11/17/2019 Keeping Busy

Are scripture reading today come from 2nd Thessalonians chapter 3 verses 6 through 13.

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you brothers and sisters to keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive and does not live according to the teaching you received from us for you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example, we were not idle when we were with you nor did we eat anyone's food without paying for it on the contrary. We worked night and day laboring and toiling so that week would not be a burden to any of you we did this not because we do not have the right to such help but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you to imitate for even when we were with you we gave you this rule the one who is unwilling to work shall not eat. We hear that some among your idle and disruptive. They are not busy. They are busy bodies such people. We command innards in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and the food they eat and as for you brothers and sisters never Tire of doing what is good the word of God for the people of God.

Thank you, sir.

Let us pray. Lord May the meditations of our hearts and the words of my lips be pleasing in your sight. our Rock and Our Redeemer amen

That's a tough bunch of scripture together.

Can eat if you don't work?

This is a letter to the early church.

It turns out that there were some people amongst them that just kind of wanted to be there. Want to enjoy the fruits of everybody else is labor.

Sometimes we we have kind of leaning into that right like some part of our part of our self part of our human nature. Leans into allowing others to care for us right now some of you find that completely foreign to your to your understand them self. But but for others of us is kind of like kind of Feels Alright, right kind of funny. This is the week before Thanksgiving right? I don't know if there's cultural Appropriations to gender Norms in your house or not, but growing up it was the guys went to the other room to watch football. and in the ladies And I used to think that that was what they did like, they just sweated and toiled over everything. I think it's all so that they get the guys out of the way. This is something I've gone to overtime. So the reality is that in every community.

There are both givers. and receivers And whenever we get to a point where either a we can't receive but we just will not receive from others will not allow others to do for us something in service or we get to the point where we just refuse to give and all we want to do is receive. The things are not. in alignment God calls us both to to give and also to receive

Is everyone comfortable right now? Cuz I want you to remember a point in time when you were comfortable this morning. Cuz we're going to talk about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.

As week we look at the scripture that tells us to never get tired of doing what is good.

It's amazing. Some people live life as if their entire calling is to do good and they just get joy and joy and Joy from it, right? They never act as if they're tired of doing good. Guess what? We all get tired of doing good.

it it's it's like buying gifts for others As we get older that becomes a expectation of multi-generational lineage. And so people on the smaller side of life often think that that's always the hope and desire of every grandparent ever is to go shopping for My Little Pony stuff frightened. Like there's nothing you would rather be doing.

the reality

it was so poignant in the song. I was just song.

The God has called us all to do something. But God doesn't call us to sit there and let other people do it for us when God has called us to do that task right active church. One of the things that we do right now is we worship, right? So we worship and we do that both corporately right now, right? But we're also called The Worship everyday. So we don't just worship on Sundays. We also worship the other six days of the week. So how do you worship the other six days of the week? well

prayer in Scripture prayer in Scripture One of the things I want to offer is about scripture this morning.

However, you take your Bible with her by phone or by book or if you're really old school by scroll. However, you want to do that. It's intimidating. Right? Like I think I know the Bible but then I married a Baptist girl and I don't even know anymore. Right like like the idea that we can be intimidated by a book and then sometimes these pastors they they get up and they start talking about Greek words and and and that can be scary and intimidating to or some people read it differently. And so then when you have conversations about it, maybe they say well that's not what the Bible says. It says something else and so are temptation is just to say whatever. Whatever, I believe in God right like whatever, right? I want to encourage you. To read scripture, but I want to do it in a way. That is not so. Scary, okay, and now some of you in the room you've already figured this one out, especially for some of our older especially older sisters and figure this out. You guys called them it will their daily readers. You guys called in the upper room.

Our Daily Bread The guidepost right? Like they have little scripture for each day of the year. I was visiting a woman who was pushing a hundred. And she was sitting in her favorite chair and next to it. She was patting these books and I knew like she was really proud of it and she was going to get there in a moment and she did and she's a pastor. I want you to know that I read the Bible every day in the books was this High it turns out one of her grandchildren had made the decision years ago. To get her a daily reader for a whole year, right? So is like a book of daily scripture just a little bit of scripture for each day. And evidently she lived 15 years past when they started giving it to her. So she read it every single day. She read each each one of those right now might have taken her half the day but that was okay right like That's how she read scripture and some of you might have scripture on your phone. Maybe you get a text alert, right? And it says here's your scripture of the day. If you don't have it look it up yet it let it send you something to disregard whatever right like, but at least it gives you the opportunity. Just saying. Hey, maybe I'm going to read this today. It's a part of its the study of scripture and the other part of it is prayer. That's the other part of worship prayer.

