Neat But Negative (The Other Manger) – Part 2

Introduction

For those of you who were not here last Sunday night, sorry, you’re catching part two of a two-part sermon that’s never been a two-part sermon before. And actually, I’m preaching it as one part next Sunday, Lord willing, in Louisville, Kentucky. In fact, I scratched the sermon that I was going to do that I told them I was going to preach, because I said, no, they need to hear this. So this is a sermon that I actually preached about oh, seven years ago. And so a lot of you weren’t here then. And so I told you that if you remembered the sermon, that you were going to get Tony’s gold star. Alright. Now, there were probably more people who remembered the sermon than actually told me that they remembered the sermon.

So if you didn’t tell me, you don’t get the gold star. But you know how valuable this is to get the gold star. And let’s start with somebody who doesn’t surprise me at all. Donna, who’s sharp as a tacket. I’ve been waiting to say that all day. Donna, of course she remembered. And of course, Terry remembered. And Charles Berkner remembered. And also Marcy, not Roe because she wasn’t here. Not Marcy Kenson because she was here, but because Marcy remembers the sermon when I preached it in Conway, Arkansas. So that’s that’s pretty cool. And I must give a shout out as I talked about hospitality, and I mentioned this is actually not the version of the slides that I thought was coming up. So I’m gonna have to go with whatever’s on here.

I gave you the wrong, I gave you the wrong copy. Scott. Oh, I could just called you out. Sorry. MA, by the way, is because during the point on hospitality that I’m about to show you, I somehow lost my mind and mentioned John and Micah. And I realized after, because you know, they’re always organizing these gatherings at Micah’s place. And so I was making a big deal about that, and then I left somebody out that you should never leave out. And that was Myra. Although she didn’t need to get a star, but she gets a star for always preparing to have all of us people come and invade her house and create such a mess. Ashley actually gets a star for helping Myra and putting up with John.

Okay, so that’s that’s part of that. But, you know, we live in an age where everybody gets a trophy. And so I want to give everybody here a star. And the reason why is because when I get up here to preach, I get the rapt attention of this whole group. And I find that to be an extremely rewarding and encouraging thing for me as a preacher. To be able to preach to people who actually want to hear.

Walking with God. Alright, so what’s this sermon about? Last Sunday night? It’s not that manger that you thought I might be talking about. Wrong time of year for that, at least as the world celebrates the birth of Christ in December, at least a lot of people do. But this is actually probably a more appropriate time of year for that manger, but that’s another story. But that’s not the manger I’m talking about. I’m talking about the manger of Proverbs chapter 14 and verse 4 that says, where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but abundant crops come by the strength of an ox. And one of the things that we observe by way of introduction is that the manger scene that is often talked about in relation to the birth of Jesus is way overglorified to what a manger actually is.

It probably resembles something like the two pictures here. And it was a place where livestock feed, and it was anything but pretty, as animals are known to make a big mess with their mucus and saliva. It was not etiquette and napkins, as they shoved around the food and ate it and made a big mess. It’s not like they keep everything on their plates. Have you ever noticed after you clean, and if you have little kids, you know how this is. You clean off the dishes. Hopefully they’re helping you do that. You clean the dishes off the table and you go, where do all those crumbs come from? How do they get everywhere? And some people are more sloppy about the crumbs than others. They’re on the table, they’re on the floor.

When animals eat, it’s much worse. And the point is, if you want a clean manger, there’s a price to that. Because oxen make a mess. But also understand what the mess that comes with the manger or the chicken house that we talked about, and somebody said, you know, I’ve never seen a preacher scooping the floor of a chicken house in a sermon before, like I was across the stage last Sunday night. I was off the chain. But if you don’t have the mess, you also don’t have the increase that comes from the work of the ox. And so some commentators that I cited, Derek Kinner, one of my favorites in Psalms and everywhere else, he writes, Genesis, orderliness can reach the point of sterility. The proverb is not a plea for slavenliness, kids.

It’s not make a big mess, it’s not a big deal. Don’t get that was not what I was saying last week. The proverb is not a plea for slavenliness, be a slob, physical or moral, but for the readiness to accept upheaval and a mess to clear up as the price of growth. Meaningful results of any kind require time, money, and work. Be willing to make the expenditure, even if it hurts a little, knowing what the results will be. And so the sermon is entitled Neat but Negative. And a lot of times people opt for the neat. They don’t want to get their hands dirty. They don’t want to make the expenditure of time, money, and work to things that are good, to things that are wonderful, to productive and growing things.

