Are You All In?

This is our last sermon in the You are a Piece of the Puzzle series. We conclude our series on stewardship this morning with consecration and the celebration of the pledges and commitments that we have made and will make regarding our lives and our discipleship. We conclude with the question Are you all in? Are you committed? Will you live in such a way that shows others how to live?

It is easy to give an off the cuff – I will try my best. It is much harder to realize that others actually might watch us as an example. I can remember with excitement when each of my girls were beginning to explore their vocabulary. They had each said first words and it seemed like every day was a new discovery with new words. Watching language build is exciting until you realize how much what you say plays into what they say. Alisabeth reminds me of this as I hear her share with her sister and her friends the phrase I am apt to say to her – ‘If you go looking for trouble, trouble is sure to find you.’ Felicity does as well, each time we hear her call her father by his first name. Children say the darnedest things, but they remind us that the way in which we live is like an echo into the lives of others.

About two weeks ago, I was in line at Starbucks for breakfast. When I pulled up to the drive thru counter, I was told that the person in front of me had already paid for my breakfast. In fact, I was the last in a line of about 12 persons, she guessed who had ‘paid it forward’ by paying for the person behind them’s breakfast. There was no one behind me (I even waited a few moments in an attempt to echo the random act of kindness on), but I was the recipient of someone I did not even know, their kindness and generosity. It shaped the rest of my day and I am still talking about it, days later. It stuck with me because it was unexpected and a different way of living.

I do not know whether that line of twelve persons knows the Gospel of Jesus, but I do know that their actions witness towards it. Our Gospel comes from a familiar section of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is teaching the disciples and the crowds about a completely different way of life. He realizes that it will be different and uncomfortable. He realizes that it will be nerve-racking for those who like to know exactly how the future will go. Jesus offers these words to be a different path from the default worry and anxiety that surrounded his first century listeners and that surrounds us as well. How many of us are caring for the generation ahead of us – perhaps our parents as well as the generation behind us – perhaps our children or our nieces and nephews? How many of us watch the news in rapt attention and then carry around the fear and concern for Ebola and school shootings, suspects at large and hungry persons, heinous crimes and moral failures? It is not just the first century listeners to whom Jesus speaks! It is us, as well, who need to hear- Strive first for the Kingdom of God AND Tomorrow has enough worries of its own! It is living in a different way that sets us apart from those who do not know the peace of Christ.

This is the kind of life that Paul taught to the church at Colossae. To live rooted and established, so that you have fullness in Christ. There is nothing temporary or quickly achieved in the life that Paul reflects in this verse. This comes from weathering storms year in and year out. For Paul, it came from imprisonments and shipwrecks. It was the result of persecutions and trials. It was earned day by difficult day as he sought to live a life of faith. Paul calls us to share our witness as he has shared his.

We have often imaged witnessing in only one vein – the kind that has been made infamous by the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Mormons – knocking on the door and talking directly about salvation. I am not suggesting that is NOT witnessing. However, I would like to expand our connection to witnessing. Witnessing to our faith does not always mean sharing the gospel with those we do not know. Witnessing to our faith does not always mean quoting chapter and verse in a one-time conversation. While these are forms of witness, I think it is much more compelling to share the impact of Christ on one’s life through relationship. Not a once and done conversation, but rather a series of small encounters derived from daily lived faith.

A witness in a courtroom is given one direction – tell what you know. Witnesses are directed again and again to not speculate or share what others know as that is hearsay. But they are called to tell what they know. Isn’t that true for us as well in our walks of faith? We are called to tell what we know. We might not be exactly where we want in our faith walks. We might look at someone else and wish we had that faith walk that they do. But when we are called to witness. We are called to tell what we know. We are called to live what we know. We can do no other.

My life, and I can imagine yours, has been shaped by witnessing the faith of others, who probably did not even know that I was looking. When I was a little girl, there was a woman in the choir, who I was convinced was an angel. She sang beautifully; she was tall; she was the grandmother of one of my Sunday school classmates; and she had red hair. I watched the kindness with which she approached the world, and without her speaking a word of witness to me – I was shaped by her. In the first church I served, it was the witness of a retired gentleman who returned day after day to tinker in a large building we served in at the church. He was fixing heating quandaries and addressing pew challenges. He was quick with a word and equally as quick with an apology when his tongue got the better of him. He gave freely of himself and his heart.

They witnessed to me and grew my faith, without changing the ways they had come to live their lives in Christ. I admit I have never asked either of them about it. But through their commitment to a life of faith, I was fed, I was inspired, I was thirsty for more Jesus in my own life.

There is an old story about a salesman who was disappointed about losing a big sale, and as he talked with his sales manager he lamented, “I guess it just proves you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.” The manager replied, “Son, take my advice: your job is not to make him drink. Your job is to make him thirsty.” So it is with evangelism. Our lives should be so filled with Christ that they create a thirst for the Gospel.1 Does the way that you live your life make others thirsty for the Gospel? Do you seek to follow Christ in such a way that people watch the generosity you offer or the radical forgiveness you live and ask – wow! How can you do that?

In just a little bit, we will offer an opportunity for persons to bring their pledges and commitments to the front of the church. Some have already done this in the weeks prior and some may not be prepared to do it today. However, if you have brought your commitment today or are prepared but forgot the card (the ushers have extras), I will invite you to come forward in a public way to share that you, by your actions, are promising to serve God in the coming year through you’re your prayers, your presence, your gifts, your service, and your witness.

It may be uncomfortable for you to make a commitment; it may be uncomfortable to pledge. You may have even considered being busy this morning with something else. But when we come to the witness part of who God calls us to be, we are asked the question – Are you all in? Are you willing to live in such a way that others might watch you, even when you do not realize it, and discern how to follow Jesus from your actions? Are you willing to live, warts and all, with commitment to the One who gave it all for you? Making a pledge is not an all or nothing proposition. This might be the year you begin to write down what you have always done. This might be the year that you increase your commitment to prayer through asking to be added to the prayer chain. This might be the year that you commit to being present every week in worship unless you are sick or away. This might be the year that you commit to serving in a new way. This might be the year that you take another step towards tithing.

Whatever your commitment might be, consider it your witness – one of the ways that you show others how living for and in Christ fulfills who you are and whose you are.

This is the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, thanks be to God, Amen.

Preaching, November- December, 1985.