Description
RESCUE
The Ring is the Thing
August 15-16, 2009
Ed Young
How’s everyone doing? Doing well? All right. Welcome to Fellowship Church. And it’s great to see all of you. I want to say a word of prayer and then we’ll jump right into today’s subject matter, ok?
Father, you brought us here for a reason and that reason is to do transactions in our lives. Go before me and give me your words to say to penetrate the heart and life of everyone here; those of us who have been followers for a while, those of us who are brand new to the faith and also those here, God, who are just sort of checking out this whole thing about church, and the Bible and the claims of Christ. I thank you for what’s going to transpire and what’s going to take place and the business that will be done in all of our lives over the next several weekends, and especially on this day. We ask all these things in Jesus’ name, Amen.
[Intro video of Ed with Miami Dade Fire & Rescue]
Illus: You know, just several weeks ago I was in the Atlantic ocean in a small boat. It was about sixteen feet long. The sun was setting and we were heading toward the marina. I’ve been down this path a lot. I knew the channel that led to the marina. I could see the marina in the distance with the big beautiful boats lined up. And thankfully, the seas were pretty calm.
Again, we were in a small craft. And as we were making that turn toward the marina, down the channel, on this three minute little-little boat ride, my friend and I noticed another boat, a solitary craft, out by itself. We’re the only boat in the water except for this boat. And I looked and I saw a figure about 150 feet off the boat and it looked like the guy was swimming. And I said, “Surely that guy is not swimming.” And my friend goes, “Man, he better not be. There are some serious sharks in the area.” He said, “Plus, uh, and in a few minutes it’s going to be night and-and-and it’s just dangerous, and the currents, and it’s pretty deep over there.”
I said, “Well, maybe he’s in trouble.”
My friend said, “Yeah, it’s kind of weird.”
So we kind of idled over toward this situation. And as we got near the figure, I looked and to my shock and amazement, the guy was like, waving. And we asked him, “Hey, do you need help?”
He said, “I’m drowning! I’ve been out here treading water for fifteen or twenty minutes. My arms are heavy. I’ve been sucking down salt water. I’ve been trying to get my boat. And every time I swim toward the boat, the wind pushes it away.”
It was a serious situation. So I’m looking in the water from this small sixteen foot boat and this guy looks like an offensive lineman on an NFL team. A monster of a guy. And I’m thinking, “How in the world are we going to drag him in this little boat?”
So we move up beside him and I grab one of his hands, my friend grabs the other and we pull and pull. And our boat was almost capsizing. It began to take in water, but we finally drug this behemoth, this leviathan in our boat.
He started, not to be too graphic, coughing up salt-water. He was on his hands and knees and thanking us, and saying, “Man, I’m so glad you guys are out here.”
He said, “I’m a fisherman. And I was grabbing my nets and fell overboard. I’m not sure how long I could have lasted.”
And we’re thinking, “Wow. We rescued this guy! He was drowning. We saw him. We were the last boat out, and man, we rescued him!”
When he gained his composure, we found his boat, of course, and helped him get on to his boat and we watched him motor away. He was thanking us. “Man, thank you. You saved my life!”
Whoa. I was thinking, “What a day! That end, I mean what a way to end a time on the water.
Then we kind of motor toward the marina. Again, it’s about a three minute drive. And as we get to the marina, the boats get clearer and clearer and there was this one big honkin’ white boat. I mean the boat probably cost a quarter of a million dollars. It was tied to the marina. And as we got closer, I saw this guy on the front of it with a P-90x body. You know, he had the 8-pack going on, tan and everything. And I looked and he had a girl with him and she had on the resemblance of a bikini. I’ve seen more cotton in an aspirin bottle. I’m talking about not very much on.
And strangely, as we got closer and closer to this boat, the couple, in unison, smiled. They waved. And then the guy smacked her on the rear.
I thought, “That’s strange.”
That was really eerie. Because here these people are, waving and smiling and smacking each other on the rear. But just out of reach, just out of sight, just out of listening range, you had a guy drowning, fighting for his life. And they had no idea about it.
Isn’t that kind of surreal? The contrast is unbelievable. You’ve got these people on this expensive boat, just having the time of their lives. And then you’ve got a guy, just out of reach, drowning. Had it not been for us, the guy would have probably drowned.
