Following the Leader (Part II)
My sermon from 11/18/2012. Read, enjoy, comment.
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For the last
couple of weeks, we’ve talked about following Jesus. And truth be known, it’s
all been building to this week.
We started out
two weeks ago talking about Bartimaeus, the blind beggar. We looked at the
story of Bartimaeus as a parallel to our salvation journey. He calls out to
Jesus and is healed. We call out to Jesus and, by God’s grace, we are healed,
forgiven. And then, like Bartimaeus, we follow. As we follow Jesus, we continue
to respond to God’s grace, and the Holy Spirit works in us, allowing us to grow
in knowledge and love of God. Continually renewing us, restoring us from the
twisted human image we are into the perfect image of Christ God created us to
be.
Last week we
examined the question of how we follow Jesus. We talked about cheap grace
versus costly grace. Cheap grace is what Dietrich Bonheoffer called “grace
without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ.”
It’s the false expectation that we can accept God’s grace without it changing
us. Grace requires discipleship. Being a disciple means that we are watching
and listening to Jesus in order to become like Jesus. We follow by feeding the
hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, taking care of the
sick and imprisoned. And by doing it together, as the Body of Christ doing the
work of Christ in the world. We follow Jesus by doing what Jesus did, and what
Jesus taught. We welcome and reach out to the “other”, to the marginalized, to
the lost and the forgotten, to our neighbors, people we like, people we don’t
like. God’s grace crosses all boundaries and human divisions. Social, economic,
cultural. To follow Jesus, we have to be willing to do the same.
Today, we have
one more question to answer. Why do we follow?
Matthew 28:16-20
New
Living Translation (NLT)
16 Then the eleven disciples left for Galilee, going to
the mountain where Jesus had told them to go.17 When they saw him, they worshiped him—but some of
them doubted! 18 Jesus
came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on
earth.19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son
and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I
have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of
the age.”
Why do we follow
Jesus?
I want to talk about 2 things that Jesus said
that help us to understand why we follow Jesus. The first is from the scripture
passage I read. Does anyone know what that is called? The Great
Commission.
We follow because
we are commissioned.
I try to not do
the “Webster’s Dictionary defines so-and-so as…” thing, because I think it’s a
little cheesy and cliché. That being said, Webster’s dictionary defines
commission as “a formal written warrant granting power to perform various acts
or duties; an authorization or command to act in a prescribed manner or to
perform prescribed acts; authority to act for, in behalf of, or in place of
another.” Before Jesus ascended to heaven he passed his authority to the
Apostles. He commissioned them to act on his behalf to make disciples. That commission
has passed down through the generations to you and me. Jesus commissions –
gives authority, grants power – to each of us and more specifically to all of
us collectively to act on behalf of Jesus to go, make disciples, to baptize, to
teach them. In short, Jesus authorizes us to be the Body of Christ – to do the
work of Christ in the world.
We are
commissioned. That’s one reason we follow. The second reason is found in all of
the synoptic gospels – Matthew Mark, & Luke. I want to read the account
from Mark’s gospel. I’ll read Mark 12:28-31
Mark 12:28-31
New
Living Translation (NLT)
28 One of the teachers of religious law was standing
there listening to the debate. He realized that Jesus had answered well, so he asked,
“Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
29 Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O
Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. 30 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your
mind, and all your strength.’ 31 The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor
as yourself.’ No
other commandment is greater than these.”
Loving God and
loving our neighbor is the essence of following Jesus. Why do we do it? Because
we are commanded. Earlier we heard the great commission. Now we here from
Jesus, the Greatest Commandment. Love God with all of your heart, your soul,
your mind, and your strength. In other words, love God with everything you have
and everything you are!
Last week as we
answered the question of how we follow Jesus, we talked about following God
with our whole self. Discipleship is about giving your whole self to God. And
when we give our whole self to God we give ourselves to our neighbor, because
to love God with everything we have means we love our neighbor.
We follow because
we’re commissioned and because we’re commanded. But there’s still more to it.
Do you remember
the “Following the Leader” scene in Peter Pan? The Lost Boys following along
behind John and singing. “Tee dum, Tee dee. A teedle ee dum tee day.” Walking
through waterfalls, hopping across rocks. All sort of oblivious to what’s going
on around them.
I think there
might be a metaphor for Christianity there. More about the following than the
leading. Following blindly, not noticing the world around us. Going through the
motions. Doing what we see, just because we see it. Following just because
we’re told to do it.
There are those
who call their selves Christians simply because it’s what they’ve always done.
My family always went to church, so I go.
Being
commissioned and being commanded can still lead us to discipleship out of a
sense of obligation. Doing it because we have to, or because we think it might
benefit us in some way. Just because it’s one more rule to keep to stay out of
hell.
But
that’s not discipleship. Last week we talked about discipleship as a response
to God’s grace. And that a true and faithful response to God’s grace will
always change us. As we faithfully respond to God’s grace, we are transformed
by the Holy Spirit. We are renewed and restored.
The third
reason we follow Jesus is so that we can be transformed. John Wesley talked
about following Jesus in terms of the means of grace – The outward signs,
words, or actions through which God conveys grace. He grouped them as acts of
piety – things like prayer and fasting, worship, the sacraments – and acts of
mercy – things like feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, taking care of the
sick and the imprisoned. Through these acts of discipleship, we experience
God’s grace through the work of the Holy Spirit. And we are transformed. And
because we are transformed, because the Holy Spirit works in us and through us,
we follow Jesus. So we follow to be transformed and because we are transformed,
we continue to follow Jesus.
Which
brings us to the focus of today. If you haven’t heard it or seen it, our
mission statement is printed at the top of the worship bulletin. “Love God.
Love others. Serve the world.” That is a mission of commission and command.
It’s a mission that will transform you and me and will transform the world. If
you have a Mission & Ministry Fair booklet lying near you, pick it up. Look
inside the front cover. On the first page is a short message to you. I want to
read a part of that message that speaks about our mission. “Hearing…..Lives are
transformed.”
Our
mission is to follow Jesus. Because we are commissioned. Because we are
commanded. In order to be transformed and because we are transformed.
Take a
moment and look through the “Get Connected” booklet. Look at all of the
opportunities. Look at all of the ways we are loving God, loving others, and
serving the world.
But like
I said last week, none of that is possible without giving. Now, I’ve never seen
giving listed among the means of grace, but I can speak from my own experience.
Giving is a means of grace. It is a way to experience God’s grace. We don’t
give for God. We give for us. It is an act of worship. A chance for us to demonstrate
to God and to ourselves where our priorities lie.
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This wasn't the end, but it is the end of the manuscript. The rest focused on our Commitment Sunday and pledge card particulars.
I'll try to get audio up soon.
©2012 - Scott Coats
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