serve

Fantastic Four – Find Your Forte

August 11, 2015 by Patricia Leave a Comment

God on Film: Fantastic Four – Find Your Forte
Sycamore Creek Church
August 9/10, 2015
Tom Arthur

Peace friends!

Today we’re continuing in this series, God on Film. Each week we’re looking at a summer blockbuster and exploring something that movie evokes and what the Bible has to say about it. Today we’re looking at the movie, Fantastic Four.

So how many are there in the Fantastic Four? Yep. Four. Each one of the four have “unique physical capabilities.” The Thing has indestructible strength. Mister Fantastic has the unique physical capability of rubber stretch. The Human Torch has fire, and the Invisible Woman can turn, well, invisible as well as having the ability to project force fields.

If you got to choose one of those super powers, which one would you pick? How would you decide? How did each of the Fantastic Four decide? They didn’t. In the original storyline they are hit by cosmic rays in outer space. In this remake something happens during inter-dimensional travel. They don’t get to choose what special ability they have. It just happens to them.

You don’t decide either what special unique capabilities you have. You just have them. What are your unique capabilities? What about your unique spiritual capabilities? Today I’d like to take a look at the unique spiritual capabilities that each of us are given called spiritual gifts. Let’s begin with a definition:

Spiritual gifts are God-given natural or supernatural talents every Christian has that God uses to accomplish God’s purposes in and through the church.

That’s a thick definition so let’s unpack it.

God-given = These gifts are by God’s grace freely given. The Greek word behind the word “gift” is charism which you make recognize in the word “charismatic.” “Charism” means “gift.” Spiritual gifts are natural or supernatural talents. Sometimes they are very natural in appearance like knowledge or teaching. Other times they have a supernatural twist like healing. Either way they’re what we’re able to do, and what we’re good at doing. Every Christian has one or more spiritual gifts. Every person plays a part. But a part in what? A part in God’s purposes. Spiritual gifts are for accomplishing God’s rescue mission to the world. And God’s rescue mission happens primarily in and through the Church. Spiritual gifts are for equipping one another and reaching out into the world. So let’s hear that definition again:

Spiritual gifts are God-given natural or supernatural talents every Christian has that God uses to accomplish God’s purposes in and through the church.

Paul, the first missionary of the church and the author of many of the books of the Bible, says:

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed.
~1 Corinthians 12:1 NRSV

Paul wants us to know about spiritual gifts so we’re not uninformed or ignorant of our own and God’s purposes for spiritual gifts. One book that has been helpful to me over the last couple of months is a book by Peter Wagner called Discover Your Spiritual Gifts. Wagner writes:

“You need to know about your spiritual gifts if

You are a Christian believer
You believe that Jesus is your Lord and you want to love Him, please Him and follow Him in the best way possible; and
You want your church to be a healthy, attractive growing group of people showing forth God’s love in your community.”

I think I want all three of those things. I suspect that you do too. So let’s go back to Paul and see what he teaches about Spiritual gifts. Paul writes about spiritual gifts in several different places but today we’re going to focus on his letter to the Christians who are in Rome. Here’s what he says:

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him…
~Paul (Romans 12:1 NLT)

Have you ever considered that what you do with your bodies is worship. Worship isn’t just coming together on Sunday to sing and pray and hear teaching about the Bible. It’s also about how you use your body every day of the week. How your body interacts with other bodies around you is an act of worship.

Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.
~Paul (Romans 12:3 NLT)

Paul encourages us to have an honest humble appraisal of ourselves. You’re good at some things and other things you’re not so good at. Do you know what they are? Humility is having an accurate and true self-understanding. Paul is about to help us have that honest and true and humble self-understanding.

Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.
~Paul (Romans 12:4-5 NLT)

Each of your body parts has a special function. In the same way, each of you has a special function in the church and the world. Each of you has a special function in God’s rescue mission to the world. And just like a human body, the individual body parts belong to each other.

In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well.
~Paul (Romans 12:6 NLT)

These gifts and playing this role in the body is a God-given gift. It’s not something you earn. You just have it. Some things you do well, but not all things. That’s where the honesty and humility come in. What do you do well, and what do you not do so well?

So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.
~Paul (Romans 12:6-8 NLT)

Some of us have the gift of prophesy. Prophesy isn’t so much about telling the future, although it may be about that. The prophet in the Bible speaks from God’s perspective about when God’s people are in or out of the will of God. The rest of the gifts Paul mentions are more natural and obvious gifts: serving, teaching, encouraging, giving, leading, showing kindness. These all are spiritual gifts that God gives each one of us to accomplish God’s purposes in and through the church.

God’s General & Specific Call
Many people often come to me and want to know what God has called them to do in this world. Here’s the answer. God has a general call on each person’s life. That general call is basically the same for everyone: use your spiritual gifts. God gave you special talents, and God calls you to use those gifts. That’s God’s general call.

Then there’s God specific call. God’s specific call has to do with the specific ministry or area or location that you use those gifts. Some of you are called to use your gifts working with children. Others are called to the specific area of youth. Others are called to use their gifts in worship ministry. Others are called to use their gifts specifically with preaching or outreach or missions. In any case, God does not call someone to a ministry that God does not equip that person for doing. While the specific call may change (where you use your gifts in ministry), the general call does not (that you use your gifts).

Martin Luther, the 16^th century Protestant reformer, taught “the priesthood of all believers.” It’s not that there’s a special profession called “pastor” or “priest” that does all the ministry. Rather, all who follow Jesus, all who are part of the body of Christ are pastors and priests. Each one of you has a role to play, not just some “professional Christian” we call the pastor.

How Many Spiritual Gifts are There?
Paul gives us three different lists of spiritual gifts in three different books of the Bible. Those lists are all different. I don’t think Paul was trying to be exhaustive when he wrote those lists. Then there are other places in the Bible where special gifts are listed. So I don’t think there is any one set list or number of gifts. One online tool we use at Sycamore Creek Church lists twenty-four gifts. Peter Wagner’s book lists twenty-eight. I don’t know what the exact number is, and I’m somewhat skeptical of any attempt to nail down an exact number. But this morning I want to talk about three of those gifts.

Singleness
The gift of singleness is the gift “to remain single and enjoy it and not suffer undue sexual temptation” (Wagner). Paul teaches it this way:

But I wish everyone were single, just as I am. Yet each person has a special gift from God, of one kind or another.
~1 Corinthians 7:7 NLT

It may seem odd to start our conversation with the gift of singleness. But I am beginning here because the largest group of people in the neighborhood right around our church is a group called “singles and starters.” Now let’s get very clear about the gift of singleness because sometimes we tell single people something like: “You must have the gift of singleness because you’re single.” That’s not true. Being single doesn’t mean you have the gift of singleness. It may just mean you haven’t yet met your spouse and life-partner. If you want to get married, you probably don’t have this gift. If you want to have sex, you probably don’t have this gift. If you are quite alright being single, then you may have this gift.

The gift of singleness does not stand alone. Yes, I said that. Singleness does not stand alone. We’re not talking about spinsters. Singleness is a gift that allows a deeper and fuller use of your other gifts that God uses to accomplish God’s purposes in and through the church. If you are single you have more time and more energy to focus less on your own family and more on the community around you. Let’s look at one person who had the gift of singleness: Georges Lemaître.

Who was Georges Lemaître? Georges Lemaître was a brilliant catholic priest in the 20^th century. In 1920 he got his first PhD. Yes, I said “first.” It was titled “Approximation of functions of several real variables.” I have no idea what that means other than that Georges Lemaître was very smart. He got his PhD in 1920 and then was ordained a priest in 1923. In 1927 he went head to head with Einstein when he proposed the Expansion Theory of the Universe. Einstein said, “Your calculations are correct, but your physics is atrocious.” Georges Lemaître became the founder of the Big Bang Theory. Yes, a Christian priest came up with the Big Bang Theory. Turns out that while Einstein is more famous, Lemaître was right. Then in 1931 Lemaître got his second PhD which was titled, “The gravitational field in a fluid sphere of uniform invariant density according to the theory of relativity.” I don’t understand that any more than I understood the first!

