Introduction
This guy goes walking his
dog one morning. He throws a stick for the dog out over a lake. The dog runs
after the stick, walks on water, retrieves the stick and walks on water back to
its master. The guy rubs his eyes and says “No! This is not happening! I am
going mad. I’m seeing things.”
So he decides to invite his
neighbour the next day to go walking with his dog. They get as far as the lake
and the same thing happens. He throws a stick for the dog out over a lake. The
dog runs after the stick, walks on water, retrieves the stick and walks on
water back to its master.
So the guy turns to his
neighbour and says, “Did you notice anything unusual about my dog?” And the
neighbour says “Yes, I did.” So the guy says “What was it about my dog that you
thought was out of the ordinary?” The neighbour replies, “Your dog can’t swim
can he?”
No matter how amazing the
year has been, no matter how manifest God’s presence has been among us, some
people will never see it. This time last year, I stood here and wondered how we
would get on having sent Sylvia Wilson out to Egglescliffe. It is impossible to
lose someone like that and not feel the loss.
In this year that has been so busy and in which the
church has grown in many ways, we could slow down a bit. You know, consolidate.
Sit down and admire the view.
But what we have chosen as our vision is to pray
always and serve together to share Jesus’ love in our communities. It shows that
we want to keep going and keep growing as a church.
Praying, serving and sharing faith were big priorities in
the first century church too.
Pray Always
First of all, ‘pray always’. Did you notice, in our
reading, Paul says “Devote yourselves to prayer.”
The dictionary defines that word “devote” as “to give
all or most of one's time or resources to (a person or activity).” A devoted
Downton Abbey fan never misses a single episode. A devoted Boro supporter goes
to every home game – even if he moans all week about how useless they are. They
organise their diaries around the TV schedule and the fixture list.
So when Paul says “devote yourselves to prayer” he
means a serious, costly, determination to seek God’s face.
But when the Bible says, “Pray without ceasing” it doesn’t
mean “do nothing else.” Otherwise, we would never eat, never sleep, never rest,
wash, take the bins out or look after the kids. Sounds quite attractive
actually… To pray without ceasing is like having an incessant cough; it’s not
that you do nothing else – there are gaps between the coughs, thank goodness.
No, it just means something that you keep coming back
to. Where there are opportunities to pray together – Morning Prayer, prayer
breakfasts, prayer in the chapel every Sunday between morning services, on
Facebook, at Ablaze, in small groups, in triplets, in prayer ministry… our
vision is to prioritise prayer as much as we can.
There’s a guy in the Bible called Epaphras and he had
that vision too. He’s in our reading actually. Have a look at v12. “Epaphras,
who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is… how
often is that? …always wrestling in
prayer for you.” Always… wrestling... It must have been exhausting being mates with
him!
But look at that word “always”. Isn’t that funny? We
agreed that our vision is to “pray
always.” We did. I didn’t pick that
out of the sky and decide to inflict it on you; no, we chose together, under
God, led by the Holy Spirit, to commit ourselves to be a church saturated in an
atmosphere of overflowing, believing, expectant, prayer.
Serve Together
We also agreed that our vision would be about serving
together.
That was, as it happened, another big thing in the
first century church. Look how many names come up in this short chapter; Tychicus,
Onesimus, Aristarchus, Mark, Barnabas, Justus, Epaphras, Luke, Demas, Nympha,
Archippus and Paul.
Look at the words Paul uses to describe what they do;
telling news, encouraging hearts, being co-workers, wrestling in prayer, comforting
others, opening homes, working hard, completing tasks… It’s a vision of a
church in which different people are all coming and going, tasked with
different commissions.
It’s the description of Tychicus in v7 that I love so
much. First, he’s a dear brother; everyone else in the church is a sibling to
this man – and he loves everyone as a family member.
Second, he’s a faithful minister; that means he’s
reliable and trustworthy. He’s one of those salt-of-the-earth types who doesn't
let you down. He doesn’t cancel appointments all the time. Tychicus says “yes”
and that means “yes.” Tychicus says “no” and that means “no.”
Third, he’s a fellow servant; he never feels that
anything is beneath his dignity. He’s a servant, not a master; he just humbly
gets on with it. I agree with Bill Donahue when he said, “A Christian leader
who is not willing to serve is not fit to lead.”
Jesus was not above taking a towel, getting on his
knees, and scrubbing clean the filthy, dusty, sweaty feet of twelve hairy, unwashed
men. He didn’t say, as the bowl of water got progressively browner and thicker,
“Now look, I’ve been a senior leader for three years now; I’ve moved up from
this level.” He didn’t say that at all. He said “I’ve set the example, and you
should do for each other exactly what I have done for you.” (John 13.15).
Well, our vision is to serve together. I thank God for
the Tychicus’ in All Saints’ – who lay tables, who work puppets, who vacuum
carpets, who lead small groups, who wash up pots, who practice music over and
over until it’s right, who iron tea towels, who visit the sick, who empty the bins,
who put together In Touch, who
replenish the toilet rolls, who sew banners, who make lunch for prison work
parties, who give lifts, who work hard to sharpen their preaching, who change
light bulbs, who bank the cash, who welcome newcomers… Who do hundreds of other
things week in, week out, serving cheerfully, often unseen.
