Sunday 07/22/12 RWJ/Pottersville UMC
Sermon: “We are in the Business of Changing Lives”
Scripture Lesson: 2 Samuel 7:1-14a
Gospel Lesson: Mark 6:30-34, 53-56
Good morning brothers and sisters! I greet you in the name our risen Lord and savior Jesus Christ! I hope and pray that you have all had a blessed week and as always it’s a great pleasure to be in worship with you today!
This morning, I am continuing my five week series on how I think our local United Methodist Churches and our larger denominational United Methodist Church can get back to its historical Wesleyan roots to re-vitalize our church. In my first week of this series, I talked about the need for a pastor of a church to have great love and compassion for the needs of their congregation. How a pastor should be concerned with the well being and health of his or her congregation, while at the same time being devoted to God and preaching the gospel. In my second week of this series, I talked about the need to look at the Christian democracy of the dead. By viewing the believers that went before us, we can retain our authentic Christian faith, and at the same time reaffirm our own present day faiths. Last week, in the third part of this five week series, I talked about the Corpus Christi, or the body of Christ. Specifically, I talked about how the people of God and our church communities need to be a loving and a cohesive family. When we are truly the Corpus Christi we feel loved by the congregation, the congregation feels loved by us, and people who come into contact with us or this church, feel loved as well.
This week, I will be talking about the forth part of my five part series. While in the first three weeks of this series I have talked about the significance and the role of the pastor, the importance of looking to our past believers and heritage, and the role and significance of the congregation, this week I will be talking about what the mission of our and all churches should be. This mission, as the sermon title is called, is that “We are in the business of changing lives.” It has been a common question for people for a long time, to say “So what do you do for a living Bill,” or “What business are you in Joe?” While we all have jobs, or had jobs, we could say for example, “I was in the car business,” “I was in the farming business,” “I was in the banking business,” “I was in the food business,” and etc.” The question I have for this morning though, is was the business or job that you are or were in your sole driving motivation in life? If you sell or sold cars, was your only motivation in life to be in the business of selling more cars? Was that your highest life priority?
Believe it or not even in the Christian seminary, I have met guys in there early twenties who clearly, whether they said it or not had clear what I like to call “bishop ambitions.” What are bishop ambitions you may ask? Bishop ambitions are when a young seminary student makes a plan to quickly climb the later from small churches, to bigger churches, to becoming a district superintendent, and then as you probably guessed it a bishop. I could see some of these really young fellows who seemed to have it all mapped out, they would tell me there plans to grow huge churches, and it was as if they plan to convert our whole state in a matter of hours!
While serving God and serving the church is great, our focuses in our businesses should not be just money, climbing the latter and achieving titles. More than this, we should seek to change lives for Jesus Christ! We should not allow human ambitions to become our sole reality. For if you are or were a teacher, maybe you were a follower of Jesus Christ cleverly disguised as a teacher. Maybe you are or were a follower of Christ cleverly disguised as a nurse. As our scripture reading this morning from 2 Samuel points out, God told the soon to be King David, “I will make you a great name,” and God also said that he would raise David up and that his line would rule forever. Interesting to know that Jesus Christ is a direct descendent of King David born of the Tribe of Judah, just like King David, making the Old Testament prophecy of one who come in the line of King David to save us all true! In the Gospel of Mark reading this morning, Jesus saw a crowd and “he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd.” Jesus wanted to change their lives with his life saving message! He wanted that crowd to be new creations in him! Later on in the Gospel of Mark reading for this morning it talks about how Jesus healed many of all sorts of afflictions. Because Jesus Christ changes lives!
You see brothers and sisters, we should strive to make a living, strive to work hard, and work to achieve, but not at the expense of Jesus Christ. Without the saving grace of Jesus Christ, where would be all be here today? Are we not lives who have been changed by the Lord? Are we not new creations from the inside out as scripture says?
I have never heard of a man on his death bed saying, “you know Paul I wish I just put in a little more time at the office.” As the Reverend Billy Graham famously said once, “I never saw a U-Haul behind a hearse.” It is so easy in this modern day world to be caught in the splendor of money, success, and titles, but in this who do we glorify? Who do we serve? I had a friend once say in a message he gave, “If all of you were on trial here today for being a devout Christian, would there be enough evidence against you to convict you?” Or instead would the jury have strong reasonable doubt and decide you were innocent of being a Christian?
In all of our lives, I think we have all at times taken our eyes of the Lord, and said “Wow. Look how great I am!” “Look at what I have accomplished!” “Look at how successful I am!” In these moments we often forget about God, but seem to really cling to God when things are awful don’t we? I heard a pastor say once, “There is no such thing as an atheist in a fox hole in war.” When we suffer we want God, but when we’re doing great we often think we are God! When I finally go onto to glory, and I stand before the Lord I don’t want the Lord to say, “Well Paul you worked a ton, made a ton of money, and then died.” I want the Lord to say, “Paul you have run the race, you have kept the faith, well done my good and faithful servant.” I want the Lord to say, “Paul you truly served my people, and you allowed me to use you to lead several people to me.” If you went on glory on this night, what would the Lord say to you do you think?
