Sunday
07/29/18 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “What is Impossible for God?”
(“Living
the Mission” Series – Part 5 of 5)
Old Testament
Scripture: Psalm 14
New Testament
Scripture: Ephesians 3:14-21
Gospel Lesson:
John 6:1-21
Welcome again my dear friends, my brothers and sisters in
Christ, on this our Tenth Sunday after Pentecost.
This morning, I am concluding my sermon series called “Living
the Mission”. I began this sermon series, as many of you remember, on my first
Sunday here at the Sidney UMC on July 1st.
The point of this sermon series, has been to look at our
church, ourselves, our community, and our world. Many of us can remember times
where the church was big and strong, and yet many of our churches seem to be
shrinking and struggling in recent years.
Since
the mission of the United Methodist Church is “To make disciples of Jesus
Christ for the transformation of the world,” this sermon series has looked at
how we as individuals, and as a church, can better live out our church’s
mission. Or another way to put it, is how do we better make disciples of Jesus Christ
and equip them to serve Sidney and the world?
Of the many ways that we can better live out our church’s
mission, I have identified five ways that we can do this even better. These
five things in fact, have existed at virtually every growing and thriving
church that I have ever been a part of.
Number one, we need pastors, leaders, and laity that love
each other boldly in the name of Jesus Christ. We need to show people the love
of Jesus and to live our faith, so that people will see who we are as
Christians. This love will help us bring people to Christ, and it will make our
church a stronger and even more loving family than it already is. I don’t know
about you, but when I was a lay person, it felt good to me knowing that my
pastor loved and prayed for me. Know that I love and pray for you.
The second thing that we can do to better live out our church’s
mission is rekindle our faith. Sometimes people grow discouraged, or our faith
seems weak. The community of faith, this extended family called the church, is
how we can grow together, comfort each other, and grow in our faith. I have
heard the story many times about a pastor took fire place tongs and took a hot
coal out of a fireplace fire and set it just outside the fire. Within in no
time the hot coal went cold and dark. The pastor then put the coal back in the
fireplace, and it quickly grew hot and red again. The same is true when we live
our faith out together. We need to renew our faith in Christ, both individually,
and as church.
The third thing that we can do to better live out our
church’s mission is to make room for the new people. When a church, a town, a
city, or even a country experiences spiritual revival, this means new people in
the life the church. If we are loving, leading, preaching, caring, and renewing
our faith, if we are connecting to people through soon to be Bible studies and
other programming, people will much more likely become part of this faith
community. Let us make room for those people that are knew, knowing that Jesus
has called us all to repent of our sins and come into a relationship with him.
When the church grows, it changes, Jesus doesn’t change, our beliefs don’t
change, but the church will change some. Let’s be ready.
Last week, I talked about the fourth thing that we can do
to better live out our church’s mission. This thing is to take our faith into a
world that largely knows not Jesus Christ. Take your faith, as I will take my
faith, into Sidney, and the world. People will see your faith, they will see
your love, and your faith and love may move them to come to Christ. As I said
last Sunday, hope breads hope, optimism bread optimism, and faith breads faith.
Whether we are visiting those are suffering, or homebound, having coffee with a
neighbor, volunteering, leading a church program, or anything else, we are
called to be ambassadors for Jesus Christ. We are the people whom God has
called to live and share the Good News of His Son, and we are the best hope
that Jesus has called to go into a hurting, broken, and dying world. This
church heals, loves, and cares for many. The more we can do this, and the more
that we can take this out into the world, the more this church, Sidney, and the
world will be transformed.
So what is the fifth way that we can better live out our
church’s mission of “To make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation
of the world”? My answer to this is dream “God sized dreams”. Or to put it
another way, as my sermon title is called “What is impossible for God”?
During the first three centuries of the Christian Church,
many Christians lived under heavy Roman persecution. Christians were fed to the
lions in the Roman Coliseum. They were tortured, crucified upside down, and
many tried to wipe Christians off the face of the earth. During all of that
time though, like those first Apostles, the early Christians never stopped
preaching that Jesus Christ is Lord. They never relented, they never gave up,
and under the most brutal and oppressive conditions, their numbers grew daily.
According to the tradition of the church, Saint Peter or
the Apostle Peter was crucified upside down, as he felt unworthy to be
crucified in the way that his Lord and Savior Jesus was crucified. When we
fully place our trust into the hands of Jesus Christ, and when we are walking
with him daily, if he has called us or the church to do something, do we believe
that what he has called us to do is possible? Do we believe that God has called
us at the Sidney UMC to dream “God sized dreams?” Do we believe that the Spirit
of God can blow in and through us, and transform, this church, this community, and
the world? I do.
