The following is a modified version of a "talk" I gave in a gathering of BGCT pastors at the Baptist Building in Dallas. The purpose of the meeting was for pastors from the churches contributing the most money to the BGCT Cooperative Program to share dreams and ideas about the future of the BGCT with the executive director, Baptist Building staff, executive director search committee and elected convention officers. Since I am a pastor, I wrote and delivered the following sermon with all the aforementioned in attendance.
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A Vision for the Future of Texas Baptists: A Pastor’s Perspective
Andy Pittman, Pastor of Lufkin’s First Baptist Church
In the presidential campaign of 1980, California governor Ronald Reagan debated President Jimmy Carter in a televised Presidential debate. Governor Reagan asked President Cater a memorable question: “Are you better off today than you were before 1979?”[*]
I suggest that we ask the same question to Texas Baptists: “Are we better off today than we were before 1979?”
In 1979, I was eight years old and an active member of Sunday School and R.A.’s at the West Jackson Street Baptist Church in Tupelo, Mississippi. Despite my young age in 1979, I still have vivid memories that every Wednesday night in R.A.’s I heard about Bold Mission Thrust. I can remember my Sunday School teachers talking about Bold Mission Thrust and my pastor preaching sermons about Bold Mission Thrust. Bold Mission Thrust was the title of the Southern Baptist plan to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with every man and woman on the face of the earth by the year 2000.
I have no doubt that in 1979, there was no Christian organization better equipped than the Southern Baptist Convention to accomplish Bold Mission Thrust. However, I have not seen the same kind of passion for evangelism in any Baptist organization since 1979.
Whatever happened to our passion for evangelism? It does not seem to be a priority of the Southern Baptist Convention. The Fundamentalist leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention have been more concerned with building walls to identify cooperating churches and to exclude others. The Moderate leaders of the Baptist General Convention of Texas have been more concerned with maintaining control of the convention and the Texas Baptist institutions.
The future of Texas Baptists depends on our willingness to define clearly the identity of the Baptist General Convention of Texas and Texas Baptists Committed. The BGCT needs to renew the commitment to evangelism which was lost in the Baptist Battles of the twentieth century. The BGCT is very good at describing and maintaining the historic Baptist traditions that were lost in the Fundamentalist takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention. However, it is time for the BGCT to champion the Kingdom of God through evangelism and world wide mission. Our current concern for describing Baptist traditions and maintaining Baptist institutions is a myopic vision for our future, at best. At worst, it is symptomatic of the decline and eventual death of our denominational structure.
Therefore, I propose a future Texas Baptist identity which must include the following:
1. A vision for the future that is more Christ focused than the anti-Fundamentalist identity we now have. Most Baptists in Texas know that the BGCT leadership is not Fundamentalist. Most Baptists in Texas know that the BGCT will not be a Fundamentalist convention five years from now. However, the terms Fundamentalist and Moderate have more to do with being Baptist than they do with being Christian. I do not believe the future of the BGCT should be tied to the direction of any national Baptist organization. If we are truly living in a “post denominational age,” then we need to define our future identity in terms of the Kingdom of God and not a denominational structure. Our future does not depend on our relationship with either the Southern Baptist Convention or the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Our future depends on our relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ.
2. A vision for the future that takes seriously the call to evangelize the lost population of Texas and the world beyond Texas. Evangelism has been the greatest casualty of the battles within the Southern Baptist Convention. The new leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention have spent nearly thirty years defining their boundaries. The Moderates who were excluded from the Southern Baptist Convention have failed to engage in authentic evangelism. We have been very successful in social ministry, but we must tell Texas and the world about Jesus. If our future depends on our relationship to our Lord Jesus Christ, then our future also depends on our obedience to his command to “make disciples of all nations.” We cannot be content with maintaining the Baptist distinctives among the Baptist Christians in Texas. We must develop a passion for reaching the non-Christians of Texas and the world in order to lead them to saving faith in Jesus.
3. A vision for the future that sends missionaries and missions money from Texas to all nations. If the future of the BGCT does not depend on our relationship to the Southern Baptist Convention or the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, then we must discover ways to engage Texas churches in worldwide missions. This plan should include men and women from Texas churches responding to God’s call to full time missions work as well as church support through short term mission work. The role of the career missionary is changing from the arrogant and “colonial” approach that seems to suggest American Christians have all the answers into a servant role of equipping indigenous Christians to reach their own people. However, the BGCT must become involved in the sending process. This does not mean that Texas needs our own missions sending agency. It could be accomplished through formal or informal networks of Texas churches cooperating to engage in missions. If this is the role or the intended function of Worldconnex, then this needs to be promoted in ways that Texas churches can participate. As it is now, most of our pastors and churches do not understand what role Worldconnex is intended to fulfill.
4. A vision for the future that identifies and trains ministers to serve in Texas churches. I moved from Mississippi to Texas in 1994 to attend Truett Seminary at Baylor University. I am a pastor in Texas today, because of my desire to be a part of the BGCT. I have tremendous confidence in both Truett Seminary and the BGCT. However, if we do not have intentional plans for the future of our state, then we will face a shortage of ministers in the near future. Even in 2007, there seems to be a shortage of trained ministers of music—or worship leaders—in our state. We need to develop strategies for our churches to identify young men and women who feel called by God to serve in our churches in the future. Without intentional strategies to direct our young men and women toward ministry, we could begin to face shortages among all ministry callings, including pastors.
5. A vision for the future that engenders trust among Texas Baptists. The church starting scandal in the Texas Valley was not the beginning of our mistrust. However, it did cause our mistrust to surface in a public forum. Pastors and churches within our convention feel isolated from the “Baptist Building,” and the restructuring has created confusion. In addition, the “single candidate” approach to elect convention officers feels like our leaders have been predetermined in a “smoke-filled room” or at the Moderate equivalent of the Café Du Monde. If we truly value the Baptist distinctives of the Priesthood of All Believers and congregational polity, then we will demonstrate that through our convention processes. I am grateful for the effort to represent ethnic and gender diversity in our recent convention officers, and I encourage the BGCT to elect Joy Fenner as our next president. However, I believe it is a good thing for David Lowrie to be nominated as a candidate for BGCT president. It is time to return leadership decisions to the grassroots of our convention.
6. A vision for the future that includes a new role for Texas Baptists Committed. Thanks to the work of Texas Baptists Committed, the BGCT has maintained our Baptist identity free from Fundamentalist control. The creation of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention has provided the Texas Fundamentalists a convention home of their own and has led to the decline of Fundamentalist participation in the BGCT annual meetings. This leads me to dream about a future Texas Baptists Committed organization which is more educational and less political—yet able to rally politically to combat a future, hypothetical Fundamentalist threat. Texas Baptists Committed could educate through mentoring relationships for younger pastors; regional networks of churches; and high quality, church-friendly materials to educate future generations about Baptist history and distinctives. These educational materials could be financed through contributions made by charitable foundations, or they could be published on the internet. The educational process could be accomplished through networks of regional “teaching churches” across Texas.
The future of Texas Baptists depends on our willingness to navigate a transition in generational leadership. This is the same challenge facing most of our established churches. Our churches are being led by a generation of respected, long-term leaders who are often willing to allow a new generation of leaders to step forward and lead. However, this transition in leadership is only possible if the current leaders believe the new leaders understand and appreciate the heritage and tradition of the church. The future of Texas Baptists depends on a new generation of leaders who understand Baptist distinctives and are willing to apply those distinctives to fulfill our missional calling to reach Texas and the world.
[*] Fisher Humphreys, The Way We Were: How Southern Baptist Theology Has Changed and What It Means to Us All. (Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys Publishing Incorporated, 2002), p. 143.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Sunday, October 21, 2007
The One Who Called You also Sent You
The One Who Called You Has also Sent You
Mark 3: 14 – 15 and Mark 6: 7 – 13
I. Introduction
Read Mark 1: 1.
This one verse captures the entire theme of the Gospel of Mark. Mark tells his reader in this one verse what the characters throughout the rest of the story have to experience and discover for themselves. Some New Testament scholars think this verse is a kind of title or introduction to the rest of the book. Like Mark is saying to his readers, “This is the one thing I want to show you if you stick with it and read my entire book.” And I think this is a good understanding.
The Gospel.
Common expression to announce that a new emperor had been selected…But Mark’s “good news” is really “good news.”
Mark is probably the first Gospel written…So, beginning with this book, there is a new genre of Christian literature…
Jesus Is the Christ.
The people of Israel were waiting for the Messiah. Christ is the Greek word that means the same as the Hebrew word Messiah. Jesus is the Anointed One…The Chosen One of Israel to complete God’s plan of salvation for Israel and the world.
But Jesus redefined the meaning of Christ with the way he intentionally lived his life. The disciples expected someone to reestablish the Temple in Jerusalem and to set up a Davidic kingdom with the seat of government and religion located in Jerusalem. Jesus shattered that notion by establishing Jerusalem as the place of suffering and death.
Jesus Is the Son of God.
Mark’s readers know from the very beginning that Jesus is the Son of God. The disciples have at least two opportunities to figure this out. As Jesus stepped out of the Jordan River following his baptism, a voice from heaven said, “This is my son, whom I love. In him I am well pleased.” When Peter, James and John accompanied Jesus to the mountain of transfiguration, a voice from a cloud said, “This is my son whom I love. Listen to him.” But they didn’t understand.
There were demons who saw Jesus and started proclaiming, “I know who you are. You are the Son of the Most High God.” But Jesus quieted the demons. Why? There was no conspiracy! This is something that people have to discover for themselves. No one can convince you that Jesus is the Son of God.
There is only one human character in the Gospel of Mark who makes the connection that Jesus is the Son of God. Do you want to guess?
It was the Roman Centurion at the cross! When Jesus had taken his last breath, the Roman guard said, “Surely, this man was the Son of God.”
Mark makes an important point by putting these words on this man’s lips at this very moment. Just as this is a decision we can only make for ourselves…There is only one way we can figure out who Jesus really is. Humans can only recognize that Jesus is the Son of God by acknowledging his suffering and death on the cross. Jesus cannot be the Son of God without the cross. And no human can acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God without acknowledging the cross.
Mark tells us this is Gospel…Or Good News. Mark tells us that Jesus is the Christ…The promised Messiah that all Israel had been looking for. Mark tells us that Jesus is the Son of God…This Jesus was not like any other human being who had ever lived…Jesus is special…Jesus is the One and Only, Unique Son of God. But Mark also told us that his Gospel is only the beginning. In other words, this Gospel is something that began with Jesus in the first century, but the Gospel did not end when we are finished reading the 16 chapters of this book.
If this introductory verse tells us everything we need to know about the Gospel of Mark before we start reading, then I think it is safe to say that this book is a book about Jesus. “The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God.” But, if we read this story about Jesus we are going to discover something unusual. In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus is rarely alone.
There are only a couple of places in Mark where Jesus woke up earlier than his disciples and went to a remote place to pray. In the rest of the book, Jesus is surrounded by people. Sometimes, it is just Jesus and John the Baptist. Sometimes, it is Jesus and the twelve disciples. And sometimes, it is Jesus and the disciples with a crowd of believers and nonbelievers watching Jesus’ every move. It is a story about Jesus…But a story in which Jesus is almost never alone.
I think we can gain some insight into this by reading the story when Jesus commissioned the first twelve Apostles.
Read Mark 3: 13 – 17.
Mark 3 is very early in the story of the Good News about Jesus, but a lot has already happened.
Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist…
Jesus called his first five disciples…
Jesus has preached about repentance and the Kingdom of God…
Jesus has cast out demons and healed people of leprosy and pronounced the forgiveness of sins as he healed a paralyzed man…
Three Things Followers of Jesus Do.
In Mark 3, Jesus expanded his circle of followers from five to twelve. AND, Jesus gave his followers a purpose. The twelve men who followed Jesus became Apostles.
Do you know the difference between the two Greek words “Disciple” and “Apostle?”
Disciple = A student, learner, apprentice…In every use of the word “disciple” outside the New Testament, the disciple was a man or woman who was closely associated with one teacher. The disciple did everything in his or her power to learn from their teacher by imitating the teacher’s methods. Some disciples learned philosophy and therefore imitated the teachings and arguments of their master. Some disciples learned music by imitating the musical style of their master. Other disciples learned a craft—such as carpentry—and practiced building things that looked like the things their master had built. Disciple is a good word for Jesus’ followers as long as we don’t think Jesus was trying to teach us a religious system or a new way of thinking about the world. NO! Jesus wants us to imitate the way he lived his life.
Apostle = A noun form of the Greek word apostelw, which means “to send.” Typically, an apostle was an emissary who was sent by someone with greater authority to perform acts in the same authority. A modern-day example might be when President Bush sends Secretary of State, Condelessa Rice to represent the United States on matters of foreign relations. She is not there on her own authority. She has the authority of the President of the United States and whatever authority our nation might have in other parts of the world.
And that is what Jesus did in Mark 3. Jesus took twelve men who had been following him as disciples and gave them the authority to do the same kinds of work Jesus had been demonstrating for them.
So, let’s look at the three things Jesus told his Apostles they would do with Jesus’ authority…
v. 15…Sent with authority to drive out demons…Don’t let this scare you, we are not about to start a new ministry of casting out demons. This is an important characteristic of Jesus’ ministry in the world. When sin entered into creation through Adam and Eve, the world lost its original order. The proper order of creation is that it would exist and function under God’s dominion and the dominion God assigned to the first human beings, created in God’s image. By the time Jesus was born and lived his life on earth, things were out of their proper order. Sin and evil had free reign over all creation, and as a result humanity was suffering under the control of sin and evil. The same is true today. The only way things can be arranged in their proper order is through the Kingdom of God. One person at a time, we enter into God’s sovereign reign. And through our faith and God’s rule in our lives, the world will one day be redeemed.
Jesus demonstrated this same kind of work by casting demons out of people throughout the Gospel of Mark. Most notably, we remember the man who was possessed by a whole legion of demons in Mark 5.
v. 14…Sent to preach…We don’t have very many of Jesus’ sermons in the Gospel of Mark. For the most part, Mark showed Jesus in action, not in word or teaching. But this is the very first thing Jesus did after his baptism. Jesus preached the same message John the Baptist preached…Repent, for the Kingdom of God is near. Repent, and become a part of what God is doing in the world around you.
Our message should be the same as Jesus’ message. We should confront sin face-to-face and call men and women to enter into God’s Kingdom…To be a part of what God is doing to redeem the created order…
v. 14…Appointed to be with Jesus…This is the first thing Jesus called his Apostles to do. It is impossible to go out in the name of Jesus, unless we have first spent time with Jesus. It is wrong for us to go out into the world preaching without first being in relationship with Jesus. It is wrong for us to think we have the same kind of authority over the evil order if we have not been with Jesus.
It is significant that this is the first thing Jesus told his disciples to do! How do we know it is significant? Because, even though the disciples were first known as Apostles in Mark 3, Jesus did not SEND them out until Mark 6.
Read Mark 6: 7 – 13.
In other words, Jesus demonstrated the importance of relationship over “calling” by making the disciples wait! They had to spend time with Jesus BEFORE they could be effective Apostles.
People Who Encounter Jesus Want to Be with Jesus.
Now for some of us, it is rather difficult to wait before Jesus sends us out on a mission to the world. I know I am rather impatient, and I want to get started as soon as possible. But Jesus made the disciples wait.
There is an interesting thing in Mark that I believe speaks to our impatience. It is found in most of the healing stories in Mark. Every person that Jesus healed had an intense desire to spend more time with Jesus.
Read Mark 16: 1 – 8.
Notice that Jesus did not tell the women and disciples to “get to work.” He didn’t say, “Now ya’ll know what you need to be doing, so go do it.” NO! Jesus said, “Meet me in Galilee, the place where we spent the most time together.”
Jerusalem was the place where Jesus and the disciples were separated. Galilee was the place where they were together. So, by sending the disciples to Galilee and by promising that Jesus would go before them, Jesus was calling his followers to relationship and THEN to mission.
II. Conclusion
I recently came across a modern-day parable by Leonard Sweet that I believe states this best…Forgive me as I read this parable…
"One day after dinner, while finishing dessert, a father sent his boy out to cut the lawn. Smiling broadly, the son said, “No, Father, I just want to stay here experiencing your presence, expressing my love for you, my dear Father.”
The father frowned and said, more firmly this time, “Actually, Son, I would rather you go out and cut the lawn.” But the boy acted as if he didn’t even hear his father, and he replied, “Dad! Guess what? I just wrote a song expressing my love for you!”
