Welcome, everyone, as we begin our third and final week in this series ...
Welcome, everyone, as we begin our third and final week in this series. We have been exploring how we are called to play our part in God’s plan of salvation. It is easy to fall into the bad habit of aiming too low, which can especially cause problems when others have higher expectations of us. Whether it’s when we’re children and how clean we need to get our rooms, or when we’re adults and adjusting to a new job or a new marriage, it helps to be on the same page when it comes to what we are supposed to be doing, what level of excellence we should strive for. That’s true in our human relationships, and it’s true in our relationship with God. What does God expect of us? What God expects us is to be a light for the nations. God expects us to cooperate with the mission that He started when He became one of us in Jesus Christ. We accepted this mission at our baptism. With our baptism, we were given the responsibility and the grace to profess before others the faith we have received from God through the Church. Regardless of whether we were baptized as infants or as adults, that is our task. To help us form a strategy in how we are going to do that, it’s good for us to identify our mission field. With whom do we come into contact in our daily lives that might need to hear the saving message that Christ has come to redeem us all? None of us can reach everyone, but we can all reach someone, and together, by the
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grace of the Holy Spirit, we can do our part to help spread the gospel and bring others to faith in Jesus Christ. The idea of professing our faith before others and inviting them to come to know Jesus Christ might make us uneasy. We’re Minnesotan, after all; we’re not that forward. Who am I to tell others what they should believe? Why would they listen to me? And worse, what if they reject me? What if they distance themselves from me and I’m no longer welcome in their lives because I brought up that taboo subject of religion? That is a real possibility. It might seem better to take this gift of our faith that we’ve received and bury it, keeping it safe so that nothing happens to it, but also not allowing it to grow and multiply. Jesus gave us a parable about that strategy, and it didn’t turn out well for the servant who used it. He did not give us the gift of our faith so that we can bury it, He does not light a lamp so it can be put under a bushel basket; He gives it to us so that we can be a light for the nations. So rather than focus on what can go wrong and letting that paralyze us, why not focus on what can go right, and trust in God’s plan of salvation? After all, this is God’s work that we are doing, and He isn’t leaving it all up to us. He is at work, too, and has invited us to play a part in it so that we can share in His joy. And when you think about it, the gift that we are sharing is what every human being longs to have, even if we don’t know it. One thing every human being has in
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common is a desire for happiness. Right? Everyone wants to be happy. The reason we all have this desire for happiness is because God made us that way. God wants us to be happy, too, so He has put within us that inner drive to search for and find what will make us happy. From the moment of our conception, we are searching for happiness. The only thing that will satisfy that desire is life with God. When we tell others about Jesus Christ, about our love for him and our efforts to follow his commandments, we are telling them the key to happiness. Nothing else will satisfy, not that that stops us from trying. There are all sorts of different ways we try to satisfy that desire for happiness within us. Some believe happiness is a life without suffering. Suffering makes us sad, so not suffering will make us happy, and no suffering will make us perfectly happy, so that’s what they pursue. But the idea of a life without suffering is a fairy tale. There is no such thing as a life without suffering, so pursuing it would just lead to frustration and bitterness, not happiness. Others believe that material prosperity will lead to happiness. If our every need is provided for, if we lack nothing and are in no danger of ever being in want, then surely we will be happy, so that’s what they pursue. But we are more than just material beings. It takes more than just physical comfort to make us happy, we have a spiritual hunger, as well.
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Others believe that a happy life is the one we define. Just be true to yourself, be authentic, don’t let society or religion tell you who to be, find your own truth, be the author of your own life, then you will be happy. So that’s what they pursue. But that makes us the center of our lives, and we are too small to occupy that space. A reality in which our will is the most important is a life of selfishness and misery, not happiness. We all come across people in our mission field who believe these things. We have good news for them. God has told us that there is only one thing that can satisfy that inner drive, one thing that will make us happy: Him. God Himself. God has put within us that inner drive to search for and to find Him. From the moment of our conception, we long for God. So when we tell others about our faith and the awesome story of His great love for us in Jesus Christ, we are telling them how to find the thing they’ve been searching for. Yes, they might reject that message, reject us, but what if they don’t? What if they see the truth and the beauty in the message of Jesus Christ, and their life is forever changed? Isn’t that worth the risk? But if we want others to be open to this message, there are a few things we should keep in mind. First, we may want to get to know the person first, and let them get to know us. Asking complete strangers if they have come to believe in Jesus Christ can be effective, I’m not knocking that. If God has put that on your heart, then who am I to tell you to be silent? But just as we are more likely to be open to hearing 4
something from someone we know and trust, so are others. If we have the chance to make an investment in a relationship and build a level of trust, that will help make our invitation to come to know Christ more likely to be received. Second, we must make sure that when we talk about our faith, we do so without even a hint of superiority or judgment. I know we all know that, but it’s good to hear it out loud and be reminded. The last thing we want to do is give a witness that is really just a guilt trip, “You would be a lot happier if you came to church like me.” It is hard to think of anything more unattractive than that kind of attitude, or frankly, more absurd. As we say here often, we are a group of sinners who know we are sinners and know we are in need of God’s mercy. Some have sinned more than others and therefore need greater mercy. As a wise man once said, “so what?” Ultimately, we all are in need of redemption. Third, and perhaps most important, we need to back up our faith in Christ by the way we live our faith in Christ. Many thousands of people attended Fridays’ March for Life to show our belief that every life is sacred and should be protected by our laws, including those in the womb. But their witness is all the more effective because they are the ones who volunteer in the crisis pregnancy centers, who support young mothers who are in need, who protect and honor life at all stages. Our words are only meaningful if they are supported by our actions.
