M Y STORY
May 10, 2015
RUMC
Let’s Pretend. Let’s pretend that the bishop realizes that
the Reinbeck UMC is a great congregation. (It’s true-- whether he notices or
not) Realizing that, let’s pretend he has assigned me to go all over the state
to start new churches just like this one. I make plans to hit the road for 6-8
months, and I leave you in charge of the church. I tell you that I will write
you regularly and give you directions and instructions. And I leave.
Months pass. A steady flow of emails arrives in your inbox.
I spell out all my expectations very specifically in each letter.
Finally, I return, and I am stunned. Grass and weeds have
grown up high. A few windows along the street are broken. I walk to the office
Dian is listening to the radio and surfing the web for cute shoes. I look
around and notice the wastebaskets are overflowing. The floor hasn’t been swept
for weeks. I walk to the sanctuary and notice that it looks just as I left it,
except for the thick layer of dust on the seats. Obviously, no one has been in
here for months, and nobody seems concerned. I finally find you off in the
family room playing cards with your buddies.
Disturbed, I ask you to step into my office, which has been
temporarily turned into a television room for watching afternoon soap operas.
"What in the world is going on here?" "What do you mean?” You
ask.
"Well, look at this place! Didn’t you get any of my
emails?"
"Emails? Oh, yes! Sure! I got every one of them. As a
matter of fact, Terry,
• We have had
a study on them every Friday night since you left.
• We have
even divided the congregation into small groups to discuss many of the things
you wrote. Some of the things were really interesting.
• You will be
pleased to know that a few of us have actually committed to memory some of your
sentences and paragraphs. One or two memorized an entire email or two - Great
stuff in those letters."
• Jim made
videos about them and we have watched them over and over.
"OK. You got my emails. You studied them and meditated
on them; discussed and even memorized them. But what did you do about
them?"
"Do?” you ask, “We didn’t do anything about them."
Let me say, I am under no illusion that I am that important
around here, but it makes my point.
• We do it
all the time. We read article after article about cutting down on carbs, or
processed sugars, or whatever the evil of the day is… we read the articles then
we head off to the freezer and get a bowl of ice cream.
• We do it
all the time. We open the box cut open the plastic bags of nuts and bolts. We
pick up the directions that say, “READ THIS FIRST.” We toss those aside and
start doing it our own way.
So, the question of the day is, “what do we do now? What do
we do now that the story is over? We listened, we took notes, we watched, we
studied, we learned, some might have even memorized, we analyzed, some of us
even enjoyed THE STORY … so now what… we
put the book on the shelf to collect dust?
We could do that….
James says however,
“Be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.”
In other words LIVE THE STORY
LIVE THE STORY. Be doers of THE STORY and not only hearers
and studiers who deceive themselves
LIVE THE STORY. Be doers of discipleship, not just watchers
of worship who deceive themselves.
LIVE THE STORY. Be doers of God’s will, not just a bag of
hot air giving lip service to the kingdom of God.
LIVE THE STORY. “Be doers of the word, and not merely
hearers who deceive themselves.”
The message puts it this way, “Don’t fool yourself into
thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go
in one ear and out the other.” In other words, LIVE THE STORY.
We are like children learning to read. Reading is a
complicated process. There is learning the alphabet and the letter sounds,
learning the concept of words and learning sight words, decoding, understanding
punctuation and capitalization, and finally comprehension. But some educators,
like Jessica Fries-Gaither, at Ohio State University say that comprehension is
not enough. We have to teach our children to synthesize their reading.
Synthesis goes beyond mere comprehension to “combining ideas and allowing an
evolving understanding of text.” That
evolving understanding of synthesizing what we read begins to shape and mould
our thinking, beliefs, our view of the world, and our behavior.
In the church, we are in the business of making disciples
for Jesus Christ. We are in the business of changing people, how they think,
how they act, what they believe, and how they view the world so that they will
be more Christ-like. That’s what THE STORY WAS ABOUT. Spending enough time on
THE STORY, we gave everyone the opportunity to synthesize THE STORY and grow as
disciples. If you went through the motions - without synthesizing –without
letting it get inside of who you are,
how you think, how you act, how you believe and how you view the
world—you missed the point. Pouring scripture into someone who isn’t
synthesizing it and expecting them to grow in discipleship is like (excuse the
image-- but it makes the point) it is like eating a can of alphabet soup and
expecting War and Peace to come out the other end.
James says don’t just hope for the best-be “DOERS” OF THE
WORD and not just hearers. In other words, digest it, process it, synthesize
it, and let it make a difference in your life.
We have spent months talking about the upper story and the
lower story. And that has been helpful for a lot of us. That is an image that I
will probably use for the rest of my preaching career and personal
discipleship. But when we synthesize what we have read and done into how we
think, how we act, how we believe, and how we view the world. We are
transformed from the inside out and THE
STORY becomes MY STORY. THE STORY becomes YOUR STORY.
I know that everyone is in a different place in their walk
with Jesus. I know that for some of you it has made a little difference. For
others it has made some difference. For others, for those who worked on
synthesizing God’s word into their lives I know it has been life changing.
