Prayers for the Journey, Part One: Packing for the Adventure
08/02/09
Pastor Marji Miller
Good morning Valley Grace. Welcome to the Journey. Pastor Greg is gone this morning. He and Marie are on vacation. No guitar. Lauren is gone this morning. No keyboard. Music will be different. It’s in the hands of the techies – Daniel and Nick. (Thanks guys!) You know how this works. When the videos come on you can sing, dance, clap, watch. But listen. The songs are part of the message, not just a musical interlude. If you can stand, great.
Time flies. In a few months we are, again, going to have to make a decision about the lease. Do we spend another six months here at Quinta Ct., or do we go? I’d say the Leadership Council is open to any reasonable possibility. We have to decide about distance, cost, accessibility, parking, bathrooms. Lots to think about, because, face it, it’s a huge decision.
But Valley Grace, there’s a much bigger decision to make. And this isn’t one the Leadership Council can make for us. Each of us will have to decide - for ourselves - the issue of what we will do when we get to that new neighborhood, or if we never do. Because wherever we are, individually, or as a church, we are on a journey. Into God’s future. We’re on a mission.
PASTOR MARJI: We’re on a mission! Missionary work isn’t as popular in US churches as it once was.
SHIRLEY: There are some good reasons. We have realized how we abused and betrayed and exploited the people God sent us to love Too many stories to relate, but we have some missionary work to be ashamed of.
NICK: But there are bad reasons for pulling back from outreach, too, like not enough passion for God, not enough compassion for other people.
KATHI: So, the trick is to not throw out the good with the bad. As we move – to a new location, OR into a longer time here at Quinta Ct...
ALL:...we have to figure out this mission business!
NICK: When we talk about mission we are talking about Kieiara in South Africa,
KATHI: Marc getting ready to go wherever God is sending him,
SHIRLEY: Ken and Cathie Metz in missionaries in Peru;
PASTOR MARJI: Ernie and Anna Smith in the Ukraine;
NICK: Daina and Tim Datwyler in Ecuador;
KATHI: Amy Dugas in Australia.
SHIRLEY: But we are also talking about Howard at Folsom Prison.
PASTOR MARJI: And, very importantly, we’re talking about us. At work, at school, in our neighborhoods, our lives.
NICK: What Jesus talked about applies to all of us. It’s not necessary to go across the ocean, or be a professional Christian worker to be in mission.
SHIRLEY: We need to do mission with sensitivity and respect, learning from the disasters of the past,
ALL: but we need to do it.
PASTOR MARJI: I want to say – again -that us moving into a new neighborhood isn’t going to change South Sacramento for Jesus!
SHIRLEY: Us getting into mission could.
NICK: This isn’t going to be Field of Dreams, “if you build it they will come.”
KATHI: They won’t. It is still going to be up to us to take the message out!
PASTOR MARJI: This might be stretching for some of us, but getting from where we are to where God wants us to be – that is our mission,
SHIRLEY: our challenge.
KATHI: Our journey.
NICK: Our adventure
OK, let’s start our Journey – our Great Adventure. There are lots of good journeyers to learn from, but, today we’re going to look at the teachings of The Master of Journey and Adventure, of Jesus himself, on this maybe even still, a little scary, topic. When our story picks up, Jesus had just cured a paralyzed man, called a complete social outcast to be one of his closest companions, brought a sick girl back to life, healed a bleeding woman, given two blind men vision. And that’s just chapter nine. Then vs. 35. On your notetaker. Matthew nine.
Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” Matthew 9:35-38 TNIV
Let’s take this apart and look at it. First sentence: Jesus went through all the towns and villages, Not so much emphasis on towns and villages, more on went through. Jesus wasn’t sitting still. He “went.” He moved! What is one of the biggest reasons we don’t “go through?” Why don’t we move? Because we’ve got too much stuff to be able to move. We are attached to so many things. “I can’t move because I have my car payment. I have to pay my mortgage. The kids have to go to college. I have to save for my retirement.”
