Let's ask for God's blessing. Father, thank you for giving us the privilege of listening to you speak in your word. I pray that Holy Spirit you would get me out of the way this morning that you might speak clearly and that you might do what you would purpose to do in our lives individually and in this church and so we commit this time to you in Jesus' name. Amen. Well this is as we were saying a very special Sunday. It's a different kind of service in that we are recognizing that the Lord is calling new officers into our church. Both elders and deacons to serve in leadership and elders serve as the governors of the church. They're called to responsibly administrative govern the church and also shepherd and care for its members and deacons are called to lead in areas of service and mercy and the idea is that this sermon would be a charge to the new officers of the church. It's going to be an encouragement hopefully to them but it's also going to be a charge from the Lord to them but it's also a charge to each one of us. You say well I'm not having anything happened to me today. Unbeknownst to you we're going to bring you up here against your will no no nothing like that but here's the idea. All of us are members together in the same spiritual entity call the body of Christ the church. We are part of the same team and while we have to have leaders all of us are part of the same entity pursuing the same purpose. So when we think of leaders in our church elders and deacons as well as the men and women who serve as ministry team leaders and members of our staff, our leadership exists as what we might call player coaches. See we're all part of the team together. We're all after the same purpose together but we need individuals to help us focus in the right direction that we're heading in the same direction together. I mean you've probably been part of a sports team just you know that's been created ad hoc and there's no real leader. It can be pandemonium. Everyone's going off in their own direction. People don't know what their own roles and responsibilities are. God has given us leaders like elders and deacons to help us very clearly focus on where we're to be headed. What are various roles and responsibilities are how we're to move forward. So that's what we want to look at this morning. It's sort of the game plan that God has given to our church and to our new leadership as they assume the mantle of responsibility God has entrusted to them. So what is the game plan? What we're going to use the book of Romans to help us focus on this. We get our cues from sacred scripture not from secular advice or wisdom. We want God to speak very loudly and clearly and I could have looked in a number of places in the Bible but we're looking in the book of Romans because I think it's one of those books that helps crystallize the most important things that we need to be giving ourselves to. It gives us sort of that 20,000 foot perspective as the fog begins to clear. God says here's where you focus in. Here's what you need to give yourself to at Christ the King whether you are a leader or a member of the church. What's our game plan? Well it begins with our purpose. It's been said if you aim it nothing you are certainly sure to hit that and so we need to be very clear about where God wants us to be moving together as a people. And in the book of Romans there is an interesting place in which this surfaces. The passage that was read for us by Molly and Jason a few minutes ago is at the beginning of chapter 12. Well Romans is leading up from chapter 1 through chapter 11 to get us to chapter 12. It's the major division in the book of Romans right there. The Apostle Paul has been in fabulous fashion explaining and unveiling what the historic biblical gospel is. The good news that the God of heaven and earth pursues unruly and broken people like you and me out of his own grace and mercy that he overcomes our resistance to him and that he continues to pursue us unto the end. And it's a great picture of a sovereign God in the end of that first section in chapters 9 through 11. He deals with some pretty sticky wickets there some difficult issues about God's absolute sovereignty. And you would think after he had accomplished that diatribe after he had gone to the end of it that he would sort of dust his hands off and sort of cock his head and say see look I've accomplished it. You can no way refute that. And yet what he does is just the opposite. He bows in humility and listen to these words the end of chapter 11 in Romans. Oh the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God how unsearchable are his judgements and how inscrutable his ways for who has known the mind of the Lord who has been his counselor or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid for from him and through him and to him are all things to him be glory forever. What's our purpose? The glory of Almighty God. We exist not for any individual agendas or for anything that is in the way of a human agenda or plan we exist for the singular preeminent purpose of exalting the fame and honor and name of the God of heaven and earth for from him and through him and to them are all things to God alone be the glory. And so the point that leaders need to realize is anything that gets in the way of the promotion of God's glory must be left behind. To be more direct all of us in leadership need to daily check our ego at the door. You know what the biggest obstacle to the advancement of God's glory is in this church. My ego your ego we get in the way with our agendas our presuppositions our feelings our sense of what church is supposed to be about. Oftentimes I'll hear people say things like well I left that church over there because it wasn't really meeting my needs. Now while there may be an appropriate understanding of that all too often I think in our day people go to church with this me-centered mentality. I've got these things in my life that I want the church to straighten out. I want the church to be a big brother to me and help me and care for me and take care of my needs. Now we're going to see in a few minutes that absolutely the church is to be this amazingly loving healing, nurturing body but that's not why you go to church. It's not the ultimate motivation for becoming attached to particular body of believers like at Christ the King. It is ultimately for the benefit, the welfare, the glory of Almighty God and Him alone. So leaders we need to above all be people of prayer because I need to be praying. God I