E(Pastor Beeper clip) You know what’s sad. We don’t even have pastor beepers. So, for those in our community, if you do not use your gifts—those people will just go unloved. In my few short years as a pastor, when I am in my office by myself, I sometimes wonder, “What am I doing in here! I should be out serving someone—not in my office! But when I can’t leave, I try to remember that I’m only ONE Christian and I’m part of a faith community. I can make a lot of impact, just my one life in this world, I believe that. But if I can empower you, the body of Christ, this community of believers, well that makes a much more dramatic impact.
Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “Why do you sit alone, while all the people stand around you from morning until evening? What you are doing is not good. You will surely wear yourself out, both you and these people with you. For the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone.” The model of the pastor doing everything in the church? The model we all grew up with? It is not good. That’s what the Bible says anyway. Why isn’t it good? Because it wore out pastors for one. Did you know that the average pastor stays a pastor for five years before quitting? That gives me, what, two more before I’m burnt out? Well, I hope not! I love my job! I love what I am called to do and I love it here! That would not be good for me and my family, I can tell you that! But, having me burn out would also not be good for you. As the reading puts it, “You will surely wear yourself out, both you and these people with you.” How can that be? How is it that a leader doing so much of the work can wear out other people?
Well, on the one hand, if pastors burn out after about 5 years a pop, call committees get worn out, those of you who were on the most recent one know all about that. But more than that, workaholics don’t actually get more done, do they? Study after study shows that just because you put in more hours or take less breaks doesn’t mean you are a more effective worker. So, the more a leader carries the whole load by themselves, the more work everyone else is forced to make up for that lack of effectiveness.
Another reason is that God has only blessed any particular person with some gifts, but not ALL gifts. Do you want to know how to wear out the property committee? Have ME work on some project for them. Then you’ll not only have to clean up the mess I make, but do the project over again. Leaders must, I repeat MUST share the workload because if they do not, if they seek to control every detail, if they demand to do all the work, they stifle growth and create a lot more work for everyone else.
Moses’ father-in-law said this next, “Now listen to me, I will give you counsel, and God be with you! You should represent the people before God, and you should bring their cases before God; teach them the statutes and instructions and make known to them the way they are to go and the things they are to do.” He explains to Moses that he needs to choose able bodied and trustworthy people to bear the burden together. He said, “If you do this, and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all these people will go to their home in peace.”
I believe that a very good model for leadership would be Jesus Christ, so let’s see what he did. First, he finds twelve people to be his disciples when he starts his ministry. He gives them the authority to heal, to preach and to cast out demons. He teaches them and sends them out to the towns he cannot go to. Then, in the passage from Luke for today, he chooses seventy people, gives them the same authority to heal and sends them out two by two.
But why? Why is Jesus, why is God so interested in giving this kind of authority to uneducated fishermen and tax collectors? Well, number one, because in three years Jesus will be dead on a cross. He will no longer be seen as he was before, in his fleshly body. He needed to teach others to be his hands and feet in the world. Second, because Jesus knew that God had given gifts to his people through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Imagine it was your child’s birthday and you had picked out for him or her the most amazing gift you could afford. Perhaps it was a beautiful baby doll for her second birthday, or a brand new bicycle when he turned ten. Maybe a new car for when they turned sixteen. And then, from that point on you said, “Don’t use it.” Put that baby doll away, you probably don’t know how to play with it anyway, you’re too little and uneducated. You’ll learn to be a mother later. If you go trying to ride that bike around town, you’ll look foolish in front of your friends, have a little pride! If you go riding that beautiful car around this town, you’re just going to be showing off how great of a present you got from me. Don’t show off your gift or else it will make others feel bad.
You have each been given gifts by God. Which of those excuses have YOU used? You don’t know enough to teach Sunday school? You not good at speaking in front of people for the faith talk? You don’t want to SHOW OFF by being a leader of this church? Now, imagine how you would feel if after you gave your child a gift, THEY were the ones who chose to not use it. How would you feel if you had planned, and scrimped and saved to give them each just the right thing and, then, they tucked their doll, or their bike or their car in the garage and never gave you the joy of seeing them use it? That’s how your heavenly Father feels every time you fail to use the gifts he has given you.
According to the book, “Natural Church Development” by Christian Schwartz, there are three areas leaders must focus on to empower others. Many of you are being called to be leaders of this church. Don’t back away from God’s call on your life. Step forward in faith! To be an empowering leader, you need to do three things: Teach, Motivate and Free people to use their gifts.
You need to teach people how to use their gifts. If I lead one Bible study for six people, that’s great. But if those six people are each empowered to lead six other people, that’s 36 people impacted each week and that is better! But, just because you know how to do something, you may still not be willing to get off the couch and do it. A leader needs to motivate. You need to call, beg, plead, pray and ask a person to use his or her gifts so that they do what God made them to do. Finally, you need to give people the freedom to use their gift even if that means that they may fail. A strong leader guides others, but lets them have the freedom to work up to their potential. Teach, Motivate and Free one another to serve to God’s glory. That’s what empowering leadership is all about.
What are your gifts? What are you good at? What do you love doing? What comes easy for you? If you had all the money in the world and all the time in the world, what would you do? If you could do anything for the church—anything in the name of Jesus—what would it be? If you knew that you didn’t have to do anything, what would you do?
In your bulletins, you each received a note card. First, write your name on the top of the card. Now we are going to pray that God might help you discern some of your gifts, then you will write at least two of them down. You might write down natural gifts like the gift of song or the gift of organization. These also might be spiritual gifts, like the gift of prayer or the gift of hospitality or the gift of administration or the gift of evangelism.
If you knew that you didn’t HAVE to do anything at Emmanuel, what would you CHOOSE to do. What would you like to start? What area could you make even better? After we pray, I want you to write down at least two gifts you think you might have. Let us pray . . . Start now.
Look at this picture on the screen. It is a wagon, full of circular wheels, being pulled on four square wheels. This picture represents how churches function most of the time. It’s looks like pretty hard work? The thing is that it doesn’t have to be, does it? Those round wheels that are just being carried along, they represent you, people with gifts. God has given each one of you talents, abilities and desires to do wonderful things in this world and in this church. And if you knew your gifts and were willing to utilize them, if you realized that you were a round wheel in that wagon and were tired of being unused, through the power of God you might do some amazing things. And some amazing things might happen here in this church and in this community.
It is my calling and the calling of many others in this church to empower you to use your gifts. When the offering plates are collected, please place your notecards in them as a sign that you are willing to step forward in faith and see how God might use you. If you are still unsure of your gifts, there is a spiritual gift inventory to fill out on our website that I would encourage you all to complete. Finally, if you’d like to study this more, I have a great resource for discovering your gifts and how to work on them as a small group study. I’d love to empower you to start one. Finally, perhaps you feel called today to be a leader in this church. Perhaps you have a gift for seeing gifts in others, in teaching them, motivating them and freeing them to not simply be sitting in the pew, but loving in truth and action. I want to help you be the best leader you can be. Don’t just wait on to be called, get involved today.
Empowering leadership and using your spiritual gifts are not simply “extras” to our lives as Christians, they are essential. Without them, we are not fulfilling our call to walk just as Christ walked. God empowered us by his Holy Spirit with many gifts for building up the body of Christ as Ephesians says, “until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full statue of Christ.” I pray that by empowering others and being empowered yourself, you will grow in your relationship to Christ, to maturity, in unity of faith and knowledge of God’s Son. You don’t need a pastor beeper—God has already given you the gifts you need to impact this world in a meaningful way. Amen.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Sermon for July 18th (Conflict and Forgiveness)
Last week, I presented you all with a vision of what the ministries here at Emmanuel might look like one day. I continue to pray that the Holy Spirit inspires us as we are coming in to be sent out together in mission for Christ. But before we can go and do all the fun stuff, before we go out and do all the hard work, before hearts are changed, before lives are changed and before the world can ever be changed we must ensure that we have a firm foundation upon which to build.
We need to build our ministry upon a firm foundation so that, when God calls upon us as a faith community, to plants churches or to go out on missions or to serve at food kitchens, we can put our time and energy into that work. We don’t want our community falling apart like a sandcastle if issues come up that attempt to bury us under conflict and unforgiveness. When I was working as a chaplain one summer in Minneapolis, the group I was studying with heard this imperative over and over again, “Deal with your issues now so that the people you serve don’t have to deal with them later.” One of the best ways we can serve others as a faith community is by putting into place a good system for dealing with our own conflicts.
