O Church Arise! — Tim Conway

Serving the Lord With Urgency

Please turn in your Bibles to Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12 verse 11. One of you brothers that reads from the NAS, would you read that for us? Not lagging behind in diligence. That's what it says there.

My ESV says, Do not be slothful and zeal. Be fervent in spirit. Serve the Lord. Very similar. Not lagging behind in diligence. Here's what I want to do. First, I just want to give a little bit of an introduction, introductory statement.

Second, I want to seek to explain this verse. And then third, I want to enforce it by about 13 persuasions. So we need to move quickly. And I need this. You know, my family and I, we actually didn't come up from Texas to Kirksville.

We came from Michigan, where we have been for the last week. It's about the first kind of vacation that I remember in a long, long time. And my mom got, she rented a house on a lake up there. And they had some kayaks.

And one morning I was out on the lake with some of my children. And I was paddling. And I was thinking about the thief on the cross. And you know, I don't know where you are at. You're all in a different place.

We've got a number of Christians here. We've got perhaps some lost folks here as well. No doubt in a group this size. And I don't know where you're at right now. I don't know if you're up on the plateau, if your walk with Christ has been sweet these days, whether there's been some battles, whether there's been some trials.

Sometimes I find myself in this Christian life, I don't know up from down at times. And it seems like, at least down there in San Antonio, it seems like the more blessing of the Lord we see, sometimes the more I can't figure anything out.

Here we've just spent this week up in Michigan with family, with friends, some I haven't seen for 25 years. Ruby and I trying to be witnesses in the midst of that. I'm driving away from that. It's brought back so many memories of my lost life and my past.

And just afresh in my mind, what is it that Christ has done to me? Where am I at right now? Just trying to size up my life. Where has it come from? Where is it going to? One of those mornings, I'm out there in one of those kayaks on that lake and I'm thinking, I've had a lot of thoughts like this lately.

I want to depart and I want to be with the Lord. And it seems like onslaughts of the devil and different trials and people in the church that you would never think turn on you, the least ones you ever thought, and problems and disciplinary situations.

And sometimes, I'll be honest, sometimes I want to run away. There I am out there in that kayak and I'm thinking, you know, I'm looking across the lake and there's wind and there's waves. And I see that house we're staying at.

And I'm thinking about that like the Christian life. The fact is, I have to row and I have to row and I have to go against the wind and against the waves and I have to get back there. But the truth is, that our Christian life is a lot like that.

The fact is that God could just, with one swift blow of the Spirit, have us right there at that haven that we seek. We could be there in a moment. I think about the thief on the cross. There's so many things we can learn from that man.

I'll tell you one thing that it teaches us. It is not absolutely essential to our Christian life to go through 30 years or 40 years or 50 years of sanctification. That's a reality. I mean, doesn't it ever occur to you?

You go through dry times, you go through cold times, you go through the onslaughts of the devil, you go through the trials and the tears and the disappointments in this life and your own failings and your own weakness.

Doesn't it ever occur to you, Lord, why don't You just take me home? I could worship You perfectly there. I carry around the baggage of this flesh that I have to put off one day. And in it, sin still tries to reign.

And I feel it. Lord, wouldn't it be better if You just took me home where I could love You with all my heart and soul and mind and strength and just worship You perfectly? Why do You leave me here? Does that ever cross any of your minds?

It definitely crosses mine. I mean, the fact is, right at this moment, with one word, the Lord could take us from this place where we get distracted. Some of you sitting out there, a little child makes a noise, you get distracted, you get turned away.

You come in here, you're cold. Every child of God in here, if you've been saved for any amount of time, you know what it is when coldness creeps into the Lord. You know what it is to be plagued by the devil.

You know what it is to be discouraged. Any of you just live up there on the plateaus of glory all the time? That isn't the Christian life. Sometimes we come in and it's up there, and then all of a sudden we find out reality after a little bit of time goes by.

The question, I mean, I feel it now. I want to depart and be with the Lord. I long for that. Why does He leave us in this wasteland when He might suddenly, like the thief on the cross, this day you'll be with Me in paradise.

