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Called to Go and Tell · Faith at Work

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  SPEAKER_00: we are exploring this idea from chapter 11 of Let Our Joys Be Known.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's a book that some of you have been going through,
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  SPEAKER_00: and I've been basing these sermons on,
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  SPEAKER_00: that we are called to go and tell.
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  SPEAKER_00: So here's the big idea for this morning.
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  The Spirit invites ordinary people like you,
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  like me,
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  to share good news with
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  SPEAKER_00: where they already are.
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  SPEAKER_00: So,
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  SPEAKER_00: as we pray and as we notice and as we tell and as we invite,
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  the belief is that God opens the hearts and the homes of people
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  in our sphere of
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  SPEAKER_00: influence.
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  SPEAKER_00: So, mission is not a program that we follow, it is a path that we walk.
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  SPEAKER_00: Just ordinary people
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  SPEAKER_00: Telling a better story about life with the divine.
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  There are these days,
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  I think,
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  fewer apostles and clearly fewer pastors who
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  SPEAKER_00: But there are more teachers,
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  SPEAKER_00: more mechanics,
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  SPEAKER_00: more students,
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  SPEAKER_00: more retirees,
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  you that are being called to go and tell the good story about
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  Jesus Christ where
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  SPEAKER_00: you happen to find yourself in any given day.
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  SPEAKER_00: Jesus' last words set our direction as a church.
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  SPEAKER_00: Receive power from the Holy Spirit.
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  SPEAKER_00: and then be my witnesses.
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  SPEAKER_00: Not later, not someday, not just back then, but now, today.
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  The disciples were asking at that time when they heard Jesus
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  say these things in
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  SPEAKER_00: Acts about timetables and maps.
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  SPEAKER_00: When is it going to finally end was their question.
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  And as Jesus often did,
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  He reframed everything and He answered with a promise and a
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  verb.
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  SPEAKER_00: It starts now.
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  SPEAKER_00: Power is coming, and then you go and tell about me.
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  In Antioch,
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  one of the earliest churches,
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  they listened and they fasted for direction.
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  SPEAKER_00: And we are trying to do those same kinds of things today.
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  And as they did that,
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  they heard the Spirit say,
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  set apart Barnabas and Saul.
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  SPEAKER_00: So,
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  SPEAKER_00: we learn that sending always begins with worship,
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  SPEAKER_00: which is why we gather each Sunday at the beginning of the week,
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  so we can pray and discern and hear the Spirit of God telling
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  us where we might go
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  SPEAKER_00: in the days ahead this coming week.
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  SPEAKER_00: And they laid hands on each other,
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  SPEAKER_00: and they blessed each other,
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  SPEAKER_00: and then they released them out into the world,
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  and they trusted that the Spirit was more than their own
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  personal comfort as they
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  SPEAKER_00: went.
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  SPEAKER_00: Love lets us go with the gospel and grow.
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  SPEAKER_00: N.T.
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  Wright,
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  as you know,
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  one of my favorite theologians,
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  says that the gospel is news,
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  not advice.
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  SPEAKER_00: The gospel is news, not advice.
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  SPEAKER_00: It announces what God has done and is doing through Jesus Christ.
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  SPEAKER_00: And our task is to carry that good news into real life.
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  SPEAKER_00: A person, not a program and not a plan.
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  SPEAKER_00: Now, Paul, he had a plan.
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  SPEAKER_00: He had plans.
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  But what we see in the Scripture is that God had lots of
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  detours for that young fellow.
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  SPEAKER_00: He had a night vision,
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  SPEAKER_00: a new direction,
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  SPEAKER_00: a new shore,
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  SPEAKER_00: a welcome into Macedonia,
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  SPEAKER_00: a call to go there,
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  SPEAKER_00: a man.
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  SPEAKER_00: in Macedonia.
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  SPEAKER_00: But there, beside a river, he met a woman, a bunch of women in prayer.
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  SPEAKER_00: Not a man, a crowd of women, and not a synagogue.
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  SPEAKER_00: Ladies, a sewing circle.
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  SPEAKER_00: A lot of ministry happens in a sewing circle, if you don't know.