And yes, we will have conflicts. Conflict is a part of our life together. If we can accept that fact and handle it appropriately, our community will grow stronger. And Jesus has given us a specific way to deal with conflict in our church so let’s take a look at what he has to say and apply it to our situation here at Emmanuel. Jesus starts off: “If another church member sins against you, go and point out the fault, just between the two of you.” Let’s just stop right there. I call upon you all today to heed the words of the apostle Paul as well, “Do NOT be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds.” I know that this is NOT the way of the world BUT, “If another church member sins against you, go and point out the fault, JUST BETWEEN THE TWO OF YOU.”
That means that you DON’T talk to other people about what happened, you talk to the person who hurt you about what happened. The book of James says, “How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! And the tongue is a fire . . . full of deadly poison.” When someone says or does something hurtful towards you and you talk negatively to someone else now about what that person did. . . well, you are committing the same sin, don’t you see? And not only that, but the wound that was opened in your heart is now burning from the heat of your anger and stinging from the result of your bitterness. Hatred, anger and gossip will not heal your wounds—in fact they make it worse. Bitterness is the poison that we drink ourselves with the hope of killing someone else. Healing occurs when there is both repentance and forgiveness. “If the member listens to you, you have regained that one.”
“But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses.” The key word here again is WITH. Take them WITH you. Don’t rant and rave about the injury or attempt to bias them to your side. If your cause is just, the truth will be clear. Calling your best friends to “back you up” is for gang fights, not for a conflict that you wish to settle peacefully.
If you are called to join the conversation, it is not your job to side with one person or the other. Your job is to help them talk and reconcile their differences. If you cannot think of someone to go along with you, I would like to encourage you to call upon me, as your pastor, to help you deal with this conflict. However, when you come to me alone, while I can do my best to counsel you, without the other party there the conflict will not be solved. Bring them WITH you. Putting me or anyone else in the middle of a conflict is neither helpful nor is it very nice.
“If the member continues to refuse to listen, tell the church.” What is the church? Does that mean the town of Fontanelle? Does that mean facebook? Does it mean to tell all your friends during fellowship time or during a ministry team meeting? No. We have called people from our congregation to serve as our representatives and leaders and put them on the council to help us deal with conflict in a healthy way. So, if someone has hurt you and even after speaking privately with them, and then with another person, there is no repentance—if the two of you have met together with others or with me and nothing has changed (perhaps the behavior has even become worse) come together to the council and together we will do our best work to settle the conflict as a community.
If there is still no repentance and no attempt at resolution of the issues—if the one who has hurt you refuses to listen to you and continues the hurtful behavior with no remorse, according to Jesus, as a community we are called to treat this hard-hearted person like a pagan or a tax collector. What does THAT mean?
I’d like to make two statements about this phrase. Both are important. First, pagans and tax collectors were the people Jesus hung out with to the horror of the rest of the Jewish leaders. “I have come not for the healthy but for the sick, not for the righteous but for the unrighteous,” Jesus said. We are under obligation as followers of Jesus to seek out pagans and tax collectors, pray for them and bring them back to Jesus.
However, pagans and tax collectors were also considered to be outside of the faith community, according to Jewish people, until they were restored. In other words, as a church, we should never kick someone out, faith in Jesus is the gate to this community. We cannot judge others as being more sinful that we are ourselves. However, repentance is a necessary part of the Christian life and so, we also must realize that until true repentance has occurred, a person should be disciplined in some way. For example, they may be disallowed from voting and kept from being on ministry teams or in leadership positions until the conflict has been resolved. The most common instance of this is when a pastor sins publically and is stripped of his position. Some pastors who go through this serve other churches, eventually, but not without public repentance taking place.
But have you noticed that Jesus’ system of conflict resolution, even if it works perfectly, is still missing something. Notice that Jesus keeps referring to a person “listening to you”. The most a person can do, when they have hurt you, is to repent. They can sincerely say that they are sorry, do what they can to make amends and attempt to stop the bad behavior. However, is that enough? Notice where Jesus goes next in this discussion. “Peter came and said to Jesus, ‘Lord if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘Not seven times, but I tell you, seventy-seven times.’” As a congregation, we must not only have a system in place to deal with conflict, but we must have forgiving hearts or else we can never be free to serve anyone else.
I believe that there are some of you listening today who have not truly repented for your actions against others, even when you have sinned against other members of this church. If you truly believe that Jesus Christ died to take away your sins, what are you waiting for? Nobody’s perfect, this is true, but admitting your sins and turning from them is a part of being a Christian. In the gospel of John, Jesus saved a woman, caught in adultery, from being stoned for her sins. But while he did not condemn her, he also did not tolerate her behavior, “Go and sin no more,” He said. Each of you have been given a piece of rope with a knot in it this morning. If there is someone in your life you have hurt, you’ll understand that that knot is no mere symbol—it is the knot in your stomach and in your heart—a knot of guilt. Your relationship with that person, with this community and with God is not as it should be. Repent and believe in the good news. Jesus died for sinners just like you. Trust in his forgiveness. Trust in his mercy. Risk repentance.
I also believe that there are some of you listening today who, even when presented with the opportunity to forgive, have refused to do so, even when those who have hurt you have asked for that forgiveness. Just like the slave in the Bible story today, you have received and accepted the unconditional forgiveness of all of YOUR sins and, yet, somehow, you cannot also forgive? Do you truly believe that you have been hurt more than the Son of God crucified on the cross? Will you continue to hold resentment for those who have hurt you while God gives YOU pardon? Should you not have mercy on those who ask forgiveness just as God has mercy on you when you come to him with remorse? In the story, the slave is handed over to be tortured . . . Jesus said, “So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” Perhaps that is why you have the knotted rope today. To remember to forgive because your heavenly Father has forgiven you.
It’s hard. I know that. All of this is hard. It is hard to confront someone when they have already hurt you. It is hard to say, “I’m sorry.” It is especially hard to forgive. We all struggle with these things. But I still see a day, when we are coming in to repent and being sent out to forgive. I want you to take a moment as we end today to think about your relationships with others in this very church. Who has hurt you? When will you go to them and let them know? Who have you hurt? How will you say you are sorry? Who has asked for your forgiveness? When will you forgive them? Perhaps you came in today to hear this promise, “By the authority of Jesus Christ, I declare to you the entire forgiveness of all your sins.” Perhaps you will be sent out today with the same promise on your lips. Amen.
We need to build our ministry upon a firm foundation so that, when God calls upon us as a faith community, to plants churches or to go out on missions or to serve at food kitchens, we can put our time and energy into that work. We don’t want our community falling apart like a sandcastle if issues come up that attempt to bury us under conflict and unforgiveness. When I was working as a chaplain one summer in Minneapolis, the group I was studying with heard this imperative over and over again, “Deal with your issues now so that the people you serve don’t have to deal with them later.” One of the best ways we can serve others as a faith community is by putting into place a good system for dealing with our own conflicts.
And yes, we will have conflicts. Conflict is a part of our life together. If we can accept that fact and handle it appropriately, our community will grow stronger. And Jesus has given us a specific way to deal with conflict in our church so let’s take a look at what he has to say and apply it to our situation here at Emmanuel. Jesus starts off: “If another church member sins against you, go and point out the fault, just between the two of you.” Let’s just stop right there. I call upon you all today to heed the words of the apostle Paul as well, “Do NOT be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds.” I know that this is NOT the way of the world BUT, “If another church member sins against you, go and point out the fault, JUST BETWEEN THE TWO OF YOU.”
That means that you DON’T talk to other people about what happened, you talk to the person who hurt you about what happened. The book of James says, “How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! And the tongue is a fire . . . full of deadly poison.” When someone says or does something hurtful towards you and you talk negatively to someone else now about what that person did. . . well, you are committing the same sin, don’t you see? And not only that, but the wound that was opened in your heart is now burning from the heat of your anger and stinging from the result of your bitterness. Hatred, anger and gossip will not heal your wounds—in fact they make it worse. Bitterness is the poison that we drink ourselves with the hope of killing someone else. Healing occurs when there is both repentance and forgiveness. “If the member listens to you, you have regained that one.”
