Allen Jackson - Full Measure of Devotion - Part 2
But the definition of devotion is the fact or state of being ardently dedicated and loyal, ardently dedicated and loyal. I don’t believe there’s such a thing as a Christ follower who’s not devoted to Jesus. I don’t believe you can do that. Because he’s either Lord of all or he’s not Lord at all. There’s no gray. There’s no hyper disciples and super disciples and grade A disciples and grade C disciples and then those who just get in. I brought you a passage of Philippians 3. This is Paul, the Apostle. He said, «If anyone thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more». Not a really humble statement.
Paul said, «You think your resume is good; mine’s better». That’s what he said. Doesn’t really matter how you turn it, and then he’s gonna tell you why he’s better. And he’s gonna start from the way he was born. He said, «I was born to the right group of people and you weren’t». I have more: «Circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless». That’s his CV prior to meeting Jesus on the road to Damascus. He was a rising star. He had the brightest future. He was so zealous and effective at home in Jerusalem that they gave him assignments beyond the country. He was an international developer.
Then he met Jesus. In verse 7 he said, «But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection of the dead».
Wow, not a fashionable passage. Now you can dissect it in theological terms and hide from the implications of it, but the simple reading, an honest glance at that passage is a statement on devotion. «I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord». There is nothing in influence of my life, he’s saying, not my education, not my professional accomplishments, not my achievements, not my peer group, not my contact list. He said, everything is but rubbish and that’s kind of a cleaned up English word. More literally, he said it’s dung. You choose your euphemism. It’s trash compared to the privilege and the opportunity of knowing Jesus. Personal question. We’re in church, don’t answer.
I want you to think about it for a few days. If the people who know you work with you, the people who spend their discretionary time with you were asked what the most valuable thing in your life was, the thing that you prized, the thing that you were most committed to… how many of them would answer without hesitation: «Oh, it’s Jesus».
See, I don’t think there is Plan B. I don’t think we start there. We’re birthed into the kingdom of God and we grow and mature and develop, we’re gonna look at that in just a moment, but my invitation to you this morning is to… I wanna break the fashion of sloppy Christianity. I wanna break the fashion trends of occasionally gathering with community, of volunteering, of serving, of giving: all those components of expressions of devotion that have been diminishing for a long time now in church world. I wanna suggest to you that those are essential components of giving expression to your devotion. Well, I don’t have to go to church to be married to, I don’t have to go to church to be a Christian. Okay. Biblically you do have to be in community to grow up. But it’s just really a lot like saying, «You know, I don’t have to go home to be married». It would help.
I know, it’s plucking a lot of trends, but it is very biblical. I consider everything a loss. I don’t want you to feel ashamed. Whenever we present the truth, we present the truth so that there’s an opportunity to bring life alignment with it. See, we have lived with so much deception, with so many lies, with so much manipulation. We have watched it over and over and over. It’s been reinforced at every aspect of our lives. We have a department of education, but year after year the test scores of our children plummet, so we say, well, it’s the tests that are bad. Oh. We’ve lived with this so long and it’s infected our churches. So just begin to say, «Lord, if there’s an adjustment in me, and if my devotion to you is smaller than it should, I would like to go, I wanna say with Paul, I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection. And the fellowship of sharing and suffering. Becoming like him in his death».
Even Jesus was asked to lay it all on the line. And then that last phrase; it’s haunting in that phrase that somehow I might attain to the Resurrection of the dead. There’s no arrogance, there’s no presupposition, there’s no swagger. He said, I’ll do all of these things so that somehow I’ll be included. Devotion to Jesus. I want to take the balance of our time and we’re gonna do it really quickly. I can do it more quickly than you think. I wanna talk a little bit about World Outreach Church. When we grew out of a home Bible study my parents had for a dozen years, when they moved to this community, my Dad opened a veterinary practice and they started in our house. My bedroom was the drug room. That explains most of the questions you have.
