Results of Discipleship
Listen.November 23rd, 2008
Rev. Dr. Craig A. Wagner
Introduction
Although I haven’t put together a jigsaw puzzle in quite a long time, I really enjoy working on them. I especially enjoy working on one when the weather is cold and it’s snowing outside. There is something comforting in being able to stay where it’s warm and doing something quiet and enjoyable.
The way I begin a puzzle is to first find all the straight edges that will connect in order to form a border for the picture. Following that, I attempt to organize the pieces by color according to the picture on the box. I need the picture on the box in order to determine what the finished puzzle will look like. Without that, I would be totally lost. If I were to find one piece of a puzzle without any other pieces, there is no way to ascertain what the picture would be. I need to see the big picture.
This morning, we put the pieces together on our lives as disciples of Jesus. We have journeyed through the previous ten weeks picking up bits and pieces of the traits and characteristics of discipleship, but today we finally see the big picture as we view the results of what it means to be a Christ follower.
Discipleship
Our formal emphasis on discipleship ended last night with a great celebration pot-luck dinner in our fellowship hall. It was great to see our community gathered and sharing food. During our discipleship emphasis we discovered many things:
Perhaps one of the greatest discoveries was to realize that being a disciple of Jesus is not only for those who walked with him while he lived on earth, but that discipleship continues even today. We, who believe in Jesus as the Christ, are called to be disciples. The definition of a disciple is that of being a student, a learner. We learn how to live; we learn perspective; we learn priorities; we learn ethics and morality from Jesus.
Also, we discovered that to be a disciple means to want to know everything about the master. We want to know what he thought and we want to imitate him in our life. In that desire our lives focus on Christ rather than on other things.
Our discoveries continued as we realized that the Holy Spirit has formed us into a community of faith and that the spirit continues to work in the hearts and lives of Christ followers today. And so we understand that being a disciple is a continuing process; we are works in process. This means that we are to be continuing our spiritual growth and that we continue to strive to live like Jesus and to bear the fruit of the spirit and to use the gifts of the spirit in community. Disciples of Jesus are people who worship together; people who are constantly in prayer; people who study God’s words and allow the Word to challenge us, comfort us and bring us hope. And we are people who reach out and share the word of Christ with others.
Today is not only Christ the King Sunday, the last Sunday of the church year, but here at Christ Lutheran it is also Stewardship Sunday. We usually think about stewardship Sunday as a Sunday all about money. However, I suggest to you that Stewardship IS Discipleship. Think about it: Stewardship is about how we live our whole life in Christ. Stewardship is about how our faith in Christ is reflected in our commitment to the community of faith. As we live our lives in Christ the use of our talents reflect our faith, the use of our time in relationship to this community reflects our faith and even the gift of our money reflect our faith in Christ.
Stewardship is discipleship: If you have a talent are you using it for the glory of God and for the strengthening of this congregation? We dare not hide our talent under a false sense of humility. Are you using the spiritual gifts God has blessed you with for the building up of Christ Lutheran? Whether your gifts is serving, teaching, mercy, praying, leading, administration or so one, have you discovered it and are your using it? Pretending that God hasn’t gifted you is making a liar out of God. And of course our faith is reflected in the financial gifts we give to the work of the Lord. Some have asked, a somewhat dated question but still relevant, “If a person looked at your checkbook stubs, could they determine you are a Christian?” As we heard previously, Luther even talked about converting a person’s purse! The measure of giving is reflected in the percentage of one’s income given to the work of the church. The result of discipleship is reflected in every area of life.
The big picture
Ultimately, our lives of discipleship move toward the way in which we relate toward God’s people. We may be striving to worship more, study more, develop our gifts more and so on, but the in the final analysis it becomes a question of whether or not we love others and care for others. This is the big picture; ultimately Christ followers are not selfish people we are called to love others in Jesus’ name. The results of our faith and our journey into disciples are all about our relationship to God’s people.
In fact on Christ the King Sunday we are challenged by the “great judgment” text. The whole scene of the final judgment is based upon how people care for one another. It is about feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, hospitality to the stranger, clothing to the naked and visiting the prisoner and the lonely. There is no ethical neutrality or options in the final judgment: are we found faithfully living as disciples of Jesus or not!
There are two common interpretations of this passage. One is based upon Matthew’s intention when he wrote this and the other is based on our reading of the whole gospel. Matthew’s initial intention was that this passage was to be read as a judgment upon how the Christ followers were being treated by non-Christians. The least of these who are my family refers to the believers who were having a terribly difficult time and not to e very human being that was needy.
However, when viewed in light of the entire gospel we discover that Jesus, whom we want to imitate, loved and cared for and served even those who were not followers. He even suggested that we are to love our enemies and do good to those who hate us. This orientation moves us beyond a narrow understanding of the needy in our world to a stance of caring and sharing with others.
The bottom line is a challenge for each of us to realize the importance of bearing the fruit of our faith. In fact the bottom line is that it is not about the tree, but about the fruit that is produced. On this stewardship Sunday we are challenged to consider our giving and our caring for others. When we look at the big picture and we hear about the eternal ramifications of our action we realize that living authentic lives in Christ as his disciple only consists of obedience to his command to love one another. Even the most spiritual among us need to consider how we reach out and care for others in Jesus’ powerful name.
Living by grace
As we move ever deeper into lives of discipleship and as our lives grow more and more spiritual, the results are seen in our daily relationship and the big picture begins to emerge. For when we reach out and help others, we are reaching to Christ himself. We do this in a variety of ways, if still not perfect, as we care for the homeless in the PADS ministry. This is the most observable ministry of feeding and sheltering those who are without anything.
We do this by our benevolence through the church as world-wide we feed and shelter people through LWR and the development and relief work that they do. We touch people through our ELCA domestic relief ministry to victims of natural disasters.
There is more as we care for one another locally. Our Stephen ministry program is one area where disciple touches disciple and brings comfort and hope and encouragement to those struggling or who simply need a friend.
Our small group ministry is one where people can care for one another in a much more intimate and wonderful way than in the large Sunday gathering. How we treat one another is ultimately the most important part of our discipleship. Are there other areas that you can participate in and use your gifts talents and abilities for ministry in love and grace to and with others?
Just the other day I read a story about a woman named Vera. She is a hope-filled Christ follower. Daily she goes to a homeless mission in a large city and she offers to help in any way. She may sweep up after a meal, she may put chairs back under the table; she may set the table or serve the food. Although she never disclosed her age, the people at the mission think she is about 60, lives in a one-room apartment; she has no family that she ever talks about. She walks with a limp due to a work-related incident years ago. She lives on disability payments. Yet she is never without an ear-to-ear grin.
She doesn’t complain and sees the good in everyone and in every situation. Asked one time by a local pastor why she is always so upbeat she said simply, “How can I not be? My hop e is in Jesus.”
Conclusion
The puzzle has been pieced together. We see the big picture. Discipleship is stewardship and as we use the gifts, abilities and talents and resources for God’s people, God is glorified. Each one of us alone is like a piece of the puzzle, but when we come together in community a beautiful picture emerges: the picture of Jesus welcoming us into the kingdom of the heavens and the joy of the kingdom. Our hope is in Jesus. Amen.