They don’t want to make the expenditure because they just want to keep everything neat and tidy in their little world. But the end result of that is not good for them or good for others. It’s neat, but it’s negative. Owen comes up to me after this sermon. He gets his name and lights again. He loves it. A ship is safe in harbor, but that’s not what ships are for. And that’s true. Oh, yeah, nothing’s going to happen to the ship unless hurricane comes in. But generally, a ship is safe in harbor, but if it goes out, that’s where the peril could take place. Another came up to me and said, I can’t remember who it was now. Road construction. Of course, we got to talk about that around Houston.

1. Practicing Hospitality

When new and better, we want new and better roadways, but progress comes at a cost. That’s actually a picture of I-10 in Houston, where road construction was going on at some point in time, and it’s going on all over town all the time. And we don’t like it. You know, 290 was a disaster. You avoided 290 no matter what. But now look, it’s much better than it was. A lot better than a lot of the other roads in town. And so sometimes you got to put up with a little mess for the end result of things. And so we talked last week at some length about practicing hospitality and how important that is, and how that involves a little bit of work, a little bit of stress, perhaps, rolling up the sleeves, cleaning the house, although we carry that way too far.

2. The Cost of Leadership and Involvement

Vacuuming, cleaning up after the company leaves, especially if they’re kids. But it’s worthwhile to do that work. And we talked last week about the second point, and that is the cost of leadership and involvement. Too many people want to sit on the sidelines and let somebody else do the hard stuff in the kingdom. And there are men of talent, there are men of character who will always be willing to stand up and do the work of leadership in the local church. But wouldn’t it be ideal if congregations had more than two elders? Wouldn’t it be great if congregations of this size could have six, seven, eight guys serving as shepherds? Would that, and they were qualified men to do so. It’s a fine work that an individual aspires to do.

Paul says in 1 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 1. And so I would tell our young men, you be aspiring to that now. What a great sphere of service to aspire to shepherding the flock of God. Remember what Jesus told Peter. Do you love me, Peter? And he kept affirming, yes, I love you know I love you. And then he says, Tend my sheep, feed my sheep. That’s what he tells a future apostle who leads in his kingdom. You’re going to be a person who tends to my people. And that’s a great work to care for souls. But you have to prepare yourself for the task. And once you embrace the task, it’s going to involve work and effort. And perhaps you’re a woman who’ll be married to the preacher or the elder or the deacon.

Or you’re the woman who’ll be the Bible class teacher. To do that work well, to really help people, you’re going to have to expend of yourself. And the more people we get in the local church who are willing to make that kind of an expenditure, to make those kinds of sacrifices, the stronger and more vibrant this work will be. Have you never taught a class? Prepare yourself to do the good work. Don’t you get tired of Thad begging for teachers? Thad, you get tired of begging for teachers. Poor Thad, he has to be the bad guy every quarter. Here he comes. He needs teachers. Wouldn’t it be great if you had volunteers for the rest of the year? Okay. You’ve heard it here first. But there’s another cost that goes with leadership and involvement.

And that is you put yourself in a visible position that can be criticized. Even if you’re one of the best people that there are. Jesus did that. And the slave is not above his master. The apostle Paul did that. It’s amazing what Paul had to deal with. He’s bringing Greeks, he’s defiling the temple. He’s bringing Greeks into the temple. They charge him in Acts 21. And all that they had was that he was seen with a Greek, Trophimus, in the city. They didn’t have proof that he had actually brought Trophimus into the temple, but it didn’t matter. Their viciousness knew no bounds. All they knew was they didn’t like Paul and they didn’t like his message. And they would say about him in Acts 22, this man should be removed from the earth.

Can you imagine?