You know, it was a startup. We didn’t, he didn’t have an office. This was a long time ago. There was a lot more latitude. We kept things in our refrigerator that most families would not put in their refrigerator. He amputated a dog’s leg on the kitchen table and again, we thought that was normal. I’ve told people that I watched their faces and I think, «Oh, you don’t do that, okay». We did, but they opened their home to a Bible study on Thursday night and they welcomed whoever wanted to come, and it was like «the island of misfit toys».
This was a very different community 50 years ago. And far more separated than it is today, and the people who came were from different nations and they were all different colors and all sorts of their lives were in different sorts of disarray, and from that after a dozen years, the church was birthed. I was living in Oklahoma when it started and they called to tell me that they were gonna meet on Sundays and be at church and I thought, «How quaint». And they called me a couple of weeks later and said, «We have a name and it’s World Outreach Church».
There were 29 people. And they named it World Outreach Church. I didn’t clap when they told me. I thought maybe they’ve been to Lynchburg and been in another one of Tennessee’s treasures or something, but the church began, and as we watched what God was doing through those years, it didn’t change dramatically or rapidly; it’s been bit by bit, year over year, that we came to understand our mission until we could articulate it and we said, «This church exists to help people become fully devoted followers of Jesus».
We don’t come from a single tradition or a single denomination. On a typical weekend we represent more than 60. And so it’s not about what this group prefers as their primary doctrine or primary practice of something, but it’s helping everybody become a more fully devoted follower of Jesus. If you wanna know what our goal is in your life, if you’re newer here, that’s it. We want to help you put your devotion to Jesus to grow. «So I’ve been a Christian for 52 years». «Good. I hope your 53rd year shows the most dramatic growth of the whole journey».
We wanna stop pointing at what we were and start talking about what we’re becoming. We’re becoming more fully devoted followers of Jesus. I like it because it’s more about outcome than it is doctrine. It’s very biblical if you follow your your heroes through the Bible, whether it’s Abraham or Moses or Joshua or David or Esther or Mary. Their stories are about this emergence of knowing God and following him. That’s not the way we’ve given away our faith for decades. We focus on the entry point conversions.
I believe in that. I’m not diminishing that, but we’ve had this unique focus on that entry portal and then we’re kind of over it. I mean, maybe you do some discipleship class. Look, I’m not talking about a class, I’m talking about your life. You can’t come to church and sit and act like a Christian and go do business like a pagan and think you will qualify for the Kingdom. You can’t use your discretionary time and recreate in the same way the ungodly people do and think you are qualified for the Kingdom because occasionally you park your good intentions in church and say, «Jesus, we’ve been confused». And we exist to help people because we’re on a spectrum, we’re all on the spectrum.
You know, if you go to the airport, now if you go to a school, you go to a lot of public places, you have to go through a magnetometer. You know those little metal detectors if you’ve been to the airport lately. Take your shoes off, your belt off, your coat off, unpack your bags. And then they’re gonna wand you down. Do you have any liquids? What if we had at the entry to the church? Not a metal detector. But a spirit detector. We’d be having a lot of outdoor church wouldn’t we? Because pastor’s not going in that building. I’m here to tell you. Walk through there, and anger is blasting, lust. «Oh, I didn’t like; that’s not my church». Got a lot of sloppy agape, more fully devoted followers of Jesus. Take Peter. Follow him through the New Testament. It’s a fun exercise.
«Follow me, Peter, I’ll make you a fisher of men. Yeah, Peter, if you wanna get out of the boat, come on». Kid almost drowned that day. Spitting water, «Help me, Lord». «Why is your faith so small»? Goes to the Mount of Transfiguration. He gets invited into the inner circle. Jesus said, «When we get to Jerusalem, they’re gonna execute me. They’ll arrest me, betray me, crucify me,» and Peter said, ' «No, Lord, never. Get behind me, Satan». That’s kind of harsh. «Peter, I prayed for you that your faith wouldn’t fail». «Oh Lord, I’ll never fail you. The rest of these guys, they’ll probably all run, but…» The day of Pentecost Peter’s the one who preached. Thousands of people in the city of Jerusalem where they screamed «Crucify him,» they respond to Peter’s message and are baptized in Jerusalem.
