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This is the transcript of the sermon preached on
Sunday 18th September 2011.
Readings: Jonah 3:10-end of 4; Philippians
1:21-end; Matthew 20:1-16
The Vicar rang around his congregation, with one
question.
"Will you contribute to the cost of a chandelier
for the Church?
One parishioner responded:
“I will certainly not contribute to the
cost of a chandelier for the Church”.
“Why ever not?” asked the Vicar.
“In the first place” said the parishioner, “I
can’t even spell chandelier.
Secondly, if we get a chandelier, who are we
going to get to play it?
And if we do get that sort of money,
the first thing we need is new lighting for the
Church!”
Two people, vehemently agreeing.
It’s all a matter of clarification and
communication.
And that’s what today’s “Big Issue” sermon is all
about.
The PCC recently debated and agreed a strategy
for mission –
a document outlining what the Church is about,
which will guide us as we look forward,
and face an exciting future
at the forefront of a growing Parish.
So why are we here?
What’s our purpose?
And why are we here this morning?
Let’s have a bit of fun.
Perhaps we can look at the Church as a big
warehouse.
A Doughnut Distribution Depot.
Every Sunday morning, very early,
we get a delivery of 100,000 doughnuts.
and we gather at 10:15,
to thank God for His goodness, His generosity and
provision,
to celebrate the sweetness of fellowship, and to
eat together.
Now 100,000 doughnuts, if you can work it out,
is just about one for every resident of Myland,
every day of the week.
So one of our tasks might be to take out God’s
rich, sweet blessings
which are intended for everyone.
Now that’s a big task;
but if we don’t do it, and just keep God’s loving
goodness for ourselves,
we’re likely to become rather sluggish as a
Church,
and the Church itself will soon become very
stale!
Or, perhaps, the Church is the Myland
Headquarters
of a worldwide organisation.
Headquarters here is empty most of the week,
because the workforce is out and about at work
most of the time.
But once a week, on a Sunday, we come together
for a team meeting.
And it’s good for any company of people to bond
as a team,
to say how wonderful the product is. But what
shall we say the product is?
How about a company that sells washing machines?
And let’s call it “The Saviour”.
On the side of our vans it says:
“Spotless and radiant, only in the Saviour”!
We don’t keep the stock here; people order it
themselves,
people have a personal relationship to receive
the Saviour.
We can only make sure the world knows about the
Saviour,
and they make their own decision. We can put them
in touch.
Now some of us are the sales force.
When we all come together, we get to know the
Saviour,
so that we can speak with authority to everyone.
And of course it’s good to celebrate a growing
customer base.
Most of us are the Maintenance Team.
When we all get together, we learn about the
Saviour from the Manual.
We don’t know it off by heart – who knows a
manual off by heart?
But we do study a different part of it each time
we meet,
so that it helps us when we are out there during
the week.
There’s something wonderful about this manual;
it works for all models. It can help everyone,
even though they don’t have the Saviour -
if they have another brand, which is no saviour
at all,
or whether they’re still just - wringing their
hands!
Now you might think that comparing the Church to
a company
is a silly thing to do.
In a way, it is, but I’m sure you have seen the
point.
We do need a purpose, a strategy, an action plan,
or we’re all entitled to wonder what we’re doing
here.
Yes, we’re here to worship the boss;
something a lot of employees do, I suppose!
Some think that we shouldn’t compare ourselves to
the business world
because the business world has got it wrong
and often has the wrong motives.
But nearly every company has a mission statement,
and it’s fair to remind ourselves that at one
time
the only organisations to have mission statements
were – missions!
Christian organisations, focussed on a purpose!
Every company has a manual, which they often call
their Bible,
and it is a requirement that everyone knows it
very well,
so they’re all “singing from the same
hymn-sheet”!
Now who is copying whom?!
So if we have a strategy, what should it be?
Let’s look at the manual; let’s look at the
Bible.
Let’s start, albeit briefly,
by reference to the three parts we are pointed to
this morning.
Jonah is part of the Saviour’s sales force,
and is told by Head Office to present himself to
Nineveh.
After initial disobedience, he goes there and is
instantly successful.
But Jonah was greatly displeased and became
angry.
That’s because he’d prophesied disaster,
and now because they repented, God relented, and
it won’t happen. Yet.
Jonah is too concerned with himself;
he is enjoying his doughnuts,
and is not at all bothered about distributing
them to others.
In Philippians, Paul is motivating his workforce.