The son began to sing, his eyes closed in sincerity and intense emotion, and the father left the table to go watch TV. The boy didn’t notice, but kept singing, with tears streaming down his face.
At that point the father wanted the boy to experience obedience (which may entail heat, sweat, thirst, sunburn, strained muscles, hunger, endurance and fatigue) even more than the warmth of his presence.[1]"
[1] Leonard I Sweet, Brian D. McLaren and Jerry Haselmayer, A Is for Abductive: The Language of the Emerging Church (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003), 122.
Mark 3: 14 – 15 and Mark 6: 7 – 13
I. Introduction
Read Mark 1: 1.
This one verse captures the entire theme of the Gospel of Mark. Mark tells his reader in this one verse what the characters throughout the rest of the story have to experience and discover for themselves. Some New Testament scholars think this verse is a kind of title or introduction to the rest of the book. Like Mark is saying to his readers, “This is the one thing I want to show you if you stick with it and read my entire book.” And I think this is a good understanding.
The Gospel.
Common expression to announce that a new emperor had been selected…But Mark’s “good news” is really “good news.”
Mark is probably the first Gospel written…So, beginning with this book, there is a new genre of Christian literature…
Jesus Is the Christ.
The people of Israel were waiting for the Messiah. Christ is the Greek word that means the same as the Hebrew word Messiah. Jesus is the Anointed One…The Chosen One of Israel to complete God’s plan of salvation for Israel and the world.
But Jesus redefined the meaning of Christ with the way he intentionally lived his life. The disciples expected someone to reestablish the Temple in Jerusalem and to set up a Davidic kingdom with the seat of government and religion located in Jerusalem. Jesus shattered that notion by establishing Jerusalem as the place of suffering and death.
Jesus Is the Son of God.
Mark’s readers know from the very beginning that Jesus is the Son of God. The disciples have at least two opportunities to figure this out. As Jesus stepped out of the Jordan River following his baptism, a voice from heaven said, “This is my son, whom I love. In him I am well pleased.” When Peter, James and John accompanied Jesus to the mountain of transfiguration, a voice from a cloud said, “This is my son whom I love. Listen to him.” But they didn’t understand.
There were demons who saw Jesus and started proclaiming, “I know who you are. You are the Son of the Most High God.” But Jesus quieted the demons. Why? There was no conspiracy! This is something that people have to discover for themselves. No one can convince you that Jesus is the Son of God.
There is only one human character in the Gospel of Mark who makes the connection that Jesus is the Son of God. Do you want to guess?
It was the Roman Centurion at the cross! When Jesus had taken his last breath, the Roman guard said, “Surely, this man was the Son of God.”
Mark makes an important point by putting these words on this man’s lips at this very moment. Just as this is a decision we can only make for ourselves…There is only one way we can figure out who Jesus really is. Humans can only recognize that Jesus is the Son of God by acknowledging his suffering and death on the cross. Jesus cannot be the Son of God without the cross. And no human can acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God without acknowledging the cross.
Mark tells us this is Gospel…Or Good News. Mark tells us that Jesus is the Christ…The promised Messiah that all Israel had been looking for. Mark tells us that Jesus is the Son of God…This Jesus was not like any other human being who had ever lived…Jesus is special…Jesus is the One and Only, Unique Son of God. But Mark also told us that his Gospel is only the beginning. In other words, this Gospel is something that began with Jesus in the first century, but the Gospel did not end when we are finished reading the 16 chapters of this book.
If this introductory verse tells us everything we need to know about the Gospel of Mark before we start reading, then I think it is safe to say that this book is a book about Jesus. “The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God.” But, if we read this story about Jesus we are going to discover something unusual. In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus is rarely alone.
There are only a couple of places in Mark where Jesus woke up earlier than his disciples and went to a remote place to pray. In the rest of the book, Jesus is surrounded by people. Sometimes, it is just Jesus and John the Baptist. Sometimes, it is Jesus and the twelve disciples. And sometimes, it is Jesus and the disciples with a crowd of believers and nonbelievers watching Jesus’ every move. It is a story about Jesus…But a story in which Jesus is almost never alone.
I think we can gain some insight into this by reading the story when Jesus commissioned the first twelve Apostles.
Read Mark 3: 13 – 17.
Mark 3 is very early in the story of the Good News about Jesus, but a lot has already happened.
Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist…
Jesus called his first five disciples…
Jesus has preached about repentance and the Kingdom of God…
Jesus has cast out demons and healed people of leprosy and pronounced the forgiveness of sins as he healed a paralyzed man…
Three Things Followers of Jesus Do.
In Mark 3, Jesus expanded his circle of followers from five to twelve. AND, Jesus gave his followers a purpose. The twelve men who followed Jesus became Apostles.
Do you know the difference between the two Greek words “Disciple” and “Apostle?”
Disciple = A student, learner, apprentice…In every use of the word “disciple” outside the New Testament, the disciple was a man or woman who was closely associated with one teacher. The disciple did everything in his or her power to learn from their teacher by imitating the teacher’s methods. Some disciples learned philosophy and therefore imitated the teachings and arguments of their master. Some disciples learned music by imitating the musical style of their master. Other disciples learned a craft—such as carpentry—and practiced building things that looked like the things their master had built. Disciple is a good word for Jesus’ followers as long as we don’t think Jesus was trying to teach us a religious system or a new way of thinking about the world. NO! Jesus wants us to imitate the way he lived his life.
Apostle = A noun form of the Greek word apostelw, which means “to send.” Typically, an apostle was an emissary who was sent by someone with greater authority to perform acts in the same authority. A modern-day example might be when President Bush sends Secretary of State, Condelessa Rice to represent the United States on matters of foreign relations. She is not there on her own authority. She has the authority of the President of the United States and whatever authority our nation might have in other parts of the world.
And that is what Jesus did in Mark 3. Jesus took twelve men who had been following him as disciples and gave them the authority to do the same kinds of work Jesus had been demonstrating for them.
So, let’s look at the three things Jesus told his Apostles they would do with Jesus’ authority…
v. 15…Sent with authority to drive out demons…Don’t let this scare you, we are not about to start a new ministry of casting out demons. This is an important characteristic of Jesus’ ministry in the world. When sin entered into creation through Adam and Eve, the world lost its original order. The proper order of creation is that it would exist and function under God’s dominion and the dominion God assigned to the first human beings, created in God’s image. By the time Jesus was born and lived his life on earth, things were out of their proper order. Sin and evil had free reign over all creation, and as a result humanity was suffering under the control of sin and evil. The same is true today. The only way things can be arranged in their proper order is through the Kingdom of God. One person at a time, we enter into God’s sovereign reign. And through our faith and God’s rule in our lives, the world will one day be redeemed.
Jesus demonstrated this same kind of work by casting demons out of people throughout the Gospel of Mark. Most notably, we remember the man who was possessed by a whole legion of demons in Mark 5.
v. 14…Sent to preach…We don’t have very many of Jesus’ sermons in the Gospel of Mark. For the most part, Mark showed Jesus in action, not in word or teaching. But this is the very first thing Jesus did after his baptism. Jesus preached the same message John the Baptist preached…Repent, for the Kingdom of God is near. Repent, and become a part of what God is doing in the world around you.
Our message should be the same as Jesus’ message. We should confront sin face-to-face and call men and women to enter into God’s Kingdom…To be a part of what God is doing to redeem the created order…
v. 14…Appointed to be with Jesus…This is the first thing Jesus called his Apostles to do. It is impossible to go out in the name of Jesus, unless we have first spent time with Jesus. It is wrong for us to go out into the world preaching without first being in relationship with Jesus. It is wrong for us to think we have the same kind of authority over the evil order if we have not been with Jesus.
It is significant that this is the first thing Jesus told his disciples to do! How do we know it is significant? Because, even though the disciples were first known as Apostles in Mark 3, Jesus did not SEND them out until Mark 6.
Read Mark 6: 7 – 13.
In other words, Jesus demonstrated the importance of relationship over “calling” by making the disciples wait! They had to spend time with Jesus BEFORE they could be effective Apostles.
People Who Encounter Jesus Want to Be with Jesus.
Now for some of us, it is rather difficult to wait before Jesus sends us out on a mission to the world. I know I am rather impatient, and I want to get started as soon as possible. But Jesus made the disciples wait.
There is an interesting thing in Mark that I believe speaks to our impatience. It is found in most of the healing stories in Mark. Every person that Jesus healed had an intense desire to spend more time with Jesus.
Read Mark 16: 1 – 8.
Notice that Jesus did not tell the women and disciples to “get to work.” He didn’t say, “Now ya’ll know what you need to be doing, so go do it.” NO! Jesus said, “Meet me in Galilee, the place where we spent the most time together.”
Jerusalem was the place where Jesus and the disciples were separated. Galilee was the place where they were together. So, by sending the disciples to Galilee and by promising that Jesus would go before them, Jesus was calling his followers to relationship and THEN to mission.
II. Conclusion
I recently came across a modern-day parable by Leonard Sweet that I believe states this best…Forgive me as I read this parable…
"One day after dinner, while finishing dessert, a father sent his boy out to cut the lawn. Smiling broadly, the son said, “No, Father, I just want to stay here experiencing your presence, expressing my love for you, my dear Father.”
The father frowned and said, more firmly this time, “Actually, Son, I would rather you go out and cut the lawn.” But the boy acted as if he didn’t even hear his father, and he replied, “Dad! Guess what? I just wrote a song expressing my love for you!”
The son began to sing, his eyes closed in sincerity and intense emotion, and the father left the table to go watch TV. The boy didn’t notice, but kept singing, with tears streaming down his face.
At that point the father wanted the boy to experience obedience (which may entail heat, sweat, thirst, sunburn, strained muscles, hunger, endurance and fatigue) even more than the warmth of his presence.[1]"
[1] Leonard I Sweet, Brian D. McLaren and Jerry Haselmayer, A Is for Abductive: The Language of the Emerging Church (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003), 122.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Constancy of Prayer
Constancy of Prayer
Luke 18: 1 – 8.
I. Introduction.
I have several pastor friends that I stay in touch with on a regular basis. I like to have someone to call to talk to about church issues and sometimes church problems. These guys call me for the same reasons. We tell each other the good stuff and the bad stuff. Sometimes we brag about what is going on in our churches, and other times we just need someone to listen to us. Over the years of phone calls and emails, talking and listening to stories from other churches, I have made an observation. No matter how bad I think my problems might be, I would not trade my problems for someone else’s problems. There was even a time when my first church was involved in the biggest and messiest church conflict I have ever experienced. I never want to experience anything like that again in my life. But, I still didn’t want to trade my problems for the problems my friends were going through at the same time.
Last week, I renewed a friendship with a guy I haven’t seen in 10 years. He graduated from Truett with me back in 1997. I moved to Mississippi, and he moved to Oklahoma. Now we are both back in Texas, and we saw each other last Tuesday.
He has just taken a new position, and we were talking about what he is doing now as well as some of the things he experienced in his previous church. He told some wonderful stories. The church was averaging about $200,000 in surplus every year. They called special business meeting just to determine how to spend the excess funds every year. The church was growing for the first time in decades, with visitors and new members nearly every week. BUT…And you knew I was going to say “but.” But, there were some things going on that I would not trade for.
My friend made a recommendation that the church purchase Bibles for the sanctuary. Since the church had a financial surplus, he knew that money would not be an issue. The only issue he was expecting to face was determining which translation of the Bible to use. As all good Baptists do, they formed a committee to make a decision on Bibles. The committee decided not to purchase Bibles.
One person on the committee made the statement: I have been a member of this church for 40 years. We have made it for 40 years with no Bibles in the sanctuary. I think we can make it another 40 years without Bibles.
Can you even begin to fathom a church without Bibles? Of course, I grew up in a home where each person brought his or her own Bible to church. I always “checked every box” on my Sunday School envelope. My pastor encouraged us to bring our Bibles, to read our Bibles daily and to write notes in our Bibles. I want you to do the same: read your Bible, bring your Bible to church and write notes in your Bible. But what about those who do not have a Bible with them today? What about those who bring a Bible, but want to follow along in the same translation I am reading?
Of course, I know that I am making a big deal over something that might not be a big deal. But, a church without a Bible has something missing. And I’m not talking about missing something minor or optional. A church without a Bible is missing one of the most important things. Jesus is the one essential in our Christian faith. But how do we know Jesus? How are we supposed to understand Jesus and follow the pattern he set for our lives? We know and understand and follow Jesus by reading the Bible.
Our message today is not about a church trying to live without the Bible. But, it is very close. Just as we cannot imagine a church without a Bible, we should not recognize a Christian who does not pray. Prayer is an essential part of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.
Just as the Bible is our source for understanding Jesus and patterning our lives after the life of Jesus, so prayer is our source for strength and power in daily living. We cannot become the men and women God wants us to become without the Bible. And we cannot make it through life without prayer.
When we read the story of Jesus in the Bible, we find that Jesus both taught us about prayer and Jesus demonstrated a life of prayer. Even Jesus recognized that he needed to pray to make it through life. One of Jesus’ teachings on prayer emphasizes how prayer is something we are supposed to do with constancy. It is not enough to pray on Sundays. It is not enough to pray at meal time. We must become men and women of constant prayer.
Read Luke 18: 1 – 8.
This Scripture can be divided into three sections: The Context (v. 1); A Parable (vv. 2 – 5); and Jesus’ Interpretation of the Parable (vv. 6 – 8).
The context is a very simple statement about why Jesus told the parable to his disciples. Jesus told the disciples “to show them that they should pray and not give up.”
This contextual statement helps us in understanding the original meaning. There are many places in the Bible where we must guess about the original meaning and speculate about why a particular story shows up in the Bible. Sometimes we simply do not know how the original hearers would have understood one of Jesus’ teachings. But that is not the case in Luke 18. Jesus wanted his disciples to learn a lesson about constant prayer. Jesus wants you and me to pray without ever giving up.
Despite the straightforward explanation of why Jesus told this parable, the parable itself is a difficult teaching. This parable is a story. It has only two characters. There is a widow, and there is a judge.
The fact that this story features a widow gives us a little insight into the mind of Jesus and a consistent theme throughout the Gospel of Luke. Widows were usually the poorest people in the ancient world. Ancient women did not have opportunities like modern women. They could not go to school and get an education. Education was reserved for men and boys. Widows could not work outside of their homes. Women were totally dependent on their fathers, husbands or sons. A girl had all her needs met by her father until the day she married. After marriage, a husband provided for the needs of his wife. If the husband died before his wife, the woman would need to remarry or to depend on her oldest son for support. There was no such thing as Social Security or life insurance. So, if a woman lost her husband before she had any children—or before her sons were old enough to work—she had only one option. She must beg for money from the people of her community.
We have very limited knowledge about the woman in Jesus’ story. First, we know that she was poor—because we know she was a widow. Second, we know that she had legal troubles. We do not know exactly what kind of legal problems, but we see in verse 3 that she was seeking justice in a situation with an adversary. Someone had committed a crime or injustice against this woman, and there was no one to take her side. The only recourse she had was to approach the local judge in her community.
The judge stands in direct opposition to everything we know about the widow. He was a man. He had visible means of financial support. He was one of the most powerful men in the community. But the judge had no interest in helping the poor widow find justice.
Jesus described the judge as a man who “neither feared God nor cared about people.” He was more interested in using his position of power to take care of himself than to take care of the people in his jurisdiction.
But the woman never gave up. Jesus described the woman’s approach in three different ways. In verse 3, “she kept coming to him” with her plea for justice. In verse 5, “this widow keeps bothering” the judge. Later in verse 5, she will “eventually wear me out.” The widow finally got justice, because she was a nuisance! She pestered the judge until he finally granted her request for justice.
In the end, justice was served. The widow was taken care of, despite the fact that the judge just did not care either about God or about the widow herself. And this is what makes the parable a difficult teaching.
If we take this literally, it seems that you and I are supposed to pray to God in pestering ways. It seems that perhaps God does not want to answer our prayers, but if we annoy God enough, we can get what we want out of him. This view of prayer is not consistent with Jesus’ other teachings about prayer in the Gospel of Luke. In Luke 11, the disciples found Jesus alone, praying to God. They waited for Jesus to stop praying and made a request, “Lord, teach us to pray.” This is when Jesus first taught The Model Prayer… “Father, hallowed be your name, (let) your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also have forgiven everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation (Luke 11: 2 – 4).”
