10
Pentecost 2013
Father Adam Trambley
July 28, 2013, St. John’s Sharon
The Discipleship Arm Dance –
Part 6:
He announced his purpose
This
week we are going to continue working through the Discipleship Arm Dance. If you know it, join me:
Jesus
was baptized by John.
He came
up out of the water.
He
received the Holy Spirit.
He
heard the voice of God, “You are my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
He went
into the wilderness.
He
defeated the devil.
He came
out of the wilderness.
He
announced his purpose.
He
chose four others.
He
taught them everything they needed to know.
He sent
them out.
So far,
we’ve looked at the first seven steps. We’ve
talked about the surrender to God in the context of a local church, and the
need to step out into the life God has in store with the support of the local
church. We’ve thought about the Holy
Spirit coming down and filling us, and how we can hear the voice of God tell us
we are his beloved when we allow God to come into our entire lives. We’ve looked at what it means for Jesus, and
for us, to go into the wilderness and defeat the devil, and just how we might
win that victory. Today, we are focusing
on “He announced his purpose.
After
Jesus comes out of the wilderness, he begins preaching. His message is “Repent, for the kingdom of
God is at hand.” Luke describes him as
further laying out some of what he means when he says the Kingdom of God is at
hand: the blind see, the oppressed go free, captives are released, the good
news is preached to the poor, and the time of the Lord’s favor is
proclaimed. Jesus’ purpose is to let
everyone know that the Kingdom of God is right around the corner, and people
need to be ready for it. He expels
demons so people are free to be part of the Kingdom. His parables help people to understand the
Kingdom so they can be ready. His
healings and feedings strengthen people to live into the Kingdom. Even his eventual death and resurrection were
important steps that allowed all of us to follow him into the Kingdom of
God.
After
his baptism, Jesus lived the rest of his life, day-by-day, for his
purpose. He turned people’s hearts and
lives around so they were prepared to live into the coming Kingdom of God. As he got close to other people, he helped
them live out the same purpose.
But he
was living out his purpose, not just some purpose statement he made up. In different gospel accounts, what he says is
phrased a bit differently. Here it says
the “Kingdom of God”, there it reads the “Kingdom of Heaven.” Sometimes, “believe the Good News” is
added. How later Christians talked about
isn’t nearly as important as the fact that Jesus did it.
So we,
too, as we get to this point in our own discipleship -- having committed to
God, being filled with the Holy Spirit and defeating the devil -- we, too,
announce our purpose. By announcing, I
don’t mean we send out a press release, or buy some TV time. Announcing our purpose means first and
foremost being clear about what our purpose is so that we can live into it with
the rest of our lives. The announcement,
per se, is first to ourselves and to God, and then to others by way of
explanation for why we are living the way we are. But figuring out what our purpose is and
living it is, of course, is much more important than how we understand
announcing it.
Our
purpose is that goal which is going to give every day of our life meaning, and
which everything else in our life is going to work together in service of. Three components are going to contribute to
our own personal purpose. The first is
that, as followers of Jesus, our purpose will fall under his and be some way of
preparing ourselves and others for life in the Kingdom of God. Second, our purpose will also support the
purpose of our particular local faith community. For most of us here that are part of St.
John’s, that purpose is “Worship God; Care for People; Grow as
Christians.” Finally, our purpose is
based on our own particular gifts, passions and experiences.
The
first and most important contribution to our purpose is Jesus’ proclamation
that the Kingdom of God is at hand. We
know that Jesus work two thousand years ago and his abiding presence with us
today is the way for us to enter into that approaching Kingdom. If we really believe that we are destined to
live for eternity there with everyone else willing to come, then our purpose
includes preparing ourselves and others for Kingdom living, beginning
immediately.
Now we
can help that preparation in many ways, and God has created us for particular
ones based on our own circumstances.
Some people’s purpose is proclaiming the good news to those who don’t
know it. Some people’s purpose will
include teaching the details to people who are interested. Some people’s purpose will involve preparing
people by feeding them, or healing them, or being with them in time of
need. Some people’s purpose will be
praying for those God is inviting in.
But whatever our individual purpose blossoms into, the roots are
grounded not in this life, but in the Kingdom of God coming near.
Once we
ground our purpose in Jesus’ purpose, we join with our local church in pursuing
its purpose. Why? Because we can’t be Christians by
ourselves. We live out of faith in
Christian community. This community
believes that God created St. John’s to prepare ourselves and others for his
Kingdom as we “worship God, care for people, and grow as Christians.” This statement of purpose is a way that we
live out the Great Commandment and Great Commission to love God, to love our
neighbor and to go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching
them. While St. John’s purpose is still
fairly broad, it helps us organize our individual purposes as we work together,
and it provides a godly purpose while people are here before they have been
able to discern their individual divine purpose.
