Mule Eggs
By
Shelby G. Floyd
A few years ago there was a little book that was
written that had an interesting story in it.
It is out of print now, but you can still read about the story on the
internet. The title of the book was
called, 'MULE
IS A PERSON BORN GREAT?
You might say what relevance does that have to
the lesson today? The subject that I am
talking about is that sometimes we are like those city slickers. Our perception of how we ought to grow a
congregation and the reality are miles apart.
We think this is the way a church ought to grow. God's perception of how a church ought to
grow is like miles apart from our perception.
We are going to try to bring our perception and God's perception closer
together where we can agree, and build this church according to God's
plan. I have a question for you. Have there been any great men and women born
here in
I know every preacher hopes that his son will turn out to be a preacher. Of course, like all preachers, I had the same hopes for my son. He can do a good job preaching, I have heard him preach, and he does an excellent job, but he told me one day, “Your calling is not my calling.” So I must believe that. I am praying that one of my grandsons will turn out to be a preacher or maybe more than one. When my son was a little boy, his great grandfather gave him a little songbook and he told him he wanted him to grow up and be a song leader. So I guess he took his grandpa to heart, because he is a great song leader. No, great people are not born that way. I do believe that God gives us abilities and it is up to us to develop our gifts. We need to open up and use them, grow them and mature them.
Our lesson today is from 1 Corinthians 3:5-9,
"Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building.”
WORKERS
Today our lesson is Workers Together With God. It is a simple lesson. It only has three ideas. The first is: We are laborers. We are workers. We cannot sit down and let God do it all. God wants us to roll up our sleeves and get to work. It is amazing how there are some people who will roll up their sleeves and go to work. Then others also will do that, because it takes somebody who is a leader to initiate action.
The Church is God’s Field
Apollos was a man of action. We are workers together with God. The NIV says, "We are God's fellow workers." There is work for us to do. God wants us to go to work. Paul said “You
are God's field, you are God's building." For our purpose, we are only going to talk
about God's people in the figure of speech of a field. I grew up on a farm so I am speaking my kind
of language. I understand what Paul was
talking about when he said, "You the church at
One of the “all things that I have commanded you” that we must teach the baptized disciples is the Great Commission: "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature." So that shows us that all baptized believers have the responsibility to carry out the great commission as well as the apostles. That is the reason the church has come down to us today. People have taken that great commission seriously. Every time somebody is baptized we should teach them that their job is to bring somebody else to the Lord. We must preach and practice the great commission. Romans 10:13-17 declares:
Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How, then, can they call on the one they have
not believed in? And how can they
believe in the one of whom they have not heard?
And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are
sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good
news! But not all the Israelites
accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our message? Consequently, faith comes from hearing the
message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ."
Nobody can be saved unless somebody preaches, somebody hears, somebody believes and obeys and calls on the name of the Lord and claims their salvation by the merits of the sacrifice and the atonement of Jesus Christ on the cross.
Another passage in Romans tells us that we are all debtors. I have been in debt about all of my life. I just learned to live that way. I look around sometimes and I am as well off as some people who have a lot of money or pretend to have a lot of money. I enjoy my life. I have all of the good things that I really need, and I do not worry. There is one thing that I do believe. When we make a debt, if we are honest, we ought to pay that debt. Honest people try to pay their debts, not skip out of town, and leave someone else holding the bag. Paul declared he was a debtor in Romans 1:14-17:
"I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise
and the foolish. That
is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at
Do you know what they used to do with people that were debtors and did not pay their debt? They put them in debtor's prison. It would be kind of hard to pay your debt in prison. Well, if we don't Christ pay our debt because of the wonderful grace of God and salvation we have in him, we may end up in prison. At least the Bible tells us in one of Peter's letters that the angels are in prison waiting the great day of judgement, and I don't want to go to prison. So we too must pay our honest debt. That debt is that we are Christians because somebody else has worked in the field of the Lord and we need to go out there now and bring somebody else to the Lord's kingdom.
When Jesus was on this earth he
used all kinds of figures of speech to make His point. Mainly in
In Matthew, we have the record of Jesus teaching a group of people, and the Bible says: "Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness."(Matthew 9:35.) That is what we call the threefold work of the church. Do you know what the work of the church is? It is very simple, saving the lost, strengthening the saved, and the serving the suffering. That is it in a nutshell. That is the work of the church. Save the lost, strengthen those who have been saved by edification and teaching, and then go out and serve the suffering humanity that needs help. That is how simple the Lord's work is. Jesus participated in all three areas of work. After he had taught and preached unto them the Bible says, "When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd."(Matthew 9:36.) He could put his self in their place. The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 4 that God is a God of compassion. He feels for us. The Bible says that Jesus had compassion because they were like sheep scattered aboard without a shepherd. That is a sad picture to see a flock of sheep scattered all over the hillside and no shepherd to rescue them and bring them back to the fold.