What a snapshot of a lot of Christians I know. What an illustration and analogy of the church. Here we have drowning people all around us. Here we have people whose arms are heavy; they’re sucking in salt water. But we’re tied up in our crafts, bunched up in our little churches in smooth waters, waving, smiling and smacking each other on the rear. While tens of thousands of people are drowning around us and facing a life without Jesus Christ.
Sobering, isn’t’ it? That’s something that wakes all of us up. I think if we realized the life and death situations of people all around us we wouldn’t believe it. But so many people in the Christian culture have the faux faith have this marina mentality.
“Let’s just tie our boats up to the docks. Let’s just relax. Let’s just hang out on our boats and smile and wave and whack each other on the bottom while drowning people go to the bottom. Let’s just do that and have a nice little weenie roast and let’s play ring toss on the decks while everybody else is facing the fires of hell.”
Miami-Dade Fire and Rescue. Isn’t that an awesome name? Wane Sessions, one of the leaders of this group, goes to Fellowship. And he told me about this thing called “the golden hour.” When I was in the helicopter and on the rescue boat he said, “Ed, it’s all about the golden hour, the golden hour, the golden hour.” He said, “You’ve got about sixty minutes from the hurt to the hospital.” He went on to say, “If you don’t take advantage of that sixty-minute golden hour, normally, you’ll lose the person.”
You know what their motto is? “Always ready to serve.” Always ready to serve. The Bible is a book about search and rescue. The Bible is a book about seeking. It’s a book about saving. It’s a book about people who are drowning and other people doing something about it.
I think about Noah. Noah was rescued by the ark. I think about Abraham. Abraham was getting ready to sacrifice his son Isaac, yet God rescued him and provided a ram instead. My mind rushes to Moses. Moses, see, he rescued. He was God’s agent to rescue his people from Egyptian slavery. Joshua was rescued militarily, time and time again, as he conquered the Promised Land. Think about the book of Judges. Men like Ehud, women like Deborah, men like Samson. They were all into search and rescue. God supernaturally reached down and rescued them. Samuel. He was all about rescue. David was all about rescue, tending his father’s sheep. He rescued his father’s flock from the lion and the bear. He rescued Israel from the hands of the Philistines as he took out Goliath. Rescue. Elijah was rescued when he faced those 450 prophets of Baal. Elisha was rescued when he was surrounded by the enemy troops in Dothan and he looked and he saw chariots of fire. He saw angels and heavenly beings rescuing him from the situation. Jonah was rescued out of the belly of a fish. Daniel was rescued out of a lion’s den. Joseph was rescued from a cistern, then rescued from the pit and made it all the way to the prison. Then Joseph rescued his brothers. The Bible is a book about rescue.
And then in the New Testament, we find Jesus rescuing mankind, rescuing our fallenness, rescuing our sin. What did Jesus do? Jesus simply tossed us a life ring. Jesus is the life ring. We were drowning in sin, sucking down salt water. Our arms were heavy. Jesus lived a righteous life, totally pure, died a sacrificial death and rose again. He’s the life ring.
And the moment we let go of our flotation devices, because believe me, we’ve got flotation devices out there. Just look around. Isn’t it interesting to see how many flotation devices we make up? Oh, we think money will hold us up. How’s that working for you in this schizophrenic economy? Money? Oh yeah, that’s a great flotation device. Possessions? Pleasure? The thrills and chills of adrenaline rushes, or ecstasy, or false intimacy? How’s that working for you? Fame? Publicity?
Whatever it is, it’s a poor flotation device. Ultimately, we sink. We begin to drown. And some here who are hearing my voice right now, some of you are drowning and you don’t even know it. You don’t even know it. Others of you are thrashing right now because someone you’ve been dating broke up with you. Still others are thrashing because of a divorce.
Still others are thrashing because you’ve been released. Still others are thrashing because of a hurtful habit that still has you. I challenge you to let go of those flotation devices and trust and latch on to the life ring.
