What in the World Are We Going to Do?
Chuck Sligh
August 30, 2015
TEXT: Please turn to Isaiah 26
INTRODUCTION
A year ago we had just elected 5 deacons; volunteers were plentiful; and there was no shortage of people saying, “Here am I Lord, use me.” This year, in April and May we lost three of those deacon families to PCS moves; by January we will have lost our remaining two other deacon families. In all these families, both spouses were heavily involved in multiple ministries and various areas of service.
In addition, in recent weeks we’ve lost many key volunteers and helpers in various ministries, and soon will lose a whole bunch more. We go through the PCS season every year, but this year, we’re experiencing a larger loss of key workers, teachers, volunteers in general, ministry heads than ever before. When the dust finally settles, we will have lost a very large percentage of our Sunday School and K.I.D.S. teachers and nursery workers and even worship team members.
In conjunction with that, I’ve noticed two disconcerting trends.
• First, a lower percentage of our weekly Sunday morning attendance taking ownerwhip in Grace by joining the church, which limits our options for certain key leadership roles that require membership, such as deacons, trustees, and certain high visibility positions.
• Second, fewer people, percentage-wise, attend the Sunday night services, homegroups and men’s and women’s Bible studies or small groups than ever.
In other words, while our Sunday AM attendances increasingly grow in size, fewer people than ever are engaged in the church as active participants. That translates into fewer and fewer people serving a larger and larger congregation on Sundays.
I’ll be honest with you, it has been discouraging to me, at time alarming. My picture of a New Testament church is one where those within it become an organic part of the life of the church; where they receive the blessings of the church, but also contribute in return; where they support it with their time, treasure and talents.
That goes against the grain of religious culture of our day that caters to people’s felt needs; that’s okay with people sitting on the sidelines soaking up what the church has to offer, but doesn’t challenge them to COMMIT to a church and its program.
As I’ve been tracking these trends and our continuing personnel losses, I’ve asked myself repeatedly, “What in the world are we going to do? How are we going to make it?”
There’s no doubt about it: WE HAVE A GREAT CHALLENGE AHEAD OF US! But I have every confidence that God is in control and that He has already provided the people and resources to meet the challenge, whatever that may look like in the end.
To meet the challenge placed before us, I believe we will need three things:
I. FIRST, WE NEED CONFIDENCE
Someone has said that an OPTIMIST is one who finds an opportunity in every difficulty and a PESSIMIST is one who sees a difficulty in every opportunity.
Well, despite what I said before, I’m an optimist. I see the challenge, and I’m not whitewashing it, but for me, the glass is not half empty; it’s half full. I have GREAT CONFIDENCE that God is going to do GREAT things among us, even with the loss of so many good, salt-of-the-earth servants who have sacrificed so much and given so much of themselves in service to the Lord at GBC.
To meet the challenge at Grace Baptist Church, we need confidence in two entities:
• First, we need confidence in GOD – Look with me at Isaiah 26:4 – “Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength.”
This isn’t the first time we’ve faced this kind of challenge at GBC. To some degree, we face it every year in our mostly military church. Every time we’ve been here before, the challenge looked impossible to overcome and the obstacles insurmountable.
But every year, we went to God and prayed, “Lord, this is YOUR church; and you promised that YOU would build Your church. So we trust You to help us do our part, and we leave the rest to You.” And every year, lo and behold, God comes through and blesses! And He’ll do it again this year too!
May we trust in the Lord as we make the transition into the future. The work here will never be the same without each of those who have left or will leave us; who made an impact on the lives of our kids; and who earned eternal rewards in heaven for silent, behind-the-scenes service of cleaning toilets and changing dirty diapers.
No, we’ll never be the same without them, but God has a plan for this church, and in His plan He’ll grow a new crop of servers from within the church or He’ll bring more servers to us to get in on God’s plan here at Grace.
• Not only do we need confidence in God, we also need confidence in OURSELVES UNDER CHRIST’S CONTROL AND POWER – Paul said in Philippians 4:13 – “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”
It was Emerson who said, “They conquer who believe they can. He has not learned the lesson of life who does not each day surmount a fear.”
I believe we can do everything God wants us to do through Christ who strengthens us at Grace Baptist Church. We cannot do it in our own power; but if Christ strengthens us—and He will—there is no burden we cannot bear; no challenge we cannot meet; no giant we cannot topple; no mountain we cannot climb.
II. NOT ONLY DO WE NEED CONFIDENCE, WE ALSO NEED COOPERATION
Would you please turn with me in your Bibles to Nehemiah, chapter 3? Nehemiah is in the Old Testament, the sixteenth book in the Bible, just before Ezra, Job, Psalms (which is about in the middle of your Bible) and Proverbs.
Before looking at this passage, let me explain the background behind Nehemiah 3. God called Nehemiah to mobilize the people to rebuild the broken-down walls of Jerusalem after being conquered by the Persians a number of years before.
