we've invested ourselves. I want to talk to you today about investing in making a difference. This is the fourth message in our series on companies. I talked the first week about the purpose of companies. Why would God call people to be together? And I told you why it was for the purpose of building one another up. I was thrilled this morning. Someone said, you know, we're putting your message into action. We formed a company to support one another in prayer. I hope that this starts to be the testimony we hear all the time. Companies are forming all around our church. The second week, we talked about how to select a company, how to find people that you could really mesh with and not knock heads against. And last week, we talked about problems that companies get into, superficiality and all the rest. This week, though, I'm going to talk about the benefits. What good things can come out of your being involved in companies? And I don't think I could add to things that were said like last week when Mike Geer came up and told about his company walking through a transition in life. I couldn't tell you enough about the way some people can declare that their companies were there when they go into the hospitals, when they run out of money, when their kids run away. Whatever it is, companies are caring. People are caring for people. But I do want to talk to you today about your investment in other people. Because you see, in my own humble opinion, number one, people are an investment of supreme significance. In this story that we read this morning, Jesus, if I may paraphrase him, says basically to the disciples, men, how about it? What's more important, catching fish and building the biggest fishing business in all of Galilee or catching men? Isn't it fascinating that once they had the fortune in their hand, they dropped it and went off and followed him? In God's mind, what is ultimately important? Now, dear ones, along the way, I'm sure you're going to be thinking, well, you know, I have to feed my family. I've got to pay my bills. And all those things are true. I want to talk to you today, though, about supreme issues. What is ultimately important? How big you build the company that you're part of? How much inheritance you leave for your grandkids? Or what is ultimately important is the impact you make on the lives that come across your path. If Jesus were to stand on this platform and look out here today on this congregation, would he say, members of North Way Christian Community, would he say to you, what is most important in your life? Building business or building people? Pursuing the best in recreational opportunities or pursuing the restoration of lives that have been destroyed by the evil? I don't know how you gauge success, but I trust it has something to do with you affecting people. It's got to. Or life will pass by and end with nothing to show for it, nothing that will last. This isn't easy. But today I want to take it one step further and I want to ask you this question. Have you considered how you might become not just a participant, but a leader, a company manager? What I believe the Lord wants to say today is that I'm looking at a room full of company managers, leaders of groups. You know, as Abraham stood up here and told us about 800 million people, 730 million of whom don't know Christ, you know, I hear some people say, well, you know, I just, I can't do anything. I mean, I'm, you know, I didn't finish college or I've got three little kids at home or, you know, I grew up in a different church and I don't understand all of it. Dear ones, how many of you believe that in just a few months you would know more than 730 million people in India? How many believe there's just some, at least one other person today that you understand more about God than they do? And if the truth were known, most of you here today are already equipped far beyond many of the preachers of most of the countries of the world. Isn't that right? Just by sitting here and getting teaching week by week and turning on your radio, you know more than most preachers in Africa and Asia and India. And yet we hold back and we say, no, I could never lead. You know, I've got too many other things I've got to do. I want to talk about the leaders of companies. I want to talk about those who take the vision, who take the responsibility, who own unto themselves the desire to make a difference in lives of people. And I pray, you know, if you tune out right now and say, well, that's for somebody else, you're going to short circuit what I know God wants to do today. The elders were praying with me this morning. Our greatest need in our church is for people to rise up and say, hey, I'll take responsibility. I'll take responsibility. I'll be a company manager. I'll lead a group. I'll lead a ministry. And I believe many of you will do that today in response to this message over time. You see, these managers are just like you. Let me describe a typical company leader. He's a person with a family. He's got a business or a job to attend to 40, 50, 60 hours a week. He has grass to cut. He has a car to wash. He has kids to take care of, bills to pay, or she has a job that she's involved in, laundry to do, hobbies to pursue, bodies to keep trim. You see, a company leader is just a person like you and like me. Common interests, common values. But dear ones, the difference is that a company manager is a person, the definition is up there, who understands that by serving others in an intentionally committed fashion, meeting their needs, they can impact their lives. What's uncommon about a company manager is the commitment, the conviction that life is really only as valuable as the people that you pour into. I'm amazed at the way some people in this church pour out. I'm amazed at the incredible sacrifice that some people demonstrate. There are folks, two, three, four nights a week, or two or three nights in a weekend, are out caring for people, calling on people, preparing meals, praying with them, visiting with them, caring for them. There are people who prepare five and six hours for their Sunday school class, then put on the full armor of God and go back into some full contact