OK, let’s unpack all this just for a moment. A married man with kids barely has time to finish one PhD let alone two. A married man with kids doesn’t go head to head with Einstein and win. A married man with kids doesn’t become a Catholic priest. Lemaître’s singleness allowed him to focus his time and energy (no pun intended) on advancing humanity’s understanding of the universe’s origins. His singleness was a gift that allowed him to use his other gifts on a deeper and fuller level. He enriched others with his gift of singleness. That’s the gift of singleness. Singleness allows you to use your other gifts in deeper and fuller ways for the benefit of God’s purposes in and through the church.

Hospitality
Wagner defines hospitality as the ability “to provide an open house and warm welcome for those in need of lodging.” Peter, one of Jesus’ closest friends taught:

Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay.
~1 Peter 4:9 NLT

The person with the gift of hospitality is able to make people feel truly at home whether in their own home or elsewhere. They also are able to share their home for extended periods of time. This means be able to share the “mess” without apologizing. You don’t have to be a Martha Stewart.

Sarah and I have the gift of hospitality. For most of our married life we have had people living with us. We’re not alone. A couple of months ago we invited over for dinner everyone in our church that we know who is sharing their house with someone. It was good to sit around the table and share stories together. There are many in our church who have the gift of hospitality.

Of course, one of the ways we are using the gift of hospitality in our church together is through the remodeling of our Connection Café. Here we hope to make people feel at home and to have a place to build friendships. Many in our church share their gift of hospitality through our Connection Café. There will be many more opportunities in the future if we are to open up our Connection Café to the community throughout the week.

One last area of hospitality that takes place together is our shared task of cleaning the building. While the gift of hospitality as it is played out in our homes may be about sharing the “mess” of our homes with folks, the gift of hospitality as it is played out together in this building is through keeping the building clean. A clean building removes obstacles from a guest encountering God when they join us for an event in our building.

Pastor
The last gift I want to explore today in details is the gift of pastor. The gift of pastor “assumes a long-term personal responsibility for the spiritual welfare of a group of believers.” Again, Peter describes it this way:

Care for the flock that God has entrusted to you. Watch over it willingly, not grudgingly
~1 Peter 5:2 NLT

God’s sense of humor is such that I, your pastor, do not have the gift of pastor. What? Yes, I don’t have the gift of pastor. My top gifts tend to be leadership, administration, teaching, and giving. Peter Wagner says, “Very few senior ministers of large, growing churches do have the biblical gift of pastor.” This may seem confusing to you until you understand that there is a difference between the role of pastor that we tend to hire for a leader in our church and the spiritual gift of pastor. I am hired as your pastor to lead this church, and many of you have the gift of pastor to help care for one another. “As soon as we understand that the gift of pastor is not necessarily what your senior minister has or needs, a vast and exciting possibility is opened for laypeople to begin to exercise the gift of pastor” (Peter Wagner). Rick Warren, the pastor of Saddleback Church, says, “For the church to grow, the pastor must give up the ministry and the people must give up the leadership.” As our church grows more and more of you will begin to exercise your gift of pastor. I will begin to live more and more into my gift of leadership.

Two examples of where this is already taking place is with Tom Fox and Mary Ziegler. Tom is a retired United Methodist pastor who is a partner in our church. He is also a part-time chaplain at Sparrow. He has been working to develop a hospital visitation team. This means that when you’re in the hospital, I may not be the person visiting you. Tom and one of his team members may be that person. Mary Ziegler is a recently retired partner in our church who has been developing a caring and listening ministry with many of you. Mary and her team will soon begin offering prayer partners after worship each week. These are people who will be available to pray with you each week. Mary, Tom, and their teams are exercising their gift of pastor, and this pastor who does not have the gift of pastor is grateful for them.

Discover Your Spiritual Gifts
There’s only one last question to ask: How do you discover your spiritual gifts? I want to give you four tips for discovering your spiritual gifts. First, use TOOLS. We offer an online inventory that you can take. Visit www.assessme.org/2364.aspx and you’ll find four inventories: a spiritual gifts inventory, a personality inventory, a leadership inventory, and a skills inventory. If you paid for this yourself, it would cost you $15, but if you do it through us, it’s FREE! Once you’ve taken all four you’ll be given a customized report with suggestions for how to use your gifts. You’ll also be added to a searchable database that the leadership of our church can use to help you find the right place to use your spiritual gifts. This is a helpful tool, but let’s remember, it’s just a tool. It isn’t perfect. That’s why you need these other three tips.

Second, TRY different ministries. Don’t feel like you have to get stuck in one area of volunteering. Try one out for a couple of months and then try another. You don’t have to stick with just one. We offer a Serve Interest Inventory and many “first-serve opportunities” when big events happen at SCC. These are ways you can try different ministries on for size.

Third, TALK to people who know you. Take your assessme.org results and talk to a trusted Christian friend. What seems right? What seems off? What is missing or confusing? Talk to more than one person. Test what you know about yourself with what others know about you.

Lastly, TAKE it to God. Spend time in prayer asking God to show you what your gifts are and to help you find the right place to use those gifts. God is the giver of the gifts. God has a vested interest in you knowing what those gifts are and using them.

When You Know and Use Your Spiritual Gifts
Three things happens when you know your spiritual gifts. First, you grow. You have a healthy self-esteem. Your picture of yourself is accurate and humble. You begin to take initiative rather than waiting to be asked. Your thankfulness for God’s work in and through you grows. And your confidence grows as God’s ever growing specific calling grows in responsibility and scope.

Second, when you know and use your spiritual gifts, the church grows. Other Christians’ gifts are supported by your gift. There is health in the full body. All the systems are working together to accomplish God’s purposes. Non-Christians are attracted by the health they see and experience in our church.

Third, God is glorified. When you know and use your spiritual gifts, you offer your bodies as an act of worship. And now we’re back to where we began.

“This is truly the way to worship God.”
~Paul (Romans 12:1 NLT)

God help us to know and use our gifts so that we each grow, our church grows, and you are glorified. Amen.

Filed Under: Sermons Tagged With: serve, service, serving, spiritual gifts, talents

Who’s the Coach?

November 24, 2014 by Patricia Leave a Comment

Put Me In Coach – Who’s the Coach?
Sycamore Creek Church
November 23/24, 2014
Tom Arthur

Peace friends!

What did the coach say to the vending machine? Give me my quarterback. Ugh! Today we’re talking about coaches. I promise it will get better. What is a coach? We’re in this series called Put Me in Coach. Throughout the series our key thought has been this:

There are too many fans of the game and not enough players in the game.

Take football for example. Football consists of 22 people on the field in desperate need of rest and 22,000 fans in the stands in desperate need of exercise. I don’t want to be a church that has 22,000 fans in the stands. I want to be a church with everyone on the playing field.

So far in this series we’ve explored some fundamentals of the game: What’s the game?

