Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
It’s been
quite a week in Ludington! Lots of people; lots of events; the weather has been
great; it’s been getting warmer but not too hot, not yet. I love this time of
year. I was working with someone
recently and I suggested that there is no better place to be on the 4th
of July than Ludington. He retorted, “I
think there is no better place, period.”
I let that
sink in for a moment. Then I let the
memory of early February creep back into my consciousness. No offense to those
of you who have known this place as home and love it dearly, I too am a
Michigander by birth, but I remembered this past February when the temperature dropped
to 1 F. I remember the almost constant snowfall. I couldn’t remain silent on such a bold
statement so I told him that if he made the same statement in February that I would
have to disagree. “Oh, Well I leave for
the winter months,” he said.
In the
summer we head to Lake Michigan to keep cool.
It’s been a little too cold to swim in for me. Like my working partner,
I like to stay cool but not too cool.
If I can be
so crass as to suggest a purpose for Christianity, if I had to put it in a
nutshell, just one sentence, it would be to Glorify God and to enter into
eternal life with God by trusting in the saving grace of Jesus Christ in this
life. The rest is commentary, very
important commentary. Generation after generation
has to figure out for themselves how we are going to live out this faith that
has been handed down to us. We face new
sets of challenges. We apply the gospel
to new sets of circumstances. We have to
answer the question: “How do we remain faithful in an ever-changing world?”
Part of the answer is, “stay cool.”
I’m going to
tell you about a failure of mine. In 2009
I accepted a position in our Annual Conference and held that position until
January 1st of this year. The
details of the job are not important except that when I did my job well, no one
noticed and things ran smoothly. When I made
mistakes people noticed and wanted to have conversations about it. Though the work was tedious the fruit was
made it worth it so I enjoyed having the position. Then then at the annual conference in June of
2012 Thomas Kemper the German-born General Secretary of the General Board of
Global Ministries stepped to the podium to address the gathering. At one point
he said my name and asked me to stand. We
were gathered in the Sports stadium at Calvin College, a few thousand of us, so
my standing up in the back was not very conspicuous. He didn’t see me. He kept asking if I was in the house. So I waved my hand. He still didn’t see me. He kept asking. I wanted it to end. I also didn’t want anyone
(like the Bishop) to think I was skipping out, so I waved both my hands over my
head, I was anything but cool. A camera operator spotted me and put my mug on
the big screen. He acknowledged me, gave
me quick thanks and moved on. My failure
was that that kind of recognition was exactly what I was seeking. And when I got it, it was empty. It was
unsatisfying. I received the reward I had
been looking for.
Matthew 6: “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to
be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2 “So when you give to
the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the
synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they
have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to
the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving
may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will
reward you.
While the
beautiful summers in Ludington make the winters bearable, I find that notoriety
among peers doesn’t even come close to the desire to please God. And so I decided
to resign from that position. I finished
out the year and the position is now filled by a very talented retired pastor;
Just the right person for the job. You can imagine my discomfort when my picture
was flashed on the screen again this annual conference as a thank-you to
outgoing servants of various positions. Again,
I received my reward.
It is by grace you have
been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift
of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in
Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Jesus calls
us to serve him. Jesus calls us to bring
glory to God through our obedience. In
the Gospel lesson today Jesus had very specific instructions for his
disciples. Remember this comes after the
incident when the Samaritan village didn’t accept Jesus because he was making his
trek to Jerusalem. People were coming to
him and making excuses about not following Jesus right away. Now Jesus was sending out disciples in pairs
to go and tell people about the kingdom of God and meet the people’s need for
healing.
Jesus Said:
“Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on
the road.” We don’t need a lot of resources to be obedient to
Jesus. We don’t need to worry about
provisions. Instead we need, in every
moment to seek God’s will and be obedient to what Jesus has taught us through
the Holy Spirit. Jesus once said “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the
kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is
in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord,
Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in
your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will
tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ 24 “Therefore
everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like
a wise man who built his house on the rock. 5 “When
you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ 6 If
someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it
will return to you. 7 Stay there, eating and
drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house. 8 “When
you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you. 9 Heal the
sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ 10 But when
you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even
the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.’
The
disciples came back and were reporting their successes to Jesus. It seems that
they were even surprised and what had happened. But it wasn’t their success. It
was their obedience that God used for His success.
Success is
not your reward, neither is failure your punishment. Ours is to be obedient. Our
reward is our relationship with God. Our
reward is that our name is written in the Book of life. Whether we find earthly
success or not is less important than our obedience to God’s will. That is how we will come to know Jesus. We will become more like him when we do as he
has taught us. When we come to know
Jesus he will come to know us.
Then, when
that day comes for us to enter the kingdom of heaven and we say “Lord, Lord,”
he will say, “I know you,” because your name will be written in the Book of
life.
So how is it
with you today? Where do you look to
find affirmation? May it ever turn more
and more toward God and less and less from people.
Other book of life references in the
Bible. Exodus 32:32; Daniel 12:1; Philippians
4:3; Revelation 3:5; 13:8; 17:8; 20:12; 20:15
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