What I’m trying to say is – the ring is the thing. Would you say it with me? The ring is the thing. Jesus is the life ring. And we have the opportunity to throw the lifelines to others. Jesus threw it to us. Have you ever stopped and just considered how much Jesus trusts you and me? That just messes me up. Jesus trusts us – I’m talking to believers now – so much that he put us around people who are drowning. And we’re it, which is sort of scary.
I look at my own life, you know. I mean, I’m it. You’re it. Yeah. We’re it! Jesus said, “You’re it!” And then he ascended. He said, “You’re it, you’re it, you’re it. I’m the life ring; here’s the lifeline. Drowning people are around you. You’ve already grabbed the life ring. You’re saved now. Serve, now. Sow, now. Share your rescue story. It’s up to you. It’s up to you. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead.”
What love! What trust! What confidence Jesus has in you and me.
Fellowship Church has grown exponentially for almost a couple of decades now because we’re in the lifeline and life ring business. Jesus died on the cross for you and for me, for our sins. That’s what he is about. Luke 15. He told three stories back to back. He talked about something that was lost. He talked about a lost sheep, he talked about a lost coin, and he talked about a lost son. Back-to-back-to-back. Three things were lost. It’s the only time he told three stories back to back with one theme. And when those things were found; when those things were rescued, everyone celebrated.
Jesus, in Luke 19:10 says, “For the son of man came to seek and save what was lost.”
Notice the urgency. You might want to write that there by Luke 19. Urgency. Because we need to understand something right up front. We have a culture in crisis. We’ve got a culture in crisis. I’ve just described it to you. I’ll just spell it out to you. There are people who are flailing, people who are thrashing and splashing, people who are looking for a life ring and a lifeline. They’re realizing these flotation devices they’re clinging to aren’t working. They’re sinking. We’ve got a culture in crisis. And I pray every day, “God, help me to wake up and to see the fact that we have a culture in crisis.”
You’ll notice something else. There was a second thing. Notice the cause that’s commanding. There’s a cause that’s commanding. This is not a suggestion. This is not something just to think about or to contemplate. The words of Jesus, again, this is the mentality that we should have. We have the urgency, but also the mentality.
Matthew 28:19-20. “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
So my job as pastor is simply to comfort the afflicted, and to afflict the comforted.
We cannot trade in life rings and lifelines for lounge chairs on this Christian cruise with an all you can eat buffet. [horn blow]
“I guess I’ll work on my spiritual tan.”
People are drowning all around.
“I’m not going to get up and look over the bow or the stern. No, no, no, no. I’m just going to play ring toss on the deck. That’s what I’m going to do. Oh, wow. Oh, I scored 25 points. That’s good. That’s good. That’s good. Now, your turn. Your turn. Oh, you missed it. Too bad.”
Ring toss. Working on your spiritual tan. It’s time to throw lifelines! It’s time to say, “Ok, Jesus is the life ring. God, give me the discernment for the drowning.”
Toss the ring, because the ring is the thing to those who are drowning. Then, we can take the lifeline and pull them in.
When we pull them in, what do we do? Do we say, “Here’s a lounge chair, just relax, don’t worry about the others?” No! People who have been rescued want to rescue others.
And it’s unbelievable. Read the stats. When someone is rescued, and when someone is brought into the church, what happens? As they live in the Christian culture; as they rub shoulders with people who have a faux faith, not a real faith, but a faux faith, the percentage of drowning people that they see and that they know, goes down drastically. And that shouldn’t be the case. That shouldn’t be the case.
We’ve got more churches in America than anywhere. We’ve got more churches in Dallas-Fort Worth than anywhere. That’s one of the main reasons I did not want to come up here 20 years ago. Every time I fly into Dallas, because I do a lot of traveling, I always look out over the horizon, and I count the number of churches. And every time I do, I’m blown away. Wow, there’s another church, another church, another church another church, another church. This is incredible. There’re churches everywhere. Doing what? Doing what? Shuffling sheeple? Shuffling biological sheep from the Baptist church and the Bible church and the bapti-costle church and the charismatic church? Are we just shuffling sheeple? Or are we truly throwing the life ring with the lifeline to people who are desperately drowning.
What are we doing? Church growth, church development doesn’t just happen. When you hear about a church going, “Oh, this church grew from 0 to 3,000 in two years.” Ask them one question. Who are you reaching? Who are you reaching?
