Sermon for November 14th (Speak)

“The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest fields.” What is this harvest that Jesus is referring to? He is sending his disciples out to bring in those who believe Jesus’ message. If that message finds good soil and is accepted, those believers will become part of the great harvest of all believers at the end of time.

“The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man” Jesus says in the gospel of Matthew. The disciples are being sent out to speak to Jews and every Jew would have already heard that God had promised them a Messiah. Those that believe Jesus is that very Messiah are the good plants that God has planted. Those who do not believe, those who reject this message, who do not believe that Jesus is the promised Savior, are not only rejecting the disciples’ words, but are rejecting Jesus himself, and therefore God’s plan for their salvation. Jesus makes it clear that there are sinister forces at work, namely the Devil, who is planting weeds of doubt and unbelief. Those who accept the message are part of the harvest and those who reject the words are not.

According to the gospel of Matthew chapter 13, “The one who received the seed that fell on the good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” I have heard this described in an interesting way once before. Jesus is teaching the disciples to be fruit inspectors. Jesus just describes what they are looking for. He is saying that they are harvesting apples. If a person accepts the message, they are an apple. If they reject the message, they are something else . . . oranges perhaps. But either way, as Jesus explains, “You shall know them by their fruits.” At the end of the age, God intends to harvest the apples and throw out the oranges.

No doubt some of you are unhappy with the direction that this sermon is going. It doesn’t seem fair that some are apples and some are oranges. God himself doesn’t seem to like that either. He spoke through the prophet Ezekiel, “Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? Declares the Sovreign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?” Jesus Christ came to turn oranges into apples —to turn sinners into saints—to make unbelievers believers, “Repent and believe in the good news!” he said. But how is he going to get that done?
“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? Faith comes through hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.”

I think that it is very easy for us to become comfortable with our place in history—too comfortable. Jesus promised to come again, but that was 2000 years ago, and so we’ve just figured that he won’t come anytime soon. There’s always going to be enough time for us, for our loved ones, for people who don’t care about their salvation to start caring again. But get a load of this reading from 2nd Peter, “Do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

Whenever Jesus came into contact with his disciples, he told them to go and speak, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations. Baptizing them in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them everything that I have commanded you.” Why does he care so much? Because the harvest is coming and when Jesus returns like a thief in the night it will be too late. So what are we to do with this borrowed time? God is calling you to speak.

Over the last several weeks, I’ve been talking a lot about faith and what it is and what it means. Faith means to trust, to listen, to follow, to hold onto God’s promises, to confess and to obey. Faith also means to speak. The problem is that we get so focused on ourselves when we start talking about faith that we end up becoming enamored with our own bellybuttons. Have you ever seen a little kid when they find their bellybutton? Suddenly, in that child’s universe, their bellybutton becomes the most interesting thing to look at and they will keep looking down until they find it over and over again. They stick out their little bellies and pull up their little shirts again and again just to make sure that it is there. And then they show it off to everyone who will look. It’s cute for a one year old, but don’t let your faith become your newfound bellybutton.

In the book of James we read, “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes or daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” Do you see that James isn’t saying that there isn’t faith, but that it is not a living faith. Like an dead apple tree in the backyard that never grows apples. Who cares if it is an apple tree anymore? You can show off you faith and show off your apple tree as often as you’d like to anyone who will look, but if it is dead then it might as well be a peach tree, a banana tree or a lollipop tree. No one will be able to tell the difference! It’s purpose is dead.

Remember when I told you about the harvest? And how there are some apples and some oranges and God wants the apples? Did you like hearing that or did you want to change that? Did you feel scared or even angry about it? Why? Because God is loving, right? Well, if you believe that—that God is a loving God— if you have faith in that, if you trust that and are willing to confess that out loud and follow God wherever he leads you, even if it’s to tell someone else about that wonderful promise of salvation then you will want to speak! A living faith can’t just sit back and say, “Too busy.” No! A living faith speaks because it can’t help itself. A living faith must speak because it loves all people and hopes in the goodness and power of God above anything else. Even hoping against hope that God can turns oranges into apples before the harvest day.

In the story today, Moses had many excuses why he couldn’t speak. What can we learn from his story?

His first excuse was this, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt? Believe it or not, Moses didn’t seem to foresee that he was going to be a hero of the faith; in fact, he didn’t feel worthy. And he was right, he wasn’t worthy, just like you and I are not worthy. Who am I? Who are you? Who are we to be given such a wondrous message of love to give to people who are hurting in this world?

What is God’s answer to all this unworthiness? God doesn’t build Moses up talking about his spiritual gifts or about giving of his time and talents. God simply says, “I will be with you.” Having the faith to speak means trusting that it isn’t about you—it’s about God seeking his lost sheep and using your voice to call them home.

But then Moses said, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you?” I recently remembered how it felt after I received a call to seminary. How could I explain that God was “calling” me to be a pastor? How could I prove it? Was I SURE it was God or just a chemical imbalance?

In the story, Moses is told by God to prove it through a series of three miracles. We look at that and say, “Nice! If I could turn the Nile into blood people would probably believe me too! If I could turn a stick into a snake I wouldn’t be so worried about being believable!” So pray for a miracle. Why not! If you need one, pray for one. In the story of Paul and Barnabas in the book of Acts, we hear that, “they spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders.” The point is, it is up to you to speak, God will provide any necessary signs. If you believe you need one, why not ask for one and see what happens?

But Moses complained, “O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” In today’s vernacular we’d say, “But I’m not a good public speaker! I wouldn’t know what to say!” Once again, this is not about what YOU have to say. It’s what God has to say. God spoke to Moses and said, “I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.” If you don’t already have a Bible, ask us for one. If you are a Christian, you need a Bible and you need to read it. In proverbs we read that we should read God’s Word like we were searching for hidden treasure because in these pages we will find the knowledge of God. “For the Lord gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.” God is ready and waiting to teach. Open up your Bible and listen so that you have the words to speak when the time comes.

Moses then starts running out of excuses, “Oh Lord, please send someone else to do it.” “Since I speak with faltering lips, why would Pharaoh listen to me?”
God responds, “I will help you speak and will teach you what to do.” “You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country. But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt, he will not listen to you.”

This is probably the hardest part of speaking God’s message. God says very clearly, over and over to his prophets in the Bible, that he will make it so some do not hear. He told Isaiah that he would stop up the ears of the people who he spoke to, Jesus told the disciples he was speaking in parables so that the kingdom stayed hidden for some, God even hardened Pharaoh’s heart. That’s why you cannot have the faith to speak unless you have a living faith that trusts God, listens to him, follows him, holds onto his promises, is able to confess and obeys completely. His ways are not our ways, his thoughts are not our thoughts, and even if you do everything “right” the good you expect and want may not happen.

So why bother? I will end this message with a heartbreaking note. “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.” If people never hear the message of Jesus Christ, they won’t be able to believe that his amazing love is for them, that his ultimate forgiveness saves them for eternal life. People need to hear the love of Jesus, because if they don’t know his love, that is hell pure and simple—in this life or after death.

What is the good news in all of this? Where is the hope? You were once an orange. But God gave people in your life the faith to speak so that you might hear and believe. Now you are the apple of God’s eye. He will give you the faith to speak as well. “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” God tells us to ask him to send out his workers and so we shall, right here and right now. Let us pray . . .

Sermon for July 25th (Empowering Leadership)

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.