Untitled Sermon (30)

We are all Ministers

1 Peter 2:9 “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

As believers in Christ we have each been recruited; accepted, and mobilized for ministry. Luther called this the Priesthood of all believers and it is something that as a Church we practice, believe, and teach to this day. Last week as I lead baptism and membership class we talked a bit about how our moment of baptism is commonly seen as the moment we are mobilized for public ministry.

So good news for all of us here today who have answered the call of Christ to be baptized, you are called and encouraged to do ministry, and as your church family we want to partner in that mission with you.

How do you do that mission? Well, in a lot of ways. By serving with your hands and feet; by offering cup of water or a warm meal to those in need; by teaching the Word of God; or by giving tithes and offerings- anything we do for the Kingdom of God.

Building is not an option

Notice that Paul states that each one should pay attention to how they build- not if they build. Not building is not an option. If you are participating in the Kingdom of God then you are building. Each time you share the Gospel; when you pray with someone in need; when you give you time, talent, or treasure; when you volunteer to serve; you are building.

Think of it this way- 2 people go to the beach. One of them wants to work on their tan so they get the tanning oil; they get their beach chair; and they find the perfect place on the sand paying close attention to repositioning to make sure they get a good and even tan.

The second person is not nearly that interested in tanning; they just want to enjoy a day on the beach. They throw on a little sunscreen and head off to the water; they float, they swim, they get out of the water and hang on the shore for a bitAnd what will both of those people have in common at the end of the day? They will have gotten sun; just by being on the beach, in the light they will have some sun. One of them intentionally and one not so intentionally. One will probably be much better looking than the other. But there is no avoiding it.

That is kind of like building on Christ. Once we begin to walk with him we are building- either intentionally or passively- but always building.

So my first encouragement to you today is to join us in the active building of Christ.

This Text seems to hone in on our teaching more than our works

Let’s do some context work for a moment. Paul enters into this section while talking about the ministry of Apollos, and his own ministry, and Spiritual maturity. Paul is encouraging the people of Corinth to grow to Spiritual maturity and take their faith development seriously.

Friends, the things that we adopt as part of our theology and our beliefs are important- eternally so. With each doctrine or teaching that we partake in we are adding to our faith; and so Paul is issuing a warning to people like me who teach the Bible from the pulpit; to people like Sandra or Anthony; or Jeremy who teach it in the Sunday School class or youth room; to any of us in this room who offer words of Christian wisdom or teaching to anyone around you- we need to be mindful of what we are building with.

Any of you guys get your lumber from Lowes or Home Depot? Not always the best lumber is it? (Pic?)

Sometimes you have to sort through a whole rack of wood to find straight or sound pieces of wood. And of you need those straight pieces to make sure that your project comes out right. Many carpenters take a lot of time going through that wood to make sure that what they are doing is structurally sound.

Friends, we should be doing the same with the teaching we allow into our homes, our church, and our lives. We need to pay attention to who and what it comes from or represents.

Can I tell you that I think one of the most devastating things to negatively effect people’s theology is social media? It really is quite problematic.

Why? Because much like most other things that appear on social media, there is little to no fact checking. I have seen so much stuff that is posted and re-shared that is theologically crooked. I mean stuff that makes me cringe as a pastor; but it sounds good; or it makes us feel good in the moment so we share it. I have even followed up with some of you about these things, right? Grabbing you quietly and saying- can we talk about what you shared? You see, we need to be careful about what kinds of teaching we adopt and build upon.

I hope you know how much care I take in preaching, friends. This is a great responsibility, and I do not take it lightly. Each week I put hours of prep; study; prayer; and discernment into my message. I would say that on most weeks I think/pray/meditate on my sermon for at least 1-2 hours. Even if I am not actively writing a sermon it is still processing in my mind and heart. There are nights I am thinking and praying when I lay in bed; weeks when I am working on it mowing the grass; or driving down the road. Jess can tell you how many times I am watching TV or listening to music and run to get my computer to work on something.

Teaching the Bible is something that I take seriously, probably more seriously than anything else I do in my life.

And as serious as I am about that; I am just as serious about what I receive as teaching and what I consume concerning Christian teaching. Because what I put in will always effect what comes out.

How about you? Because that should be the case for all of us as Christians, not just the preacher. If you are teaching your kids the Bible, or you friends, if you are helping to build their faith shouldn’t you be concerned with what you are receiving?

If I handed you a jug of water and told you that even though it looked good it contained a small amount of cyanid, would you allow it in your home? What if I brought you 10 jugs and said that one of them had it and it was labeled on the jug, would’t you check every label? I would like to think that all of us would take great care to assure that we were not allowing any kind of poison into our homes out of careless or ignorance- shouldn’t we treat our spirits the same way?

Mind your Materials

My second encouragement for you today is to mind your materials.

The Bible lays out two categories of materials for us to build with:

Gold, Silver, Precious Stones

Wood, Hay, Straw

What’s the difference? Well to put it bluntly- eternal consequence and value.

You see, Paul goes on to say that all of us will have our work tested by fire. Every.single.one and every.single.thing.

What things will burn? The wood, hay, and straw- things of no eternal value. These things will no last when the fire of refinement comes upon them.

You see, eventually what you believe becomes the foundation of what you do. So all of the bricks that we pick up, all the gold and precious stones, and all the wood, the hay, and the straw- they become the materials that we build our lives, our ministries with.

The Fire will reveal

Paul tells us that we will have our work tested by fire. In v15 it becomes clear that this is not a testing of the person themselves, but of the work they have done in Jesus’ name. He says that the person themselves will be saved, but they will suffer loss.

But the things we are doing, the lives we are building- will they withstand the fire?

Megans house pic.

And so as a church we strive to offer bricks. We strive to give them out freely. Solid teachings of the Gospel. We strive to offer them in sermons, Bible Studies, small groups. But friends, there is one more thing to consider. Just because we offer bricks does not mean that you have to take them or use them. You can choose to leave them right there in the pew. You can just to take up the sticks and straw of the world. Things like: follow your heart! You do you! Look out for #1 and build with those. And you can probably make a really nice looking house by the world’s standards. But will it survive?

So today you got a brick.

Take it as a commitment.

You can’t build a house with one brick.