My niece Jessica is getting married today. Often when I counsel young folks, (and not so young folks) who are getting married, I encourage them to be sure they are getting into a partnership of two whole people. Two adults. When two immature people, two broken, or half developed people get together and try to form a union, you come out with something not really healthy and not really whole. It’s much better when two whole healthy people come together who complement one another. It’s better when the one helps the other be more of who that one was created to be, rather than each one trying to change into who they think their partner wants them to be.
I think the same thing goes on, in our relationship with God. We can twist and contort and try to pretend be the good Christian. Or, we can take a more organic, a more holistic approach. We can give our whole selves to God. You see, I believe each of us, is more whole, more spiritually healthy, when we are living in tune with that ONE LOVE, with the God who created us. When our lives are focused on living for God, and with God and along the purposes of God. . . well. . . it’s just better for everyone. In my own life, this practice of living in tune with God’s desire for my life, is what keeps me on track.
You see it’s easy for me to get off balance – and pulled in so many different directions. I have lots of interests. There are lots of people and causes and issues that can get my attention. I can get pulled in a thousand different directions. The ONLY way I keep from being pulled apart, and pulled to pieces, is by having some regular practices of listening to God and lining up my life, with God’s desires for my life.
Let me give you a couple of illustrations of what happens when we don’t do that. They come from our two stories from Luke 9 for today.
In the first one, a man asks Jesus to heal his son. He had asked the disciples to do it but that had not been able to. Now we don’t know what the background is here, but for some reason, this particular day, Jesus seems to have lost his patience with the crowd and with his disciples. Even Jesus had a bad day now and them. He kind of “loses it” and says: 41 Jesus said, "What a generation! No sense of God! No focus to your lives! How many times do I have to go over these things? How much longer do I have to put up with this? Bring your son here."
42-43 While he was coming, the demon slammed him to the ground and threw him into convulsions. Jesus stepped in, ordered the vile spirit gone, healed the boy, and handed him back to his father. They all shook their heads in wonder, astonished at God's greatness, God's majestic greatness.
I think what Jesus is saying is this: you folks are not living in tune with God. You
are distracted by too many things. You have no focus. You are not praying – you are not worshiping. You are not teaching your children the stories of God. You are not putting your trust in God. You have gotten off track. And so now look at you, your son has been taken over by evil. And my disciples, they are not doing much better. Jesus must have been so discouraged that day.
And then we go right into another story. When a series of folks SAY they want to
follow Jesus. That’s what we say, right? That’s our mission: Follow Jesus and change the world.
57 On the road someone asked if he could go along. "I'll go with you, wherever," he said.
58 Jesus was curt: "Are you ready to rough it? We're not staying in the best inns, you know."
Jesus said to another, "Follow me."
59 He said, "Certainly, but first excuse me for a couple of days, please. I have to make arrangements for my father's funeral."
60 Jesus refused. "First things first. Your business is life, not death. And life is urgent: Announce God's kingdom!"
61 Then another said, "I'm ready to follow you, Master, but first excuse me while I get things straightened out at home."
62 Jesus said, "No procrastination. No backward looks. You can't put God's kingdom off till tomorrow. Seize the day."
“No procrastination,” Jesus says.
“No backward looks.” “Now is the time.”
How often do we make excuses? Well, I know Jesus would probably want me to do “this” but I’ve gotta get my kids through college first, or pay off my credit card debt. I’ll give some volunteer time once things slow down at work. I’m unhappy at my job and want to do something more meaningful, but I can’t make a change yet, because. . .
But here is the thing. When Jesus says: “Follow me.” The invitation is NOW. And when we get into the practice of asking Jesus to guide every corner of our lives, it really is easier to find our focus, and keep our priorities in line.
But one of the important lessons I think we have to learn is this: Jesus invites us to focus. We can each do ONE THING for Jesus, and do it well. We can do the ONE THING God put us on this earth to do – and we can leave all the other things to someone else – because there are a lot of folks here. We don’t have to do everything. God has lots of folks who can help God achieve God’s purposes.
Here at The Village, we have been watching this film: “Lord Save us From Your Followers” for the past couple of weeks. In it, the film maker, Dan Merchant, talks to folks across America about why the Gospel of love has us so divided. Towards the end of the film, he begins to lift up some positive examples of people who are following Jesus and making a positive impact in the world. One of them is the musician and activist Bono. We showed a clip about the One Campaign that Bono and some others have worked on, to end extreme poverty and preventable disease from the movie.
What I love about Bono and the One Campaign is the clear focus. He has lined himself up with one purpose – mobilizing people to end poverty and preventable disease. Bono managed to gather a coalition of people from George W. Bush and Pat Robertson on the right to himself and George Clooney on the left. In the clip, Bono speaks about changing the world saying:
“Stop asking God to bless what you are doing; get involved in what God is doing
because it’s already blessed.”
“God is with the vulnerable and the poor
God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house
God is in silence of the mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives
God is in the cries heard under the ruble of war
God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives
God is with us if we are with them.”
So what about you? What is your one thing right now? It can be one thing per season of your life. What is the one thing God is calling you to do, to make a difference in the world? To share the message of God’s love and compassion?
It’s so easy for me to get distracted by someone else’s one thing for me. Every day people are calling me with something they want me to do. And that’s cool. They have their focus. And maybe God is using them to speak to me – you never know. But that’s why I need to have a strong prayer life – so that I can be in tune with God and discern – whether someone is working on their ONE thing – or whether they are speaking for God TO me about my ONE thing too.
For example, you know I care about justice. So it’s really easy for me to get excited about working for justice – and getting caught up in this cause or that one. Let’s go march on city hall. Let’s organize a campaign for this or that. But that’s not really my one thing. My one thing is to help you find your one thing.
My one thing is to help you find your place to work in the world with God. I like what Bono said. Let’s not ask God to bless what we are doing; let’s get involved in what God is doing because it is already blessed. Read that again. Let’s not ask God to bless what we are doing; let’s get involved in what God is doing because it is already blessed.
My calling is to help you see that God loves you and that God needs you to help change the world. And that God has that ONE THING for you to do, something that only you can do. Some place for you to serve. I LOVE it when I see someone find their God-given passion and get to live it out. That’s my one thing.
What is yours? Bono’s passion is to use his influence to eliminate extreme poverty and preventable disease. What’s yours? The Village Church is here to help you find your one thing.
Over the next few weeks, we’re going to have a worship series where we highlight some examples of Jesus’ Followers who are worth following. We’re going to show you some people, famous & unknown alike, who have found their passion. Some people live out their one thing through their work. And some people have a job they do for pay, and they live out their calling on their time off work.
Peg, a member of our congregation talked about how she has gone through a time of discernment through the Servant Leadership Program. Several more of us at the Village, including myself, Kurt, Pat Groves, and Cindy Dean have gone through this ten month program and even visited the Servant Leadership School at Church of the Saviour in Washington, DC.
During this class, you go through a process that begins with reclaiming the fact that are a child of a God. You then learn ways to center yourself in your spiritual journey. You then learn about other children of God and what they are facing. Then you try to focus on how you are going to change the world.
We can all change the world, when we have focus, and when we live in tune with God’s focus for our lives. One love. One thing. What is yours? If you know, I would love to hear about it. If you don’t yet know, then I would love to talk with you about it. We are here at the Village to help you discover it.
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