We’re not here just to reach the already convinced. We’re here to throw life rings to drowning people. And we want people who are believers, who are into the thing. Because again, the thing is the ring. Because when the thing is the ring, everything else is happening.
That is why God has honored Fellowship Church over all these years, because we kept the thing as the ring. And I want to thank you for keeping the ring as the thing. Keep the ring as the thing.
And it’s as I do some traveling and talk to a lot of leaders; it’s interesting to see how the Christian culture, the people with faux faith, will come up with a myriad of excuses for their disobedience to Matthew 28 and Luke 19. Because you’ve got to come up with some excuses if you’re going to disobey the ring. And believe me, we have churches all over the place that have all these excuses.
One of them goes like this. “Well, I’m just looking for a place that’s deeper.”
People come up with that excuse. Why? Because they don’t want to untie their boat, idle out of the marina, push the throttle forward and face the wind and the waves and the elements. They are too shy to toss the life ring. They’re just scared. Because when you get serious about search and rescue; when you get really serious about it; when the ring is the thing, all hell will break loose and all heaven will break loose.
Stuff will happen. You can get in trouble. You can fall overboard. There’s a risk. I mean, you’re rolling the dice.
And for the life of me, so many guys here are adrenaline junkies, you’re trying this sport and that sport and you’re going crazy here and there. Yet, you don’t have the testosterone to stand up and throw somebody the life ring? You have never tried anything adventuresome until you do that. You never have, I don’t care what you do.
And ladies, I challenge you to do it. You want to grow deep? Do you really want to grow deep? The thing is the ring. Children have no concept of depth. No concept. Put a little kid around a pool, he has no concept. You have to watch him. So whenever someone says, “Oh, that’s not deep,” they’re a little play-pen whining, Gerber dining baby. And we love babies. But it’s an excuse for disobedience. An excuse.
Then they say, “Well, I’m just not getting fed.”
Wow! You just called yourself out. You mean you can’t feed yourself? You want to feed yourself? You go out and remember the thing is what? The ring. You begin to toss the ring out to those who are drowning and you watch your faith take off. You can watch it take off. Because the ring doesn’t hit the water through osmosis. The ring doesn’t hit the water by saying, “Well, let’s discuss theology. And let’s just have another Bible study.”
When that big guy was drowning, did I say, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, let me give you the etymology of the word ‘drowning.’ Let me back up and give you the history of modern day boating.”
That would be true, but irrelevant. This guy needed to be saved. He needed rescuing.
People around you don’t need a Bible study. They don’t need a theology course. They need to be rescued! And you are the lifeline in their life. That’s scary. You’re the lifeline. So am I. What responsibility, what love, what opportunity. You are the lifeline.
Now, some other excuses go like this. Some Christians try to put God in a box. Oh, a lot of really smart churches, you know, “Ah, it’s all about the elect. If you’re one of the elect, you’re in, you’re the white hats. Those who aren’t elect, they’re the black hats. Sorry. Too bad.”
Whoa! Are you telling me your little pea brain (you only use about 9% of it, so do I); you mean to tell me our little pea brains can grasp the sovereignty of God?
Throughout Scripture, yeah, I believe in election. But I also believe in choice. Jesus gave people choice after choice after choice after choice. I don’t know where it begins and ends. If you think you do, wow. You are flat out the most brilliant person who has ever lived on planet earth. Again, it’s just another excuse. Another rationale for not really getting serious about throwing the life ring.
I’m talking to believers. If you want to go deep; if you want to hit the waves and face the elements and really have the adrenaline rush, you try this and see what happens. But I’m amazed at these excuses. “Not deep enough.” “Not being fed.” “I’ve got God in a box.” “I’ve got him figured out.”
But notice something else. Yes, the culture is in crisis. Yes, a cause that’s commanded, but notice this – this is flexibility. We desperately need a crew that’s committed; a family, which we’ll talk about next time, that’s flexible.
We’re a flexible church. Have you ever thought about that? Flexible. We change. And we change just to change. If it ain’t broke, break it. The Bible is all about change. If you don’t like change, go somewhere else that doesn’t change. We’re going to change here at Fellowship Church.
