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06.15.08

11th Sunday in Ordinary Time

SERMON SERIES: THE WORK OF THE CHURCH

PART 2: MINISTRY

1 KINGS 17:7-16; JOHN 13:1-17

• From Worship to Service
• Our Purpose for Being
• “Christ our hope:  Celebrating the past, Conquering the present, Creating the future”
• These are the words of the mission statement that currently guides what we do here at the Cold Spring Presbyterian Church
• It helps define who we are and what we are about
• But what do these words mean to us as we seek to be faithful to Jesus Christ
• How do these words relate to the core values of the church—worship, ministry, evangelism, fellowship and discipleship—that Jesus defined in the Great Commandments and the Great Commission?
• The opening words, “Christ our hope,” center us in a solid faith in Jesus Christ
• It is Christ alone that we worship and serve, so it is Christ who is our guide and friend as we gather together to celebrate, to conquer, and to create
• The past we celebrate is not only the rich history and tradition that has made this congregation what it is, it is also the history of what God has done for us through Jesus Christ
• We celebrate the past in our worship as we remember God’s gracious acts for us in Jesus Christ
• But the purpose of worship isn’t simply to remember and celebrate the past
• The purpose of worship is to equip us to live faithfully for Jesus in the present and to empower us to create a new future that is better than the past
• So in our mission statement, we see a reflection of the first two core values—worship and ministry
• As we celebrate how God has worked among us in the past, we are equipped to move forward in ministry as we seek to overcome the challenges of the present and create a new future as we work to build the kingdom of God
• These first two core values of the church come from Jesus’ Great Commandments: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind; and love your neighbor as yourself.”
• The lawyer who asked Jesus the question that prompted this answer was seeking to trap Jesus into identifying only one of the 614 laws the Pharisees followed every day, but Jesus refused to fall for his trap
• By selecting only one of the laws, Jesus would be negating all of the other laws, thereby angering the Pharisees
• Instead, Jesus to offers a summary of all of God’s laws, and by keeping the laws Jesus gave, one would be faithful to all of God’s commands
• The summary Jesus gave was simple:  “Love God…Love your neighbors.”
• And Jesus gives these two great commands instead of only one because they are inseparable
• We can’t truly love God with all of our heart, soul, strength and mind unless we also love our neighbor as ourselves
• The only way we can truly express our love for God is by loving others
• The love we have received from God and the love we have for God is of little value unless it changes the way we live our lives
• The writer of 1 John says, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar.  For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.” (4:20)
• When Worship Ends, Service Begins
• As love for God must translate into love for others, so worship of God must translate into service to others
• One of the core doctrines of the Presbyterian Church is “the priesthood of all believers”
• Simply stated, this means that the work of ministry isn’t reserved only for paid professional clergy
• Ministry is something to which each of us are called, and every believer is equipped with some gift for ministry which we are to use to serve others
• We gather for worship to glorify God by offering God the very best of ourselves
• But we also gather for worship to discover what God wants us to do and to be prepared to do it
• Worship does not end at the conclusion of the worship service
• To love God with the whole of our being means that every action of our lives ought to be an act of worship, and our worship continues as we move out from this place to minister to others in Jesus’ name.
• Writing about this second core value of the church, Rick Warren says, “The church exists to minister to people.  Ministry is demonstrating God’s love to others (and notice the action word!) by meeting their needs and healing their hurts in the name of Jesus…The church is to minister to all kinds of needs: spiritual, emotional, relational, physical…The church is to “equip the saints for the work of ministry.”  Unfortunately, very little ministry takes place in many churches.  Instead, much of the time is taken up by meetings.  Faithfulness is often defined in terms of attendance rather than service, and members just sit, soak, and sour.”
• Unless we are actively involved in ministry, we are failing to be the church
• Unless we are actively seeking to identify the needs of people around us and do all we can to meet those needs, we are not loving God with all of our being, nor are we loving neighbors as we love ourselves
• Five Revelations About Ministry
• Our Attitude
• Our Scripture lessons this morning have much to reveal to us about ministry
• The first thing we see is that our attitude often gets in the way of our service to others, and the primary roadblock to ministry is our selfishness and pride
• When Elijah first approached the widow of Zeraphath to ask her for food and drink, notice her response: “I don’t have enough.”
• Moved by concern for the security of herself and her son, perhaps we agree that her reaction is appropriate, especially in a culture that teaches us to take care of ourselves first
• But in a culture as affluent as ours, there is no legitimate reason why anyone should be in need
• Our selfishness stands in the way of helping others, and “I don’t have enough” becomes an excuse
• Listen to how we use those words
• “I don’t have enough time”—that’s one of our favorites.  Ministry takes time, and to invest time in ministry gives us less time “for ourselves”
