Sermon Video: Workers in his harvest field - Luke 10:1-2

As Jesus prepares to send out 72 of his followers to prepare the villages that he intends to visit for his arrival, he shares with them a perennial problem that confronts the Church, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few”.  Until the invention of mechanized harvesting equipment, labor shortages during the labor intensive harvest were a life and death problem.  Taken as a whole, there is always a greater opportunity for acceptance of the Gospel than there are those willing and able to share it.  Why would God allow such a crucial role in his plan to be filled by mankind, why not simply call men to himself as his did with the Apostle Paul?  One of the reasons for God’s utilization of his people for this task is the role that witnessing to the Gospel plays in our own process of spiritual maturity.  Helping to save the lost is beneficial to those who are already found.

                Given that a shortfall of labor is a common problem for the Church, what are we to do?  “Ask the Lord of the harvest”, Jesus continues by reminding his followers that the business they are about is not their own, it is God’s.  God is the Lord of the harvest, he may not be working personally in the field, but that doesn’t mean that his will is not at work in hearts and minds of both those sharing and those hearing about God’s love.  Ask God what?  Jesus prescribed solution is simple, “to send out workers into his harvest field.”  Our obedience to the call to bear witness in our world begins with prayer.  Prayer for those two whom the message needs to go, whether we know them personally and are praying in specific terms, or if we simply pray in general for our town, our country, or the work of missionaries we support.  In addition to praying for those hearing the message, we need to pray for those giving it.  If we’re going to the Lord in prayer, we need to remember that our own hearts must be open to being a part of the answer.  When we pray that the Lord send forth workers, we’re praying that he send us as well.

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Sermon Video: Don't look back, follow Jesus - Luke 9:51-62

What does it mean to be a “follower” of Jesus Christ?  That’s a phrase we often use, and something that we’ve been commanded to be, so understanding it becomes rather important.  One way to be a follower of Jesus would be to observe how he chose his own path and utilize the same approach.  In Luke 9:51, we’re told that Jesus “resolutely” set out for Jerusalem.  The choice of going to Jerusalem, to finish the mission of the Father, was a deliberate one.  It was also a choice made with the ultimate goal of being reunited with the Father in glory at the forefront.  How was Jesus able to endure the hardship of his passion and death?  He knew that one the other side of it lay victory and glory.  It is this sort of focus and determination that is required of those who would follow in the footsteps of Jesus.

                If any of us was trying to recruit new volunteers for an important project, we’d stress the potential benefits of being a part of the endeavor, when Jesus recruits disciples, he makes sure to focus upon the high cost to anyone who chooses to follow him.  In this passage, three people who are potential followers are all given difficult answers, even enigmatic ones, from Jesus, such that the only conclusion we can draw from this interaction is that Jesus only wants those who are willing to pay the price to begin this journey.  To the first potential follower, Jesus stresses that following him will not lead to ease and comfort, to the second, he speaks of the need to begin following now because life will always give us important reasons to wait, and to the third, he warms that only a consistent and focused devotion will allow someone who follows him to be useful in the Kingdom of God. 

                Jesus set out resolutely for Jerusalem, knowing what awaited him there.  What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus?  It means we too must know our purpose in serving God, and we too must begin to fulfill it with complete devotion no matter what it costs us in the end.

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Help that really helps people

                “Give a man a fish, you’ll feed him for a day, teach a man to fish, and you’ll feed him for a lifetime.”  As someone who has enjoyed fishing over the years, I know I haven’t often been fed by it, but the principle as it applies to the Church’s charity work for the poor is valid.  Whenever we can, we should be eager to help in ways that enable those who receive our help to be able to help themselves in the future.  In things such as disaster relief, the immediate need takes precedence as it should, but if we let it, every need will look like a crisis situation, whether it be a food, shelter, or clothing that we’re helping with, and the cycle of poverty that is at the root of the need will never be addressed.  How can the Church help break the generational poverty that afflicts so many of the people that our charity efforts are aimed at?  Relationships.  The importance of relationships is why the last step of every client helped by Mustard Seed Missions is their referral to a church in their neighborhood whose mission it is to follow up on what we have started.  The Church needs to be the extended support system that is so desperately needed by those struggling with poverty.  If we’re going to build relationships, we need to be prepared to go above and beyond the simpler tasks of filling needs, and embrace along with it the task of building friendships.  Those who are poor need to feel welcome in our churches, and they need to be treated like family.  When this is our attitude, both meeting needs and being a friend, Gospel seeds will surely grow.

Sermon Video: "Always be prepared" - I Peter 3:15

How did you come to have faith in Jesus Christ?  For the majority of Christians, the answer involves the influence of a family member, friend, co-worker, or neighbor, in other words, a personal relationship with someone who was already a Christian.  In I Peter 3:15, we find Peter’s instructions for the preparation necessary for Christians in order to be ready to answer questions about their faith.  For his original audience, the situation involved persecution, for many Christians around the world that holds true today, but for Americans it is often complacency or apathy that stand in the way of sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

                For Peter, step one in sharing the Gospel is ensuring that our own hearts and minds are ready.  Our hearts need to recognize that Jesus is Lord, an attitude that influences our priorities and how we live, and we need to prepare our minds by understanding our faith, what it means and how it saved us, for how else can we share that critical information?

                Once our own house is in order, Peter encourages us to be prepared to answer questions, which is the opposite of most approaches to evangelism which focus upon the Christian initiating the conversation.  Peter anticipates these questions because he knows that the hope that Christians have within them will prompt questions from people living in a world without it.  Hope is a rare commodity, and a valuable one, so when Christians live without despair, because they know who holds the future, and they live for tomorrow by investing in others, because they are servants of God, it gets noticed by others.

                When the question is asked, whatever form it ends up taking, how are we to respond?  Peter makes it clear that the sharing of the Gospel must be with gentleness and respect, which seems to be an area that we as Christians have failed often enough to live up to.  How can we ensure that we have the right attitude as we share the Gospel?  Before thinking about how you will respond, try listening to the person asking the question first, when you dignify the person asking the question by taking that question seriously, rather than itching to give a pre-determined response, the results will follow.  We must be prepared, we must be ready, and we must have hope overflowing in our lives so that others will ask us that all important question.

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Christmas Eve Sermon Video: "the true light that gives light to every man" - John 1:9

It is fitting that we surround our celebration of Christmas with light, there was much light at the original Christmas, from the brightness of the angles speaking to the shepherds, to the star which guided the magi.  The prologue of the Gospel of John also speaks of the light of Christmas, John calls Jesus, “the true light that gives light to every man”.  Humanity was living in darkness, Jesus brought the light with him because he was the light.  During his lifetime, the light of Jesus was clearly visible to those who knew him, but after his departure back to the Father, what light was left among men?  The light of Christ now shines forth through his people, with the power of the Holy Spirit, to likewise illuminate a dark world and let the truth of God’s love be known.  It is indeed fitting to celebrate light at Christmas, that is a light everyone needs, and the people of God must share.

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