Sunday school for 90 minutes with little kids about this high. People committed to making a difference. And they don't do it grudgingly and I was amazed at our Sunday school appreciation dinner just about 10 days ago on a Friday night. The purpose of the dinner was to thank all the teachers for their six or seven months of service. That was the only reason and in the end, something like 20 of them signed up again. It was like re-enlisting for Vietnam. I mean, but they did it because they wanted to. As I took stock of my own life, church, this last week, I am here and if I'm making any difference being here, it's because people like you poured into a person like me. How many of you are parents today? You know, you already have a company. Who is it? It's your little family. You're already there. Your little family may be a bigger family by now. What kind of company leader are you in your family? When I was growing up, I was fortunate enough to have parents who cared about me and saw that my needs were met, took me to church, threw me in the car and said, we're going. Put up with me and loved me and gave me the opportunity to find my own way and to be secure in that. They were good company leaders. And I remember part of my training was the Sunday school teachers I had. Many of whom probably went to be with Jesus earlier than they would have otherwise. I made it rough on them. I remember one day, I think I was seven years old, I walked out of my class and tried to walk four miles home on my own. I loved it. You could tell. And then as a youth, in the church youth group, there's nothing like youths. You know what it's like to try to be a company leader of teenagers who know everything anyhow? What can you impart to someone who knows it all? That's the way I was. We'd come in and we'd evaluate these sponsors, we called them, or something really profound like that. We knew it all. So why did you come in here? Because I wanted to make a difference in your life. I can remember seeing these people, just like you, business people, college students, trying their best to impart something into my life. We just made mincemeat of a lot of them. Came back again, loving us, caring for us, thanklessly. How many times, I'm sure they just walked away and said, boy, there's no gratitude at all in that. And I've told you in the past, when I went to college, somebody found me there and he pursued me. He chose to pour the time he could have spent playing tennis or basketball or golf or studying more, getting better. He chose to put that time into my life. And I didn't want him to. If I was in the same cafeteria section when he came in, I'd turn my chair around and go, hey, there's no room here. I was really rude. He pursued me and loved me and cared about me. And I can tell you now, years later, the same kinds of things continue to happen. And now today, 20, 30 years later, I'm grateful. I'm grateful. Are you wise enough, dear ones, to see that even though there may not be instant reward, how many of you put up your hand and say, I'm thankful for the ones that poured into me along the way? It might even be a good idea for you to write them a little note and tell them that. Thanks for what you've meant to me. I have a conviction that we have got to see that the way that the kingdom of God is going to spread is not by radio and TV as much as we all like that. It's not by crusades and camp meetings. It's by you caring for you caring for you. It's one caring for another It's one caring for a small group of people. That's how Jesus did it. I pray, church, that we not lose sight of that. As marvelous as it is to gather a group of people this size a couple of times, this isn't how it grows. It grows because you care enough to plug into the person next to you to make an investment. But the reason why we don't is because the investment is of supreme cost. It is very expensive to invest in the lives of people. I've often told people ministry would be really fun if it wasn't for people. I'd have a lot of free time. If you're a home group leader today, you know what I'm talking about. Not a day goes by that some important need doesn't come to my attention in the life of this body. And if you care for people, you'll find the challenge being there. It takes time to sort through confusion and time to sort through decisions, time to care for the needs of the children of your little company, time to care for their physical needs, running meals, or caring costs. And it can cost a lot. Oh, but church, listen. That investment, that investment is not going up in smoke. Even when the worst case seems to happen. There's a family in our church who cares for kids that have serious drug problems. And I've seen them more than once pour their lives into a particular young person. Four, six, eight months later, the person walks on them. Says, hey, I've had enough of this. I'm taking off. I don't know how they feel, but I can imagine the emptiness. Why did I just spend all those hours, all those weeks, all those tears, all those prayers? And the kid walked on me. But I want you to know you never waste a moment of that. God sees every moment that you spend. God rewards every moment that you spend in caring and loving and giving. They're saying loud and clear to people, you matter to God. God cares about you. You can make a difference with your life. And I consider these people the real heroes of the faith. Church, listen to me. I consider the home group leaders and the people who accompany and take the sacrifice of being with you, they are the real difference makers in this culture. Most of this culture is simply out to do its thing. These people are out to serve other people, to care for them. The children's ministry workers amaze me. I want to say thank you. I want to say you blessed my socks off if you're a home group leader and sacrifice week by week. I want to say thank you to every one of you who are caring for a company. Because you are demonstrating, as Jimmy Carter did, love in action. Every time you pray, every time you call, every time you serve. But can I say you're also very, very smart. Listen to me now. Because number three, investing in people is an investment of supreme