Sermon for October 11th

Some of you here love Jesus, but aren’t ready to leave your old life behind. Your old opinions of others. Your old ideas about life and death. Your old worries. So just like the rich man in the lesson today, you try to be a good person, but have never really commited your life to Jesus. There are probably many good and not so good reasons for this, but it all comes down to this: you don’t like God’s agenda for your life. You’d like to keep your own.

Some of you, in one way or another, HAVE left something behind to follow Jesus. Maybe it was a boyfriend long ago who did things you weren’t comfortable with as a Christian. Maybe you changed jobs or careers to be able to serve others more faithfully or to be more involved with your church or your family. But while you have tried to commit your life to Jesus, you still don’t like God’s agenda. Why the persecutions, for example? Why must people dislike you for what you believe? You aren’t trying to upset anybody, but people still don’t like you. Why must THAT be part of God’s call? Maybe you thought that following Jesus would mean a life without conflict, without sadness and without fear and you have found that to be very untrue. Many of you just want to be a lukewarm Christian, nice and comfortable, but God keeps demanding that you stand up and be counted.

But what do you all have in common? God is calling you to a common purpose—to follow God’s agenda and to leave yours in the dust. Not because it will be easy or because it will make life easier, but because wherever else you run to, you cannot escape God’s call.

Jonah was called by God to preach to the Ninevites, to call them to repent for their sins, but Jonah did not want to. He ran away. God found him out at sea, sent a big fish to swallow him up and then spit him back where he wanted him—to preach to the Ninevites. The apostle Peter left everything to follow Jesus, but when the going got tough, he betrayed his Lord and denied him three times. But even death couldn’t stop Jesus from being raised from the dead and finding Peter again. To forgive him and send him to support the new Christian community. These two people both reacted to God in different ways at first, but in the end, they both wanted to run from God’s call on their lives, but God just wouldn’t have it. They wanted to follow their own agendas, not God’s

What is God’s agenda for this church? We all have our personal dreams for this place. Or perhaps we just figure that what you see is what you get. But all of our dreams, our ideas, and our fears about this church come second to what God desires for this church and for this community. Some of you love Jesus, but you aren’t ready to leave your old life behind. Some of you have already left a lot behind to come here and aren’t sure how much more you really want to give up. But God is still calling you and the question is, what is God’s agenda for you, for us and for this community? And will you follow God’s agenda or your own?

Here’s the write up for one of the keynote speakers at the LCMC convention this last week that I attended: Assigned to a tiny Lutheran congregation in Glendale, Arizona in 1978, Walt Kallestad quickly learned humility and value of strong communications: Within the first few months, the congregation had dropped by 50 percent, and the young idealist was faced with the challenge of rebuilding constituency or finding a new profession. The challenge has obviously been met. Today, under Walt's direction, Community Church of Joy supports 8,000 participants.” When pastor Kallestad came to that church in Arizona I’d like to bet that everyone had the same dream: that church was going to grow, more kids in church, more ministries, more excitement! And then, all their dreams were shattered when they lost members, they lost ministries. I bet that they lost excitement too. But God’s agenda was different than their agenda. I’d also bet that no one in that tiny Lutheran church could imagine that God was going to use them to reach 8,000 people in their community. Because they needed to leave their agendas behind and follow God’s agenda.

Marilee Pierce Dunker, the daughter of World Vision founder Bob Pierce, was also a keynote speaker this past week. World Vision is one of those groups where you sponsor a child in order to give them food, water, education and shelter. Anyway, she told a story about her father, when he traveled to one of the many impoverished countries in Africa. He had spent some time in one of the villages, sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ as an evangelist and was about to return home. One of his coworkers who lived in the village came up to him, right before he was about to leave, with a young girl who’s mother had just died from AIDS, leaving her an orphan. This coworker asked Mr. Pierce, what should we do with this girl? He was just about to leave, remember, so you must understand, he had to get back on the plane to America, to his regular life and family, so he said, “Well, you can take her in, right?” The woman told him straight out, “I already have too many mouths to feed and pressing the child into his arms she told him, “You take her.”