“But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses.” The key word here again is WITH. Take them WITH you. Don’t rant and rave about the injury or attempt to bias them to your side. If your cause is just, the truth will be clear. Calling your best friends to “back you up” is for gang fights, not for a conflict that you wish to settle peacefully.
If you are called to join the conversation, it is not your job to side with one person or the other. Your job is to help them talk and reconcile their differences. If you cannot think of someone to go along with you, I would like to encourage you to call upon me, as your pastor, to help you deal with this conflict. However, when you come to me alone, while I can do my best to counsel you, without the other party there the conflict will not be solved. Bring them WITH you. Putting me or anyone else in the middle of a conflict is neither helpful nor is it very nice.
“If the member continues to refuse to listen, tell the church.” What is the church? Does that mean the town of Fontanelle? Does that mean facebook? Does it mean to tell all your friends during fellowship time or during a ministry team meeting? No. We have called people from our congregation to serve as our representatives and leaders and put them on the council to help us deal with conflict in a healthy way. So, if someone has hurt you and even after speaking privately with them, and then with another person, there is no repentance—if the two of you have met together with others or with me and nothing has changed (perhaps the behavior has even become worse) come together to the council and together we will do our best work to settle the conflict as a community.
If there is still no repentance and no attempt at resolution of the issues—if the one who has hurt you refuses to listen to you and continues the hurtful behavior with no remorse, according to Jesus, as a community we are called to treat this hard-hearted person like a pagan or a tax collector. What does THAT mean?
I’d like to make two statements about this phrase. Both are important. First, pagans and tax collectors were the people Jesus hung out with to the horror of the rest of the Jewish leaders. “I have come not for the healthy but for the sick, not for the righteous but for the unrighteous,” Jesus said. We are under obligation as followers of Jesus to seek out pagans and tax collectors, pray for them and bring them back to Jesus.
However, pagans and tax collectors were also considered to be outside of the faith community, according to Jewish people, until they were restored. In other words, as a church, we should never kick someone out, faith in Jesus is the gate to this community. We cannot judge others as being more sinful that we are ourselves. However, repentance is a necessary part of the Christian life and so, we also must realize that until true repentance has occurred, a person should be disciplined in some way. For example, they may be disallowed from voting and kept from being on ministry teams or in leadership positions until the conflict has been resolved. The most common instance of this is when a pastor sins publically and is stripped of his position. Some pastors who go through this serve other churches, eventually, but not without public repentance taking place.
But have you noticed that Jesus’ system of conflict resolution, even if it works perfectly, is still missing something. Notice that Jesus keeps referring to a person “listening to you”. The most a person can do, when they have hurt you, is to repent. They can sincerely say that they are sorry, do what they can to make amends and attempt to stop the bad behavior. However, is that enough? Notice where Jesus goes next in this discussion. “Peter came and said to Jesus, ‘Lord if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘Not seven times, but I tell you, seventy-seven times.’” As a congregation, we must not only have a system in place to deal with conflict, but we must have forgiving hearts or else we can never be free to serve anyone else.
I believe that there are some of you listening today who have not truly repented for your actions against others, even when you have sinned against other members of this church. If you truly believe that Jesus Christ died to take away your sins, what are you waiting for? Nobody’s perfect, this is true, but admitting your sins and turning from them is a part of being a Christian. In the gospel of John, Jesus saved a woman, caught in adultery, from being stoned for her sins. But while he did not condemn her, he also did not tolerate her behavior, “Go and sin no more,” He said. Each of you have been given a piece of rope with a knot in it this morning. If there is someone in your life you have hurt, you’ll understand that that knot is no mere symbol—it is the knot in your stomach and in your heart—a knot of guilt. Your relationship with that person, with this community and with God is not as it should be. Repent and believe in the good news. Jesus died for sinners just like you. Trust in his forgiveness. Trust in his mercy. Risk repentance.
I also believe that there are some of you listening today who, even when presented with the opportunity to forgive, have refused to do so, even when those who have hurt you have asked for that forgiveness. Just like the slave in the Bible story today, you have received and accepted the unconditional forgiveness of all of YOUR sins and, yet, somehow, you cannot also forgive? Do you truly believe that you have been hurt more than the Son of God crucified on the cross? Will you continue to hold resentment for those who have hurt you while God gives YOU pardon? Should you not have mercy on those who ask forgiveness just as God has mercy on you when you come to him with remorse? In the story, the slave is handed over to be tortured . . . Jesus said, “So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” Perhaps that is why you have the knotted rope today. To remember to forgive because your heavenly Father has forgiven you.
It’s hard. I know that. All of this is hard. It is hard to confront someone when they have already hurt you. It is hard to say, “I’m sorry.” It is especially hard to forgive. We all struggle with these things. But I still see a day, when we are coming in to repent and being sent out to forgive. I want you to take a moment as we end today to think about your relationships with others in this very church. Who has hurt you? When will you go to them and let them know? Who have you hurt? How will you say you are sorry? Who has asked for your forgiveness? When will you forgive them? Perhaps you came in today to hear this promise, “By the authority of Jesus Christ, I declare to you the entire forgiveness of all your sins.” Perhaps you will be sent out today with the same promise on your lips. Amen.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Sermon for July 11th (A Vision of Emmanuel)
When I was a boy, my cousin Trent and I couldn’t get along. As young children, he was a jerk and I was a baby and that created a lot of tension whenever we got together. But as we started getting older, we finally found something we both enjoyed: soccer. One summer, my cousin Trenton and I stayed with my grandparents in Schleshwig, Iowa for several days. We were both just learning to play soccer. I had a book entitled: The Ultimate Soccer Book. It was a big, thick book and it had everything in it: World Cup rules, history of the game, penalties, how to correctly kick the ball off your feet, your head, your chest . . . this was indeed the ULTIMATE soccer book. I read through it and studied it so that I could be a great soccer player.
Trent on the other hand, being the little imp that he was, didn’t seem to care one lick about HOW to play soccer at all! He would just go out in the back yard and kick the ball around. He worked on dribbling the ball (he probably didn’t even KNOW that that was what it was called) and he’d try to kick it as hard as he could. And he’d run back and forth in the yard as I was reading about how to play. Everyone was waiting for the epic match.
Finally, I finished the book. The day had come. I went down, put on my shin guards, put on my special soccer shorts, opened the screen door and approached him, “Alright Trent. Wanna play?” And then I proceeded to get my cleats handed to me again and again by my little cousin. I tried out all kinds of cool techniques and chided him for not really knowing anything about the game, but he kept running past me and shooting the ball really hard into the goal. I had spent a week learning all there was to know about soccer, but he had just gone out and done it . . . and you know what? He was always better than me at that silly game.
Since I’ve come here, I’ve been waiting for inspiration about where God might be leading our community of faith here at Emmanuel. I’ve wanted to be a good leader for all of you, but I also want to be sure that I’m being a good follower of God as well. I don’t want to focus on my dreams and ideas if they are not what God wants. When people would ask me about the church’s direction or needing a vision for the future I would think to myself, “Well, yeah, that’s true. But I can’t be SURE just yet that I should say anything. I don’t KNOW for certain. I don’t have all the information just yet. I haven’t read the ULTIMATE future of Emmanuel church book . . . yet!” So I didn’t say anything. But the vision was there. I just had to go out and start kicking it around a bit.
The Holy Spirit has finally inspired me to step out in faith and share with you a vision of what the ministries here at Emmanuel might become. It’s a vision for ministry that I am passionate about because I know that God is passionate about it. When I was called here to Emmanuel, I imagined what this place could become and I’d like to share that vision with you this morning.
In the book of Thessalonians, Paul says, “Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise the words of prophets, BUT test everything, hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil.” Therefore, let God guide your listening and ask yourself a few questions. Is this vision biblical? Does it inspire you? Can you imagine it? I have committed this vision to God. If it’s not in his plans, I believe that it will become obvious! But if this vision takes hold of your heart and imagination as it has of mine, God will take care of any obstacles according to His will and in His time.