Peter and John help a lame man be healed. The whole city’s stirred. The crowds are gathering to such a point they’re overwhelmed. They line the streets so that when Peter walks by, his shadow falls on them. And people are being healed. To get onto into Acts a little further, Peter has a vision and God said, «I need you to go to Cornelius’s house, the Roman Centurion’s,» and Peter goes, «I don’t go there» and God said, «You shut up. I said go». I mean, that’s the Living Bible, but that’s what it says. And Peter gets there.
You see, Peter understands that the Jewish people are the covenant people of God. The keeping the rules of Moses is the way to honor God and please God, and he’s doing that as a Christ follower, a believer in Jesus. He’s preaching sermons and thousands of people are being born again, and God sends him to a Roman soldier’s home. And the events of Pentecost are duplicated. And Peter’s mind is completely fried. His circuits are frozen. He locked up. He said, «Well, I have to say, God’s no respecter of persons». He had three years with Jesus. He was on the Mount of Transfiguration. He walked on the water. He picked up basketfuls of scraps after they fed a multitude of the little boys Happy Meal. He’s been leading the church in Jerusalem, and God says to him, «I’m going to turn what you understand about following me completely on its head; you go talk to the Romans».
And I think of how we’re coached in our faith. «Well, I’ve been around church ten years». Yeah, me too. And I’m very aware that if I don’t grow and change and learn, I’m gonna forfeit what God created me for. Because everything that’s gone into my journey to this point is to prepare me for this point. And I will happily say with Paul, «I want to know Christ and the power of resurrection». And I say it very cautiously, but I have come to the place I’m willing to say in the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings if it’s required. To become like him in his death. Surrendered completely to the Lord. Because I believe that’s the objective. I’m not telling you I’m there. I’m telling you it’s the path I’m on. I’m inviting you to join me.
That’s why we exist as a community. It’s why we do these things. I gave you our purpose. There’s four statements to attract and lead people to a personal relationship with Jesus. Any church that’s a legitimate church, if somebody knocked on the door and said, «I would like to be a Christ follower,» should be able to close the deal. If they can’t close that deal, they should close their doors. That’s not a church, that’s something else. If they say, «Well, there’s many ways to God. Jesus isn’t». So, that’s not a church, that’s something else. Or it’s not a true one. But the first half of that is a little different, to attract people to Jesus. We have said as a community of faith that we are committed to not just telling people that have raised their hands and said, «Oh no, I want to follow Jesus».
We will engage in behaviors and activities and expenditures and all sorts of things to help people get to know Jesus. This is who he is, this is who we are. We put an ice rink in November and December when the kids are out of school and we say to people, «You can come to our campus at no charge, and the church will serve you. People will help you with your skates. There will be people there to regulate to be sure it stays a safe environment that they’re not, not too many people on the ice. We’ll make some hot chocolate for you». Why would we do that? «Well, you’re just trying to grow the church. You want their money».
You know, if we wanted their money, we would charge them. We’ve done all sorts of things through the years. Hasn’t always been a big church. We were a tiny church. They used to have a street festival on East Main. They moved to to Cannonsburg, but they closed East Main Street, and you give out a little booze. There really wasn’t a church event. There were all sorts of things from the community. And I took the teenagers and we put up a little puppet stage and we’d do puppet shows and give candy to the kids. It’s all we had. It was all we knew to do, but we went and did it until our arms were so tired we couldn’t do any more puppet shows. We went to a Christmas parade and there were no churches in the Christmas parade.
We thought, well, Jesus probably ought to go to the Christmas parade. We were a little bitty church, so we started doing whatever we could do and it was pretty humble. The darkness we see is not new. We had to stop putting Mary and Joseph in the Christmas parade in this community because the comments to Mary were so vile, we wouldn’t allow it. How long is the church gonna be quiet, folks? To lead and attract people to a personal relationship with Jesus. The second was to encourage Christians to consecrate themselves to God’s purpose. «Consecrate» an old fancy word. Just need to set yourself apart. You were birthed into the kingdom of God. Jesus gave his life so that you and I, as Christ followers, could give our lives back to him.
