E-mail Sermon May 18, 2008 - "Equipped and Sent"

“Equipped and Sent”

Matthew 28:16-20

Willapa United Methodist Church

May 18, 2008

Stan Norman

This is Senior Sunday, the Sunday that we honor our high school graduates and send them out into the world to accomplish great things.  But, every major transition in life brings uncertainty and doubt, along with satisfaction and celebration.  Have we given them the tools that they will need to be successful?  Will they make the right choices?  As I’ve gotten older, and learned to listen more closely to Sue, I’ve become convinced that things happen for a reason, and often for a reason that God has not yet revealed to us.

In this morning’s text we find Jesus giving his final instructions and encouragement to eleven very ordinary men who must have wondered, “Are we ready for this?  Will we be able to do what he is asking us to do?  Will we make the right choices?”  We read that they worshiped him, but some doubted.  To be honest, I would have doubted too!  Please pray with me.

May the words of our mouths, the meditations of our hearts, and the conduct of our lives, be always acceptable to you, O God, our strength and our blessed redeemer.  Amen.

This week I ran across a humorous sermon on the Great Commission, our text for this morning.  It was written by Richard Carlson, a professor at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg.  Carlson approaches the Great Commission from a 21^st century marketing perspective.  Here are a few of the problems he sees with Jesus’ strategy for marketing Christianity:

• The sales force is questionable at best.  Eleven uneducated men who have proven to be less than faithful and understanding in the past, and even in the presence of the Risen Lord still have their doubts; not exactly your “A Team.”

• Jesus’ product delivery strategy is flawed.  He tells them to go out to people.  How is that going to work?  These guys are Israelites, people of the Promised Land and the Temple.  They have been in the “if you build it they will come” mode for years.

• With a questionable sales force of only eleven people, Jesus tells them to go to all the world!  There is no specific targeting, no market niche to work on.  With a new product like this, it’s always best to start with an early success.

• And then there’s the product itself…we translate the Greek word that Jesus uses for “disciples” as “make disciples.”  But Jesus uses the verb form of the word, not the noun, so it would be more accurately translated as “disciplize” and to make matters worse, continuing action is called for, not completed action.  That means it’s not enough for the apostles to baptize, teach and move on; they have to sell a product that carries a lifetime warranty, and comes with a lifelong service agreement.

This assignment would be daunting to a crack sales force of a thousand members of the “Million-Denari Club,” yet Jesus gives it to eleven ordinary guys.  One has to wonder, “What was Jesus thinking?”  This must have looked like an impossible task to the apostles.  Did I say “impossible?”  Yes, and Jesus had something to say about that as well. 

Remember the story of the rich young man who wanted to follow Jesus, but could not bring himself to give away all that he had?  Jesus used the illustration of trying to get a camel to go through the eye of a needle, to explain how hard it would be for someone still attached to all the things of this world to enter the kingdom of God.  The Bible says that Jesus’ followers were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”  Jesus responded, “With humans it is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Well, okay.  So Jesus’ marketing strategy relies on God, and the not the quality or quantity of the sales force.  But how has Jesus equipped these eleven men to represent God and promote Christianity?  What classes have they taken?  What tests have they been required to pass?  How has he equipped them for the challenges they will face?

In addition to being Senior Sunday, this is Trinity Sunday; and as I’ve said, I’ve come to believe that things happen for a reason.  I don’t think that it is coincidental that the Class of 2008, the Great Commission, and our God in Three Persons have converged here in the Willapa United Methodist Church on May 18, 2008.  I believe that Jesus equipped these eleven ordinary men with all that they needed to “disciplize” the world, and that he is equipping you and me today.  That’s what he does.  It’s a God thing.

God the Father, the Creator, is revealed to humanity by a collection of books that we call the Old Testament.  It includes the Law of Moses and the Prophets.  One of the most important things that Jesus did after his resurrection was to “open the Scriptures” for his followers so that they could better understand the nature of God the Father, the Creator.  So, the first required course for every salesperson of Christianity is the Bible, specifically the Scriptures of the Old Testament.

Jesus himself reveals God the Son, the Redeemer.  So, the second required course for every salesperson is the life and teachings of Jesus.  The eleven men standing with Jesus on that mountain receiving the Great Commission had been eyewitnesses to Jesus’ life and teachings.  But, two thousand years have passed since that day, and all the eyewitnesses are long-since gone.  That’s why God has given us the second part of the Bible, the New Testament, as a record of Jesus’ life and teachings.

Finally, God has equipped us with the Holy Spirit, the Sustainer.  The Holy Spirit gives us the wisdom to understand the Scriptures and the courage to “disciplize” for God in a world that really doesn’t want to change.  The Holy Spirit may be less of a required course and more of an acquired attitude.

So, on further examination, Jesus sent those first salesmen out pretty well equipped for the impossible task before them.  But, what about us?  What about the 21^st century sales force for Christianity?  We are now 2 billion strong.  Thanks be to God.   

For years now, the stated mission of the United Methodist Church was to “make disciples of Jesus Christ.”  But, for me, there has always been something missing in that statement.  I think what was missing for me was a clear view of what we were trying to accomplish, by making disciples of Jesus Christ.  I was hungering for a vision of what would happen if we accomplished our mission.  The 2008 General Conference of the United Methodist Church resolved my dilemma.  Our mission is now to “make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.”  The “transformation of the world,” I think that was Jesus’ vision for his Church on that mountaintop in Galilee so many years ago.

As Christ’s Church today, what does it mean for us to be commissioned to “disciplize” the world?  Let’s turn to Richard Carlson again for a few thoughts:[1]

• To take on this vision means “disciplizing” is a lifelong encounter with the living Christ who is always drawing us out of ourselves and into the world, as the light of the world.

• ·To take on this vision means having a pastor who is not an employee that [we] have hired to do work for the congregation; but to have a missional leader who, through Word and Sacrament, participates in the equipping for discipleship of all.

• ·To take on this vision means moving away from an “if we build it they will come” mindset for mission, and embracing the reality that we are the light of the world that is sent into a very dark and hurting world.

• ·To take on this mission is to assume the position of follower who not only brings Jesus beyond the walls of the congregation, but also obediently goes where Jesus says “go” and lives how Jesus says “live.”

Jesus’ Great Commission is a tall order, even for a sales force of 2 billion.  It would be easier and safer to just stay in school.  But, I believe that Jesus is calling you and me to that mountaintop this morning.  I believe that Jesus is calling this church to that mountaintop this morning.  He has given us the Bible.  He has given us his own life as an example.  He has given us the Holy Spirit so that he can be with us every step of the way.  I can hear the strains of “Pomp and Circumstance” playing in the background.  It’s time to graduate and move on, on to a life with Christ at the center, on to a life that will change the world – one disciple at a time.

Amen.