Jesus calls and we can’t go across the ocean, because we can’t cut back on the hours we work. We can’t go across the street because we can’t get off the couch, or put down the book, or turn off the TV. We’re too loaded down with our attachments to go anywhere. People who serve Jesus, and do what Jesus did, keep it simple. They can adjust plans when he calls.
Today we are going to start packing for the journey. When we go on our adventure we are going to need some resources in our packs, but, remember, Jesus’ followers travel light.
PASTOR MARJI: OK, back to the story and we come to teaching in their synagogues. There’s something important here. Jesus didn’t go to the synagogues because he was holy, although, he was.
SHIRLEY: People then didn’t have internet, cable, or DVDs. They didn’t form relationships through Facebook or MySpace. Their source of information, and community involvement, came from the synagogue. Jesus went to the synagogues because that’s where the people were!
KATHI: So for us, too, it’s not about people coming to us; We have to be willing to go to them.
NICK: For most of us, where-the-people-are won’t be in synagogues. It’ll be in offices, living rooms, class rooms, back yards. We, too, go where the people are.
PASTOR MARJI: Another thing that we should pay attention to in this verse is “healing every disease and sickness.”
KATHI: He didn’t just preach and teach to them, but He met their needs.
NICK: It is hard for people to hear the message of the gospel when their stomachs are empty, or they are cold and have no place to live, or they are hurting, when they are scared or lonely. We can meet needs!
PASTOR MARJI: Are we called to heal? Well, yes. And we’re going to get to that.
OK, that’s the first sentence. Then we come to When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
SHIRLEY: The Shepherd isn’t a new image:
“For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search and find my sheep. I will be like a shepherd looking for his scattered flock. I will find my sheep and rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on that dark and cloudy day." Ezekiel 34:11-12 (NLT)
PASTOR MARJI: More imagery of God going out looking. Not sitting in the barn, hoping the sheep will come back.
NICK: Because what are the chances that lost sheep will find their way back to someplace safe?
PASTOR MARJI: Maybe a lesson for us?
KATHI:. The sheep aren’t going to be coming to us. We’re going to have to go out and find them, too
SHIRLEY: It would be real nice if they’d come back, but if we’re counting on that, we’re probably going to be real disappointed.
NICK: When it comes to leave them alone and they’ll come home, wagging their tales behind them, hope is not a strategy.
SHIRLEY: We’ve got to go out. And we’ve got to go out with a strategy. A strategy for getting from here to there. And, as we get ready for that strategic journey, we may want to see what resources we have for the trip.
PASTOR MARJI: Good idea! OK, we’re on a quest for resources. What are we going to put into our backpacks for the journey? First, let’s look at that word “compassion.” From Latin. Cum = with. Passion = suffer. Jesus suffered with the harassed and helpless people. He didn’t look at the people in revulsion and think they were really a sinful bunch. He looked at them with compassion. He could feel the suffering.
NICK: That’s good to remember when we look at the people around us. No matter how much we may disagree with what they do, no matter how much we may disagree with what they say, or how they live, the correct approach is not disgust.
PASTOR MARJI: So, the first resource for the journey - and we need to pray for it – is the compassion of Jesus. We thank him for his compassion for us and for our sisters and brothers in Christ. And we ask him to help us have compassion for the ones he died for who aren’t following him. Our hearts should be beating with his. The Heart of Jesus, compassion, is the first thing into the Backpack.
KATHI: But Jesus didn’t just hurt with them. He was going to do something about it. We’ve got a metaphor shift here. Sheep to harvests.
Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.
SHIRLEY: Jesus was a realist. This sheer number of the hurting people was overwhelming. If the disciples were discouraged, or even skeptical, it would have been more than a state of mind. Numbers were against them. No doubt. “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.
NICK: But Jesus’ next sentence would have reminded them that numbers aren’t ultimate. God is. Having stated the problem – perhaps the obvious – Jesus presented the solution.
Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
PASTOR MARJI: The one who was able to walk on water, heal the lame, the blind and the lepers, the paralyzed, who called a complete social outcast to be one of his closest companions, bring a sick girl back to life, heal a bleeding woman, give the blind vision. The one, who was able to defeat death, didn’t ask God to terrify the non-believers into belief. He simply told his disciples to pray.