When we look at The Model Prayer, it seems that Jesus has taught us to pray for a variety of things. We are to pray for God’s guidance (Lead us not into temptation). We are to pray for forgiveness of our own sins as well as the strength to forgive those who sin against us. We are to pray for daily provision (Give us each day our daily bread). These are rather simple things that we need on an every day basis. But Jesus also taught us to pray for something miraculous. We are to pray for God’s Kingdom to come to earth.
Of course, I know that we could debate all day long today over the meaning of God’s Kingdom. The Kingdom of God is in heaven. The Kingdom of God is among us. In very simple terms, the Kingdom of God is everywhere where God is the sovereign King. When you and I become Christians, we relinquish control of our lives over to God. We are no longer in control of our own lives, God is the King. We are no longer controlled by Satan and our own sinful nature, God is our King. But when we join with Jesus in praying, “Let your kingdom come,” it is our prayer that the earth would become a little more like heaven. We are praying that Satan’s grip on this earth will one day be broken. We are praying that Jesus will return to earth to take us into heaven to live with him. We are praying that people like the widow in our story will receive justice that they cannot receive on earth.
This is the interpretation Jesus gave us after the parable. First, Jesus told us that God is not like the unjust judge. A judge who only cares about himself is someone who must be pestered to do the right thing. God is not unjust. Therefore, God can be trusted to act on our behalf. And not only that, but look at verse 8…God will bring justice QUICKLY. If you refuse to give up on asking for justice from an earthly judge who does not care about you, then do not give up on praying for justice from a righteous judge who loves you and promises to ask QUICKLY.
Then, Jesus closed his interpretation with a question: “However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
This question turns our entire concept of prayer upside down. Most of us think of prayer as asking God to do things for us. And most of us only pray when we have failed on our own strength. Jesus teaches us to pray so that when he does return to earth, he will find us faithful. In other words, if we give up praying, then Jesus will return to earth to find no faith. But if we pray without ever giving up, Jesus will return to earth and find us praying.
II. Conclusion.
Again, exactly what is it that we are supposed to pray for? We are to pray for guidance, forgiveness, provision, and the Kingdom of God to come to earth.
One day, Jesus is coming back. And when he returns, how will he find us? Will he find us living hopeless lives, because we gave up? Or will he find us living faithful lives of prayer?
Prayer is that aspect of life that demonstrates our faith. Men and women who pray are men and women who depend on Jesus to take care of us. Men and women who do not pray are men and women who think they can live without Jesus.
Prayer is a necessary part of faith. It’s like Bibles in church. I just cannot imagine a church without Bibles. And Jesus cannot imagine a Christian who does not pray.
Luke 18: 1 – 8.
I. Introduction.
I have several pastor friends that I stay in touch with on a regular basis. I like to have someone to call to talk to about church issues and sometimes church problems. These guys call me for the same reasons. We tell each other the good stuff and the bad stuff. Sometimes we brag about what is going on in our churches, and other times we just need someone to listen to us. Over the years of phone calls and emails, talking and listening to stories from other churches, I have made an observation. No matter how bad I think my problems might be, I would not trade my problems for someone else’s problems. There was even a time when my first church was involved in the biggest and messiest church conflict I have ever experienced. I never want to experience anything like that again in my life. But, I still didn’t want to trade my problems for the problems my friends were going through at the same time.
Last week, I renewed a friendship with a guy I haven’t seen in 10 years. He graduated from Truett with me back in 1997. I moved to Mississippi, and he moved to Oklahoma. Now we are both back in Texas, and we saw each other last Tuesday.
He has just taken a new position, and we were talking about what he is doing now as well as some of the things he experienced in his previous church. He told some wonderful stories. The church was averaging about $200,000 in surplus every year. They called special business meeting just to determine how to spend the excess funds every year. The church was growing for the first time in decades, with visitors and new members nearly every week. BUT…And you knew I was going to say “but.” But, there were some things going on that I would not trade for.
My friend made a recommendation that the church purchase Bibles for the sanctuary. Since the church had a financial surplus, he knew that money would not be an issue. The only issue he was expecting to face was determining which translation of the Bible to use. As all good Baptists do, they formed a committee to make a decision on Bibles. The committee decided not to purchase Bibles.
One person on the committee made the statement: I have been a member of this church for 40 years. We have made it for 40 years with no Bibles in the sanctuary. I think we can make it another 40 years without Bibles.
Can you even begin to fathom a church without Bibles? Of course, I grew up in a home where each person brought his or her own Bible to church. I always “checked every box” on my Sunday School envelope. My pastor encouraged us to bring our Bibles, to read our Bibles daily and to write notes in our Bibles. I want you to do the same: read your Bible, bring your Bible to church and write notes in your Bible. But what about those who do not have a Bible with them today? What about those who bring a Bible, but want to follow along in the same translation I am reading?
Of course, I know that I am making a big deal over something that might not be a big deal. But, a church without a Bible has something missing. And I’m not talking about missing something minor or optional. A church without a Bible is missing one of the most important things. Jesus is the one essential in our Christian faith. But how do we know Jesus? How are we supposed to understand Jesus and follow the pattern he set for our lives? We know and understand and follow Jesus by reading the Bible.
Our message today is not about a church trying to live without the Bible. But, it is very close. Just as we cannot imagine a church without a Bible, we should not recognize a Christian who does not pray. Prayer is an essential part of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.
Just as the Bible is our source for understanding Jesus and patterning our lives after the life of Jesus, so prayer is our source for strength and power in daily living. We cannot become the men and women God wants us to become without the Bible. And we cannot make it through life without prayer.
When we read the story of Jesus in the Bible, we find that Jesus both taught us about prayer and Jesus demonstrated a life of prayer. Even Jesus recognized that he needed to pray to make it through life. One of Jesus’ teachings on prayer emphasizes how prayer is something we are supposed to do with constancy. It is not enough to pray on Sundays. It is not enough to pray at meal time. We must become men and women of constant prayer.
Read Luke 18: 1 – 8.
This Scripture can be divided into three sections: The Context (v. 1); A Parable (vv. 2 – 5); and Jesus’ Interpretation of the Parable (vv. 6 – 8).
The context is a very simple statement about why Jesus told the parable to his disciples. Jesus told the disciples “to show them that they should pray and not give up.”
This contextual statement helps us in understanding the original meaning. There are many places in the Bible where we must guess about the original meaning and speculate about why a particular story shows up in the Bible. Sometimes we simply do not know how the original hearers would have understood one of Jesus’ teachings. But that is not the case in Luke 18. Jesus wanted his disciples to learn a lesson about constant prayer. Jesus wants you and me to pray without ever giving up.
Despite the straightforward explanation of why Jesus told this parable, the parable itself is a difficult teaching. This parable is a story. It has only two characters. There is a widow, and there is a judge.
The fact that this story features a widow gives us a little insight into the mind of Jesus and a consistent theme throughout the Gospel of Luke. Widows were usually the poorest people in the ancient world. Ancient women did not have opportunities like modern women. They could not go to school and get an education. Education was reserved for men and boys. Widows could not work outside of their homes. Women were totally dependent on their fathers, husbands or sons. A girl had all her needs met by her father until the day she married. After marriage, a husband provided for the needs of his wife. If the husband died before his wife, the woman would need to remarry or to depend on her oldest son for support. There was no such thing as Social Security or life insurance. So, if a woman lost her husband before she had any children—or before her sons were old enough to work—she had only one option. She must beg for money from the people of her community.
We have very limited knowledge about the woman in Jesus’ story. First, we know that she was poor—because we know she was a widow. Second, we know that she had legal troubles. We do not know exactly what kind of legal problems, but we see in verse 3 that she was seeking justice in a situation with an adversary. Someone had committed a crime or injustice against this woman, and there was no one to take her side. The only recourse she had was to approach the local judge in her community.
The judge stands in direct opposition to everything we know about the widow. He was a man. He had visible means of financial support. He was one of the most powerful men in the community. But the judge had no interest in helping the poor widow find justice.
Jesus described the judge as a man who “neither feared God nor cared about people.” He was more interested in using his position of power to take care of himself than to take care of the people in his jurisdiction.
But the woman never gave up. Jesus described the woman’s approach in three different ways. In verse 3, “she kept coming to him” with her plea for justice. In verse 5, “this widow keeps bothering” the judge. Later in verse 5, she will “eventually wear me out.” The widow finally got justice, because she was a nuisance! She pestered the judge until he finally granted her request for justice.
In the end, justice was served. The widow was taken care of, despite the fact that the judge just did not care either about God or about the widow herself. And this is what makes the parable a difficult teaching.
If we take this literally, it seems that you and I are supposed to pray to God in pestering ways. It seems that perhaps God does not want to answer our prayers, but if we annoy God enough, we can get what we want out of him. This view of prayer is not consistent with Jesus’ other teachings about prayer in the Gospel of Luke. In Luke 11, the disciples found Jesus alone, praying to God. They waited for Jesus to stop praying and made a request, “Lord, teach us to pray.” This is when Jesus first taught The Model Prayer… “Father, hallowed be your name, (let) your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also have forgiven everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation (Luke 11: 2 – 4).”
When we look at The Model Prayer, it seems that Jesus has taught us to pray for a variety of things. We are to pray for God’s guidance (Lead us not into temptation). We are to pray for forgiveness of our own sins as well as the strength to forgive those who sin against us. We are to pray for daily provision (Give us each day our daily bread). These are rather simple things that we need on an every day basis. But Jesus also taught us to pray for something miraculous. We are to pray for God’s Kingdom to come to earth.
Of course, I know that we could debate all day long today over the meaning of God’s Kingdom. The Kingdom of God is in heaven. The Kingdom of God is among us. In very simple terms, the Kingdom of God is everywhere where God is the sovereign King. When you and I become Christians, we relinquish control of our lives over to God. We are no longer in control of our own lives, God is the King. We are no longer controlled by Satan and our own sinful nature, God is our King. But when we join with Jesus in praying, “Let your kingdom come,” it is our prayer that the earth would become a little more like heaven. We are praying that Satan’s grip on this earth will one day be broken. We are praying that Jesus will return to earth to take us into heaven to live with him. We are praying that people like the widow in our story will receive justice that they cannot receive on earth.
This is the interpretation Jesus gave us after the parable. First, Jesus told us that God is not like the unjust judge. A judge who only cares about himself is someone who must be pestered to do the right thing. God is not unjust. Therefore, God can be trusted to act on our behalf. And not only that, but look at verse 8…God will bring justice QUICKLY. If you refuse to give up on asking for justice from an earthly judge who does not care about you, then do not give up on praying for justice from a righteous judge who loves you and promises to ask QUICKLY.
Then, Jesus closed his interpretation with a question: “However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
This question turns our entire concept of prayer upside down. Most of us think of prayer as asking God to do things for us. And most of us only pray when we have failed on our own strength. Jesus teaches us to pray so that when he does return to earth, he will find us faithful. In other words, if we give up praying, then Jesus will return to earth to find no faith. But if we pray without ever giving up, Jesus will return to earth and find us praying.
II. Conclusion.
Again, exactly what is it that we are supposed to pray for? We are to pray for guidance, forgiveness, provision, and the Kingdom of God to come to earth.
One day, Jesus is coming back. And when he returns, how will he find us? Will he find us living hopeless lives, because we gave up? Or will he find us living faithful lives of prayer?
Prayer is that aspect of life that demonstrates our faith. Men and women who pray are men and women who depend on Jesus to take care of us. Men and women who do not pray are men and women who think they can live without Jesus.
Prayer is a necessary part of faith. It’s like Bibles in church. I just cannot imagine a church without Bibles. And Jesus cannot imagine a Christian who does not pray.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Salvation: Past, Present, Future.
Salvation: Past. Present, Future.
Romans 6: 15 – 23.
I. Introduction.
In 1997, I graduated as a member of the first graduating class from George W. Truett Seminary at Baylor University. I was serving as a college minister in Waco, but felt that God was leading me to become a pastor. I had two churches in Texas that showed an interest in me, but neither church worked out. Both committees came to Waco to hear me preach and sat down with Shauna and me for a formal interview.
A search committee member from one of those churches told one of my references, “He’s only 27 years old…But he looks even younger than that.” They ended up calling a pastor who looked older than me.
When we were in the interview with that same church, another member of the search committee made a profound statement that has stayed with me for the past ten years. I still like to use this man’s words. We were talking about the role of discipleship in Baptist churches. He said, “It seems to me that Baptists are good obstetricians but poor pediatricians.”
I know ya’ll are intelligent folks, and I do not want to insult your intelligence. But I do want to explain what that statement means to me.
An obstetrician is the doctor who is responsible for delivering babies. The pediatrician is the doctor who is responsible for caring for those babies as they grow into adults. If we apply that statement to Baptists, then we can say that we are very good at “birthing babies,” but we are not very good at helping babies grow into mature adults. We love to preach the Gospel and lead lost people to a saving faith in Jesus as Lord. But we are not very good at helping new, baby Christians grow into mature, adult Christians.
Many of you may have grown up in the same church I grew up in. I grew up in the West Jackson Street Baptist Church in Tupelo, Mississippi. I don’t think any of you grew up in Tupelo, Mississippi, but see if this sounds familiar to you… I remember two pastors in my home church, but I only remember one sermon. Both pastors seemed to preach about the same thing week in and week out. They preached about how all human beings are sinners who cannot save ourselves. Our sin has separated us from a holy God who earnestly desires to have a personal relationship with us. God loved us so much that he sent his “only begotten Son” to live a sinless, perfect life and to die on the cross for our sins. Any person—man, woman or child—who believes that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died on the cross for our sins and confesses Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior will be saved. That is the Gospel.
As a result of hearing that sermon every week, I became a Christian when I was nine years old. I met with the pastor in his office one afternoon and was baptized a short time after that.
I suppose I am a slow learner. Because it took me nine years to start wondering what I am supposed to do next. When I was eighteen years old, I started feeling like there was something else. Sure, I’m a Christian…But what do I do now?
Let’s use our imaginations for a few minutes and imagine what would happen if everyone in this room had stopped growing physically, emotionally and mentally when we were nine years old. What would our lives look like if we were all nine years old? We probably would not have jobs or cars or homes, and we definitely would not have credit card debt or mortgages. We would spend our days riding our bicycles and playing baseball or making “mud pies” in the backyard. I also think we would walk around mumbling, “I’m bored. Can we go somewhere or do something fun?”
Or what about this?... As you know, we have a two year old daughter. Do you remember when your children were two? When JoEllen doesn’t get exactly what she wants, she throws herself down in the floor and starts screaming… “NOOOO! I didn’t want you to cut my sandwich.” A lot of times, when she does that, Shauna and I look at her and ask, “What if Mommy and Daddy screamed and rolled around in the floor when we didn’t get what we wanted?” That’s a ridiculous thought. Two year olds are supposed to act like two year olds. But adults are not supposed to act like two year olds.
It is unthinkable for a person to remain two years old or nine years old for the rest of their lives. But I think we have people in our churches who are just that. We have 30, 40, 50 and 60 year olds who are still nine years old spiritually. Our problem is the way we think of salvation. We have a very narrow view of salvation as a “one time event” that happens the moment that we express faith in Jesus as Lord. We seem to overlook the fact that the Bible tells us our salvation is more than this. Salvation does happen as a “one time event,” but it also has an ongoing effect as well as a future result.
Consider the following statements: I have been saved. I am being saved. I will be saved. All three of these statements are true statements for anyone who has become a Christian. I have been saved. For me there was a time, when I first trusted Christ as Lord as a nine year old boy. I am being saved. God is not through working on me. I am not perfect. I still have things I have to deal with, so God is constantly and continually forming me to become more like Jesus. I will be saved. There is coming a day, when I will die or Jesus will return. At this point in the future, I will enter into heaven and realize the result, or fulfillment, of what happened to me when I was saved as a nine year old.
Read Romans 6: 15 – 23
II. I Have Been Saved.
If we are going to talk about salvation this morning, then we need to begin by describing why salvation is even necessary. In other words, in order to be saved, we must be saved from something.
While the Greek word for “saved” does not appear in our Scripture reading this morning, the concept is there. Instead, Paul uses a term that we translate “set free.” In this passage, Paul draws a mental image of a slave who has been purchased out of slavery to live as a free person. The technical term for this type of slave transaction is “Redemption.”