Do we believe that God is still in control, and do we believe
that God use us “To make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of
the world”? I do, and I believe that renewal and revitalization in our churches
is possible, if we dare to boldly live our Christian faith.
There is a story that I thought of in
preparing for this sermon called, “Anyone Else Up there?,” by author
unknown. In this story:
“A man named Jack was walking
along a steep cliff one day when he accidentally got too close to the edge and
fell. On the way down he grabbed a branch, which temporarily stopped his fall.
He looked down and to his horror saw that the canyon fell straight down for
more than a thousand feet. He couldn’t hang onto the branch forever, and there
was no way for him to climb up the steep wall of the cliff.”
“So Jack began yelling for help,
hoping that someone passing by would hear him and lower a rope or something.
“HELP! HELP! Is anyone up there? “HELP!” He yelled for a long time, but no one
heard him. He was about to give up when he heard a voice. “Jack, Jack. Can you hear me?” “Yes, yes! I can hear you. I’m
down here!” “I can see you, Jack. Are you all right?” “Yes, but who are you, and where
are you? “I am the Lord, Jack. I’m everywhere.” “The Lord? You mean, GOD?” “That’s Me.” “God, please help me! I promise
if, you’ll get me down from here, I’ll stop sinning. I’ll be a really good
person. I’ll serve You for the rest of my life.” “Easy on the promises, Jack.
Let’s get you off from there, then we can talk.” “Now, here’s what I want you to
do. Listen carefully.” “I’ll do anything, Lord. Just
tell me what to do.” “Okay. Let go of the branch.” “What?” “I said, let go of the branch.”
Just trust Me. Let go.” “There was a long silence. Finally Jack yelled, “IS there
anyone else up there?” (http://storiesforpreaching.com/anyone-else-up-there/).
In 2010 when I entered the seminary, I let go of the branch
of the cliff, and it was scary for awhile, but God caught me and led me. Melissa
and I sold our house, and four churches later, here we are. We have seen God do
amazing things. So, are we willing dream “God sized dreams”? “What is
impossible for God?”
What are your dreams for this church, this community, and
the world? Do we want a Sunday School program again? Do we want a Bible Study,
a mission trip, movie nights, a second service, and or etc.? If we are willing
to let go of the branch and dream these “God sized dreams,” do we truly believe
that God can lead us there. I do, and I do so strongly that I willing to give
everything I have and everything I am to Jesus and his gospel, the hope of the
world.
In looking at our reading for this Sunday from the Apostle
Paul’s Epistle or letter to the Ephesians, the Apostle Paul once again said:
“For this
reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in
heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches of his
glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power
through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as
you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power
to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height
and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so
that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to
accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory
in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen”
(Eph. 3:4-21, NRSV).
So
the Apostle Paul says that he bows before the Heavenly Father, and says that we
all take our names from Him and are of Him. Paul then tells the Ephesians and
us that he prays that God would strengthen us in our inner being, or our souls,
through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul continues saying that he
prays that Christ would dwell in our hearts. This faith, this spiritual
fulfillment that the Apostle Paul is talking about, I believe, is the fuel that
we need to dream “God sized dreams”.
The Apostle Paul further tells the Ephesians and us that he
prays we might be rooted and grounded in love, and that we would truly know the
love of Jesus Christ. This culminates according to the Apostle Paul with us
being filled with the fullness of God.
Then again in Ephesians 3:20 the Apostle Paul says:
“Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to
accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine” (Eph.
3:20, NRSV).
The Apostle Paul then says, God can do
amazing things in us and through us. In fact, far more that we all can ask or
imagine. This reading then ends once again with:
“to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all
generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Eph. 3:21, NRSV).
So then we are to dream “God sized dreams,” and to believe
that nothing “is impossible for God”. For this has been the call to us all through
the church from day one, to bring people to Christ, and equip them to serve and
love their neighbors, while transforming the world.
My friends, my brothers and sisters, I believe that
if we dare to dream big that God can and will use us to do things that we can’t
even imagine.
In our gospel of John reading for this morning, the
disciples doubted Jesus’ ability to feed the five-thousand with the loaves and
fishes (Jn. 6:1-14, NRSV). They didn’t believe in the dream, and thought it was
impossible. The disciples then go into a boat and go across the Sea of Galilee
at night (Jn. 6:16-17, NRSV). They were caught in a storm, and Jesus walked on
the water and comforted them and assured them in the storm. They didn’t believe
that this could happen.
Do we have faith big enough to dream “God sized
dreams?” Do we believe that nothing “is impossible for God?” When we love,
lead, renew our faith, make room for new people, go out into the world and
heal, love, and care, and when we dream big, well that’s when the church of
Jesus Christ will be renewed and revitalized. That day will be a day for the
books. Amen.
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