Have you ever travelled somewhere in caravan with a large group of people? The kind of caravan where multiple vehicles are required and the most important value is sticking together and all arriving at the destination. If you have ever tried to follow someone else, you might have come upon drivers who you had to follow who:
Drove way to fast to keep up with
Drove so slow you wanted to pass the car you were following
Drove without regard to you following by changing lanes and lacking a turn signal
You may have to follow through traffic lights and turnpike tolls. In fact, it can feel like there are more opportunities to lose the car you are following, then to stay with it. However, caravans only work when everyone follows. If you are caravanning with the boy scouts to the campsite and only half the cars make it there, you have failed – where are the other four cars of boy scouts eager to go fishing? Discipleship is a lot like caravanning. When we follow closely, we become most fully who God has called us to be, disciples of the Living God.
We began this series reflecting on how we, each of us, are fearfully and wonderfully made, crafted by God in God’s very image. Last week, we looked at how we are found; God searches us out, even when we are lost. This week, we turn from what is intrinsic to what we are called to do. We are called to be disciples. We are to follow God’s ways.
However, our culture does not value following the lead of others. We pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps. We do it ourselves. We blaze our own trails. We lead on our expeditions, even in places, we have never been before. We can do it. In this era of “I want to do it my way”, is there any possibility for disciples? In the midst of our independence, we cannot get away from our interdependence. We are deeply a people who need one another.
For the one who listens diligently to each word that a candidate says, so that they can repeat back the phrases – this is a disciple. For the one who watches carefully the fashions, so that they can be just like their idol – this is a disciple. For the one who rocks out to the tunes of a favorite artist and engages each lyric with passion – this is a disciple. For the one who hears and lives the words of God – this is a disciple.
One thing unites disciples, they follow their leader. Paul writes to Timothy with words for an older mentor to a growing protégé. Paul writes to Timothy hoping to urge him on, knowing some of the challenges of life and hoping that he can offer words of wisdom to smooth out just a few. Can’t you just imagine Paul and Timothy around the campfire after a long day of working hard together? Can’t you just imagine Timothy sitting eagerly waiting to hear words of instruction from his mentor? Paul writes with the wisdom of one who has lived through the enthusiastic bursts of youthful zeal, the sustained commitment to ideal that comes in middle age, and now reflects earnestly. Perhaps, Paul was answering a letter from Timothy, we do not have the privilege of reading, perhaps, he was reflecting on life to be learned.
First, of all, he says, pray. Pray. Not just in a passing way. But give thanks, beseech God, intercede, pray. Pray not just for yourself, which comes quite naturally, for many. Pray for those in power and who make decisions. Pray for the president and the Congress. Pray for township officials and the school board. Pray for those you agree with and those whom you would rather never have to think about. Pray for your pastor and leadership. Pray for those who make decisions that impact your daily life. Your peace depends on it. The Message paraphrase captures it this way: “Pray especially for rulers and their governments to rule well so we can be quietly about our business of living simply, in humble contemplation. This is the way our Savior God wants us to live.”1
Pray for Trump and for Hillary. Pray for Gary Johnson and Jill Stein. (and don’t just pray for them to drop out of the race!) Pray for their well-being and their wisdom. Pray for peace and discernment. The way of a disciple is following Jesus. Jesus, who often turned upside the expectations of those who gathered to hear him, is who we are to follow. Jesus, who told the parable we heard this morning. The parable that leads us to scratch our heads and reassure ourselves that the cheating is not what Jesus is valuing.
The gospel lesson raises the question of who is Jesus advising us to follow? I want to share this story this morning: A missionary on furlough shared this reflection from the gospel lesson. She served a country with limited freedoms. No citizens could have more than one other guest at their apartment at any time to preserve “order.” Christians in the area were determined to meet together for fellowship, prayer, and worship.