What’s a team? What’s my position? Today we look at who’s my coach? Now if I ask you who your coach is, I’m guessing you’ll have an answer pretty quickly. Jesus. Right? Nope. In this series Jesus is not your coach. Jesus is the team owner. So who is the coach? Maybe it would be good to begin with a definition. What is a coach? According to Merriam-Webster, a coach is a horse drawn carriage. Opps. Wrong kind of coach. A coach is “one who teaches, trains, and directs.” So who does that in the team we call the church? To answer that question, let’s turn to Paul, the first missionary of the church. Paul planted several churches all around the Mediterranean and then wrote letters to them coaching them about how to be a church. One letter he wrote to the church at Ephesus. Last week we looked at playing a position through the lens of Ephesians chapter four verse eleven. Paul says:

The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers…
~Ephesians 4:11 NRSV

But that’s where we stopped. What comes next? What does the next verse say about each of these specialized positions in the church? God gives people these gifts and talents…

to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ…from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.
~Ephesians 4:12 & 16 NRSV

“To equip.” In other words “teach, train, and direct.” Guess who the coach is? Anyone who has unique talents on the team to teach, train, and direct the rest of the team. One key coach on the team is the pastor. But I’m not the only coach on the team. I’ve also got some special teams coaches: the staff and the team leaders. Anyone who leads a team of people in the church is a coach.

Here’s the catch. The coach doesn’t actually play the game. The coach coaches the players to play the game. When was the last time you saw Tom Izzo bench his team and go out on the court and play the competition? When was the last time you saw Coach K bench his center and go play center himself? Never. Because he’s not a player. He’s the coach. (OK, the metaphor breaks down a little bit here because as a pastor I’m also a Christian which means that as an individual, I’m still playing the game, but when it comes to the team, I’m coaching others to play the game). Thus, the staff are equippers. The Team Leaders are equippers. Their job is not to do the work they oversee. Their job is to teach, train, and direct others to do that work. The more we grow the more essential the role of coaching will be.

So today I want to explore three fundamentals of coaching. This means I’m going to be doing some teaching, training, and directing with my special teams coaches while the rest of the team gets to listen in on it. I’m going to be equipping them to coach. I’m going to be coaching my coaches. I think the rest of you will still get a lot of out of this, so don’t tune out. When was the last time you got to sit in on Mark Dantonio’s pep talk to his special teams coaches? So let’s get to it. Three fundamentals of coaching…

1. Coaches Recruit Players

One of the key roles a coach does is fill the roster with the best players that the coach can find. Again, the coach isn’t the one playing. The coach finds the players. But sometimes there’s a kind of art in finding the right players. It isn’t always obvious who those best players are. In the movie Moneyball, which is about the applications of statistics to the game of baseball, we see the Oakland A’s hiring a statistician to build a unique and unexpected team. Here’s how it happens:

The A’s recruited a team of “undervalued and overlooked players.” They found “value in players that no one else can see.” They built a team that was “an island of misfit toys.” The world undervalues and overlooks people all the time. The church is different. This team finds people that the world discards and overlooks and puts them in unique positions that fit their gifts and talents and calling.

Where are the undervalued and overlooked players in our church? Just look around. They’re everywhere. Someone who is a “fan” sitting in the stands but hasn’t yet gotten in the game. Or maybe sometimes it’s someone who is in the game but isn’t yet in the right position. Or maybe it’s someone who is in the game but just needs to switch positions for whatever reason. Sometimes it’s fans who are just sitting at home not doing much. They’re rooting for SCC, but they don’t show up very often. Consider the launch team that I put together for our Church in a Diner. Half of that team was not attending SCC Regularly. One member of that team was a neighbor of mine who wasn’t even yet a Christian! Coaches, who are the overlooked and undervalued players all around you?

So how do you find them? Let me give you some tools. We use a little website you may have heard about recently. It’s called assessme.org. Over one hundred and thirty people in our church have used this to have their spiritual gifts assessed. That’s one hundred and thirty scouting reports of people who could be on your team. That’s one key tool for finding players.

Another key tool I use for finding players is the church directory. Susan is continually updating it and you can email her and ask her for the most recent copy any time. If you’re looking for someone to do something, just begin flipping through the pages and let those names jog your memory. I hear you saying to me, “I did that a month ago and nothing came of it. Why do it again?” Because someone’s life situation may have changed. You may know someone better than you knew them before. You may just see their name when you didn’t notice it before. Use the directory. And here’s a bonus tip: we print a list of skills and stuff in the back of the directory. You need a plumber? Look it up. You need a crafty person? Check out the skills and stuff. You’ve also got some personal directories to help you. Consider Facebook. Just look through your friend lists. Or look through your email or phone contact lists. These are all just tools to help jog your memory.

Another great tool is our interest inventory sheets. We have been doing this for three years now. We’ve got three years of data about people expressing interest in serving in particular areas. I don’t just look through this year’s data. I look over all the data from the previous years. You never know.

Don’t forget to always be listening…listening…listening… Listen to what people say they like to do. Listen. And when you hear them say they like doing something that is in your area of coaching, make a note of it and bring it up right there or bring it up at another more appropriate time.

Of course, at some point you have to make the BIG ASK! You’ve got to ask this person to be a player on your team. Here’s how not to do it: On Sunday morning as they’re walking out the door to go get their hungry toddlers home for lunch say, “Umm…you wouldn’t happen to want to volunteer for a little job that won’t take you all that much time and really is no big deal, would you?” FAIL!

Here’s how to make the BIG ASK:

Write it down. Don’t bring it up first in person. Send them an email or a Facebook message, or if you really want to impress them, send them a handwritten note in the mail.
Include a job description of what you’re asking them to do and an explanation of why you think they’d be good (i.e. You saw that they had this particular spiritual gift on Assessme.org). This job description should also have an ending period. When are they done with it? People don’t like to commit to things that don’t ever end.
Include in the written note that you will follow-up with them on the phone or in person in the next week and ask them to pray about meeting with you to go over the job description.
Meet in person if at all possible. Go over the job description. Answer any questions. Invite them to pray about it some more and let them know you’ll be in touch next week.
Call back next week and get your answer. It will likely be a YES because of how thoughtful you’ve been in asking them and how you’ve given time and space for the Holy Spirit to turn their initial NO into a YES.

So the first fundamental of coaching is this: recruit your players. Coaches, don’t play the game yourself! Equip! Equip! Equip PLAYERS!

Coaches Run Practice
The second fundamental of coaching is that coaches run practices and practices are not about what’s easy, they’re about what’s effective. The movie Miracle is about the 1980 Olympics USA hockey team that beat the Russians and went on to win the gold medal. There’s a scene in the movie a moment after a defeat when the coach makes the team do something that isn’t easy but is essential:

Friends, this is hard for me and for almost every special teams coach I have. Most of us want to be liked. Most of us are people pleasers. Add to that the fact that we’re recruiting volunteers for a team called the church that is supposed to be “nice” and all of us fear losing volunteers. We fear losing players if we ask you to do what is effective rather than what is easy. But that’s what a good coach does. A good coach makes the team practice hard when that’s what it requires to win.

So what does it mean to practice? To practice means praying together. It means learning together. We learn together when we read together. Leaders are readers. If you don’t know what books to have your team reading, ask the head coach. Not a big reader yourself, farm out a book to a team member who is a big reader and let them give a book report on it. Or learn together by listening together. My coach, Nelson Searcy, provides me with hundreds of audio resources for equipping our church. Listen to these audio resources or audio books in your car. Listen while you’re exercising or cooking or in the shower. I’ve heard people say, “But I don’t get it all when I’m just listening to it.” So what. If you only get half of it, that’s half more training than you would have gotten had you been listening to the radio. We learn together by conferencing together. When was the last time you went to a conference with your team? Did you go to the Reach Summit back in October? Are you planning on going to our weekend with Tom Bandy December 5^th and 6^th? You can also learn by visiting other churches together. See how they run their special teams. Meet with the special teams coach who is your equivalent.

