Involvement

1. Rev. 3:1 ends with these words: you are dead.

2. Jesus looked at one of His congregations and said they were deceased.

3. The church at Sardis “had a name” and many members may have thought all things were fine.

4. Jesus said the church had bottomed out; this congregation had only a few signs of life left.

5. Rev. 3:2 READ.

IF IT IS POSSIBLE FOR A CONGREGATION TO BE CLASSIFIED AS “DEAD,” IT ALSO SEEMS POSSIBLE FOR SOMEONE WHO HAS BECOME A NEW TESTAMENT CHRISTIAN TO BE CLASSIFIED AS “DEAD.”

a) In the life of Paul we see a rather important point.

b) For our Scripture reading we heard Acts 9:26-30.

c) Paul came to the city of Jerusalem and sought to join himself to the disciples.

d) This information is in Acts 9:26.

e) In verses 28-30 of this chapter we read about the apostle being active in the Lord’s work.

2) Paul did not want his name put in the church directory and then disappear.

3) He wanted to be recognized as a Christian among his brethren and then he got to work.

4) He was someone who decided to be involved in the work of God.

a) In our culture we have expressions like “bench warmer.”

b) In Bible terminology, such a person is “neither hot or cold.”

c) When we look at the Bible this important point emerges.

d) There is not a place for bench warming in the Kingdom of God.

5) As we prepare to begin a new year it is a good time to ask ourselves about our Christian life.

6) How active have we been during the past year? How active to we plan to be this coming year?

7) Have we been sitting on the sidelines or trying to help on the front lines?

8) These were matters Jesus considered when He lived His earthly life.

a) In Jn. 9:4 He said “We must work the works of Him that sent me.”

b) Jesus believed He had to be active; His spiritual life could not be one of inactivity.

c) He saw a mission (a purpose) and He said He had to forge ahead with it.

d) Then He added a reason; a time would come when it was “night” and He could not work.

9) Most team sports have people who sit on the sidelines for a while.

10) During game time someone may sit out for a specified time or the entire game.

11) As a year passes, the team’s season comes to a close.

12) Imagine a person who has signed up for a team but sits on the bench the entire season.

13) He or she gets dressed for each game, but there is never any real involvement with the game.

a) That is not what a good athlete wants.

b) Jesus refused to have this type of spiritual life.

c) He was part of heaven’s team and He, as it were, showed up for work and He worked.

d) As we look at our lives, we can ask if we are an active part of the team.

e) Do we simply “get dressed” or are we an active participant in the Christian faith?

14) If this has not been our choice, a time is coming when “night” will come.

15) Our health will fail, the Lord will return, or we will die.

16) Our chance to be part of heaven’s team is now.

17) Jesus viewed this matter as pretty important.

18) I want to turn back to a little earlier time in John’s gospel, the fourth chapter.

19) Jesus had finished His conversation with the woman at the well. She went off to tell people about Him.

20) At this time Jesus had a conversation with His disciples; they wanted Him to eat.

a) Jesus said He already had food. It was not bread and fish; it was spiritual in nature.

b) Jn. 4:34 – READ.

c) Jesus said He had to “work” and “finish” that work.

d) The Lord did not expect the disciples to carry out His mission.

e) He did not look to the Jewish officials to take care of the spiritual tasks that needed to be done.

f) Jesus said there was work to do and He was ready to do it.

g) Is this the case with us as we look at our own Christian lives?

SOMEONE MIGHT SAY, “WELL THAT IS ALL FINE AND GOOD BUT IT WAS JESUS. HE WAS DIRECTLY SENT BY GOD AND HE WAS IN A CLASS ALL BY HIMSELF. WE ARE NOT EXACTLY QUITE LIKE HIM.”

a) All right, let’s consider bench warming from another perspective.

b) Solomon was a wise man and he said some very wise things which have been recorded for us.

c) My next time comes from Eccl. 9 and I want to present some information in reverse.

d) Instead of telling what leads up to the cited references, I want to discuss what comes after my text.