Finally, I know that we are not a lot of things. We are NOT Lutheran Church of Hope in Des Moines. We are not Willow Creek or Saddleback or the Crystal Cathedral. Those are indeed larger churches and we are smaller. I don’t envision a day where we have 1000 people at worship on a Sunday. . . we are going to look different than other churches do. This vision is not for them, it is for us, here. But we don’t need thousands of people to attend here each week in order to impact thousands of people each week! Let me paint a picture for you of what we might become. I see a day when Emmanuel is a place where we are coming in to be sent out!
Coming in to be inspired and reconnected with God’s Word and God’s people. I see a day when all members are expected to be involved in a small group, whether it’s a bible study, prayer group or service group—to be supported and grow in their walk with Christ at every stage of life. All visitors would be connected to a group from day one to build relationships and discover how God is active in their lives.
Why would you come in to this place? I see a day when you would come in to find your identity as a child of God. Not just on Sundays but every day. Any day of the week, you could come in to learn God’s laws and hear your forgiveness. The worship service would be the opening event for a week of spiritual growth where you were challenged and supported by other Christians. Jesus is the gate—not a wall to keep people out, but a gate that they might walk through. The doors to this church would not be the “gate” to this community—JESUS is the gate. We would come in to get the tools to be sent out.
I see a day when our community is:
Coming in to be empowered to serve. Everyone coming into this place would be encouraged to discover their individual spiritual gifts. It would be the job of every church leader, paid or volunteer, to help others discern their spiritual gifts, teach them how to use them, free them to use them and motivate them to use them. I see a day when our community, the body of Christ, worked like a team in mission for Christ to glorify his name and spread His message to the world. But just as we would have a purpose when coming in, we would expect to have a purpose when we were sent out.
I see a day when our community doesn’t just come in but is sent out:
Sent out to share the message of the cross. “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” I’m not just talking about being TOLD to go out and not doing it, but actually being trained to talk and expected to share the message of Jesus with others. I see people believing it was part of their identity to share this message, not to just hold onto it for themselves. Imagine if everyone who came into this place was taught to do the following four things: share the forgiveness of sins with someone, lead a person to believe in Jesus Christ, magnify the meaning of baptism with others and connect them with a church. I see a day when we care as much for the lost people of this world as God does.
I see a day when our community is::
Sent out to train, support and become leaders, pastors, and missionaries for the sake of God’s kingdom around the world. I see a day when everyone’s eyes are watchful for the gifts in those around them, so that they can encourage and support their children and their friends to become pastors or leaders of the church. I see a day when the dollars we place in the offering baskets come back to us in the face of missionaries that we have supported and the stories of people brought to Christ through our support. I see each person in this church leaving a lasting legacy for God’s kingdom with their time, money and talents.
I see a day when our community is:
Sent out for short-term and long-term missions both in America and foreign countries early and often. You’ve heard miss America contestants talk about their dreams of World Peace, fighting poverty and getting rid of homelessness. Imagine if the people here at Emmanuel were making that dream a reality with their own bare hands and sweat. Spreading the gospel of Jesus not just with words, but with actions on the behalf of others. They say that you can’t look at the world the same way after you’ve spent time in another country. I see a day when our minds and hearts are transformed by the very people we are seeking to serve.
I see a day when we see our church not as a destination, but like Grand Central Station for welcoming new Christians through the gate of Jesus, training them for the Christian life and sending them out again to share the Word with others. I see a day when we expect all the age groups in our church to be involved in this adventure, whether through writing letters to imprisoned missionaries, cleaning up after natural disasters, or taking mission trips.
I see a day when our community is:
Sent out to plant new mission start churches and to revitalize existing congregations. I see a day when we are planting a new faith community at least once every three years. What kind of impact might Emmanuel have on people in this state, on this country and in the kingdom of God if we could share the blessings we have here with people who can’t imagine finding joy at church, or can’t imagine finding a church in their area at all? Yes, OUR church is in a small town, but the world is big and growing. They say farmers feed the world—we are used to big challenges. What might we do when we use our gifts to plant the seeds of the gospel.
Finally, I see a day when our community is:
Sent out to bring God’s love and healing to thousands of people each year who are sick, disabled, scared and lost. I see a day when thousands of people in our communities, our nation and world—people who have never stepped foot inside a church building—will be blessed by one of our social ministries and know “God is with them” wherever they are and whoever they are. I see our name, Emmanuel, God with us, driving us in our mission to places we’d never step foot in before—to people we never cared about before. I see lives transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit? I see God using our hands and feet in service to others.
I see a day when Emmanuel is focused on changing hearts, changing lives and changing our world. We are called in to be sent out and give the message of the cross—the power of God for salvation. We are called in to be sent out and share the power of the Holy Spirit together with all people, so that the sick, the depressed and the apathetic may have life in Jesus Christ and have it abundantly! Finally, we are called in to be blessed and sent out to be a blessing—meeting peoples’ most basic needs. When a person’s belly is finally full of bread, perhaps their ears will be prepared to hear about the bread of life, their Savior, Jesus Christ.
I believe that God is calling us all to come to Him so that we can be sent out. Jesus is the gate. Do you see a day when this community of faith might look like this vision I see? If so, then according to God’s will and in God’s time it will happen. God will do it. I pray that you will join with me as I seek to follow God’s guidance in our lives together as your pastor, as your servant and as a fellow member of the body of Christ. Amen.
Trent on the other hand, being the little imp that he was, didn’t seem to care one lick about HOW to play soccer at all! He would just go out in the back yard and kick the ball around. He worked on dribbling the ball (he probably didn’t even KNOW that that was what it was called) and he’d try to kick it as hard as he could. And he’d run back and forth in the yard as I was reading about how to play. Everyone was waiting for the epic match.
Finally, I finished the book. The day had come. I went down, put on my shin guards, put on my special soccer shorts, opened the screen door and approached him, “Alright Trent. Wanna play?” And then I proceeded to get my cleats handed to me again and again by my little cousin. I tried out all kinds of cool techniques and chided him for not really knowing anything about the game, but he kept running past me and shooting the ball really hard into the goal. I had spent a week learning all there was to know about soccer, but he had just gone out and done it . . . and you know what? He was always better than me at that silly game.
Since I’ve come here, I’ve been waiting for inspiration about where God might be leading our community of faith here at Emmanuel. I’ve wanted to be a good leader for all of you, but I also want to be sure that I’m being a good follower of God as well. I don’t want to focus on my dreams and ideas if they are not what God wants. When people would ask me about the church’s direction or needing a vision for the future I would think to myself, “Well, yeah, that’s true. But I can’t be SURE just yet that I should say anything. I don’t KNOW for certain. I don’t have all the information just yet. I haven’t read the ULTIMATE future of Emmanuel church book . . . yet!” So I didn’t say anything. But the vision was there. I just had to go out and start kicking it around a bit.
The Holy Spirit has finally inspired me to step out in faith and share with you a vision of what the ministries here at Emmanuel might become. It’s a vision for ministry that I am passionate about because I know that God is passionate about it. When I was called here to Emmanuel, I imagined what this place could become and I’d like to share that vision with you this morning.
In the book of Thessalonians, Paul says, “Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise the words of prophets, BUT test everything, hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil.” Therefore, let God guide your listening and ask yourself a few questions. Is this vision biblical? Does it inspire you? Can you imagine it? I have committed this vision to God. If it’s not in his plans, I believe that it will become obvious! But if this vision takes hold of your heart and imagination as it has of mine, God will take care of any obstacles according to His will and in His time.
Finally, I know that we are not a lot of things. We are NOT Lutheran Church of Hope in Des Moines. We are not Willow Creek or Saddleback or the Crystal Cathedral. Those are indeed larger churches and we are smaller. I don’t envision a day where we have 1000 people at worship on a Sunday. . . we are going to look different than other churches do. This vision is not for them, it is for us, here. But we don’t need thousands of people to attend here each week in order to impact thousands of people each week! Let me paint a picture for you of what we might become. I see a day when Emmanuel is a place where we are coming in to be sent out!
Coming in to be inspired and reconnected with God’s Word and God’s people. I see a day when all members are expected to be involved in a small group, whether it’s a bible study, prayer group or service group—to be supported and grow in their walk with Christ at every stage of life. All visitors would be connected to a group from day one to build relationships and discover how God is active in their lives.
