The Biggest Thing on Earth — Jim Cymbala

The Church as God’s Greatest Concern

I'd like to speak today about the biggest thing on the earth, the biggest thing in the whole earth, the most important thing. You know how people talk, they go, that's really big. No, she's not so big.

No, that actress, she's really big. That guy, big. Sports figure, no, they're big. They're big. They're going to get a lot of endorsements. And depending on your view, you have a different perspective on what's the most important, biggest thing in the earth.

What's the most important thing happening in the earth today? Some people who are into international relations would say it's obviously international terrorism. It's the terrorist threat that can strike anywhere, anytime, any part of the world.

That's like the most important thing that we should give our attention to. Other people, depending on the country, will say no national politics. We have an election coming up. That's the biggest thing.

That's the most important thing in the whole world. But that will vary from country to country. Other people who are into sports say no, no, the Knicks are going to be better this year. That's the biggest thing in the whole world.

Or the Cubbies won after 108 years of drought. That's the biggest thing because their world is sports, so the biggest thing is something within that realm. Other people are saying no, the biggest thing is there's a new movie coming out or a new gadget coming out or a new sneaker coming out.

To some people, a new sneaker coming out is going to make them wait on Fulton Street from 9 o 'clock at night until 8 o 'clock in the morning. Am I right or wrong? So that's the biggest thing. They don't know from elections.

They don't know from anything. They just know a sneaker. I want to tell you what the biggest thing to God is. God has one main big thing that he's concerned about on the earth. And it's not elections.

It's not this country, that country. It's nothing to do with sports. It's nothing to do with for other people. It's the financial markets. The biggest thing is Brexit. How will England leaving the European Union, how will that affect international finance and the stock market and what's going to happen?

That's not the biggest thing to God. The biggest thing to God is what makes what's happening right now the most important thing to him and the angels in heaven of anything going on in the earth this week.

The meeting of his people together, who we are, what goes on here for good or for bad, that's the most important thing to him. Because the Christian church is the dearest thing, the most important thing to God in the whole earth.

Everything else is going to pass away. Nations will disappear. The earth is going to be renovated by fire. Heaven and earth will pass away, but the church of Jesus Christ will never end. How many say amen?

We're either going to be here on earth doing what he wants us to do or we're going to be with him in heaven. And it's important that our minds get renewed so that we start thinking the way God thinks and we start having values the way God has values.

My goodness, I talk to people all the time, and if they were as concerned about the Christian church, which is God's main concern, as they were about fashion or money or sports or politics, oh my goodness, we would be so much better off in terms of the cause of Christ.

But many people, it's just, hey, I go on Sunday, I go to church, and that's it, and then I get into my real life. And just the opposite should be true for us. You can always tell people who are close to God, they care the most about his body, which is the church.

The people who are least close to God, they're involved in a thousand and one things, getting upset, frustrated, and the church, they don't even think about it. They just go, they think it's a building, you go, you go home.

But one of the pictures of the Christian church, which we make up, is that we are his body. So now look at the imagery he gives us. Christ is the head connected to a body. The Christian church, which is invisible, we'll define that in a moment, is his body.

No wonder this is the most important thing, because if you wake up tomorrow morning and your body is hurting you, you don't care about the Mets or the Knicks or anything else, or a sneaker, you care about your body.

My goodness, my leg's not working. I got a pain in my arm. That's the most important thing to you, is your body. Your body breaks down, your body goes kaput, then you're kaput, you're gone. So he is the head, we are the body, so obviously his body is the most important thing to him, like yours is to you.

Now notice, what would the body be for? The body exists to carry out the will and the purposes of the head. My head is going to tell me right now to walk over to that end of this carpet, and my body obeys, and my legs work, and I'm able to locomote over here and get here.

So the body carries out the will of the mind, the head. My elbow has no mind, has no will, it gives no orders. It all comes from the head. So the health of our bodies are shown by being able or not being able to carry out the desires and the will of the head.

If your body is messed up, did you know I was so sick some months ago, I was as sick as I've ever been, and I was so fatigued, don't ask me from what, because I've never had that happen, that one morning I woke up, my wife and the choir, they were in Bermuda doing ministry, and I was so tired, so much muscle soreness, I sat in a chair, tried to read the Bible, and still was in my nightclothes, and said to myself, I cannot sit here all day.