Finally,
and perhaps most importantly, our purpose has to do with our own particular
gifts, passions and experiences. For some people, these qualities of their life
are so clear that as soon as they dedicate themselves to God everything else
falls into place. The musician who wakes
up every morning to write worship music.
The gourmet cook who finds any excuse to fire up the church stove. The recovering addict who wants everyone to
know how much better life is clean and sober, and is able to communicate that
message effectively.
But
many of us may not be so clear about the specific purpose of our life. So God has given us guidelines. The 3
Colors of Ministry is one resource that helps us determine the gifts we
have, and to think about where God might be giving us new ones. We have just finished a couple of spiritual
gifts exploration groups, but others are likely to start in September. If you’re interested, let me or Madge
know.
Then,
next to spiritual gifts, our passions are God-given motivations that help
define our purpose. Who do we love to
work with? What do we want to
change? What fills us with joy and
excitement? I know Christians that would
do anything for children. I know other
Christians who have devoted their lives to helping seniors. Others feed people. Still others dedicate their lives to
prayer. I have an American friend from
the Valley who has a huge heart for the Mexican people, and will do anything
she can to help prepare Mexico for the coming Kingdom. If God gave us a particular love for someone
or some group, our purpose may very well involve helping them in particular
live into the Kingdom of God.
Of
course, the particular experiences and circumstance of life will also help us
define our purpose. Where we live, where
we work, who is in our family, and any number of other details contribute to
our purpose. People who have children,
and especially those who adopt children, have their growth and nurture in the
knowledge and love of the Lord as part of their purpose. Those who have faced a particular tragedy or
overcome a difficult situation may be able to reach lost people in similar
circumstances. Cancer survivors helping
those undergoing chemotherapy or widows reaching out to those who have recently
lost loved ones. Each and every one of
us is in a specific situation with God-given gifts and passions that help us
know how we can worship God, care for people and grow as Christians such that
those around us are ready to enter the coming Kingdom of God.
Notice
that Jesus didn’t announce his purpose until after he surrendered totally to
God in his baptism and defeated the devil in his life. We won’t find our purpose until we do the
same. If we are still living for
ourselves, or if we are still bound by the devils in our lives, then we can’t
live out God’s purpose. If we are living
out God’s purpose for our lives, then we are praying in the morning to allow us
to share the good news with someone, or feed someone who is hungry, or teach a
child something about God’s love, or organize the efforts of people doing good
in the community, or help one addict stay clean for the day. If by the time we go to bed we haven’t done
something that prepares people for the Kingdom of God, we don’t consider our
day a success. While we still lived for
ourselves, before we defeated the devil in our life, our day might have been
considered a success if we had a good dessert, or if nobody got mad at us, or
if we made money, or if people said they liked us, or if our addictions were
catered to, or if we felt pain free, or if our team won the game. Once we live for God’s purpose, we give
thanks to God for everything good in our lives, but they are blessings, not
ends in themselves.
If this
all sounds like a pretty high standard of Christianity, it is. Remember that this entire discipleship arm
dance is about how we can develop our own life in following Jesus to the degree
that we can help unchurched people whose lives may be a complete mess also come
to follow Jesus. The things we are
talking about are not church as usual, but how we as a church transform lives. When we live out our purpose, people,
including the unchurched, will recognize what we are doing. We may have an opportunity to explain it in
words, but usually we won’t have to. Our
living out God’s purpose for us will draw others to us, and help them move from
a life focused on this world to lives focused on the kingdom.
Before
I finish with the arm dance one more time, and it won’t be too long, I promise,
I thought I’d offer an illustration of announcing our purpose by telling you
how I see mine. As best as I can
articulate, my purpose is to develop religious communities that increasing live
like the Kingdom of God. Mostly I do
that through prayer and also through strategic planning, organization and
leadership development. Right now, that
purpose plays out mostly at St. John’s and the Shenango Valley. Practically, this purpose means that success
for me is praying for everyone in this parish every day and walking around the
community praying for a couple of hours every week. My purpose also tells me, based on my gifts,
experience, and passion, to look for groups of people where the right question,
the right encouragement, the right challenge, or the right structure can help
them better love each other and serve the community because that’s where I can
be most effective at helping people live into the Kingdom of God. This particular purpose informs all my work
in the parish, in the diocese and in the wider community. My purpose is probably fairly different than
most of your purposes, but that is a good thing. Because when we are using all our unique, God
directed purposes to worship God, care for people and grow as Christians, we
will be living out God’s plan for this parish in ways that prepare ourselves
and others to live into the coming Kingdom of God.
OK –
everybody:
Jesus
was baptized by John.
He came
up out of the water.
He
received the Holy Spirit.
He
heard the voice of God, “You are my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
He went
into the wilderness.
He
defeated the devil.
He came
out of the wilderness.
He
announced his purpose.
He
chose four others.
He
taught them everything they needed to know.
He sent
them out.
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