That's proof positive. You don't have to stay here. It is not absolutely essential for what we are becoming to stay here. Because we see an example of one who was taken right out just like that. But I'll tell you this, we are here, and the certainty is this, God knows exactly what He's doing.

We have a text before us. We are called to serve the Lord. Brethren, you are here to serve the Lord. And the fact is, if you are still here, it's because your service to the Lord here. This is true. You think about this.

Let this sink in. If you are here, it's because your service here glorifies the Lord more than if you could perfectly worship Him there. That's a truth. We're not here in vain, brethren. We're here to serve the Lord in a way that would not be possible if we were this day in glory, basking in the perfect brightness of His beauty.

Listen, we are here as the church of the living God. We are the pillar, the ground, the buttress of truth. And the truth is this, that God has called upon us to be the light and to be the salt in a decaying world that we could not be if we were there.

How beautiful are the feet of them! Folks, I'll tell you this, you're not going to find the truth on the nightly news. You're not going to find it on the radio. You're not going to find it in the newspaper.

We are here to be those truth bearers. Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. How are they going to call upon Him in whom they've never heard? How are they going to hear folks unless there's a preacher that's been sent to them?

How in the world? We're those people! There are things that we simply could not do if we were in glory right now. We're the ones appointed to be here to sow this seed. We're the ones appointed to be salt and light in the midst of this crooked and perverse generation.

We're the ones, brethren, our time is now. We're called to be here for a season. Some of us may be called home rather quickly. Some of you may be here for decades serving the Lord. But I guarantee you, the Lord finds glory in this.

He leaves us here for a purpose. We're the ones that know the terror of the Lord. We persuade people inside the church, outside the church. We're the ones that are called to do that. The greatest possible glory you and I can bring to the Lord right now is to faithfully serve the Lord here and now.

If that were not the case, be certain, we would not be here. But we are here. Paul says that while we're here, this is what we're to do. Not be slothful in zeal, but fervent in spirit serving the Lord.

Serving Christ as Lord

So, here we go. Let's look at that text a little bit. The first thing I want to say, and I'll develop this more in a little bit, is we serve Christ. Now it says we serve the Lord, but let me just tell you, you can flip to this if you want to.

Romans 14 .18. What I want you to see here by looking at this text, is that when Paul's thinking about serving the Lord, we know that sometimes God the Father is called Lord, sometimes the Spirit is even called Lord.

I just think of 2 Corinthians 3 .18 right off. But Paul specifically has in mind Christ. You can see that in the Roman letter. Romans 14 .18. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.

Right over in Romans 16 .18. Go part way through that verse there. Romans 16 .18. Such persons do not serve our Lord Christ. You see, when Paul's speaking about serving in the Roman letter, he's got this idea of the Lord Christ.

Serving Christ. That's the first thing that I want to show to you. The second thing that I would point out is the term serve. Some of you may be aware that right now, John MacArthur has been preaching numbers of messages.

He came to San Antonio, we heard him preach there, and he actually preached a message on this. On the noun doulos. Any of you know what that means? Slave. Slave. Well, let me tell you something. The term serve, used here in Romans 12, is the verb form of that noun.

Basically what Paul is saying, when he used the term serve, he means to perform the duty of a slave. Paul is exhorting us to be a slave to the Lord Jesus Christ. And what's true about a slave? Here's what's true about a slave.

A slave is a person whose sole objective is to carry out the will of another. That's what a slave does. Now look, a lot of times we have a negative connotation in our minds about slavery. We think about the slave who serves the harsh master and really the slave is bending to the will of the master although the slave's will himself is opposed to the will of the master.

That's not what we're talking about with Christ. But nevertheless, the idea, what Paul is calling us to in Christianity, definitely we have a delight very often in doing the things that our Lord would have us to do.

His commandments are not grievous to us. We hunger and thirst after these things. So I mean, that's different than a lot of the slavery that might go along in our minds. But folks, nevertheless, when we talk slavery, we are talking about our will basically bending to His will.

We're talking about our sole objective being there to carry out the will of another. Now brethren, do you hear what I'm saying? I think it's important that we stop just for a second and really emphasize this.