Jesus told the man who had come to him, “’You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ When the man heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.” What would you have done? How would you have felt if your dad had come home from a trip one day with another child that had just been orphaned? Or what if your spouse came home and said they just gave away all the money in your bank account to take care of some child in a country you had never visited, never seen, to a family you had never even known? How far are you willing to go to follow God’s agenda for your life?

There was a missionary who had worked in his mission field for twenty years, working side by side with the people and speaking the words of life, the words of Jesus Christ to anyone who would listen. When he was asked if he felt successful in his work he said, “Oh yes, definitely.” When he was asked how many people had become Christians since he arrived he thought for a moment and then answered, “One person.” No doubt, this had not been his plan upon arrival. No doubt, most of us would consider him and his ministry to be a failure. But if the story that Jesus told about the shepherd who left ninety-nine sheep to find one that was lost is any indication, it appears that this missionary was following God’s agenda.

You see, you don’t have to experience an amazing vision from God in order to find out God’s agenda for your life. 1st Corinthians puts it this way, “Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe.” And where can you find that proclamation? It was written down for us in scripture and is made hearable whenever you listen to God’s Word preached in its truth and purity. This is why it is so important to preach according to scripture and not according to our own dreams or our own agendas. You do not need supernatural visions to realize God’s will and you do not need to go to the library to read up on all the best business models or psychological treatises to find out what people need. Visions are fun and the library is full of much good and helpful material, but God’s agenda is quite clear in scripture: he is interested in saving sinners from condemnation by giving them faith in Jesus Christ. This is God’s agenda for others and God’s agenda for you.

Everything we do here at Saint Peters must be with that mission in mind, with God’s agenda in our hearts and on our lips. Bob Pierce, that World Vision guy, stared into the eyes of that little orphaned girl and realized that his faith couldn’t simply be an idea anyone. He couldn’t just sit back and go on with life as usual. He pulled out his billfold and took out all the money he had, five dollars, and gave it to his coworker saying, “This is a down payment. I’ll be sending more as soon as I get home”. And so World Vision was born giving the chance for millions of people around the world to be fed and nourished in their bellies and in their faith through child sponsorship.

The rich man left, grieving, because the promise of eternal life wasn’t worth giving up his past life. The disciples all abandoned Jesus on the cross when they realized that God’s agenda for their lives was going to get them killed. Each one of us would rather follow our own desires rather than God’s agenda for us, but Jesus says, “That’s because it’s impossible for us, but not for God.”

Following the commandments will not save you. Giving away all your money will not save you either. Sponsoring a child in a foreign country won’t make you look better in God’s eyes. But don’t act like these things aren’t important just because they won’t save you. God’s agenda involves you doing some things for the sake of others and not just for your own salvation. Being a disciple of Jesus Christ involves doing many things that won’t save you. But until you actually believe that Jesus did something you could never do on your own, none of you will follow him, none of you will share your faith because you’ll always find your agendas more promising.

However, you will not find joy, peace, love and inspiration by continuing to follow your agenda. God is calling you, and not just today, in each moment of your life, to follow Jesus Christ, but you would not. As the disciples put it, “Then who can be saved?” As your pastor the most truthful answer I can give you is this, “It is impossible for you. Not by following your own agenda. Not even by doing the best you can.” But hear this! Please! Stop! Now! Listen! Dear God please give you all ears to hear this! For you it is impossible, it always was and always will be. But not for God. He is in the business of doing the impossible, what you could not do, would not do and will not do. Jesus saved you before you even knew him. Jesus loves you. Jesus forgives you. God wants you on his agenda for the sake of the world—your choices do have consequences for you and for others—but your salvation is also on God’s agenda and he has not left that in your incapable hands. He has left that in the hands of Jesus, who has accomplished it already in God’s name for you. That’s the good news. Amen.