the church geek

This is the fourth sermon in my six part sermon series on discipleship. I preached this on July 13th. The text was 2 Timothy 1: 1-7; 2: 1-7

I started my sermon by showing this video:

I love that video. The expression on that kid’s face at the end is priceless.

Now, I bet that most of you don’t really come to church thinking that it’s really all about “you” Or at least I hope most of you don’t do that….

But in a very real way, your average run of the mill church is really just a “meChurch.” If you take a good hard look at them, you’ll begin to notice that just about everything these churches do is focused solely on it’s members.

Their programs, worship services, and ministries are all designed to keep their members happy. But, that’s not really the way it’s supposed to be.

The famous preacher, Tony Campollo, tells the story of a visitor who tours a factory. The factory is humming along. There’s a lot of activity and all the workers are very busy. It looks like things are really efficient and the work is getting done.

The visitor is greatly impressed, but once the tour is over, the visitor says to his tour guide, “Hey, wait a minute, you never showed me the shipping department.”

The tour guide looks at the visitor and in a confused tone he asks, “What do mean by a shipping department?” The visitor answers, “You know the place where you send out everything that the factory produces.”

The tour guide responds, “Oh, we don’t need to have a shipping department. The amazing thing about this factory is that it is entirely self-sustaining. Everything we produce is used to keep this factory running.”

We of course would be surprised, along with the visitor, if we toured a factory that didn’t have a shipping department. We all know that factories are supposed to make stuff and to send it out into the world. If they aren’t they are not doing their job.

But why aren’t we surprised, when we find a church that doesn’t have a shipping department? When we find a church where - as the video suggests - it’s all about the people who go there? Where it’s all about me?

Most churches, don’t have a shipping department. Sure, they’re busy doing all sorts of stuff, there’s a lot of internal activity happening, but it’s all keeping the church going.

All the activity is invested on its members. Nothing is being shipped outside. The church isn’t sending its members out into the world. The church isn’t impacting its community. The members might be showing up for worship, but that’s about it.

Again, that’s not the way it’s supposed to be. Instead, this is the way it’s supposed to be. The primary direction of our faith and of the church is supposed to be outward.

The members, the church itself, are supposed to be looking and acting outward toward the world. The reason that we’ve been called by God, the purpose for which you and I have been so blessed, is so that we can be a blessing to others.

We see this outward direction of our faith throughout the entire Bible. The first place we see it is right at the start of our Bible, in chapter 12 of the book of Genesis, where we find the story of God’s call of Abraham.

God calls Abraham and tells him to pick up his things and to start on a journey. He calls him out of the Land of Ur the place Abraham calls home and God tells him to go to a land that God promises to show him. In the midst of that call God tells him:

I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

Here we see the basic pattern of our faith. Abraham is called and blessed by God. He is told to pack up his things and to go. And God makes it clear that its not all about him. Abraham is called to be a blessing to others. He is blessed in order to be a blessing to all the nations of the earth.

In the new testament, the resurrected Christ picks up on this very same theme, in what is often called the Great Commission. At the end of his time on earth the disciples who have spent time with him in his earthly ministry have gathered around him, and in the very last words recorded in the gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells them:

Go, therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.

Here again we see the same pattern of faith. Jesus spent time with his disciples, teaching them and blessing them. He also made it clear to them that it wasn’t all about them. When the time was right and he was no longer with them, they were called to go and make more disciples. They were blessed by Jesus so that they would go and bless others.

This same pattern also emerges in the early church.

Last week we spoke of Barnabas, the Son of Encouragement, who discipled the newly converted Paul. Barnabas worked with Paul shaping him and helping him become the apostle who - in the end - had the greatest influence of anyone on the church.

But Paul knew that it wasn’t to end there. He knew it wasn’t all about him. He didn’t enjoy the benefit of his relationship with Barnabas and keep it to himself. Instead he turned around and did to others what Barnabas had done for him.