satisfaction. You say, well, what's the good news about all this? Well, I want to give you the good news. You see, church, there's no greater reward than to see the people that you're pouring into growing in Christ, maturing, and leaving a legacy behind them. Here today, I believe, Jim and Karen Vevers. Did you come in, Jim? There they are. Jim and Karen are here from Granada serving the Lord, whatever it is, at 7,000 miles away. I first met them when they were junior high students. I poured some of my life over the years into them, and now they're serving Christ, pouring their lives into others. I started thinking this morning, now listen, this Christian faith is the best pyramidal marketing thing in the whole world. We are building lives, and it's just spreading. I have spiritual grandkids now through the Vevers, and down the road it goes. Dear ones, you can share that same reward. That's the joy. Paul said, you're my joy and my crown. If you were going to make an economic investment, would you not read the forecasts? Would you not say, well, this company looks like it's going to survive or do well? Would you pick up the Wall Street Journal and read the reports on the stocks? How many of you would do that if you were going to make an investment? Three people, all right. Well, then don't ever invest because you'll go broke. How many of you would do it? All right. Let me give you the forecast about all the stuff that people are investing in. Can I do that for you? Let me read 2 Peter 3.10. All the stuff, the material stuff that people are breaking their backs to accumulate. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and the works that are upon it will be burned up. The forecast for our stuff is not good. And how many homes, cars, portfolios, all the stuff that we accumulate, church, is not going to make it? But what will survive forever? People. People. That one next to you is an eternal being. And when all the stuff goes away, that person's going to be there. And where you put your energies, where you choose. Some of you could improve your golf score by seven strokes between now and the age of 75. Or you could change a hundred lives for Christ. I'm serious about this stuff. What could be more important? When it's all said and done, it's all going to burn up. When I read that, and I've meditated on that over the years, I say, well, I'm thankful. I'm just so thankful that what we're doing here, church, is we're investing in lives. And God says, rather than being burned up, here's what's going to happen to those who invest in lives as they come before the Son of God. Matthew 25, the king said to those in his right, Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Take your inheritance. The kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me, and so on it goes. And they said, Lord, when did we see you? The king will reply, I tell you the truth. Whatever you did for one of the least of these my people, you did for me. And on that accounting system, dear ones, there's some very wealthy people right here today. I was going to name their names, but I don't want to leave anybody out. But we've got some millionaires by God's accounting system. And we could have many more if we let this truth break in that God wants to use you to touch people. I pray that you allow the world that you're living in to expand just a little bit today. Housewives, listen to me, please. You don't have to just say, well, all I have to do is take care of this little place. That's all my... God can use you mightily in your home. Through your children. Through a prayer ministry. By caring for a company of other similar folks in your neighborhood. We need it. But most of all, it's the best investment that you can make. And I'm praying that as we leave this place today, many of us will understand this isn't just for a few. It's not just for the elders and a couple staff people. It's for everybody. Turn to someone right now and tell them, you're a company manager. You're a company manager. You're a leader in the kingdom of God. I feel so strongly about this because we all applaud when the Lord brings people into the kingdom. And we have, I think it's 125 or 150 decisions for Christ so far this year. We say, oh, that's wonderful. My question is, who's caring for them? Have you cared for any of them? Who's caring for the ones who are new to the church and don't really understand even what we're doing yet? Who's caring for the ones out there? Who's caring for them? Church, we can. You can. And the reward is very great. The benefits are everlasting. As we conclude today, let me just ask you these questions. Number one, do you know where you are investing your supreme energies? I mean, in the end, are you investing them in people or in things? Number two, if you want to invest them in people, do you know how to do it? You say, I don't really know what to do next. Number one, talk to your home group leader. Say, hey, I want to get serious about this. Or talk to the people in our network ministry meets every Sunday morning. See an elder after the service. Say, I want to go on. I don't want to waste my life. And you won't have to waste it. And then number three, believe God today. Believe that Jesus Christ knows your heart and that He's going to help you to take the next step. And the greatest benefit you'll ever know is hearing the Lord saying to you, well done. Well done. I love people. I gave my life for them and so did you. That pleases me. Well done. Let's stand together, shall we? Lord, I thank you right now for this congregation of willing servants, the many sacrificial lives that are represented here. I ask you to forgive us, Lord, when our focus gets on this stuff, on the things around us and not on people, for they're your greatest concern and your greatest priority. And Father, I pray that as we leave here today, we'd all believe that you want to use every single one of us more dramatically and powerfully than we've ever known to touch other people. Lord, no one else is going to do it. We can't pawn it off. We can't expect that someone else in the crowd is going to take care of it. Lord, we're going to do it by your grace in us. In Jesus' name.