"ICHURCH SERIES - THE PLACE OF RESPONSE" 

Look Up: 1 Corinthians 12:4-6; Ephesians 4:12-13

         Sermon preached by Dr. Wayne W. Poplin, Senior Pastor, Carmel Baptist Church
(Copyright 2006)

INTRODUCTION:  A Place of Community.  A Place of Hope.  A Place of Unmasking [Authenticity].  Today, we look at the church as a Place of Response. 
            In October, 1987, we had one of those events that grabbed our attention and glued us to the TV. In a backyard in Midland [Odessa], Texas, an 18-month old toddler was playing with some neighborhood kids.  The toddler’s mom was out in the yard watching them when the phone rang inside the house, and she went in to answer it.  When she came back out, her daughter was gone and she saw the other children looking down into a pipe in the ground. The opening was an abandoned residential water well and the pipe at the top was 8 inches in diameter. From the other children, Jessica had been dangling her legs in the pipe opening.  Apparently, when she braced to stand up, she went into the pipe and was lodged at a place of corrosion about 20 feet beneath the surface.  Thus began the rescue effort of baby Jessica McClure.  What would complicate the rescue was after this narrowed spot in the pipe where Jessica was lodged, the pipe opened to about 14 feet and there was a drop into a 70ft. chasm. 
            First on the scene was the Sheriff, who immediately knew that this was too big for his department.  What began at that moment was a massive mobilization of people and resources for a common purpose—the saving of a life.  The firemen came.  Paramedics.  Utility workers.  Drilling equipment was brought from DOT.  Engineers were called in.  Experts from overseas flew in.  Neighbors opened up their yards to townspeople and the media.  The Salvation Army showed up providing food for those who were working.  There was this massive response around the common purpose of saving a life.  There was this common purpose with a host of people, each doing their part, working to make it happen.
            It was determined that they would have to drill a parallel tunnel and come in under the pipe to put in a brace so that Jessica would not drop into the chasm.  They dug very cautiously because they were afraid vibrations might loosen Jessica.  They would drill, stop, drop a microphone to hear her breathing, or crying or sometimes singing Sunday School songs. 
            A day passed.  A second day passed. Work was slow because of the precautions. Into hour 58, a paramedic went into the tunnel and came up to get Jessica.  He couldn’t dislodge her. He came back up without her.  A pediatrician there told him to go back and do whatever he had to do to get her out.  He warned that she would dehydrate soon and die.
          That rescue effort was an example of a great group of people focused strategically.  It was a massive mobilization of people using their resources to accomplish a common purpose.  That same thing should be happening here in this local church.  All of us working toward a common purpose.  What is that purpose?  Changed lives.  Making a difference in a life.  A collective effort in order to see lives changed.  There is a lot to do, but there are a lot of us to do it.  God has given His people the resources to make a difference in lives.  We call those resources gifts—and gifts are used in service. 

Read Scripture from 1 Corinthians and Ephesians.  
        There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.  There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.  There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men [1 Cor. 12:4-6]  
        …to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ [Eph. 4:12-13].

There are two goals here in the Ephesian passage.  
            1.      To equip for service [immediate goal]  
            2.      To build up the body [ultimate goal]. That is changed lives.  We work together, strategically focused with our “different gifts, workings, service” to see lives changed.  That is our responsibility.  This is the place of response.  This is where tires hit the asphalt.  This is Jessica’s backyard for us. 
            So what is your role?  What is your part in this mobilized group gathered around the purpose of seeing a difference made in people’s lives?  The roles vary.  Gifting is different.  But the goal is the same.

1. Maybe you are working with Debbie with the little ones.  Does that make a difference in lives?  Ask the parents.  Ask the visitors.  Listen to your children.  Their lives are being changed.  Debbie should never lack for arms to hold those babies, because Jesus said “Let the little ones come unto me.”  When she has ample workers, if there is a distraught child a person is available to take that child one on one and love it.  Does that make a difference in a life? Ask the parent.  One day you will see the difference in the child.
2. Maybe you are working in the children’s area.  Does that make a difference in lives?  You know the answer to that. You are consistent in that task and that is what the children need.  Sean should never have a lack of individuals to love those children, teach them, call them by name and pray over them.
3. Maybe you are working in the student area.  Does that make a difference in lives?  You know the answer to that.  Greg and Ken should never have a lack of individuals to guide and teach students—or for others to mentor and encourage them.  Why?  Because we are mobilized around a common purpose. 
4. Some of you may be serving in the adult area. Teachers begin early in the week preparing for their class on Sunday morning.  Does what they do make a difference in lives?  You know the answer to that. You know that there are teachers and care leaders in that class that you can call on when you need them and they will be there.  Does that make a difference in your life?

Worship team.  Choir.  Instrumentalists.  Orchestra.  Front Line. Greeters [Does it make a difference in a life if you smile and shake their hand].   Coffee maker. Sound and light technicians.  Deacons.  Missions.  Sports—Upward.  Food Service. 
Scores upon scores mobilized around a common purpose.  Heroes—many unsung.  People utilizing their gifts for that purpose of making a difference in lives. 

This is not a Harris Teeter, where you come in and get what you want and pay at the check out.  You don’t do anything but shop and get what you want.  This is the Place of Response, because it is a place of responsibility.  We are responsible for stocking the shelves, wrapping the meat, putting out the produce, and bagging our own groceries.  We check our consumer attitudes at the door and come in to work on the common purpose.  This is the Place of Response.  
        This is a family—where you pick up your plate after you finishing eating and take it to the sink to make it easier on somebody else.  You clean up your room and do others things as needed.  his is the Place of Response and responsibility.
        This is the place where we all respond according to the common purpose. We do our part with what God has given us to use.  And when we see another area where a difference can be make in lives—we form a ministry team and go make a difference [example of ministry teams].   
            We say that we want a church that….  Well, we are the church.  So what will you do?  
            This is a quick response generation.  Cell phones—email [can communicate immediately with 100’s from our computer with just one message—instant messaging—text messaging.  What about the Place of Response?   
            God has gifted us to be Responders and this is the Place of Response.  The body concept drives home the importance of every part doing its part [e.g. of Yao Ming’s toe]. Here’s what happens when we function as a body.  When we mobilize around the common purpose, we see peoples’ lives changed.  That’s the purpose. But as we work together, we build and experience community, there is joy in the accomplishment of the purpose.  It creates energy. 
        Go now to the video clip of the rescue and the jubilation of the whole group because the purpose had been achieved.

CONCLUSION:  There is the joy and energy in a group that labored for a common purpose. 

RESPONSIBILITY:  Ralph talked this week with Bill Bentley, one of the men involved in rescuing Jessica.  He asked him how about his role and how it affected him.  He discounted any reference to him being a hero.  He just saw it as an “unselfish act of helping out.”  He took his service and used it for a common purpose.  We take what we have and use it to see lives changed. 

Fill out the tear off.  Sign up in the Gathering Space.  Do your part to see the purpose achieved.

INVITATION:  This is the Place of Response.  To Him, His call, our responsibility.