The New Testament uses a wide range of words and images to describe what we commonly call “salvation.” The one I grew up hearing more about is the term “born again” from the Gospel of John. The technical term is “Regeneration.” The image of being “born again” or regenerated is that when we are saved we begin living a new life. Other places in the New Testament describe salvation as “Reconciliation.” The image is of two people in a broken relationship who have been restored and are back together again. Another common image is of “Justification.” Justification is something that happens in a court room when the judge declares the accused person “not guilty.” Then there is also the image of “Victory.” All human beings have a common enemy known as death. But through the death and resurrection of Jesus, we have victory over death.
There are some people who choose one description of salvation and ignore all the others. However, all of these show up in the Bible and provide a limited view of what it means to be saved. The reason why these descriptions are limited is that each one focuses on one aspect of our human predicament. For example, if we describe our predicament as guilt, then we need God to declare us “not guilty,” to Justify. If we describe our problem as slavery, then we need to be “purchased,” or Redeemed. If the problem is a broken relationship with God, then we need to be Reconciled. And if the problem is death, then we need Victory over death.
Each of these images contains a portion of what it means to be saved. They do not happen in stages. No. Each of these will be accomplished once and for all at the moment we place our faith in Jesus.
I want to emphasize two things at this point. First, we cannot save ourselves. We must place our faith in Jesus to save us. There is no New Testament teaching that salvation is something we can achieve or earn based on our own worthiness. It only happens through faith in Jesus.
Second, I want to emphasize that we must be saved from “something.” This is where I always begin when I am talking with someone about becoming a Christian. I started this about ten years ago after reading an article in the Baptist Standard. The article was a discussion about when a child is ready to become a Christian and to be baptized. One expert quoted in the article was a child psychologist. She said that there is no age restriction for salvation and baptism. Instead, we must determine if a child understands the concept of sin. If you do not know what sin is, you cannot be saved. If you know what sin is, but think that you are not guilty of sin, then you cannot be saved.
In order to be saved, we must understand the predicament we are in. We must acknowledge that we cannot solve our sin problem on our own abilities. We must place our faith in Jesus.
III. I Am Being Saved.
The second aspect of salvation can be described in the present tense: “I am being saved.” At this point, we are not speaking of salvation as a one time event in the past. We now speak of salvation as a present reality, or a process, which takes place in the present time. It is ongoing, and it is never finished. The theological term for salvation in the present tense is “Sanctification.”
Paul uses the term “Sanctification” in verse 22, but it is translated differently in the NIV. The NIV uses the English word “holiness.” This is a fine interpretation of Paul’s words here, because Sanctification and holiness mean the same thing. The English word Sanctification comes to us from the Latin word for Holiness. A literal understanding of Sanctification would be “the process of becoming holy.”
Once again, let me stress that salvation is not something you can do for yourselves. As human beings, you and I are wholly incapable of saving ourselves, and this includes the process of Sanctification. We cannot make ourselves holy, as Jesus is holy. But God can. And God will. This is what God wants to do in each of our lives.
If your testimony is like mine—I became a Christian when I was nine years old—then God does not want you to remain a nine year old for the rest of your life. God wants you to grow…Grow in your understanding of God…Grow in holiness…And grow in the amount of control you hand over to God on a daily basis.
When Paul used the term Sanctification, or holiness, in verse 22, he described it as the result, or fruit, of something else: “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit (result, fruit) you reap leads to holiness…”
I cannot tell you what specific plans God might have for the rest of your life. But I can tell you one thing…It is God’s will to Sanctify you and make you Holy as Jesus is Holy. You cannot make yourselves holy, but you can prevent God from doing the work he plans for you.
The process of Sanctification begins in us at the moment we place our faith in Jesus. At the moment of faith, God places his Holy Spirit in us. God is one. God is inseparable. We do not receive God in stages. At the moment of faith, we receive Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And at that moment, the Holy Spirit begins his work in us gradually, continually making us Holy as Jesus is Holy.
This process of Sanctification is a daily struggle. Since we are human beings, who are prone to sin, we often find ourselves at odds with what the Holy Spirit is trying to accomplish. Since we live in a fallen world, which is filled with temptation and sin, we often find ourselves struggling with the day to day, hour to hour, minute to minute decisions. We struggle with our daily, hourly, minute by minute decisions. Will I choose to follow my selfish and sinful desires? Or will I surrender myself to the work of the Holy Spirit within me?
The reason for our struggle is our divided allegiance. Once again, Paul uses the imagery of slavery…verse 22… “Slaves to God.” When we were slaves to sin, sin controlled everything we did. Now that we are slaves to God, God should control all we do.
I cannot save myself or make myself holy, but I can prevent the Holy Spirit from growing me into a mature adult Christian, rather than a nine year old Christian in an adult body.
IV. I Will Be Saved.
The third aspect of salvation can be described by using the future tense: “I will be saved.” This is the part of salvation which will not be fully realized until we are with God in Heaven. The technical term for this is “Glorification.”
Again, verse 22 describes all three aspects of salvation: “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness and the result is eternal life.”
There is coming a day when life as we now know it will end. Every human being will die, or will be living when Jesus returns to bring this world to an end. When the world comes to an end, there are two options for us. One, there is eternal death in Hell—forever separated from God. Two, there is eternal life in heaven—forever living in the presence of God.
When I say that this world is coming to an end, please don’t think I have given up hope. NO! The Christian life is a life based on hope. When Jesus rose from the grave, he gave us the hope that we too can live forever. One day all Christians will be with Jesus in Heaven. Until that day, we are not to neglect or ignore the world we live in.
V. Conclusion.
A couple of months ago, I met with a family from our church to talk with the son about baptism. The parents had shared with him how he could be saved, and he had placed his faith in Jesus. At the end of our conversation, the parents asked me if he was ready to be baptized. Now, this is a very serious question. Like I said earlier, I always make sure children understand sin and why it is necessary to be saved. I do not want to pressure a child into baptism before he or she truly understands what they are doing.
I looked at the boy and asked him a question: “How old are you?” He said ten. I asked, “How much are you supposed to understand as a ten year old?” He said, “A little bit.” I asked, “How much are you supposed to understand when you are 15?” He said, “A little bit more.” I asked, “How much are you supposed to understand when you are 40?” He said, “A little bit more.”
That is exactly right. It reminds me of what Joel Gregory used to say when he was pastor in Dallas. When a child came forward to make a profession of faith, he would introduce them to the church by saying, “This is Andy. Andy is making his first step as a Christian today.”
Romans 6: 15 – 23.
I. Introduction.
In 1997, I graduated as a member of the first graduating class from George W. Truett Seminary at Baylor University. I was serving as a college minister in Waco, but felt that God was leading me to become a pastor. I had two churches in Texas that showed an interest in me, but neither church worked out. Both committees came to Waco to hear me preach and sat down with Shauna and me for a formal interview.
A search committee member from one of those churches told one of my references, “He’s only 27 years old…But he looks even younger than that.” They ended up calling a pastor who looked older than me.
When we were in the interview with that same church, another member of the search committee made a profound statement that has stayed with me for the past ten years. I still like to use this man’s words. We were talking about the role of discipleship in Baptist churches. He said, “It seems to me that Baptists are good obstetricians but poor pediatricians.”
I know ya’ll are intelligent folks, and I do not want to insult your intelligence. But I do want to explain what that statement means to me.
An obstetrician is the doctor who is responsible for delivering babies. The pediatrician is the doctor who is responsible for caring for those babies as they grow into adults. If we apply that statement to Baptists, then we can say that we are very good at “birthing babies,” but we are not very good at helping babies grow into mature adults. We love to preach the Gospel and lead lost people to a saving faith in Jesus as Lord. But we are not very good at helping new, baby Christians grow into mature, adult Christians.
Many of you may have grown up in the same church I grew up in. I grew up in the West Jackson Street Baptist Church in Tupelo, Mississippi. I don’t think any of you grew up in Tupelo, Mississippi, but see if this sounds familiar to you… I remember two pastors in my home church, but I only remember one sermon. Both pastors seemed to preach about the same thing week in and week out. They preached about how all human beings are sinners who cannot save ourselves. Our sin has separated us from a holy God who earnestly desires to have a personal relationship with us. God loved us so much that he sent his “only begotten Son” to live a sinless, perfect life and to die on the cross for our sins. Any person—man, woman or child—who believes that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died on the cross for our sins and confesses Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior will be saved. That is the Gospel.
As a result of hearing that sermon every week, I became a Christian when I was nine years old. I met with the pastor in his office one afternoon and was baptized a short time after that.
I suppose I am a slow learner. Because it took me nine years to start wondering what I am supposed to do next. When I was eighteen years old, I started feeling like there was something else. Sure, I’m a Christian…But what do I do now?
Let’s use our imaginations for a few minutes and imagine what would happen if everyone in this room had stopped growing physically, emotionally and mentally when we were nine years old. What would our lives look like if we were all nine years old? We probably would not have jobs or cars or homes, and we definitely would not have credit card debt or mortgages. We would spend our days riding our bicycles and playing baseball or making “mud pies” in the backyard. I also think we would walk around mumbling, “I’m bored. Can we go somewhere or do something fun?”
Or what about this?... As you know, we have a two year old daughter. Do you remember when your children were two? When JoEllen doesn’t get exactly what she wants, she throws herself down in the floor and starts screaming… “NOOOO! I didn’t want you to cut my sandwich.” A lot of times, when she does that, Shauna and I look at her and ask, “What if Mommy and Daddy screamed and rolled around in the floor when we didn’t get what we wanted?” That’s a ridiculous thought. Two year olds are supposed to act like two year olds. But adults are not supposed to act like two year olds.
It is unthinkable for a person to remain two years old or nine years old for the rest of their lives. But I think we have people in our churches who are just that. We have 30, 40, 50 and 60 year olds who are still nine years old spiritually. Our problem is the way we think of salvation. We have a very narrow view of salvation as a “one time event” that happens the moment that we express faith in Jesus as Lord. We seem to overlook the fact that the Bible tells us our salvation is more than this. Salvation does happen as a “one time event,” but it also has an ongoing effect as well as a future result.
Consider the following statements: I have been saved. I am being saved. I will be saved. All three of these statements are true statements for anyone who has become a Christian. I have been saved. For me there was a time, when I first trusted Christ as Lord as a nine year old boy. I am being saved. God is not through working on me. I am not perfect. I still have things I have to deal with, so God is constantly and continually forming me to become more like Jesus. I will be saved. There is coming a day, when I will die or Jesus will return. At this point in the future, I will enter into heaven and realize the result, or fulfillment, of what happened to me when I was saved as a nine year old.
Read Romans 6: 15 – 23
II. I Have Been Saved.
If we are going to talk about salvation this morning, then we need to begin by describing why salvation is even necessary. In other words, in order to be saved, we must be saved from something.
While the Greek word for “saved” does not appear in our Scripture reading this morning, the concept is there. Instead, Paul uses a term that we translate “set free.” In this passage, Paul draws a mental image of a slave who has been purchased out of slavery to live as a free person. The technical term for this type of slave transaction is “Redemption.”
The New Testament uses a wide range of words and images to describe what we commonly call “salvation.” The one I grew up hearing more about is the term “born again” from the Gospel of John. The technical term is “Regeneration.” The image of being “born again” or regenerated is that when we are saved we begin living a new life. Other places in the New Testament describe salvation as “Reconciliation.” The image is of two people in a broken relationship who have been restored and are back together again. Another common image is of “Justification.” Justification is something that happens in a court room when the judge declares the accused person “not guilty.” Then there is also the image of “Victory.” All human beings have a common enemy known as death. But through the death and resurrection of Jesus, we have victory over death.
There are some people who choose one description of salvation and ignore all the others. However, all of these show up in the Bible and provide a limited view of what it means to be saved. The reason why these descriptions are limited is that each one focuses on one aspect of our human predicament. For example, if we describe our predicament as guilt, then we need God to declare us “not guilty,” to Justify. If we describe our problem as slavery, then we need to be “purchased,” or Redeemed. If the problem is a broken relationship with God, then we need to be Reconciled. And if the problem is death, then we need Victory over death.
Each of these images contains a portion of what it means to be saved. They do not happen in stages. No. Each of these will be accomplished once and for all at the moment we place our faith in Jesus.
I want to emphasize two things at this point. First, we cannot save ourselves. We must place our faith in Jesus to save us. There is no New Testament teaching that salvation is something we can achieve or earn based on our own worthiness. It only happens through faith in Jesus.
Second, I want to emphasize that we must be saved from “something.” This is where I always begin when I am talking with someone about becoming a Christian. I started this about ten years ago after reading an article in the Baptist Standard. The article was a discussion about when a child is ready to become a Christian and to be baptized. One expert quoted in the article was a child psychologist. She said that there is no age restriction for salvation and baptism. Instead, we must determine if a child understands the concept of sin. If you do not know what sin is, you cannot be saved. If you know what sin is, but think that you are not guilty of sin, then you cannot be saved.
In order to be saved, we must understand the predicament we are in. We must acknowledge that we cannot solve our sin problem on our own abilities. We must place our faith in Jesus.
III. I Am Being Saved.
The second aspect of salvation can be described in the present tense: “I am being saved.” At this point, we are not speaking of salvation as a one time event in the past. We now speak of salvation as a present reality, or a process, which takes place in the present time. It is ongoing, and it is never finished. The theological term for salvation in the present tense is “Sanctification.”
Paul uses the term “Sanctification” in verse 22, but it is translated differently in the NIV. The NIV uses the English word “holiness.” This is a fine interpretation of Paul’s words here, because Sanctification and holiness mean the same thing. The English word Sanctification comes to us from the Latin word for Holiness. A literal understanding of Sanctification would be “the process of becoming holy.”
Once again, let me stress that salvation is not something you can do for yourselves. As human beings, you and I are wholly incapable of saving ourselves, and this includes the process of Sanctification. We cannot make ourselves holy, as Jesus is holy. But God can. And God will. This is what God wants to do in each of our lives.
If your testimony is like mine—I became a Christian when I was nine years old—then God does not want you to remain a nine year old for the rest of your life. God wants you to grow…Grow in your understanding of God…Grow in holiness…And grow in the amount of control you hand over to God on a daily basis.
When Paul used the term Sanctification, or holiness, in verse 22, he described it as the result, or fruit, of something else: “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit (result, fruit) you reap leads to holiness…”
I cannot tell you what specific plans God might have for the rest of your life. But I can tell you one thing…It is God’s will to Sanctify you and make you Holy as Jesus is Holy. You cannot make yourselves holy, but you can prevent God from doing the work he plans for you.
The process of Sanctification begins in us at the moment we place our faith in Jesus. At the moment of faith, God places his Holy Spirit in us. God is one. God is inseparable. We do not receive God in stages. At the moment of faith, we receive Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And at that moment, the Holy Spirit begins his work in us gradually, continually making us Holy as Jesus is Holy.
This process of Sanctification is a daily struggle. Since we are human beings, who are prone to sin, we often find ourselves at odds with what the Holy Spirit is trying to accomplish. Since we live in a fallen world, which is filled with temptation and sin, we often find ourselves struggling with the day to day, hour to hour, minute to minute decisions. We struggle with our daily, hourly, minute by minute decisions. Will I choose to follow my selfish and sinful desires? Or will I surrender myself to the work of the Holy Spirit within me?
The reason for our struggle is our divided allegiance. Once again, Paul uses the imagery of slavery…verse 22… “Slaves to God.” When we were slaves to sin, sin controlled everything we did. Now that we are slaves to God, God should control all we do.
I cannot save myself or make myself holy, but I can prevent the Holy Spirit from growing me into a mature adult Christian, rather than a nine year old Christian in an adult body.
IV. I Will Be Saved.
The third aspect of salvation can be described by using the future tense: “I will be saved.” This is the part of salvation which will not be fully realized until we are with God in Heaven. The technical term for this is “Glorification.”
Again, verse 22 describes all three aspects of salvation: “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness and the result is eternal life.”
There is coming a day when life as we now know it will end. Every human being will die, or will be living when Jesus returns to bring this world to an end. When the world comes to an end, there are two options for us. One, there is eternal death in Hell—forever separated from God. Two, there is eternal life in heaven—forever living in the presence of God.
When I say that this world is coming to an end, please don’t think I have given up hope. NO! The Christian life is a life based on hope. When Jesus rose from the grave, he gave us the hope that we too can live forever. One day all Christians will be with Jesus in Heaven. Until that day, we are not to neglect or ignore the world we live in.
V. Conclusion.
A couple of months ago, I met with a family from our church to talk with the son about baptism. The parents had shared with him how he could be saved, and he had placed his faith in Jesus. At the end of our conversation, the parents asked me if he was ready to be baptized. Now, this is a very serious question. Like I said earlier, I always make sure children understand sin and why it is necessary to be saved. I do not want to pressure a child into baptism before he or she truly understands what they are doing.
