PURPOSE AND
PASSION SERMON SERIES #3
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to John 13:3-15
John 13:3-15
New International Version (NIV)
3 Jesus knew
that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from
God and was returning to God; 4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer
clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 After that, he poured water
into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel
that was wrapped around him.
6 He came to
Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”
7 Jesus
replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will
understand.”
8 “No,” said
Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”
Jesus
answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”
9 “Then,
Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as
well!”
10 Jesus
answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole
body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” 11 For he knew
who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.
12 When he
had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his
place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. 13 “You
call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now
that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one
another’s feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done
for you.
-- a few years ago in Atlanta, 11-year old Sade Law
would get out of school and climb on a bus that would carry her to an
after-school program -- as she traveled along Peachtree Street, she looked out
her window and watched the city go by -- and one day she noticed a homeless man
living under a bridge along her route
-- almost every day she would see him, sitting on a milk
crate and reading the newspaper or sleeping -- and something stirred inside her
-- God placed a burden for the homeless on her heart and Sade went into action
-- at school, when she was told to pick a topic for a class project, she chose
the issue of homelessness -- in October of that year, Sade volunteered at both
a soup kitchen and with Atlanta Urban Ministries -- and she launched a food and
clothing drive at her school to help the homeless in Atlanta
-- but still, the man under the bridge weighed on her
heart -- and she continued to see him through her window almost every day as
she traveled down Peachtree Road -- the man under the bridge was Billy Watson,
a plumber and carpenter who had been homeless and in prison off and on for 14 years
-- Billy wound up on the street because he was an alcoholic and couldn't hold
onto a job -- by the time Sade spied Billy under the bridge, Billy was living
without hope -- he had no family -- no friends -- no job -- no food -- no home
-- he lived under the bridge and looked for food in dumpsters
-- despite all she was doing to help the homeless, Sade
wanted to do something for the man under the bridge -- her mother didn't want
her to approach the man directly, so they found an advocate for the homeless
who worked in a ministry in Atlanta and he agreed to carry supplies to Billy --
Sade prepared a care package for Billy with a blanket, a pair of boots, jeans
and other clothes -- and, she also included a note from her to the man under
the bridge -- the note ended with this thought:
"Please take care of yourself and be safe. I will pray every night that God will watch
over you and that something will happen good for you. You do deserve good things to happen for
you! Please don't give up."
-- Billy read that note and his heart broke -- because
of Sade's influence, Billy told the advocate that he wanted to go to a hospital
to deal with the alcoholism -- but, he stayed only long enough to get sober and
then went back under the bridge again, relapsing with alcohol -- on
Thanksgiving of that year, Sade and her mother carried plates of food to the
bridge for him -- they got him to agree to go back to the hospital again -- and
this time he stayed
-- Billy completed the program and was released to a
residential recovery program in Sandy Springs -- he now shares an apartment
with three other men who also are recovering alcoholics and he plans to stay in
the program as long as needed -- and then he's going to find a job and start
his life over
-- Billy has visited Sade and her mother several times
-- they talk on the phone and Sade encourages him to continue with the program
while he encourages her with her school work
-- Sade's project on homelessness took first place in a
DeKalb County Social Studies Fair -- but for Sade, the most important prize is
this: She reached out to a man she
noticed from a bus, and that man doesn't live under a bridge anymore.
-- this morning, we are continuing in our
sermon series, “Purpose and Passion” -- we have been looking at the five
purposes of the church and of Christians -- as you remember, there are two
scriptures in the Gospel of Matthew that give us these five purposes:
-- the first passage is Matthew 22:37-39 -- “Love the
Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
mind” -- this is worship
-- this passage goes on to say, “love your neighbor as
yourself” -- that is ministry
-- the second passage is Matthew 28:19-20 where Jesus
gives us the Great Commission -- “Therefore go and make disciples of all
nations” -- that’s evangelism
-- “baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit” -- that’s fellowship -- bringing others into the
church community
-- “and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded
you” -- that’s discipleship
-- so, the five purposes are worship, ministry,
evangelism, fellowship, and discipleship
-- last week, we looked at worship -- this week, we’re
going to be looking at ministry -- what is ministry? -- what does ministry look
like? -- how can we be ministers for Christ where we are?