As we see in our scripture passage for today, Paul turned his attention and focus on a young man by the name of Timothy. In his letter to him, Paul points out that Timothy mostly likely came to faith through his mother and grandmother who were believers. But that didn’t mean that Timothy didn’t have some growing up to do and needed some direction in his life.

So, Timothy became Paul’s project. In fact Timothy is mentioned lots of times by Paul in the New Testament. In most places Paul talks of him fondly, calling him “my son” and “my true child in the faith.”

Timothy was definitely the product of Paul’s work. Paul invested himself in Timothy. And not only that, as he did he made it clear to him that this investment wasn’t just about him. Paul expected Timothy to turn around and do with others what Paul did for him.

As Chapter 2 verse 2 says, Paul expects Timothy to take what he has been taught and to in turn pass it on to others who will be able to share the faith and teach it to others:

You then, my child, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus; and what you have heard from me through many witnesses entrust to faithful people who will be able to teach others as well.

Paul mentors and disciples Timothy, Paul blesses him, all with the expectation that Timothy will in turn mentor and disciple others. Paul expects Timothy to bless others with what he has been blessed.

Paul’s charge to Timothy, today is my charge to you. In what ways are you passing on the faith to others? In what ways is our congregation out in the world sharing God’s love and drawing others into a relationship with God?

To hopefully make this charge a little more real to you, as your Pastor, I want to talk to you a bit this morning about your church.

Last time I checked we had 94 members on our roles. And if you ask for my opinion, most if not all that we do as a church is really designed with those 94 members in mind.

But what if we turned that around and decided instead to think about our next 94 members? What if we planned and designed everything we did as a church with those 94 new members in mind? What would our church have to look like? What would we have to do?

Now, we can hope and wish all we want for 94 more people to join us, and we can talk about the great things we have here that might bring those new people to our church. For instance:

* We can brag about being an open and family oriented congregation, which I think we are.
* We can boast about how we greet the occasional visitor who comes through our door with a friendly smile and a handshake, which I think we do well.
* We can take pride, as I heard someone say once, in having such a young, great, and dynamic Pastor, and if we do, that’s all well and good.

All of these are good things, BUT I’m afraid it’s not really enough. Another 94 members are only going to join us here at Knox if we begin to turn our attention outward. They are only going to come, if in everything we do and in everything we plan begins with our saying, “it’s not about us it’s about them.”

Personally that means that each one of us needs to reach out to our neighbors, our co-workers, our friends, and our acquaintances, and invite them to join us. And if for some reason this isn’t really the type of place you think they would want to come, then we should be asking why and what we can do to change that.

It also means that we need to find creative and authentic ways to be in our community in ministry, in mission, and in outreach. It’s no longer enough to give money and call that mission. We need to be doing hands on mission and ministry in the community, meeting people were they are, inviting them to join us.

And if and when they do come, we need places for them to plug in. We need small group ministries where they can ask questions about the faith and where you will teach them. That’s right I said, where you will teach them…

You see, I’m the pastor and I’m just one person; I can only do so much. So each you will need to become a Paul to a Timothy and you will need to share and lead them deeper into faith and life.

And if you’re not ready to do that and if the thought of it scares the pants off of you – then good! That means we need to begin small group ministries that will first deepen you in your faith and spiritual life. And that will give you the tools and the confidence to help you as your help others.

Friends, we’re only going to gain another 95 members if you and I decide to put Jesus’ words into action by “going out” and making disciples. And it’s only going to happen as we come to see ourselves as a church with a shipping department sending our members out into the world. Reaching out and sharing the love of God with others.

It’s only going to happen if you and I see ourselves as a group of Pauls preparing to invest ourselves in a bunch of Timothys.

Who is your Timothy? The possibilities are all around you. Your job is to ask God to open your eyes, to lead you and to show you, and to remind you that in the end it’s not all about you.

After all, we don’t want to be a meChurch. Now do we? Amen.

ShareThis