Why would you come in to this place? I see a day when you would come in to find your identity as a child of God. Not just on Sundays but every day. Any day of the week, you could come in to learn God’s laws and hear your forgiveness. The worship service would be the opening event for a week of spiritual growth where you were challenged and supported by other Christians. Jesus is the gate—not a wall to keep people out, but a gate that they might walk through. The doors to this church would not be the “gate” to this community—JESUS is the gate. We would come in to get the tools to be sent out.
I see a day when our community is:
Coming in to be empowered to serve. Everyone coming into this place would be encouraged to discover their individual spiritual gifts. It would be the job of every church leader, paid or volunteer, to help others discern their spiritual gifts, teach them how to use them, free them to use them and motivate them to use them. I see a day when our community, the body of Christ, worked like a team in mission for Christ to glorify his name and spread His message to the world. But just as we would have a purpose when coming in, we would expect to have a purpose when we were sent out.
I see a day when our community doesn’t just come in but is sent out:
Sent out to share the message of the cross. “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” I’m not just talking about being TOLD to go out and not doing it, but actually being trained to talk and expected to share the message of Jesus with others. I see people believing it was part of their identity to share this message, not to just hold onto it for themselves. Imagine if everyone who came into this place was taught to do the following four things: share the forgiveness of sins with someone, lead a person to believe in Jesus Christ, magnify the meaning of baptism with others and connect them with a church. I see a day when we care as much for the lost people of this world as God does.
I see a day when our community is::
Sent out to train, support and become leaders, pastors, and missionaries for the sake of God’s kingdom around the world. I see a day when everyone’s eyes are watchful for the gifts in those around them, so that they can encourage and support their children and their friends to become pastors or leaders of the church. I see a day when the dollars we place in the offering baskets come back to us in the face of missionaries that we have supported and the stories of people brought to Christ through our support. I see each person in this church leaving a lasting legacy for God’s kingdom with their time, money and talents.
I see a day when our community is:
Sent out for short-term and long-term missions both in America and foreign countries early and often. You’ve heard miss America contestants talk about their dreams of World Peace, fighting poverty and getting rid of homelessness. Imagine if the people here at Emmanuel were making that dream a reality with their own bare hands and sweat. Spreading the gospel of Jesus not just with words, but with actions on the behalf of others. They say that you can’t look at the world the same way after you’ve spent time in another country. I see a day when our minds and hearts are transformed by the very people we are seeking to serve.
I see a day when we see our church not as a destination, but like Grand Central Station for welcoming new Christians through the gate of Jesus, training them for the Christian life and sending them out again to share the Word with others. I see a day when we expect all the age groups in our church to be involved in this adventure, whether through writing letters to imprisoned missionaries, cleaning up after natural disasters, or taking mission trips.
I see a day when our community is:
Sent out to plant new mission start churches and to revitalize existing congregations. I see a day when we are planting a new faith community at least once every three years. What kind of impact might Emmanuel have on people in this state, on this country and in the kingdom of God if we could share the blessings we have here with people who can’t imagine finding joy at church, or can’t imagine finding a church in their area at all? Yes, OUR church is in a small town, but the world is big and growing. They say farmers feed the world—we are used to big challenges. What might we do when we use our gifts to plant the seeds of the gospel.
Finally, I see a day when our community is:
Sent out to bring God’s love and healing to thousands of people each year who are sick, disabled, scared and lost. I see a day when thousands of people in our communities, our nation and world—people who have never stepped foot inside a church building—will be blessed by one of our social ministries and know “God is with them” wherever they are and whoever they are. I see our name, Emmanuel, God with us, driving us in our mission to places we’d never step foot in before—to people we never cared about before. I see lives transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit? I see God using our hands and feet in service to others.
I see a day when Emmanuel is focused on changing hearts, changing lives and changing our world. We are called in to be sent out and give the message of the cross—the power of God for salvation. We are called in to be sent out and share the power of the Holy Spirit together with all people, so that the sick, the depressed and the apathetic may have life in Jesus Christ and have it abundantly! Finally, we are called in to be blessed and sent out to be a blessing—meeting peoples’ most basic needs. When a person’s belly is finally full of bread, perhaps their ears will be prepared to hear about the bread of life, their Savior, Jesus Christ.
I believe that God is calling us all to come to Him so that we can be sent out. Jesus is the gate. Do you see a day when this community of faith might look like this vision I see? If so, then according to God’s will and in God’s time it will happen. God will do it. I pray that you will join with me as I seek to follow God’s guidance in our lives together as your pastor, as your servant and as a fellow member of the body of Christ. Amen.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Sermon for July 4th (Relating with Children)
When my kiddos were a little smaller, I would ask them what they wanted for breakfast and they would always ask for poptarts. Always. Now, normally they are healthy eaters and enjoy broccoli, Kale soup, whole wheat pasta and so on. But if you ask them what they want to eat in the mornings, they would choose poptarts.
It is important to me and my wife to feed our children good, healthy food so that they can grow up strong and lead healthy lives. In fact, it is so important to me that even though I want to make them happy and feed them poptarts, I choose not to because I love them. But it’s not only that I won’t let them, my intention is to TEACH them to make these healthy choices themselves. I won’t be around forever nor will they always live in my household. So we talk about the food we eat and what is healthy and what is not.
Do you know what the most common complaint is that I hear from parents for why their children are not at church, or in confirmation, or at a high school event? They didn’t want to come. The kids . . . they didn’t want to wake up or they had something else to do. Maybe they think church is boring, or they are tired, or they just don’t really care. Well, does this surprise you? Not me. I bet your kids like to eat pop tarts for breakfast too just like mine!
While we as parents know enough not to let our kids eat unhealthy food we allow our children all too often to make unhealthy choices when it comes to their faith lives. Yes, oatmeal is boring to some people and so are vegetables, yes you have to wake up to go to school today, yes, you are going to visit your sick grandmother today and, yes, I love you enough to take you to church with me today. Eating vegetables and fruits will encourage your body’s health and mental stability and that’s just great. But a relationship with Jesus Christ will give you meaning in your life, a source of support doing times of despair and, oh yeah, the promise of eternal life with the author of all creation. The forgiveness of sins. Deliverance from bondage. Are your children worth it? I believe that they are.
Rich Melheim wrote an article about teaching faith to children that began with the following story: “During the siege of Leningrad, the city elders had a difficult decision to make. The Nazi’s had cut off most supply routes to the city. The few remaining truck routes across the frozen lake were bombed daily. It became clear that there was only one-third enough wheat to get them through the winter. What would they do? Cordon off two-thirds of the city and feed only one-third? They couldn’t bear to make that decision. Instead, they mixed their bread with one third wheat, one third saw dust, and one third manure. That winter tens of thousands of children went to bed every night starving to death on a full stomach.”
Parents will give their children something to eat, whether it is pop tarts, pancakes or sawdust. Parents will also teach their children faith in something, whether it is faith in the Jesus, the tooth fairy or Oprah. What is the biblical model of parenthood? And how can we, as a church, supply parents with a cupboard full of healthy food for faith instead of religious poptarts.
The great commandment in both the Jewish and Christian faiths is given in Deuteronomy chapter 6. It is called the Shema, which is the Hebrew word for “hear”. “Hear, O Israel, The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” Notice how God gives this great commandment not just for you but for your children.
There are three parts that the Bible sees as important in your faith relationship with your children. First, your personal faith. Second, teaching your faith to your children. Third, encouraging your children to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there is your heart also.” You teach your children what is most important to you—you can’t help yourself. And if something is not important to you, no matter how much you give that subject lip service, your children will see right through you. I’ve heard it said that children will eat whatever their father eats. Mom can feed everyone salad if she likes, but, “If Daddy’s not eating it why do I have to?” It’s true about faith too.
In 1994 the Swiss carried out a survey to determine how a person’s religion carried through to the next generation. Their findings? If both father and mother attend regularly, 33 percent of their children will end up as regular churchgoers, and 41 percent will end up attending irregularly. In other words, 75% will attend in some way with only a quarter not practicing at all. If the mother attends regularly, but the father is irregular, only 3 percent of the children will become regulars themselves (that’s a loss of 30% when dad doesn’t come very often.) An additional 13% is also added in the lost category after just that little change. Here’s the scary part, if the father never comes and mother comes regularly, only 2 percent of children will become regular worshippers. Over 60 percent of their children will be lost completely to the church. In other words, Dads—the importance you place on your faith matters . . . a lot.