don't see things correctly. I have my own agenda my own feelings my own thoughts and attitudes that cloud and get in the way and become obstacles to the great agenda that you are trying to put forth. God get me out of the way that you might advance your agenda through me. God will do it regardless of whether I'm on his team or not. He may do it against me but I pray that he will do it as I bow down the humbly through me and to all of us who are members of the church. Listen we need to retain the mindset that the church exists for the promotion of God's glory first and foremost that I come in here not as a member of a club. This is not a non-profit organization first and foremost where I'm a volunteer. The church should be as the family of God as the army of the Lord of hosts. We should be full every single one of us with servant mentalities where we are eager to do whatever God has placed before us. So no one should be a bench warmer on this team. Everyone is out in the field participating and leaders we are coaches to mobilize the body of Christ to serve him that he might receive the glory. What's the purpose statement of Christ the King that we exist to worship, know and serve the King why so that he is honored. That is the ultimate purpose for our existence individually and corporately as his bodies. Now how do we accomplish that? Because this is no small task. It's a lot easier to come up with my own agenda and try to advance those. It's a lot easier to come to church for entertainment or to have my felt needs ministered to but to get my ego behind me. That is mammoth in terms of a goal. How do we accomplish that? It's all about being in the right place. To accomplish the singular purpose of God's glory, you and I need to be individually and together as a church in the right place all the time. What's that right place? It's in the place of God's grace. We'll sing in a few minutes, lift high the cross. We need to be lifting high the cross not simply so that unbelievers will come to know Jesus through the ministries of this church which is of course one of the preeminent reasons for our existence but so that you and I will be nourished in strength. We need to breathe the air of grace, of the gospel. Why? Because as soon as I try to do things on my own, as soon as I take one step away from the foot of the cross, I am in dangerous, perilous territory of asserting my own agenda and plans upon God's. And this is what you see in this passage. As I mentioned earlier, Paul spends 11 chapters telling us about the gospel and then he gets to chapter 12 and you get one of those there for us. You remember, whenever you see the word there for you ask the question, what's it there for, right? And so Paul says, I appeal to you therefor by the mercies of God and then he goes on, I would say that's an introductory statement, a hinge verse linking chapters one through eleven where he's talked about and explained the mercies of God the gospel and now he's saying in view of who you are based on what God has done for you in Christ and pursuing you in overcoming all of your fears and your sinful resistance in causing you to become his children to be saints based on the righteousness of Jesus in view of the mercies of God therefore all of this follows. See the point is we must be feeding upon the mercies of God, upon the Lord Jesus Christ otherwise we will never be able to do what he has called us to do as a church and we will just either become completely disillusioned and practice what I call the evangelical shuffle you know which is I hang out in this body for a little while until it disillusions me and then I move over here and shuffle a little bit over here. Well either do that or we will become simply cynical about the church. I mean it's like a friend of mine will say ingest that there's two things in the world that you don't ever want to see. The first is how sausage is made. The second like unto it the inner workings of a church it's very dangerous and ugly now listen and here's the application for all of us leaders the church is full of sausage making right the church is full of sausage making why because the church is full of sinners like me like you and we oftentimes want the church to be our cure all and we imagine it to be heaven on earth now and so whenever we begin to see that sausage making we become disillusioned look until Jesus comes again the body of Christ is what we call the church militant it's not the church triumphant glorified perfectly worshipping Jesus it is the church militant at war spiritually and therefore we need to be patient with one another and live in the place of safety at the foot of the cross feeding upon the gospel of Jesus therefore in view of the mercies of God we can go forward so that's our place and leaders I mean you need to keep me accountable we need to keep one another accountable that in everything that we do we are centering upon the grace and mercy of God in Christ every single program that is put in place in this church every single Bible study or sermon every worship service everything that we do must be gospel centered we must live and feed upon the wonder of God to us in Christ now once we are centering there we will begin to more and more see through everything that we do that the great goal is accomplished how do we get from that place of safety the gospel to sing the glory of God the central purpose of the church accomplished it's where the church is mobilized where all of us play our respective roles again remember in this particular game there's no one sitting on the bench there's no B team or JV okay everyone is varsity we are all playing on this practice field and we are there for the purpose of glorifying God Paul spends a good bit of time talking about this in chapter 12 for instance first five and six so we though many are one body in Christ and individually members one of another having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us let us use them the emphasis interestingly here is on using the gifts and doing so with our very best energy gods glory deserves our very best time energy resources give your best as you serve the Lord in his church that's the point right you say well that's great I don't know how I'm gifted curious isn't it the Bible never directly tells us here's how you know how you're gifted the idea the emphasis is more roll up your sleeves and serve where there's needs because Jesus made his body complete and so you know if you are for instance the arm of the body to use the body imagery if