As it was, it was shameful to have been conquered by a foreign power and your best people transported to that land to serve its interests. But once conquered, most cities found the wherewithal to pick up the pieces and restore civil society and flourish again, even under the yoke of conquest.
But Jerusalem had not recovered. Fallen walls left a city defenseless to marauders and conquerors. The broken-down walls of Jerusalem were a sign of decline, decay, a defeatist spirit, and a lack of leadership and vision for the future.
Due to Nehemiah’s deep burden for Jerusalem when he learned of Jerusalem’s plight, he was able to secure permission from the Persian emperor, Artaxerxes, whom he served, to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild its walls.
But this was a MONUMENTAL task—one that was seemingly impossible. It would be a multi million-dollar project today. In that day, with no earth-moving equipment or modern power tools, it was extremely labor intensive. Nehemiah knew the job could be done only if there was concerted cooperation and involvement on the part of the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
Amazingly, Nehemiah was able to lead the people of Jerusalem to rebuild the walls in 52 days, a feat most remarkable when you realize that it normally took many years, sometimes decades, to build other major architectural projects in ancient days.
How did Nehemiah accomplish this amazing feat?—By mobilizing EVERYONE!
Look with me at all the people involved in the task in Nehemiah 3:
• The HIGH PRIEST was involved – Verse 1 – “Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests, and they builded the sheep gate; they sanctified it, and set up the doors of it; even unto the tower of Meah they sanctified it, unto the tower of Hananeel.”
The old geezer didn’t sit up in his silver chair directing others to do the work. He was a worthy example and put his hand to the work with his brethren.
• GOLDSMITHS got involved – Verse 8 – “Next unto him repaired Uzziel the son of Harhaiah, of the goldsmiths.…”, and other goldsmiths are mentioned again in verse 32.
Wherever the Jews have lived throughout history, they’ve always excelled in the making of exquisite artifacts of gold and other precious metals. This made them exceedingly rich, so it’s remarkable that the rich, the high and mighty, the upper ranks of Jerusalem society did their part too.
• GOVERNMENT LEADERS got their hands dirty and got involved as well:
Verse 9 says, “And next unto them repaired Rephaiah the son of Hur, the ruler of the half part of Jerusalem.” Other rulers involved in the work are cited in verses 12, 15, 16, 17 and 19.
• The LEVITES got involved in the reconstruction of the city walls – Verse 17 – “After him repaired the Levites, Rehum the son of Bani.…”
The closest equivalent in the church age of a Levite is what we call a deacon. Like all the good deacons we’ve had, they were in the thick of the work!
• The PRIESTS got in the action, according to verses 22 and 28.
• At least one GATEKEEPER was involved, we’re told at the od of verse 29.
• The MERCHANTS of the city got involved, verse 32 tells us.
• All these mentioned so far were men. The WOMEN, no doubt, also did their part in keeping the construction crew well fed and keeping the little ones out of the way of the workers, but at least some women were involved in the actual construction of the walls themselves – Verse 12 – “And next unto him repaired Shallum the son of Halohesh, the ruler of the half part of Jerusalem, he and his daughters.”
The key to this unprecedented participation is found in Nehemiah 4:6 –“So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work.”
In the months and years ahead, we’re going to need people who have “a mind to work” for the Lord in Grace Baptist Church. We’ve had one of the best teams of deacons we’ve ever had at GBC in its eleven-year existence, and in this church’s history, I honestly don’t know of a group of kids teachers and nursery workers and worship team members who have done a better job or given more of themselves than those we’ve had over the last couple of years.
It almost scares me that these might have been the “golden years” at Grace. God forbid that we’ll look back to this group and talk about how good it was BACK THEN, and what a blessing they were BACK THEN, and how they loved their Lord and their church and the kids and adults they ministered to BACK THEN.
I refuse to live in the past; to ever have “golden years” of bygone days of yore. I’m determined to do all in my power to make NOW a NEW golden era in the history of our church I refuse to let the walls fall down; we WILL move forward TOGETHER! I believe the best years of Grace Baptist are yet AHEAD, not behind!
[PAUSE] But for that to happen, we’re going to need workers who are committed to the work of God in Grace Baptist Church; people who have a mind to work; people who are willing to accept the challenge and step up to the plate to SERVE; people who not only TAKE of the blessings this church has to offer, but who are also willing to GIVE in return.
We need EVERYONE to get involved; EVERYONE to find a place to minister and serve; EVERYONE to say, to paraphrase Isaiah: “Here am I, Lord, use me.” God help us ALL to have a mind to work!
To fill the spots of service that will rapidly be depleted, our biggest need right now and in the near future are people who we will serve as Sunday School teachers; K.I.D.S. Church teachers during our morning worship; and nursery childcare volunteers.