I looked at the boy and asked him a question: “How old are you?” He said ten. I asked, “How much are you supposed to understand as a ten year old?” He said, “A little bit.” I asked, “How much are you supposed to understand when you are 15?” He said, “A little bit more.” I asked, “How much are you supposed to understand when you are 40?” He said, “A little bit more.”
That is exactly right. It reminds me of what Joel Gregory used to say when he was pastor in Dallas. When a child came forward to make a profession of faith, he would introduce them to the church by saying, “This is Andy. Andy is making his first step as a Christian today.”
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Money Is a Tool, Not a Yardstick
Money Is a Tool, Not a Yardstick
Luke 16: 1 – 13
I. Introduction.
I like having the element of surprise in my preaching. I like to preach a biblical message and conclude with one point. Most of the time, I like for the one point to be unexpected but something that makes the rest of the sermon make sense. But, that is not what I am doing today. The title of the sermon is the one point. Everyone in this room this morning can read the sermon title in the bulletin and walk out of church with an understanding of what I want to communicate. Money is a tool, not a yardstick. Money is something that we are to use for God’s glory and for blessing others. Money is not something to use in determining the value of our own lives or the value of others.
The sermon title comes from an Internet article I read about the relationship between money and happiness:
(http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/BoomerBucks/20050525a1.asp).
We might think about money as a necessary evil in our culture today. Everybody admits that money is not the most important thing in life, but money is important. Until Brookshire Brothers starts accepting polished rocks or chickens in exchange for groceries, money will be important.
Since we know that money is not the most important thing in life, it should not be difficult for us to admit that money will never make us happy. But there are a lot of people who pursue more money in their eternal quest for happiness.
I think most of you will agree that there are a lot of wealthy people who believe that money can bring happiness. But would it surprise you if I said that this is also true for people who are poor? It may surprise you to hear me say that this is one thing that the wealthy and the poor have in common. We all seem to believe that if we just had a little more money, then life would be much happier. So we all keep striving for the elusive next income level, so that all our troubles will melt away. But it never happens.
The reason it never happens, and the reason we never grasp that elusive monetary happiness, is because there is always someone else out there who has more than we have. As long as I compare my money and my happiness with the money and happiness of other people, I will always feel inadequate.
Money should not be our measuring stick. We should not determine the value of a man or a woman by how much money they have. And we should never try to measure happiness by how much money we have in the bank or how many possessions we can accumulate.
The article I read this week containedm a review of the book Money & Happiness: A Guide to Living the Good Life, by Laura Rowley. I have not read the book, so I cannot make a judgment on whether or not this is a book we need to read. I have only read one book review and found some interesting quotes. For example:
Most money guides operate under the assumption that if you have enough information and take action, you can build wealth and be happy. But that leap from wealth to happiness is neither easy nor obvious. I believe that you first have to define what 'the good life' means to you, what ideas, activities and relationships you value, and what you're striving for personally—then use money to build that life.
I am inclined to say this is very close to a biblical perspective on money. The only change we need to make in this author’s perspective is to change the phrase “the good life” to “the godly life”…or “the Christian life.” In other words, do not think of money as a goal to achieve. Think of money as a tool you can use to accomplish the life Jesus wants you to live. This is the biblical perspective Jesus described for us in our Scripture today—Luke 16: 1 – 13.
Read Luke 16: 1 – 13.
Jesus often taught his disciples by telling stories. If you are not comfortable with the word “story,” then we can substitute the biblical word “parable.” But this particular parable is a story.
In the story there was a wealthy landowner who had employed a manager to help him oversee his property and business interests. The manager had probably done a very good job for his boss and may not have had any troubles in the past. That is, the manager was doing well, until someone accused the manager of doing something unethical. He had mismanaged or squandered his master’s resources.
The landowner immediately called his manager into his office to confront him on this unethical behavior. He asked him to turn over all his records and clean out his desk, because his services were no longer needed. If this had been Donald Trump, he would have said, “You’re Fired.”
There was no provision in the ancient world for men who found themselves out of work. He could not apply for public assistance, and there was no such thing as “unemployment pay.” The manager was out on the streets, alone and stripped of all his resources. He was left with only two choices. He could work in manual labor, or he could resort to “holding a sign” on the side of the street by Wal-Mart—“Will Work for Food.”
The manager could not stand the thought of manual labor or begging. He had always worked in business and was afraid that he would never have another job opportunity…At least no job opportunities like the job he was leaving. But Jesus tells us that this manager was no dummy. He was obviously a very intelligent man, and he had a plan.
Before he ever cleaned out his desk, the manager did one last thing. He called in his master’s debtors and cancelled a portion of their debts. Jesus does not tell us how the manager cancelled these debts, but I believe there are at least two choices. One, the manager could have reached into his own pockets and paid the debts himself. Two, the manager could have simply cancelled the debt by telling the debtors that a portion of their debt had been forgiven. Either way we choose to interpret the manager’s actions, we know that he is trying to make other people like him so that they will—just maybe—give him a job to keep him off the streets.
Think about how you would feel about a man who took care of your indebtedness out of his own pocket. It is a very kind and generous thing to do, no matter what his motives might have been. I think I might just give that man a job. He helped me out when I was in trouble.
Also think about this from the master’s point of view. If this manager paid the debts out of his own pocket, then I know he really wants to make things right. He is motivated to keep his job and will do whatever it takes to get back on my good side.
But what if he did not pay the debts out of his own pocket? What if he simply forgave part of the loans? Well, the debtors would still love him. But the master would feel trapped. If the master fired the manager, then the master would look like a “bad guy,” because he fired that poor manager that everyone loved!
When we think about what he did, we realize it was a brilliant scheme! Everybody loves the manager, and the master looks like the “bad guy.” (This is why you always fire someone at the end of the day on Friday!)
There is one thing about this parable that makes it different from other parables Jesus told. This one is hard. The meaning of this parable just does not immediately “jump off the page” for us. We don’t know exactly what Jesus was trying to teach us here. So, we are fortunate that Jesus actually interpreted the parable for us. In fact, if you look back at your Bibles, you will see that Jesus gave us three interpretations for the parable: vv. 8 – 9, vv. 10 – 12 and v. 13.
II. “Use Worldly Wealth to Gain Friends for Yourself: Verses 8 and 9”…
I have a book in my library by British theologian F. F. Bruce entitles The Hard Sayings of Jesus. This book contains over fifty quotations from Jesus’ teachings in the Gospels. These quotations are some of the most difficult things to understand, much less preach. And as a result, these are the words of Jesus that are very seldom preached in our churches. I looked in that book this week, and guess what…This is one of the Hard Sayings of Jesus.
There are two things Jesus said here that make this a very difficult Scripture to understand. First, it appears that Jesus is telling us that Christian people can learn a thing or two from the non-Christian people in the world. Second, Jesus uses an unusual expression to describe money: “worldly wealth (NIV)” or “mammon of unrighteousness (KJV).”
When we read the Gospel of Luke, we discover that Luke makes a consistent use of several themes not found as prominently in the other Gospels. For example, Luke takes a special interest in the poor. In Luke 4, Jesus announced that he had come to preach the Good News to the poor. In Luke 6, we find Luke’s version of the Beattitudes. In Matthew’s version of the Beattitudes, Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 5: 3).” But in Luke’s version, Jesus said, “Blessed are you when you are poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God (Luke 6: 20).” And later on in Luke 16, Jesus tells us the parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man. The parable concludes with Jesus’ words to the rich man: “Remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now is comforted here (Heaven) and you are in agony (Luke 16: 25).”
Since Luke shows a special concern for the poor throughout his Gospel, we might be tempted to think that Luke has a bias against wealthy people, or that Luke is trying to teach us that money is evil. However, that is not the case. Luke is the only Gospel that tells us the story of Zacchaeus, a wealthy man who became a follower of Jesus. And Luke himself had the financial means to travel the world alongside the Apostle Paul as a missionary to the uttermost parts of the Earth. And nowhere else in the entire Bible do we find any indication that having a lot of money—in and of itself—is sinful. Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 6: 10 that “the LOVE of money is the root of all kinds of evil.”
Money is worldly and unrighteous, because it is only valuable in this world. There is no purpose for money beyond the grave. Like the great theologian George Strait once said, “I’ve never seen a hearse with a luggage rack.” You can’t take money or worldly possessions with you when you leave this life.
This is the lesson we can learn from worldly, non-Christian people. Just as the dishonest manager used his worldly resources to take care of his future, Christian men and women need to think about the future when we use our financial resources. This is not a reference to retirement or providing for your children to go to college. Of course, it is good to plan for retirement and college. But it is even more important to think about the future in terms of eternity.
Use your money today as a tool for all eternity. That doesn’t mean you can buy a spot in Heaven. It means that we should spend money on things that will last forever. For example, when you give money to this church, you are investing in eternity. You are investing in the spiritual lives of children, youth, adults and senior adults. You are providing financial support for the Gospel message to be shared in Lufkin and all around the world with people who have never heard of Jesus.
III. “Use Worldly Wealth to Build Trust: Verses 10 – 12”…
Jesus’ second interpretation carries two distinct meanings. First, in a purely worldly sense, money will NEVER solve your problems. You and I will be the same people on the inside, no matter how much money we might have. If we are good managers of small amounts of money, then we will be good manager of large amounts of money. If we are wasteful with small amounts of money, then we will be wasteful with large amounts of money. This is why so many multi-million dollar lottery winners go bankrupt within three years of winning. If you cannot manage a small amount of money, then more money will NEVER solve your problems.
Then in a spiritual understanding, Jesus tells us that it is important for Christians to manage our “worldly money” in a wise manner. Worldly money will not last forever. We cannot take it with us when we leave this life. However, if you cannot manage worldly wealth, then you cannot be trusted with spiritual wealth. This is basically the same argument Jesus made from lesser to greater. Men and women who demonstrate faithfulness in small things can be trusted with great things. Money is a small thing. Spiritual wealth is a great thing. We must show faithfulness with little things like worldly wealth before we can be trusted with great things like spiritual wealth.
IV. “Use Worldly Wealth to Serve God: Verse 13”…
Jesus’ third and final interpretation invites us to examine our loyalties and the object of our worship. In other words: What is the most important thing in your life? Let me ask this differently: If I were to examine your daily or weekly schedule, what would you spend the most time on? Or…If I were to examine your checking account, what did you spend the majority of your income on this month?
If you spend more time doing worldly things, then you are an idolater! You worship a false god! If you spend more money on worldly things, then you are an idolater!
But, if you spend your time and your money on eternal things—and the Kingdom of God is the only thing that will last forever—then you are using you money as a tool to bring glory to God and blessings to others.
Luke 16: 1 – 13
I. Introduction.
I like having the element of surprise in my preaching. I like to preach a biblical message and conclude with one point. Most of the time, I like for the one point to be unexpected but something that makes the rest of the sermon make sense. But, that is not what I am doing today. The title of the sermon is the one point. Everyone in this room this morning can read the sermon title in the bulletin and walk out of church with an understanding of what I want to communicate. Money is a tool, not a yardstick. Money is something that we are to use for God’s glory and for blessing others. Money is not something to use in determining the value of our own lives or the value of others.
The sermon title comes from an Internet article I read about the relationship between money and happiness:
(http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/BoomerBucks/20050525a1.asp).
We might think about money as a necessary evil in our culture today. Everybody admits that money is not the most important thing in life, but money is important. Until Brookshire Brothers starts accepting polished rocks or chickens in exchange for groceries, money will be important.
Since we know that money is not the most important thing in life, it should not be difficult for us to admit that money will never make us happy. But there are a lot of people who pursue more money in their eternal quest for happiness.
I think most of you will agree that there are a lot of wealthy people who believe that money can bring happiness. But would it surprise you if I said that this is also true for people who are poor? It may surprise you to hear me say that this is one thing that the wealthy and the poor have in common. We all seem to believe that if we just had a little more money, then life would be much happier. So we all keep striving for the elusive next income level, so that all our troubles will melt away. But it never happens.
The reason it never happens, and the reason we never grasp that elusive monetary happiness, is because there is always someone else out there who has more than we have. As long as I compare my money and my happiness with the money and happiness of other people, I will always feel inadequate.
Money should not be our measuring stick. We should not determine the value of a man or a woman by how much money they have. And we should never try to measure happiness by how much money we have in the bank or how many possessions we can accumulate.
The article I read this week containedm a review of the book Money & Happiness: A Guide to Living the Good Life, by Laura Rowley. I have not read the book, so I cannot make a judgment on whether or not this is a book we need to read. I have only read one book review and found some interesting quotes. For example:
Most money guides operate under the assumption that if you have enough information and take action, you can build wealth and be happy. But that leap from wealth to happiness is neither easy nor obvious. I believe that you first have to define what 'the good life' means to you, what ideas, activities and relationships you value, and what you're striving for personally—then use money to build that life.
I am inclined to say this is very close to a biblical perspective on money. The only change we need to make in this author’s perspective is to change the phrase “the good life” to “the godly life”…or “the Christian life.” In other words, do not think of money as a goal to achieve. Think of money as a tool you can use to accomplish the life Jesus wants you to live. This is the biblical perspective Jesus described for us in our Scripture today—Luke 16: 1 – 13.
Read Luke 16: 1 – 13.
Jesus often taught his disciples by telling stories. If you are not comfortable with the word “story,” then we can substitute the biblical word “parable.” But this particular parable is a story.
In the story there was a wealthy landowner who had employed a manager to help him oversee his property and business interests. The manager had probably done a very good job for his boss and may not have had any troubles in the past. That is, the manager was doing well, until someone accused the manager of doing something unethical. He had mismanaged or squandered his master’s resources.
The landowner immediately called his manager into his office to confront him on this unethical behavior. He asked him to turn over all his records and clean out his desk, because his services were no longer needed. If this had been Donald Trump, he would have said, “You’re Fired.”
There was no provision in the ancient world for men who found themselves out of work. He could not apply for public assistance, and there was no such thing as “unemployment pay.” The manager was out on the streets, alone and stripped of all his resources. He was left with only two choices. He could work in manual labor, or he could resort to “holding a sign” on the side of the street by Wal-Mart—“Will Work for Food.”
The manager could not stand the thought of manual labor or begging. He had always worked in business and was afraid that he would never have another job opportunity…At least no job opportunities like the job he was leaving. But Jesus tells us that this manager was no dummy. He was obviously a very intelligent man, and he had a plan.
Before he ever cleaned out his desk, the manager did one last thing. He called in his master’s debtors and cancelled a portion of their debts. Jesus does not tell us how the manager cancelled these debts, but I believe there are at least two choices. One, the manager could have reached into his own pockets and paid the debts himself. Two, the manager could have simply cancelled the debt by telling the debtors that a portion of their debt had been forgiven. Either way we choose to interpret the manager’s actions, we know that he is trying to make other people like him so that they will—just maybe—give him a job to keep him off the streets.
Think about how you would feel about a man who took care of your indebtedness out of his own pocket. It is a very kind and generous thing to do, no matter what his motives might have been. I think I might just give that man a job. He helped me out when I was in trouble.
Also think about this from the master’s point of view. If this manager paid the debts out of his own pocket, then I know he really wants to make things right. He is motivated to keep his job and will do whatever it takes to get back on my good side.
But what if he did not pay the debts out of his own pocket? What if he simply forgave part of the loans? Well, the debtors would still love him. But the master would feel trapped. If the master fired the manager, then the master would look like a “bad guy,” because he fired that poor manager that everyone loved!
When we think about what he did, we realize it was a brilliant scheme! Everybody loves the manager, and the master looks like the “bad guy.” (This is why you always fire someone at the end of the day on Friday!)
There is one thing about this parable that makes it different from other parables Jesus told. This one is hard. The meaning of this parable just does not immediately “jump off the page” for us. We don’t know exactly what Jesus was trying to teach us here. So, we are fortunate that Jesus actually interpreted the parable for us. In fact, if you look back at your Bibles, you will see that Jesus gave us three interpretations for the parable: vv. 8 – 9, vv. 10 – 12 and v. 13.
II. “Use Worldly Wealth to Gain Friends for Yourself: Verses 8 and 9”…
I have a book in my library by British theologian F. F. Bruce entitles The Hard Sayings of Jesus. This book contains over fifty quotations from Jesus’ teachings in the Gospels. These quotations are some of the most difficult things to understand, much less preach. And as a result, these are the words of Jesus that are very seldom preached in our churches. I looked in that book this week, and guess what…This is one of the Hard Sayings of Jesus.