For brothers and sister we are followers of the living Christ, and as a result our first business is always and should be always being “In the business of changing lives.” Make no mistake, we should not seek to merely fill pews here at church, we want people to stand up in church, and be able to confess “I am a life that was changed.” More valuable than any amount of money, is when people have told me “Paul, your faith changed my life, and helped lead me to the Lord.” As the song goes, “Thank you for giving to the Lord, I am a life that was changed. Thank you for giving to the Lord, I am so glad that you gave.” I can say truly brothers and sister that Jesus Christ has changed my life, and maybe Jesus Christ has changed your life to. And if you feel that tapping on your heart today, don’t ignore that. If you feel like you have a large yoke around your neck like a plow horse, you can drop that yoke today! If you feel like you carry heavy suitcases of burdens, if you feel like you have nothing to offer, Jesus says “leave your burdens at the foot of my cross!” Leave your burdens at the foot of the cross, as Jesus wants to take all of your burdens and give you peace, joy, and happiness! If you would but just tell Jesus you accept him as your Lord and savior!
I long to see that person meet the Lord for the first time, and see the Lord tear off the chains that bind them! That they can say I am redeemed in the blood of the lamb! That I am a new creation in Jesus Christ! For brothers and sisters, we are in the business of changing lives. As we work hard, as we love our families, remember what the Lord has done for us, and let us say “I want others to have what I have.” This could be that co-worker, who doesn’t know Him, or that friend who is burdened, or that person who is suffering. Maybe the Lord is saying to you right now, will you tell that person about me? Will testify to that person what I have done in your life?
While we all like to achieve, get ahead, and see our children succeed, being grounded in the Lord is the ultimate accomplishment, and is my central focus. In my short amount of time doing ministry, I have seen miraculous changes in people’s lives. I have seen addicts get clean, become clean shaved, and now are pillars in their churches! I have seen men who have come into Christian retreat weekends like the Walk to Emmaus ready to call it quits with there family. Ready to walk out the door! On that weekend some of these men got an anointing touch from the Lord and they went home with a whole new approach to their children and their family! I have seen and continue to see what the Lord has and continues to do! I wish someone a few days ago approached that young man in Aurora, Colorado before he shot all of those innocent people in that movie theater and said, “Don’t you know how much He loves you?” “The devil is leading you, let the Lord lead you.”
As the song says brothers and sisters, “People need the Lord. At the end of open dreams, there is open door.” The Lord of life calls to you today. He says, “Feed my beloved sheep.” I hope and pray that over the course of my ministry here that I don’t just seek to grow a huge church, but that people who enter this house of the living God are changed people. That in this place they become something different! That they can say something happened here, and I will never be the same! For I have found Jesus, my chains are gone, and I am a life that has been changed! I then will say, welcome home brother! Welcome home sister!
The only thing better then our own salvation, is helping someone else find the Lord. Seeing a broken person be rebuilt by Jesus is one of the best things that you will ever encounter in your life. Has anyone here ever discipled a friend or even a relative? Did they find the Lord? How did you feel about that? Can you put a monetary value on that? It’s sort of like those credit card commercials that end with “priceless” isn’t it?
In looking to change lives for Jesus Christ, we don’t always know what is going to happen do we? My friend Jason from the Moravia/Locke United Methodist Church, where I live, recently came to the Lord. He called me this past week excited to have been baptized and to have joined the church this past Sunday, and is now in leadership at the church. He would never say it, but indirectly says to me all the time through his words and actions, “Paul thank you for giving to the Lord.” And who knows, Jason could be the next Billy Graham! When we say yes to the Lord, lives our changed, hearts are mended, and people are delivered from bondage.
One of the most beloved Christian authors of the last century was C.S Lewis. I want to close this morning by reading a short passage from his writing “The Business of Heaven.” The title sounds sort of like today’s sermon title of “We are in the Business of changing lives” doesn’t it? This passage talks about how God can and will change your life, if you let him. This passage is specifically titled “Advent, December 1.” And it reads:
“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of – throwing out a new wing here, putting an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”
If we allow him brothers and sisters, God can change us into a mighty and a new creation! Further, He can then use us to help lead others to Him. When we do so, then they will be changed into new and mighty creations! For brothers and sisters, “We are in the Business of Changing Lives!” So next time someone asks you next what business you are in, tell them this, “I am in the business of changing lives, and business is good.” Praise God and may we serve him by leading people to his precious son Jesus Christ!
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