In the Name
of God Almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen.
What are Jesus’ disciples supposed to be doing? For us today, the equivalent question is what
is Jesus’ church supposed to be doing?
It may seem like an obvious question and answer and yet many, perhaps
most churches are failing at it.
“What were you discussing on the way?” It seems like an innocent enough question,
doesn’t it? What are you talking
about? It’s a question we pose all the time. And yet, the question is met with embarrassed
silence, the kind of silence that often occurs when someone has been caught
doing something they shouldn’t be doing.
St. Mark lets us in on the secret.
They had argued with one another about who was the greatest.” Or in other words, “who would end up serving
whom?”
As he oftentimes does, Jesus does not answer the question. Instead he tells them why the question they
are asking is the wrong question. In his
response to his disciples Jesus says that those who focus on their own welfare
and personal advancement (those who want to be greatest) are going to end up at
the bottom of the food chain. Looking at
it from the flip side of the coin, Jesus is saying that those who sacrifice
their personal wants and ambitions in order to care for the weak, frail,
innocent and helpless ones (like children), they will find themselves living in
the blessed company of Jesus himself, and in the center of God’s kingdom.
Here again, Jesus tells us that his Father and He have turned
the world right side up. Contrary to
common opinion, the surest way for Christ’s disciples to fail in God’s kingdom
is for them to turn inward and design programs to meet their own preferences,
wants and needs. We think that is how
one gets ahead but Jesus disagrees. If
we continue to design for self-service we will find the Master taking away from
us the little we have left and giving it to the one who is actually invested in
reaching out to the needy world around him.
There are thousands of dying churches in America and they all
share one thing in common. They are all
focused in taking no risks, not allowing any resources to be directed towards
outwardly focused initiatives, choosing instead to use their few remaining
resources to meet the demands of their few remaining members. It is a recipe for certain death.
Now of course, churches are made up of individuals and what
is true for the church is true for each of us as well. If our attitude is “me first,” if the
dominant question is “How do I get served” then we can expect to find ourselves
on the losing end of eternal life.
But of course, in America the question, “How do I get served”
is encouraged. We are taught from little
on to look out for Number 1. And that
means that many of us are behind the spiritual eight ball, and not only that
but the churches we attend are also in trouble because if the dominant attitude
among church members is “Me First” then that church is dying.
And this is really hard to admit but if “Me First” is the
prevailing attitude in a church, then it really needs to die because it has
lost the Lord’s Vision! It no longer
serves the Master. When “Me first” is
the attitude of the church that church has ceased to be the Body of Christ and
has become anti-Christ.
You can tell churches where “me first” attitudes prevail:
· They
are always sick and ailing
· They
focus on the past instead of the future
· They
focus on serving insiders instead of meeting the needs of outsiders
· They
greedily guard their increasingly limited resources rather than using them to
do the Lord’s bidding
To the extent that this “Me First” attitude prevails in our
decision making we are being led, like lambs to the slaughter. As Jesus looked down on Jerusalem, and
lamented their unwillingness to receive him as Lord, Jesus wept. In Luke 19.43-44 he tells us why he
wept. ‘Jerusalem is facing certain
destruction because “[they] did not know the time of [their] visitation.”’ That is to say that the religious leaders and
the decision makers were completely focused inward and would not accept King
Jesus nor would they acknowledge his command to look outward and to share the
Kingdom with the whole world.
The destruction that Jesus laments in Luke 19 is what we call
God’s wrath. It is the consequence of
being found wanting in God’s eyes. It is
the worst possible case because we find our eternal hope compromised. It is to be avoided at all cost. How, by making a decision to live your life
as a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ and accepting his leadership in all the
decisions of life.
This is good news.
Jesus has not come to condemn his disciples this morning. Rather he has come to bring them to the
abundant life. God’s blessing—being
found in God’s good favor—living for eternity in our blessed heavenly home is
to be desired above all things. We can
hope, we can even have some assurance, that we will hear the most blessed words
anyone can possibly hear: “Well, done good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will
set you over much. Enter into the joy of
your Master.” Matthew 25.23
We can live the rest of our lives in blessed assurance. We really can know that Jesus is ours! It begins with a very simple attitude
adjustment from “Me First” to “You First.”
In our Anglican spirituality we speak this every time we say the Creed—with
conviction. We say the world is God’s
not mine. We say we live and thrive
because of Jesus Christ. We say that we
believe in the right and the ability of God to direct our lives, the Church and
the world.