So practice means praying together and learning together. It also means…captain obvious…meeting together. I know, meetings SUCK! Don’t they? Who wants to go to another meeting? So how do you make meetings more meaningful? Make them informal. Don’t meet at the church building just because we have one. Find somewhere else with more of a party atmosphere to meet. Meet in your home or the home of one of your team members. Include food. Food always makes meeting together better. Don’t do all the food yourself. Equip your team to bring the food. Meet when you’re already gathered before or after church so that you don’t have to add another time into your schedule. Do something spiritual with your team. I take the staff on a one-day spiritual retreat every year. No business. Just time together with God. Do something fun at each meeting. Don’t just start with the “business.” Or maybe just meet to have a party. I also take the staff away for a one-night fun retreat each year. I’ve used several of your cabins to make that happen. We don’t do anything spiritual other than just be spiritual friends together.

Coaches recruit players, and they run practices. Those are the first two fundamentals of coaching. Here’s the third fundamental.

Coaches Praise the Players
My coach, Nelson Searcy, says that I have two responsibilities on Sunday morning: to preach and to praise. I should have equipped coaches and players all around me so that all I have to do is teach the message and praise the rest of the team and thank them for being here. My job is to be Rocky Balboa’s coach:

That gets your blood pumping! Doesn’t it? Anytime we gather I should be saying “Thank you…thank you…thank you! Way to go…way to go…way to go!” Now let me be honest, this is hard for me. It’s hard because I’m an introvert. It’s hard because my love language is not words of affirmation. It’s hard because I’m not naturally demonstrative, effusive, and overenthusiastic. If you really want all that, you turn to Jeremy, our worship leader. He’s a natural praise giving and cheer leading coach. I find myself watching him and learning from him all the time. So I’m working on praising the players and special teams coaches more and more.

How do you praise your players? I personally like face-to-face one-on-one meetings. Coaches, when was the last time you met one-on-one with each of your team members? Of course you can say a quick thanks on Sunday morning or Monday night. I’ve also been utilizing Facebook a lot lately to praise my team members publicly and invite you to join with me. Of course, a handwritten note is especially meaningful in our day and age when we rarely get anything handwritten in the mail. Coaches, consider writing a handwritten note once a day. Bring notes for your team to write before or after your meeting. Then write a really good thank you note. Here’s how to do it:

Be very specific. Mention a very specific moment and behavior.
Mention the cost you know it was to them to do what you saw them do. Maybe they had to give up some family time or an evening relaxing at home or some sleep to volunteer.
Describe the benefit to the mission of our church. How did what they do help us accomplish our mission? How did it help us play the game well?
Explain what the value was to you personally. How did they help you play your part?
Then thank them.

“I don’t like getting personal handwritten thank you notes for the time and effort I put into volunteering at church.”
~Nobody

So coaches, how are you doing? Are you playing the game yourself or are your recruiting players? Are you practicing or are you just doing what’s easy? Are you praising your players or are you just hoping they’ll know how much you appreciate them? Here’s the truth, we coaches all have room to grow. You don’t have to be perfect here at SCC to be a coach. But you do have to be committed to growing and getting better.

So players, how are the coaches doing? Will you take a moment sometime this week and praise a coach in your life? Send them a thank you note. Praise them on Facebook. Take them out for coffee. But best of all, get in the game!

Filed Under: Sermons Tagged With: serve, service, spiritual gifts, teach, train, volunteer

What’s My Position?

November 18, 2014 by Patricia Leave a Comment

Put Me In Coach – What’s My Position?
Sycamore Creek Church
November 16/17, 2014
Tom Arthur

Peace friends!

We’re continuing in the third week of this series: Put Me In Coach. So far we’ve explored some fundamental questions of the game we’re playing here at Sycamore Creek Church:

What’s the game?
Who’s my team?
Next week: Who’s my coach?

Today: What’s my position?

There’s a key thought throughout this whole series:

There are too many fans of the game and not enough players in the game.

Take football for example. In football there are 22 people on the field in desperate need of rest and 22,000 people in the stands in desperate need of exercise. I don’t want to be the kind of church that has 22,000 people in the stands watching 22 people play the game. I want to get those 22,000 people in the game. This series is about that: getting in the game. It’s about serving. It’s about volunteering.

When it comes to getting in the game there are different distances people have from getting in the game. Farthest from the game are those who simply aren’t fans. They don’t even want to watch the game. Then there are those who are fans. They watch the game from a comfortable place. Next closest to the game are the fanatics, the season ticket holders. The next step into the game is the farm team. These are the people who are working on playing the game and getting better at the game. Then there’s the first string players. These are the ones who are all in. They’ve committed everything they’ve got. Where are you at? I’m guessing if you’re reading this then you’re at least a fan? Are you a fanatic but not yet in the game? Are you on the farm team or are you a first string player? But if you’re a player, what kind of player are you? What position do you play? That’s the question I want to explore today.

In any sport, while there are specialized positions, there are some positions or some plays that everyone on the team plays. The same is true of the game we play here at SCC. There are some positions that we all play. We all play the position of praying. Are you praying for your church? We all play the position of inviting. Are you inviting by sharing our events on Facebook? Are you inviting when we do a big buzz series or a big day? Are you considering how you can invite by joining the “launch team” of our new venue? We’re buying a building to be our Sunday morning venue. It’s like we’re launching a new church. So we should have a launch team. Launching is about inviting. Are you inviting? Every player on this team invites. Every player on this team also plays welcoming. We’re all on the hospitality team. When someone invites a friend to worship with us, they’re depending on you to be welcoming. We welcome by running the 5-10-Link play. FIVE minutes before the service and FIVE minutes after you cover a zone TEN feet around you and you meet the people you don’t know. Then you LINK them to other people you do know. Are you welcoming in this way? We all play welcoming by engaging the meet and greet question at the end of worship. It’s designed to prime the pump of conversation with those around you that you don’t know. Are you playing welcoming? We all also play the position of giving. God has given each of us a certain amount of resources. How are you doing being a steward of God’s resources? How are you doing giving 10% back to God? We all play the position of giving. We all play the position of praying. We all play the position of inviting. We all play the position of welcoming. But we all then specialize in one or more other positions too. These positions are called spiritual gifts.

Throughout this series we’ve been exploring Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. Paul was the first missionary of the church and he wrote a letter to the church at Ephesus. The letter is in the Bible and is six chapters long. Go home today and read all six chapters. It will take you about thirty minutes. We’re really drilling down on chapter four in this series. Paul tells the Ephesians:

The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers.
~Paul (Ephesians 4:11 NLT)

You’ll see here that Paul is listing some very specialized positions in the church. The Bible contains several different letters Paul wrote to different churches, and in two of those other letters Paul lists some other specialized positions. They can be found in chapter 12 of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians and chapter 12 in the letter to the Romans. Throughout this series we’ve been exploring fundamentals of the game. Today is no different. Today with Paul’s help, I want to explore three fundamentals of playing a position in the church (I’m indebted to Bruce Bugbee’s book, What You Do Best in the Body of Christ, for giving me the framework for these three fundamentals).

1. Be Aware of Your Spiritual Gifts

The first fundamental of playing a position is that we are expected to be aware of the spiritual gifts that we have. Paul says:

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed.
~Paul (1 Corinthians 12:1 NRSV)

So what are spiritual gifts? What gifts does God give to us? The first gift of God is God’s very own self. God’s presence with us is the Holy Spirit. We must remember that God doesn’t give us unique abilities independent of giving us God’s very presence. James A. Stewart, a 20^th century preacher in the Church of Scotland said, “Many want the Spirit’s power but not the Spirit’s purity. The Holy Spirit does not rent out His attributes. His power is never separated from His glorious Self.” If we expect God to use us to the fullest, we must be aware of how God is present in us purifying us and calling us to be ready for what God is going to do in us. It’s out of the relationship with God, the source of all power, that the Holy Spirit works through us and gives us special gifts. Hudson Taylor, a 19^th century missionary to China, said, “I used to ask God to help me. Then I asked God if I might help Him. I ended up by asking Him to do His work through me.” God gives us God’s very own self and when God is present with us, then God works through us. This happens in one of two ways.