But for all of you parents, it’s about much more than just church attendance. In order to better relate to your children, you need to work on your own relationship to God. When you pray for guidance or for strength when your children are acting like maniacs, it can help you better handle the stress. A strong marriage gives children a sense of security at home, and a strong faith gives them a sense of security throughout life as well. You cannot simply feed your children without taking in nourishment yourself. Taking care of your relationship with God is of the utmost importance; that’s why God started the great commandment with your faith—not simply your children’s faith.
We’ve talked about prayer before, but I encourage you all to try it on a daily basis to build your relationship to God. Just tell him what’s going on to start and feel free to ask for what you need. Bible Study with a group of friends, either in your home or at church, is also a great way to build your knowledge of God’s laws and his promises. Finally, involving yourself with the ministries at church gives you an outlet to serve others which gives meaning and purpose to your life.
But even if you have a strong faith yourself, you need to teach the faith to your children. But how? Rich Melheim, the author that I quoted from earlier, came up with a five-step program for bringing faith into every house every night. SHARE, READ, TALK, PRAY AND BLESS. Share. Share highs and lows of the day together. Read. Read a verse or passage from scripture to bring God into the equation. Talk. How might that scripture relate to your day? Does the reading bring up any questions for the kids? Pray. Pray for one another’s highs and lows. Bless. Bless one another before turning out the lights. What is a blessing? After I had had a really bad day, my dad would tell me, “God loves you, I love you and the sun will come up tomorrow.” That’s a blessing.
SHARE, READ, TALK, PRAY AND BLESS. By doing these 5 faith practices each day you are teaching your children not only about your faith, but how to incorporate faith into their daily lives. In the great commandment from Deuteronomy, God DIDN’T say, “Impress these commandments on your children: go to church every week.” No, that’s not enough. It’s important, but it’s not even the most important. God said to talk about your faith when you are sitting at home and when you are traveling, when you are going to sleep and when you are waking up. Making faith a part of your everyday life teaches your children to make it a part of their’s so that, when they leave the home, they know how to nourish the faith you’ve given them.
You’ve heard the old saying, “If you give a man to fish, he’ll eat for a day. If you teach a man to fish, he’ll eat for a lifetime.” I believe that we have been reasonably good at giving our children fish, we’ve brought them to church, Sunday school, Bible school, confirmation and luther league. But, we may have a lot of work to still do at TEACHING our children to fish. Have you talked about your struggles with getting to church on Sunday mornings? Have you shared what you love about worship and asked them what they love? Teach them to pray or learn with them. What might happen if you let your child have a bunch of friends over, and taught them, and even their parents, how to have a short Bible study? When they went off to college, they might already know how to do it.
Finally, Jesus said, let the little children come to me. We need to encourage our children, not just to follow us and talk the talk of faith—to learn the jargon—but to experience the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives. For instance, find out what makes your child passionate and connect that passion to one of the ministries here at Emmanuel. Help them to see that you can have fun, worship God and serve others at the same time. Are they musical? What about having them become a part of the praise band? Are they good with people? They could be a greeter or join hospitality? Are they are born leader? Anyone who is confirmed is qualified to be on the church council?
Why is this important? Getting involved gets you focused on serving other people, not simply on getting fed yourself. Taking a risk makes you rely on God, and when we start seeking Jesus for help, he comes and strengthens us in our time of need. Ask your children how they would want to get involved in the church, however big or little the job, and let’s all, as a community find a way to make it happen. Let’s make room to allow them to use their gifts. When we learn to give away the ministry to our children, we encourage them to take responsibility for their faith throughout their entire life. Poptarts are tasty, yes indeed they are, but Jesus Christ is the bread of life. Let’s pray to God for his help as we seek to give life to our children . . .
It is important to me and my wife to feed our children good, healthy food so that they can grow up strong and lead healthy lives. In fact, it is so important to me that even though I want to make them happy and feed them poptarts, I choose not to because I love them. But it’s not only that I won’t let them, my intention is to TEACH them to make these healthy choices themselves. I won’t be around forever nor will they always live in my household. So we talk about the food we eat and what is healthy and what is not.
Do you know what the most common complaint is that I hear from parents for why their children are not at church, or in confirmation, or at a high school event? They didn’t want to come. The kids . . . they didn’t want to wake up or they had something else to do. Maybe they think church is boring, or they are tired, or they just don’t really care. Well, does this surprise you? Not me. I bet your kids like to eat pop tarts for breakfast too just like mine!
While we as parents know enough not to let our kids eat unhealthy food we allow our children all too often to make unhealthy choices when it comes to their faith lives. Yes, oatmeal is boring to some people and so are vegetables, yes you have to wake up to go to school today, yes, you are going to visit your sick grandmother today and, yes, I love you enough to take you to church with me today. Eating vegetables and fruits will encourage your body’s health and mental stability and that’s just great. But a relationship with Jesus Christ will give you meaning in your life, a source of support doing times of despair and, oh yeah, the promise of eternal life with the author of all creation. The forgiveness of sins. Deliverance from bondage. Are your children worth it? I believe that they are.
Rich Melheim wrote an article about teaching faith to children that began with the following story: “During the siege of Leningrad, the city elders had a difficult decision to make. The Nazi’s had cut off most supply routes to the city. The few remaining truck routes across the frozen lake were bombed daily. It became clear that there was only one-third enough wheat to get them through the winter. What would they do? Cordon off two-thirds of the city and feed only one-third? They couldn’t bear to make that decision. Instead, they mixed their bread with one third wheat, one third saw dust, and one third manure. That winter tens of thousands of children went to bed every night starving to death on a full stomach.”
Parents will give their children something to eat, whether it is pop tarts, pancakes or sawdust. Parents will also teach their children faith in something, whether it is faith in the Jesus, the tooth fairy or Oprah. What is the biblical model of parenthood? And how can we, as a church, supply parents with a cupboard full of healthy food for faith instead of religious poptarts.
The great commandment in both the Jewish and Christian faiths is given in Deuteronomy chapter 6. It is called the Shema, which is the Hebrew word for “hear”. “Hear, O Israel, The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” Notice how God gives this great commandment not just for you but for your children.
There are three parts that the Bible sees as important in your faith relationship with your children. First, your personal faith. Second, teaching your faith to your children. Third, encouraging your children to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there is your heart also.” You teach your children what is most important to you—you can’t help yourself. And if something is not important to you, no matter how much you give that subject lip service, your children will see right through you. I’ve heard it said that children will eat whatever their father eats. Mom can feed everyone salad if she likes, but, “If Daddy’s not eating it why do I have to?” It’s true about faith too.
In 1994 the Swiss carried out a survey to determine how a person’s religion carried through to the next generation. Their findings? If both father and mother attend regularly, 33 percent of their children will end up as regular churchgoers, and 41 percent will end up attending irregularly. In other words, 75% will attend in some way with only a quarter not practicing at all. If the mother attends regularly, but the father is irregular, only 3 percent of the children will become regulars themselves (that’s a loss of 30% when dad doesn’t come very often.) An additional 13% is also added in the lost category after just that little change. Here’s the scary part, if the father never comes and mother comes regularly, only 2 percent of children will become regular worshippers. Over 60 percent of their children will be lost completely to the church. In other words, Dads—the importance you place on your faith matters . . . a lot.
But for all of you parents, it’s about much more than just church attendance. In order to better relate to your children, you need to work on your own relationship to God. When you pray for guidance or for strength when your children are acting like maniacs, it can help you better handle the stress. A strong marriage gives children a sense of security at home, and a strong faith gives them a sense of security throughout life as well. You cannot simply feed your children without taking in nourishment yourself. Taking care of your relationship with God is of the utmost importance; that’s why God started the great commandment with your faith—not simply your children’s faith.
We’ve talked about prayer before, but I encourage you all to try it on a daily basis to build your relationship to God. Just tell him what’s going on to start and feel free to ask for what you need. Bible Study with a group of friends, either in your home or at church, is also a great way to build your knowledge of God’s laws and his promises. Finally, involving yourself with the ministries at church gives you an outlet to serve others which gives meaning and purpose to your life.