Two things I can promise you. Number one, we’re going to fling the ring. And number two, we’re going to change. Because if you read the teaching methodology of Jesus Christ, he always changed. He threw the ring, and he always changed. He never did the same thing the same way. The message was the same, but he changed the way he delivered it.
A crew that’s committed. What’s that? The local church. What’s the local church? It’s the bride of Christ. What’s the local church? It’s the house. What’s the local church? It’s the boat. What’s the local church? A house boat. What’s the local church? It’s a fellow ship, a bunch of fellows rowing the ship toward Jesus. And when you’re rowing the ship toward Jesus, guess what? He will always take you by drowning people. Always.
And if we’re rowing the ship together, we ain’t got time to complain and moan and groan. We ain’t got time to hang out with the Christian culture with their faux faith.
And here’s what’s so cool about the Christian culture. I love this. I almost didn’t come up here [to DFW] because there were so many churches and so many seminaries and all the Christian junk and funk. I almost didn’t come up here. But you know what? God has used the Christian culture to keep Fellowship Church on point. Because we have never reached other people from other churches.
The moment we’ve ever reached anybody from another church in the Christian culture, they hang out for maybe six months to a year, and then it’s bye-bye-bye. And that’s ok. We need your place on deck.
Someone else can come in who is really cognizant of the gospel, who understands the ring is the thing. And they’re not going to sit there and flick lint out of each other’s belly-buttons and sing “kumbaya” while their community goes to hell. Those people don’t last at Fellowship Church, and that’s fine. Because at Fellowship Church, we’ve grown as much through subtraction as addition. So if this is not your deal, hey, this can be your last weekend at Fellowship Church; it can be your last one, and that’s fine. Go somewhere else, and I say that in love.
But remember, if you want to grow deep, if you want to get mature, you are saved, you are rescued, to do what? We’re saved to serve. We have got to serve within the context of the bride of Christ, within the context of the boat, the fellowship. We have got to serve.
We’re also saved to sow. When you are a part of a church where the ring is the thing, we’re going to talk about what God talked about. And you know what? It takes a lot of cash money to do ministry.
I hope you never come in here and go, “I guess this stuff just happens. I guess this camp we built for $35 million just kind of happens. Wow!”
What are you thinking? It doesn’t just happen. And God has blessed Fellowship Church. He’s blessed you. Why has he blessed you financially? To buy more stuff? I mean, yeah, he wants to enjoy your stuff. He wants me to enjoy my stuff. But he’s blessed you and me to be a blessing in the house. So you have got serve, if you want to grow. You have got to sow, if you want to grow.
Number three is basic now, but this is so deep, this is so critical. I cannot explain it to you deep enough. You are saved to share. You’ve got to share. And we have to do this thing together. A crew that’s committed. We’re on this ship together. A crew that’s committed. It takes a team to do this stuff.
Well, let me tell you some things to do, some application points. And I’m, again, talking to those people who have been rescued. Number one, write down your rescue story. Write it down.
Have you taken enough time to write down your rescue story without using Christianese? Without using words that those who are thrashing and those who are drowning don’t even connect with? Because once we join the Christian culture for a while, and hey, stay away from the Christian culture, stay away from people with faux faith. That means fake faith, you know. Because in Dallas / Fort Worth it’s popular to be a believer. I’m talking to real believers now. I’m not talking about phony-bologna.
And you know what? I enjoy hanging around non-church people, people who are irreligious. You know why? Because they’re truer to their nature than many Christians I know. You know what I’m talking about. Oh, don’t be sitting there telling me that you’re a sold out believer when you’re not serving and sowing and sharing.
Illus: I’ll never forget this. Almost 20 years ago, our church had been going on for six weeks. This young couple visited our church and I called them up and I said, “Hey, I’d like to come by and just explain more to you about Fellowship Church.”
I would go see every single person back in the day, when we had like 150 people who attended Fellowship.
This guy said, “Yeah, I have some questions for you.”
I said “Good, good.”
So I went to his house. It was a young couple. We sat out by their pool and we were talking and he’s like, “Well, uh, Ed, you know, Fellowship Church is fine and all that. And you know, we went to the worship service and had our child in children’s church. But you know, I’m looking for something, I don’t know, deeper.”