First, God gives us certain God-given talents, passions, or abilities that are to be used in the service of God’s purpose in our lives. They are at times supernatural talents, but at other times, they are natural talents used to accomplish supernatural results. Paul says:

We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.
~Paul (Romans 12:6-8 NRSV)

If you want to know more about your spiritual gifts, we have an online tool that we use that will take you about ten or fifteen minutes to fill out. You’ll get a report on your personality, leadership style, and spiritual gifts. It will help you know what specialized position God has you playing. You can find the tool at www.assessme.org/2364.aspx. The tool is free to you through us, but if you did it on our own it would cost you $15. So take some time to learn about your spiritual gifts. When you take this inventory online, your results will then be available to use to help get you in the game.

The second way that God uses spiritual gifts is to give us the unique gifts in the moment that we need them to accomplish God’s purposes. This may mean that God supernaturally empowers you in a moment in way that you have no natural aptitude. But because you have received God’s first gift, God’s very self, God can use you in a way that no one, even yourself, could have imagined. Thus, the spiritual gift and passion may not come until the purpose is pursued. This happens because while the world may count you out, God does not look at you in the same way the rest of us do; God sees your heart. There’s a great modern classic movie about baseball called Moneyball. It’s about the use of statistics to build a team. There’s a scene in the movie when the coach goes to recruit a washed up catcher to play a position that he would never have imagined playing, but the statistics say he’ll do well enough at to benefit the team in other ways. Watch what happens: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyvu1nWjOlI

This is a real life story. Scott Hatteberg was the catcher for Boston Red Sox. He had an elbow injury which meant he couldn’t throw the ball to second base. This resulted in his inability to play the position of catcher. But the Oakland A’s saw something in him no one else did and recruited him to play first base. It was a risky move by most recruiting standards. But Hatteberg ended up hitting a walk off homerun to help the A’s make an American League 20-game winning streak record. Sometimes you won’t be able to see what position you can play and how you have the talents to play that position until you say yes to the position.

The first fundamental of playing a position in the game of following Jesus is to be aware of your spiritual gifts.

2. Expected To Use Your Spiritual Gifts.

Paul gave some advice to a young preacher named Timothy and we have two letters he wrote mentoring Timothy in how to play the game. Paul said:

Do not neglect the gift that is in you.
~Paul (1 Timothy 4:14 NRSV)

God expects us to use the spiritual gifts that God has given us. When it comes to using those gifts, we can underuse them or we can overuse them. We underuse them when we’re ignorant of them. Or we underuse them when we’re just flat out disobedient. When our spiritual gifts are underused then it’s like a part of the team or the body becomes dead. The rest of the body ends up having to overcompensate. This puts stress on the rest of the team and leads to burnout.

But we can not only underuse our spiritual gifts, we can also overuse them. This happens when we use our gift to dominate the team. We don’t allow the rest of the team to develop. There’s a great scene in the classic basketball movie Hoosiers when the coach intentionally benches a player who is on a scoring streak. As you watch the scene, ask yourself: “What’s wrong with this guy doing all the scoring?”

A team and a church can’t be dependent all on one person. Pastors and key leaders in a church tend to fall into this trap quite a bit. Let me give you an example of how I’ve been over using a spiritual gift I have for the last couple of years. I’m a pretty creative guy. I love creating new ideas. Most of the sermon series we do around here have been my ideas. Most of the big outreach events we do around here are my ideas. But about a year ago it hit me, we’re being creative but it’s all based on me. If I’m in a car crash tomorrow or if the bishop appoints me to another church, then there is no creative team to keep this work moving forward in a creative direction. So I’ve been busy over the last year beginning to build creative systems and teams to provide the creative scaffolding for what we do at SCC. Two quick examples.

First, instead of planning the preaching calendar by myself for 2015, I pulled together a team. We met on a Saturday in October. I was a bit nervous about how this was going to work. I was giving up something to allow others to help make decisions about what we’d be teaching at SCC from the “pulpit.” I was nervous about how the creative process would work. We scheduled the entire day from 9:30AM to 4PM to accomplish as much as we could. I went in thinking that the day would be successful if we got through half the year. What were the results? We had the entire year of 2015 planned by 2:30PM! This was a serious team effort. The players came ready to play with really good ideas. And now if I die tomorrow, there’s a system of creativity that isn’t based on the pastor overusing his creative gifts.

The same thing has been true when it comes to creative elements in worship. Most of the creative worship elements we’ve used in the past have been developed by me and Jeremy, our worship leader. But this wasn’t a sustainable team. We needed to include more. So now each month we invite people to join us for a two hour brainstorming session of a series that is two months out. We just met this week with a group of people to help us plan January’s series. We came up with more ideas and better ideas than we would have had we done it by ourselves. And we’re making more positions for people to use their gifts rather than Jeremy and I overusing ours.

The second fundamental of playing a position is that you are expected to use your spiritual gifts.

3. Held Accountable for the Use of Your Spiritual Gifts

Peter was one of Jesus’ closest team members. Peter wrote a couple of letters that we now have in the Bible. In one of them he encourages us saying:

Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received.
~Peter (1 Peter 4:10 NRSV)

We don’t often use the word “manifold” but “mani” means “many” and “manifold” can mean assorted, multiple, or various. There are assorted, multiple, and various gifts of God’s grace that God gives. And we are each stewards of those manifold gifts and graces. A steward is someone who does not own the property he or she is using. Someone else owns it and the expectation is that they will use it well and return it well. Some day God will ask: “How did you use the gifts that I gave you?” How did you play your position? Will we be left making excuses?

Perhaps one of the best athletes to play any sport is Michael Jordan. There’s a great commercial where he’s talking about the game. But the kicker comes at the end.

Will you be left standing before God making excuses for why you didn’t play your position? Will you be left standing before God making excuses why you didn’t get in the game? Jesus tells a parable about a master handing out talents (Matthew 25)

Parable of the Talents. To one servant he gives one talent. To one he gives five. To another he gives ten. Then he goes away. The five-talent servant and the ten-talent servant use their talents to make more talents. The one-talent servant goes and buries his talent. When the master comes back, he rewards the five and ten-talent servants and he’s furious with the one-talent servant. He’s not upset because the servant has only one talent. He’s upset because he buried it and didn’t even risk trying.

So one day you will be held accountable to how you played your position. One of the ways you play your position is you volunteer somewhere in the church. You can explore volunteering by filling out our Service Inventory Sheet. On it you’ll find all kinds of ways you can serve in our church. You circle the ones you’re interested in. You’re not signing up for the position, you’re only expressing interest. When this series is over, someone who leads each area you circled an interest in will be in touch with you to talk further about that position to play. You can download a Service Inventory Sheet here.

Here’s the three fundamentals of playing a position:

Be aware of your spiritual gifts.
You’re expected to use your spiritual gifts.
You’ll be held accountable to using your spiritual gifts.

Let’s go back to that image I used at the beginning of the message. How far are you from the game? Are you not a fan? Not even watching the game. Probably not or you wouldn’t be here today. So you’re at least a fan. You watch from the stadium. Or are you a fanatic? You’re a season ticket holder. You come all the time. You cheer. You cry. But you’re still not in the game. Or are you on the farm team? You’ve made a commitment to serve somewhere. You’re learning a position. You’re exploring a position. You’re learning the game. Or are you a first string starter? You’re all in. You’re playing a position and while you do commit errors or fumbles from time to time, you’re learning from them and you’re in it to win it.