The fact is, and I don't know how it is here in Kirksville, but I know the background that I've come from and a lot of what I've been exposed to. And I have ran in some circles and been exposed many times to people that just basically have this idea about a defeated Christianity.

A Christianity, I mean, I can remember one time in our own church as I was dealing with Romans 7 and having a guy in the back row saying, well, my marriage is bad. It's always been bad. And that's the way it's going to be.

I said, what? That is not biblical Christianity. That is not the approach we're supposed to have. Do you see what Paul is calling us to do? He is calling us to serve Christ. And he's not expecting that we're going to come away and read this and just say, well, that's just pie in the sky theology.

That's out of our grasp. I mean, we're just really basically a bunch of defeated people. Let me tell you this. What Paul is expecting us to do, and you remember how this chapter started. Paul is calling us to be living sacrifices to God.

Look, Paul is not assuming that it's impossible for the Christian to consistently and as a pattern of life, bend to the will of Jesus Christ. I mean, what we really need to get is the fact is, Christian, it is not impossible.

It is not inconceivable for you to think that you can live the next 24 hours without willfully violating the will of Christ. Now look, I'm not talking about this sinless perfection where we can perfectly love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength.

Even any moment. That's not what I'm saying. But Paul definitely had the idea that it was possible, and he's exhorting the Christian, look, with some passion in your life, serve Christ. Bend to His will.

Your life should be a pattern of one where you are habitually serving Him. Paul would say in another place, to live is Christ. What's that all about? That means that everything you do with your life, everything you plan, everything that you're putting yourself to as you're thinking, as you're scheduling your life and planning your life, and going forth in life, and getting up every morning, and facing this world, and going out in your workplace, raising your children, going to school, wherever it is.

You're just purposed. I am going to serve Christ. For me to live is Christ. We can do that. In the power of the Spirit, we can do that. It is very important. Peter says it, Be diligent to be found in Him without spot or blemish and at peace.

Be diligent. That means something you are giving yourself to. Be diligent to be found without spot. That means, folks, that we can live not willfully acting contrary to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I mean, if we do sin, you know, John had that same idea. He says, little children, I write to you that you don't sin. Now, if you do, but I'm writing to you that you don't. I mean, I'm encouraging you.

I'm exhorting you. Brethren, we can live this way in the power of God. Well, you look there at the verse again. Be fervent in spirit. I mean, actually, we have it in the negative. We're not to be slothful.

Or as many of your NAS's says, there's supposed to be a diligence there. And then you have it in the positive. Be fervent in the spirit. The word fervent, do you see that? It literally means to boil. Paul says, boil in your spirit serving Christ.

Brethren, this is a verse of obvious intensity. We're to be earnest, we're to be alive, we're to be vigorous. Whatever you do for Christ, throw your whole soul in it. That's basically it. Paul is saying, I don't want any loafers in the ranks of the redeemed.

Don't be idle. Don't be slothful in your service to the Lord. Over and over and over. If you haven't seen it, see it here. You can see it in these words. Boil in your spirit. What we find in the Scriptures is over and over and over and over, the Bible says intensity matters.

Zeal matters. It matters to God. Look, live in the Christian life at a low burn with little passion. That's not pleasing to the Lord. Over and over we find wholeheartedness matters. Too many lazy Christians, or at least lazy professing Christians, but we can make no mistake about it.

The Lord Christ is calling you to put away idleness, put away slothfulness, laziness, half-heartedness. Serve Him as a slave with a boiling spirit of passion. That's basically the idea. We look at it here.

Who are we to serve? Serve the Lord. It seems Paul has in mind serving the Lord Christ. Specifically has in mind serving. Giving ourselves as a slave to Christ. Doing it with fervency. Fervency in spirit.

Boiling in spirit. No idleness. No sluggardliness. That's basically the meaning. It's not complex. It's very simple. So, okay, I'm going to shoot at you 13 enforcements or persuasions of this. Because I think about it.

The Shrewdness of the Sons of This World

Okay, I look at this and I think, as I was preparing the message, I was thinking, okay, we can know that, but how do I stir up God's people to actually do it? And I think, well, I don't have the ability.