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  SPEAKER_00: A lot of mission happens in sewing circles as well,
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  SPEAKER_00: if you don't know that,
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  SPEAKER_00: especially in the Brethren Church.
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  SPEAKER_00: They were seekers waiting by the water.
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  SPEAKER_00: And for God, that was enough.
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  SPEAKER_00: Lydia, who was one of those ladies there, listened with an open heart.
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  SPEAKER_00: And then the Lord opened it up wider.
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  SPEAKER_00: And her home became the first church in Europe.
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  SPEAKER_00: Lydia, the first church in Europe in her home.
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  SPEAKER_00: Now, you know I've been a missionary, and I've done all that.
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  SPEAKER_00: I did that with the Mennonite church.
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  The Brethren Church has had a little bit different experience
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  with missions.
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  SPEAKER_00: Early on, the Brethren family was very, very excited about missions.
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  SPEAKER_00: They were very energetic about going and sharing the gospel, but
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  SPEAKER_00: they also wrestled with it as they grew.
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  SPEAKER_00: They became cautious, even suspicious.
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  SPEAKER_00: Some early on said, you know, the Great Commission is just in the past.
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  SPEAKER_00: It was directed by the apostles, and it is not for us modern Christians.
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  SPEAKER_00: So,
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  SPEAKER_00: missions stalled for many,
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  SPEAKER_00: many years,
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  SPEAKER_00: but the Spirit kept nudging,
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  SPEAKER_00: as the Spirit always does,
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  SPEAKER_00: and in 1852,
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  SPEAKER_00: a query reached annual conference.
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  SPEAKER_00: It said, let's devise a plan for missions.
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  SPEAKER_00: They urged again and again, and finally, in 1880, five
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  SPEAKER_00: men were appointed to lead.
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  SPEAKER_00: Sorry, ladies, no sewing circle at that time.
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  And the domestic and the foreign work of the Church of the
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  Brethren began.
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  SPEAKER_00: praying, planning, sending together.
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  SPEAKER_00: And soon, workers went far and wide.
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  SPEAKER_00: They went to Denmark and Sweden and Palestine,
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  SPEAKER_00: India,
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  SPEAKER_00: China,
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  SPEAKER_00: Nigeria,
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  SPEAKER_00: Turkey,
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  SPEAKER_00: France,
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  SPEAKER_00: Cuba,
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  SPEAKER_00: Puerto Rico,
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  SPEAKER_00: Ecuador,
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  SPEAKER_00: Sudan,
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  SPEAKER_00: and Korea.
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  SPEAKER_00: Many of those people served in practical ways.
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  SPEAKER_00: Why?
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  SPEAKER_00: Well,
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  because the brethren tend to believe that service has often
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  been seen as a witness
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  SPEAKER_00: to practical faith.
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  SPEAKER_00: Hands become a living sermon, work instead of words.
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  Now,
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  Nigeria has been an incredible place for God's work in the
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  church of the brethren.
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  SPEAKER_00: It has been a bright chapter for us.
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  SPEAKER_00: By 1995, 120,000
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  SPEAKER_00: Church of the Brethren members in Nigeria.
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  SPEAKER_00: EYN, Ecclesiar, Yan Uwa Anajiria.
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  SPEAKER_00: Growing, alive, sharing Jesus Christ in a brethren kind of way.
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  SPEAKER_00: So this off and on,
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  SPEAKER_00: here and there,
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  word and work is our legacy and it is our lane as the church of
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  the brethren.
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  We've questioned and then we've learned and then we obeyed and
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  we went and we told
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  SPEAKER_00: and now it's our turn.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's your turn to go and tell.
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  SPEAKER_00: Because mission isn't only far, it is near.
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  It's across the ocean,
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  but it's also across the street,
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  across the field,
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  right?
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  SPEAKER_00: Across the fence.
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  SPEAKER_00: Both count.
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  SPEAKER_00: All of those things are witness.
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  All of us can go and tell no matter where we find ourselves in
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  any given day.
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  SPEAKER_00: So let's honor our story with God,
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  SPEAKER_00: with Jesus Christ,
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  SPEAKER_00: with the Holy Spirit by stepping out together and telling that story.
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  SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
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  SPEAKER_00: Let's notice.