Then he made this great statement, and this is one that we should take home. He said to those people, "The harvest indeed is plenteous, but the laborers are few.” (Matthew 9:37.) That is the problem in the church. We need more workers. We need more laborers. You know the Devil is telling us that the harvest is really not that great. The Devil knows that according to the parable of the sower, Matthew 13, that if he can keep the seed, the Word of God, out of people’s heart then they will never be saved. That is all he has to do. Just keep the seed away from people’s heart and they will be lost forever. So even, as I am speaking, the Devil is whispering in your ear. He is saying,
“Well don't invite anybody to the worship service or to Bible school,
because you know that people today are steeped in human philosophy. Their lives are laden with sin and all kinds
of wickedness and people have all of these other things to do. If you invite them, they will probably make
fun of you, and they won't pay any attention to you. If they say they will come, they probably
will not come. So you would probably be
better off if you did not say anything at all.”
They tell me that 95% of all Christians never even bring one person to the Lord in their lifetime. That is sad if that is the case. One of the missionaries went overseas and he cried out to the Lord, "Lord, give me souls, or I will die." That ought to be our prayer. Lord, give me some souls or I am going to die. That is my mission and that is my purpose. This is my commission here on this earth. Give me some souls.
Jesus said: "The
harvest truly is plenty but the laborers are few." I grew up on a farm and I understand what
Jesus was saying. Suppose one of the big
farmers here in
We are not getting many baptisms anymore. We cry out, we want better preachers, we want better Bible school teachers, and we want better song-leaders, better elders, better deacons, better young people, better teenagers, better husbands, better wives, and better homes. Do you know what we are asking for? We are asking for the fruit. We want the results. You ask me and I will tell you that no one can expect results unless he sows abundantly. If you are going to have an abundant harvest, you must have abundant sowing of the seed. If we expect the church to have an abundant harvest then we have to get busy and broadcast the seed throughout God's field and the world.
In 2 Corinthians 9: 6, Paul says, “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously." So how do we reap bountifully? We sow bountifully. Paul says to the Galatians that God is not mocked. That word mocked in the original language is the word for nose and it simply means you can not turn up your nose to God and mock him. Whatever a man sows he will reap. If we sow to the spirit, and that is where we need to be sowing, we will reap life everlasting. If we sow to the flesh then you know what we are going to reap. It will not be life everlasting.
What is the seed? Luke
I read this story and it is probably true about a church that had 1,400 people in their membership. The church had 1,400 people in the membership and then they started subtracting people that were not working in the church: non-resident members 75; balance left to do the work 1,325; elderly who have done their share 25, balance left to do the work 1,300; sick and shut-ins 25, balance left to do the work, 1,275. Members that do not give as they have been prospered 350, Christmas and Easter members 300, balance left to do the work 625; members who are overworked 300, balance left to do the work 325; members with alibis 200, balance left to do the work 125; members too busy with other things 123, balance left to do the work 2. That is you and me, and we have got to work. We have got to get busy. Maybe we are like the little boy who lived out on the farm who had a flock of hens. He was in the egg business. His hens were not laying very big eggs and they looked like Banti-eggs. So he decided he was going to try and do something to encourage those hens to lay bigger eggs. He shopped around and finally found an ostrich egg for sale. He brought that ostrich egg home, and held it up in front of his hens and said, “Take a good look at this and try a little harder.” That is what all of us need to do. Take a good look at the New Testament church and try a little harder and I think that the Lord well help us to grow a church here. I heard of a church one time that had a special meeting and they called it a quitting meeting. Maybe we need to have a quitting meeting. The members started telling them things they were going to quit, I am going to quit cussing; I am going to quit stealing; I am going to quit gossiping; and finally there was a lady who spoke up and said I haven't been doing anything and I am going to quit that. Can all of us who haven't been doing anything quit doing that and start doing something?
WORKERS TOGETHER
I think you have the point. The first point I made is that there is work for us to do. We have to get busy, roll up our sleeves and go to work, because Paul says, "We are laborers." The second point is that we have to work together. Work together in harmony. You know one of the great things that Henry Ford came up with is what we call "The Division of Labor.” You can take a job and one person can do all that needs to be done, or you can divide it up among people and make it more efficient. The point is division of labor can get a lot more accomplished. Henry Ford created the assembly line and each person had one little job to do. He increased the output and that means that cars were cheaper and you could sell them for $500 when he created the Model T. In the church we are to have division of labor. We must all work together. Paul says, "I planted the seed and Apollos watered." We don't all have the same function in the church. I planted the seed and Apollos watered. In order to grow the church we have to cooperate with each other. We can't all plant the seed, and we can't all water. What happens if you plant too many seeds? They won't come up. What happens if you over water the seed? It dies. What happens if you underwater the seed, it also dies. We have to cooperate with each other and not have conflict. If you see two donkeys and they are pulling apart do you think they will ever be able to eat those piles of hay? Even mules and donkeys were smart enough to get their heads together and by cooperating they were able to eat one pile of that hay and then both go over and eat the other pile of hay. The reason we have not accomplished what we want to in the church is because there is too much conflict instead of more cooperation. We need to cooperate. That is the point we are making here. We have got to work together as a great team. Young men when you play football and soccer are you going to win if everybody is trying to be the big star? No, you only win when you work together as a team. We have to work together in cooperation.
Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:11-15 says:
"My brothers, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, "I follow Paul"; another, "I follow Apollos"; another, "I follow Cephas"; still another, "I follow Christ." Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul? I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, so no one can say that you were baptized into my name."
So we are to work together and not work against each other. In Matthew 12: 25: "Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand." So if the church is to stand now, and for ages to come, we have to work together in love and unity. We have to work together like the four people in Mark 2. They brought a man that had the palsy, and the room was crowded, so do you think that stopped them? No, you know love, devotion and commitment can find a way to do anything. They chopped a hole in the roof and let the man down on four ropes, and Jesus healed him and said "Son, take up your bed and go your way and walk and he did so." This is a good example of cooperation and what you can accomplish when you work together as a group of people. We have to be bound together in love and unity. I love the statement in Psalms 133, "How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!" There are a lot of things that are pleasant but they are not good. Sin is pleasant. The Bible says there is pleasure in sin, but it is short lived. There are a lot of things that are good for you but they are not pleasant. If you go to the doctor and he says you are going to have a major operation and it is going to be good for you, but going through the surgery and the recuperation may not be pleasant. But isn't it wonderful that unity and cooperation is both good and pleasant?
THE HEARTLAND VISION
I noticed around on our doors we have the Heartland Vision. All of you as members and visitors here at our worship service can see what the Heartland Vision is:
We live our lives with honor and integrity and conduct ourselves in
such a way that we have a positive influence for Christ in the lives of
others. Our goal is to make sure we, our
families, and many others go to heaven.
We need to read that over and over again, and memorize it until we say to our family, visitors, and friends that you have got to come to the Heartland Church of Christ and see what our vision is while we are carrying out that vision. “When there is no vision the people perish,” Solomon said. Suppose all the leaders of the church have this great vision, but all of you do not have that vision. If your vision is like the city slickers that came down from New York, and your vision is going this way and that way, are we going to be able to accomplish the Heartland vision? No. However many members we have here, our arrows all need to be pointed in the same direction. The Heartland vision is not just for the leaders of the church. It won't do any good if it is just for us. If we all adopt that vision and execute it with love, unity, and cooperation instead of conflict, we will accomplish great things.
WORKERS TOGETHER WITH GOD
Finally, the third point is the most important. Jesus said when he gave the great commission that "Lo I am with you always even unto the end of the ages." I know there are some people that won't fly, because they don't want to get up in an airplane. I felt that way the first time, but I love to fly now. We joke and laugh and we say Jesus said, "Lo I will be with you always, not high." But Jesus is going to be with us whether we are flying, or in an automobile, or whatever if we are doing His will. Jesus said he would be with you always unto the end of the ages. What that means is we can work, and we can work together, but if we don't work together with God we are not going to accomplish anything. We have got to depend upon God to bring about the results instead of ourselves. We try to do it all ourselves and when it turns out bad we blame God. God wants us to rely upon him. Isn't it wonderful how God opened up this church building right here for us when we needed it? That is what I am trying to get over. If we rely upon God and his great strength, love, and power then we can accomplish things we couldn't even think possible. God is always working in our lives. I want us to look at the context. Paul says: "What is Paul? What is Apollos? Only servants through whom you came to believe as the Lord has assigned this task." That word servant in the original language is diakonoi, from which we get the word deacon. Did you know that it is not only applied to the officers in the church that we call deacons; it is also applied to preachers? We are servants. Do you know what that word means? It means table waiter. We love to go to good restaurants and get a good waiter that is attentive to you. You will reward him with a good tip. As I shall point out later God is going to give us a good tip if we are good table waiters. That simply means that we are good servants. We are not superstars. The Lord wants us to do our work, but he asked the question what are we? We are table waiters. We are servants. We are serving the gospel of Jesus Christ to people who are lost out in the great field of the world. Each worker is to do his task, but God gives the growth. I planted the seed, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. Paul and Apollos are not anything he says, but God is everything. Who is Paul and who is Apollos? Well we are one. Ministers of the gospel are to work with one purpose and work together, but we are not really anything in the grand scheme of things. The big picture as we said is that God is everything. Can we get that in our hearts and our minds? We are not anything, but God is everything. We need to rely upon Him.
God will reward each individual for his
individual labor. That doesn't mean we
have to go to work to earn our salvation.
Some people believe I will be lost if I don't get busy and work day and
night. We are saved by the grace of God
through faith. Salvation is a gift of
God. (Ephesians 2: 4-10.) God in addition to that is going to give us rewards
at the last day according to our labor that is what he says 1 Corinthians
3:8. Why do we work together with the
Lord? We are weak. We don't have much strength. We don't care how gifted you are, how much
energy you have, we are weak when comes to battling the forces of this
world. Therefore the Bible teaches us
that God will give us the strength that we need. In 1 Timothy
When Jesus was to be born, the angel Gabriel came
to Mary and told her that she was going to bear a son and she said: "How
can this be, since I know not a man."
Gabriel said: "All things are
possible with God." Nothing is
impossible with God. In Romans
*Shelby G. Floyd
delivered this sermon Sunday morning