2) In Eccl. 9:13 Solomon said there was “something else” that had made a deep impression on him.

3) Since he said “something else” he implied that what was said before was really important.

4) This preceding item is what we want to consider.

a) In verse 12 he said life can be unexpected.

b) He compared life to a bird caught in a snare or fish caught in a net.

c) Life is very unpredictable, and we agree that his point is exactly right.

d) In verse 11 he made some other observations that are correct.

e) The fastest person does not always win the race.

f) It is not always the strongest person who wins the battle.

g) Wise people are not always wealthy (they can be quite poor) and skillful people are not always famous.

5) In the midst of these great thoughts is verse 10 – READ.

6) Whatever we choose to do, we want to do it well and really work at it.

7) We do this because as Jesus said, “the night comes and no man can work.”

a) There are people in life who seem to just go from one thing to another.

b) Whether it is a job or a hobby, they just never seem to settle on anything.

c) This same thinking style can be applied to Christianity.

d) People adopt it for a while, leave it, and then maybe come back to it.

e) Solomon’s principle tells us to start with it and keep on going.

f) We do not want to sit on the sidelines when it comes to our faith.

8) Throughout the Bible we have example upon example of people who were active in the service of God.

a) Consider the time when Israel was supposed to enter into the land of Canaan.

b) Caleb (Num. 13:30) said, “Let’s go up at once and possess it.”

c) He knew the will of God and he did not want to sit back on the sidelines.

d) He did not want to be a bench warmer.

e) Israel, however, was content to stay where it was.

9) A great sermon text and a chapter related to tonight’s material is 1 Chron. 22.

a) David wanted to build a temple for God.

b) As many here already know, God told David he would not be allowed to carry out this task.

c) David was considered a “man of blood” because of all the battles he had fought.

d) David’s son Solomon, however, could and would build a temple.

e) When David heard that he would not build the temple he could have sat back and said, “I’m done.”

f) “If God will not let me serve in this way, I’m through.”

g) David could have decided that he would be a bench warmer.

h) After all, he had already done many, many good things.

10) David refused to sit on the sidelines.

11) Although he would not construct the temple, he basically arranged for the funding of this task.

a) I want to read some of the verses from 1 Chron. 22 starting with verse 14 – READ

b) Notice the word “affliction.”

c) This describes hard work; David was putting together the financing for the temple.

d) He came up with a “hundred thousand talents of gold and thousand thousand talents of silver.”

e) Donald Trump claims he is worth several billion dollars.

f) As rich as Mr. Trump is, I do not believe his worth is superior to the amount of money described here.

g) David managed to gather several billion dollars in gold. There were millions of dollars in silver.

h) Then there were other items such as timber, brass and iron.

i) David could have reasoned that he had a son and Solomon could gotten the money all by himself.

j) David saw an opportunity to serve God and he took it.

k) His choice was work—it was hard work—but he knew that he had a project that mattered.

12) David’s choice should be the choice of every Christian.

13) In 1 Chron. 29:2 the information we are studying is developed in a little more detail – READ

14) David said he had used “all his might” (every resource at his command) to help get things ready.

a) Why would David do this? Verse 3 –READ

b) David loved God and wanted to serve Him in the best way he could.

c) A powerful question is asked in verse 5 – READ

15) David claimed to have devoted himself to a project for God.

16) Then he asked who would join him.

17) Would the people actively participate or would they choose a path of bench warming?

18) David was not trying to put these people on a guilt trip. It was not a psychological ploy.

19) It was a sincere offer and the people realized that – verse 9 - READ

20) Verse 17 helps complete the thought – READ

21) Jesus once spoke about “putting our hand to the plow” and then “looking back.”

a) Looking back is one way to be a bench warmer.

b) Putting our hand to the plow means work.

c) Have we committed to working for God the very best we can in the past?

d) Is this our commitment as we enter into a new year? Jesus said “pray for laborers to go into the harvest.”

e) God needs workers in 2007. Will we be one?