"Unless you want to Live the Disciplined Spiritual Life, you never will!" 2 of 6
The life of a Christian is a life of service; service to God and to people. Like Jesus, all of his disciples must be willing to follow God's plan to the end. Do not be surprised to find that the call to discipleship is a call to action -- to live as Jesus did. Servant hood is the very core, nature and calling of every Christian. Would you now listen for a word from God as found in John 12: 20-26(The Message) : 20-21There were some Greeks in town who had come up to worship at the Feast. They approached Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee: "Sir, we want to see Jesus. Can you help us?" 22-23Philip went and told Andrew. Andrew and Philip together told Jesus. Jesus answered, "Time's up. The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24-25"Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over. In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you'll have it forever, real and eternal. 26"If any of you wants to serve me, then follow me. Then you'll be where I am, ready to serve at a moment's notice. The Father will honor and reward anyone who serves me. The next reading is found in Galatians 5:13-14 (The Message), where we find these words: 13-15It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don't use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that's how freedom grows. For everything we know about God's Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That's an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then?
This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Amen.
How can we meet Jesus in our lives and introduce him to others who are searching for him? Basically, we witness in two ways; by the way we live and by the words we speak. Does the word “witness” intimidate you? What do you do with good news? Naturally, you tell it! Maybe you have just eaten at a new restaurant and the food was great. You call a friend. You find a bargain at the mall and you think of someone who could use that item. It is true we like to share good news. We like to tell a good story. Relax, witnessing, is simply telling good news in the power of the Spirit. It is sharing Jesus in action. Don’t we all share good news with our friends and loved ones? If we find something that is wonderful and life changing don’t we naturally want to share the good news? And if it is really good news it changes the way we live.
Our Gospel reading from John tells us that some Greek travelers who came to Jerusalem for the Passover wanted to meet Jesus. They heard about Jesus and wanted to meet him. They were not Jews, but were devout seekers of God. It was not unusual for Greeks to travel the then known world. Greeks loved to journey and discover new things. When these Greeks heard of Jesus, they wanted to meet him personally, but didn’t know how to approach him. So they did something a Greek would feel comfortable doing. They found a sympathetic looking insider named Philip, a disciple of Jesus whose name happened to be a Greek name, and asked him how they could meet with Jesus. Philip surprisingly didn’t know what to say. Andrew fortunately stepped in and personally introduced these foreigners to Jesus. Jesus’ responded by giving an audience to these Greek visitors. He then points to the reason why he came to Jerusalem at this Passover Feast. Jesus knew that this was his “hour” -- the time of fulfillment when he would be glorified through his suffering and death on the cross. John in his gospel account points out that is was not only the Jews who were seeking the Messiah, but foreigners as well. Jesus came to offer his life as an atoning sacrifice not only for the chosen people of Israel, but for all nations as well.
Jesus then told his disciples a short parable about the nature of seeds to explain the spiritual significance of death and rebirth. His audience, including many who were rural folk in Palestine, could easily understand the principle of new life from nature. Seeds cannot produce new life by themselves. They must first be planted in the earth before they can grow and produce fruit. What is the spiritual analogy which Jesus eludes to here? The image of the grain of wheat dying in the earth in order to grow and bear a harvest can be seen as a metaphor of Jesus' own death and burial in the tomb and his resurrection. Jesus knew that the only way to victory over the power of sin and death was through the cross. His obedience and death on the cross obtain for us freedom and new life in the Holy Spirit. His death frees us and shows us the way of perfect love. Now if we want to experience the new life which Jesus offers, then the outer shell of our old, fallen nature must be broken and put to death. When we are baptized our “old nature” enslaved by sin dies and we rise as a “new creation” in Christ. This process of death to the “old fallen self” is both a one-time event, such as baptism, and a daily, on-going cycle in which God buries us more deeply into Jesus’ death to sin so we might rise anew and bear fruit for God. There is a great paradox here. Death leads to life. When we "die" to our selves, we "rise" to new life in Jesus Christ.
The way I see it, the whole point of the gospel is that we are supposed to die. That doesn't mean we like it. We generally don’t like to die, but Jesus says, "Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains by itself alone, but if it dies it comes to life."The message of the gospel is that the only way you come to life is that you've got to die. You die first, and then you come to life. What does it mean to "die" to oneself? In our life we will experience many “dying moments”. It means that we stop being our old self and allow new life to form in us – a new life in Christ. Jesus promised that we will bear much "fruit" for him, if we choose to deny ourselves for his sake. Fresh starts come from letting go of the old life, of wearing the scars proudly, of being the wheat that risks falling into the ground to die, so that the beautiful new field of grain can prosper. Are you willing to let the old self die and live in and for Christ?
Jesus Christ loved us enough to sacrifice His life and repair our broken relationship with God. We respond to this gift by loving God, loving others. That is why we study the Bible: we believe the Bible teaches us about Jesus and equips us to become more like Jesus. We want to be Christ’s representatives, not only within our church walls, but in Cedar Park, in greater Texas, and throughout the world. With this spirit of love you can find wonderful ways to serve God and the church. It is as if God actually said to us, “By the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, it is enough.”
This week is the second week of our call to action to experience spiritual discipleship as we begin to start a new program called “10 Brave Christians”. I am searching for at least 10 Brave Christians who are willing to put God first and experience the work of the Holy Spirit. Last week we spoke about the spiritual discipline of prayer. This week we are exploring the call to service. Everyone who participates in The John Wesley Great Experiment will commit to service in the form of working for at least two hours in the church each and every week. Every participant will make a covenant – a promise to invest in these 5 spiritual disciplines: 1. Meet once each week to pray together – everyone will learn more about prayer. 2. Give two hours each week to God through serving the church (Self-surrender). 3. Give God 1/10 of our earnings during the month ( Self-denial). 4. Spend 5:30-6:00 a.m. each morning in prayer and meditation (Self-control). 5. Witness for God our experiences to others. I hope that you will consider what God is calling you to do. I hope that you will come back next week ready to learn more about these important spiritual disciplines - because any one of these spiritual practices is powerful; when all five are practiced together in a small group, they are like spiritual dynamite. Every spiritual discipline that we cultivate helps us to die to our old selves and become new in Christ.
Please pray about your involvement in 10 Brave Christians. If you feel called to participate in this program please let me know. Next Sunday I will be serving God by leading the Austin Pre-Teen Camp at Mt. Wesley. David Dauber will be giving the message next week as he continues to explore the spiritual discipline of self-denial, talk about giving in sacrificial love! There are many ways to serve God! We know that when God’s Spirit moves the church is blessed. God’s Spirit moving upon a group – large or small- not only blesses the church, it empowers the church for a new experience – a new level of spiritual vitality.[1] Let’s pray…Lord, let us be wheat sown in the earth, to be harvested for you. We want to follow wherever you lead. Give us fresh hope and joy in serving you all the days of our life. Amen.
[1] Danny E. Morris. A Life That Really Matters. Providence House Publisher, Franklin, TN. 1999.
June 13, 2010 Sermon Scripture 1 Peter 2:9-12 Sermon Title: "Royal Priesthood" Download