Heaven might be better, but Philippi is your
patch right now.
It might be tough out there, but keep going;
remember you have the Saviour.
And in our Gospel, we read about workers.
The workers in the Vineyard send their shop
steward
to have a word with the Management.
“I get a the right wages for a day’s work,
but you’re giving the same amount to someone
who’s only worked an hour.
That’s unfair!”
“No it’s not”, says Jesus,
“What’s fair is giving everyone what they need to
live on.
For everyone, that’s a day’s wages, for a day’s
needs.”
Jesus had the Father’s strategy for His ministry,
and if we are to have a strategy, surely it
should be the same.
And the document the PCC agreed is indeed based
on the work Jesus did, and the way Jesus did it.
The mission to Myland is that we will continue
the ministry of Jesus,
with the message of Jesus, in the
manner of Jesus.
Why should we continue the ministry of
Jesus?
Why must we continue the ministry of
Jesus?
Because we have His command, His mission.
In the great commission in Matthew
28:18-20, He says:
“All authority in heaven and on earth is given to
me.
Therefore, go into all the world, teach, baptise,
and remember, I am with you to the very end of
the age.”
Now that sounds like we are all to be the
company’s salesforce.
But let’s look at the great commission in
context.
That wasn’t the only command Jesus gave,
as he was preparing to return to heaven.
His last instruction as recorded by Luke was –
“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit
comes on you,
and you will be my witnesses,
to Jerusalem, Samaria, and to the ends of the
earth.
But stay in the city, until you have been
filled with power from on high.”
So Jesus’ “go” is not a command to a people
reluctant to evangelise,
it is firstly a “stay”; instead of the natural
reaction,
to tell people your news and experience of Jesus;
stay together, until you receive the power of the
Holy Spirit.
We have now received the Holy Spirit; so the
message is now "go";
it is a release for us to be part of the
community,
and as we go, filled with the Spirit,
we naturally continue the ministry of Jesus,
because He is in us by His Spirit.
Indeed, Paul reinforces that, by saying in 1
Corinthians 12 –
“You are the body of Christ – and each one of you
is a member of it”
So we continue the ministry of Christ,
because He is continuing His ministry through us.
So what is the message of Jesus’ ministry,
that we take to the world?
We can see that from His Mission Statement, in
words from His own lips.
“I have come that you may have life, and have it
in all its fullness”
“I have come to fulfil the law and the prophets”
And that law is, of course, the law of love.
And if there is one verse that stands out as a
mission statement, it is this:
God so loved the world that He sent Jesus;
Jesus so loved the world that he died, that all
may have eternal life.
In his words and actions, Jesus always said two
things –
God loves you; so do I.
So our message, in all we do in the world as the
Body of Christ,
must be summed up in those words too: “God loves
you; so do I”.
So let’s look at the method Jesus employs,
to proclaim the message of His ministry.
Jesus spent serious time in personal prayer with
the Father.
Jesus spent serious time with the disciples in
prayer to the Father,
and in fellowship with them, in worship and in
service.
Then most of the time, Jesus was out and about
with the disciples.
Yes, He spent time in the synagogues,
but mostly He could be found among the people,
living as part of the community, ministering as
part of the community.
He is our model; that is our method, too.
He saw no separation of Church and state;
no division of Godly and ungodly.
His feet were well and truly planted on the
earth;
He had dirty feet, and lived with people who had
dirty feet.
And He even washed them.
He kept company with publicans and sinners – tax
collectors and the like –
people with dirty hands, you might say.
And He ministered among people with questionable
morals, too –
people who had dirty minds, you might say.
And we too are working out how we are to be part
of the community
serving every sector of the community,
whilst being distinctively Godly, distinctively
Jesus-like.
Precisely how we do that, we begin to outline in
this document;
if you’d like a copy, just come up to the lectern
afterwards,
or read it in full on the website.
And I close with another commission from Jesus.
In the middle of His ministry, we hear from
John’s Gospel
that Jesus says “I am the light of the
world”
but at the very start of His ministry,
Jesus says to us in Matthew 5:
“You are the light of the world. A city on
a hill cannot be hidden;
neither do people light a lamp and put it under a
bowl.
Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives
light to everyone in the house.
In the same way, let your light so shine before
everyone,
that they may see your good deeds, and praise
your Father in heaven”.
So – Go, and be the light of the world, as the
Body of Christ.
And we’ll deal with the light in the Church
later!
Amen.
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