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How many of you have ever had your
fuel light on the dashboard come on? It’s
happened to all of us at some point, right?
Sometimes, I like to let mine come on just to be sure it’s working, so
that I’ll know it’s there for me when I really need it.
So what do you do when the light
comes on? You get gas, right? Nobody looks at it and disregards it,
figuring that it’s not important. If you
want to keep driving, you get gas.
I once had the misfortune of being
on a road trip with a guy who basically ignored the light. I was sitting in the backseat and saw the
light come on, and it didn’t seem to make much of a difference. We kept driving and driving… I didn’t want to
say anything, since it was hard to miss.
Pretty soon, the car ran out of gas.
No big surprise to me, but the first thing he said was, “It usually
stays on much longer.” I thought about
pointing out that it had been on for the previous 60 miles, but that felt like
rubbing salt in the wound. Next thing we
knew, we were riding along in a semi.
When the light comes on, we get
gas. In other words, we believe what the
light is telling us, and it affects our actions. This little marvel of engineering has the
power to shape the way we behave. You’d
be considered a fool if you ignored the light, or if you believed the light but
didn’t actually do anything about it. No
one would ride in the car with you, at least.
What I’m saying is that your belief
in your fuel light shapes your actions.
Other beliefs shape actions, too.
If you believe the lady in front of you in the grocery store checkout
line has a coupon binder, you’re going to find another checkout line. If you believe the expiration date on your
gallon of milk, you’re going to throw it away rather than take a chance. If you believe that your call really is
important to that company, you’re going to hold on the line.
If all of these beliefs shape our
actions, and they do, then shouldn’t our belief in Jesus Christ as Lord and
Savior of the universe shape how we live and interact? Shouldn’t our faith in Christ shape the way
we live? If we truly believe that Christ
died on the cross out of love for us, atoning for our sins, and then rose from
the dead to demonstrate his Lordship, then shouldn’t that belief shape the rest
of our lives? If the fuel light in our
car has the power to affect us, how much more should our faith in Christ shape
our lives?
This past week, we read about a
life of ministry. I think we’ve allowed
the word to evolve over time to where it doesn’t quite mean what it could or
should. When we use the word ministry in
the 21st century, it’s easy to let it simply refer to the
minister. The minister does
ministry. Period. The problem is that this doesn’t accurately
capture the essence of the call of the Body of Christ. The minister isn’t called to go out and do
ministry on his or her own. The church
is called to active ministry, which means that each and every person in the church
is also called to a life of active ministry.
Wondering how you’ll have time for
a life of ministry in light of everything else you have on your plate?
Ministry isn’t setting aside time
in the midst of your busy schedule to go save the world. Ministry is allowing your faith in Jesus
Christ to shape the way that you live and move and have your being. Ministry is letting your belief change the
way you live. Ministry is about letting
faith guide you on more than just Sunday morning.
See, what’s so tempting is to come
to church on Sunday morning and believe your heart out, then leave this place
and let the busy-ness of life overwhelm you.
Once that happens, it’s pretty easy to get so distracted that you forget
about letting faith shape and guide you.
You’re probably just trying to make it through the day, through the
week, and so you don’t really spend time reflecting on faith until you’re in the
car on the way back to church the next Sunday morning. It’s an easy pattern to fall into, and one I
suspect many Americans live out each and every week. Perhaps they even assume the minister is
taking care of the ministering during the week.
But the church isn’t supposed to
work like that. The church is called to
be a very flat organization, one with Christ at the head and everyone else hard
at work, busy proclaiming the Kingdom of God in Word and deed. We’re call called to be ministers, busy with
the stuff of ministering in the midst of our working and parenting and
socializing. We’re called to share this
life with one another, and we minister to one another as we go along. We minister, we serve, we show the love of
Jesus Christ.
Today is a holiday in the
church. Today is the day of Pentecost, a
day where we celebrate the Holy Spirit going forth into the world. The church grew rapidly that first Pentecost,
adding thousands of believers, and each one had a role to play. Each and every one of them was baptized into
a new life in Christ that day, but there was still much for them to do. Pentecost wasn’t the end of something, but it
was the beginning. Their belief in
Christ was now beginning to shape the rest of their lives. If all they had done was be baptized and then
be done with it, the church would have looked very, very different.
In our reading from James, this is
the distinction being discussed. It
doesn’t make any sense if someone claims to have faith and yet doesn’t allow
that faith to shape the rest of their lives.
That’s not real faith—it’s a fantasy, or an insurance policy, but it’s
not faith that’s alive. The Holy Spirit
doesn’t call us to affirm Christ as Lord and then go about our business as
though that belief doesn’t matter. We’re
called to affirm Christ as Lord and then let that belief change the way we interact
with one another.
Think of a phrase that is often
used—‘take care’. We say this to one
another upon parting, but what does it really mean to take care? Are we taking care of one another? Are we truly caring for the world, for the
least of these and for one another? Do
we care the way Jesus did, the caring that valued interruptions and was willing
to go to any expense to demonstrate the love of God? Do we care like that? Or do we let the words pass our lips without
ever making it to our hearts?
Friends, you leave this sanctuary
today and go out into the world. You do
so as ministers, as baptized members of the Church of Jesus Christ. If you truly believe that Christ died for sin
and calls us to live in reflection of God’s gracious love, may that belief
shape the way you live, the way you speak the way you work. May it shape all you to, for the glory of
God.
Let us pray
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