“Who’s in charge?”
After President Reagan was shot in
Washington in March of 1981 Al Haig infamously (and erroneously) said that he
was in charge.
A year ago Egyptians elected Morsi
as president and this week, after a few weeks of protests, the army deposed him from
power. Now both sides are duking it out
in the streets. “Who’s in charge” in
Cairo?
Even in the church we sometimes
ask, “Who’s in charge?”
Our Congregational Leadership
Council has been looking at our constitution and has been left to ask that very
question.
So, we’ll probably be doing a study
on this in the fall and making some small changes to it for you all to vote on
at the fall voter’s meeting
And in my own life, my head is
sometimes spinning asking, “Who or what is in Charge of my life?”
I’m an ordained minister called to
Redeemer Lutheran Church
I’m married to Susan
I’m father to Katie, Chris, and
Caroline,
I’m son to Del and Sandy.
And I’m a baptized child of God.
What about you? Who’s in charge of your life?
Is it yourself?
Your job?
Does it seem like the whole world
has control over you?
Does the devil has his grips on
you at times?
Another way to look at this is, what moves, motivates, and informs
you as you walk through life?
Ambition?
Security?
Providing for your family?
Watching over your children?
Pleasing God by being a good
person?
I’m afraid if it’s any of these, you are doomed.
According to Galatians anything we
do—any life we live—that is not informed, directed and planted by the Holy
Spirit is going to be corrupted.
Not “less than optimal”, not,
“so-so”, not, “pretty good”, or, “ok”—CORRUPTED!
That is, “bad to the bone”,
“rotten to the core,” “unsalvageable”, thrown into the fire”, ALL BAD!
Only things sown by the Holy Spirit will last. Only that life which is from God will exist
for eternity
So, when are
you and I going to give up trying to be in charge of everything and let God
reign?
When will we begin to live like he
knows better than us?
When will we start seeking the
answers to life from His book, instead of the Wall Street Journal, the
KC Star or Fox News, or MSNBC?
When will we “Rejoice! Because God
Reigns!” in our hearts and lives?
And, how will we know that he does?
In the Gospel we see an example of when this happened and it
was amazingly simple.
Jesus sent out the seventy two
disciples in pairs to prepare villages, towns and cities before his coming to
them to preach the Good News.
They were to take no provisions—for
God always provides
They were to bring God’s peace—and
peace would come back to them or, be returned to them and they would take it
elsewhere
They would heal the sick—so that
everyone would be well enough to hear the Savior
Simple stuff to usher in the reign
of Jesus.
Trust Jesus
Use what is placed before you
Heal in the name and preparation of
Jesus
Let Jesus speak for himself to
create faith by his Holy Spirit
Too often we are scared off from this mission of Jesus
because we think we need to convert someone to faith in Jesus and that scares
us—and rightly so
Because that’s not what Jesus
teaches
If we were to be responsible for
salvation we would be the king—we would reign.
No, we are just the heralds the
messenger, the 72.
Jesus Brings salvation, Jesus is
king, Jesus reigns.
As we begin to flesh out our vision for ministry as a
congregation we keep all this in mind as we plan, as we gather resources, and as
we go out into the city to prepare it for Jesus.
We trust Jesus—personally, and as
a church
We use what is placed before
us—knowing that even what might be seen as a shortage is also an asset to those
who have faith
We heal and comfort people in
whatever shape we find them—and tell them Jesus is on the way.
And then, we get out of the way
and let Jesus and the Holy Spirit do their thing.
Rejoicing that he has come into another heart
And saved another soul from
corruption
As I came to church yesterday for a baptism I picked up a
message from a woman in our community who heard we had a laundry ministry
You see, her friend had told her
that some folks from Redeemer helped her at the Laundromat a few weeks ago and her machines weren’t working
and she really didn’t have the money to fix them or to keep going to the
Laundromat.