I said, “Really? That’s interesting. Deeper?”
“Yeah.”
I said, “So, you’re a deep Christian?”
He goes, “Yeah, I’m deep. I’m mature.”
I said, “Well, can I ask you a question?”
He said, “Sure.”
I said, “Who was the last person you led to Jesus Christ? Who was the last person that you threw the ring to?”
He looked at me in shock. “Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh, I don’t know.”
I said, “Don’t ever sit there and bring that weak stuff to me when you’ve not done one of the basic things of discipleship. Don’t come back to Fellowship Church. Go somewhere else, because we need people different than you.”
And let me tell you something else. Our church had been going on for two or three years, and we were busting, you know, doubling and tripling in size. A church growth expert came to Fellowship Church and he looked at me and he said some words to me I’ll never forget. His name’s Dr. John Vaughn. He’s kind of a nerd. And he knows he’s a nerd. He’s a great guy. He looked at me and he said these words.
“Ed, the only people who will criticize Fellowship Church are the mean-spirited professional Christians. Don’t listen to them. You keep doing what you guys have done, what God has done over these last three years, for the rest of the way.”
And I’m going to tell you something. We have done it at Fellowship Church. We have kept the fires white hot for evangelism. Because, if you’re not throwing the ring, forget talking about missions. If you’re not throwing the ring, forget talking about discipleship. If you’re not throwing the ring, forget talking about children’s ministry. If you’re not throwing the ring, forget talking about youth ministry. If you’re not throwing the ring, forget talking about spiritual gifts. If you’re not throwing the ring, you will miss everything. And we’re not going to miss it.
We have a culture in crisis. We have a cause that’s commanded. And we have a crew, I want to thank you crew, that is committed. Write down your rescue story. Use words that God will deposit in your spirit to use that everyone can understand. No Christian-eese, just say it.
Number two. You’ll see that God will use your passion for his purposes in your life. What am I talking about? I’m talking about if you like knitting, God has given you the desire to knit and he’ll hook you up with other knitters, no pun intended. And as you leverage that and pray for those people and discern if they’re drowning, God will open the doors and you walk through them.
Maybe it’s hunting. Maybe it’s fishing. Maybe it’s basketball. Maybe it’s golf. Maybe it’s tennis. Maybe it’s antiquing. Maybe it’s shopping. Maybe it’s collecting cars. Maybe it’s NasCar.
I don’t – maybe its flying. I don’t know what it is. God has given you that to enjoy it. We should enjoy life. But the bigger purpose is, he wants us to leverage that to share with others the good news of Jesus.
Illus: Now, during this summer, I’ve had the opportunity to be in a couple of fishing tournaments. And I’ve loved the fishing tournaments. But I didn’t do that great in them. Once, Lisa called me and she asked, “Well, how’s the fishing?”
I said, “Lisa, on one hand it’s terrible. I’m in last place. But on the other hand, it is awesome!”
What is it for you? That foursome? What is it for you? That neighborhood group? Those people that you garden with? I don’t know.
Number three. Pray that God will give you the discernment to see the drowning people in your life. Pray that God will give you that discernment, because he will. And that’s a scary prayer. Because when you pray that prayer, it’ll be like, “Whoa, that person’s thrashing, and that person’s thrashing, and that person’s thrashing, and that person’s thrashing. I better get the life ring!”
The thing is the ring. When we rescued that drowning man, we put that big ol’ guy back on his boat. As we were idling away from him making our way toward the marina, I looked back, because this guy was a professional fisherman, and you know what he started doing? He started fishing again. Wow! Fishing. Followers fish. Followers fish. Followers are rescued and they throw life rings. The thing is the ring. Toss it. And watch people grab it.
Or, if you’re here and you’ve never grabbed it, in a couple of moments, I’m going to toss it; you grab it. Because once you grab it, we will pull you in to the house – the house boat – the fellow ship, where a bunch of fellows are rowing the ship towards Jesus. Where a bunch of fellows are moving by drowning people, and God will give you the opportunity to throw the life ring. Because this life ring is everything.
Let’s pray together.
[Ed ends in closing prayer and an invitation prayer for nonbelievers.]