• “I don’t have enough energy”—yet we find energy for things we like to do.  Ministry is hard work, and to expend energy in ministry means having less energy to invest in selfish pleasures
• “I don’t have enough money”—for anything but ourselves, that is.  Ministry involves using what we have available and investing in the lives of others.  If we use it for others, we might not have enough for ourselves
• The disciple’s problem was not only selfishness; it was also pride
• Luke tells us that on their way to this Passover feast, the disciples were arguing among themselves about who was the greatest
• Perhaps because of this argument, they were too proud to perform an acceptable and necessary act of hospitality by washing one another’s feet
• The task of washing a guest’s feet to remove the dust from their travels was assigned to the lowest Gentile slave
• The disciples, concerned about their own greatness, couldn’t bring themselves to stoop so low, not even for their Master
• In our culture, there are a lot of “dirty jobs,” and for many of us, it is beneath our dignity to stoop down and do them
• Selfishness and pride are roadblocks to ministry
• Christ’s Attitude
• From that we learn that ministry is to be done in humility, with a humble attitude
• Jesus, the Teacher and Lord, laid aside his robe, girded a towel around his waist and stooped to wash the feet of his disciples
• When it comes to meeting needs, there is no task to lowly or menial
• Nothing is beneath us because nothing was beneath Jesus
• And our ministry to others needs to be done without expecting anything in return
• If we expect something in return, our motivation is selfishness,  not love
• Did you notice that, even after Jesus washed the disciples’ feet, still none of them stooped to wash his feet?
• Jesus didn’t do it to gain something for himself—he did it to give of himself
• Unfortunately, the attitude of our culture pervades the church as well when it comes to doing ministry
• The culture asks, “What’s in it for me?” and so does the church
• Do we as the church expect things in return from those to whom we minister?  You bet we do!
• We expect them to come to worship, to participate in our programs, and to give money so we can maintain our building and meet our expenses
• Too often our motivation for ministry is what we can get out of it, and not what we can put into it
• Is it any wonder that so many today feel the church is irrelevant and Christians are phonies?
• We talk about humility, love, and service, while we exhibit pride, hatred, and greed
• An Example to Follow
• Thirdly, we see Jesus’ action and hear his challenge to follow his example (vs. 13-16)
• Repeatedly throughout his ministry, Jesus proclaimed that the road to greatness is not found in the exercise of power; it is found by taking on the role of a servant
• The true leader is one who thinks of others first
• A true leader is one who sacrifices their own needs for the sake of the needs of others
• A true leader is one who demonstrates that he/she loves God with all their being by loving neighbors as themselves
• Jesus identifies service as an extremely important part of the mission of the church
• Jesus is the one sent by the Father, and the disciples will be sent by Jesus
• Jesus was submissive to the Father, and disciples are to be under the authority of Jesus
• Following the example of Jesus, the church is commissioned to a ministry of humble, sacrificial service
• The Motivation for Ministry
• Next, we see that the true motivation for ministry is love
• John begins this passage by saying, “Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.” (v. 2)
• Jesus showed the full extent of his love by serving his disciples
• The fact that Jesus laid aside his clothes to wash the disciples’ feet foreshadows the event that was soon to come—Jesus would lay aside his own life for the sake of saving the lives of others
• In other words, there is no extent to which Jesus would refuse to go to show us how much he loves us
• And in this act of service, Jesus reveals the very nature of God—God is a God of love and grace who will do whatever it takes to demonstrate that love to us and minister to the needs of God’s children
• Our ministry to others ought to express the “full extent” of our love for God—that we are willing to love God with all our being
• God’s love is revealed to others through our ministry and our love for God is expressed in our service
• Through our ministry to others, we acknowledge that we are all sisters and brothers, all children of the same God who loves us equally
• Jesus did not discriminate, and neither must we
• Anyone who is in need deserves our help, even our enemies
• Did you notice that, in this story, Judas was still present?
• Although Jesus knew Judas would very soon betray him, he still washed Judas’ feet
• Ministry Results in Blessing
• Finally, these stories reveal that selfless ministry brings into our lives abundant blessings
• God blesses us when we are involved in ministry
• In the story of Elijah and the widow, Elijah was blessed by having his needs met through the generosity of the widow, and the widow was blessed by using what she had to minister to another
• God multiplied what the widow had—she didn’t get rich (materially) but she had more than enough for her needs
• And Jesus concludes his acted parable by saying “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them” (v. 17)
• James, the brother of Jesus, in his letter to the early believers says, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves.  Do what it says.” (1:22)
• Knowing what we ought to do is not the same as doing what we need to do
• God does not bless good intentions; God blesses faithful ministry and service
• So we come to worship to offer God our thanks and praise and to listen for God’s word to us—and so we should!
• But more importantly than what happens here is what happens once we leave this place
• Are we equipped to use our gifts in ministry to others, and do we feel compelled to do so?
• Are we showing the “full extent” of God’s love to the world?