But even if you have a strong faith yourself, you need to teach the faith to your children. But how? Rich Melheim, the author that I quoted from earlier, came up with a five-step program for bringing faith into every house every night. SHARE, READ, TALK, PRAY AND BLESS. Share. Share highs and lows of the day together. Read. Read a verse or passage from scripture to bring God into the equation. Talk. How might that scripture relate to your day? Does the reading bring up any questions for the kids? Pray. Pray for one another’s highs and lows. Bless. Bless one another before turning out the lights. What is a blessing? After I had had a really bad day, my dad would tell me, “God loves you, I love you and the sun will come up tomorrow.” That’s a blessing.
SHARE, READ, TALK, PRAY AND BLESS. By doing these 5 faith practices each day you are teaching your children not only about your faith, but how to incorporate faith into their daily lives. In the great commandment from Deuteronomy, God DIDN’T say, “Impress these commandments on your children: go to church every week.” No, that’s not enough. It’s important, but it’s not even the most important. God said to talk about your faith when you are sitting at home and when you are traveling, when you are going to sleep and when you are waking up. Making faith a part of your everyday life teaches your children to make it a part of their’s so that, when they leave the home, they know how to nourish the faith you’ve given them.
You’ve heard the old saying, “If you give a man to fish, he’ll eat for a day. If you teach a man to fish, he’ll eat for a lifetime.” I believe that we have been reasonably good at giving our children fish, we’ve brought them to church, Sunday school, Bible school, confirmation and luther league. But, we may have a lot of work to still do at TEACHING our children to fish. Have you talked about your struggles with getting to church on Sunday mornings? Have you shared what you love about worship and asked them what they love? Teach them to pray or learn with them. What might happen if you let your child have a bunch of friends over, and taught them, and even their parents, how to have a short Bible study? When they went off to college, they might already know how to do it.
Finally, Jesus said, let the little children come to me. We need to encourage our children, not just to follow us and talk the talk of faith—to learn the jargon—but to experience the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives. For instance, find out what makes your child passionate and connect that passion to one of the ministries here at Emmanuel. Help them to see that you can have fun, worship God and serve others at the same time. Are they musical? What about having them become a part of the praise band? Are they good with people? They could be a greeter or join hospitality? Are they are born leader? Anyone who is confirmed is qualified to be on the church council?
Why is this important? Getting involved gets you focused on serving other people, not simply on getting fed yourself. Taking a risk makes you rely on God, and when we start seeking Jesus for help, he comes and strengthens us in our time of need. Ask your children how they would want to get involved in the church, however big or little the job, and let’s all, as a community find a way to make it happen. Let’s make room to allow them to use their gifts. When we learn to give away the ministry to our children, we encourage them to take responsibility for their faith throughout their entire life. Poptarts are tasty, yes indeed they are, but Jesus Christ is the bread of life. Let’s pray to God for his help as we seek to give life to our children . . .
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Sermon for June 27th (A Wife's Respect)
“Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit to your husbands as you are to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church, the body of which he is the Savior. Just as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be, in everything, to their husbands.” Last week, I talked to you about how God instituted marriage and how important it is that both the husband and the wife fulfill their individual calls in a marriage. An essential part of that equation is a husband’s love, but the other essential part is a wife’s respect, or as Ephesians calls it most often her submission.
I’ll tell you the truth, it’s about all I can do to say that word, “submission” without cringing. Perhaps it is just as difficult for you to hear it. I think that the younger you are, perhaps the harder it is, because it is such a foreign concept in our culture. Why? Because you’ve heard stories. You’ve heard stories about women in the past, but not that very long ago, who were abused by the men in their lives and their husbands. Women who were beaten into submission, you might say. You’ve heard stories about women, perhaps from other countries, who do not have the same rights as their husbands because they are supposed to be quiet and “submissive” in that culture. Some women in this very house have no doubt experienced men who demanded too much of them, demanded their complete obedience—or else!—men who used the Bible as justification for never listening to their wives. I want to be clear right now: that kind of submission is not what God has in mind for a wife.
But how do we know? Because that is not a biblical model of submission or marriage. In Genesis, God looked for a partner for the human being he had created and that partner, that helper, was only found in the woman. If God had simply been looking for a creature to “submit” to the man, the horse may have sufficed. Or the donkey. Or the dog. Fetch me my slippers! Sit! Speak! Stay! That’s not submission, that’s obedience. And, in the Bible, neither the husband nor the wife is told to be “obedient” to one another. They are called to love and respect one another.
In the book “The Power of a Praying Husband,” the author Stormie Omartian explains the word submission in the following way, “Submit is a verb. Submitting is a voluntary action. That means it is something we ourselves do. It’s not something we make someone else do. Just as we can’t force another person to love us, we can’t force someone to submit to us either. Of course we can make that person do what we want. But then that’s not true submission. Submission is a choice we make.”
And there are reasons why some of you women or wives would not want to make that choice isn’t there. For example, if you do not trust your husband to act with your best interests at heart, you will not want to submit to his decisions. But then again, God would never ask you to do that. A wife’s respect for her husband is only one half of the equation. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loves the church. In other words, husbands, you have no right to expect your wife to listen to you, to follow you or to respect you if you do not truly show her love. But wives, if you know that your husband truly loves you and respects you, what is it that keeps you from honoring and affirming your husband in the household? What keeps you from trusting his leadership?
Last week I said that men need someone to love. Men want to have someone to protect, to cherish and to adore. In the same way, women need someone they can be vulnerable with, someone they can respect. You might even go as far as to say that a wife wants her husband to be someone they could feel comfortable choosing to submit to. Once again, just to be clear, I am not saying that women want to be damsel’s in distress. What I am saying is this: in order to find meaning and fulfillment in a marriage, it is essential that a wife can feel vulnerable with her husband and trust her husband not to take advantage of that vulnerability. Submission does not mean being someone else’s doormat, it means trusting someone to not step on you even when you are at your weakest.
There is no doubt in my mind that women are just as able to do what a men can do. How many women, how many of you, work a full time job outside of the home and then come home to be a full time mother and full time housekeeper? How many single moms have raised a family all on their own? Understand that the concept of submission in a marriage has nothing to do with abilities. However, for those of you who are married women here this morning, just because you CAN do anything—do you really WANT to do it all? Don’t you feel at times trapped by all the demands placed on you at work and at home? Don’t you sometimes wish you could share the workload with someone you could trust? Someone who loves you andyou’re your best interests at heart? Don’t you ever wish that you could let someone else make the decisions? Throughout the Bible, God calls husbands to be leaders in their households instead of simply taking a back seat.
Wives, if you’ve ever felt overwhelmed and frazzled by the demands of work and home, you may realize what joy there would be if you could respect your husband enough to hand him the reins not because you couldn’t lead, but because you wanted him to. Imagine what might happen in your marriage if, instead of making all the decisions, you took just one decision that you normally make and said to your husband, “You decide. I trust your judgment. I’ll follow your lead” If you had a husband you knew loved you, giving up that control would not be scary, it would be a relief.
A wife’s respect of her husband does not mean that she must obey every command he gives because, unlike God, men are fallible. Husbands make mistakes and misjudgments. In the book of 1st Peter, wives are encouraged once again to accept the authority of their husbands EVEN THOUGH those men might be unbelievers. Submission doesn’t mean that you can’t disagree. It doesn’t mean that you should follow your husband into sin. In fact, even a submissive wife could seek to change her husband so that they might be won to faith in Jesus Saint Peters ays. so that they might be won over to Jesus.
God wants every wife to have a mind of her own and to stand up and disagree when she feels led to. The book of proverbs says, “A capable wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain.” Yes guys, “Submit to one another out of reverence to the Lord.” A loving husband has enough sense to listen to his wife rather than demanding her submission to a foolish plan or decision. Marriage is a partnership.
When we submit ourselves to God, he frees us to be all that we can be. Instead of taking up our time trying to “please” God and climb our way up into heaven, we submit to his forgiveness—we trust him and become vulnerable. We can’t submit to God’s Law until our hearts are changed by God’s love. You will not be able to submit to your husband until God’s love and your husband’s love changes your heart. Wives, submitting to your husband sounds scary, I mean, you know that he’s not perfect; but because you have already submitted to God you also know that you are not perfect either. Trust that God has given your husband gifts and that these gifts can be a blessing for you and for your marriage.