There are two things Jesus said here that make this a very difficult Scripture to understand. First, it appears that Jesus is telling us that Christian people can learn a thing or two from the non-Christian people in the world. Second, Jesus uses an unusual expression to describe money: “worldly wealth (NIV)” or “mammon of unrighteousness (KJV).”
When we read the Gospel of Luke, we discover that Luke makes a consistent use of several themes not found as prominently in the other Gospels. For example, Luke takes a special interest in the poor. In Luke 4, Jesus announced that he had come to preach the Good News to the poor. In Luke 6, we find Luke’s version of the Beattitudes. In Matthew’s version of the Beattitudes, Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 5: 3).” But in Luke’s version, Jesus said, “Blessed are you when you are poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God (Luke 6: 20).” And later on in Luke 16, Jesus tells us the parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man. The parable concludes with Jesus’ words to the rich man: “Remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now is comforted here (Heaven) and you are in agony (Luke 16: 25).”
Since Luke shows a special concern for the poor throughout his Gospel, we might be tempted to think that Luke has a bias against wealthy people, or that Luke is trying to teach us that money is evil. However, that is not the case. Luke is the only Gospel that tells us the story of Zacchaeus, a wealthy man who became a follower of Jesus. And Luke himself had the financial means to travel the world alongside the Apostle Paul as a missionary to the uttermost parts of the Earth. And nowhere else in the entire Bible do we find any indication that having a lot of money—in and of itself—is sinful. Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 6: 10 that “the LOVE of money is the root of all kinds of evil.”
Money is worldly and unrighteous, because it is only valuable in this world. There is no purpose for money beyond the grave. Like the great theologian George Strait once said, “I’ve never seen a hearse with a luggage rack.” You can’t take money or worldly possessions with you when you leave this life.
This is the lesson we can learn from worldly, non-Christian people. Just as the dishonest manager used his worldly resources to take care of his future, Christian men and women need to think about the future when we use our financial resources. This is not a reference to retirement or providing for your children to go to college. Of course, it is good to plan for retirement and college. But it is even more important to think about the future in terms of eternity.
Use your money today as a tool for all eternity. That doesn’t mean you can buy a spot in Heaven. It means that we should spend money on things that will last forever. For example, when you give money to this church, you are investing in eternity. You are investing in the spiritual lives of children, youth, adults and senior adults. You are providing financial support for the Gospel message to be shared in Lufkin and all around the world with people who have never heard of Jesus.
III. “Use Worldly Wealth to Build Trust: Verses 10 – 12”…
Jesus’ second interpretation carries two distinct meanings. First, in a purely worldly sense, money will NEVER solve your problems. You and I will be the same people on the inside, no matter how much money we might have. If we are good managers of small amounts of money, then we will be good manager of large amounts of money. If we are wasteful with small amounts of money, then we will be wasteful with large amounts of money. This is why so many multi-million dollar lottery winners go bankrupt within three years of winning. If you cannot manage a small amount of money, then more money will NEVER solve your problems.
Then in a spiritual understanding, Jesus tells us that it is important for Christians to manage our “worldly money” in a wise manner. Worldly money will not last forever. We cannot take it with us when we leave this life. However, if you cannot manage worldly wealth, then you cannot be trusted with spiritual wealth. This is basically the same argument Jesus made from lesser to greater. Men and women who demonstrate faithfulness in small things can be trusted with great things. Money is a small thing. Spiritual wealth is a great thing. We must show faithfulness with little things like worldly wealth before we can be trusted with great things like spiritual wealth.
IV. “Use Worldly Wealth to Serve God: Verse 13”…
Jesus’ third and final interpretation invites us to examine our loyalties and the object of our worship. In other words: What is the most important thing in your life? Let me ask this differently: If I were to examine your daily or weekly schedule, what would you spend the most time on? Or…If I were to examine your checking account, what did you spend the majority of your income on this month?
If you spend more time doing worldly things, then you are an idolater! You worship a false god! If you spend more money on worldly things, then you are an idolater!
But, if you spend your time and your money on eternal things—and the Kingdom of God is the only thing that will last forever—then you are using you money as a tool to bring glory to God and blessings to others.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Deacons: Servants of the Church
Deacons: Servants of the Church
Acts 6: 1 – 7.
I. Introduction.
Paul Powell, who recently retired as the Dean of Truett Seminary at Baylor University, served as pastor of several Baptist churches before he became Dean of the seminary. Powell tells a story of one Baptist Church that held an annual homecoming service. It was a really big deal with generations of people coming back home to participate in this worship service. It was the tradition for this church to select one active deacon every year to share a testimony in the homecoming service about one of the deacons who had passed away. One of Powell’s friends, a man named Jack Majors, was selected to share the deacon testimony one year. Jack had a very difficult time preparing what he wanted to say, so he sat down at dinner one evening and asked his wife for help. He asked her, “Honey, who are some of the dead deacons from our church?” His wife answered, “Well, Jack, you are a dead deacon.”
Reading that story reminded me of the first time I met with the deacons of my previous church in Mississippi. It was the weekend that my family went “in view of a call” so that the church could vote on us. I met with all of the active and inactive deacons in a Sunday School classroom. It was more than just a social visit. This was the opportunity for the deacons to ask me any questions that they wanted to know about me before I was presented to the church. They asked me about my testimony, my call to ministry, my philosophy of ministry and a bunch of other stuff. One of my favorite questions went something like this… “What are deacons supposed to do? This is my second time to be a deacon in this church, and nobody has ever told us what we are supposed to do.”
I do not want that to be the case at Lufkin’s First Baptist Church. I want everyone in our church to know what deacons are supposed to do. And let me brag for just a minute about what a good church we have. Our church polity and organization better fit the New Testament description of a church than any other church that I know of.
There are some churches that have adopted a kind of business-model in which the deacons serve as a kind of church “Board of Directors.” These churches often refer to their deacons as the “Board of Deacons.” And a Board of Deacons is really only good for one of two things, either they “rubber stamp” everything the pastor wants to do, or they “bottle neck” everything the pastor wants to do. This is not how the New Testament describes the work of the deacons.
There are some churches that think of their deacons in terms of government. We might think of these churches as if they were a kind of oligarchy—meaning that the church is ruled by a small group. In other words, the deacons are thought to rule the church.
In our church, the role of the deacon is to serve as ministers within the congregation. I hope you have noticed several months ago my attempt to make our deacons more visible. I asked Judie Baker to divide our entire church membership into 28 groups. We had 28 active deacons at that time, so we assigned each list of church members to one deacon. I then asked our deacons to start making phone calls to introduce themselves to our members and to tell them how well things were going at First Baptist and to ask if they had met our new pastor.
This was the first step in my plan to develop a deacon family ministry to help our church stay in better contact with all our members. I want our deacons to make at least two contacts per year with each family on their list. This will help us to learn about needs in our congregation so that we can respond.
There are several things our deacons learned through this process. Several of our deacons called church members and learned that these people had joined other churches, and the new churches never let us know. We also found out about people who had undergone surgeries that we did not know about. But most importantly, we learned that we did not have enough deacons to adequately care for the families in our church. (I never thought I would put these words together into a sentence…) We need more deacons!
This is the reason why we are welcoming our largest class of new deacons in recent memory. Seven new deacons will be ordained in our evening worship service tonight. I am excited about every man we will present to the church tonight. One reason I am excited is that a lot of these new deacons are young men who will help shape the future of our church.
Again, let me restate that our deacons do not serve as “business managers” or as “governors” in our church. Our deacons are ministers. This is the main reason why the selection of deacons is, and should always be, a spiritual decision. We should choose our deacons through a deliberate and prayerful process.
Our process begins in the month of May. We ask all our church members to nominate men to serve as deacons. Then, our deacon body forms a deacon nominating committee to interview the men who have been nominated. We do not select deacons based on their popularity. And we should not select deacons based on their church attendance.
Allow me to explain what I mean by this…Just because a man is in church every Sunday does not make him a good choice to be a deacon. But every man who is a good choice to be a deacon is a man who is in church. So, when it comes time to nominate deacons again next year and you are thinking about nominating someone, you better try to remember the last time you saw him in church before you nominate him…
The men that we choose to serve as deacons ought to be chosen on the basis of God’s calling and activity in their lives. This is why we ordain deacons. In ordination, the church is saying: “We want to set you apart as different. You are different, because we recognize that God is at work in your life.”
Throughout the history of the church, there has always been the practice of setting apart certain individuals…This practice began in the Old Testament with the Priests and Levites…When Moses first ordained the priests, he slaughtered a ram and took the blood and placed it on the right ear, the right thumb and the right big toe of the candidate…
Then there was the practice of anointing the king…Samuel as God’s prophet & priest poured oil on the head of the first three kings of Israel…This was probably a symbol of the presence of God through his Spirit…The oil was placed on the king’s head, and it covered his head, ran down his face and dripped off his beard…This covering of oil symbolized the covering of God’s Holy Spirit…
The New Testament describes 3 spiritual occasions for setting an individual apart…
1. Baptism…
2. Ordination of Ministers…
3. Ordination of Deacons…
Each of these is a symbol…There is nothing magical or mysterious about them…Baptism = Symbol of death, burial, resurrection of Jesus…Ordination = Symbol that the church recognizes God’s call & work in the life of the minister or the deacon…
As we end our deacon nomination process for this year and anticipate an ordination service tonight, let us look at the story of the first deacon ordination.
Read Acts 6: 1 – 7.
Scholars are in agreement that this text gives reasonable proof that the first church was actually a First Baptist Church…
1. The church was growing in numbers…
2. A complaint arose…
The complaint was a legitimate complaint. The Greek widows were not being taken care of as well as the Hebrew widows…
Some of you have probably been asking yourselves, “Where does that crazy preacher get the idea that this passage is about Deacon Selection? It never mentions the word Deacon.”…If that is what you have been thinking, then you are right…The English word Deacon never appears in this passage…However, the Greek word for deacon—diakonia—does appear three times.
Verse 1… diakonia = “distribution of food” (NIV)
Verse 2… diakonein = “to wait (on tables)” (NIV)
Verse 4… diakonia = “ministry (of the word)” (NIV)
In the NIV, the word for deacon is translated three different ways in three different appearances in this passage. The NASB is more consistent and uses forms of the word “service” to translate. (“serving”… “serve”… “service” [in the margin]…)
II. Deacons Are Assistants to the Pastor.
The 12 Apostles were working themselves to death trying to fill the role as pastors / ministers to the growing congregation. They were preaching, teaching, visiting, evangelizing, praying with the sick, conducting funerals, conducting weddings, giving food to widows…
Finally the ministers had an idea. The widows were right, that was an important part of the life & activity & ministry of the church. It is the kind of ministry Jesus performed while on earth. But it would not make sense for the rest of the church to suffer while the ministers spent all their time “waiting on tables.”
So they created a division of labor. The ministers would devote themselves to prayer and studying the word in order to preach and to spread the gospel more effectively. The deacons would take some of the work load off the ministers.
In other words, the deacons are to be assistants to the pastor…
III. Deacons Are Servants to the Congregation.
There is a specific work mentioned in Acts as the work of the deacon…I think the NIV captures it best… “It would not be right for us to neglect the word of God to wait on tables.”
The first deacons were set apart to be waiters…To serve food to widows and orphans in the church. In fact, did you know that is what the Greek word for deacon literally means…to serve, especially to wait on tables.
New Testament and Greek scholars do not give a lot of credence to what I am about to say, but it makes for good preaching. The Greek word “deacon” has two basic parts, dia = through and konos = dust. Some people believe that the idea behind the word is that one would literally stir up dust responding to the needs of others…
Does this mean that deacons should be nothing more than waiters, serving food to needy church members? NO!
It means the deacon is to be one who “stirs up dust,” doing whatever it takes to serve the genuine needs of the church…The Jerusalem church had a need for waiters, and the deacons met that need…
Of course there are two ways that church people can “stir up dust.” On the negative side, a person might “stir up dust” by spreading dirt and gossip about the church and church leaders. But that is not the job of a deacon. The deacon is supposed to “stir up dust” by doing whatever it takes to minister effectively within the church.
IV. Deacons Are Witnesses to the World.
Acts 6: 7 recorded a result that was directly related to the ordination of the first deacons: “…the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly.”
How did they do this? 3 ways…
1. Lifestyle of ministry & service…
Demonstrated the love & life of Christ by placing their own needs behind the needs of the church… Love is meeting needs…
2. Allowed the pastors to focus more energy in preaching the word…
The Apostles’ preaching & evangelistic ministry was able to expand when the deacons began to help with the tangible acts of ministry…
3. United the church…
Notice how v. 1 focused on a church in conflict…Then v. 7 described that same church as a church united in purpose…
These 7 deacons united the church…They did NOT divide the church…
Have you ever heard of a deacon who took it upon himself to divide the church? Where do you think he got that idea? Was it from Acts 6? Was it from 1 Timothy 3? Was it from the Bible at all? NO!
One biblical role of the deacon is to unite the church, not to divide the church…
In other words, a deacon is supposed to put out fires, not to fan the fires or to start the fires…
V. Conclusion.
What is the difference between a pastor and a deacon? Not much difference. Both pastors and deacons are called to minister to the needs in the congregation and to unite the church for ministry in the world.
What is the difference between deacons and church members? Not much difference. We are all called to minister to the needs in the congregation and to unite the church for ministry in the world.
Acts 6: 1 – 7.
I. Introduction.
Paul Powell, who recently retired as the Dean of Truett Seminary at Baylor University, served as pastor of several Baptist churches before he became Dean of the seminary. Powell tells a story of one Baptist Church that held an annual homecoming service. It was a really big deal with generations of people coming back home to participate in this worship service. It was the tradition for this church to select one active deacon every year to share a testimony in the homecoming service about one of the deacons who had passed away. One of Powell’s friends, a man named Jack Majors, was selected to share the deacon testimony one year. Jack had a very difficult time preparing what he wanted to say, so he sat down at dinner one evening and asked his wife for help. He asked her, “Honey, who are some of the dead deacons from our church?” His wife answered, “Well, Jack, you are a dead deacon.”
Reading that story reminded me of the first time I met with the deacons of my previous church in Mississippi. It was the weekend that my family went “in view of a call” so that the church could vote on us. I met with all of the active and inactive deacons in a Sunday School classroom. It was more than just a social visit. This was the opportunity for the deacons to ask me any questions that they wanted to know about me before I was presented to the church. They asked me about my testimony, my call to ministry, my philosophy of ministry and a bunch of other stuff. One of my favorite questions went something like this… “What are deacons supposed to do? This is my second time to be a deacon in this church, and nobody has ever told us what we are supposed to do.”
I do not want that to be the case at Lufkin’s First Baptist Church. I want everyone in our church to know what deacons are supposed to do. And let me brag for just a minute about what a good church we have. Our church polity and organization better fit the New Testament description of a church than any other church that I know of.
There are some churches that have adopted a kind of business-model in which the deacons serve as a kind of church “Board of Directors.” These churches often refer to their deacons as the “Board of Deacons.” And a Board of Deacons is really only good for one of two things, either they “rubber stamp” everything the pastor wants to do, or they “bottle neck” everything the pastor wants to do. This is not how the New Testament describes the work of the deacons.
There are some churches that think of their deacons in terms of government. We might think of these churches as if they were a kind of oligarchy—meaning that the church is ruled by a small group. In other words, the deacons are thought to rule the church.
In our church, the role of the deacon is to serve as ministers within the congregation. I hope you have noticed several months ago my attempt to make our deacons more visible. I asked Judie Baker to divide our entire church membership into 28 groups. We had 28 active deacons at that time, so we assigned each list of church members to one deacon. I then asked our deacons to start making phone calls to introduce themselves to our members and to tell them how well things were going at First Baptist and to ask if they had met our new pastor.
This was the first step in my plan to develop a deacon family ministry to help our church stay in better contact with all our members. I want our deacons to make at least two contacts per year with each family on their list. This will help us to learn about needs in our congregation so that we can respond.
There are several things our deacons learned through this process. Several of our deacons called church members and learned that these people had joined other churches, and the new churches never let us know. We also found out about people who had undergone surgeries that we did not know about. But most importantly, we learned that we did not have enough deacons to adequately care for the families in our church. (I never thought I would put these words together into a sentence…) We need more deacons!