Really, when it comes to passion, the Spirit of God creates passion. So how do I lay hold on the Spirit? How can I move upon the Spirit to move upon you? And I realize the way that the biblical writers seemed to approach this type of thing was with truth.

It seems to me that truth is the kindling that the Spirit of God tends to light. So, I want to see some fires lit in hearts of God's people. I'm going to seek to do it with truth. And so my persuasions are just basically this.

They're biblical persuasions. I'm going to throw a flurry of them at you. Here we go. Now brethren, think with me about this. Jesus Christ wants you to serve Him with passion, with fervence, with boiling, with diligence.

He doesn't want you to wear out. He doesn't want you to burn out. He doesn't want you idle. He doesn't want you lacking in diligence. Now maybe there's a whole lot of other motivations. Maybe somebody else could think up a whole other list.

Maybe these are just the ones that seem to encourage my own heart. I don't know. But here's the first one. Have you ever read Luke 16? I know most of you have. Luke 16. You know about it, right? There's a parable.

In fact, it's a strange parable. It almost seems like the Lord might be encouraging something that doesn't even seem right to us. Why don't you go there? Luke 16, verse 1. Bear with me here and I'll read from my translation.

He also said to the disciples, there was a rich man who had a manager and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions. And he called him and said to him, what is this that I hear about you?

Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager. And the manager said to himself, what shall I do? Since my master is taking the management away from me, I'm not strong enough to dig.

I'm ashamed to beg. I've decided what to do so that when I'm removed from management, people may receive me into their houses. So, summoning his master's debtors one by one, he said to the first, how much do you owe my master?

He said a hundred measures of oil. He said to him, take your bill, sit down quickly and write fifty. Then he said to another, and how much do you owe? He said a hundred measures of wheat. He said to him, take your bill and write eighty.

The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. Isn't that a strange parable? It sounds like Jesus is almost encouraging unrighteous behavior. But is that really what he's doing? Obviously not.

We need to read the next words or we miss the whole meaning. For the sons of this world are more shrewd, wiser, they're more sensible in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. Have you ever read that before?

Have you ever really thought about that before with that saying? Here I am, the last night. What was it? Saturday night. That I was up there in Michigan. I'm with a bunch of guys that I spent a lot of my life with.

Playing sports and hunting and being wild and living all that lost life with. That last night, I've got a group of these guys around and I'm telling them what Christ has done to me. I'm listening to them talk for a while.

I sat there quietly for maybe an hour as they talked about their work and they're saving up for their pension and the things that they're doing and their stuff. And I'm listening to people who are living for the world.

And then finally at one point, somebody said, so what's happening in your life? And that just opened the door. And I stood up and I began to just... I began to speak to them about regeneration and what it is that Christ had done to me.

And I'm talking to them about all this. And one of these couples that I used to run around with when I was lost, they're talking about the fact that they don't use pesticides. And they're these green people.

And they're trying to preserve everything. And I said, Susie! It's all going to burn up! Peter says it's going to burn up! Because I began to talk to them about Trevor Johnson and what he's doing over there among these Korowai people.

And that he's gone over there and all about how the situation is. And I was trying to make a point to them. Here is a man, here is a woman who are giving up everything in this life to go sit in 100 degree temperatures and 100 humidity and just drip sweat among a people who they have no appreciation for them to be there.

And as I began to talk about it, here are my two green friends. They're like, well, you know, you bring capitalism in and it brings all these problems in and they begin to destroy the environment and everything.

Maybe it's better that you just leave them alone. I said, you're not getting it. I said, Peter says that this world is going to burn up. I said, those people sit over there in a Christless darkness. They're without Christ.

They're without hope. I'm listening to these people and they are seeking to accomplish their ends. Seeking to preserve nature. Seeking to pile up for retirement. And I'm looking at that. Think about it, brethren.

You know what Jesus Christ is saying? Those old friends of mine are more diligent and more shrewd to save the greenery on this earth and to store up in their retirement funds than you and I are as children of light for the kingdom of God.

Now that is a motivator. Because I'll tell you what, there are Christians who outrun the lost in this world. And brethren, a text like this ought to make us hang our heads if we're not serving Christ with passion.