Finding yourself in God’s good favor does not require a
seminary degree. These guys with collars
on are no better able than you but what many priests have that many lay people
do not is a commitment to follow.
You don’t have to pray for hours with flowery language but
you do need to be able to talk to God honestly and sincerely.
You don’t have to become a nun or a monk: you don’t have to take vows of poverty,
chastity or silence but you do need to take a vow of servitude and determine
that Jesus will be the director of your life.
And that means Jesus has the right to manage your finances, guide your
moral decisions, and teach you how to live the “You First” life. For us in the church, the blessed life hinges
on our commitment to being Great Commandment and Great Commission motivated.
·
It
means we seek God’s will in all things through prayer.
·
It
means that when we think we have landed on God’s will we act on it, no matter
how scary it might seem.
· It
means that our talents, time resources and money resources do not exist in
order to protect ourselves or provide for ourselves—rather they are tools to
complete Christ’s mission in the world.
How many of you remember when you first heard Jesus’ call to
follow and you did follow? For many of
us that decision came decades ago. And
we have been walking in “the way” followers of Jesus for a long time. We have become comfortable in the path we
walk. We don’t like the prospect of a
new or different path. For those
original 12, sometimes they fell into traps set by the enemy, and they were
embarrassed to admit that they had fallen into a “Me First” mentality.
Jesus’ question to us this morning is: ‘As we walk in the way, what is it that we
are discussing? Are we discussing
strategies for taking the Gospel out into the towns and villages? Are we discussing our testimony and how best
to present it? Are we taking Jesus’ teaching
on prayer and learning to speak to God authentically and often? Are we discussing how we can multiply? How we can bless? How we can receive the weak, the innocent and
the frail and serve them? Is that what
we are talking about? Or have we fallen into
the trap set by the enemy? Have we
succumbed to “Me First”…take care of me…please me…serve me…only let people in
here that look and act like me... spend what you have left taking care of me?
The statistics are clear.
Thousands of churches in America are sick and many, in fact, most will
die in the next few years. Will Trinity
be one of them? It the dominant voices
in the parish are demanding “Me First,” if we are unwilling or incapable of
assuming a “You first” mindset we may very well become a statistic. But our story does not have to end as a
tragedy. God’s desire, most of your
leadership’s desire and my desire is that we will renew the Lord’s Vision; that
we will become a Great Commandment and Great Commission Church and we will find
new life and new hope as the church heals, grows and fulfills its calling.
There was a time when Trinity was deeply mired in “Me First”
attitude but in recent years we have begun to see “You First” initiative take
root and succeed. They were hard won
victories. Some of us had to really
fight for them. There was real
resistence...guess from whom? But they
succeeded:
·
Mustard
Seed Café is not only feeding people. It
is blessing them with a word from the Lord and enriching their lives with real
Christian friendships.
·
Thousands
of Africans, men, women and children, are benefiting from clean water. Their crop yields are better and their herds
are protected against drought because of the Kajire Well Project.
·
Intercessors
are praying for others at every Sunday Service.
·
Financial
Peace University is teaching people to live debt free and to become responsible
stewards of God’s riches.
·
We
have launched three successful home groups that are leading everyone who
participates closer to Christ.
·
But
what’s next? Where is Christ
calling? Where is the Spirit
leading? That must always be the
question for God’s church.
Jesus teaches his disciples to give their lives for the
benefit of others. Eventually they would
understand but it would not be until after Jesus died and rose again for
them. Even then they would not really
get it until the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit would come in power and
transform them. Jesus told his disciples to stay together and pray. I think we need to pray. Pray that the Holy Spirit will move in this
Church, in each of our hearts and that we will be transformed.
Will you pray with me?
·
That
the “Me First” voice in each of us would hear God’s word and be convicted and
fall on your mercy.
·
Holy
Spirit will bring healing, restoration and transformation
·
Trinity
Church becomes a wholly committed Great Commandment and Commission church
·
Time,
talent and treasure wholly committed to healing the broken and saving the lost
·
That
God would have mercy on us in our weakness, build us up in strength and infuse
us with his Holy Spirit power and glory so that we might become light and salt
to the world
·
That
God would break down the barriers that prevent us and would use us to reach
thousands
·
…Amen.