This is the reason why we are welcoming our largest class of new deacons in recent memory. Seven new deacons will be ordained in our evening worship service tonight. I am excited about every man we will present to the church tonight. One reason I am excited is that a lot of these new deacons are young men who will help shape the future of our church.
Again, let me restate that our deacons do not serve as “business managers” or as “governors” in our church. Our deacons are ministers. This is the main reason why the selection of deacons is, and should always be, a spiritual decision. We should choose our deacons through a deliberate and prayerful process.
Our process begins in the month of May. We ask all our church members to nominate men to serve as deacons. Then, our deacon body forms a deacon nominating committee to interview the men who have been nominated. We do not select deacons based on their popularity. And we should not select deacons based on their church attendance.
Allow me to explain what I mean by this…Just because a man is in church every Sunday does not make him a good choice to be a deacon. But every man who is a good choice to be a deacon is a man who is in church. So, when it comes time to nominate deacons again next year and you are thinking about nominating someone, you better try to remember the last time you saw him in church before you nominate him…
The men that we choose to serve as deacons ought to be chosen on the basis of God’s calling and activity in their lives. This is why we ordain deacons. In ordination, the church is saying: “We want to set you apart as different. You are different, because we recognize that God is at work in your life.”
Throughout the history of the church, there has always been the practice of setting apart certain individuals…This practice began in the Old Testament with the Priests and Levites…When Moses first ordained the priests, he slaughtered a ram and took the blood and placed it on the right ear, the right thumb and the right big toe of the candidate…
Then there was the practice of anointing the king…Samuel as God’s prophet & priest poured oil on the head of the first three kings of Israel…This was probably a symbol of the presence of God through his Spirit…The oil was placed on the king’s head, and it covered his head, ran down his face and dripped off his beard…This covering of oil symbolized the covering of God’s Holy Spirit…
The New Testament describes 3 spiritual occasions for setting an individual apart…
1. Baptism…
2. Ordination of Ministers…
3. Ordination of Deacons…
Each of these is a symbol…There is nothing magical or mysterious about them…Baptism = Symbol of death, burial, resurrection of Jesus…Ordination = Symbol that the church recognizes God’s call & work in the life of the minister or the deacon…
As we end our deacon nomination process for this year and anticipate an ordination service tonight, let us look at the story of the first deacon ordination.
Read Acts 6: 1 – 7.
Scholars are in agreement that this text gives reasonable proof that the first church was actually a First Baptist Church…
1. The church was growing in numbers…
2. A complaint arose…
The complaint was a legitimate complaint. The Greek widows were not being taken care of as well as the Hebrew widows…
Some of you have probably been asking yourselves, “Where does that crazy preacher get the idea that this passage is about Deacon Selection? It never mentions the word Deacon.”…If that is what you have been thinking, then you are right…The English word Deacon never appears in this passage…However, the Greek word for deacon—diakonia—does appear three times.
Verse 1… diakonia = “distribution of food” (NIV)
Verse 2… diakonein = “to wait (on tables)” (NIV)
Verse 4… diakonia = “ministry (of the word)” (NIV)
In the NIV, the word for deacon is translated three different ways in three different appearances in this passage. The NASB is more consistent and uses forms of the word “service” to translate. (“serving”… “serve”… “service” [in the margin]…)
II. Deacons Are Assistants to the Pastor.
The 12 Apostles were working themselves to death trying to fill the role as pastors / ministers to the growing congregation. They were preaching, teaching, visiting, evangelizing, praying with the sick, conducting funerals, conducting weddings, giving food to widows…
Finally the ministers had an idea. The widows were right, that was an important part of the life & activity & ministry of the church. It is the kind of ministry Jesus performed while on earth. But it would not make sense for the rest of the church to suffer while the ministers spent all their time “waiting on tables.”
So they created a division of labor. The ministers would devote themselves to prayer and studying the word in order to preach and to spread the gospel more effectively. The deacons would take some of the work load off the ministers.
In other words, the deacons are to be assistants to the pastor…
III. Deacons Are Servants to the Congregation.
There is a specific work mentioned in Acts as the work of the deacon…I think the NIV captures it best… “It would not be right for us to neglect the word of God to wait on tables.”
The first deacons were set apart to be waiters…To serve food to widows and orphans in the church. In fact, did you know that is what the Greek word for deacon literally means…to serve, especially to wait on tables.
New Testament and Greek scholars do not give a lot of credence to what I am about to say, but it makes for good preaching. The Greek word “deacon” has two basic parts, dia = through and konos = dust. Some people believe that the idea behind the word is that one would literally stir up dust responding to the needs of others…
Does this mean that deacons should be nothing more than waiters, serving food to needy church members? NO!
It means the deacon is to be one who “stirs up dust,” doing whatever it takes to serve the genuine needs of the church…The Jerusalem church had a need for waiters, and the deacons met that need…
Of course there are two ways that church people can “stir up dust.” On the negative side, a person might “stir up dust” by spreading dirt and gossip about the church and church leaders. But that is not the job of a deacon. The deacon is supposed to “stir up dust” by doing whatever it takes to minister effectively within the church.
IV. Deacons Are Witnesses to the World.
Acts 6: 7 recorded a result that was directly related to the ordination of the first deacons: “…the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly.”
How did they do this? 3 ways…
1. Lifestyle of ministry & service…
Demonstrated the love & life of Christ by placing their own needs behind the needs of the church… Love is meeting needs…
2. Allowed the pastors to focus more energy in preaching the word…
The Apostles’ preaching & evangelistic ministry was able to expand when the deacons began to help with the tangible acts of ministry…
3. United the church…
Notice how v. 1 focused on a church in conflict…Then v. 7 described that same church as a church united in purpose…
These 7 deacons united the church…They did NOT divide the church…
Have you ever heard of a deacon who took it upon himself to divide the church? Where do you think he got that idea? Was it from Acts 6? Was it from 1 Timothy 3? Was it from the Bible at all? NO!
One biblical role of the deacon is to unite the church, not to divide the church…
In other words, a deacon is supposed to put out fires, not to fan the fires or to start the fires…
V. Conclusion.
What is the difference between a pastor and a deacon? Not much difference. Both pastors and deacons are called to minister to the needs in the congregation and to unite the church for ministry in the world.
What is the difference between deacons and church members? Not much difference. We are all called to minister to the needs in the congregation and to unite the church for ministry in the world.
Sunday, September 09, 2007
Serve the Lord with Gladness
***Click here for an updated version of this sermon.
Serve The Lord with Gladness.
Psalm 100
I. Introduction.
An older married couple had just arrived in heaven. They began to walk around on the streets of gold, through the gates of pearls, looking at the fabulous sights of heaven. It was almost more than they could comprehend. They began to share with each other how beautiful each part of the scenery, making sure to point out anything the other might not have noticed. After several hours of just walking with their mouths open wide, the husband turned to his wife and said, “Honey, did you have any idea that heaven would be this wonderful?” His wife replied, “No! This far exceeds anything I had ever heard or read about heaven.” The husband spoke up, “Just think. If you had never started us on that high fiber diet, we could have been here 30 years ago.”
I searched all week for a good story about grandparents, and that is the best I could do. However, I did find a story…actually a true story that beats that one.
Shauna and I have a friend named Missy. Missy has told about her grandfather who has a very active sense of humor. Of course, not everyone will find this humorous. Her grandfather has worn false teeth for a long time. His teeth were always loose-fitting, and he never liked using any kind of adhesive. In fact, he didn’t even like to wear his teeth at all. He would just refuse to wear his teeth unless it was necessary.
One morning he went fishing with a good friend. This was the best kind of friend…one that didn’t mind if he didn’t wear his teeth. But he had to take his teeth so they could eat lunch later. But that didn’t mean he had to wear them all day. Once the two men got out on the lake in their boat, he slipped his teeth out and put them on top of the cooler. His friend thought that looked like a good idea and placed his teeth on the cooler next to the others.
As it got closer to lunch time, Missy’s grandfather decided he would play a joke on his fishing buddy. He switched the teeth on the cooler. Then, he said, “I am getting hungry. Let’s go ahead and eat lunch.” His buddy said, “That’s a good idea.” And picked up the teeth he thought were his and put them in his mouth.
He swished them around several times in his mouth. He pulled out the teeth. He looked at the teeth, with a puzzled look on his face and said, “These teeth never have fit right.” And threw the teeth into the lake.
There’s a lesson in this story. Never be careless with something of great value.
Today is Grandparents’ Day. Mothers’ Day and Fathers’ Day are two days we usually remember by sending Hallmark © cards. So, it seems to me that the marketing department at Hallmark © might just be the ones responsible for this “new” holiday. It’s a way for them to sell more cards and make a little more money. However, it also seems to be a good idea for us to honor our grandparents. Let me take advantage of Grandparents’ Day by encouraging you not to be careless with something of great value. Children, don’t forget about your grandparents. Young adults, “Honor your father and your mother.” Not so young adults, “Honor your father and mother.” Senior adults, do not ever stop serving the Lord.
One of my goals for next year is for us to create a new staff position for our church. If you look at our staff structure, it seems to communicate something that we do not believe. We have a pastor—and by the way we really like our pastor. It is the pastor’s responsibility to preach the Word of God, to visit the sick and to lead our church to grow. Then, we are currently searching for a minister of music, whose job will be to lead our church to worship and experience the presence of God.
Patsy Parks is our preschool / children’s minister. Her responsibilities include ministry to all children in our church. She plans Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, spiritual growth and all the fun activities for children from birth to sixth grade.
Clay Walker is our youth minister. He ministers to the teenagers in our church from seventh grade through twelfth grade. He will lead our Wake Up Weekend in January and led our teenagers in one of the biggest summer programs in history. So, Clay leads all the spiritual growth and fun activities for youth.
Aubrey Knox is our minister of adult education. He is responsible for spiritual growth and discipleship of the adults at First Baptist Church.
Dream with me for a minute about a hypothetical family in our church. This family has a newborn baby in the nursery, a second grader in the children’s ministry and a seventh grader in the youth group. The parents are 33 years old and are members of Adult 5 Sunday School. The grandparents are 55 years old and the great-grandparents are 77.
The way our church staff is structured, we have ministers assigned to most members of this family. The baby and the second grader are in our children’s ministry. The seventh grader is a part of our youth ministry. The parents and grandparents are in the adult ministry. But what about the 77 year olds? Do we really believe that we should provide ministry and activities for preschoolers, children, youth and adults but nothing for senior adults? No! We don’t believe this. We have a senior adult ministry, but we don’t have a senior adult minister.
I am dreaming about the day that we can call a senior adult minister. I believe our senior adults are a valuable group of people for our church. I believe we need to grow our church by focusing on every age group in our city…children, youth, young adults and senior adults. I also want to communicate very clearly to the senior adults of Lufkin, Texas, “God is not finished with you. God wants you to ‘Serve the Lord with gladness.’”
Read Psalm 100.
As you could tell by reading the entire context, Psalm 100 is a Psalm about worship. In fact, the NIV has translated Psalm 100: 2 as “Worship the Lord with gladness…” And, to be quite honest, I agree with the NIV’s translation.
The traditional interpretation of this verse is “Serve the Lord with gladness.” The Hebrew word used in this verse does literally mean to serve, it is obvious that the context of Psalm 100 is a reference to an act of serving performed in a worship service. That is why the Psalmist continues his thought by writing “Come before his presence with singing.”
However, I must appeal to the great reformer Martin Luther and even to the Apostle Paul to say that worship is an activity which must transcend, or move beyond the four walls of the church. One of Luther’s basic points in the Protestant Reformation was to claim that one does not have to be a priest, a monk or a nun in order to serve the Lord. In fact, any kind of work which is done in the name of the Lord and to God’s glory is an act of worship.
Luther based his position on the writings of the Apostle Paul, such as Romans 12: 1 –2…“Therefore, I urge you brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercies to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and well pleasing to God.” It seems so obvious to us today, but in the 1500’s nobody had ever thought of serving the Lord outside full time ministry.
II. Serve.
How can we be faithful to the command the Psalmist has given us? In other words, how can our service be worshipful service?
1. Worshipful service is different from human service.
There is something about serving other people that is attractive to us…Many secular groups have gotten involved with service projects because they have discovered that it makes them feel good to serve others…But this is not worshipful service.
How do we know it is not worshipful? Because the person doing the work is quick to step up and take the credit for his or her effort.
Human service wants to be recognized…Becomes angry if an act of service goes without an award…Keeps score…I have done this much for you, now you owe me.
That is not how worshipful service looks…Those who worship God in their acts of service often go without any kind of recognition…That doesn’t mean it is bad to be recognized…It’s just bad to desire recognition…
Those who worship God in their service are just as comfortable behind the scenes as they are in center stage…
2. Worshipful service is a life-style.
Many people today are comfortable serving the needs of others as long as they have the opportunity to choose whom they will serve and when they will serve…
The Christian who is committed to worshipful service has already given himself or herself into the Lord’s hands to serve whenever and wherever the Holy Spirit leads…Again, this is best captured in the words of the Apostle Paul in most of his writings…Paul usually began his letters with this greeting, “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus…”
The Greek word Paul used to refer to himself literally meant “Slave”…Of course we have toned it down a little so it would be more acceptable for our culture…After all, isn’t it better to think of someone as a servant than to think of them as a slave? Slavery of human beings is evil…It is despicable…It is embarrassing that we as a culture accepted it for as long as we did…Slavery grates against all of our modern sensibilities…Yet that is exactly the lifestyle God has called all of his people to pursue…
God wants us to be slaves in the sense that we no longer have a choice about our lifestyle…Whether we will serve and obey our master or not…
3. Worshipful service is community building.
The best way I know to describe this is to say that if worshipful service does not glorify the individual who is serving others, then it must glorify something else…Specifically, it seeks to glorify others and to communicate honor and value of other people…
This would be a very difficult concept for me to try to explain to the average person on the street of Lufkin…But it should not be difficult for you to understand…
Traditionally, our American culture has placed a value on one thing…You might think I mean freedom, but I do not…American culture has historically worshipped at the altar of Individualism…It is OK for you to do whatever you want to do, because you are a free individual…Who am I to judge your freedom or lifestyle?
And that is exactly the kind of philosophy which is challenged by worshipful service…When you take the time and expend the energy serving another person, you have just submitted your freedom and your felt human needs on someone else’s behalf…
In other words, there is something more important than your personal freedom…There is something more important than having your needs met…
It is more important to give yourself to build other people up… And, where is that to take place? IN THE CHURCH!
III. The Lord.
That is what I read in the Psalmist’s next words…We are not simply called to serve…We have been called to serve the Lord…
As I thought about these words…Serve the Lord…It occurred to me this week that if we continue to read this Psalm through New Testament eyes…In other words, if we interpret the Psalmist’s words in light of what the Apostle Paul (under the leadership of the Holy Spirit) taught, it seems this is a reference to service within the church…
One of Paul’s most frequent illustrations for the church was the Church as the Body of Christ…In other words, Christ is present here today, in this world through the Church…Do you want to know what Christ looks like? Look no farther than his Church.
In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul used the image of the Church as the Body of Christ to describe the connectedness and the interdependence of each Christian on his or her brothers and sisters…In other words, Paul taught (and I believe) that God has gifted each Christian with a specific gift, to be used within the Body, so that the Body can achieve its intended function…
Therefore, if you are not using your gift within the Body…If you are not serving within the Body, then you are not serving as God would have you.
Does this mean that a Christian cannot serve outside the church? NO! But it does mean that the church must be the first place of service for all Christians! It is fine for you to serve outside the church…But do so only as a result of the service you have done within the Body…
IV. With Gladness.
The Psalmist’s last word about service concerns our attitude for serving. Notice that the verse does NOT instruct us to serve the Lord “grudgingly”…Or to serve the Lord because it is required… NO! Serve with a spirit of gladness or joy.
At this point we need to step away from Paul’s image of slaves and slavery. First century slaves were compelled to work for their human masters. However, Jesus’ slaves have a different view of service and work. We should serve out of our joy. We enjoy serving, because we know that through service, God will actually increase our joy. Sure, there is satisfaction in a “job well done.” But even beyond that, Christians find the greatest satisfaction in knowing that our service brings honor and glory to God. There is satisfaction and joy in hearing the words of our Lord, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Sunday, September 2, 2007
Is Your Work a Blessing or a Curse?
Matthew 6: 19 – 34.