Are we going to let the world out-passion us in the service of the things that they go after than you and I? Brethren, they're eternal. We're talking eternal matters. We're talking we serve Christ. They serve money.

They serve mammon. They serve their idols. They serve their lusts. We serve Christ. Is that the summary statement when it's all said and done? They're more shrewd. They're more wise than we are. Brethren, let it not be so.

And just to continue, Luke 16 .9 Jesus says, I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth so that when it fails, they may receive you into the eternal dwellings. You see what He's attaching to this?

So much of how they outrun us has to do with what we do with our money. Isn't it interesting that that's where Christ goes? Christ says, store up your treasure in heaven. Store up your treasure in heaven.

You know what? It is an absolute shame if this economic downturn caused any of you to suffer major loss. Because you know what that tells me? That tells me you were heavily invested in this world. Brethren, the world stores up for retirement.

We're to be putting this money so that we'll be received into eternal dwellings. Now obviously Jesus isn't saying put your money there and that's how you earn this thing. But He's definitely calling us to have a regard for the rewards that are there.

When you go to Revelation 14, our deeds follow us through eternity! We have such things to be gained in this life. The world, what they have to gain is trivial. It's cotton candy compared to the meat that we have.

And they outrun us in their pursuits. Brethren, may it not be. My second persuasion to you actually comes from the very same context here. Luke 16 .10. Let me just chop a little bit out of there. But my second point is this, faithful in little, faithful in much.

You see it there. Luke 16 .10. One who is faithful in very little is also faithful in much. Brethren, I call you to serve the Lord fervently in the little things. Be faithful. There's a number of you young people here.

Be faithful in the little things. Some of you have this idea, well, if I was over there with Trevor Johnson, then I'd really be able to do great things for God. I mean, so often that's the idea that people have.

Well, if I could be over there, then! Or if I could just have my turn in the pulpit, then I'd really show! But we need to be faithful in the small things. We need to be diligent. We need to be passionate.

Folks, I can imagine that if one of the pastors here stood up and said, okay, we want to do this, we're going to give various people opportunities to come up and fill the pulpit and do five-minute exhortations.

And there's a sign-up sheet over here. And any of you young men that are interested in giving your go at that, you think you've got some giftedness there, come over and sign up. Now let's say there's another piece of paper back on the back wall over there by the bathroom.

Now there's a sign-up sheet back there when the day's all done and the little boys have been in the bathroom there and everything's not just nice and clean. And I say little boys because they have problems it seems.

But there's the sign-up sheet for cleaning the bathroom. And I'll tell you what happens. Sometimes some of us can be too self-important to want to go sign up on that one. And people will line up to sign on this because there's an idea.

Very often, we have this idea about serving the Lord and the things that are honorable and the things that get the attention and the things that get the applause and the things that are very well seen and the things where you're up on the platform.

But I'm telling you this, those who are faithful in little be faithful in much. You be faithful in little, God will bring you more and more opportunity. He will open other doors for you. Brethren, I'll tell you what.

I'll tell you what, it would have shamed us to have been with those disciples in that day. John 13. I mean, can you imagine it? The same one who washed feet. Can you imagine? Which one of you guys want to go clean the latrine?

Which one of you guys want to wash each other's feet? Would we be embarrassed? We think ourselves too important to do something if the Lord walked right past us and put Himself to it. That causes a bit of embarrassment.

He left us an example. Be faithful in the little. Those who are faithful in little will be faithful in much. Number three, Whatsoever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might. You know this text, maybe?

Ecclesiastes 9, verse 10. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might. And I began to think about that verse. Do it with all your might! You know sometimes what we see in our church, and maybe you see it here as well, you get people that come in while everything's new, while everything's exciting, they give themselves to it.

But as soon as the excitement wears off, as soon as the honeymoon period wears off, they're out for the next exciting thing. Brethren, we need people that are committed. People that when they find something for their hand to do, they do it with all their might.

You remember how it was when they rebuilt the wall there in Jerusalem. Every man, he built right by his own house. He came out. He found something for his hand to do. It was right there before him. And they gave themselves to building that wall.