Furthermore, we’ll need continued, faithful financial support through tithes and offerings to keep the church on a sound financial footing to meet the needs of the future.
And we need people to say, “I know I need more than just a Sunday service once a week to grow in Christ. It will mean a sacrifice of some of my TIME, but I will commit myself to start attending our Sunday School, or our evening service at 5:00 PM or one of our homegroups or small groups.”
Right now we have two homegroups going at Netzaberg Housing and in Trabitz. We used to have four homegroups. We ought to have one in Vilseck and one in Weiden. To do that, we need people who are willing to open their home once a week to host a homegroup; and we need men willing to lead a homegroup and meet our qualifications to be able to lead a homegroup.
To do all this—to meet the challenge of Grace Baptist Church in the most effective way possible—we’ll need cooperation, participation and involvement of EVERYONE!
May God help EVERY ONE OF US to do our part; to SACRIFICE to get God’s work done here at Grace; and may we SERVE our wonderful Lord and one another.
III. TO MEET THE CHALLENGE BEFORE US, WE’LL NOT ONLY NEED CONFIDENCE AND COOPERATION, WE’LL NEED CONSECRATION
In Exodus 32:29 we read, “For Moses had said, Consecrate yourselves to day to the LORD, even every man upon his son, and upon his brother; that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day.”
When Paul challenged the Corinthians to give to the suffering saints in Jerusalem during a drought, he reminded them of the churches in Mecedonia that, despite their great poverty, gave super-abundantly.
Paul said they entreated Paul to take their sacrificial gift, but they did something else. He says in 2 Corinthians 8:5 that they “… first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.”
They consecrated themselves or dedicated themselves to the Lord to do what God wanted them to do.
To meet the challenge of the loss of the great servants of God at GBC, we need…
• Consecration to GOD through surrendered and obedient lives.
• Consecration to THE WORK OF GOD through labor and prayer.
• Consecration to THE PEOPLE OF GOD through love, encouragement and help.
CONCLUSION
Illus. – Jim and Kathy were a couple in our church a few years back. They were in our church for two years before they PCSed.
On their last Sunday, as we said our goodbyes, they came to me and Jim said, “The first year of our tour here in Grafenwoehr was pretty much a waste, but spiritually speaking, this last year has been the best year of our lives.” I already knew why, but I asked him anyway this question: “What made the difference?”
Jim said, “Well, the first year we were pew-sitters”—and I interrupted and said, “Uh…we don’t have pews.”
He laughed and said, “Well you might as well have had them, because that’s what we were. But do you remember that sermon you preached on “Partnering with God” about the little boy with the five loaves and two fishes?”
I said, “Yes.”
He said, “You talked about how we should bring what little we have to God and use it for His service, and He will multiply it. You challenged us to get out of our seat of do-nothing and to get busy in an area of service and ministry in the church. Pastor, Kathy and I were scared to death to teach kids once-a-month, but you challenged us to get out of our comfort zones and see what God would do through us; to stop thinking about ourselves and start thinking about serving and sacrificing.”
I was nodding, because I remembered them talking to me about their fears, and my encouraging them to just try it and see if they might be surprised by the joy of serving God.
He said, “Well, we tried it, and we loved it! Some of those kids drove me CRAZY, but I love how the kids soak up little bits of God’s story and it was exciting to be a part of it and to see God’s Word get into their little hearts.”
And then Kathy said, “Pastor, thanks for being faithful preacher and challenging us to step up to the plate and get involved. What has surprised us more than anything is how fulfilling it has been, and how much WE learned right along with the kids things in the Bible we never picked up because we didn’t grow up in the church.”
How many times have I heard that story down through the years? Time and time again, even people who came from big megachurches with pastors who could preach circles around me; and worship bands that make ours look quite quaint; and facilities much more spacious and luxurious than ours. But they were never challenged, or they never took up the challenge, to get involved in service and ministry. And they professed a love for our little work with this old fogey of a preacher—a love that exceeded everything that preceded them. It wasn’t me; and it wasn’t this building—it was the joy of SERVING GOD that made the difference!
• This morning, if you want to get in on what God’s going to be up to in the next few months by teaching of our children in SUNDAY SCHOOL every Sunday or in K.I.D.S. CHURCH once-a-month, or by doing NURSERY CHILDCARE once-a-month, I invite you to fill out the bulletin insert given you today and give it to me or my wife, Susan or drop it in the tin bucket on the back cabinet or at the Welcome Counter as you leave the building.
• Second, may I challenge you to commit yourself to attending and participating in a weekly homegroup and attending at least one other regular service of the church, be it Sunday School or the 5:00 PM Service, or better yet, both!
• Third, may I invite you to give your tithes and offerings to Grace while stationed here to help us meet the needs of our church, as well as reach out throughout the world through missions?