I have to shave and shower and get dressed, but how am I going to get to that bathroom? How am I going to get there? I want to get there, but how? I don't have the energy to do it. So there was purpose and will, but my body could hardly carry it out.

So we are his body, the church of Jesus Christ. This is the most important thing. In heaven, the headlines all this week will be what's happening in the church, because we're the only ones who can carry out his purpose.

No political party can carry out his purpose. Republicans, Democrats, that's a joke. No sports team can carry out his purpose. Wall Street can't carry out his purpose. The only thing that can carry out the purpose of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is the church of Christ.

That's why in the last book of the Bible, in the book of Revelation, what we find is Jesus walking among seven golden lampstands, which are the churches. Now I said the church is invisible, why? Because not everybody who comes to the building is a part of the true church.

The only people who are a part of the true church, are members of the body, are those who have been born again, have a relationship with Jesus Christ. He's the center of their life. He's their Lord and their Savior.

That puts them in the church. Joining this church or coming into a building across America today doesn't put you in the church. It puts your body in a building, but it doesn't put you in the church. You must be born again, then you become a member of the body.

You become one of the functioning parts of this most important thing to Jesus Christ, which is his body. Now, the body, like my body, is made up of different members, all with a different function. The other day I banged my elbow.

How many ever hit your elbow and it hits that whatever that is? Funny bone? Trust me, it wasn't funny what I hit. And immediately, my hand went to minister to my elbow by rubbing it. How many get what I'm talking about?

My elbow can't rub anything, really. But my hand did, right? And it felt better, a little bit better, by rubbing it. See, now the elbow can do certain things the hand can't do. My elbow can't sign a check.

My hand, my fingers can. But then there's things my elbow can do, my hand can't do. And that's how it is with the body of Christ. This is taught everywhere in Scripture, that every single digit on your foot, every toe, your ankle, every single part of the body has a function.

And you can't do away with any of it without suffering. The body's suffering. Mobility, the ability to carry out the desires of the head, the mind. So, with all of that, here's a portion, unlike any other thing in the New Testament, I would say, there are some passages close to it, but here's a description by Jesus about how the most important thing to Him in the whole world should work.

And for some of us, it's gonna be a quiet correction for what we believe, because we're just used to going to church. When we say church, we don't think church like Jesus thinks church. We think a building, or you join.

Spiritual Gifts and the Building Up of the Body

So, let's look at Ephesians chapter four, and we read, but to each one of us in the body, to everybody in this row, and in this row, and in this row, and this row, and this row, and this row, to everybody in the choir, to everyone in the balcony, who is a born-again Christian, to each one of us, grace has been given as Christ apportioned to every single person, grace has been given.

Now, grace here is not you're saved by grace, unmerited favor. Grace is used here in a different way. It's the blessing or the gift, some peculiar, particular, specific gift that He put into your life as a Christian, but it's not the same as what He put into His life.

Every single one of us has a gift. A grace. But to each one of us, grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says, when He ascended on high after His resurrection, He took many captives, and He gave gifts to His people.

Later on in that chapter, it says, so Christ Himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors, and the teachers. Why? To equip His people who have those gifts for works of service, not the pastors doing the work of service, not the apostle, the people who have the gifts who make up the body so that the body of Christ may be built up.

So let's just analyze that. All these, this is called the fivefold ministry, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. Why? To equip His people. Why? For works of service. Why? So that the whole body may be built up like my hand helped my elbow that day.

The Good News Bible is very interesting here too. Let's just look at it. Same passage. Each one of us has received a special gift in proportion to what Christ has given. He does the giving. You can't pick your gift.

He gives the gift. As the scripture says, when He went up to the very heights, He took many captives with Him. He gave gifts to people. It was He who gave gifts to people. He appointed some to be apostles, others to be prophets, others to be evangelists, others to be pastors and teachers.

He did this to prepare all God's people for the work of Christian service in order to build up the body of Christ. See, here's the intention again. I'm going to use the choir as the church, as the body of Christ, okay?

He gave these ministries so that every one of you would be furnished and trained and get mature in the gift you have so that you could then minister to each other and to everyone else. Why? So that the most important thing to Him in the world, His body would be made strong.