Team, I hope throughout this series you’re saying to yourself:

I don’t want to be watching the game at home.
I don’t want to be tailgating.
I don’t want to be in the stands.
I don’t want to be on the sidelines.
I don’t want to be on the bench.
I want to be in the game.
I want to be on the team.
Put me in coach!

Prayer
Almighty and merciful God, it is only by your gift that your faithful people offer you true and praiseworthy service: Grant that we may run without stumbling to obtain your heavenly promises; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Filed Under: Sermons Tagged With: gifts, serve, serving, spiritual gifts, teamwork, volunteer, volunteering

Committed to Christ: Because God first loved us

March 4, 2014 by Tom Leave a Comment

We love because God first loved us. (1 John 4:19)

Before you made any move toward God, before you discovered or contemplated or considered Jesus’ invitation to follow him, God moved toward you. Before you did or said anything, God declared a deep, abiding love for you. God loves you. God loved you first. This is a life-altering truth.

Our capacity for love is influenced significantly by the love we have received. If our parents and other adults have loved us well throughout our lives, we find it easier to pass along love and encouragement to others.

Following Jesus is a natural consequence of realizing who he is and the greatness of his love for us. John Wesley, who at Aldersgate saw that “Christ died for me, even me,” is but one example of the transformative power of beholding the depth of God’s love displayed on the cross.

Likewise, may you behold God’s love and, as a follower of Christ, evidence that love to others.

Creator God, may my commitment to you be a response to your love and commitment to me, to save, redeem, and use me for your purposes. Amen.

In preparation for Easter, our entire church family is in a season of decision and commitment toward the goal of becoming fully devoted disciples of Jesus Christ. We invite you to join us for Committed to Christ: Six Steps to a Generous Life.

Filed Under: Ponderings Tagged With: Bible Study, Committed to Christ, evangelism, Money, prayer, serve, Worship

Step one: Commitment to Christ

March 3, 2014 by Tom Leave a Comment

In preparation for Easter, our entire church family is invited to enter a season of decision and commitment toward the goal of becoming fully devoted disciples of Jesus Christ through the series Committed to Christ: Six Steps to a Generous Life. Each Sunday and Monday as a community we’ll delve into what it means to commit to climb one step closer toward this goal.

Daily throughout this seven-week series, we invite everyone to take a moment in which to dedicate time to consider personal next steps. Meditations will keep us focused on each of the steps along the way, beginning with this thought for today: Making or renewing our commitment to Christ.

“Come, follow me.” (Mark 1:17)

Knowingly or not, all of us follow someone. We can do so with great intention and care, or we can do so haphazardly, stumbling from here to there but nevertheless moving in a general direction. We identify those persons whom we most desire to emulate, and we make our decisions accordingly. We all have some general conception of what the good life looks like, either through exposure to a model, or by piecing together a patchwork ideal all our own. It remains with us to discern whether or not our focus is on Jesus as our model, or on something or someone altogether different.

As you begin this journey toward living a more generous life, your first stop is Jesus Christ. You must consider his invitation, his life, his path, his truth. You must ask whether or not Jesus is truly worthy of your devotion, your dedication, your wholehearted discipleship. God has supplied you with the grace necessary to bring you to a place where you can consider what a life committed to Christ entails.

Trust him, whether for the first time, or yet again. Turn your life over to him, and see what good and beautiful things he might bring.

Jesus, I wish to be your disciple, and I trust you to lead me in a good way, a way that leads to a generous and beautiful life. Amen.

Filed Under: Ponderings Tagged With: Bible Study, Committed to Christ, evangelism, Money, prayer, serve, Worship

Commited to Christ

February 24, 2014 by Tom 1 Comment

Dear Friends,

What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus Christ?
What does the Lord expect of me?
What “holy habits” should I cultivate in my life?

For seven weeks beginning in March and preparing us for Easter, our entire church family is invited to enter a season of decision and commitment toward the goal of becoming fully devoted disciples of Jesus Christ. We will begin a new series called Committed to Christ: Six Steps to a Generous Life.

We are hoping that every person and every family will be present every Sunday or Monday during this season so that we can each commit to climb one step closer toward this goal. We will dedicate ourselves to the Lord and obey what the Lord has commanded, in a spirit of gratitude for all that we have received.

On an introductory week at the start of the program, we will be asked to make or renew our personal commitment to Christ. Each of the six weeks following will emphasize a different area of faithful Christian discipleship: prayer, Bible reading, worship, financial giving, witness, and service.

Here are several things you will want to be aware of:

A preview booklet that describes each of the six areas of commitment is available for FREE at the info table on Sunday or Monday.
A 40-day devotional book is also available on Sunday or Monday for $4 or you can buy one here.
A set of commitment cards that show the various levels of commitment, ranging from limited commitment to full and unlimited commitment can be downloaded here. You will be invited to complete and turn in one commitment each week during worship on Sunday or Monday.
A serve sheet with all the ministries of our church listed can be downloaded here. You are invited to complete and turn this in on the last week during worship on Sunday or Monday. Also consider taking a FREE ($15 value) online spiritual gifts survey at www.assessme.org/2364.aspx.

To celebrate what God is doing here at Sycamore Creek Church, the series will culminate in a special Ministry Celebration Sunday with ONE Sunday service at 10:30 AM on Palm Sunday, April 13 (Monday night will meet as usual), where all the ministries of the church will be on display in a service fair in the Connection Cafe.

May God bless each of us as we commit together to become fully devoted disciples of Jesus Christ.

Peace,
Pastor Tom

Schedule
March 2 & 3 – Intro
March 9 & 10 – Prayer
March 16 & 17 – Bible
March 23 & 24 – Worship
March 30 & 31 – Financial
April 6 & 7 – Witness
April 13 & 14 (Palm Sunday) – Service (ONE Sunday service at 10:30 AM; Monday at 7PM as usual)

Filed Under: Newsletter Tagged With: Bible Study, evangelism, Money, prayer, serve, Worship

Sermon: Serve Sunday 2012 – The Disciple

January 31, 2012 by Tom Leave a Comment

Have you ever watched the show, The Apprentice? The Celebrity Apprentice is just gearing up to begin in a month or so. I got hooked on this show. It’s a kind of guilty hook. I watch it because it’s a lot about human dynamics and how people work together. Kind of like the church! But then it’s also kind of like watching a train wreck and sometimes I wonder if I’m not drawn to it because of all the gossip, slander, and backstabbing that happens to win the game. Ignoring for a moment all the negative, the teams on Celebrity Apprentice that raise the most money for charity are always the ones that work together the best, tapping into each person’s skills and talents, and have individuals who are willing to serve in whatever way it takes to raise money. When a team is clicking along with all its members firing at full strength, it’s really a beautiful sight to behold.

Another team that worked amazingly well together to accomplish a task was the team that rebuilt the wall of Jerusalem after returning from exile. Watch how every team member kicks in whether it’s their special talent or not.

Nehemiah 3 (Selections)

Then the high priest Eliashib set to work with his fellow priests and rebuilt the Sheep Gate. They consecrated it and set up its doors; they consecrated it as far as the Tower of the Hundred and as far as the Tower of Hananel. And the men of Jericho built next to him. And next to them Zaccur son of Imri built.

The sons of Hassenaah built the Fish Gate; they laid its beams and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars. Next to them Meremoth son of Uriah son of Hakkoz made repairs. Next to them Meshullam son of Berechiah son of Meshezabel made repairs. Next to them Zadok son of Baana made repairs. Next to them the Tekoites made repairs; but their nobles would not put their shoulders to the work of their Lord…

Next to them Uzziel son of Harhaiah, one of the goldsmiths, made repairs. Next to him Hananiah, one of the perfumers, made repairs; and they restored Jerusalem as far as the Broad Wall…Next to him Shallum son of Hallohesh, ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, made repairs, he and his daughters…

Above the Horse Gate the priests made repairs, each one opposite his own house. After them Zadok son of Immer made repairs opposite his own house.

