Exodus 1:8-2:10; Psalm 124; Romans 12:1-8; Matthew
16:13-20
At one time in our lives, my
wife Saundra and I sold electrical control parts. One day, a customer called
and asked us if we could very quickly get a replacement servo motor from the
supplier by the next day. We located the supplier and ordered the part, to have
the very heavy motor part shipped to us the next day. When it did not arrive,
Saundra dug out the toll free number of the supplier and called it once again.
Here is the conversation that morning.
[Phone answered with something unintelligible]
Saundra – We ordered a part
yesterday to be here in Atlanta, and it didn’t arrive. We need it urgently.
Customer Service – Oh, I’m
sorry. SO Sorry. We can try again and get it there by Fed Express using the 10
AM early service. It will be there before 10 AM. But I’m concerned, very concerned ….you said
you ordered yesterday and didn’t get the part?
Saundra – no, and we’re very
disappointed.
Customer Service – We take
lost part shipments very seriously. Well, let me track that. You’re in Atlanta,
right? (uh—huh) What was your confirmation number?
Saundra gives her a long
number. “That isn’t one of our confirmation numbers. Are you sure you ordered
from us?”
Saundra – Yes, you’re in
Buffalo, right?
Customer service – Well, yes.
Let me pull up your account (more typing).
Saundra – Control
Techniques?
Customer Service – [Pauses and typing stops].
No, we’re not Control Techniques. We’re the Organ Bank of Buffalo….
Saundra – WHAT!?!
Customer Service - Yes, we take lost part shipments VERY
seriously. Aren’t you Emory Hospital in Atlanta?
Saundra – NO! We’re an
industrial parts supplier...
Sometimes, you know, it is
important to determine up from what type of parts you’re talking about…Today
we’ll be talking about parts of the church, the people who are to lead the
world back to God.
Our readings today talk
about God’s focus upon church leadership, the qualifications, and the various
types of church leadership that God gives the church.
Our first leader mention is
Moses. The reading from Exodus 1 makes it very clear that Moses was selected,
protected, and educated by God’s plan.
Moses was selected. He was
not even supposed to live – the Pharoah had ordered that all Hebrew boys were
to be thrown in the river and drowned. But Mose’s mother put him in a reed
basket and set him adrift on the Nile River, just upstream from Pharoah’s
daughter and her friends.
God protected Moses by
letting him be found by Pharoah’s daughter. So when the daughter took him out
of the water, she named him Moshe, which sounds like “to draw out”. He was even
nursed by his own mother!
And then, God educated
Moses. Moses was raised as a prince of Egypt, with all the advantages of good
food, good education, and leadership training that was the best Egypt could
offer.
But Moses sinned greatly. He
murdered a man and had to retreat into the wilderness, where he became a sheep
herder.
But when Moses eventually
met up with God at the burning bush and was sent back to Egypt, Moses was known
at Pharoah’s court, he was educated in leadership skills, he knew how to lead
the people of Israel. God had selected, protected, and prepared Moses for the
job at hand. And God forgave Moses.
Our Gospel reading focuses
upon the leadership of Simon, the man that Jesus gave the nickname Peter to.
Peter is the English version of the Greek Petros, which is the translation of
the real Aramaic nickname that Jesus gave Simon – Cephas, the Rock. Whenever
you see the name Peter in the Bible, just think “Rock”.
So When Jesus came to the
region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do
people say the Son of Man is?”
They
replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others,
Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
“But what
about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Simon Peter, Simon the Rock answered, “You
are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus
replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to
you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you
are The Rock, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates
of Hades will not overcome it. I will
give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth
will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”Then he ordered his
disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
Who was Simon Peter, Simon the Rock?
Simon had been selected and protected and
educated by God to be the leader of the early church.
Simon was selected by God to be a leader. He
grew up fishing on the lake; he was apparently a big man with a strong voice.
He had courage – if someone spoke up in disciple class, it was likely to be Simon Peter.
Simon was protected by God. Even though he
had an outspoken personality and worked in a rough, dangerous profession, Simon had done well enough to become the leader of a fishing gang, the owner of his
own boat, with men working for him. This doesn’t happen without a certain
amount of God’s blessing, what others would call “luck”.
And God educated Simon. God led Simon to
follow John the Baptist. Simon was one of John’s disciples, and he moved from
following John to following Jesus, where he was present at all the great events
– especially The Transfiguration, where God spoke directly to Simon the Rock and told
him about Jesus: “This is my Son, in whom I am well-pleased. Listen to Him!”
Never has a man received more direct words from God. Never has a man received
more useful words from God. Never has a man been pointed so directly at the
world’s best Teacher as Simon Peter was that day on the Mount of
Transfiguration.
Even after the Resurrection, Peter was
educated by the Holy Spirit through a dream about a sheet and animals which became interpreted as “Peter,
get over your prejudices. God wants all people to worship Him,” when Peter
visited the house of the Roman Centurion Cornelius the next day (Acts 9 and
10.)
