8 Sermon Illustrations on Order

Order is heaven's first law. — Pope. — Order is the sanity of the mind, the health of the body, the peace of the city, the security of the state. As the beams to a house, as the bones to the microcosm of man, so is order to all things. — Southey.

Summary from Webber's book on worship.

1. Worship is a verb.

2. A Biblical pattern.

3. A meeting between God and his people.

4. Priesthood of all believers.

5. Order and freedom.

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To make a point, a time-management expert gave his highly placed students a pop quiz. Taking a big wide-mouthed jar, he positioned it on the table in front of him. He then took several fist-sized stones and carefully positioned them in the jar until they reached the top. He then asked, "Is the jar full?"

Everyone looked at each other then, shrugging their combined shoulders, said, "Yes!" "Really?" he asked, as he pulled a bag of pea gravel from under the table. Taking the jar he cautiously poured gravel into the open mouth of the jar, regularly shaking it to get the gravel to settle. Again he queried, "Is it full?"

A voice from the back of the room whispered, "Probably not!" "Good," the expert said. This time he pulled out a child's sand bucket and carefully poured sand into the open mouth of the jar, again shaking it to get the sand to settle. "Is it full?" he challenged.

"No!" a combined class voice responded. "Good," he said as he took the water pitcher from the table and filled the jar to the brim. "Is it full?" he inquired.

"It sure looks like it," replied several members of the group. "Not good," the teacher chided, as he took a sugar bowl from the table and scooped spoon after spoonful of the white crystals into the saturated sand mixture.

When the surface became clogged with sandy sugar, he gently shook the jar until it dissolved. He repeated this until the sugar bowl was empty. "What's the point?" he prompted.

One zealous young executive blurted out, "No matter how full the schedule, there's always room for more, if you try!"

"No!" the speaker shot out. "No! This object lesson teaches us two things:

1.) if we don't put the big rocks in first, we'll never get them in at

all, and,

2.) once the big rocks are in, an orderly introduction of everything else

accomplishes more than a random introduction."

APPLICATION: What are the big rocks of your life? God? Family? Ministry? Charity? Others? Dreams? Country? Education? Health? Or are your big rocks of your life the things of this world? The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the boastful pride of life?

If you sweat the small stuff you'll fill your jar too fast, and with low priority things. Where your heart is there your treasure will be also. Where's your heart?

Source/Attribution: John Gillmartin

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One cannot truly know God nor appreciate Him as He is without being awed at the ordered array of His universe. Yes, the Almighty loves life and freedom, but at the substructure of all creation there first had to exist an immutable matrix of order. It was upon this foundation of ordered laws of physics that life emerged. Order is the source of life.

We must remember that the very same eternal mind that created the structured order of the universe, created the church. There is a divine order to the church that begins in being rightly related to Christ and the leadership He gives to the church through people. God is a God of order; order precedes life and freedom. God’s mind is ordered; His will is ordered and He gives “orders” to put things in order.

It is important to note that the Lord Himself honors the order He creates. Consider: the Lord appeared to Paul, spoke to him, actually blinded him in His glory, and then said, “rise, and enter the city, and it shall be told you what you must do” (Acts 9:6). Why didn’t the Lord just heal Paul? Why didn’t He just tell Paul what he had to do? Paul would have to learn that, to reach God, he would have to submit to man. This is God’s order and the Lord Himself honored it. Paul had to hear about Jesus from Annaias.

Or consider Cornelius: an angel appeared to this Roman centurion in a dream and told him that a man named Simon Peter would explain to him the way of salvation. Why didn’t the angel simply tell Cornelius about Jesus? In the Almighty’s universe, God works in an ordered fashion. Before the gentile’s could enter the kingdom en masse they would be invited by the Jews, who first accepted Christ. God honored the order He created.

Consider church protocol in the book of Acts. When Philip brought the gospel to Samaria after Pentecost, miracles, conversions and great signs were accomplished. But Philip would not lay his hands upon the Samaritans to receive the Holy Spirit. Why? Because until this time, the Holy Spirit had only spread through the hands of the first apostles. Again, God required His servant to respect the order and authority of the first apostles.

God has an order in your church. However it is established, and in whatever way it is defined, it is a place in order and it should be respected and honored. It does not matter whether you agree or not with the governmental structure within a church; as long as you attend that fellowship you should honor the order. Most congregations are led by a pastor; some, the authority resides in the elder or deacon board; in still others, the authority comes from a bishop or even a prophetic or apostolic ministry. Whatever the structure, honor it and submit to it without dissension. If you feel you cannot grow in that congregation under its present structure, find a church where you can develop spiritually. However, do not cause strife just because you are not familiar or comfortable with the order.

The issue is not the form of government, but the life within the form. Paul wrote of apostles and prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers; John, however, spoke of the church in terms of fathers, young men and children; Peter, on the other hand, taught of elders, shepherds and the flock of God. The issue is not how the order is defined, but to understand that there is an order already established in a church and that order should be honored. It can be changed, but to change a church structure, one must submit to the elders of that church and be in agreement with the senior leader. They will pay the price for change when they are convinced God is leading. But they should not be forced to change just because someone has a problem with a church expression.

When the Jezebel spirit begins to manifest in a church, it immediately seeks to undermine the authority structure. If it cannot directly seduce a leader or cause him to commit immorality (and use that sin to diminish his authority), it will bring strife and division to challenge his authority in the church. Remember, Jezebel was a queen who ruled a king; she assumes a “prophetess” role so she can rule a church. In so doing, she seeks to create a counterfeit authority among groups of individuals in a congregation. The result is that the established order in the church is undermined, true authority is neutralized, leaders are then wearied by endless meetings.

“And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day.” (Jude 1:6).

There is a proper abode for each of us in the order of God. Jesus said that, in the Father’s house there were “many dwelling places” and that He was going to prepare a place of each of us. The Father’s house is not only a place found in heaven; it is revealed here on earth in the body of Christ. Whenever we seek to break the order of our church, we leave our proper place and enter a realm “kept in eternal bonds under darkness.”

My friends, stay loyal to the church order where you worship God. If that order does not fit your temperament, find a church that does. If you cannot find a church, perhaps you are called to start one where your vision of Christianity can be fulfilled. But whatever you do, do not open up to false authority; do not dishonor the authority in your local fellowship through gossip or dissension; rather pray the vision of the senior pastor. For in so doing, you will help bring the church into the destiny of God and serve to fulfill the uniqueness of God’s purpose.