SHIRLEY: And, the focus of the prayer – what he told them to pray for - is what is really amazing. He could have told them to pray for bread to feed them all. He could have told them to pray for miracles to dazzle them all. He told them to pray for workers. Even as the Son of God, Jesus could not reach all the people who lived in his country or in his life time. So he told his followers to ask God to send workers to touch lives.
KATHI: So Jesus initiated Christian mission with instructions for a prayer meeting. Just like the church got started with a prayer meeting.
They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. Acts 1:14TNIV
NICK: Jesus didn’t say to ask God to send rabbi’s or Levites or scribes. Not that Jesus wouldn’t want rabbis and Levites, but he wasn’t putting any restrictions on who God can use. Jesus was very open-ended on who o ask God to send.
PASTOR MARJI: Jesus was open-ended a lot.
NICK: Maddeningly open-ended.
SHIRLEY: No loopholes with him.
KATHI: So Jesus’ compassion is the motive for mission, and the first thing into our backpacks for the trip.
PASTOR MARJI: Praying for workers is the first step in mission, and the second thing into the backpacks. So your prayer journals, or lists, or reminders.
And, now we come to the twist. But first, for 25 cents in cash, and a free lunch with Pastor Greg, who knows in what year the Bible was divided into chapters? 1227. So the Bible existed for centuries without those divisions. Ignore that modern Bibles say we are moving into a new chapter, and let’s just keep going.
They had just prayed for workers, and we come to:
Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. Matthew 10:1-4 TNIV
When we pray for workers, we better be praying for our third resource for the journey: Jesus didn’t send them out unequipped. Remember that he had given them three years of his time. 36 months of training them – disciple means learner – so they had some understanding of what Jesus wanted taught. But he gave them more than training. He gave them authority. Authority to heal! Just like he healed. Exactly the same words, even though this translation doesn’t reflect it very clearly. He was commissioning them to carry on his work.
Workers need the gifts to make that journey. Carry on his work…….. When we pray for workers, we need to pray for God’s gifts for them.
So, why don’t more of his disciples have the gift of physical healing today? That’s not the point of the story, but it’s a legitimate question. In the New Testament, healing was an indicator of the presence of the Holy Spirit. And healing is still regarded as an indicator in some churches and in some other cultures. So it’s a good question!
And I don’t know. There’s a lot about the distribution of the more dramatic gifts of the Spirit that I don’t understand, but this I do know: you may not have the gift of physical healing, but you can still be a healer. We can heal starvation by providing food. We can certainly be physical healers by getting money to organizations that provide vaccines and clean water. AND, healing can be more than only physical I see healing in CR. I’ll bet Howard sees healing at Folsom. You know, one of the best ways to heal is to listen. Most of all – praying heals!! There’s a lot of healing we can do. Any kind of pain is material for healing ministry and mission. Our role model was – and is – a healer. There are lots of other gifts we’ll need for our journey, and God is just waiting to give them to his workers. Pray for the gifts!!
Then it seems we get into trivia. Why do we go from this mind stretching stuff to a list of names of dead guys? The Bible doesn’t tell us much about this motley crew. We know a little about Peter – fickle. James, John – hot-tempered and angry. Simon - a Zealot. Matthew at the complete opposite end of the political continuum – a tax collector! The Bible doesn’t tell us much more than that about them, but that little bit sure tells us a lot about Jesus’ plans! Jesus can overcome impossible differences among people! Diversity is absolutely necessary when it comes to reaching the world, or the neighborhood, for Jesus.
But, beyond illustrating the need for diversity, these people are in the middle of Jesus’ plan for outreach, because these very unlikely candidates for greatness were representatives of the community Jesus began. They represent his Church. Valley Grace, you can’t do mission alone. I can’t change the world for him alone. There are no lone ranger Christians. So, our fourth resource for the journey is the church. Pray for The Church, with a capitol C, and pray for Valley Grace! Pray for us as we answer God’s call! Wherever you go, you won’t be effective without prayer! And you won’t be effective alone.