-- one of my mentors in the church was Tommy Newberry --
he was pastor in the South Georgia conference and did a lot of work with
Emmaus, Chrysalis, and Kairos -- he loved to ask people the question, “where do
you minister?” -- one guy he asked responded by saying, “I’m not a minister --
I work on HVAC systems -- I repair air conditioners” -- Tommy just grinned and
said, “I didn’t ask you what your vocation was -- I asked you where you
minister”
-- the point Tommy was trying to get across is that every
Christian -- every believer in Jesus -- is called to be a minister to others --
to show God’s love to them in tangible ways -- to be the hands and the feet of
Christ to others -- to love our neighbors as ourselves
-- that’s what we’re going to talk about today, so let’s
get right into it
II. What is Ministry?
--so, let’s start by answering the
question, “What is ministry?” -- what do we mean when we say that everyone is
to be a minister?
-- ministry is nothing more than treating
your neighbor as you wish to be treated -- nothing more than serving people in
the name of Jesus Christ -- as our verse says, it is loving our neighbor as
ourselves
-- ministry comes in all various shapes
and sizes -- ministry is meeting the needs of our brothers and sisters without
seeking to evangelize -- without seeking to preach -- without seeking reward or
recognition -- ministry should be service to others without religious ties
-- in other words, ministry is helping
other people without trying to evangelize them or convert them or get them to
come to church -- ministry is just showing the love of Christ to other people
simply as an expression of our love for Jesus
-- now, that doesn’t mean that if the
people ask why we are serving them, that we shouldn’t tell them -- that’s
perfectly okay -- but it does mean we should not force the message on them -- as
these people experience the love of Christ through us, the opportunity to share
with them the good news about Jesus and the plan of salvation will come -- but
the goal of ministry should simply focus on "making a friend and being a
friend" and loving that person in the name of Jesus
-- think about Jesus -- Jesus ministered
to lots of people in various places and at different times, but usually He did
so without preaching to them
-- yes, there were times when He taught
about the Kingdom of God and shared the good news of His coming with others,
but that wasn’t the reason He ministered and did good things for people -- He
did it because He was moved by compassion at their plight -- He didn’t do it
just to get the opportunity to preach to them
-- so, throughout the gospels, you see
Jesus ministering to others -- healing the sick -- casting out demons --
washing the feet of His disciples -- making breakfast for them -- all without
preaching or teaching -- He did it just as an expression of His love
-- we need to follow His example -- we
need to minister without condition and without ties -- I have seen some
churches that make church attendance a requirement for help -- I’ve seen
churches tell people that they couldn’t get a handout or money or school
supplies unless they came to a church service or took a class -- this is not
the right way to minister
-- let me give you an example of what true
ministry looks like -- when we were at Morven, we had a missionary visit the
church -- he and his family had moved to Pakistan to share God’s love with the
people there -- one time, as they were flying from the U.S. back to Pakistan, they
ran across an elderly Muslim woman in a wheelchair who was having a hard time
negotiating through the airport with her luggage -- no one was helping her and
she was having problems -- so this missionary family leapt to her aid -- one of
the kids carried her luggage -- the other kid grabbed the wheelchair and
started pushing her towards her gate -- and all the while, the woman is saying,
“Why are you doing this? Why are you helping me? -- What do you want?”
-- they said, “We’re Christians -- we
don’t want anything from you -- we just want to help you because Jesus loved us
and we want to show His love to others” -- the woman couldn’t believe it -- no
one else in that airport offered to help -- not even her fellow Muslims who
were passing her by -- but, because this family ministered out of love without
trying to share their faith, they were able to tell her about Jesus -- that’s
the right way to minister
-- the point I’m trying to make here is
that ministry has to come from the heart -- it’s not a means to an end --
you’re not doing it just so you can get someone to come to church or tell them
about Jesus -- you’re not doing it because you think you have to do good deeds
in order to be saved -- you do it simply out of love and gratitude to Jesus,
expecting nothing back in return
-- 1 Peter 5:2 -- serve not because you
must but because you are willing, as God wants you to be -- we minister and
serve because we want to help people -- not because we want anything from them
or because we think we’ll get recognized or applauded for what we have done
III. What Does
Ministry Look Like
-- when we use the word ministry, a lot of
people just think of church -- of what the church does -- but ministry as Jesus
calls us to do it -- ministry as just loving our neighbor to ourselves -- is
usually not done in a church setting
-- ministry happens any time we reach out
to another person in love with no other desire but to love and serve that
person however they need
-- in the passage we opened with, we read
how Jesus took upon Himself the position of a slave -- how He humbled Himself
before the disciples and took a towel and a basin and washed their feet -- He
showed us how to love others by His example
-- look back at verse John 3:14-17
14 Now that
I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one
another’s feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done
for you. 16 Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor
is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 Now that you know these
things, you will be blessed if you do them.