This is God’s story for us today. Thank you, God!

Today we begin a new annual series called Serve Sunday. Each year we’ll take some time to reflect on how we can use our gifts to serve on the team that we call Sycamore Creek Church doing the task that we call “igniting authentic life in Christ.” This week we’ll begin that exploration and next week you’ll have the opportunity to make a commitment to serve in some way here at the church. Just like you make an annual financial pledge to the church, we’ll be inviting you to make an annual service pledge.

Today I’d like begin with what is sometimes called the 80/20 rule. I’d like to look at this story from Nehemiah and our own experience here at SCC and explore the good, the bad, and the ugly of the 80/20 rule. So what is the 80/20 rule? Good question. Generally speaking, the 80/20 rule says that 20% of the people do 80% of the work. Let’s begin here, but I want to take it even deeper today.

20% of the People Do 80% of the Work

There are good, bad, and ugly aspects of the 80/20 rule.

The Good – If 20% of the people are doing most of the work here at SCC, that allows 80% of the people to focus on reaching out to the community. What if 20% of our church took care of internal needs and the other 80% were missionaries, reaching out to meet the spiritual and physical needs of our community? That would be awesome! I’d love to brag about SCC not by telling people how many attend worship, but by saying, “80% of church are missionaries to their work, neighborhoods, schools, family, and friends.” But is that what’s happening? Do 80% of you consider yourselves missionaries in our community? If you consider yourself a missionary, then do you take the next step and act like one?

The Bad – Some of those 20% are perfectly content with doing what they’re doing. They know they’re called to serve in the church in a particular area, they’ve got the skills and passion to make it happen excellently, they love what they’re doing, and could do it for the rest of their lives. But if 20% of the people are doing 80% of the work there can be a tendency to burn out some of that 20%. They can become tired, stuck, and cynical. They can feel like there’s no room to explore further callings in the church and outside of it. In some ways this is natural. Being human we like some variety. We don’t want to be stuck doing the same thing over and over again like an assembly line.

The Ugly – While the good of the 80/20 rule is that it frees up 80% of the church to be serving in our community, and the bad is that some of the 20% can get burnt out, the ugly of the 80/20 rule is that some of us are unwilling to spend any time doing anything, especially housecleaning stuff that has to be done whether anyone really likes doing it or not. In the passage we read above, there was one group that was unwilling to chip in. We read, “Next to them the Tekoites made repairs; but their nobles would not put their shoulders to the work of their Lord” (Nehemiah 3:5 NLT). We’re not told why they were unwilling to work, but maybe they thought working on rebuilding a wall was below them. If they were sitting around Donald Trump’s board room table, who do you think would get fired?

There are a lot of housecleaning things to be done at SCC. A LOT! When you set up and tear down a worship space every week, we can’t survive very long if everyone isn’t willing to do some basic menial labor. EVERYONE! Well, maybe not guests. But everyone else. No Tekoite nobles allowed here at SCC.

Here’s the good news, we’ve been compiling a list of people who serve in some way at SCC. Our list includes 94 people. 94 people! Wow! That’s way over the 80/20 rule. But what percentage is it? In December we had 148 individuals who came at least once. So we’ve got a 94/148 rule. 63%. That’s really pretty incredible. But where are the other 54 people? Are you Tekoite nobles? What’s keeping you from chipping in some way and helping around here?

80% of What You Do Is Hidden and 20% Is Seen

The Good – Worship is all about hidden excellence. If you go to a gothic cathedral you will most likely be told about the artisans who crafted the cathedral. Often times, they took such pride in their work and saw it so much as an act of worship, that they carved stones on pillars that were hidden back against a wall. No one would ever see their work. No one except God. A lot of what happens around here will never be seen by anyone except you and God. We read in Nehemiah that “above the Horse Gate the priests made repairs, each one opposite his own house” (3:28 NLT). “Opposite his own house” means that it wasn’t in the public square. The work they were doing wasn’t out where everyone would see it. It was likely that the people who would see it the most would be themselves. It takes a kind of internal motivation to desire to be faithful to God to take this kind of hidden action.

Now I do get to see a lot more hidden excellence than the average person around here because I’m here a lot. I’m sure there are things that people do that I don’t see, but I see a lot. I see people making sure that a curtain is set up just right. I see people picking up some trash on the floor. I see people counting the offering in a hidden room in the back. I see people practicing their music so that they get better. I see people staying after everyone else is gone sweeping up the floor. I see people running all over town to find some prop so that we can be creative in our worship set. I see people reading their Bibles and praying daily so that they are walking the talk. I see people calling one another to offer support and encouragement in a time of crisis. So much of what happens around here will never be seen by anyone else.

The Bad – While much of what we do will always be hidden, it is also easy to become discouraged because we feel like our contribution isn’t appreciated. I’m afraid that I’m sometimes slow on showing appreciation. We all are a little dense sometimes like that. And it’s normal to need to feel appreciated. Yes, we are appreciated by God who sees all our hidden excellence, but we’re also humans and need the human touch. When we show one another appreciation, we are acting as the voice of God in that moment. We are making vocal what is only experienced spiritually.

The Ugly – 80% of what we do will be hidden from most others. This has an ugly side to it. Like I said, we’re human, and sometimes we make assumptions based only on the 20% that is seen. We get upset at the church because we think something isn’t happening, when in reality it is happening, it is just happening behind the scenes. Or we get frustrated because we think people aren’t chipping in and pulling their weight, when in reality, they are doing so, they’re just doing it when no one is looking. When it comes to me, you all know that I only work one day of the week, Sunday morning. Right? Well, Sunday morning is about 20% of my time, but is 80% of the time I spend with 80% of the people in our church. Let’s not rush to assumptions based on only what we see. Go talk to someone. Ask some questions. Seek out some answers. Look for the moments of hidden excellence.

80% of Your Work Will Be Planting and 20% Will Be Fruit

If you jump back a chapter in Nehemiah you will find the story of how Nehemiah got to this point of rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem. We read:

I also said to the king, “If it please Your Majesty, give me letters to the governors of the province west of the Euphrates River, instructing them to let me travel safely through their territories on my way to Judah. And please send a letter to Asaph, the manager of the king’s forest, instructing him to give me timber. I will need it to make beams for the gates of the Temple fortress, for the city walls, and for a house for myself.” And the king granted these requests, because the gracious hand of God was on me.
Nehemiah 2:7-8 NLT

Notice how much work Nehemiah has to do to get to the point of what he really wants to do. Nehemiah had to acquire all the right letters and approvals. Then he had to move from Babylon to Jerusalem. If you keep reading you’ll see that he also had to overcome opposition. Not everyone liked his plan. There’s a ton of planning that has to be done for any kind of work or ministry. 80% of your work will be planting and only 20% will be harvesting fruit.

The Good – Sometimes we can become impatient, but the 80/20 rule reminds us that it’s OK to wait. You don’t have to have fruit right now. In fact, don’t expect continual fruit. Don’t expect to never fail. It’s OK to experiment. In fact, experimentation and failure are key parts of growing and improving toward excellence. There is something that social scientists call the “OK plateau.” It is a point that you come to where you’re good enough at whatever you’re doing that you don’t really need to get any better to do your daily work. You’re OK, and you’re OK with being OK. But if you want to excel and get off the OK plateau, then there’s something you have to be willing to do: fail. Experimentation and planned failure are the key to getting off the OK plateau. In other words, you won’t always excel. You won’t always improve. You won’t always bear fruit. 80% of what you do will be building you up to that point where you do excel. But only 20% of the time will be seeing fruit. Don’t get discouraged.