you're the arm of the body but you're not functioning as you're supposed to then the body is handicapped the body is challenged the body isn't maximizing its potential and so simply waiting on the sidelines for someone to tap you on the shoulder to serve in a particular area won't do it it means that we are as members of Christ always rolling up our sleeves and serving where there's need and over time God through the body of Christ will affirm where you're stronger and where you're weaker it's like you know I have long have this very strong conviction that I am a gifted soloist and why are you laughing but Mark Miller that rascal who is the leader of our music ministry will not let me sing a solo in our church can you believe that and you're saying yes so low that we can't ever hear you I mean that would be disastrous if I were to sing a solo in the church so simply because you think that you should be serving in a particular I think I should be a teacher of that class or I think I should be doing this or I should be a leader over there simply because you have that premonition that sense doesn't mean you're gifted it's what technically you would call the manifest approbation of God's people were over time your gifts are recognized affirm people are encouraging you yeah that the the God that the Lord has in essence gifted the body of Christ through you in that area and so we're serving the Lord as we over time roll up our sleeves and leadership here's the point let me start with members in application the leaders of the church are not here to do the work of the ministry we're here to coach encourage facilitate mobilize the masses in the work of ministry nobody should be on the sidelines it's all about full participation that the body might function as it's supposed to and so leadership you are player coaches helping people encouraging them providing opportunities and so elders and deacons ministry team leaders staff regularly encourage people in their service encourage them that what they're doing is being used greatly of the Lord to bring glory to himself now doesn't in there we have our purpose clear the glory of God checking our agendas of the door the only way that we're going to ever do that individually and corporately as if we center in the right place the place of God's gospel of grace that we feed upon Jesus and lift high his cross among us and as we do that filling our respective roles the body of Christ will function as it should be zealous be eager in that but it doesn't in there it ends with the relational side of things i mean it'd be so easy wouldn't it for a lot of us who are task oriented to just sign up to serve which I encourage every one of you to do if you haven't done it go to the church life table and fill out one of those sign up to serve forms or you can do it online little advertisement there it'd be a lot easier for a lot of us to just do those tasks and not have to worry about the relational side of things just like a friend of mine says you know ministry would be great if it weren't for all the people you know again there's the difficulties there in relationships they're challenging but notice the vein in which the apostle Paul writes here that if the gospel is at work in your life chapters 1 through 11 it's going to lead to you pursuing people in love let love be genuine verse 9 of whorewood is evil cling to what is good love one another with brotherly affection out do one another I love that in showing honor rejoice in hope be patient intribulation constant in prayer and while these might seem like a rabid fire disjointed conglomeration of staccato imperatives I agree with the commentator John Stott who said no these are all purposely given to elevate the central idea of God's love and not just love in general but God's gospel love that he's been unfolding in chapters 1 through 11 so here's the point because you have been pursued by the living God of grace because he has overcome your resistance to him through his transforming love because he will never leave you or forsake you because God has pursued you you are enabled to pursue not just those who are easy to pursue but the very people who are sausage makers in your own life you pursue them out of love and elders exist to shepherd the flock it's impossible to shepherd a body as large of ours directly every person and that's where I think this passage and so many others are helpful did you notice the emphasis on the one another words in here three times you find that and it's the idea it's one of our core values that we are committed to passionately caring for and developing one another all of us are shepherds in other words all of us have the responsibility to disciple others within our body all of us are responsible to weep with those who weep rejoice with those who rejoice to outdo one another in honor I mean think of the person that you have a really difficult time with you think are they're kind of they kind of have this competitive spirit I don't know what it is I can't figure it out why don't you engage in competition the competition try to outdo them in showing honor and humility and respect and love I mean you say that's just insane yes that's otherworldly precisely it's this new community created by the work of Jesus Christ in his life death and resurrection call the church the body of Christ and if you think about that imagery we are the presence of Jesus in this dark and broken world so that as we more and more together pursue the great end of the glory of Almighty God as we center upon the work of Jesus in the cross each of us fulfilling our places of responsibility as we do all of this loving one another the world begins to take notice this is exactly what Jesus said in his parting command to his disciples a new command I give to you that you love one another just as I have loved you you also order love one another by this all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another as we serve Christ and pursue one another in his church Jesus shows up and brings healing transformation and life to a world and to people like you and me desperately in need they got richly blessed each one of you who are entering into specific places of ministry this morning and that means every single one of us including the new elders and deacons God take us as your people humble us use us center us on the gospel grant that as we lift high the cross we will find our ability in humility to glorify you and the world will take notice as we love one another in the name of Jesus oh man