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"Always Abounding: Actively Engaged"
Welcome to week three of Always Abounding in the Work of the Lord.
For those of you who haven't been able to be with us the last two
weeks, we are for the first time ever sharing a single message at
all seven of our worship services which occur at four different
locations.
Greetings to all of you gathered at the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer
in Sanford. I am anxious to hear how your first Explorations class went
this morning. The community around you is certainly blessed to have you
bringing the Gospel message of Jesus Christ to them.
Welcome back to Pastor Abel. We missed you and Leah here in the office
at Oviedo as I am sure the St. Luke's family gathered at Chuluota did
as well. It was good to know that we survived even without technology
last week. Thank you Pastor Roberts for doing your very own impersonation
of me with the folks in Chuluota when the video failed.
To all of you in Sanford, Chuluota, and here in Oviedo including
those gathered at the Lutheran Haven Nursing Home chapel: Grace,
mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ.
It is our goal through this four-week series to rally all of you
around a shared vision that inspires and invigorates us to action
as God's people in this place, at this unique moment in time. That
shared vision is this - you know what's coming - St. Luke's Lutheran
Church and School in Oviedo and Chuluota, in partnership with the
Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in Sanford will be the most
Biblically Literate, Doctrinally Sound, Actively Engaged community
of believers in the world for the purpose of extending the kingdom
of God throughout central Florida and to the ends of the earth.
Two weeks ago I pleaded with you to grab hold of the idea that
being Biblically Literate is not just knowing about the Bible. It
is in fact living consciously inside the story of the Bible. It
is seeing more and more clearly that the entire history of the
world and therefore every detail of your personal life is shaped,
formed, and directed by the content of the Bible's story. There
is a purpose and a destination for us and this world we live in.
Last week I added the idea that being Doctrinally Sound is reading,
understanding and applying the story of the Bible to your life.
Doctrine is the lens through which we read the Bible's story, so
that we can make sense out of what is happening all around us
and in our personal life.
Now, being Biblically and Doctrinally Sound results inevitably
and unavoidably in becoming Actively Engaged. Today we must try
to grasp the immensity and pervasiveness of the story's place
in our lives.
In military or police operation rules of engagement are used
to guide soldiers and police as they seek to carry out their
duty. The story of the Bible, God's plan of salvation uses
military imagery to describe our activity in everyday life.
For example God said this through in (Ephesians 6:10-13)
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. {11}
Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand
against the devil's schemes. {12} For our struggle is not
against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against
the authorities, against the powers of this dark world
and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly
realms. {13} Therefore put on the full armor of God, so
that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand
your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
Think about that with me for a little while today. As we
enter the story we are engaging in God's battle for the
salvation of the human race. The first rule of engagement
is the daily preparation of your heart and mind. It is an
attitude that becomes the controlling factor in your every
thought, word and deed. That attitude begins by God's divine
intervention in your life. God in his love and faithfulness
for mankind desires to write you into his story. That's what
happened in the water of your baptism as it will this morning
at Chuluota for Jonathan Thompson and here in Oviedo at 11:00
for Casey and Mark Bommleje. We believe that in baptism God
the Holy Spirit reaches down from heaven in, with, and under
the water through the words, ":In the name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" and connects you in a
supernatural way to the person and work of Jesus Christ in
his death and resurrection.
"Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into
Christ Jesus were baptized into his death. We were therefore
buried with him in baptism in order that just as Christ was
raised from the dead we too may now live a new life."
(Romans 6:3-4)
This attitude of faith, that is being actively engaged,
looks something like this: in the morning when you get up
remind yourself of who you are and what your purpose is -
Martin Luther suggested that you "make the sign of the Holy
Cross and say, 'In the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit," thus reminding yourself of your
baptism and your connection to Jesus' suffering and death.
I've told you all before, but I tell you again, my practice
is to rehearse my baptism in the shower. When the water hits
I think, "Ah, connected to Jesus at the cross. Look there go
all my sins washed down the drain. It is as if I die and am
buried in my shower every morning. Then, comes resurrection
and I step out to new life ready to face the day in the
truest sense of the cliché as "the first day of the rest
of my life."
Then folks it is time to think, "what will God do with
me today?" By faith, absolutely no part of my life is
untouched by God. By faith absolutely nothing I do today
is insignificant in the continuing story of God's plan
of salvation. To be actively engaged begins with an
intentional daily routine of remembering who you are
and why you are here.
That daily routine is nourished by the next rule of
engagement. Through the writer of Hebrews God says
this: "Let us not give up meeting together, as some
are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one
another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching."
(Hebrews 11:25)
We believe that worship is a powerful and unique moment
in time where God promises to meet us and renew us with
His strength to live the story of salvation. Today I am
challenging all of you to be more actively engagement in
our worship life and in the encouragement of your family
members, friends, coworkers to attend every week.
I look at our attendance numbers every week and beat
myself up - I must be doing something wrong - why aren't
more of our members attending worship on a weekly basis.
But honestly folks, when it comes right down to it the
desire to worship must come from your encounter with the
story of the Bible. If you don't want to be here every
week, if you think once a month, or every other week,
or a couple times a year is sufficient, then you simply
don't get it. The story has not come alive for you.