The Bad – The problem is that we do often get discouraged. We give up too quickly. The 80/20 rule shows that excellence requires patience and perseverance, something that few of us really have. But how do you improve your patience and perseverance? Practice. Fail. Practice. Fail. Practice. Fail. Practice. Patience…

The Ugly – Here’s the ugly truth, some of us don’t show any fruit but keep doing the same things. We’ve been living life the same way, doing the same thing over and over and over again. No change. No fruit. No change. No fruit. SCC seeks to be the kind of church that doesn’t just keep doing the same thing even if it isn’t working. We’re willing to stop doing some things and try doing other things. Are you willing to do the same thing?

80% of Your Time Should Be Spent on Your Passion/Purpose/Calling and 20% on “Housecleaning”

The Good – Everyone has to do some housecleaning. It keeps you humble. We’ve got a schedule for cleaning the bathroom in the office. Every one of the staff is on the schedule. I don’t get a bye just because I’m the pastor, although I’ve tried. Nope. Maybe some day when you’re super rich, you can hire out all the housecleaning, but even then I’d suggest that you’d be doing yourself a disservice. It is good for the soul for each of us to get our hands dirty cleaning the toilets from time to time.

Did you notice all the different kinds of people who helped rebuild the wall of Jerusalem? We read, “Next to them Uzziel son of Harhaiah, one of the goldsmiths, made repairs. Next to him Hananiah, one of the perfumers, made repairs” (Nehemiah 3:8 NLT). I love that verse. The perfumers were helping rebuild the wall! I imagine perfumers as hoighty toighty kind of people. You know, the kind of people who really don’t want to get their hands dirty. But here they are helping out rebuilding the wall just like everyone else.

The Bad – Sometimes though we can end up in a corner where we’re spending 80% of our time on housecleaning and 20% on our calling. This is a recipe for disaster. God has given each of us talents to use, and when we end up only using the talents 20% of the time, it’s like we’re burying them. Don’t fall into this trap.

The Ugly – There is an ugly side to this aspect of the 80/20 rule. 20% of us spend our time in our passion, purpose, and calling while 80% stumble along blindly like robots stuck in a rut. We are stuck in a rut just doing the same old thing that we’ve become used to doing. We’re not willing to take risks to try new things. We found it difficult to seek God’s calling so we gave up a long time ago. Are you stuck not having any clue what you’re called to do? Then seek out the counsel of others around you. Read books. Go to conferences. Pray. Read your Bible. Don’t waste the time and talents that God has entrusted you with.

The 80/20 rule has a lot of good, bad, and ugly about it. So let me review briefly:

20% of the people do 80% of the work. That’s OK if the other 80% are living as missionaries in the community.

80% of what you do will be hidden while only 20% will be seen.

80% of your work will be planting and only 20% will be harvesting fruit.

80% of your time should be spent on calling/passion/purpose, but 20% will always have to be house cleaning.

1 Key Leader – Nehemiah

There is one thing that the 80/20 rule leaves out, the importance of leadership. This might be called the 99/1 rule. For anything worthwhile to get done, it always requires a leader. Rarely if ever do we see God working through a committee in the Bible. God seems to call a leader and equip them with a vision to lead to a particular place. Abraham led his family from Ur to Palestine. Joseph led the entire nation of Egypt to prepare for a famine. Moses led the Hebrew people out of slavery in Egypt. Joshua led the people into the promised land. Deborah led the people by acting as a judge. Esther saved the Hebrews by talking to the king. Nehemiah led the people to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem so that the city could thrive again.

Then I said to them [the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, and the rest], “You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, so that we may no longer suffer disgrace.” I told them that the hand of my God had been gracious upon me, and also the words that the king had spoken to me.
Nehemiah 2:17-18a NRSV

God calls individuals to lead his people to where God wants them to go. Are some of you this morning called to be leaders? Not just someone who shows up and does their own thing, but someone who is willing to work through the messiness of working with people. Remember, the people always wanted to go back to slavery in Egypt! Are some of you called to consider being a leader of leaders? To be a pastor/leader? For Sycamore Creek Church to move deeper into God’s purposes, it will take leaders.

100% (almost) Helped

But it won’t just take leaders. It will take everyone too. When I read the story of the rebuilding of the wall, I’m struck by how many people really did join in. Almost 100% helped. (There were those stubborn Tekoite nobles!) Could Nehemiah have rebuilt the wall by himself? No way. Nehemiah couldn’t do it alone. Call this the 100 rule.

Next week when we gather you’ll have the opportunity to make a commitment to serve here at SCC. We’ll be passing out a sheet that has all the ministries listed on it. We’ll give you some time to prayerfully reflect upon this list. Then you’ll circle the ones that you’re interested in. This doesn’t mean that you’ll automatically be serving or that you’re making a final commitment to that area of service. What it will mean is that you’re committing to entering into a conversation about that area of ministry and how you might serve there.

To help you prepare for that, we’re encouraging everyone to take an online spiritual gifts inventory. There are actually four inventories on this website: a personality inventory, a leadership style inventory, a spiritual gifts inventory, and a skills inventory. You can find that inventory at http://www.assessme.org/2364.aspx. The best way to engage this online inventory is to take it and then discuss it with someone else. Our small groups have been discussing them, and if you’re not in a small group then join one! But short of that, talk it over with someone who knows you well.

Next week let’s shoot for a new 80/20 rule: 80% of SCC will be committed to serving in some way.

Prayer

God, give each of us a deep commitment to serve in some way using our time and talents. Help us to know where to serve in a way that you can use us most to touch the lives of others. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Filed Under: Sermons Tagged With: serve, Serve Sunday

Generous Sowing (Reveille UMC)

January 24, 2012 by Tom Leave a Comment

Generous Sowing
Reveille United Methodist Church
January 22, 2012
Tom Arthur
Matthew 13:1-9

(This sermon was preached at Reveille United Methodist Church in Richmond, VA for their calling Sunday. I was an intern at Reveille during the summer of 2006.)

Peace, friends!

It is good to be back among you. I have many many good memories of Reveille from the summer I spent as an intern here in 2006. I will share with you later in the sermon some of the ways that summer had an impact on me, but for now, let’s dive into the Scripture text for today.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Sermons Tagged With: Money, serve, testimony

Serve Sunday 2012 – The Disciple

January 24, 2012 by Tom Leave a Comment

What is my calling? How can I serve effectively? One key to answering these questions is understanding your spiritual gifts. To prepare for our first annual two-week Serve Sunday series, The Disciple, we’re encouraging you to take an online spiritual gift inventory at www.assessme.org/2364.aspx. Plan for 15-20 minutes to take it thoughtfully. While you do not need to be a part of a small group to take the inventory, each small group in our church will be discussing each member’s results. On Sunday, February 5th, you will have an opportunity to then make a commitment/pledge to serve in the church for the next year. Taking the online inventory will help you make a more informed commitment. Why serve? Why commit? Because that’s what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.

January 29, 2012 – The 80/20 Rule
February 5, 2012 – Serve Sunday

Filed Under: Sermons Tagged With: serve, Serve Sunday

Fantastic Four – Find Your Forte

Who’s the Coach?

What’s My Position?

Committed to Christ: Because God first loved us

Step one: Commitment to Christ

Sermon: Serve Sunday 2012 – The Disciple

Generous Sowing (Reveille UMC)

Serve Sunday 2012 – The Disciple

Pages

Archives

Categories

Recent Comments

Favorite Websites

My Other Websites

SCC Websites

Meta