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  SPEAKER_00: Let's serve.
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  SPEAKER_00: Let's tell.
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  SPEAKER_00: Let's invite, which many of you are doing, and thank you for that.
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  The same Spirit who moved way back then and over all of these
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  years in the Church
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  SPEAKER_00: of the Brethren is moving now.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's moving today.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's moving, I believe, in this place.
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  SPEAKER_00: Richard Rohrer, again one of my favorites, calls this living in the flow.
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  SPEAKER_00: We move with the Spirit's current throughout our days.
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  SPEAKER_00: We let God's love set our next step as we journey along the way.
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  SPEAKER_00: The book of Romans says that the gospel is God's power to save,
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  SPEAKER_00: not our eloquence,
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  SPEAKER_00: our story,
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  SPEAKER_00: not our brand,
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  SPEAKER_00: or our denomination,
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  God's power and presence in our lives and the promise that God
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  is already present
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  SPEAKER_00: in others' lives as well.
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  SPEAKER_00: So, we can all go and tell our story.
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  SPEAKER_00: telling our story about Jesus.
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  SPEAKER_00: We can tell it with gentleness.
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  SPEAKER_00: We can tell it with courage.
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  And as we do,
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  we trust that the message is more than our methods by which we
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  do it.
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  SPEAKER_00: So, what does go and tell look like here for us in our daily lives?
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  SPEAKER_00: Well, start with one honest grace story.
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  SPEAKER_00: Name where Jesus met you today, yesterday, last year, long ago.
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  SPEAKER_00: It sounds like I was anxious and Christ gave me peace.
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  SPEAKER_00: I was bitter and
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  SPEAKER_00: And Christ taught me how to forgive.
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  SPEAKER_00: I was alone.
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  SPEAKER_00: And this church, this church became my family.
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  SPEAKER_00: Come on and see that it can be the same for you.
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  Now,
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  the Samaritan woman understood very,
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  very fast when she met Jesus at the well.
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  She left her water jar and she ran to tell all of her family
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  and friends in the
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  SPEAKER_00: village,
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  SPEAKER_00: come on,
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  SPEAKER_00: come see a man who told me everything about my life and still loved me.
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  SPEAKER_00: He'll love you too.
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  SPEAKER_00: Now, she did not pass a theology exam first.
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  SPEAKER_00: She shared what she knew at that point, and it was enough.
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  Her town came to Jesus because she told a story,
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  and it can be the same for all of us as well.
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  SPEAKER_00: Barbara Brown Taylor says, the gospel begins with a voice.
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  SPEAKER_00: even a shaky one, God can use even a whisper.
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  Now,
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  some of us might feel burned out or disqualified for one reason
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  or another.
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  SPEAKER_00: You don't need to.
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  SPEAKER_00: I've been there.
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  SPEAKER_00: Others have been there.
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  SPEAKER_00: Others are there now.
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  SPEAKER_00: But the Spirit's love is all about starting again with us and others.
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  SPEAKER_00: So today, ask, who is my Macedonian this week?
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  SPEAKER_00: Is it a neighbor, co-worker, classmate, child that I meet along the way?
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  Someone is waiting by a quiet river for you to pass by tomorrow
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  or the next day.
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  SPEAKER_00: Ask yourself,
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  SPEAKER_00: where's my Antioch,
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  SPEAKER_00: a circle that prays and listens before it acts,
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  SPEAKER_00: a team that sends instead of clings to.
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  SPEAKER_00: And ask yourself, what is my Lydia step?
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  SPEAKER_00: Can you open your home, your schedule, your table?
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  Remember,
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  hospitality is mission with plates and lasagna if you happen to
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  be in Italy.
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  SPEAKER_00: When ears are closed, serve.
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  SPEAKER_00: When service opens them, speak.
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  SPEAKER_00: And when speaking begins, point to Jesus.
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  SPEAKER_00: So, Pleasant Valley, can we go and tell?
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  SPEAKER_00: Can we bless and release, invite and include?
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  SPEAKER_00: Can we be unashamed of this good news that is our story?
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  SPEAKER_00: I believe we can.
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  SPEAKER_00: I believe you can.
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  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
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  Amen.