Christian Living

A Call to Serve

by Paul Taylor
04/01/15
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A Call to Serve

By Paul Taylor

Sermon 3/28/2015 at Blythewood SDA Church

Opening Hymn #  292  Jesus I Come

Opening Scripture   John 9:1-5

1 And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?  3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. 4 I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.  5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. John 9:1-5

 In our opening scripture we find the disciples  to be more interested in who, or what sin this man or his family committed, than the fact that he needed healing.

 But, Jesus answered the disciples grumblings in His normal compassionate, non-judgmental way;

I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. John 9:4

We are presently, I personally believe, in the final days of Earth's history having only a short span of time left, to prepare ourselves and gather as many as possible for the coming of Jesus.

Our upcoming evangelistic series is one of the ways we should be preparing and attempting to bring in the lost before the final  harvest takes place.

Jeremiah 8:20  tells us  The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.

Summer is ending folks, and the harvest is coming upon us fast, and we need to be ready. Those not ready will be as the 5 virgins, who thought they were prepared for the Bridegroom but were sorely mistaken.

As our opening scripture says; I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day; the night cometh when no man can work

When Michael stands up, as described in Daniel 12:1, the night will be upon us and no man can work, as the seven last plagues begin to fall upon this planet.

Amos tells us that during this time people will seek the word of God, but will not find it.

Amos 8:11-12 tells us; 11 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it.

It is the duty and obligation of every Christian to minister unto the lost, the sick, and all of God’s creation, working for the salvation of others while there is still light, because when the darkness comes it will be too late.

We are not to be bench warmers, wearing the team emblem, never participating in the struggles to win the game. Jesus said there would be no bench warmers or fence sitters to inherit the kingdom of heaven

Worldly pleasures seem to be the goal of the majority in this nation and that stands true for the Christian as well as the non-Christian.

Paul is telling us we can't have it both ways, we either serve God, or we serve Satan

1 Corinthians 10:21 Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils

Jesus tells us in  Matthew 10:37;

 Matthew 10:37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me

Jesus is not saying we should not love our families or abandon them, or to enjoy some of life’s pleasures, but doing God's will by working to spread the gospel is a part of being a family member of God's Kingdom.

We can't all be teachers, preachers, musicians, etc.., but there is a job for everyone in God's battle to win souls from the Devil. We need to seek through prayer, for the Holy Spirit to lead us to what we can do for God.

Remember "God Doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called"

In the very next verse Jesus tells them; And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. Matthew 10:38

And then looking back at 1st Corinthians 10:21, we see Paul is telling the Corinthians the same thing

21 Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils

When we put worldly activities and pleasures before God we are in essence rejecting a place at the table of mercy.

Jesus said in Luke 16:13;

Luke 16:13 No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Let me give you and illustration of what I am talking about.

Picture this huge field with a large fence running down the middle. On one side of this fence are a huge number of people, and on the opposite side there is a smaller number.

Looking closer we then see another large number of people sitting on the fence.

Then all of a sudden, Jesus shows up, and takes the smaller portion of people with him, leaving the larger portion as well as the ones sitting on the fence behind.

Then along comes Satan, and takes the ones on the opposite side of the fence with him, leaving only those sitting on the fence.

Satan then informs those sitting on the fence that they are to come with him, at which point they reply,

 Not So!  We don't belong to you!

Satan smiled and replied, "I OWN THE FENCE"

Which side of the fence are you on?  or are you sitting on the fence?               

As we make preparations for this evangelistic series coming up, we need to prepare ourselves for this event, working while there is still light

A number of Bible texts are being used this morning, so as to get a better picture of how we need to prepare ourselves, as well as others for this upcoming series. As I said earlier, I believe we are in the very last days, and God is calling His people to wake up, get their heads out of the sand, put God's priorities in the forefront using whatever talent or asset we have;

We all have a talent of some sort, it may not be as spectacular as someone else’s, but when we all work together it's just as, if not more important, than what we may think is the greatest talent.

Let’s look at 1 Corinthians 12:21-23

1 Corinthians 12:21-23 And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. 22 Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary:23 And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness.

Without a wheel, a car is useless. That wheel holds the weight of the car and moves it smoothly down the road, but without those little lug-bolts which hold it in place, and the slimy grease which keeps the wheel turning smoothly, the wheel is useless. So you see, it takes a combination of small and what some may consider insignificant parts to make anything succesful.

Don't be as the one servant in the parable of the talents (Luke 19:11-24) who hid his talent under a napkin, rather than use it for the King's benefit.

The King seeing the servant failed to use his talent, took it away, and gave it to the one who had the most.

There is an old saying that "if you don't use, it you will lose it"

Reflecting back on the opening scripture, we find It was the Sabbath and Jesus with His disciples came upon a blind man in the streets.

This man had been born blind from birth and had never seen the sights of the world.

He had never seen the colors associated with the sounds, the trees bending and bowing in the wind, the waves as they came ashore or the beauty of the sweet smelling rose, but Jesus was about to open this man’s eyes to a whole new world of the wonders of God’s creation.