As disciples of Jesus Christ, God’s story is where it all
starts. This is the book around which our church and out lives revolve. This is
God’s living word intended to shape us as a church and change us as
individuals. And we want GOD’S STORY to become MY story and YOUR story.
• You want
to know where we came from read those wonderful words “God created them in his
own image.” Read “I knew you before you
were formed in your mother’s womb.”
That’s OUR STORY!
• You want
to know why the church exists read I Corinthians “Now you are the body of
Christ and individually members of it.”
That’s OUR STORY!
• You want
to know what our job as the church is? “Go make disciples” Right here! That’s OUR STORY!
• You want
to know why I keep telling you to grow closer to Jesus? Jesus says “4 Abide in
me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it
abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.” That’s OUR STORY!
• You want
to know why I keep telling you that you need to read your Bible, study your,
Bible, join a Bible study? “Keep these words that I am commanding you today in
your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at
home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a
sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on
the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
That’s OUR STORY!
• You want
to know why I keep on you about praying? I Thessalonians says “Pray without
ceasing!” That’s OUR STORY!
• You want
to know why it is important to come to corporate worship? Hebrews 10:25 says,
“Do Not neglect to worship together, as is the habit of some” That’s OUR STORY!
• Do you
want to know why I keep harassing you to join Ministry Action Teams? “Now there
are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of
services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is
the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the
manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. ” No one of us has all the gifts necessary to
do the work of the church, but together we have all the gifts we need if we get
off the pews and use them. It’s all right here! That’s OUR STORY!
• Do you
want to know why I keep telling you to change the world? “You are the light of
the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp
puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lamp stand, and it gives light to
all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that
they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” That’s OUR STORY!
• You want
to know why I keep telling you to love? “You have heard that it was said, ‘You
shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your
enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of
your Father in heaven; …. For if you love those who love you, what reward do
you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only
your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the
Gentiles do the same? Be perfect (in love), therefore, as your heavenly Father
is perfect.” That’s OUR STORY!
• Do you
want to know why I keep harping on inviting others and being hospitable to
them? “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through
us.” That’s OUR STORY!
It’s all here. It’s
all right here. But it only becomes our story when we get it from here (Bible)
to here (head)… and here (head) to here (heart)… and it is about getting it
from here (heart) to here (hands). That’s what Jesus’ mission was about getting
the upper story of God’s vision to become not THE STORY… but MY STORY. YOUR
STORY. OUR STORY.
In simple words,
discipleship is getting it through our head and heart and hands that it is all
because of Jesus. Everything we are, everything we do is because of Jesus.
Listen again discipleship is getting it through our head and
heart and hands that it is all because of Jesus. Everything we are, everything
we do is because of Jesus.
Were you listening?
• Why do we
worship? <<<because of Jesus>>> That’s right. That’s YOUR
STORY
• Why do we
have LIGHT and teach the children? <<<because of Jesus>>>
That’s right. That’s YOUR STORY
• Why do we
have Bible studies? <<<because of Jesus>>> That’s right.
That’s YOUR STORY
• Why do we
give money to Banyam Theological Seminary? <<<because of
Jesus>>> That’s right. That’s YOUR STORY
• Why do we
give food to the postal carriers to take to the food pantry?
<<<because of Jesus>>> That’s right. That’s YOUR STORY
• Why do we
have help your neighbor days? <<<because of Jesus>>> (When is
the last time you old someone that? -- Oh, you’re welcome, we do it because of
Jesus.) That’s right. That’s YOUR STORY
• Why do we
organize rides for people to go to chemotherapy or the doctor?
<<<because of Jesus>>> (How many of you who have done that
told them why we do it?) That’s right. That’s YOUR STORY
• Why do we
take May baskets, and thanksgiving baskets, and plates of valentine cookie walk
cookies, to home bound friends” <<<because of Jesus>>> (I
almost guarantee every single one of them says thank you… how hard would it be
to say , “You’re welcome. We do it because of Jesus.”
That’s what happens when THE STORY… GOD’S STORY… becomes OUR
STORY …MY STORY!
That’s the connection
we need to make from here (Bible), to here (head), to here (heart), to here
(hands)!! Is called discipleship and we do it because of Jesus. That is what
discipleship is. Taking this story and making it the story of your thinking,
taking this story and making it the story of your heart, taking this story and
making it the story of your hands, taking the story and making it the story of
your discipleship. GOD’S STORY BECOMES THE DISCIPLES’ STORY… GOD’S STORY
BECOMES MY STORY.
One more story today…
As (Jesus) was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and
knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit
eternal life?” You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder; You shall not
commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You
shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.’” He said to him, “Teacher, I
have kept all these since my youth.” (In other words,…I know God’s story inside
and out, I go to church on Sunday, and I am a good person)
Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said,
“You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and
you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”
Jesus told the rich young man to leave the WORLD’S STORY
behind and be a disciple… make Jesus HIS STORY.
We all know
that the Bible says the rich young man went away sad…
But I want
you to write your own ending “You know God’s story inside and out, you go to
church on Sunday and your am a good person… so…
Jesus looks at you with love and says, “You
lack one thing come, follow me.” Will you Make GOD’S STORY the STORY OF YOUR
LIFE?
What do you say?
Will you make God’s story into MY story?
AMEN
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