And guess what? They gave themselves to building that wall until it was done. Jesus Christ came here to this earth. And what did He do? He gathered 12 men to Him. 11 of them were true. 11 of them were men of God.

And He poured Himself into it. And He did it all the way to the end. He didn't get halfway there and say, well, I'm out of here. I've grown tired of this. I can't handle these guys anymore. They're starting to grate on me.

Brethren, we've got too many people that come in, and as soon as the deal wears off, they can't stick with things. They can't hang in there. So many people, they want to be where the action is. They want to be there when serving the Lord is exciting, when it's thrilling, the ministry's new, it's different.

But they're short-lived. Very quickly turning off to the next thing. Short-lived commitments are a curse. Serve the Lord diligently. Even when the initial excitement may not be there. Number four, Christ hates half-hearted service.

Christ Hates Lukewarm Service

And you well know the text. Revelation 3 .15 -16. I know your works. He's speaking to the Laodicean church. You're neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot. So because you're lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.

Brethren, of course, Jesus is not saying that being cold is a desirable thing. But what He is saying is He would rather have you clear cut. He'd rather have you in or out. Get off the fence. Show yourself true or show yourself false.

Don't hang in the middle. He wants passion. You know what? If I was over in Indonesia or I was over in India or over in China and I was speaking to somebody that hardly knew the English language, I might have to explain to them how you would distinguish between hot and lukewarm.

You know the language I speak. You know the language of our Bibles. Brethren, hot is hot. And you know what hot means. And Jesus Christ says He hates lukewarm. He spits it out of His mouth. Literally a term for vomit.

He does not appreciate lukewarmness. All you have to do... Brother, sister, look in the mirror. I'm not speaking in a foreign language here. Hot. I would that you were hot or cold. Have you been hot in your prayer life?

Have you been hot in your attendance of the prayer meetings? Have you been hot in your passion after souls? Is there any heat in your life with regards to prayer and fasting? Could it be said that you're giving to missions?

You're concerned for those kind of things? You're concerned for the outreach to the lost in this world? You're concerned to reach out and help people? You're concerned for one another? You're concerned for bearing one another's burdens?

Look at your life, man! Woman! Is it hot? We don't have to play with that term. Don't redefine things. You know what that means. You know what it is to be hot. Obviously, Christ is saying that's what He desires.

He's got extreme disgust for that which is lukewarm. Number five, we are to be diligent. Here's another reason. Did you ever read in 2 Thessalonians that Paul says we are actually to discipline those who are idle?

2 Thessalonians 3 .6 We command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness. There you have it. Keep away. Non-association. Break off your association.

Why? They're idle! Paul says we came among you. We were an example. We worked night and day. You know what? When there is fervency, there is going to be a desire to serve Christ all the time. And I know that he's speaking about work.

He's speaking about what we give our hands to. He's speaking about our labor here. If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. Obviously, he's speaking about that form of labor whereby we make an earning, whereby we're able to buy our daily food.

But I'll tell you what, they go hand in hand. That's part of our service. And again, there is no appreciation in the Scriptures for idleness. We need to work. This idea that you work 40 hours a week, or that you work 8 hours a day, or that you work until you're 55, or retire at 60, those are not biblical concepts, by the way.

We need to be earnest. Listen, there are a myriad of ways to serve Christ. But I tell you, if one of the primary ways that you have been called to serve Him is to labor with your hands so that you have something to give to those that are in need, then God help you do it with diligence.

Don't do it with this mindset towards retirement. Don't do it with a mindset towards well, I've worked my 40 hours, now I'll sit back and just cruise. Brethren, our time is short. We need to work while we have time to work.

The Privilege of Serving Christ

Number six. And just think about this one. What a motivator. Do you think that just anybody and everybody gets to serve Christ? Have you never read that few there are that find it? Do you realize that as you drove here today and you saw people at gas stations or driving the other way down the road towards whatever other folks, lost folks, which by the way is the majority of the people in this world, if you are serving Christ, you have a privilege that is unspeakably great.

Not just everybody has this. You have the opportunity to serve the Lord of Lords. There's only a few who find that. What an honor has been bestowed upon us that we should even have the right and the privilege of serving the Lord Christ with a boiling spirit.