Follow again. He gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, teachers, pastors and teachers. Why? To help the people in the church develop the special gift they have from God so that they can broaden in it, develop in it, give themselves to it, be led and filled with the Holy Spirit in it.

So why? So that they could minister to each other and help each other and strengthen each other and all throughout the building. Why? So that His body would not be weak. His body would be strong. But the body has to minister to the body.

So now, let's, with all of that, just see where it takes us in conclusion. To each one of us, a special gift has been given. I would imagine 8 out of 10 Christians in America today who are going to church don't even think about that once during a year.

That's my guess. I could be totally wrong. Most people are what? Hey, I go to church. Maybe I sing in a choir. I come, I go to church. And I want to go to heaven one day. And I hope the meeting is good and it encourages me.

That's basically it. I'd say for 8 out of every 10 believers. A thought of each one having a specific gift? No, that's not something I think about. But yet Jesus taught it. So what kind of gifts are these?

These gifts are not apostle, prophet, pastor, teachers, evangelists. That's not those gifts. That's something else. We'll get to that in a second. These are peculiar, specific, individual gifts. And it has the touch of God on it.

It's not something that's your talent. Because people who don't know the Lord might have the same talent. Right? Let's say you're good with numbers. You should be good with numbers on your job and glorify God on your job.

But that's not your spiritual gift because the person next to you is an atheist and they're even better in numbers than you are. So that's not something God gave you specifically. Now, we should dedicate whatever our talents are to the Lord and glorify God through that.

Examples of Individual Gifts in the Church

But what are these gifts? So I'm thinking now. I'm thinking now of a deacon in the church, a brother in the church, who every time I'm with him, he has this touch of God on his life. He encourages me every time I run into him.

I don't know how he does that. There's something in his spirit, something God has given him. He is an encourager. He's not an apostle, he's not a prophet, not a pastor, not a teacher, not an evangelist, but oh my goodness.

And I've talked to other people about him and they say, you know what, I feel the same thing. Every time I rub shoulders with him and we dialogue, he's always saying an encouraging word and he says things like that have the touch of God on it.

How many ever met someone, they just encourage you? Anybody here have someone like that? How many have met some people who have the opposite effect on you? Oh yeah. A lot of people have the gift of discouragement.

It's their ministry. Whatever you say, they're going to look at it in a negative way. That's their life calling. They're negative. Complaining, negative, everything is wrong and why even live? Are there not people like that?

No, are you with me or not with me on that? How many say amen? This person has the gift of encouragement. No one will ever know, but that's his gift. I believe that's one of his gifts. He might not even know he has it, but he's operating in it.

I know another person in the church or people I've met. You meet them and they don't so much as encourage you, but they just say, they meet you and they hear what you're going through and in a moment they go, wait a minute, let's pray.

Come on, let's pray. Oh God, and when they begin to pray, you feel heaven coming into your life. They just have this gift of you say something and they're either going to talk about prayer or pray right with you.

That's their gift. They just have this gift. Now, not that we all shouldn't be praying, pray one for another, but some people just have a special gift. In some churches that I know about and even in this church, people gravitate toward people who have success, special success.

They have special faith in prayer and people go to them and say, would you pray for me? Not that I wouldn't want anyone else to pray for me, but would you pray for me? That's the touch of God on their life.

I think of somebody else. They're the lost sheep people. They go after people that they miss and don't see in the house of God. They just are like little shepherds. They're going after the straying sheep.

They call, they pray, they get after them, they're thinking about them to another person you wouldn't notice it. So take, for example, this church on a normal Sunday and a Tuesday. We have thousands and thousands of people coming to this church.

So how would the pastors here know that someone hasn't shown up for three weeks? How would we know that? Unless someone calls us and says, Pastor Cimbala, just sending you this email. I'm backsliding, haven't been there in three weeks.

I don't think I'll be here this Sunday. Very few letters like that you get. But someone else who knows them, is friends with them, they have this gift. No, no, no, no. I don't see her. I know the devil's trying to get her.

No, I'm gonna pray now. I'm gonna call her. Hey, I'm gonna pick you up. We're going to church this Sunday. They just have this gift. They're just always looking. I think of people who are not in the ministry per se.

