Lifelong Learning

In a former career I started off as a baker.  I baked bread. Lots and lots of bread.  I trained others how to bake bread.  I took pride in my bread because my bread rose the highest. By bread had to most consistency. My bread looked and tasted the best. 

Did I ever tell you I am a terrible cook?  I made a dish 5 years ago that was so bad my family still brings it up.

Do you know the difference between cooking and baking? In cooking you have to know flavor, and consistency. You have to know how to make food taste and feel right.  In baking you have to follow the directions precisely. 

Now I know good cooks who are terrible bakers. People who don’t attend to the details may have a hard time with baking.

I’m sure that many of you are good cooks as well as good bakers. I’m sure that some of you are no good at either. But we don’t all need to be, do we? I was set on a path of food service when I was living in Big Rapids trying to pay my way through college.  Back then I thought I was going to be a journalist when I grew up. The twists and turns of life happened and I ended up as a restaurant owner. 

Are you familiar with Proverbs 22:6? Train children in the way they should go; when they grow old, they won’t depart from it.

Well, being a restaurant owner was NOT the way I should go and I thought I would never be able to depart from it.

But my friend Mike loved that work. He also opened a restaurant. Then he opened another.  And he is very happy in his life.  Before opening his own restaurant he was an employee of mine.  For a couple of years we worked side-by-side learning from each other and growing together. It looked a little like a worldly form of discipleship.

 For the last 4 weeks, actually over the last several months we have been talking about discipleship.  And I have heard that some of you are getting a little weary of it.  “We’ve got it! ‘Stages, blah, blah, blah’” okay so you understand.  That’s good. If you come to church consistently I understand that it was probably a little redundant. But this is so important that those that only come once and while should hear it. It was worth being a little redundant. 

Discipleship, in a nutshell is the process of becoming more Christ like.  Or to put it the way John the Baptist did “He [Jesus] must increase and I must decrease.” 

In the gospel lesson today Jesus is in the background baptizing and we are hearing from John the Baptist. John the Baptist was preaching and baptizing before Jesus began his public ministry.  If John were of a mindset that was about his own fame and notoriety he had reason to be upset about Jesus coming. People who were listening to John were now flocking to Jesus. John’s reaction to this was a great example and lesson to us.

He teaches us at least three things:

1.       Others serving is not a threat to you

a.       The groom is the one who is getting married. The friend of the groom stands close by and, when he hears him, is overjoyed at the groom’s voice. Therefore, my joy is now complete. 

2.       You should Know your call and live it

a.       “No one can receive anything unless it is given from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said that I’m not the Christ but that I’m the one sent before him. 

3.       In everything, Point to Christ

a.       ³⁰ He must increase and I must decrease. ³¹ The one who comes from above is above all things. The one who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all things. 

Christ is ever present. Christ is calling us to come to him and lean on and trust in him. Next week, next, year, in ten years Jesus will still be calling this congregation to faithfulness. The thing we do today will become that thing we did back then and God will call us into something new.  That doesn’t mean that the things we are doing today are wrong, but it’s about being faithful to our call in the here and now. 

St. Paul UMC has a long history of faithful people of God listening for his voice.  It would be a mistake to think that God only moved through the congregation sometime in the past was done with us. God did not make a mistake in calling leaders who brought His church to where it is.  But God will continue to call men and women and young people to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world through St. Paul UMC.

So, how is it with you today?  How is God calling you to live today?  It may not be the same call you had 5, 10 or 50 years ago, but when you keep you face pointed toward Christ he will lead you in the way you should go.