I’ve deliberately mixed together upfront roles and
backstage roles there. Jesus said, “Whoever welcomes a prophet… giving them a
cup of cold water… will receive a prophet’s reward.” The support ministries are
just as significant and honourable to Jesus as the frontline ones.
In Exodus 17, two guys got the job of holding up Moses’
arms as he grew tired. A humbler, more menial role is hard to imagine. They get
to stand, all day, under a hot sun, about a foot from Moses’ armpits but
listen; those guys were the difference between winning the battle and losing
it, if you remember the story.
Let me ask you a question. How are you going to serve
the Lord in his church this year together with others? You can’t say you’re too
old or too young to serve. You can’t live too far away to serve. And you
certainly can’t say your life is too messed up and broken to serve.
God specialises in brokenness. Have you ever thought
about that? Following his design, it takes broken soil to produce a harvest. The
way he has made the weather, it takes broken clouds to give rain. After that,
it takes broken grain to make bread. It takes a broken alabaster jar to fill
the room with perfume as the whole lot is poured out over Jesus’ feet. God is
looking for broken people to serve. Only after breaking down and weeping
bitterly, did Peter become a truly anointed leader.
Praying always and serving together.
Share Jesus' Love in Our Communities
Our vision is also to share Jesus’ love. That was the
vision of the first century church too. Paul says in v4 “Pray that I may
proclaim Christ clearly, as I should.”
When you read the Bible, it’s like walking through a
portrait gallery in which every painting is totally different, but each one is
about Jesus. You find Jesus depicted in so many different images that everyone
can relate to at least one of them. J. John has made a list of these pictures and
how they make clear the message of Jesus to everyone.
Jesus is, for example, the Bread of Life so that
bakers can understand…
Jesus is Living Water so that plumbers can understand…
Jesus is the Light of the World so that electricians
can understand…
Jesus is the Chief Cornerstone so that architects can
understand…
Jesus is the Star of the Morning so that astronomers
can understand…
Jesus is the Hidden Treasure so that bankers can
understand…
Jesus is the Door so that carpenters can understand…
Jesus is the Great Healer so that doctors and nurses
can understand…
Jesus is the Good Teacher so that educators can
understand…
Jesus is the Rock of Ages so that geologists can
understand…
Jesus is the True Vine so that horticulturalists can
understand…
Jesus is the Righteous One so that judges can
understand…
Jesus is the Pearl of Great Price so that jewellers
can understand…
Jesus is the Wisdom of God so that philosophers can
understand…
Jesus is the Living Word so that actors can
understand…
Jesus is the Good Shepherd so that farmers can
understand…
Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the A-Z, so that
taxi drivers can understand…
Jesus is the King of kings so that the royal family
can understand…
Jesus is the Life so that biologists can understand…
Jesus is the Way so that traffic wardens can
understand…
Jesus is the Truth so that politicians can understand.
So Paul wants to proclaim Jesus’ love clearly and he urges the Colossian Christians,
not to complain, or be negative, but to make their conversation full of grace.
He says “learn what to say when the subject of faith comes up.”
Do you know anyone who has in any kind of
worry or concern in their lives? I mean someone who doesn’t do church or have
any faith connection at all? It might be an unemployed daughter or a sick husband
or a friend with financial worries. Or a neighbour awaiting tests from the
hospital or a grandson getting bullied at school or someone recently bereaved.
Have you ever wondered what might happen in their life if they prayed every day
for one week about their situation?
One way we’re going to share Jesus’ love
in the coming year is through a project called Try Praying.
We have ordered 200 Try Praying booklets,
plus 200 youth versions and 200 children’s versions. And at the end of this
month, right through to the end of May, we’re going to be giving everyone here
a copy to try for a week – so you can see it’s good and you can be confident
about it.
And then we’re going to ask you to pray
about who you might pass your booklet on to. This could be a brilliant way for
people to encounter God in their lives.
120 UK cities have now had coordinated
campaigns with this booklet and there are some amazing testimonies of people
who have seen God move in their lives.
Praying always, and serving together to
share Jesus’ love in our communities.
That’s not all we’re going to do. We have
another Camp of Champions and Messy Church on Preston Park in July. Connect is
expanding its outreach to include weekly coffee. There’s going to be another
trip to Soul Survivor and we’ve got some lovely young people who aren’t yet
Christians coming along.
With God bringing more and more people to
the edges of our church family, it’s time for another Alpha Course – so if
you’d like to serve on Alpha in the autumn that’s a great opportunity to serve.
The community version of In Touch will be back too.
Ending
As I conclude, I want to say that our
communities are not hard to reach. They are just hard to reach if we stay in
church.
This year, let’s have the faith to really pray
heaven down in a way we have yet to see. Let’s have the resolve to serve the
Lord wholeheartedly together. Let’s have the courage to share Jesus’ love – and
let’s see what God does in our communities as we do.
Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 19th April 2015
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