World Communion Sunday
October 2, 2016
Lamentations 1:1-6; Psalm 137; 2 Timothy 1:1-14; Luke 17:5-10
(Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LSyWfiNSLM
)
At the end of the Gospel of Matthew, we read, “the eleven
disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When
they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to
them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore
and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I
have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”[1]
This passage is often called the Great Commission, or the
Commissioning of the Disciples. Jesus is entrusting his disciples with power
and authority and sending them on one last mission. From this mission comes the
mission statement of The United Methodist Church: to make disciples of Jesus
Christ for the transformation of the world. Today, on World Communion Sunday,
we remember that God’s church isn’t just here, or just in our country, but all
around the world! Yet it’s not only the world that will be transformed, but our
community as well. However, that change doesn’t happen just by our being here.
Can you imagine, if a church’s mere presence in a community transformed that
community, we’d have so many problems solved! If our community was transformed
and Christ’s love shown to all just by keeping our doors open and the lights
on, we’d be set! But our mission is not to keep the doors open. Our mission is
to make disciples. I’m going to say that again. Our goal is not to keep the
doors open. Our goal is to make disciples, to create and to be people who
follow Jesus. I saw a meme on Facebook recently that pointed out that discipleship
is not a strategy to grow your church.[2]
The end goal of making disciples isn’t to grow the church. The point of
discipleship is to grow closer to God. We don’t make disciples to grow our
church. We make disciples because Jesus told us to. We make disciples for the
transformation of the world. So, let’s talk a little bit about discipleship.
In 2nd Timothy we read that “the Spirit that
God has given us does not make us timid; instead, his Spirit fills us with
power, love, and self-control.”[3] Disciples are not timid or afraid. We
are not afraid of failing at a new ministry. We are not afraid of numbers
decreasing, or increasing! We are not shy or nervous about sharing our faith –
or, at least, we shouldn’t be! A few weeks ago I took the kids to Gunpowder
Park. AJ was wearing a hat from the Durham Bulls, a minor league baseball team
in North Carolina. Another family recognized it and we got to talking. It
turned out they also used to live in North Carolina. Then they mentioned that
they had gone to Duke, and I said, oh, I went to Duke, too. Then, a couple
minutes later, I mentioned that I’d gone to Duke’s Divinity School, for
seminary, and that I’m a pastor. (You never know how people are going to react
when you tell them you’re a pastor.) And they said they’d also gone to Duke
Divinity School and were now professors of religion! We were both hesitant to
admit that we’d gone to seminary, because we weren’t sure how the other would
react. Yet Paul tells Timothy that “God did not give us a spirit of cowardice,
but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.” And so, disciples
trust God, instead of being fearful and cowardly.
After all, if you keep reading in 2 Timothy, Paul then
tells Timothy, “I know the one in whom I’ve placed my trust. I’m convinced that
God is powerful enough to protect what he has placed in my trust until that day.”[4] We
are not afraid because we know the one in whom we have placed our trust. We
trust and we remember that God gave us a spirit of power and of love and of
self-control. We are to be bold, we are to be loving, and we are to show
self-discipline. After all, the only way we can practice any spiritual
discipline is to have self-discipline first. Otherwise, it’s like your average
New Year’s resolution and it will fail. Yet, we’re also not afraid of failing. If
we are about the work of making disciples, then whether we succeed or we fail
is in God’s hands.
The point is that we’re doing what we’re supposed to do. We can’t control other people or how they
respond to us. Some discipleship ministries will do well, others will not.
That’s just how life is. Yet when we do well, when we succeed, we also remember
that we don’t deserve any special praise. Nor more than we deserve extra
condemnation when we fail. If we’ve been doing the work God gave us to do, then
we’ve been faithful, and that’s what God asks of us. That’s the point of the
short story Jesus tells about the servant who just came in from the field. The
master doesn’t throw a party for the servant or give him a break just because
the servant did what he was supposed to do. The master gives him the next task
to do. Jesus says, “In the same way, when you have done everything required of
you, you should say, ‘We servants deserve no special praise. We have only done
our duty.’” Disciples don’t seek or
deserve special praise; we simply do what God called us to do. Whether we
do well in that task or whether we fail, the point is we were faithful in carrying
it out.