We do prayer. And prayers and just about night time for her bedtime prayers also like in the car prayer. It's also added exacerbation prayer is also just sometimes praying for our children to not fall or for our kid to score a basket or whatever. Like where is part of who God has created us to be and it goes much deeper than than just these surface-level things. It's what God has called us as a body of Christ to worship. That's the main part of our DNA. And there's a reason that were talking about our DNA this morning. We are gathered here as disciples.

some of you even just after I've said that Are questioning whether you're good enough to be a disciple? Take that. Kick it to the curb the disciples. They weren't great. You want to know where they were when Jesus was arrested running for the Hills? You want what they argued about which one was better? To discipleship isn't something to obtain. It's something to do. And so how do we do this? What are this ways to worship another one of these waves also is through Fellowship.

The fellowship isn't about a potluck. Fellowship isn't about the time afterwards Where We Gather and talk or avoid however we want to do it. Okay is about doing life together. It's about living day in and day out with one another in a Community of Faith. Guess how the people that wrote Thessalonians figured out that there were people who they called busy bodies in the church. Because they were with one another well enough to know who were the busybody.

And until they knew each other and they did life together. Not just the lows not just the highs the day today. That's something that separates us from the rest of the world. When we do Fellowship we care for one another it's how we know where we're hurting. It's how we know what to celebrate. It's how we acknowledge what God has called us all to.

and then there's this part.

Call evangelism.

Now I grew up. Thinking that evangelism was about screaming at the top of your lungs.

The Jesus is going to come back and y'all better be ready, right? Like Jesus is coming back and y'all better be busy. I'm that old bumper sticker. Jesus is coming back. You better look busy. That's not what it's called us to that's not that's not evangelism evangelism calls for something that all these other things call for as well and that's risk. And it's also an acknowledgement evangelism that really works.

Many of you have felt God's love from someone.

Who didn't expect to be sharing God's love with you, right? When I was going through my divorce, I felt God's love through one of my best friend's is convince me self-pay. He's convinced me and told me what time he's an atheist reads a deist be super smart.

He reached out to me in a way. That was vulnerable and raw and reminded me that I was loved. And he didn't do it with the intention of making me feel God's love he did that because he carried in loves for me. And God works like that. If you ever curious if God works like that read about the sheets and the goats.

But I'll let you study scripture. that way good things to Google so anyway evangelism isn't about just telling people about God. Don't show showing them God's love. This is often done through the ministry of the church. What is Ministry Ministries the stuff that we do right Ministry is not just programming but it's like the actions that we take. Ministry acknowledges the need in the community

the God is calling us to respond to you. Long before I got here will effuse before I got here you guys started that the backpack ministry, right? okay, so like

our general response when we see kids in need if they're hungry. Initially is probably to say have your parents been to the food pantry, you know, maybe your mom and dad need to go to the food pantry and pick up some food. and that

how to cheat You didn't really? Show people God's love as much as the church saying. Let me find a way to bring the food pantry to you that nobody knows cuz it's nobody's business. That's Ministry meeting the needs of others.

and then there's this other part called stewardship. stewardship is is giving it's money. It's how we use our resources and it's time and it's talents, right? So as a part of the church we give okay, that's part of every worship service. Do you realize that those things that I mentioned earlier part of every worship service that we do? We are scripture. We have prayer. We have offering and we meet have Fellowship.

And we do ministry together every Sunday. Some of y'all didn't even know you were disciple. You just finding out now. The reality of our Christian faith is that we are not all set at the same starting line. See it the scripture verse it. It tells us to not get tired of doing good. The other part of it is doing Goods our job, right? So so over those years maybe that you've done good or those times where you felt tempted to not do good anymore. to give up

God wants to remind us to never Tire of doing good.

Because the good that we do shares the hope and love of Jesus Christ with others.

You know.

often times we think of

I live in the south for a little bit. I was in Memphis for like a year to okay and my fellow Ministry pastors. We're all going to Seminary together. We had to go find somewhere to eat. One night. It's really for my pastor friends that I've learned to various vices.