Simon listened to God, to Jesus, and the Holy
Spirit, and Simon became Peter, the Rock of the church.
But Simon Peter was also the man who, on the
night of Jesus’ arrest denied even knowing Jesus three times – just a few hours
after Peter declared that he would never disown Jesus. Peter sinned greatly,
but Jesus forgave Peter and used Peter to grow his church, along with the
eleven other apostles who were the leaders of the early church.
And then we have Paul’s explanation of all
these things in our Romans reading today. For when the Holy Spirit arrived at
Pentecost, all baptized Christians were now able and expected to become
spiritual leaders in the world. Each of us is now able and expected to become a
spiritual leader in this world. You and I are now able and expected to become
spiritual leaders in this world. We are each now selected by Christ, protected
by God, and educated by the Holy Spirit to become spiritual leaders. And we each have been forgiven of our host of sins.
In our Romans passage, the Apostle Paul is
explaining how each of us ought to behave regarding God, how we should respond
to our salvation by Jesus Christ, what we should do with the rest of our lives.
Paul says:
“Therefore, I urge
you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as
a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper
worship."
Worship, you see, is service. We could climb
on the altar, but what God truly desires is a heart that follows the leading of
the Holy Spirit, spending the rest of our lives doing what God would have done
rather than what we would have done. A sacrifice, you see, is something given
up. We are to give up our bodies as a living sacrifice and keep those bodies
holy and pleasing to God. This is proper worship. Our lives are now God’s. Our
bodies form Christ’s body. Our natural spirits are to be replaced with the Holy
Spirit.
But how do we worship? Do we criticize the
music, do we look for more entertaining singers? Do we consider worship as
something that comes from the front of the church for the congregation – or do
we understand that worship is what the congregation does for God? Have we
chosen to devote our lives to God? Or have we arrogantly decided to let God be
our friend.
Paul is saying that God wants us to give to
him more than just friendship – God wants our lives. God does not want our
money, God does not want our voices, God does not want us to love Him. God
wants us. Our bodies, our minds, our souls. He wants us ready to do anything He
asks – not just those few things we want to do, but our total service. Paul
often refers to himself as a bond servant, a doulos of Christ – the same word could be translated as slave. Do you offer your body as a
living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God as your worship? Yes, it is far more
than most Christians do. Yes, it is what God asks of us. Yes, it is truly what
it means to follow Christ, to pick up our cross, to experience the joy of being
a 100% disciple.
Paul continues:
Do not
conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what
God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
David Watson points out that the Greek for “the
renewing of your mind” is passive. It means that someone else renews your mind
– in this case God does it.
Our world has a pattern
for thinking that is passed on from person to person. It is a series of thought
patterns that lead to sin and to death. We have a pattern of thought that says
to compare ourselves to others. We have a pattern of thought that says to act
like other people. We have a pattern of living in this world, but God wants to
renew our mind, to mold it into a new pattern, a better pattern, a pattern that
gives abundant, eternal life. And God will do that if we will allow Him to do
that. Will you give Him permission to renew your mind? Will you take actions
which will allow God to more easily renew your mind?
We need to be good
disciples. That renewing comes with becoming a faithful disciple. The faithful
disciple studies scripture, alone and in groups. The faithful disciple walks
the path of Holiness. The faithful disciple leaves the distractions of the
world behind and focuses upon the pattern that Jesus offers us. This is the purpose of Sunday School and midweek bible studies.
This renewing of the mind
is critical, for it is then that Paul says “you will be able to test and
approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
I knew a woman once who
had been in a family that was very dysfunctional. She was well-read and
understood what normal family behavior was. But the family kept tell her that she was
crazy. But she found this verse and held onto this verse, she read her Bible
and attended Bible studies, and eventually she broke free and became a
positive, functioning Christian believer who has led many others to the Lord.
God had renewed her mind.
Why do we pray for healing
from cancer, from broken bones, from stroke – but not for the renewing of our
mind from the pattern of this world. Why don’t we pray for God to lift us out
of depression into joy, from sorrow into happiness, from a feeling of being
trapped into the freedom of Christ.
But there is more. It
appears that a more literal translation of the passage is “ya’ll need to have
your mind renewed.” The implication is that there is a mind for the church as a
whole that needs to be renewed. And, of course, the only way that church mind
can be renewed is if most of the members of the church allow God to renew their
individual minds. Pray for this church to be renewed and transformed by God as we pray for our own minds to be renewed.
Paul then asks us to look
at ourselves carefully.
For by
the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself
more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment,
in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.