 Just as that blind man became a new person with a different perspective on life, we also are become new creatures with a different perspective when we accept Jesus into our lives, changing  from the old self to a new creature.

The disciples, being true to their human nature, were more concerned with the cause of the man’s blindness than they were for his healing. They were in essence questioning the worthiness of his healing, but rather than reacting to the disciples questioning, Jesus acted in the best interest of the Fathers will, by giving the blind man the gift of sight so the Father in Heaven would be manifested in glory through this miracle.

We as Christians have that same attitude at times when we come in contact with others and we begin to make assumptions; we make excuses and assumptions to avoid witnessing to the individual, in most cases thinking it's a lost cause. We are in essence making a judgement call which we are admonished not to.

Jesus never assumed any individual to be a lost cause for the Kingdom of Heaven, as the Bible indicates He ministered to all, Jews, Gentiles, poor and rich, alike.

Luke 19:10  tells us that Jesus came for all of mankind;  For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

Zacchaeus, the tax collector is a good example of Jesus not discriminating when it comes to God's work.

Zacchaeus, as a tax collector, was despised by most people because of his becoming rich at the expense of the people by collecting taxes for the Romans, and in most cases dishonestly extracting more than was adequate..

Everyone despised Zaccheus and even murmured against Jesus for having fellowship with this sinner.

Zacchaeus having heard of Jesus was desiring to know more about this mysterious man going about healing the sick and giving sight to the blind, but because others despised him for what he was, no one was willing to share with him about Jesus, so he it took upon himself to know more about this man who healed and restored sight to the blind.

Zacchaeus had such a desire to know more that he ran ahead of the crowd and because of his short stature, climbed up a sycamore tree to get a better view and hear what Jesus had to say.

Jesus saw what was happening, and knowing the heart of Zacchaeus called him down and used the opportunity to show the gospel was for everyone not just the Jews.

Let’s look at the story and see what transpired and how Jesus handled the situation.

Turn to Luke 19:5-10 and lets read the story.

5  And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house.

What is Jesus saying here?  Come to me, I want to come into your life

6  And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully.7  And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, That he was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner.8  And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord: Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. This is from the Mosaic Law of  Exodus 22:1
Exod 22:1If a man shall steal an ox, or a sheep, and kill it, or sell it; he shall restore five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.

9  And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham.10  For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

Jesus didn't discriminate or judge Zacchaeus, but instead invited himself into the home of a despised sinner.

How many people have we passed by because we thought they were unworthy and not worth the bother.

You never know what is in the heart of the person sitting or standing  next to you, and when we pass up that opportunity, we may be responsible for that person not knowing the gospel of Jesus Christ, and, which could be the last opportunity that person had to know Jesus.

That person could be like Zacchaeus, desiring to know, and no one willing to share with them the healing waters of Jesus Christ.

Jesus treated the blind man and Zacchaeus with equal love and compassion regardless of the status each occupied in society.

 The last portion of  John 9:3 tells us,  what is done, is to the glory of God the Father

...;but that the works of God should be manifest in him. John 9:3

Should our works not be a glorification to the Father, and for the Father, and not for our benefit.

The following is an article which appeared in a local church’s monthly newsletter and really puts into context the attitude of today’s society in passing the buck and finding excuses to not act in the best interest of our fellow man.

Listen carefully as this is a parody and takeoff from Matthew 25:35-46

A Call To Serve

The following article appeared in the October 2013 edition of the monthly newsletter “ THE HARMONY HERALD” (Vol 6 issues 10)  of Harmony Baptist Church, Elgin, S.C., and was written by  Ruth M. Walsh.

I was naked and you questioned my lack of modesty in appearance

I was in prison and you debated the legal aspects of interference

I was penniless and you discussed tax-deductible donations from your wealth

I was sick and you thanked the Lord for the blessings of your health

I was hungry and you formed a committee to study malnutrition

I was homeless and you said Gods word was shelter under any condition

I was lonely and you left me by myself while you and your friends prayed

You seem so holy and close to God, yet I’m still sick and alone and afraid

                                                            Ruth M. Walsh

By contrast, in the parable of the sheep and the goats, Jesus says, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:40 NRSV)

When we fail to serve our neighbors we fail to serve Jesus. Yet, when we feed the hungry, we’re actually feeding Jesus. When we visit the sick, we’re actually visiting Jesus. And when we love one another, we’re actually loving Jesus.

We need to be about Gods work in these last days, seeking the blessings of our Heavenly Father, rather than man.

The day is coming when we will have to give an account and when our debts are added we will hear one of the following statements from Jesus;

Matthew 25:21....,Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

Or you will hear the most pitiful words spoken to anyone professing to be a Christian;

Matthew 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity

We have a choice of which side the fence we are on.

Do we answer "THE CALL TO SERVE" ?

Or do we sit on the fence?

Our closing Hymn is # 361, Hark! Tis the Sheppards Voice I Hear

 Copyright 2015 by Paul Taylor AllRights Reserved worldwide

All scripture from King James Version unless noted