Unfortunately, the local policeman saw the staggered comings and goings and figured out that they were gathering. At that point, the missionary did what was socially expected in such circumstances: she paid the policeman a bribe. And as long as she kept paying, Christians kept gathering in this apartment for the sustenance they for which they longed and for which they risked severe punishment.
The missionary shared this story with the congregation, sheepish and embarrassed. She had bowed to the dishonest system of payment and the black market economics common in much of the world. Another member of the group, with a PhD in philosophy, suggested, “Ah, well, but what else is money for, really? Seems like a pretty good investment to me.” Caught up in the confusion of the parable, where can we find following Jesus? While we could lean on situational ethics and philosophical ponderings, “from this angle, money obviously must be placed at the service of making friends with God and with people, particularly God’s forgotten or neglected, for these alone are treasures that last and offer us life.2” Discipleship attends closely to the details of life. In praying for our leaders and putting the value of money into the hands of those who seek the best welfare, we must lean on the wisdom of Christ.
For many of us, this is hard. We do not want to admit that after decades of experience, we still need to follow. After decades of following Jesus, we are still caught up in living out our faith. However, the truth is that we need to follow day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute. Following means admitting that we may not start the day with all of the answers. Following means that you might have to revise the theory that you have figured out about God, about church, about your neighbor, about yourself. Following means that you cannot just coast on what has already been established, but rather you need to pay attention to each new turn.
As we baptize Emma Grace this morning, we as congregations renew our promises to guide the youngest among us – both in age and in faith. We promise to lead as we have been leaf, so that she and others might know what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. The blessing directly after the baptismal action is a pray that she might be a faithful disciple of Jesus. For this we pray, for Emma and for each of us. We are called to follow.
I want to challenge you – how are you following? If you are disciple of Jesus Christ, where are you following where God is leading? In order to know which way God is leading, how are making sure you are studying God’s word? Where are you learning more about who God has called you to be?
Our Faith Learning Academy provides opportunities for you to be discipled in the faith. Right now, we have opportunities to be discipled in prayer or biblical understanding. We have opportunities to use you faith and reason side by side as you look for the faithlinks in daily like as well as seek financial peace with our financial peace university.
You are a disciple! God made you that way. The question is Who are you Following?
This is the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, thanks be to God, Amen.
11 Timothy 2: 2-3, The Message.
2http://www.ekklesiaproject.org/blog/2013/09/what-else-is-money-for/
New Testament Lessons: 1 Timothy 2:1-7
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity. This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
For there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and humankind,
Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself a ransom for all—this was attested at the right time. For this I was appointed a herald and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.
Gospel Lessons: Luke 16:1-13
Then Jesus said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. So he summoned him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.’ Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.’ So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He answered, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.’ Then he asked another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘A hundred containers of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill and make it eighty.’ And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.
“Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
Meditations For Your Week
Sunday, September 18 ~ Saturday, September 24
Sunday: “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings should be made for everyone” 1 Timothy 2:1. Disciples live out the discipline of prayer. When are you intentionally praying – asking, thanking, listening to God?
Monday: “[Pray] for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity.” 1 Timothy 2:2. Prayerfully consider pausing today to pray for governmental leaders, church leaders, community leaders, and business leaders.
Tuesday: “This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” 1 Timothy 2:3-4. How is God showing you the knowledge of the truth today?
Wednesday: “For there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself a ransom for all —this was attested at the right time.” 1 Timothy 2:5-6. Our discipleship is under Jesus. Give thanks to God for Jesus.
Thursday: “For this I was appointed a herald and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.” 1 Timothy 2: 7. Paul, a disciple of Jesus, was called to be a teacher of faith and truth. Prayerfully consider where God is leading your discipleship towards.
Friday: “‘Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much.” Luke 16: 10. In your discipleship, where is God offering you an opportunity to be faithful? Where is the experiment of being faithful with a little?
Saturday: “No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.’” Luke 16:13. Discipleship includes all areas of your life, including your money. How is your money serving God?