-- Jesus says that we should wash one
another’s feet -- He didn’t mean that literally, that we should constantly stop
other people and wash their feet -- but He meant it as an example -- that we
were to humble ourselves and to serve and love people however they needed it
-- in Jesus’ day, people needed their feet
washed because the roads were dirty and their feet would get filthy -- people
in our day need their lives washed for the same reason, because we walk through
a world that is dirty and filthy -- and Jesus is calling on us to wash them --
to cleanse them -- to show them His love by loving them just as He loved the
disciples
-- Jesus is calling us to minister to
those around us, no matter where they are
-- that means that ministry occurs while
you go about your day -- anywhere you go, you can minister God’s love to
someone else
-- ministry can be teaching school --
helping a neighbor build a porch -- stopping to help someone change a flat tire
-- it can mean feeding the poor or helping the homeless -- it can mean taking a
kid hunting or fishing -- or just being there with them at school events when
no one else is there
-- ministry looks like love -- it is
simply being there for someone else, just like Jesus would -- do you know what
the number one problem people say they have today in America? -- it’s not crime
or violence -- it’s not low wages or no money -- it’s loneliness -- even with
Facebook and Instagram and all those social media sites, people are more lonely
now than ever before
-- they have a lot of friends online, but
no friends to be with them -- one way you can show God’s love to someone else
is just by being there -- we call this the ministry of presence -- not doing
anything -- just being there with someone else -- just noticing them -- just
listening to them -- that can do more to change a person’s heart than anything
else
-- the key to ministry is learning to open
your eyes and open your ears and open your heart to see the needs around you --
every single day you are invited to serve God in a hundred different ways -- it
doesn't have to be feeding the poor or witnessing to strangers or helping the
homeless or ministering to lepers in India -- it might be something as simple
as helping a neighbor paint a house -- mowing someone else's grass -- giving
someone a smile at the grocery store -- bringing buggies in for a tired buggy
boy
-- it doesn't matter what you do -- what
does matter is that you do something -- don't just stand there -- do something
you
step forward into new areas of ministry that you haven't done before
IV. Closing --
Challenge to Go Forth and Do Ministry
-- when John Wesley would ordain and send
people out to minister in the church, he would tell them, "Do all the good
you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places
you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you
ever can."
-- the Bible sums this up by simply
telling us to love our neighbors as ourselves
-- we need to redefine ministry in our
lives -- ministry is not just done by pastors or by church leaders -- it’s not
just done in church settings -- but, ministry occurs when you simply love
someone like Jesus would
-- we need to get back to the concept of
every believer being a minister -- of every believer being called to serve and
love
-- I like what some churches in China do --
when someone joins the church, they welcome the new believers to their
community by saying "Jesus now has new eyes to see with; new ears to
listen with, new hands to help with, new heart to love others with"
-- that should be our prayer -- to have
new eyes to see with -- new ears to hear with -- new hands to help with -- and
new hearts to love with
-- there are opportunities for ministry
and service everyday -- all you have to do is step up and do what He asks -- to
serve and love God by loving others in His name
-- we’re about to close in prayer, and as
we do so, I want to challenge you -- I want you to leave here and love somebody
this week -- it doesn't have to be in a big way -- just something small -- but
I expect everyone in here to do some act of ministry this week
-- next Sunday, we are going to have the
opportunity to share what we did this week -- not to gain the praise of men but
to see if there are areas where God is calling our church to do more
-- so, let’s close and then we’ll sing the
final hymn -- and, as we do so, I want to invite you to commit to loving others
as God love them -- and to respond to God’s word as you feel led
-- let’s pray
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