They go like this. So listen, how you doing lately? Good. You know what I read in my Bible this week? Let me share this with you. This is amazing. Or she says, you know, I was reading something, I didn't get it.

They have the gift of teaching other people the word of God. And this is totally biblical. There are teachers in the church. We're not supposed to be the only ones instructing people in the word of God.

So this person has the gift and say, you know what? Here, I'm gonna give you an answer to that and hear this. Compare that with that. Or I read Psalm 32 this week. Listen to this. How blessed is the person who God doesn't count his iniquities against them or her iniquities.

So don't be discouraged. Come on. God's word says this. And they edify because they just give the word of God out. You press their head, you shake their hand, you get a verse. We used to have a guy in the choir.

He had another gift a lot of years ago. He used to shake hands and leave money in the hand. 20, 50. He used to shake hands. Hopefully he was led by God as he was doing this. But then the word got out and everyone wanted a fellowship with him.

Everybody was coming to him and saying, praise God. How are you, my brother? Shake my hand. And oh, yeah. I hit the number. That was his ministry. Totally biblical. Just spreading little money. Didn't explain verses.

Just did that. And on and on. Before a certain man became world famous, what he did was, as a Christian, world famous, as an evangelist, although never trained, and a grade school dropout. Couldn't write a sentence.

Grammatically correct. But before he became world famous, he used to go into the streets and just get kids from Chicago, poor areas, and haul them in the church and take up whole rows of pews with just the kids he brought.

That was his gift. He was like a Christian Pied Piper. Just filling up the rows with children. Had a gift. He just had a gift. Talked to them. Come on. You're going to go to the house of God. No, I don't want to.

No, you're going to. Come on. You're going to do it. That was his gift. That's the first gift he had. Then he became the most famous evangelist of the 19th century. So the question I want to say to all of you is, well, first let me make a statement.

God loves us so much. He loves you so much that if you're a born-again Christian, you have a gift. Not one person said amen. Lord, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. No, because that's striking home now.

I know why you're quiet. Because we don't think about these things. You have a gift. Not just a talent. I think some of the people here, a lot of the people here, maybe all the people, have a gift of inspired singing.

Not just singing. Remember, anybody can sing. But anointed singing? No, that's something else. You can't get that on Broadway. In fact, you can go to a church and you can hear a great voice, but the anointing of the Holy Spirit is not there.

It doesn't make you think of Jesus so much as the person who's singing. The gift of singing for the Lord is the way to sing, convey a message, and then sink out of the way so no one notices you. And all the focus is on Christ.

Help me say amen. So what's your gift? What is your gift? Have you prayed about it? Have you thought about it? I want to encourage you. I love you. This is why a lot of Christians don't have fulfillment because all they think it is is go to church on Sunday.

No, but Jesus said to everyone, my dear brother here, he has a gift. She has a gift. Oh yes, she does. You have a gift. Shouldn't some of us go to God and say, God, I'm in the dark. I don't even know, I know what he's talking about and it's biblical, but God, what is my gift?

A lot of times it's the thing you're drawn to, the thing that rings your bell, the thing that brings a tear to your eye, the thing that warms your heart, and you just feel like, I got to do that. But a lot of people don't give themselves to their gift.

You know, there are great keyboard players and violinists and there's great athletic guys who, because they didn't spend the hours and time to develop their skills, they never developed the gift that they have.

You can have an athletic gift and do all kinds of things like Stephen Curry and all of that and have this great hand-eye coordination, but you've got to put in hundreds, thousands of hours doing all that stuff.

So I just want to encourage all of you, find your gift, ask God about your gift, because if you don't, the body suffers because there's things you could do I could never do. So let's close on this five-fold ministry.

The Fivefold Ministry and the Work of Evangelism

Apostle is a hard word to define and Christians don't agree about it. Some people think there are no more apostles today, that apostles were only people who saw Christ and were directly sent by him to a divinely appointed mission.

But in the New Testament, more than the twelve disciples and Paul, who saw the Lord in a vision, encountered him, more than those thirteen are called apostles. So how are these others apostles? There's disagreement on that.

Some people think it's someone who goes out and starts a church, oversees churches, and has, you know, that kind of ministry. Others say, no, there are no longer apostles today who actually walked and saw the Lord.

