Sermon: Sharing God’s Love October 24 and 25, 2009 Reformation/Commitment Weekend This is the 3rd and last week of our Stewardship emphasis for the year— --focused on our mission statement— which is: Following Christ, Growing in Faith, Sharing God’s Love And this 3rd week, we’re looking a the 3rd section: Sharing God’s Love. As we’ve mentioned the past 2 weeks, the Stewardship Team, as they put this focus together, used a resource from Luther Seminary in St. Paul called “Down and Out.” And this “Down and Out” reminds us that God comes down to us— --we can’t go up to God. And then we are sent out. It starts with God coming down. And that fits in very well with the other emphasis today— --Reformation Sunday/weekend. That was the big deal in the Reformation, with Martin Luther about 500 years ago. We have that great desire to think we have to do it ourselves. To even want to do it ourselves. To think that we need to climb the ladder up to God. But we can’t. God comes down. C.S. Lewis talks about this. He says when Jesus came to earth, he was like a diver. God is looking down into this dark, slimy, murky water. That’s our sinful world. What does God do? God dives in. Gets wet. Comes right with us into the mud and muck. And then God comes up again, dripping and muddy, but holding the precious thing God went down to recover. You know what he’s holding? The precious thing he’s holding is you and me. That’s how we are saved from sin. God in Christ descended down into the slime and rescued us. Nothing we can do can save us. Good works can’t save us. Trying not to sin can’t save us. We’re stuck on the bottom of the sea. We have no power to set ourselves free. But God comes down to us. And God’s gracious love lifts us up. It’s nothing we do. It’s what God does for us. And in Christ, God comes down— --and being raised up on the cross --lifts us up as well. Lifts us up to salvation, and justification, and freedom. Jesus says: “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” And we are free. Free for what? Free to love. To go “out” to help our neighbor. To care for one another. Sometimes we think that freedom means “doing whatever I want.” But that’s actually slavery to myself. Being set free means having our self-centeredness turned away from ourselves. Giving is more important than getting. And, at the extreme, dying for others is more important than preserving your own life. That’s what Jesus did for us. That’s how much God loves us. And we are set free to follow God by reflecting that self-giving love. Connected to Christ. Abiding in Christ. And through that connection, reaching out in love to the world. We are set free to love because we don’t have to spend our lives justifying ourselves. That has already been done by Christ. God loves us already. So we are set free to love. Set free to “Share God’s Love.” So, how do we do that? What does it mean to be sent out to Share God’s Love? Well, we Share God’s Love as a community of faith here at Good Shepherd. And we Share God’s Love in our daily lives. We share God’s Love as a community of faith. Jesus often sent people out in pairs. We support one another in our mission. So, we share God’s love by: -Delivering Thanksgiving baskets, with the gifts shared by the congregation. -Through Christmas Child boxes, which are now out in the gathering area for you to take and fill and give. -Through Habitat for Humanity. A group just finished yard work yesterday/today. -Through the Giving Tree and other Christmas projects coming up in the weeks ahead. -Through Feed My Starving Children, when we packaged over 150,000 meals. Good Shepherd does a good job in Sharing God’s Love in these ways. It’s exciting to be part of a congregation that shares so generously. It says in Acts 1:8: “You will be my witnesses.” We are witnessed in what we say and do. It’s not that we decide to be witnesses. We are witnesses. The question is: “What do people see?” At a conference I went to, one of the speakers said: “Witness, at its heart, is who you are that people see.” And I think, as people see these generous acts of giving, they see God’s love being shared. That speaker also said that the way we relate to one another as people of the community of faith is often the first witness people have of God’s love. The way we live together is often the first way people see Christ. So, how do we care for one another? How do we work together? How do we fight when we disagree? How do we support one another? In times of crisis, how do we respond? How can each of these things reflect that we are following Christ and sharing God’s love. We can share God’s love a lot as part of a community of faith as we work together. How will you do that this week? And we share God’s love in our daily lives. Sometimes the challenge for us is that we think, when we’ve been involved in Feed My Starving Children or Thanksgiving Baskets or whatever, that we’re finished sharing God’s love. The reality is, we’ve just begun. Because the vast amount of our lives is spent away from church activities. How do we Share God’s Love in our daily life? When we talk about monetary stewardship, we often focus on the 10% that we encourage people to share with the church for our shared ministry. But the other 90% is part of stewardship, too. How do we use everything God has given us to Share God’s Love? All of our time. All of our energy. All of our money. All of our life. We talk regularly about the first theological pillar of the reformation— --justification by grace through faith. I tend to talk a lot less about a second great theological pillar of the reformation— --vocation. But the idea of vocation is very important to our faith. It’s the idea that we are called. And that calling leads us into our daily life— --to do what God has created us to do. A few weeks ago, I went up to Minnesota for the preaching conference I’ve mentioned before. Before I left, I’d watched the first DVD segment of “Down and Out”, starting to think about this Stewardship emphasis. And on the DVD, Marc Kolden, a seminary professor I had when I was in school (even played basketball with him) shared some thoughts about vocation. And it piqued my interest. I was hoping I might see him when I was on the seminary campus— --ask him about vocation. Well, I didn’t. Never saw him during the conference. No Marc Kolden. And, if that was the end of the story, it would be a pretty boring story. But, it’s not. When I arrived and registered for the conference, in the packet they gave to each of those attending, was this little booklet. “A Christian’s Calling in the World: An Understanding of Christian Vocation” by Marc Kolden. So, I started reading it right away. And he talks about how vocation is our calling from God to serve God by serving others—our neighbor— --right in the middle of what we do in daily life. So, as we care for our family, go to work, go to school, we care for the world-- --by doing what we ordinarily do --and seeing how it is really service to God. Professor Kolden tells a story that I think helps make this clear. He used to go to a barber who was a member of his congregation. Each time he got his hair cut, the barber would confess his feeling that he wasn’t a very good Christian because he found it so hard to talk to his customers about his Christian faith. Marc said: “When I come here for a haircut, my interest isn’t whether or not you talk about Jesus, I want to get a good haircut.” Marc would continue: “When you give me a good haircut, that’s your way of loving your neighbor—me; and all those people that have to look at me.” But the barber just couldn’t see it. He struggled to see that God’s work could include such mundane things as cutting hair. That God could care for such things as the hair on our head. Marc writes: “I certainly was not against his bearing witness to Christ, but I think that as a barber, his first responsibility to the God who called him was to be the best barber he could be. That in itself is valuable.” Can we believe that God cares so much for the world, that he sends us out to be barbers and managers, parents and students, teachers and nurses— --all for the sake of the everyday needs of the neighbor. Because God has come down for you and for me, we are sent out in love. Sent out together in service. And sent out every day in our homes and work and school, to do the everyday, mundane tasks that love the neighbor. May your life be filled as you live, Following Christ, Growing in Faith, Sharing God’s Love. In Jesus’ name, Amen