Remove him from the earth. Probably the greatest disciple of Jesus in terms of accomplishment for sure. That’s probably ever lived. Get rid of him. Remove him from the earth. He was so loathed by those who were in opposition to God. So don’t be surprised when you are visible when you lead that somebody will criticize. It could be jealousy. It was for envy that they delivered Jesus. John was rejected by Diatrophes, one who loved to have preeminence in the church. There are some people who want power so desperately, if someone else wields it, they will oppose them because they want it. I’ve seen it among the Lord’s people. That should not exist among us. Banish those kinds of thoughts. If you excel, I should rejoice in it because God’s cause is advanced.

It doesn’t matter if somebody has more talent than me. It doesn’t matter if somebody’s more effective than me. Praise God that they are being used by that way, by our God. We’re on the same team. And also, let me just say this. Don’t believe everything you hear. Because somebody makes a persuasive argument. Make sure that what you’ve heard is indeed truth.

3. Growing a Growing Church and Maintaining Unity

He’s preaching, let us do evil that good may come. So I’m not going to sugarcoat it for you. The manger, the manger might get a little messy when you lead among the Lord’s people. There may be a backlash to that. There may be people that don’t understand. There may be people who refuse to understand. But our concern is only one concern. And that is to God be the glory in the church. Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 20. It is never about the glory of men. It is always about the glory of God and the advance of his cause. So whatever the cost, it’s okay if the manger is dirty. I would say this too. It’s point number three. Sometimes the manger gets a little messy when we talk about growing a growing church and maintaining unity.

I’ve seen this here. There’s so much I could say, but I’m going to say very little tonight.

And the size we’ve become. I don’t think this is our largest point. I think we’ve lost some folks for a variety of reasons. We were talking about that today. I don’t think we’re as large now as we were maybe a year ago. But when a church grows, there are some growing pains that go with it. And there’s a lot of things that have to be worked out. I remember just coming to my mind right now, all of a sudden we have all these kids running around. So, what are we going to do with the kids after services? And they’re running in the back and they’re pummeling each other, and all kinds of things are happening. And so we had to deal with that. Somebody’s got to be back there with the kids and watching the kids, or else somebody’s going to get hurt.

And, you know, it’s still routinely about every other service. Some kid comes crying down the hall, you know. And hey, nobody’s been in the hospital yet. This is good. Or have they? No, nobody’s been in the hospital yet. But these are the kinds of things that happen. And I always say about that great. No kids have been really hurt and maimed after services. But isn’t it great that there’s a bunch of kids here? Isn’t that awesome? And we talk about singing and singing new songs. And when I originally wrote this sermon, that was sort of one of the main points I want to talk about is singing new songs, new hymns. Because every place I’ve ever been, there are objections. Now, let me just say, and I may have more to say about this in a couple of weeks.

Especially on Sunday morning, we do need to know what we’re singing, okay? So I think that’s important. I’ll talk about that at a later time. But things can happen. You can have a new song leader of the congregation. He thinks everybody knows the song, and he doesn’t know they don’t know the song. That can happen. And it’s hard to confirm all of that. But I don’t talk about new songs. I remember when we first started introducing new songs at Eastside and the idea of a supplemental songbook. What’s wrong with the songbook we’ve already got? There’s 700 songs in there, and we don’t even know all the songs. Why are we doing new songs? That sounds legitimate, but I’m here to tell you, it ain’t. It’s not legitimate.

Because styles of songs change. In fact, I believe some of the best hymns I’ve heard that move me. That get to me within as I worship God and evoke emotion. And I don’t know about you, but I sort of need that. I may be an old guy, but I like to be moved by the singing. I like to feel something about me and my relationship to God. And some of the new songs that have been written, not that all of them are good. Some of them Daniel sent me something cute about that. It’s like the same phrase over and over and over again a hundred times. It’s like, okay, it’s not saying anything. There’s no depth or substance to the song. I get that. But some of the best hymns, I think, that have ever been written have been written in the last 10 to 15 years.

I think more people are writing hymns for one. Glenda Shales is like, oh, this is prolific. Writing hymns. What? You know, hey, we’re about to sing a Glenda song, for you have promised by way of invitation. Nobody has a problem with for you. I’ve never heard anybody complain about for you have promised. It’s a new hymn, relatively speaking. It’s a great hymn. Everything was a new hymn once upon. Well, but Paul didn’t sing that hymn.

Well, he didn’t even sing Mighty Fortress. And that’s an oldie. Bad bass part, but that’s another story.