That’s not like for special Christians, that’s the deal. We have to learn that, grow in that. That’s not automatic or intuitive to provide a climate in which worship and personal spiritual growth can occur. I’m not talking about music styles. We should be able to worship the Lord with a kazoo. Worship is an attitude. It’s not about music. We’ve messed this way up. We can have the right, we can have talented musicians and talented vocalists and the right words and it’d be way carnal. It starts in our heart. We want to learn to worship the Lord. We’re committed to that. I’m not suggesting we do it right or the best or the only way, but we want to grow spiritually. We do not want to remain stagnant. We want to equip believers for ministry in our community and around the Earth.
«So, nobody’s equipping me. I wanna be equipped, nobody’s equipping me». Let me help. Start with the Bible reading. Do the daily devotional. Serve whenever an opportunity is presented. Learn to give of your time, your talent. And your stuff. Get involved in a small group, so you lose your anonymity. And somebody knows who you are. And knows what it’s like to sit with you on a regular basis. Those are all equipping opportunities available to all of us. «Well, they’re not the ones I want».
Okay, well, there are some others. «Well, I don’t find that serving the Lord. It’s like a buffet where I can choose commandments 1, 3, and 7». I have to take the truth as it’s presented to me. I have to begin to develop a full measure of devotion. And that’s my invitation to you today. What I love about it is it doesn’t matter about your age or your life stage or your season or your IQ or your income level, we can all say today: «I would like to be more devoted to the lordship of Jesus than I’ve ever been».
And that’s my invitation. I’m grateful for your backgrounds, the different churches and the things you’ve learned and the things you’ve been taught to celebrate. There’s great strength in that. I don’t think it’s a weakness. But at the heart of all of it is I wanna be fully devoted to Jesus. I count everything a loss compared to the greatness of knowing him. He’s changed my life for time and eternity. I’ve oriented my whole life around him. It isn’t perfect, it’s broken and fractured, but I’m still in progress. I you’d like to do that today.
If you would stand with me, if you’re at home, you can stand too. Put down that cinnamon roll. You’re not done yet. That’s who we want to be as a community. I understand not every church will say the same things. I don’t think they should. We can be different. We can reflect different commitments, different objectives. We can have different passions. We got, you know, we’re not here representing Jesus competitively. We’re trying to do it faithfully. What it means to be a church in Murfreesboro is dramatically different than what it means to be a church in Iraq. We want to be faithful where God has placed us. In the midst of the circumstance he’s given us. Amen. Let’s pray:
Father, I thank you that you called this place into existence, but I don’t believe it began in the hearts of men and women. I believe it began in your heart and that you called us into existence and you have shaped us through the years and the decades and every expression, Lord, and every configuration through all the changes, the people you have gathered in the lives who have been transformed, the children who have learned and grown and had children of their own, Lord, we thank you for it. We stand in your presence today with a desire to honor you, Lord, when we evaluate ourselves and we look at our lives and the achievements and the accomplishments and the things accumulated and the dreams we hold and the aspirations that we pursue. Well, there are desires to give you first place. Forgive us when we have failed to do that. Or whether we were distracted or ill-informed or unaware. Or we thought perhaps it was unnecessary, Lord, for whatever reason today we come in humility to acknowledge our our reality and Holy Spirit to ask for your help. If there’s any harmful thing in us, help us to see it. If there are attitudes or behaviors that are dishonoring, help us to recognize them. And may we have the courage and the boldness and the willingness to change. To give you first place, to give your people a new priority. To value your people. To be willing to acknowledge our alignment with you wherever we go and with whomever we gather. I thank you for it. We thank you for the truth that is swirling around us. May it grow. May it become more prominent. May it gain greater momentum. Look upon us with your favor and mercy and let the truth be shouted from the house tops. Until it transforms our lives and our homes and our schools and our communities and our nation. In Jesus name, amen.