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If our witness in Jesus Christ is going to be credible, then we need to take our Lord’s words to heart: “Blessed are they who are merciful. Blessed are the peacemakers. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness.” If we show mercy to others, if we make efforts to live in peace, if we pursue what is right, others will notice and take heed. If we do not show mercy, if we cause trouble for others, if we do whatever we can get away with, others will notice that, too. Our faith in Christ is a great gift that God has given to us; He has given it to us to share. There are people in our lives who do not yet know Christ, do not know the great treasure of faith in him. Let us be a light for them to see, so that they, too, can find what they’ve been looking for.
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grace of the Holy Spirit, we can do our part to help spread the gospel and bring others to faith in Jesus Christ. The idea of professing our faith before others and inviting them to come to know Jesus Christ might make us uneasy. We’re Minnesotan, after all; we’re not that forward. Who am I to tell others what they should believe? Why would they listen to me? And worse, what if they reject me? What if they distance themselves from me and I’m no longer welcome in their lives because I brought up that taboo subject of religion? That is a real possibility. It might seem better to take this gift of our faith that we’ve received and bury it, keeping it safe so that nothing happens to it, but also not allowing it to grow and multiply. Jesus gave us a parable about that strategy, and it didn’t turn out well for the servant who used it. He did not give us the gift of our faith so that we can bury it, He does not light a lamp so it can be put under a bushel basket; He gives it to us so that we can be a light for the nations. So rather than focus on what can go wrong and letting that paralyze us, why not focus on what can go right, and trust in God’s plan of salvation? After all, this is God’s work that we are doing, and He isn’t leaving it all up to us. He is at work, too, and has invited us to play a part in it so that we can share in His joy. And when you think about it, the gift that we are sharing is what every human being longs to have, even if we don’t know it. One thing every human being has in
2
common is a desire for happiness. Right? Everyone wants to be happy. The reason we all have this desire for happiness is because God made us that way. God wants us to be happy, too, so He has put within us that inner drive to search for and find what will make us happy. From the moment of our conception, we are searching for happiness. The only thing that will satisfy that desire is life with God. When we tell others about Jesus Christ, about our love for him and our efforts to follow his commandments, we are telling them the key to happiness. Nothing else will satisfy, not that that stops us from trying. There are all sorts of different ways we try to satisfy that desire for happiness within us. Some believe happiness is a life without suffering. Suffering makes us sad, so not suffering will make us happy, and no suffering will make us perfectly happy, so that’s what they pursue. But the idea of a life without suffering is a fairy tale. There is no such thing as a life without suffering, so pursuing it would just lead to frustration and bitterness, not happiness. Others believe that material prosperity will lead to happiness. If our every need is provided for, if we lack nothing and are in no danger of ever being in want, then surely we will be happy, so that’s what they pursue. But we are more than just material beings. It takes more than just physical comfort to make us happy, we have a spiritual hunger, as well.
3
Others believe that a happy life is the one we define. Just be true to yourself, be authentic, don’t let society or religion tell you who to be, find your own truth, be the author of your own life, then you will be happy. So that’s what they pursue. But that makes us the center of our lives, and we are too small to occupy that space. A reality in which our will is the most important is a life of selfishness and misery, not happiness. We all come across people in our mission field who believe these things. We have good news for them. God has told us that there is only one thing that can satisfy that inner drive, one thing that will make us happy: Him. God Himself. God has put within us that inner drive to search for and to find Him. From the moment of our conception, we long for God. So when we tell others about our faith and the awesome story of His great love for us in Jesus Christ, we are telling them how to find the thing they’ve been searching for. Yes, they might reject that message, reject us, but what if they don’t? What if they see the truth and the beauty in the message of Jesus Christ, and their life is forever changed? Isn’t that worth the risk? But if we want others to be open to this message, there are a few things we should keep in mind. First, we may want to get to know the person first, and let them get to know us. Asking complete strangers if they have come to believe in Jesus Christ can be effective, I’m not knocking that. If God has put that on your heart, then who am I to tell you to be silent? But just as we are more likely to be open to hearing 4
something from someone we know and trust, so are others. If we have the chance to make an investment in a relationship and build a level of trust, that will help make our invitation to come to know Christ more likely to be received. Second, we must make sure that when we talk about our faith, we do so without even a hint of superiority or judgment. I know we all know that, but it’s good to hear it out loud and be reminded. The last thing we want to do is give a witness that is really just a guilt trip, “You would be a lot happier if you came to church like me.” It is hard to think of anything more unattractive than that kind of attitude, or frankly, more absurd. As we say here often, we are a group of sinners who know we are sinners and know we are in need of God’s mercy. Some have sinned more than others and therefore need greater mercy. As a wise man once said, “so what?” Ultimately, we all are in need of redemption. Third, and perhaps most important, we need to back up our faith in Christ by the way we live our faith in Christ. Many thousands of people attended Fridays’ March for Life to show our belief that every life is sacred and should be protected by our laws, including those in the womb. But their witness is all the more effective because they are the ones who volunteer in the crisis pregnancy centers, who support young mothers who are in need, who protect and honor life at all stages. Our words are only meaningful if they are supported by our actions.
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If our witness in Jesus Christ is going to be credible, then we need to take our Lord’s words to heart: “Blessed are they who are merciful. Blessed are the peacemakers. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness.” If we show mercy to others, if we make efforts to live in peace, if we pursue what is right, others will notice and take heed. If we do not show mercy, if we cause trouble for others, if we do whatever we can get away with, others will notice that, too. Our faith in Christ is a great gift that God has given to us; He has given it to us to share. There are people in our lives who do not yet know Christ, do not know the great treasure of faith in him. Let us be a light for them to see, so that they, too, can find what they’ve been looking for.
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