Paul didn’t sing any of these hymns that we sing. They were all new once upon a time. I use the illustration all the time. I remember standing in the aisle at the old East Side building. Blake and Jamie and Brad know all about those days. And we’re standing in the aisle. Lindy Murph is standing there, and we’re singing for the first time as the deer. We say, that’s not a new song. Well, that was a good 20, 25 years ago. But even that song was a new song back in the day. And I went through all of that to say some of the newer hymns that we sing, some of the songs that Dean led tonight, are songs that our young people enjoy singing. I just got to tell you, folks, how our young people feel about worship.

That’s important to me. Because my time here is short. And I want these young people to know what worship of God from the heart is like.

About us old folks.

So we need to consider that. And we need to consider the impact of our singing, especially on Sunday morning to visitors that might be present who are just giving us a look. I know the preaching better be up to snuff. I’m doing the best I can. You know, if you need to get a new guy, then get a new guy. I’m just doing the best I can, and I know that’s important. But our singing may be one of the most impressive things that we leave with a visitor. Perhaps too, guys, how we pray. How sincere it sounds as we go to the throne of God. We need to be thinking about, and I’ll just tell you, we had several men yesterday morning sitting at a table talking about how to make our worship services as edifying as possible.

4. Speaking the Truth in Love to the Lost

And that impresses me that they’re thinking about what we do well and trying to do it better. You know what that is? That’s this. That’s saying, I’m going to take the time. We’re going to get our minds together, and we’re going to take the time to talk about how we approach God because we want to do it well. We want to do it in a way that honors Him and takes people to the very throne of God. Heaven help us if we come in here and we are not thinking about taking these things, these thoughts, these actions, to the presence of our God. We absolutely must get what we do here out of this building. And finally, I want to talk to you about speaking the truth in love to the lost.

I think one of the reasons why we don’t evangelize. And I’m not, I’m not indicting anybody. I think all of us would say we should say more than we do. We should confess Jesus to our friends and associates and neighbors, our co-workers, more than we do. But I think one of the reasons why we shy away is we know that the minute that we introduce faith into the discussion that there could be a disconnect, there could be a rejection, it could change your relationship with this person, and we’re going, ah, it’s just safer not to say anything. Have you ever felt like that? If I say something, there could be backlash, there could be tension, there could be rejection. My relationship with them will never be the same.

And I’m here to tell you that’s entirely possible. But what about the potential cost to souls? Okay, you don’t get rejected. You don’t have to deal with the uncomfortable situation that unfolds. But is your comfort more important than their eternal salvation? Don’t worry about the manger. Let’s do the work. And I think we make it way too hard. We don’t have to convert people on the spot. Oh, here, by the way, in the next five minutes, I’m going to tell you why baptism for the remission of sins is necessary to salvation. So here we go. Are you ready? That’s not what’s required. How about this? The Lord has done amazing things in my life. I don’t know what I would do without my relationship with the Lord.

You know the people I worship with? We have a great work together. We enjoy worshiping with each other. That’s enough. That’s a start. Confess your relationship to Christ. Confess your faith. That doesn’t mean convert them on whether instruments should be used or not in assemblies.

Once saved, always saved. If they inquire further, go down the path. Let’s have a Bible study. Why don’t you come to worship with me this Sunday? Just once. Just check us out. See what you think. How hard is that? And that often doesn’t create a lot of friction. But we’ve got to get out of our comfort zone to try to reach people while there’s time and opportunity. I really think my biggest issue in evangelism is I want to get from here to here this fast. I want to introduce the subject. I want to get them to the waters of baptism and get them into Christ in a day or two. That’s not realistic. We just need to plant the seed. They may not be ready for it now, but maybe somewhere down the road saying, no, I remember when Tony talked to me about his faith and how much how rewarding it was to him.

Conclusion

Today, I think I’m going to go check it out. May not be ready today. It might be down the road. Neat, but negative. And so I conclude with what I concluded with last Sunday night. Every moment of discomfort and every sacrifice for his great cause, every soul influenced toward faith in him is so worth the effort. And is so much less than what the Lord surrendered for undeserving me. And it is indescribably rewarding to know that you have contributed in the greatest cause on this earth. Focus. Stay the course. Heaven help us. If you’re subject to the invitation, come now as we stand and sing together.