Paul was most concerned that we would become puffed up with pride,
and so he says to look at ourselves with “sober judgement”. Take a piece of
paper this afternoon. Put two columns – “Good Stuff” and “Bad Stuff”. Then look
at yourself carefully and wisely. There are indeed some things you do very,
very well, better than the average person. There are other things you don’t do
as well as God would like you to do them. List both the good and the bad. Do
you speak well, do you write well, do you sing well? Do you love to cook? Do
you know how to build a building, can you comfort the dying? Are you prone to
anger, quick to gossip, afraid of many things? Do you trust God will protect
you through everything, are you good at maintaining disciple on a school bus? Are
you prone to sadness, to a feeling of hopelessness, or to joy? Do you know how
to cut down a tree, listen all day to people tell stories about their families,
can you write a last will and testament for someone? Do you know how to make
money, do you have a strong back, can you fix any American-made automobile
engine? Do you love to camp, to file papers, to create fancy flyers? Do you
like to talk on the phone most of the day, to write letters of comfort, to
simply visit people at their homes?
Perhaps you are like me, told by the world that you are bad at something, yet God has persisted in supporting you. I always got bad grades in foreign
language classes, but I can read seven languages enough to puzzle out the
meaning. God persisted in giving me that knowledge even though by the world’s
standards I’m not very good at languages.
Look at your special knowledge. I have a friend who can name a
Star Trek episode if you give him the last line of the episode. He can also
tell you who hit the most home runs in 1968. His knowledge of baseball and Star
Trek is superb. I have another friend that is an expert on bricks and can tell
you where any brick was made; another friend knows everything there is to know
about WV trout streams. There are people among us that have extremely detailed
knowledge of model trains, of the history of the families of SE Harrison
County, of every style of curtain known, of the stock market, of cattle, and of
Ford Trucks.
If you can learn what your hobbies have led you to learn in depth,
then God can educate you on your Bible. If you will put in the time.
But that tremendous mix of knowledge and abilities is just waiting
to be tapped. A hundred years ago, a group of church members decided that among them they had
an accountant, a retail manager, a purchasing agent, and a Methodist minister
with a vision for a cheap clothing store to help the community that would
employ the unemployable to teach them job skills. They took in used clothing,
paid poor people to repair the clothes, and sold the clothing at discounted
prices, all while hiring people who were unemployable to teach them how to hold
a job. Goodwill Industries was born. What could we do here?
For just
as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have
the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one
body, and each member belongs to all the others.
What do you do well? Let us know. You can
teach others.
What do you need to fix? Ask for help.
What do you need to learn? Come to our
studies or ask us to start a study.
What do you love to do? Let us know and we’ll
see how you can do it.
Nobody likes to do what they don’t enjoy
doing. Too many times, we find ourselves serving in the church in ways we don’t
enjoy. But if we know what you do well and love to do, Goodwill Industries
happens. Josh Oldaker Ministries happens as Josh sings for thousands of people. Mountain Majesty Ministries happens, delivering inspirational messages online. REFIT
happens and people work out to Christians music and hear God's word. Churches explode with growth; people find their personal ministry. God
is pleased. And we find joy because we are doing God’s will.
God has selected you for a form of church
leadership through Christ and by the spiritual gifts He has given you. He has
protected you throughout your life so you can use those gifts to glorify His
Son. And God has educated you – and continues to educate you to be a spiritual
leader in this world for the purpose of saving yourself and others from the
fires of Hell. How shall we use these spiritual leadership gifts?
Paul said:
We have
different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift
is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then
serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is
to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give
generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show
mercy, do it cheerfully.
God has led us through this life and given us gifts. He is
selecting each of us for a form of church leadership. He has protected us to
this point so we can use those gifts. And God is educating us through
everything we do with the knowledge we need to lead people to the love of His
Son.
This week, Michael Oldaker had a heart attack and had a catherization.
Michael has a gift of faith and he prayed that there would be no damage to his
heart. The results came back and there was no damage to his heart and Michael
has been posting this on Facebook for all the world to see. This is using our
gifts to glorify God and Christ!
Cassie Freshour has the gift of writing. She has started a
Facebook blog that is being shared where she posts writing of inspiration and
encouragement for all to see. This is using our gifts to glorify God and
Christ!
Larry Ferren took his welding glasses to the hospital this week so
Josh could see the eclipse. While he was there, he shared his glasses with
patients and staff alike, delighting many people who were able to see God’s
glory, including some very elderly patients who had never before seen an
eclipse. This is using our gifts to glorify God and Christ!
Do your part. Step forward and say, “I am willing to be a
spiritual leader.” And then hold on to see how God uses you to make this world
a better and more joyful place.
This world is rotten and it’s getting worse. The pattern of the
world is a pattern of sadness, hatred, depression and death. But Christians –
with God’s help - are supposed to changing it for the better.
We don’t have the right to make the world a worse place by hiding when
we have been given gifts by God to make the world better. God’s Son sacrificed
His life so we could have joy and bring joy into the world. Let’s each lead a
spiritual awakening! Let’s each use our gifts for God’s purposes.
And when we do, we will be blessed with joy and purpose in our lives!
Amen.