There’s
been a trend for a while now to give a trophy to every kid on a sports team in
the whole league. That’s how my sisters got so many soccer trophies, and I was
jealous. I only ever earned one trophy, the year my softball team won the tournament.
All these participation trophies cause all of us of all ages to expect to be
thanked and appreciated just for showing up. Yet just showing up isn’t anything
special. Yes, some days it is all you can do if you’re battling a major health
issue. But for a normal, healthy person, you want extra appreciation just for
being there? Jesus says no, you don’t get special praise just for doing what
you’re supposed to do. You don’t get special recognition for being the highest
donor, especially if what you’re giving is not generous giving in proportion to
what you have. You don’t get special recognition for leading, if leadership
skills are what you possess naturally. We are to do what God has called us to
do. We are to share the gifts God has given us. We simply do it. Not for praise,
not for fame, not to get our names in the newspaper or the bulletin. There was
a contemporary Christian song that came out 25 years ago by Steven Curtis
Chapman called “For the Sake of the Call.” The first verse says, “Nobody stood
and applauded them /So they knew from the start /This road would not lead to
fame /All they really knew for sure /Was Jesus had called to them /He said
"come follow Me" and they came.”[5]
Jesus calls, and we answer the call. Disciples just do what God calls them to
do, and leave the outcome in God’s hands.
After all, there’s that first line in today’s Gospel
reading, where the disciples ask Jesus to increase… their… faith. It’s
interesting listening to the different things the disciples ask of Jesus. In
Luke 11, they ask Jesus to teach them to pray, and he teaches them what we now
call the Lord’s Prayer. Here, they ask for Jesus to increase their faith. They
don’t ask for him to increase the number of followers. They don’t ask for him
to provide shelter for them that night, since, if you remember, they kinda
wandered around the countryside. They don’t ask him for food. Disciples ask for their faith to be increased, not their numbers.
Doing God’s work is all about faith. Faith that God will provide what we
need, when we need it to do God’s work. Faith that we will make it through
whatever trial or temptation has come our way. We pray that we will be saved
from the time of trial, not that there won’t be trying times. Faith that God
will see us answering God’s call, and will bless our efforts.
Here’s the thing. Disciples don’t pray to attract other
people, or for their numbers to be increased, because if they’re doing God’s
work, if they’re letting their light shine, then others will be attracted.
Faithful disciples attract others. A light on a hill attracts attention. And so
we pray for faith to stay the course, to finish answering the call, to keep our
trust in God. We know God is faithful. Our job is to stay faithful as we do his
work, as we carry out that last mission given to the disciples to make
disciples. Doing God's work is not something for which we should expect much
attention and thanks. It is simply our job, as God's people. And we can do it
boldly, lovingly, and with self-control. We don’t have to lose it when things
don’t go our way, because we trust in God.
I
had to be reminded of that this week. As I worked this week on papers, sermon,
and bible study due for the Board of Ordained Ministry; getting two churches
ready for Charge Conference; a grant evaluation; plus always getting ready for
Sunday; Wednesday I found out that a classmate of AJ’s came down with hand,
foot, and mouth. And while I have great
sympathy toward that family, because Isabel had it three times, I also freaked
out over the what if AJ gets it??? If
I were to be home with a sick two year old, not much of that to-do list that’s
been almost overwhelming me would get done. And that what if completely overwhelmed me. I texted my accountability
group, who immediately sent up prayers of healing for the classmate and
protection for AJ. And then I called my mom, because I needed someone to talk
to me to calm me down. And my mom is good at not freaking out over the what if’s. She doesn’t function in that
world. Her response is so what? You can’t control it. There’s nothing you can
do about it. So put it in God’s hands and trust God and leave it there. You
can’t control it. There’s nothing you can do about it. So quit worrying. There’s
a bonus thing for disciples: we don’t worry. And that may be the hardest one of
all. We do the work we have been given to do, and we don’t worry about what
might or might not happen. We can’t control that part. All we can control is
our part. Our mission is to make disciples. (Cowenton: to nurture the
community). Are we doing that? That’s all we’re going to be graded on. Did we
do the work God gave us to do? Did we make disciples? Did we become disciples
and grow in our faith? The goal is the transformation of the world. It’s a
lofty goal, that’s part of how we know it’s from God. There’s no way we could
do it on our own, so it’s a good thing God’s on our side.
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