I. Introduction.
This is Labor Day Weekend…The last three day weekend of the Summer…The last opportunity for family vacation or to get some work done around the house…Or your last opportunity to wear your white patent leather shoes…
But Labor Day is an often overlooked holiday…It is a unique holiday, because it is not devoted to any particular religious group or nationality…First Monday in September is Labor Day in America…Other nations have their own days set aside as Labor Day…
In America, Labor Day began in 1882 when the Central Labor Union designated September 5 as a “working man’s holiday.”
Even though Labor Day is not a Christian holiday, it does fit with our Protestant work ethic and our understanding of the value of a good day’s work…As Christians, we ought to give thanks to God for our work and for allowing us to live in a country where work is available…
We can even pause today and look at the biblical perspective of work…The Bible presents us with two ways we can view our work…
Read Genesis 3: 17 – 19…Work as a Curse…This curse came as a result of the Fall and a consequence of human sin…Notice there are two sides of that curse: work and separation from God…Through Christ our relationship with God has been restored, so we have reason to believe that the first part of that curse has also been broken…
Read Colossians 3: 22 – 25…Through Christ, our work does not have to remain a curse…It can be a blessing and a kind of service to God…
Today I want to encourage you to let Christ break the curse that has held our work captive and move to an understanding of work as a blessing…There are three ways that you can know if your work is a blessing or a curse…
Read Matthew 6: 19 – 34.
II. Is Your Work Irreverent?
Work that is irreverent is work that does not show reverence toward God…We show reverence by honoring God and loving God through our actions…Revere is another word for worship…to focus our mind, attention and affection on God and to act in ways that reflect those thoughts and love for God…
Many people like to compare the Old and New Testaments and say that the OT is about Law and the NT is about Grace…This is a great idea, except it is wrong and does not reflect what the Bible teaches…Grace does not just show up in the NT…The OT is all about Grace…Law does not just show up in the OT…The NT places legal requirements that are actually tougher than the OT…
In the OT, believers were required to give a tithe or 10% of parts of their income to God…In the OT, believers were required to give 1/7 of their time—one day out of every week totally devoted to worship and rest…In the NT, Paul called all Christians to present themselves as “living sacrifices” to God…In other words, the NT requires more than the OT ever thought to require…Now, believers are required to give 100% of both financial assets and time…Worship is not reserved for Sunday mornings…It is for every day of the week…We are to worship God with all that we have…
Paul said in Colossians 3 that Christians ought to work as if God himself were our boss…Not the earthly boss that we report to every day…We can even worship God through our work…
How can we know if our work is Reverent or Irreverent? We should compare our work to Jesus’ words in Matthew 6. Are you storing up for yourself treasures in heaven or treasures on earth? Reverent work stores treasures in heaven.
If all you are doing in your work is storing up treasures on earth…Then your work might be more of a curse than a blessing…
III. Is Your Work Irrelevant?
Work that is irrelevant is work that does not accomplish anything significant…Or make a meaningful contribution to change the world for the better…
I have confessed to you before that I like to do things…I don’t like to be idle or to waste my time…I can remember when I was in school how I always hated having a substitute teacher…Because having a substitute usually meant doing busy work that didn’t seem to accomplish anything…
When our work is a blessing, it is relevant work…Work that makes a difference…
How can we know if our work is Relevant or Irrelevant? Again, we should compare it to Jesus’ words in Matthew 6. Is the Kingdom of God your number one priority? Or do you spend your time worrying about food, drink, clothing, etc…Relevant work places the Kingdom of God as the top priority…Irrelevant work focuses on secondary concerns like food, drink, clothing and ironically creates more stress…
I am sure you have heard of Tony Campolo. He is a Baptist minister and sociology professor from Philadelphia, PA. I had an opportunity to meet Dr. Campolo in July of 1994 while I was serving as youth minister in South Jackson. I was on the associational committee that put together the Friends Forever camp that year and invited Tony Campolo to be one of our featured speakers.
The youth minister who contacted Campolo was surprised when he checked his calendar and immediately agreed to speak. He asked him what his normal speaking fee was. Campolo replied that he didn’t have a set fee but was willing to accept the engagement for whatever we were willing to pay. (For this particular camp, this was unusual, because all the other speakers had set fees and elaborate contracts, some requiring as much as $1,500.00 per day and a hotel room with room service.)
Dr. Campolo was scheduled to speak twice, once to all the youth and a second time to all the youth ministers. He spoke to the youth about hunger and the needs of the poor around the world. He told stories about his own experiences with mission trips to Haiti and to extremely impoverished regions of the world.
While Campolo was speaking to the youth ministers, it was obvious that this was a hostile crowd. The youth ministers were attacking Campolo for some things he had said in the meeting with all the youth.
Some youth ministers said, “You’re just giving our kids a guilt trip, making them feel bad about what little they are able to do.” “So, you’ve taken a few mission trips to Haiti, what makes you such an expert?”
This went on for a long time before Campolo was backed into a corner. Then he told us what he does to meet the needs of the poor and hungry and lost around the world.
He has a discipleship group of seven men…doctors, lawyers, ministers, businessmen. This group began to realize that they made an incredible amount of money compared to what the rest of the world makes and lives on. So, they decided to set household budgets…They would live on what they needed and give the rest away to missions.
In Campolo’s own family, his children are grown and his house was paid for…He had discovered that he and his wife could live comfortably on $23,000.00 per year. Everything else, he gave away to missions. That is why he didn’t have a set fee…He was planning to give away whatever we paid him…We actually paid him $1,000.00 to speak twice.
These seven men eventually formed their own missions sending organization. In 1994, these seven men fully supported over 100 missionaries around the world.
They had placed the Kingdom of God as their number one priority.
I realize this is an extreme example…You don’t have to pay the full-time salaries of 100 missionaries to have the Kingdom of God as your top priority…But if the Kingdom is not your top priority in your work, then your work might just be Irrelevant…It might be more of a curse than a blessing…
IV. Is Your Work Irresponsible?
Work can be irresponsible when it does not consider the needs of others…Does your work look out for your own needs, or for the needs of others? This includes family…
How can we know if our work is Responsible or Irresponsible? Again, compare it to Jesus’ words in Matthew 6…Does your work give life to others, or does it actually take away life from others? When our work is responsible to God, then it provides for our personal needs and for the needs of others—including our families…
Work that is Irresponsible is work that only looks after our own personal, selfish needs…It is nothing more than stress and worry and “vanity, vanity”…
Jesus’ words on this subject were plain enough…Worry and Stress cannot add to your life…They actually take away life…
Many people today tend to find their meaning and identity in their work…This had led many to spend inordinate amounts of time working…Of course, it is easy to rationalize this kind of addiction… “I am just providing for the needs of my family”… “I just want my children to have more than I had”… “My family comes first, so I work to provide for my family”…
The reality is that this kind of addiction to work does not improve the quality of life for a person’s family…It actually destroys the family…It does not give life to others…It takes away life from others…By creating more stress, anxiety and worry…Jesus said that you cannot improve your life through worry!
V. Conclusion.
I took a group of college students on a mission trip to Mexico during Spring Break of 1997. We worked on several building projects at a Christian orphanage in the Mexican city of Reynosa. On our last full day, our host took us on a trip to observe the site of a new mission he was trying to develop.
This was a small fishing village on the Gulf of Mexico that was so small and so remote that it didn’t even have a name. They just referred to it as “Fish Island.” We drove four hours southeast from the Texas border on the worst roads I have ever driven in my life.
We were not prepared for what we saw when we got there…Families lived in shacks and crates and cardboard boxes on the beach with no access to electricity or plumbing. The filth and smell was unbelievable.
The men made their living by fishing. Every morning they rowed in small boats onto the Gulf to a small island that was just over the horizon and out of our sight. On the other side of that island they fished and then brought what they had caught back to the beach to sell to the trucks that came by every afternoon.
They made next to nothing for their fish and lived in filth and poverty. Just as I was beginning to feel sorry for these Mexican families, I learned something else. They didn’t work year round. They only worked for six months each year. And this was not because of the weather or the fishing season.
They only worked for six months, because that is how long it took them to earn enough money to live for the rest of the year. Once they made as much money as they wanted, they took their families and moved back to an inland village to live.
These poor fishermen did not live a glamorous lifestyle…And they did not have the wealth and luxury that you and I are used to…But it seems to me they had something that we have missed…They have broken the curse…
Matthew 6: 19 – 34.
I. Introduction.
This is Labor Day Weekend…The last three day weekend of the Summer…The last opportunity for family vacation or to get some work done around the house…Or your last opportunity to wear your white patent leather shoes…
But Labor Day is an often overlooked holiday…It is a unique holiday, because it is not devoted to any particular religious group or nationality…First Monday in September is Labor Day in America…Other nations have their own days set aside as Labor Day…
In America, Labor Day began in 1882 when the Central Labor Union designated September 5 as a “working man’s holiday.”
Even though Labor Day is not a Christian holiday, it does fit with our Protestant work ethic and our understanding of the value of a good day’s work…As Christians, we ought to give thanks to God for our work and for allowing us to live in a country where work is available…
We can even pause today and look at the biblical perspective of work…The Bible presents us with two ways we can view our work…
Read Genesis 3: 17 – 19…Work as a Curse…This curse came as a result of the Fall and a consequence of human sin…Notice there are two sides of that curse: work and separation from God…Through Christ our relationship with God has been restored, so we have reason to believe that the first part of that curse has also been broken…
Read Colossians 3: 22 – 25…Through Christ, our work does not have to remain a curse…It can be a blessing and a kind of service to God…
Today I want to encourage you to let Christ break the curse that has held our work captive and move to an understanding of work as a blessing…There are three ways that you can know if your work is a blessing or a curse…
Read Matthew 6: 19 – 34.
II. Is Your Work Irreverent?
Work that is irreverent is work that does not show reverence toward God…We show reverence by honoring God and loving God through our actions…Revere is another word for worship…to focus our mind, attention and affection on God and to act in ways that reflect those thoughts and love for God…
Many people like to compare the Old and New Testaments and say that the OT is about Law and the NT is about Grace…This is a great idea, except it is wrong and does not reflect what the Bible teaches…Grace does not just show up in the NT…The OT is all about Grace…Law does not just show up in the OT…The NT places legal requirements that are actually tougher than the OT…
In the OT, believers were required to give a tithe or 10% of parts of their income to God…In the OT, believers were required to give 1/7 of their time—one day out of every week totally devoted to worship and rest…In the NT, Paul called all Christians to present themselves as “living sacrifices” to God…In other words, the NT requires more than the OT ever thought to require…Now, believers are required to give 100% of both financial assets and time…Worship is not reserved for Sunday mornings…It is for every day of the week…We are to worship God with all that we have…
Paul said in Colossians 3 that Christians ought to work as if God himself were our boss…Not the earthly boss that we report to every day…We can even worship God through our work…
How can we know if our work is Reverent or Irreverent? We should compare our work to Jesus’ words in Matthew 6. Are you storing up for yourself treasures in heaven or treasures on earth? Reverent work stores treasures in heaven.
If all you are doing in your work is storing up treasures on earth…Then your work might be more of a curse than a blessing…
III. Is Your Work Irrelevant?
Work that is irrelevant is work that does not accomplish anything significant…Or make a meaningful contribution to change the world for the better…
I have confessed to you before that I like to do things…I don’t like to be idle or to waste my time…I can remember when I was in school how I always hated having a substitute teacher…Because having a substitute usually meant doing busy work that didn’t seem to accomplish anything…
When our work is a blessing, it is relevant work…Work that makes a difference…
How can we know if our work is Relevant or Irrelevant? Again, we should compare it to Jesus’ words in Matthew 6. Is the Kingdom of God your number one priority? Or do you spend your time worrying about food, drink, clothing, etc…Relevant work places the Kingdom of God as the top priority…Irrelevant work focuses on secondary concerns like food, drink, clothing and ironically creates more stress…
I am sure you have heard of Tony Campolo. He is a Baptist minister and sociology professor from Philadelphia, PA. I had an opportunity to meet Dr. Campolo in July of 1994 while I was serving as youth minister in South Jackson. I was on the associational committee that put together the Friends Forever camp that year and invited Tony Campolo to be one of our featured speakers.
The youth minister who contacted Campolo was surprised when he checked his calendar and immediately agreed to speak. He asked him what his normal speaking fee was. Campolo replied that he didn’t have a set fee but was willing to accept the engagement for whatever we were willing to pay. (For this particular camp, this was unusual, because all the other speakers had set fees and elaborate contracts, some requiring as much as $1,500.00 per day and a hotel room with room service.)
Dr. Campolo was scheduled to speak twice, once to all the youth and a second time to all the youth ministers. He spoke to the youth about hunger and the needs of the poor around the world. He told stories about his own experiences with mission trips to Haiti and to extremely impoverished regions of the world.
While Campolo was speaking to the youth ministers, it was obvious that this was a hostile crowd. The youth ministers were attacking Campolo for some things he had said in the meeting with all the youth.
Some youth ministers said, “You’re just giving our kids a guilt trip, making them feel bad about what little they are able to do.” “So, you’ve taken a few mission trips to Haiti, what makes you such an expert?”
This went on for a long time before Campolo was backed into a corner. Then he told us what he does to meet the needs of the poor and hungry and lost around the world.
He has a discipleship group of seven men…doctors, lawyers, ministers, businessmen. This group began to realize that they made an incredible amount of money compared to what the rest of the world makes and lives on. So, they decided to set household budgets…They would live on what they needed and give the rest away to missions.
In Campolo’s own family, his children are grown and his house was paid for…He had discovered that he and his wife could live comfortably on $23,000.00 per year. Everything else, he gave away to missions. That is why he didn’t have a set fee…He was planning to give away whatever we paid him…We actually paid him $1,000.00 to speak twice.
These seven men eventually formed their own missions sending organization. In 1994, these seven men fully supported over 100 missionaries around the world.
They had placed the Kingdom of God as their number one priority.
I realize this is an extreme example…You don’t have to pay the full-time salaries of 100 missionaries to have the Kingdom of God as your top priority…But if the Kingdom is not your top priority in your work, then your work might just be Irrelevant…It might be more of a curse than a blessing…
IV. Is Your Work Irresponsible?
Work can be irresponsible when it does not consider the needs of others…Does your work look out for your own needs, or for the needs of others? This includes family…
How can we know if our work is Responsible or Irresponsible? Again, compare it to Jesus’ words in Matthew 6…Does your work give life to others, or does it actually take away life from others? When our work is responsible to God, then it provides for our personal needs and for the needs of others—including our families…
Work that is Irresponsible is work that only looks after our own personal, selfish needs…It is nothing more than stress and worry and “vanity, vanity”…
Jesus’ words on this subject were plain enough…Worry and Stress cannot add to your life…They actually take away life…
Many people today tend to find their meaning and identity in their work…This had led many to spend inordinate amounts of time working…Of course, it is easy to rationalize this kind of addiction… “I am just providing for the needs of my family”… “I just want my children to have more than I had”… “My family comes first, so I work to provide for my family”…
The reality is that this kind of addiction to work does not improve the quality of life for a person’s family…It actually destroys the family…It does not give life to others…It takes away life from others…By creating more stress, anxiety and worry…Jesus said that you cannot improve your life through worry!
V. Conclusion.
I took a group of college students on a mission trip to Mexico during Spring Break of 1997. We worked on several building projects at a Christian orphanage in the Mexican city of Reynosa. On our last full day, our host took us on a trip to observe the site of a new mission he was trying to develop.
This was a small fishing village on the Gulf of Mexico that was so small and so remote that it didn’t even have a name. They just referred to it as “Fish Island.” We drove four hours southeast from the Texas border on the worst roads I have ever driven in my life.
We were not prepared for what we saw when we got there…Families lived in shacks and crates and cardboard boxes on the beach with no access to electricity or plumbing. The filth and smell was unbelievable.
The men made their living by fishing. Every morning they rowed in small boats onto the Gulf to a small island that was just over the horizon and out of our sight. On the other side of that island they fished and then brought what they had caught back to the beach to sell to the trucks that came by every afternoon.
They made next to nothing for their fish and lived in filth and poverty. Just as I was beginning to feel sorry for these Mexican families, I learned something else. They didn’t work year round. They only worked for six months each year. And this was not because of the weather or the fishing season.
They only worked for six months, because that is how long it took them to earn enough money to live for the rest of the year. Once they made as much money as they wanted, they took their families and moved back to an inland village to live.
These poor fishermen did not live a glamorous lifestyle…And they did not have the wealth and luxury that you and I are used to…But it seems to me they had something that we have missed…They have broken the curse…
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