Prophets. What are prophets? Some people think there are no more prophets, but that doesn't seem correct at all to Scripture because it says that if anybody prophesies in a church, what that man or woman says should be judged by Scripture.

My sons and daughters shall prophesy. So a prophet is not someone who foretells the future so much. Let's say that's fifteen percent. Eighty-five percent is that they're speaking the Word of the Lord from God's heart that applies to a given situation.

They have the ear of God and God speaks in them and through them. Not comparable to Scripture. In fact, anything anyone says has to be judged by Scripture. Scripture is our only rule of faith. Can I get a loud amen for that?

Nobody can say, the Lord told me to tell you. The minute you hear that, you start listening and then you judge it by Scripture. I had a guy tell me when I was just three months in the ministry that the Lord told him that he should get rid of the wife he had.

God was going to get him a better one. The Lord told him that, mind you. Then evangelists. Evangelists seem to be what we call today missionaries or home missionaries. They were people who were not stationary in a local church.

They were just floating and flying all over the place. Spreading the good news. Trying to build up the body. Notice. To strengthen the body like we're all supposed to give ourselves to. It's not just building up that which is there but it's increasing and finding more.

I thought this morning that I felt the Lord impressed me to remind me this week to talk to a couple people in this church that maybe next year as we go into the new year they should find neighborhoods in Brooklyn or other parts of the city and set up a rally.

Find a school. A church. Find something and let the church cooperate and plant the gospel in another area of Brooklyn. Try to reach the people who are there and then whoever comes to Christ through this rally.

Music. Preaching. Testimony. Whatever draws the people's attention. Then draw them here so that we could minister to them. Or maybe one day start another church right in that neighborhood because it's not so easy to get there to here.

Those in South America and Argentina and Brazil are called annexes and they start by somebody going out who has the gift of evangelism so they can increase the body of Christ. Not just strengthen it. Increase it.

Pastors and teachers. Pastor means shepherd and anybody who's these are gifts. These are gifts from God. For God has said in the church as a gift apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers.

They're shepherds. Under shepherds to Christ. Under shepherds to Christ. Why? And this is where I end because it's the crux of the whole matter. Not to do everything. In 90 of all the church and more in America it's you all sit.

We all do and counsel. These folks sing. Then you go home. Maybe you come back next week to sit again and everybody up here is supposed to do everything. That is the overwhelming understanding of what a church is to most people.

Spectators. The actors. The people who do it. But the Bible says God has given pastors, teachers, evangelists, apostles, prophets. Why? For the strengthening of his gift. Come on brother. Give yourself to that gift.

Come on brother. Do it. Give yourself to that prompting. Do what God called you to do. Now yours is totally different but do it. Do it. Let me strengthen you. How can I encourage you? How can I teach you the word of God?

How can I pray with you? How can I get you out of any funk the devil wants you to be in? And you're discouraged and you're distracted. The job of the leadership here is to get you out of that so you can function in your gift.

Why? So that listen. You all can minister to each other. Pastors have the highest rate of heart attacks of any profession in America and it's not because of sermon making. You do this for a while, you can lock Pastor Petri in a corner, give him a verse and in 10 minutes he'll have a message.

It's not sermon making that wears you down. It's like all the needs, all the problems. I'm facing two or three just right now. One, I have never faced anything like it in all the 40 years plus that I've been in the ministry.

Nothing comes close to this problem and it doesn't even involve someone who's a member here but someone who just ended up on our doorstep. I'm trying to help. But the body has to minister to the body because he loves you.

He gave you a gift. Look at me up in the balcony and you say yeah but I'm not what I ought to be. If you're a born again Christian you have a gift. There's a touch of God on your life to do something.

Work with children. Be in the prayer bed. You got something that only you have and I don't have it. And it's like my basketball team in college. I had this guy 6 '11 who was the center, right? And he would get the rebound and he'd clear everybody away with his elbows and he'd throw the ball to me and I was the point guard and I'd go down the court.

But if I ever saw him running at half court near me I would never throw him the ball. He was 6 '11. He couldn't dribble twice without collapsing on the floor and knocking the ball out somewhere. So I would have to wait until he was close to the rim and throw the ball to him so that he could dunk it.