They took me to the dog park. You know the MS Dog Tracks right like places where greyhounds run around the track, right? And this was like foreign to me. I was like, I thought I was going to get a mint julep in turns out you give me a dr. Pepper and make me watch these things run around but but there is actually a reason why the dogs run they're chasing a fake rabbit. The dogs are chasing a fake rabbit that's attached to the rail that goes around and as these pastors. Who were clearly bad at math? Cuz they were trying to figure out how to make money on this. We're trying to learn about dogs. Okay, they said it interesting thing. They said that if you want to pick the winner. You pick the one or the eight. You pick the number one or the number eight the one that's on the inside or the one that's on the very very outside because the dogs when they're chasing the rabbits, they don't care about how fast they're going and if they're at the center of the track when they go to make the turn they wipe out everybody else. To the one of the eight or more likely to finish the race.

And so many times were worried about how we're going to finish the race. And we're worried about where we are right now.

And I want to encourage you not to rest there. This isn't a comparison. We're not called to compare one another like the disciples got trapped into doing.

Recalled to learn about how to be followers of Jesus together.

And sometimes that means were tired. And God has something to tell us that when we're tired. And that something is that the God is with us no matter where we are on this race of life. God isn't the rabbit that we Chase.

God is the air that surrounds us. as we run That's hope.

That's something that the world cannot offer you. Is God's presence with you? God's love of you and the importance of God's relationship with you.

We don't all start off on this Christian Journey eight dogs in a pen going to get released at the same time. Our faith journey is more likely to look like Ups and downs and valleys and Peaks. followed by dips

even some loop-de-loops Life can throw all kinds of things at us and our faith helps us through. But we're not called to be in competition with everyone else were called. To share the good news and to welcome others along this journey as well. That's what disciples do. What does Jesus tell the disciples to do? To go out and make disciples.

over all the Earth

that's what we're doing here. And part of the day is acknowledging that sometimes we get tired. But God calls us to persevere on. and sometimes

sometimes were called to acknowledge that there is. room for us to improve on this journey as well. We are active participants in all of these things. We need to work on them. Because others are encouraged or discouraged as well. You know.

It's holiday season. I do not want anyone to say One Way Or Another We're small family-oriented church. I don't want to have any fights over lunch. Okay. But there are two types of people in this world. There are collars. And there are receivers.

Maybe not for you all but sometimes. Sometimes we're tempted to feel like we do all the calling, right?

Step on toes aren't I I know cuz you guys are like either you don't know what I'm saying, or I'm saying it too much. I'm not for sure which one but the idea is that sometimes we feel like we're doing all of this work and we're not getting anything back. Guess what? Sometimes face like that, too. Sometimes faith is like that sometimes living our life is like that in faith that we give and we give it away. Give it away. Give it away. Give And we just can't see the result. If that's where you're at this morning, I want to encourage you. Did God is using you in your spirit of giving to reach others?

But those others that you reach also have a responsibility to give as well.

Recall is a church to grow. in our discipleship I'm not talking about numeric Libro talking about as we gather together. God has called us to this important task. Of what it means to be a disciple acknowledging that the early church dealt with naysayers and they dealt with people that were complacent and they dealt with people that just wanted to stir the pot and they dealt with all of these things people that just wanted to be present just to be present. Let means that the early church was human. more human, too

But that doesn't give us. Reason to sit in to say this is where God has called me to be.

Yeah, I get the same benediction every time May the grace and peace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ call you. I say this way guide you wherever God may send you guess what that means that God is with you and you have somewhere to go. It's not somewhere to be it's something to do. May God guide you through the wilderness. There's times in her life where we don't know which way is up.

It is what it is. And there's times in my life that we're in storms. The guide me protect you to the storm. If we can acknowledge of the body of Christ that sometimes were through storms. We're going through storms. We've been through storms or worried that a storm is coming. How can we be genuine enough to people's believe the good news at got it all. It's not our image.

We die. Like if you're worried about your image go to the cemetery. That's what happens. What lives on is the good news that we share with others? That then empowers them to grow in Christ as well. That's the good news of the work that we do. And I want to encourage you.

To take an opportunity to look at what God is calling you to do and how you can respond. maybe it's

in worship scripture and prayer. Maybe it's in fellowship or in Ministry or in stewardship. But God has called you to do.

We we do it together. And may we never get tired of doing good? Cuz the good that we do. Is the good news people see? May we help others see the good news of Christ. amen