What frustrates and mystifies me is that our membership
has grown every year by 7 or 8% but our worship attendance
hovers around 1-2% growth. We are determined to change
that this year. With the "Preaching through the Bible"
initiative I announced in week one, I am calling you to
commit yourself to every Sunday worship and why not bring
the person you've been meaning to talk to with you. I
believe without doubt that the story of the Bible will
so grip your life, so capture your heart and unleash your
imagination that it will change the way you look at everything.
Now there is a whole list of things we could discuss at
this point "rules of engagement" as they affect - your
relationships - husbands, wives, children, parents, friends
and even enemies, your work, your education, your circle
of influence at school, in the community.
Remember that the Bible is ultimately the story of the
cross; the story of God suffering infinite agony and loss
because He wanted us in the story, we must address what is
perhaps the most personal, sensitive and potentially
unsettling rules of engagement. For without a doubt or
any credible argument the number one area of life where
we struggle to be Actively Engaged is dealing with our
wealth or perceived lack thereof.
The Gospel readings from Luke the past three Sundays are
assigned according the Church's calendar. Two weeks ago it
was a parable of the dishonest manager who lost his job but
finagled his boss's books to his advantage in the end. The
summary of that story was a bit startling: (Luke 16:8-9)
"The master commended the dishonest manager because he had
acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd
in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the
light. {9} I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends
for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed
into eternal dwellings.
It's not dishonesty that is commended here but the amazing
ability of people to do whatever it takes for the sake of
wealth. And the application is simply that the people of
God, living inside the story of the Bible, should use their
wealth to influence and guide other people into heaven. That
section ended with these plain words: "You cannot serve both
God and money."
The very next story after that we heard last week was about
the rich man who ignored the needs of the poor beggar Lazarus.
He used his wealth to "live in luxury every day." Had he been
Biblically Literate and Doctrinally Sound he would have actively
engaged in using his resources not only for himself but to care
for the needs of Lazarus. From his place in hell he heard the
troubling words "remember that in your lifetime you received
your good things." Folks if luxury and a big bank account is
all you wind up with you will miss the best part of life.
Knowing full well what would happen once sin took hold of the
human heart God provided a way to keep us from falling into
the trap of wealth. From the very earliest chapters of the
Bible's story God directed his people to bring offerings. Now
it certainly can't be because God needs anything from us since
everything we have is a gift from him in the first place! The
purpose of offerings is simply to keep us focused on the story.
In the Old Testament times the amount was fixed - God commanded
certain offerings at certain times - someone who calculates such
things has estimated that their offerings were as much as 30% of
their annual income. Of course it always helps to remember that
their government and church were one and same thing.
In the New Testament we are not bound to the Old Testament standards
for our offerings. We are free to give as our faith in the life,
death and resurrection of Jesus inspires and motivates our hearts.
A useful formula for the people of God has been to use one of the
Old Testament offerings as our guide for determining how much we
should give. It is called the Tithe - which translated simply means
10% of your earnings given back to God to keep you focused on living
inside the story of the Bible.
Will you take this yellow colored insert out of your bulletin and
look at it with me? (That includes you folks in Chuluota and Sanford -
this is a two-way video screen you know). On the side with the chart
of numbers, run down the left hand column to your annual income,
then go across the chart to the fourth column labeled "Tithe." How
does it look?
If you look at the other side, at the stair steps, it might interest
you to know that 80% of those who gave offerings last year gave
between $1 and $50 a week or less. If all of us were tithing that
would mean that 80% of this congregation lives on $26,000 a year or
less! Now, I know that some of you certainly live on $26,000 or less –
people on fixed incomes and so forth. But do you really think that
80% of the members of the congregation live on $26000 or less a year?
My encouragement and challenge to you is simply to grow in your giving.
It’s not about making you feel guilty. It’s about wanting you to
experience the excitement of becoming more actively engaged in the story
of the Bible. Look at the stair steps again and ask yourself can I grow
one step this year …at Oviedo, Sanford, Chuluota…all of us doing together
what we could never do on our own?
Next week at the close of the service you will have the opportunity to
complete an Estimate of Giving Card (see the sample at the bottom of
the insert). It’s voluntary, not mandatory, but if you choose to do it
will help you become more focused on the Biblical story of God’s plan.
One last word – I know that some of you want to do more but you can’t
because instead of living the American Dream you are trapped in the
American Nightmare of high debt and little or no savings. Look at the
color insert in your bulletin. The Crown Biblical Financial Study will
begin in January. Fill that out, turn it in today to at least find out
more about it. On the other side you can indicate your interest in
course I mentioned last week called Explorations that covers the Doctrine
of the Christian faith. The new round of Explorations also begins in January.
Biblically Literate, Doctrinally Sound, Actively Engaged: through the
lens of doctrine I peer into the story of God’s salvation and become
more and more aware of my role in that story. Through the lens of doctrine,
peering into the story of God’s salvation I look at the world, my
relationships, my work, and yes I look at my wealth and rejoice that
God has written me into His story.
How I long for each of you to experience life – the life you’ve always
wanted – the life Jesus’ died and rose again to give you.
Amen.
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