Really, You Want That!

Sermon given at Sydenstricker UMC 8/19/18

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^NIV Micah 3:9 Hear this, you leaders of Jacob, you rulers of Israel, who despise justice and distort all that is right; ¹⁰ who build Zion with bloodshed, and Jerusalem with wickedness. ¹¹ Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets tell fortunes for money. Yet they look for the LORD's support and say, "Is not the LORD among us? No disaster will come upon us." ¹² Therefore because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, the temple hill a mound overgrown with thickets.

^NIV Matthew 6:1 "Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. ² "So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. ³ But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴ so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. ⁵ "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. ⁶ But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. ⁷ And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. ⁸ Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

I want to suggest that we as a Christian people have lost some of the focus on discipleship that we need to grow in our relationship with God. As a result, we have become more inward thinking. Inward in that, we as a church tend to focus more on what we want than what God wants. I have heard that there is grumbling about making our picnics community picnics. I have heard there is grumbling that we are changing and it’s all right to invite new people as long as there are not too many of them. I have heard that we are fearful of this NLI thing even though most accept that God is in the middle of it. I have heard these things as your pastor. I find it interesting that this sermon topic and scripture was chosen last October and somehow seems appropriate at this moment. Is it possible that God is already ahead of us?

God wants us to look outward at the neighborhood to reach the people who do not currently have a relationship or even a deep relationship with God. God wants us to care for our neighbors in ways that invite them into relationship with us and with God. God wants you and I too deeply love God with all that we are, putting God first in our lives in everything that we do. That is what God wants. Do you really want that too?

There are two types of people that God calls into the world of set apart ministry. One is the person who nurtures their flock, cares for the sick and preaches the message of God. Most congregations would welcome this kind of person we call a Preacher but the Bible clearly identifies them as a Priest. Micah is not a priest. Jesus was not a priest. Isaiah, Malachi, and Jeremiah were not priests. When the people of Israel wanted a leader, God sent them Samuel to lead them. Samuel was a prophet. But the people wanted a King so God gave them a king and they still were not satisfied. So God gave them judges and again, they were not satisfied. The prophet stirs things up and most congregations would rather have a calming priest over a stirring prophet. When we go off the path that God desires us to be on, God sends a prophet.

In the time of Noah, the people had everything they needed from their own hands. At least they thought so. They felt that they were responsible for their own success, for their own handiwork and abundance and God, well, just got in the way. So they stopped worshipping God. They stopped talking about God. They stopped preaching about God. Guess what? After several generations, the children did not know God at all. Are we rapidly approaching that same paradigm in our culture today?

Micah was a prophet in the midst of a nation who had focused on what’s in it for me rather than loving neighbor. Micah was sent by God to confront the nation of Israel who has left God behind. Prophets are not always well-liked people. Paul was easily a prophet in his day and he was crucified for it, at least once. I wonder what God is saying about us today, focused on ourselves than our love for one another, desiring to be a socially correct organization looking inward rather than outward, and a country so full of hate and anger that we cannot even communicate with one another without hateful words and angry argument. Jesus chimes in his day to remind us that priests, and we are all part of the priesthood of believers, are called to be different. We are called to share in the love of God, but not in ways that lead people to look at us, but lead people to look at God. 

I want to be a priest and prophet to you today. I want to share what Jesus is really saying in Matthew that is so important to you and I here at Sydenstricker. We are called to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Or as it says in scripture, ^NIV Matthew 28:18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."  This is our purpose in life and our reason for being here. If we are not being disciples and making disciples then we have no reason to be in this building, to waste our valuable time or to gather. Discipleship needs to be as important as eating for if we fail to eat we die. If we continue to deny discipleship lives then we will face an uncertain eternity.

As your preacher, my desire is to nurture you, to lead you and to teach you in the ideas of God’s great message. God loves each and every one of us and God wants us to go out into the world around us and love one another. That means we need to spend some time getting to know our neighbors so that we can through example demonstrate the love of God. Jesus is telling us in this scripture. Do the things that we are called to do, praying for God to lead us, helping those who need assistance and sharing that relationship with others. But not in ways that make people think we think so highly of ourselves that we put ourselves above everyone else. No, we need to be humble people who share love with one another as a practice, not an exception.

As a church, we need to focus on ways of leading people into discipleship and helping each other grow. I have asked those who currently are teaching and leading us to assist me in identifying those among us who would be willing to shepherd a visitor. Follow up with a visitor with a visit to welcome them into our community and our family. To assist them in knowing where things are on campus and what is available. We have revamped the information center in the entranceway to make this easier. We need to upgrade our understanding of greeting and ushering to facilitate this. We need to go even deeper into welcoming neighbor and greeting neighbor. We need to learn to walk our neighborhoods in prayer, individually or in groups and invite folk to join us in prayer. We need to increase the number of activities that invite young people, youth and adults alike into relationship here at Sydenstricker.

I have asked this same group of people to begin to look at tools to assist those who desire to dig deeper do so. We have something called the Discipler, a tool for taking you from where you are on the discipleship journey based on the Discipleship Survey you took and over the course of 6-8 weeks dig a little deeper.  I have asked these folks to lift up those who are mature disciples who would be willing to lead small groups or mentor those along the way. All of this to help us live into our purpose, to make disciples.

When we look to the future, we all want a strong vibrant church to be here and for it to be a place where people can find sanctuary, teaching and family. But in order for that to happen we have to begin to look outward rather than inward. We have to realize that our reason is not social but spiritual. That we are called to love one another without exception. Jesus reminds us of this in Micah 3:8, that we are to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with our Lord. As your prophet, I see a great potential for Sydenstricker but it requires that we change. That we take seriously this idea of being a disciple of Jesus Christ. One day Jesus will ask us, what we did to further the kingdom of God. What will you say?