How might you as a woman or wife begin respecting your husband more in your marriage? I believe that there are two ways that you can make this happen. First, by telling him and showing him that you are placing your trust in him. For instance, as I mentioned before, the next time you have a decision to make, give your husband your opinion and then tell him to make the decision—make it clear that you will accept what he decides because you trust him. Wow! Can you already feel your husbands chest filling with pride? A husband needs someone to love, and by respecting him enough to trust his leadership, you are giving him the ability to show you how much he loves you.
How else might a wife submit to her husband? By letting go of some control. Many wives do everything in their households and, while it’s nice to do it the way you want to, there may be gifts that your husband has that you do not. Ask him what he’d like to do and give up that job. Don’t tell him how to do it, trust him to do it. It may be difficult at first, but imagine how much time might be freed up and how worthwhile your husband might feel.
Finally, there is a part in all of this that a husband can play. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loves the church. Pray for her. Pray for her submission. Pray that you might deserve her respect. Pray that she might trust in God and that, by trusting in God, she might trust you more. When she asks you to make a decision, trust in the strength God gives you and lead with her well-being in mind. Only by submitting to God can we all submit to one another.
I pray that all of your marriages might be blessed with mutual love and mutual submission. As we end this month’s focus on marriage, I would like to encourage all of you to continue working diligently to strengthen your relationships with one another. I am here to pray with you, to counsel you and to cheer you on and you have many saints in these pews who have great advice and a lot of experience. Your marriage is worth the time and the effort to keep it strong. Christ died for you so that all of you might know what love is and rejoice in a love that gives you freedom to submit, the courage to trust and the hope that through it all God is your fortress and strength. Amen.
I’ll tell you the truth, it’s about all I can do to say that word, “submission” without cringing. Perhaps it is just as difficult for you to hear it. I think that the younger you are, perhaps the harder it is, because it is such a foreign concept in our culture. Why? Because you’ve heard stories. You’ve heard stories about women in the past, but not that very long ago, who were abused by the men in their lives and their husbands. Women who were beaten into submission, you might say. You’ve heard stories about women, perhaps from other countries, who do not have the same rights as their husbands because they are supposed to be quiet and “submissive” in that culture. Some women in this very house have no doubt experienced men who demanded too much of them, demanded their complete obedience—or else!—men who used the Bible as justification for never listening to their wives. I want to be clear right now: that kind of submission is not what God has in mind for a wife.
But how do we know? Because that is not a biblical model of submission or marriage. In Genesis, God looked for a partner for the human being he had created and that partner, that helper, was only found in the woman. If God had simply been looking for a creature to “submit” to the man, the horse may have sufficed. Or the donkey. Or the dog. Fetch me my slippers! Sit! Speak! Stay! That’s not submission, that’s obedience. And, in the Bible, neither the husband nor the wife is told to be “obedient” to one another. They are called to love and respect one another.
In the book “The Power of a Praying Husband,” the author Stormie Omartian explains the word submission in the following way, “Submit is a verb. Submitting is a voluntary action. That means it is something we ourselves do. It’s not something we make someone else do. Just as we can’t force another person to love us, we can’t force someone to submit to us either. Of course we can make that person do what we want. But then that’s not true submission. Submission is a choice we make.”
And there are reasons why some of you women or wives would not want to make that choice isn’t there. For example, if you do not trust your husband to act with your best interests at heart, you will not want to submit to his decisions. But then again, God would never ask you to do that. A wife’s respect for her husband is only one half of the equation. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loves the church. In other words, husbands, you have no right to expect your wife to listen to you, to follow you or to respect you if you do not truly show her love. But wives, if you know that your husband truly loves you and respects you, what is it that keeps you from honoring and affirming your husband in the household? What keeps you from trusting his leadership?
Last week I said that men need someone to love. Men want to have someone to protect, to cherish and to adore. In the same way, women need someone they can be vulnerable with, someone they can respect. You might even go as far as to say that a wife wants her husband to be someone they could feel comfortable choosing to submit to. Once again, just to be clear, I am not saying that women want to be damsel’s in distress. What I am saying is this: in order to find meaning and fulfillment in a marriage, it is essential that a wife can feel vulnerable with her husband and trust her husband not to take advantage of that vulnerability. Submission does not mean being someone else’s doormat, it means trusting someone to not step on you even when you are at your weakest.
There is no doubt in my mind that women are just as able to do what a men can do. How many women, how many of you, work a full time job outside of the home and then come home to be a full time mother and full time housekeeper? How many single moms have raised a family all on their own? Understand that the concept of submission in a marriage has nothing to do with abilities. However, for those of you who are married women here this morning, just because you CAN do anything—do you really WANT to do it all? Don’t you feel at times trapped by all the demands placed on you at work and at home? Don’t you sometimes wish you could share the workload with someone you could trust? Someone who loves you andyou’re your best interests at heart? Don’t you ever wish that you could let someone else make the decisions? Throughout the Bible, God calls husbands to be leaders in their households instead of simply taking a back seat.
Wives, if you’ve ever felt overwhelmed and frazzled by the demands of work and home, you may realize what joy there would be if you could respect your husband enough to hand him the reins not because you couldn’t lead, but because you wanted him to. Imagine what might happen in your marriage if, instead of making all the decisions, you took just one decision that you normally make and said to your husband, “You decide. I trust your judgment. I’ll follow your lead” If you had a husband you knew loved you, giving up that control would not be scary, it would be a relief.
A wife’s respect of her husband does not mean that she must obey every command he gives because, unlike God, men are fallible. Husbands make mistakes and misjudgments. In the book of 1st Peter, wives are encouraged once again to accept the authority of their husbands EVEN THOUGH those men might be unbelievers. Submission doesn’t mean that you can’t disagree. It doesn’t mean that you should follow your husband into sin. In fact, even a submissive wife could seek to change her husband so that they might be won to faith in Jesus Saint Peters ays. so that they might be won over to Jesus.
God wants every wife to have a mind of her own and to stand up and disagree when she feels led to. The book of proverbs says, “A capable wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain.” Yes guys, “Submit to one another out of reverence to the Lord.” A loving husband has enough sense to listen to his wife rather than demanding her submission to a foolish plan or decision. Marriage is a partnership.
When we submit ourselves to God, he frees us to be all that we can be. Instead of taking up our time trying to “please” God and climb our way up into heaven, we submit to his forgiveness—we trust him and become vulnerable. We can’t submit to God’s Law until our hearts are changed by God’s love. You will not be able to submit to your husband until God’s love and your husband’s love changes your heart. Wives, submitting to your husband sounds scary, I mean, you know that he’s not perfect; but because you have already submitted to God you also know that you are not perfect either. Trust that God has given your husband gifts and that these gifts can be a blessing for you and for your marriage.
How might you as a woman or wife begin respecting your husband more in your marriage? I believe that there are two ways that you can make this happen. First, by telling him and showing him that you are placing your trust in him. For instance, as I mentioned before, the next time you have a decision to make, give your husband your opinion and then tell him to make the decision—make it clear that you will accept what he decides because you trust him. Wow! Can you already feel your husbands chest filling with pride? A husband needs someone to love, and by respecting him enough to trust his leadership, you are giving him the ability to show you how much he loves you.
How else might a wife submit to her husband? By letting go of some control. Many wives do everything in their households and, while it’s nice to do it the way you want to, there may be gifts that your husband has that you do not. Ask him what he’d like to do and give up that job. Don’t tell him how to do it, trust him to do it. It may be difficult at first, but imagine how much time might be freed up and how worthwhile your husband might feel.
Finally, there is a part in all of this that a husband can play. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loves the church. Pray for her. Pray for her submission. Pray that you might deserve her respect. Pray that she might trust in God and that, by trusting in God, she might trust you more. When she asks you to make a decision, trust in the strength God gives you and lead with her well-being in mind. Only by submitting to God can we all submit to one another.
I pray that all of your marriages might be blessed with mutual love and mutual submission. As we end this month’s focus on marriage, I would like to encourage all of you to continue working diligently to strengthen your relationships with one another. I am here to pray with you, to counsel you and to cheer you on and you have many saints in these pews who have great advice and a lot of experience. Your marriage is worth the time and the effort to keep it strong. Christ died for you so that all of you might know what love is and rejoice in a love that gives you freedom to submit, the courage to trust and the hope that through it all God is your fortress and strength. Amen.
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