PASTOR MARJI: It feels overwhelming, doesn’t it? The sheer volume of human need is absolutely staggering. So most people end up doing one of two things. Either they turn it all off, every bit of it, and do nothing, feeling very guilty. Or they do a few little symbolic things. Five dollars here and a couple of hours there, and feel they’ve done their bit to make the world a better place.
KATHI: You may have noticed that the disciples became the answer to their own prayers. They prayed for workers, and the next thing you know, they were sent out. Sometimes it works that way.
PASTOR MARJI: We’re not trying to discourage you from praying. You won’t always be the answer to your own prayer. But, this is about awareness and willingness. Open to being the answer.
NICK: Jesus invited them to pray, and then invited them to partner in the answer to that prayers. So pray for the kingdom to come in every sphere of life, but work to see the kingdom come in those areas where you have influence – in your job, your home, neighborhood, city, and world. Ask, what would this place look when what God wants done is done? Go for the kingdom first
PASTOR MARJI: So what do we put in our backpacks, or our saddle bags, or our pockets as we set off?
SHIRLEY: First of all, compassion. As we’re packing we need to remember that outreach needs to be the driving force of every church. If we are not reaching out to our community we are nothing more than a social club. Outreach needs to be fueled by compassion, the heart of Jesus. If we do outreach so that we have more people in church –
NICK: although we’d love to have more people in church –
SHIRLEY: or because the offering will be larger
KATHI: – and we’d love the offering to be larger –
SHIRLEY: ….then we are doing it for the wrong reasons!!! Outreach needs to be our driving force, but it has to be fueled by the fact that we care about people. If we do not have compassion for those who do not know Jesus – whose lives are drifting and whose long term futures are bleak - then our outreach is pointless. We need to pray for compassion. We should be praying to be willing to sacrifice – just like Jesus did – so others can be on the journey with us.
KATHI: Second into the backpack. Prayer for workers. Knowing we could end up being the answer to our own prayers. We could pray every day for someone we love to come to Jesus, then let our concern stop. But when we seriously pray for God to send someone to that person, it’s more likely we’ll be open to being that someone ourselves. We put ourselves on – to use the language of Romans 12 – we put ourselves on the altar as a living sacrifice for him to use. To become the one who might impact that life. But now, control freaks, don’t be threatened if he does send someone else who can get through to that person when you couldn’t..
NICK: Third into the backpack, we pray for the gifts that build God’s work. Pray and be prepared to be the answer. Don’t over spiritualize the gifts God wants to give you. He can give love and joy and peace, but he can also give an online course in communications, a gift card for groceries that you can pass on, being in the right place at the right time. He can give pain, and that can be the greatest gift, if you learn from it. The gift he gives most often though, is the learnings of daily living. Never discount that gift. That is what you have to share.
PASTOR MARJI: Fourth into that backpack: pray for the church. No one can change the world for God alone. Even Jesus had a team.
KATHI: Prayer can be peaceful and beautiful.
NICK: It can also be anguished and insistent. Based on the relationship, God’s faithfulness.
SHIRLEY: Don’t be afraid of asking!
PASTOR MARJI: We challenge everyone here this morning to be willing to take a risk.
SHIRLEY: Pray to see people like Jesus does.
NICK: Decide before you leave here to prayer specifically for workers in your part of the world. You may end up being one of them, but for now, just pray for workers!!
KATHI: Our prayer is that we will become much more than just a bunch of spectators that are sitting on the sidelines of life and being satisfied watching just a few working in the field of harvest.
As we get ready for our journey, let’s check the packing job. Look in your backpack. I’ll bet there’s stuff in there you don’t want to take on this journey. Something you’ve tried to ditch for a long time. A habit, a resentment, greed, nastiness, anything that keeps you from being effective for God. It’s time to get rid of that. We’ve got to travel light. No room in the backpack for that kind of stuff.
Take the card in your bulletin and write down what you want to dump. What I don’t want to take on the journey. Then come to the pack station and put it in the trash. You can leave it behind. And it’ll be gone because we’re going to burn it. Then take the provisions for the trip and go back to your seat. Eat and drink. And pray. Then we’ll pray for those recourses we’ve talked about.