Because some couples from our church
went out like the 72 into our neighborhood, healing occurred, hope arrived, and
Jesus may very well be on his way into this woman’s heart to reign in her life
forever!
So, where else does Jesus reign?
I know you have ideas and I know
God is placing this community on your hearts—you’ve told me so!
For some of you it’s housing
ministry
For others its food and clothing
For some its college kids
And for others its young
professionals.
Some of you have shared the idea of
turning our big lawn out front into a community garden,
Others have a heart for single
mothers
While others ache to restart
efforts to reach the Hispanic community with our love for them in Jesus through
ESL classes.
These are all signs that Jesus is
reigning in YOUR hearts. And if he is
reigning in your heart you have all you need to go out and prepare the harvest
field. For it is indeed ripe.
And God Reigns here at Redeemer Lutheran Church.
Each and every week we are witness
to his coronation as King over evil and destruction
as we commemorate his death and
resurrection
as we celebrate the Lord’s Supper
and, thereby, celebrate the eternal
life we now have through his body and blood spilled on the cross for our sake.
Each time a person comes to this
font, like Kellyn and Malia did yesterday,
Jesus reigns as more people enter
God’s family
And you and I have two more sisters
in Christ (pause)
And God reigns in Olathe as our Gracious Living Magazine is
read by thousands
So that at least one family has already
inquired about preschool.
A neighboring Pastor has praised
God for our outreach,
The Lutheran Church Extension Fund
has informed us that we will receive a $500 grant to help us pay for this
effort.
And a lay person in our community
who has a business which ministers to seniors commended us for the publication
and offered ideas on how we can strengthen future issues.
And another reason we know that God Reigns here is Olathe is
ironically, by the opposition our little magazine has rustled up.
It’s only a small number, but
there have been five or six people who have called the office, nearly enraged,
that we would dare bring Jesus into their homes through our little mailing.
They are convicted by their lack of
faith and
Regardless of how winsome our
message, they do not want to face the King
Today we’ll pray for all those
people
Knowing that God loves them just as
much as he loves you and I
And praying that they will hold on
to that magazine
Or that someway, somehow, God would
use someone else to share the love of Jesus with them
so that God would reign in their
hearts as well.
But God has just begun to reign in Olathe.
The Kansas District of the LCMS
would like to start 20 ministries in the state by 2020 and the Synod set a goal of 2000
new congregations in the United States by 2017 (the 500th
anniversary of the reformation) at our 2007 convention
And with only two Lutheran
churches preaching the grace of Jesus to a city of 130,000, we obviously have some work to do
and God is calling us to let him
have free rein
in our hearts,
in our actions
in our wallets
on our calendars
and in our prayers and worship
All so that we might Rejoice! With Elijah as he does in our
Old Testament Lesson, knowing that God reigns on earth and in heaven, now and
forever more.
It’s not too late to become a part
of this important work of preparing Olathe for the coming of Jesus.
Even with the LCEF grant, we have
only raised half of the $8000 the Gracious Living magazine costs to publish.
Perhaps you could help us finish
strong by putting your donation in one of
the envelopes on the table in the narthex?
The Young Couples bible study would
love to have you join them in their laundry ministry to our neighbors.
Seek them out during our
fellowship time after the service today or send me an email or phone call
and I’ll get you connected.
You can also still fill out the
vision to action forms that you received with your bulletins today
so that we can connect you with
others who have burdened with similar
passions and callings that we might reach more people in
more ways with the Gospel of Jesus.
And we are still in need of at
least one more elder and, possibly another CLC member
so that’s God’s work at Redeemer
Lutheran Church would continue to be strong and vivacious.
And that all we do would be in
good order and accomplish what God would have us do.
Because God reigns in our hearts,
over his church and even over this whole world, we can be bold and confident to
serve him as did the 72 in our scriptures today.
And that boldness leads us to
Rejoice in him and all he does
Through his word, his sacraments
and through us, the people of his body, the Church.
To Him be all Glory forever and
ever. Amen.