But he grabbed the rebound. I'm not 6 '11. But he wasn't small and quick and he was the point guard. Then there were guys who would just defend the best player and get up in their grill and just shut them down.

It's a team. We all got to work together. Come on. Do I get an amen here? We got to work together. We got to work together. Come on. Say amen to that. And that's why when some pastors die or go off the scene well-known pastors over the last 200 years it was so about them and their oratorical skills and their charisma that they're not even dead 6 months and the church falls apart.

Why? It's all based on them. The body wasn't functioning. There was no spirit of prayer. No prayer warriors. No people loving each other. Scratching each other's back. Helping each other. Listen, brothers and sisters.

People are going through stuff. People are going through stuff. And they start to limp. And they're struggling with stuff you don't know about. And if you'll just be open to the gift that God has given you you can come alongside and say you're not going to fall.

I'm going to hold you until you get strong again. I'm going to hold you. I'm going to pray for you. I'm going to love you. Will your name ever be in lights? Will you ever maybe stand up here? Probably not.

But what does that matter? Don't want to be up here, James says. Don't many of you want to be leaders because we all stumble in many ways. And we incur stricter judgment. Apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists.

Surrendering to God and Serving One Another

But the body has to function. And I love all of you so much today. And I know God loves you. He gave you a gift. He gave you a gift. You know, my wife, she's got to give herself to that gift she has because my wife will just sit at a piano, right?

She's got to fight to do that and get still before the Lord. And she just starts playing and you leave her in that room. Might take a half hour. Might take two hours. But if she's just there before the Lord with a Bible and plays, her gift is she gets melodies.

She just gets songs. The only song I ever got was Three Blind Mice. That's the only thing I could sing. But everybody's gift is different. Do you love the Lord today? Know how many love the Lord today?

Come on. Let's just put our hands together one more time. Close your eyes. Just before we close, anybody here, I feel this so heavy on my heart right now. I can't say the final amen. Anybody here just feel called to a real ministry that's in your heart but you haven't been able to get there yet.

And you're waiting on God's timing, His instruction, an open door, but you feel called that God has called you. Not just with a gift but to a certain ministry that you have before you but you don't know how to get there and you're saying, God, have I missed the boat?

Am I now too old? Am I not trained enough? But God, I'm available. That's all He wants you to do is say you're available. He'll take it from there. Or maybe somebody here is just pastor. The Spirit spoke to me while you were reading the Word of God.

I want to know my gift. I want to function in that gift. I want to be what God wants me to be. I don't want to just sit and go to church on Sunday. I see now that was never God's plan for my life. If you're in one of those two categories that I just said, get up out of your seat and come here.

Not going to keep you long but we're going to pray over you. We're going to say a prayer over you. Doors are going to start to open. God is going to show you what to do. Every eye closed, since we're members of one body, could we join hands with the person next to us, behind me, in front of me, balcony.

Dear Jesus, thank you for loving us so much, not just to die for us, save us from our sins, give us the gift of eternal life. That wasn't enough. Your love went further and you gave us all a gift. You gave us something that no one else has except us.

No two of us are the same, like snowflakes. Help my brothers and sisters to discover their gift. Operate in their gift. And when there's a calling and an awareness that you have some plan for them, God, they're up here saying, Lord, speak, your servant is listening.

Open the door that no one can shut. Give encouragement, give instruction. Put us in the school of faith so that we'll be ready for what you have for us. We love you, Jesus. And we want to be a strong body for you.

We want to be a functioning member of the body so we can carry out your purposes and your plans as evangelists, strengtheners, encouragers, people who pray, people who teach, people who organize, people who go to prisons and hospitals, and all the other myriad things that I don't even know because you're the one who gave the gift.

Showing mercy, lifting up people who have fallen down. We commit our lives to you. We surrender to you today. With our hands together, we surrender together to you, Lord. Make us the people that you want us to be.

Showing mercy, lifting up people who have fallen down. We commit our lives to you. We surrender to you today. With our hands together, we surrender together to you, Lord. Make us the people that you want us to be.

Let's give the Lord one last clap of praise. Mas fuerte. Let's do it. Do it. You know what? Let's put it in practice. Let's hug each other, encourage each other, say something good to somebody. God bless you.

The Lord be with you.